Teacher educators' competences in fostering student teachers' proficiency in teaching and learning with technology : An overview of relevant research literature

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dana Uerz; Monique Volman; Marijke Kral

2018-01-01

Teacher educators play an important role in preparing student teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms. This article presents an overview of research literature on teacher educators' competences in preparing their students to teach with technology. A literature search yielded 26

Does relevance matter in academic policy research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dredge, Dianne

2015-01-01

A reflection on whether relevance matters in tourism policy research, and if so, to whom/what should it matter......A reflection on whether relevance matters in tourism policy research, and if so, to whom/what should it matter...

Re-Viewing Literature in Hermeneutic Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth Smythe PhD, RN, RM

2012-02-01

Full Text Available In academia there seems to be a taken for granted assumption that there is one way to do a literature review. This paper argues that the manner of reviewing literature needs to be congruent with the particular research methodology. As an example, the authors explicate reviewing literature in hermeneutic research. The paper begins by discussing philosophical assumptions. The authors then offer personal accounts of their experiences of working with literature in ways that are congruent with hermeneutic methodology. It is argued that the key purpose of exploring literature in hermeneutic research is to provide context and provoke thinking. Literature, which can include anything that provokes thinking on the phenomenon of interest, becomes an essential dialogical partner from which scholarly thinking and new insights emerge. In conclusion distinguishing hallmarks of ways of working hermeneutically with literature are articulated

Taking stock of project value creation: A structured literature review with future directions for research and practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laursen, Markus; Svejvig, Per

2016-01-01

This paper aims to take stock of what we know about project value creation and to present future directions for research and practice. We performed an explorative and unstructured literature review, which was subsequently paired with a structured literature review. We join several research areas...... by adopting the project value creation perspective on literature relating to benefits, value, performance, and success in projects. Our review includes 111 contributions analyzed through both an inductive and deductive approach. We find that relevant literature dates back to the early 1980s, and the still...... developing value-centric view has been the subject of many publications in recent years. We contribute to research on project value creation through four directions for future research: rejuvenating value management through combining value, benefits, and costs; supplementing value creation with value capture...

Clinical research data warehouse governance for distributed research networks in the USA: a systematic review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, John H; Elliott, Thomas E; Brown, Jeffrey S; Raebel, Marsha A; Davidson, Arthur; Nelson, Andrew F; Chung, Annie; La Chance, Pierre; Steiner, John F

2014-01-01

To review the published, peer-reviewed literature on clinical research data warehouse governance in distributed research networks (DRNs). Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and INSPEC were searched for relevant documents published through July 31, 2013 using a systematic approach. Only documents relating to DRNs in the USA were included. Documents were analyzed using a classification framework consisting of 10 facets to identify themes. 6641 documents were retrieved. After screening for duplicates and relevance, 38 were included in the final review. A peer-reviewed literature on data warehouse governance is emerging, but is still sparse. Peer-reviewed publications on UK research network governance were more prevalent, although not reviewed for this analysis. All 10 classification facets were used, with some documents falling into two or more classifications. No document addressed costs associated with governance. Even though DRNs are emerging as vehicles for research and public health surveillance, understanding of DRN data governance policies and procedures is limited. This is expected to change as more DRN projects disseminate their governance approaches as publicly available toolkits and peer-reviewed publications. While peer-reviewed, US-based DRN data warehouse governance publications have increased, DRN developers and administrators are encouraged to publish information about these programs. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Topical review: sluggish cognitive tempo: research findings and relevance for pediatric psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Stephen P

2013-11-01

To summarize recent research on sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and consider the potential relevance of SCT for the field of pediatric psychology. Literature review. Recent empirical evidence shows SCT symptoms consisting of sluggish/sleepy and daydreamy behaviors to be distinct from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms. SCT is associated with psychosocial functioning in children and adolescents, including internalizing symptoms, social withdrawal, and, possibly, academic impairment. The recent findings reviewed suggest that SCT is an important construct for pediatric psychologists to be aware of and may also be directly useful for the research and practice of pediatric psychology.

Fast-fashion: systematic literature review and research agenda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lívia Juliana Silva Solino

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The fast-fashion (FF is considered an approach and phenomenon of global influence that suit the requirements of a constantly changing and demanding market, since it is a business model resulting of a mixture of fast manufacturing, flexibility, low cost and agile retail approaches. Within this context, this research by a systematic literature review seeks to answer how the FF has been addressed in scientific studies published until the year 2013. Through the review, a total of 82 texts was analysed, among them articles, dissertations and theses. The research method employed is characterized as descriptive, regarding the objectives, and as qualitative and quantitative, on the approach. After conducting the classification of the material, it was possible to understand the state-of-the-art, and thus set a holistic concept and the appropriate term for the FF. As well as propose a research agenda with new approaches for future studies within the relevant topic.

Beyond Synthesis: Re-Presenting Heterogeneous Research Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Sylvester, Allan; Tate, Mary; Johnstone, David

2013-01-01

This article examines the nature, role and function of the literature review in academic discourse. Researchers in information systems (IS) are often advised to espouse a neutral viewpoint and adapt the goal of synthesising previous literature when conducting a literature review. However, since research literature in many areas of IS is diverse…

How to write a surgical clinical research protocol: literature review and practical guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenthal, Rachel; Schäfer, Juliane; Briel, Matthias; Bucher, Heiner C; Oertli, Daniel; Dell-Kuster, Salome

2014-02-01

The study protocol is the core document of every clinical research project. Clinical research in studies involving surgical interventions presents some specific challenges, which need to be accounted for and described in the study protocol. The aim of this review is to provide a practical guide for developing a clinical study protocol for surgical interventions with a focus on methodologic issues. On the basis of an in-depth literature search of methodologic literature and on some cardinal published surgical trials and observational studies, the authors provides a 10-step guide for developing a clinical study protocol in surgery. This practical guide outlines key methodologic issues important when planning an ethically and scientifically sound research project involving surgical interventions, with the ultimate goal of providing high-level evidence relevant for health care decision making in surgery. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Corporate reputation and CSR reporting to stakeholders: Gaps in the literature and future lines of research

OpenAIRE

Pérez Ruiz, Andrea

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of the underdeveloped stream of research that analyses corporate reputation as an outcome of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Design/methodology/approach - The author systematically reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the CSR reporting-reputation relationship, identify several gaps in the body of knowledge and provide new lines of study to develop this relevant stream of researc...

International Service Learning: Analytical Review of Published Research Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Brett

2015-01-01

International service learning (ISL) is an emerging area of international education. This paper summarizes academic journal articles on ISL programs and organizes the relevant publications by academic disciplines, service learning project areas, and other topics. The basis for this review is relevant literature from full-text scholarly peer…

Grounded theory research: literature reviewing and reflexivity.

Science.gov (United States)

McGhee, Gerry; Marland, Glenn R; Atkinson, Jacqueline

2007-11-01

This paper is a report of a discussion of the arguments surrounding the role of the initial literature review in grounded theory. Researchers new to grounded theory may find themselves confused about the literature review, something we ourselves experienced, pointing to the need for clarity about use of the literature in grounded theory to help guide others about to embark on similar research journeys. The arguments for and against the use of a substantial topic-related initial literature review in a grounded theory study are discussed, giving examples from our own studies. The use of theoretically sampled literature and the necessity for reflexivity are also discussed. Reflexivity is viewed as the explicit quest to limit researcher effects on the data by awareness of self, something seen as integral both to the process of data collection and the constant comparison method essential to grounded theory. A researcher who is close to the field may already be theoretically sensitized and familiar with the literature on the study topic. Use of literature or any other preknowledge should not prevent a grounded theory arising from the inductive-deductive interplay which is at the heart of this method. Reflexivity is needed to prevent prior knowledge distorting the researcher's perceptions of the data.

A qualitative study examining methods of accessing and identifying research relevant to clinical practice among rehabilitation clinicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Drasti; Koehmstedt, Christine; Jones, Rebecca; Coffey, Nathan T; Cai, Xinsheng; Garfinkel, Steven; Shaewitz, Dahlia M; Weinstein, Ali A

2017-01-01

Research examining the utilization of evidence-based practice (EBP) specifically among rehabilitation clinicians is limited. The objective of this study was to examine how various rehabilitative clinicians including physical therapists, occupational therapists, rehabilitation counselors, and physiatrists are gaining access to literature and whether they are able to implement the available research into practice. A total of 21 total clinicians were interviewed via telephone. Using NVivo, a qualitative analysis of the responses was performed. There were similarities found with respect to the information-seeking behaviors and translation of research across the different clinician types. Lack of time was reported to be a barrier for both access to literature and implementation of research across all clinician types. The majority of clinicians who reported having difficulty with utilizing the published literature indicated that the literature was not applicable to their practice, the research was not specific enough to be put into practice, or the research found was too outdated to be relevant. In addition, having a supportive work environment aided in the search and utilization of research through providing resources central to assisting clinicians in gaining access to health information. Our study identified several barriers that affect EBP for rehabilitation clinicians. The findings suggest the need for researchers to ensure that their work is applicable and specific to clinical practice for implementation to occur.

Building the informatics infrastructure for comparative effectiveness research (CER): a review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez, Marianne Hamilton; Holve, Erin; Sarkar, Indra Neil; Segal, Courtney

2012-07-01

Technological advances in clinical informatics have made large amounts of data accessible and potentially useful for research. As a result, a burgeoning literature addresses efforts to bridge the fields of health services research and biomedical informatics. The Electronic Data Methods Forum review examines peer-reviewed literature at the intersection of comparative effectiveness research and clinical informatics. The authors are specifically interested in characterizing this literature and identifying cross-cutting themes and gaps in the literature. A 3-step systematic literature search was conducted, including a structured search of PubMed, manual reviews of articles from selected publication lists, and manual reviews of research activities based on prospective electronic clinical data. Two thousand four hundred thirty-five citations were identified as potentially relevant. Ultimately, a full-text review was performed for 147 peer-reviewed papers. One hundred thirty-two articles were selected for inclusion in the review. Of these, 88 articles are the focus of the discussion in this paper. Three types of articles were identified, including papers that: (1) provide historical context or frameworks for using clinical informatics for research, (2) describe platforms and projects, and (3) discuss issues, challenges, and applications of natural language processing. In addition, 2 cross-cutting themes emerged: the challenges of conducting research in the absence of standardized ontologies and data collection; and unique data governance concerns related to the transfer, storage, deidentification, and access to electronic clinical data. Finally, the authors identified several current gaps on important topics such as the use of clinical informatics for cohort identification, cloud computing, and single point access to research data.

Literature Reviews and the Hermeneutic Circle

Science.gov (United States)

Boell, Sebastian K.; Cecez-Kecmanovic, Dubravka

2010-01-01

Conducting a literature review is a vital part of any research. Library and information science (LIS) professionals often play a central role in supporting academics in their efforts to locate relevant publications and in teaching novice researchers skills associated with literature reviews. This paper examines literature review processes with the…

The use of air bags for mitigating grade crossing and trespass accidents : literature review and research plan.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

This literature review will confirm prior work in the use of locomotive airbag technologies for vehicle or pedestrian collision : mitigation, and to focus planned activities and tasks for this research. The state of the art in relevant technologies h...

Anaerobic oxidation of carbon steel in granitic groundwaters: A review of the relevant literature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Platts, N.; Blackwood, D.J.; Naish, C.C.

1994-02-01

This report reviews the published literature on the anaerobic oxidation of iron in aqueous solutions which are of particular relevance to Swedish granitic groundwaters. The thermodynamics of iron corrosion in water are briefly considered. Following this the experimental data found in the literature are presented and discussed. Results were found for corrosion of iron in both pure water and solutions containing mineral salts. The literature work in the nature of the films formed on iron surfaces under anaerobic conditions is reviewed and the possible mechanisms of film formation are discussed. Conclusions are drawn on the factors most likely to influence and control film growth. 32 refs

Ecosystem services and economic theory: integration for policy-relevant research.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Brendan; Turner, Kerry; Zylstra, Matthew; Brouwer, Roy; de Groot, Rudolf; Farber, Stephen; Ferraro, Paul; Green, Rhys; Hadley, David; Harlow, Julian; Jefferiss, Paul; Kirkby, Chris; Morling, Paul; Mowatt, Shaun; Naidoo, Robin; Paavola, Jouni; Strassburg, Bernardo; Yu, Doug; Balmford, Andrew

2008-12-01

It has become essential in policy and decision-making circles to think about the economic benefits (in addition to moral and scientific motivations) humans derive from well-functioning ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has been developed to address this link between ecosystems and human welfare. Since policy decisions are often evaluated through cost-benefit assessments, an economic analysis can help make ecosystem service research operational. In this paper we provide some simple economic analyses to discuss key concepts involved in formalizing ecosystem service research. These include the distinction between services and benefits, understanding the importance of marginal ecosystem changes, formalizing the idea of a safe minimum standard for ecosystem service provision, and discussing how to capture the public benefits of ecosystem services. We discuss how the integration of economic concepts and ecosystem services can provide policy and decision makers with a fuller spectrum of information for making conservation-conversion trade-offs. We include the results from a survey of the literature and a questionnaire of researchers regarding how ecosystem service research can be integrated into the policy process. We feel this discussion of economic concepts will be a practical aid for ecosystem service research to become more immediately policy relevant.

National inventory of Global Change relevant research in Norway; Nasjonal kartlegging av global change-relevant forskning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-05-01

The Norwegian Global Change Committee has made an inventory of global change research (GCR) projects funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN) in 2001. In lack of a rigid definition, GCR was defined as research that can be considered relevant to the science agenda of the four major international global change programmes DIVERSITAS, IGBP, IHDP and WCRP. Relevance was judged based on the objectives stated for each of the international programmes and their core projects. It was not attempted to check whether the projects had any kind of link to the programmes they were considered relevant for. The grants provided by the RCN in 2001 to GCR as defined above amounts to about 77 mill. NOK. Based on a recent survey on climate change research it is reasonable to estimate that the RCN finances between 30 and 40 % of all GCR in Norway. Accordingly, the total value of Norwegian research relevant to the four international global change programmes in 2001 can be estimated to 192 - 254 mill. NOK.

Electronic biomedical literature search for budding researcher.

Science.gov (United States)

Thakre, Subhash B; Thakre S, Sushama S; Thakre, Amol D

2013-09-01

Search for specific and well defined literature related to subject of interest is the foremost step in research. When we are familiar with topic or subject then we can frame appropriate research question. Appropriate research question is the basis for study objectives and hypothesis. The Internet provides a quick access to an overabundance of the medical literature, in the form of primary, secondary and tertiary literature. It is accessible through journals, databases, dictionaries, textbooks, indexes, and e-journals, thereby allowing access to more varied, individualised, and systematic educational opportunities. Web search engine is a tool designed to search for information on the World Wide Web, which may be in the form of web pages, images, information, and other types of files. Search engines for internet-based search of medical literature include Google, Google scholar, Scirus, Yahoo search engine, etc., and databases include MEDLINE, PubMed, MEDLARS, etc. Several web-libraries (National library Medicine, Cochrane, Web of Science, Medical matrix, Emory libraries) have been developed as meta-sites, providing useful links to health resources globally. A researcher must keep in mind the strengths and limitations of a particular search engine/database while searching for a particular type of data. Knowledge about types of literature, levels of evidence, and detail about features of search engine as available, user interface, ease of access, reputable content, and period of time covered allow their optimal use and maximal utility in the field of medicine. Literature search is a dynamic and interactive process; there is no one way to conduct a search and there are many variables involved. It is suggested that a systematic search of literature that uses available electronic resource effectively, is more likely to produce quality research.

Decorative Integration or Relevant Learning? A Literature Review of Studio Arts-Based Management Education with Recommendations for Teaching and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Katz-Buonincontro, Jen

2015-01-01

This review presents a synthesis of the state of arts-based management education scholarship, with teaching and research recommendations. To begin, the lack of creativity and empathy development in management students is presented. Next, literature-based descriptions of arts-based management exercises focus on how to use improvisational theatre,…

A qualitative study examining methods of accessing and identifying research relevant to clinical practice among rehabilitation clinicians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patel D

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Drasti Patel,1 Christine Koehmstedt,1 Rebecca Jones,1 Nathan T Coffey,1 Xinsheng Cai,2 Steven Garfinkel,2 Dahlia M Shaewitz,2 Ali A Weinstein1 1Center for Study of Chronic Illness and Disability, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 2American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC, USA Purpose: Research examining the utilization of evidence-based practice (EBP specifically among rehabilitation clinicians is limited. The objective of this study was to examine how various rehabilitative clinicians including physical therapists, occupational therapists, rehabilitation counselors, and physiatrists are gaining access to literature and whether they are able to implement the available research into practice.Methods: A total of 21 total clinicians were interviewed via telephone. Using NVivo, a qualitative analysis of the responses was performed.Results: There were similarities found with respect to the information-seeking behaviors and translation of research across the different clinician types. Lack of time was reported to be a barrier for both access to literature and implementation of research across all clinician types. The majority of clinicians who reported having difficulty with utilizing the published literature indicated that the literature was not applicable to their practice, the research was not specific enough to be put into practice, or the research found was too outdated to be relevant. In addition, having a supportive work environment aided in the search and utilization of research through providing resources central to assisting clinicians in gaining access to health information.Conclusion: Our study identified several barriers that affect EBP for rehabilitation clinicians. The findings suggest the need for researchers to ensure that their work is applicable and specific to clinical practice for implementation to occur. Keywords: health information, information behavior, knowledge utilization

Assessing Hospital Physicians' Acceptance of Clinical Information Systems: A Review of the Relevant Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bram Pynoo

2013-06-01

Full Text Available In view of the tremendous potential benefits of clinical information systems (CIS for the quality of patient care; it is hard to understand why not every CIS is embraced by its targeted users, the physicians. The aim of this study is to propose a framework for assessing hospital physicians' CIS-acceptance that can serve as a guidance for future research into this area. Hereto, a review of the relevant literature was performed in the ISI Web-of-Science database. Eleven studies were withheld from an initial dataset of 797 articles. Results show that just as in business settings, there are four core groups of variables that influence physicians' acceptance of a CIS: its usefulness and ease of use, social norms, and factors in the working environment that facilitate use of the CIS (such as providing computers/workstations, compatibility between the new and existing system.... We also identified some additional variables as predictors of CIS-acceptance.

The Relevance of Academic Research in OSCM Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Raffield, Wiliam D.; Vang, David O.; Lundsten, Lorman L.

2016-01-01

The authors examine the relevance of academic research for operations and supply chain management (OSCM) professionals. Members of a major metropolitan APICS chapter were surveyed. Consistent with prior research, findings indicate that OSCM practitioners prefer trade journal articles to academic research. Nonetheless, respondents indicate interest…

assessing the relevance of academic research productivity in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DGS-FUTO

2018-06-01

Jun 1, 2018 ... research process relevant to their future development. ... value the opportunity to work with academics in a one- to- one relationship while ... professional researchers that are publicized in scholarly journals are perceived to be.

Cultural Factors relevant to Korean Americans in Health Research: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Cha-Nam; Keller, Colleen; Sim, Jeongha

2018-04-01

To eliminate health disparities in the United States, identifying cultural contexts salient to the target populations in an intervention study is critical; however, little research has been conducted on the identification of cultural contexts among Korean Americans who have significant risk factors for chronic diseases. This systematic review identifies critical cultural contexts central to the literature discussed in health research on Korean Americans. We examined 14 research reports of 801 potentially eligible articles published between 2000 and 2016 and analyzed their contribution to cultural contexts among Korean Americans based on the PEN-3 model. This review highlights how cultural contexts impact health and health behaviors of Korean Americans, and may contribute to health disparities in the United States. The key cultural contexts highlighted in this review include social support/social network, family, gender role expectations, and a holistic view of health and illness. These cultural contexts should be incorporated in designing culturally relevant, effective, and sustainable health interventions for Korean Americans, which will contribute to eliminating health disparities for this ethnic group who experience great obstacles to healthcare access and healthy behaviors.

A review of literature relevant to gas production in radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Norris, G.H.

1987-11-01

A review of relevant recent papers on gas generation in low-level wastes and intermediate-level wastes is presented. Chemical, microbiological, radiolytic and thermal reactions are considered for both unconditioned wastes and wastes conditioned in cement, or bitumen, or polymer. Possible reaction mechanisms are identified and the effects of temperature and pressure are evaluated. Estimations of the production of combustible gases (which also have the potential to form explosive mixtures) have been taken from the literature. The implications of gas production for pressurisation (and possible rupture) of waste drums and of a repository are assessed. Waste-treatment schemes for the reduction of gas-generation capacity of several waste-types are highlighted. Recommendations for further work are summarised. (author)

Grappling with the literature of education research and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Dolan, Erin L

2007-01-01

The absence of a central database and use of specialized language hinder nonexperts in becoming familiar with the science teaching and learning literature and using it to inform their work. The challenge of locating articles related to a specific question or problem, coupled with the difficulty of comprehending findings based on a variety of different perspectives and practices, can be prohibitively difficult. As I have transitioned from bench to classroom-based research, I have become familiar with how to locate, decipher, and evaluate the education research literature. In this essay, I point out analogies to the literature of science research and practice, and I reference some of the literature that I have found useful in becoming an education researcher. I also introduce a new regular feature, "Current Insights: Recent Research in Science Teaching and Learning," which is designed to point CBE--Life Sciences Education (CBE-LSE) readers to current articles of interest in life sciences education, as well as more general and noteworthy publications in education research.

Does transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS have a clinically relevant analgesic effect on different pain conditions? A literature review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asami Naka

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS is a standard therapy used in different painful conditions such as low back pain, diabetic polyneuropathy or arthrosis. However, literature reviews focusing on the effects and the clinical implication of this method in various painful conditions are yet scarce. The purpose of this literature research was to determine, whether TENS provides an analgesic effect on common painful conditions in clinical practice. Literature research was performed using three data bases (Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Database, focusing on papers published in the space of time from 2007 to 2012. Papers were evaluated from two reviewers independently concerning the clinical outcome, taking account for the level of external evidence according to the German Cochrane levels of evidence (Ia – IV. 133 papers of varying methodological quality dealing with different painful conditions were selected in total. A clinically relevant analgesic effect was described in 90 painful conditions (67%. In 30 painful states (22%, the outcome was inconclusive due to the study design. No significant analgesic effect of TENS was observed in 15 painful conditions (11%. The vast majority of the papers were classified as Cochrane evidence level Ib (n = 64; 48%, followed by level Ia (n = 23; 17%, level III (n = 18; 14%, level IV (n = 15; 11%, level IIb (n = 10; 8% and level IIa (n = 3; 2%. Most of the studies revealed an analgesic effect in various painful conditions, confirming the usefulness of TENS in clinical practice.

Why students leave in the UK: an integrative review of the international research literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, Joan; Roxburgh, Michelle; Taylor, Julie; Lauder, William

2011-04-01

The purpose of this integrative review of the literature was to find and review international research studies that explored student attrition to determine what is known about the topic and to identify gaps in the research with a view to addressing the situation in the UK. Attrition from nursing programmes is a serious problem in the UK. It is recognised as a complex phenomenon, not attributable to a single cause. Regardless of actual attrition rates and trends, departments of nursing are challenged to perform in a business-like manner. Consequently, every student lost to a programme of study equates to a financial penalty for the department and to the future workforce and community.   Integrative review of the literature. Using electronic databases and specific search terms, 18 articles were identified and reviewed. Findings from the identified international research literature were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Four broad themes that accounted for factors of relevance to attrition were identified: Social, Prediction, Programme and Personal. Retention studies are fraught with methodological problems. These include incomplete or inaccurate data and low response rates. Attrition early in programmes may be attributed to a failure to understand the roles of nurses in contemporary societies. This has led to dissatisfaction with programmes and academic failure, as students may underestimate the intellectual demands of their programmes. Attrition later in the programme may be attributed to a combination of personal factors that culminate in a personal crisis. The research literature suggests that stereotyping of nurses is a major factor in attrition. Both professions need to find ways of communicating contemporary roles to wider society. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Relevance as process: judgements in the context of scholarly research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Theresa D. Anderson

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. This paper discusses how exploring the research process in-depth and over time contributes to a fuller understanding of interactions with various representations of information. Method. A longitudinal ethnographic study explored decisions made by two informants involved in scholarly research. Relevance assessment and information seeking were observed as part of informants' own ongoing research projects. Fieldwork used methods of discovery that allowed informants to shape the exploration of the practices surrounding the evolving understandings of their topics. Analysis. Inductive analysis was carried out on the qualitative data collected over a two-year period of judgements observed on a document-by-document basis. The paper introduces broad categories that point to the variability and richness of the ways that informants used representations of information resources to make relevance judgements. Results. Relevance judgements appear to be drivers of the search and research processes informants moved through during the observations. Focusing on research goals rather than on retrieval tasks brings us to a fuller understanding of the relationship between ultimate research goals and the articulation of those goals in interactions with information systems. Conclusion. Relevance assessment is a process that unfolds in the doing of a search, the making of judgements and the using of texts and representations of information.

Supplier Development Literature Review and Key Future Research Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muddassir Ahmed

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to develop a Supplier Development (SD literature framework and identify the main focus areas in SD research. To this end, a comprehensive review of the existing SD academic literature has been undertaken, which includes 62 research papers. These papers are classified according to their research content and the research methodology employed. A comprehensive list of future research areas is also presented. Thus, this paper will also briefly explore proposed future research. The review of the SD literature presented here identifies the following main areas of focus: Supplier Development Activities, Practices and Success Factors; Direct or Indirect Supplier Development; Supplier Development as a Reactive or Strategic Process; Supplier Development in a Lean Six Sigma & SME context.

Reviewing the research methods literature: principles and strategies illustrated by a systematic overview of sampling in qualitative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Gentles, Stephen J; Charles, Cathy; Nicholas, David B; Ploeg, Jenny; McKibbon, K Ann

2016-10-11

Overviews of methods are potentially useful means to increase clarity and enhance collective understanding of specific methods topics that may be characterized by ambiguity, inconsistency, or a lack of comprehensiveness. This type of review represents a distinct literature synthesis method, although to date, its methodology remains relatively undeveloped despite several aspects that demand unique review procedures. The purpose of this paper is to initiate discussion about what a rigorous systematic approach to reviews of methods, referred to here as systematic methods overviews, might look like by providing tentative suggestions for approaching specific challenges likely to be encountered. The guidance offered here was derived from experience conducting a systematic methods overview on the topic of sampling in qualitative research. The guidance is organized into several principles that highlight specific objectives for this type of review given the common challenges that must be overcome to achieve them. Optional strategies for achieving each principle are also proposed, along with discussion of how they were successfully implemented in the overview on sampling. We describe seven paired principles and strategies that address the following aspects: delimiting the initial set of publications to consider, searching beyond standard bibliographic databases, searching without the availability of relevant metadata, selecting publications on purposeful conceptual grounds, defining concepts and other information to abstract iteratively, accounting for inconsistent terminology used to describe specific methods topics, and generating rigorous verifiable analytic interpretations. Since a broad aim in systematic methods overviews is to describe and interpret the relevant literature in qualitative terms, we suggest that iterative decision making at various stages of the review process, and a rigorous qualitative approach to analysis are necessary features of this review type

A Framework for Rigorously Identifying Research Gaps in Qualitative Literature Reviews

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Müller-Bloch, Christoph; Kranz, Johann

2015-01-01

Identifying research gaps is a fundamental goal of literature reviewing. While it is widely acknowledged that literature reviews should identify research gaps, there are no methodological guidelines for how to identify research gaps in qualitative literature reviews ensuring rigor and replicability....... Our study addresses this gap and proposes a framework that should help scholars in this endeavor without stifling creativity. To develop the framework we thoroughly analyze the state-of-the-art procedure of identifying research gaps in 40 recent literature reviews using a grounded theory approach....... Based on the data, we subsequently derive a framework for identifying research gaps in qualitative literature reviews and demonstrate its application with an example. Our results provide a modus operandi for identifying research gaps, thus enabling scholars to conduct literature reviews more rigorously...

Military Influence Operations: Review of Relevant Scientific Literature

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Adams, Barbara D; Sartori, Jessica; Waldherr, Sonya

2007-01-01

...) literature and the social influence literature. The persuasion literature argues that messages can be processed either systematically or heuristically, and that messages that are processed more carefully...

Clinical nursing and midwifery research: grey literature in African countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, C; Dohrn, J; Omoni, G; Malata, A; Klopper, H; Larson, E

2016-03-01

This study reviewed grey literature to assess clinical nursing and midwifery research conducted in southern and eastern African countries over the past decade. The shortage of published nursing research from African countries severely limits the ability of practicing nurses and midwives to base clinical decisions on solid evidence. However, little is known regarding unpublished or unindexed clinical research ('grey literature'), a potentially rich source of information. Identifying these sources may reveal resources to assist nurses in providing evidence-based care. This scoping review of grey literature on clinical nursing and midwifery research in southern and eastern African countries helped to identify gaps in research and assess whether these gaps differ from published research. Systematic searches of grey literature were performed. Research was included if it was conducted by nurses in 1 of 25 southern or eastern African countries, between 2004 and 2014 and included patient outcomes. Data were extracted on location, institution, research topic, institutional connections and author information. Chi-square tests were performed to compare differences between indexed and non-indexed literature. We found 262 studies by 287 authors from 17 southern and eastern African countries covering 13 topics. Although all topics were also found in indexed literature and there were statistically significant differences between the number of times, fewer topics were covered in grey literature vs. indexed. Patient satisfaction and experience and traditional health practices were more likely to be published, whereas chronic disease, assault and paediatric-related research were less often published. Generally, there is a paucity of clinical nursing research in this region. This could reflect the shortage of nurses prepared to conduct research in this region. Nurses may find additional resources for evidence in the grey literature. A complete understanding of the state of nursing

The Relevance Of Research And Development (R&D) Programmes ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The purpose of this study was to assess the relevance of Research and Development (R&D) programmes of Nigerian universities in national development. Data was collected form 432 senior academic staff of five selected universities in Nigeria. Indicators of relevance such as quality, results, dissemination, utilization and ...

Reach and Relevance of Prison Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hilde Tubex

2015-04-01

Full Text Available In this contribution I reflect on the changes in the penal landscape and how they impact on prison research. I do this from my experiences as a prison researcher in a variety of roles, in both Europe and Australia. The growing dominance of managerialism has impacted on both corrective services and universities, in ways that have changed the relationship between current prison practices and academically oriented research. Therefore, academics have to question how their contemporary prison research can bridge the emerging gap: how they can not only produce research that adheres to the roots of criminology and provides a base for a rational penal policy, but also how they can develop strategies to get recognition of and funding for this broader contextual work which, although it might not produce results that are immediately identifiable, can be of relevance in indirect ways and in the longer term.

Trends in nursing ethics research: Mapping the literature production.

Science.gov (United States)

Blažun Vošner, Helena; Železnik, Danica; Kokol, Peter; Vošner, Janez; Završnik, Jernej

2017-12-01

There have been a number of debates in the field of nursing ethics. Researchers have focused on various aspects of nursing ethics, such as professional ethics, professional, nursing and ethical values. Within this research, a variety of literature reviews have been conducted, but to the best of our knowledge, bibliometric mapping has not yet been used. This article aims to analyse the production of literature within nursing ethics research. In order to examine publishing patterns, we focused on publishing dynamics, prolific research entities and the most-cited articles. We additionally visualised the content of the literature using a novel mixed-method approach, combining bibliometric analysis and mapping with thematic analysis. Ethical considerations: In our study, ethical review was not required. A total of 1416 information sources were found in the Scopus database. Overall, literature production has increased; however, in recent years, the quantity of published material has begun to decrease. The most prolific countries are the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and the most prolific source titles are Nursing Ethics, Journal of Advanced Nursing and Nursing Times. Lately, research in the field of nursing ethics has been focused more on life care (providing for the basic needs of older residents), moral distress and community nursing. The dynamics of research literature production showed an exponential rise in the number of published information sources - a rise which started in the period between 1974 and 1998. Since that period, the trend has stabilised, which might indicate that nursing ethics research is starting a transition to a mature phase. The innovative use of bibliometric analysis and mapping, together with thematic analysis, is a useful tool for analysis of research production in the field of nursing ethics. The results presented can be an excellent starting point for literature reviews and more exhaustive data, information and knowledge

Phenomenology: A Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Randles, Clint

2012-01-01

This article is a review of relevant literature on the use of phenomenology as a research methodology in education research, with a focus on music education research. The review is organized as follows: (a) general education, (b) music research, (c) music education research, (d) dissertations, (e) important figures, (f) themes, and (g) the future.…

The Imperative Of Literature Search For Research In Nigeria | Madu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper while advancing reasons for literature search described how the library can assist in literature search. It finally discussed the various approaches and levels of search especially on the web and the problems researchers are most likely to encounter. Keywords: Research, Literature Search, Nigeria. The Information ...

Finding "hard to find" literature on hard to find groups: A novel technique to search grey literature on refugees and asylum seekers.

Science.gov (United States)

Enticott, Joanne; Buck, Kimberly; Shawyer, Frances

2018-03-01

There is a lack of information on how to execute effective searches of the grey literature on refugee and asylum seeker groups for inclusion in systematic reviews. High-quality government reports and other grey literature relevant to refugees may not always be identified in conventional literature searches. During the process of conducting a recent systematic review, we developed a novel strategy for systematically searching international refugee and asylum seeker-related grey literature. The approach targets governmental health departments and statistical agencies, who have considerable access to refugee and asylum seeker populations for research purposes but typically do not publish findings in academic forums. Compared to a conventional grey literature search strategy, our novel technique yielded an eightfold increase in relevant high-quality grey sources that provided valuable content in informing our review. Incorporating a search of the grey literature into systematic reviews of refugee and asylum seeker research is essential to providing a more complete view of the evidence. Our novel strategy offers a practical and feasible method of conducting systematic grey literature searches that may be adaptable to a range of research questions, contexts, and resource constraints. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What is lost when searching only one literature database for articles relevant to injury prevention and safety promotion?

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, D W

2008-12-01

To assess what is lost if only one literature database is searched for articles relevant to injury prevention and safety promotion (IPSP) topics. Serial textword (keyword, free-text) searches using multiple synonym terms for five key IPSP topics (bicycle-related brain injuries, ethanol-impaired driving, house fires, road rage, and suicidal behaviors among adolescents) were conducted in four of the bibliographic databases that are most used by IPSP professionals: EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Through a systematic procedure, an inventory of articles on each topic in each database was conducted to identify the total unduplicated count of all articles on each topic, the number of articles unique to each database, and the articles available if only one database is searched. No single database included all of the relevant articles on any topic, and the database with the broadest coverage differed by topic. A search of only one literature database will return 16.7-81.5% (median 43.4%) of the available articles on any of five key IPSP topics. Each database contributed unique articles to the total bibliography for each topic. A literature search performed in only one database will, on average, lead to a loss of more than half of the available literature on a topic.

Culturally Relevant Literature: What Matters Most to Primary-Age Urban Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Cartledge, Gwendolyn; Keesey, Susan; Bennett, Jessica G.; Ramnath, Rajiv; Council, Morris R., III.

2016-01-01

The ratings and rationales primary-age urban learners gave culturally relevant reading passages was the focus of this descriptive study. First- and second-grade students each read 30 researcher-developed passages reflecting the students' immediate and historical backgrounds. The students rated the passages and gave a reason for their ratings. A…

Pathways to Advancing Aging Policy-Relevant Research in Academic Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Kietzman, Kathryn G; Troy, Lisa M; Green, Carmen R; Wallace, Steven P

2016-01-01

Policy-level changes have a significant influence on the health and well-being of aging populations. Yet there is often a gap between scientific knowledge and policy action. Although previous research has identified barriers and facilitators to effective knowledge translation, little attention has been given to the role of academic institutions in knowledge generation. This exploratory focus group study examines barriers and pathways to developing and maintaining an aging policy-relevant research agenda in academic settings, and additional challenges associated with minority group membership in this pursuit. Participants were personally committed to conducting policy-relevant research despite institutional barriers such as fewer funding opportunities and less value attributed to their research, particularly in the context of tenure and promotion. Although many viewed their research as an opportunity to make a difference, especially for underserved older adult populations, a number of minority group participants expressed that their policy research interests were marginalized. Participants offer individual and institutional-level strategies for addressing barriers, including collaborating with community members and colleagues and engaging mentors within and outside of their academic institutions. Reframing the valuation of policy research through the diversification of funding and publishing opportunities can better support scholars engaged in aging policy-relevant research.

Conducting research literature reviews from the internet to the paper

CERN Document Server

Fink, Arlene

2014-01-01

Providing readers with an accessible, in-depth look at how to synthesize research literature, Conducting Research Literature Reviews is perfect for students, researchers, marketers, planners, and policymakers who design and manage public and private agencies, conduct research studies, and prepare strategic plans and grant proposals. Bestselling author Arlene Fink shows readers how to explain the need for and significance of research, as well as how to explain a study’s findings. Offering a step-by-step approach to conducting literature reviews, the Fourth Edition features updated examples and covers: how to select databases and evaluate their quality; selecting and organizing key words and other terms in order to effectively search databases and the Web; setting standards for evaluating the quality of research and other literature; extracting and recording information from articles and studies; synthesizing what the reader finds either descriptively or via a meta-analysis; recording and storing the results ...

Text mining for literature review and knowledge discovery in cancer risk assessment and research.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Korhonen

Full Text Available Research in biomedical text mining is starting to produce technology which can make information in biomedical literature more accessible for bio-scientists. One of the current challenges is to integrate and refine this technology to support real-life scientific tasks in biomedicine, and to evaluate its usefulness in the context of such tasks. We describe CRAB - a fully integrated text mining tool designed to support chemical health risk assessment. This task is complex and time-consuming, requiring a thorough review of existing scientific data on a particular chemical. Covering human, animal, cellular and other mechanistic data from various fields of biomedicine, this is highly varied and therefore difficult to harvest from literature databases via manual means. Our tool automates the process by extracting relevant scientific data in published literature and classifying it according to multiple qualitative dimensions. Developed in close collaboration with risk assessors, the tool allows navigating the classified dataset in various ways and sharing the data with other users. We present a direct and user-based evaluation which shows that the technology integrated in the tool is highly accurate, and report a number of case studies which demonstrate how the tool can be used to support scientific discovery in cancer risk assessment and research. Our work demonstrates the usefulness of a text mining pipeline in facilitating complex research tasks in biomedicine. We discuss further development and application of our technology to other types of chemical risk assessment in the future.

Reconciling the Rigor-Relevance Dilemma in Intellectual Capital Research

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Andriessen, Daniel

2004-01-01

This paper raises the issue of research methodology for intellectual capital and other types of management research by focusing on the dilemma of rigour versus relevance. The more traditional explanatory approach to research often leads to rigorous results that are not of much help to solve practical problems. This paper describes an alternative…

Regional IS Knowledge Networks: Elaborating the Theme of Relevance of IS Research

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Mikael Söderström

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the theme of the relevance of IS research. Based on recent experiments and experiences in the borderland between research and practice and politics we suggest some additions to the discussion of the IS research relevance in Fitzgerald (2001. One addition concerns relevance to whom, where we suggest considering a regional relevance through cultivation of regional IS knowledge networks. Such networks comprise regional knowledge production in collaboration between researchers and practitioners, and results are made public and tested in other organizations in addition to the research sites. This is closely related to the view of knowledge and research put forward by American pragmatism. A second addition is to complement Fitzgerald's suggestion to expose researchers to practice with the suggestion to expose practitioners to research. It is just as difficult to learn the 'true nature' of research from reading the executive summary in MIS Quarterly as it is to learn the 'true nature' of practice from a couple of interviews with practitioners. A regional IS knowledge network is an excellent opportunity for such double exposure.

Searching the scientific literature: implications for quantitative and qualitative reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yelena P; Aylward, Brandon S; Roberts, Michael C; Evans, Spencer C

2012-08-01

Literature reviews are an essential step in the research process and are included in all empirical and review articles. Electronic databases are commonly used to gather this literature. However, several factors can affect the extent to which relevant articles are retrieved, influencing future research and conclusions drawn. The current project examined articles obtained by comparable search strategies in two electronic archives using an exemplar search to illustrate factors that authors should consider when designing their own search strategies. Specifically, literature searches were conducted in PsycINFO and PubMed targeting review articles on two exemplar disorders (bipolar disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and issues of classification and/or differential diagnosis. Articles were coded for relevance and characteristics of article content. The two search engines yielded significantly different proportions of relevant articles overall and by disorder. Keywords differed across search engines for the relevant articles identified. Based on these results, it is recommended that when gathering literature for review papers, multiple search engines should be used, and search syntax and strategies be tailored to the unique capabilities of particular engines. For meta-analyses and systematic reviews, authors may consider reporting the extent to which different archives or sources yielded relevant articles for their particular review. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bradford's Law and Its Relevance to Researchers

Science.gov (United States)

Shenton, Andrew K.; Hay-Gibson, Naomi V.

2009-01-01

Bradford's Law has been the subject of much discussion and analysis in library and information science since its formulation in the 1930s and remains frequently debated to this day. It has been applied to various practices within the discipline, especially with regard to collection development, but its relevance to researchers and the potential it…

Research on Entrepreneurial Intention: An Academic Literature Review and Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aqeel Israr

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to review the academic literature available in the field of Entrepreneurial Intention (EI, and conduct a content analysis of the same for the purpose of classification and provide a comprehensive bibliography. Emerald full text, online database was searched to review the available literature on EI. The search resulted in only 118 publications where EI was mentioned as the primary research topic. The sample was further refined to only include papers with empirical research in qualitative and quantitative realms. The resultant of the refined sample was 69 research publications, which were classified in to mutually exclusive categories. The content analysis led to classification of literature on the basis of six categories viz. Publication Year, Journal, Research Area, Research Type, Base Theory and Population. The study identifies the history of research on EI and hints towards future research prospects in research in terms of industry, area of study, methodology, type of study, etc. The paper provides a list of field projects accompanied by a comprehensive bibliography that will be useful to both academicians and practitioners for studying existing research as well as for contemplating future research. This may be considered as the basic compilation and classification of available literature in the field of EI.

Passive prosthetic hands and tools: A literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Maat, Bartjan; Smit, Gerwin; Plettenburg, Dick; Breedveld, Paul

2018-02-01

The group of passive prostheses consists of prosthetic hands and prosthetic tools. These can either be static or adjustable. Limited research and development on passive prostheses has been performed although many people use these prosthesis types. Although some publications describe passive prostheses, no recent review of the peer-reviewed literature on passive prostheses is available. Review the peer-reviewed literature on passive prostheses for replacement of the hand. Literature review. Four electronic databases were searched using a Boolean combination of relevant keywords. English-language articles relevant to the objective were selected. In all, 38 papers were included in the review. Publications on passive prosthetic hands describe their users, usage, functionality, and problems in activities of daily living. Publications on prosthetic tools mostly focus on sport, recreation, and vehicle driving. Passive hand prostheses receive little attention in prosthetic research and literature. Yet one out of three people with a limb deficiency uses this type of prosthesis. Literature indicates that passive prostheses can be improved on pulling and grasping functions. In the literature, ambiguous names are used for different types of passive prostheses. This causes confusion. We present a new and clear classification of passive prostheses. Clinical relevance This review provides information on the users of passive prosthetic hands and tools, their usage and the functionality. Passive prostheses receive very little attention and low appreciation in literature. Passive prosthetic hands and tools show to be useful to many unilateral amputees and should receive more attention and higher acceptance.

Using mixed methods to identify and answer clinically relevant research questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Shneerson, Catherine L; Gale, Nicola K

2015-06-01

The need for mixed methods research in answering health care questions is becoming increasingly recognized because of the complexity of factors that affect health outcomes. In this article, we argue for the value of using a qualitatively driven mixed method approach for identifying and answering clinically relevant research questions. This argument is illustrated by findings from a study on the self-management practices of cancer survivors and the exploration of one particular clinically relevant finding about higher uptake of self-management in cancer survivors who had received chemotherapy treatment compared with those who have not. A cross-sectional study generated findings that formed the basis for the qualitative study, by informing the purposive sampling strategy and generating new qualitative research questions. Using a quantitative research component to supplement a qualitative study can enhance the generalizability and clinical relevance of the findings and produce detailed, contextualized, and rich answers to research questions that would be unachievable through quantitative or qualitative methods alone. © The Author(s) 2015.

A systematic literature review of neuroimaging research on developmental stuttering between 1995 and 2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Etchell, Andrew C; Civier, Oren; Ballard, Kirrie J; Sowman, Paul F

2018-03-01

Stuttering is a disorder that affects millions of people all over the world. Over the past two decades, there has been a great deal of interest in investigating the neural basis of the disorder. This systematic literature review is intended to provide a comprehensive summary of the neuroimaging literature on developmental stuttering. It is a resource for researchers to quickly and easily identify relevant studies for their areas of interest and enable them to determine the most appropriate methodology to utilize in their work. The review also highlights gaps in the literature in terms of methodology and areas of research. We conducted a systematic literature review on neuroimaging studies on developmental stuttering according to the PRISMA guidelines. We searched for articles in the pubmed database containing "stuttering" OR "stammering" AND either "MRI", "PET", "EEG", "MEG", "TMS"or "brain" that were published between 1995/​01/​01 and 2016/​01/​01. The search returned a total of 359 items with an additional 26 identified from a manual search. Of these, there were a total of 111 full text articles that met criteria for inclusion in the systematic literature review. We also discuss neuroimaging studies on developmental stuttering published throughout 2016. The discussion of the results is organized first by methodology and second by population (i.e., adults or children) and includes tables that contain all items returned by the search. There are widespread abnormalities in the structural architecture and functional organization of the brains of adults and children who stutter. These are evident not only in speech tasks, but also non-speech tasks. Future research should make greater use of functional neuroimaging and noninvasive brain stimulation, and employ structural methodologies that have greater sensitivity. Newly planned studies should also investigate sex differences, focus on augmenting treatment, examine moments of dysfluency and longitudinally or

Using an Ishikawa diagram as a tool to assist memory and retrieval of relevant medical cases from the medical literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Kam Cheong

2011-03-29

Studying medical cases is an effective way to enhance clinical reasoning skills and reinforce clinical knowledge. An Ishikawa diagram, also known as a cause-and-effect diagram or fishbone diagram, is often used in quality management in manufacturing industries.In this report, an Ishikawa diagram is used to demonstrate how to relate potential causes of a major presenting problem in a clinical setting. This tool can be used by teams in problem-based learning or in self-directed learning settings.An Ishikawa diagram annotated with references to relevant medical cases and literature can be continually updated and can assist memory and retrieval of relevant medical cases and literature. It could also be used to cultivate a lifelong learning habit in medical professionals.

Using an Ishikawa diagram as a tool to assist memory and retrieval of relevant medical cases from the medical literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wong Kam Cheong

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Studying medical cases is an effective way to enhance clinical reasoning skills and reinforce clinical knowledge. An Ishikawa diagram, also known as a cause-and-effect diagram or fishbone diagram, is often used in quality management in manufacturing industries. In this report, an Ishikawa diagram is used to demonstrate how to relate potential causes of a major presenting problem in a clinical setting. This tool can be used by teams in problem-based learning or in self-directed learning settings. An Ishikawa diagram annotated with references to relevant medical cases and literature can be continually updated and can assist memory and retrieval of relevant medical cases and literature. It could also be used to cultivate a lifelong learning habit in medical professionals.

[Systematic literature search in PubMed : A short introduction].

Science.gov (United States)

Blümle, A; Lagrèze, W A; Motschall, E

2018-03-01

In order to identify current (and relevant) evidence for a specific clinical question within the unmanageable amount of information available, solid skills in performing a systematic literature search are essential. An efficient approach is to search a biomedical database containing relevant literature citations of study reports. The best known database is MEDLINE, which is searchable for free via the PubMed interface. In this article, we explain step by step how to perform a systematic literature search via PubMed by means of an example research question in the field of ophthalmology. First, we demonstrate how to translate the clinical problem into a well-framed and searchable research question, how to identify relevant search terms and how to conduct a text word search and a search with keywords in medical subject headings (MeSH) terms. We then show how to limit the number of search results if the search yields too many irrelevant hits and how to increase the number in the case of too few citations. Finally, we summarize all essential principles that guide a literature search via PubMed.

An overview of research designs relevant to nursing: Part 1: quantitative research designs

OpenAIRE

Sousa,Valmi D.; Driessnack,Martha; Mendes,Isabel Amélia Costa

2007-01-01

This three part series of articles provides a brief overview of relevant research designs in nursing. The first article in the series presents the most frequently used quantitative research designs. Strategies for non-experimental and experimental research designs used to generate and refine nursing knowledge are described. In addition, the importance of quantitative designs and the role they play in developing evidence-based practice are discussed. Nursing care needs to be determined by the ...

Finding potentially new multimorbidity patterns of psychiatric and somatic diseases: exploring the use of literature-based discovery in primary care research.

Science.gov (United States)

Vos, Rein; Aarts, Sil; van Mulligen, Erik; Metsemakers, Job; van Boxtel, Martin P; Verhey, Frans; van den Akker, Marjan

2014-01-01

Multimorbidity, the co-occurrence of two or more chronic medical conditions within a single individual, is increasingly becoming part of daily care of general medical practice. Literature-based discovery may help to investigate the patterns of multimorbidity and to integrate medical knowledge for improving healthcare delivery for individuals with co-occurring chronic conditions. To explore the usefulness of literature-based discovery in primary care research through the key-case of finding associations between psychiatric and somatic diseases relevant to general practice in a large biomedical literature database (Medline). By using literature based discovery for matching disease profiles as vectors in a high-dimensional associative concept space, co-occurrences of a broad spectrum of chronic medical conditions were matched for their potential in biomedicine. An experimental setting was chosen in parallel with expert evaluations and expert meetings to assess performance and to generate targets for integrating literature-based discovery in multidisciplinary medical research of psychiatric and somatic disease associations. Through stepwise reductions a reference set of 21,945 disease combinations was generated, from which a set of 166 combinations between psychiatric and somatic diseases was selected and assessed by text mining and expert evaluation. Literature-based discovery tools generate specific patterns of associations between psychiatric and somatic diseases: one subset was appraised as promising for further research; the other subset surprised the experts, leading to intricate discussions and further eliciting of frameworks of biomedical knowledge. These frameworks enable us to specify targets for further developing and integrating literature-based discovery in multidisciplinary research of general practice, psychology and psychiatry, and epidemiology.

Comparing Amazon's Mechanical Turk Platform to Conventional Data Collection Methods in the Health and Medical Research Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Mortensen, Karoline; Hughes, Taylor L

2018-04-01

The goal of this article is to conduct an assessment of the peer-reviewed primary literature with study objectives to analyze Amazon.com 's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) as a research tool in a health services research and medical context. Searches of Google Scholar and PubMed databases were conducted in February 2017. We screened article titles and abstracts to identify relevant articles that compare data from MTurk samples in a health and medical context to another sample, expert opinion, or other gold standard. Full-text manuscript reviews were conducted for the 35 articles that met the study criteria. The vast majority of the studies supported the use of MTurk for a variety of academic purposes. The literature overwhelmingly concludes that MTurk is an efficient, reliable, cost-effective tool for generating sample responses that are largely comparable to those collected via more conventional means. Caveats include survey responses may not be generalizable to the US population.

Open innovation: A literature review and recommendations for family business research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brinkerink, Jasper; van Gils, Anita; Bammens, Yannick; Carree, Martin; Kellermanns, Franz; Hoy, Frank

2017-01-01

We review the literature on open innovation in the context of SMEs and specifically focus on the relevance of this innovation paradigm for the family firms among these businesses. We explore the potential benefits of opening up the innovation process, as well as inhibiting factors identified in the

Some aspects of research relevant to environment radiochemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Shi; Ma Mingxie

1997-01-01

The authors suggest some research aspects relevant to environmental radiochemistry from the view point of environmental protection and radiation protection: the migration behavior of radionuclides, their interaction with environment medium and their speciation in environment. The status and prospect of these aspects and the relationship between them are discussed

Resource-efficient supply chains: a research framework, literature review and research agenda

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Matopoulos, A.; Barros, A.C.; Vorst, van der J.G.A.J.

2015-01-01

Purpose – The study aims to define a research agenda for creating resource-efficient supply chains (RESCs) by identifying and analysing their key characteristics as well as future research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – We follow a systematic review method to analyse the literature and

Research trends on Big Data in Marketing: A text mining and topic modeling based literature analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra Amado

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Given the research interest on Big Data in Marketing, we present a research literature analysis based on a text mining semi-automated approach with the goal of identifying the main trends in this domain. In particular, the analysis focuses on relevant terms and topics related with five dimensions: Big Data, Marketing, Geographic location of authors’ affiliation (countries and continents, Products, and Sectors. A total of 1560 articles published from 2010 to 2015 were scrutinized. The findings revealed that research is bipartite between technological and research domains, with Big Data publications not clearly aligning cutting edge techniques toward Marketing benefits. Also, few inter-continental co-authored publications were found. Moreover, findings show that research in Big Data applications to Marketing is still in an embryonic stage, thus making it essential to develop more direct efforts toward business for Big Data to thrive in the Marketing arena.

Literature in Indigenous Language: Its Relevance to Human ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper therefore argues that since human development have to do with human mind, literature (as genre) in indigenous language such as Igbo as a school subject at all levels of education and as well as reading it for leisure will obviously play important role in achieving good human development index. Igbo literature in ...

Methods for Involving Older People in Health Research-A Review of the Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Schilling, Imke; Gerhardus, Ansgar

2017-11-29

Demographic change has increased the need for research on healthcare for older people. Recently there has been a growing awareness that research might benefit from actively involving patients and the public in study design and conduct. Besides empowering patients and democratizing research, involvement enhances the quality of research and the development of equitable healthcare solutions. Little is known about how to involve older people. This review aims to support scientists intending to involve older people in health research by systematically identifying and describing studies involving older people and analyzing associated facilitators and challenges. Old people were operationalized as people living with old-age-related conditions. We conducted a systematic search in PubMed, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), and Cochrane library for the period 2007 to July 2017 and also manually searched reference lists of the nine retrieved articles and other relevant sources. While involvement of older people in research is feasible, specific challenges related to this group need be taken into account. Strategies to enhance effective involvement comprise a thoughtful choice of location, use of visualization and accessible communication, building good relationships and flexible approaches. Further research is needed on the involvement of people in care homes or with vision, hearing or mobility limitations.

Possible Biases of Researchers' Attitudes Toward Video Games: Publication Trends Analysis of the Medical Literature (1980-2013).

Science.gov (United States)

Segev, Aviv; Rovner, Mitchell; Appel, David Ian; Abrams, Aaron W; Rotem, Michal; Bloch, Yuval

2016-07-18

The study of video games is expanding, and so is the debate regarding their possible positive and deleterious effects. As controversies continue, several researchers have expressed their concerns about substantial biases existing in the field, which might lead to the creation of a skewed picture, both in the professional and in the lay literature. However, no study has tried to examine this issue quantitatively. The objective of our study was to examine possible systematic biases in the literature, by analyzing the publication trends of the medical and life sciences literature regarding video games. We performed a complete and systematic PubMed search up to December 31, 2013. We assessed all 1927 articles deemed relevant for their attitude toward video games according to the focus, hypothesis, and authors' interpretation of the study results, using a 3-category outcome (positive, negative, and neutral). We assessed the prevalence of different attitudes for possible association with year of publication, location of researchers, academic discipline, methodological research, and centrality of the publishing journals. The attitude toward video games presented in publications varied by year of publication, location, academic discipline, and methodological research applied (Pimpact factor (Pvideo games. Readers, both lay and professional, should weigh these contextual variables when interpreting studies' results, in light of the possible bias they carry. The results also support a need for a more balanced, open-minded approach toward video games, as it is likely that this complex phenomenon carries novel opportunities as well as new hazards.

Exploring Ethnohistory and Indigenous Scholarship: What Is the Relevance to Educational Historians?

Science.gov (United States)

McGregor, Heather E.

2014-01-01

For educational historians involved in the representation of Indigenous contexts and peoples, what is the relevance of ethnohistory as a discipline or methodology, and what is lost or gained in using it? This article reviews ethnohistorical literature, and brings it in conversation with literature by Indigenous scholars on research methodologies,…

Women's experiences of mammography: A thematic evaluation of the literature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, Sarah; Reeves, Pauline J.

2015-01-01

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse relevant literature to understand women's experiences of mammography-both screening and symptomatic. Method: A structured literature search was performed to locate relevant research. Research articles published between 2002 and 2013 were identified in CINAHL, MEDLINE and Science Direct. The quality of the research was assessed using an appropriate critical appraisal tool to enable a systematic and consistent assessment. Results: Qualitative thematic analysis of the literature identified five themes: fear, pain and discomfort, waiting, the physical environment and staff interactions. Whilst it is accepted that women's experiences are unique and diverse, literature suggested that these themes do influence women's experiences. Conclusion: Women's experiences of mammography were not limited to the examinations alone but encompassed the entire encounter. The themes identified influenced women's experiences and their perception of care

Identifying Relevant Studies in Software Engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, He; Ali Babar, Muhammad; Tell, Paolo

2011-01-01

Context: Systematic literature review (SLR) has become an important research methodology in software engineering since the introduction of evidence-based software engineering (EBSE) in 2004. One critical step in applying this methodology is to design and execute appropriate and effective search....... Objective: The main objective of the research reported in this paper is to improve the search step of undertaking SLRs in software engineering (SE) by devising and evaluating systematic and practical approaches to identifying relevant studies in SE. Method: We have systematically selected and analytically...

Researching the Real: Transforming the Science Fair through Relevant and Authentic Research

Science.gov (United States)

Davidson, Rosemary McBryan

This teacher research study documents the processes used to help students in an all-female, religious-based high school create science fair projects that are personally meaningful, scientifically sophisticated and up-to date in terms of science content. One-hundred sixteen young women in an honors chemistry class were introduced by their teacher to the methods used by science journalists when researching and crafting articles. The students then integrated these strategies into their science fair research through collaborative classroom activities designed by their teacher. Data collected during the process included audio and video tapes of classroom activities, student interviews, process work, finished projects, email conversations and the reflective journaling, annotated lesson plans, and memories of the lived experience by the teacher. The pedagogical changes which resulted from this project included the use of Read Aloud-Think Alouds (RATA) to introduce content and provide relevance, a discussion based topic selection process, the encouragement of relevant topic choices, the increased use of technology for learning activities and for sharing research, and an experimental design process driven by the student's personally relevant, topic choice. Built in feedback loops, provided by the teacher, peer editors and an outside editor, resulted in multiple revisions and expanded opportunities for communicating results to the community-at-large. Greater student engagement in science fair projects was evident: questioning for understanding, active involvement in decision making, collaboration within the classroom community, experience and expertise with reading, writing and the use of technology, sense of agency and interest in science related activities and careers all increased. Students communicated their evolving practices within the school community and became leaders who promoted the increased use of technology in all of their classes. Integrating journalistic

Interpreting Undergraduate Research Posters in the Literature Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Manarin, Karen

2016-01-01

This essay explores the use of undergraduate research posters in English literature classrooms; at the same time, it argues for a scholarship of teaching and learning responsive to how meaning is constructed in the arts and humanities. Our scholarly practice requires interaction with texts and with each other, yet the undergraduate research paper…

Does a 3-week critical research appraisal course affect how students perceive their appraisal skills and the relevance of research for clinical practice? A repeated cross-sectional survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Jelsness-Jørgensen, Lars-Petter

2015-01-01

Research utilisation is essential in developing evidence-based practices; although many students may be generally able to adopt such skills, there are reports of barriers related to critical appraisal skills. To explore how students perceive the relevance of research to future clinical practice and patients, and to what extent they read research (including reading pattern). Additionally, the objective was to explore whether a three-week intensive course in critical appraisal of research could affect these variables. A cross-sectional survey design, with a pre- and post-test. One large university college in Southeastern Norway. 196 multidisciplinary healthcare students at baseline and 147 after three weeks. A purposely-designed 21 item questionnaire was used to quantify students' attitudes towards using research and critical thinking. The questionnaire was based on themes emerging from prior focus group interviews with 10 nursing and social educator students as well as from the existing literature. At baseline, 6.1% and 7.1% of respondents perceived the research to be of little or very little importance for their future work and patients, respectively. Furthermore, 83.2% reported that they seldom or very seldom read scientific papers. At baseline, 40 different patterns of reading a scientific paper were identified. Additionally, 7.1% of respondents reported to read the introduction, methods and conclusion in combination. Significantly improved scores were found after completing the three-week course related to a) relevance of research for future work (pskills in critical appraisal (pstudents' practical critical appraisal skills improved their view of the relevance of research for patients, future work as well as their own critical appraisal skills. Prospective studies are warranted to explore the effects of such teaching modules in the long-term. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Synthesis of the Literature on Research Methods Education

Science.gov (United States)

Earley, Mark A.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this research synthesis is to examine the current research on teaching and learning research methods. The aims are to understand the themes present in the current literature and identify gaps in our understanding of how we teach, and how students learn, research methods. A synthesis of 89 studies generated three themes: (1)…

Using Restaurant Reviews to Teach How to Write Literature Reviews

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Kelli Jean K.; Ferris, Sharmila Pixy

2017-01-01

Courses: Any communication course requiring a literature review, including, but is not limited to, Communication Research Methods and Communication Theory. Objectives: After completing this activity, students should be able to write better literature reviews by (1) locating a range of resources; (2) identifying a variety of relevant information…

Using Q Methodology in the Literature Review Process: A Mixed Research Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J.; Frels, Rebecca K.

2015-01-01

Because of the mixed research-based nature of literature reviews, it is surprising, then, that insufficient information has been provided as to how reviewers can incorporate mixed research approaches into their literature reviews. Thus, in this article, we provide a mixed methods research approach--Q methodology--for analyzing information…

The clinical relevance and newsworthiness of NIHR HTA-funded research: a cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, D; Young, A; Iserman, E; Maeso, R; Turner, S; Haynes, R B; Milne, R

2014-05-07

To assess the clinical relevance and newsworthiness of the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme funded reports. Retrospective cohort study. The cohort included 311 NIHR HTA Programme funded reports publishing in HTA in the period 1 January 2007-31 December 2012. The McMaster Online Rating of Evidence (MORE) system independently identified the clinical relevance and newsworthiness of NIHR HTA publications and non-NIHR HTA publications. The MORE system involves over 4000 physicians rating publications on a scale of relevance (the extent to which articles are relevant to practice) and a scale of newsworthiness (the extent to which articles contain news or something clinicians are unlikely to know). The proportion of reports published in HTA meeting MORE inclusion criteria and mean average relevance and newsworthiness ratings were calculated and compared with publications from the same studies publishing outside HTA and non-NIHR HTA funded publications. 286/311 (92.0%) of NIHR HTA reports were assessed by MORE, of which 192 (67.1%) passed MORE criteria. The average clinical relevance rating for NIHR HTA reports was 5.48, statistically higher than the 5.32 rating for non-NIHR HTA publications (mean difference=0.16, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.29, p=0.01). Average newsworthiness ratings were similar between NIHR HTA reports and non-NIHR HTA publications (4.75 and 4.70, respectively; mean difference=0.05, 95% CI -0.18 to 0.07, p=0.402). NIHR HTA-funded original research reports were statistically higher for newsworthiness than reviews (5.05 compared with 4.64) (mean difference=0.41, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.64, p=0.001). Funding research of clinical relevance is important in maximising the value of research investment. The NIHR HTA Programme is successful in funding projects that generate outputs of clinical relevance.

Clinical relevance of metronidazole and peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Goolsby, Tiffany A; Jakeman, Bernadette; Gaynes, Robert P

2018-03-01

The objective of this paper was to review and evaluate the literature on metronidazole-associated peripheral neuropathy and determine the relevance in clinical practice. MEDLINE/PubMed, EBSCO, and Google Scholar were searched through February 2017 using the search terms metronidazole and peripheral neuropathy, or polyneuropathy, or paresthesia, or neurotoxicity. Relevant case reports, retrospective studies, surveys, and review articles were included. Bibliographies of all relevant articles were reviewed for additional sources. Overall, metronidazole is generally well tolerated, but serious neurotoxicity, including peripheral neuropathy, has been reported. The overall incidence of peripheral neuropathy associated with metronidazole is unknown. Our review found 36 case reports (40 unique patients) of metronidazole-associated peripheral neuropathy, with most cases (31/40) receiving a >42 g total (>4 weeks) of therapy. In addition, we reviewed 13 clinical studies and found varying rates of peripheral neuropathy from 0 to 50%. Within these clinical studies, we found a higher incidence of peripheral neuropathy in patients receiving >42 g total (>4 weeks) of metronidazole compared with those patients receiving ≤42 g total (17.9% vs. 1.7%). Nearly all patients had complete resolution of symptoms. In conclusion, peripheral neuropathy is rare in patients who receive ≤42 g total of metronidazole. Patients who receive higher total doses may be at higher risk of peripheral neuropathy, but symptoms resolve after discontinuation of therapy in most patients. Antimicrobial stewardship programs may consider use of antibiotic combinations that include metronidazole over broad-spectrum alternatives when treating with ≤42 g total of the drug (≤4 weeks). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Dimensions of Ideology. A Review of Social-Psychological Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bojan Todosijević

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In social psychological literature, ideology is typically conceived as a relatively stable and organized set of general orientations that include interrelated attitudes grouped according to various sources of constraint, such as psychological disposition, general values, or ideological traditions. The paper reviews social-psychological literature on the organization of social attitudes. Research on this topic started nearly eight decades ago, inspired by the research on the structure of intellectual abilities. Since then, a large body of literature has been generated, which has not been systematically reviewed. Despite the long tradition, this literature has not resulted in proportional cumulative scientific development. The review should help improving this situation by listing the relevant studies, examining the research methodology and the main findings. The review ends with the critical summary of the man findings and methodological problems, and recommendations for the future research.

The Role of Relevance in Education Research, as Viewed by Former Presidents

Science.gov (United States)

Snow, Catherine E.

2016-01-01

American Educational Research Association presidents' presidential addresses have only intermittently considered relevance as a criterion of quality for education research. A few, though, argued that education research could only distinguish itself from research in the disciplines through attention to improving educational outcomes. David…

Relevant problems in collaborative processes of non-hierarchical manufacturing networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beatriz Andrés

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify some of existing problems associated with collaboration among SMEs of the same network. Concretely, the problems are focused. The research objective is to identify the most relevant problems existing when SMEs have to deal with decentralized decisions (DDM. Design/methodology/approach: Through the literature review there have been collected collaborative problems caused by inter-organizational barriers. The approach taken is a qualitative study and analysis that classifies collaborative problems from less important to very important. In light of this, we are able to identify what are the most relevant problems to study in the NHN collaborative context. Findings and Originality/value: The developed methodology allows researchers to indentify amongst the collaborative problems those that are most relevant to solve in the NHN context, with the main aim of providing solutions in the future. The research aim is to provide the expert in the collaborative field a starting point to address the collaborative problems SMEs can find when belonging to collaborative networks. Research limitations/implications: Not all the problems that appear when an SME establish collaborative relationships, in a NHN, are considered. The identified problems have been arisen because there are discussed in the literature for addressing collaborative problems among networked partners. Identified problems are also considered because there are relevant to achieve collaboration among SMEs. Originality/value: The degree of coverage and the degree of significance is the taxonomy criteria used to identify the importance of solution degree of the encountered collaborative problems, in NHN context, in order to provide a future research of solutions to overcome them.

Epistolary Literature and Journalism: Theoretical and Practical Aspects

Science.gov (United States)

Toktagazin, Muratbek B.; Adilbekova, Lazzat M.; Ussen, Aigul A.; Nurtazina, Roza A.; Tastan, Tastanbek R.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the research problem is caused by the lack of a single complete system for determining the subgenre differences in the epistolary genre in literary criticism. Thus, this research is devoted to the problem of clarification of the difference between epistolary literature and epistolary journalism in their development over time. The…

Transversal Traits in Science Education Research Relevant for Teaching and Research: A Meta-Interpretative Study

Science.gov (United States)

Lopes, J. Bernardino; Silva, Antonio Alberto; Cravino, Jose P.; Costa, Nilza; Marques, Luis; Campos, Carlos

2008-01-01

This study is a meta-interpretative analysis that focuses on research conducted and published by other researchers. Concepts central to this study include global practical relevance, curriculum design, and formative situation. We analyzed 35 studies selected from 374 published studies in the years 2000 and 2001 in three journals referenced in the…

Getting meaningful informed consent from older adults: a structured literature review of empirical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Sugarman, J; McCrory, D C; Hubal, R C

1998-04-01

To perform a structured literature review of the published empirical research on informed consent with older adults in order to make recommendations to improve the informed consent process and to highlight areas needing further examination. Relevant literature was identified by searching electronic databases (AGELINE, BIOETHICSLINE, CancerLit, Ethics Index, Health, LegalTrac, MEDLINE, PAIS International, PsycInfo, and Sociofile). Studies were included if they were reports of primary research data about informed consent and, if patients or other subjects were used, older subjects were included in the sample. Data related to the aspect of informed consent under study (recruitment, decision-making capacity, voluntariness, disclosure of information, understanding of information, consent forms, authorization, and policies and procedures) were abstracted and entered into a specially designed database. Characterization of the population, age of subjects, setting, whether informed consent was being studied in the context of research or treatment, study design, the nature of outcome or dependent variables, independent variables (e.g., experimental conditions in a randomized controlled trial or patient/subject characteristics in a nonrandomized comparison), and results according to the aspect of informed consent under study. A total of 99 articles met all the inclusion criteria and posed 289 unique research questions covering a wide range of aspects of informed consent: recruitment (60); decision making capacity (21); voluntariness (6); disclosure (30); understanding (139); consent forms (7); authorization (11); policies (13); and other (2). In the secondary analyses of numerous studies, diminished understanding of informed consent information was associated with older age and fewer years of education. Older age was also sometimes associated with decreased participation in research. Studies of disclosure of informed consent information suggest strategies to improve

Developing independent investigators for clinical research relevant for Africa

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Manabe, Yukari C

2011-12-29

Abstract Sustainable research capacity building requires training individuals at multiple levels within a supportive institutional infrastructure to develop a critical mass of independent researchers. At many African medical institutions, a PhD is important for academic promotion and is, therefore, an important focal area for capacity building programs. We examine the training at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) as a model for in-country training based on systems capacity building and attention to the academic environment. PhD training in Africa should provide a strong research foundation for individuals to perform independent, original research and to mentor others. Training the next generation of researchers within excellent indigenous academic centers of excellence with strong institutional infrastructure will empower trainees to ask regionally relevant research questions that will benefit Africans.

Children's Literature in the Undergraduate Course on Communication Research Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Daniel S.

2010-01-01

Objective: Students will develop positive attitudes toward communication research by linking new values and principles with the familiar values and principles contained in children's literature. Course: Communication Research Methods.

Availability, quality and relevance of toxicogenomics data for human health risk assessment: A scoping review of the literature on trihalomethanes.

Science.gov (United States)

Vachon, Julien; Pagé-Larivière, Florence; Sirard, Marc-André; Rodriguez, Manuel J; Levallois, Patrick; Campagna, Céline

2018-03-05

Human health risk assessment (HHRA) must be adapted to the challenges of the 21st century, and the use of toxicogenomics data in HHRA is among the changes that regulatory agencies worldwide are trying to implement. However, the use of toxicogenomics data in HHRA is still limited. The purpose of this study was to explore the availability, quality and relevance to HHRA of toxicogenomics publications as potential barriers to their use in HHRA. We conducted a scoping review of available toxicogenomics literature, using trihalomethanes as a case study. Four bibliographic databases (including the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database) were assessed. An evaluation table was developed to characterise quality and relevance of studies included on the basis of criteria proposed in the literature. Studies were selected and analysed by two independent reviewers. Only nine studies, published between 1997 and 2015, were included in the analysis. Based on the selected criteria, critical methodological details were often missing; in fact, only three out of nine studies were considered to be of adequate quality for HHRA. No studies met more than three (out of seven) criteria of relevance to HHRA (e.g. adequate number of doses and sample size, etc.). This first scoping review of toxicogenomics publications on trihalomethanes shows that low availability, quality and relevance to HHRA of toxicogenomics publications presents potential barriers to their use in HHRA. Improved reporting of methodological details and study design is needed in the future so that toxicogenomics studies can be appropriately assessed regarding their quality and value for HHRA.

Making Deferred Taxes Relevant

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouwer, Arjan; Naarding, Ewout

2018-01-01

We analyse the conceptual problems in current accounting for deferred taxes and provide solutions derived from the literature in order to make International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) deferred tax numbers value-relevant. In our view, the empirical results concerning the value relevance of

Research Courses in Education Leadership Programs: Relevance in an Era of Accountability

Science.gov (United States)

Bustamante, Rebecca M.; Combs, Julie P.

2011-01-01

Master's degree research course offerings of 72 university education leadership programs were examined to explore how relevant the courses were to the inquiry needs of practicing school leaders. Research course titles and descriptions were analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed considerable variation in research course requirements,…

How to search for and use 'grey literature' in research.

Science.gov (United States)

Coad, Jane; Hardicre, Jayne; Devitt, Patric

An ever-growing amount of grey literature is available to nurses, including oral presentations, personal communication, leaflets, newspapers and magazines, unpublished research, internal reports and minutes of meetings. It can be an invaluable research resource.

Literature overview for greenhouse effect part VI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orthofer, R.; Nevyjel, A.

1997-10-01

On behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Environment, Youth and Family Affairs the current scientific and technical literature in the subject area of greenhouse effect and global climatic change is investigated by performing quarterly on-line retrieval searches in the databases Compendex, Enviroline, NTIS and ULIT. This report contains the research results of the period of September to December 1996. From the observed 199 citations the most significant 50 citations were selected, evaluated and summarised in a literature review. Relevant topics are (1) research on causes, effects and modelling, (2) possible agricultural, technical, economic and political control measures, (3) strategies and actions taken in various countries, and (4) international co-ordination. The review is based on the abstracts from the databases and for the most interesting publications - from the original literature. Five similar reports have been published previously which cover the literature since January 1994. (author)

QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goutam Kumar Kundu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of existing research and present a holistic understanding of quality in higher education. This literature review builds on major sources of relevant research relating to educational quality methodologies, quality literacy and multi-dimensional concept of quality. The paper attempts to understand quality in education as a relationship amongst all the participants and resources of an educational institution. Based on the results of the literature review, the paper attempts to establish the foundation for a comprehensive understanding and analysis of quality focussing on higher education. This literature review provides a frame of reference that serves as a basis for future research regarding role of quality in education.

Role of ghrelin in drug abuse and reward-relevant behaviors: a burgeoning field and gaps in the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Revitsky, A R; Klein, L C

2013-09-01

Ghrelin is a gut-brain hormone that regulates energy balance through food consumption. While ghrelin is well known for its role in hypothalamic activation and homeostatic feeding, more recent evidence suggests that ghrelin also is involved in hedonic feeding through the dopaminergic reward pathway. This paper investigated how ghrelin administration (intraperitoneal, intracerebroventricular, or directly into dopaminergic reward-relevant brain regions) activates the dopaminergic reward pathway and associated reward-relevant behavioral responses in rodents. A total of 19 empirical publications that examined one or more of these variables were included in this review. Overall, ghrelin administration increases dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens, as well as reward-relevant behaviors such as food (both standard chow and palatable foods) and alcohol consumption. Ghrelin administration also increases operant responding for sucrose, and conditioned place preference. Following a review of the small body of literature examining the effects of ghrelin administration on the dopamine reward pathway, we present a model of the relationship between ghrelin and dopaminergic reward activation. Specifically, ghrelin acts on ghrelin receptors (GHS-R1A) in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and lateral dorsal tegmental nucleus (LDTg) to stimulate the mesolimbic dopamine reward pathway, which results in increased rewarding behaviors in rodents. Results from this review suggest that selective antagonism of the ghrelin system may serve as potential treatment for addictive drug use. This review highlights gaps in the literature, including a lack of examination of sex- or age-related differences in the effects of ghrelin on dopamine reward processes. In light of vulnerability to drug abuse among female and adolescent populations, future studies should target these individual difference factors.

Challenges Confronting Beginning Researchers in Conducting Literature Reviews

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Der-Thanq; Wang, Yu-Mei; Lee, Wei Ching

2016-01-01

Conducting literature review is a complicated, sometimes confusing and laborious process that beginning educational researchers, especially graduate students, often find challenging. However, in the past these challenges were hardly considered, but in more recent times they have been increasingly considered by various faculties and graduate…

Literature search strategies for interdisciplinary research a sourcebook for scientists and engineers

CERN Document Server

Ackerson, Linda G

2006-01-01

The amount of published literature can be overwhelming for scientists and researchers moving from a broad disciplinary research area to a more specialized one, particularly in fields that use information from more than one discipline. Without a focused inquiry, the researcher may find too little information or may be overcome by too much. Striking the correct balance of information is the focus of Literature Search Strategies for Interdisciplinary Research. This useful reference tool studies diverse interdisciplinary areas revealing the general and individual qualities that dictate the strateg

Utopia documents: linking scholarly literature with research data.

Science.gov (United States)

Attwood, T K; Kell, D B; McDermott, P; Marsh, J; Pettifer, S R; Thorne, D

2010-09-15

In recent years, the gulf between the mass of accumulating-research data and the massive literature describing and analyzing those data has widened. The need for intelligent tools to bridge this gap, to rescue the knowledge being systematically isolated in literature and data silos, is now widely acknowledged. To this end, we have developed Utopia Documents, a novel PDF reader that semantically integrates visualization and data-analysis tools with published research articles. In a successful pilot with editors of the Biochemical Journal (BJ), the system has been used to transform static document features into objects that can be linked, annotated, visualized and analyzed interactively (http://www.biochemj.org/bj/424/3/). Utopia Documents is now used routinely by BJ editors to mark up article content prior to publication. Recent additions include integration of various text-mining and biodatabase plugins, demonstrating the system's ability to seamlessly integrate on-line content with PDF articles. http://getutopia.com.

Research Trends of Inland Terminals: A Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomislav Rožić

2016-10-01

and revised. The review will summarize the literature related to development, classification, technological processes and location of inland terminals. In the end, the paper identifies a new proposition for further research based on the current trends and developments in inland terminals as an important factor of intermodal transport.

Dream Interpretation as a Component of Researcher's Reflexivity within an Ethnographic Research

Science.gov (United States)

Miškolci, Jozef

2015-01-01

Researchers' "reflexivity" about how they shape the phenomena that they study within the data collection process is often presented as a crucial component of ethnographic research methodology. Nevertheless, academic literature about ethnography is mostly silent around whether researchers' dreams are relevant to the research process and…

Subject, function, and trend in medical ethics research: a comparative study of Chinese and non-Chinese literature using bibliometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Lanhui; Shen, Jiantong; Li, Youping; Deng, Shaolin; Wu, Taixiang; Chen, Baoqing; Xie, Zhiyi; Qin, Chaoyi; Yu, Zhiyuan; Qin, Chuan; Huang, Jin; Liu, Xuemei; Li, Yan; Jiang, Jie

2012-05-01

To perform a comparative quantitative and qualitative analysis of Chinese and non-Chinese medical ethics literature using systematic research and literature analysis in order to discern research trends in the area and provide baseline data as a reference for relevant decision making and further study. We retrieved articles using MeSH terms and keywords related to medical ethics in PubMed and CNKI, and then constructed a set of charts by applying word co-occurrence, The Pathfinder Networks algorithms, an included subject chart, a research field relationship chart, and strategy coordination charts. The total of number of papers retrieved from PubMed was six times that retrieved from CNKI. Outside China, medical ethics has been studied in eight fully shaped subject fields, including morals, ethical review, physician-patient relationships, clinical trials, euthanasia, ethics education, clinical ethics, and health policy. In contrast, medical ethics research in China is still confined to five subject fields: morals, physician-patient relations, medical ethics education, ethical review, and medical research. Medical ethics research outside China emphasizes the application of medical ethics to solve emerging problems in clinical and medical research. It is mainly centered on morals, ethical review, and physician-patient relations. By comparison, medical ethics research in China places greater emphasis on morals and medical education. In order to narrow this gap between China and other countries, we should broaden the research scope of medical ethics and add more applied research, such as ethical review and medical education. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University.

Research Courses in Education Leadership Programs: Relevance in an Era of Accountability

OpenAIRE

Rebecca M. Bustamante; Julie P. Combs

2011-01-01

Master’s degree research course offerings of 72 university education leadership programs were examined to explore how relevant the courses were to the inquiry needs of practicing school leaders. Research course titles and descriptions were analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed considerable variation in research course requirements, course titles, and course descriptions. Analysis of course descriptions indicated minimal emphasis on the research skills required for school improvem...

Knowledge Management in Startups: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

OpenAIRE

Piera Centobelli; Roberto Cerchione; Emilio Esposito

2017-01-01

This paper conducts a systematic literature review on knowledge management (KM) in the context of startups in order to analyze the state of the art, identify research gaps and define a future research agenda. The main findings highlight that, even though there is an increasing number of papers on the topic of KM in startups, several issues are still neglected. Specifically, the paper identifies four main gaps in the body of literature. The first gap deals with the environmental and socio-poli...

Discourses and Theoretical Assumptions in IT Project Portfolio Management: A Review of the Literature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Lars Kristian

2014-01-01

These years increasing interest is put on IT project portfolio management (IT PPM). Considering IT PPM an interdisciplinary practice, this paper conducts a concept-based literature review of relevant articles across various research disciplines. It finds and classifies a stock of 107 relevant...

The impact of learning disabilities on adulthood: a review of the evidenced-based literature for research and practice in adult education.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerber, Paul J

2012-01-01

It is now well established that learning disabilities (LD) persist into the adult years, yet despite a developing literature base in this area, there is a paucity of evidence-based research to guide research and practice. Consistent with the demands of the adult stage of development, autonomy and self-determination are crucial to quality-of-life issues to adults in general, and specifically to adults with LD. There are many areas of functioning in which adults need to adapt successfully, such as employment, family, social and emotional, daily living routines, community, and recreation and leisure. In essence, there are a myriad of challenges and outcomes as adults navigate the trials and tribulations of LD as it manifests itself into adulthood. This review of the extant evidence-based literature seeks to discover relevant knowledge that can be shared with practitioners who serve adults with LD in a variety of professional and volunteer roles, particularly in adult education settings.

Demystifying Mixed Methods Research Design: A Review of the Literature

OpenAIRE

Gail D. Caruth

2013-01-01

Mixed methods research evolved in response to the observed limitations of both quantitative and qualitative designs and is a more complex method. The purpose of this paper was to examine mixed methods research in an attempt to demystify the design thereby allowing those less familiar with its design an opportunity to utilize it in future research. A review of the literature revealed that it has been gaining acceptance among researchers, researchers have begun using mixed methods research, it ...

Transformative consumer research: Its origins and possible enrichment of the field of consumer research in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leona M. Ungerer

2014-06-01

Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the principles underlying transformative consumer research, including how it differs from traditional research methods and pointing out some established research areas in this field. Motivation for the study: Apart from pointing to a lack of literature, this article highlights the relevance of this approach for emerging countries by investigating the principles and practices embedded in transformative consumer research. It provides some indication of how an investigation of these areas may contribute to enhancing the relevance of consumer research to its various stakeholders. Research design, approach and method: The author used a literature review to conduct the study. Main findings: It appears that consumer research currently lacks external and internal relevance. A transformative consumer-research approach may address some of the fundamental problems in the way consumer psychologists plan and conduct their research, contributing to this lack of relevance. Practical/managerial implications: Most stages of the traditional research approach may need to be adapted for transformative research purposes. Some approaches appear particularly suited to transformative consumer research, including revelatory, incendiary, policy, participatory and coalition research. Contribution/value-add: This study’s primary contribution stems from suggesting a rather novel additional approach to enhance the relevance of consumer research in South Africa, pointing out some established practices in the field of transformative consumer research and suggesting how they may augment consumer research in South Africa.

Partnering Healthy@Work: an Australian university-government partnership facilitating policy-relevant research.

Science.gov (United States)

Jose, Kim; Venn, Alison; Jarman, Lisa; Seal, Judy; Teale, Brook; Scott, Jennifer; Sanderson, Kristy

2017-12-01

Research funding is increasingly supporting collaborations between knowledge users and researchers. Partnering Healthy@Work (pH@W), an inaugural recipient of funding through Australia's Partnership for Better Health Grants scheme, was a 5-year partnership between the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian State Service (TSS). The partnerships purpose was to evaluate a comprehensive workplace health promotion programme (Healthy@Work) targeting 30 000 public sector employees; generating new knowledge and influencing workplace health promotion policy and decision-making. This mixed methods study evaluates the partnership between policy-makers and academics and identifies strategies that enabled pH@W to deliver key project outcomes. A pH@W document review was conducted, two partnership assessment tools completed and semi-structured interviews conducted with key policy-makers and academics. Analysis of the partnership assessment tools and interviews found that pH@W had reached a strong level of collaboration. Policy-relevant knowledge was generated about the health of TSS employees and their engagement with workplace health promotion. Knowledge exchange of a conceptual and instrumental nature occurred and was facilitated by the shared grant application, clear governance structures, joint planning, regular information exchange between researchers and policy-makers and research student placements in the TSS. Flexibility and acknowledgement of different priorities and perspectives of partner organizations were identified as critical factors for enabling effective partnership working and research relevance. Academic-policy-maker partnerships can be a powerful mechanism for improving policy relevance of research, but need to incorporate strategies that facilitate regular input from researchers and policy-makers in order to achieve this. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions

Top IS research on quality of transaction standards: a structured literature review to identify a research gap

OpenAIRE

Folmer, E.J.A.; Berends, W.; Oude Luttighuis, P.; Hillegersberg, J. van

2009-01-01

This paper contains the results of a systematic literature review executed to determine the coverage of transaction standards in top information systems (IS) and management journals. Specifically, it aims to identify a research gap with respect to this topic. The top 25 journals are thoroughly searched and the selected publications are classified in order to make grounded statements. A moderate amount of literature found specifically aims at transaction standards. Hardly any research is found...

Teaching Vocabulary and Reading in An College:A Literature Review

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

华一君

2016-01-01

This paper is structured into three parts: 1) a description of the of English competence of“self-taught”students in Open College of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies;2) a systematic literature review on relevant topics to explain and provide guidance to see into the problems;3) a summary of research findings and inspiration from the literature review and tenta-tive suggestions for reading learning and teaching.

Paradigmatic approaches used in enterprise resource planning systems research: A systematic literature review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin Burgess

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to determine the range of research paradigms employed in a smaller subset of Information Systems (IS literature, namely Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP systems. A systematic literature review based on papers that mentioned ERPs was drawn from eight of the most highly ranked journals according to their h-index. The findings indicate that the majority (96.6% of the ERP research papers were conducted within a positivist research paradigm, which is a far higher proportion than is suggested by other research in the general IS literature (approximately 81%. This paper suggests that there is a strong case for ERP researchers to look at existing paradigm selection and how effectively their research relates to the ERP body of knowledge, especially in respect to the issues of importance to managers within organizations (notably social and change management issues. This research also identified areas where existing paradigm evaluation methods could be enhanced and refined in respect to non-positivist classifications.

Adolescent Populations Research Needs - NCS Dietary Assessment Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

As with school age children, it is difficult to make conclusions about the validity of available dietary assessment instruments for adolescents because of the differences in instruments, research designs, reference methods, and populations in the validation literature.

Memory Retention in Second Language Acquisition and Instruction: Insights from Literature and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Sanatullova-Allison , Elvira

2014-01-01

This article reviews some essential theoretical and empirical research literature that discusses the role of memory in second language acquisition and instruction. Two models of literature review--thematic and study-by-study--were used to analyze and synthesize the existing research. First, issues of memory retention in second language acquisition…

Integrity of the marriage and family therapy research literature: perceptions and recommendations.

Science.gov (United States)

Brock, Gregory W; Whiting, Jason B; Matern, Brianne; Fife, Stephen T

2009-04-01

Reports of falsification, fabrication, plagiarism, and other violations of research integrity across the sciences are on the increase. Joining with other disciplines to actively protect the integrity of the marriage and family therapy (MFT) research literature is of utmost importance to both the discipline and the future of the profession. To inform the issues raised, results are presented of an informal survey among MFT clinical members on their perceptions about the literature together with their preferences for how best to protect its integrity. This article initiates an important discussion about the honesty of MFT research.

Discourses and Theoretical Assumptions in IT Project Portfolio Management: A Review of the Literature (reprint)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Lars Kristian

2016-01-01

These years increasing interest is put on IT project portfolio management (IT PPM). Considering IT PPM an interdisciplinary practice, this paper conducts a concept-based literature review of relevant articles across various research disciplines. It finds and classifies a stock of 107 relevant...

Automated Medical Literature Retrieval

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Hawking

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Background The constantly growing publication rate of medical research articles puts increasing pressure on medical specialists who need to be aware of the recent developments in their field. The currently used literature retrieval systems allow researchers to find specific papers; however the search task is still repetitive and time-consuming. Aims In this paper we describe a system that retrieves medical publications by automatically generating queries based on data from an electronic patient record. This allows the doctor to focus on medical issues and provide an improved service to the patient, with higher confidence that it is underpinned by current research. Method Our research prototype automatically generates query terms based on the patient record and adds weight factors for each term. Currently the patient’s age is taken into account with a fuzzy logic derived weight, and terms describing blood-related anomalies are derived from recent blood test results. Conditionally selected homonyms are used for query expansion. The query retrieves matching records from a local index of PubMed publications and displays results in descending relevance for the given patient. Recent publications are clearly highlighted for instant recognition by the researcher. Results Nine medical specialists from the Royal Adelaide Hospital evaluated the system and submitted pre-trial and post-trial questionnaires. Throughout the study we received positive feedback as doctors felt the support provided by the prototype was useful, and which they would like to use in their daily routine. Conclusion By supporting the time-consuming task of query formulation and iterative modification as well as by presenting the search results in order of relevance for the specific patient, literature retrieval becomes part of the daily workflow of busy professionals.

Experiencing male infertility: A review of the qualitative research literature

OpenAIRE

Hanna, E; Gough, B

2015-01-01

This article examines the qualitative research literature that exists in relation to men’s experiences of male infertility. Since men have often been marginalized in the realm of reproduction, including academic research on infertility, it is important to focus on any qualitative research that gives voices to male perspectives and concerns. Given the distress documented by studies of infertile women, we focus in partic...

A Review of the Emerging Markets Literature: Context, Concepts and Future Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Ulrik B.; Hannibal, Martin; Larsen, Nathalie Nørregaard

Emerging Markets (EM) has been the focus of numerous studies. Even though the EM category has been heavily debated and has been the focus of a substantial and ever-growing body of research, the elements used to define and characterize EMs are still found to be inconsistent. Through a systematic...... of the existing EM literature, which is currently dominated by studies involving China and India. Secondly, we identify the seminal contributions based on cross-references in the EM field and citations in international business literature in general. Thirdly, we elaborate on the definitional elements of the most...... dominant definitions and characterizations in the extant EM literature. As a final step these are used to develop an organizing framework for future research. Finally, based on our findings we suggest avenues of future research and managerial implications are presented....

Designing psychological co-research of emancipatory-technical relevance across age thresholds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chimirri, Niklas Alexander

2015-01-01

The requirement that theoretical and empirical research is to sustainably benefit not only the nominal researcher, but also the other research participants, is deeply embedded in the conceptual-analytical framework of Psychology from the Standpoint of the Subject (PSS) and its co-researcher princ......The requirement that theoretical and empirical research is to sustainably benefit not only the nominal researcher, but also the other research participants, is deeply embedded in the conceptual-analytical framework of Psychology from the Standpoint of the Subject (PSS) and its co....... A discussion of recent methodological developments in child-targeted Participatory Design (PD) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) serve as inspiration for this conceptual specification. The contribution thereby invites co-research to further investigate how emancipatory relevance cannot only...

Action Research in Graduate Teacher Education: A Review of the Literature 2000-2015

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, Michelle; Burnaford, Gail

2016-01-01

This review explores the goals and challenges as well as the policy and programmatic implications of action research in graduate teacher education as evidenced in the published literature. This literature review looks specifically at how action research is being used in graduate teacher education programs as a content area and as a methodology in…

On the Pragmatic Design of Literature Studies in Software Engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuhrmann, Marco; Méndez Fernández, Daniel; Daneva, Maya

2017-01-01

Systematic literature studies have received much attention in empirical software engineering in recent years. They have become a powerful tool to collect and structure reported knowledge in a systematic and reproducible way. We distinguish systematic literature reviews to systematically analyze...... of publications, which need to be screened, rated for relevance, classified, and eventually analyzed. Although there are several guidelines to conduct literature studies, they do not yet help researchers coping with the specific difficulties encountered in the practical application of these guidelines....... In this article, we present an experience-based guideline to aid researchers in designing systematic literature studies with special emphasis on the data collection and selection procedures. Our guideline aims at providing a blueprint for a practical and pragmatic path through the plethora of currently available...

Science youth action research: Promoting critical science literacy through relevance and agency

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, Elizabeth R.

This three-article dissertation presents complementary perspectives on Science Youth Action Research (Sci-YAR), a K-12 curriculum designed to emphasize relevance and agency to promote youth's science learning. In Sci-YAR, youth conduct action research projects to better understand science-related issues in their lives, schools, or communities, while they simultaneously document, analyze, and reflect upon their own practices as researchers. The first article defines Sci-YAR and argues for its potential to enhance youth's participation as citizens in a democratic society. The second article details findings from a case study of youth engaged in Sci-YAR, describing how the curriculum enabled and constrained youth's identity work in service of critical science agency. The third article provides guidance to science teachers in implementing student-driven curriculum and instruction by emphasizing Sci-YAR's key features as a way to promote student agency and relevance in school science.

Mental health research in Ghana: A literature review | Read | Ghana ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Context/Background: Mental health is a neglected area in health care in Ghana. With few clinicians and trained researchers in the field, research has been limited both in quantity and quality. Method: A search of the available literature revealed 98 articles published between 1955 and 2009. Sixty-six are reviewed in this ...

Literature survey: health effects of radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tveten, U.; Garder, K.

This report was originally written as a chapter of a report entitled 'Air pollution effects of electric power generation, a literature survey', written jointly by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) and the Institutt for Atomenergi (IFA). (INIS RN242406). A survey is presented of the health effects of radiation. It has not, however, been the intention of the authors to make a complete list of all the literature relevant to this subject. The NILU/IFA report was meant as a first step towards a method of comparing the health effects of electric power generation by fission, gas and oil. Consequently information relevant to quantification of the health effects on humans has been selected. It is pointed out that quantitative information on the health effects of low radiation and dose rates, as are relevant to routine releases, does not exist for humans. The convention of linear extrapolation from higher doses and dose rates is used worldwide, but it is felt by most that the estimates are conservative. As an example of the use of the current best estimates, a calculation of normal release radiation doses is performed. (Auth.)

Ethics of health policy and systems research: a scoping review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Pratt, Bridget; Paul, Amy; Hyder, Adnan A; Ali, Joseph

2017-07-01

Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is increasingly funded and undertaken as part of health system strengthening efforts worldwide. HPSR ethics is also a relatively new and emerging field, with numerous normative and descriptive questions that have largely not been considered. Normative questions include what ethical principles and values should guide HPSR. Descriptive questions include what ethical concerns arise when conducting HPSR. A small but growing body of scholarly work characterizes the various ethics issues inherent in HPSR. Towards informing the future development of ethics guidance for HPSR, a scoping review was undertaken to: (1) identify the range of ethics issues relevant to the conduct of HPSR-with a deliberate (though not exclusive) focus on low- and middle-income country settings and (2) describe existing guidance on key ethics issues relevant to HPSR. Using the Cochrane methods as a basis, the review identified formal and informal literature on HPSR ethics by searching the following databases: PubMed's Medline, Embase, Global Health, Scopus, WHO Global Health Regional Libraries, LILACs, OpenDOAR and Bielefeld Academic Search Engine. In total, 11 062 documents were identified from the formal (10 519) and informal (543) literature. One hundred and seven of these documents (formal 99 and informal 8) met at least one inclusion criterion and underwent thematic analysis. Ethical issues in four main categories were identified: upholding autonomy, identifying and balancing risks and benefits, justice and determination of ethical review requirements. The review indicated that the ethical values behind HPSR place an emphasis on its contributing to the reduction of health disparities. Unsurprisingly then, numerous ethical concerns relating to justice arise in HPSR. However, the majority of existing guidance focuses on obtaining or waiving informed consent and, thus, appears to be insufficient for HPSR. A list of priority ethics issues in HPSR in

Peer Assisted Learning in Clinical Education: Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

Henning, Jolene M.; Weidner, Thomas G.; Marty, Melissa C.

2008-01-01

Objective: To examine the occurrence, benefits, and preferences for peer assisted learning (PAL) in medical and allied health clinical education, and to identify areas in athletic training which need further research. Data Sources: Using relevant terms, five databases were searched for the period 1980-2006 regarding literature on the use of PAL in…

Digital Transformation: A Literature Review and Guidelines for Future Research

OpenAIRE

Reis, João Carlos Gonçalves dos; Amorim, Marlene Paula Castro; Melão, Nuno Filipe Rosa; Matos, Patrícia Sofia Lopes

2018-01-01

The aim of this paper is to provide insights regarding the state of the art of Digital Transformation, and to propose avenues for future research. Using a systematic literature review of 206 peer-reviewed articles, this paper provides an overview of the literature. Among other things, the findings indicate that managers should adapt their business strategy to a new digital reality. This mainly results in the adaptation of processes and operations management. Scholars, for the other side, are ...

Harnessing the wealth of Chinese scientific literature: schistosomiasis research and control in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mak Tippi K

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract The economy of China continues to boom and so have its biomedical research and related publishing activities. Several so-called neglected tropical diseases that are most common in the developing world are still rampant or even emerging in some parts of China. The purpose of this article is to document the significant research potential from the Chinese biomedical bibliographic databases. The research contributions from China in the epidemiology and control of schistosomiasis provide an excellent illustration. We searched two widely used databases, namely China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI and VIP Information (VIP. Employing the keyword "Schistosoma" ( and covering the period 1990–2006, we obtained 10,244 hits in the CNKI database and 5,975 in VIP. We examined 10 Chinese biomedical journals that published the highest number of original research articles on schistosomiasis for issues including languages and open access. Although most of the journals are published in Chinese, English abstracts are usually available. Open access to full articles was available in China Tropical Medicine in 2005/2006 and is granted by the Chinese Journal of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases since 2003; none of the other journals examined offered open access. We reviewed (i the discovery and development of antischistosomal drugs, (ii the progress made with molluscicides and (iii environmental management for schistosomiasis control in China over the past 20 years. In conclusion, significant research is published in the Chinese literature, which is relevant for local control measures and global scientific knowledge. Open access should be encouraged and language barriers removed so the wealth of Chinese research can be more fully appreciated by the scientific community.

School Age Populations Research Needs - NCS Dietary Assessment Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

Drawing conclusions about the validity of available dietary assessment instruments in school age children is hampered by the differences in instruments, research design, reference methods, and populations in the validation literature.

Communication among scientists, decision makers and society: Developing policy-relevant global climate change research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernabo, J.C.

1995-01-01

Defining the research most relevant to policy is not simply a technical task that can be answered by scientists. Decision makers need and value information differently than curiosity-driven scientists. In order to link science more effectively to policy, the two communities must gain a greater mutual understanding. Decision makers must define their needs so that scientists can determine how, and by when, research can address these needs. This vital dialogue between communities typically has been more ad hoc than systematic. The complexity and urgency of the global climate change issue necessitate ongoing communication between scientists and decision makers on the information needed for policy development and what research can provide The results of relevant science policy dialogues are discussed herein. Effective communication between researchers and decision makers is a crucial ingredient for successfully addressing society's pressing environmental concerns. The increase in policy makers' demands for research that is relevant to solving societal issues highlights the communication gap between the technical and policy communities. The gap, largely caused by lack of mutual understanding, results in flawed and inadequate communication that hinders decision making and confuses the public. This paper examines the cause of this communication gap and describes the significance of recent efforts to develop more fruitful science-policy dialogues on the issue of global climate change. First, the post-Cold War shift in government priorities for research funding is described; then the underlying relationship between science and policy is explored to identify key sources of ongoing mis-communication. The paper then explains the importance of defining policy-relevant science questions that research can address. Finally, three projects are described involving the elicitation of decision makers' information needs in The United States, The Netherlands, and internationally

Gray literature: An important resource in systematic reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Paez, Arsenio

2017-08-01

Systematic reviews aide the analysis and dissemination of evidence, using rigorous and transparent methods to generate empirically attained answers to focused research questions. Identifying all evidence relevant to the research questions is an essential component, and challenge, of systematic reviews. Gray literature, or evidence not published in commercial publications, can make important contributions to a systematic review. Gray literature can include academic papers, including theses and dissertations, research and committee reports, government reports, conference papers, and ongoing research, among others. It may provide data not found within commercially published literature, providing an important forum for disseminating studies with null or negative results that might not otherwise be disseminated. Gray literature may thusly reduce publication bias, increase reviews' comprehensiveness and timeliness, and foster a balanced picture of available evidence. Gray literature's diverse formats and audiences can present a significant challenge in a systematic search for evidence. However, the benefits of including gray literature may far outweigh the cost in time and resource needed to search for it, and it is important for it to be included in a systematic review or review of evidence. A carefully thought out gray literature search strategy may be an invaluable component of a systematic review. This narrative review provides guidance about the benefits of including gray literature in a systematic review, and sources for searching through gray literature. An illustrative example of a search for evidence within gray literature sources is presented to highlight the potential contributions of such a search to a systematic review. Benefits and challenges of gray literature search methods are discussed, and recommendations made. © 2017 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Grey literature: An important resource in systematic reviews.

Science.gov (United States)

Paez, Arsenio

2017-12-21

Systematic reviews aid the analysis and dissemination of evidence, using rigorous and transparent methods to generate empirically attained answers to focused research questions. Identifying all evidence relevant to the research questions is an essential component, and challenge, of systematic reviews. Grey literature, or evidence not published in commercial publications, can make important contributions to a systematic review. Grey literature can include academic papers, including theses and dissertations, research and committee reports, government reports, conference papers, and ongoing research, among others. It may provide data not found within commercially published literature, providing an important forum for disseminating studies with null or negative results that might not otherwise be disseminated. Grey literature may thusly reduce publication bias, increase reviews' comprehensiveness and timeliness and foster a balanced picture of available evidence. Grey literature's diverse formats and audiences can present a significant challenge in a systematic search for evidence. However, the benefits of including grey literature may far outweigh the cost in time and resource needed to search for it, and it is important for it to be included in a systematic review or review of evidence. A carefully thought out grey literature search strategy may be an invaluable component of a systematic review. This narrative review provides guidance about the benefits of including grey literature in a systematic review, and sources for searching through grey literature. An illustrative example of a search for evidence within grey literature sources is presented to highlight the potential contributions of such a search to a systematic review. Benefits and challenges of grey literature search methods are discussed, and recommendations made. © 2017 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Literature searches on Ayurveda: An update.

Science.gov (United States)

Aggithaya, Madhur G; Narahari, Saravu R

2015-01-01

The journals that publish on Ayurveda are increasingly indexed by popular medical databases in recent years. However, many Eastern journals are not indexed biomedical journal databases such as PubMed. Literature searches for Ayurveda continue to be challenging due to the nonavailability of active, unbiased dedicated databases for Ayurvedic literature. In 2010, authors identified 46 databases that can be used for systematic search of Ayurvedic papers and theses. This update reviewed our previous recommendation and identified current and relevant databases. To update on Ayurveda literature search and strategy to retrieve maximum publications. Author used psoriasis as an example to search previously listed databases and identify new. The population, intervention, control, and outcome table included keywords related to psoriasis and Ayurvedic terminologies for skin diseases. Current citation update status, search results, and search options of previous databases were assessed. Eight search strategies were developed. Hundred and five journals, both biomedical and Ayurveda, which publish on Ayurveda, were identified. Variability in databases was explored to identify bias in journal citation. Five among 46 databases are now relevant - AYUSH research portal, Annotated Bibliography of Indian Medicine, Digital Helpline for Ayurveda Research Articles (DHARA), PubMed, and Directory of Open Access Journals. Search options in these databases are not uniform, and only PubMed allows complex search strategy. "The Researches in Ayurveda" and "Ayurvedic Research Database" (ARD) are important grey resources for hand searching. About 44/105 (41.5%) journals publishing Ayurvedic studies are not indexed in any database. Only 11/105 (10.4%) exclusive Ayurveda journals are indexed in PubMed. AYUSH research portal and DHARA are two major portals after 2010. It is mandatory to search PubMed and four other databases because all five carry citations from different groups of journals. The hand

Publish literature on the research activities using the JMRT (II). Publication as JAERI research reports

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nagao, Yoshiharu; Ishii, Tadahiko; Niimi, Motoji; Fujiki, Kazuo; Takahashi, Hidetake (eds.) [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Oarai, Ibaraki (Japan). Oarai Research Establishment

2002-11-01

The published reports on the research and development activities using the JMTR since 1971 to date have been surveyed by the search of literature database and questionnaire survey. This report compiles the title lists and abstracts of reports published by JAERI and survey the trend of the research and development in JAERI using the JMTR. (author)

Published literature on the research activities using the JMRT (II). Publication as JAERI research reports

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagao, Yoshiharu; Ishii, Tadahiko; Niimi, Motoji; Fujiki, Kazuo; Takahashi, Hidetake

2002-11-01

The published reports on the research and development activities using the JMTR since 1971 to date have been surveyed by the search of literature database and questionnaire survey. This report compiles the title lists and abstracts of reports published by JAERI and survey the trend of the research and development in JAERI using the JMTR. (author)

Literature survey of blast and fire effects of nuclear weapons on urban areas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reitter, T.A.; McCallen, D.B.; Kang, S.W.

1982-06-01

The American literature of the past 30 years on fire and blast effects of nuclear weapons on urban areas has been surveyed. The relevant work is briefly sketched and areas where information is apparently lacking are noted. This report is intended to provide the basis for suggesting research priorities in the fire and blast effects area for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It is also intended to provide entry into the literature for researchers. over 850 references are given.

Literature survey of blast and fire effects of nuclear weapons on urban areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reitter, T.A.; McCallen, D.B.; Kang, S.W.

1982-06-01

The American literature of the past 30 years on fire and blast effects of nuclear weapons on urban areas has been surveyed. The relevant work is briefly sketched and areas where information is apparently lacking are noted. This report is intended to provide the basis for suggesting research priorities in the fire and blast effects area for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It is also intended to provide entry into the literature for researchers. over 850 references are given

76 FR 59407 - Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Report of Scientific and Medical Literature and...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-26

...] Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Report of Scientific and Medical Literature and Information... Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of its report of scientific and medical literature and... Research Report of Scientific and Medical Literature and Information on Non-Standardized Allergenic...

Living both well and sustainably: a review of the literature, with some reflections on future research, interventions and policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kasser, Tim

2017-06-13

The idea that human well-being (WB) can be supported and even enhanced by using, producing, buying, selling and consuming less 'stuff' is anathema to many living under consumer capitalism. Yet a growing research literature actually finds that frequent engagement in pro-ecological behaviours (PEBs) is positively correlated with personal WB. This paper reviews data relevant to three possible explanations for the apparent compatibility of PEBs and WB: (i) engaging in PEBs leads to psychological need satisfaction, which in turn causes WB; (ii) being in a good mood causes people to engage in more prosocial behaviours, including PEBs; and (iii) personal characteristics and lifestyles such as intrinsic values, mindfulness and voluntary simplicity cause both PEBs and WB. Because each explanation has some empirical support, I close by reflecting on some relevant interventions and policies that could strengthen each of these three pathways and thereby promote living both well and sustainably.This article is part of the themed issue 'Material demand reduction'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Living both well and sustainably: a review of the literature, with some reflections on future research, interventions and policy

Science.gov (United States)

Kasser, Tim

2017-05-01

The idea that human well-being (WB) can be supported and even enhanced by using, producing, buying, selling and consuming less `stuff' is anathema to many living under consumer capitalism. Yet a growing research literature actually finds that frequent engagement in pro-ecological behaviours (PEBs) is positively correlated with personal WB. This paper reviews data relevant to three possible explanations for the apparent compatibility of PEBs and WB: (i) engaging in PEBs leads to psychological need satisfaction, which in turn causes WB; (ii) being in a good mood causes people to engage in more prosocial behaviours, including PEBs; and (iii) personal characteristics and lifestyles such as intrinsic values, mindfulness and voluntary simplicity cause both PEBs and WB. Because each explanation has some empirical support, I close by reflecting on some relevant interventions and policies that could strengthen each of these three pathways and thereby promote living both well and sustainably. This article is part of the themed issue 'Material demand reduction'.

Green Marketing Mix: A Review of Literature and Direction for Future Research

OpenAIRE

Prashant Kumar; Bhimrao Ghodeswar

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a systematic review of literature in green marketing domain and to propose directions for future research. Green marketing issues are delineated from literature extending marketing orientation and marketing mix frameworks. As society becomes more concerned with the natural environment, businesses modify their behaviour in an attempt to address society's concerns. Based on the literature review, the conceptual review and direction for futu...

Research methodology in dentistry: Part II — The relevance of statistics in research

Science.gov (United States)

Krithikadatta, Jogikalmat; Valarmathi, Srinivasan

2012-01-01

The lifeline of original research depends on adept statistical analysis. However, there have been reports of statistical misconduct in studies that could arise from the inadequate understanding of the fundamental of statistics. There have been several reports on this across medical and dental literature. This article aims at encouraging the reader to approach statistics from its logic rather than its theoretical perspective. The article also provides information on statistical misuse in the Journal of Conservative Dentistry between the years 2008 and 2011 PMID:22876003

76 FR 71045 - Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Report of Scientific and Medical Literature and...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-16

...] Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Report of Scientific and Medical Literature and Information... period for the notice on its report of scientific and medical literature and information concerning the... ``Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Report of Scientific and Medical Literature and Information...

User-oriented innovation in the food sector: Relevant streams of research and an agenda for future work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus; Jensen, Birger Boutrup; Sonne, Anne-Mette

2008-01-01

The aim of this paper was to give an overview of relevant streams of research that can form a basis for research on user-oriented innovation in the food sector. We define user-oriented innovation as a process towards the development of a new product or service in which an integrated analysis...... and understanding of the users' wants, needs and preference formation play a key role. We distinguish three relevant streams of research that may provide a basis for research on user-oriented innovation in the food sector: research on the formation of user preferences, research on innovation management......, and research on interactive innovation. We show that the relevance of these three streams of research for the food sector depends on which type of innovation we are dealing with, and we propose a distinction of three types of food innovations depending on which actors in the food chain are involved...

African children's literature: a scholar's guide | Osaki | University of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African children's books remain unparalleled in their ability to nurture the imagination and to provide relevant instruction and delight to the African child. Despite this truth, little research has been done on African literature, its nature, form and source of materials. This paper provides a selected check list of words by African ...

IEK-3 report 2011. Climate-relevant energy research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-07-01

IEK-3 is one of nine sub-institutes within the Institute of Energy and Climate Research at Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH. IEK-3 aims to conduct research of social, ecological and economic relevance and thus generate groundbreaking results on an international level. This quality of work is achieved through basic research in close coordination with technical development work in relevant scientific and technical fields of expertise. Special significance is attached here to international cooperations with partners from research and industry. By implementing research results in innovative products, procedures and processes in cooperation with industry, IEK-3 hopes to help bridge the gap between science and technology. Cooperation with universities, universities of applied sciences, training departments and training centers is designed to promote opportunities for further education and training. With a staff of approximately 100, IEK-3 concentrates on the basic topics of electrochemistry and process engineering for fuel cells. In an integrated approach, the four key areas worked on in the institute - direct methanol fuel cells, high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells and fuel processing systems - are accompanied by systems analysis and theoretical investigations, basic modeling and simulations, and by experimental and theoretical systems evaluations. The information generated in these areas is used to design and verify functional systems. In addition, particular attention is given to the development, configuration and application of special measuring techniques for the structural analysis of membrane electrode assemblies, for flow simulation and visualization, and for the characterization of stacks. The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack pictured comprises 36 cells, each with an active cell area of 360 cm{sup 2}. The nominal power at a mean cell voltage of 800 mV is approximately 5.5 kW. The stack is operated on natural gas, which is

Big data science: A literature review of nursing research exemplars.

Science.gov (United States)

Westra, Bonnie L; Sylvia, Martha; Weinfurter, Elizabeth F; Pruinelli, Lisiane; Park, Jung In; Dodd, Dianna; Keenan, Gail M; Senk, Patricia; Richesson, Rachel L; Baukner, Vicki; Cruz, Christopher; Gao, Grace; Whittenburg, Luann; Delaney, Connie W

Big data and cutting-edge analytic methods in nursing research challenge nurse scientists to extend the data sources and analytic methods used for discovering and translating knowledge. The purpose of this study was to identify, analyze, and synthesize exemplars of big data nursing research applied to practice and disseminated in key nursing informatics, general biomedical informatics, and nursing research journals. A literature review of studies published between 2009 and 2015. There were 650 journal articles identified in 17 key nursing informatics, general biomedical informatics, and nursing research journals in the Web of Science database. After screening for inclusion and exclusion criteria, 17 studies published in 18 articles were identified as big data nursing research applied to practice. Nurses clearly are beginning to conduct big data research applied to practice. These studies represent multiple data sources and settings. Although numerous analytic methods were used, the fundamental issue remains to define the types of analyses consistent with big data analytic methods. There are needs to increase the visibility of big data and data science research conducted by nurse scientists, further examine the use of state of the science in data analytics, and continue to expand the availability and use of a variety of scientific, governmental, and industry data resources. A major implication of this literature review is whether nursing faculty and preparation of future scientists (PhD programs) are prepared for big data and data science. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pedagogical Approaches to Diagnostic Imaging Education: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Linaker, Kathleen L.

2015-01-01

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine literature on how radiology is taught and learned by both radiology residents and undergraduates in the health professions. Methods A review of the literature was performed using relevant key words. Articles were retrieved through December 2012 using PubMed, ScienceDirect, ERIC, Proquest, and ICL databases along with a manual review of references. Results Of the 4716 unique abstracts reviewed by the author, 91 were found to be relevant to the purpose of this study. The literature retrieved reported pedagogical approaches to teaching radiology including the following: problem solving, technology as teacher, independent learning tools, visiting lectureships, case based teaching, and conferences. There was some exploration of the relative effectiveness of educational formats. Suggestions for future research identify 7 areas of relative consistency. Conclusion Radiology is a clinical skill that requires integration science, clinical information, clinical experiences, and information recorded on diagnostic imaging studies. The research in this area focuses on problem solving, the use of algorithm/scripts, introducing uncertainty in clinical scenarios, incorporating technology in learning environments, active learning techniques, and methods of independent learning. Although the literature in this area is still in its infancy, the research examining the relative effectiveness of these various educational formats is often contradictory, suggesting that this is a complex area of study with numerous factors influencing student learning. PMID:26770173

Women's experiences of the breast cancer diagnostic process: A thematic evaluation of the literature; Recall and biopsy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, Sarah; Reeves, Pauline J.

2015-01-01

Aim: The aim of this study was to use relevant literature to understand women's experiences of diagnostic breast cancer procedures; in this case their experiences of being recalled and of having a biopsy. Method: A structured literature search was performed to locate relevant research. Research articles published between 2002 and 2013 were identified in CINAHL, MEDLINE and Science Direct. The quality of the research was assessed using an appropriate critical appraisal tool to enable a systematic and consistent assessment. Results: Thematic analysis of the literature identified five themes: fear, pain and discomfort, waiting, the physical environment and staff interactions. Women's experiences are unique and diverse; however, literature suggests that these themes do summarise women's experiences. Conclusion: Women's experiences of diagnostic breast cancer procedures are not limited to the examinations alone but encompass the entire experience. These themes influence women's experiences and their perception of care

A systematic review of the literature on self-management interventions and discussion of their potential relevance for people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aantjes, C.J.; Rameran, L; Bunders-Aelen, J.G.F.

2014-01-01

Objective: This study systematically reviews the literature on self-management interventions provided by health care teams, community partners, patients and families and discusses the potential relevance of these interventions for people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: We searched

Literature Review on the Use of Action Research in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbs, Paul; Cartney, Patricia; Wilkinson, Kate; Parkinson, John; Cunningham, Sheila; James-Reynolds, Carl; Zoubir, Tarek; Brown, Venetia; Barter, Phil; Sumner, Pauline; MacDonald, Angus; Dayananda, Asanka; Pitt, Alexandra

2017-01-01

This literature review considers the use of action research in higher education. The review specifically looks at two areas of higher education activity. The first concerns academic teaching practice and includes a discussion of research and pedagogy practice, and staff development. The second considers student engagement. In both of these core…

Communication Development in Young Children with Deaf-Blindness: Literature Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Bullis, Michael, Ed.; Fielding, Glen, Ed.

This review summarizes and discusses literature relevant to the communication development of young children (0-5 years) with deaf-blindness. The review is divided into topical areas. The topical areas and the contributors for each area are as follows: "Perspectives on Communication Assessment" (Charity Rowland); "Research in Tactile…

Film Music: The Material, Literature and Present State of Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Marks, Martin

1982-01-01

A comprehensive look at the neglected art of film music. Examines the nature of the medium, the literature (how others have wrestled with film music's recalcitrant materials), and the present state of research into film music. Includes a bibliography. (PD)

Lower limb amputation - Part 2 : Rehabilitation - a 10 year literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geertzen, JHB; Martina, JD; Rietman, HS

Ten years after the ISPO consensus conference on amputation surgery, a search of relevant publications in the Rehabilitation-prosthetics-literature over the years 1990-2000 was performed. The main key-words in this research were: "lower limb, amputation, human and rehabilitation". One hundred and

Research Courses in Education Leadership Programs: Relevance in an Era of Accountability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca M. Bustamante

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Master’s degree research course offerings of 72 university education leadership programs were examined to explore how relevant the courses were to the inquiry needs of practicing school leaders. Research course titles and descriptions were analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed considerable variation in research course requirements, course titles, and course descriptions. Analysis of course descriptions indicated minimal emphasis on the research skills required for school improvement. Results also suggested a lack of consensus on the importance of developing research skills for school leaders across university education leadership programs. Implications for education leadership preparation programs are discussed with an emphasis on the need for further studies on the research skills required by practicing school leaders.

Perceptions of scientific research literature and strategies for reading papers depend on academic career stage.

Science.gov (United States)

Hubbard, Katharine E; Dunbar, Sonja D

2017-01-01

Reading primary research literature is an essential skill for all scientists and students on science degree programmes, however little is known about how researchers at different career stages interact with and interpret scientific papers. To explore this, we conducted a survey of 260 undergraduate students and researchers in Biological Sciences at a research intensive UK university. Responses to Likert scale questions demonstrated increases in confidence and skill with reading the literature between individuals at each career stage, including between postdoctoral researchers and faculty academics. The survey indicated that individuals at different career stages valued different sections of scientific papers, and skill in reading the results section develops slowly over the course of an academic career. Inexperienced readers found the methods and results sections of research papers the most difficult to read, and undervalued the importance of the results section and critical interpretation of data. These data highlight a need for structured support with reading scientific literature at multiple career stages, and for senior academics to be aware that junior colleagues may prioritise their reading differently. We propose a model for the development of literature processing skills, and consider the need for training strategies to help inexperienced readers engage with primary literature, and therefore develop important skills that underpin scientific careers. We also encourage researchers to be mindful of language used when writing papers, and to be more inclusive of diverse audiences when disseminating their work.

Trend-Analysis and Research Direction in Construction Management Literature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Jesper Kranker; Ussing, Lene Faber; Brunø, Thomas Ditlev

2013-01-01

Planning and scheduling, both in the form of pre-assembly construction as well as increase in cost and time are all themes that haven’t been studies in a trend-analysis, with the purpose of finding gaps and research directions in the literature. The aim of this paper is therefor to analyze...... of Construction Engineering and Management....

Qualitative Research in Distance Education: An Analysis of Journal Literature 2005-2012

Science.gov (United States)

Hauser, Laura

2013-01-01

This review study examines the current research literature in distance education for the years 2005 to 2012. The author found 382 research articles published during that time in four prominent peer-reviewed research journals. The articles were classified and coded as quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Further analysis found another…

Ethnicity and stress at work: a Literature review and suggestions for future research

OpenAIRE

Capasso, Roberto; Zurlo, Maria Clelia; Smith, Andrew Paul

2016-01-01

Aims: Ethnicity and culture represent a novel topic in the literature on stress and wellbeing at work because there has not been enough consideration of them in studies of work stress. This paper aims to present a critical review and evaluate recent articles investigating ethnicity in the literature on stress and wellbeing at work to identify limitations of previous research concerning all the aspects related to the cultural dimensions in this research area.\\ud \\ud Methodology: Pubmed, PsycIn...

Health-related quality of life of cranial WHO grade I meningioma patients: are current questionnaires relevant?

Science.gov (United States)

Zamanipoor Najafabadi, Amir H; Peeters, Marthe C M; Lobatto, Daniel J; Broekman, Marieke L D; Smith, Timothy R; Biermasz, Nienke R; Peerdeman, Saskia M; Peul, Wilco C; Taphoorn, Martin J B; van Furth, Wouter R; Dirven, Linda

2017-11-01

The clinical relevance of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in meningioma patients has been increasingly acknowledged in recent years. Various questionnaires have been used. However, almost none of these questionnaires has been particularly developed for and/or validated in this patient group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relevance and comprehensiveness of existing HRQoL questionnaires used in meningioma research and to assess the agreement between patients and health care professionals (HCPs) on the most relevant and important HRQoL issues. A systematic literature search, following the PRISMA statement, was conducted to identify all HRQoL questionnaires used in meningioma research. Semi-structured interviews were organized with patients and HCPs to (1) assess the relevance of all issues covered by the questionnaires (score 0-3: not relevant-highly relevant), (2) assess the ten most important issues, and (3) identify new relevant HRQoL issues. Fourteen different questionnaires were found in the literature, comprising 140 unique issues. Interviews were conducted with 20 patients (median age 57, 71% female) and 10 HCPs (4 neurosurgeons, 2 neurologists, 2 radiotherapists, 1 rehabilitation specialist, 1 neuropsychologist; median experience 13 years). Meningioma patients rated 17-80% of the issues in each of the questionnaires as relevant, HCPs 90-100%. Patients and HCPs agreed on the relevance of only 49 issues (35%, Cohen's kappa: 0.027). Both patients and HCPs considered lack of energy the most important issue. Patients and HCPs suggested five additional relevant issues not covered by current HRQoL questionnaires. Existing HRQoL questionnaires currently used in meningioma patients do not fully cover all relevant issues to these patients. Agreement between patients and HCPs on the relevance of issues was poor. Both findings support the need to develop and validate a meningioma-specific HRQoL questionnaire.

Research bias in judgement bias studies : a systematic review of valuation judgement literature

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vincent Gruis; Pim Klamer; Cok Bakker

2017-01-01

Valuation judgement bias has been a research topic for several years due to its proclaimed effect on valuation accuracy. However, little is known on the emphasis of literature on judgement bias, with regard to, for instance, research methodologies, research context and robustness of research

Research bias in judgement bias studies : A systematic review of valuation judgement literature

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klamer, Pim; Bakker, C.; Gruis, Vincent

2017-01-01

Valuation judgement bias has been a research topic for several years due to its proclaimed effect on valuation accuracy. However, little is known on the emphasis of literature on judgement bias, with regard to, for instance, research methodologies, research context and robustness of research

System Dynamics Modeling in Entrepreneurship Research: A Review of the Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Reza Zali

2014-11-01

Full Text Available System dynamics is a strategic approach for modeling complex systems and analyzing their behavior. Dynamic behavior in entrepreneurial system can be modeled using System Dynamics Approach and dynamic hypotheses about the system`s behavior can be proposed and tested using simulation and computer aided tools. However, as the review of literature shows, studies which link system dynamics modeling with entrepreneurship are rare and fragmented. This article presents a review of studies on the subject followed by integration and discussion on main research issues that have been the focus of previous studies. The main aim of this review is to categorize the available research related to the application of system dynamics modeling in entrepreneurship to integrate research and enable recommendations for future research. The Results reveal that the previous research could be categorized under a two dimensional taxonomy composed of level of analysis and level of modeling. The Level of analysis has three categories: micro level, meso level and macro level. The Level of modeling has six hierarchical levels. This study identifies several gaps in the literature and discusses the future directions in this field.

Effective implementation of research into practice: an overview of systematic reviews of the health literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Boaz, Annette; Baeza, Juan; Fraser, Alec

2011-06-22

The gap between research findings and clinical practice is well documented and a range of interventions has been developed to increase the implementation of research into clinical practice. A review of systematic reviews of the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase the use of research in clinical practice. A search for relevant systematic reviews was conducted of Medline and the Cochrane Database of Reviews 1998-2009. 13 systematic reviews containing 313 primary studies were included. Four strategy types are identified: audit and feedback; computerised decision support; opinion leaders; and multifaceted interventions. Nine of the reviews reported on multifaceted interventions. This review highlights the small effects of single interventions such as audit and feedback, computerised decision support and opinion leaders. Systematic reviews of multifaceted interventions claim an improvement in effectiveness over single interventions, with effect sizes ranging from small to moderate. This review found that a number of published systematic reviews fail to state whether the recommended practice change is based on the best available research evidence. This overview of systematic reviews updates the body of knowledge relating to the effectiveness of key mechanisms for improving clinical practice and service development. Multifaceted interventions are more likely to improve practice than single interventions such as audit and feedback. This review identified a small literature focusing explicitly on getting research evidence into clinical practice. It emphasizes the importance of ensuring that primary studies and systematic reviews are precise about the extent to which the reported interventions focus on changing practice based on research evidence (as opposed to other information codified in guidelines and education materials).

Balancing research interests and patient interests: A qualitative study into the intertwinement of care and research in paediatric oncology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dekking, Sara; van der Graaf, R; Kars, Marijke C.; Beishuizen, A.; de Vries, Martine; van Delden, J. (Hans) J.M.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, in ethical guidelines and in research ethics literature, care and research are clearly separated based on their different objectives. In contrast, in paediatric oncology, research and care are closely combined. Currently, it is unknown how relevant actors in paediatric

The state of online impulse-buying research : a literature analysis.

OpenAIRE

Chan, T. K. H.; Cheung, C. M. K.; Lee, Z. W. Y.

2017-01-01

Online impulse buying has drawn increasing scholarly attention across disciplines. However, little effort has been made to evaluate the status of research and consolidate the findings in the literature. To address this research gap, we conducted a systematic review of studies of online impulse buying, and used the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework to identify and classify the factors that affect online impulse buying. We then built a conceptual framework to explain the interrelations...

Pressure injuries in people with darker skin tones: A literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Oozageer Gunowa, Neesha; Hutchinson, Marie; Brooke, Joanne; Jackson, Debra

2017-09-08

In this article, we aimed to explore the literature to ascertain what research evidence exists in relation to the identification of pressure injuries in people with dark skin tones. Pressure injuries development has been widely researched and documented; however, much of this work does not address ethnicity or race and assumes Caucasian-ness. Thus, the perceptions of people with dark skin tones and the influence of skin pigmentation on identification and management of pressure injuries is under examined. Literature review. A comprehensive electronic database search was undertaken of PubMed, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane and British Nursing Index (BNI) between 1990-July 2016. Alongside the electronic data, journals, books, papers from conferences, relevant national and international organisations and reference lists were also used to help source key studies. A search of the literature revealed 11 relevant articles. The foci of studies included the following: risk of sustaining a pressure injuries based on skin tones, identification of pressure injuries amongst people with dark skin tones, pressure injuries and place of care and socio-economic impact on pressure injuries development. Overall, findings indicate that people with darker skin tones are more likely to develop higher stage pressure injuries. Reasons for this are not fully elucidated; however, it may be associated with current skin assessment protocols being less effective for people who have darker skin tones resulting in early damage arising from pressure not being recognised. From the literature reviewed, it can be seen that there is a lack of guidance and evidence, and people with darker skin tones are more likely in comparison with people presenting as Caucasian to develop higher stage pressure injuries. The current literature suggests a need for researchers and clinicians to consider skin tone variances rather than ethnicity when exploring comprehensive skin

Partnerships panel: natural, resource partnerships: literature synthesis and research agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Steve Selin; Nancy Myers

1995-01-01

This paper presents a summary of an annotated bibliography on natural resource partnerships. Resource areas and management functions addressed in the partnership literature are examined. Partnership research is summarized and broken into categories including: Partnership outcomes, assessing the potential for partnerships, characteristics of successful partnerships,...

Behavioral Recommendations in Health Research News as Cues to Action: Self-Relevancy and Self-Efficacy Processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chingching

2016-08-01

This study argues that behavioral recommendations in health news function as cues to action. A proposed self-oriented model seeks to explore the impacts of behavioral recommendations in health research news as cues to action through their influences on self-relevancy and self-efficacy. A content analysis (Study 1) first establishes that health research news commonly features behavioral recommendations. A message experiment (Study 2) then explores the utility of behavioral recommendations as cues to action by demonstrating a self-relevancy effect: Health research news with, as opposed to without, behavioral recommendations increases the self-relevancy of advocated health behaviors, which then improve people's attitudes toward and intentions to adopt those behaviors. A second message experiment (Study 3) tests whether varying presentations of behavioral recommendations alter their effectiveness as cues to action and thus people's behavioral intentions through a dual effect process. In addition to the previously demonstrated self-relevancy effect, this experiment shows that concrete, as opposed to abstract, behavioral recommendations trigger a self-efficacy effect, increasing perceived self-efficacy and further improving behavioral intentions.

Team situation awareness in nuclear power plant process control: A literature review, task analysis and future research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, R.; Kaber, D. B.; Jones, J. M.; Starkey, R. L.

2006-01-01

Operator achievement and maintenance of situation awareness (SA) in nuclear power plant (NPP) process control has emerged as an important concept in defining effective relationships between humans and automation in this complex system. A literature review on factors influencing SA revealed several variables to be important to team SA, including the overall task and team goals, individual tasks, team member roles, and the team members themselves. Team SA can also be adversely affected by a range of factors, including stress, mental over- or under-loading, system design (including human-machine interface design), complexity, human error in perception, and automation. Our research focused on the analysis of 'shared' SA and team SA among an assumed three-person, main-control-room team. Shared SA requirements represent the knowledge that is held in common by NPP operators, and team SA represents the collective, unique knowledge of all operators. The paper describes an approach to goal-directed task analysis (GDTA) applied to NPP main control room operations. In general, the GDTA method reveals critical operator decision and information requirements. It identifies operator SA requirements relevant to performing complex systems control. The GDTA can reveal requirements at various levels of cognitive processing, including perception, comprehension and projection, in NPP process control. Based on the literature review and GDTA approach, a number of potential research issues are proposed with an aim toward understanding and facilitating team SA in NPP process control. (authors)

E-Commerce Logistics: A Literature Research Review and Topics for Future Research

OpenAIRE

Anu Bask; Mervi Lipponen; Markku Tinnilä

2012-01-01

E-commerce has attracted increasing interest at the beginning of the 21st century, in both academia and practice. Today, the Internet is commonly used by both consumers and businesses as a means of purchasing goods. The authors’ study focuses on e-commerce logistics, focusing on the physical delivery of goods sold over the Internet. Based on a systematic review of articles, the authors will summarize and analyze the main findings of academic literature and highlight certain research issues ...

Salespersons' Empathy: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda

OpenAIRE

Burger, Dominik; Fueglistaller, Urs; Fust, Alexander

2013-01-01

Salespersons' empathy has received recognition by scholars and sales representatives. Despite its importance, definitions and conceptualizations of salespersons' empathy are rather heterogeneous. Thus, we used the method of systematic literature review to analyze 42 empirical articles. A research agenda focusing on salespersons' empathy's measurement, antecedents and moderators as well as effects on performance and relationship outcomes is presented to advance the field.

Relevant cost information for order acceptance decisions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wouters, M.J.F.

1997-01-01

Some economic considerations for order acceptance decisions are discussed. The relevant economic considerations for order acceptance are widely discussed in the literature: only those costs are relevant which would be avoidable by not accepting the order incremental costs plus opportunity costs .

297 Literature in Indigenous Language: Its Relevance to Human ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

need to carry out a re-orientation of the people's general ... aim is to persuade an audience to think and feel or act in a ... power can create impact on the lives of people in the society. ... in their literature as it teaches the cultural values of the ...

Relevance in the science classroom: A multidimensional analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hartwell, Matthew F.

While perceived relevance is considered a fundamental component of adaptive learning, the experience of relevance and its conceptual definition have not been well described. The mixed-methods research presented in this dissertation aimed to clarify the conceptual meaning of relevance by focusing on its phenomenological experience from the students' perspective. Following a critical literature review, I propose an identity-based model of perceived relevance that includes three components: a contextual target, an identity target, and a connection type, or lens. An empirical investigation of this model that consisted of two general phases was implemented in four 9th grade-biology classrooms. Participants in Phase 1 (N = 118) completed a series of four open-ended writing activities focused on eliciting perceived personal connections to academic content. Exploratory qualitative content analysis of a 25% random sample of the student responses was used to identify the main meaning-units of the proposed model as well as different dimensions of student relevance perceptions. These meaning-units and dimensions provided the basis for the construction of a conceptual mapping sentence capturing students' perceived relevance, which was then applied in a confirmatory analysis to all other student responses. Participants in Phase 2 (N = 139) completed a closed survey designed based on the mapping sentence to assess their perceived relevance of a biology unit. The survey also included scales assessing other domain-level motivational processes. Exploratory factor analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated a coherent conceptual structure, which included a primary interpretive relevance dimension. Comparison of the conceptual structure across various groups (randomly-split sample, gender, academic level, domain-general motivational profiles) provided support for its ubiquity and insight into variation in the experience of perceived relevance among students of different

Passage relevance models for genomics search

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frieder Ophir

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract We present a passage relevance model for integrating syntactic and semantic evidence of biomedical concepts and topics using a probabilistic graphical model. Component models of topics, concepts, terms, and document are represented as potential functions within a Markov Random Field. The probability of a passage being relevant to a biologist's information need is represented as the joint distribution across all potential functions. Relevance model feedback of top ranked passages is used to improve distributional estimates of query concepts and topics in context, and a dimensional indexing strategy is used for efficient aggregation of concept and term statistics. By integrating multiple sources of evidence including dependencies between topics, concepts, and terms, we seek to improve genomics literature passage retrieval precision. Using this model, we are able to demonstrate statistically significant improvements in retrieval precision using a large genomics literature corpus.

Graduate Students' Expectations of an Introductory Research Methods Course

Science.gov (United States)

Earley, Mark A.

2013-01-01

While there is a scattered literature base on teaching research methods courses, there is very little literature that speaks to what and how students learn in research methods courses. Students are often described as coming to the course not seeing its relevance, bringing negative attitudes and low motivation with them. The purpose of this…

A review of Grey and academic literature of evaluation guidance relevant to public health interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Denford, Sarah; Abraham, Charles; Callaghan, Margaret; Aighton, Peter; De Vocht, Frank; Arris, Steven

2017-09-12

Public Health evaluation is essential to understanding what does and does not work, and robust demonstration of effectiveness may be crucial to securing future funding. Despite this, programs are often implemented with poor, incomplete or no evaluation. Public health practitioners are frequently required to provide evidence for the effectiveness of their services; thus, there is a growing need for evaluation guidance on how to evaluate public health programs. The aim of this study is to identify accessible high-quality, evaluation guidance, available to researchers and practitioners and to catalogue, summarise and categorise the content of a subset of accessible, quality guides to evaluation. We systematically reviewed grey and academic literature for documents providing support for evaluation of complex health interventions. Searches were conducted January to March 2015, and included academic databases, internet search engines, and consultations with academic and practicing public health experts. Data were extracted by two authors and sent to the authors of the guidance documents for comments. Our initial search identified 402 unique documents that were screened to identify those that were (1) developed by or for a national or international organization (2) freely available to all (3) published during or after 2000 (4) specific to public health. This yielded 98 documents from 43 organisations. Of these, 48 were reviewed in detail. This generated a detailed catalogue of quality evaluation guidance. The content included in documents covers 37 facets of evaluation. A wide range of guidance on evaluation of public health initiatives is available. Time and knowledge constraints may mean that busy practitioners find it challenging to access the most, up-to-date, relevant and useful guidance. This review presents links to and reviews of 48 quality guides to evaluation as well as categorising their content. This facilitates quick and each access to multiple selected

Optimizing literature search in systematic reviews

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aagaard, Thomas; Lund, Hans; Juhl, Carsten Bogh

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: When conducting systematic reviews, it is essential to perform a comprehensive literature search to identify all published studies relevant to the specific research question. The Cochrane Collaborations Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews (MECIR) guidelines...... of musculoskeletal disorders. METHODS: Data sources were systematic reviews published by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Review Group, including at least five RCTs, reporting a search history, searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and adding reference- and hand-searching. Additional databases were deemed eligible...... if they indexed RCTs, were in English and used in more than three of the systematic reviews. Relative recall was calculated as the number of studies identified by the literature search divided by the number of eligible studies i.e. included studies in the individual systematic reviews. Finally, cumulative median...

Supply chain integration framework using literature review

OpenAIRE

Alfalla-Luque, Rafaela; Medina-Lopez, Carmen; Dey, Prasanta K.

2013-01-01

Definitions and measures of supply chain integration (SCI) are diverse. More empirical research, with clear definition and appropriate measures are needed. The purpose of this article is to identify dimensions and variables for SCI and develop an integrated framework to facilitate this. A literature review of the relevant academic papers in international journals in Logistics, Supply Chain Management and Operations Management for the period 1995-2009 has been undertaken. This study reveals th...

Relevant Information and Informed Consent in Research: In Defense of the Subjective Standard of Disclosure.

Science.gov (United States)

Dranseika, Vilius; Piasecki, Jan; Waligora, Marcin

2017-02-01

In this article, we seek to contribute to the debate on the requirement of disclosure in the context of informed consent for research. We defend the subjective standard of disclosure and describe ways to implement this standard in research practice. We claim that the researcher should make an effort to find out what kinds of information are likely to be relevant for those consenting to research. This invites researchers to take empirical survey information seriously, attempt to understand the cultural context, talk to patients to be better able to understand what can be potentially different concerns and interests prevalent in the target population. The subjective standard of disclosure should be seen as a moral ideal that perhaps can never be perfectly implemented but still can and should be used as a normative ideal guiding research practice. In the light of these discussions, we call for more empirical research on what considerations are likely to be perceived as relevant by potential research participants recruited from different socio-economic and cultural groups.

Relevant thermal hydraulic aspects of advanced reactors design: status report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-11-01

This status report provides an overview on the relevant thermalhydraulic aspects of advanced reactor designs (e.g. ABWR, AP600, SBWR, EPR, ABB 80+, PIUS, etc.). Since all of the advanced reactor concepts are at the design stage, the information and data available in the open literature are still very limited. Some characteristics of advanced reactor designs are provided together with selected phenomena identification and ranking tables. Specific needs for thermalhydraulic codes together with the list of relevant and important thermalhydraulic phenomena for advanced reactor designs are summarized with the purpose of providing some guidance in development of research plans for considering further code development and assessment needs and for the planning of experimental programs

Value Relevance of Investment Properties: Evidence from the Brazilian Capital Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ketlyn Alves Gonçalves

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the relevance to the capital market of the assets recognized as investment properties of companies listed on the BM&F BOVESPA, in the period from 2011 to 2014. The research conducted was based on the Ohlson model (1995 and panel analysis was carried out using linear regression with POLS and Fixed and Random Effects estimators. Two hypothesis were made: (i that Earning and Equity generate accounting information relevant to investors; and (2 that Earning, Equity and Investment Property generate accounting information relevant to investors, assuming that investment properties have incremental effect on the relevance of this information relative only to earning and to equity. Both hypotheses were rejected, so it is concluded that Investment Property assets are not of value relevance in the determination of share price and do not influence the decision making of users of accounting information. The study adds to the limited literature on the value relevance of Investment Property, permitting a better understanding of the impact of accounting disclosures used by companies on their market value.

Using Social Media as a Marketing Channel : how relevance, realness, and remarkableness influence interactivity and engagement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A. Boer, de

2010-01-01

This research explored a potential working framework for using social media as a marketing channel. Based on an extensive literature review and a multiple case study, important factors for using social media have been identified. Companies should provide relevant information, show signs of real

Empirical Models of Demand for Out-Patient Physician Services and Their Relevance to the Assessment of Patient Payment Policies: A Critical Review of the Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Skriabikova

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the existing empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services where the size of patient payment is included either directly as an independent variable (when a flat-rate co-payment fee or indirectly as a level of deductibles and/or co-insurance defined by the insurance coverage. The paper also discusses the relevance of these models for the assessment of patient payment policies. For this purpose, a systematic literature review is carried out. In total, 46 relevant publications were identified. These publications are classified into categories based on their general approach to demand modeling, specifications of data collection, data analysis, and main empirical findings. The analysis indicates a rising research interest in the empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services that incorporate the size of patient payment. Overall, the size of patient payments, consumer socio-economic and demographic features, and quality of services provided emerge as important determinants of demand for out-patient physician services. However, there is a great variety in the modeling approaches and inconsistencies in the findings regarding the impact of price on demand for out-patient physician services. Hitherto, the empirical research fails to offer policy-makers a clear strategy on how to develop a country-specific model of demand for out-patient physician services suitable for the assessment of patient payment policies in their countries. In particular, theoretically important factors, such as provider behavior, consumer attitudes, experience and culture, and informal patient payments, are not considered. Although we recognize that it is difficult to measure these factors and to incorporate them in the demand models, it is apparent that there is a gap in research for the construction of effective patient payment schemes.

Empirical models of demand for out-patient physician services and their relevance to the assessment of patient payment policies: a critical review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Skriabikova, Olga; Pavlova, Milena; Groot, Wim

2010-06-01

This paper reviews the existing empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services where the size of patient payment is included either directly as an independent variable (when a flat-rate co-payment fee) or indirectly as a level of deductibles and/or co-insurance defined by the insurance coverage. The paper also discusses the relevance of these models for the assessment of patient payment policies. For this purpose, a systematic literature review is carried out. In total, 46 relevant publications were identified. These publications are classified into categories based on their general approach to demand modeling, specifications of data collection, data analysis, and main empirical findings. The analysis indicates a rising research interest in the empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services that incorporate the size of patient payment. Overall, the size of patient payments, consumer socio-economic and demographic features, and quality of services provided emerge as important determinants of demand for out-patient physician services. However, there is a great variety in the modeling approaches and inconsistencies in the findings regarding the impact of price on demand for out-patient physician services. Hitherto, the empirical research fails to offer policy-makers a clear strategy on how to develop a country-specific model of demand for out-patient physician services suitable for the assessment of patient payment policies in their countries. In particular, theoretically important factors, such as provider behavior, consumer attitudes, experience and culture, and informal patient payments, are not considered. Although we recognize that it is difficult to measure these factors and to incorporate them in the demand models, it is apparent that there is a gap in research for the construction of effective patient payment schemes.

Effective implementation of research into practice: an overview of systematic reviews of the health literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fraser Alec

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The gap between research findings and clinical practice is well documented and a range of interventions has been developed to increase the implementation of research into clinical practice. Findings A review of systematic reviews of the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase the use of research in clinical practice. A search for relevant systematic reviews was conducted of Medline and the Cochrane Database of Reviews 1998-2009. 13 systematic reviews containing 313 primary studies were included. Four strategy types are identified: audit and feedback; computerised decision support; opinion leaders; and multifaceted interventions. Nine of the reviews reported on multifaceted interventions. This review highlights the small effects of single interventions such as audit and feedback, computerised decision support and opinion leaders. Systematic reviews of multifaceted interventions claim an improvement in effectiveness over single interventions, with effect sizes ranging from small to moderate. This review found that a number of published systematic reviews fail to state whether the recommended practice change is based on the best available research evidence. Conclusions This overview of systematic reviews updates the body of knowledge relating to the effectiveness of key mechanisms for improving clinical practice and service development. Multifaceted interventions are more likely to improve practice than single interventions such as audit and feedback. This review identified a small literature focusing explicitly on getting research evidence into clinical practice. It emphasizes the importance of ensuring that primary studies and systematic reviews are precise about the extent to which the reported interventions focus on changing practice based on research evidence (as opposed to other information codified in guidelines and education materials.

Surveying managers to inform a regionally relevant invasive Phragmites australis control research program.

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Rohal, C B; Kettenring, K M; Sims, K; Hazelton, E L G; Ma, Z

2018-01-15

Managers of invasive species consider the peer-reviewed literature only moderately helpful for guiding their management programs. Though this "knowing-doing gap" has been well-described, there have been few efforts to guide scientists in how to develop useful and usable science. Here we demonstrate how a comprehensive survey of managers (representing 42 wetland management units across the Great Salt Lake watershed) can highlight management practices and challenges (here for the widespread invasive plant, Phragmites australis, a recent and aggressive invader in this region) to ultimately inform a research program. The diversity of surveyed organizations had wide-ranging amounts of Phragmites which led to different goals and approaches including more aggressive control targets and a wider array of control tools for smaller, private organizations compared to larger government-run properties. We found that nearly all managers (97%) used herbicide as their primary Phragmites control tool, while burning (65%), livestock grazing (49%), and mowing (43%) were also frequently used. Managers expressed uncertainties regarding the timing of herbicide application and type of herbicide for effective control. Trade-offs between different Phragmites treatments were driven by budgetary concerns, as well as environmental conditions like water levels and social constraints like permitting issues. Managers had specific ideas about the plant communities they desired following Phragmites control, yet revegetation of native species was rarely attempted. The results of this survey informed the development of large-scale, multi-year Phragmites control and native plant revegetation experiments to address management uncertainties regarding herbicide type and timing. The survey also facilitated initial scientist-manager communication, which led to collaborations and knowledge co-production between managers and researchers. An important outcome of the survey was that experimental results were

The Role of Gender in Workplace Stress: A Critical Literature Review

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Gyllensten, Kristina; Palmer, Stephen

2005-01-01

Objective: The aim of this review was to evaluate research relating to the role of gender in the level of workplace stress. A further aim was to review literature relating to stressors of particular relevance to working women. These stressors included, multiple roles, lack of career progress and discrimination and stereotyping. Design: Systematic…

Parent-child learning interactions: A review of the literature on scaffolding.

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Mermelshtine, Roni

2017-06-01

Scaffolding can be observed during learning-based interactions, when interventions by parents are adjusted according to children's observed abilities, with the main goal of enabling the child to work independently (Wood et al., 1976, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 17, 89). Such contingent instruction behaviours occur from infancy, and are said to be relevant for children's development of executive function, language acquisition, and cognitive and academic abilities. Scaffolding behaviours are considered a product of the family and the wider context, a process affected by parent and child characteristics, and the environment they inhabit. Over 40 years of scaffolding research has produced an abundance of findings. Early investigations were concerned with the conceptualization of scaffolding, whereas more recent studies build upon the theory, testing its correlates and relevance for child development. This article offers an overview of the literature, focusing on the relevance of scaffolding for child developmental outcomes, and the factors associated with individual differences in the process. The article is structured such that the origins of the theory and its definitions are discussed first, followed by an overview of the correlates of scaffolding. The review concludes with a critical evaluation of the literature, proposing novel avenues for future research. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Systematic literature review of integrated community case management and the private sector in Africa: Relevant experiences and potential next steps.

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Awor, Phyllis; Miller, Jane; Peterson, Stefan

2014-12-01

Despite substantial investments made over the past 40 years in low income countries, governments cannot be viewed as the principal health care provider in many countries. Evidence on the role of the private sector in the delivery of health services is becoming increasingly available. In this study, we set out to determine the extent to which the private sector has been utilized in providing integrated care for sick children under 5 years of age with community-acquired malaria, pneumonia or diarrhoea. We reviewed the published literature for integrated community case management (iCCM) related experiences within both the public and private sector. We searched PubMed and Google/Google Scholar for all relevant literature until July 2014. The search terms used were "malaria", "pneumonia", "diarrhoea", "private sector" and "community case management". A total of 383 articles referred to malaria, pneumonia or diarrhoea in the private sector. The large majority of these studies (290) were only malaria related. Most of the iCCM-related studies evaluated introduction of only malaria drugs and/or diagnostics into the private sector. Only one study evaluated the introduction of drugs and diagnostics for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea in the private sector. In contrast, most iCCM-related studies in the public sector directly reported on community case management of 2 or more of the illnesses. While the private sector is an important source of care for children in low income countries, little has been done to harness the potential of this sector in improving access to care for non-malaria-associated fever in children within the community. It would be logical for iCCM programs to expand their activities to include the private sector to achieve higher population coverage. An implementation research agenda for private sector integrated care of febrile childhood illness needs to be developed and implemented in conjunction with private sector intervention programs.

Rules of Thumb from the Literature on Research and Evaluation.

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Lai, Morris K.

Practical advice on frequently asked questions dealing with research and evaluation methodology is presented as rules of thumb, with citations to the author's sources. A statement in the literature is considered a rule of thumb if it meets one of the following criteria: (1) it is specifically called a rule of thumb; (2) it contains numbers in…

Major publications in the critical care pharmacotherapy literature: January-December 2013.

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Rech, Megan A; Day, Sarah A; Kast, Jenna M; Donahey, Elisabeth E; Pajoumand, Mehrnaz; Kram, Shawn J; Erdman, Michael J; Peitz, Gregory J; Allen, John M; Palmer, Allison; Kram, Bridgette; Harris, Serena A; Turck, Charles J

2015-02-01

Ten recently published articles with important implications for critical care pharmacotherapy are summarized. The Critical Care Pharmacotherapy Literature Update (CCPLU) group is a national assembly of experienced intensive care unit (ICU) pharmacists across the United States. Group members monitor 25 peer-reviewed journals on an ongoing basis to identify literature relevant to pharmacy practice in the critical care setting. After evaluation by CCPLU group members, selected articles are chosen for summarization and distribution to group members nationwide based on (1) applicability to critical care practice, (2) relevance to pharmacy practitioners, and (3) quality of evidence or research methodology. Hundreds of relevant articles were evaluated by the group during the period January-December 2013, of which 98 were summarized and disseminated nationally to CCPLU group members. Among those 98 publications, 10 deemed to be of particularly high utility to critical care practitioners were included in this review. The 10 articles address topics such as rapid lowering of blood pressure in patients with intracranial hemorrhage, adjunctive therapy to prevent renal injury due to acute heart failure, triple-drug therapy to improve neurologic outcomes after cardiac arrest, and continuous versus intermittent infusion of β-lactam antibiotics in severe sepsis. There were many important additions to the critical care pharmacotherapy literature in 2013, including an updated guideline on the management of myocardial infarction and reports on advances in research focused on improving outcomes in patients with stroke or cardiac arrest and preventing the spread of drug-resistant pathogens in the ICU. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Enrolment and Retention of African Women in Biomedical Research ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Relevant biomedical research literatures on Human Research Participants from Scirus, Pubmed and Medline computerized search were critically evaluated and highlighted. Information was also obtained from research ethics training as well as texts and journals in the medical libraries of the research ethics departments of ...

Keeping research reactors relevant: A pro-active approach for SLOWPOKE-2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cosby, L.R.; Bennett, L.G.I.; Nielsen, K.; Weir, R.

2010-01-01

The SLOWPOKE is a small, inherently safe, pool-type research reactor that was engineered and marketed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) in the 1970s and 80s. The original reactor, SLOWPOKE-1, was moved from Chalk River to the University of Toronto in 1970 and was operated until upgraded to the SLOWPOKE-2 reactor in 1973. In all, eight reactors in the two versions were produced and five are still in operation today, three having been decommissioned. All of the remaining reactors are designated as SLOWPOKE-2 reactors. These research reactors are prone to two major issues: aging components and lack of relevance to a younger audience. In order to combat these problems, one SLOWPOKE -2 facility has embraced a strategy that involves modernizing their reactor in order to keep the reactor up to date and relevant. In 2001, this facility replaced its aging analogue reactor control system with a digital control system. The system was successfully commissioned and has provided a renewed platform for student learning and research. The digital control system provides a better interface and allows flexibility in data storage and retrieval that was never possible with the analogue control system. This facility has started work on another upgrade to the digital control and instrumentation system that will be installed in 2010. The upgrade includes new computer hardware, updated software and a web-based simulation and training system that will allow licensed operators, students and researchers to use an online simulation tool for training, education and research. The tool consists of: 1) A dynamic simulation for reactor kinetics (e.g., core flux, power, core temperatures, etc). This tool is useful for operator training and student education; 2) Dynamic mapping of the reactor and pool container gamma and neutron fluxes as well as the vertical neutron beam tube flux. This research planning tool is used for various researchers who wish to do irradiations (e.g., neutron

Fossil Fuel Industry Funding of Climate-Relevant Research at U.S. Universities

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Franta, B.; Supran, G.

2017-12-01

Commercial producers of lead, tobacco, petroleum, and other products have funded extensive scholarly research in ways designed to confuse the public about the dangers of those products and thwart regulation [1-3]. For example, strategy documentation of the U.S. oil and gas industry from the late 1990s describes using selective support for scientists as a strategy for creating an atmosphere of debate and uncertainty, with the ultimate goal of delaying and defeating climate policies [4]. In this context, we systematically examine current funding from commercial fossil fuel interests of climate-relevant research - such as energy technology and climate policy research - in U.S. universities. We quantify such funding using charitable giving databases, university websites, and other publicly available records. We find that, especially among the most influential universities, climate-related research programs are frequently dominated by funding from fossil fuel interests. Moreover, these relationships sometimes afford funders privileges including formal control over research directions. This work represents an advance in mapping the presence of commercial fossil fuel interests in academia and may contribute to discussions of appropriate funding systems for climate-relevant research. 1. Markowitz, G. and D. Rosner, Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America's Children. 1st ed. 2013: University of California Press. 2. Brandt, A.M., Inventing Conflicts of Interest: A History of Tobacco Industry Tactics. American Journal of Public Health, 2012. 102(1): p. 63-71. 3. Oreskes, N. and E.M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. 2011: Bloomsbury Press. 4. Walker, J., Global Climate Science Communications Action Plan. 1998. Workshop held at the headquarters of the American Petroleum Institute.

Characteristics of nursing studies in diabetes research published over three decades in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland: a narrative review of the literature.

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Iversen, Marjolein M; Graue, Marit; Leksell, Janeth; Smide, Bibbi; Zoffmann, Vibeke; Sigurdardottir, Arun K

2016-06-01

Similarities and differences across borders of Nordic countries constitute a suitable context for investigating and discussing factors related to the development of diabetes nursing research over the last three decades. The present study reviewed the entire body of contemporary diabetes nursing research literature originating in four Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. Our aims were (i) to catalogue and characterise trends in research designs and research areas of these studies published over time and (ii) to describe how research involving nurses in Nordic countries has contributed to diabetes research overall. The larger goal of our analyses was to produce a comprehensive picture of this research in order to guide future studies in the field. We conducted a narrative literature review by systematically searching Medline, Medline in process, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Cochrane databases. These searches were limited to studies published between 1979 and 2009 that had an abstract available in English or a Nordic language. Two researchers independently selected studies for analysis, leading to the inclusion of 164 relevant publications for analysis. In summary, Nordic nurse researchers have contributed to the development of new knowledge in self-management of diabetes in childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and to some extent also in the treatment and care of diabetes foot ulcers. Future research may benefit from (i) larger nurse-led research programmes organised in networks in order to share knowledge and expertise across national groups and borders, (ii) more multidisciplinary collaborations in order to promote patient-centred care and (iii) further research directed towards improving the dissemination and implementation of research findings. Using complex intervention designs and a mix of research methods will enrich the research. © 2015 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Students of Color and Public Montessori Schools: A Review of the Literature

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Debs, Mira C.; Brown, Katie E.

2017-01-01

Students of color comprise a majority in public Montessori school enrollments around the United States, and practitioners are often asked for evidence of the Montessori Method's benefits for these students. This article examines the relevant literature related to the experiences of students of color in public Montessori schools. Research finds…

A Framework for ERP Post-Implementation Amendments: A Literature Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taiwo Oseni

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Post-implementation amendments to ERP systems (ERP-PIA are of importance for advancing ERP research, but more importantly essential if ERP systems are to be used as a strategic and competitive business tool. For ease of clarity, we have adopted the term “amendments” to encompass the main forms of post implementation activities: maintenance, enhancements and upgrades. The term ‘amendments’ is used to counteract one of the major findings from this research - the inconsistency of terms used by many authors to explain post implementation activities. This paper presents a review of the ERP post-implementation amendment literature in order to provide answers to two specific questions: first, what is the current state of research in the field of ERP-PIA; and second, what are the future research directions that need to be explored in the field of ERP-PIA. From the review, we develop a framework to identify: (a major themes concerning ERP post-implementation amendments, (b inherent gaps in the post-implementation amendments literature, and (c specific areas that require further research attention influencing the uptake of amendments. Suggestions on empirical evaluation of research directions and their relevance in the extension of existing literature is presented.

From research excellence to brand relevance: A model for higher education reputation building

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nina Overton-de Klerk

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In this article we propose a novel approach to reputation development at higher education institutions. Global reputation development at higher education institutions is largely driven by research excellence, is predominantly measured by research output, and is predominantly reflected in hierarchical university rankings. The ranking becomes equated with brand equity. We argue that the current approach to reputation development in higher education institutions is modernist and linear. This is strangely out-of-kilter with the complexities of a transforming society in flux, the demands of a diversity of stakeholders, and the drive towards transdisciplinarity, laterality, reflexivity and relevance in science. Good research clearly remains an important ingredient of a university's brand value. However, a case can be made for brand relevance, co-created in collaboration with stakeholders, as an alternative and non-linear way of differentiation. This approach is appropriate in light of challenges in strategic science globally as well as trends and shifts in the emerging paradigm of strategic communication. In applying strategic communication principles to current trends and issues in strategic science and the communication thereof, an alternative model for strategic reputation building at higher education institutions is developed.

Organizational downsizing: a review of literature for planning and research.

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Davis, Jullet A; Savage, Grant; Stewart, R Thomas

2003-01-01

The use of downsizing as management's strategic response to environmental and institutional changes is prevalent in all U.S. industries, including healthcare. The popular and research literature is inundated with reports on companies undergoing various stages of restructuring, which often include one or more staff reductions. This article provides a review of downsizing literature published from 1985 to 2002. Although the findings and conclusions of these articles are generally inconsistent, the prevailing opinion is that for downsizing to be successful, effective planning must occur long before, during, and after downsizing. Additionally, a downsizing plan should be included in the strategic management plan of all organizations, regardless of whether they plan to downsize or not. By including such a plan, the organization will be better prepared to begin the staff-reduction process should it be forced to do so in response to environmental changes. Finally, providing ample support and protection for staff is key to the organization's recovery and growth. The lessons provided in this literature review should assist healthcare managers in deciding how to plan and structure potential staff reductions.

A survey of Australian chiropractors' attitudes and beliefs about evidence-based practice and their use of research literature and clinical practice guidelines.

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Walker, Bruce F; Stomski, Norman J; Hebert, Jeff J; French, Simon D

2013-12-17

Research into chiropractors' use of evidence in clinical practice appears limited to a single small qualitative study. The paucity of research in this area suggests that it is timely to undertake a more extensive study to build a more detailed understanding of the factors that influence chiropractors' adoption of evidence-based practice (EBP) principles. This study aimed to identify Australian chiropractors' attitudes and beliefs towards EBP in clinical practice, and also examine their use of research literature and clinical practice guidelines. We used an online questionnaire about attitudes, beliefs and behaviours towards the use of EBP in clinical practice that had been developed to survey physiotherapists and modified it to ensure that it was relevant to chiropractic practice. We endeavoured to survey all registered Australian chiropractors (n = 4378) via email invitation distributed by Australian chiropractic professional organisations and the Chiropractic Board of Australia. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine univariate associations between responses to items measuring attitudes and beliefs with items measuring: age; years since registration; attention to literature; and use of clinical practice guidelines. Questionnaires were returned by 584 respondents (response rate approximately 13%). The respondents' perceptions of EBP were generally positive: most agreed that the application of EBP is necessary (77.9%), literature and research findings are useful (80.2%), EBP helps them make decisions about patient care (66.5%), and expressed an interest in learning or improving EBP skills (74.9%). Almost half of the respondents (45.1%) read between two to five articles a month. Close to half of the respondents (44.7%) used literature in the process of clinical decision making two to five times each month. About half of the respondents (52.4%) agreed that they used clinical practice guidelines, and around half (54.4%) agreed that they were able

Other relevant numerical modelling papers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chartier, M.

1989-01-01

The ocean modelling is a rapidly evolving science and a large number of results have been published. Several categories of papers are of particular interest for this review: the papers published by the international atomic institutions, such as the NEA (for the CRESP or Subseabed Programs), the IAEA (for example the Safety Series, the Technical Report Series or the TECDOC), and the ICRP, and the papers concerned by more fundamental research, which are published in specific scientific literature. This paper aims to list some of the most relevant publications for the CRESP purposes. It means by no way to be exhaustive, but informative on the incontestable progress recently achieved in that field. One should note that some of these papers are so recent that their final version has not yet been published

Definitions and Conceptual Dimensions of Responsible Research and Innovation: A Literature Review.

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Burget, Mirjam; Bardone, Emanuele; Pedaste, Margus

2017-02-01

The aim of this study is to provide a discussion on the definitions and conceptual dimensions of Responsible Research and Innovation based on findings from the literature. In the study, the outcomes of a literature review of 235 RRI-related articles were presented. The articles were selected from the EBSCO and Google Scholar databases regarding the definitions and dimensions of RRI. The results of the study indicated that while administrative definitions were widely quoted in the reviewed literature, they were not substantially further elaborated. Academic definitions were mostly derived from the institutional definitions; however, more empirical studies should be conducted in order to give a broader empirical basis to the development of the concept. In the current study, four distinct conceptual dimensions of RRI that appeared in the reviewed literature were brought out: inclusion, anticipation, responsiveness and reflexivity. Two emerging conceptual dimensions were also added: sustainability and care.

Genetics education in the nursing profession: literature review.

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Burke, Sarah; Kirk, Maggie

2006-04-01

This paper reports a literature review exploring genetics education for nursing professionals. The aim was to contribute to the debate about the future direction of such education. Advances in genetics science and technology have profound implications for health care and the growing importance and relevance of genetics for everyday nursing practice is increasingly recognized. A search was conducted in February 2005 using the CINAHL and Google Scholar databases and the keywords nurse, midwife, health visitor, education and genetics. Papers were included if they were published in English between 1994 and 2005 and included empirical data about genetics education in nursing. In addition, attempts were made to access the grey literature, with requests for information on research, for example, to members of the Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors and searches of relevant websites. Agreement on the relevance of genetics for nursing practice is extensive. Empirical evidence of the learning needs of practitioners highlights widespread deficits in knowledge and skills, and low confidence levels. Provision of nursing education in genetics is patchy and insubstantial across a number of countries, further hampered by lack of strategic development. Significant progress has been made in the identification of learning outcomes for nurses. Research on the delivery of genetics education is limited, but the role of skills-based training, use of clinical scenarios, and importance of assessment have all been identified as factors that can promote learning. Whilst areas of good performance were revealed, many studies identified gaps in professional competence and/or education. New initiatives are underway to support genetics education and its integration into professional practice, but further research is needed on the most effective forms of educational delivery, and an international collaborative approach to this should be considered.

One-to-One Technology in K-12 Classrooms: A Review of the Literature from 2004 through 2014

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, Ben; Milman, Natalie B.

2016-01-01

This literature review examined empirical research conducted between 2004 and 2014 regarding 1:1 technologies in K-12 educational settings. Our overarching research question was: What does research tell us about 1:1 technology in K-12 classrooms? We used the constant-comparative method to analyze, code, and induce themes from 46 relevant articles.…

Converging research needs across framework convention on tobacco control articles: making research relevant to global tobacco control practice and policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Leischow, Scott J; Ayo-Yusuf, Olalekan; Backinger, Cathy L

2013-04-01

Much of the research used to support the ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was conducted in high-income countries or in highly controlled environments. Therefore, for the global tobacco control community to make informed decisions that will continue to effectively inform policy implementation, it is critical that the tobacco control community, policy makers, and funders have updated information on the state of the science as it pertains to provisions of the FCTC. Following the National Cancer Institute's process model used in identifying the research needs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's relatively new tobacco law, a core team of scientists from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco identified and commissioned internationally recognized scientific experts on the topics covered within the FCTC. These experts analyzed the relevant sections of the FCTC and identified critical gaps in research that is needed to inform policy and practice requirements of the FCTC. This paper summarizes the process and the common themes from the experts' recommendations about the research and related infrastructural needs. Research priorities in common across Articles include improving surveillance, fostering research communication/collaboration across organizations and across countries, and tracking tobacco industry activities. In addition, expanding research relevant to low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), was also identified as a priority, including identification of what existing research findings are transferable, what new country-specific data are needed, and the infrastructure needed to implement and disseminate research so as to inform policy in LMIC.

A systematic literature review of resilience engineering: Research areas and a research agenda proposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Righi, Angela Weber; Saurin, Tarcisio Abreu; Wachs, Priscila

2015-01-01

Resilience engineering (RE) has been advocated as a new safety management paradigm, compatible with the nature of complex socio-technical systems. This study aims to identify the research areas and to propose a research agenda for RE, based on a systematic literature review that encompasses 237 studies from 2006 to 2014. Six research areas are identified: theory of RE; identification and classification of resilience; safety management tools; analysis of accidents; risk assessment; and training. The area “theory of RE” accounted for 52% of the studies, and it indicates that research has emphasized the description of how resilient performance occurs. The proposal for a research agenda is focused on: refining key constructs; positioning RE in relation to other theories; exploring other research strategies in addition to case-based studies; investigating barriers for implementing RE; and balancing the importance on describing and understanding resilience with the emphasis on the design of resilient systems, and the evaluation of these designs. - Highlights: • Six research areas on RE are identified. • A research agenda for RE is proposed. • RE research is mostly descriptive and based on case studies. • Design science is suggested as a research strategy for RE. • Five domains account for 75% of the reviewed studies

Evaluating Prior Scholarship in Literature Reviews of Research Articles: A Comparative Study of Practices in Two Research Paradigms

Science.gov (United States)

Kwan, Becky S. C.; Chan, Hang; Lam, Colin

2012-01-01

Evaluations of prior scholarship play a crucial role in the literature review (LR) of a research article by showing how the boundary of an area of inquiry can be further advanced by the writer's work. Yet, many inexperienced writers find evaluating others' work a major challenge. Although the task has received some attention in research and…

[The functional sport shoe parameter "torsion" within running shoe research--a literature review].

Science.gov (United States)

Michel, F I; Kälin, X; Metzger, A; Westphal, K; Schweizer, F; Campe, S; Segesser, B

2009-12-01

Within the sport shoe area torsion is described as the twisting and decoupling of the rear-, mid- and forefoot along the longitudinal axis of the foot. Studies have shown that running shoes restrict the torsion of the foot and thus they increase the pronation of the foot. Based on the findings, it is recommended to design running shoes, which allow the natural freedom of movement of the foot. The market introduction of the first torsion concept through adidas(R) took place in 1989. Independently of the first market introduction, only one epidemiological study was conducted in the running shoe area. The study should investigate the occurrence of Achilles tendon problems of the athletes running in the new "adidas Torsion(R) shoes". However, further studies quantifying the optimal region of torsionability concerning the reduction of injury incidence are still missing. Newer studies reveal that the criterion torsion only plays a secondary roll regarding the buying decision. Moreover, athletes are not able to perceive torsionability as a discrete functional parameter. It is to register, that several workgroups are dealing intensively with the detailed analysis of the foot movement based on kinematic multi-segment-models. However, scientific as well as popular scientific contributions display that the original idea of the torsion concept is still not completely understood. Hence, the "inverse" characteristic is postulated. The present literature review leads to the deduction that the functional characteristics of the torsion concept are not fully implemented within the running shoe area. This implies the necessity of scientific studies, which investigate the relevance of a functional torsion concept regarding injury prevention based on basic and applied research. Besides, biomechanical studies should analyse systematically the mechanism and the effects of torsion relevant technologies and systems.

The Black Teacher Shortage: A Literature Review of Historical and Contemporary Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Madkins, Tia C.

2011-01-01

Desegregation marked the beginning of a long period of loss of Black teachers within the profession. First, Black teachers were not hired in desegregated schools, and then as other professional opportunities opened up in society, fewer Blacks entered the teacher pipeline. The purpose of this literature review is to synthesize research relevant to…

Whistleblowing: An integrative literature review of data-based studies involving nurses.

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Jackson, Debra; Hickman, Louise D; Hutchinson, Marie; Andrew, Sharon; Smith, James; Potgieter, Ingrid; Cleary, Michelle; Peters, Kath

2014-01-01

Abstract Aim: To summarise and critique the research literature about whistleblowing and nurses. Whistleblowing is identified as a crucial issue in maintenance of healthcare standards and nurses are frequently involved in whistleblowing events. Despite the importance of this issue, to our knowledge an evaluation of this body of the data-based literature has not been undertaken. An integrative literature review approach was used to summarise and critique the research literature. A comprehensive search of five databases including Medline, CINAHL, PubMed and Health Science: Nursing/Academic Edition, and Google, were searched using terms including: 'Whistleblow*,' 'nurs*.' In addition, relevant journals were examined, as well as reference lists of retrieved papers. Papers published during the years 2007-2013 were selected for inclusion. Fifteen papers were identified, capturing data from nurses in seven countries. The findings in this review demonstrate a growing body of research for the nursing profession at large to engage and respond appropriately to issues involving suboptimal patient care or organisational wrongdoing. Nursing plays a key role in maintaining practice standards and in reporting care that is unacceptable although the repercussions to nurses who raise concerns are insupportable. Overall, whistleblowing and how it influences the individual, their family, work colleagues, nursing practice and policy overall, requires further national and international research attention.

Synthesising the literature as part of a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Wakefield, Ann

2015-03-18

This article examines how to synthesise and critique research literature. To place the process of synthesising the research literature into context, the article explores the critiquing process by breaking it down into seven sequential steps. The article explains how and why these steps need to be kept in mind if a robust comprehensive literature search and analysis are to be achieved. The article outlines how to engage in the critiquing process and explains how the literature review needs to be assembled to generate a logical and reasoned debate to examine a topic of interest or research in more detail.

Literature review of environmental qualification of safety-related electric cables: Literature analysis and appendices. Volume 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lofaro, R.; Bowerman, B.; Carbonaro, J.

1996-04-01

In support of the US NRC Environmental Qualification (EQ) Research Program, a literature review was performed to identify past relevant work that could be used to help fully or partially resolve issues of interest related to the qualification of low-voltage electric cable. A summary of the literature reviewed is documented in Volume 1 of this report. In this, Volume 2 of the report, dossiers are presented which document the issues selected for investigation in this program, along with recommendations for future work to resolve the issues, when necessary. The dossiers are based on an analysis of the literature reviewed, as well as expert opinions. This analysis includes a critical review of the information available from past and ongoing work in thirteen specific areas related to EQ. The analysis for each area focuses on one or more questions which must be answered to consider a particular issue resolved. Results of the analysis are presented, along with recommendations for future work. The analysis is documented in the form of a dossier for each of the areas analyzed

Literature-based recommendations for treatment planning and execution in high-dose radiotherapy for lung cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Senan, Suresh; De Ruysscher, Dirk; Giraud, Philippe; Mirimanoff, Rene; Budach, Volker

2004-01-01

Background and purpose: To review the literature on techniques used in high-dose radiotherapy of lung cancer in order to develop recommendations for clinical practice and for use in research protocols. Patients and methods: A literature search was performed for articles and abstracts that were considered both clinically relevant and practical to use. The relevant information was arbitrarily categorized under the following headings: patient positioning, CT scanning, incorporating tumour mobility, definition of target volumes, radiotherapy planning, treatment delivery, and scoring of response and toxicity. Results: Recommendations were made for each of the above steps from the published literature. Although most of the recommended techniques have yet to be evaluated in multicenter clinical trials, their use in high-dose radiotherapy to the thorax appears to be rational on the basis of current evidence. Conclusions: Recommendations for the clinical implementation of high-dose conformal radiotherapy for lung tumours were identified in the literature. Procedures that are still considered to be investigational were also highlighted

Literature study of source term research for PWRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sponton, L.L.; NiIsson, Lars

2001-04-01

A literature survey has been carried out in support of ongoing source term calculations with the MELCOR code of some severe accident scenarios for the Swedish Ringhals 2 pressurised water reactor (PWR). The research in the field of severe accidents in power reactors and the source term for subsequent release of radioisotopes was intensified after the Harrisburg accident and has produced a large amount of reports and papers. This survey was therefore limited to research concerning PWR type of reactors and with emphasis on papers related to MELCOR code development. A background is given, relating to some historic documents, and then more recent research after 1990 is reviewed. Of special interest is the ongoing PMbus-programme which is creating new and important results of benefit to the code development and validation of, among others, the MELCOR code. It is concluded that source term calculations involve simulation of many interacting complex physical phenomena, which result in large uncertainties The research has, however, over the years led to considerable improvements Thus has the uncertainty in source term predictions been reduced one to two orders of magnitude from the simpler codes in the early 1980-s to the more realistic codes of today, like MELCOR.

Literature study of source term research for PWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sponton, L.L.; NiIsson, Lars

2001-04-01

A literature survey has been carried out in support of ongoing source term calculations with the MELCOR code of some severe accident scenarios for the Swedish Ringhals 2 pressurised water reactor (PWR). The research in the field of severe accidents in power reactors and the source term for subsequent release of radioisotopes was intensified after the Harrisburg accident and has produced a large amount of reports and papers. This survey was therefore limited to research concerning PWR type of reactors and with emphasis on papers related to MELCOR code development. A background is given, relating to some historic documents, and then more recent research after 1990 is reviewed. Of special interest is the ongoing PMbus-programme which is creating new and important results of benefit to the code development and validation of, among others, the MELCOR code. It is concluded that source term calculations involve simulation of many interacting complex physical phenomena, which result in large uncertainties The research has, however, over the years led to considerable improvements Thus has the uncertainty in source term predictions been reduced one to two orders of magnitude from the simpler codes in the early 1980-s to the more realistic codes of today, like MELCOR

Knowledge Management in Startups: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piera Centobelli

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper conducts a systematic literature review on knowledge management (KM in the context of startups in order to analyze the state of the art, identify research gaps and define a future research agenda. The main findings highlight that, even though there is an increasing number of papers on the topic of KM in startups, several issues are still neglected. Specifically, the paper identifies four main gaps in the body of literature. The first gap deals with the environmental and socio-political factors influencing the adoption of KM in startups. The second gap regards the lack of a comprehensive taxonomy of knowledge management systems (KMSs that may support the processes of knowledge creation, acquisition, storage, transfer, sharing and application. This second gap allows us to identify a third gap concerning the level of alignment between startup’s strategies and technologies adopted. Finally, the fourth gap deals with the issue of the impact of KM on startup’s performances with regard to economic, financial, market, technical, technological, organizational, human and relational performance. From these four gaps, six research questions (RQs have been proposed. These RQs allow us to identify possible areas of analysis to define a future research agenda. Neglecting these issues means underestimating all the possible advantages of KM adoption for a startup to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and scalability goals.

Whether Audit Committee Financial Expertise Is the Only Relevant Expertise: A Review of Audit Committee Expertise and Timeliness of Financial Reporting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed Rabea Baatwah

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This study reviews the literature on audit committee expertise and financial reporting timeliness. Financial reporting timeliness and audit committee expertise are two areas of research gaining the attention of a large number of stakeholders because they contribute to the reliability and the  relevancy of financial reporting. Indeed, the focus of this review is primarily on the recent developments in the pertinent literature in order to show the limitations of such research and encourage future research to overcome these limitations. By also looking at the development of the audit committee expertise literature, this study concludes that (1 like most audit committee literature, financial reporting timeliness literature continues to assume the absence of the contribution of expertise other than financial expertise, and ignore the role of audit committee chair; (2 most of this literature fails to find a significant effect because it ignores the interaction among corporate governance mechanisms. Accordingly, this study posits that ignoring the issues raised in such research by future research would lead to major mistakes in reforms relating to how the quality of financial reporting can be enhanced.

Automated Literature Searches for Longitudinal Tracking of Cancer Research Training Program Graduates.

Science.gov (United States)

Padilla, Luz A; Desmond, Renee A; Brooks, C Michael; Waterbor, John W

2018-06-01

A key outcome measure of cancer research training programs is the number of cancer-related peer-reviewed publications after training. Because program graduates do not routinely report their publications, staff must periodically conduct electronic literature searches on each graduate. The purpose of this study is to compare findings of an innovative computer-based automated search program versus repeated manual literature searches to identify post-training peer-reviewed publications. In late 2014, manual searches for publications by former R25 students identified 232 cancer-related articles published by 112 of 543 program graduates. In 2016, a research assistant was instructed in performing Scopus literature searches for comparison with individual PubMed searches on our 543 program graduates. Through 2014, Scopus found 304 cancer publications, 220 of that had been retrieved manually plus an additional 84 papers. However, Scopus missed 12 publications found manually. Together, both methods found 316 publications. The automated method found 96.2 % of the 316 publications while individual searches found only 73.4 %. An automated search method such as using the Scopus database is a key tool for conducting comprehensive literature searches, but it must be supplemented with periodic manual searches to find the initial publications of program graduates. A time-saving feature of Scopus is the periodic automatic alerts of new publications. Although a training period is needed and initial costs can be high, an automated search method is worthwhile due to its high sensitivity and efficiency in the long term.

Context-based Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Jesper; Jonsson, Patrik

2018-01-01

must be considered when designing and implementing S&OP. Originality/values – This study focused on identifying relevant research on S&OP design by analysing the contribution of literature to a research framework inspired by contingency based research of operations and supply chain management.......Purpose – This paper’s purpose was to describe and categorize how current literature contributes to S&OP research on how contextual variables affect S&OP design and to frame future areas for context-based S&OP research. Design/methodology/approach – The method used was a systematic literature...... – The review found that S&OP design depends on industry, dynamic complexity, detail complexity and organisational characteristics. The findings of the literature review suggest that future research should study the roles of industry, complexity, system and process and organisational characteristics in S&OP...

Research support services for IDRC grantees

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

Melanie Brunet

Research help:The Librarian can… • Assist you in defining search strategies (key concepts and relevant resources). • Show you how to search databases and free online resources. • Help with complex literature searches. • Provide advice on selecting a journal for open access publication of your research results. Full text of ...

The Impact of Violence on Television on Children: A Review of Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Patricia; And Others

Based on a review of relevant literature, a report was prepared which examines the impact of viewing violence on television on the social behavior of the viewer. An introduction discusses a definition of violence and proposes reasons why violence may appeal to viewers. The remainder of the text examines three major research questions: (l) the…

The Impact of Sustainability Practices on Corporate Financial Performance: Literature Trends and Future Research Potential

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Alshehhi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of the literature concerning the impact of corporate sustainability on corporate financial performance. The relationship between corporate sustainable practices and financial performance has received growing attention in research, yet a consensus remains elusive. This paper identifies developing trends and the issues that hinder conclusive consensus on that relationship. We used content analysis to examine the literature and establish the current state of research. A total of 132 papers from top-tier journals are shortlisted. We find that 78% of publications report a positive relationship between corporate sustainability and financial performance. Variations in research methodology and measurement of variables lead to the divergent views on the relationship. Furthermore, literature is slowly replacing total sustainability with narrower corporate social responsibility (CSR, which is dominated by the social dimension of sustainability, while encompassing little to nothing of environmental and economic dimensions. Studies from developing countries remain scarce. More research is needed to facilitate convergence in the understanding of the relationship between corporate sustainable practices and financial performance.

Post-traumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents with chronic pain: A topical review of the literature and a proposed framework for future research

Science.gov (United States)

Holley, A.L.; Wilson, A.C.; Noel, M.; Palermo, T.M.

2018-01-01

Background and objective The co-occurrence of chronic pain and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has gained increasing research attention. Studies on associations among pain and PTSS or PTSD in youth have largely been conducted in the context of acute injury or trauma. Less is known about the risk for co-occurrence with paediatric chronic pain. In this review, we (1) propose a conceptual framework to outline factors salient during childhood that may be associated with symptom severity, co-occurrence and mutual maintenance, (2) present relevant literature on PTSS in youth with acute and chronic pain and identify research gaps and (3) provide recommendations to guide paediatric research examining shared symptomatology. Databases and data treatment Electronic databases (PubMed and Google Scholar) were used to identify relevant articles using the search terms ‘child, adolescent, paediatric, chronic pain, acute pain, post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder’. Studies were retrieved and reviewed based on relevance to the topic. Results Our findings revealed that existing biobehavioural and ecological models of paediatric chronic pain lack attention to traumatic events or the potential development of PTSS. Paediatric studies are also limited by lack of a conceptual framework for understanding the prevalence, risk and trajectories of PTSS in youth with chronic pain. Conclusions Our new developmentally informed framework highlights individual symptoms and shared contextual factors that are important when examining potential associations among paediatric chronic pain and PTSS. Future studies should consider bidirectional and mutually maintaining associations, which will be aided by prospective, longitudinal designs. PMID:27275585

Family care work: a policy-relevant research agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Moen, Phyllis; DePasquale, Nicole

2017-03-01

This article addresses the need for policy-relevant research agendas on family care in transaction with formal care and public as well as organisational norms and policies in light of the crisis in caregiving for older adults. We propose a combined institutional and life-course theoretical approach, suggesting seven ways of organising scholarly enquiry to promote understanding of the changing nature of family care in the 21st century, inform policymakers' efforts at supporting family caregivers and improve caregivers' and care recipients' quality of life. These include: (1) moving beyond snapshots of individuals; (2) conducting comparative cross-cultural and crosscohort analyses; (3) documenting social heterogeneity, vulnerability and inequality; (4) capturing individuals' and families' adaptive strategies and cycles of control during the caregiving process; (5) investigating policy innovations and natural experiments; (6) assessing third parties as mediating institutions between regulatory environments and caregiving families; and (7) attending to the subjective meanings of care.

Top IS research on quality of transaction standards: a structured literature review to identify a research gap

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Folmer, E.J.A.; Berends, W.; Oude Luttighuis, P.; Hillegersberg, J. van

2009-01-01

This paper contains the results of a systematic literature review executed to determine the coverage of transaction standards in top information systems (IS) and management journals. Specifically, it aims to identify a research gap with respect to this topic. The top 25 journals are thoroughly

Influence of radiation treatment on pharmaceuticals. A study of the relevant literature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlhelm, H.; Boess, C.

2002-01-01

The present communication provides a quick overview of the behaviour of individual substances when treated with ionizing radiation while making reference to the respective original literature. The choosen form of an encyclopaedia enables the user to find information at a glance. It is based on parts I - XII of our review of literature on the influence of radiation treatment on pharmaceutical products and adjuvants/excipients we started in 1978. (orig.)

Performance Testing of Cutting Fluids. A review of relevant literature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Belluco, Walter

the extended abstracts in the data-base, each displayed on one page which is also bearing all relevant information for the retrieval of the published material. A full copy of the publications can be obtained in most cases by DTV-Technical Knowledge Center & Library of Denmark, Ankels Engelunds Vej 1, 2800...

A Content Analysis of Acculturation Research in the Career Development Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Matthew J.; Kerlow-Myers, Andrew E.

2009-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to highlight the importance of acculturation as an explanatory variable in career development and to provide an empirical review of acculturation research in the career development literature. Acculturation is a cultural variable that has been linked to a number of important career development outcomes for…

An analysis of contextual information relevant to medical care unexpectedly volunteered to researchers by asthma patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Heather L; Priolo, Chantel; Gonzalez, Rodalyn; Geer, Sabrina; Adam, Bariituu; Apter, Andrea J

2012-09-01

To describe and categorize contextual information relevant to patients' medical care unexpectedly volunteered to research personnel as part of a patient advocate (PA) intervention to facilitate access health care, communication with medical personnel, and self-management of a chronic disease such as asthma. We adapted a patient navigator intervention, to overcome barriers to access and communication for adults with moderate or severe asthma. Informed by focus groups of patients and providers, our PAs facilitated preparation for a visit with an asthma provider, attended the visit, confirmed understanding, and assisted with post-visit activities. During meetings with researchers, either for PA activities or for data collection, participants frequently volunteered personal and medical information relevant for achieving successful self-management that was not routinely shared with medical personnel. For this project, researchers journaled information not captured by the structured questionnaires and protocol. Using a qualitative analysis, we describe (1) researchers' journals of these unique communications; (2) their relevance for accomplishing self-management; (3) PAs' formal activities including teach-back, advocacy, and facilitating appointment making; and (4) observations of patients' interactions with the clinical practices. In 83 journals, patients' social support (83%), health (68%), and deportment (69%) were described. PA assistance with navigating the medical system (59%), teach-back (46%), and observed interactions with patient and medical staff (76%) were also journaled. Implicit were ways patients and practices could overcome barriers to access and communication. These journals describe the importance of seeking contextual and medically relevant information from all patients and, especially, those with significant morbidities, prompting patients for barriers to access to health care, and confirming understanding of medical information.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2012-03-01

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

Defining Plagiarism: A Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akbar Akbar

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Plagiarism has repeatedly occurred in Indonesia, resulting in focusing on such academic misbehavior as a “central issue” in Indonesian higher education. One of the issues of addressing plagiarism in higher education is that there is a confusion of defining plagiarism. It seems that Indonesian academics had different perception when defining plagiarism. This article aims at exploring the issue of plagiarism by helping define plagiarism to address confusion among Indonesian academics. This article applies literature review by firs finding relevant articles after identifying databases for literature searching. After the collection of required articles for review, the articles were synthesized before presenting the findings. This study has explored the definition of plagiarism in the context of higher education. This research found that plagiarism is defined in the relation of criminal acts. The huge numbers of discursive features used position plagiaristic acts as an illegal deed. This study also found that cultural backgrounds and exposure to plagiarism were influential in defining plagiarism.

The Limits to Relevance

Science.gov (United States)

Averill, M.; Briggle, A.

2006-12-01

Science policy and knowledge production lately have taken a pragmatic turn. Funding agencies increasingly are requiring scientists to explain the relevance of their work to society. This stems in part from mounting critiques of the "linear model" of knowledge production in which scientists operating according to their own interests or disciplinary standards are presumed to automatically produce knowledge that is of relevance outside of their narrow communities. Many contend that funded scientific research should be linked more directly to societal goals, which implies a shift in the kind of research that will be funded. While both authors support the concept of useful science, we question the exact meaning of "relevance" and the wisdom of allowing it to control research agendas. We hope to contribute to the conversation by thinking more critically about the meaning and limits of the term "relevance" and the trade-offs implicit in a narrow utilitarian approach. The paper will consider which interests tend to be privileged by an emphasis on relevance and address issues such as whose goals ought to be pursued and why, and who gets to decide. We will consider how relevance, narrowly construed, may actually limit the ultimate utility of scientific research. The paper also will reflect on the worthiness of research goals themselves and their relationship to a broader view of what it means to be human and to live in society. Just as there is more to being human than the pragmatic demands of daily life, there is more at issue with knowledge production than finding the most efficient ways to satisfy consumer preferences or fix near-term policy problems. We will conclude by calling for a balanced approach to funding research that addresses society's most pressing needs but also supports innovative research with less immediately apparent application.

Bringing Relevance to Elearning--A Gender Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Ann; Panteli, Niki

2018-01-01

In this paper, we discuss the importance of relevance in the provision of eLearning for the pursuit of higher education (HE). In particular, we argue how the extant literature focuses on quality and security in the design of eLearning platforms, but pays scant attention to how relevant the platform and the programme contents are to the needs of…

Creating Value through Virtual Teams: A Current Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akemi Takeoka Chatfield

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Globally, virtual teams (VT as ICT-enabled emergent network organisation forms have gained international validity by innovative organisations, with a corresponding surge of interest in understanding how organisations can leverage VT to create business value. Despite growing deliberations in VT literature on managing VT, tasks and outcomes, however, creating business value through VT remains an unresolved theoretical and pragmatic conundrum. A review of prior relevant literature is essential to advancing knowledge. The paucity of published review articles seems to have impeded the field’s accumulation of VT knowledge. This research, therefore, reviews the current literature on case studies of VT to address the question: What are organisational challenges in creating business value through VT in the organisation? The key challenges found in the literature are effective communication, knowledge sharing, trust, and interpersonal skills in the new virtual boundary-less environment. Drawing on the IT business value model, we also discuss their resource-based implications.

Testing Scientific Software: A Systematic Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

Kanewala, Upulee; Bieman, James M.

2014-01-01

Context Scientific software plays an important role in critical decision making, for example making weather predictions based on climate models, and computation of evidence for research publications. Recently, scientists have had to retract publications due to errors caused by software faults. Systematic testing can identify such faults in code. Objective This study aims to identify specific challenges, proposed solutions, and unsolved problems faced when testing scientific software. Method We conducted a systematic literature survey to identify and analyze relevant literature. We identified 62 studies that provided relevant information about testing scientific software. Results We found that challenges faced when testing scientific software fall into two main categories: (1) testing challenges that occur due to characteristics of scientific software such as oracle problems and (2) testing challenges that occur due to cultural differences between scientists and the software engineering community such as viewing the code and the model that it implements as inseparable entities. In addition, we identified methods to potentially overcome these challenges and their limitations. Finally we describe unsolved challenges and how software engineering researchers and practitioners can help to overcome them. Conclusions Scientific software presents special challenges for testing. Specifically, cultural differences between scientist developers and software engineers, along with the characteristics of the scientific software make testing more difficult. Existing techniques such as code clone detection can help to improve the testing process. Software engineers should consider special challenges posed by scientific software such as oracle problems when developing testing techniques. PMID:25125798

Testing Scientific Software: A Systematic Literature Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanewala, Upulee; Bieman, James M

2014-10-01

Scientific software plays an important role in critical decision making, for example making weather predictions based on climate models, and computation of evidence for research publications. Recently, scientists have had to retract publications due to errors caused by software faults. Systematic testing can identify such faults in code. This study aims to identify specific challenges, proposed solutions, and unsolved problems faced when testing scientific software. We conducted a systematic literature survey to identify and analyze relevant literature. We identified 62 studies that provided relevant information about testing scientific software. We found that challenges faced when testing scientific software fall into two main categories: (1) testing challenges that occur due to characteristics of scientific software such as oracle problems and (2) testing challenges that occur due to cultural differences between scientists and the software engineering community such as viewing the code and the model that it implements as inseparable entities. In addition, we identified methods to potentially overcome these challenges and their limitations. Finally we describe unsolved challenges and how software engineering researchers and practitioners can help to overcome them. Scientific software presents special challenges for testing. Specifically, cultural differences between scientist developers and software engineers, along with the characteristics of the scientific software make testing more difficult. Existing techniques such as code clone detection can help to improve the testing process. Software engineers should consider special challenges posed by scientific software such as oracle problems when developing testing techniques.

Using research literature to develop a perceptual retraining treatment protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Neistadt, M E

1994-01-01

Treatment protocols derived from research literature can help therapists provide more rigorous treatment and more systematic assessment of client progress. This study applied research findings about the influence of task, subject, and feedback parameters on adult performance with block designs to an occupational therapy treatment protocol for parquetry block assembly--an activity occupational therapists use to remediate constructional deficits. Task parameter research suggests that parquetry tasks can be graded according to the features of the design cards, with cards having all block boundaries drawn in being easier than those with some block boundaries omitted. Subject parameter findings suggest that clients' lesions and initial constructional competence can influence their approaches to parquetry tasks. Feedback parameter research suggests that a combination of perceptual and planning cues is most effective for parquetry tasks. Methods to help clients transfer constructional skills from parquetry to functional tasks are also discussed.

Chinese students studying at Australian universities with specific reference to nursing students: a narrative literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Carol Chunfeng; Andre, Kate; Greenwood, Kenneth Mark

2015-04-01

To report the current knowledge on the Chinese nursing students' learning at Australian universities. The intent is to provide educators and researchers with a background to the contexts, the methodologies, the emphases of various relevant studies, and to provide recommendations for future research. Attracting international students has become an important part of Australian universities' business and contributes to their cultural diversity. Teaching international students has received considerable attention in the educational research literature. Experiences of international students can vary greatly depending on their country of origin. This paper critically reviews current literature relating to issues for Chinese students and in particular, Chinese nursing students, the biggest single group of international nursing students at Australian universities Narrative literature review. A comprehensive search of seven electronic databases for literature between 2003 and 2014 helped to identify qualitative and quantitative studies that addressed issues of Asian international students with English as a second language (ESL) (included nursing students) studying in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the United States and China. Pertinent websites were also searched. The reference lists and bibliographies of retrieved articles were hand- searched to identify other relevant studies. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. The majority of existing literature claimed that there is a range of challenges confronting international students including Chinese nursing students, in assimilation into their host country. These include issues with English language proficiency, cultural barriers, social problems, different learning styles, academic demands, perceived racism, homesickness, lack of assertiveness and financial problems. There is limited research about the Chinese students' study in Australia. In particular, the learning experience of Chinese nursing students

Illustrating the use of concepts from the discipline of policy studies in energy research : An explorative literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoppe, T.; Coenen, Frans; van den Berg, Maya

2016-01-01

With the increasing challenges the energy sector faces, energy policy strategies and instruments are becoming ever more relevant. The discipline of policy studies might offer relevant concepts to enrich multidisciplinary energy research. The main research question of this article is: How can

Illustrating the use of concepts from the discipline of policy studies in energy research: An explorative literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoppe, Thomas; Coenen, Franciscus H.J.M.; van den Berg, Maya Marieke

2016-01-01

With the increasing challenges the energy sector faces, energy policy strategies and instruments are becoming ever more relevant. The discipline of policy studies might offer relevant concepts to enrich multidisciplinary energy research. The main research question of this article is: How can policy

GeneTopics - interpretation of gene sets via literature-driven topic models

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Annotation of a set of genes is often accomplished through comparison to a library of labelled gene sets such as biological processes or canonical pathways. However, this approach might fail if the employed libraries are not up to date with the latest research, don't capture relevant biological themes or are curated at a different level of granularity than is required to appropriately analyze the input gene set. At the same time, the vast biomedical literature offers an unstructured repository of the latest research findings that can be tapped to provide thematic sub-groupings for any input gene set. Methods Our proposed method relies on a gene-specific text corpus and extracts commonalities between documents in an unsupervised manner using a topic model approach. We automatically determine the number of topics summarizing the corpus and calculate a gene relevancy score for each topic allowing us to eliminate non-specific topics. As a result we obtain a set of literature topics in which each topic is associated with a subset of the input genes providing directly interpretable keywords and corresponding documents for literature research. Results We validate our method based on labelled gene sets from the KEGG metabolic pathway collection and the genetic association database (GAD) and show that the approach is able to detect topics consistent with the labelled annotation. Furthermore, we discuss the results on three different types of experimentally derived gene sets, (1) differentially expressed genes from a cardiac hypertrophy experiment in mice, (2) altered transcript abundance in human pancreatic beta cells, and (3) genes implicated by GWA studies to be associated with metabolite levels in a healthy population. In all three cases, we are able to replicate findings from the original papers in a quick and semi-automated manner. Conclusions Our approach provides a novel way of automatically generating meaningful annotations for gene sets that are directly

A Systematic Literature Review of Agile Maturity Model Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaughan Henriques

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Background/Aim/Purpose: A commonly implemented software process improvement framework is the capability maturity model integrated (CMMI. Existing literature indicates higher levels of CMMI maturity could result in a loss of agility due to its organizational focus. To maintain agility, research has focussed attention on agile maturity models. The objective of this paper is to find the common research themes and conclusions in agile maturity model research. Methodology: This research adopts a systematic approach to agile maturity model research, using Google Scholar, Science Direct, and IEEE Xplore as sources. In total 531 articles were initially found matching the search criteria, which was filtered to 39 articles by applying specific exclusion criteria. Contribution:: The article highlights the trends in agile maturity model research, specifically bringing to light the lack of research providing validation of such models. Findings: Two major themes emerge, being the coexistence of agile and CMMI and the development of agile principle based maturity models. The research trend indicates an increase in agile maturity model articles, particularly in the latter half of the last decade, with concentrations of research coinciding with version updates of CMMI. While there is general consensus around higher CMMI maturity levels being incompatible with true agility, there is evidence of the two coexisting when agile is introduced into already highly matured environments. Future Research:\tFuture research direction for this topic should include how to attain higher levels of CMMI maturity using only agile methods, how governance is addressed in agile environments, and whether existing agile maturity models relate to improved project success.

A Draft Conceptual Framework of Relevant Theories to Inform Future Rigorous Research on Student Service-Learning Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Whitley, Meredith A.

2014-01-01

While the quality and quantity of research on service-learning has increased considerably over the past 20 years, researchers as well as governmental and funding agencies have called for more rigor in service-learning research. One key variable in improving rigor is using relevant existing theories to improve the research. The purpose of this…

Culturally Relevant Human Subjects Protection Training: A Case Study in Community-Engaged Research in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Kue, Jennifer; Szalacha, Laura A; Happ, Mary Beth; Crisp, Abigail L; Menon, Usha

2018-02-01

Non-academic members of research teams, such as community members, can perceive traditional human subjects protection training as lacking in cultural relevance. We present a case exemplar of the development of a human subjects protection training for research staff with limited English proficiency and/or no or limited research experience. Seven modules were adapted for language, cultural examples, etc., from the standard Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) human subjects protection training. Non-academic research staff completed a day-long training in human subjects protection (six modules) and our research protocol (one module). We assessed comprehension of content with PowerPoint slides and module quizzes. All participants successfully passed each module quiz with ≥ 80% correct. Questions answered incorrectly were discussed before proceeding to the next module. To meet the increasing demand for collaborative community-engaged research with underserved minority populations, human subjects protection training protocols can be adapted successfully to reflect real-world situations and provide culturally relevant materials to help non-academic research staff better understand the importance and necessity of research ethics.

Evaluation of research projects Perspectives for applied research in food and agriculture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, S.M.; Boesen, M.V.; Baker, D.

2011-01-01

In this study, the task of evaluating research projects’ relevance and scientific quality is addressed, and a pilot study is executed for five Danish food and agricultural research programmes. Literature reviewed emphasises the importance of context, of consistency and transparency and of the cost...... of evaluation. Moreover, the purpose of research evaluation is thoroughly examined. The method developed and implemented addresses each of these concerns, particularly by employing simple measures and by complementing quantitative analysis with qualitative exercises featuring structured stakeholder interviews...

Child Malnutrition in Pakistan: Evidence from Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Asim, Muhammad; Nawaz, Yasir

2018-01-01

Pakistan has one of the highest prevalences of child malnutrition as compared to other developing countries. This narrative review was accomplished to examine the published empirical literature on children’s nutritional status in Pakistan. The objectives of this review were to know about the methodological approaches used in previous studies, to assess the overall situation of childhood malnutrition, and to identify the areas that have not yet been studied. This study was carried out to collect and synthesize the relevant data from previously published papers through different scholarly database search engines. The most relevant and current published papers between 2000–2016 were included in this study. The research papers that contain the data related to child malnutrition in Pakistan were assessed. A total of 28 articles was reviewed and almost similar methodologies were used in all of them. Most of the researchers conducted the cross sectional quantitative and descriptive studies, through structured interviews for identifying the causes of child malnutrition. Only one study used the mix method technique for acquiring data from the respondents. For the assessment of malnutrition among children, out of 28 papers, 20 used the World Health Organization (WHO) weight for age, age for height, and height for weight Z-score method. Early marriages, large family size, high fertility rates with a lack of birth spacing, low income, the lack of breast feeding, and exclusive breastfeeding were found to be the themes that repeatedly emerged in the reviewed literature. There is a dire need of qualitative and mixed method researches to understand and have an insight into the underlying factors of child malnutrition in Pakistan. PMID:29734703

Child Malnutrition in Pakistan: Evidence from Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Asim

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Pakistan has one of the highest prevalences of child malnutrition as compared to other developing countries. This narrative review was accomplished to examine the published empirical literature on children’s nutritional status in Pakistan. The objectives of this review were to know about the methodological approaches used in previous studies, to assess the overall situation of childhood malnutrition, and to identify the areas that have not yet been studied. This study was carried out to collect and synthesize the relevant data from previously published papers through different scholarly database search engines. The most relevant and current published papers between 2000–2016 were included in this study. The research papers that contain the data related to child malnutrition in Pakistan were assessed. A total of 28 articles was reviewed and almost similar methodologies were used in all of them. Most of the researchers conducted the cross sectional quantitative and descriptive studies, through structured interviews for identifying the causes of child malnutrition. Only one study used the mix method technique for acquiring data from the respondents. For the assessment of malnutrition among children, out of 28 papers, 20 used the World Health Organization (WHO weight for age, age for height, and height for weight Z-score method. Early marriages, large family size, high fertility rates with a lack of birth spacing, low income, the lack of breast feeding, and exclusive breastfeeding were found to be the themes that repeatedly emerged in the reviewed literature. There is a dire need of qualitative and mixed method researches to understand and have an insight into the underlying factors of child malnutrition in Pakistan.

Qualitative Research and Community-Based Participatory Research: Considerations for Effective Dissemination in the Peer-Reviewed Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Grieb, Suzanne Dolwick; Eder, Milton Mickey; Smith, Katherine C; Calhoun, Karen; Tandon, Darius

2015-01-01

Qualitative research is appearing with increasing frequency in the public health and medical literature. Qualitative research in combination with a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach can be powerful. However little guidance is available on how to present qualitative research within a CBPR framework for peer-review publications. This article provides a brief overview of how qualitative research can advance CBPR partnerships and outlines practical guidelines for writing for publication about qualitative research within a CBPR framework to (1) guide partners with little experience publishing in peer-reviewed journals and/or (2) facilitate effective preparation of manuscripts grounded in qualitative research for peer-reviewed journals. We provide information regarding the specific benefits of qualitative inquiry in CBPR, tips for organizing the manuscript, questions to consider in preparing the manuscript, common mistakes in the presentation of qualitative research, and examples of peer-reviewed manuscripts presenting qualitative research conducted within a CBPR framework. Qualitative research approaches have tremendous potential to integrate community and researcher perspectives to inform community health research findings. Effective dissemination of CBPR informed qualitative research findings is crucial to advancing health disparities research.

Conducting systematic reviews of intervention questions I: Writing the review protocol, formulating the question and searching the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, A M; Anderson, K M; Goodell, C K; Sargeant, J M

2014-06-01

This article is the fourth of six articles addressing systematic reviews in animal agriculture and veterinary medicine. Previous articles in the series have introduced systematic reviews, discussed study designs and hierarchies of evidence, and provided details on conducting randomized controlled trials, a common design for use in systematic reviews. This article describes development of a review protocol and the first two steps in a systematic review: formulating a review question, and searching the literature for relevant research. The emphasis is on systematic reviews of questions related to interventions. The review protocol is developed prior to conducting the review and specifies the plan for the conduct of the review, identifies the roles and responsibilities of the review team and provides structured definitions related to the review question. For intervention questions, the review question should be defined by the PICO components: population, intervention, comparison and outcome(s). The literature search is designed to identify all potentially relevant original research that may address the question. Search terms related to some or all of the PICO components are entered into literature databases, and searches for unpublished literature also are conducted. All steps of the literature search are documented to provide transparent reporting of the process. © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

A critical analysis of the literature and theoretical perspectives on theory-practice gap amongst newly qualified nurses within the United Kingdom.

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Monaghan, Thomas

2015-08-01

This critical analysis of the literature examines the factors and theoretical perspectives contributing to the theory-practice gap for newly qualified nurses within the United Kingdom. This article aspires to inform, guide and promote effective nursing education both academically and practically. A systematic search strategy was conducted to identify relevant literature covering the period of 2000-2014, to include only contemporary theoretical perspectives coinciding with the dearth of contemporary literature post Project 2000. The literature was systematically investigated utilising nursing research databases, the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Allied and Complementary Medicine, the U.S. National Library of Medicine and Internurse. To satisfy the search criteria only articles conducted within the United Kingdom and written in the English language were included. Only literature including nurses and newly qualified nurses were included. To identify relevant literature a series of key words were utilised. Systematic review of the literature revealed that newly qualified nurses feel unprepared for practice, lacking confidence in their own abilities. It was also felt by newly qualified nurses that not enough time was dedicated to the production of clinical skills during their training. The use of preceptorship programmes was found to reduce the transitional stress associated with becoming a qualified nursing practitioner. Despite the increasing research being undertaken in the area of theory-practice gap there is still a need for nursing educators, practice areas and regulatory bodies to invest further in research. The effects of preceptorship and simulation exercises in particular require more research to provide regulatory bodies with enough evidence to make an informed decision as to whether their use should be mandatory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Southern Gothic Literature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerre, Thomas Ærvold

2017-01-01

Provides an outline of Southern Gothic Literature, offers an argument about its history and shape, and discusses the scholarly literature surrounding Southern Gothic. Oxford Research Encyclopedia is an online peer-reviewed encyclopedia for researchers, teachers, and students interested in all...... facets of the study of literature...

Emergent Characteristics of Effective Cross-Cultural Research: A Review of the Literature

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Sullivan, Christopher; Cottone, R. Rocco

2010-01-01

This article identifies characteristics of effective research done in cross-cultural environments; reviews the literature in the years following the publication of Oyserman, Coon, and Kemmelmeier's (2002) seminal article, challenging the basis for the description of cultures as individualistic or collectivistic; and summarizes major issues…

A LITERATURE REVIEW ON CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING STRATEGIC ORIENTATION IN BUSINESS RESEARCH

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Marcela Sefora Sana

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A long time economic and social objectives have been seen as competing, but academic researchers underline that this two directions may converge in certain situations. Companies belong to communities where they develop their activities. When the social goals of the communities are related to the main objectives of the company, sustaining a social cause could produce economic benefits, in this case corporate philanthropy and shareholders interest take the same direction. Cause-related marketing is a marketing concept that gained more interest in the last three decades and exemplifies how social and economic objectives are achieved in a strategic manner in promoting campaigns. Researches in business and non-profit organizations reveal that cause-related marketing campaigns sustain the growth of market share and sales, and help at improving brands image. More and more companies and non-profit organizations find cause-related marketing as a strategic tool suitable for building long term relations to the customers, for increasing brand awareness, for gaining a social responsible corporative image, for supporting local community or for producing transformation in sustaining causes at global or international level. The study analyses the definitions of cause-related marketing the presence and evolution of the concept in the academic literature, and marketing terms that are connected more often to this concept. Comparative to non-profit marketing concept, cause-related marketing gained a larger interest in literature. On the other side, corporate philanthropy is still a concept that gains more interest than cause-related marketing in academic literature, being a more commune way used by companies in collaboration to non-profit organizations. Tided to cause-related marketing concept literature review reveals concepts as: consumer behaviour, brand image and corporate social responsibility being more often analysed. The salience of the consumer perspective

[Macroscopical estimation of the post mortem interval (PMI) and exclusion of the forensically relevant resting period--a comparison of data presented in the literature with recent osteological findings].

Science.gov (United States)

Holley, Stephanie; Fiedler, Sabine; Graw, Matthias

2008-01-01

The aim of the present study was to determine to what extent macroscopical parameters mentioned in the literature are suitable for the estimation of the post mortem interval (PMI) and particularly for the exclusion of the forensically relevant resting period for recent bone material. The macroscopical examination of recent bone material with a known PMI showed that only one published parameter (relics of adipocere in the cross section of the compacta) was consistent with our findings for this particular resting period (27-28 years). Other macroscopical parameters presented in the literature were contradictory to the results observed in this study. Among those are the rigidity of bones, the adhesion of soft tissue, the filling of the marrow cavity, and the permeation of the epiphyses with adipocere. Concerning the exclusion of the forensically relevant resting period, a similar result was observed. This study identified some diagnostic findings in bones with a resting period of less than 50 years which according to the literature should only be present after a resting period of more than 50 years. These features included the lack of macroscopical traces of adipocere, degradation of the compacta surface, detachment of the cortical substance, the ability of bone to be broken with bare hands, and superficial usures. Moreover, in one-third of our cases we identified some intra-individual differences not previously described in the literature. In addition to the other results, those intra-individual differences make an estimation of the PMI more difficult. However it should be noted that those published parameters were collected from bone material which was stored in a "relatively arid sand-grit-clay soil of the broken stone layer of Munich". The bones in the present study were stored in acidic and clayey-loamy soil, partly with lateral water flow. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that one should use caution estimating the post mortem interval and excluding

Entrepreneurial Mindset: A Synthetic Literature Review

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Christiane Naumann

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in research on entrepreneurial mindset (EM. The paper identifies research areas which have contributed to the current status of the EM concept, outlines areas which remain under-addressed and suggests areas for future research. Research Design & Methods: A comprehensive method of a synthetic literature review was employed. In a four-step process, relevant papers were identified and classified. Research methods and sampling were analysed and put into a perspective of the EM concept development. Based on that, recommendations for future research are presented. Findings: No commonly shared EM concept was found. Instead, scholars have contributed largely by depicting particular attributes of EM. These attributes can be divided into core attributes of EM and meta-cognitive attributes of EM. While core attributes are easier to recognize and exhibited through behaviour, meta-cognitive attributes are more hidden within an individual. Mainly the Anglo-American perspective influences the research on EM. The dominating research design methods remain quantitative. Only one longitudinal and one qualitative study using in-depth interviews were identified in the pool. Links to other research areas are provided. Implications & Recommendations: The EM concept might be investigated further with the inclusion of more other cultures or with people from other cultural backgrounds to test the validity of the existing assumptions. Contribution & Value Added: This literature review contributes to the current body of knowledge by giving an overview of the EM concept and its attributes and associated qualities. It identifies current gaps in research and provides recommendations on how to close them.

Openings for Researching Environment and Place in Children's Literature: Ecologies, Potentials, Realities and Challenges

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Reid, Alan; Payne, Phillip G.; Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy

2010-01-01

This not quite "final" ending of this special issue of "Environmental Education Research" traces a series of hopeful, if somewhat difficult and at times challenging, openings for researching experiences of environment and place through children's literature. In the first instance, we draw inspiration from the contributors who…

Literature-based cheminformatics for research in chemical toxicity

Science.gov (United States)

PubMed is the largest freely available source of published literature available online with access to 27 million citations (as of October 2017). Contained within the literature is an abundance of information about the activity of chemicals in biological systems. Literature inform...

Improving adult immunization equity: Where do the published research literature and existing resources lead?

Science.gov (United States)

Prins, Wendy; Butcher, Emily; Hall, Laura Lee; Puckrein, Gary; Rosof, Bernard

2017-05-25

Evidence suggests that disparities in adult immunization (AI) rates are growing. Providers need adequate patient resources and information about successful interventions to help them engage in effective practices to reduce AI disparities. The primary purposes of this paper were to review and summarize the evidence base regarding interventions to reduce AI disparities and to scan for relevant resources that could support providers in their AI efforts to specifically target disparities. First, building on a literature review conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we searched the peer-reviewed literature to identify articles that either discussed interventions to reduce AI disparities or provided reasons and associations for disparities. We scanned the articles and conducted an internet search to identify tools and resources to support efforts to improve AI rates. We limited both searches to resources that addressed influenza, pneumococcal, hepatitis B, Tdap, and/or herpes zoster vaccinations. We found that most articles characterized AI disparities, but several discussed strategies for reducing AI disparities, including practice-based changes, communication and health literacy approaches, and partnering with community-based organizations. The resources we identified were largely fact sheets and handouts for patients and journal articles for providers. Most resources pertain to influenza vaccination and Spanish was the most prevalent language after English. More evaluation is needed to assess the health literacy levels of the materials. We conclude that additional research is needed to identify effective ways to reduce AI disparities and more resources are needed to support providers in their efforts. We recommend identifying best practices of high performers, further reviewing the appropriateness and usefulness of available resources, and prioritizing which gaps should be addressed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Raising students’ awareness with respect to choice of literature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bagger, Bettan; Taylor Kelly, Hélène; Hørdam, Britta

is a pedagogical tool which raises students’ awareness with respect to the necessity of employing scientific and researched based material. The tool is not only used in the theoretical setting but also in clinical practice. Students and clinical advisors evaluate the relevance of the pedagogical tool via...... questionnaires. The data will be analyzed and form the basis for further innovative teaching developments promoting the theory-clinical connection in the learning environment. Keywords: literature, education, pedagogical tool, theory-practice connection....

Graduate Student Needs in Relation to Library Research Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Shawna; Jacobs, Warren

2013-01-01

Traditionally, graduate study includes a research component, requiring library skills to locate relevant literature. Upon matriculation into graduate programs, many students are underprepared in library research skills, making library instruction a priority for the success of graduate students. This qualitative study, utilizing emergent design,…

Teaching Earth Sciences as an interdisciplinary subject: Novel module design involving research literature

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Tong, Vincent C. H.

2010-05-01

The study of Earth Sciences requires an interdisciplinary approach as it involves understanding scientific knowledge originating from a wide spectrum of research areas. Not only does it include subjects ranging from, for instance, hydrogeology to deep crustal seismology and from climate science to oceanography, but it also has many direct applications in closely related disciplines such as environmental engineering and natural resources management. While research crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries in geosciences is becoming increasingly common, there is only limited integration of interdisciplinary research in the teaching of the subject. Given that the transition from undergraduate education based on subject modules to postgraduate interdisciplinary research is never easy, such integration is a highly desirable pedagogical approach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My presentation is based on a recent teaching project involving novel design of an undergraduate course. The course is implemented in order to address the synergy between research and teaching (Tong, 2009). This project has been shown to be effective and successful in teaching geosciences undergraduates at the University of London. The module consists of studying core geophysical principles and linking them directly to a selection of recently published research papers in a wide range of interdisciplinary applications. Research reviewing and reporting techniques are systematically developed, practised and fully integrated into teaching of the core scientific theories. A fully-aligned assignment with a feedback website invites the students to reflect on the scientific knowledge and the study skills related to research literature they have acquired in the course. This teaching project has been recognized by a teaching award (http://www.clpd.bbk.ac.uk/staff/BETA). In this presentation, I will discuss how undergraduate teaching with a focus on research literature in Earth Sciences can

Science and the struggle for relevance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hessels, L.K.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304832863

2010-01-01

This thesis deals with struggles for relevance of university researchers, their efforts to make their work correspond with ruling standards of relevance and to influence these standards. Its general research question is: How to understand changes in the struggle for relevance of Dutch academic

Data on the interaction between thermal comfort and building control research.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, June Young; Nagy, Zoltan

2018-04-01

This dataset contains bibliography information regarding thermal comfort and building control research. In addition, the instruction of a data-driven literature survey method guides readers to reproduce their own literature survey on related bibliography datasets. Based on specific search terms, all relevant bibliographic datasets are downloaded. We explain the keyword co-occurrences of historical developments and recent trends, and the citation network which represents the interaction between thermal comfort and building control research. Results and discussions are described in the research article entitled "Comprehensive analysis of the relationship between thermal comfort and building control research - A data-driven literature review" (Park and Nagy, 2018).

Quantitative magnetic resonance micro-imaging methods for pharmaceutical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Mantle, M D

2011-09-30

The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a tool in pharmaceutical research is now well established and the current literature covers a multitude of different pharmaceutically relevant research areas. This review focuses on the use of quantitative magnetic resonance micro-imaging techniques and how they have been exploited to extract information that is of direct relevance to the pharmaceutical industry. The article is divided into two main areas. The first half outlines the theoretical aspects of magnetic resonance and deals with basic magnetic resonance theory, the effects of nuclear spin-lattice (T(1)), spin-spin (T(2)) relaxation and molecular diffusion upon image quantitation, and discusses the applications of rapid magnetic resonance imaging techniques. In addition to the theory, the review aims to provide some practical guidelines for the pharmaceutical researcher with an interest in MRI as to which MRI pulse sequences/protocols should be used and when. The second half of the article reviews the recent advances and developments that have appeared in the literature concerning the use of quantitative micro-imaging methods to pharmaceutically relevant research. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The relevance of ligament balancing in total knee arthroplasty: how important is it? A systematic review of the literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sina Babazadeh

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Ligament balancing affects many of the postoperative criteria for a successful knee replacement. A balanced knee contributes to improved alignment and stability. Ligament balancing helps reduce wear and loosening of the joint. A patient with a balanced knee is more likely to have increased range of motion and proprioception, and decreased pain. All these factors help minimize the need for revision surgery. Complications associated with ligament balancing can include instability caused by over-balancing and the possibility of neurovascular damage during or as a result of ligament balancing. This article attempts to summarize the literature, to define a balanced knee, and outline the benefits and possible complications of ligament balancing. Different techniques, sequences, and tools used in ligament balancing, and their relevance in correcting various deformities are reviewed.

Beardsley on literature, fiction, and nonfiction

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Szu-Yen Lin

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This paper attempts to revive interest in the speech act theory of literature by looking into Monroe C. Beardsley's account in particular. Beardsley's view in this respect has received, surprisingly, less attention than deserved. I first offer a reconstruction of Beardsley's account and then use it to correct some notable misconceptions. Next, I show that the reformulation reveals a hitherto unnoticed discrepancy in Beardsley's position and that this can be explained away by a weak version of intentionalism that Beardsley himself actually tolerates. Finally, I assess the real difficulty of Beardsley's theory and its relevance today.Szu-Yen Lin is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Auckland. He received his MA in philosophy from National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan. His research areas include aesthetics and philosophy of the arts, in particular the philosophy of literature. He is currently working on the problem of literary interpretation. Apart from being a philosophy researcher, Szu-Yen is also a mystery writer, having published 8 novels and 28 short stories in Chinese, one of which also appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

A critical review of published research literature reviews on nursing and healthcare ageism.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Donna M; Nam, Mavis A; Murphy, Jill; Victorino, João P; Gondim, Ellen C; Low, Gail

2017-12-01

To establish how common and impactful nursing and healthcare ageism is and whether proven interventions or prevention methods exist. Ageism has been a concern since 1969 when it was first introduced as a concept for social reform. As ageism has been linked to lower quality health services and reduced health care access, it is imperative that healthcare and nursing ageism is prevented or identified and reduced or eliminated. A qualitative narrative review of published research literature reviews using a scoping design to map all published reviews was undertaken. The EBSCO Discovery Service (providing access to articles in 271 databases, including MEDLINE and CINAHL) and Directory of Open Access Journals (providing access to over 9,000 open access journals) were used to find review articles. Using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and limited by English language and peer-review publications, 12 eligible reviews were identified and information from them was systematically identified, assessed and synthesised. The 12 reviews did not provide clear and convincing information to determine how common and impactful nursing or healthcare ageism is, nor what can best be done to prevent or address it. Although each review had value since research literature was collected and discussed on nursing or healthcare ageism, the array of literature search and analysis methods, and diversity in conclusions reached about the evidence is highly problematic. Research literature reviews offering a more balanced perspective and demonstrating greater care in finding and using quality evidence are needed. At this point in time, there is no clear understanding of how widespread and impactful nursing or healthcare ageism is, and what can best be done to prevent or address it. Nurses need to be aware that ageism may be common and impactful, and guard against it. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Challenges in software ecosystems research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Serebrenik, A.; Mens, T.; Crnkovic, I.

2015-01-01

The paper is a meta-analysis of the research field of software ecosystems, by method of surveying 26 authors in the field. It presents a relevant list of literature and six themes in which challenges for software ecosystems can be grouped: Architecture and Design, Governance, Dynamics and Evolution,

Is Anybody Listening? The Literature on the Dialogical Process of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure Reviewed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reitsema, Anne Margit; Grietens, Hans

We conducted an exploratory review of the current literature on child sexual abuse disclosure in everyday contexts. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of relevant publications on the process of child sexual abuse disclosure, in order to generate new directions for future research and

Publishing Not Perishing: How Research Students Transition from Novice to Knowledgeable Using Systematic Quantitative Literature Reviews

Science.gov (United States)

Pickering, Catherine; Grignon, Julien; Steven, Rochelle; Guitart, Daniela; Byrne, Jason

2015-01-01

Current understandings suggest that three aspects of writing practice underpin the research student publication process: knowledge creation, text production and identity formation. Publishing a literature review is the first opportunity most students have to publish. This article compares the pedagogical benefits of different literature review…

Psychotherapy and Outcome Research in PTSD: Understanding the Challenges and Complexities in the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Timothy G.

2004-01-01

The author reviews the existing literature on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, American Psychiatric Association, 2000) as it relates to outcome research and psychotherapy. An initial examination of the issues involved in outcome research includes the issue of assessment and diagnosis, followed by the issue of measurement. The article is meant…

Policies and Background Literature for Self-Education on Research Data Management: An Annotated Bibliography

Science.gov (United States)

Goben, Abigail; Raszewski, Rebecca

2015-01-01

Librarians navigating research data management self-education have an increasing body of literature to choose from, which may become overwhelming. This annotated bibliography reviews: (1) U.S. federal policies; (2) articles; and (3) books to assist librarians who are self-educating on research data management or are seeking background reading…

INF Code related matters. Joint IAEA/IMO literature survey on potential consequences of severe maritime accidents involving the transport of radioactive material. 2 volumes. Vol. I - Report and publication titles. Vol. II - Relevant abstracts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-07-10

This literature survey was undertaken jointly by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a step in addressing the subject of environmental impact of accidents involving materials subject to the IMO's Code for the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Wastes in Flasks on Board Ships, also known as the INF Code. The results of the survey are provided in two volumes: the first one containing the description of the search and search results with the list of generated publication titles, and the second volume containing the abstracts of those publications deemed relevant for the purposes of the literature survey. Literature published between 1980 and mid-1999 was reviewed by two independent consultants who generated publication titles by performing searches of appropriate databases, and selected the abstracts of relevant publications for inclusion in this survey. The IAEA operates INIS, the world's leading computerised bibliographical information system on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The acronym INIS stands for International Nuclear Information System. INIS Members are responsible for determining the relevant nuclear literature produced within their borders or organizational confines, and then preparing the associated input in accordance with INIS rules. INIS records are included in other major databases such as the Energy, Science and Technology database of the DIALOG service. Because it is the INIS Members, rather than the IAEA Secretariat, who are responsible for its contents, it was considered appropriate that INIS be the primary source of information for this literature review. Selected unpublished reports were also reviewed, e.g. Draft Proceedings of the Special Consultative Meeting of Entities involved in the maritime transport of materials covered by the INF Code (SCM 5), March 1996. Many of the formal papers at SCM 5 were included in the literature

INF Code related matters. Joint IAEA/IMO literature survey on potential consequences of severe maritime accidents involving the transport of radioactive material. 2 volumes. Vol. I - Report and publication titles. Vol. II - Relevant abstracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

This literature survey was undertaken jointly by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a step in addressing the subject of environmental impact of accidents involving materials subject to the IMO's Code for the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Wastes in Flasks on Board Ships, also known as the INF Code. The results of the survey are provided in two volumes: the first one containing the description of the search and search results with the list of generated publication titles, and the second volume containing the abstracts of those publications deemed relevant for the purposes of the literature survey. Literature published between 1980 and mid-1999 was reviewed by two independent consultants who generated publication titles by performing searches of appropriate databases, and selected the abstracts of relevant publications for inclusion in this survey. The IAEA operates INIS, the world's leading computerised bibliographical information system on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The acronym INIS stands for International Nuclear Information System. INIS Members are responsible for determining the relevant nuclear literature produced within their borders or organizational confines, and then preparing the associated input in accordance with INIS rules. INIS records are included in other major databases such as the Energy, Science and Technology database of the DIALOG service. Because it is the INIS Members, rather than the IAEA Secretariat, who are responsible for its contents, it was considered appropriate that INIS be the primary source of information for this literature review. Selected unpublished reports were also reviewed, e.g. Draft Proceedings of the Special Consultative Meeting of Entities involved in the maritime transport of materials covered by the INF Code (SCM 5), March 1996. Many of the formal papers at SCM 5 were included in the literature

A step-by-step guide to systematically identify all relevant animal studies

Science.gov (United States)

Leenaars, Marlies; Hooijmans, Carlijn R; van Veggel, Nieky; ter Riet, Gerben; Leeflang, Mariska; Hooft, Lotty; van der Wilt, Gert Jan; Tillema, Alice; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel

2012-01-01

Before starting a new animal experiment, thorough analysis of previously performed experiments is essential from a scientific as well as from an ethical point of view. The method that is most suitable to carry out such a thorough analysis of the literature is a systematic review (SR). An essential first step in an SR is to search and find all potentially relevant studies. It is important to include all available evidence in an SR to minimize bias and reduce hampered interpretation of experimental outcomes. Despite the recent development of search filters to find animal studies in PubMed and EMBASE, searching for all available animal studies remains a challenge. Available guidelines from the clinical field cannot be copied directly to the situation within animal research, and although there are plenty of books and courses on searching the literature, there is no compact guide available to search and find relevant animal studies. Therefore, in order to facilitate a structured, thorough and transparent search for animal studies (in both preclinical and fundamental science), an easy-to-use, step-by-step guide was prepared and optimized using feedback from scientists in the field of animal experimentation. The step-by-step guide will assist scientists in performing a comprehensive literature search and, consequently, improve the scientific quality of the resulting review and prevent unnecessary animal use in the future. PMID:22037056

Social media and digital technology use among Indigenous young people in Australia: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Emma S; Haynes, Emma; Royce, Paul; Thompson, Sandra C

2016-05-25

The use of social media and digital technologies has grown rapidly in Australia and around the world, including among Indigenous young people who face social disadvantage. Given the potential to use social media for communication, providing information and as part of creating and responding to social change, this paper explores published literature to understand how Indigenous Australian youth use digital technologies and social media, and its positive and negative impacts. Online literature searches were conducted in three databases: PubMed, Google Scholar and Informit in August 2014; with further searches of additional relevant databases (Engineering Village; Communication & mass media complete; Computers & applied sciences complete; Web of Science) undertaken in May 2015. In addition, relevant literature was gathered using citation snowballing so that additional peer-reviewed and grey literature was included. Articles were deemed relevant if they discussed social media and/or digital technologies and Indigenous Australians. After reading and reviewing all relevant articles, a thematic analysis was used to identify overall themes and identify specific examples. A total of 22 papers were included in the review. Several major themes were identified about how and why Indigenous young people use social media: identity, power and control, cultural compatibility and community and family connections. Examples of marketing for health and health promotion approaches that utilize social media and digital technologies were identified. Negative uses of social media such as cyber bullying, cyber racism and the exchange of sexually explicit content between minors are common with limited approaches to dealing with this at the community level. Strong cultural identity and community and family connections, which can be enhanced through social media, are linked to improved educational and health outcomes. The confidence that Indigenous young people demonstrate when approaching the

A Guideline for Game Development-Based Learning: A Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bian Wu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims at reviewing the published scientific literature on the topics of a game development-based learning (GDBL method using game development frameworks (GDFs with the perspective of (a summarizing a guideline for using GDBL in a curriculum, (b identifying relevant features of GDFs, and (c presenting a synthesis of impact factors with empirical evidence on the educational effectiveness of the GDBL method. After systematically going through the available literature on the topic, 34 relevant articles were selected for the final study. We analyzed the articles from three perspectives: (1 pedagogical context and teaching process, (2 selection of GDFs, and (3 evaluation of the GDBL method. The findings from the 34 articles suggest that GDFs have many potential benefits as an aid to teach computer science, software engineering, art design, and other fields and that such GDFs combined with the motivation from games can improve the students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors in contrast to the traditional classroom teaching. Furthermore, based on the results of the literature review, we extract a guideline of how to apply the GDBL method in education. The empirical evidence of current findings gives a positive overall picture and can provide a useful reference to educators, practitioners, and researchers in the area of game-based learning.

Gay Gifted Adolescent Suicide and Suicidal Ideation Literature: Research Barriers and Limitations

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Sedillo, P. J.

2015-01-01

Little empirical research has been conducted regarding suicide and suicidal ideation about gay gifted adolescents, so most of what is presented in the literature is based on theories and assumptions. One key assumption was that the psychological challenges of gay gifted youth stemming from sexual identity and giftedness contribute to suicidal…

Opportunities for Cancer-relevant Innovative Technologies with Transformative Potential | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Science.gov (United States)

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is seeking input from the community on identifying priorities with regards to supporting innovative technology development for cancer-relevant research. While the NCI provides support for technology development through a variety of mechanisms, it is important to understand whether or not these are sufficient for catalyzing and supporting the development of tools with significant potential for advancing important fields of cancer research or clinical care.

Chemistry of the redox sensitive elements. Literature review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suter, D.

1991-10-01

As a part of the safety assessment for a nuclear waste repository, the migration of the radioactive elements from the waste matrix to the biosphere has to be modelled. The geosphere is an important barrier and a consideration of the retention of the radioactive isotopes needs knowledge of sorption coefficients and solubilities. Important long-lived isotopes in the high level radioactive waste are the fission products selenium, technetium, palladium and tin, and the actinide neptunium, which are all redox sensitive elements. A transport model using conservative sorption values predicts mainly doses from these five elements. Since the individual oxidation states of the redox sensitive elements have different and largely unknown sorption properties and solubilities, the realistic doses might be far less. The relevant literature about the chemistry of the five elements is summarized and is planned to serve as the basis for an experimental programme. For every element, the literature about the general chemistry, selected sorption studies, geochemistry, and analytical methods is reviewed. It was found that the knowledge about some of these points is very limited. Even the general chemistry of some of the elements is not well known, because they have only limited applications and research concentrates only on certain aspects. Most of the sorption studies in the context of nuclear waste concentrate on a few of the relevant elements and others have been neglected up to now. The simulation of a realistic system in the laboratory poses some problems, which have to be solved as well. The literature about this subject is also critically reviewed. The elements which are most mobile under realistic far-field conditions are identified and it is recommended to concentrate research on these at the beginning. (author)

Chemistry of the redox sensitive elements. Literature review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suter, D.

1991-10-01

As a part of the safety assessment for a nuclear waste repository, the migration of the radioactive elements from the waste matrix to the biosphere has to be modelled. The geosphere is an important barrier and a consideration of the retention of the radioactive isotopes needs knowledge of sorption coefficients and solubilities. Important long-lived isotopes in the high level radioactive waste are the fission products selenium, technetium, palladium and tin, and the actinide neptunium, which are all redox sensitive elements. A transport model using conservative sorption values predicts mainly doses from these five elements. Since the individual oxidation states of the redox sensitive elements have different and largely unknown sorption properties and solubilities, the realistic doses might be far less. The relevant literature about the chemistry of the five elements is summarized and is planned to serve as the basis for an experimental programme. For every element, the literature about the general chemistry, selected sorption studies, geochemistry, and analytical methods is reviewed. It was found that the knowledge about some of these points is very limited. Even the general chemistry of some of the elements in not well known, because they have only limited applications and research concentrates only on certain aspects. Most of the sorption studies in the context of nuclear waste concentrate on a few of the relevant elements and others have been neglected up to now. The simulation of a realistic system in the laboratory poses some problems, which have to be solved as well. The literature about this subject is also critically reviewed. The elements which are most mobile under realistic far-field conditions are identified and it is recommended to concentrate research on these at the beginning. (author) 9 figs., 192 refs

Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings-paper 6: how to assess relevance of the data.

Science.gov (United States)

Noyes, Jane; Booth, Andrew; Lewin, Simon; Carlsen, Benedicte; Glenton, Claire; Colvin, Christopher J; Garside, Ruth; Bohren, Meghan A; Rashidian, Arash; Wainwright, Megan; Tunςalp, Özge; Chandler, Jacqueline; Flottorp, Signe; Pantoja, Tomas; Tucker, Joseph D; Munthe-Kaas, Heather

2018-01-25

The GRADE-CERQual (Confidence in Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research) approach has been developed by the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Working Group. The approach has been developed to support the use of findings from qualitative evidence syntheses in decision-making, including guideline development and policy formulation. CERQual includes four components for assessing how much confidence to place in findings from reviews of qualitative research (also referred to as qualitative evidence syntheses): (1) methodological limitations, (2) coherence, (3) adequacy of data and (4) relevance. This paper is part of a series providing guidance on how to apply CERQual and focuses on CERQual's relevance component. We developed the relevance component by searching the literature for definitions, gathering feedback from relevant research communities and developing consensus through project group meetings. We tested the CERQual relevance component within several qualitative evidence syntheses before agreeing on the current definition and principles for application. When applying CERQual, we define relevance as the extent to which the body of data from the primary studies supporting a review finding is applicable to the context (perspective or population, phenomenon of interest, setting) specified in the review question. In this paper, we describe the relevance component and its rationale and offer guidance on how to assess relevance in the context of a review finding. This guidance outlines the information required to assess relevance, the steps that need to be taken to assess relevance and examples of relevance assessments. This paper provides guidance for review authors and others on undertaking an assessment of relevance in the context of the CERQual approach. Assessing the relevance component requires consideration of potentially important contextual factors at an early stage in the review process. We expect the CERQual

“Zebrafishing” for Novel Genes Relevant to the Glomerular Filtration Barrier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nils Hanke

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Data for genes relevant to glomerular filtration barrier function or proteinuria is continually increasing in an era of microarrays, genome-wide association studies, and quantitative trait locus analysis. Researchers are limited by published literature searches to select the most relevant genes to investigate. High-throughput cell cultures and other in vitro systems ultimately need to demonstrate proof in an in vivo model. Generating mammalian models for the genes of interest is costly and time intensive, and yields only a small number of test subjects. These models also have many pitfalls such as possible embryonic mortality and failure to generate phenotypes or generate nonkidney specific phenotypes. Here we describe an in vivo zebrafish model as a simple vertebrate screening system to identify genes relevant to glomerular filtration barrier function. Using our technology, we are able to screen entirely novel genes in 4–6 weeks in hundreds of live test subjects at a fraction of the cost of a mammalian model. Our system produces consistent and reliable evidence for gene relevance in glomerular kidney disease; the results then provide merit for further analysis in mammalian models.

Fidelity in Animal Modeling: Prerequisite for a Mechanistic Research Front Relevant to the Inflammatory Incompetence of Acute Pediatric Malnutrition

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Woodward, Bill

2016-01-01

Inflammatory incompetence is characteristic of acute pediatric protein-energy malnutrition, but its underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Perhaps substantially because the research front lacks the driving force of a scholarly unifying hypothesis, it is adrift and research activity is declining. A body of animal-based research points to a unifying paradigm, the Tolerance Model, with some potential to offer coherence and a mechanistic impetus to the field. However, reasonable skepticism prevails regarding the relevance of animal models of acute pediatric malnutrition; consequently, the fundamental contributions of the animal-based component of this research front are largely overlooked. Design-related modifications to improve the relevance of animal modeling in this research front include, most notably, prioritizing essential features of pediatric malnutrition pathology rather than dietary minutiae specific to infants and children, selecting windows of experimental animal development that correspond to targeted stages of pediatric immunological ontogeny, and controlling for ontogeny-related confounders. In addition, important opportunities are presented by newer tools including the immunologically humanized mouse and outbred stocks exhibiting a magnitude of genetic heterogeneity comparable to that of human populations. Sound animal modeling is within our grasp to stimulate and support a mechanistic research front relevant to the immunological problems that accompany acute pediatric malnutrition. PMID:27077845

Fidelity in Animal Modeling: Prerequisite for a Mechanistic Research Front Relevant to the Inflammatory Incompetence of Acute Pediatric Malnutrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Woodward, Bill

2016-04-11

Inflammatory incompetence is characteristic of acute pediatric protein-energy malnutrition, but its underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Perhaps substantially because the research front lacks the driving force of a scholarly unifying hypothesis, it is adrift and research activity is declining. A body of animal-based research points to a unifying paradigm, the Tolerance Model, with some potential to offer coherence and a mechanistic impetus to the field. However, reasonable skepticism prevails regarding the relevance of animal models of acute pediatric malnutrition; consequently, the fundamental contributions of the animal-based component of this research front are largely overlooked. Design-related modifications to improve the relevance of animal modeling in this research front include, most notably, prioritizing essential features of pediatric malnutrition pathology rather than dietary minutiae specific to infants and children, selecting windows of experimental animal development that correspond to targeted stages of pediatric immunological ontogeny, and controlling for ontogeny-related confounders. In addition, important opportunities are presented by newer tools including the immunologically humanized mouse and outbred stocks exhibiting a magnitude of genetic heterogeneity comparable to that of human populations. Sound animal modeling is within our grasp to stimulate and support a mechanistic research front relevant to the immunological problems that accompany acute pediatric malnutrition.

Learning Practice-Based Research Methods: Capturing the Experiences of MSW Students

Science.gov (United States)

Natland, Sidsel; Weissinger, Erika; Graaf, Genevieve; Carnochan, Sarah

2016-01-01

The literature on teaching research methods to social work students identifies many challenges, such as dealing with the tensions related to producing research relevant to practice, access to data to teach practice-based research, and limited student interest in learning research methods. This is an exploratory study of the learning experiences of…

Ten Salient Practices of Undergraduate Research Mentors: A Review of the Literature

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Shanahan, Jenny Olin; Ackley-Holbrook, Elizabeth; Hall, Eric; Stewart, Kearsley; Walkington, Helen

2015-01-01

This paper identifies salient practices of faculty mentors of undergraduate research (UR) as indicated in the extensive literature of the past two decades on UR. The well-established benefits for students involved in UR are dependent, first and foremost, on high-quality mentoring. Mentorship is a defining feature of UR. As more and different types…

South Asian Nomads--A Literature Review. CREATE Pathways to Access. Research Monograph No. 58

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Anita

2011-01-01

This review of literature on South Asian nomads is part of a series of monographs on educational access published by the Consortium for Research on Educational Access Transitions and Equity (CREATE). In the context of India, most recent work has focused on access to the education system for the poor. CREATE research in India has focused on …

Taking Inventory and Moving Forward: A Review of the Research Literature and Assessment of Qualitative Research in JPCC, 2010-2014.

Science.gov (United States)

McCarroll, Pamela R

2015-12-01

As the foremost journal in spiritual care and counseling (SCC), Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling (JPCC) functions as a barometer for the discipline's research and interests. This article presents the findings of a review of the research literature in JPCC between 2010 and 2014. It examines research articles by asking the following questions: What are the quantity and types of research published? What are the dominant themes in this research? What are the quantity and methodologies of qualitative research? Findings are presented, discussed and recommendations are made in an effort to assess and further build the research base of the discipline. © The Author(s) 2015.

Stress Management and Coping Strategies among Nurses : A Literature Review

OpenAIRE

Iyi, Obiora

2015-01-01

There is obvious need to have the safest working environments and the best quality of health care delivery to patients by nurses working in the hospitals. Effective stress management and coping strategies is one very important step towards this goal. This research aims to identify the major stressors for nurses and the most effective management and coping strategies as contained in literature. This involved excellent review of relevant articles in addition to deductive content analysis of the...

Social entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic: Current trends in research on hybridity

OpenAIRE

Vaceková, Gabriela; Soukopová, Jana; Křenková, Tereza

2015-01-01

The hybridity phenomenon has received increasing attention in the scientific literature worldwide. However, this is largely western literature, which is not perfectly suited to the transitional context of Central and Eastern Europe, respecting its specific features. The lack of relevant research on hybridity in the post-communist countries shows a considerable research gap that strongly indicates the need for deeper insight. The paper contributes to the conversation by rethinking hybridity in...

Magnetic anomalies of steel drums: a review of the literature and research results of the INGV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Marchetti

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The detection and evaluation of the status of disposal sites that contain hazardous waste materials is becoming an increasingly important element in environmental investigations. Close cooperation between the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV; National Institute of Volcanology and Geophysics in Rome and the Italian environmental police has resulted in numerous underground investigations of different buried materials. Among the geophysical investigation tools, magnetometry is the most effective, rapid and precise of all of the geophysical methods for localizing buried steel drums. Analysis of magnetic map anomalies can provide a variety of information about buried materials, including extension, distribution and depth, with processing of the acquired magnetic data. This information is also very useful in case of excavations that are aimed at the recovery of hazardous waste. This study determines the most relevant analyses reported in the literature, with modeling of magnetometric methods for environmental applications both theoretically and experimentally. Some studies and research results achieved by the INGV in relation to magnetic anomalies produced by buried steel drums are also reported, as found in field operations and as achieved from test sites.

Preventing plane-assisted suicides through the lessons of research on homicide and suicide-homicide.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Timothy R; Sher, Leo

2016-08-01

The Germanwings 9525 incident drew significant attention to the 'plane-assisted suicide' construct, yet little scientific literature exists on this topic. This paper reviews the available literature and applies lessons from the suicide-homicide and men's mental health literature to better understand this construct from a scientific perspective. A systematic review of the relevant clinical literature was undertaken. Multiple lines of evidence suggests the applicability and relevance of suicide-homicide research and men's mental health to the plane-assisted suicide phenomenon. Plane-assisted suicides occur within an overwhelmingly male, middle aged population who, in addition to suicide, commit large scale acts of murder. Issues of divorce, separation, and threats to masculinity appear integral to an effective prevention program. Further research in the understanding of plane-assisted suicide as a product of neuropsychiatric disorder may advance such prevention efforts and have the opportunity to reduce the loss of life in future tragedies.

Review of the Research Literature on Defining and Demonstrating Quality Teaching and Impact in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Strang, Lucy; Bélanger, Julie; Manville, Catriona; Meads, Catherine

2016-01-01

In March 2016, the Higher Education Academy (HEA) commissioned RAND Europe to conduct a literature review of research published since 2012, with the aim of identifying and summarising the key trends and issues in the literature on how "quality teaching" and its impact are currently being defined and demonstrated at higher education…

MASCULINITY AND SPORT REVISTED: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND MEN'S ICE HOCKEY IN CANADA

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Cheryl A. MacDonald

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Ice hockey is particularly significant in Canada as it acts as a primary site of socialization for boys and men. This form of socialization raises questions about masculinity on the public agenda in terms of the problematic nature of hypermasculinity in sport, stereotypical images of athletes, and questions of social responsibility as both men and athletes. These issues are presently relevant as Canada (and perhaps all of North America finds itself in an era characterized by accounts in mainstream media of competitive athletes’ cavalier lifestyles, hazing, violence, homophobia, drug addictions, and suicides. This review of literature uses secondary research to problematize masculinity in the ice hockey context by presenting the overarching claim that male hockey players are hegemonically masculine individuals. The piece begins by defining Australian sociologist R.W. Connell’s (1987 concept of hegemonic masculinity and situating it in the contemporary academic context. Next, it offers an overview of relevant literature on masculinity and sport along with a concise examination of scholarly work on the relationship between hegemonic masculinity and ice hockey in Canada. It concludes by summarising calls for further research in the literature and by suggesting approaches to future studies in the field.

Clinically relevant incidental cardiovascular findings in CT examinations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voigt, P.; Fahnert, J.; Kahn, T.; Surov, A.; Schramm, D.; Bach, A.G.

2017-01-01

Incidental cardiovascular findings are a frequent phenomenon in computed tomography (CT) examinations. As the result of a dedicated PubMed search this article gives a systemic overview of the current literature on the most important incidental cardiovascular findings, their prevalence and clinical relevance. The majority of incidental cardiovascular findings are of only low clinical relevance; however, highly relevant incidental findings, such as aortic aneurysms, thromboses and thromboembolic events can also occasionally be found, especially in oncology patients. The scans from every CT examination should also be investigated for incidental findings as they can be of decisive importance for the further clinical management of patients, depending on their clinical relevance. (orig.) [de

[From literature to academic history:the position and pathway of acupuncture theory research].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shujian

2017-03-12

There are two clues in academic inheritance of acupuncture, including theoretical inheritance and empirical inheritance. Up to now, the mainstream of acupuncture theory has not been in conformity with empirical clinic, and could not explain new clinical techniques. The existing acupuncture theories are in need of strict re-examination, and new academic achievements shall be carefully absorbed. The literature review, concepts research and academic history study are considered as key pathways of acupuncture theory research.

Social aggravation: Understanding the complex role of social relationships on stress and health-relevant physiology.

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Birmingham, Wendy C; Holt-Lunstad, Julianne

2018-04-05

There is a rich literature on social support and physical health, but research has focused primarily on the protective effects of social relationship. The stress buffering model asserts that relationships may be protective by being a source of support when coping with stress, thereby blunting health relevant physiological responses. Research also indicates relationships can be a source of stress, also influencing health. In other words, the social buffering influence may have a counterpart, a social aggravating influence that has an opposite or opposing effect. Drawing upon existing conceptual models, we expand these to delineate how social relationships may influence stress processes and ultimately health. This review summarizes the existing literature that points to the potential deleterious physiological effects of our relationships when they are sources of stress or exacerbate stress. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gaps in tobacco control research in accordance with WHO FCTC guidelines: a systematic literature review in Thailand

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Sarunya Benjakul

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background Evidence-based policy is a term often applied in various field of public health including tobacco control policy. Strengthening evidence -based tobacco control policy development should also base on reliable evidence, in particular research approach. The coverage of tobacco control research under WHO FCTC guidelines is crucial issues. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted for identifying the gaps in tobacco control research. The search for relevant publications was done by the search engine. The key inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined, focusing on published original article conducting in Thai context, both English and Thai language in the past 5 years. The quality of articles was assessed. The text of articles was analyzed based on WHO FCTC articles, at totally 15 articles as well as the 2 nd National Strategic Plan for Tobacco Control 2015 - 2019. Results The initial search resulted in 1,048 abstracts. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria for two rounds, 176 original articles were selected for the review. In the article reviewed, the most of WHO FCTC articles applying into the research conceptual framework was article 20 (63.1% with the purpose of gain new knowledge on tobacco harms and effects on health and cross sectional survey design for surveillance tobacco use among various groups. The rest of articles were focused on research related WHO FCTC article 12 (31.0% and article 14 (19.3%. Three articles did not conducted as a research framework, articles 5.3, 9 - 10 and 19. However, those resulted were implemented in specific area, setting and target groups that's not applicable for scaling up. Conclusions The successful transformation of research results to effective tobacco control policy under WHO FCTC depends on various issuers, especially time-based for conducting the research that sufficient to prove the project outcome and appropriate budget for comprehensive research design, coverage

Transportation literature search & synthesis report : research and state DOT practice on construction cost indices.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-18

The literature review identifies completed research and other authoritative information in an area of interest. The citations below are representative, rather than exhaustive, of available English-language studies on the topic. Primary online resourc...

Single cell biology beyond the era of antibodies: relevance, challenges, and promises in biomedical research.

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Abraham, Parvin; Maliekal, Tessy Thomas

2017-04-01

Research of the past two decades has proved the relevance of single cell biology in basic research and translational medicine. Successful detection and isolation of specific subsets is the key to understand their functional heterogeneity. Antibodies are conventionally used for this purpose, but their relevance in certain contexts is limited. In this review, we discuss some of these contexts, posing bottle neck for different fields of biology including biomedical research. With the advancement of chemistry, several methods have been introduced to overcome these problems. Even though microfluidics and microraft array are newer techniques exploited for single cell biology, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) remains the gold standard technique for isolation of cells for many biomedical applications, like stem cell therapy. Here, we present a comprehensive and comparative account of some of the probes that are useful in FACS. Further, we illustrate how these techniques could be applied in biomedical research. It is postulated that intracellular molecular markers like nucleostemin (GNL3), alkaline phosphatase (ALPL) and HIRA can be used for improving the outcome of cardiac as well as bone regeneration. Another field that could utilize intracellular markers is diagnostics, and we propose the use of specific peptide nucleic acid probes (PNPs) against certain miRNAs for cancer surgical margin prediction. The newer techniques for single cell biology, based on intracellular molecules, will immensely enhance the repertoire of possible markers for the isolation of cell types useful in biomedical research.

Uncertainty in the family business facing the process of internationalization: Literature review and future research agenda

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Quico Marin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This article analyses the Family Business (FB within the process of globalization that has been taking place in recent decades.Design / methodology / approach: To achieve this we undertake a description of the importance of FB in the global economy and contrast this with a systematic review of the academic literature, which demonstrates the growing academic interest in the internationalization of the FB.Findings: The literature review highlights the importance of agency and stewardship theories when analyzing the aspects that affect the process of internationalization. These theoretical frameworks require a variety of assumptions and explain how ownership and control of an FB may explain different attitudes towards some short term risks, which could be due to FB politics of internationalization.Research limitations / implications: Finally, we mark out future research lines which will focus on the effect the ownership structure has on the type of internationalization that is undertaken by the FB.Originality / value: This article outlines new lines of literature review in the FB internationalization field, suggesting to the future authors the outstanding journals and topics in this research field.

Considering Culturally Relevant Practices and Knowledge-Sharing When Creating an Activity-Promoting Community Research Agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Coppola, Angela M.; McHugh, Tara-Leigh F.

2018-01-01

The purpose of the article is to discuss and reflect upon a process of building relationships and conducting community consultations to co-create a relevant community-based participatory research agenda exploring Indigenous youth activity-promoting programming. Four consultations were conducted with approximately 30 community members in Edmonton,…

Trauma research in Qatar: a literature review and discussion of progress after establishment of a trauma research centre.

Science.gov (United States)

El-Menyar, A; Asim, M; Zarour, A; Abdelrahman, H; Peralta, R; Parchani, A; Al-Thani, H

2016-02-01

A structured research programme is one of the main pillars of a trauma care system. Despite the high rate of injury-related mortalities, especially road traffic accidents, in Qatar, little consideration has been given to research in trauma. This review aimed to analyse research publications on the subject of trauma published from Qatar and to discuss the progress of clinical research in Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries with special emphasis on trauma research. A literature search using PubMed and Google Scholar search engines located 757 English-language articles within the fields of internal medicine, surgery and trauma originating from Qatar between the years 1993 and 2013. A steep increase in the number of trauma publications since 2010 could be linked to the setting up of a trauma research centre in Qatar in 2011. We believe that establishing a research unit has made a major impact on research productivity, which ultimately benefits health care.

Mapping the organizational culture research in nursing: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Scott-Findlay, Shannon; Estabrooks, Carole A

2006-12-01

This paper reports a critical review of nursing organizational culture research studies with the objectives of: (1) reviewing theoretical and methodological characteristics of the studies and (2) drawing inferences specific to the state of knowledge in this field. Organizational culture is regarded as significant in influencing research use in clinical practice yet it is not understood how culture shapes practitioners' behaviours. Only one review of this empirical literature in nursing has been completed. Using selected computerized databases, published nursing research studies in English that examine organizational culture were accessed. Organizational culture studies were categorized using Hatch's three perspectives on organizational culture: (1) modern, (2) symbolic-interpretive and (3) postmodern. The review was conducted in 2005. Twenty-nine studies were in the final data set. Results pointed to variations in cultural definitions and incorporation of organizational sciences theory. In classifying the studies, modern perspectives dominated (n = 22), symbolic-interpretive approaches were an emerging group (n = 6) and one study was unclassifiable. Our results expand current cultural instrument reviews by pinpointing tools that have been previously overlooked and by identifying ongoing theoretical and methodological challenges for researchers. An exclusive reliance on modernistic approaches in organizational culture research cannot yield a complete understanding of the phenomenon. Rather, the field could benefit from a variety of cultural approaches. In a similar vein, researchers need to be mindful of the terminology and the unit of analysis they use in their research, as these are the two largest research challenges.

Key characteristics of knowledge transfer and exchange in healthcare: integrative literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Pentland, Duncan; Forsyth, Kirsty; Maciver, Donald; Walsh, Mike; Murray, Richard; Irvine, Linda; Sikora, Simon

2011-07-01

This paper presents the results of a review of literature relating to knowledge transfer and exchange in healthcare. Treatment, planning and policy decisions in contemporary nursing and healthcare should be based on sound evidence wherever possible, but research knowledge remains generally underused. Knowledge transfer and exchange initiatives aim to facilitate the accessibility, application and production of evidence and may provide solutions to this challenge. This review was conducted to help inform the design and implementation of knowledge transfer and exchange activities for a large healthcare organization. Databases: ASSIA, Business Source Premier, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Medline and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. An integrative literature review was carried out including an extensive literature search. English language systematic reviews, literature reviews, primary quantitative and qualitative papers and grey literature of high relevance evaluating, describing or discussing knowledge transfer or exchange activities in healthcare were included for review (January 1990-September 2009). Thirty-three papers were reviewed (four systematic reviews, nine literature reviews, one environmental scan, nine empirical studies and ten case studies). Robust research into knowledge transfer and exchange in healthcare is limited. Analysis of a wide range of evidence indicates a number of commonly featured characteristics but further evaluation of these activities would benefit their application in facilitating evidence-based practice in nursing. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The value relevance of R & D reporting in the UK after IFRS mandatory implementation

OpenAIRE

Tsoligkas, F.; Tsalavoutas, I.

2011-01-01

Following IFRS mandatory adoption in 2005, the criteria determining the accounting treatment of R&D expenditure have changed for UK listed companies that publish consolidated financial statements. Therefore, recent literature raises concerns about the value relevance of R&D assets and expenses in the UK, after 2005. Using very recent data, we respond to these calls for research. Adding to the absence of prior evidence regarding the pre-IFRS period, we find that the capitalised portion...

Searching for religion and mental health studies required health, social science, and grey literature databases.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Judy M; Cottrell, David J; Mir, Ghazala

2014-07-01

To determine the optimal databases to search for studies of faith-sensitive interventions for treating depression. We examined 23 health, social science, religious, and grey literature databases searched for an evidence synthesis. Databases were prioritized by yield of (1) search results, (2) potentially relevant references identified during screening, (3) included references contained in the synthesis, and (4) included references that were available in the database. We assessed the impact of databases beyond MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO by their ability to supply studies identifying new themes and issues. We identified pragmatic workload factors that influence database selection. PsycINFO was the best performing database within all priority lists. ArabPsyNet, CINAHL, Dissertations and Theses, EMBASE, Global Health, Health Management Information Consortium, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Sociological Abstracts were essential for our searches to retrieve the included references. Citation tracking activities and the personal library of one of the research teams made significant contributions of unique, relevant references. Religion studies databases (Am Theo Lib Assoc, FRANCIS) did not provide unique, relevant references. Literature searches for reviews and evidence syntheses of religion and health studies should include social science, grey literature, non-Western databases, personal libraries, and citation tracking activities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Heat transfer and fluid flow research relevant to India's nuclear power program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mehta, S.K.; Venkatraj, V.

1988-01-01

The Indian Nuclear Power Programme envisages three important stages viz., installation of thermal reactors, fast reactors and utilization of Thorium. By the year 2000 AD, it is proposed to have an installed total capacity of nuclear power of about 10,000 MWe. Starting from the present installed capacity of 1330 MWe, the additional contribution will be mainly made by thermal power reactors of the Pressurized Heavy Water type (PHWR). Apart from the reactors presently under construction about 12 numbers of 235 MWe units are planned to be constructed, which will be based on the standardized design of the reactors at Narora Atomic Power Project (NAPP). In addition, 10 units of 500 MWe capacity each, the design for which is currently under progress, will also be installed. The design, construction and operating agency is the Nuclear Power Board (NPB), while the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is responsible for the research and development work required. In addition to the programme on thermal power reactors, a thermal research reactor (DHRUVA) of 100 MWth capacity has been designed, constructed and has been commissioned. Some of the important heat transfer and fluid flow research problems relevant to the Indian nuclear power and research reactors are discussed in this paper

Social Media Use Among Nurses: Literature Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Cordoş, Ariana Anamaria; Bolboacă, Sorana D

2016-01-01

The scope of the research was to increase the understanding of social media's influence among nurses while highlighting gaps in the literature and areas for further research. The search of PubMed database was performed in November 2015, using terms to identify peer-reviewed articles that describe the use of social media for nursing students or nurse practitioners. A systematic approach was used to retrieve papers and extract relevant data. There were identified 23 full text articles involving social media and nurse-related terminology. The majority of the studies were interventional (n = 20) that assessed social media as a teaching tool. Podcasts, Multiplayer virtual worlds and mixed social media platforms has also been assessed. Social media is used as a tool of information for nurses mainly as the means for engaging and communicating.

Value Streams in Microgrids: A literature Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stadler, Michael [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Center for Energy and Innovative Technologies (CET) (Austria); Cardoso, Gonçalo [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Mashayekh, Salman [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Forget, Thibault [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); MINES Paris Tech. (France); DeForest, Nicholas [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Agarwal, Ankit [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Schönbein, Anna [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Freiburg (Germany)

2015-10-01

Microgrids are an increasingly common component of the evolving electricity grids with the potential to improve local reliability, reduce costs, and increase penetration rates for distributed renewable generation. The additional complexity of microgrids often leads to increased investment costs, creating a barrier for widespread adoption. These costs may result directly from specific needs for islanding detection, protection systems and power quality assurance that would otherwise be avoided in simpler system configurations. However, microgrids also facilitate additional value streams that may make up for their increased costs and improve the economic viability of microgrid deployment. This paper analyses the literature currently available on research relevant to value streams occurring in microgrids that may contribute to offset the increased investment costs. A review on research related to specific microgrid requirements is also presented.

MULTICRITERIA HYBRID FLOW SHOP SCHEDULING PROBLEM: LITERATURE REVIEW, ANALYSIS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcia de Fatima Morais

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This research focuses on the Hybrid Flow Shop production scheduling problem, which is one of the most difficult problems to solve. The literature points to several studies that focus the Hybrid Flow Shop scheduling problem with monocriteria functions. Despite of the fact that, many real world problems involve several objective functions, they can often compete and conflict, leading researchers to concentrate direct their efforts on the development of methods that take consider this variant into consideration. The goal of the study is to review and analyze the methods in order to solve the Hybrid Flow Shop production scheduling problem with multicriteria functions in the literature. The analyses were performed using several papers that have been published over the years, also the parallel machines types, the approach used to develop solution methods, the type of method develop, the objective function, the performance criterion adopted, and the additional constraints considered. The results of the reviewing and analysis of 46 papers showed opportunities for future research on this topic, including the following: (i use uniform and dedicated parallel machines, (ii use exact and metaheuristics approaches, (iv develop lower and uppers bounds, relations of dominance and different search strategies to improve the computational time of the exact methods,  (v develop  other types of metaheuristic, (vi work with anticipatory setups, and (vii add constraints faced by the production systems itself.

Aggression, impulsivity, and suicide behavior: a review of the literature.

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Gvion, Yari; Apter, Alan

2011-01-01

This article reviews the literature on the association between impulsivity aggression and suicide. The key words impulsivity, aggression, and suicide were entered into the pubmed, psychlit, and proqest databases. Significant articles were scrutinized for relevant information. Impulsivity and aggression are highly correlated with suicidal behavior across psychiatric samples, nosological borders, and non-psychiatric populations. Impulsivity and aggression are related but the nature of this relationship remains unclear. The literature is confusing and contradictory. This is probably due to the difficulty in defining and separating out these concepts and the fact that there is much overlap between them. Future research should aim at clarifying and refining these concepts as well as their link to all the different forms of suicidal behavior.

Considering Teaching Excellence in Higher Education: 2007-2013. A Literature Review since the CHERI Report 2007. HEA Research Series

Science.gov (United States)

Gunn, Vicky; Fisk, Anna

2014-01-01

This research review explores both the research and the grey literature on university teaching excellence with a specific remit to update an earlier review, "Excellence in Teaching and Learning: a review of literature for the Higher Education Academy". Little, B., et al (2007) The two main aims are: (1) to suggest further areas of…

Developing a research agenda for reducing the stigma of addictions, part II: Lessons from the mental health stigma literature.

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Corrigan, Patrick W; Schomerus, Georg; Shuman, Valery; Kraus, Dana; Perlick, Debbie; Harnish, Autumn; Kulesza, Magdalena; Kane-Willis, Kathleen; Qin, Sang; Smelson, David

2017-01-01

Although advocates and providers identify stigma as a major factor in confounding the recovery of people with SUDs, research on addiction stigma is lacking, especially when compared to the substantive literature examining the stigma of mental illness. A comprehensive review of the stigma literature that yielded empirically supported concepts and methods from the mental health arena was contrasted with the much smaller and mostly descriptive findings from the addiction field. In Part I of this two part paper (American Journal of Addictions, Vol 26, pages 59-66, this issue), constructs and methods from the mental health stigma literature were used to summarize research that seeks to understand the phenomena of addiction stigma. In Paper II, we use this summary, as well as the extensive literature on mental illness stigma change, to outline a research program to develop and evaluate strategies meant to diminish impact on public and self-stigma (eg, education and contact). The paper ends with recommendations for next steps in addiction stigma research. (Am J Addict 2017;26:67-74). © 2016 American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

Practitioner Research in Early Childhood Education and Care: A 21-Year Review of the Literature

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Shannon, Darbianne; Smith, Sara; Dana, Nancy

2016-01-01

Practitioner research has the potential to facilitate the ongoing knowledge and skill development of preservice and in-service early childhood education and care teachers. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to describe the landscape of practitioner research conducted in the United States. This study synthesizes more than 20 years…

Reporting the results of meta-analyses: a plea for incorporating clinical relevance referring to an example.

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Bartels, Ronald H M A; Donk, Roland D; Verhagen, Wim I M; Hosman, Allard J F; Verbeek, André L M

2017-11-01

The results of meta-analyses are frequently reported, but understanding and interpreting them is difficult for both clinicians and patients. Statistical significances are presented without referring to values that imply clinical relevance. This study aimed to use the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) to rate the clinical relevance of a meta-analysis. This study is a review of the literature. This study is a review of meta-analyses relating to a specific topic, clinical results of cervical arthroplasty. The outcome measure used in the study was the MCID. We performed an extensive literature search of a series of meta-analyses evaluating a similar subject as an example. We searched in Pubmed and Embase through August 9, 2016, and found articles concerning meta-analyses of the clinical outcome of cervical arthroplasty compared with that of anterior cervical discectomy with fusion in cases of cervical degenerative disease. We evaluated the analyses for statistical significance and their relation to MCID. MCID was defined based on results in similar patient groups and a similar disease entity reported in the literature. We identified 21 meta-analyses, only one of which referred to MCID. However, the researchers used an inappropriate measurement scale and, therefore, an incorrect MCID. The majority of the conclusions were based on statistical results without mentioning clinical relevance. The majority of the articles we reviewed drew conclusions based on statistical differences instead of clinical relevance. We recommend introducing the concept of MCID while reporting the results of a meta-analysis, as well as mentioning the explicit scale of the analyzed measurement. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Qualitative Research Literature: A Bibliographic Essay.

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Horn, Jim

1998-01-01

Presents selected literature that exemplifies (in theory and in practice) four methodological frameworks that have found wide application in qualitative studies: symbolic interactionism, phenomenological description, constructivist hermeneutics, and critical studies. (Author/LRW)

Lessons from Literature: Blending Academic Perspective with Management Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Kapur, Surbhi; Mohanty, Pooja

2014-01-01

The present paper studies the role literature can play in management in general and in leadership, organizational behavior and communication in particular. Literature normally gets a skeptical reception in management studies. The paper discusses the relevance of literature for a better understanding of human behaviour and a judicious discernment…

Change Management in Information Technology - A Literature Review

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Mahadi Hasan Miraz

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to present the state of the art of research in Information Technology (IT in Change Management (CM. Initial studies indicate that investments into CM in IT often do not add the predictable value, neither to the CM division himself nor to the association supported by the CM section. A basis for further study into this complex and inter disciplinary area is therefore needed. This literature review will contribute to this basis. Based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR method, journal articles, with a focus on CM in IT were found. Relevant articles were organized in categories according to focus on Technology, IT layer, CM process and theory, research method applied and type of findings. Finally research gaps were identified. There seems to be a general belief in technology combinations as a way to speed up the rather slow IT diffusion process in CM. It is documented that current research into CM in IT has an unbalanced focus on few specific technologies, IT layers and CM processes, and that further research should focus more on the IT implementation process and use. Knowledge from application and use could be fed back into (and strengthen conceptualization and progress, thereby adding more value to CM. Only the search engine Scopus is used. This is the first review paper focusing on CM in general in IT, giving an overview of the area and delivering a basis for further research.

Research Performance of Higher Education Institutions: A Review on the Measurements and Affecting Factors of Research Performance

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Oya TAMTEKİN AYDIN

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Recently, the increasing competition in higher education has attracted attention by many researchers. They have emphasized that the aim of the growing competition between universities is to increase the number of students, the research performance and get research support, find qualified faculty members, and receive financial contributions. This paper aims to draw attention to “research performance” which is a significant part of the competition among the universities. In connection with this goal, the study tries to outline the results of an extensive literature review in the field of higher education research performance. Firstly, literature regarding research performance, its definition as a concept, and its indicators are discussed. Then, the factors influencing research performance are presented in a comprehensive manner. At the end of the study, a conceptual framework that will be useful for all university staff is provided. Understanding the concept of research performance and the factors affecting research performance can help relevant authorities improve their current positions.

Literature-based discovery of diabetes- and ROS-related targets

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Pande Manjusha

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Reactive oxygen species (ROS are known mediators of cellular damage in multiple diseases including diabetic complications. Despite its importance, no comprehensive database is currently available for the genes associated with ROS. Methods We present ROS- and diabetes-related targets (genes/proteins collected from the biomedical literature through a text mining technology. A web-based literature mining tool, SciMiner, was applied to 1,154 biomedical papers indexed with diabetes and ROS by PubMed to identify relevant targets. Over-represented targets in the ROS-diabetes literature were obtained through comparisons against randomly selected literature. The expression levels of nine genes, selected from the top ranked ROS-diabetes set, were measured in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG of diabetic and non-diabetic DBA/2J mice in order to evaluate the biological relevance of literature-derived targets in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Results SciMiner identified 1,026 ROS- and diabetes-related targets from the 1,154 biomedical papers (http://jdrf.neurology.med.umich.edu/ROSDiabetes/. Fifty-three targets were significantly over-represented in the ROS-diabetes literature compared to randomly selected literature. These over-represented targets included well-known members of the oxidative stress response including catalase, the NADPH oxidase family, and the superoxide dismutase family of proteins. Eight of the nine selected genes exhibited significant differential expression between diabetic and non-diabetic mice. For six genes, the direction of expression change in diabetes paralleled enhanced oxidative stress in the DRG. Conclusions Literature mining compiled ROS-diabetes related targets from the biomedical literature and led us to evaluate the biological relevance of selected targets in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy.

Extending the use of references to the literature: Lessons from a content analysis of mixed method case exemplars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Creamer, Elizabeth G.; Musaeus, Peter; Edwards, Cherie

2018-01-01

The role of references to the literature in a scholarly publication is conceived principally in terms of its foundational role in establishing the need for a study and framing its contribution. This methodological inquiry used content analysis to examine how authors of mixed methods exemplars dep...... of relevant literature may be particularly important in mixed methods research where a strong emergent strand often introduces heightens awareness that a phenomenon is more complex than initially conceived.......The role of references to the literature in a scholarly publication is conceived principally in terms of its foundational role in establishing the need for a study and framing its contribution. This methodological inquiry used content analysis to examine how authors of mixed methods exemplars...... deployed references to the literature in the discussion section of their manuscripts. These authors also deployed references to literature in the discussion section to support statements about the implications and significance of the research or to explain unexpected findings. Immersion in a broad range...

Case Studies Approach in Tourism Destination Branding Research

OpenAIRE

Adeyinka-Ojo S.F.; Nair V.; Khoo-Lattimore C.

2014-01-01

A review of literature indicates that there are different types of qualitative research methods such as action research, content analysis, ethnography, grounded theory, historical analysis, phenomenology and case study. However, which approach is to be used depends on several factors such as the nature and objectives of the research. The aim of this paper is to focus on the research methodology aspects of applying case study as a research approach and its relevance in tourism destination bran...

The Community-First Land-Centred Theoretical Framework: Bringing a "Good Mind" to Indigenous Education Research?

Science.gov (United States)

Styres, Sandra D.; Zinga, Dawn M.

2013-01-01

This article introduces an emergent research theoretical framework, the community-first Land-centred research framework. Carefully examining the literature within Indigenous educational research, we noted the limited approaches for engaging in culturally aligned and relevant research within Indigenous communities. The community-first Land-centred…

Waste Collection Vehicle Routing Problem: Literature Review

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Hui Han

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Waste generation is an issue which has caused wide public concern in modern societies, not only for the quantitative rise of the amount of waste generated, but also for the increasing complexity of some products and components. Waste collection is a highly relevant activity in the reverse logistics system and how to collect waste in an efficient way is an area that needs to be improved. This paper analyzes the major contribution about Waste Collection Vehicle Routing Problem (WCVRP in literature. Based on a classification of waste collection (residential, commercial and industrial, firstly the key findings for these three types of waste collection are presented. Therefore, according to the model (Node Routing Problems and Arc Routing problems used to represent WCVRP, different methods and techniques are analyzed in this paper to solve WCVRP. This paper attempts to serve as a roadmap of research literature produced in the field of WCVRP.

The Reincarnation of the Effective Schools Research: Rethinking the Literature on District Effectiveness

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Trujillo, Tina

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the district effectiveness literature. It begins by summarizing the school effectiveness research, the correlates of effective schools, and the conceptual and methodological characteristics of this field. It then describes the findings from a review of 50 studies of district effectiveness, the most…

Knowledge translation in healthcare: Incorporating theories of learning and knowledge from the management literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Oborn, Eivor; Barrett, Michael; Racko, Girts

2013-01-01

The authors draw selectively on theories of learning and knowledge, which currently have received little attention from knowledge translation (KT) researchers, and suggest how they might usefully inform future development of the KT literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual tools and strategies for the growing number of managers, clinicians and decision makers navigating this arena The authors conducted a narrative review to synthesise two streams of literature and examine evolving conceptual landscape concerning knowledge translation over the previous three decades. Conceptual mapping was used iteratively to develop and synthesise the literature. Iterative feedback from relevant research and practice stakeholder groups was used to focus and strengthen the review. KT has been conceptualised along three competing frames; one focusing on linear (largely unidirectional) transfer of knowledge; one focusing on KT as a social process; and another that seeks to more fully incorporate contextual issues in understanding research implementation. Three overlapping themes are found in the management literature that inform these debates in the health literature, namely knowledge boundaries, organisational learning and absorptive capacity. Literature on knowledge boundaries problematizes the nature of boundaries and the stickiness of knowledge. Organisational learning conceptualises the need for organisational wide systems to facilitate learning processes; it also draws on a more expansive view of knowledge. Absorptive capacity focuses at the firm level on the role of developing organisational capabilities that enable the identification, assimilation and use of new knowledge to enable innovation. The paper highlights the need to consider KT processes at multiple levels, including individual, organisational and strategic levels. These are important not only for research but also have practical implications for individuals and organisations involved in KT

Use of Neutron Beams for Materials Research Relevant to the Nuclear Energy Sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-10-01

Nuclear technologies such as fission and fusion reactors, including associated waste storage and disposal, rely on the availability of not only nuclear fuels but also advanced structural materials. In 2010–2013, the IAEA organized and implemented the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Development, Characterization and Testing of Materials of Relevance to Nuclear Energy Sector Using Neutron Beams. A total of 19 institutions from 18 Member States (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation (two institutions), South Africa, Switzerland and United States of America) cooperated with the main objective to address the use of various neutron beam techniques for characterization, testing and qualification of materials and components produced or under development for applications in the nuclear energy sector. This CRP aimed to bring stakeholders and end users of research reactors and accelerator based neutron sources together for the enhanced use of available facilities and development of new infrastructures for applied materials research. Work envisioned under this CRP was related to the optimization and validation of neutron beam techniques, including facility and instrument modifications/optimizations as well as improved data acquisition, processing and analysis systems. Particular emphasis was placed on variable environments during material characterization and testing as required by some applications such as intensive irradiation load, high temperature and high pressure conditions, and the presence of strong magnetic fields. Targeted neutron beam techniques were neutron diffraction, small angle neutron scattering and digital neutron radiography/tomography. This publication is a compilation of the main results and findings of the CRP, and the CD-ROM accompanying this publication contains 19 reports with additional relevant technical details

Microbial transformation of coal and coal relevant structures - presentation of a BMBF joint research project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sinder, C.; Schacht, S.; Pfeifer, F.; Klein, J. [DMT-Gesellschaft fuer Forschung und Pruefung mbH, Essen (Germany)

1997-12-31

Investigations in the joint research project `Microbial transformation of coal and coal relevant structures` supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF) of the Federal Republic of Germany and coordinated by the DMT-Gesellschaft fuer Forschung und Pruefung mbH (DMT) are focussed on research and development of biotechnological coal conversion processes. Up to now investigations carried out in the project lead to a number of important results. During work on the project a great number of different microorganisms was found able to degrade or solubilize coal or lignite. Enzymatic as well as regulation mechanisms of the microbial depolymerization processes have been characterized successfully. (orig.)

Bibliographic database of PACS-related articles from the SPIE literature

Science.gov (United States)

Shile, Peter E.; Freiermuth, Jennifer

1996-05-01

Publications of the International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE) contain much of the relevant literature on Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) and related topics. In fact, many PACS-related articles indexed by the National Library of Medicine contain references to articles published by SPIE. Unfortunately, SPIE publications themselves are not indexed by the National Library of Medicine and thus can not be identified through Medline. The lack of a convenient mechanism for searching the SPIE literature is problematic for researchers in medical imaging. With the recent introduction on SPIE's Internet server of their Abstracts Online service and their In-CiteTM title and author searching software, the SPIE literature has become more accessible. However, the searching process is still a cumbersome and time consuming process, and it is not possible to perform key word searches of manuscript abstracts. In this paper we present results of our work on developing a mechanism to more thoroughly search SPIE publications for PACS-related articles.

LITERATURE AND IDENTITY

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Dragana Litričin Dunić

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Literature can represent, on the one hand, the establishment of cultural and national identity, and, on the other hand, a constant indicator of the differences. Self-image and the image of the Other in literature is very important not only for understanding national character and preservation of cultural identity, but also for the release from ideological reading and stereotyping. Analyzing the image of the Other, research into the representation of the Balkans symbolically represents in the popular literature of the West, study of the cultural context and the processes that formed the writer’s perceptions that determine the establishment of stereotypes about Homo Balcanicus and many others, are all important tasks of imagological research, as well as the key research tasks conducted nowadays. In this paper we shall discuss some of these issues in the field of comparative literature.

The Research in e-HRM: Relevance and Implications in the Knowledge Society

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Sofia TOTOLICI

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This article aims to review current empirical research on electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM and discusses some implications for future research, which will be focused on comparative analysis of how social and cultural factors might influence the implementation and development of e-HRM systems in different E.U. countries. Based on a definition and an initial framework, we analyzed the surveys conducted in this field as well as the case studies focused on practical e-HRM applications, the examined topics and the relevant findings. Another goal of this study is to highlight the gaps between e-HRM and HRIS (Human resource information system, which refers to ICT systems used within HR departments We are also interested in assessing the opportunities provided by Web 2.0 technologies for e-recruitment, the first field of human resource management to make extensive use of web-based technology.

Talent Development: A Guide for Practice and Research Within Sport

Science.gov (United States)

Martindale, Russell J. J.; Collins, Dave; Daubney, Jim

2005-01-01

The transformation of talented youngsters into senior world-beaters is a topic of interest for practitioners and researchers alike. Unfortunately there is a dearth of research to guide the optimization of this process. Accordingly, this paper offers an overview of key themes apparent in the literature that have relevance to the effective…

Relevance Feedback in Content Based Image Retrieval: A Review

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Manesh B. Kokare

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an overview of the technical achievements in the research area of relevance feedback (RF in content-based image retrieval (CBIR. Relevance feedback is a powerful technique in CBIR systems, in order to improve the performance of CBIR effectively. It is an open research area to the researcher to reduce the semantic gap between low-level features and high level concepts. The paper covers the current state of art of the research in relevance feedback in CBIR, various relevance feedback techniques and issues in relevance feedback are discussed in detail.

Evolution of Modularity Literature

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frandsen, Thomas

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the modularity literature to identify the established and emerging perspectives. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature search and review was conducted through the use of bibliometrics and network analysis. The analysis...... identified structure within the literature, which revealed how the research area evolved between 1990 and 2015. Based on this search, the paper establishes the basis for analyzing the structure of modularity literature. Findings Factors were identified within the literature, demonstrating how it has evolved...... from a primary focus on the modularity of products to a broader view of the applicability of modularity. Within the last decade, numerous research areas have emerged within the broader area of modularity. Through core-periphery analysis, eight emerging sub-research areas are identified, of which one...

Managing Normative Criteria in Action Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boulus-Rødje, Nina

2014-01-01

experiences from an action research project in a healthcare infrastructural setting. I use these experiences as a basis for appraising the normative crite- ria for rigor and relevance that are enacted in IS action research literature. I argue that while these criteria originally had important contributions......, there are also weaknesses with norma- tive approaches. Specifically, these norms of action research leave relatively little space for understanding and managing emerging empirical uncertainties. These norms are important because they have implications not only on how we conduct action research in practice...

Literature Review of Enterprise Systems Research Using Institutional Theory: Towards a Conceptual Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svejvig, Per

This paper sets out to examine the use of institutional theory as a conceptually rich lens to study social issues of enterprise systems (ES) research. More precisely, the purpose is to categorize current ES research using institutional theory to develop a conceptual model that advances ES research...... model which advocates for multi-level and multi-theory approaches, and applies newer institutional aspects such as institutional logics. The findings show that institutional theory in ES research is in its infancy and adopts mainly traditional institutional aspects like isomorphism....... Key institutional features are presented such as isomorphism, rationalized myths, bridging macro and micro structures, and institutional logics and their implications for ES research are discussed. Through a literature review of 180 articles, of which 18 papers are selected, we build a conceptual...

THE EFFECTS OF AMBIENT SCENT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

OpenAIRE

OLAHUT Meda Roxana; PLAIAS Ioan

2013-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to present an extended literature review of relevant empirical studies which examine the effect of ambient scent on consumers' perception, consumers' emotions and consumers' behavioral responses in the context of retailing. Compared with other atmospheric stimuli (such as background music), ambient scent has received little attention from researchers. This paper is also concentrated on identifying de principal dimensions of ambient scent (presence versus abse...

THE EFFECTS OF AMBIENT SCENT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

OpenAIRE

OLAHUT Meda Roxana; PLAIAS Ioan

2013-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to present an extended literature review of relevant empirical studies which examine the effect of ambient scent on consumers’ perception, consumers’ emotions and consumers’ behavioral responses in the context of retailing. Compared with other atmospheric stimuli (such as background music), ambient scent has received little attention from researchers. This paper is also concentrated on identifying de principal dimensions of ambient scent (presence versus abse...

Effective implementation of research into practice: an overview of systematic reviews of the health literature

OpenAIRE

Boaz, Annette; Baeza, Juan; Fraser, Alec

2011-01-01

Abstract Background The gap between research findings and clinical practice is well documented and a range of interventions has been developed to increase the implementation of research into clinical practice. Findings A review of systematic reviews of the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase the use of research in clinical practice. A search for relevant systematic reviews was conducted of Medline and the Cochrane Database of Reviews 1998-2009. 13 systematic reviews containing...

Energy Drinks: Topical Domain in the Emerging Literature and Neglected Areas of Research

Science.gov (United States)

Piotrowski, Chris

2014-01-01

Prevalence statistics indicate that consumption of Energy drinks (EDs), often in combination with alcohol, is quite popular in the younger generation and particularly with college students. As literature on this topic is advancing at a rapid pace, it seemed instructive to examine which topics are emphasized in emerging EDs research. To that end, a…

Knowledge Creation in Clinical Product Development Management Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karlsson, Christer; Sköld, Martin

2012-01-01

This paper explores the clinical approach to management research and positions it in relation to other similar approaches. It achieves this by pointing out the most important historical milestones in the development of such approaches. The literature on the approach is mapped, including that on t......This paper explores the clinical approach to management research and positions it in relation to other similar approaches. It achieves this by pointing out the most important historical milestones in the development of such approaches. The literature on the approach is mapped, including...... of the approaches, the paper discusses the research issues to which clinical research is relevant and how the research framework should be designed, then practical issues relating to how to approach the study objects, the design of the research instruments, and the conducting of the field research. Finally...

OARSI-OMERACT definition of relevant radiological progression in hip/knee osteoarthritis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ornetti, P; Brandt, K; Hellio-Le Graverand, M-P; Hochberg, M; Hunter, D J; Kloppenburg, M; Lane, N; Maillefert, J-F; Mazzuca, S A; Spector, T; Utard-Wlerick, G; Vignon, E; Dougados, M

2009-07-01

Joint space width (JSW) evaluated in millimeters on plain X-rays is the currently optimal recognized technique to evaluate osteoarthritis (OA) structural progression. Data obtained can be presented at the group level (e.g., mean+/-standard deviation of the changes). Such presentation makes difficult the interpretation of the clinical relevance of the reported results. Therefore, a presentation at the individual level (e.g., % progressors) seems more attractive but requires to determining a cut-off. Several methodologies have been proposed to define cut-offs in JSW: arbitrary chosen cut-off, cut-off based on the validity to predict a relevant end-point such as the requirement of total articular replacement or cut-off based on the measurement error such as smallest detectable difference (SDD). The objective of this OARSI-OMERACT initiative was to define a cut-off evaluated in millimeters on plain X-rays above which a change in JSW could be considered as relevant in patients with hip and knee OA. The first step consisted in a systematic literature research performed using Medline database up to July 2007 to obtain all manuscripts published between 1990 and 2007 reporting a cut-off value in JSW evaluated in millimeters at either the knee or hip level. The second step consisted in a consensus based on the best knowledge of the 11 experts with the support of the available evidence. Among the 506 articles selected by the search, 47 articles reported cut-off of JSW in millimeters. There was a broad heterogeneity in cut-off values, whatever the methodologies or the OA localization considered (e.g., from 0.12 to 0.84 mm and from 0.22 to 0.78 mm for Knee (seven studies) and hip (seven studies), respectively when considering the data obtained based on the reliability). Based on the data extracted in the literature, the expert committee proposed a definition of relevant change in JSW based on plain X-rays, on an absolute change of JSW in millimeters and on the measurement error

Emotional Intelligence Research within Human Resource Development Scholarship

Science.gov (United States)

Farnia, Forouzan; Nafukho, Fredrick Muyia

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to review and synthesize pertinent emotional intelligence (EI) research within the human resource development (HRD) scholarship. Design/methodology/approach: An integrative review of literature was conducted and multiple electronic databases were searched to find the relevant resources. Using the content…

Research Trends in Post‑Graduate Medical Students, Pune

African Journals Online (AJOL)

are evaluated according to study design, sample size, research ... literature. Aim: The aim of the study was bibliometric analysis of dissertations submitted by medical .... If relevant, consider translating estimates of relative risk into absolute risk for a meaningful time period .... patients and expertise of their Indian collaborators.

Dividend Is Relevant: A Restatement | Amadasu | African Research ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The major recommendation is that dividend, priceearningsratio, retained earnings, return on capital employed andautonomous part assumed to be government, external, internal, andeconomic environment, should be coordinated through policy instruments forcorporate governance for dividend to have relevance.

Treatment of Holocaust Denial Literature in Association of Research Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Spidal, Debra F.

2012-01-01

Holocaust denial literature has been treated inconsistently in library collections. At one time Holocaust denial literature was classed and subject headings assigned with Holocaust literature. After specific Library of Congress classification numbers and subject headings for Holocaust denial and Holocaust denial literature became available in the…

Context-based Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Jesper; Jonsson, Patrik

2018-01-01

review. Studies for review were obtained through a keyword search of five relevant databases, manual searches of relevant journals and snowballing of citations in relevant papers. In total, 571 papers published between 2000 and 2017 were assessed, and 68 papers were included in the review. Findings...... – The review found that S&OP design depends on industry, dynamic complexity, detail complexity and organisational characteristics. The findings of the literature review suggest that future research should study the roles of industry, complexity, system and process and organisational characteristics in S...

The Literature Landscape of Blended Learning in Higher Education: The Need for Better Understanding of Academic Blended Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Torrisi-Steele, Geraldine; Drew, Steve

2013-01-01

If we are to realise the potential of blended learning in higher education, then further research into academic practice and relevant academic development is essential. Our review of literature on blended learning in higher education reveals an interesting scholarship landscape which, when described in detail, pointedly directs attention to the…

Studying gender and injuries: a comparative analysis of the literatures on women's injuries in sport and work.

Science.gov (United States)

Theberge, N

2012-01-01

This article provides a review and analysis of the literatures on the gendering of injuries in sport and in work. It argues that, while research on women's work-related injuries has considered the interaction of biological and social bases of risk, research on women's injuries in sport has concentrated to a greater extent on biological risk factors alone. The difference in emphasis between these two literatures has, in turn, provoked contrasting responses to these sets of research. While bringing women into the discussion of work-related injuries is seen as an advance, the profiling of women's sport-related injuries has been viewed with alarm by critics, who see this as a return to historical notions of women's frailty. The analysis suggests that contrasts between these bodies of research derive from differences in the social organisation of sport and work and the broader literatures on health and safety in each setting. The article highlights the importance of conceptualisations of gender in research agenda devoted to understanding health-related concerns. The analysis presented here has important relevance to ergonomics because of the need to better understand how gender is implicated in ergonomics research and practice.

Searching for Grey Literature for Systematic Reviews: Challenges and Benefits

Science.gov (United States)

Mahood, Quenby; Van Eerd, Dwayne; Irvin, Emma

2014-01-01

There is ongoing interest in including grey literature in systematic reviews. Including grey literature can broaden the scope to more relevant studies, thereby providing a more complete view of available evidence. Searching for grey literature can be challenging despite greater access through the Internet, search engines and online bibliographic…

Indicators of agricultural intensity and intensification: a review of the literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irune Ruiz-Martinez

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Since the 1960s, research has dealt with agricultural intensification (AI as a solution to ensure global food security. Recently, sustainable intensification (SI has increasingly been used to describe those agricultural and farming systems that ensure adequate ecosystem service provision. Studies differ in terms of the application scales and methodologies, thus we aim to summarize the main findings from the literature on how AI and SI are assessed, from the farm to global levels. Our literature review is based on 7865 papers selected from the Web of Science database and analysed using CorText software. A further selection of 105 relevant papers was used for an in-depth full-text analysis on: i farming systems studied; ii related ecosystem services; iii indicators of intensity; and iv temporal and spatial scales of analysis. Through this two-step analysis we were able to highlight three main research gaps in the AI research indicators. Firstly, the farming systems analysed for assessing AI are often quite simplified or monoculture- oriented, and they do not take the diversity and complex organisation of farming systems into account. Secondly, these studies mainly focus on northern countries or developing countries, whereas there is a gap of knowledge in Mediterranean areas, which are the areas with a high complexity of farming systems and diversity in ecosystem services. Finally, AI is mostly assessed through nitrogen inputs and economic yield, which are used the most both at very local and global levels. Intermediate regional or local levels, which are relevant for policy implementation and local planning, are often neglected.

Metrics for evaluating patient navigation during cancer diagnosis and treatment: crafting a policy-relevant research agenda for patient navigation in cancer care.

Science.gov (United States)

Guadagnolo, B Ashleigh; Dohan, Daniel; Raich, Peter

2011-08-01

Racial and ethnic minorities as well as other vulnerable populations experience disparate cancer-related health outcomes. Patient navigation is an emerging health care delivery innovation that offers promise in improving quality of cancer care delivery to these patients who experience unique health-access barriers. Metrics are needed to evaluate whether patient navigation can improve quality of care delivery, health outcomes, and overall value in health care during diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Information regarding the current state of the science examining patient navigation interventions was gathered via search of the published scientific literature. A focus group of providers, patient navigators, and health-policy experts was convened as part of the Patient Navigation Leadership Summit sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Key metrics were identified for assessing the efficacy of patient navigation in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Patient navigation data exist for all stages of cancer care; however, the literature is more robust for its implementation during prevention, screening, and early diagnostic workup of cancer. Relatively fewer data are reported for outcomes and efficacy of patient navigation during cancer treatment. Metrics are proposed for a policy-relevant research agenda to evaluate the efficacy of patient navigation in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Patient navigation is understudied with respect to its use in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Core metrics are defined to evaluate its efficacy in improving outcomes and mitigating health-access barriers. Copyright © 2011 American Cancer Society.

Disclosure of Non-Financial Information: Relevant to Financial Analysts?

OpenAIRE

ORENS, Raf; LYBAERT, Nadine

2013-01-01

The decline in the relevance of financial statement information to value firms leads to calls from organizational stakeholders to convey non-financial information in order to be able to judge firms' financial performance and value. This literature review aims to report extant literature findings on the use of corporate non-financial information by sell-side financial analysts, the information intermediaries between corporate management and investors. Prior studies highlight that financial ana...

Wind energy literature survey no. 34

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pavese, Christian

2015-01-01

As a service to readers, Wind Energy regularly conducts literature surveys and publishes lists of relevant articles drawnfrom recent issues of Wind Energy itself and a large number of periodicals including Journal of Wind Engineering andIndustrial Aerodynamics, International Journal of Energy...... Research, Renewable Energy, Energy Sources, Journal of SolarEnergy Engineering, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal, Electric Power Components and Systemsalong with a number of periodicals published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, etc. The list...... is limitedexclusively to journals not specifically devoted to wind energy and its applications. To assist the reader, the list is separatedinto broad categories. Although many papers fit several categories, each paper is listed only once under the categorythought most appropriate. Please note that the inclusion...

[Facebook in oncology. Review of the literature].

Science.gov (United States)

Veneroni, Laura; Ferrari, Andrea; Massimino, Maura; Clerici, Carlo Alfredo

2015-01-01

Internet and particularly the so-called Web 2.0 are powerful tools of communication characterized by high user participation in the creation of content through various sites, such as those of social networking, where Facebook is the best known and most widely used. The aim of the present paper is to review the literature on the use of Facebook in health care. The international scientific literature of the past 10 years has been collected by major databases online. From the research were identified 262 articles of which 57 are considered relevant. The articles are schematically divided into three categories according to the topic: use of Facebook for psychosocial support for communication, for doctor-patient relationship, for institutional communication. The authors have identified the critical aspects and the possibility of using this tool in the communication and relationship between patients and health professionals. Despite the presence of critical issues, the use of social media is to be considered with interest and is worthy of study and research in the clinical setting. It should at the same time that health professionals are aware of the risks associated with the use of social networking but also trained in the use of the potential of these virtual tools that cannot replace real interactions but can support them.

Social marketing and breastfeeding: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Manuela

2013-02-08

Through the review of relevant literature this study illuminates the concepts of social marketing and breastfeeding. It specifically discusses the positioning of the link between social marketing and breastfeeding within different fields of study and develops a theoretical framework that tries to bridge the gap between those disciplines. Various electronic databases were used and through systematic selection 11 scientific articles were identified that this literature review is based on. The review indicates that the relationship between social marketing and breastfeeding is complex. There are indications that this relationship is being investigated within three distinct fields of research: psychology/education, public health and marketing. Depending on the research field the emphasis is put on either breastfeeding or social marketing as well as on the other concepts that were discovered to be of importance within this relationship. Namely, group and individual demography as well as behaviour were revealed to be important elements of the link between social marketing and breastfeeding. Based on the results this study concludes that a more multidimensional view on the relationship between the concepts under study is needed since the focus of previous studies is very one-sided and limited to just one element when all elements should be integrated equally.

Sex and gonadal hormones in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease: what is relevant to the human condition?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dubal Dena B

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Biologic sex and gonadal hormones matter in human aging and diseases of aging such as Alzheimer’s – and the importance of studying their influences relates directly to human health. The goal of this article is to review the literature to date on sex and hormones in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD with an exclusive focus on interpreting the relevance of findings to the human condition. To this end, we highlight advances in AD and in sex and hormone biology, discuss what these advances mean for merging the two fields, review the current mouse model literature, raise major unresolved questions, and offer a research framework that incorporates human reproductive aging for future studies aimed at translational discoveries in this important area. Unraveling human relevant pathways in sex and hormone-based biology may ultimately pave the way to novel and urgently needed treatments for AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

What are the key organisational capabilities that facilitate research use in public health policy?

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Huckel Schneider, Carmen; Campbell, Danielle; Milat, Andrew; Haynes, Abby; Quinn, Emma

2014-11-28

Literature about research use suggests that certain characteristics or capabilities may make policy agencies more evidence attuned. This study sought to determine policy makers' perceptions of a suite of organisational capabilities identified from the literature as potentially facilitating research uptake in policy decision making. A literature scan identified eight key organisational capabilities that support research use in policy making. To determine whether these capabilities were relevant, practical and applicable in real world policy settings, nine Australian health policy makers were consulted in September 2011. We used an open-ended questionnaire asking what facilitates the use of research in policy and program decision making, followed by specific questions rating the proposed capabilities. Interviews were transcribed and the content analysed. There was general agreement that the capabilities identified from the literature were relevant to real world contexts. However, interviewees varied in whether they could provide examples of experiences with the capabilities, how essential they considered the different capabilities to be and how difficult they considered the capabilities were to achieve. Efforts to improve the use of research in policy decision making are likely to benefit from targeting multiple organisational capabilities, including staff skills and competence, tools such as templates and checklists to aid evidence use and leadership support for the use of research in policy development. However, such efforts should be guided by an understanding of how policy agencies use evidence and how they view their roles, and external factors such as resource constraints and availability of appropriate research.

An overview of biomedical literature search on the World Wide Web in the third millennium.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Prince; Goel, Roshni; Jain, Chandni; Kumar, Ashish; Parashar, Abhishek; Gond, Ajay Ratan

2012-06-01

Complete access to the existing pool of biomedical literature and the ability to "hit" upon the exact information of the relevant specialty are becoming essential elements of academic and clinical expertise. With the rapid expansion of the literature database, it is almost impossible to keep up to date with every innovation. Using the Internet, however, most people can freely access this literature at any time, from almost anywhere. This paper highlights the use of the Internet in obtaining valuable biomedical research information, which is mostly available from journals, databases, textbooks and e-journals in the form of web pages, text materials, images, and so on. The authors present an overview of web-based resources for biomedical researchers, providing information about Internet search engines (e.g., Google), web-based bibliographic databases (e.g., PubMed, IndMed) and how to use them, and other online biomedical resources that can assist clinicians in reaching well-informed clinical decisions.

The relevance of 7-day patch test reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, Eleanor; Collins, Paul

2013-01-01

Patch test readings are usually performed on day 2 (48 hours) and day 4 (96 hours). However, reports in the literature identify delayed allergy to metals, corticosteroids, antibiotics, some preservatives, acrylic and methacrylic monomers and p-phenylenediamine. The aim of our study was to identify the benefit of performing a day 7 (168 hours) reading to identify relevant late positive reactions. Two hundred three consecutive patients were patch tested to the British Society for Cutaneous Allergy standard series with additional test series selected according to clinical history and applied at the same time. Twenty-six patients (12.8%) had new positive reactions on day 7 (168 hours), with 28 relevant positive reactions to 21 allergens. These included mercury 0.5% (2/26); cobalt chloride 1% (2/26); colophony 20% (2/26); disperse blue mix 106/124 1% (2/26); preservatives (4/26) that included Methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone, sodium metabisulfite, and diazolidinyl urea; fragrances (7/26); and gentamycin sulfate 20% (1/26). These results confirm findings in the literature and support the argument for performing a day 7 reading (168 hours) to identify relevant late positive reactions.

Methods, strategies and technologies used to conduct a scoping literature review of collaboration between primary care and public health.

Science.gov (United States)

Valaitis, Ruta; Martin-Misener, Ruth; Wong, Sabrina T; MacDonald, Marjorie; Meagher-Stewart, Donna; Austin, Patricia; Kaczorowski, Janusz; O-Mara, Linda; Savage, Rachel

2012-07-01

This paper describes the methods, strategies and technologies used to conduct a scoping literature review examining primary care (PC) and public health (PH) collaboration. It presents challenges encountered as well as recommendations and 'lessons learned' from conducting the review with a large geographically distributed team comprised of researchers and decision-makers using an integrated knowledge translation approach. Scoping studies comprehensively map literature in a specific area guided by general research questions. This methodology is especially useful in researching complex topics. Thus, their popularity is growing. Stakeholder consultations are an important strategy to enhance study results. Therefore, information about how best to involve stakeholders throughout the process is necessary to improve quality and uptake of reviews. This review followed Arksey and O'Malley's five stages: identifying research questions; identifying relevant studies; study selection; charting the data; and collating, summarizing and reporting results. Technological tools and strategies included: citation management software (Reference Manager®), qualitative data analysis software (NVivo 8), web conferencing (Elluminate Live!) and a PH portal (eHealthOntario), teleconferences, email and face-to-face meetings. Of 6125 papers identified, 114 were retained as relevant. Most papers originated in the United Kingdom (38%), the United States (34%) and Canada (19%). Of 80 papers that reported on specific collaborations, most were descriptive reports (51.3%). Research studies represented 34 papers: 31% were program evaluations, 9% were literature reviews and 9% were discussion papers. Key strategies to ensure rigor in conducting a scoping literature review while engaging a large geographically dispersed team are presented for each stage. The use of enabling technologies was essential to managing the process. Leadership in championing the use of technologies and a clear governance

TRANSPORT THROUGH CRACKED CONCRETE: LITERATURE REVIEW

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Langton, C.

2012-05-11

Concrete containment structures and cement-based fills and waste forms are used at the Savannah River Site to enhance the performance of shallow land disposal systems designed for containment of low-level radioactive waste. Understanding and measuring transport through cracked concrete is important for describing the initial condition of radioactive waste containment structures at the Savannah River Site (SRS) and for predicting performance of these structures over time. This report transmits the results of a literature review on transport through cracked concrete which was performed by Professor Jason Weiss, Purdue University per SRR0000678 (RFP-RQ00001029-WY). This review complements the NRC-sponsored literature review and assessment of factors relevant to performance of grouted systems for radioactive waste disposal. This review was performed by The Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, San Antonio, TX, and The University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Scotland and was focused on tank closure. The objective of the literature review on transport through cracked concrete was to identify information in the open literature which can be applied to SRS transport models for cementitious containment structures, fills, and waste forms. In addition, the literature review was intended to: (1) Provide a framework for describing and classifying cracks in containment structures and cementitious materials used in radioactive waste disposal, (2) Document the state of knowledge and research related to transport through cracks in concrete for various exposure conditions, (3) Provide information or methodology for answering several specific questions related to cracking and transport in concrete, and (4) Provide information that can be used to design experiments on transport through cracked samples and actual structures.

Transport Through Cracked Concrete: Literature Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langton, C.

2012-01-01

Concrete containment structures and cement-based fills and waste forms are used at the Savannah River Site to enhance the performance of shallow land disposal systems designed for containment of low-level radioactive waste. Understanding and measuring transport through cracked concrete is important for describing the initial condition of radioactive waste containment structures at the Savannah River Site (SRS) and for predicting performance of these structures over time. This report transmits the results of a literature review on transport through cracked concrete which was performed by Professor Jason Weiss, Purdue University per SRR0000678 (RFP-RQ00001029-WY). This review complements the NRC-sponsored literature review and assessment of factors relevant to performance of grouted systems for radioactive waste disposal. This review was performed by The Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, San Antonio, TX, and The University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Scotland and was focused on tank closure. The objective of the literature review on transport through cracked concrete was to identify information in the open literature which can be applied to SRS transport models for cementitious containment structures, fills, and waste forms. In addition, the literature review was intended to: (1) Provide a framework for describing and classifying cracks in containment structures and cementitious materials used in radioactive waste disposal, (2) Document the state of knowledge and research related to transport through cracks in concrete for various exposure conditions, (3) Provide information or methodology for answering several specific questions related to cracking and transport in concrete, and (4) Provide information that can be used to design experiments on transport through cracked samples and actual structures.

Global Emergency Medicine: A review of the literature from 2017.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Torben K; Trehan, Indi; Hayward, Alison Schroth; Hexom, Braden J; Kivlehan, Sean M; Lunney, Kevin M; Modi, Payal; Osei-Ampofo, Maxwell; Pousson, Amelia; Cho, Daniel K; Levine, Adam C

2018-05-23

The Global Emergency Medicine Literature Review (GEMLR) conducts an annual search of peer-reviewed and gray literature relevant to global emergency medicine (EM) to identify, review, and disseminate the most important new research in this field to a global audience of academics and clinical practitioners. This year, 17,722 articles written in three languages were identified by our electronic search. These articles were distributed among 20 reviewers for initial screening based on their relevance to the field of global EM. Another two reviewers searched the gray literature, yielding an additional 11 articles. All articles that were deemed appropriate by at least one reviewer and approved by their editor underwent formal scoring of overall quality and importance. Two independent reviewers scored all articles. A total of 848 articles met our inclusion criteria and underwent full review. 63% were categorized as emergency care in resource-limited settings, 23% as disaster and humanitarian response, and 14% as emergency medicine development. 21 articles received scores of 18.5 or higher out of a maximum score 20 and were selected for formal summary and critique. Inter-rater reliability testing between reviewers revealed a Cohen's Kappa of 0.344. In 2017, the total number of articles identified by our search continued to increase. Studies and reviews with a focus on infectious diseases, pediatrics, and trauma represented the majority of top-scoring articles. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Making research relevant? Ecological methods and the ecosystem services framework

Science.gov (United States)

Root-Bernstein, Meredith; Jaksic, Fabián. M.

2017-07-01

We examine some unexpected epistemological conflicts that arise at the interfaces between ecological science, the ecosystem services framework, policy, and industry. We use an example from our own research to motivate and illustrate our main arguments, while also reviewing standard approaches to ecological science using the ecosystem services framework. While we agree that the ecosystem services framework has benefits in its industrial applications because it may force economic decision makers to consider a broader range of costs and benefits than they would do otherwise, we find that many alignments of ecology with the ecosystem services framework are asking questions that are irrelevant to real-world applications, and generating data that does not serve real-world applications. We attempt to clarify why these problems arise and how to avoid them. We urge fellow ecologists to reflect on the kind of research that can lead to both scientific advances and applied relevance to society. In our view, traditional empirical approaches at landscape scales or with place-based emphases are necessary to provide applied knowledge for problem solving, which is needed once decision makers identify risks to ecosystem services. We conclude that the ecosystem services framework is a good policy tool when applied to decision-making contexts, but not a good theory either of social valuation or ecological interactions, and should not be treated as one.

Reflecting on the role of literature in qualitative public administration research:learning from grounded theory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.G. Tummers (Lars); N. Karsten (Niels)

2012-01-01

textabstractWhen undertaking qualitative research, public administration scholars must walk a thin line between being theoretically sensitive and imposing preconceived ideas on their work. This article identifies opportunities and pitfalls in using literature in qualitative public administration

Questioning Strategies of Literature Teachers among Grade 8 Filipino Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena M. Ocbian

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Questioning is a useful and relevant tool to facilitate classroom discussion in a literature class. This study identified the levels of questions teachers use in their literature class, determined the different question strategies they utilized and proposed activities to enhance the questioning strategies of literature teachers. Video analysis was the main instrument used. These videos were provided during the conduct of class observations by the researchers. There were eight respondents in the study selected through total enumeration. They are teachers from Gubat Cluster of secondary schools of Sorsogon Province. To identify the levels of questions and questioning strategies, question tally form and percentage were used. Results revealed that knowledge was the most used level of questions followed by comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The most used question technique is the participation, followed by proving, sequencing, wait time, balance and student questions. It was recommended that literature teachers vary their level of questions when discussing literary pieces. They may utilize different question techniques to develop critical thinking skills of their students. The use of the proposed activities may enhance the questioning strategies of literature teachers. Likewise, school heads and program supervisors may utilize video analysis technique as a mode for classroom observation.

Impact of childhood chronic illnesses on siblings: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

O' Brien, Irene; Duffy, Anita; Nicholl, Honor

Childhood illness can have a significant impact on families, particularly on the ill child's siblings. There is a dearth of published literature focusing on the needs of siblings of ill children. This literature review aims to provide an overview of the current healthcare literature in relation to the impact of childhood chronic illness or disability on siblings. A literature review was undertaken by searching the databases CINAHL, PsycINFO, ProQuest and Cochrane Library for relevant articles in English using the search terms: 'siblings', 'chronic illness', 'disability', 'cancer', 'sibling relations', 'sibling adjustment', 'coping', 'family-centred care', 'sibling interventions', 'camps', 'autism', 'Down's syndrome'. Seventeen research studies in total were reviewed. This review focuses on three sibling groups related to children suffering from autism, cancer and Down's syndrome, and are discussed under the following headings: sibling adjustment; family functioning and sibling's coping resources; and intervention programmes. The literature revealed that siblings of children with Down's syndrome were well adjusted to living with their brother or sister. However, there was conflicting information on the adjustment of siblings of children with cancer and autism. An awareness of the harmful effect that living with childhood illness and disability can have on some siblings is essential to enable healthcare professionals to provide supportive interventions to protect siblings' physical and emotional wellbeing.

Conceptualizing playfulness for reflection processes in responsible research and innovation contexts: a narrative literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Meij, Marjoleine G.; Broerse, Jacqueline E. W.; Kupper, Frank

2017-01-01

Playfulness supports people in learning. This study synthesizes a framework for playfulness for one particular type of learning: responsible research and innovation (RRI) reflection processes. Playfulness design elements were extracted from literature about playfulness in various learning and

Achieving Research Impact Through Co-creation in Community-Based Health Services: Literature Review and Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenhalgh, Trisha; Jackson, Claire; Shaw, Sara; Janamian, Tina

2016-06-01

Co-creation-collaborative knowledge generation by academics working alongside other stakeholders-is an increasingly popular approach to aligning research and service development. It has potential for "moving beyond the ivory towers" to deliver significant societal impact via dynamic, locally adaptive community-academic partnerships. Principles of successful co-creation include a systems perspective, a creative approach to research focused on improving human experience, and careful attention to governance and process. If these principles are not followed, co-creation efforts may fail. Co-creation-collaborative knowledge generation by academics working alongside other stakeholders-reflects a "Mode 2" relationship (knowledge production rather than knowledge translation) between universities and society. Co-creation is widely believed to increase research impact. We undertook a narrative review of different models of co-creation relevant to community-based health services. We contrasted their diverse disciplinary roots and highlighted their common philosophical assumptions, principles of success, and explanations for failures. We applied these to an empirical case study of a community-based research-service partnership led by the Centre of Research Excellence in Quality and Safety in Integrated Primary-Secondary Care at the University of Queensland, Australia. Co-creation emerged independently in several fields, including business studies ("value co-creation"), design science ("experience-based co-design"), computer science ("technology co-design"), and community development ("participatory research"). These diverse models share some common features, which were also evident in the case study. Key success principles included (1) a systems perspective (assuming emergence, local adaptation, and nonlinearity); (2) the framing of research as a creative enterprise with human experience at its core; and (3) an emphasis on process (the framing of the program, the nature of

Medical literature searches: a comparison of PubMed and Google Scholar.

Science.gov (United States)

Nourbakhsh, Eva; Nugent, Rebecca; Wang, Helen; Cevik, Cihan; Nugent, Kenneth

2012-09-01

Medical literature searches provide critical information for clinicians. However, the best strategy for identifying relevant high-quality literature is unknown. We compared search results using PubMed and Google Scholar on four clinical questions and analysed these results with respect to article relevance and quality. Abstracts from the first 20 citations for each search were classified into three relevance categories. We used the weighted kappa statistic to analyse reviewer agreement and nonparametric rank tests to compare the number of citations for each article and the corresponding journals' impact factors. Reviewers ranked 67.6% of PubMed articles and 80% of Google Scholar articles as at least possibly relevant (P = 0.116) with high agreement (all kappa P-values PubMed searches and Google Scholar searches often identify different articles. In this study, Google Scholar articles were more likely to be classified as relevant, had higher numbers of citations and were published in higher impact factor journals. The identification of frequently cited articles using Google Scholar for searches probably has value for initial literature searches. © 2012 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2012 Health Libraries Group.

Supraregional literature supply of science and research in West Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1975-01-01

This brochure of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft deals with - the present literature supply system - methods and objectives for improvement - local and regional literature supply - personnel, financial, and technical means of literature supply institutions. (RW) [de

Identifying research advancements in supply chain risk management for Agri-food Industries: Literature review

Science.gov (United States)

Septiani, W.; Astuti, P.

2017-12-01

Agri-food supply chain has different characteristics related to the raw materials it uses. Food supply chain has a high risk of damage, thus drawing a lot of attention from researchers in supply chain management. This research aimed to investigate the development of supply chain risk management research on agri-food industries. These reviews were arranged in steps systematically, ranging from searching related to the review of SCRM paper, reviewing the general framework of SCRM and the framework of agri-food SCRM. Selection of literature review papers in the period 2005-2017, and obtained 45 papers. The results of the identification research were illustrated in a supply chain risk management framework model. This provided insight toward future research directions and needs.

Cost-effectiveness research in cancer therapy: a systematic review of literature trends, methods and the influence of funding.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Badriyeh, Daoud; Alameri, Marwah; Al-Okka, Randa

2017-01-27

To perform a first-time analysis of the cost-effectiveness (CE) literature on chemotherapies, of all types, in cancer, in terms of trends and change over time, including the influence of industry funding. Systematic review. A wide range of cancer-related research settings within healthcare, including health systems, hospitals and medical centres. All literature comparative CE research of drug-based cancer therapies in the period 1986 to 2015. Primary outcomes are the literature trends in relation to journal subject category, authorship, research design, data sources, funds and consultation involvement. An additional outcome measure is the association between industry funding and study outcomes. Descriptive statistics and the χ 2 , Fisher exact or Somer's D tests were used to perform non-parametric statistics, with a p value of research is presented to the practicing community, including in relation to journals, study designs, authorship and consultation, together with increased financial sponsorship by pharmaceutical industries, which may be more influencing study outcomes than other funding sources. 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/.

Work motivation in health care: a scoping literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Perreira, Tyrone A; Innis, Jennifer; Berta, Whitney

2016-12-01

The aim of this scoping literature review was to examine and summarize the factors, context, and processes that influence work motivation of health care workers. A scoping literature review was done to answer the question: What is known from the existing empirical literature about factors, context, and processes that influence work motivation of health care workers? This scoping review used the Arksey and O'Malley framework to describe and summarize findings. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed to screen studies. Relevant studies published between January 2005 and May 2016 were identified using five electronic databases. Study abstracts were screened for eligibility by two reviewers. Following this screening process, full-text articles were reviewed to determine the eligibility of the studies. Eligible studies were then evaluated by coding findings with descriptive labels to distinguish elements that appeared pertinent to this review. Coding was used to form groups, and these groups led to the development of themes. Twenty-five studies met the eligibility criteria for this literature review. The themes identified were work performance, organizational justice, pay, status, personal characteristics, work relationships (including bullying), autonomy, organizational identification, training, and meaningfulness of work. Most of the research involved the use of surveys. There is a need for more qualitative research and for the use of case studies to examine work motivation in health care organizations. All of the studies were cross-sectional. Longitudinal research would provide insight into how work motivation changes, and how it can be influenced and shaped. Several implications for practice were identified. There is a need to ensure that health care workers have access to training opportunities, and that autonomy is optimized. To improve work motivation, there is a need to address bullying and hostile behaviours in the workplace. Addressing the factors that

Youth literature reading and storytelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Mileva Blažić

2013-09-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACTPurpose: The aim of the study is to update the definition of Slovenian children’s literature from the perspective of literary criticism, audiences and reception. The paper researches the adult’s literature and characters which have become a part of the children’s literature canon.Methodology/approach: The method of textual analysis, the analytical-descriptive research method, and data processing based on the text analysis were used.Results: The survey results in a new definition of the youth literature from the perspective of literary studies, the addressee and the purpose.Research limitation: The study focused on the most representative texts and authors, and international and Slovenian literature, which have become a part of the youth literature canon.Originality/practical implications: The study is based on a diachronic and synchronic analysis of various readings (for adults and children of literary texts when the text and / characters of inter/national adult’s literature canon have become a part of the youth reading.

The Use of Motivation Theory in Engineering Education Research: A Systematic Review of Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Philip R.; McCord, Rachel E.; Matusovich, Holly M.; Kajfez, Rachel L.

2015-01-01

Motivation is frequently studied in the context of engineering education. However, the use of the term motivation can be inconsistent, both in how clearly it is defined and in how it is implemented in research designs and practice. This systematic literature review investigates the use of motivation across recent engineering education…

Does a research article's country of origin affect perception of its quality and relevance? A national trial of US public health researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, M; Macinko, J; Jimenez, G; Mahfoud, M; Anderson, C

2015-12-30

The source of research may influence one's interpretation of it in either negative or positive ways, however, there are no robust experiments to determine how source impacts on one's judgment of the research article. We determine the impact of source on respondents' assessment of the quality and relevance of selected research abstracts. Web-based survey design using four healthcare research abstracts previously published and included in Cochrane Reviews. All Council on the Education of Public Health-accredited Schools and Programmes of Public Health in the USA. 899 core faculty members (full, associate and assistant professors) Each of the four abstracts appeared with a high-income source half of the time, and low-income source half of the time. Participants each reviewed the same four abstracts, but were randomly allocated to receive two abstracts with high-income source, and two abstracts with low-income source, allowing for within-abstract comparison of quality and relevance Within-abstract comparison of participants' rating scores on two measures--strength of the evidence, and likelihood of referral to a peer (1-10 rating scale). OR was calculated using a generalised ordered logit model adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Participants who received high income country source abstracts were equal in all known characteristics to the participants who received the abstracts with low income country sources. For one of the four abstracts (a randomised, controlled trial of a pharmaceutical intervention), likelihood of referral to a peer was greater if the source was a high income country (OR 1.28, 1.02 to 1.62, pincome source in their rating of research abstracts. More research may be needed to explore how the origin of a research article may lead to stereotype activation and application in research evaluation. 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/

Ethics in Educational Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alirio José Abreu Suarez

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This essay is a theoretical reflection about ethics in educational research. The same is done under a documentary approach with a literature review. Ethics in teaching is important because this is a reference for all undergraduate or graduate, as well as the need to consider education authorities at different levels and modalities in order to guide the actors in the educational process. At the same time, it can be expressed that the issue will serve as background for further studies and investigations that have to do with the issues raised. It also provides basic elements for teachers who want to make some related ethical codes, principles and injury caused the researcher studies. Similarly, ethics for being a discipline where are immersed fundamental human values such as honesty, solidarity, respect, tolerance among other aspects must be taken into account by researchers. Finally, it is worth noting that if you really want relevant research to provide new knowledge seeking social and educational transformation must begin with ethics as a relevant factor during all stages of a study.

Identity theory and personality theory: mutual relevance.

Science.gov (United States)

Stryker, Sheldon

2007-12-01

Some personality psychologists have found a structural symbolic interactionist frame and identity theory relevant to their work. This frame and theory, developed in sociology, are first reviewed. Emphasized in the review are a multiple identity conception of self, identities as internalized expectations derived from roles embedded in organized networks of social interaction, and a view of social structures as facilitators in bringing people into networks or constraints in keeping them out, subsequently, attention turns to a discussion of the mutual relevance of structural symbolic interactionism/identity theory and personality theory, looking to extensions of the current literature on these topics.

Clinical relevance in anesthesia journals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauritsen, Jakob; Møller, Ann M

2006-01-01

The purpose of this review is to present the latest knowledge and research on the definition and distribution of clinically relevant articles in anesthesia journals. It will also discuss the importance of the chosen methodology and outcome of articles.......The purpose of this review is to present the latest knowledge and research on the definition and distribution of clinically relevant articles in anesthesia journals. It will also discuss the importance of the chosen methodology and outcome of articles....

An integrative review of the literature on registered nurses' medication competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Sulosaari, Virpi; Suhonen, Riitta; Leino-Kilpi, Helena

2011-02-01

registered nurses' medication competence in the context of developing nursing education and migration of the nursing workforce. This literature review contributes an integrated perspective on nurses' medication competence and in doing so has clinical relevance for curriculum development and to future research in this area. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Application of productive research tasks in working with gifted students in teaching Serbian language and literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stakić Mirjana M.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the work we examine the possibility of application of productive research tasks in working with gifted students in teaching Serbian language and literature. Using specific examples of interpretations of literary works we show that productive research assignments encourage students' creative and inventive expression, creativity, imagination and criticality and enable them to develop in accordance with their personality, individual preferences and abilities. In the examples of their use in problem solving, we determine how productive research tasks are conducive to gifted students who need to learn through problem solving and school work and to experience learning as a challenge. They present the basis for independent research, which allows gifted students to express their own creativity and the need to acquire new, challenging knowledge, and represent a powerful motivational tool that teachers can use in order to further develop their talent. Creative application of the productive research tasks in teaching Serbian language and literature is the possibility that the education of gifted students is not treated as elitist question, but to transform teaching process into development of giftedness and talent, where the role of the teacher in the teaching process rises to the role of the mentor.

Life Cycle Assessment of Pavements: A Critical Review of Existing Literature and Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santero, Nicholas; Masanet, Eric; Horvath, Arpad

2010-04-20

This report provides a critical review of existing literature and modeling tools related to life-cycle assessment (LCA) applied to pavements. The review finds that pavement LCA is an expanding but still limited research topic in the literature, and that the existing body of work exhibits methodological deficiencies and incompatibilities that serve as barriers to the widespread utilization of LCA by pavement engineers and policy makers. This review identifies five key issues in the current body of work: inconsistent functional units, improper system boundaries, imbalanced data for asphalt and cement, use of limited inventory and impact assessment categories, and poor overall utility. This review also identifies common data and modeling gaps in pavement LCAs that should be addressed in future work. These gaps include: the use phase (rolling resistance, albedo, carbonation, lighting, leachate, and tire wear and emissions), asphalt fumes, feedstock energy of bitumen, traffic delay, the maintenance phase, and the end-of-life phase. This review concludes with a comprehensive list of recommendations for future research, which shed light on where improvements in knowledge can be made that will benefit the accuracy and comprehensiveness of pavement LCAs moving forward.

Grey literature in meta-analyses.

Science.gov (United States)

Conn, Vicki S; Valentine, Jeffrey C; Cooper, Harris M; Rantz, Marilyn J

2003-01-01

In meta-analysis, researchers combine the results of individual studies to arrive at cumulative conclusions. Meta-analysts sometimes include "grey literature" in their evidential base, which includes unpublished studies and studies published outside widely available journals. Because grey literature is a source of data that might not employ peer review, critics have questioned the validity of its data and the results of meta-analyses that include it. To examine evidence regarding whether grey literature should be included in meta-analyses and strategies to manage grey literature in quantitative synthesis. This article reviews evidence on whether the results of studies published in peer-reviewed journals are representative of results from broader samplings of research on a topic as a rationale for inclusion of grey literature. Strategies to enhance access to grey literature are addressed. The most consistent and robust difference between published and grey literature is that published research is more likely to contain results that are statistically significant. Effect size estimates of published research are about one-third larger than those of unpublished studies. Unfunded and small sample studies are less likely to be published. Yet, importantly, methodological rigor does not differ between published and grey literature. Meta-analyses that exclude grey literature likely (a) over-represent studies with statistically significant findings, (b) inflate effect size estimates, and (c) provide less precise effect size estimates than meta-analyses including grey literature. Meta-analyses should include grey literature to fully reflect the existing evidential base and should assess the impact of methodological variations through moderator analysis.

Relevance of counselling to human resource management in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

However, literature has shown that counselling is universal and useful in all fields of human endeavours. This paper therefore brings into focus the relevance of counselling to human resource management in organizations. It defines counselling, resource management and identifies various services that counsellors perform ...

The visibility of scientific misconduct: A review of the literature on retracted journal articles.

Science.gov (United States)

Hesselmann, Felicitas; Graf, Verena; Schmidt, Marion; Reinhart, Martin

2017-10-01

Retractions of scientific articles are becoming the most relevant institution for making sense of scientific misconduct. An increasing number of retracted articles, mainly attributed to misconduct, is currently providing a new empirical basis for research about scientific misconduct. This article reviews the relevant research literature from an interdisciplinary context. Furthermore, the results from these studies are contextualized sociologically by asking how scientific misconduct is made visible through retractions. This study treats retractions as an emerging institution that renders scientific misconduct visible, thus, following up on the sociology of deviance and its focus on visibility. The article shows that retractions, by highlighting individual cases of misconduct and general policies for preventing misconduct while obscuring the actors and processes through which retractions are effected, produce highly fragmented patterns of visibility. These patterns resemble the bifurcation in current justice systems.

The attitudes of health care staff to information technology: a comprehensive review of the research literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Rod; Stevens, Christine; Brentnall, Philip; Briddon, Jason

2008-06-01

What does the publicly available literature tell us about the attitudes of health care staff to the development of information technology in practice, including the factors which influence them and the factors which may be used to change these attitudes? Twelve databases were searched for literature published between 2000 and 2005 that identified research related to information technology (IT), health professionals and attitude. English language studies were included which described primary research relating to the attitudes of one or more health care staff groups towards IT. Letters, personal viewpoints, reflections and opinion pieces were not included. Complex factors contribute to the formation of attitudes towards IT. Many of the issues identified were around the flexibility of the systems and whether they were 'fit for purpose', along with the confidence and experience of the IT users. The literature suggests that attitudes of practitioners are a significant factor in the acceptance and efficiency of use of IT in practice. The literature also suggested that education and training was a factor for encouraging the use of IT systems. A range of key issues, such as the need for flexibility and usability, appropriate education and training and the need for the software to be 'fit for purpose', showed that organizations need to plan carefully when proposing the introduction of IT-based systems into work practices. The studies reviewed did suggest that attitudes of health care professionals can be a significant factor in the acceptance and efficiency of use of IT in practice. Further qualitative and quantitative research is needed into the approaches that have most effect on the attitudes of health care staff towards IT.

Mercury migration into ground water, a literature study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlton, W.H.; Carden, J.L.; Kury, R.; Eichholz, G.G.

1994-11-01

This report presents a broad review of the technical literature dealing with mercury migration in the soil. The approach followed was to identify relevant articles by searching bibliographic data bases, obtaining the promising articles and searching these articles for any additional relevant citations. Eight catagories were used to organize the literature, with a review and summary of each paper. Catagories used were the following: chemical states of mercury under environmental conditions; diffusion of mercury vapor through soil; solubility and stability of mercury in environmental waters; transport of mercury on colloids; models for mercury migration through the environment; analytical techniques; retention of mercury by soil components; formation of organomecurials.

Catalysis Research of Relevance to Carbon Management: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arakawa, Hironori; Aresta, Michele; Armor, John; Barteau, Mark; Beckman, Eric J.; Bell, Alexis T.; Bercaw, John E.; Creutz, Carol; Dinjus, Eckhard; Dixon, David A.; Domen, Kazunari; Dubois, Daniel L.; Eckert, Juergen; Fujita, Etsuko; Gibson, Dorothy H.; Goddard, William A.; Goodman, Wayne D.; Keller, Jay; Kubas, Gregory J.; Kung, Harold H.; Lyons, James E.; Manzer, Leo; Marks, Tobin J.; Morokuma, Keiji; Nicholas, Kenneth M.; Periana, Roy; Que, Lawrence; Rostrup-Nielson, Jens; Sachtler, Woflgang M H.; Schmidt, Lanny D.; Sen, Ayusman; Somorjai, Gabor A.; Stair, Peter C.; Stults, Bailey R.; Tumas, William

2001-04-11

The goal of the 'Opportunities for Catalysis Research in Carbon Management' workshop was to review within the context of greenhouse gas/carbon issues the current state of knowledge, barriers to further scientific and technological progress, and basic scientific research needs in the areas of H{sub 2} generation and utilization, light hydrocarbon activation and utilization, carbon dioxide activation, utilization, and sequestration, emerging techniques and research directions in relevant catalysis research, and in catalysis for more efficient transportation engines. Several overarching themes emerge from this review. First and foremost, there is a pressing need to better understand in detail the catalytic mechanisms involved in almost every process area mentioned above. This includes the structures, energetics, lifetimes, and reactivities of the species thought to be important in the key catalytic cycles. As much of this type of information as is possible to acquire would also greatly aid in better understanding perplexing, incomplete/inefficient catalytic cycles and in inventing new, efficient ones. The most productive way to attack such problems must include long-term, in-depth fundamental studies of both commercial and model processes, by conventional research techniques and, importantly, by applying various promising new physicochemical and computational approaches which would allow incisive, in situ elucidation of reaction pathways. There is also a consensus that more exploratory experiments, especially high-risk, unconventional catalytic and model studies, should be undertaken. Such an effort will likely require specialized equipment, instrumentation, and computational facilities. The most expeditious and cost-effective means to carry out this research would be by close coupling of academic, industrial, and national laboratory catalysis efforts worldwide. Completely new research approaches should be vigorously explored, ranging from novel compositions

[Mixed methods research in public health: issues and illustration].

Science.gov (United States)

Guével, Marie-Renée; Pommier, Jeanine

2012-01-01

For many years, researchers in a range of fields have combined quantitative and qualitative methods. However, the combined use of quantitative and qualitative methods has only recently been conceptualized and defined as mixed methods research. Some authors have described the emerging field as a third methodological tradition (in addition to the qualitative and quantitative traditions). Mixed methods research combines different perspectives and facilitates the study of complex interventions or programs, particularly in public health, an area where interdisciplinarity is critical. However, the existing literature is primarily in English. By contrast, the literature in French remains limited. The purpose of this paper is to present the emergence of mixed methods research for francophone public health specialists. A literature review was conducted to identify the main characteristics of mixed methods research. The results provide an overall picture of the mixed methods approach through its history, definitions, and applications, and highlight the tools developed to clarify the approach (typologies) and to implement it (integration of results and quality standards). The tools highlighted in the literature review are illustrated by a study conducted in France. Mixed methods research opens new possibilities for examining complex research questions and provides relevant and promising opportunities for addressing current public health issues in France.

Different Perspectives on Asthenia in Astronauts and Cosmonauts: International Research Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Sandoval, Luis; Shea, Camille; Otto, Christian; Leventon, Lauren

2010-01-01

The Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) Element is one of the six elements within the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) and is responsible for managing four risks: a) The Risk of Performance Decrements due to inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication and Psychological Adaptation within a Team (Team), b) the Risk of Performance Errors due to Sleep Loss, Circadian De-synchronization, Fatigue and Work Overload (Sleep), c) Risk of Behavioral Conditions (BMed), and d) the Risk of Psychiatric Disorders (BMed). The aim of this report is to address some of the recommendations made by the recent NASA HRP Standing Review Panel for the Behavioral Medicine Risk of Psychiatric Disorders. Such recommendations included: a) the inclusion of important national and international literature in English and non-English language materials; including journals, books, magazines, conference reports and b) an extensive literature review of certain types of psychological states to predict, detect, and assess adverse mental states that may negatively affect the psychological well being of the astronauts, specifically asthenia. This report was a collaborative international work effort focused on the evaluation and determination of the importance of continuing research on asthenia as a possible psychological problem that might affect the optimal psychological functioning among crewmembers during long-duration space flight missions. Russian medical personnel (flight surgeons and psychologist) have observed symptoms of asthenia (weakness, increased fatigue, irritability, and attention and memory disorders) in cosmonauts after four months in space (Myasnikov& Zamaleddinov1996; Grigorieve, 1996 ) and believe that asthenia is one of the greater risks that will affect crews? optimal psychological functioning.

Research on the influence that communication in psychiatric encounters has on treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruz, Mario; Pincus, Harold Alan

2002-10-01

The purpose of this article is to inform mental health professionals about the empirical literature on medical and psychiatric encounters and the influence of communicative behaviors on specific encounter outputs and treatment outcomes. A comprehensive review of the health communications literature from 1950 to 2001, using MEDLINE and PsycINFO, was conducted to identify relevant articles on the communication skills of psychiatrists and other physicians. These searches were augmented by personal correspondence with experts on changes in practice patterns in psychiatry and on medical and psychiatric communications research. A review of references within each article and information from the experts identified other relevant articles. Selection was then narrowed to include reports of studies that used structured written instruments that captured relevant physician and patient perceptions of the physician-patient relationship, content analysis of audio- or videotapes of communication in medical or psychiatric encounters, or interaction analysis systems used to categorize audio- or videotaped communicative behaviors in medical or psychiatric encounters. Twenty-five articles in medicine and 34 articles in psychiatry were selected. Medical communication researchers have observed associations between physicians' communicative skills and patients' satisfaction, patients' adherence to treatment recommendations, treatment outputs, and patients' willingness to file malpractice claims. The research has also shown that primary care physicians can be more responsive to patients' concerns without lengthening visits. In psychiatry, the literature can be organized into four discrete categories of research: negotiated treatment and the customer approach, therapeutic alliance, Gottschalk-Gleser content analysis of patients' speech, and content analysis of psychiatric interviews.

Consumer innovativeness and its correlates. A propositional inventory for future research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bartels, J.; Reinders, M.J.

2011-01-01

This article summarizes the results of a systematic review of the literature on consumer innovativeness and its correlates and provides a propositional inventory for future research. The authors identified seventy-nine relevant empirical articles from international journals through a search of

Research on Evaluation Use: A Review of the Empirical Literature from 1986 to 2005

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Kelli; Greenseid, Lija O.; Toal, Stacie A.; King, Jean A.; Lawrenz, Frances; Volkov, Boris

2009-01-01

This paper reviews empirical research on the use of evaluation from 1986 to 2005 using Cousins and Leithwood's 1986 framework for categorizing empirical studies of evaluation use conducted since that time. The literature review located 41 empirical studies of evaluation use conducted between 1986 and 2005 that met minimum quality standards. The…

A Masculine Perspective of Gendered Topics in the Research Literature on Males and Females with Intellectual Disability

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Nathan J.; Parmenter, Trevor R.; Stancliffe, Roger J.; Shuttleworth, Russell P.; Parker, Desrae

2010-01-01

Background: A focus on male social pathologies may have evolved within parts of the intellectual disability research literature. This article explores this notion and makes some connections between mainstream gender theory about hegemonic masculinity and the current gendered discourse in intellectual disability research. Method: We conducted a…

The match between institutional elderly care management research and management challenges - a systematic literature review

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Elderly care practice and its management together with policy and research play a crucial role in responding to increasing challenges in institutional care for elderly people. Successful dialogue between these is necessary. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to compare how institutional elderly care management research meets the care challenges currently emphasized in international long-term care policy documents. Methods This paper was based on a systematic literature review. After screening 1971 abstracts using inclusion/exclusion criteria, 58 refereed articles published between 2000 and 2010 remained for analysis. The articles were analyzed using theory-based content analysis by comparing the results to the framework based on analysis of international long-term care management policy documents. Results The current challenges of long-term care management identified from policy documents were Integrated Care Management, Productivity Management, Quality Management, Workforce Management and ICT Management. The research on institutional elderly care management responded somewhat to the challenges mentioned in policy documents. However, some of the challenges were studied broadly and some were paid only minor attention. Further, only few studies focused on the core items of challenges addressed in policy documents. Conclusions Institutional care management research needs to focus more on challenges in integrated care, productivity, ICT and division of labor. Managers, researchers and policy-makers should assume more active collaborative roles in processes of research, policymaking and policy implementation. In addition managers’ and policymakers’ scientific literacy needs to be enhanced. PMID:23137416

The match between institutional elderly care management research and management challenges - a systematic literature review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kokkonen Kaija

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Elderly care practice and its management together with policy and research play a crucial role in responding to increasing challenges in institutional care for elderly people. Successful dialogue between these is necessary. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to compare how institutional elderly care management research meets the care challenges currently emphasized in international long-term care policy documents. Methods This paper was based on a systematic literature review. After screening 1971 abstracts using inclusion/exclusion criteria, 58 refereed articles published between 2000 and 2010 remained for analysis. The articles were analyzed using theory-based content analysis by comparing the results to the framework based on analysis of international long-term care management policy documents. Results The current challenges of long-term care management identified from policy documents were Integrated Care Management, Productivity Management, Quality Management, Workforce Management and ICT Management. The research on institutional elderly care management responded somewhat to the challenges mentioned in policy documents. However, some of the challenges were studied broadly and some were paid only minor attention. Further, only few studies focused on the core items of challenges addressed in policy documents. Conclusions Institutional care management research needs to focus more on challenges in integrated care, productivity, ICT and division of labor. Managers, researchers and policy-makers should assume more active collaborative roles in processes of research, policymaking and policy implementation. In addition managers’ and policymakers’ scientific literacy needs to be enhanced.

The match between institutional elderly care management research and management challenges - a systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Kokkonen, Kaija; Rissanen, Sari; Hujala, Anneli

2012-11-08

Elderly care practice and its management together with policy and research play a crucial role in responding to increasing challenges in institutional care for elderly people. Successful dialogue between these is necessary. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to compare how institutional elderly care management research meets the care challenges currently emphasized in international long-term care policy documents. This paper was based on a systematic literature review. After screening 1971 abstracts using inclusion/exclusion criteria, 58 refereed articles published between 2000 and 2010 remained for analysis. The articles were analyzed using theory-based content analysis by comparing the results to the framework based on analysis of international long-term care management policy documents. The current challenges of long-term care management identified from policy documents were Integrated Care Management, Productivity Management, Quality Management, Workforce Management and ICT Management. The research on institutional elderly care management responded somewhat to the challenges mentioned in policy documents. However, some of the challenges were studied broadly and some were paid only minor attention. Further, only few studies focused on the core items of challenges addressed in policy documents. Institutional care management research needs to focus more on challenges in integrated care, productivity, ICT and division of labor. Managers, researchers and policy-makers should assume more active collaborative roles in processes of research, policymaking and policy implementation. In addition managers' and policymakers' scientific literacy needs to be enhanced.

Gaps of maritime health research in Latin America – a literature review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Olaf Chresten; Andrioti, Despena; Canals, M. Luisa

for research in this part of the world. Materials and Methods PubMed, Google Scholar, SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online, Pan American Journal of Public Health, Medicina Maritima and other relevant journals in Latin America in the Spanish and English languages were searched. Results 57 peer......-reviewed articles on fishermen´s health and safety and none for the seafarers were included. Brazil counted for the main part n =39, while each of the other countries had 0-4 studies. The study objectives include occupational injuries, divers disease, skin diseases, hearing loss and other issues. The cross......Background So far the maritime health and safety research for seafarers and fishermen mainly comes from the industrial developed countries with sparse contributions from the developing countries. The aim was to give an overview of the peer reviewed research in Latin America to point out the needs...

Application of Operational Research Techniques in Operating Room Scheduling Problems: Literature Overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Şeyda Gür

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Increased healthcare costs are pushing hospitals to reduce costs and increase the quality of care. Operating rooms are the most important source of income and expense for hospitals. Therefore, the hospital management focuses on the effectiveness of schedules and plans. This study includes analyses of recent research on operating room scheduling and planning. Most studies in the literature, from 2000 to the present day, were evaluated according to patient characteristics, performance measures, solution techniques used in the research, the uncertainty of the problem, applicability of the research, and the planning strategy to be dealt within the solution. One hundred seventy studies were examined in detail, after scanning the Emerald, Science Direct, JSTOR, Springer, Taylor and Francis, and Google Scholar databases. To facilitate the identification of these studies, they are grouped according to the different criteria of concern and then, a detailed overview is presented.

An overview of the literature on sexual harassment: Perpetrator, theory, and treatment issues

OpenAIRE

Pina, Afroditi; Gannon, Theresa A.; Saunders, Benjamin

2009-01-01

Sexual harassment has been recognized as a serious problem in the literature over the past 30 years. In this\\ud paper, we review the existing research surrounding the phenomenon of sexual harassment, paying particular\\ud attention to factors of relevance for understanding perpetrators of sexual harassment. We also provide an\\ud overview of the perplexing nature of sexual harassment and the various concerns that have surrounded the\\ud topic leading to its recognition. The different theoretical...

Helping Practitioners and Researchers Identify and Use Education Research Literature