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Sample records for research identifies factors

  1. Identifying factors which enhance capacity to engage in clinical education among podiatry practitioners: an action research project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abey, Sally; Lea, Susan; Callaghan, Lynne; Shaw, Steve; Cotton, Debbie

    2015-01-01

    Health profession students develop practical skills whilst integrating theory with practice in a real world environment as an important component of their training. Research in the area of practice placements has identified challenges and barriers to the delivery of effective placement learning. However, there has been little research in podiatry and the question of which factors impact upon clinical educators' capacity to engage with the role remains an under-researched area. This paper presents the second phase of an action research project designed to determine the factors that impact upon clinical educators' capacity to engage with the mentorship role. An online survey was developed and podiatry clinical educators recruited through National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. The survey included socio-demographic items, and questions relating to the factors identified as possible variables influencing clinical educator capacity; the latter was assessed using the 'Clinical Educator Capacity to Engage' scale (CECE). Descriptive statistics were used to explore demographic data whilst the relationship between the CECE and socio-demographic factors were examined using inferential statistics in relation to academic profile, career profile and organisation of the placement. The survey response rate was 42 % (n = 66). Multiple linear regression identified four independent variables which explain a significant proportion of the variability of the dependent variable, 'capacity to engage with clinical education', with an adjusted R2 of 0.428. The four variables were: protected mentorship time, clinical educator relationship with university, sign-off responsibility, and volunteer status. The identification of factors that impact upon clinical educators' capacity to engage in mentoring of students has relevance for strategic planning and policy-making with the emphasis upon capacity-building at an individual level, so that the key attitudes and characteristics that are linked

  2. Identifying motivational factors within a multinational company

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Bradutanu

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study is to identify the main motivational factors within a multinational company. The first objective is to identify work functions, formulated on Abraham Maslow’s pyramid, following the identification of the key characteristics that motivate an employee at the work place and last, but not least, the type of motivation that employees focus, intrinsic or extrinsic. The research method targeted a questionnaire based survey, including various company employees and an interview with the manager. The results confirmed that in Romania, employees put great emphasis on extrinsic motivation, a certain income and job security being primary. These results have implications for managers that in order to effectively motivate staff, first, must know their needs and expectations. To identify the main needs and motivational factors we had as a starting point Maslow's pyramid.

  3. Research Priorities for Fertility and Conception Research as Identified by Multidisciplinary Health Care Practitioners and Researchers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa J. Moran

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The Robinson Research Institute of the University of Adelaide convened a multidisciplinary group of n = 33 clinicians, researchers and representatives of government organisations on the 2 October 2014 for a workshop entitled “Promoting fertility and healthy conception. How do we generate greater reproductive health awareness?” The key aim of the workshop was to assess the body of knowledge that informs clinical practice and government policy, and to identify questions and additional information needed by health practitioners and government representatives working in the field of reproductive health and to frame future research and policy. The workshop identified topics that fell mostly into three categories: lifestyle-related, societal and biological factors. The lifestyle topics included nutrition and diet, exercise, obesity, shift work and other factors deemed to be modifiable at the level of the individual. The societal topics included discussions of matters that are structural, and resistant to change by individuals, including specific ethical issues, social disadvantage, government and educational policies. The biological factors are intrinsic physical states of the individual, and included many factors where there is a dense body of scientific knowledge which may not be readily accessible in less academic language. This workshop thus provided an opportunity to identify further actions that could be undertaken to meet the needs of diverse organisations and groups of professionals with an interest in human fertility. Since so many factors in our social and biological environment can impact fertility and preconception health, it is imperative to involve many disciplines or levels of government or societal organisations that have not traditionally been involved in this area.

  4. An international survey to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of research studies most likely to change orthopaedic practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thornley, P; de Sa, D; Evaniew, N; Farrokhyar, F; Bhandari, M; Ghert, M

    2016-04-01

    Evidence -based medicine (EBM) is designed to inform clinical decision-making within all medical specialties, including orthopaedic surgery. We recently published a pilot survey of the Canadian Orthopaedic Association (COA) membership and demonstrated that the adoption of EBM principles is variable among Canadian orthopaedic surgeons. The objective of this study was to conduct a broader international survey of orthopaedic surgeons to identify characteristics of research studies perceived as being most influential in informing clinical decision-making. A 29-question electronic survey was distributed to the readership of an established orthopaedic journal with international readership. The survey aimed to analyse the influence of both extrinsic (journal quality, investigator profiles, etc.) and intrinsic characteristics (study design, sample size, etc.) of research studies in relation to their influence on practice patterns. A total of 353 surgeons completed the survey. Surgeons achieved consensus on the 'importance' of three key designs on their practices: randomised controlled trials (94%), meta-analyses (75%) and systematic reviews (66%). The vast majority of respondents support the use of current evidence over historical clinical training; however subjective factors such as journal reputation (72%) and investigator profile (68%) continue to influence clinical decision-making strongly. Although intrinsic factors such as study design and sample size have some influence on clinical decision-making, surgeon respondents are equally influenced by extrinsic factors such as investigator reputation and perceived journal quality.Cite this article: Dr M. Ghert. An international survey to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of research studies most likely to change orthopaedic practice. Bone Joint Res 2016;5:130-136. DOI: 10.1302/2046-3758.54.2000578. © 2016 Ghert et al.

  5. Identify the Important Decision Factors of Online Shopping Adoption in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lailatul HIJRAH

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study is to identify factors encouraging a consumer to engage in online shopping activities. The expected contribution of this study is for online entrepreneurs, in order to develop the most suitable business strategy, so that it will be clearly identified and sorted out which factors are the most important and the main motivation of Indonesian consumers to shop via online by using responses from respondents who usually shop online and offline in 3 cities in Indonesia, Jakarta, Surabaya and Samarinda. The research instruments were developed by conducting FGDs on relevant groups, either academics, online shopping activists, suppliers and courier businessmen in Jakarta, Surabaya and Samarinda Cities in effort to extract any information that encourages consumers to online shopping. After conducting FGD, the researcher produced 48 items proposed for factor analysis and after extracted to form eleven constructs, some items were removed because they had less loading factors. The eleven constructs or dimensions are trust, risk, consumer factors, website factors, price, service quality, convenience, subjective norm, product guarantee, variety of products and lifestyle. The implications of this study provide valuable insights about consumer decisions to online shopping or not online shopping.

  6. Factors that impact interdisciplinary natural science research collaboration in academia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maglaughlin, Kelly L.; Sonnenwald, Diane H.

    2005-01-01

    to provide a more comprehensive understanding of interdisciplinary scientific research collaboration within the natural sciences in academia. Data analysis confirmed factors previously identified in various literatures and yielded new factors. A total of twenty factors were identified, and classified......Interdisciplinary collaboration occurs when people with different educational and research backgrounds bring complementary skills to bear on a problem or task. The strength of interdisciplinary scientific research collaboration is its capacity to bring together diverse scientific knowledge...... to address complex problems and questions. However, interdisciplinary scientific research can be difficult to initiate and sustain. We do not yet fully understand factors that impact interdisciplinary scientific research collaboration. This study synthesizes empirical data from two empirical studies...

  7. [Factors influencing research activity of Andalusian nurses and improvement strategies].

    Science.gov (United States)

    López Alonso, Sergio R; Gálvez González, María; Amezcua, Manuel

    2013-04-01

    To identify factors influencing research activity of Andalusian nurses and to find improvement strategies. Qualitative research using SWOT analysis (weaknesses, threats, strengths, opportunities). Nurses were selected deliberately in eight groups according to predetermined criteria. Analysis included categorization and relationship of factors and strategies. 81 participants were included in groups of 7-12 range. 45 categories were identified with 212 factors: 12 weaknesses (50 factors), 10 strengths (44 factors), 12 threats (68 factors) and 11 opportunities (50 factors). In addition, 32 categories were identified with 53 strategies: 14 categories of W-T strategies (42 strategies), 3 categories of S-T strategies (11 strategies), 5 categories of W-O strategies (13 strategies) and 10 categories of S-O strategies (41 strategies). Nurses identified numerous factors, mainly threats. The strategies are focused on W-T but they also suggest many but weak 5-0 strategies due to the low potential of the opportunities and strengths perceived.

  8. Identifying the customer satisfaction factors in furniture market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Majid Azizi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – the purpose of this research is to identify the influential factors on customer satisfaction in the Iranian furniture market in order to get acquainted with the fundamental items for planning future sales programs with the purposes of extolling competitive advantages. Design/methodology/approach – A commixture of 6 items and 31 factors were educed from interviewing with 20 experts in furniture designing and manufacturing industry. The collected data from customer need indexes in previous research were also used. Findings – results showed that such factors as economic factors weighting 0.32, product specifications weighting 0.21 and credibility weighting 0.19 were the most important indexes and price weighting 0.195, fame weighting 0.131, quality, durability and resistance weighting 0.116, paying conditions weighting 0.095, designing and decorating in virtual softwares before ordering weighting 0.074, updatedness weighting 0.064 and interaction approach with the weight of 0.42 were the most considerable influential sub-indexes on the satisfaction of the Iranian furniture market customers. Research limitations/implications – by the enhancement of competition throughout the world markets and the inevitable presence of Iran in it, the market activists’ concentration should shift towards paying comprehensive attention to desires and needs of furniture market customers. Practical implications – some important issues on planning suitable manufacturing and marketing programs in furniture market are introduce so that the activists be aware of considering the growing knowledge and awareness of end-users which increases the pressure on the manufacturer side. There are also some solutions in terms of internal and external organizational factors with regard to the complex nature of competitive environment in furniture market. Originality/value – the paper provides an examination of effective factors on customer satisfaction with a

  9. IDENTIFYING MOTIVATION FACTOR INVOLVEMENT OF SARAWAK MALAY WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masyantie Mohamad

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Sarawak multilayered cake among Sarawak product signature famous among the local as well as international tourist visiting Sarawak. In fact, Sarawak Malay women entrepreneurs have become very necessary players in the entrepreneurial field specifically in this cottage industries from the early introduction of this business, they have facing various problem in this businesses. Thus, this research aims to build an understanding of motivational factor that encourage Sarawak Malay women entrepreneurial experiences especially in multilayered cake businesses. Using qualitative methods, this research aims to identify the entrepreneurial motivations factors; with regards to start-up motivation by Sarawak Malay women. The finding shows that the motivations that influence Malay women within Kuching, Sarawak areas to start and grow their business are involve self-driven and context driven that motivate them involve in multilayered cakes businesses.

  10. Critical factors for EIA implementation: literature review and research options.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jie; Kørnøv, Lone; Christensen, Per

    2013-01-15

    After decades of development, the gap between expectations of Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) and their practical performance remains significant. Research has been done to identify the critical factors for an effective implementation of EIA. However, this research, to a large extent, has not been cumulated and analysed comprehensively according to the stages of the EIA process. This paper contributes to the critical review of the literature on EIA implementation and effectiveness by cumulating mainly empirical findings in an implementation theoretical perspective. It focuses on the links between different critical factors and how they relate to different stages in the EIA and thus influence the decision making process. After reviewing 33 refereed journal articles published between 1999 and 2011, we identified 203 notions of critical factors. Of these, 102 related to different stages defined in our comprehensive EIA implementation model, and 101 were identified as general factors related to the whole EIA system. The number of notions of stage factors and general factors is thus about equal. An overlap between stage factors and general factors was found, which demonstrates that critical factors function differently in different cases. The function of the critical factors is complex and it is difficult to determine contingencies and causations. In the sources we examined, there is evidently an imbalance between in-depth empirical research and general knowledge, and the paper offers some suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Identifying the important factors in simulation models with many factors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bettonvil, B.; Kleijnen, J.P.C.

    1994-01-01

    Simulation models may have many parameters and input variables (together called factors), while only a few factors are really important (parsimony principle). For such models this paper presents an effective and efficient screening technique to identify and estimate those important factors. The

  12. Librarians' Perspectives on the Factors Influencing Research Data Management Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faniel, Ixchel M.; Connaway, Lynn Silipigni

    2018-01-01

    This qualitative research study examines librarians' research data management (RDM) experiences, specifically the factors that influence their ability to support researchers' needs. Findings from interviews with 36 academic library professionals in the United States identify 5 factors of influence: (1) technical resources; (2) human resources; (3)…

  13. BENCHMARKING - PRACTICAL TOOLS IDENTIFY KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Ju. Malinina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article gives a practical example of the application of benchmarking techniques. The object of study selected fashion store Company «HLB & M Hennes & Mauritz», located in the shopping center «Gallery», Krasnodar. Hennes & Mauritz. The purpose of this article is to identify the best ways to develop a fashionable brand clothing store Hennes & Mauritz on the basis of benchmarking techniques. On the basis of conducted market research is a comparative analysis of the data from different perspectives. The result of the author’s study is a generalization of the ndings, the development of the key success factors that will allow to plan a successful trading activities in the future, based on the best experience of competitors.

  14. Moving beyond 'not enough time': factors influencing paediatric clinicians' participation in research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paget, Simon P; Caldwell, Patrina H Y; Murphy, Joyce; Lilischkis, Kimberley J; Morrow, Angie M

    2017-03-01

    Increasing the amount of clinical research that occurs in healthcare settings has been identified as an important mechanism to improve healthcare outcomes. While clinicians are key persons in achieving this aim, research participation amongst clinicians is generally limited. To identify the factors (barriers and facilitators) influencing clinician research participation and determine how professional culture impacts on these factors. Forty clinicians working at a tertiary children's hospital participated in six discipline-specific focus groups. Thematic analysis was performed using an inductive process based in grounded theory. Four major themes (cultural factors, personal factors, resources and solutions) and 16 subthemes were identified. Participants described how the current health system discourages clinician research. They reported that their research participation requires personal sacrifice of their own time; income or career progression. Research participation was seen to compete with other priorities in clinicians' workload and is disadvantaged because of the primacy of clinical work and the lack of immediate tangible benefit from research projects. Solutions suggested by our participants included better alignment of clinical and research goals, improved availability of research mentors and collaborative opportunities. Nurses and allied health professionals reported a changing professional culture that values research. Only doctors identified research participation to be important for career progression. For clinician research participation to flourish, significant changes in healthcare structure and priorities will be required that result in research becoming more embedded in healthcare delivery. Initiatives to improve collaboration between clinicians and universities may also support these aims. © 2016 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

  15. Potential human factors research relating to modern technology in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ketchel, J.; Fink, R.; Hanes, L.; Williges, R.; Williges, B.

    1994-01-01

    This paper discusses proposed human factors research to address advanced human-machine interface technology in nuclear power plants. It relates to a current EPRI project to identify a prioritized list of specific research issues that could be assessed to improve control room and other user interface areas. The project seeks to bridge the gap between the functional requirements of advanced design initiatives and the human factors research needed to support them. It seeks to identify potential benefits to be expected, as well as potential problems that might be introduced by advanced technology. It provides an organized approach to identifying human factors research needs, information already available, and measures of performance and effectiveness that might be used to assess the value of potential improvements. Those parts of the proposed plan that are subsequently approved by EPRI management and by the utility advisory committee will provide a basis for recommending research priorities

  16. Using Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis to Evaluate Cross-Cultural Research: Identifying and Understanding Non-Invariance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Gavin T. L.; Harris, Lois R.; O'Quin, Chrissie; Lane, Kenneth E.

    2017-01-01

    Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) allows researchers to determine whether a research inventory elicits similar response patterns across samples. If statistical equivalence in responding is found, then scale score comparisons become possible and samples can be said to be from the same population. This paper illustrates the use of…

  17. The use of citation indicators to identify and support high-quality research in Poland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilc, Andrzej

    2008-01-01

    In large, mostly English-speaking countries, where the "critical mass" of scientists working in different subfields of science is achieved, the peer review system may be sufficient to assess the quality of scientific research. However, in smaller countries, outside the Anglo-American circle, it is important to introduce different systems to identify research of high quality. In Poland, a parametric system for assessing the quality of research has been introduced. It was largely based on the impact factor of scientific journals. While the use of this indicator to assess research quality is highly questionable, the implementation of the system in the Polish reality is even worse. Therefore it is important to change and improve the system currently used by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to both evaluate and, more importantly, finance science in Poland. Here, a system based on three factors, i.e. the impact factor, the institutional h-index, and the institutional number of citations, is proposed. The scientific quality of institutions in Division VI: Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences were evaluated and the results were compared with the existing system. Moreover, a method to identify high-quality researchers and institutions at the national level based on the quantity of highly cited papers is shown. Additionally, an attempt to identify the highest quality Polish research on an international level is proposed. This is based on the number of individual citations, the individual h-index, the number of publications, and the priority of the discovery.

  18. Intangible factors leading to success in research: strategy, innovation and leadership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecker, Louise; Birla, Ravi K

    2008-03-01

    At the heart of research is the scientific process, which includes identifying a knowledge gap, execution of experiments, and finally, presentation of scientific data. Identifying a systematic way to undertake research is important; however, equally important are intangible factors, including strategy, innovation and leadership, in determining the outcome of any research project. These intangible factors, although often unspoken, are the essence of success in research. Strategy determines the direction of research and the ability to respond to acute changes in the field to ensure a competitive advantage. Innovation involves generating novel ideas, and at the heart of innovation is the ability to create a positive work environment. Leadership is the ability to exercise influence so as to create change; empowerment and the ability to create leaders at every level are central to effective leadership. Collectively, defining and implementing aspects of these intangible factors will strengthen any research endeavor.

  19. NIH Researchers Identify OCD Risk Gene

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... News From NIH NIH Researchers Identify OCD Risk Gene Past Issues / Summer 2006 Table of Contents For ... and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have identified a previously unknown gene variant that doubles an individual's risk for obsessive- ...

  20. Water resources management in Tanzania: identifying research ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper aims at identifying research gaps and needs and recommendations for a research agenda on water resources management in Tanzania. We reviewed published literature on water resources management in Tanzania in order to highlight what is currently known, and to identify knowledge gaps, and suggest ...

  1. Highly effective cystic fibrosis clinical research teams: critical success factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Retsch-Bogart, George Z; Van Dalfsen, Jill M; Marshall, Bruce C; George, Cynthia; Pilewski, Joseph M; Nelson, Eugene C; Goss, Christopher H; Ramsey, Bonnie W

    2014-08-01

    Bringing new therapies to patients with rare diseases depends in part on optimizing clinical trial conduct through efficient study start-up processes and rapid enrollment. Suboptimal execution of clinical trials in academic medical centers not only results in high cost to institutions and sponsors, but also delays the availability of new therapies. Addressing the factors that contribute to poor outcomes requires novel, systematic approaches tailored to the institution and disease under study. To use clinical trial performance metrics data analysis to select high-performing cystic fibrosis (CF) clinical research teams and then identify factors contributing to their success. Mixed-methods research, including semi-structured qualitative interviews of high-performing research teams. CF research teams at nine clinical centers from the CF Foundation Therapeutics Development Network. Survey of site characteristics, direct observation of team meetings and facilities, and semi-structured interviews with clinical research team members and institutional program managers and leaders in clinical research. Critical success factors noted at all nine high-performing centers were: 1) strong leadership, 2) established and effective communication within the research team and with the clinical care team, and 3) adequate staff. Other frequent characteristics included a mature culture of research, customer service orientation in interactions with study participants, shared efficient processes, continuous process improvement activities, and a businesslike approach to clinical research. Clinical research metrics allowed identification of high-performing clinical research teams. Site visits identified several critical factors leading to highly successful teams that may help other clinical research teams improve clinical trial performance.

  2. Identifying and assessing the factors affecting skill gap in digital marketing in communication industry companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fereshteh Ghotbifar

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available As far as new communication channels are concerned, there have been extensive developments in communications and marketing in digital era. Today, therefore, companies try to take advantage of digital marketing channels to provide suitable services to customers to improve their satisfaction level. However, this study aimed to identify and assess factors affecting skill gap in digital marketing. This was descriptive correlation study. The population consisted of experts in communications industry to identify most important skill gaps in digital marketing and factors affecting them; also, managers and specialists of these companies were investigated to determine the role of identified factors in reducing skills gaps. Using localized questionnaire and interviewing with ten experts who were selected by Delphi snowball method, the skill gaps in marketing and factors affecting them were identified. Also, a researcher made questionnaire with 32 questions was distributed among 226 employees to investigate the identified factors role in reducing skills gap in digital marketing. The results showed that from four identified factors, the components including operational strategic factors and environmental factors had direct and positive impact on creating skill gap in digital marketing of studied companies. The environmental factors such as social and cultural conditions, religion, technology, and economy had more proactive impact on skills gap in digital marketing. Also, the results showed that among skills gaps in digital marketing of studied companies, the skills (Principles of Communication and (Predicting Future had the highest and lowest gaps, respectively.

  3. Human Trafficking in Ethiopia: A Scoping Review to Identify Gaps in Service Delivery, Research, and Policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beck, Dana C; Choi, Kristen R; Munro-Kramer, Michelle L; Lori, Jody R

    2017-12-01

    The purpose of this review is to integrate evidence on human trafficking in Ethiopia and identify gaps and recommendations for service delivery, research and training, and policy. A scoping literature review approach was used to systematically search nursing, medical, psychological, law, and international databases and synthesize information on a complex, understudied topic. The search yielded 826 articles, and 39 met the predetermined criteria for inclusion in the review. Trafficking in Ethiopia has occurred internally and externally in the form of adult and child labor and sex trafficking. There were also some reports of organ trafficking and other closely related human rights violations, such as child marriage, child soldiering, and exploitative intercountry adoption. Risk factors for trafficking included push factors (poverty, political instability, economic problems, and gender discrimination) and pull factors (demand for cheap labor). Trafficking was associated with poor health and economic outcomes for victims. Key recommendations for service delivery, research and training, and policy are identified, including establishing comprehensive services for survivor rehabilitation and reintegration, conducting quantitative health outcomes research, and reforming policy around migration and trafficking. Implementing the recommendations identified by this review will allow policy makers, researchers, and practitioners to take meaningful steps toward confronting human trafficking in Ethiopia.

  4. Identifying and Ranking the Effective Factors on Successful Implementation of Social Commerce in Iran, Using AHP Fuzzy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Rahimi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Social commerce has been introduced as a new approach to increase sales, number of customers and reduce marketing expenditures. This approach is a combination of business, communication between people, as well as communicative and informative technologies based on web 2.0 Its achievement originated from different factors relied on business, individuals, culture, and technology. These factors have been primarily identified on the basis of library researches and classified into six infrastructural groups including:  technical, economical and human resources, cultural, rules governing the countries, style of management, and business. Then, it identified priority of the factors by using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP. Innovation of this research was to extract a comprehensive list of factors and to prioritize them based on specific conditions in Iran.

  5. Identifying factors affecting optimal management of agricultural water

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masoud Samian

    2015-01-01

    In addition to quantitative methodology such as descriptive statistics and factor analysis a qualitative methodology was employed for dynamic simulation among variables through Vensim software. In this study, the factor analysis technique was used through the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO and Bartlett tests. From the results, four key elements were identified as factors affecting the optimal management of agricultural water in Hamedan area. These factors were institutional and legal factors, technical and knowledge factors, economic factors and social factors.

  6. Identifying Factors for Worker Motivation in Zambia's Rural Health Facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cross, Samuel S; Baernholdt, Dr Marianne

    2017-01-01

    Within Zambia there is a shortage of health workers in rural areas. This study aims to identify motivating factors for retaining rural health workers. Sixty rural health workers completed surveys and 46 were interviewed. They rated the importance of six motivating factors and discussed these and other factors in interviews. An interview was conducted with a Government Human Resources Manager (HR Manager) to elicit contextual information. All six factors were identified as being very important motivators, as were two additional factors. Additional career training was identified by many as the most important factor. Comparison of results and the HR Manager interview revealed that workers lacked knowledge about opportunities and that the HR manager was aware of barriers to career development. The Zambian government might better motivate and retain rural health workers by offering them any combination of identified factors, and by addressing the barriers to career development.

  7. Organisational Issues for E-Learning: Critical Success Factors as Identified by HE Practitioners

    Science.gov (United States)

    McPherson, Maggie; Nunes, Miguel Baptista

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on a research project that identified organisational critical success factors (CSFs) for e-learning implementation in higher education (HE). These CSFs can be used as a theoretical foundation upon which to base decision-making and strategic thinking about e-learning. Design/methodology/approach: The…

  8. Researching organizational factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coffman, F.

    1991-01-01

    This paper discusses feedback and insights from experience (both successful and unsuccessful) with the past and the ongoing organizational factors research. That experience suggests a leading set of ingredients that appear proper for performing regulatory research on organizational processes. By keeping focused upon these proper ingredients, the research will contribute to the regulatory assessments of utility management through the use of improved methods and measures in investigations, inspections, diagnostics, performance indicators, and PRA insights. This paper is organized into (1) an introductory description of what the agency is doing to assess organizational effectiveness, (2) some insights from past and ongoing research, (3) an opinion on a leading set of ingredients to properly research organizational factors, and (4) a summary

  9. 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.

  10. Using a Delphi Method to Identify Human Factors Contributing to Nursing Errors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, Cheryl; Brewer, Melanie; Wieck, K Lynn

    2017-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify human factors associated with nursing errors. Using a Delphi technique, this study used feedback from a panel of nurse experts (n = 25) on an initial qualitative survey questionnaire followed by summarizing the results with feedback and confirmation. Synthesized factors regarding causes of errors were incorporated into a quantitative Likert-type scale, and the original expert panel participants were queried a second time to validate responses. The list identified 24 items as most common causes of nursing errors, including swamping and errors made by others that nurses are expected to recognize and fix. The responses provided a consensus top 10 errors list based on means with heavy workload and fatigue at the top of the list. The use of the Delphi survey established consensus and developed a platform upon which future study of nursing errors can evolve as a link to future solutions. This list of human factors in nursing errors should serve to stimulate dialogue among nurses about how to prevent errors and improve outcomes. Human and system failures have been the subject of an abundance of research, yet nursing errors continue to occur. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Factor Analysis of Therapist-Identified Treatment Targets in Community-Based Children's Mental Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Love, Allison R; Okado, Izumi; Orimoto, Trina E; Mueller, Charles W

    2018-01-01

    The present study used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to identify underlying latent factors affecting variation in community therapists' endorsement of treatment targets. As part of a statewide practice management program, therapist completed monthly reports of treatment targets (up to 10 per month) for a sample of youth (n = 790) receiving intensive in-home therapy. Nearly 75 % of youth were diagnosed with multiple co-occurring disorders. Five factors emerged: Disinhibition, Societal Rules Evasion, Social Engagement Deficits, Emotional Distress, and Management of Biodevelopmental Outcomes. Using logistic regression, primary diagnosis predicted therapist selection of Disinhibition and Emotional Distress targets. Client age predicted endorsement of Societal Rules Evasion targets. Practice-to-research implications are discussed.

  12. Factors Influencing the Research Participation of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haas, Kaaren; Costley, Debra; Falkmer, Marita; Richdale, Amanda; Sofronoff, Kate; Falkmer, Torbjörn

    2016-01-01

    Recruiting adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) into research poses particular difficulties; longitudinal studies face additional challenges. This paper reports on a mixed methods study to identify factors influencing the participation in longitudinal autism research of adults with ASD, including those with an intellectual disability, and…

  13. Identifying key hospital service quality factors in online health communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Yuchul; Hur, Cinyoung; Jung, Dain; Kim, Minki

    2015-04-07

    The volume of health-related user-created content, especially hospital-related questions and answers in online health communities, has rapidly increased. Patients and caregivers participate in online community activities to share their experiences, exchange information, and ask about recommended or discredited hospitals. However, there is little research on how to identify hospital service quality automatically from the online communities. In the past, in-depth analysis of hospitals has used random sampling surveys. However, such surveys are becoming impractical owing to the rapidly increasing volume of online data and the diverse analysis requirements of related stakeholders. As a solution for utilizing large-scale health-related information, we propose a novel approach to identify hospital service quality factors and overtime trends automatically from online health communities, especially hospital-related questions and answers. We defined social media-based key quality factors for hospitals. In addition, we developed text mining techniques to detect such factors that frequently occur in online health communities. After detecting these factors that represent qualitative aspects of hospitals, we applied a sentiment analysis to recognize the types of recommendations in messages posted within online health communities. Korea's two biggest online portals were used to test the effectiveness of detection of social media-based key quality factors for hospitals. To evaluate the proposed text mining techniques, we performed manual evaluations on the extraction and classification results, such as hospital name, service quality factors, and recommendation types using a random sample of messages (ie, 5.44% (9450/173,748) of the total messages). Service quality factor detection and hospital name extraction achieved average F1 scores of 91% and 78%, respectively. In terms of recommendation classification, performance (ie, precision) is 78% on average. Extraction and

  14. What do medical students understand by research and research skills? Identifying research opportunities within undergraduate projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murdoch-Eaton, Deborah; Drewery, Sarah; Elton, Sarah; Emmerson, Catherine; Marshall, Michelle; Smith, John A; Stark, Patsy; Whittle, Sue

    2010-01-01

    Undergraduate research exposure leads to increased recruitment into academic medicine, enhanced employability and improved postgraduate research productivity. Uptake of undergraduate research opportunities is reported to be disappointing, and little is known about how students perceive research. To investigate opportunities for undergraduate participation in research, recognition of such opportunities, and associated skills development. A mixed method approach, incorporating student focus and study groups, and documentary analysis at five UK medical schools. Undergraduates recognised the benefits of acquiring research skills, but identified practical difficulties and disadvantages of participating. Analysis of 905 projects in four main research skill areas - (1) research methods; (2) information gathering; (3) critical analysis and review; (4) data processing - indicated 52% of projects provided opportunities for students to develop one or more skills, only 13% offered development in all areas. In 17%, project descriptions provided insufficient information to determine opportunities. Supplied with information from a representative sample of projects (n = 80), there was little consensus in identifying skills among students or between students and researchers. Consensus improved dramatically following guidance on how to identify skills. Undergraduates recognise the benefits of research experience but need a realistic understanding of the research process. Opportunities for research skill development may not be obvious. Undergraduates require training to recognise the skills required for research and enhanced transparency in potential project outcomes.

  15. Factors affecting research productivity of production and operations management groups: An empirical study

    OpenAIRE

    George C. Hadjinicola; Andreas C. Soteriou

    2006-01-01

    This paper identifies factors that promote research productivity of production and operations management (POM) groups of researchers in US business schools. In this study, research productivity of a POM group is defined as the number of articles published per POM professor in a specific period of time. The paper also examines factors that affect research quality, as measured by the number of articles published per POM professor in journals, which have been recognized in the POM literature as ...

  16. Understanding factors associated with the translation of cardiovascular research: a multinational case study approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Funders of health research increasingly seek to understand how best to allocate resources in order to achieve maximum value from their funding. We built an international consortium and developed a multinational case study approach to assess benefits arising from health research. We used that to facilitate analysis of factors in the production of research that might be associated with translating research findings into wider impacts, and the complexities involved. Methods We built on the Payback Framework and expanded its application through conducting co-ordinated case studies on the payback from cardiovascular and stroke research in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. We selected a stratified random sample of projects from leading medical research funders. We devised a series of innovative steps to: minimize the effect of researcher bias; rate the level of impacts identified in the case studies; and interrogate case study narratives to identify factors that correlated with achieving high or low levels of impact. Results Twenty-nine detailed case studies produced many and diverse impacts. Over the 15 to 20 years examined, basic biomedical research has a greater impact than clinical research in terms of academic impacts such as knowledge production and research capacity building. Clinical research has greater levels of wider impact on health policies, practice, and generating health gains. There was no correlation between knowledge production and wider impacts. We identified various factors associated with high impact. Interaction between researchers and practitioners and the public is associated with achieving high academic impact and translation into wider impacts, as is basic research conducted with a clinical focus. Strategic thinking by clinical researchers, in terms of thinking through pathways by which research could potentially be translated into practice, is associated with high wider impact. Finally, we identified the complexity of

  17. Identifying the factors underlying discontinuation of triptans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wells, Rebecca E; Markowitz, Shira Y; Baron, Eric P; Hentz, Joseph G; Kalidas, Kavita; Mathew, Paul G; Halker, Rashmi; Dodick, David W; Schwedt, Todd J

    2014-02-01

    To identify factors associated with triptan discontinuation among migraine patients. It is unclear why many migraine patients who are prescribed triptans discontinue this treatment. This study investigated correlates of triptan discontinuation with a focus on potentially modifiable factors to improve compliance. This multicenter cross-sectional survey (n = 276) was performed at US tertiary care headache clinics. Headache fellows who were members of the American Headache Society Headache Fellows Research Consortium recruited episodic and chronic migraine patients who were current triptan users (use within prior 3 months and for ≥1 year) or past triptan users (no use within 6 months; prior use within 2 years). Univariate analyses were first completed to compare current triptan users to past users for: migraine characteristics, other migraine treatments, triptan education, triptan efficacy, triptan side effects, type of prescribing provider, Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) scores and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores. Then, a multivariable logistic regression model was selected from all possible combinations of predictor variables to determine the factors that best correlated with triptan discontinuation. Compared with those still using triptans (n = 207), those who had discontinued use (n = 69) had higher rates of medication overuse (30 vs. 18%, P = .04) and were more likely to have ever used opioids for migraine treatment (57 vs. 38%, P = .006) as well as higher MIDAS (mean 63 vs. 37, P = .001) and BDI scores (mean 10.4 vs. 7.4, P = .009). Compared with discontinued users, current triptan users were more likely to have had their triptan prescribed by a specialist (neurologist, headache specialist, or pain specialist) (74 vs. 54%, P = .002) and were more likely to report headache resolution (53 vs. 14%, P  24 (2.6, [1.5, 4.6]), BDI >4 (2.5, [1.4, 4.5]), and a history of ever using opioids for migraine therapy (2.2, [1

  18. 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...

  19. Factors Affecting Research Environment at Syrian Business Faculties: A Student-Perceived Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bayan Khalifa

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims at investigating the factors that affect the research environment of business postgraduate students, particularly master students, from the perspective of these students. From the same perspective, it also aims at assessing these factors together with the quality of research environment. A questionnaire survey method was employed. The questionnaire was developed by academics from five business faculties based on relevant studies and was distributed to graduate students enrolled in all of the research business programs at the Faculty of Economics, Damascus University, ending up with 88 valid responses. To explore the factors that may affect research environment, exploratory factor analysis was employed. In addition, multiple regression analysis and t-test were applied to respond to the study purposes. Facilities and industry linkage come to be significant factors in the research environment. However, the results show insignificant impact for each of the research courses, networking, and research skills in the overall research environment. Variations in regard to the availability of these factors were identified with low level of availability for the facilities and industry linkage. The study is one of a kind that investigates factors affecting research environment of postgraduate students and particularly master students. Further and to the best of our knowledge, it is the first study that examines such factors in war conditions, which enables us to understand what students perceive as critical factors influencing their research performance in these conditions. Recommendations to policy makers are presented to develop strategies that respond to students’ concerns for a better research environment.

  20. Study of a methodology of identifying important research problems by the PIRT process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aoki, Takayuki; Takagi, Toshiyuki; Urayama, Ryoichi; Komura, Ichiro; Furukawa, Takashi; Yusa, Noritaka

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a new methodology of identifying important research problems to be solved to improve the performance of some specific scientific technologies by the phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) process which has been used as a methodology for demonstrating the validity of the best estimate simulation codes in US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) licensing of nuclear power plants. The new methodology makes it possible to identify important factors affecting the performance of the technologies from the viewpoint of the figure of merit and problems associated with them while it keeps the fundamental concepts of the original PIRT process. Also in this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the new methodology by applying it to a task of extracting research problems for improving an inspection accuracy of ultrasonic testing or eddy current testing in the inspection of objects having cracks due to fatigue or stress corrosion cracking. (author)

  1. Cooperative research for human factors review of advanced control rooms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Jung Woon; Park, Jae Chang; Lee, Yong Hee; Oh, In Seok; Lee, Hyun Chul

    2000-12-01

    This project has been performed as cooperative research between KAERI and USNRC. Human factors issues related to soft controls, which is one of key features of advanced HSI, are identified in this project. The issues are analyzed for the evaluation approaches in either experimental or analytical ways. Also, issues requiring additional researches for the evaluation of advanced HSI are identified in the areas of advanced information systems design, computer-based procedure systems, soft controls, human systems interface and plant modernization process, and maintainability of digital systems. The issues are analyzed to discriminate the urgency of researches on it to high, medium, and low levels in consideration of advanced HSI development status in Korea, and some of the issues that can be handled by experimental researches are identified. Additionally, an experimental study is performed to compare operator's performance on human error detection in advanced control rooms vs. in conventional control rooms. It is found that advanced control rooms have several design characteristics hindering operator's error detection performance compared to conventional control rooms.

  2. Cooperative research for human factors review of advanced control rooms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Jung Woon; Park, Jae Chang; Lee, Yong Hee; Oh, In Seok; Lee, Hyun Chul

    2000-12-01

    This project has been performed as cooperative research between KAERI and USNRC. Human factors issues related to soft controls, which is one of key features of advanced HSI, are identified in this project. The issues are analyzed for the evaluation approaches in either experimental or analytical ways. Also, issues requiring additional researches for the evaluation of advanced HSI are identified in the areas of advanced information systems design, computer-based procedure systems, soft controls, human systems interface and plant modernization process, and maintainability of digital systems. The issues are analyzed to discriminate the urgency of researches on it to high, medium, and low levels in consideration of advanced HSI development status in Korea, and some of the issues that can be handled by experimental researches are identified. Additionally, an experimental study is performed to compare operator's performance on human error detection in advanced control rooms vs. in conventional control rooms. It is found that advanced control rooms have several design characteristics hindering operator's error detection performance compared to conventional control rooms

  3. Role of contextual factors in the rehabilitation of adolescent survivors of traumatic brain injury: emerging concepts identified through modified narrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciccia, Angela Hein; Threats, Travis

    2015-07-01

    Recently research in traumatic brain injury (TBI) intervention has identified the benefits of contextualized, embedded, functionally based approaches to maximize treatment outcomes. An essential component of contextualized intervention is the direct and purposeful consideration of the broader context, in which the person with TBI functions. However, systematic consideration of contextual factors remains limited both in research and clinical practice. The purposes of this modified narrative review were (1) to provide a succinct review of the available literature regarding the contextual factors that are specific to adolescent survivors of TBI, one of highest incidence groups for brain injury; (2) to connect these contextual factors to the direct long-term management of TBI and to identify their potential impact on outcome; and (3) to highlight areas that are open to research and clinical advances that could enhance positive outcomes for adolescent survivors of TBI. The framework of the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY; 2007) was used as a foundation for this review. A systematic literature search was conducted using databases and hand searches. A total of 102 articles were originally identified. Twenty-five original research articles, eight review papers and four expert opinion papers met inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the final review. The body of research specifically focused on contextual factors is an emerging area. Early findings indicate that a focus on the direct modification of contextual factors is promising for the facilitation of positive outcomes long into the chronic phase of management for adolescences who have survived a TBI. The contextual factors included in this review were the overall ability of the school to support a student post-TBI, family psychosocial risk (sibling/sibling relationships/stress/burden/support), coping

  4. Identifying socio-environmental factors that facilitate resilience among Canadian palliative family caregivers: a qualitative case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giesbrecht, Melissa; Wolse, Faye; Crooks, Valorie A; Stajduhar, Kelli

    2015-06-01

    In Canada, friends and family members are becoming increasingly responsible for providing palliative care in the home. This is resulting in some caregivers experiencing high levels of stress and burden that may ultimately surpass their ability to cope. Recent palliative care research has demonstrated the potential for caregiver resilience within such contexts. This research, however, is primarily focused on exploring individual-level factors that contribute to resilience, minimizing the inherent complexity of this concept, and how it is simultaneously influenced by one's social context. Therefore, our study aims to identify socio-environmental factors that contribute to palliative family caregiver resilience in the Canadian homecare context. Drawing on ethnographic fieldnotes and semistructured interviews with family caregivers, care recipients, and homecare nurses, this secondary analysis employs an intersectionality lens and qualitative case study approach to identify socio-environmental factors that facilitate family caregivers' capacity for resilience. Following a case study methodology, two cases are purposely selected for analysis. Findings demonstrate that family caregiver resilience is influenced not only by individual-level factors but also by the social environment, which sets the lived context from which caregiving roles are experienced. Thematic findings of the two case studies revealed six socio-environmental factors that play a role in shaping resilience: access to social networks, education/knowledge/awareness, employment status, housing status, geographic location, and life-course stage. Findings contribute to existing research on caregiver resilience by empirically demonstrating the role of socio-environmental factors in caregiving experiences. Furthermore, utilizing an intersectional approach, these findings build on existing notions that resilience is a multidimensional and complex process influenced by numerous related variables that intersect

  5. Identifying research priorities for public health research to address health inequalities: use of Delphi-like survey methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, S; Ollerhead, E; Cook, A

    2017-10-09

    In the funding of health research and public health research it is vital that research questions posed are important and that funded research meets a research need or a gap in evidence. Many methods are used in the identification of research priorities, however, these can be resource intensive, costly and logistically challenging. Identifying such research priorities can be particularly challenging for complex public health problems as there is a need to consult a number of experts across disciplines and with a range of expertise. This study investigated the use of Delphi-like survey methods in identifying important research priorities relating to health inequalities and framing tractable research questions for topic areas identified. The study was conducted in two phases, both using Delphi-like survey methods. Firstly, public health professionals with an interest in health inequalities were asked to identify research priorities. Secondly academic researchers were asked to frame tractable research questions relating to the priorities identified. These research priorities identified using Delphi-like survey methods were subsequently compared to those identified using different methods. A total of 52 public health professionals and 21 academics across the United Kingdom agreed to take part. The response rates were high, from public health professionals across three survey rounds (69%, 50% and 40%) and from academics across one round (52%), indicating that participants were receptive to the method and motivated to respond. The themes identified as encompassing the most important research priorities were mental health, healthy environment and health behaviours. Within these themes, the topic areas that emerged most strongly included community interventions for prevention of mental health problems and the food and alcohol environment. Some responses received from academic researchers were (as requested) in the form of tractable research questions, whereas others

  6. Identifiable risk factors in hepatitis b and c

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rehman, F.U.; Pervez, A.; Rafiq, A.

    2011-01-01

    Background: Both hepatitis B and C are common infections affecting masses and are leading causes of Chronic Liver Disease in Pakistan as well as worldwide. In majority of cases both viral diseases spread by factors that are preventable. The present study is conducted to determine the identifiable risk factors in patients admitted with Chronic Hepatitis B and C. Methods: An observational study was carried out for a period of 6 months. All age groups and both sexes were included. The patients were interviewed and the identifiable risk factors were looked for. The standard methods for detection of Hepatitis B and C were used. Results: One-hundred and ten patients were studied from January to July 2009. Sixty-five patients had Hepatitis C, 35 had Hepatitis B, and 10 had both Hepatitis B and C. Ninety-three patients had a history of injections and transfusions etc., and 38 had surgical scars. Tattoos were present in 42 patients and nose and/or ear piercing marks were present in 28 patients. The number of risk factors increased in co-infection. Conclusion: There is a role of unhygienic health delivery practices, lack of awareness and resources for standard screening protocol for spread of Hepatitis B and C. (author)

  7. Factors Forming Collaboration within the Knowledge Triangle of Education, Research and Innovation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zascerinska, Jelena; Ahrens, Andreas; Bassus, Olaf

    2009-01-01

    A proper combination of education, research and innovation is provided by varied cooperative networks. However, the success of collaboration within a multicultural environment requires that the key factors enabling synergy between education, research and innovation have to be considered. Aim of the following paper is to identify and to analyze…

  8. Organizational safety factors research lessons learned

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryan, T.G.

    1995-01-01

    This Paper reports lessons learned and state of knowledge gained from an organizational factors research activity involving commercial nuclear power plants in the United States, through the end of 1991, as seen by the scientists immediately involved in the research. Lessons learned information was gathered from the research teams and individuals using a question and answer format. The following five questions were submitted to each team and individual: (1) What organizational factors appear to influence safety performance in some systematic way, (2) Should organizational factors research focus at the plant level, or should it extend beyond the plant level to the parent company, rate setting commissions, regulatory agencies, (3) How important is having direct access to plants for doing organizational factors research, (4) What lessons have been learned to date as the result of doing organizational factors research in a nuclear regulatory setting, and (5) What organizational research topics and issues should be pursued in the future? Conclusions based on the responses provided for this report are that organizational factors research can be conducted in a regulatory setting and produce useful results. Technologies pioneered in other academic, commercial, and military settings can be adopted for use in a nuclear regulatory setting. The future success of such research depends upon the cooperation of regulators, contractors, and the nuclear industry

  9. BRAVO identifies critical success factors for logistics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kokke, C.J.T.M.; Donselaar, van K.H.; Allessie, M.

    1997-01-01

    Good operational performance depends on knowing which operational factors are critical to success. Bravo, a research project involving 150 transport and distribution companies in The Netherlands, has developed a tool now being adopted nationally by all companies in the sector to find opportunities

  10. Lung cancer and risk factors: how to identify phenotypic markers?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clement-Duchene, Christelle

    2009-01-01

    Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in the world. Most lung cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage (IIIB and IV), with a poor prognosis. The main risk factors are well known like active smoking, and occupational exposure (asbestos), but 10 a 20% occur in never smokers. In this population, various studies have been conducted in order to identify possible risk factors, and although many have been identified, none seem to explain more than a small percentage of the cases. According to the histological types, adenocarcinoma is now the more frequent type, and its association with the main risk factors (tobacco exposure, asbestos exposure) is still studied. The tumoral location is associated with the exposure to the risk factors. Finally, the survival seems to be different between gender, and between smokers, and never smokers. All these characteristics are perhaps associated with different pathways of carcinogenesis. In this context, we have analyzed a cohort of 1493 patients with lung cancer in order to identify phenotypic markers, and to understand the mechanisms of the lung carcinogenesis. (author) [fr

  11. Linking demand and supply factors in identifying cultural ecosystem services of urban green infrastructures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hegetschweiler, K. Tessa; de Vries, Sjerp; Arnberger, Arne

    2017-01-01

    and supply factors together. The aim was to provide an overview of this highly interdisciplinary research, to describe how these linkages are being made and to identify which factors significantly influence dependent variables such as levels of use, activities or health and well-being benefits. Commonly used......Urban green infrastructure provides a number of cultural ecosystem services that are greatly appreciated by the public. In order to benefit from these services, actual contact with the respective ecosystem is often required. Furthermore, the type of services offered depend on the physical...... characteristics of the ecosystem. We conducted a review of publications dealing with demand or social factors such as user needs, preferences and values as well as spatially explicit supply or physical factors such as amount of green space, (bio)diversity, recreational infrastructure, etc. and linking demand...

  12. Identifying patients with therapy-resistant depression by using factor analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasson, K; Liest, V; Lunde, M

    2010-01-01

    with transcranial pulsed electromagnetic fields (T-PEMF)], in which the relative effect as percentage of improvement during the treatment period was analysed. RESULTS: We identified 2 major factors, the first of which was a general factor. The second was a dual factor consisting of a depression subscale comprising...

  13. Understanding the Process and Success Factors to Increase Synergies between Research and Teaching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deborah Ballou

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available While the synergies between research for knowledge discovery and teaching are widely accepted, the evidence is mostly implicit, verbal and poorly documented, and many times contradictive. In an effort to better understand the interaction between these important activities, the main objective of this study is to collect knowledge illustrating their synergies through specific cases. A complementary objective is to identify the important factors, which professionals should implement or avoid for increasing the likelihood that these synergies will be derived. To collect the necessary information personal interviews have been used to address the research question. The same set of questions was sent to several professionals known to have extensive experience in the areas of academic research and teaching. The respondents were asked to: 1. briefly describe the knowledge area in which the synergies occurred; 2. For the specified knowledge area, to please describe in summary form but specifically how they derived the synergy between research and teaching; and 3. Based on their personal experience, to please identify the important factors to increase the likelihood that academic research will produce benefits for teaching, and vice versa. The results strongly corroborate the importance of academic research for effective teaching. Based on the results, a set of recommendations are made to faculty members and school administrators to further promote academic research as an important factor for more effective teaching.

  14. Identifying Critical Factors Influencing the Rents of Public Rental Housing Delivery by PPPs: The Case of Nanjing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingfeng Yuan

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The occupancy rate of Public Rental Housing (PRH in China is relatively low due to the unreasonable rents. At the same time, the development of PRH using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs increases the complexity of the rents. Therefore, the critical factors influencing the rents of PRH delivery by PPPs should be identified. Based on the comprehensive literature, this article identified a conceptual model for the factors influencing the rents of PRH delivery by PPPs in China, composed of 14 factors grouped in three factor packages, and discussed the relationships among three factor packages. A survey based on Nanjing was conducted to assess the relative significance of 14 factors. According to the results, six critical factors were identified: construction costs, household income, floor area and structure, transportation, market rents in the same district and public facilities. In addition, the proposed conceptual model had a good fit. The results also supported two hypothetical relationships among three factor packages: (1 the increase of the affordability of the target tenants had a positive effect on the increase of profits of private sectors; and (2 the increase of the affordability of the target tenants had a positive effect on the increase of level of the characteristics of PRH units. For future research, six critical factors and the relationships among three factor packages can be used to determine the reasonable rents for PRH delivery by PPPs in China.

  15. Identifying the barriers to conducting outcomes research in integrative health care clinic settings - a qualitative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Findlay-Reece Barbara

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Integrative health care (IHC is an interdisciplinary blending of conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM with the purpose of enhancing patients' health. In 2006, we designed a study to assess outcomes that are relevant to people using such care. However, we faced major challenges in conducting this study and hypothesized that this might be due to the lack of a research climate in these clinics. To investigate these challenges, we initiated a further study in 2008, to explore the reasons why IHC clinics are not conducting outcomes research and to identify strategies for conducting successful in-house outcomes research programs. The results of the latter study are reported here. Methods A total of 25 qualitative interviews were conducted with key participants from 19 IHC clinics across Canada. Basic content analysis was used to identify key themes from the transcribed interviews. Results Barriers identified by participants fell into four categories: organizational culture, organizational resources, organizational environment and logistical challenges. Cultural challenges relate to the philosophy of IHC, organizational leadership and practitioner attitudes and beliefs. Participants also identified significant issues relating to their organization's lack of resources such as funding, compensation, infrastructure and partnerships/linkages. Environmental challenges such as the nature of a clinic's patient population and logistical issues such as the actual implementation of a research program and the applicability of research data also posed challenges to the conduct of research. Embedded research leadership, integration of personal and professional values about research, alignment of research activities and clinical workflow processes are some of the factors identified by participants that support IHC clinics' ability to conduct outcomes research. Conclusions Assessing and enhancing the broader

  16. Identifying influential factors of business process performance using dependency analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wetzstein, Branimir; Leitner, Philipp; Rosenberg, Florian; Dustdar, Schahram; Leymann, Frank

    2011-02-01

    We present a comprehensive framework for identifying influential factors of business process performance. In particular, our approach combines monitoring of process events and Quality of Service (QoS) measurements with dependency analysis to effectively identify influential factors. The framework uses data mining techniques to construct tree structures to represent dependencies of a key performance indicator (KPI) on process and QoS metrics. These dependency trees allow business analysts to determine how process KPIs depend on lower-level process metrics and QoS characteristics of the IT infrastructure. The structure of the dependencies enables a drill-down analysis of single factors of influence to gain a deeper knowledge why certain KPI targets are not met.

  17. A multi-factor GIS method to identify optimal geographic locations for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yongqin; Iman, Kory

    2018-05-01

    Fuel-based transportation is one of the major contributors to poor air quality in the United States. Electric Vehicle (EV) is potentially the cleanest transportation technology to our environment. This research developed a spatial suitability model to identify optimal geographic locations for installing EV charging stations for travelling public. The model takes into account a variety of positive and negative factors to identify prime locations for installing EV charging stations in Wasatch Front, Utah, where automobile emission causes severe air pollution due to atmospheric inversion condition near the valley floor. A walkable factor grid was created to store index scores from input factor layers to determine prime locations. 27 input factors including land use, demographics, employment centers etc. were analyzed. Each factor layer was analyzed to produce a summary statistic table to determine the site suitability. Potential locations that exhibit high EV charging usage were identified and scored. A hot spot map was created to demonstrate high, moderate, and low suitability areas for installing EV charging stations. A spatially well distributed EV charging system was then developed, aiming to reduce "range anxiety" from traveling public. This spatial methodology addresses the complex problem of locating and establishing a robust EV charging station infrastructure for decision makers to build a clean transportation infrastructure, and eventually improve environment pollution.

  18. Identifying influential factors on integrated marketing planning using information technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karim Hamdi

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation to identify important factors influencing integrated marketing planning using information technology. The proposed study designs a questionnaire for measuring integrated marketing planning, which consists of three categories of structural factors, behavioral factors and background factors. There are 40 questions associated with the proposed study in Likert scale. Cronbach alphas have been calculated for structural factors, behavioral factors and background factors as 0.89, 0.86 and 0.83, respectively. Using some statistical test, the study has confirmed the effects of three factors on integrated marketing. In addition, the implementation of Freedman test has revealed that structural factors were the most important factor followed by background factors and behavioral factors.

  19. Using exploratory factor analysis of FFQ data to identify dietary patterns among Yup'ik people.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryman, Tove K; Austin, Melissa A; Hopkins, Scarlett; Philip, Jacques; O'Brien, Diane; Thummel, Kenneth; Boyer, Bert B

    2014-03-01

    An FFQ developed by the Center for Alaska Native Health Research for studies in Yup'ik people includes market foods and subsistence foods such as moose, seal, waterfowl and salmon that may be related to disease risk. Because the FFQ contains >100 food items, we sought to characterize dietary patterns more simply for use in ongoing pharmacogenomics studies. Exploratory factor analysis was used to derive a small number of 'factors' that explain a substantial amount of the variation in the Yup'ik diet. We estimated factor scores and measured associations with demographic characteristics and biomarkers. South-west Alaska, USA. Yup'ik people (n 358) aged ≥18 years. We identified three factors that each accounted for ≥10 % of the common variance: the first characterized by 'processed foods' (e.g. salty snacks, sweetened cereals); the second by 'fruits and vegetables' (e.g. fresh citrus, potato salad); and the third by 'subsistence foods' (seal or walrus soup, non-oily fish). Participants from coastal communities had higher values for the 'subsistence' factor, whereas participants from inland communities had higher values for the 'fruits and vegetables' factor. A biomarker of marine intake, δ 15N, was correlated with the 'subsistence' factor, whereas a biomarker of corn- and sugarcane-based market food intake, δ 13C, was correlated with 'processed foods'. The exploratory factor analysis identified three factors that appeared to reflect dietary patterns among Yup'ik based on associations with participant characteristics and biomarkers. These factors will be useful for chronic disease studies in this population.

  20. Epidemiology, natural history, and risk factors: panel report from the Ninth International Research Conference on Otitis Media

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daly, Kathleen A; Hoffman, Howard J; Kvaerner, Kari Jorunn

    2010-01-01

    The 2007 Recent Advances in Otitis Media Research Conference Panel Report provides an update on otitis media (OM) research published from 2003 to 2007. This report summarizes important trends in disease incidence and prevalence, describes established and newly identified risk factors for acute an...... vaccine in infants. The panel report also recommends short and long term goals for current and future OM research.......The 2007 Recent Advances in Otitis Media Research Conference Panel Report provides an update on otitis media (OM) research published from 2003 to 2007. This report summarizes important trends in disease incidence and prevalence, describes established and newly identified risk factors for acute...... and chronic OM and OM with effusion, and conveys information on newly discovered genetic factors. In this report, researchers have described declining rates of OM diagnosis, antibiotic prescriptions, offices visits for OM, and middle ear surgery since the licensure and routine use of pneumococcal conjugate...

  1. Usability of geographic information -- factors identified from qualitative analysis of task-focused user interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harding, Jenny

    2013-11-01

    Understanding user needs for geographic information and the factors which influence the usability of such information in diverse user contexts is an essential part of user centred development of information products. There is relatively little existing research focused on the design and usability of information products in general. This paper presents a research approach based on semi structured interviews with people working with geographic information on a day to day basis, to establish a reference base of qualitative data on user needs for geographic information with respect to context of use. From this reference data nine key categories of geographic information usability are identified and discussed in the context of limited existing research concerned with geographic information usability. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  2. Identifying factors affecting about outsourcing in paraclinical services

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: Outsourcing refers to the transfer of services or functions to an outsider supplier, which controls them through a contract or cooperative. The main problem of senior managers in health organizations is determining the services which should be outsourced. The present study seeks to identify the factors that affect ...

  3. The next step for stress research in primates: To identify relationships between glucocorticoid secretion and fitness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beehner, Jacinta C; Bergman, Thore J

    2017-05-01

    Glucocorticoids are hormones that mediate the energetic demands that accompany environmental challenges. It is therefore not surprising that these metabolic hormones have come to dominate endocrine research on the health and fitness of wild populations. Yet, several problems have been identified in the vertebrate research that also apply to the non-human primate research. First, glucocorticoids should not be used as a proxy for fitness (unless a link has previously been established between glucocorticoids and fitness for a particular population). Second, stress research in behavioral ecology has been overly focused on "chronic stress" despite little evidence that chronic stress hampers fitness in wild animals. Third, research effort has been disproportionately focused on the causes of glucocorticoid variation rather than the fitness consequences. With these problems in mind, we have three objectives for this review. We describe the conceptual framework behind the "stress concept", emphasizing that high glucocorticoids do not necessarily indicate a stress response, and that a stress response does not necessarily indicate an animal is in poor health. Then, we conduct a comprehensive review of all studies on "stress" in wild primates, including any study that examined environmental factors, the stress response, and/or fitness (or proxies for fitness). Remarkably, not a single primate study establishes a connection between all three. Finally, we provide several recommendations for future research in the field of primate behavioral endocrinology, primarily the need to move beyond identifying the factors that cause glucocorticoid secretion to additionally focus on the relationship between glucocorticoids and fitness. We believe that this is an important next step for research on stress physiology in primates. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Toxic-metabolic Risk Factors in Pediatric Pancreatitis: Recommendations for Diagnosis, Management, and Future Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husain, Sohail Z; Morinville, Veronique; Pohl, John; Abu-El-Haija, Maisam; Bellin, Melena D; Freedman, Steve; Hegyi, Peter; Heyman, Melvin B; Himes, Ryan; Ooi, Chee Y; Schwarzenberg, Sarah J; Usatin, Danielle; Uc, Aliye

    2016-04-01

    Pancreatitis in children can result from metabolic and toxic risk factors, but the evidence linking these factors is sparse. We review the evidence for association or causality of these risk factors in pancreatitis, discuss management strategies, and their rationale. We conducted a review of the pediatric pancreatitis literature with respect to the following risk factors: hyperlipidemia, hypercalcemia, chronic renal failure, smoking exposure, alcohol, and medications. Areas of additional research were identified. Hypertriglyceridemia of 1000 mg/dL or greater poses an absolute risk for pancreatitis; persistent elevations of calcium are predisposing. Further research is necessary to determine whether end-stage renal disease leads to increased pancreatitis in children similar to adults. It is unknown whether cigarette smoking exposure, which clearly increases risk in adults, also increases risk in children. The role of alcohol in pediatric pancreatitis, whether direct or modifying, needs to be elucidated. The evidence supporting most cases of medication-induced pancreatitis is poor. Drug structure, improper handling of drug by host, and bystander status may be implicated. Other pancreatitis risk factors must be sought in all cases. The quality of evidence supporting causative role of various toxic and metabolic factors in pediatric pancreatitis is variable. Careful phenotyping is essential, including search for other etiologic risk factors. Directed therapy includes correction/removal of any agent identified, and general supportive measures. Further research is necessary to improve our understanding of these pancreatitis risk factors in children.

  5. Identifying risk factors for first-episode neck pain: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Rebecca; Wiest, Colin; Clark, Kelly; Cook, Chad; Horn, Maggie

    2018-02-01

    Neck pain affects 15.1% of the United States' general population every 3 months, and ranks fourth in global disability. Because of the tendency for neck pain to become a chronic issue, it is important to identify risk factors that could encourage prevention and early diagnosis. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify risk factors for a first episode of neck pain. Three databases were searched with key words such as "neck pain" and "first incidence." Risk factors from the resulting articles were reported as either a physical or psychosocial risk factor and ranked by the strength of their odds/risk/hazard ratio: empowering leadership, high perceived social climate, leisure physical activity, and cervical extensor endurance. Most risk factors found for neck pain were related to psychosocial characteristics, rather than physical characteristics. A number of these risk factors were mediating factors, suggesting that a prevention-based program may be useful in modifying the existence of the risk factors before the occurrence of neck pain. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Factors affecting research productivity of production and operations management groups: An empirical study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper identifies factors that promote research productivity of production and operations management (POM groups of researchers in US business schools. In this study, research productivity of a POM group is defined as the number of articles published per POM professor in a specific period of time. The paper also examines factors that affect research quality, as measured by the number of articles published per POM professor in journals, which have been recognized in the POM literature as an elite set. The results show that three factors increase both the research productivity and the quality of the articles published by professors of a POM group. These factors are (a the presence of a POM research center, (b funding received from external sources for research purposes, and (c better library facilities. Doctoral students do assist in improving research quality and productivity, but they are not the driving force. These results have important implications for establishing policy guidelines for business schools. For example, real-world problems are funded by external sources and have a higher probability of publication. Furthermore, schools could place more emphasis on external funding, as most engineering schools do, since groups receiving external funding are more productive in terms of research.

  7. Identifying factors affecting destination choice of medical tourists: a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    medical tourism”, has emerged as a new source of competitive advantage all over the world. The present study seeks to identify the factors that affect destination choice of medical tourists. Methods: We systematically searched relevant databases ...

  8. Student Research Projects Inhibiting Factors from the Students Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laila Nikrooz

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Background & Objective: Identifying the research barriers and assess the ability of students to use the university services and facilities is crucial to promote research activities. Present study was carried out to determine the inhibiting factors influencing the student's research projects from the view point of Yasuj University of Medical Sciences students in 2008. Materials & Methods: In this cross sectional study 96 students of Yasuj Medical University were selected by stratified random sampling. The data were collected by validate & reliable questionnaire, containing demographic information, inhibiting factors related to students (personal and organization. The data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The mean scores against the personal barriers and the organizational barriers questions were 43.23±12.96 and 62.58±12.08 respectively. There was a significant difference between personal and organizational barriers (P<0.001 and personal barriers were more important. According to the results, the student's inadequate skills & knowledge of research methodology and lack of awareness of research topics were the most prevalent personal barriers. The most prevalent organizational barriers were unavailability of research consulters, inadequate research skills of consulter, insufficient facilities & equipment and lack of motivating staff & faculties. Other variables such as gender, subject of study and research experience are mentioned in the full text. Conclusion: This study showed that the personal barriers were more important than organizational barriers which interfere with the student's research projects. This can be corrected and controlled by teachers, faculty members, university officials and students, themselves.

  9. Factors Influencing Gen-Y Undergraduates’ Choice of Research Supervisor: A Case Study of a Malaysian Private University

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Shafiq

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper explored what factors Gen-Y undergraduates deem important, and how they are ranked in selecting a research supervisor. Focus group was used at the first stage to elicit factors that were important to the respondents. The second step included ranking those factors through qualitative survey. The 12 identified factors ranked in descending order of importance are: Educational qualification, experience in the field, previous encounter with the supervisor, previous projects supervised by the supervisor, word-of-mouth related to the supervisor, referral by other faculty members, research methodology used by the supervisor, age, gender, nationality/ethnicity, religion, and profile picture of the supervisor. Being an exploratory study, the data is collected from a small sample from one university only, hence raising generalization issues. For future research, these dimensions can be validated via a large sample study. This research sheds light on what attracts millennials when selecting their research supervisor; from which academics and higher education institutions can identify potential areas of weaknesses and introduce subsequent improvements. The existing literature focusses on postgraduate researchers, after they have chosen a supervisor; whereas this research explores how undergraduates choose a research supervisor. The model formulated in this study could also be applied to postgraduate students as to what attracts them when selecting their supervisor.

  10. Radioactivity and United Kingdom estuaries: an overview identifying research priorities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamilton, E.I.; Clifton, R.J.; Stevens, H.E.

    1985-05-01

    The report consists of the results of an evaluation of research priorities for the environmental radioactivity of estuaries, (and near shore waters) of the United Kingdom. The format of this report is:(i) general conclusions for the future requirements for research in the field of environmental radioactivity; (ii) an overview of some specific recommendations for research; and (iii) an appendix in which a comprehensive evaluation of the research priorities for specific areas of research are given. On the basis that man is the prime target for concern and protection, special attention has been given to the environment in the vicinity of the British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, which is the source of major releases of a variety of radionuclides into the natural environment. Subjects covered in the Appendix are: site factors; pathways to man; source term; hot particles; terrestrial inputs; surveys and monitoring; analysis; organics; field versus laboratory data; biology; bioaccumulation factors; some bioaccumulators of radioactivity; bioturbation; bacteria; genetics; natural change; sediment; resuspension; surfaces; Ksub(d) factors; pore liquids; diagenesis and the ageing processes; airborne transport of radionuclides; models; natural radioactivity; public opinion; recreation; the ICRP; the ALARA principle; decommissioning of nuclear power stations; identification of research requirements; environmental radioactivity - the national effort. (U.K.)

  11. Toxic-Metabolic Risk Factors in Pediatric Pancreatitis: Recommendations for Diagnosis, Management and Future Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husain, Sohail Z.; Morinville, Veronique; Pohl, John; Abu-El-Haija, Maisam; Bellin, Melena D.; Freedman, Steve; Hegyi, Peter; Heyman, Melvin B; Himes, Ryan; Ooi, Chee Y.; Schwarzenberg, Sarah Jane; Usatin, Danielle; Uc, Aliye

    2016-01-01

    Objectives Pancreatitis in children can result from metabolic and toxic risk factors, but the evidence linking these factors is sparse. We review the evidence for association or causality of these risk factors in pancreatitis, discuss management strategies and their rationale. Methods We conducted a review of the pediatric pancreatitis literature with respect to the following risk factors: (a) hyperlipidemia, (b) hypercalcemia, (c) chronic renal failure, (d) smoking exposure, (e) alcohol, and (f) medications. Areas of additional research were identified. Results Hypertriglyceridemia of 1000 mg/dl or greater poses an absolute risk for pancreatitis; persistent elevations of calcium are predisposing. Further research is necessary to determine whether end stage renal disease leads to increased pancreatitis in children similar to adults. It is unknown whether cigarette smoking exposure, which clearly increases risk in adults, also increases risk in children. The role of alcohol in pediatric pancreatitis, whether direct or modifying, needs to be elucidated. The evidence supporting most cases of medication-induced pancreatitis is poor. Drug structure, improper handling of drug by host, and by-stander status may be implicated. Other pancreatitis risk factors must be sought in all cases. Conclusions The quality of evidence supporting causative role of various toxic and metabolic factors in pediatric pancreatitis is variable. Careful phenotyping is essential, including search for other etiologic risk factors. Directed therapy includes correction/ removal of any agent identified, and general supportive measures. Further research is necessary to improve our understanding of these pancreatitis risk factors in children. PMID:26594832

  12. Identifying Critical Factors in the Eco-Efficiency of Remanufacturing Based on the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qianwang Deng

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Remanufacturing can bring considerable economic and environmental benefits such as cost saving, conservation of energy and resources, and reduction of emissions. With the increasing awareness of sustainable manufacturing, remanufacturing gradually becomes the research priority. Most studies concentrate on the analysis of influencing factors, or the evaluation of the economic and environmental performance in remanufacturing, while little effort has been devoted to investigating the critical factors influencing the eco-efficiency of remanufacturing. Considering the current development of the remanufacturing industry in China, this paper proposes a set of factors influencing the eco-efficiency of remanufacturing and then utilizes a fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL method to establish relation matrixes reflecting the interdependent relationships among these factors. Finally, the contributions of each factor to eco-efficiency and mutual influence values among them are obtained, and critical factors in eco-efficiency of remanufacturing are identified. The results of the present work can provide theoretical supports for the government to make appropriate policies to improve the eco-efficiency of remanufacturing.

  13. Medical student researchers in Colombia and associated factors with publication: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonilla-Escobar, Francisco Javier; Bonilla-Velez, Juliana; Tobón-García, Daniel; Ángel-Isaza, Ana María

    2017-12-15

    Gaps between evidence-based research and clinical-public health practice have been evident for decades. One of the aims of medical student research is to close this gap. Accordingly, evaluating individual and environmental factors that influence participation of medical students in research are needed to understand and identify potential targets for action. This study aims to identify characteristics of medical student researchers in Colombia and the associated factors with scientific publications. A cross-sectional study of Colombian medical students involved in research using a validated, self-administered, online survey. The survey was distributed through the Colombian Association of Medical Students' Associations (ASCEMCOL). Data sets were analyzed using descriptive and summary statistics. Bivariate analysis and a multiple logistic regression model were conducted to identify predictors of scientific publications. A total of 133 responses were analyzed from students at 12 Colombian cities and 20 higher-education institutions. Although 94% of responders had at least one research proposal, only 57% had completed a project, and 17% had published their findings. Barriers for undertaking research included time restrictions and a lack of mentorship. Motivational factors included opportunity to publish findings and good mentorship. Students planning to do a specialization (OR = 3.25; 95% Confidence interval [CI] = 1.27-8.30), innovators (OR = 3.52; 95%CI = 1.30-9.52) and committed (OR = 3.39; 95%CI = 1.02-11.29), those who had previously published their findings (OR 9.13 IC95% 2.57-32.48), and were further in their medical education (OR 2.26 IC95% 1.01-5.07), were more likely to publish scientific papers. Our findings describe medical students understanding of the process of conducting research in Colombia. Although there appears to be motivation to participate in research, very few students achieve publication. Barriers such as time constraints

  14. Climate Variability, Social and Environmental Factors, and Ross River Virus Transmission: Research Development and Future Research Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Shilu; Dale, Pat; Nicholls, Neville; Mackenzie, John S.; Wolff, Rodney; McMichael, Anthony J.

    2008-01-01

    Background Arbovirus diseases have emerged as a global public health concern. However, the impact of climatic, social, and environmental variability on the transmission of arbovirus diseases remains to be determined. Objective Our goal for this study was to provide an overview of research development and future research directions about the interrelationship between climate variability, social and environmental factors, and the transmission of Ross River virus (RRV), the most common and widespread arbovirus disease in Australia. Methods We conducted a systematic literature search on climatic, social, and environmental factors and RRV disease. Potentially relevant studies were identified from a series of electronic searches. Results The body of evidence revealed that the transmission cycles of RRV disease appear to be sensitive to climate and tidal variability. Rainfall, temperature, and high tides were among major determinants of the transmission of RRV disease at the macro level. However, the nature and magnitude of the interrelationship between climate variability, mosquito density, and the transmission of RRV disease varied with geographic area and socioenvironmental condition. Projected anthropogenic global climatic change may result in an increase in RRV infections, and the key determinants of RRV transmission we have identified here may be useful in the development of an early warning system. Conclusions The analysis indicates that there is a complex relationship between climate variability, social and environmental factors, and RRV transmission. Different strategies may be needed for the control and prevention of RRV disease at different levels. These research findings could be used as an additional tool to support decision making in disease control/surveillance and risk management. PMID:19079707

  15. Identifying and prioritizing the factors effective in customer satisfaction using the TOPSIS method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H Forougozar

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Customer satisfaction has been suggested as one of the interesting and challenging issues of management in the new millennium. In addition, oral and dental health and the quality of the services the health centers delivered to the patients directly affect the customer satisfaction. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify, investigate, and rank the factors affecting the customer satisfaction in the department of dentistry of Shiraz Farhangiyan health center. Method: The present descriptive study was conducted on the specialists and patients of the department of dentistry of Shiraz Farhangiyan health center. The validity of the questionnaire utilized in the study was confirmed by expert professors and its reliability was approved using the Cronbach’s alpha formula. Finally, the study data were analyzed in SPSS statistical software (v. 16, using inferential statistics. Results: All the hypotheses were confirmed by the results of the statistical analyses and quality, services, and expenditures revealed to affect the customer satisfaction in the department of dentistry of Shiraz Farhangiyan health center. Moreover, these factors were ranked using the TOPSIS method and the results showed quality and expenditures as the most and the least effective factors in customer satisfaction, respectively. Conclusion: Since restoring and arranging the organization based on the customer needs is among the main priorities of designing an organization, managers are suggested to take measures for organizational reformation based on the customers’ priorities. Of course, conducting such programs is of utmost importance in health and treatment environments, leading to provision of better services and facilitation of learning, education, and research. Thus, identifying the effective factors in customer satisfaction and ranking them are highly important.

  16. Research on disaster prevention by human factor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Bok Youn; Kang, Chang Hee; Kang, Sun Duck; Jo, Young Do [Korea Institute of Geology Mining and Materials, Taejon (Korea)

    1998-12-01

    Mining, by its very nature, requires workers and technology to function in an unpredictable environment that can not easily be engineered to accommodate human factors. Miners' physical and cognitive capabilities are sometimes stretched to the point that 'human error' in performance result. Mine safety researchers estimate that 50-85% of all mining injuries are due, in large part, to human error. Further research suggests that the primary causes of these errors in performance lie outside the individual and can be minimized by improvements in equipment design, work environments, work procedures and training. The human factors research is providing the science needed to determine which aspects of the mining environment can be made more worker-friendly and how miners can work more safely in environments that can not be improved. Underground mines have long been recognized as an innately hazardous and physically demanding work environment. Recently, mining is becoming a more complicated process as more sophisticated technologies are introduced. The more complicated or difficult the tasks to be performed, the more critical it is to have a systematic understanding of the humans, the technology, the environments, and how they interact. Human factors is a key component in solving most of today's mine safety and health problems. Human factors research primarily centered around solving problems in the following four areas: 1) How mining methods and equipment affect safety, 2) Evaluating the fit between miner's physical capabilities and the demands of their job, 3) Improving miner's ability to perceive and react to hazards, 4) Understanding how organizational and managerial variables influence safety. Human factor research was begun during the World war II. National Coal Board (British Coal) of Great Britain commenced ergonomics in 1969, and Bureau of Mine of United States started human factor researches in same year. Japan has very short history

  17. Identifying work ability promoting factors for home care aides and assistant nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Larsson Agneta

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In workplace health promotion, all potential resources needs to be taken into consideration, not only factors relating to the absence of injury and the physical health of the workers, but also psychological aspects. A dynamic balance between the resources of the individual employees and the demands of work is an important prerequisite. In the home care services, there is a noticeable trend towards increased psychosocial strain on employees at work. There are a high frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and injuries, and a low prevalence of sustainable work ability. The aim of this research was to identify factors promoting work ability and self-efficacy in care aides and assistant nurses within home care services. Methods This study is based on cross-sectional data collected in a municipality in northern Sweden. Care aides (n = 58 and assistant nurses (n = 79 replied to a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 46%. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the influence of several independent variables on self-efficacy (model 1 and work ability (model 2 for care aides and assistant nurses separately. Results Perceptions of personal safety, self-efficacy and musculoskeletal wellbeing contributed to work ability for assistant nurses (R2adj of 0.36, p 2adj of 0.29, p = 0.001. Self-efficacy was associated with the safety climate and the physical demands of the job in both professions (R2adj of 0.24, p = 0.003 for care aides, and also by sex and age for the assistant nurses (R2adj of 0.31, p Conclusions The intermediate factors contributed differently to work ability in the two professions. Self-efficacy, personal safety and musculoskeletal wellbeing were important for the assistant nurses, while the work ability of the care aides was associated with the safety climate, but also with the non-changeable factors age and seniority. All these factors are important to acknowledge in

  18. Assessing vulnerability to drought: identifying underlying factors across Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urquijo, Julia; Gonzalez Tánago, Itziar; Ballesteros, Mario; De Stefano, Lucia

    2015-04-01

    Drought is considered one of the most severe and damaging natural hazards in terms of people and sectors affected and associated losses. Drought is a normal and recurrent climatic phenomenon that occurs worldwide, although its spatial and temporal characteristics vary significantly among climates. In the case of Europe, in the last thirty years, the region has suffered several drought events that have caused estimated economic damages over a €100 billion and have affected almost 20% of its territory and population. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness among experts and authorities of the need to shift from a reactive crisis approach to a drought risk management approach, as well as of the importance of designing and implementing policies, strategies and plans at country and river basin levels to deal with drought. The identification of whom and what is vulnerable to drought is a central aspect of drought risk mitigation and planning and several authors agree that societal vulnerability often determines drought risk more than the actual precipitation shortfalls. The final aim of a drought vulnerability assessment is to identify the underlying sources of drought impact, in order to develop policy options that help to enhance coping capacity and therefore to prevent drought impact. This study identifies and maps factors underlying vulnerability to drought across Europe. The identification of factors influencing vulnerability starts from the analysis of past drought impacts in four European socioeconomic sectors. This analysis, along with an extensive literature review, led to the selection of vulnerability factors that are both relevant and adequate for the European context. Adopting the IPCC model, vulnerability factors were grouped to describe exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The aggregation of these components has resulted in the mapping of vulnerability to drought across Europe at NUTS02 level. Final results have been compared with

  19. Testing job typologies and identifying at-risk subpopulations using factor mixture models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Anita C; Igic, Ivana; Meier, Laurenz L; Semmer, Norbert K; Schaubroeck, John M; Brunner, Beatrice; Elfering, Achim

    2017-10-01

    Research in occupational health psychology has tended to focus on the effects of single job characteristics or various job characteristics combined into 1 factor. However, such a variable-centered approach does not account for the clustering of job attributes among groups of employees. We addressed this issue by using a person-centered approach to (a) investigate the occurrence of different empirical constellations of perceived job stressors and resources and (b) validate the meaningfulness of profiles by analyzing their association with employee well-being and performance. We applied factor mixture modeling to identify profiles in 4 large samples consisting of employees in Switzerland (Studies 1 and 2) and the United States (Studies 3 and 4). We identified 2 profiles that spanned the 4 samples, with 1 reflecting a combination of relatively low stressors and high resources (P1) and the other relatively high stressors and low resources (P3). The profiles differed mainly in terms of their organizational and social aspects. Employees in P1 reported significantly higher mean levels of job satisfaction, performance, and general health, and lower means in exhaustion compared with P3. Additional analyses showed differential relationships between job attributes and outcomes depending on profile membership. These findings may benefit organizational interventions as they show that perceived work stressors and resources more strongly influence satisfaction and well-being in particular profiles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Identifying subgroups of CERME affect research papers

    OpenAIRE

    Hannula, Markku S.; Garcia Moreno-Esteva, Enrique

    2017-01-01

    Research in mathematics related affect uses a variety of theoretical frameworks. Three different dimensions have been suggested as significant to characterize concepts in this area: (1) emotional, motivational, and cognitive aspects of affect, (2) state and trait aspects of affect, and (3) physiological, psychological, and sociological level of theorizing affect. In this study, we used the information in reference lists and graph theory to identify Graph Communities (coherent clusters) of res...

  1. Trophic transfer of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems: Identifying critical research needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Au, Sarah Y; Lee, Cindy M; Weinstein, John E; van den Hurk, Peter; Klaine, Stephen J

    2017-05-01

    To evaluate the process of trophic transfer of microplastics, it is important to consider various abiotic and biotic factors involved in their ingestion, egestion, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification. Toward this end, a review of the literature on microplastics has been conducted to identify factors influencing their uptake and absorption; their residence times in organisms and bioaccumulation; the physical effects of their aggregation in gastrointestinal tracts; and their potential to act as vectors for the transfer of other contaminants. Limited field evidence from higher trophic level organisms in a variety of habitats suggests that trophic transfer of microplastics may be a common phenomenon and occurs concurrently with direct ingestion. Critical research needs include standardizing methods of field characterization of microplastics, quantifying uptake and depuration rates in organisms at different trophic levels, quantifying the influence that microplastics have on the uptake and/or depuration of environmental contaminants among different trophic levels, and investigating the potential for biomagnification of microplastic-associated chemicals. More integrated approaches involving computational modeling are required to fully assess trophic transfer of microplastics. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:505-509. © 2017 SETAC. © 2017 SETAC.

  2. Study of a methodology of identifying important research problems by the PIRT process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aoki, Takayuki; Takagi, Toshiyuki; Urayama, Ryoichi; Komura, Ichiro; Furukawa, Takashi; Yusa, Noritaka

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we propose a new methodology of identifying important research problems to be solved to improve the performance of some specific scientific technologies by the phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) process, which has been used as a methodology for demonstrating the validity of the best estimate simulation codes in USNRC licensing of nuclear power plants. It keeps the fundamental concepts of the original PIRT process but makes it possible to identify important factors affecting the performance of the technologies from the viewpoint of the figure of merit and problems associated with them, which need to be solved to improve the performance. Also in this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed method by showing a specific example of the application to physical events or phenomena in objects having fatigue or SCC crack(s) under ultrasonic testing and eddy current testing. (author)

  3. Review of International Research on Factors Underlying Teacher Absenteeism. REL 2015-087

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Mary; Goodman, Crystal; Dandapani, Nitara; Kekahio, Wendy

    2015-01-01

    Throughout the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Region, teacher absenteeism has posed a long-standing challenge. This report draws on research literature from international contexts and case studies to identify the underlying factors that may relate to teacher absenteeism. Resources included in this report were selected with a focus on non-U.S. Pacific…

  4. Context matters: the experience of 14 research teams in systematically reporting contextual factors important for practice change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomoaia-Cotisel, Andrada; Scammon, Debra L; Waitzman, Norman J; Cronholm, Peter F; Halladay, Jacqueline R; Driscoll, David L; Solberg, Leif I; Hsu, Clarissa; Tai-Seale, Ming; Hiratsuka, Vanessa; Shih, Sarah C; Fetters, Michael D; Wise, Christopher G; Alexander, Jeffrey A; Hauser, Diane; McMullen, Carmit K; Scholle, Sarah Hudson; Tirodkar, Manasi A; Schmidt, Laura; Donahue, Katrina E; Parchman, Michael L; Stange, Kurt C

    2013-01-01

    We aimed to advance the internal and external validity of research by sharing our empirical experience and recommendations for systematically reporting contextual factors. Fourteen teams conducting research on primary care practice transformation retrospectively considered contextual factors important to interpreting their findings (internal validity) and transporting or reinventing their findings in other settings/situations (external validity). Each team provided a table or list of important contextual factors and interpretive text included as appendices to the articles in this supplement. Team members identified the most important contextual factors for their studies. We grouped the findings thematically and developed recommendations for reporting context. The most important contextual factors sorted into 5 domains: (1) the practice setting, (2) the larger organization, (3) the external environment, (4) implementation pathway, and (5) the motivation for implementation. To understand context, investigators recommend (1) engaging diverse perspectives and data sources, (2) considering multiple levels, (3) evaluating history and evolution over time, (4) looking at formal and informal systems and culture, and (5) assessing the (often nonlinear) interactions between contextual factors and both the process and outcome of studies. We include a template with tabular and interpretive elements to help study teams engage research participants in reporting relevant context. These findings demonstrate the feasibility and potential utility of identifying and reporting contextual factors. Involving diverse stakeholders in assessing context at multiple stages of the research process, examining their association with outcomes, and consistently reporting critical contextual factors are important challenges for a field interested in improving the internal and external validity and impact of health care research.

  5. Patching the Leaky STEM Pipeline: Identifying Institutional Factors That Influence a STEM Qualified Female Undergraduate s Choice of Institution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurlock, Ashley J.

    Despite increased female participation in the workforce and females earning more undergraduate degrees than men over the past decade, women are still awarded fewer undergraduate degrees than men and hold less than 25% of jobs in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM (Beede, et al., 2011). Research shows that females may be leaking from the STEM pipeline because they are not choosing to attend institutions that fulfill their interdisciplinary and non-academic interests or have learning environments that are supportive of their needs. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional survey study, conducted at one non-research intensive university, was to identify institutional factors most pertinent to the decision to attend a non-research intensive university by a "STEM qualified" female undergraduate student. 23 of 45 factors were reported as positively influencing their decision regardless of major. The top six factors for both groups were: average class size, campus environment, a visit to campus, university population size, and major/department offered. The seven factors ranked statistically significantly different between STEM and non-STEM majors were undergraduate research opportunities, faculty reputation, graduate/professional school admission, academic support/tutoring, graduate program available, intramural sports, and off-campus housing. Only two of 17 factors negatively influenced STEM majors who were accepted to a research intensive university: the research intensive university's size and average class sizes were undesirable compared to their current institution. STEM qualified females weighed the importance of non-academic factors as high, or higher, than critical academic factors. STEM qualified females are also choosing to attend the non-research intensive university for a variety of reasons and not simply because another institution did not offer certain academic factors. Future studies should expanded to include other non-research

  6. Identifying critical success factors (CSFs) of Facilities Management (FM) in non-low cost high-rise residential buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahlan, F. M.; Zainuddin, A.

    2018-02-01

    Critical success factors (CSFs) are important key areas of activity that must be performed well in any Facilities Management (FM) organisation to achieve its missions, objectives or goals. Before implementing CSFs, an FM organisation must identify the key areas where things must be done properly to enable the business to flourish. Although many performance measurements in FM organisation have been discussed in previous research, not much research has been done on CSFs from the perspective of FM business in non-low cost high-rise residential buildings. The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology in developing the CSFs group and CSFs for FM organisation in non-low cost residential buildings. This research will involve three (3) phases of research strategy to achieve the objective of this research.

  7. Toward sustainable environmental quality: Identifying priority research questions for Latin America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furley, Tatiana Heid; Brodeur, Julie; Silva de Assis, Helena C; Carriquiriborde, Pedro; Chagas, Katia R; Corrales, Jone; Denadai, Marina; Fuchs, Julio; Mascarenhas, Renata; Miglioranza, Karina SB; Miguez Caramés, Diana Margarita; Navas, José Maria; Nugegoda, Dayanthi; Planes, Estela; Rodriguez‐Jorquera, Ignacio Alejandro; Orozco‐Medina, Martha; Boxall, Alistair BA; Rudd, Murray A

    2018-01-01

    ABSTRACT The Global Horizon Scanning Project (GHSP) is an innovative initiative that aims to identify important global environmental quality research needs. Here we report 20 key research questions from Latin America (LA). Members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) LA and other scientists from LA were asked to submit research questions that would represent priority needs to address in the region. One hundred questions were received, then partitioned among categories, examined, and some rearranged during a workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Twenty priority research questions were subsequently identified. These research questions included developing, improving, and harmonizing across LA countries methods for 1) identifying contaminants and degradation products in complex matrices (including biota); 2) advancing prediction of contaminant risks and effects in ecosystems, addressing lab‐to‐field extrapolation challenges, and understanding complexities of multiple stressors (including chemicals and climate change); and 3) improving management and regulatory tools toward achieving sustainable development. Whereas environmental contaminants frequently identified in these key questions were pesticides, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors or modulators, plastics, and nanomaterials, commonly identified environmental challenges were related to agriculture, urban effluents, solid wastes, pulp and paper mills, and natural extraction activities. Several interesting research topics included assessing and preventing pollution impacts on conservation protected areas, integrating environment and health assessments, and developing strategies for identification, substitution, and design of less hazardous chemicals (e.g., green chemistry). Finally, a recurrent research need included developing an understanding of differential sensitivity of regional species and ecosystems to environmental contaminants and other stressors. Addressing these critical

  8. Toward sustainable environmental quality: Identifying priority research questions for Latin America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furley, Tatiana Heid; Brodeur, Julie; Silva de Assis, Helena C; Carriquiriborde, Pedro; Chagas, Katia R; Corrales, Jone; Denadai, Marina; Fuchs, Julio; Mascarenhas, Renata; Miglioranza, Karina Sb; Miguez Caramés, Diana Margarita; Navas, José Maria; Nugegoda, Dayanthi; Planes, Estela; Rodriguez-Jorquera, Ignacio Alejandro; Orozco-Medina, Martha; Boxall, Alistair Ba; Rudd, Murray A; Brooks, Bryan W

    2018-05-01

    The Global Horizon Scanning Project (GHSP) is an innovative initiative that aims to identify important global environmental quality research needs. Here we report 20 key research questions from Latin America (LA). Members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) LA and other scientists from LA were asked to submit research questions that would represent priority needs to address in the region. One hundred questions were received, then partitioned among categories, examined, and some rearranged during a workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Twenty priority research questions were subsequently identified. These research questions included developing, improving, and harmonizing across LA countries methods for 1) identifying contaminants and degradation products in complex matrices (including biota); 2) advancing prediction of contaminant risks and effects in ecosystems, addressing lab-to-field extrapolation challenges, and understanding complexities of multiple stressors (including chemicals and climate change); and 3) improving management and regulatory tools toward achieving sustainable development. Whereas environmental contaminants frequently identified in these key questions were pesticides, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors or modulators, plastics, and nanomaterials, commonly identified environmental challenges were related to agriculture, urban effluents, solid wastes, pulp and paper mills, and natural extraction activities. Several interesting research topics included assessing and preventing pollution impacts on conservation protected areas, integrating environment and health assessments, and developing strategies for identification, substitution, and design of less hazardous chemicals (e.g., green chemistry). Finally, a recurrent research need included developing an understanding of differential sensitivity of regional species and ecosystems to environmental contaminants and other stressors. Addressing these critical questions will

  9. Identifying the Gender Dimension in Research Content

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Campbell, D.; Lalonde, B.St.L.; Tippett, C.; Archambault, E.; Callaert, J.; Mantouvalou, K.; Arora, L.

    2016-07-01

    Globally, there is an increasing interest in integrating the gender dimension in research content (GDRC). As a first step towards monitoring progress in this area, a new indicator measuring the proportion of a country’s scientific publications integrating a gender dimension in their subject matter was developed for the European Commission’s She Figures 2015 publication. This indicator is based on a keyword-based query covering both sex-related terms (biological characteristics of both women and men) and gender-related terms (social/cultural factors of both women and men). The final GDRC dataset consisted of some 212,600 distinct publications including a gender dimension in their research content. Findings suggest that integrating a gender dimension into research content is relatively rare. Unsurprisingly, it was less common for scientific articles in the fields of agricultural sciences, engineering and technology, and natural sciences to do so, and more common in the social sciences. (Author)

  10. Using Latent Semantic Analysis to Identify Research Trends in OpenStreetMap

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sukhjit Singh Sehra

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available OpenStreetMap (OSM, based on collaborative mapping, has become a subject of great interest to the academic community, resulting in a considerable body of literature produced by many researchers. In this paper, we use Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA to help identify the emerging research trends in OSM. An extensive corpus of 485 academic abstracts of papers published during the period 2007–2016 was used. Five core research areas and fifty research trends were identified in this study. In addition, potential future research directions have been provided to aid geospatial information scientists, technologists and researchers in undertaking future OSM research.

  11. Identifying risk factors that contribute to acute mountain sickness ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study is a questionnaire-based study conducted in London and at Everest Base Camp, in which 116 lowlanders were invited to participate and fill in a questionnaire to identify potential risk factors in their history that may have contributed to development of or protection against AMS. Results. A total of 89 lowlanders ...

  12. Original Research Identifying patients at high risk for obstructive ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    determine the factors associated with high risk for obstructive sleep apnoea and use it to identify patients at risk for the condition in ... mainstay of management is CPAP in addition to behavioral ..... the present study has some potential limitations which ... consequences of obstructive sleep apnea and short sleep duration.

  13. Identifying future research directions for biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability : perspectives from early-career researchers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hossain, S.; Pogue, S.J.; Trenchard, L.; Oudenhoven, van A.P.E.; Washbourne, C-L.; Muiruri, E.W.; Tomczyk, A.M.; García-Llorente, M.; Hale, R.; Hevia, V.; Adams, T.; Tavallali, L.; De, Bell S.; Pye, M.; Resende, F.

    2017-01-01

    We aimed to identify priority research questions in the field of biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability (BESS), based on a workshop held during the NRG BESS Conference for Early Career Researchers on BESS, and to compare these to existing horizon scanning exercises. This work highlights

  14. Risk factors for atherosclerosis - can they be used to identify the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Risk factors are often used in preventive care programmes to identify the patient at particular risk for developing atherosclerosis. Risk factors for atherosclerosis have also been shown to be linked to the presence of the disease at a given time, a fact that may be helpful when screening for additional atherosclerotic disease in ...

  15. The Factors Affecting Definition of Research Problems in Educational Technology Researches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahçekapili, Ekrem; Bahçekapili, Tugba; Fis Erümit, Semra; Göktas, Yüksel; Sözbilir, Mustafa

    2013-01-01

    Research problems in a scientific research are formed after a certain process. This process starts with defining a research topic and transforms into a specific research problem or hypothesis. The aim of this study was to examine the way educational technology researchers identify their research problems. To this end, sources that educational…

  16. Research organizational factors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coffman, F.D. Jr.

    1990-01-01

    Organizational processes at nuclear power plants should be sufficient to prevent accidents and to protect public health and safety upon the occurrence of an accident. The role of regulatory research is to confirm that agency assessments of organization processes are on a firm technical basis and provide for improvements in the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] programs. A firm technical basis is achieved by reducing uncertainties associated with methods and measures used to assess organization processes. The general objective for regulatory research is to confirm that the agency has a coherent understanding of the organizational processes that are individually necessary and are collectively sufficient for safe operations, methods are available to reliably characterize organizational processes, and measures exist to monitor changes in the key organizational processes. The first specific objective was to develop a method to translate organizational processes into PRAs. The discussion provides feedback and insights from experience with the past and the ongoing organizational factors research. That experience suggests a set of ingredients that appear proper for performing regulatory research on organizational processes. By keeping focused upon these proper ingredients, the research will contribute to the regulatory assessments of utility management through the use of improved methods and measures in investigations, inspections, diagnostics, performance indicators, and PRA insights

  17. Identifying Risk Factors for Elder Falls in Geriatric Rehabilitation in Israel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben Natan, Merav; Heyman, Neomi; Ben Israel, Joshua

    2016-01-01

    To identify risk factors for elder falls in a geriatric rehabilitation center in Israel. Retrospective chart review study. Four hundred and twelve medical records of inpatients in geriatric rehabilitation were retrospectively analyzed to compare between elders who sustained falls and those who did not. Of elders hospitalized during this year, 14% sustained falls. Fallers included a high proportion of males, with little comorbidity, not obese, and cardiovascular patients. Falls occurred frequently during patients' first week at the facility, mostly during the daytime. The falls occurred frequently in patients' rooms, and a common scenario was a fall during transition. The research findings single out patients who are allegedly at a lower risk of falls than more complex patients. Caregivers in geriatric rehabilitation settings should pay attention to patients who are allegedly at a lower risk of falls than more complex patients, and to cardiovascular patients in particular. © 2014 Association of Rehabilitation Nurses.

  18. Persistent Factors Facilitating Excellence in Research Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalpazidou Schmidt, Evanthia; Graversen, Ebbe Krogh

    2018-01-01

    The study presented here identifies robust and time-invariant features that characterise dynamic and innovative research environments. It takes as its point of departure the results of an empirical study conducted in 2002 which identified the common characteristics of 15 dynamic and innovative public research environments, and focusses on their…

  19. Identifying Key Drivers of Return Reversal with Dynamical Bayesian Factor Graph.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuai Zhao

    Full Text Available In the stock market, return reversal occurs when investors sell overbought stocks and buy oversold stocks, reversing the stocks' price trends. In this paper, we develop a new method to identify key drivers of return reversal by incorporating a comprehensive set of factors derived from different economic theories into one unified dynamical Bayesian factor graph. We then use the model to depict factor relationships and their dynamics, from which we make some interesting discoveries about the mechanism behind return reversals. Through extensive experiments on the US stock market, we conclude that among the various factors, the liquidity factors consistently emerge as key drivers of return reversal, which is in support of the theory of liquidity effect. Specifically, we find that stocks with high turnover rates or high Amihud illiquidity measures have a greater probability of experiencing return reversals. Apart from the consistent drivers, we find other drivers of return reversal that generally change from year to year, and they serve as important characteristics for evaluating the trends of stock returns. Besides, we also identify some seldom discussed yet enlightening inter-factor relationships, one of which shows that stocks in Finance and Insurance industry are more likely to have high Amihud illiquidity measures in comparison with those in other industries. These conclusions are robust for return reversals under different thresholds.

  20. Validating the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II) Using Set-ESEM: Identifying Psychosocial Risk Factors in a Sample of School Principals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dicke, Theresa; Marsh, Herbert W; Riley, Philip; Parker, Philip D; Guo, Jiesi; Horwood, Marcus

    2018-01-01

    School principals world-wide report high levels of strain and attrition resulting in a shortage of qualified principals. It is thus crucial to identify psychosocial risk factors that reflect principals' occupational wellbeing. For this purpose, we used the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II), a widely used self-report measure covering multiple psychosocial factors identified by leading occupational stress theories. We evaluated the COPSOQ-II regarding factor structure and longitudinal, discriminant, and convergent validity using latent structural equation modeling in a large sample of Australian school principals ( N = 2,049). Results reveal that confirmatory factor analysis produced marginally acceptable model fit. A novel approach we call set exploratory structural equation modeling (set-ESEM), where cross-loadings were only allowed within a priori defined sets of factors, fit well, and was more parsimonious than a full ESEM. Further multitrait-multimethod models based on the set-ESEM confirm the importance of a principal's psychosocial risk factors; Stressors and depression were related to demands and ill-being, while confidence and autonomy were related to wellbeing. We also show that working in the private sector was beneficial for showing a low psychosocial risk, while other demographics have little effects. Finally, we identify five latent risk profiles (high risk to no risk) of school principals based on all psychosocial factors. Overall the research presented here closes the theory application gap of a strong multi-dimensional measure of psychosocial risk-factors.

  1. Evaluation of risk factors for severe pneumonia in children: the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wonodi, Chizoba B.; Deloria-Knoll, Maria; Feikin, Daniel R.; DeLuca, Andrea N.; Driscoll, Amanda J.; Moïsi, Jennifer C.; Johnson, Hope L.; Murdoch, David R.; O'Brien, Katherine L.; Levine, Orin S.; Scott, J. Anthony G.; Black, Robert E.; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Campbell, Harry; Cherian, Thomas; Crook, Derrick W.; de Jong, Menno D.; Dowell, Scott F.; Graham, Stephen M.; Klugman, Keith P.; Lanata, Claudio F.; Madhi, Shabir A.; Martin, Paul; Nataro, James P.; Piazza, Franco M.; Qazi, Shamim A.; Zar, Heather J.; Baggett, Henry C.; Brooks, W. Abdullah; Chipeta, James; Ebruke, Bernard; Endtz, Hubert P.; Groome, Michelle; Hammitt, Laura L.; Howie, Stephen R. C.; Kotloff, Karen; Maloney, Susan A.; Moore, David; Otieno, Juliet; Seidenberg, Phil; Tapia, Milagritos; Thamthitiwat, Somsak; Thea, Donald M.; Zaman, Khaleque

    2012-01-01

    As a case-control study of etiology, the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) project also provides an opportunity to assess the risk factors for severe pneumonia in hospitalized children at 7 sites. We identified relevant risk factors by literature review and iterative expert

  2. Use of model plant hosts to identify Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahme, Laurence G.; Tan, Man-Wah; Le, Long; Wong, Sandy M.; Tompkins, Ronald G.; Calderwood, Stephen B.; Ausubel, Frederick M.

    1997-01-01

    We used plants as an in vivo pathogenesis model for the identification of virulence factors of the human opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Nine of nine TnphoA mutant derivatives of P. aeruginosa strain UCBPP-PA14 that were identified in a plant leaf assay for less pathogenic mutants also exhibited significantly reduced pathogenicity in a burned mouse pathogenicity model, suggesting that P. aeruginosa utilizes common strategies to infect both hosts. Seven of these nine mutants contain TnphoA insertions in previously unknown genes. These results demonstrate that an alternative nonvertebrate host of a human bacterial pathogen can be used in an in vivo high throughput screen to identify novel bacterial virulence factors involved in mammalian pathogenesis. PMID:9371831

  3. Epidemiology, natural history, and risk factors: panel report from the Ninth International Research Conference on Otitis Media

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daly, Kathleen A; Hoffman, Howard J; Kvaerner, Kari Jorunn

    2010-01-01

    The 2007 Recent Advances in Otitis Media Research Conference Panel Report provides an update on otitis media (OM) research published from 2003 to 2007. This report summarizes important trends in disease incidence and prevalence, describes established and newly identified risk factors for acute...

  4. Identifying and Researching Market Opportunities for New High Technology Products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunstan, Peter

    Using a product called the synchro-pulse welder as a case study example, this paper discusses the activities of CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in identifying and marketing new high-technology products. A general discussion of CSIRO's market research plans includes two goals to be attained within the next 5…

  5. Gene expression meta-analysis identifies metastatic pathways and transcription factors in breast cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomassen, Mads; Tan, Qihua; Kruse, Torben A

    2008-01-01

    Metastasis is believed to progress in several steps including different pathways but the determination and understanding of these mechanisms is still fragmentary. Microarray analysis of gene expression patterns in breast tumors has been used to predict outcome in recent studies. Besides classification of outcome, these global expression patterns may reflect biological mechanisms involved in metastasis of breast cancer. Our purpose has been to investigate pathways and transcription factors involved in metastasis by use of gene expression data sets. We have analyzed 8 publicly available gene expression data sets. A global approach, 'gene set enrichment analysis' as well as an approach focusing on a subset of significantly differently regulated genes, GenMAPP, has been applied to rank pathway gene sets according to differential regulation in metastasizing tumors compared to non-metastasizing tumors. Meta-analysis has been used to determine overrepresentation of pathways and transcription factors targets, concordant deregulated in metastasizing breast tumors, in several data sets. The major findings are up-regulation of cell cycle pathways and a metabolic shift towards glucose metabolism reflected in several pathways in metastasizing tumors. Growth factor pathways seem to play dual roles; EGF and PDGF pathways are decreased, while VEGF and sex-hormone pathways are increased in tumors that metastasize. Furthermore, migration, proteasome, immune system, angiogenesis, DNA repair and several signal transduction pathways are associated to metastasis. Finally several transcription factors e.g. E2F, NFY, and YY1 are identified as being involved in metastasis. By pathway meta-analysis many biological mechanisms beyond major characteristics such as proliferation are identified. Transcription factor analysis identifies a number of key factors that support central pathways. Several previously proposed treatment targets are identified and several new pathways that may

  6. The recovery factors analysis of the human errors for research reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farcasiu, M.; Nitoi, M.; Apostol, M.; Turcu, I.; Florescu, Ghe.

    2006-01-01

    The results of many Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) studies show a very significant contribution of human errors to systems unavailability of the nuclear installations. The treatment of human interactions is considered one of the major limitations in the context of PSA. To identify those human actions that can have an effect on system reliability or availability applying the Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is necessary. The recovery factors analysis of the human action is an important step in HRA. This paper presents how can be reduced the human errors probabilities (HEP) using those elements that have the capacity to recovery human error. The recovery factors modeling is marked to identify error likelihood situations or situations that conduct at development of the accident. This analysis is realized by THERP method. The necessary information was obtained from the operating experience of the research reactor TRIGA of the INR Pitesti. The required data were obtained from generic databases. (authors)

  7. Factors associated with home hazards: Findings from the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Research study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romli, Muhammad H; Tan, Maw P; Mackenzie, Lynette; Lovarini, Meryl; Kamaruzzaman, Shahrul B; Clemson, Lindy

    2018-03-01

    Previous studies have investigated home hazards as a risk factor for falls without considering factors associated with the presence of home hazards. The present study aimed to determine patterns of home hazards among urban community-dwelling older Malaysians, and to identify factors contributing to home hazards. Cross-sectional data from the initial wave of the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Research study were used. Basic demographics were obtained from the Global Questionnaire. Basic and instrumental activities of daily living were measured using the Katz and Lawton-Brody scales, and home hazards were identified using the Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool. Participants were also asked if they had fallen in the previous 12 months. Data were analyzed from 1489 participants. Hazards were frequently identified (>30%) in the toilet and bathroom areas (no grab rail, no non-slip mat, distant toilet), slippery floors, no bedside light access and inappropriate footwear. Lower educational attainment, traditional housing, Chinese ethnicity, greater number of home occupants, lower monthly expenditure, poor vision and younger age were the factors independently associated with home hazards. This study provides evidence that home hazards are a product of the interaction of the individual's function within their home environment. Hazards are also influenced by local sociocultural and environmental factors. The relationship between home hazards and falls appears complex and deserves further evaluation. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2018; 18: 387-395. © 2017 Japan Geriatrics Society.

  8. Sensitized mutagenesis screen in Factor V Leiden mice identifies thrombosis suppressor loci.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westrick, Randal J; Tomberg, Kärt; Siebert, Amy E; Zhu, Guojing; Winn, Mary E; Dobies, Sarah L; Manning, Sara L; Brake, Marisa A; Cleuren, Audrey C; Hobbs, Linzi M; Mishack, Lena M; Johnston, Alexander J; Kotnik, Emilee; Siemieniak, David R; Xu, Jishu; Li, Jun Z; Saunders, Thomas L; Ginsburg, David

    2017-09-05

    Factor V Leiden ( F5 L ) is a common genetic risk factor for venous thromboembolism in humans. We conducted a sensitized N -ethyl- N -nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis screen for dominant thrombosuppressor genes based on perinatal lethal thrombosis in mice homozygous for F5 L ( F5 L/L ) and haploinsufficient for tissue factor pathway inhibitor ( Tfpi +/- ). F8 deficiency enhanced the survival of F5 L/L Tfpi +/- mice, demonstrating that F5 L/L Tfpi +/- lethality is genetically suppressible. ENU-mutagenized F5 L/L males and F5 L/+ Tfpi +/- females were crossed to generate 6,729 progeny, with 98 F5 L/L Tfpi +/- offspring surviving until weaning. Sixteen lines, referred to as "modifier of Factor 5 Leiden ( MF5L1-16 )," exhibited transmission of a putative thrombosuppressor to subsequent generations. Linkage analysis in MF5L6 identified a chromosome 3 locus containing the tissue factor gene ( F3 ). Although no ENU-induced F3 mutation was identified, haploinsufficiency for F3 ( F3 +/- ) suppressed F5 L/L Tfpi +/- lethality. Whole-exome sequencing in MF5L12 identified an Actr2 gene point mutation (p.R258G) as the sole candidate. Inheritance of this variant is associated with suppression of F5 L/L Tfpi +/- lethality ( P = 1.7 × 10 -6 ), suggesting that Actr2 p.R258G is thrombosuppressive. CRISPR/Cas9 experiments to generate an independent Actr2 knockin/knockout demonstrated that Actr2 haploinsufficiency is lethal, supporting a hypomorphic or gain-of-function mechanism of action for Actr2 p.R258G Our findings identify F8 and the Tfpi/F3 axis as key regulators in determining thrombosis balance in the setting of F5 L and also suggest a role for Actr2 in this process.

  9. Using a research framework to identify knowledge gaps in research on food marketing to children in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, Kathy; Kelly, Bridget; King, Lesley

    2009-06-01

    Research in the field of food marketing to children requires a better understanding of the research gaps in order to inform policy development. The purpose of this paper was to propose a framework for classifying food marketing research, using Australian research on food marketing to children to demonstrate how this framework can be used to determine knowledge gaps. A literature review of research databases and 'grey' material was conducted to identify research from the previous 10 years. Studies were classified according to their research focus, and media type, as either: exposure, including content analyses; effects of exposure, including opinions, attitudes and actions resulting from food marketing exposure; regulations, including the type and level of regulation that applies to food marketing; or breaches of regulations, including instances where marketing regulations have been violated. The majority of Australian research on food marketing to children has focused on television advertising and exposure research. Research has consistently shown that the content of food marketing directed at children is predominately for unhealthy foods. There is a lack of research on the effects of food marketing, which would be valuable to inform policy. The development of a logical framework for food marketing research allows for the identification of research gaps and enables research priorities to be identified.

  10. Are Fit Indices Biased in Favor of Bi-Factor Models in Cognitive Ability Research?: A Comparison of Fit in Correlated Factors, Higher-Order, and Bi-Factor Models via Monte Carlo Simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grant B. Morgan

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Bi-factor confirmatory factor models have been influential in research on cognitive abilities because they often better fit the data than correlated factors and higher-order models. They also instantiate a perspective that differs from that offered by other models. Motivated by previous work that hypothesized an inherent statistical bias of fit indices favoring the bi-factor model, we compared the fit of correlated factors, higher-order, and bi-factor models via Monte Carlo methods. When data were sampled from a true bi-factor structure, each of the approximate fit indices was more likely than not to identify the bi-factor solution as the best fitting. When samples were selected from a true multiple correlated factors structure, approximate fit indices were more likely overall to identify the correlated factors solution as the best fitting. In contrast, when samples were generated from a true higher-order structure, approximate fit indices tended to identify the bi-factor solution as best fitting. There was extensive overlap of fit values across the models regardless of true structure. Although one model may fit a given dataset best relative to the other models, each of the models tended to fit the data well in absolute terms. Given this variability, models must also be judged on substantive and conceptual grounds.

  11. Identifying important motivational factors for professionals in Greek hospitals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kontodimopoulos, Nick; Paleologou, Victoria; Niakas, Dimitris

    2009-01-01

    Background The purpose of this study was to identify important motivational factors according to the views of health-care professionals in Greek hospitals and particularly to determine if these might differ in the public and private sectors. Methods A previously developed -and validated- instrument addressing four work-related motivators (job attributes, remuneration, co-workers and achievements) was used. Three categories of health care professionals, doctors (N = 354), nurses (N = 581) and office workers (N = 418), working in public and private hospitals, participated and motivation was compared across socio-demographic and occupational variables. Results The range of reported motivational factors was mixed and Maslow's conclusions that lower level motivational factors must be met before ascending to the next level were not confirmed. The highest ranked motivator for the entire sample, and by professional subgroup, was achievements (P motivators were similar, and only one significant difference was observed, namely between doctors and nurses in respect to co-workers (P motivated by all factors significantly more than their public-hospital counterparts. Conclusion The results are in agreement with the literature which focuses attention to management approaches employing both monetary and non-monetary incentives to motivate health care workers. This study showed that intrinsic factors are particularly important and should become a target for effective employee motivation. PMID:19754968

  12. The Promise of Virtual Teams: Identifying Key Factors in Effectiveness and Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horwitz, Frank M.; Bravington, Desmond; Silvis, Ulrik

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of the investigation is to identify enabling and disenabling factors in the development and operation of virtual teams; to evaluate the importance of factors such as team development, cross-cultural variables, leadership, communication and social cohesion as contributors to virtual team effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach:…

  13. Identifying the "Truly Disadvantaged": A Comprehensive Biosocial Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnes, J. C.; Beaver, Kevin M.; Connolly, Eric J.; Schwartz, Joseph A.

    2016-01-01

    There has been significant interest in examining the developmental factors that predispose individuals to chronic criminal offending. This body of research has identified some social-environmental risk factors as potentially important. At the same time, the research producing these results has generally failed to employ genetically sensitive…

  14. Identifying the environmental factors that effect within canopy BVOC loss using a multilevel canopy model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, W. S.; Fuentes, J. D.; Lerdau, M.

    2010-12-01

    This presentation will provide research findings to evaluate the hypothesis that the loss of biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) within plant canopies is dynamic and depends on factors such as plant canopy architecture (height and leaf area distribution), atmospheric turbulence, concentration of oxidants (OH, O3, NO3), and the reactivity of BVOC species. Results will be presented from a new one dimensional, multilevel canopy model that couples algorithms for canopy microclimate, leaf physiology, BVOC emission, turbulent transport, and atmospheric chemistry to investigate the relative importance of factors that impact BVOC loss within a forest canopy. Model sensitivity tests will be presented and discussed to identify factors driving canopy loss. Results show isoprene and monoterpene canopy losses as high as 9 and 18%, respectively, for tall canopies during the daytime. We hypothesize that canopy height and wind speed (i.e. canopy residence time) may be the most important in dictating within-canopy loss. This work will reduce the error in bottom-up flux estimates of BVOCs and ultimately improve parameterizations of BVOC sources in air quality models by accounting for within canopy processes.

  15. Qualitative ergonomics/human factors research in health care: Current state and future directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdez, Rupa Sheth; McGuire, Kerry Margaret; Rivera, A Joy

    2017-07-01

    The objective of this systematic review was to understand the current state of Ergonomics/Human Factors (E/HF) qualitative research in health care and to draw implications for future efforts. This systematic review identified 98 qualitative research papers published between January 2005 and August 2015 in the seven journals endorsed by the International Ergonomics Association with an impact factor over 1.0. The majority of the studies were conducted in hospitals and outpatient clinics, were focused on the work of formal health care professionals, and were classified as cognitive or organizational ergonomics. Interviews, focus groups, and observations were the most prevalent forms of data collection. Triangulation and data archiving were the dominant approaches to ensuring rigor. Few studies employed a formal approach to qualitative inquiry. Significant opportunities remain to enhance the use of qualitative research to advance systems thinking within health care. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. What Makes Sports Fans Interactive? Identifying Factors Affecting Chat Interactions in Online Sports Viewing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ko, Minsam; Yeo, Jaeryong; Lee, Juyeong; Lee, Uichin; Jang, Young Jae

    2016-01-01

    Sports fans are able to watch games from many locations using TV services while interacting with other fans online. In this paper, we identify the factors that affect sports viewers' online interactions. Using a large-scale dataset of more than 25 million chat messages from a popular social TV site for baseball, we extract various game-related factors, and investigate the relationships between these factors and fans' interactions using a series of multiple regression analyses. As a result, we identify several factors that are significantly related to viewer interactions. In addition, we determine that the influence of these factors varies according to the user group; i.e., active vs. less active users, and loyal vs. non-loyal users.

  17. Recombinant activated factor VII: 30 years of research and innovation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedner, Ulla

    2015-06-01

    Recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) was initially developed to treat bleeding episodes in patients with congenital haemophilia and inhibitors. The story of its development began in the 1970s, when FVIIa was identified as one of the activated coagulation factors that has minimal potential for inducing thromboembolic side-effects. Extensive research over the last 30 years has greatly increased our knowledge of the characteristics of FVII, its activation, and the mechanisms by which rFVIIa restores haemostasis. In haemophilia, the haemostatic effect of rFVIIa is mediated via binding to thrombin-activated platelets at the site of injury, thereby enhancing thrombin generation also in the absence of factor (F) VIII or FIX. The mechanism of action of rFVIIa has also allowed its successful use in other clinical scenarios characterised by impaired thrombin generation, and its licensed uses have now been extended to acquired haemophilia, congenital FVII deficiency and Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Developing a matrix to identify and prioritise research recommendations in HIV Prevention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Coates Bob

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background HIV prevention continues to be problematic in the UK, as it does globally. The UK Department of Health has a strategic direction with greater focus on prevention as part of its World Class Commissioning Programme. There is a need for targeted evidence-based prevention initiatives. This is an exploratory study to develop an evidence mapping tool in the form of a matrix: this will be used to identify important gaps in contemporary HIV prevention evidence relevant to the UK. It has the potential to aid prioritisation in future research. Methods Categories for prevention and risk groups were developed for HIV prevention in consultation with external experts. These were used as axes on a matrix tool to map evidence. Systematic searches for publications on HIV prevention were undertaken using electronic databases for primary and secondary research undertaken mainly in UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, 2006-9. Each publication was screened for inclusion then coded. The risk groups and prevention areas in each paper were counted: several publications addressed multiple risk groups. The counts were exported to the matrix and clearly illustrate the concentrations and gaps of literature in HIV prevention. Results 716 systematic reviews, randomised control trials and other primary research met the inclusion criteria for HIV prevention. The matrix identified several under researched areas in HIV prevention. Conclusions This is the first categorisation system for HIV prevention and the matrix is a novel tool for evidence mapping. Some important yet under-researched areas have been identified in HIV prevention evidence: identifying the undiagnosed population; international adaptation; education; intervention combinations; transgender; sex-workers; heterosexuals and older age groups. Other research recommendations: develop the classification system further and investigate transferability of the matrix to other prevention areas

  19. Identifying Risk Factors for Drug Use in an Iranian Treatment Sample: A Prediction Approach Using Decision Trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amirabadizadeh, Alireza; Nezami, Hossein; Vaughn, Michael G; Nakhaee, Samaneh; Mehrpour, Omid

    2018-05-12

    Substance abuse exacts considerable social and health care burdens throughout the world. The aim of this study was to create a prediction model to better identify risk factors for drug use. A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in South Khorasan Province, Iran. Of the total of 678 eligible subjects, 70% (n: 474) were randomly selected to provide a training set for constructing decision tree and multiple logistic regression (MLR) models. The remaining 30% (n: 204) were employed in a holdout sample to test the performance of the decision tree and MLR models. Predictive performance of different models was analyzed by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve using the testing set. Independent variables were selected from demographic characteristics and history of drug use. For the decision tree model, the sensitivity and specificity for identifying people at risk for drug abuse were 66% and 75%, respectively, while the MLR model was somewhat less effective at 60% and 73%. Key independent variables in the analyses included first substance experience, age at first drug use, age, place of residence, history of cigarette use, and occupational and marital status. While study findings are exploratory and lack generalizability they do suggest that the decision tree model holds promise as an effective classification approach for identifying risk factors for drug use. Convergent with prior research in Western contexts is that age of drug use initiation was a critical factor predicting a substance use disorder.

  20. Identifying and ranking the factors affecting entrepreneurial marketing to facilitate exports

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehdi Habibzadeh

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Small and medium enterprises (SMEs are believed the most important components of today’s businesses and they can boost the growth of economy. This paper presents an empirical investigation to identify and rank important factors influencing on entrepreneurial marketing to facilitate exports of SMEs. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 387 randomly selected entrepreneurs who act as managers of some SMEs in city of Tehran, Iran. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 0.873, which is well above the acceptable level. Using principle component analysis, the study has determined four factors including competitive intelligence, competitive advantage, external factors and internal factors to facilitate the export of SMEs.

  1. Identifying Human Factors Issues in Aircraft Maintenance Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veinott, Elizabeth S.; Kanki, Barbara G.; Shafto, Michael G. (Technical Monitor)

    1995-01-01

    Maintenance operations incidents submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) between 1986-1992 were systematically analyzed in order to identify issues relevant to human factors and crew coordination. This exploratory analysis involved 95 ASRS reports which represented a wide range of maintenance incidents. The reports were coded and analyzed according to the type of error (e.g, wrong part, procedural error, non-procedural error), contributing factors (e.g., individual, within-team, cross-team, procedure, tools), result of the error (e.g., aircraft damage or not) as well as the operational impact (e.g., aircraft flown to destination, air return, delay at gate). The main findings indicate that procedural errors were most common (48.4%) and that individual and team actions contributed to the errors in more than 50% of the cases. As for operational results, most errors were either corrected after landing at the destination (51.6%) or required the flight crew to stop enroute (29.5%). Interactions among these variables are also discussed. This analysis is a first step toward developing a taxonomy of crew coordination problems in maintenance. By understanding what variables are important and how they are interrelated, we may develop intervention strategies that are better tailored to the human factor issues involved.

  2. Factors Influencing Gen-Y Undergraduates’ Choice of Research Supervisor: A Case Study of a Malaysian Private University

    OpenAIRE

    Ali Shafiq; Anbareen Jan

    2017-01-01

    This paper explored what factors Gen-Y undergraduates deem important, and how they are ranked in selecting a research supervisor. Focus group was used at the first stage to elicit factors that were important to the respondents. The second step included ranking those factors through qualitative survey. The 12 identified factors ranked in descending order of importance are: Educational qualification, experience in the field, previous encounter with the supervisor, previous projects supervised b...

  3. What Makes Sports Fans Interactive? Identifying Factors Affecting Chat Interactions in Online Sports Viewing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minsam Ko

    Full Text Available Sports fans are able to watch games from many locations using TV services while interacting with other fans online. In this paper, we identify the factors that affect sports viewers' online interactions. Using a large-scale dataset of more than 25 million chat messages from a popular social TV site for baseball, we extract various game-related factors, and investigate the relationships between these factors and fans' interactions using a series of multiple regression analyses. As a result, we identify several factors that are significantly related to viewer interactions. In addition, we determine that the influence of these factors varies according to the user group; i.e., active vs. less active users, and loyal vs. non-loyal users.

  4. What Makes Sports Fans Interactive? Identifying Factors Affecting Chat Interactions in Online Sports Viewing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeo, Jaeryong; Lee, Juyeong

    2016-01-01

    Sports fans are able to watch games from many locations using TV services while interacting with other fans online. In this paper, we identify the factors that affect sports viewers’ online interactions. Using a large-scale dataset of more than 25 million chat messages from a popular social TV site for baseball, we extract various game-related factors, and investigate the relationships between these factors and fans’ interactions using a series of multiple regression analyses. As a result, we identify several factors that are significantly related to viewer interactions. In addition, we determine that the influence of these factors varies according to the user group; i.e., active vs. less active users, and loyal vs. non-loyal users. PMID:26849568

  5. What factors influence the production of orthopaedic research in East Africa? A qualitative analysis of interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliott, Iain S; Sonshine, Daniel B; Akhavan, Sina; Slade Shantz, Angelique; Caldwell, Amber; Slade Shantz, Jesse; Gosselin, Richard A; Coughlin, R Richard

    2015-06-01

    Research addressing the burden of musculoskeletal disease in low- and middle-income countries does not reflect the magnitude of the epidemic in these countries as only 9% of the world's biomedical resources are devoted to addressing problems that affect the health of 90% of the world's population. Little is known regarding the barriers to and drivers of orthopaedic surgery research in such resource-poor settings, the knowledge of which would help direct specific interventions for increasing research capacity and help surgeons from high-income countries support the efforts of our colleagues in low- and middle-income countries. We sought to identify through surveying academic orthopaedic surgeons in East Africa: (1) barriers impeding research, (2) factors that support or drive research, and (3) factors that were identified by some surgeons as barriers and others as drivers (what we term barrier-driver overlap) as they considered the production of clinical research in resource-poor environments. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 orthopaedic surgeon faculty members at four academic medical centers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Qualitative content analysis of the interviews was conducted using methods based in grounded theory. Grounded theory begins with qualitative data, such as interview transcripts, and analyzes the data for repeated ideas or concepts which then are coded and grouped into categories which allow for identification of subjects or problems that may not have been apparent previously to the interviewer. We identified and quantified 19 barriers to and 21 drivers of orthopaedic surgery research (mentioned n = 1688 and n = 1729, respectively). Resource, research process, and institutional domains were identified to categorize the barriers (n = 7, n = 5, n = 7, respectively) and drivers (n = 7, n = 8, n = 6, respectively). Resource barriers (46%) were discussed more often by interview subjects compared with the

  6. Increasing organizational energy conservation behaviors: Comparing the theory of planned behavior and reasons theory for identifying specific motivational factors to target for change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finlinson, Scott Michael

    Social scientists frequently assess factors thought to underlie behavior for the purpose of designing behavioral change interventions. Researchers commonly identify these factors by examining relationships between specific variables and the focal behaviors being investigated. Variables with the strongest relationships to the focal behavior are then assumed to be the most influential determinants of that behavior, and therefore often become the targets for change in a behavioral change intervention. In the current proposal, multiple methods are used to compare the effectiveness of two theoretical frameworks for identifying influential motivational factors. Assessing the relative influence of all factors and sets of factors for driving behavior should clarify which framework and methodology is the most promising for identifying effective change targets. Results indicated each methodology adequately predicted the three focal behaviors examined. However, the reasons theory approach was superior for predicting factor influence ratings compared to the TpB approach. While common method variance contamination had minimal impact on the results or conclusions derived from the present study's findings, there were substantial differences in conclusions depending on the questionnaire design used to collect the data. Examples of applied uses of the present study are discussed.

  7. 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.

  8. Human Factors Regulatory Research Program Plan, FY 1989--FY 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coffman, F.; Persensky, J.; Ryan, T.; Ramey-Smith, A.; Goodman, C.; Serig, D.; Trager, E; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC

    1989-10-01

    This report describes the currently ongoing (FY 1989) and planned (FY 1989-1992) Human Factors Regulatory Research Program in the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES). Examples of the influence of human factors on nuclear safety are presented, and the role of personnel is discussed. Current regulatory issues associated with human factors in the nuclear system and the purpose of the research plan are provided. The report describes the research process applied to the human factors research issues and the program activities: Personnel Performance Measurement, Personnel Subsystem, Human-System Interface. Organization and Management, and Reliability Assessment. The research being conducted within each activity is summarized along with the objectives, background information, and expected regulatory products. Budget and personnel forecasts are provided along with a summary of contractors performing some of the ongoing research. Appendices contain a chronology of human factors research at NRC, a description of the research approach, an update on human factors programs and initiatives in RES and other NRC offices, and the integration among these programs. 46 refs., 5 tabs

  9. Learning in context: identifying gaps in research on the transfer of medical communication skills to the clinical workplace.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van den Eertwegh, Valerie; van Dulmen, Sandra; van Dalen, Jan; Scherpbier, Albert J J A; van der Vleuten, Cees P M

    2013-02-01

    In order to reduce the inconsistencies of findings and the apparent low transfer of communication skills from training to medical practice, this narrative review identifies some main gaps in research on medical communication skills training and presents insights from theories on learning and transfer to broaden the view for future research. Relevant literature was identified using Pubmed, GoogleScholar, Cochrane database, and Web of Science; and analyzed using an iterative procedure. Research findings on the effectiveness of medical communication training still show inconsistencies and variability. Contemporary theories on learning based on a constructivist paradigm offer the following insights: acquisition of knowledge and skills should be viewed as an ongoing process of exchange between the learner and his environment, so called lifelong learning. This process can neither be atomized nor separated from the context in which it occurs. Four contemporary approaches are presented as examples. The following shift in focus for future research is proposed: beyond isolated single factor effectiveness studies toward constructivist, non-reductionistic studies integrating the context. Future research should investigate how constructivist approaches can be used in the medical context to increase effective learning and transition of communication skills. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Sexual harassment: identifying risk factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Hare, E A; O'Donohue, W

    1998-12-01

    A new model of the etiology of sexual harassment, the four-factor model, is presented and compared with several models of sexual harassment including the biological model, the organizational model, the sociocultural model, and the sex role spillover model. A number of risk factors associated with sexually harassing behavior are examined within the framework of the four-factor model of sexual harassment. These include characteristics of the work environment (e.g., sexist attitudes among co-workers, unprofessional work environment, skewed sex ratios in the workplace, knowledge of grievance procedures for sexual harassment incidents) as well as personal characteristics of the subject (e.g., physical attractiveness, job status, sex-role). Subjects were 266 university female faculty, staff, and students who completed the Sexual Experience Questionnaire to assess the experience of sexual harassment and a questionnaire designed to assess the risk factors stated above. Results indicated that the four-factor model is a better predictor of sexual harassment than the alternative models. The risk factors most strongly associated with sexual harassment were an unprofessional environment in the workplace, sexist atmosphere, and lack of knowledge about the organization's formal grievance procedures.

  11. Development of a framework to identify research gaps from systematic reviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Karen A; Saldanha, Ian J; McKoy, Naomi A

    2011-12-01

    Our objective was to develop a framework to identify research gaps from systematic reviews. We reviewed the practices of (1) evidence-based practice centers (EPCs), and (2) other organizations that conduct evidence syntheses. We developed and pilot tested a framework for identifying research gaps. Four (33%) EPCs and three (8%) other organizations reported using an explicit framework to determine research gaps. Variations of the PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcomes) framework were most common. We developed a framework incorporating both the characterization of the gap using PICOS elements (also including setting) and the identification of the reason(s) why the gap exists as (1) insufficient or imprecise information, (2) biased information, (3) inconsistency or unknown consistency, and (4) not the right information. We mapped each of these reasons to concepts from three common evidence-grading systems. Our framework determines from systematic reviews where the current evidence falls short and why or how the evidence falls short. This explicit identification of research gaps will allow systematic reviews to maximally inform the types of questions that need to be addressed and the types of studies needed to address the research gaps. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Identifying future research directions for biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability: perspectives from early-career researchers

    OpenAIRE

    Hossain, S.; Pogue, S.J.; Trenchard, L.; Oudenhoven, van, A.P.E.; Washbourne, C-L.; Muiruri, E.W.; Tomczyk, A.M.; García-Llorente, M.; Hale, R.; Hevia, V.; Adams, T.; Tavallali, L.; De, Bell S.; Pye, M.; Resende, F.

    2017-01-01

    We aimed to identify priority research questions in the field of biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability (BESS), based on a workshop held during the NRG BESS Conference for Early Career Researchers on BESS, and to compare these to existing horizon scanning exercises. This work highlights the need for improved data availability through collaboration and knowledge exchange, which, in turn, can support the integrated valuation and sustainable management of ecosystems in response to g...

  13. Identifying and prioritizing the factors influencing the success of science and technology foresight in the field of economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Afsaneh Raieninezhad

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Promoting complex global environment, tremendous growth and increase of network communication technology in the world, strategic planning and foresight activities in science and technology have become very important. Gradually, organizations and businesses are realizing the importance of foresight; many organizations attempt to execute such activities. However, this concept is not still well known in our country and among our organizations. Therefore, recognizing the factors influencing the success of this concept is a kind of issues that the organizations and activists are faced. Thus, this research seeks to identify and to rank the factors, particularly in the areas of economy, and it has developed five hypotheses. In this paper, factors affecting the success of foresight are given in four groups of rational, structure, scope, and results. Data collection for this study is a questionnaire and the binomial tests, Pearson correlation and Friedman test have been used to prove the hypothesis. According to the analysis of data obtained from the questionnaire conducted by SPSS software, all research hypotheses were confirmed. It also became clear that the rational component had the greatest impact on the future success of science and technology in the field of economic.

  14. Identifying the critical success factors in the coverage of low vision services using the classification analysis and regression tree methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, Peggy Pei-Chia; Xie, Jing; Keeffe, Jill Elizabeth

    2011-04-25

    To identify the critical success factors (CSF) associated with coverage of low vision services. Data were collected from a survey distributed to Vision 2020 contacts, government, and non-government organizations (NGOs) in 195 countries. The Classification and Regression Tree Analysis (CART) was used to identify the critical success factors of low vision service coverage. Independent variables were sourced from the survey: policies, epidemiology, provision of services, equipment and infrastructure, barriers to services, human resources, and monitoring and evaluation. Socioeconomic and demographic independent variables: health expenditure, population statistics, development status, and human resources in general, were sourced from the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, and the United Nations (UN). The findings identified that having >50% of children obtaining devices when prescribed (χ(2) = 44; P 3 rehabilitation workers per 10 million of population (χ(2) = 4.50; P = 0.034), higher percentage of population urbanized (χ(2) = 14.54; P = 0.002), a level of private investment (χ(2) = 14.55; P = 0.015), and being fully funded by government (χ(2) = 6.02; P = 0.014), are critical success factors associated with coverage of low vision services. This study identified the most important predictors for countries with better low vision coverage. The CART is a useful and suitable methodology in survey research and is a novel way to simplify a complex global public health issue in eye care.

  15. Factors Influencing Industry Uptake of Marketing & Supply Chain Innovations within the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dentoni, D.; English, F.

    2012-01-01

    This study identifies factors influencing the Australian seafood industry’s adoption of marketing and supply chain innovations created from public-private funded research and development (R&D). A grounded theory approach was followed by comparing and contrasting the evidence from 35 projects

  16. NAS Human Factors Safety Research Laboratory

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — This laboratory conducts an integrated program of research on the relationship of factors concerning individuals, work groups, and organizations as employees perform...

  17. [Identifying transcription factors involved in Arabidopsis adventious shoot regeneration by RNA-Seq technology].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xingchun; Chen, Zhao; Fan, Juan; He, Miaomiao; Han, Yuanhuai; Yang, Zhirong

    2015-04-01

    Transcriptional regulation is one of the major regulations in plant adventious shoot regeneration, but the exact mechanism remains unclear. In our study, the RNA-seq technology based on the IlluminaHiSeq 2000 sequencing platform was used to identify differentially expressed transcription factor (TF) encoding genes during callus formation stage and adventious shoot regeneration stage between wild type and adventious shoot formation defective mutant be1-3 and during the transition from dedifferentiation to redifferentiation stage in wildtype WS. Results show that 155 TFs were differentially expressed between be1-3 mutant and wild type during callus formation, of which 97 genes were up-regulated, and 58 genes were down-regulated; and that 68 genes were differentially expressed during redifferentiation stage, with 40 genes up-regulated and 28 genes down-regulated; whereas at the transition stage from dedifferentiation to redifferention in WS wild type explants, a total of 231 differentially expressed TF genes were identified, including 160 up-regualted genes and 71 down-regulated genes. Among these TF genes, the adventious shoot related transcription factor 1 (ART1) gene encoding a MYB-related (v-myb avian myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog) TF, was up-regulated 3 217 folds, and was the highest up-regulated gene during be1-3 callus formation. Over expression of the ART1 gene caused defects in callus formation and shoot regeneration and inhibited seedling growth, indicating that the ART1 gene is a negative regulator of callus formation and shoot regeneration. This work not only enriches our knowledge about the transcriptional regulation mechanism of adventious shoot regeneration, but also provides valuable information on candidate TF genes associated with adventious shoot regeneration for future research.

  18. EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS (EFA IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING RESEARCH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcos Pascual Soler

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA is one of the most widely used statistical procedures in social research. The main objective of this work is to describe the most common practices used by researchers in the consumer behavior and marketing area. Through a literature review methodology the practices of AFE in five consumer behavior and marketing journals(2000-2010 were analyzed. Then, the choices made by the researchers concerning factor model, retention criteria, rotation, factors interpretation and other relevant issues to factor analysis were analized. The results suggest that researchers routinely conduct analyses using such questionable methods. Suggestions for improving the use of factor analysis and the reporting of results are presented and a checklist (Exploratory Factor Analysis Checklist, EFAC is provided to help editors, reviewers, and authors improve reporting exploratory factor analysis.

  19. Conceptual and Operational Considerations in Identifying Socioenvironmental Factors Associated with Disability among Community-Dwelling Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mathieu Philibert

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Disability is conceived as a person–context interaction. Physical and social environments are identified as intervention targets for improving social participation and independence. In comparison to the body of research on place and health, relatively few reports have been published on residential environments and disability in the health sciences literature. We reviewed studies evaluating the socioenvironmental correlates of disability. Searches were conducted in Medline, Embase and CINAHL databases for peer-reviewed articles published between 1997 and 2014. We found many environmental factors to be associated with disability, particularly area-level socioeconomic status and rurality. However, diversity in conceptual and methodological approaches to such research yields a limited basis for comparing studies. Conceptual inconsistencies in operational measures of disability and conceptual disagreement between studies potentially affect understanding of socioenvironmental influences. Similarly, greater precision in socioenvironmental measures and in study designs are likely to improve inference. Consistent and generalisable support for socioenvironmental influences on disability in the general adult population is scarce.

  20. Identifying perinatal risk factors for infant maltreatment: an ecological approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hallisey Elaine J

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Child maltreatment and its consequences are a persistent problem throughout the world. Public health workers, human services officials, and others are interested in new and efficient ways to determine which geographic areas to target for intervention programs and resources. To improve assessment efforts, selected perinatal factors were examined, both individually and in various combinations, to determine if they are associated with increased risk of infant maltreatment. State of Georgia birth records and abuse and neglect data were analyzed using an area-based, ecological approach with the census tract as a surrogate for the community. Cartographic visualization suggested some correlation exists between risk factors and child maltreatment, so bivariate and multivariate regression were performed. The presence of spatial autocorrelation precluded the use of traditional ordinary least squares regression, therefore a spatial regression model coupled with maximum likelihood estimation was employed. Results Results indicate that all individual factors or their combinations are significantly associated with increased risk of infant maltreatment. The set of perinatal risk factors that best predicts infant maltreatment rates are: mother smoked during pregnancy, families with three or more siblings, maternal age less than 20 years, births to unmarried mothers, Medicaid beneficiaries, and inadequate prenatal care. Conclusion This model enables public health to take a proactive stance, to reasonably predict areas where poor outcomes are likely to occur, and to therefore more efficiently allocate resources. U.S. states that routinely collect the variables the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS defines for birth certificates can easily identify areas that are at high risk for infant maltreatment. The authors recommend that agencies charged with reducing child maltreatment target communities that demonstrate the perinatal risks

  1. Identifying factors to improve oral cancer screening uptake: a qualitative study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatemeh Vida Zohoori

    Full Text Available To engage with high risk groups to identify knowledge and awareness of oral cancer signs and symptoms and the factors likely to contribute to improved screening uptake.Focus group discussions were undertaken with 18 males; 40+ years of age; smokers and/or drinkers (15+ cigarettes per day and/or 15+ units of alcohol per week, irregular dental attenders living in economically deprived areas of Teesside.There was a striking reported lack of knowledge and awareness of oral cancer and its signs and symptoms among the participants. When oral/mouth cancer leaflets produced by Cancer Research UK were presented to the participants, they claimed that they would seek help on noticing such a condition. There was a preference to seek help from their general practitioner rather than their dentist due to perceptions that a dentist is 'inaccessible' on a physical and psychological level, costly, a 'tooth specialist' not a 'mouth specialist', and also not able to prescribe medication and make referrals to specialists. Interestingly, none of the 18 participants who were offered a free oral cancer examination at a dental practice took up this offer.The uptake of oral cancer screening may be improved by increasing knowledge of the existence and signs and symptoms of oral cancer. Other factors that may increase uptake are increased awareness of the role of dentists in diagnosing oral cancer, promotion of oral cancer screening by health professionals during routine health checks, and the use of a "health" screening setting as opposed to a "dental" setting for such checks.

  2. [Research advances in identifying nitrate pollution sources of water environment by using nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, Wei; Liang, Zhi-wei; Li, Wei; Zhu, Yao; Yanng, Mu-yi; Jia, Chao-jie

    2013-04-01

    Water body' s nitrate pollution has become a common and severe environmental problem. In order to ensure human health and water environment benign evolution, it is of great importance to effectively identify the nitrate pollution sources of water body. Because of the discrepant composition of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in different sources of nitrate in water body, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes can be used to identify the nitrate pollution sources of water environment. This paper introduced the fractionation factors of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in the main processes of nitrogen cycling and the composition of these stable isotopes in main nitrate sources, compared the advantages and disadvantages of five pre-treatment methods for analyzing the nitrogen and oxygen isotopes in nitrate, and summarized the research advances in this aspect into three stages, i. e. , using nitrogen stable isotope alone, using nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes simultaneously, and combining with mathematical models. The future research directions regarding the nitrate pollution sources identification of water environment were also discussed.

  3. Setting Priorities for Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research and Identifying Evidence Gaps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Jimmy T; Hutfless, Susan; Li, Tianjing; Bressler, Neil M; Heyward, James; Bittner, Ava K; Glassman, Adam; Dickersin, Kay

    2017-01-01

    Prioritizing comparative effectiveness research may contribute to obtaining answers that clinicians perceive they need and may minimize research that could be considered wasteful. Our objective was to identify evidence gaps and set priorities for new systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials for managing diabetic retinopathy (DR), including diabetic macular edema (DME). Cross-sectional study. Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net) investigators. We provided recommendations from the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 2012 Preferred Practice Patterns for Diabetic Retinopathy as 91 answerable clinical research questions about intervention effectiveness to 410 DRCR.net investigators to rate each question's importance from 0 (not important) to 10 (very important) using a 2-round Delphi survey and to suggest additional questions. We considered questions as high priority if at least 75% of respondents to both rounds assigned an importance rating of 5 or more in round 2. We also extracted outcome measures relevant to DR and asked respondents to identify those that must be measured in all studies. We mapped Cochrane reviews published up to March 2016 to high-priority clinical research questions. Ranking of importance of each clinical question. Thirty-two individuals completed rounds 1 and 2 and suggested 15 questions. Among the final list of 106 clinical research questions, 22 questions met our definition of high priority: 9 of 22 concerned the effectiveness of anti-VEGF therapy, and 13 of 22 focused on how often patients should be followed up (re-examination) and treatment effectiveness in patients with specific characteristics (e.g., DME). Outcomes that 75% or more of respondents marked as "must be measured in all studies" included visual acuity and visual loss, death of participants, and intraocular pressure. Only 1 prioritized question was associated with conclusive evidence from a Cochrane systematic review. A limited response rate among

  4. Research Article

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-06-15

    Jun 15, 2016 ... ve of this research is to identify, analyze, and prioritize factors effec .... In Iran, Fallahnejad identified 43 factors of delay for gas pipeline ... contractor include, financial problems, material management issues, planning and time.

  5. Development and pilot test of a process to identify research needs from a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saldanha, Ian J; Wilson, Lisa M; Bennett, Wendy L; Nicholson, Wanda K; Robinson, Karen A

    2013-05-01

    To ensure appropriate allocation of research funds, we need methods for identifying high-priority research needs. We developed and pilot tested a process to identify needs for primary clinical research using a systematic review in gestational diabetes mellitus. We conducted eight steps: abstract research gaps from a systematic review using the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Settings (PICOS) framework; solicit feedback from the review authors; translate gaps into researchable questions using the PICOS framework; solicit feedback from multidisciplinary stakeholders at our institution; establish consensus among multidisciplinary external stakeholders on the importance of the research questions using the Delphi method; prioritize outcomes; develop conceptual models to highlight research needs; and evaluate the process. We identified 19 research questions. During the Delphi method, external stakeholders established consensus for 16 of these 19 questions (15 with "high" and 1 with "medium" clinical benefit/importance). We pilot tested an eight-step process to identify clinically important research needs. Before wider application of this process, it should be tested using systematic reviews of other diseases. Further evaluation should include assessment of the usefulness of the research needs generated using this process for primary researchers and funders. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. A bibliometric model for identifying emerging research topics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Qi

    2018-01-01

    –1843, 2015), the most serious problems are the lack of an acknowledged definition of emergence and incomplete elaboration of the linkages between the definitions that are used and the indicators that are created. With these issues in mind, this study first adjusts the definition of an emerging technology...... that Rotolo et al. (2015) have proposed to accommodate the analysis. Next, a set of criteria for the identification of emerging topics is proposed according to the adjusted definition and attributes of emergence. Using two sets of parameter values, several emerging research topics are identified. Finally...

  7. Identifying the necessary and sufficient number of risk factors for predicting academic failure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucio, Robert; Hunt, Elizabeth; Bornovalova, Marina

    2012-03-01

    Identifying the point at which individuals become at risk for academic failure (grade point average [GPA] academic success or failure. This study focused on 12 school-related factors. Using a thorough 5-step process, we identified which unique risk factors place one at risk for academic failure. Academic engagement, academic expectations, academic self-efficacy, homework completion, school relevance, school safety, teacher relationships (positive relationship), grade retention, school mobility, and school misbehaviors (negative relationship) were uniquely related to GPA even after controlling for all relevant covariates. Next, a receiver operating characteristic curve was used to determine a cutoff point for determining how many risk factors predict academic failure (GPA academic failure, which provides a way for early identification of individuals who are at risk. Further implications of these findings are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

  8. Identifying the Factors Affecting Papers' Citability in the Field of Medicine: an Evidence-based Approach Using 200 Highly and Lowly-cited Papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yaminfirooz, Mousa; Ardali, Farzaneh Raeesi

    2018-01-01

    Nowadays, publishing highly-cited papers is important for researchers and editors. In this evidence-based study, the factors influencing the citability of published papers in the field of medicine have been identified. 200 papers indexed in Scopus (in two groups: highly-cited and lowly-cited) with 100 papers in each were studied. Needed data were manually collected with a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was done in SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics. Variables such as journal IF, journal rank, journal subject quartile, the first/corresponding author's h-index, the number of documents produced by the first/corresponding author, SJR and SNIP had significantly positive correlation with paper citability (ppaper age, paper type, the number of references, the number of authors, indexing institute and journal kind had not any relationship with paper citability (p> .05). the factors affecting the citability are among indicators relating to authors, publishing journals and published papers. Determining the extent to which these factors influence the citability of a paper needs further large-scaled research. Authors and editors searching for high-citedness should consider these factors when authoring and publishing papers.

  9. Identifying the Factors Affecting Papers’ Citability in the Field of Medicine: an Evidence-based Approach Using 200 Highly and Lowly-cited Papers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yaminfirooz, Mousa; Ardali, Farzaneh Raeesi

    2018-01-01

    Introduction: Nowadays, publishing highly-cited papers is important for researchers and editors. In this evidence-based study, the factors influencing the citability of published papers in the field of medicine have been identified. Material and Methods: 200 papers indexed in Scopus (in two groups: highly-cited and lowly-cited) with 100 papers in each were studied. Needed data were manually collected with a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was done in SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Variables such as journal IF, journal rank, journal subject quartile, the first/corresponding author’s h-index, the number of documents produced by the first/corresponding author, SJR and SNIP had significantly positive correlation with paper citability (ppaper age, paper type, the number of references, the number of authors, indexing institute and journal kind had not any relationship with paper citability (p> .05). Conclusion: the factors affecting the citability are among indicators relating to authors, publishing journals and published papers. Determining the extent to which these factors influence the citability of a paper needs further large-scaled research. Authors and editors searching for high-citedness should consider these factors when authoring and publishing papers. PMID:29719306

  10. Novel Application of Statistical Methods to Identify New Urinary Incontinence Risk Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Theophilus O. Ogunyemi

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Longitudinal data for studying urinary incontinence (UI risk factors are rare. Data from one study, the hallmark Medical, Epidemiological, and Social Aspects of Aging (MESA, have been analyzed in the past; however, repeated measures analyses that are crucial for analyzing longitudinal data have not been applied. We tested a novel application of statistical methods to identify UI risk factors in older women. MESA data were collected at baseline and yearly from a sample of 1955 men and women in the community. Only women responding to the 762 baseline and 559 follow-up questions at one year in each respective survey were examined. To test their utility in mining large data sets, and as a preliminary step to creating a predictive index for developing UI, logistic regression, generalized estimating equations (GEEs, and proportional hazard regression (PHREG methods were used on the existing MESA data. The GEE and PHREG combination identified 15 significant risk factors associated with developing UI out of which six of them, namely, urinary frequency, urgency, any urine loss, urine loss after emptying, subject’s anticipation, and doctor’s proactivity, are found most highly significant by both methods. These six factors are potential candidates for constructing a future UI predictive index.

  11. Factor Analysis in Assessing the Research Methodology Quality of Systematic Reviews

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrada Elena URDA-CÎMPEAN

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Many high quality systematic reviews available from medical journals, data bases and other electronic sources differ in quality and provide different answers to the same question. The literature recommended the use of a checklist type approach, which exceeds many of the problems associated with measurements. Aim: This study proposes to identify in a checklist type approach the most commonly used factors (from a methodological point of view in assessing the quality of systematic reviews, and then mirror the actual stage of medical writing. We want to analyze the factors’ occurrence and / or their development in the text and in the abstract of systematic reviews published in 2011. Methods: The present study randomly selected only free full text systematic reviews published in 2011, systematic reviews found in Pubmed and in Cochrane Database. The most commonly used factors were identified in PRISMA statement and quality measurement tools. Results: The evaluated systematic reviews mentioned or developed several of the factors studied. Only 78% of the papers surveyed have used the correct IMRAD format and 59% of them have mentioned the sample size used. The correspondence between the content of the paper and its abstract is summarized in the proportion of 54.63% and 51.85% for the two sets of factors, and it can lead to scarce appreciation of the article provided that only abstracts are read. Conclusions: Researchers do not properly take into consideration scientific articles and assessment tools used for quality evaluation. They should place more value over methodological factors which help assess systematic review quality, while journals form the only party who can enforce quality standards in medical writing.

  12. A method to identify dependencies between organizational factors using statistical independence test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Y.; Chung, C.H.; Kim, C.; Jae, M.; Jung, J.H.

    2004-01-01

    A considerable number of studies on organizational factors in nuclear power plants have been made especially in recent years, most of which have assumed organizational factors to be independent. However, since organizational factors characterize the organization in terms of safety and efficiency etc. and there would be some factors that have close relations between them. Therefore, from whatever point of view, if we want to identify the characteristics of an organization, the dependence relationships should be considered to get an accurate result. In this study the organization of a reference nuclear power plant in Korea was analyzed for the trip cases of that plant using 20 organizational factors that Jacobs and Haber had suggested: 1) coordination of work, 2) formalization, 3) organizational knowledge, 4) roles and responsibilities, 5) external communication, 6) inter-department communications, 7) intra-departmental communications, 8) organizational culture, 9) ownership, 10) safety culture, 11) time urgency, 12) centralization, 13) goal prioritization, 14) organizational learning, 15) problem identification, 16) resource allocation, 17) performance evaluation, 18) personnel selection, 19) technical knowledge, and 20) training. By utilizing the results of the analysis, a method to identify the dependence relationships between organizational factors is presented. The statistical independence test for the analysis result of the trip cases is adopted to reveal dependencies. This method is geared to the needs to utilize many kinds of data that has been obtained as the operating years of nuclear power plants increase, and more reliable dependence relations may be obtained by using these abundant data

  13. Identify and rank key factors influencing the adoption of cloud computing for a healthy Electronics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javad Shukuhy

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Cloud computing as a new technology with Internet infrastructure and new approaches can be significant benefits in providing medical services electronically. Aplying this technology in E-Health requires consideration of various factors. The main objective of this study is to identify and rank the factors influencing the adoption of e-health cloud. Based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE framework and Human-Organization-Technology fit (HOT-fit model, 16 sub-factors were identified in four major factors. With survey of 60 experts, academics and experts in health information technology and with the help of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process had ranked these sub-factors and factors. In the literature, considering newness this study, no internal or external study, have not alluded these number of criteria. The results show that when deciding to adopt cloud computing in E-Health, respectively, must be considered technological, human, organizational and environmental factors.

  14. An exploratory study to identify critical factors of innovation culture in organizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamed Asgari

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available During the past two decades, there has been a growing trend on knowledge-based organizations. Innovation, on the other hand, plays essential role on building competitive business units. In this paper, we present an exploratory study to identify critical factors of innovation culture in organizations. We detect important factors influencing innovation culture in construction industry based on the implementation of factor analysis. The proposed study designs a questionnaire and distributes it among 400 experts who are involved in construction industry. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.779, which validates the overall questionnaire. The results of factor analysis have indicated that six factors of building cultural infrastructures, education, organizational vision, established culture, strategic culture and flexible culture are the most important items influencing innovation culture.

  15. Clinical education and training: Using the nominal group technique in research with radiographers to identify factors affecting quality and capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williams, P.L.; White, N.; Klem, R.; Wilson, S.E.; Bartholomew, P.

    2006-01-01

    There are a number of group-based research techniques available to determine the views or perceptions of individuals in relation to specific topics. This paper reports on one method, the nominal group technique (NGT) which was used to collect the views of important stakeholders on the factors affecting the quality of, and capacity to provide clinical education and training in diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy and oncology departments in the UK. Inclusion criteria were devised to recruit learners, educators, practitioners and service managers to the nominal groups. Eight regional groups comprising a total of 92 individuals were enrolled; the numbers in each group varied between 9 and 13. A total of 131 items (factors) were generated across the groups (mean = 16.4). Each group was then asked to select the top three factors from their original list. Consensus on the important factors amongst groups found that all eight groups agreed on one item: staff attitude, motivation and commitment to learners. The 131 items were organised into themes using content analysis. Five main categories and a number of subcategories emerged. The study concluded that the NGT provided data which were congruent with the issues faced by practitioners and learners in their daily work; this was of vital importance if the findings are to be regarded with credibility. Further advantages and limitations of the method are discussed, however it is argued that the NGT is a useful technique to gather relevant opinion; to select priorities and to reach consensus on a wide range of issues

  16. Strategies to design clinical studies to identify predictive biomarkers in cancer research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez-Gracia, Jose Luis; Sanmamed, Miguel F; Bosch, Ana; Patiño-Garcia, Ana; Schalper, Kurt A; Segura, Victor; Bellmunt, Joaquim; Tabernero, Josep; Sweeney, Christopher J; Choueiri, Toni K; Martín, Miguel; Fusco, Juan Pablo; Rodriguez-Ruiz, Maria Esperanza; Calvo, Alfonso; Prior, Celia; Paz-Ares, Luis; Pio, Ruben; Gonzalez-Billalabeitia, Enrique; Gonzalez Hernandez, Alvaro; Páez, David; Piulats, Jose María; Gurpide, Alfonso; Andueza, Mapi; de Velasco, Guillermo; Pazo, Roberto; Grande, Enrique; Nicolas, Pilar; Abad-Santos, Francisco; Garcia-Donas, Jesus; Castellano, Daniel; Pajares, María J; Suarez, Cristina; Colomer, Ramon; Montuenga, Luis M; Melero, Ignacio

    2017-02-01

    The discovery of reliable biomarkers to predict efficacy and toxicity of anticancer drugs remains one of the key challenges in cancer research. Despite its relevance, no efficient study designs to identify promising candidate biomarkers have been established. This has led to the proliferation of a myriad of exploratory studies using dissimilar strategies, most of which fail to identify any promising targets and are seldom validated. The lack of a proper methodology also determines that many anti-cancer drugs are developed below their potential, due to failure to identify predictive biomarkers. While some drugs will be systematically administered to many patients who will not benefit from them, leading to unnecessary toxicities and costs, others will never reach registration due to our inability to identify the specific patient population in which they are active. Despite these drawbacks, a limited number of outstanding predictive biomarkers have been successfully identified and validated, and have changed the standard practice of oncology. In this manuscript, a multidisciplinary panel reviews how those key biomarkers were identified and, based on those experiences, proposes a methodological framework-the DESIGN guidelines-to standardize the clinical design of biomarker identification studies and to develop future research in this pivotal field. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  17. Combined and interactive effects of environmental and GWAS-identified risk factors in ovarian cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pearce, Celeste Leigh; Rossing, Mary Anne; Lee, Alice W

    2013-01-01

    There are several well-established environmental risk factors for ovarian cancer, and recent genome-wide association studies have also identified six variants that influence disease risk. However, the interplay between such risk factors and susceptibility loci has not been studied....

  18. A Model for Data Citation in Astronomical Research Using Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novacescu, Jenny; Peek, Joshua E. G.; Weissman, Sarah; Fleming, Scott W.; Levay, Karen; Fraser, Elizabeth

    2018-05-01

    Standardizing and incentivizing the use of digital object identifiers (DOIs) to aggregate and identify both data analyzed and data generated by a research project will advance the field of astronomy to match best practices in other research fields like geoscience and medicine. An increase in the use of DOIs will prepare the discipline for changing expectations among funding agencies and publishers, who increasingly expect accurate and thorough data citation to accompany scientific outputs. The use of DOIs ensures a robust, sustainable, and interoperable approach to data citation in which due credit is given to the researchers and institutions who produce and maintain the primary data. We describe in this work the advantages of DOIs for data citation and best practices for integrating a DOI service in an astronomical archive. We report on a pilot project carried out in collaboration with AAS journals. During the course of the 1.5-year long pilot, over 75% of submitting authors opted to use the integrated DOI service to clearly identify data analyzed during their research project when prompted at the time of paper submission.

  19. Identify and Classify Critical Success Factor of Agile Software Development Methodology Using Mind Map

    OpenAIRE

    Tasneem Abd El Hameed; Mahmoud Abd EL Latif; Sherif Kholief

    2016-01-01

    Selecting the right method, right personnel and right practices, and applying them adequately, determine the success of software development. In this paper, a qualitative study is carried out among the critical factors of success from previous studies. The factors of success match with their relative principles to illustrate the most valuable factor for agile approach success, this paper also prove that the twelve principles poorly identified for few factors resulting from qualitative and qua...

  20. Using exploratory factor analysis in personality research: Best-practice recommendations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumaya Laher

    2010-11-01

    Research purpose: This article presents more objective methods to determine the number of factors, most notably parallel analysis and Velicer’s minimum average partial (MAP. The benefits of rotation are also discussed. The article argues for more consistent use of Procrustes rotation and congruence coefficients in factor analytic studies. Motivation for the study: Exploratory factor analysis is often criticised for not being rigorous and objective enough in terms of the methods used to determine the number of factors, the rotations to be used and ultimately the validity of the factor structure. Research design, approach and method: The article adopts a theoretical stance to discuss the best-practice recommendations for factor analytic research in the field of psychology. Following this, an example located within personality assessment and using the NEO-PI-R specifically is presented. A total of 425 students at the University of the Witwatersrand completed the NEO-PI-R. These responses were subjected to a principal components analysis using varimax rotation. The rotated solution was subjected to a Procrustes rotation with Costa and McCrae’s (1992 matrix as the target matrix. Congruence coefficients were also computed. Main findings: The example indicates the use of the methods recommended in the article and demonstrates an objective way of determining the number of factors. It also provides an example of Procrustes rotation with coefficients of agreement as an indication of how factor analytic results may be presented more rigorously in local research. Practical/managerial implications: It is hoped that the recommendations in this article will have best-practice implications for both researchers and practitioners in the field who employ factor analysis regularly. Contribution/value-add: This article will prove useful to all researchers employing factor analysis and has the potential to set the trend for better use of factor analysis in the South African context.

  1. Research Note Identifying key grazing indicators to monitor trends in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Research Note Identifying key grazing indicators to monitor trends in the veld condition of Lambert's Bay Strandveld, South Africa. ... from which a minimum number of species necessary to monitor trends in the condition of the veld were determined, making it user-friendly for land-users, extension officers and others. The key ...

  2. Factors influencing the potential for strong brand relationships with consumer product brands: An overview and research agenda

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bech-Larsen, Tino; Bergkvist, Lars; Francis, Julie

    Based on the premise that consumer product brands are different with respect to their potential to form strong long-term relationships with consumers, this paper aims to identify factors that influence brands' potential for strong long-term relationships and to suggest how these can be empirically...... investigated. The paper reviews brand-centric and consumer-centric research and identifies twelve brand variables that may influence the relationship potential of consumer product brands. A research agenda is suggested and a number of issues that needs to be resolved before empirical research can be carried...... out are discussed. The paper concludes by speculating on possible outcomes in future empirical studies and it is suggested that multiple brand variables will have to be employed to evaluate the relationship potential of brands....

  3. Identifying risk factors for PTSD in women seeking medical help after rape

    OpenAIRE

    Möller, Anna Tiihonen; Bäckström, Torbjörn; Söndergaard, Hans Peter; Helström, Lotti

    2014-01-01

    Objectives: Rape has been found to be the trauma most commonly associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among women. It is therefore important to be able to identify those women at greatest risk of developing PTSD. The aims of the present study were to analyze the PTSD prevalence six months after sexual assaults and identify the major risk factors for developing PTSD. Methods: Participants were 317 female victims of rape who sought help at the Emergency Clinic for Raped Women at S...

  4. Digital identifiers as permanent unique registers for researchers in the university context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luisa F. Acosta-Ortega

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The increase in the use of Internet and the web allows a wide access to a greater warehouse of information sources in thousand of journals and publications, nets of almost unlimited number of people, computers and opportunities for learning and research without precedents. That makes the correct identification and recovery of scientific production of researchers very difficult. For that reason, during the last years different attemps of different organizations have been made to create a permanent unique register for authors, which permits to identify their articles wherever they are placed and without taking into account the specificity in the author’s name, publishing and  processing practices In data base,  and different bibliographic description styles as well. ORCID (Openn Researcher and Contribution ID is an identifier with the greatest posibilities of becoming universal to achieve visibility and positioning of Latin-American universities in the present international context.

  5. Tombusvirus-yeast interactions identify conserved cell-intrinsic viral restriction factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zsuzsanna eSasvari

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available To combat viral infections, plants possess innate and adaptive immune pathways, such as RNA silencing, R gene and recessive gene-mediated resistance mechanisms. However, it is likely that additional cell-intrinsic restriction factors (CIRF are also involved in limiting plant virus replication. This review discusses novel CIRFs with antiviral functions, many of them RNA-binding proteins or affecting the RNA binding activities of viral replication proteins. The CIRFs against tombusviruses have been identified in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is developed as an advanced model organism. Grouping of the identified CIRFs based on their known cellular functions and subcellular localization in yeast reveals that TBSV replication is limited by a wide variety of host gene functions. Yeast proteins with the highest connectivity in the network map include the well-characterized Xrn1p 5’-3’ exoribonuclease, Act1p actin protein and Cse4p centromere protein. The protein network map also reveals an important interplay between the pro-viral Hsp70 cellular chaperone and the antiviral co-chaperones, and possibly key roles for the ribosomal or ribosome-associated factors. We discuss the antiviral functions of selected CIRFs, such as the RNA binding nucleolin, ribonucleases, WW-domain proteins, single- and multi-domain cyclophilins, TPR-domain co-chaperones and cellular ion pumps. These restriction factors frequently target the RNA-binding region in the viral replication proteins, thus interfering with the recruitment of the viral RNA for replication and the assembly of the membrane-bound viral replicase. Although many of the characterized CIRFs act directly against TBSV, we propose that the TPR-domain co-chaperones function as guardians of the cellular Hsp70 chaperone system, which is subverted efficiently by TBSV for viral replicase assembly in the absence of the TPR-domain co-chaperones.

  6. Overview of NRC's human factors regulatory research program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coffman, F.D. Jr.

    1989-01-01

    The human factors research program is divided into distinct and interrelated program activities: (1) Personnel Performance measurement, (2) Personnel Subsystem, (3) Human-System Interface, (4) Organization and Management, and (5) a group of Reliability Assessment activities. The purpose of the Personnel Performance Measurement activity is to improve the Agency's understanding of the factors influencing personnel performance and the effects on the safety of nuclear operations and maintenance by developing improvements to methods for collecting and managing personnel performance data. Personnel Subsystem research will broaden the understanding of such factors as staffing, qualifications, and training that influence human performance in the nuclear system and will develop the technical basis for regulatory guidance to reduce any adverse impact of these influences on nuclear safety. Research in the Human-System Interface activity will provide the technical basis for ensuring that the interface between the system and the human user supports safe operations and maintenance. Organization and Management research will result in the development of tools for evaluating organization and management issues within the nuclear industry. And finally, the Reliability Assessment group of activities includes multidisciplinary research that will integrate human and hardware considerations for evaluating reliability and risk in NRC licensing, inspection, and regulatory decisions

  7. Who shares? Who doesn't? Factors associated with openly archiving raw research data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piwowar, Heather A

    2011-01-01

    Many initiatives encourage investigators to share their raw datasets in hopes of increasing research efficiency and quality. Despite these investments of time and money, we do not have a firm grasp of who openly shares raw research data, who doesn't, and which initiatives are correlated with high rates of data sharing. In this analysis I use bibliometric methods to identify patterns in the frequency with which investigators openly archive their raw gene expression microarray datasets after study publication. Automated methods identified 11,603 articles published between 2000 and 2009 that describe the creation of gene expression microarray data. Associated datasets in best-practice repositories were found for 25% of these articles, increasing from less than 5% in 2001 to 30%-35% in 2007-2009. Accounting for sensitivity of the automated methods, approximately 45% of recent gene expression studies made their data publicly available. First-order factor analysis on 124 diverse bibliometric attributes of the data creation articles revealed 15 factors describing authorship, funding, institution, publication, and domain environments. In multivariate regression, authors were most likely to share data if they had prior experience sharing or reusing data, if their study was published in an open access journal or a journal with a relatively strong data sharing policy, or if the study was funded by a large number of NIH grants. Authors of studies on cancer and human subjects were least likely to make their datasets available. These results suggest research data sharing levels are still low and increasing only slowly, and data is least available in areas where it could make the biggest impact. Let's learn from those with high rates of sharing to embrace the full potential of our research output.

  8. Who shares? Who doesn't? Factors associated with openly archiving raw research data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heather A Piwowar

    Full Text Available Many initiatives encourage investigators to share their raw datasets in hopes of increasing research efficiency and quality. Despite these investments of time and money, we do not have a firm grasp of who openly shares raw research data, who doesn't, and which initiatives are correlated with high rates of data sharing. In this analysis I use bibliometric methods to identify patterns in the frequency with which investigators openly archive their raw gene expression microarray datasets after study publication. Automated methods identified 11,603 articles published between 2000 and 2009 that describe the creation of gene expression microarray data. Associated datasets in best-practice repositories were found for 25% of these articles, increasing from less than 5% in 2001 to 30%-35% in 2007-2009. Accounting for sensitivity of the automated methods, approximately 45% of recent gene expression studies made their data publicly available. First-order factor analysis on 124 diverse bibliometric attributes of the data creation articles revealed 15 factors describing authorship, funding, institution, publication, and domain environments. In multivariate regression, authors were most likely to share data if they had prior experience sharing or reusing data, if their study was published in an open access journal or a journal with a relatively strong data sharing policy, or if the study was funded by a large number of NIH grants. Authors of studies on cancer and human subjects were least likely to make their datasets available. These results suggest research data sharing levels are still low and increasing only slowly, and data is least available in areas where it could make the biggest impact. Let's learn from those with high rates of sharing to embrace the full potential of our research output.

  9. Persistent Identifiers for Field Expeditions: A Next Step for the US Oceanographic Research Fleet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arko, Robert; Carbotte, Suzanne; Chandler, Cynthia; Smith, Shawn; Stocks, Karen

    2016-04-01

    Oceanographic research cruises are complex affairs, typically requiring an extensive effort to secure the funding, plan the experiment, and mobilize the field party. Yet cruises are not typically published online as first-class digital objects with persistent, citable identifiers linked to the scientific literature. The Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R; info@rvdata.us) program maintains a master catalog of oceanographic cruises for the United States research fleet, currently documenting over 6,000 expeditions on 37 active and retired vessels. In 2015, R2R started routinely publishing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for each completed cruise. Cruise DOIs, in turn, are linked to related persistent identifiers where available including the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) for members of the science party, the International Geo Sample Number (IGSN) for physical specimens collected during the cruise, the Open Funder Registry (FundRef) codes that supported the experiment, and additional DOIs for datasets, journal articles, and other products resulting from the cruise. Publishing a persistent identifier for each field expedition will facilitate interoperability between the many different repositories that hold research products from cruises; will provide credit to the investigators who secured the funding and carried out the experiment; and will facilitate the gathering of fleet-wide altmetrics that demonstrate the broad impact of oceanographic research.

  10. Researchers Develop Method to Identify Sparticles in Big Bang Conditions

    CERN Multimedia

    2008-01-01

    Three Northeastern University researchers have proposed a new approach for the highly anticipated discovery of supersymmetric particles, often called sparticles. The methodology, which was published in the December 21 issue of the Physical Review Letters, is based on identifying the hierarchical mass patterns of sparticles, which are assumed to exist in a new class of particle physics theories beyond the Standard Model.

  11. Your name is not good enough: introducing the ORCID researcher identifier at Imperial College London

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Torsten Reimer

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The ORCID researcher identifier ensures that research outputs can always reliably be traced back to their authors. ORCID also makes it possible to automate the sharing of research information, thereby increasing data quality, reducing duplication of effort for academics and saving institutions money. In 2014, Imperial College London created ORCID identifiers (iDs for academic and research staff. This article discusses the implementation project in the context of the role of ORCID in the global scholarly communications system. It shows how ORCID can be used to automate reporting, help with research data publication and support open access (OA.

  12. Identifying the Prognosis Factors in Death after Liver Transplantation via Adaptive LASSO in Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hadi Raeisi Shahraki

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite the widespread use of liver transplantation as a routine therapy in liver diseases, the effective factors on its outcomes are still controversial. This study attempted to identify the most effective factors on death after liver transplantation. For this purpose, modified least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO, called Adaptive LASSO, was utilized. One of the best advantages of this method is considering high number of factors. Therefore, in a historical cohort study from 2008 to 2013, the clinical findings of 680 patients undergoing liver transplant surgery were considered. Ridge and Adaptive LASSO regression methods were then implemented to identify the most effective factors on death. To compare the performance of these two models, receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve was used. According to the results, 12 factors in Ridge regression and 9 ones in Adaptive LASSO regression were significant. The area under the ROC curve (AUC of Adaptive LASSO was equal to 89% (95% CI: 86%–91%, which was significantly greater than Ridge regression (64%, 95% CI: 61%–68% (p<0.001. As a conclusion, the significant factors and the performance criteria revealed the superiority of Adaptive LASSO method as a penalized model versus traditional regression model in the present study.

  13. Bipolar disorder: The importance of clinical assessment in identifying prognostic factors - An Audit. Part 1: An analysis of potential prognostic factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdolini, Norma; Dean, Jonathon; Elisei, Sandro; Quartesan, Roberto; Zaman, Rashid; Agius, Mark

    2014-11-01

    Prognostic factors of bipolar disorder must be identified to assist in staging and treatment, and this may be done primarily during the initial psychiatric assessment. In fact, most of the prognostic factors, which determine disease outcome, could be detected from simple but often-unrecorded questions asked during the psychiatric clinic visit. We collected data from the clinical notes of 70 bipolar outpatients seen at the initial psychiatric assessment clinic about socio-demographic and clinical factors to determine whether various factors had relevance to prevalence, prognosis, or outcome. The sample comprised 16 bipolar I (22.9%) and 54 bipolar II (77.1%) outpatients; a psychiatric comorbidity was noted in 26 patients (37.1%). 60.9% (42 patients) reported anxiety features and 12 patients (17.6%) were noted to have obsessive-compulsive characteristics. Percentages reported in our results are of the sample for which the data was available. Anhedonia is a depressive feature that was present in most of the population where this data was available (92.2%, 59 patients) and 81.8% (54 patients) reported suicidal thoughts during a depressive episode. 74.6% (47 patients) had a family history of bipolar disorder, depression, suicide or psychosis. 27 patients (39.7%) reported current alcohol use and 14 patients (22.6%) current illicit drug use. A comparison between 10 prognostic factors found that only the correlations between current illicit drug use/previous illicit drug use (χ(2)=11.471, Palcohol use/previous alcohol use (χ(2)=31.510, Palcohol use (χ(2)=5.071, P=0.023) and previous alcohol use/family history (χ(2)=4.309, P=0.037) were almost statistically significant. 17 patients (24.3%) of the 70 bipolar patients were assigned to a care coordinator; we have evaluated the possible differences between the patients with or without a care coordinator on the basis of the presence of 10 possible prognostic factors and found no statistically significant differences between

  14. Identifying research priorities for effective retention strategies in clinical trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kearney, Anna; Daykin, Anne; Shaw, Alison R G; Lane, Athene J; Blazeby, Jane M; Clarke, Mike; Williamson, Paula; Gamble, Carrol

    2017-08-31

    The failure to retain patients or collect primary-outcome data is a common challenge for trials and reduces the statistical power and potentially introduces bias into the analysis. Identifying strategies to minimise missing data was the second highest methodological research priority in a Delphi survey of the Directors of UK Clinical Trial Units (CTUs) and is important to minimise waste in research. Our aim was to assess the current retention practices within the UK and priorities for future research to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to reduce attrition. Seventy-five chief investigators of NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA)-funded trials starting between 2009 and 2012 were surveyed to elicit their awareness about causes of missing data within their trial and recommended practices for improving retention. Forty-seven CTUs registered within the UKCRC network were surveyed separately to identify approaches and strategies being used to mitigate missing data across trials. Responses from the current practice surveys were used to inform a subsequent two-round Delphi survey with registered CTUs. A consensus list of retention research strategies was produced and ranked by priority. Fifty out of seventy-five (67%) chief investigators and 33/47 (70%) registered CTUs completed the current practice surveys. Seventy-eight percent of trialists were aware of retention challenges and implemented strategies at trial design. Patient-initiated withdrawal was the most common cause of missing data. Registered CTUs routinely used newsletters, timeline of participant visits, and telephone reminders to mitigate missing data. Whilst 36 out of 59 strategies presented had been formally or informally evaluated, some frequently used strategies, such as site initiation training, have had no research to inform practice. Thirty-five registered CTUs (74%) participated in the Delphi survey. Research into the effectiveness of site initiation training, frequency of patient contact

  15. Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria: Lessons ... for Health Research Ethics in enforcing researchers' compliance with ethical standards in ... Genuine respect for human dignity requires deeper understanding of ...

  16. Economic Education within the BME Research Community: Rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asarta, Carlos J.

    2016-01-01

    Carlos Asarta comments here that Arbaugh, Fornaciari, and Hwang (2016) are to be commended for their work ("Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory" "Journal of Management Education," Dec 2016, see EJ1118407). Asarta says that they make several…

  17. The risk of re-identification versus the need to identify individuals in rare disease research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansson, Mats G; Lochmüller, Hanns; Riess, Olaf; Schaefer, Franz; Orth, Michael; Rubinstein, Yaffa; Molster, Caron; Dawkins, Hugh; Taruscio, Domenica; Posada, Manuel; Woods, Simon

    2016-11-01

    There is a growing concern in the ethics literature and among policy makers that de-identification or coding of personal data and biospecimens is not sufficient for protecting research subjects from privacy invasions and possible breaches of confidentiality due to the possibility of unauthorized re-identification. At the same time, there is a need in medical science to be able to identify individual patients. In particular for rare disease research there is a special and well-documented need for research collaboration so that data and biosamples from multiple independent studies can be shared across borders. In this article, we identify the needs and arguments related to de-identification and re-identification of patients and research subjects and suggest how the different needs may be balanced within a framework of using unique encrypted identifiers.

  18. Success Factors of Business Process Management Systems Implementation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Johan Versendaal; J.P.P. Ravesteijn

    2007-01-01

    In this research (critical) success factors for Business Process Management Systems implementation are identified and qualitatively validated. Furthermore a list of critical success factors is constructed. Based on the identified factors a BPMS implementation approach is suggested. Future research

  19. Predicting survival function and identifying associated factors in patients with renal insufficiency in the metropolitan area of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramires, Thiago G; Nakamura, Luiz R; Righetto, Ana J; Ortega, Edwin M M; Cordeiro, Gauss M

    2018-02-05

    Renal insufficiency is a serious medical and public health problem worldwide. Recently, although many surveys have been developed to identify factors related to the lifetime of patients with renal insufficiency, controversial results from several studies suggest that researches should be conducted by region. Thus, in this study we aim to predict and identify factors associated with the lifetime of patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) in the metropolitan area of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil, based on the generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS) framework. Data used in this study were collected from the Maringá Kidney Institute and comprehends 177 patients (classified with CRF and mostly being treated under the Brazilian Unified National Health System) enrolled in a hemodialysis program from 1978 up to 2010. By using this approach, we concluded that in other regions, gender, kidney transplant indicator, antibodies to hepatitis B and antibodies to hepatitis C are significant factors that affect the expected lifetime.

  20. Predicting survival function and identifying associated factors in patients with renal insufficiency in the metropolitan area of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thiago G. Ramires

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Renal insufficiency is a serious medical and public health problem worldwide. Recently, although many surveys have been developed to identify factors related to the lifetime of patients with renal insufficiency, controversial results from several studies suggest that researches should be conducted by region. Thus, in this study we aim to predict and identify factors associated with the lifetime of patients with chronic renal failure (CRF in the metropolitan area of Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil, based on the generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS framework. Data used in this study were collected from the Maringá Kidney Institute and comprehends 177 patients (classified with CRF and mostly being treated under the Brazilian Unified National Health System enrolled in a hemodialysis program from 1978 up to 2010. By using this approach, we concluded that in other regions, gender, kidney transplant indicator, antibodies to hepatitis B and antibodies to hepatitis C are significant factors that affect the expected lifetime.

  1. Research Students' Satisfaction in Jamshoro Education City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jagul Huma Lashari

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This study is performed to identify and examine research students? satisfaction in three universities; SU (University of Sindh, MUET (Mehran University of Engineering & Technology and LUMHS (Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences at Jamshoro Education City. Different service factors required for research students are identified and examined by using a triangulation technique (interviews and quantitative (survey questionnaire. Data is analyzed by using descriptive analysis and chi-square test to obtain the required results. In total, 27 service factors related to research students? satisfaction, identified by interviews & literature review have been organized under three clusters: ?University policies?; ?University Services? and ?Role of Supervisor?. The survey analysis revealed that all identified factors are positively related to research students? satisfaction. Result identifies difference in the research students? experiences with respect to their characteristics including (enrolled university, financial resources, employment status. The comparison of different service factors also shows differences in three clusters within the universities. The satisfaction of research students associated with ?role of supervisor? were identified as most satisfying experience in comparison to ?university policies? and ?university services? of Jamshoro Education City. In the end, research has derived a new framework of SDC (Satisfaction for Degree Completion framework to identify and examine the research students satisfaction

  2. Good and Bad Research Collaborations: Researchers' Views on Science and Ethics in Global Health Research.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Parker

    Full Text Available There has been a dramatic rise in the scale and scope of collaborative global health research. A number of structural and scientific factors explain this growth and there has been much discussion of these in the literature. Little, if any, attention has been paid, however, to the factors identified by scientists and other research actors as important to successful research collaboration. This is surprising given that their decisions are likely to play a key role in the sustainability and effectiveness of global health research initiatives. In this paper, we report on qualitative research with leading scientists involved in major international research collaborations about their views on good and bad collaborations and the factors that inform their decision-making about joining and participating actively in research networks. We identify and discuss eight factors that researchers see as essential in judging the merits of active participation in global health research collaborations: opportunities for active involvement in cutting-edge, interesting science; effective leadership; competence of potential partners in and commitment to good scientific practice; capacity building; respect for the needs, interests and agendas of partners; opportunities for discussion and disagreement; trust and confidence; and, justice and fairness in collaboration. Our findings suggest that the sustainability and effectiveness of global health research collaborations has an important ethical or moral dimension for the research actors involved.

  3. Good and Bad Research Collaborations: Researchers' Views on Science and Ethics in Global Health Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Michael; Kingori, Patricia

    2016-01-01

    There has been a dramatic rise in the scale and scope of collaborative global health research. A number of structural and scientific factors explain this growth and there has been much discussion of these in the literature. Little, if any, attention has been paid, however, to the factors identified by scientists and other research actors as important to successful research collaboration. This is surprising given that their decisions are likely to play a key role in the sustainability and effectiveness of global health research initiatives. In this paper, we report on qualitative research with leading scientists involved in major international research collaborations about their views on good and bad collaborations and the factors that inform their decision-making about joining and participating actively in research networks. We identify and discuss eight factors that researchers see as essential in judging the merits of active participation in global health research collaborations: opportunities for active involvement in cutting-edge, interesting science; effective leadership; competence of potential partners in and commitment to good scientific practice; capacity building; respect for the needs, interests and agendas of partners; opportunities for discussion and disagreement; trust and confidence; and, justice and fairness in collaboration. Our findings suggest that the sustainability and effectiveness of global health research collaborations has an important ethical or moral dimension for the research actors involved.

  4. Identifying and Ranking the Factors Affecting Virtuousness in Yazd University-Affiliated Hospitals

    OpenAIRE

    H Shekari; N Jalalian

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Introduction: Recently virtue has become a topic of serious examination among organizational researchers. In other words, organizations are moving toward virtuous organization. The purpose of this paper is determining and prioritizing the principal factors of a virtuous organization in Yazd University-Affiliated Hospitals in order to put virtues into practice. Methods: The procedure we proposed to reach the research aim consists of three steps. In the first Step, we extracted...

  5. Patient and carer identified factors which contribute to safety incidents in primary care: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernan, Andrea L; Giles, Sally J; Fuller, Jeffrey; Johnson, Julie K; Walker, Christine; Dunbar, James A

    2015-09-01

    Patients can have an important role in reducing harm in primary-care settings. Learning from patient experience and feedback could improve patient safety. Evidence that captures patients' views of the various contributory factors to creating safe primary care is largely absent. The aim of this study was to address this evidence gap. Four focus groups and eight semistructured interviews were conducted with 34 patients and carers from south-east Australia. Participants were asked to describe their experiences of primary care. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and specific factors that contribute to safety incidents were identified in the analysis using the Yorkshire Contributory Factors Framework (YCFF). Other factors emerging from the data were also ascertained and added to the analytical framework. Thirteen factors that contribute to safety incidents in primary care were ascertained. Five unique factors for the primary-care setting were discovered in conjunction with eight factors present in the YCFF from hospital settings. The five unique primary care contributing factors to safety incidents represented a range of levels within the primary-care system from local working conditions to the upstream organisational level and the external policy context. The 13 factors included communication, access, patient factors, external policy context, dignity and respect, primary-secondary interface, continuity of care, task performance, task characteristics, time in the consultation, safety culture, team factors and the physical environment. Patient and carer feedback of this type could help primary-care professionals better understand and identify potential safety concerns and make appropriate service improvements. The comprehensive range of factors identified provides the groundwork for developing tools that systematically capture the multiple contributory factors to patient safety. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not

  6. 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...

  7. Identifying multiple submissions in Internet research: preserving data integrity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowen, Anne M; Daniel, Candice M; Williams, Mark L; Baird, Grayson L

    2008-11-01

    Internet-based sexuality research with hidden populations has become increasingly popular. Respondent anonymity may encourage participation and lower social desirability, but associated disinhibition may promote multiple submissions, especially when incentives are offered. The goal of this study was to identify the usefulness of different variables for detecting multiple submissions from repeat responders and to explore incentive effects. The data included 1,900 submissions from a three-session Internet intervention with a pretest and three post-test questionnaires. Participants were men who have sex with men and incentives were offered to rural participants for completing each questionnaire. The final number of submissions included 1,273 "unique", 132 first submissions by "repeat responders" and 495 additional submissions by the "repeat responders" (N = 1,900). Four categories of repeat responders were identified: "infrequent" (2-5 submissions), "persistent" (6-10 submissions), "very persistent" (11-30 submissions), and "hackers" (more than 30 submissions). Internet Provider (IP) addresses, user names, and passwords were the most useful for identifying "infrequent" repeat responders. "Hackers" often varied their IP address and identifying information to prevent easy identification, but investigating the data for small variations in IP, using reverse telephone look up, and patterns across usernames and passwords were helpful. Incentives appeared to play a role in stimulating multiple submissions, especially from the more sophisticated "hackers". Finally, the web is ever evolving and it will be necessary to have good programmers and staff who evolve as fast as "hackers".

  8. FACEBOOK for CoP of Researchers: Identifying the Needs and Evaluating the Compatibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sami Miniaoui

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Communities of practice (CoPs are increasingly capturing the interest of many fields such as business companies, education and organizations. Many CoPs were developed for people who have common interest in healthcare, agriculture and environment, and teaching. However, there is lack of COPs dedicated for researchers. This research aims to explore the appropriateness of Facebook (FB as a platform for serving a CoP of researchers. To achieve this goal, first we identify the needs of CoPs for researchers within UAE context. Consequently, we adopted qualitative research approach to elicit the needs. We applied the grounded theory method to analyze the data. The results of the analysis showed seven main needs: collaboration, debating, awareness/ notification, reference management, cross search, customization, tracking, and user orientation. Secondly, we evaluated the compatibility of FB features to the identified needs. Although we found that FB covers most of CoPs needs, there are few needs which are not met successfully so this raised some technical and practical issues, which have been highlighted in the paper.

  9. Application of FEPs analysis to identify research priorities relevant to the safety case for an Australian radioactive waste facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Payne, T.E.; McGlinn, P.J.

    2007-01-01

    The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has established a project to undertake research relevant to the safety case for the proposed Australian radioactive waste facility. This facility will comprise a store for intermediate level radioactive waste, and either a store or a near-surface repository for low-level waste. In order to identify the research priorities for this project, a structured analysis of the features, events and processes (FEPs) relevant to the performance of the facility was undertaken. This analysis was based on the list of 137 FEPs developed by the IAEA project on 'Safety Assessment Methodologies for Near Surface Disposal Facilities' (ISAM). A number of key research issues were identified, and some factors which differ in significance for the store, compared to the repository concept, were highlighted. For example, FEPs related to long-term groundwater transport of radionuclides are considered to be of less significance for a store than a repository. On the other hand, structural damage from severe weather, accident or human interference is more likely for a store. The FEPs analysis has enabled the scientific research skills required for the inter-disciplinary project team to be specified. The outcomes of the research will eventually be utilised in developing the design, and assessing the performance, of the future facility. It is anticipated that a more detailed application of the FEPs methodology will be undertaken to develop the safety case for the proposed radioactive waste management facility. (authors)

  10. Use of clinical risk factors to identify postmenopausal women with vertebral fractures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobias, J H; Hutchinson, A P; Hunt, L P; McCloskey, E V; Stone, M D; Martin, J C; Thompson, P W; Palferman, T G; Bhalla, A K

    2007-01-01

    Previous studies have been unable to identify risk factors for prevalent vertebral fractures (VF), which are suitable for use in selection strategies intended to target high-risk sub-groups for diagnostic assessment. However, these studies generally consisted of large epidemiology surveys based on questionnaires and were only able to evaluate a limited number of risk factors. Here, we investigated whether a stronger relationship exists with prevalent VF when conventional risk factors are combined with additional information obtained from detailed one-to-one assessment. Women aged 65-75 registered at four geographically distinct GP practices were invited to participate (n=1,518), of whom 540 attended for assessment as follows: a questionnaire asking about risk factors for osteoporosis such as height loss compared to age 25 and history of non-vertebral fracture (NVF), the get-up-and-go test, Margolis back pain score, measurement of wall-tragus and rib-pelvis distances, and BMD as measured by the distal forearm BMD. A lateral thoraco-lumbar spine X-ray was obtained, which was subsequently scored for the presence of significant vertebral deformities. Of the 509 subjects who underwent spinal radiographs, 37 (7.3%) were found to have one or more VF. Following logistic regression analysis, the four most predictive clinical risk factors for prevalent VF were: height loss (P=0.006), past NVF (P=0.004), history of back pain (P=0.075) and age (P=0.05). BMD was also significantly associated with prevalent VF (P=0.002), but its inclusion did not affect associations with other variables. Factors elicited from detailed one-to-one assessment were not related to the risk of one or more prevalent VFs. The area under ROC curves derived from these regressions, which suggested that models for prevalent VF had modest predictive accuracy, were as follows: 0.68 (BMD), 0.74 (four clinical risk factors above) and 0.78 (clinical risk factors + BMD). Analyses were repeated in relation to the

  11. Ethical issues in identifying and recruiting participants for familial genetic research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beskow, Laura M; Botkin, Jeffrey R; Daly, Mary; Juengst, Eric T; Lehmann, Lisa Soleymani; Merz, Jon F; Pentz, Rebecca; Press, Nancy A; Ross, Lainie Friedman; Sugarman, Jeremy; Susswein, Lisa R; Terry, Sharon F; Austin, Melissa A; Burke, Wylie

    2004-11-01

    Family-based research is essential to understanding the genetic and environmental etiology of human disease. The success of family-based research often depends on investigators' ability to identify, recruit, and achieve a high participation rate among eligible family members. However, recruitment of family members raises ethical concerns due to the tension between protecting participants' privacy and promoting research quality, and guidelines for these activities are not well established. The Cancer Genetics Network Bioethics Committee assembled a multidisciplinary group to explore the scientific and ethical issues that arise in the process of family-based recruitment. The group used a literature review as well as expert opinion to develop recommendations about appropriate approaches to identifying, contacting, and recruiting family members. We conclude that there is no single correct approach, but recommend a balanced approach that takes into account the nature of the particular study as well as its recruitment goals. Recruitment of family members should be viewed as part of the research protocol and should require appropriate informed consent of the already-enrolled participant. Investigators should inform prospective participants why they are being contacted, how information about them was obtained, and what will happen to that information if they decide not to participate. The recruitment process should also be sensitive to the fact that some individuals from families at increased genetic risk will have no prior knowledge of their risk status. These recommendations are put forward to promote further discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to family-based recruitment. They suggest a framework for considering alternative recruitment strategies and their implications, as well as highlight areas in need of further empirical research. (c) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  12. Identifying future research needs in landscape genetics: Where to from here?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niko Balkenhol; Felix Gugerli; Sam A. Cushman; Lisette P. Waits; Aurelie Coulon; J. W. Arntzen; Rolf Holderegger; Helene H. Wagner

    2009-01-01

    Landscape genetics is an emerging interdisciplinary field that combines methods and concepts from population genetics, landscape ecology, and spatial statistics. The interest in landscape genetics is steadily increasing, and the field is evolving rapidly. We here outline four major challenges for future landscape genetic research that were identified during an...

  13. Identifying research priorities for patient safety in mental health: an international expert Delphi study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Kevin; Thibaut, Bethan; Ramtale, Sonny Christian; Adam, Sheila; Darzi, Ara; Archer, Stephanie

    2018-01-01

    Objective Physical healthcare has dominated the patient safety field; research in mental healthcare is not as extensive but findings from physical healthcare cannot be applied to mental healthcare because it delivers specialised care that faces unique challenges. Therefore, a clearer focus and recognition of patient safety in mental health as a distinct research area is still needed. The study aim is to identify future research priorities in the field of patient safety in mental health. Design Semistructured interviews were conducted with the experts to ascertain their views on research priorities in patient safety in mental health. A three-round online Delphi study was used to ascertain consensus on 117 research priority statements. Setting and participants Academic and service user experts from the USA, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore were included. Main outcome measures Agreement in research priorities on a five-point scale. Results Seventy-nine statements achieved consensus (>70%). Three out of the top six research priorities were patient driven; experts agreed that understanding the patient perspective on safety planning, on self-harm and on medication was important. Conclusions This is the first international Delphi study to identify research priorities in safety in the mental field as determined by expert academic and service user perspectives. A reasonable consensus was obtained from international perspectives on future research priorities in patient safety in mental health; however, the patient perspective on their mental healthcare is a priority. The research agenda for patient safety in mental health identified here should be informed by patient safety science more broadly and used to further establish this area as a priority in its own right. The safety of mental health patients must have parity with that of physical health patients to achieve this. PMID:29502096

  14. The Identifying, Evaluating and Prioritizing the Factors Affecting Customers’ Satisfaction with E-service Centers of Iran's Police

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seyed Ali Ziaee Azimi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The present research is classified as an applied one employing a descriptive survey design to describe the status quo of the factors affecting customers’ satisfaction with the E-service centers of Iran’s police, known as 10 + police centers. The research population involves all the costumers of the 10+ police centers, among which 420 individuals were chosen through simple random sampling technique. Furthermore, 45 10 + police service centers were selected with probability proportional to size. After Determining the validity and reliability of the researcher-made questionnaire, it has been used to collect the required data. Then, a conceptual model was developed using the theoretical framework and background literature. After that, SPSS software was used to examine and make an analysis of the research hypothesises. The findings indicate that all the identified indices to the customers’ satisfaction with the 10 + police e- service centers (including trust and confidence, staff performance, system facility, environmental facility, basic amenity, providing sufficient notification, time and cost, easy access to the office have an effect on the customers’ satisfaction. In the end, some practical suggestions were made for an improvement in the satisfaction level of the customers to the 10 + police e- service centers.

  15. Proteomic analysis of polyribosomes identifies splicing factors as potential regulators of translation during mitosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aviner, Ranen; Hofmann, Sarah; Elman, Tamar; Shenoy, Anjana; Geiger, Tamar; Elkon, Ran; Ehrlich, Marcelo; Elroy-Stein, Orna

    2017-06-02

    Precise regulation of mRNA translation is critical for proper cell division, but little is known about the factors that mediate it. To identify mRNA-binding proteins that regulate translation during mitosis, we analyzed the composition of polysomes from interphase and mitotic cells using unbiased quantitative mass-spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). We found that mitotic polysomes are enriched with a subset of proteins involved in RNA processing, including alternative splicing and RNA export. To demonstrate that these may indeed be regulators of translation, we focused on heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein C (hnRNP C) as a test case and confirmed that it is recruited to elongating ribosomes during mitosis. Then, using a combination of pulsed SILAC, metabolic labeling and ribosome profiling, we showed that knockdown of hnRNP C affects both global and transcript-specific translation rates and found that hnRNP C is specifically important for translation of mRNAs that encode ribosomal proteins and translation factors. Taken together, our results demonstrate how proteomic analysis of polysomes can provide insight into translation regulation under various cellular conditions of interest and suggest that hnRNP C facilitates production of translation machinery components during mitosis to provide daughter cells with the ability to efficiently synthesize proteins as they enter G1 phase. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  16. The potential for research-based information in public health: Identifying unrecognised information needs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Forsetlund Louise

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Objective To explore whether there is a potential for greater use of research-based information in public health practice in a local setting. Secondly, if research-based information is relevant, to explore the extent to which this generates questioning behaviour. Design Qualitative study using focus group discussions, observation and interviews. Setting Public health practices in Norway. Participants 52 public health practitioners. Results In general, the public health practitioners had a positive attitude towards research-based information, but believed that they had few cases requiring this type of information. They did say, however, that there might be a potential for greater use. During five focus groups and six observation days we identified 28 questions/cases where it would have been appropriate to seek out research evidence according to our definition. Three of the public health practitioners identified three of these 28 cases as questions for which research-based information could have been relevant. This gap is interpreted as representing unrecognised information needs. Conclusions There is an unrealised potential in public health practice for more frequent and extensive use of research-based information. The practitioners did not appear to reflect on the need for scientific information when faced with new cases and few questions of this type were generated.

  17. Impact of Antecedent Factors on Collaborative Technologies Usage among Academic Researchers in Malaysian Research Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohd Daud, Norzaidi; Zakaria, Halimi

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of antecedent factors on collaborative technologies usage among academic researchers in Malaysian research universities. Design/methodology/approach: Data analysis was conducted on data collected from 156 academic researchers from five Malaysian research universities. This study…

  18. 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

  19. Measuring lifetime stress exposure and protective factors in life course research on racial inequality and birth outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malat, Jennifer; Jacquez, Farrah; Slavich, George M

    2017-07-01

    There has been a long-standing interest in better understanding how social factors contribute to racial disparities in health, including birth outcomes. A recent emphasis in this context has been on identifying the effects of stress exposure and protective factors experienced over the entire lifetime. Yet despite repeated calls for a life course approach to research on this topic, very few studies have actually assessed how stressors and protective factors occurring over women's lives relate to birth outcomes. We discuss this issue here by describing how challenges in the measurement of lifetime stress exposure and protective factors have prevented researchers from developing an empirically-based life course perspective on health. First, we summarize prevailing views on racial inequality and birth outcomes; second, we discuss measurement challenges that exist in this context; and finally, we describe both new tools and needed tools for assessing lifetime stress exposure and suggest opportunities for integrating information on stress exposure and psychosocial protective factors. We conclude that more studies are needed that integrate information about lifetime stress exposures and the protective factors that promote resilience against such exposures to inform policy and practice recommendations to reduce racial disparities in birth outcomes.

  20. Identifying the conditions needed for integrated knowledge translation (IKT) in health care organizations: qualitative interviews with researchers and research users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagliardi, Anna R; Dobrow, Mark J

    2016-07-12

    Collaboration among researchers and research users, or integrated knowledge translation (IKT), enhances the relevance and uptake of evidence into policy and practice. However, it is not widely practiced and, even when well-resourced, desired impacts may not be achieved. Given that large-scale investment is not the norm, further research is needed to identify how IKT can be optimized. Interviews were conducted with researchers and research users (clinicians, managers) in a health care delivery (HCDO) and health care monitoring (HCMO) organization that differed in size and infrastructure, and were IKT-naïve. Basic qualitative description was used. Participants were asked about IKT activities and challenges, and recommendations for optimizing IKT. Data were analysed inductively using constant comparative technique. Forty-three interviews were conducted (28 HCDO, 15 HCMO) with 13 researchers, 8 clinicians, and 22 managers. Little to no IKT took place. Participants articulated similar challenges and recommendations revealing that a considerable number of changes were needed at the organizational, professional and individual levels. Given the IKT-absent state of participating organizations, this research identified a core set of conditions which must be addressed to prepare an environment conducive to IKT. These conditions were compiled into a framework by which organizations can plan for, or evaluate their capacity for IKT. The IKT capacity framework is relevant for organizations in which there is no current IKT activity. Use of the IKT framework may result in more organizations that are ready to initiate and establish IKT, perhaps ultimately leading to more, and higher-quality collaboration for health system innovation. Further research is needed to confirm these findings in other organizations not yet resourced for, or undertaking IKT, and to explore the resource implications and mechanisms for establishing the conditions identified here as essential to preparing for

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2014-12-14

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

  2. Identifying and Prioritizing Information Needs and Research Priorities of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Practitioners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegfried, Alexa L; Carbone, Eric G; Meit, Michael B; Kennedy, Mallory J; Yusuf, Hussain; Kahn, Emily B

    2017-10-01

    This study describes findings from an assessment conducted to identify perceived knowledge gaps, information needs, and research priorities among state, territorial, and local public health preparedness directors and coordinators related to public health emergency preparedness and response (PHPR). The goal of the study was to gather information that would be useful for ensuring that future funding for research and evaluation targets areas most critical for advancing public health practice. We implemented a mixed-methods approach to identify and prioritize PHPR research questions. A web survey was sent to all state, city, and territorial health agencies funded through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreement program and a sample of local health departments (LHDs). Three focus groups of state and local practitioners and subject matter experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were subsequently conducted, followed by 3 meetings of an expert panel of PHPR practitioners and CDC experts to prioritize and refine the research questions. We identified a final list of 44 research questions that were deemed by study participants as priority topics where future research can inform PHPR programs and practice. We identified differences in perceived research priorities between PHEP awardees and LHD survey respondents; the number of research questions rated as important was greater among LHDs than among PHEP awardees (75%, n=33, compared to 24%, n=15). The research questions identified provide insight into public health practitioners' perceived knowledge gaps and the types of information that would be most useful for informing and advancing PHPR practice. The study also points to a higher level of information need among LHDs than among PHEP awardees. These findings are important for CDC and the PHPR research community to ensure that future research studies are responsive to practitioners' needs and provide the information

  3. Testing job typologies and identifying at-risk subpopulations using factor mixture models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keller, A. C.; Igic, Ivana; Meier, Laurenz L.; Semmer, N. K.; Schaubroeck, J.; Brunner, Beatrice; Elfering, Achim

    2017-01-01

    Research in occupational health psychology has tended to focus on the effects of single job characteristics or various job characteristics combined into 1 factor. However, such a variable-centered approach does not account for the clustering of job attributes among groups of employees. We addressed

  4. Identifying risk factors for PTSD in women seeking medical help after rape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiihonen Möller, Anna; Bäckström, Torbjörn; Söndergaard, Hans Peter; Helström, Lotti

    2014-01-01

    Rape has been found to be the trauma most commonly associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among women. It is therefore important to be able to identify those women at greatest risk of developing PTSD. The aims of the present study were to analyze the PTSD prevalence six months after sexual assaults and identify the major risk factors for developing PTSD. Participants were 317 female victims of rape who sought help at the Emergency Clinic for Raped Women at Stockholm South Hospital, Sweden. Baseline assessments of mental health were carried out and followed up after six months. Thirty-nine percent of the women had developed PTSD at the six month assessment, and 47% suffered from moderate or severe depression. The major risk factors for PTSD were having been sexually assaulted by more than one person, suffering from acute stress disorder (ASD) shortly after the assault, having been exposed to several acts during the assault, having been injured, having co-morbid depression, and having a history of more than two earlier traumas. Further, ASD on its own was found to be a poor predictor of PTSD because of the substantial ceiling effect after sexual assaults. Development of PTSD is common in the aftermath of sexual assaults. Increased risk of developing PTSD is caused by a combination of victim vulnerability and the extent of the dramatic nature of the current assault. By identifying those women at greatest risk of developing PTSD appropriate therapeutic resources can be directed.

  5. Identifying risk factors associated with smear positivity of pulmonary tuberculosis in Kazakhstan.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabrina Hermosilla

    Full Text Available Sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB patients have a high risk of transmission and are of great epidemiological and infection control significance. Little is known about the smear-positive populations in high TB burden regions, such as Kazakhstan. The objective of this study is to characterize the smear-positive population in Kazakhstan and identify associated modifiable risk factors.Data on incident TB cases' (identified between April 2012 and March 2014 socio-demographic, risk behavior, and comorbidity characteristics were collected in four regions of Kazakhstan through structured survey and medical record review. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine factors associated with smear positivity.Of the total sample, 193 (34.3% of the 562 study participants tested smear-positive. In the final adjusted multivariable logistic regression model, sex (adjusted odds ratio (aOR = 2.0, 95% CI:1.3-3.1, p < 0.01, incarceration (aOR = 3.6, 95% CI:1.2-11.1, p = 0.03, alcohol dependence (aOR = 2.6, 95% CI:1.2-5.7, p = 0.02, diabetes (aOR = 5.0, 95% CI:2.4-10.7, p < 0.01, and physician access (aOR = 2.7, 95% CI:1.3-5.5p < 0.01 were associated with smear-positivity.Incarceration, alcohol dependence, diabetes, and physician access are associated with smear positivity among incident TB cases in Kazakhstan. To stem the TB epidemic, screening, treatment and prevention policies should address these factors.

  6. Protocol for a thematic synthesis to identify key themes and messages from a palliative care research network.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Nicholson, Emma

    2016-10-21

    Research networks that facilitate collaborative research are increasing both regionally and globally and such collaborations contribute greatly to knowledge transfer particularly in health research. The Palliative Care Research Network is an Irish-based network that seeks to create opportunities and engender a collaborative environment to encourage innovative research that is relevant for policy and practice. The current review outlines a methodology to identify cross-cutting messages to identify how dissemination outputs can be optimized to ensure that key messages from this research reaches all knowledge users.

  7. IDENTIFYING FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE SATISFACTION OF STUDENTS IN E-LEARNING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Levent CALLI,

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available There has been an increasing interest in the application of e-learning through the enhancement of internet and computer technologies. Satisfaction has appeared as a key factor in order to develop efficient course content in line with students’ demands and expectations. Thus, a lot of research has been conducted on the concept of satisfaction in electronic environments. Satisfaction has been seen to be the most significant variable on loyalty and usage intention in marketing and information science terms, which can also be highly related to academic success. In this regard, this study set out to investigate the effects of several variables on the learning processes of 930 e-learning students in the Sakarya University distance learning program. The findings of the research indicated that factors perceived playfulness, perceived ease of use and multimedia content effectiveness had a significant effect on perceived usefulness. Furthermore, it was concluded that satisfaction was affected by perceived usefulness, perceived playfulness and multimedia content effectivenes

  8. Identifying factors associated with the discharge of male State patients from Weskoppies Hospital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Riaan G. Prinsloo

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Designated psychiatric facilities are responsible for the care, treatment and reintegration of State patients. The necessary long-term care places a considerable strain on health-care resources. Resource use should be optimised while managing the risks that patients pose to themselves and the community. Identifying unique factors associated with earlier discharge may decrease the length of stay. Factors associated with protracted inpatient care without discharge could identify patients who require early and urgent intervention. Aim: We identify socio-economic, demographic, psychiatric and charge-related factors associated with the discharge of male State patients. Methods: We reviewed the files of discharged and admitted forensic State patients at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital. Data were captured in an electronic recording sheet. The association between factors and the outcome measure (discharged vs. admitted was determined using chi-squared tests and Fischer’s exact tests. Results: Discharged State patients were associated with being a primary caregiver (p = 0.031 having good insight into illness (p = 0.025 or offence (p = 0.005 and having had multiple successful leaves of absences. A lack of substance abuse during admission (p = 0.027, an absence of a diagnosis of substance use disorder (p = 0.013 and the absence of verbal and physical aggression (p = 0.002 and p = 0.016 were associated with being discharged. Prolonged total length of stay (9–12 years, p = 0.031 and prolonged length of stay in open wards (6–9 years, p = 0.000 were associated with being discharged. A history of previous offences (p = 0.022, a diagnosis of substance use disorder (p = 0.023, recent substance abuse (p = 0.018 and a history of physical aggression since admission (p = 0.017 were associated with continued admission. Conclusion: Discharge of State patients is associated with an absence of substance abuse, lack of aggression

  9. Critical research needs for identifying future changes in Gulf coral reef ecosystems

    KAUST Repository

    Feary, David A.

    2013-07-01

    Expert opinion was assessed to identify current knowledge gaps in determining future changes in Arabian/Persian Gulf (thereafter \\'Gulf\\') coral reefs. Thirty-one participants submitted 71 research questions that were peer-assessed in terms of scientific importance (i.e., filled a knowledge gap and was a research priority) and efficiency in resource use (i.e., was highly feasible and ecologically broad). Ten research questions, in six major research areas, were highly important for both understanding Gulf coral reef ecosystems and also an efficient use of limited research resources. These questions mirrored global evaluations of the importance of understanding and evaluating biodiversity, determining the potential impacts of climate change, the role of anthropogenic impacts in structuring coral reef communities, and economically evaluating coral reef communities. These questions provide guidance for future research on coral reef ecosystems within the Gulf, and enhance the potential for assessment and management of future changes in this globally significant region. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

  10. Critical research needs for identifying future changes in Gulf coral reef ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feary, David A.; Burt, John A.; Bauman, Andrew G.; Al Hazeem, Shaker; Abdel-Moati, Mohamed A.; Al-Khalifa, Khalifa A.; Anderson, Donald M.; Amos, Carl; Baker, Andrew; Bartholomew, Aaron; Bento, Rita; Cavalcante, Geórgenes H.; Chen, Chaolun Allen; Coles, Steve L.; Dab, Koosha; Fowler, Ashley M.; George, David; Grandcourt, Edwin; Hill, Ross; John, David M.; Jones, David A.; Keshavmurthy, Shashank; Mahmoud, Huda; Moradi Och Tapeh, Mahdi; Mostafavi, Pargol Ghavam; Naser, Humood; Pichon, Michel; Purkis, Sam; Riegl, Bernhard; Samimi-Namin, Kaveh; Sheppard, Charles; Vajed Samiei, Jahangir; Voolstra, Christian R.; Wiedenmann, Joerg

    2014-01-01

    Expert opinion was assessed to identify current knowledge gaps in determining future changes in Arabian/ Persian Gulf (thereafter ‘Gulf’) coral reefs. Thirty-one participants submitted 71 research questions that were peer-assessed in terms of scientific importance (i.e., filled a knowledge gap and was a research priority) and efficiency in resource use (i.e., was highly feasible and ecologically broad). Ten research questions, in six major research areas, were highly important for both understanding Gulf coral reef ecosystems and also an efficient use of limited research resources. These questions mirrored global evaluations of the importance of understanding and evaluating biodiversity, determining the potential impacts of climate change, the role of anthropogenic impacts in structuring coral reef communities, and economically evaluating coral reef communities. These questions provide guidance for future research on coral reef ecosystems within the Gulf, and enhance the potential for assessment and management of future changes in this globally significant region. PMID:23643407

  11. Critical research needs for identifying future changes in Gulf coral reef ecosystems

    KAUST Repository

    Feary, David A.; Burt, John A.; Bauman, Andrew G.; Al Hazeem, Shaker; Abdel-Moati, Mohamed A R; Al-Khalifa, Khalifa A.; Anderson, Donald M.; Amos, Carl L.; Baker, Andrew C.; Bartholomew, Aaron; Bento, Rita; Cavalcante, Geó rgenes H.; Chen, Chaolun Allen; Coles, Steve L.; Dab, Koosha; Fowler, Ashley M.; George, David Glen; Grandcourt, Edwin Mark; Hill, Ross; John, David Michael; Jones, David Alan; Keshavmurthy, Shashank; Mahmoud, Huda M A; Moradi Och Tapeh, Mahdi; Mostafavi, Pargol Ghavam; Naser, Humood A.; Pichon, Michel; Purkis, Sam J.; Riegl, Bernhard M.; Samimi-Namin, Kaveh; Sheppard, Charles R C; Vajed Samiei, Jahangir; Voolstra, Christian R.; Wiedenmann, Jö rg

    2013-01-01

    Expert opinion was assessed to identify current knowledge gaps in determining future changes in Arabian/Persian Gulf (thereafter 'Gulf') coral reefs. Thirty-one participants submitted 71 research questions that were peer-assessed in terms of scientific importance (i.e., filled a knowledge gap and was a research priority) and efficiency in resource use (i.e., was highly feasible and ecologically broad). Ten research questions, in six major research areas, were highly important for both understanding Gulf coral reef ecosystems and also an efficient use of limited research resources. These questions mirrored global evaluations of the importance of understanding and evaluating biodiversity, determining the potential impacts of climate change, the role of anthropogenic impacts in structuring coral reef communities, and economically evaluating coral reef communities. These questions provide guidance for future research on coral reef ecosystems within the Gulf, and enhance the potential for assessment and management of future changes in this globally significant region. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

  12. Identifying risk factors for PTSD in women seeking medical help after rape.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Tiihonen Möller

    Full Text Available Rape has been found to be the trauma most commonly associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD among women. It is therefore important to be able to identify those women at greatest risk of developing PTSD. The aims of the present study were to analyze the PTSD prevalence six months after sexual assaults and identify the major risk factors for developing PTSD.Participants were 317 female victims of rape who sought help at the Emergency Clinic for Raped Women at Stockholm South Hospital, Sweden. Baseline assessments of mental health were carried out and followed up after six months.Thirty-nine percent of the women had developed PTSD at the six month assessment, and 47% suffered from moderate or severe depression. The major risk factors for PTSD were having been sexually assaulted by more than one person, suffering from acute stress disorder (ASD shortly after the assault, having been exposed to several acts during the assault, having been injured, having co-morbid depression, and having a history of more than two earlier traumas. Further, ASD on its own was found to be a poor predictor of PTSD because of the substantial ceiling effect after sexual assaults.Development of PTSD is common in the aftermath of sexual assaults. Increased risk of developing PTSD is caused by a combination of victim vulnerability and the extent of the dramatic nature of the current assault. By identifying those women at greatest risk of developing PTSD appropriate therapeutic resources can be directed.

  13. Identifying Factors That Affect Higher Educational Achievements of Jamaican Seventh-Day Adventists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Samuel P.

    2011-01-01

    This mixed-method explanatory research examined factors that influenced Jamaican Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) members to pursue higher education. It sought to investigate whether the source of the motivation is tied to the Church's general philosophy on education or to its overall programs as experienced by the membership at large. The question of…

  14. Identifying at-risk profiles and protective factors for problem gambling: A longitudinal study across adolescence and early adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allami, Youssef; Vitaro, Frank; Brendgen, Mara; Carbonneau, René; Tremblay, Richard E

    2018-05-01

    Past studies have identified various risk and protective factors for problem gambling (PG). However, no study has examined the interplay between these factors using a combination of person-centered and variable-centered approaches embedded within a longitudinal design. The present study aimed to (a) identify distinct profiles in early adolescence based on a set of risk factors commonly associated with PG (impulsivity, depression, anxiety, drug-alcohol use, aggressiveness, and antisociality), (b) explore the difference in reported gambling problems between these profiles during midadolescence and early adulthood, and (c) identify family- and peer-related variables that could operate as protective or compensatory factors in this context. Two samples were used: (a) a population sample (N = 1,033) living in low socioeconomic-status neighborhoods and (b) a population sample (N = 3,017) representative of students attending Quebec schools. Latent profile analyses were conducted to identify at-risk profiles based on individual risk factors measured at age 12 years. Negative binomial regression models were estimated to compare profiles in terms of their reported gambling problems at ages 16 and 23. Finally, family- and peer-related variables measured at age 14 were included to test their protective or compensatory role with respect to the link between at-risk profiles and gambling problems. Four profiles were identified: well-adjusted, internalizing, externalizing, and comorbid. Compared to the well-adjusted profile, the externalizing and comorbid profiles reported more gambling problems at ages 16 and 23, but the internalizing profile did not differ significantly. Various protective and compensatory factors emerged for each profile at both time points. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  15. Research on Factors Influencing Municipal Household Solid Waste Separate Collection: Bayesian Belief Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhujie Chu

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Municipal household solid waste (MHSW has become a serious problem in China over the course of the last two decades, resulting in significant side effects to the environment. Therefore, effective management of MHSW has attracted wide attention from both researchers and practitioners. Separate collection, the first and crucial step to solve the MHSW problem, however, has not been thoroughly studied to date. An empirical survey has been conducted among 387 households in Harbin, China in this study. We use Bayesian Belief Networks model to determine the influencing factors on separate collection. Four types of factors are identified, including political, economic, social cultural and technological based on the PEST (political, economic, social and technological analytical method. In addition, we further analyze the influential power of different factors, based on the network structure and probability changes obtained by Netica software. Results indicate that technological dimension has the greatest impact on MHSW separate collection, followed by the political dimension and economic dimension; social cultural dimension impacts MHSW the least.

  16. Environmental factors and puberty timing: expert panel research needs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Louis, G.M. Buck; Jr, L.E. Gray; Marcus, M.

    2008-01-01

    Serono Symposia International convened an expert panel to review the impact of environmental influences on the regulation of pubertal onset and progression while identifying critical data gaps and future research priorities. An expert panel reviewed the literature on endocrine-disrupting chemicals......, body size, and puberty. The panel concluded that available experimental animal and human data support a possible role of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and body size in relation to alterations in pubertal onset and progression in boys and girls. Critical data gaps prioritized for future research......, and (3) basic research to identify the primary signal(s) for the onset of gonadotropin-releasing hormone-dependent/central puberty and gonadotropin-releasing hormone-independent/peripheral puberty. Prospective studies of couples who are planning pregnancies or pregnant women are needed to capture...

  17. Resident and Facility Factors Associated With the Incidence of Urinary Tract Infections Identified in the Nursing Home Minimum Data Set.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castle, Nicholas; Engberg, John B; Wagner, Laura M; Handler, Steven

    2017-02-01

    This research examined resident and facility-specific factors associated with a diagnosis of a urinary tract infection (UTI) in the nursing home setting. Minimum Data Set and Online Survey, Certification and Reporting system data were used to identify all nursing home residents in the United States on April 1, 2006, who did not have a UTI ( n = 1,138,418). Residents were followed until they contracted a UTI (9.5%), died (8.3%), left the nursing home (33.2%), or the year ended (49.0%). A Cox proportional hazards model was estimated, controlling for resident and facility characteristics and for the state of residence. The presence of an indwelling catheter was the primary predictor of whether a resident contracted a UTI (adjusted incidence ratio = 3.35, p factors such as percentage of Medicaid residents, for-profit, and chain status was less significant. Estimates regarding staffing levels indicate that increased contact hours with more highly educated nursing staff are associated with less catheter use. Several facility-specific risk factors are of significance. Of significance, UTIs may be reduced by modifying factors such as staffing levels.

  18. Where's the emotion? How sport psychology can inform research on emotion in human factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eccles, David W; Ward, Paul; Woodman, Tim; Janelle, Christopher M; Le Scanff, Christine; Ehrlinger, Joyce; Castanier, Carole; Coombes, Stephen A

    2011-04-01

    The aim of this study was to demonstrate how research on emotion in sport psychology might inform the field of human factors. Human factors historically has paid little attention to the role of emotion within the research on human-system relations. The theories, methods, and practices related to research on emotion within sport psychology might be informative for human factors because fundamentally, sport psychology and human factors are applied fields concerned with enhancing performance in complex, real-world domains. Reviews of three areas of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology are presented, and the relevancy of each area for human factors is proposed: (a) emotional preparation and regulation for performance, (b) an emotional trait explanation for risk taking in sport, and (c) the link between emotion and motor behavior. Finally, there are suggestions for how to continue cross-talk between human factors and sport psychology about research on emotion and related topics in the future. The relevance of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology for human factors is demonstrated. The human factors field and, in particular, research on human-system relations may benefit from a consideration of theory and research on emotion in sport psychology. Theories, methods, and practices from sport psychology might be applied usefully to human factors.

  19. The research-practice relationship in ergonomics and human factors--surveying and bridging the gap.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Amy Z Q; Shorrock, Steven T

    2011-05-01

    Significant discord has been aired regarding the widening research-practice gap in several disciplines (e.g. psychology, healthcare), especially with reference to research published in academic journals. The research-practice gap has profound and wide-ranging implications for the adequacy of ergonomics and human factors (E/HF) research and the implementation of research findings into practice. However, no substantive research on this issue has been identified in E/HF. Using an online questionnaire, practitioners were asked about their application of scientific research findings published in peer-reviewed journals and to suggest ways to improve research application in practice. A total of 587 usable responses were collected, spanning 46 countries. This article describes some of the key differences and correlations concerning reading, usefulness and barriers to application among respondents, who varied in terms of organisational type, percentage of work time devoted to application vs. research, society membership and experience. Various solutions proposed by the survey respondents on ways to bridge the research-practice gap are discussed. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: The relationship between research and practice in E/HF has long been a subject of discussion, with commentators pointing to tension and possible implications for the adequacy of the discipline. Findings from a cross-sectional survey provide ergonomics practitioners' views on research, leading to discussion of strategies for achieving better integration.

  20. Risk factor screening to identify women requiring oral glucose tolerance testing to diagnose gestational diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis and analysis of two pregnancy cohorts.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane Farrar

    Full Text Available Easily identifiable risk factors including: obesity and ethnicity at high risk of diabetes are commonly used to indicate which women should be offered the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT to diagnose gestational diabetes (GDM. Evidence regarding these risk factors is limited however. We conducted a systematic review (SR and meta-analysis and individual participant data (IPD analysis to evaluate the performance of risk factors in identifying women with GDM.We searched MEDLINE, Medline in Process, Embase, Maternity and Infant Care and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL up to August 2016 and conducted additional reference checking. We included observational, cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies reporting the performance characteristics of risk factors used to identify women at high risk of GDM. We had access to IPD from the Born in Bradford and Atlantic Diabetes in Pregnancy cohorts, all pregnant women in the two cohorts with data on risk factors and OGTT results were included.Twenty nine published studies with 211,698 women for the SR and a further 14,103 women from two birth cohorts (Born in Bradford and the Atlantic Diabetes in Pregnancy study for the IPD analysis were included. Six studies assessed the screening performance of guidelines; six examined combinations of risk factors; eight evaluated the number of risk factors and nine examined prediction models or scores. Meta-analysis using data from published studies suggests that irrespective of the method used, risk factors do not identify women with GDM well. Using IPD and combining risk factors to produce the highest sensitivities, results in low specificities (and so higher false positives. Strategies that use the risk factors of age (>25 or >30 and BMI (>25 or 30 perform as well as other strategies with additional risk factors included.Risk factor screening methods are poor predictors of which pregnant women will be diagnosed with GDM. A simple

  1. Research in business ethics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G.J. Rossouw

    2001-08-01

    Full Text Available Research in business ethics is vital for the expansion and credibility of this fairly recent academic field. This article argues that there are three factors that are crucially important for research in business ethics. They are (a the ontological assumptions that research in this field is premised upon, (b the choice of research strategies and methodologies and (c the role of theory in research practice. Each of these three factors is explored and pitfalls relating to each of them are identified. The article also suggests guidelines for dealing with each of these factors in business ethics research.

  2. Progress in the Legitimacy of Business and Management Education Research: Rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bacon, Donald R.

    2016-01-01

    In this rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory," published in the "Journal of Management Education," Dec 2016 (see EJ1118407), Donald R. Bacon discusses the similarities between Arbaugh et al.'s (2016) findings and the scholarship…

  3. NHash: Randomized N-Gram Hashing for Distributed Generation of Validatable Unique Study Identifiers in Multicenter Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Guo-Qiang; Tao, Shiqiang; Xing, Guangming; Mozes, Jeno; Zonjy, Bilal; Lhatoo, Samden D; Cui, Licong

    2015-11-10

    A unique study identifier serves as a key for linking research data about a study subject without revealing protected health information in the identifier. While sufficient for single-site and limited-scale studies, the use of common unique study identifiers has several drawbacks for large multicenter studies, where thousands of research participants may be recruited from multiple sites. An important property of study identifiers is error tolerance (or validatable), in that inadvertent editing mistakes during their transmission and use will most likely result in invalid study identifiers. This paper introduces a novel method called "Randomized N-gram Hashing (NHash)," for generating unique study identifiers in a distributed and validatable fashion, in multicenter research. NHash has a unique set of properties: (1) it is a pseudonym serving the purpose of linking research data about a study participant for research purposes; (2) it can be generated automatically in a completely distributed fashion with virtually no risk for identifier collision; (3) it incorporates a set of cryptographic hash functions based on N-grams, with a combination of additional encryption techniques such as a shift cipher; (d) it is validatable (error tolerant) in the sense that inadvertent edit errors will mostly result in invalid identifiers. NHash consists of 2 phases. First, an intermediate string using randomized N-gram hashing is generated. This string consists of a collection of N-gram hashes f1, f2, ..., fk. The input for each function fi has 3 components: a random number r, an integer n, and input data m. The result, fi(r, n, m), is an n-gram of m with a starting position s, which is computed as (r mod |m|), where |m| represents the length of m. The output for Step 1 is the concatenation of the sequence f1(r1, n1, m1), f2(r2, n2, m2), ..., fk(rk, nk, mk). In the second phase, the intermediate string generated in Phase 1 is encrypted using techniques such as shift cipher. The result

  4. 75 FR 57768 - Access to Confidential Business Information by Eastern Research Group and Its Identified...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-22

    ... Business Information by Eastern Research Group and Its Identified Subcontractor AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: EPA has authorized its contractor, Eastern Research Group... the information may be claimed or determined to be Confidential Business Information (CBI). DATES...

  5. Quantitative and mixed analyses to identify factors that affect cervical cancer screening uptake among lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Michael J; Mueller, Martina; Eliason, Michele J; Stuart, Gail; Nemeth, Lynne S

    2016-12-01

    The purposes of this study were to measure the prevalence of, and identify factors associated with, cervical cancer screening among a sample of lesbian, bisexual and queer women, and transgender men. Past research has found that lesbian, bisexual and queer women underuse cervical screening service. Because deficient screening remains the most significant risk factor for cervical cancer, it is essential to understand the differences between routine and nonroutine screeners. A convergent-parallel mixed methods design. A convenience sample of 21- to 65-year-old lesbian and bisexual women and transgender men were recruited in the USA from August-December 2014. Quantitative data were collected via a 48-item Internet questionnaire (N = 226), and qualitative data were collected through in-depth telephone interviews (N = 20) and open-ended questions on the Internet questionnaire. Seventy-three per cent of the sample was routine cervical screeners. The results showed that a constellation of factors influence the use of cervical cancer screening among lesbian, bisexual and queer women. Some of those factors overlap with the general female population, whereas others are specific to the lesbian, bisexual or queer identity. Routine screeners reported feeling more welcome in the health care setting, while nonroutine screeners reported more discrimination related to their sexual orientation and gender expression. Routine screeners were also more likely to 'out' to their provider. The quantitative and qualitative factors were also compared and contrasted. Many of the factors identified in this study to influence cervical cancer screening relate to the health care environment and to interactions between the patient and provider. Nurses should be involved with creating welcoming environments for lesbian, bisexual and queer women and their partners. Moreover, nurses play a large role in patient education and should promote self-care behaviours among lesbian women and transgender

  6. Analysis of the intellectual structure of human space exploration research using a bibliometric approach: Focus on human related factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Tai Sik; Lee, Yoon-Sun; Lee, Jaeho; Chang, Byung Chul

    2018-02-01

    Human space exploration (HSE) is an interdisciplinary field composed of a range of subjects that have developed dramatically over the last few decades. This paper investigates the intellectual structure of HSE research with a focus on human related factors. A bibliometric approach with quantitative analytical techniques is applied to study the development and growth of the research. This study retrieves 1921 papers on HSE related to human factors from the year 1990 to the year 2016 from Web of Science and constructs a critical citation network composed of 336 papers. Edge-betweenness-based clustering is used to classify the citation network into twelve distinct research clusters based on four research themes: "biological risks from space radiation," "health and performance during long-duration spaceflight," "program and in-situ resources for HSE missions," and "habitat and life support systems in the space environment." These research themes are also similar to the classification results of a co-occurrence analysis on keywords for a total of 1921 papers. Papers with high centrality scores are identified as important papers in terms of knowledge flow. Moreover, the intermediary role of papers in exchanging knowledge between HSE sub-areas is identified using brokerage analysis. The key-route main path highlights the theoretical development trajectories. Due to the recent dramatic increase in investment by international governments and the private sector, the theoretical development trajectories of key research themes have been expanding from furthering scientific and technical knowledge to include various social and economic issues, thus encouraging massive public participation. This study contributes to an understanding of research trends and popular issues in the field of HSE by introducing a powerful way of determining major research themes and development trajectories. This study will help researchers seek the underlying knowledge diffusion flow from multifaceted

  7. How to identify the key factors that affect driver perception of accident risk. A comparison between Italian and Spanish driver behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Oña, Juan; de Oña, Rocio; Eboli, Laura; Forciniti, Carmen; Mazzulla, Gabriella

    2014-12-01

    Road crashes can be caused by different factors, including infrastructure, vehicles, and human variables. Many research studies have focused solely on identifying the key factors that cause road crashes. From these studies, it emerged that human factors have the most relevant impact on accident severity. More specifically, accident severity depends on several factors related directly to the driver, i.e., driving experience, driver's socio-economic characteristics, and driving behavior and attitudes. In this paper, we investigate driver behaviors and attitudes while driving and specifically focus on different methods for identifying the factors that most affect the driver's perception of accident risk. To this end, we designed and conducted a survey in two different European contexts: the city of Cosenza, which is located in the south of Italy, and the city of Granada, which is located in the south of Spain. Samples of drivers were contacted for their opinions on certain aspects of driving rules and attitudes while driving, and different types of questions were addressed to the drivers to assess their judgments of these aspects. Consequently, different methods of data analysis were applied to determine the aspects that heavily influence driver perception of accident risk. An experiment based on the stated preferences (SP) was carried out with the drivers, and the SP data were analyzed using an ordered probit (OP) model. Interesting findings emerged from different analyses of the data and from the comparisons among the data collected in the two different territorial contexts. We found that both Italian and Spanish drivers consider driving in an altered psychophysical state and violating the overtaking rules to be the most risky behaviors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Transcription factor expression uniquely identifies most postembryonic neuronal lineages in the Drosophila thoracic central nervous system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lacin, Haluk; Zhu, Yi; Wilson, Beth A; Skeath, James B

    2014-03-01

    Most neurons of the adult Drosophila ventral nerve cord arise from a burst of neurogenesis during the third larval instar stage. Most of this growth occurs in thoracic neuromeres, which contain 25 individually identifiable postembryonic neuronal lineages. Initially, each lineage consists of two hemilineages--'A' (Notch(On)) and 'B' (Notch(Off))--that exhibit distinct axonal trajectories or fates. No reliable method presently exists to identify these lineages or hemilineages unambiguously other than labor-intensive lineage-tracing methods. By combining mosaic analysis with a repressible cell marker (MARCM) analysis with gene expression studies, we constructed a gene expression map that enables the rapid, unambiguous identification of 23 of the 25 postembryonic lineages based on the expression of 15 transcription factors. Pilot genetic studies reveal that these transcription factors regulate the specification and differentiation of postembryonic neurons: for example, Nkx6 is necessary and sufficient to direct axonal pathway selection in lineage 3. The gene expression map thus provides a descriptive foundation for the genetic and molecular dissection of adult-specific neurogenesis and identifies many transcription factors that are likely to regulate the development and differentiation of discrete subsets of postembryonic neurons.

  9. Identifying risk factors for victimization among male prisoners in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Shih-Ya; Cuvelier, Steven J; Huang, Yung-Shun

    2014-02-01

    This study identified risk factors for prison victimization in Taiwan with an application of Western literature and assessed the extent of its applicability in an Eastern context. The sample was drawn from four male prisons located in Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern Taiwan; a total of 1,181 valid surveys were collected. The results generally support the major findings of the extant Western studies. Crowding, however, was not significantly associated with the risk of victimization in any of the statistical models, which might be related to the different experiences and living conditions in the free community between Taiwanese and American inmates. This study generated clear policy implications, which may reduce prison victimization and engender a greater sense of well-being in the prison environment.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  11. Risk factors identified for certain lymphoma subtypes

    Science.gov (United States)

    In a large international collaborative analysis of risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), scientists were able to quantify risk associated with medical history, lifestyle factors, family history of blood or lymph-borne cancers, and occupation for 11

  12. Dietary patterns as identified by factor analysis and colorectal cancer among middle-aged Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flood, Andrew; Rastogi, Tanuja; Wirfält, Elisabet; Mitrou, Panagiota N; Reedy, Jill; Subar, Amy F; Kipnis, Victor; Mouw, Traci; Hollenbeck, Albert R; Leitzmann, Michael; Schatzkin, Arthur

    2008-07-01

    Although diet has long been suspected as an etiological factor for colorectal cancer, studies of single foods and nutrients have provided inconsistent results. We used factor analysis methods to study associations between dietary patterns and colorectal cancer in middle-aged Americans. Diet was assessed among 293,615 men and 198,767 women in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Principal components factor analysis identified 3 primary dietary patterns: a fruit and vegetables, a diet foods, and a red meat and potatoes pattern. State cancer registries identified 2151 incident cases of colorectal cancer in men and 959 in women between 1995 and 2000. Men with high scores on the fruit and vegetable pattern were at decreased risk [relative risk (RR) for quintile (Q) 5 versus Q1: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.93; P for trend = 0.004]. Both men and women had a similar risk reduction with high scores on the diet food factor: men (RR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.94; P for trend = 0.001) and women (RR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.71, 1.07; P for trend = 0.06). High scores on the red meat factor were associated with increased risk: men (RR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.35; P for trend = 0.14) and women (RR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.20, 1.83; P for trend = 0.0002). These results suggest that dietary patterns characterized by a low frequency of meat and potato consumption and frequent consumption of fruit and vegetables and fat-reduced foods are consistent with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer.

  13. Application of positive matrix factorization to identify potential sources of PAHs in soil of Dalian, China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Degao; Tian Fulin; Yang Meng; Liu Chenlin; Li Yifan

    2009-01-01

    Soil derived sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the region of Dalian, China were investigated using positive matrix factorization (PMF). Three factors were separated based on PMF for the statistical investigation of the datasets both in summer and winter. These factors were dominated by the pattern of single sources or groups of similar sources, showing seasonal and regional variations. The main sources of PAHs in Dalian soil in summer were the emissions from coal combustion average (46%), diesel engine (30%), and gasoline engine (24%). In winter, the main sources were the emissions from coal-fired boiler (72%), traffic average (20%), and gasoline engine (8%). These factors with strong seasonality indicated that coal combustion in winter and traffic exhaust in summer dominated the sources of PAHs in soil. These results suggested that PMF model was a proper approach to identify the sources of PAHs in soil. - PMF model is a proper approach to identify potential sources of PAHs in soil based on the PAH profiles measured in the field and those published in the literature.

  14. FAA airborne data link human factors research plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-07-01

    This report contains a five-year plan to perform research of human factors issues and topics : related to Data Link implementations in general aviation and transport category aircraft. : Elements such as resource allocation and management and coordin...

  15. 78 FR 67139 - Access to Confidential Business Information by Eastern Research Group and Its Identified...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-08

    ... Business Information by Eastern Research Group and Its Identified Subcontractor, Energy Services, Inc..., Eastern Research Group (ERG) of Chantilly, VA, and subcontractor Energy Services, Inc., of Tallahassee, FL... Control Act (TSCA). Some of the information may be claimed or determined to be Confidential Business...

  16. Human factors research in Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry creation of safety culture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horie, Yasuo

    2002-01-01

    To prevent accident of nuclear power plant, Human Factors Center was built in the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in July 1987. It developed an evaluation method of human error cases and an application method of human factors information. Now it continues analysis and application of human factors information, development of training/work support tools and research/experiment of human behavior. Japan-Human Performance Evaluation System (J-HPES) was developed as an analytical system for analysis and evaluation of human factors related to the trouble and for using the result as the common property by storage the analytical results. J-HPES has a standard procedure consisted of collecting and analyzing data and proposing the countermeasures. The analytical results are arranged by 4 kinds of charts by putting into the form of a diagram. Moreover, it tries to find the causes with indirect and potential causes. Two kinds of materials, Caution Report and Human Factors Precept by means of Illustrations, are published. People can gain access to HFC database by URL http://criepi.denken.or.jp/CRIEPI/HFC/DB. To prevent these accidents, creation of human factors culture has been required. Five kinds of teaching materials and the training method are developed. (S.Y.)

  17. Critical survey of research on human factors and the man-machine interaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watson, L.A.

    1984-01-01

    A case is developed for placing a high priority on research into human factors in the nuclear power industry. This is based essentially on the fact that human error is a significant factor in plant reliability and the assurance of safety. Control of human error can therefore produce benefits in the reduction of both operational costs and public risk. Descriptions are given of activities initiated by the Commission of the European Communities in conjunction with institutes within the Member States. These include: a comprehensive survey and analysis of current relevant work; considerations of classification schemes for human factors activities; the use of simulators for human factors research; and a proposed European collaborative research programme. (author)

  18. Enhanced/Synthetic Vision Systems - Human factors research and implications for future systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foyle, David C.; Ahumada, Albert J.; Larimer, James; Sweet, Barbara T.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reviews recent human factors research studies conducted in the Aerospace Human Factors Research Division at NASA Ames Research Center related to the development and usage of Enhanced or Synthetic Vision Systems. Research discussed includes studies of field of view (FOV), representational differences of infrared (IR) imagery, head-up display (HUD) symbology, HUD advanced concept designs, sensor fusion, and sensor/database fusion and evaluation. Implications for the design and usage of Enhanced or Synthetic Vision Systems are discussed.

  19. System factors influencing utilisation of Research4Life databases by ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This is a comprehensive investigation of the influence of system factors on utilisation of Research4Life databases. It is part of a doctoral dissertation. Research4Life databases are new innovative technologies being investigated in a new context – utilisation by NARIs scientists for research. The study adopted the descriptive ...

  20. Identifying context factors explaining physician's low performance in communication assessment: an explorative study in general practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essers, Geurt; van Dulmen, Sandra; van Weel, Chris; van der Vleuten, Cees; Kramer, Anneke

    2011-12-13

    Communication is a key competence for health care professionals. Analysis of registrar and GP communication performance in daily practice, however, suggests a suboptimal application of communication skills. The influence of context factors could reveal why communication performance levels, on average, do not appear adequate. The context of daily practice may require different skills or specific ways of handling these skills, whereas communication skills are mostly treated as generic. So far no empirical analysis of the context has been made. Our aim was to identify context factors that could be related to GP communication. A purposive sample of real-life videotaped GP consultations was analyzed (N = 17). As a frame of reference we chose the MAAS-Global, a widely used assessment instrument for medical communication. By inductive reasoning, we analyzed the GP behaviour in the consultation leading to poor item scores on the MAAS-Global. In these cases we looked for the presence of an intervening context factor, and how this might explain the actual GP communication behaviour. We reached saturation after having viewed 17 consultations. We identified 19 context factors that could potentially explain the deviation from generic recommendations on communication skills. These context factors can be categorized into doctor-related, patient-related, and consultation-related factors. Several context factors seem to influence doctor-patient communication, requiring the GP to apply communication skills differently from recommendations on communication. From this study we conclude that there is a need to explicitly account for context factors in the assessment of GP (and GP registrar) communication performance. The next step is to validate our findings.

  1. Local acceptance of wind energy: Factors of success identified in French and German case studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jobert, Arthur; Laborgne, Pia; Mimler, Solveig

    2007-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to identify and analyse factors that are important for winning acceptance of wind-energy parks on the local level. The developers of wind-energy parks need to know how to manage 'social acceptance' at the different stages of planning, realisation and operation. Five case studies in France and Germany focused on factors of success in developing a wind-energy project on a given site and illuminated how policy frameworks influence local acceptance. Our hypothesis is that these factors fall into two categories: institutional conditions, such as economic incentives and regulations; and site-specific conditions (territorial factors), such as the local economy, the local geography, local actors, and the actual on-site planning process (project management)

  2. A Global Interactome Map of the Dengue Virus NS1 Identifies Virus Restriction and Dependency Host Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed Lamine Hafirassou

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Dengue virus (DENV infections cause the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease worldwide, for which no therapies are available. DENV encodes seven non-structural (NS proteins that co-assemble and recruit poorly characterized host factors to form the DENV replication complex essential for viral infection. Here, we provide a global proteomic analysis of the human host factors that interact with the DENV NS1 protein. Combined with a functional RNAi screen, this study reveals a comprehensive network of host cellular processes involved in DENV infection and identifies DENV host restriction and dependency factors. We highlight an important role of RACK1 and the chaperonin TRiC (CCT and oligosaccharyltransferase (OST complexes during DENV replication. We further show that the OST complex mediates NS1 and NS4B glycosylation, and pharmacological inhibition of its N-glycosylation function strongly impairs DENV infection. In conclusion, our study provides a global interactome of the DENV NS1 and identifies host factors targetable for antiviral therapies.

  3. Robust Nonnegative Matrix Factorization via Joint Graph Laplacian and Discriminative Information for Identifying Differentially Expressed Genes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ling-Yun Dai

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Differential expression plays an important role in cancer diagnosis and classification. In recent years, many methods have been used to identify differentially expressed genes. However, the recognition rate and reliability of gene selection still need to be improved. In this paper, a novel constrained method named robust nonnegative matrix factorization via joint graph Laplacian and discriminative information (GLD-RNMF is proposed for identifying differentially expressed genes, in which manifold learning and the discriminative label information are incorporated into the traditional nonnegative matrix factorization model to train the objective matrix. Specifically, L2,1-norm minimization is enforced on both the error function and the regularization term which is robust to outliers and noise in gene data. Furthermore, the multiplicative update rules and the details of convergence proof are shown for the new model. The experimental results on two publicly available cancer datasets demonstrate that GLD-RNMF is an effective method for identifying differentially expressed genes.

  4. Genome-wide screen of Pseudomonas aeruginosa In Saccharomyces cerevisiae identifies new virulence factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafat eZrieq

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a human opportunistic pathogen that causes mortality in cystic fibrosis and immunocompromised patients. While many virulence factors of this pathogen have already been identified, several remain to be discovered. In this respect we set an unprecedented genome-wide screen of a P. aeruginosa expression library based on a yeast growth phenotype. 51 candidates were selected in a three-round screening process. The robustness of the screen was validated by the selection of three well known secreted proteins including one demonstrated virulence factor, the protease LepA. Further in silico sorting of the 51 candidates highlighted three potential new Pseudomonas effector candidates (Pec. By testing the cytotoxicity of wild type P. aeruginosa vs pec mutants towards macrophages and the virulence in the Caenorhabditis elegans model, we demonstrated that the three selected Pecs are novel virulence factors of P. aeruginosa. Additional cellular localization experiments in the host revealed specific localization for Pec1 and Pec2 that could inform about their respective functions.

  5. Identifying future directions for subsurface hydrocarbon migration research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leifer, I.; Clark, J. F.; Luyendyk, B.; Valentine, D.

    Subsurface hydrocarbon migration is important for understanding the input and impacts of natural hydrocarbon seepage on the environment. Great uncertainties remain in most aspects of hydrocarbon migration, including some basic mechanisms of this four-phase flow of tar, oil, water, and gas through the complex fracture-network geometry particularly since the phases span a wide range of properties. Academic, government, and industry representatives recently attended a workshop to identify the areas of greatest need for future research in shallow hydrocarbon migration.Novel approaches such as studying temporal and spatial seepage variations and analogous geofluid systems (e.g., geysers and trickle beds) allow deductions of subsurface processes and structures that remain largely unclear. Unique complexities exist in hydrocarbon migration due to its multiphase flow and complex geometry, including in-situ biological weathering. Furthermore, many aspects of the role of hydrocarbons (positive and negative) in the environment are poorly understood, including how they enter the food chain (respiration, consumption, etc.) and “percolate” to higher trophic levels. But understanding these ecological impacts requires knowledge of the emissions' temporal and spatial variability and trajectories.

  6. Random T-DNA mutagenesis identifies a Cu-Zn-superoxide dismutase gene as a virulence factor of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (AMT) was used to identify potential virulence factors in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Screening AMT transformants identified two mutants showing significantly reduced virulence. The mutants showed similar growth rate, colony morphology, and sclerotial and oxalate ...

  7. Identifying causal linkages between environmental variables and African conflicts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguy-Robertson, A. L.; Dartevelle, S.

    2017-12-01

    Environmental variables that contribute to droughts, flooding, and other natural hazards are often identified as factors contributing to conflict; however, few studies attempt to quantify these causal linkages. Recent research has demonstrated that the environment operates within a dynamical system framework and the influence of variables can be identified from convergent cross mapping (CCM) between shadow manifolds. We propose to use CCM to identify causal linkages between environmental variables and incidences of conflict. This study utilizes time series data from Climate Forecast System ver. 2 and MODIS satellite sensors processed using Google Earth Engine to aggregate country and regional trends. These variables are then compared to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project observations at similar scales. Results provide relative rankings of variables and their linkage to conflict. Being able to identify which factors contributed more strongly to a conflict can allow policy makers to prepare solutions to mitigate future crises. Knowledge of the primary environmental factors can lead to the identification of other variables to examine in the causal network influencing conflict.

  8. Identifying and Investigating Difficult Concepts in Engineering Mechanics and Electric Circuits. Research Brief

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streveler, Ruth; Geist, Monica; Ammerman, Ravel; Sulzbach, Candace; Miller, Ronald; Olds, Barbara; Nelson, Mary

    2007-01-01

    This study extends ongoing work to identify difficult concepts in thermal and transport science and measure students' understanding of those concepts via a concept inventory. Two research questions provided the focal point: "What important concepts in electric circuits and engineering mechanics do students find difficult to learn?" and…

  9. Identifying the factors governing attitude towards the e-Agriservice among dairy farmers in Maharashtra, India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sagar Kisan Wadkar

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Information and communication technology (ICT projects have a great potential to revolutionise the information delivery system by bridging the gap between farmers and extension personnel. aAQUA (Almost All Questions Answered portal was launched by the Developmental Informatics Laboratory (DIL at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Mumbai, Maharashtra, India in 2003 as an information providing system to deliver technology options and tailored information for the problems and queries raised by Indian dairy farmers. To measure the effectiveness of this service the attitudinal dimensions of the users of aAQUA e-Agriservice were investigated using a 22 item scale. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 dairy farmers from which data were collected and subjected to factor analysis to identify the underlying constructs in this research. From the attitude items, four components were extracted and named as the pessimistic, utility, technical and efficacy perspective, which influenced the development of varied level of attitudinal inclination towards the e-Agriservice. These components explained 64.40 per cent of variation in the attitude of the users towards the aAQUA e-Agriservice. This study provides a framework for technically efficient service provision that might help to reduce the pessimistic attitude of target population to adopt e-Agriservice in their farming system. The results should also be helpful for researchers, academics, ICT based service providers and policy makers to consider these perspectives while planning and implementing ICT projects.

  10. Identifying Factors Influencing the Establishment of a Health System Reform Plan in Iran's Public Hospitals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rasul Fani khiavi

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In today's world, health views have found a wider perspective in which non-medical expectations are particularly catered to. The health system reform plan seeks to improve society's health, decrease treatment costs, and increase patient satisfaction. This study investigated factors affecting the successful establishment of a health system reform plan. A mixed qualitative – quantitative approach was applied to conduct to explore influential factors associated with the establishment of a health system reform plan in Iran's public hospitals. The health systems and approaches to improving them in other countries have been studied. A Likert-based five-point questionnaire was the measurement instrument, and its content validity based on content validity ratio (CVR was 0.87. The construct validity, calculated using the factorial analysis and Kaiser Mayer Olkin (KMO techniques, was 0.964, which is a high level and suggests a correlation between the scale items. To complete the questionnaire, 185 experts, specialists, and executives of Iran’s health reform plan were selected using the Purposive Stratified Non Random Sampling and snowball methods. The data was then analyzed using exploratory factorial analysis and SPSS and LISREL software applications. The results of this research imply the existence of a pattern with a significant and direct relationship between the identified independent variables and the dependent variable of the establishment of a health system reform plan. The most important indices of establishing a health system reform plan, in the order of priority, were political support; suitable proportion and coverage of services presented in the society; management of resources; existence of necessary infrastructures; commitment of senior managers; constant planning, monitoring, and evaluation; and presentation of feedback to the plan's executives, intrasector/extrasector cooperation, and the plan’s guiding committee. Considering the

  11. [Analysis of dietary pattern and diabetes mellitus influencing factors identified by classification tree model in adults of Fujian].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, F L; Ye, Y; Yan, Y S

    2017-05-10

    Objective: To find out the dietary patterns and explore the relationship between environmental factors (especially dietary patterns) and diabetes mellitus in the adults of Fujian. Methods: Multi-stage sampling method were used to survey residents aged ≥18 years by questionnaire, physical examination and laboratory detection in 10 disease surveillance points in Fujian. Factor analysis was used to identify the dietary patterns, while logistic regression model was applied to analyze relationship between dietary patterns and diabetes mellitus, and classification tree model was adopted to identify the influencing factors for diabetes mellitus. Results: There were four dietary patterns in the population, including meat, plant, high-quality protein, and fried food and beverages patterns. The result of logistic analysis showed that plant pattern, which has higher factor loading of fresh fruit-vegetables and cereal-tubers, was a protective factor for non-diabetes mellitus. The risk of diabetes mellitus in the population at T2 and T3 levels of factor score were 0.727 (95 %CI: 0.561-0.943) times and 0.736 (95 %CI : 0.573-0.944) times higher, respectively, than those whose factor score was in lowest quartile. Thirteen influencing factors and eleven group at high-risk for diabetes mellitus were identified by classification tree model. The influencing factors were dyslipidemia, age, family history of diabetes, hypertension, physical activity, career, sex, sedentary time, abdominal adiposity, BMI, marital status, sleep time and high-quality protein pattern. Conclusion: There is a close association between dietary patterns and diabetes mellitus. It is necessary to promote healthy and reasonable diet, strengthen the monitoring and control of blood lipids, blood pressure and body weight, and have good lifestyle for the prevention and control of diabetes mellitus.

  12. People, organizational, and leadership factors impacting informatics support for clinical and translational research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Payne Philip RO

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In recent years, there have been numerous initiatives undertaken to describe critical information needs related to the collection, management, analysis, and dissemination of data in support of biomedical research (J Investig Med 54:327-333, 2006; (J Am Med Inform Assoc 16:316–327, 2009; (Physiol Genomics 39:131-140, 2009; (J Am Med Inform Assoc 18:354–357, 2011. A common theme spanning such reports has been the importance of understanding and optimizing people, organizational, and leadership factors in order to achieve the promise of efficient and timely research (J Am Med Inform Assoc 15:283–289, 2008. With the emergence of clinical and translational science (CTS as a national priority in the United States, and the corresponding growth in the scale and scope of CTS research programs, the acuity of such information needs continues to increase (JAMA 289:1278–1287, 2003; (N Engl J Med 353:1621–1623, 2005; (Sci Transl Med 3:90, 2011. At the same time, systematic evaluations of optimal people, organizational, and leadership factors that influence the provision of data, information, and knowledge management technologies and methods are notably lacking. Methods In response to the preceding gap in knowledge, we have conducted both: 1 a structured survey of domain experts at Academic Health Centers (AHCs; and 2 a subsequent thematic analysis of public-domain documentation provided by those same organizations. The results of these approaches were then used to identify critical factors that may influence access to informatics expertise and resources relevant to the CTS domain. Results A total of 31 domain experts, spanning the Biomedical Informatics (BMI, Computer Science (CS, Information Science (IS, and Information Technology (IT disciplines participated in a structured surveyprocess. At a high level, respondents identified notable differences in theaccess to BMI, CS, and IT expertise and services depending on the

  13. Interdisciplinary research framework for identifying research needs. Case: bioenergy-biodiversity interlinkages

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Furman, E.; Peltola, T.; Varjopuro, R. (eds.)

    2009-05-15

    A loss of biological diversity continues in spite of the existing, and in some respects, rather elaborate and heavy attempts at management and protection. It has been argued that one of the reasons for the lack of success is the unmet and challenging knowledge needs. Meeting the needs requires integration of various sciences and expertise, since attempts to manage biodiversity gives rise also to many emerging, complex and political questions. Integration of the disciplines needs practices that are able to overcome practical, institutional and cultural obstacles. ALTER-Net, a European network for research on biological diversity under the 6th framework programme, has aimed to undertake further interdisciplinary research that will feed into the addressing of societal needs. This report describes how the integration of research progressed and succeeded during the five year life span of ALTER-Net. Initially the integration between disciplines was given as an overall goal, which did result in determining concrete practices of integration between the sciences, teams and partner organisations. The analysis shows that in spite of complications an interdisciplinary research approach can evolve in large research networks, but this can happen also through unanticipated channels. A large network allows room for several parallel processes of integration. The report depicts the development of and choices leading to the development of an interdisciplinary research framework for ALTER-Net, the IDR framework. The framework presents a method to enhance interdisciplinary syntheses of emerging policy-relevant issues and to further develop the identification of relevant topics as interdisciplinary research projects. The IDR framework was tested by focusing on the interlinkages between the bioenergy question and biodiversity. The report consists of a synthesis of pressing research needs pertaining to that topic. The report presents how the IDR framework was constructed using a method

  14. What Factors Influence Where Researchers Deposit their Data? A Survey of Researchers Submitting to Data Repositories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shea Swauger

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available In order to better understand the factors that most influence where researchers deposit their data when they have a choice, we collected survey data from researchers who deposited phylogenetic data in either the TreeBASE or Dryad data repositories. Respondents were asked to rank the relative importance of eight possible factors. We found that factors differed in importance for both TreeBASE and Dryad, and that the rankings differed subtly but significantly between TreeBASE and Dryad users. On average, TreeBASE users ranked the domain specialization of the repository highest, while Dryad users ranked as equal highest their trust in the persistence of the repository and the ease of its data submission process. Interestingly, respondents (particularly Dryad users were strongly divided as to whether being directed to choose a particular repository by a journal policy or funding agency was among the most or least important factors. Some users reported depositing their data in multiple repositories and archiving their data voluntarily.

  15. Resident Workflow and Psychiatric Emergency Consultation: Identifying Factors for Quality Improvement in a Training Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blair, Thomas; Wiener, Zev; Seroussi, Ariel; Tang, Lingqi; O'Hora, Jennifer; Cheung, Erick

    2017-06-01

    Quality improvement to optimize workflow has the potential to mitigate resident burnout and enhance patient care. This study applied mixed methods to identify factors that enhance or impede workflow for residents performing emergency psychiatric consultations. The study population consisted of all psychiatry program residents (55 eligible, 42 participating) at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles. The authors developed a survey through iterative piloting, surveyed all residents, and then conducted a focus group. The survey included elements hypothesized to enhance or impede workflow, and measures pertaining to self-rated efficiency and stress. Distributional and bivariate analyses were performed. Survey findings were clarified in focus group discussion. This study identified several factors subjectively associated with enhanced or impeded workflow, including difficulty with documentation, the value of personal organization systems, and struggles to communicate with patients' families. Implications for resident education are discussed.

  16. Identifying Predictive Factors for Incident Reports in Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Elnahal, Shereef M., E-mail: selnaha1@jhmi.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland (United States); Blackford, Amanda [Department of Oncology Biostatistics, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland (United States); Smith, Koren; Souranis, Annette N.; Briner, Valerie; McNutt, Todd R.; DeWeese, Theodore L.; Wright, Jean L.; Terezakis, Stephanie A. [Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland (United States)

    2016-04-01

    Purpose: To describe radiation therapy cases during which voluntary incident reporting occurred; and identify patient- or treatment-specific factors that place patients at higher risk for incidents. Methods and Materials: We used our institution's incident learning system to build a database of patients with incident reports filed between January 2011 and December 2013. Patient- and treatment-specific data were reviewed for all patients with reported incidents, which were classified by step in the process and root cause. A control group of patients without events was generated for comparison. Summary statistics, likelihood ratios, and mixed-effect logistic regression models were used for group comparisons. Results: The incident and control groups comprised 794 and 499 patients, respectively. Common root causes included documentation errors (26.5%), communication (22.5%), technical treatment planning (37.5%), and technical treatment delivery (13.5%). Incidents were more frequently reported in minors (age <18 years) than in adult patients (37.7% vs 0.4%, P<.001). Patients with head and neck (16% vs 8%, P<.001) and breast (20% vs 15%, P=.03) primaries more frequently had incidents, whereas brain (18% vs 24%, P=.008) primaries were less frequent. Larger tumors (17% vs 10% had T4 lesions, P=.02), and cases on protocol (9% vs 5%, P=.005) or with intensity modulated radiation therapy/image guided intensity modulated radiation therapy (52% vs 43%, P=.001) were more likely to have incidents. Conclusions: We found several treatment- and patient-specific variables associated with incidents. These factors should be considered by treatment teams at the time of peer review to identify patients at higher risk. Larger datasets are required to recommend changes in care process standards, to minimize safety risks.

  17. Identifying Predictive Factors for Incident Reports in Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elnahal, Shereef M.; Blackford, Amanda; Smith, Koren; Souranis, Annette N.; Briner, Valerie; McNutt, Todd R.; DeWeese, Theodore L.; Wright, Jean L.; Terezakis, Stephanie A.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: To describe radiation therapy cases during which voluntary incident reporting occurred; and identify patient- or treatment-specific factors that place patients at higher risk for incidents. Methods and Materials: We used our institution's incident learning system to build a database of patients with incident reports filed between January 2011 and December 2013. Patient- and treatment-specific data were reviewed for all patients with reported incidents, which were classified by step in the process and root cause. A control group of patients without events was generated for comparison. Summary statistics, likelihood ratios, and mixed-effect logistic regression models were used for group comparisons. Results: The incident and control groups comprised 794 and 499 patients, respectively. Common root causes included documentation errors (26.5%), communication (22.5%), technical treatment planning (37.5%), and technical treatment delivery (13.5%). Incidents were more frequently reported in minors (age <18 years) than in adult patients (37.7% vs 0.4%, P<.001). Patients with head and neck (16% vs 8%, P<.001) and breast (20% vs 15%, P=.03) primaries more frequently had incidents, whereas brain (18% vs 24%, P=.008) primaries were less frequent. Larger tumors (17% vs 10% had T4 lesions, P=.02), and cases on protocol (9% vs 5%, P=.005) or with intensity modulated radiation therapy/image guided intensity modulated radiation therapy (52% vs 43%, P=.001) were more likely to have incidents. Conclusions: We found several treatment- and patient-specific variables associated with incidents. These factors should be considered by treatment teams at the time of peer review to identify patients at higher risk. Larger datasets are required to recommend changes in care process standards, to minimize safety risks.

  18. The economic scientific research, a production neo-factor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Ciucur

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available The scientific research represents a modern production neo-factor that implies two groups of coordinates: preparation and scientific research. The scientific research represents a complex of elements that confer a new orientation of high performance and is materialized in resources and new availabilities brought in active shape by the contribution of the creators and by the attraction in a specific way in the economic circuit. It is the creator of new ideas, lifting the performance and understanding to the highest international standards of competitive economic efficiency. In the present, the role of the scientific research stands before some new challenges generated by the stage of society. It.s propose a unitary, coherent scientific research and educational system, created in corresponding proportions, based on the type, level and utility of the system, by the state, the economic-social environment and the citizen himself.

  19. Organisational Factors Affecting Policy and Programme Decision Making in a Public Health Policy Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zardo, Pauline; Collie, Alex; Livingstone, Charles

    2015-01-01

    Organisational factors can affect the success of interventions aimed at increasing research use. Research is needed to identify organisational factors affecting research use in specific public health policy contexts. Qualitative interviews with decision makers from a specific public health context identified a range of organisational factors that…

  20. Quality Improvement in Hospitals: Identifying and Understanding Behaviors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lukasz M. Mazur

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Improving operational performance in hospitals is complicated, particularly if process improvement requires complex behavioral changes. Using single-loop and double-loop learning theory as a foundation, the purpose of this research is to empirically uncover key improvement behaviors and the factors that may be associated with such behaviors in hospitals. A two-phased approach was taken to collect data regarding improvement behaviors and associated factors, and data analysis was conducted using methods proposed by grounded theorists. The contributions of this research are twofold. First, five key behaviors related to process improvement are identified, namely Quick Fixing, Initiating, Conforming, Expediting, and Enhancing. Second, based on these observed behaviors, a set of force field diagrams is developed to structure and organize possible factors that are important to consider when attempting to change improvement behaviors. This begins to fill the gap in the knowledge about what factors drive effective improvement efforts in hospital settings.

  1. Identifying protective and risk factors for injurious falls in patients hospitalized for acute care: a retrospective case-control study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmanuel Aryee

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Admitted patients who fall and injure themselves during an acute hospitalization incur increased costs, morbidity, and mortality, but little research has been conducted on identifying inpatients at high risk to injure themselves in a fall. Falls risk assessment tools have been unsuccessful due to their low positive predictive value when applied broadly to entire hospital populations. We aimed to identify variables associated with the risk of or protection against injurious fall in the inpatient setting. We also aimed to test the variables in the ABCs mnemonic (Age > 85, Bones-orthopedic conditions, anti-Coagulation and recent surgery for correlation with injurious fall. Methods We performed a retrospective case-control study at an academic tertiary care center comparing admitted patients with injurious fall to admitted patients without fall. We collected data on the demographics, medical and fall history, outcomes, and discharge disposition of injured fallers and control patients. We performed multivariate analysis of potential risk factors for injurious fall with logistic regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios. Results We identified 117 injured fallers and 320 controls. There were no differences in age, anti-coagulation use or fragility fractures between cases and controls. In multivariate analysis, recent surgery (OR 0.46, p = 0.003 was protective; joint replacement (OR 5.58, P = 0.002, psychotropic agents (OR 2.23, p = 0.001, the male sex (OR 2.08, p = 0.003 and history of fall (OR 2.08, p = 0.02 were significantly associated with injurious fall. Conclusion In this study, the variables in the ABCs parameters were among the variables not useful for identifying inpatients at risk of injuring themselves in a fall, while other non-ABCs variables demonstrated a significant association with injurious fall. Recent surgery was a protective factor, and practices around the care of surgical patients could be

  2. Identifying Effective Methods of Instruction for Adult Emergent Readers through Community-Based Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blackmer, Rachel; Hayes-Harb, Rachel

    2016-01-01

    We present a community-based research project aimed at identifying effective methods and materials for teaching English literacy skills to adult English as a second language emergent readers. We conducted a quasi-experimental study whereby we evaluated the efficacy of two approaches, one based on current practices at the English Skills Learning…

  3. Integrating Human Factors Engineering and Information Processing Approaches to Facilitate Evaluations in Criminal Justice Technology Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvemini, Anthony V; Piza, Eric L; Carter, Jeremy G; Grommon, Eric L; Merritt, Nancy

    2015-06-01

    Evaluations are routinely conducted by government agencies and research organizations to assess the effectiveness of technology in criminal justice. Interdisciplinary research methods are salient to this effort. Technology evaluations are faced with a number of challenges including (1) the need to facilitate effective communication between social science researchers, technology specialists, and practitioners, (2) the need to better understand procedural and contextual aspects of a given technology, and (3) the need to generate findings that can be readily used for decision making and policy recommendations. Process and outcome evaluations of technology can be enhanced by integrating concepts from human factors engineering and information processing. This systemic approach, which focuses on the interaction between humans, technology, and information, enables researchers to better assess how a given technology is used in practice. Examples are drawn from complex technologies currently deployed within the criminal justice system where traditional evaluations have primarily focused on outcome metrics. Although this evidence-based approach has significant value, it is vulnerable to fully account for human and structural complexities that compose technology operations. Guiding principles for technology evaluations are described for identifying and defining key study metrics, facilitating communication within an interdisciplinary research team, and for understanding the interaction between users, technology, and information. The approach posited here can also enable researchers to better assess factors that may facilitate or degrade the operational impact of the technology and answer fundamental questions concerning whether the technology works as intended, at what level, and cost. © The Author(s) 2015.

  4. Status of human factors research program in Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kabetani, Tetsuji

    1989-01-01

    The Human Factors Research Center was established within CRIEPI on July 1, 1987 as its research efforts to reduce human error during operation and maintenance at Japanese nuclear power plants. The Research Program has seven subjects, composed of the original subjects that include the human behavior monitoring method, and the subjects requested by the Federation of Electric Power Companies that include the establishment of techniques of analysing and evaluating information on human error. Some results of the activity are applied in nuclear power plants. We plan to obtain good results to apply to plants, and to improve the results already obtained. (author)

  5. Entrepreneurial Behaviour of Researchers in a Basic Research Center the example of CERN

    CERN Document Server

    Sessano, Deborah

    2007-01-01

    The study aims to identify whether researchers' entrepreneurial behaviour changed after the introduction of a formal technology transfer policy (TTP) within CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, a centre for fundamental research in particle physics. The chosen unit of analysis is the individual researcher with limited duration contract. An analysis of the background literature on entrepreneurial behaviour and factors affecting it was performed and parameters for analysis identified. A total of 103 responses to a specifically developed questionnaire were obtained and statistical analysis carried out to assess presence or absence of entrepreneurial behaviour and the factors affecting it. The theoretical framework was developed taking into account recognition by peers, network, character, prior knowledge, field of research and incentives and researchers and engineers were assessed for positive and negative correlations. One can conclude, in general, that the personnel shows a good degree of entre...

  6. Using a Systematic Approach to Identifying Organizational Factors in Root Cause Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gallogly, Kay Wilde

    2011-01-01

    This presentation set the scene for the second discussion session. In her presentation, the author observed that: - Investigators do not see the connection between the analysis tools available and the identification of HOF. Most investigators use the tools in a cursory manner and so do not derive the full benefits of the tools. Some tools are used for presentation purposes as opposed to being used for analytical purposes e.g. event and causal factors charts. In some cases, the report will indicate that specific analytical tools were used in the investigation but the analysis is not in the body of the report. - Some investigators are documenting HOF causes but do not recognize them as such. This indicates a lack of understanding of HOF. - Others investigators focus on technical issues because of their own comfort level. - The culture of the Organisation will affect the depth of the investigation and therefore the use of the analytical tools to pursue HOF issues. - The author contends that if analysis tools are applied systematically to gather factually based data, then HOF issues can be identified. The use of factual information (without judgement and subjectivity) is important to maintain the credibility of the investigation especially when HOF issues are identified. - Systematic use of tools assists in better communication of the issues to foster greater understanding and acceptance by senior management. - Barrier Analysis, Change Analysis, and TWIN (Task Demands, Work Environment, Individual Capabilities, and Human Nature) all offer the opportunity to identify HOF issues if the analyst pursues this line of investigation. It was illustrated that many elements of the TWIN Error Precursors are themselves Organisational in nature. - The TWIN model applied to the Anatomy of an Event will help to distinguish those which are Organisational issues (Latent Organisational Weaknesses, Error Precursors and Flawed Defences) and those which are human factors (Active Errors

  7. Cancer Research Participation Beliefs and Behaviors of a Southern Black Population: A Quantitative Analysis of the Role of Structural Factors in Cancer Research Participation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farr, Deeonna E; Brandt, Heather M; Comer, Kimberly D; Jackson, Dawnyéa D; Pandya, Kinjal; Friedman, Daniela B; Ureda, John R; Williams, Deloris G; Scott, Dolores B; Green, Wanda; Hébert, James R

    2015-09-01

    Increasing the participation of Blacks in cancer research is a vital component of a strategy to reduce racial inequities in cancer burden. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is especially well-suited to advancing our knowledge of factors that influence research participation to ultimately address cancer-related health inequities. A paucity of literature focuses on the role of structural factors limiting participation in cancer research. As part of a larger CBPR project, we used survey data from a statewide cancer needs assessment of a Black faith community to examine the influence of structural factors on attitudes toward research and the contributions of both structural and attitudinal factors on whether individuals participate in research. Regression analyses and non-parametric statistics were conducted on data from 727 adult survey respondents. Structural factors, such as having health insurance coverage, experiencing discrimination during health care encounters, and locale, predicted belief in the benefits, but not the risks, of research participation. Positive attitudes toward research predicted intention to participate in cancer research. Significant differences in structural and attitudinal factors were found between cancer research participants and non-participants; however, directionality is confounded by the cross-sectional survey design and causality cannot be determined. This study points to complex interplay of structural and attitudinal factors on research participation as well as need for additional quantitative examinations of the various types of factors that influence research participation in Black communities.

  8. A Systematic Review of Mixed Methods Research on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carayon, Pascale; Kianfar, Sarah; Li, Yaqiong; Xie, Anping; Alyousef, Bashar; Wooldridge, Abigail

    2016-01-01

    This systematic literature review provides information on the use of mixed methods research in human factors and ergonomics (HFE) research in health care. Using the PRISMA methodology, we searched four databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and Engineering Village) for studies that met the following inclusion criteria: (1) field study in health care, (2) mixing of qualitative and quantitative data, (3) HFE issues, and (4) empirical evidence. Using an iterative and collaborative process supported by a structured data collection form, the six authors identified a total of 58 studies that primarily address HFE issues in health information technology (e.g., usability) and in the work of healthcare workers. About two-thirds of the mixed methods studies used the convergent parallel study design where quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously. A variety of methods were used for collecting data, including interview, survey and observation. The most frequent combination involved interview for qualitative data and survey for quantitative data. The use of mixed methods in healthcare HFE research has increased over time. However, increasing attention should be paid to the formal literature on mixed methods research to enhance the depth and breadth of this research. PMID:26154228

  9. Market research on factors influencing women's preferences in investment decision making

    OpenAIRE

    Sharma, Abhishek.; Douglas, Tony.; Jaworski, Piotr.

    2017-01-01

    This study aims to gain knowledge on the factors that influence the investment decision making of women in Singapore. The research explores the fact that investment decision is being affected by the demographic, psychographic factors of the individuals. The individuals may be equal in all aspects but their investment decision varies with their own perception towards various investment plans. The research was conducted among 200 respondents through a survey so as to get an empirical findings o...

  10. Identifying Social Satisfaction from Social Media

    OpenAIRE

    Bai, Shuotian; Gao, Rui; Hao, Bibo; Yuan, Sha; Zhu, Tingshao

    2014-01-01

    We demonstrate the critical need to identify social situation and instability factors by acquiring public social satisfaction in this research. However, subject to the large amount of manual work cost in subject recruitment and data processing, conventional self-reported method cannot be implemented in real time or applied in large scale investigation. To solve the problem, this paper proposed an approach to predict users' social satisfaction, especially for the economy-related satisfaction b...

  11. STUDY OF IDENTIFYING AND PRIORITIZING THE AFFECTING FACTORS ON BANK BRAND CUSTOMER LOYALTY

    OpenAIRE

    Zahra Aliyari; Yosef Beygzadeh

    2017-01-01

    Today, customer loyalty is the key to business success. By increased customers’ loyalty, market share and profitability level of enterprises will rise. Market perception along with planning and adopting appropriate strategies for making customers loyal and enhancing their rate of loyalty leads to long-term benefits for the enterprises. Given the importance of the issue, the goal of this study was to identify and prioritize the factors affecting loyalty to a banking brand from perspective of K...

  12. Genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 Screen Identifies Host Factors Essential for Influenza Virus Replication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julianna Han

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: The emergence of influenza A viruses (IAVs from zoonotic reservoirs poses a great threat to human health. As seasonal vaccines are ineffective against zoonotic strains, and newly transmitted viruses can quickly acquire drug resistance, there remains a need for host-directed therapeutics against IAVs. Here, we performed a genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screen in human lung epithelial cells with a human isolate of an avian H5N1 strain. Several genes involved in sialic acid biosynthesis and related glycosylation pathways were highly enriched post-H5N1 selection, including SLC35A1, a sialic acid transporter essential for IAV receptor expression and thus viral entry. Importantly, we have identified capicua (CIC as a negative regulator of cell-intrinsic immunity, as loss of CIC resulted in heightened antiviral responses and restricted replication of multiple viruses. Therefore, our study demonstrates that the CRISPR/Cas9 system can be utilized for the discovery of host factors critical for the replication of intracellular pathogens. : Using a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screen, Han et al. demonstrate that the major hit, the sialic acid transporter SLC35A1, is an essential host factor for IAV entry. In addition, they identify the DNA-binding transcriptional repressor CIC as a negative regulator of cell-intrinsic immunity. Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9 screen, GeCKO, influenza virus, host factors, sialic acid pathway, SLC35A1, Capicua, CIC, cell-intrinsic immunity, H5N1

  13. Screening for violence risk factors identifies young adults at risk for return emergency department visit for injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hankin, Abigail; Wei, Stanley; Foreman, Juron; Houry, Debra

    2014-08-01

    Homicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 15-24. Prior cross-sectional studies, in non-healthcare settings, have reported exposure to community violence, peer behavior, and delinquency as risk factors for violent injury. However, longitudinal cohort studies have not been performed to evaluate the temporal or predictive relationship between these risk factors and emergency department (ED) visits for injuries among at-risk youth. The objective was to assess whether self-reported exposure to violence risk factors in young adults can be used to predict future ED visits for injuries over a 1-year period. This prospective cohort study was performed in the ED of a Southeastern US Level I trauma center. Eligible participants were patients aged 18-24, presenting for any chief complaint. We excluded patients if they were critically ill, incarcerated, or could not read English. Initial recruitment occurred over a 6-month period, by a research assistant in the ED for 3-5 days per week, with shifts scheduled such that they included weekends and weekdays, over the hours from 8AM-8PM. At the time of initial contact in the ED, patients were asked to complete a written questionnaire, consisting of previously validated instruments measuring the following risk factors: a) aggression, b) perceived likelihood of violence, c) recent violent behavior, d) peer behavior, e) community exposure to violence, and f) positive future outlook. At 12 months following the initial ED visit, the participants' medical records were reviewed to identify any subsequent ED visits for injury-related complaints. We analyzed data with chi-square and logistic regression analyses. Three hundred thirty-two patients were approached, of whom 300 patients consented. Participants' average age was 21.1 years, with 60.1% female, 86.0% African American. After controlling for participant gender, ethnicity, or injury complaint at time of first visit, return visits for injuries were significantly

  14. Survived so what? Identifying priorities for research with children and families post-paediatric intensive care unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, Joseph C; Hemingway, Pippa; Redsell, Sarah A

    2018-03-01

    The involvement of patients and the public in the development, implementation and evaluation of health care services and research is recognized to have tangible benefits in relation to effectiveness and credibility. However, despite >96% of children and young people surviving critical illness or injury, there is a paucity of published reports demonstrating their contribution to informing the priorities for aftercare services and outcomes research. We aimed to identify the service and research priorities for Paediatric Intensive Care Unit survivors with children and young people, their families and other stakeholders. We conducted a face-to-face, multiple-stakeholder consultation event, held in the Midlands (UK), to provide opportunities for experiences, views and priorities to be elicited. Data were gathered using write/draw and tell and focus group approaches. An inductive content analytical approach was used to categorize and conceptualize feedback. A total of 26 individuals attended the consultation exercise, including children and young people who were critical care survivors; their siblings; parents and carers; health professionals; academics; commissioners; and service managers. Consultation findings indicated that future services, interventions and research must be holistic and family-centred. Children and young people advisors reported priorities that focused on longer-term outcomes, whereas adult advisors identified priorities that mapped against the pathways of care. Specific priorities included developing and testing interventions that address unmet communication and information needs. Furthermore, initiatives to optimize the lives and longer-term functional and psycho-social outcomes of Paediatric Intensive Care Unit survivors were identified. This consultation exercise provides further evidence of the value of meaningful patient and public involvement in identifying the priorities for research and services for Paediatric Intensive Care Unit survivors

  15. Evaluation of factors important to enhance productivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjay Kumar

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Productivity as a measure for output is important to industry and academia. In this research, factors to enhance productivity have been identified from the literature by reviewing various international and national sources to explore this evergreen field of research that is “productivity,” which has always been an increasingly interesting area of research for researchers over decades or perhaps over centuries. In total, 15 number of factors have been identified to enhance productivity. Analytic hierarchy process approach has been appropriately chosen to rank these factors because of its simplicity and effectiveness. The tool has been used by taking perception of experts from the Indian manufacturing industry. Positive attitude and involvement of management, proactive employees, and good working conditions have been ranked as top three factors as per the experts’ opinion. The ranking of factors to enhance productivity, categorization of the factors into four perspectives, and hierarchy of perspective and action plan as a final outcome of the paper may help academia and operations managers toward effective management of “operations and production activities of firms/supply chains.”

  16. Identifying Environmental and Social Factors Predisposing to Pathological Gambling Combining Standard Logistic Regression and Logic Learning Machine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parodi, Stefano; Dosi, Corrado; Zambon, Antonella; Ferrari, Enrico; Muselli, Marco

    2017-12-01

    Identifying potential risk factors for problem gambling (PG) is of primary importance for planning preventive and therapeutic interventions. We illustrate a new approach based on the combination of standard logistic regression and an innovative method of supervised data mining (Logic Learning Machine or LLM). Data were taken from a pilot cross-sectional study to identify subjects with PG behaviour, assessed by two internationally validated scales (SOGS and Lie/Bet). Information was obtained from 251 gamblers recruited in six betting establishments. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle and cognitive-related factors, and type, place and frequency of preferred gambling were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. The following variables associated with PG were identified: instant gratification games, alcohol abuse, cognitive distortion, illegal behaviours and having started gambling with a relative or a friend. Furthermore, the combination of LLM and LR indicated the presence of two different types of PG, namely: (a) daily gamblers, more prone to illegal behaviour, with poor money management skills and who started gambling at an early age, and (b) non-daily gamblers, characterised by superstitious beliefs and a higher preference for immediate reward games. Finally, instant gratification games were strongly associated with the number of games usually played. Studies on gamblers habitually frequently betting shops are rare. The finding of different types of PG by habitual gamblers deserves further analysis in larger studies. Advanced data mining algorithms, like LLM, are powerful tools and potentially useful in identifying risk factors for PG.

  17. Identifying primary care patient safety research priorities in the UK: a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Rebecca Lauren; Stocks, Susan Jill; Alam, Rahul; Taylor, Sian; Rolfe, Carly; Glover, Steven William; Whitcombe, Joanne; Campbell, Stephen M

    2018-02-28

    To identify the top 10 unanswered research questions for primary care patient safety research. A modified nominal group technique. UK. Anyone with experience of primary care including: patients, carers and healthcare professionals. 341 patients and 86 healthcare professionals submitted questions. A top 10, and top 30, future research questions for primary care patient safety. 443 research questions were submitted by 341 patients and 86 healthcare professionals, through a national survey. After checking for relevance and rephrasing, a total of 173 questions were collated into themes. The themes were largely focused on communication, team and system working, interfaces across primary and secondary care, medication, self-management support and technology. The questions were then prioritised through a national survey, the top 30 questions were taken forward to the final prioritisation workshop. The top 10 research questions focused on the most vulnerable in society, holistic whole-person care, safer communication and coordination between care providers, work intensity, continuity of care, suicide risk, complex care at home and confidentiality. This study was the first national prioritisation exercise to identify patient and healthcare professional priorities for primary care patient safety research. The research priorities identified a range of important gaps in the existing evidence to inform everyday practice to address primary care patient safety. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  18. Research of factors of marketing pricing at domestic industrial enterprises

    OpenAIRE

    V.V. Bozhkova; I.M. Ryabchenko

    2013-01-01

    The aim of the article. The purpose of the article is research and systematization of factors of marketing pricing, which affect on realization of products of industrial enterprises.Works of domestic and foreign scientists on this issue were analysed. Traditionally pricing factors are classified into two groups: internal (controlled) and external (uncontrolled). Such division of factors is the first stage of pricing system analysis. On the second stage of analysis each of these groups is divi...

  19. Feasibility of developing a portable driver performance data acquisition system for human factors research: Technical tasks. Volume 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carter, R.J.; Barickman, F.S.; Spelt, P.F.; Schmoyer, R.L.; Kirkpatrick, J.R.

    1998-01-01

    A two-phase, multi-year research program entitled ``development of a portable driver performance data acquisition system for human factors research`` was recently completed. The primary objective of the project was to develop a portable data acquisition system for crash avoidance research (DASCAR) that will allow drive performance data to be collected using a large variety of vehicle types and that would be capable of being installed on a given vehicle type within a relatively short-time frame. During phase 1 a feasibility study for designing and fabricating DASCAR was conducted. In phase 2 of the research DASCAR was actually developed and validated. This technical memorandum documents the results from the feasibility study. It is subdivided into three volumes. Volume one (this report) addresses the last five items in the phase 1 research and the first issue in the second phase of the project. Volumes two and three present the related appendices, and the design specifications developed for DASCAR respectively. The six tasks were oriented toward: identifying parameters and measures; identifying analysis tools and methods; identifying measurement techniques and state-of-the-art hardware and software; developing design requirements and specifications; determining the cost of one or more copies of the proposed data acquisition system; and designing a development plan and constructing DASCAR. This report also covers: the background to the program; the requirements for the project; micro camera testing; heat load calculations for the DASCAR instrumentation package in automobile trunks; phase 2 of the research; the DASCAR hardware and software delivered to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and crash avoidance problems that can be addressed by DASCAR.

  20. An Action Research Inquiry into the Relationship Among Aerobic Activities, Memory, and Stress with Students Identified as Gifted

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, Denise Marie

    Students identified as gifted come from varying socio-economic strata and nationalities with a range of talents and temperaments comprising a diverse community. They may experience stress for a variety of reasons. Although a certain amount of stress can enhance the learning process, too much stress can impede learning, especially memory. Strategies have been offered for relieving stress, yet the benefits of physical activities as stress reducers for the gifted have frequently been overlooked. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among aerobic activity, stress, and memory ability in students in an elementary school gifted program. An exceptional aspect of this research was that the students were an integral part of their own study. As co-researchers they had a vested interest in what they were doing, enhancing the significance of the experience and heightening learning. This action research project conducted in a mid-western school district with fourth and fifth grade students examined the impact of aerobic movement on physical indicators of stress and memory. The study lasted twelve weeks with data collected on physical indicators of stress, memory test scores, parent observations, interviews with students, a parent focus group session, observational data, student comments, and investigator/teacher journal. By infusing regular exercise into curricula, stress levels in students identified as gifted were examined. Students' scores on declarative memory tasks conducted with and without an accompanying aerobic activity were documented. Students learned of the delicate relationship between stress and memory as they studied the physiology of the brain. Twenty-four hour retention rates of declarative memory items were higher when a 20-minute aerobic activity intervention preceded the memory activity. Perceived stress levels were lowered for 14 of the 16 co-researchers. Students indicated a positive attitude toward physical activity and its

  1. Implementation of critical success factors in construction research ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Construction research and development (R&D) process has a number of issues that affect its success. These issues imply that Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of construction R&D process are not properly addressed. Not knowing CSFs could lead to not implementing them and not paying proper attention for them. The study ...

  2. Logistic regression for risk factor modelling in stuttering research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Phil; Wu, Yaqionq

    2013-06-01

    To outline the uses of logistic regression and other statistical methods for risk factor analysis in the context of research on stuttering. The principles underlying the application of a logistic regression are illustrated, and the types of questions to which such a technique has been applied in the stuttering field are outlined. The assumptions and limitations of the technique are discussed with respect to existing stuttering research, and with respect to formulating appropriate research strategies to accommodate these considerations. Finally, some alternatives to the approach are briefly discussed. The way the statistical procedures are employed are demonstrated with some hypothetical data. Research into several practical issues concerning stuttering could benefit if risk factor modelling were used. Important examples are early diagnosis, prognosis (whether a child will recover or persist) and assessment of treatment outcome. After reading this article you will: (a) Summarize the situations in which logistic regression can be applied to a range of issues about stuttering; (b) Follow the steps in performing a logistic regression analysis; (c) Describe the assumptions of the logistic regression technique and the precautions that need to be checked when it is employed; (d) Be able to summarize its advantages over other techniques like estimation of group differences and simple regression. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Ethical decision making in the conduct of research: role of individual, contextual and organizational factors. Commentary on "Science, human nature, and a new paradigm for ethics education".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langlais, Philip J

    2012-09-01

    Despite the importance of scientific integrity to the well-being of society, recent findings suggest that training and mentoring in the responsible conduct of research are not very reliable or effective inhibitors of research misbehavior. Understanding how and why individual scientists decide to behave in ways that conform to or violate norms and standards of research is essential to the development of more effective training programs and the creation of more supportive environments. Scholars in business management, psychology, and other disciplines have identified many important factors that affect ethical behavior, including individual, contextual, and organizational factors. Surprisingly little research has been conducted to examine the role of these factors in either the development of ethical decision-making skills, or their applicability to ethical issues commonly encountered in research and other scholarly and professional activities. Interdisciplinary approaches combined with research and discipline relevant paradigms should greatly enhance understanding of the individual contextual and organizational factors involved in ethical and unethical research conduct. Such studies will inform and facilitate the development of more effective ethics education programs in the sciences and engineering professions.

  4. Imaging-Based Screen Identifies Laminin 411 as a Physiologically Relevant Niche Factor with Importance for i-Hep Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Ong

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Use of hepatocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (i-Heps is limited by their functional differences in comparison with primary cells. Extracellular niche factors likely play a critical role in bridging this gap. Using image-based characterization (high content analysis; HCA of freshly isolated hepatocytes from 17 human donors, we devised and validated an algorithm (Hepatocyte Likeness Index; HLI for comparing the hepatic properties of cells against a physiological gold standard. The HLI was then applied in a targeted screen of extracellular niche factors to identify substrates driving i-Heps closer to the standard. Laminin 411, the top hit, was validated in two additional induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC lines, primary tissue, and an in vitro model of α1-antitrypsin deficiency. Cumulatively, these data provide a reference method to control and screen for i-Hep differentiation, identify Laminin 411 as a key niche protein, and underscore the importance of combining substrates, soluble factors, and HCA when developing iPSC applications. : Rashid and colleagues demonstrate the utility of a high-throughput imaging platform for identification of physiologically relevant extracellular niche factors to advance i-Heps closer to their primary tissue counterparts. The extracellular matrix (ECM protein screen identified Laminin 411 as an important niche factor facilitating i-Hep-based disease modeling in vitro. Keywords: iPS hepatocytes, extracellular niche, image-based screening, disease modeling, laminin

  5. Latinos in science: Identifying factors that influence the low percentage of Latino representation in the sciences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, Susan Jennifer

    A mixed methods approach was used to identify factors that influence the underrepresentation of Latinos in the domain of science. The researcher investigated the role of family influences, academic preparation, and personal motivations to determine science-related career choices by Latinos. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted using information from Latinos gathered from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88) administered by the National Center for Education Statistics. For the present study, data were analyzed using participants' responses as high school seniors, college students, and post-baccalaureates. Students responded to questions on school, work, parental academic influences, personal aspirations, and self-perception. To provide more insight into the experiences of Latinos in science and support the statistical analyses, nine students majoring in science in a private, urban university located in the northeastern part of the country were interviewed. Eleven variables related to parents' academic support and students' perceptions of parental support were taken together as predictors for two separate criteria from the survey. These results identified parents' level of education and the importance of academics to parents in their teen's college choice as significant predictors in determining college major in science. When the criterion was degree in science, the significant predictor was the frequency parents contacted high school as volunteers. Student interviews supported this information, demonstrating the importance of parental support in attaining a degree in science. Academic preparation was also analyzed. Students' reasons for taking science classes in high school was a significant predictor for science major; significant predictors for science degree were the emphasis placed on objectives in math and science classes and number of courses in biology and physics. Student interviews supported this information and

  6. Considerations of Human Factors in the Design and Operation of Research Reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shokr, A.M.

    2015-01-01

    The feedback from the severe accidents occurred at nuclear power plants showed that safety of nuclear installations does not depend only on technical matters but also on human performance. Human errors can initiate an event or can make , by intervention, the event consequences worse. Human factors are of a particular importance for research reactors since the status of these facilities change frequently and the operators have an easy access to the reactor core and to the associated experimental facilities. This paper discusses the experience with human factors and their impact on the safety of research reactors and application of technical and administrative provisions to address these factors in the design and operation phases of research reactors for continuous improvements in safety and performance of these facilities

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2017-12-01

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

  8. A scoping review of epidemiologic risk factors for pediatric obesity: Implications for future childhood obesity and dental caries prevention research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Donald L; Luu, Monique; Chu, Frances

    2017-06-01

    What are the non-modifiable (socioeconomic, genetic) and modifiable factors (physical activity, dietary behaviors) related to childhood (under age 12) obesity? How can this knowledge be applied to oral health professionals' efforts to prevent or manage dental caries in children? Studies have identified risk factors for childhood obesity. The purpose of this scoping review was to develop a conceptual model to identify non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors for childhood obesity and to illustrate how these findings are relevant in developing interventions aimed at preventing obesity and dental caries in children. The authors searched PubMed and Embase and limited the study to English-language publications. A total of 2,572 studies were identified. After de-duplication, 2,479 studies remained and were downloaded into a citation-management tool. Two authors screened the titles and abstracts for relevance. Two hundred and sixty studies remained and were retrieved for a full-text review, and 80 studies were excluded, resulting in 180 studies included in the scoping review. An inductive content analytic methods was used to organize all statistically significant obesity risk factors into seven domains, which were classified as non-modifiable or modifiable; then a conceptual model of common risk factors associated with childhood obesity and dental caries was developed. Non-modifiable obesity risk factors include biological and developmental (e.g., genes, developmental conditions, puberty), sociodemographic and household (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, parent education, unemployment), cultural (e.g., degree of acculturation), and community (e.g., neighborhood composition). Modifiable risk factors included behavioral (e.g., diet, physical activity, weight), psychosocial (e.g., maternal stress, family functioning, parenting practices, child temperament), and medical (e.g., parent smoking, maternal health, child health). Identifying common risk factors has

  9. Citizen science participation in research in the environmental sciences: key factors related to projects' success and longevity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunha, Davi G F; Marques, Jonatas F; Resende, Juliana C DE; Falco, Patrícia B DE; Souza, Chrislaine M DE; Loiselle, Steven A

    2017-01-01

    The potential impacts of citizen science initiatives are increasing across the globe, albeit in an imbalanced manner. In general, there is a strong element of trial and error in most projects, and the comparison of best practices and project structure between different initiatives remains difficult. In Brazil, the participation of volunteers in environmental research is limited. Identifying the factors related to citizen science projects' success and longevity within a global perspective can contribute for consolidating such practices in the country. In this study, we explore past and present projects, including a case study in Brazil, to identify the spatial and temporal trends of citizen science programs as well as their best practices and challenges. We performed a bibliographic search using Google Scholar and considered results from 2005-2014. Although these results are subjective due to the Google Scholar's algorithm and ranking criteria, we highlighted factors to compare projects across geographical and disciplinary areas and identified key matches between project proponents and participants, project goals and local priorities, participant profiles and engagement, scientific methods and funding. This approach is a useful starting point for future citizen science projects, allowing for a systematic analysis of potential inconsistencies and shortcomings in this emerging field.

  10. Identifying sources of atmospheric fine particles in Havana City using Positive Matrix Factorization technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pinnera, I.; Perez, G.; Ramos, M.; Guibert, R.; Aldape, F.; Flores M, J.; Martinez, M.; Molina, E.; Fernandez, A.

    2011-01-01

    In previous study a set of samples of fine and coarse airborne particulate matter collected in a urban area of Havana City were analyzed by Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) technique. The concentrations of 14 elements (S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br and Pb) were consistently determined in both particle sizes. The analytical database provided by PIXE was statistically analyzed in order to determine the local pollution sources. The Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) technique was applied to fine particle data in order to identify possible pollution sources. These sources were further verified by enrichment factor (EF) calculation. A general discussion about these results is presented in this work. (Author)

  11. Key factors in children's competence to consent to clinical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hein, Irma M; Troost, Pieter W; Lindeboom, Robert; Benninga, Marc A; Zwaan, C Michel; van Goudoever, Johannes B; Lindauer, Ramón J L

    2015-10-24

    Although law is established on a strong presumption that persons younger than a certain age are not competent to consent, statutory age limits for asking children's consent to clinical research differ widely internationally. From a clinical perspective, competence is assumed to involve many factors including the developmental stage, the influence of parents and peers, and life experience. We examined potential determining factors for children's competence to consent to clinical research and to what extent they explain the variation in competence judgments. From January 1, 2012 through January 1, 2014, pediatric patients aged 6 to 18 years, eligible for clinical research studies were enrolled prospectively at various in- and outpatient pediatric departments. Children's competence to consent was assessed by MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research. Potential determining child variables included age, gender, intelligence, disease experience, ethnicity and socio-economic status (SES). We used logistic regression analysis and change in explained variance in competence judgments to quantify the contribution of a child variable to the total explained variance. Contextual factors included risk and complexity of the decision to participate, parental competence judgment and the child's or parents decision to participate. Out of 209 eligible patients, 161 were included (mean age, 10.6 years, 47.2 % male). Age, SES, intelligence, ethnicity, complexity, parental competence judgment and trial participation were univariately associated with competence (P competence judgments was 71.5 %. Only age and intelligence significantly and independently explained the variance in competence judgments, explaining 56.6 % and 12.7 % of the total variance respectively. SES, male gender, disease experience and ethnicity each explained less than 1 % of the variance in competence judgments. Contextual factors together explained an extra 2.8 % (P > 0.05). Age is the factor that

  12. Intellectual Leadership of Researchers in Higher Education: Relationship Between the Demographic Factors and Roles (Lithuanian Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Žydžiūnaitė Vilma

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The intellectual leadership of educators or teachers represents a topic of a great interest for educational research and practice. Variety of variables or factors have been examined to find the most complete explanations for teachers’, professors’ and educators’ roles, for example, institutional, financial, gender, organizational, spiritual, and intellectual. No literature was found on the relationship between the demographic variables and researchers’ roles in higher education regarding intellectual leadership. But a lot of studies are focused on the relationship between demographic and other factors in education: job satisfaction, organizational justice, religion, gender, culture, personal and professional roles, stress, mental health, and mobility. The research issue in this study is related to researchers’/scientists’ work in higher education schools and is focused on intellectual leadership, which consists of different roles. It is worth to think about researchers as intellectual leaders and to discover how they recognize or identify their roles in higher education. In this study, findings answer the following research question: “What are the relationships between researchers’ roles and their gender, work experience, dissertation defence date, and research field?” The object of the research study is the researchers’ roles in higher education. The aim of the study was to reveal the relationship between demographic factors and researchers’ roles in higher education. Data were collected by performing a questioning survey and using a validated questionnaire with 116 statements in total. The sample consisted of 304 researchers working in higher education institutions. For data analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, Mean and ANOVA calculations were used. The research findings reported that the female-researchers’ evaluations were higher in all cases regarding their roles in higher education schools. The results of the study

  13. Identifying indigenous peoples for health research in a global context: a review of perspectives and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartlett, Judith G; Madariaga-Vignudo, Lucia; O'Neil, John D; Kuhnlein, Harriet V

    2007-09-01

    Identifying Indigenous Peoples globally is complex and contested despite there being an estimated 370 million living in 70 countries. The specific context and use of locally relevant and clear definitions or characterizations of Indigenous Peoples is important for recognizing unique health risks Indigenous Peoples face, for understanding local Indigenous health aspirations and for reflecting on the need for culturally disaggregated data to plan meaningful research and health improvement programs. This paper explores perspectives on defining Indigenous Peoples and reflects on challenges in identifying Indigenous Peoples. Literature reviews and Internet searches were conducted, and some key experts were consulted. Pragmatic and political definitions by international institutions, including the United Nations, are presented as well as characterizations of Indigenous Peoples by governments and academic researchers. Assertions that Indigenous Peoples have about definitions of indigeneity are often related to maintenance of cultural integrity and sustainability of lifestyles. Described here are existing definitions and interests served by defining (or leaving undefined) such definitions, why there is no unified definition and implications of "too restrictive" a definition. Selected indigenous identities and dynamics are presented for North America, the Arctic, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. While health researchers need to understand the Indigenous Peoples with whom they work, ultimately, indigenous groups themselves best define how they wish to be viewed and identified for research purposes.

  14. Identifying depression severity risk factors in persons with traumatic spinal cord injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Ryan T; Wilson, Catherine S; Heinemann, Allen W; Lazowski, Linda E; Fann, Jesse R; Bombardier, Charles H

    2014-02-01

    Examine the relationship between demographic characteristics, health-, and injury-related characteristics, and substance misuse across multiple levels of depression severity. 204 persons with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) volunteered as part of screening efforts for a randomized controlled trial of venlafaxine extended release for major depressive disorder (MDD). Instruments included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) depression scale, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and the Substance Abuse in Vocational Rehabilitation-Screener (SAVR-S), which contains 3 subscales: drug misuse, alcohol misuse, and a subtle items scale. Each of the SAVR-S subscales contributes to an overall substance use disorder (SUD) outcome. Three proportional odds models were specified, varying the substance misuse measure included in each model. 44% individuals had no depression symptoms, 31% had mild symptoms, 16% had moderate symptoms, 6% had moderately severe symptoms, and 3% had severe depression symptoms. Alcohol misuse, as indicated by the AUDIT and the SAVR-S drug misuse subscale scores were significant predictors of depression symptom severity. The SAVR-S substance use disorder (SUD) screening outcome was the most predictive variable. Level of education was only significantly predictive of depression severity in the model using the AUDIT alcohol misuse indicator. Likely SUD as measured by the SAVR-S was most predictive of depression symptom severity in this sample of persons with traumatic SCI. Drug and alcohol screening are important for identifying individuals at risk for depression, but screening for both may be optimal. Further research is needed on risk and protective factors for depression, including psychosocial characteristics. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  15. Health Research and Millennium Development Goals: Identifying the Gap From Public Health Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Lawindi, Mona I; Galal, Yasmine S; Khairy, Walaa A

    2015-08-23

    Assessing the research output within the universities could provide an effective means for tracking the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) progress. This analytical database study was designed to assess the trend of research theses conducted by the Public Health Department (PHD), Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University during the period 1990 to 2014 as related to the: MDGS, Faculty and department research priority plans and to identify the discrepancies between researchers' priorities versus national and international research priorities. A manual search of the theses was done at the Postgraduate Library using a specially designed checklist to chart adherence of each thesis to: MDGs, Faculty and department research plans (RPs). The theses' profile showed that the highest research output was for addressing the MDGS followed by the PHD and Faculty RPs. Compliance to MDGs 5 and 6 was obvious, whereas; MDGs 2, 3, and 7 were not represented at all after year 2000. No significant difference was found between PH theses addressing the Faculty RPs and those which were not before and after 2010. A significantly lower percent of PH theses was fulfilling the PHD research priorities compared to those which were not after 2010. This study showed a definite decline in research output tackling the MDGS and PHD research priorities, with a non-significant increase in the production of theses addressing the Faculty RPs. The present study is a practical model for policy makers within the universities to develop and implement a reliable monitoring and evaluation system for assessment of research output.

  16. White paper on geothermal sustainability; Grundlagenpapier 'Geothermal sustainability - A review with identified research needs'

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rybach, L.; Megel, T.

    2006-12-15

    This comprehensive appendix contained in a comprehensive annual report 2006 for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) reviews research needs identified in connection with the topic of geothermal sustainability. It is noted that excessive production often pursued - mostly for economical reasons - can lead to the depletion of heat reservoirs. Sustainable production can be achieved with lower production rates and still provide similar total energy yields. The regeneration of geothermal resources following exploitation is discussed. The need for further research into geothermal production sustainability is noted. A doublet system realised in Riehen, Switzerland, is discussed, as is an Enhanced Geothermal System EGS using circulation in fractured rock layers. Research still needed is noted.

  17. Identifying Architectural Technical Debt in Android Applications through Compliance Checking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verdecchia, R.

    By considering the fast pace at which mobile applications need to evolve, Architectural Technical Debt results to be a crucial yet implicit factor of success. In this research we present an approach to automatically identify Architectural Technical Debt in Android applications. The approach takes

  18. Factors influencing the effectiveness of research ethics committees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuppli, C A; Fraser, D

    2007-05-01

    Research ethics committees - animal ethics committees (AECs) for animal-based research and institutional research boards (IRBs) for human subjects - have a key role in research governance, but there has been little study of the factors influencing their effectiveness. The objectives of this study were to examine how the effectiveness of a research ethics committee is influenced by committee composition and dynamics, recruitment of members, workload, participation level and member turnover. As a model, 28 members of AECs at four universities in western Canada were interviewed. Committees were selected to represent variation in the number and type of protocols reviewed, and participants were selected to include different types of committee members. We found that a bias towards institutional or scientific interests may result from (1) a preponderance of institutional and scientist members, (2) an intimidating atmosphere for community members and other minority members, (3) recruitment of community members who are affiliated with the institution and (4) members joining for reasons other than to fulfil the committee mandate. Thoroughness of protocol review may be influenced by heavy workloads, type of review process and lack of full committee participation. These results, together with results from the literature on research ethics committees, suggested potential ways to improve the effectiveness of research ethics committees.

  19. Lessons learned from England's Health Checks Programme: using qualitative research to identify and share best practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ismail, Hanif; Kelly, Shona

    2015-10-20

    This study aimed to explore the challenges and barriers faced by staff involved in the delivery of the National Health Service (NHS) Health Check, a systematic cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment and management program in primary care. Data have been derived from three qualitative evaluations that were conducted in 25 General Practices and involved in depth interviews with 58 staff involved all levels of the delivery of the Health Checks. Analysis of the data was undertaken using the framework approach and findings are reported within the context of research and practice considerations. Findings indicated that there is no 'one size fits all' blueprint for maximising uptake although success factors were identified: evolution of the programme over time in response to local needs to suit the particular characteristics of the patient population; individual staff characteristics such as being proactive, enthusiastic and having specific responsibility; a supportive team. Training was clearly identified as an area that needed addressing and practitioners would benefit from CVD specific baseline training and refresher courses to keep them up to date with recent developments in the area. However there were other external factors that impinged on an individual's ability to provide an effective service, some of these were outside the control of individuals and included cutbacks in referral services, insufficient space to run clinics or general awareness of the Health Checks amongst patients. The everyday experiences of practitioners who participated in this study suggest that overall, Health Check is perceived as a worthwhile exercise. But, organisational and structural barriers need to be addressed. We also recommend that clear referral pathways be in place so staff can refer patients to appropriate services (healthy eating sessions, smoking cessation, and exercise referrals). Local authorities need to support initiatives that enable data sharing and linkage so that

  20. Identifying Contextual and Emotional Factors to Explore Weight Disparities between Obese Black and White Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    NiCole R. Keith

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background Obese black women enrolled in weight loss interventions experience 50% less weight reduction than obese white women. This suggests that current weight loss strategies may increase health disparities. Objective We evaluated the feasibility of identifying daily contextual factors that may influence obesity. Methods In-home interviews with 16 obese (body mass index ≥ 30 black and white urban poor women were performed. For 14 days, ecological momentary assessment (EMA was used to capture emotion and social interactions every other day, and day reconstruction method surveys were used the following day to reconstruct the context of the prior day's EMA. Results Factors included percentage of participants without weight scales (43.8% or fitness equipment (68.8% in the home and exposed to food at work (55.6%. The most frequently reported location, activity, and emotion were home (19.4 ± 8.53, working (7.1 ± 8.80, and happy (6.9 ± 10.03, respectively. Conclusion Identifying individual contexts may lead to valuable insights about obesogenic behaviors and new interventions to improve weight management.

  1. 'The perfect is the enemy of the good' - ergonomics research and practice. Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors Annual Lecture 2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckle, Peter

    2011-01-01

    The relationship between research and practice in ergonomics and human factors has rarely been addressed in the literature. This presents specific problems for researchers when seeking to relate their work to the research community. Equally, practitioners are often frustrated by the lack of appropriate research to meet their needs. This paper seeks to identify current drivers for ergonomics research along with an analysis of how these are changing. Specifically, the use of bibliometric data to assess research output and its impact on a multi-disciplinary subject such as ergonomics is examined. Areas where action may be required to stimulate better research and improved practice are proposed. These include a greater role for the practitioner in completing the circle of knowledge and improving the evidence base for practice with, in particular, practitioners becoming more active in determining research priorities. It is concluded that combined effort is needed by researcher and practitioner communities to enable and promote a more effective understanding of the true impact of ergonomics across industry and society. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: The relationship between ergonomics research and practice is examined. Research 'drivers' are identified, including the influence of bibliometric data. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed. The role of practitioners in completing the circle of knowledge and improving the ergonomics evidence base is stressed, as is the need to promote the impact of ergonomics across society.

  2. Comparative effectiveness of colony-stimulating factors in febrile neutropenia prophylaxis: how results are affected by research design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henk, Henry J; Li, Xiaoyan; Becker, Laura K; Xu, Hairong; Gong, Qi; Deeter, Robert G; Barron, Richard L

    2015-01-01

    To examine the impact of research design on results in two published comparative effectiveness studies. Guidelines for comparative effectiveness research have recommended incorporating disease process in study design. Based on the recommendations, we develop a checklist of considerations and apply the checklist in review of two published studies on comparative effectiveness of colony-stimulating factors. Both studies used similar administrative claims data, but different methods, which resulted in directionally different estimates. Major design differences between the two studies include: whether the timing of intervention in disease process was identified and whether study cohort and outcome assessment period were defined based on this temporal relationship. Disease process and timing of intervention should be incorporated into the design of comparative effectiveness studies.

  3. Original Research Factors associated with hospital arrival time after ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Original Research. Factors associated with hospital arrival time after the onset of stroke symptoms: A cross-sectional study at two teaching hospitals in Harare, Zimbabwe .... hypertension causing small vessel disease which outweigh the causes of ..... Stroke Mechanism in Atherosclerotic Middle Cerebral Artery Disease:.

  4. Identifying optimal postmarket surveillance strategies for medical and surgical devices: implications for policy, practice and research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagliardi, Anna R; Umoquit, Muriah; Lehoux, Pascale; Ross, Sue; Ducey, Ariel; Urbach, David R

    2013-03-01

    Non-drug technologies offer many benefits, but have been associated with adverse events, prompting calls for improved postmarket surveillance. There is little empirical research to guide the development of such a system. The purpose of this study was to identify optimal postmarket surveillance strategies for medical and surgical devices. Qualitative methods were used for sampling, data collection and analysis. Stakeholders from Canada and the USA representing different roles and perspectives were first interviewed to identify examples and characteristics of different surveillance strategies. These stakeholders and others they recommended were then assembled at a 1-day nominal group meeting to discuss and prioritise the components of a postmarket device surveillance system, and research needed to achieve such a system. Consultations were held with 37 participants, and 47 participants attended the 1-day meeting. They recommended a multicomponent system including reporting by facilities, clinicians and patients, supported with some external surveillance for validation and real-time trials for high-risk devices. Many considerations were identified that constitute desirable characteristics of, and means by which to implement such a system. An overarching network was envisioned to broker linkages, establish a shared minimum dataset, and support communication and decision making. Numerous research questions were identified, which could be pursued in tandem with phased implementation of the system. These findings provide unique guidance for establishing a device safety network that is based on existing initiatives, and could be expanded and evaluated in a prospective, phased fashion as it was developed.

  5. Calculating the Unit Cost Factors for Decommissioning Cost Estimation of the Nuclear Research Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Kwan Seong; Lee, Dong Gyu; Jung, Chong Hun; Lee, Kune Woo

    2006-01-01

    The estimated decommissioning cost of nuclear research reactor is calculated by applying a unit cost factor-based engineering cost calculation method on which classification of decommissioning works fitted with the features and specifications of decommissioning objects and establishment of composition factors are based. Decommissioning cost of nuclear research reactor is composed of labor cost, equipment and materials cost. Labor cost of decommissioning costs in decommissioning works are calculated on the basis of working time consumed in decommissioning objects. In this paper, the unit cost factors and work difficulty factors which are needed to calculate the labor cost in estimating decommissioning cost of nuclear research reactor are derived and figured out.

  6. A systematic review of mixed methods research on human factors and ergonomics in health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carayon, Pascale; Kianfar, Sarah; Li, Yaqiong; Xie, Anping; Alyousef, Bashar; Wooldridge, Abigail

    2015-11-01

    This systematic literature review provides information on the use of mixed methods research in human factors and ergonomics (HFE) research in health care. Using the PRISMA methodology, we searched four databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and Engineering Village) for studies that met the following inclusion criteria: (1) field study in health care, (2) mixing of qualitative and quantitative data, (3) HFE issues, and (4) empirical evidence. Using an iterative and collaborative process supported by a structured data collection form, the six authors identified a total of 58 studies that primarily address HFE issues in health information technology (e.g., usability) and in the work of healthcare workers. About two-thirds of the mixed methods studies used the convergent parallel study design where quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously. A variety of methods were used for collecting data, including interview, survey and observation. The most frequent combination involved interview for qualitative data and survey for quantitative data. The use of mixed methods in healthcare HFE research has increased over time. However, increasing attention should be paid to the formal literature on mixed methods research to enhance the depth and breadth of this research. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Research Methods Identifying Correlation Between Physical Environment of Schools and Educational Paradigms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grėtė Brukštutė

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The article is analysing the research that was already carried out in order to determine correlation between a physical environment of schools and educational paradigms. While selecting materials for the analysis, the attention was focused on studies conducted in the USA and European countries. Based on these studies the methodological attitudes towards coherence of the education and spatial structures were tried to identify. Homogeneity and conformity of an educational character and a physical learning environment became especially important during changes of educational conceptions. The issue how educational paradigms affect the architecture of school buildings is not yet analysed in Lithuania, therefore the results of this research could actualize a theme on correlation between educational paradigms and the architecture of school buildings and form initial guidelines for the development of the modern physical learning environment.

  8. The ICF Core Sets for hearing loss--researcher perspective. Part I: Systematic review of outcome measures identified in audiological research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granberg, Sarah; Dahlström, Jennie; Möller, Claes; Kähäri, Kim; Danermark, Berth

    2014-02-01

    To review the literature in order to identify outcome measures used in research on adults with hearing loss (HL) as part of the ICF Core Sets development project, and to describe study and population characteristics of the reviewed studies. A systematic review methodology was applied using multiple databases. A comprehensive search was conducted and two search pools were created, pool I and pool II. The study population included adults (≥ 18 years of age) with HL and oral language as the primary mode of communication. 122 studies were included. Outcome measures were distinguished by 'instrument type', and 10 types were identified. In total, 246 (pool I) and 122 (pool II) different measures were identified, and only approximately 20% were extracted twice or more. Most measures were related to speech recognition. Fifty-one different questionnaires were identified. Many studies used small sample sizes, and the sex of participants was not revealed in several studies. The low prevalence of identified measures reflects a lack of consensus regarding the optimal outcome measures to use in audiology. Reflections and discussions are made in relation to small sample sizes and the lack of sex differentiation/descriptions within the included articles.

  9. Using exploratory regression to identify optimal driving factors for cellular automaton modeling of land use change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Yongjiu; Tong, Xiaohua

    2017-09-22

    Defining transition rules is an important issue in cellular automaton (CA)-based land use modeling because these models incorporate highly correlated driving factors. Multicollinearity among correlated driving factors may produce negative effects that must be eliminated from the modeling. Using exploratory regression under pre-defined criteria, we identified all possible combinations of factors from the candidate factors affecting land use change. Three combinations that incorporate five driving factors meeting pre-defined criteria were assessed. With the selected combinations of factors, three logistic regression-based CA models were built to simulate dynamic land use change in Shanghai, China, from 2000 to 2015. For comparative purposes, a CA model with all candidate factors was also applied to simulate the land use change. Simulations using three CA models with multicollinearity eliminated performed better (with accuracy improvements about 3.6%) than the model incorporating all candidate factors. Our results showed that not all candidate factors are necessary for accurate CA modeling and the simulations were not sensitive to changes in statistically non-significant driving factors. We conclude that exploratory regression is an effective method to search for the optimal combinations of driving factors, leading to better land use change models that are devoid of multicollinearity. We suggest identification of dominant factors and elimination of multicollinearity before building land change models, making it possible to simulate more realistic outcomes.

  10. Critical factors for EIA implementation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhang, Jasmine; Kørnøv, Lone; Christensen, Per

    2013-01-01

    After decades of development, the gap between expectations of Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) and their practical performance remains significant. Research has been done to identify the critical factors for an effective implementation of EIA. However, this research, to a large extent, has...... not been cumulated and analysed comprehensively according to the stages of the EIA process. This paper contributes to the critical review of the literature on EIA implementation and effectiveness by cumulating mainly empirical findings in an implementation theoretical perspective. It focuses on the links...... between different critical factors and how they relate to different stages in the EIA and thus influence the decision making process. After reviewing 33 refereed journal articles published between 1999 and 2011, we identified 203 notions of critical factors. Of these, 102 related to different stages...

  11. Preparedness for physiotherapy in private practice: Novices identify key factors in an interpretive description study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atkinson, Robyn; McElroy, Theresa

    2016-04-01

    Physiotherapists in Australia deliver services to a diverse range of clients, across many settings, however little research exists examining graduate preparedness for practice, even in the populous field of private practice. To explore novice physiotherapist perspectives on preparedness for work in private practice. The qualitative approach of interpretive description was used to guide in-depth interviews with 8 novice physiotherapists from 3 universities working in 5 private practices in Melbourne. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically. Four main themes influencing graduate preparedness for work in private practice were identified: 1) non-curricular experiences (e.g. sports training) 2) elective curricular: practicum experiences; 3) curricular: attainment of skills specific to private practice; and 4) the private practice setting: supportive colleagues. This combination of non-curricular, curricular, and practice setting factors offered the necessary scaffolding for the graduates to report feeling prepared for work in private practice. Non-curricular activities, radiological instruction, clinical placements, building supportive colleague relations and professional development in private practice are recommended as potential means of building preparedness in novice therapists. Findings have implications for physiotherapy students, educators and private practice clinics looking to recruit new graduates. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Pharmacy patronage: identifying key factors in the decision making process using the determinant attribute approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franic, Duska M; Haddock, Sarah M; Tucker, Leslie Tootle; Wooten, Nathan

    2008-01-01

    To use the determinant attribute approach, a research method commonly used in marketing to identify the wants of various consumer groups, to evaluate consumer pharmacy choice when having a prescription order filled in different pharmacy settings. Cross sectional. Community independent, grocery store, community chain, and discount store pharmacies in Georgia between April 2005 and April 2006. Convenience sample of adult pharmacy consumers (n = 175). Survey measuring consumer preferences on 26 attributes encompassing general pharmacy site features (16 items), pharmacist characteristics (5 items), and pharmacy staff characteristics (5 items). 26 potential determinant attributes for pharmacy selection. 175 consumers were surveyed at community independent (n = 81), grocery store (n = 44), community chain (n = 27), or discount store (n = 23) pharmacy settings. The attributes of pharmacists and staff at all four pharmacy settings were shown to affect pharmacy patronage motives, although consumers frequenting non-community independent pharmacies were also motivated by secondary convenience factors, e.g., hours of operation, and prescription coverage. Most consumers do not perceive pharmacies as merely prescription-distribution centers that vary only by convenience. Prescriptions are not just another economic good. Pharmacy personnel influence pharmacy selection; therefore, optimal staff selection and training is likely the greatest asset and most important investment for ensuring pharmacy success.

  13. IDENTIFYING ELEVEN FACTORS OF SERVICE MARKETING MIX (4PS) EFFECTIVE ON TENDENCY OF PATIENTS TOWARD PRIVATE HOSPITAL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosseini, Seyed Mojtaba; Etesaminia, Samira; Jafari, Mehrnoosh

    2016-10-01

    One of the important factors of correct management is to identify the reasons for patient tendency toward private hospitals. This study measures these factors based on service marketing mixes. This study used a cross sectional descriptive methodology. The study was conducted during 6 months in 2015. The studied population included patients of private hospitals in Tehran. Random sampling was used (n = 200). Data was collected by an author-made questionnaire for service marketing factors. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed. Data analysis was done using factor analysis test in SPSS 20. The results showed that constant attendance of physicians and nurses has the highest effect (0.707%) on patient tendency toward private hospitals.

  14. Using hyperspectral imaging technology to identify diseased tomato leaves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Cuiling; Wang, Xiu; Zhao, Xueguan; Meng, Zhijun; Zou, Wei

    2016-11-01

    In the process of tomato plants growth, due to the effect of plants genetic factors, poor environment factors, or disoperation of parasites, there will generate a series of unusual symptoms on tomato plants from physiology, organization structure and external form, as a result, they cannot grow normally, and further to influence the tomato yield and economic benefits. Hyperspectral image usually has high spectral resolution, not only contains spectral information, but also contains the image information, so this study adopted hyperspectral imaging technology to identify diseased tomato leaves, and developed a simple hyperspectral imaging system, including a halogen lamp light source unit, a hyperspectral image acquisition unit and a data processing unit. Spectrometer detection wavelength ranged from 400nm to 1000nm. After hyperspectral images of tomato leaves being captured, it was needed to calibrate hyperspectral images. This research used spectrum angle matching method and spectral red edge parameters discriminant method respectively to identify diseased tomato leaves. Using spectral red edge parameters discriminant method produced higher recognition accuracy, the accuracy was higher than 90%. Research results have shown that using hyperspectral imaging technology to identify diseased tomato leaves is feasible, and provides the discriminant basis for subsequent disease control of tomato plants.

  15. Serial analysis of gene expression identifies connective tissue growth factor expression as a prognostic biomarker in gallbladder cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez, Hector; Corvalan, Alejandro; Roa, Juan C; Argani, Pedram; Murillo, Francisco; Edwards, Jennifer; Beaty, Robert; Feldmann, Georg; Hong, Seung-Mo; Mullendore, Michael; Roa, Ivan; Ibañez, Luis; Pimentel, Fernando; Diaz, Alfonso; Riggins, Gregory J; Maitra, Anirban

    2008-05-01

    Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is an uncommon neoplasm in the United States, but one with high mortality rates. This malignancy remains largely understudied at the molecular level such that few targeted therapies or predictive biomarkers exist. We built the first series of serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) libraries from GBC and nonneoplastic gallbladder mucosa, composed of 21-bp long-SAGE tags. SAGE libraries were generated from three stage-matched GBC patients (representing Hispanic/Latino, Native American, and Caucasian ethnicities, respectively) and one histologically alithiasic gallbladder. Real-time quantitative PCR was done on microdissected epithelium from five matched GBC and corresponding nonneoplastic gallbladder mucosa. Immunohistochemical analysis was done on a panel of 182 archival GBC in high-throughput tissue microarray format. SAGE tags corresponding to connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) transcripts were identified as differentially overexpressed in all pairwise comparisons of GBC (P Cancer Genome Anatomy Project web site and should facilitate much needed research into this lethal neoplasm.

  16. Research Areas: Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    NCI’s prevention research has a broad focus, from identifying environmental and lifestyle factors that influence cancer risk to studying the biology of how cancer develops and studying ways to disseminate prevention interventions.

  17. Introduction of Human Factors Engineering Program Plan of a Research Reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, Tong Il; Lee, Hyun Chul

    2011-01-01

    KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) has a contract with Jordan to export a research and training reactor. KAERI is performing the project as an SD (System Design) and the design work has been performing by 8 design teams which include an Instrumentation and Control (I and C). A design of the MCR (Main Control Room) and the SCR (Supplementary Control Room) is being developed by the HFE design team which is a part of the I and C team. For the control room design considering the human factors principles, the HFE design team developed an HFEPP (Human Factors Engineering Program Plan) which should be established to meet regulatory requirements. In this study, the HFEPP for the JRTR (Jordan Research and Training Reactor) is introduced and the details are described

  18. Relating genes to function: identifying enriched transcription factors using the ENCODE ChIP-Seq significance tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auerbach, Raymond K; Chen, Bin; Butte, Atul J

    2013-08-01

    Biological analysis has shifted from identifying genes and transcripts to mapping these genes and transcripts to biological functions. The ENCODE Project has generated hundreds of ChIP-Seq experiments spanning multiple transcription factors and cell lines for public use, but tools for a biomedical scientist to analyze these data are either non-existent or tailored to narrow biological questions. We present the ENCODE ChIP-Seq Significance Tool, a flexible web application leveraging public ENCODE data to identify enriched transcription factors in a gene or transcript list for comparative analyses. The ENCODE ChIP-Seq Significance Tool is written in JavaScript on the client side and has been tested on Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Server-side scripts are written in PHP and leverage R and a MySQL database. The tool is available at http://encodeqt.stanford.edu. abutte@stanford.edu Supplementary material is available at Bioinformatics online.

  19. [Research on climatic factors of ecology suitability regionalization of atractylodis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Zhe-tian; Wang, Hao; Zhu, Shou-dong; Yan, Yu-ping; Guo, Lan-ping; Zheng, Yu-guang

    2015-11-01

    Through study on the correlation between atractylodis lactones ingredient content and climatic factors, we research regionalization from climatic of five main producing provinces of the country, in order to provide a scientific basis for atractylodis' conscious cultivation. By sampling from 40 origins which from five main producing provinces of the country, we use SPSS to analysis variation of atractylodis lactones ingredient content in different conditions of climatic factors and the effect of each factors. Then according to the relationship between atractylodis lactones ingredient content and climatic factors, we use ArcGIS to conduct ecological suitability regionalization based on climatic factors. The most suitable climatic condition for cultivation of atractylodis: the wettest month precipitation 220-230 mm, the warmest average temperature 25 degrees C, the average temperature of driest season 10 degrees C.

  20. Towards a community effort to identify ethical principles for research in hydrology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montanari, Alberto

    2010-05-01

    The hydrological community in Europe is growing rapidly in both size and, more importantly, scientific relevance and integrity. The Hydrological Sciences (HS) Division of EGU actively is promoting the above development by identifying research targets, stimulating the involvement of young scientists and managing a scientific open access journal based on a public peer review process. The management of the Division itself and the organisation of the General Assembly are carried out transparently, with the aim to seek an improved involvement of top and young scientists, with a bottom up approach. I believe the HS community is animated by a strong enthusiasm which, however, is not adequately supported by economical funding. In my opinion this is a major problem which HS should consider and discuss. The relevance of the societal and environmental problems dealt with by hydrologists, in a professional way and with exceptional scientific skills, is without doubt and therefore the limited amount of funding is not justified in practice. In my opinion, in order to refine the structure of the HS community, and promote its visibility, we should formally identify HS ethical principles for research in environmental science. The principles should highlight the role of hydrology as well as the ethical and scientific solidity of the HS community. Establishing ethical principles is even more important in view of the transparent approach HS is adopting for reviewing and publishing contributions and in view of the increasing need to transparently prove how public funding for research is administered. Establishing ethical principles for hydrology is not a trivial task. Hydrology is characterised by a relevant uncertainty in data, models and parameters. Hydrology is also relying on a large variety of approaches, ranging from statistical to physically based. The purpose of this poster is to present a collection of ethical principles for scientific research presented by the literature and

  1. One Health approach to identify research needs in bovine and human babesioses: workshop report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    McElwain Terry F

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Babesia are emerging health threats to humans and animals in the United States. A collaborative effort of multiple disciplines to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment, otherwise known as the One Health concept, was taken during a research workshop held in April 2009 to identify gaps in scientific knowledge regarding babesioses. The impetus for this analysis was the increased risk for outbreaks of bovine babesiosis, also known as Texas cattle fever, associated with the re-infestation of the U.S. by cattle fever ticks. Results The involvement of wildlife in the ecology of cattle fever ticks jeopardizes the ability of state and federal agencies to keep the national herd free of Texas cattle fever. Similarly, there has been a progressive increase in the number of cases of human babesiosis over the past 25 years due to an increase in the white-tailed deer population. Human babesiosis due to cattle-associated Babesia divergens and Babesia divergens-like organisms have begun to appear in residents of the United States. Research needs for human and bovine babesioses were identified and are presented herein. Conclusions The translation of this research is expected to provide veterinary and public health systems with the tools to mitigate the impact of bovine and human babesioses. However, economic, political, and social commitments are urgently required, including increased national funding for animal and human Babesia research, to prevent the re-establishment of cattle fever ticks and the increasing problem of human babesiosis in the United States.

  2. IDENTIFYING ELEVEN FACTORS OF SERVICE MARKETING MIX (4PS) EFFECTIVE ON TENDENCY OF PATIENTS TOWARD PRIVATE HOSPITAL

    OpenAIRE

    Hosseini, Seyed Mojtaba; Etesaminia, Samira; Jafari, Mehrnoosh

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: One of the important factors of correct management is to identify the reasons for patient tendency toward private hospitals. This study measures these factors based on service marketing mixes. Patients and methods: This study used a cross sectional descriptive methodology. The study was conducted during 6 months in 2015. The studied population included patients of private hospitals in Tehran. Random sampling was used (n = 200). Data was collected by an author-made questionnaire ...

  3. A combined structural dynamics approach identifies a putative switch in factor VIIa employed by tissue factor to initiate blood coagulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Ole H; Rand, Kasper D; Østergaard, Henrik

    2007-01-01

    Coagulation factor VIIa (FVIIa) requires tissue factor (TF) to attain full catalytic competency and to initiate blood coagulation. In this study, the mechanism by which TF allosterically activates FVIIa is investigated by a structural dynamics approach that combines molecular dynamics (MD......) simulations and hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HX) mass spectrometry on free and TF-bound FVIIa. The differences in conformational dynamics from MD simulations are shown to be confined to regions of FVIIa observed to undergo structural stabilization as judged by HX experiments, especially implicating activation...... in the presence of TF or an active-site inhibitor. Based on MD simulations, a key switch of the TF-induced structural changes is identified as the interacting pair Leu305{163} and Phe374{225} in FVIIa, whose mutual conformations are guided by the presence of TF and observed to be closely linked to the structural...

  4. Workshops as a Research Methodology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ørngreen, Rikke; Levinsen, Karin Tweddell

    2017-01-01

    , and workshops as a research methodology. Focusing primarily on the latter, this paper presents five studies on upper secondary and higher education teachers’ professional development and on teaching and learning through video conferencing. Through analysis and discussion of these studies’ findings, we argue......This paper contributes to knowledge on workshops as a research methodology, and specifically on how such workshops pertain to e-learning. A literature review illustrated that workshops are discussed according to three different perspectives: workshops as a means, workshops as practice...... that workshops provide a platform that can aid researchers in identifying and exploring relevant factors in a given domain by providing means for understanding complex work and knowledge processes that are supported by technology (for example, e-learning). The approach supports identifying factors...

  5. Application of Geomorphologic Factors for Identifying Soil Loss in Vulnerable Regions of the Cameron Highlands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kahhoong Kok

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this study is to propose a methodology for identifying vulnerable regions in the Cameron Highlands that are susceptible to soil loss, based on runoff aggregation structure and the energy expenditure pattern of the natural river basin, within the framework of power law distribution. To this end, three geomorphologic factors, namely shear stress and stream power, as well as the drainage area of every point in the basin of interest, have been extracted using GIS, and then their complementary cumulative distributions are graphically analyzed by fitting them to power law distribution, with the purpose of identifying the sensitive points within the basin that are susceptible to soil loss with respect to scaling regimes of shear stress and stream power. It is observed that the range of vulnerable regions by the scaling regime of shear stress is much narrower than by the scaling regime of stream power. This result seems to suggest that shear stress is a scale-dependent factor, which does not follow power law distribution and does not adequately reflect the energy expenditure pattern of a river basin. Therefore, stream power is preferred as a more reasonable factor for the evaluation of soil loss. The methodology proposed in this study can be validated by visualizing the path of soil loss, which is generated from the hillslope process (characterized by the local slope to the valley through a fluvial process (characterized by the drainage area as well as the local slope.

  6. Implementing Research in Professional Higher Education: Factors That Influence Lecturers' Perceptions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffioen, Didi M. E.; de Jong, Uulkje

    2015-01-01

    Higher professional education in Europe has changed from teaching-only institutes to hybrids of teaching and research. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence the judgements of lecturers about new organisational goals and perceptions of their new research-related competencies. Lecturers' judgements of new organisational…

  7. Prevalence of HIV in pregnant women identified with a risk factor at a tertiary care hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahmud, Ghazala; Abbas, Shazra

    2009-01-01

    HIV is an epidemic quite unlike any other, combining the problems of a lifelong medical disease with immense social, psychological, economic and public health consequences. Since we are living in a global village where human interactions has become fast and frequent, diseases like HIV are no more alien to us. HIV/AIDS in Pakistan is slowly gaining recognition as a public health issue of great importance. Objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of HIV in pregnant women identified with a high risk factor/behaviour at a tertiary care hospital. It is a Descriptive study. All pregnant women attending antenatal booking clinic were assessed via a pre-designed 'Risk assessment questionnaire'. Women identified with a risk factor were offered HIV Rapid screening test (Capillus HIV1/2). Positive (reactive) results on screening test were confirmed with ELISA. During the study period (March 2007-May 2008), out of 5263 antenatal bookings 785 (14%) women were identified with a risk factor. HIV screening test was done in 779 (99%), and 6 women refused testing. Three women (0.3%) were found positive (reactive) on screening. Two out of 3 women were confirmed positive (0.2%) on ELISA. Husbands of both women were tested and one found positive (migrant from Dubai). Second women had history of blood transfusion. Her husband was HIV negative. During the study period, in addition to 2 pregnant women diagnosed as HIV positive through ANC risk screening, 6 confirmed HIV positive women, found pregnant were referred from 'HIV Treatment Centre', Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) centre for obstetric care. Spouses of 5 out of 6 had history of working abroad and extramarital sexual relationships. All positive (8) women were referred to PPTCT centre for further management. A simple 'Risk Assessment Questionnaire' can help us in identifying women who need HIV screening. Sexual transmission still remains the

  8. Survey Practices in Dental Education Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creswell, John W.; Kuster, Curtis G.

    1983-01-01

    The use of mailed questionnaires in research on dental education is examined, and several factors that researchers should consider when reporting mailed questionnaire research to journal editors are identified. Examples from the "Journal of Dental Education" are used. (Author/MLW)

  9. Research and development studies on human factors: new trends

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Llory, M.; Larchier-Boulanger, J.

    1988-01-01

    This paper is aimed at describing where the research work on human factors undertaken at EDF stands in relation to this European trend and to define the problematics of cognitive phenomena in relation to all (non cognitive) human phenomena, on the one hand, and to individual aspects as compared to collective and organizational aspects, on the other. Some important trends in the research and development studies will thus be examined one lay one: - analysis of operators' activity; - analysis of the activity cognitive aspects; - problem of the impact of non-cognitive aspects

  10. Factors that influence parental decisions to participate in clinical research: consenters vs nonconsenters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoberman, Alejandro; Shaikh, Nader; Bhatnagar, Sonika; Haralam, Mary Ann; Kearney, Diana H; Colborn, D Kathleen; Kienholz, Michelle L; Wang, Li; Bunker, Clareann H; Keren, Ron; Carpenter, Myra A; Greenfield, Saul P; Pohl, Hans G; Mathews, Ranjiv; Moxey-Mims, Marva; Chesney, Russell W

    2013-06-01

    A child's health, positive perceptions of the research team and consent process, and altruistic motives play significant roles in the decision-making process for parents who consent for their child to enroll in clinical research. This study identified that nonconsenting parents were better educated, had private insurance, showed lower levels of altruism, and less understanding of study design. To determine the factors associated with parental consent for their child's participation in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Cross-sectional survey conducted from July 2008 to May 2011. The survey was an ancillary study to the Randomized Intervention for Children with VesicoUreteral Reflux Study. Seven children's hospitals participating in a randomized trial evaluating management of children with vesicoureteral reflux. Parents asked to provide consent for their child's participation in the randomized trial were invited to complete an anonymous online survey about factors influencing their decision. A total of 120 of the 271 (44%) invited completed the survey; 58 of 125 (46%) who had provided consent and 62 of 144 (43%) who had declined consent completed the survey. A 60-question survey examining child, parent, and study characteristics; parental perception of the study; understanding of the design; external influences; and decision-making process. RESULTS Having graduated from college and private health insurance were associated with a lower likelihood of providing consent. Parents who perceived the trial as having a low degree of risk, resulting in greater benefit to their child and other children, causing little interference with standard care, or exhibiting potential for enhanced care, or who perceived the researcher as professional were significantly more likely to consent to participate. Higher levels of understanding of the randomization process, blinding, and right to withdraw were significantly positively associated with consent to participate. CONCLUSIONS AND

  11. Genome-wide strategies identify downstream target genes of chick connective tissue-associated transcription factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orgeur, Mickael; Martens, Marvin; Leonte, Georgeta; Nassari, Sonya; Bonnin, Marie-Ange; Börno, Stefan T; Timmermann, Bernd; Hecht, Jochen; Duprez, Delphine; Stricker, Sigmar

    2018-03-29

    Connective tissues support organs and play crucial roles in development, homeostasis and fibrosis, yet our understanding of their formation is still limited. To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms of connective tissue specification, we selected five zinc-finger transcription factors - OSR1, OSR2, EGR1, KLF2 and KLF4 - based on their expression patterns and/or known involvement in connective tissue subtype differentiation. RNA-seq and ChIP-seq profiling of chick limb micromass cultures revealed a set of common genes regulated by all five transcription factors, which we describe as a connective tissue core expression set. This common core was enriched with genes associated with axon guidance and myofibroblast signature, including fibrosis-related genes. In addition, each transcription factor regulated a specific set of signalling molecules and extracellular matrix components. This suggests a concept whereby local molecular niches can be created by the expression of specific transcription factors impinging on the specification of local microenvironments. The regulatory network established here identifies common and distinct molecular signatures of limb connective tissue subtypes, provides novel insight into the signalling pathways governing connective tissue specification, and serves as a resource for connective tissue development. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  12. Identifying and prioritizing different factors influencing the success of advertisement during the economic depression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aram Rashidi

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available During the financial crisis of 2007, many businesses and banks faced unexpected circumstances and declared bankruptcy. Market mortgage crisis and the collapse of the economic system in United States created a substantial amount of damage in world economy. Within a few years, the economic downturn was transferred to developing countries such as Iran. The recession has created conditions for Iranian companies that have led them to focus more on the subject of advertising since this is the primary tool of communication and business customers business. Success and failure of many organizations and companies depend on their advertisement planning. In this study, the factors contributing to the success and effectiveness of advertising during the recession time are identified. This survey has been accomplished on investigating an Iranian dairy firm named “Kalle”. Using a questionnaire in Likert scale, the study determines the effects of various factors of advertisement on sales improvement in this firm using Pearson correlation ratio and rank them based on Freedman test. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.93. According to the results, factors that contribute to the success of advertising during a recession include: Responsiveness to customers’ needs, advertising tools, content factors, the amount of money spent and availability.

  13. Human Factors Research in Aircrew Performance and Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    1986-11-01

    three phases of research in the original proposal, a flight simulation study, conducted by the Army Aeroflight- dinamics Directorate (AAFD), to...identifying strengths and weaknesses in all aviation related programs; " to assess the aviation support facility’s (ASF) ability to support units assigned to...addition, data were compiled from questionnaires designed to assess students’ and IPs’ opinions about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the simulator

  14. Factors determining lumber recovery in sawmilling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Philip H. Steele

    1984-01-01

    Lumber volume recovery in sawmilling is determined by a confusing interaction of several factors. The more one knows about each individual factor, the more one can understand how the factors interact. The author identifies and discusses in detail seven factors influencing lumber recovery. Past and current research is cited, and examples are given to illustrate the...

  15. Identifying research priorities in anaesthesia and perioperative care: final report of the joint National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia/James Lind Alliance Research Priority Setting Partnership

    OpenAIRE

    Boney, O.; Bell, M.; Bell, N.; Conquest, A.; Cumbers, M.; Drake, S.; Galsworthy, M.; Gath, J.; Grocott, M. P.; Harris, E.; Howell, S.; Ingold, A.; Nathanson, M. H.; Pinkney, T.; Metcalf, L.

    2015-01-01

    Objective To identify research priorities for Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine. Design Prospective surveys and consensus meetings guided by an independent adviser. Setting UK. Participants 45 stakeholder organisations (25 professional, 20 patient/carer) affiliated as James Lind Alliance partners. Outcomes First ?ideas-gathering? survey: Free text research ideas and suggestions. Second ?prioritisation? survey: Shortlist of ?summary? research questions (derived from the first survey) rank...

  16. Logistical Factors in Teachers' Motivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniels, Erika

    2016-01-01

    Research in education and psychology contributes to an understanding of how educators create contexts for learning that encourage intrinsic motivation and increase academic achievement. In this article, the researcher investigated how teachers themselves define effectiveness and identified what factors influence their motivation, both positively…

  17. [Risk factors of schizophrenia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suvisaari, Jaana

    2010-01-01

    Schizophrenia is a multifactorial, neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. Disturbances of brain development begin prenatally, while different environmental insults further affect postnatal brain maturation during childhood and adolescence. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have succeeded in identifying hundreds of new risk variants for common, multifactorial diseases. In schizophrenia research, GWAS have found several rare copy number variants that considerably increase the risk of schizophrenia, and have shown an association between schizophrenia and the major histocompatibility complex. Research on environmental risk factors in recent years has provided new information particularly on risk factors related to pregnancy and childhood rearing environment. Gene-environment interactions have become a central research topic. There is evidence that genetically susceptible children are more vulnerable to the effects of unstable childhood rearing environment and other environmental risk factors.

  18. Psychosocial risk and protective factors for the health and well-being of professionals working in emergency and non-emergency medical transport services, identified via questionnaires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro Moya, P; González Carrasco, M; Villar Hoz, E

    2017-09-06

    Medical transport (MT) professionals are subject to considerable emotional demands due to their involvement in life-or-death situations and their exposure to the serious health problems of their clients. An increase in the demand for MT services has, in turn, increased interest in the study of the psychosocial risk factors affecting the health of workers in this sector. However, research thus far has not distinguished between emergency (EMT) and non-emergency (non-EMT) services, nor between the sexes. Furthermore, little emphasis has been placed on the protective factors involved. The main objective of the present study is to identify any existing differential exposure - for reasons of work setting (EMT and non-EMT) or of gender - to the various psychosocial risk and protective factors affecting the health of MT workers. Descriptive and transversal research with responses from 201 professionals. The scores obtained on the various psychosocial scales in our study - as indicators of future health problems - were more unfavourable for non-EMT workers than they were for EMT workers. Work setting, but not gender, was able to account for these differences. The scores obtained for the different psychosocial factors are generally more favourable for the professionals we surveyed than those obtained in previous samples. The significant differences observed between EMT and non-EMT personnel raise important questions regarding the organization of work in companies that carry out both services at the same time in the same territory. The relationships among the set of risk/protective factors suggests a need for further investigation into working conditions as well as a consideration of the workers' sense of coherence and subjective well-being as protective factors against occupational burnout syndrome.

  19. Nurses’ research utilization two years after graduation—a national survey of associated individual, organizational, and educational factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Nurses’ research utilization (RU) as part of evidence-based practice is strongly emphasized in today’s nursing education and clinical practice. The primary aim of RU is to provide high-quality nursing care to patients. Data on newly graduated nurses’ RU are scarce, but a predominance of low use has been reported in recent studies. Factors associated with nurses’ RU have previously been identified among individual and organizational/contextual factors, but there is a lack of knowledge about how these factors, including educational ones, interact with each other and with RU, particularly in nurses during the first years after graduation. The purpose of this study was therefore to identify factors that predict the probability for low RU among registered nurses two years after graduation. Methods Data were collected as part of the LANE study (Longitudinal Analysis of Nursing Education), a Swedish national survey of nursing students and registered nurses. Data on nurses’ instrumental, conceptual, and persuasive RU were collected two years after graduation (2007, n = 845), together with data on work contextual factors. Data on individual and educational factors were collected in the first year (2002) and last term of education (2004). Guided by an analytic schedule, bivariate analyses, followed by logistic regression modeling, were applied. Results Of the variables associated with RU in the bivariate analyses, six were found to be significantly related to low RU in the final logistic regression model: work in the psychiatric setting, role ambiguity, sufficient staffing, low work challenge, being male, and low student activity. Conclusions A number of factors associated with nurses’ low extent of RU two years postgraduation were found, most of them potentially modifiable. These findings illustrate the multitude of factors related to low RU extent and take their interrelationships into account. This knowledge might serve as useful input in

  20. IDENTIFYING ELEVEN FACTORS OF SERVICE MARKETING MIX (4PS) EFFECTIVE ON TENDENCY OF PATIENTS TOWARD PRIVATE HOSPITAL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosseini, Seyed Mojtaba; Etesaminia, Samira; Jafari, Mehrnoosh

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: One of the important factors of correct management is to identify the reasons for patient tendency toward private hospitals. This study measures these factors based on service marketing mixes. Patients and methods: This study used a cross sectional descriptive methodology. The study was conducted during 6 months in 2015. The studied population included patients of private hospitals in Tehran. Random sampling was used (n = 200). Data was collected by an author-made questionnaire for service marketing factors. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed. Data analysis was done using factor analysis test in SPSS 20. Results: The results showed that constant attendance of physicians and nurses has the highest effect (0.707%) on patient tendency toward private hospitals. PMID:27999486

  1. Pilot Critical Incident Reports as a Means to Identify Human Factors of Remotely Piloted Aircraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hobbs, Alan; Cardoza, Colleen; Null, Cynthia

    2016-01-01

    It has been estimated that aviation accidents are typically preceded by numerous minor incidents arising from the same causal factors that ultimately produced the accident. Accident databases provide in-depth information on a relatively small number of occurrences, however incident databases have the potential to provide insights into the human factors of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) operations based on a larger volume of less-detailed reports. Currently, there is a lack of incident data dealing with the human factors of unmanned aircraft systems. An exploratory study is being conducted to examine the feasibility of collecting voluntary critical incident reports from RPAS pilots. Twenty-three experienced RPAS pilots volunteered to participate in focus groups in which they described critical incidents from their own experience. Participants were asked to recall (1) incidents that revealed a system flaw, or (2) highlighted a case where the human operator contributed to system resilience or mission success. Participants were asked to only report incidents that could be included in a public document. During each focus group session, a note taker produced a de-identified written record of the incident narratives. At the end of the session, participants reviewed each written incident report, and made edits and corrections as necessary. The incidents were later analyzed to identify contributing factors, with a focus on design issues that either hindered or assisted the pilot during the events. A total of 90 incidents were reported. Human factor issues included the impact of reduced sensory cues, traffic separation in the absence of an out-the-window view, control latencies, vigilance during monotonous and ultra-long endurance flights, control station design considerations, transfer of control between control stations, the management of lost link procedures, and decision-making during emergencies. Pilots participated willingly and enthusiastically in the study

  2. Describing Case Study Method and Identifying the Factors that Contribute to the Successful Conduct of Case Studies

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmad H. Juma'h; Mustafa Cavus

    2001-01-01

    This article has attempted to describe case study, the limitations and critiques on case study methodology and how the proponents have responded to these. Our special focus have been on the debate on theory building from case study research, and a framework for conducting case study research as well as the factors for a successful case study research. The overall conclusion is that the case study has been inappropriately used to generate theories.

  3. Health-Related Lifestyle Factors and Sexual Dysfunction: A Meta-Analysis of Population-Based Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Mark S; Walter, Emma E

    2018-04-01

    Sexual dysfunction is a common problem among men and women and is associated with negative individual functioning, relationship difficulties, and lower quality of life. To determine the magnitude of associations between 6 health-related lifestyle factors (cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, diet, caffeine, and cannabis use) and 3 common sexual dysfunctions (erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and female sexual dysfunction). A comprehensive literature search of 10 electronic databases identified 89 studies that met the inclusion criteria (452 effect sizes; N = 348,865). Pooled mean effects (for univariate, age-adjusted, and multivariable-adjusted estimates) were computed using inverse-variance weighted random-effects meta-analysis and moderation by study and population characteristics were tested using random-effects meta-regression. Mean effect sizes from 92 separate meta-analyses provided evidence that health-related lifestyle factors are important for sexual dysfunction. Cigarette smoking (past and current), alcohol intake, and physical activity had dose-dependent associations with erectile dysfunction. Risk of erectile dysfunction increased with greater cigarette smoking and decreased with greater physical activity. Alcohol had a curvilinear association such that moderate intake was associated with a lower risk of erectile dysfunction. Participation in physical activity was associated with a lower risk of female sexual dysfunction. There was some evidence that a healthy diet was related to a lower risk of erectile dysfunction and female sexual dysfunction, and caffeine intake was unrelated to erectile dysfunction. Publication bias appeared minimal and findings were similar for clinical and non-clinical samples. Modification of lifestyle factors would appear to be a useful low-risk approach to decreasing the risk of erectile dysfunction and female sexual dysfunction. Strengths include the testing of age-adjusted and multivariable

  4. A mixed methods study of the factors that influence whether intervention research has policy and practice impacts: perceptions of Australian researchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newson, Robyn; King, Lesley; Rychetnik, Lucie; Bauman, Adrian E; Redman, Sally; Milat, Andrew J; Schroeder, Jacqueline; Cohen, Gillian; Chapman, Simon

    2015-07-21

    To investigate researchers' perceptions about the factors that influenced the policy and practice impacts (or lack of impact) of one of their own funded intervention research studies. Mixed method, cross-sectional study. Intervention research conducted in Australia and funded by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council between 2003 and 2007. The chief investigators from 50 funded intervention research studies were interviewed to determine if their study had achieved policy and practice impacts, how and why these impacts had (or had not) occurred and the approach to dissemination they had employed. We found that statistically significant intervention effects and publication of results influenced whether there were policy and practice impacts, along with factors related to the nature of the intervention itself, the researchers' experience and connections, their dissemination and translation efforts, and the postresearch context. This study indicates that sophisticated approaches to intervention development, dissemination actions and translational efforts are actually widespread among experienced researches, and can achieve policy and practice impacts. However, it was the links between the intervention results, further dissemination actions by researchers and a variety of postresearch contextual factors that ultimately determined whether a study had policy and practice impacts. Given the complicated interplay between the various factors, there appears to be no simple formula for determining which intervention studies should be funded in order to achieve optimal policy and practice impacts. 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.

  5. Factor analysis in the Genetics of Asthma International Network family study identifies five major quantitative asthma phenotypes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pillai, S. G.; Tang, Y.; van den Oord, E.; Klotsman, M.; Barnes, K.; Carlsen, K.; Gerritsen, J.; Lenney, W.; Silverman, M.; Sly, P.; Sundy, J.; Tsanakas, J.; von Berg, A.; Whyte, M.; Ortega, H. G.; Anderson, W. H.; Helms, P. J.

    Background Asthma is a clinically heterogeneous disease caused by a complex interaction between genetic susceptibility and diverse environmental factors. In common with other complex diseases the lack of a standardized scheme to evaluate the phenotypic variability poses challenges in identifying the

  6. Rediscovering Paideia and the Meaning of a Scholarly Career: Rejoinder to "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonacopoulou, Elena P.

    2016-01-01

    In "Identifying Research Topic Development in Business and Management Education Research Using Legitimation Code Theory," authors J.B. Arbaugh, Charles J. Fornaciari, and Alvin Hwang ("Journal of Management Education," December 2016 vol. 40 no. 6 p654-691, see EJ1118407) used citation analysis to track the development of…

  7. Altruistic behavior in cohesive social groups: The role of target identifiability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritov, Ilana; Kogut, Tehila

    2017-01-01

    People's tendency to be more generous toward identifiable victims than toward unidentifiable or statistical victims is known as the Identifiable Victim Effect. Recent research has called the generality of this effect into question, showing that in cross-national contexts, identifiability mostly affects willingness to help victims of one's own "in-group." Furthermore, in inter-group conflict situations, identifiability increased generosity toward a member of the adversary group, but decreased generosity toward a member of one's own group. In the present research we examine the role of group-cohesiveness as an underlying factor accounting for these divergent findings. In particular, we examined novel groups generated in the lab, using the minimal group paradigm, as well as natural groups of students in regular exercise sections. Allocation decisions in dictator games revealed that a group's cohesiveness affects generosity toward in-group and out-group recipients differently, depending on their identifiability. In particular, in cohesive groups the identification of an in-group recipient decreased, rather than increased generosity.

  8. Altruistic behavior in cohesive social groups: The role of target identifiability.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilana Ritov

    Full Text Available People's tendency to be more generous toward identifiable victims than toward unidentifiable or statistical victims is known as the Identifiable Victim Effect. Recent research has called the generality of this effect into question, showing that in cross-national contexts, identifiability mostly affects willingness to help victims of one's own "in-group." Furthermore, in inter-group conflict situations, identifiability increased generosity toward a member of the adversary group, but decreased generosity toward a member of one's own group. In the present research we examine the role of group-cohesiveness as an underlying factor accounting for these divergent findings. In particular, we examined novel groups generated in the lab, using the minimal group paradigm, as well as natural groups of students in regular exercise sections. Allocation decisions in dictator games revealed that a group's cohesiveness affects generosity toward in-group and out-group recipients differently, depending on their identifiability. In particular, in cohesive groups the identification of an in-group recipient decreased, rather than increased generosity.

  9. Identifying main factors of capacity fading in lithium ion cells using orthogonal design of experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su, Laisuo; Zhang, Jianbo; Wang, Caijuan; Zhang, Yakun; Li, Zhe; Song, Yang; Jin, Ting; Ma, Zhao

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • The effect of seven principal factors on the aging behavior of lithium ion cells is studied. • Orthogonal design of experiments is used to reduce the experiment units. • Capacity fades linearly during the initial 10% capacity fading period. • Statistical methods are used to compare the significance of each principal factor. • A multi-factor statistical model is developed to predict the aging rate of cells. - Abstract: The aging rate under cycling conditions for lithium-ion cells is affected by many factors. Seven principal factors are systematically examined using orthogonal design of experiments, and statistical analysis was used to identify the order of principal factors in terms of strength in causing capacity fade. These seven principal factors are: the charge and discharge currents (i_1, i_2) during the constant current regime, the charge and discharge cut-off voltages (V_1, V_2) and the corresponding durations (t_1, t_2) during the constant voltage regime, and the ambient temperature (T). An orthogonal array with 18 test units was selected for the experiments. The test results show that (1) during the initial 10% capacity fading period, the capacity faded linearly with Wh-throughput for all the test conditions; (2) after the initial period, certain cycling conditions exacerbated aging rates, while the others remain the same. The statistical results show that: (1) except for t_1, the other six principal factors significantly affect the aging rate; (2) the strength of the principal factors was ranked as: i_1 > V_1 > T > t_2 > V_2 > i_2 > t_1. Finally, a multi-factor statistical aging model is developed to predict the aging rate, and the accuracy of the model is validated.

  10. Recent technology products from Space Human Factors research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, James P.

    1991-01-01

    The goals of the NASA Space Human Factors program and the research carried out concerning human factors are discussed with emphasis given to the development of human performance models, data, and tools. The major products from this program are described, which include the Laser Anthropometric Mapping System; a model of the human body for evaluating the kinematics and dynamics of human motion and strength in microgravity environment; an operational experience data base for verifying and validating the data repository of manned space flights; the Operational Experience Database Taxonomy; and a human-computer interaction laboratory whose products are the display softaware and requirements and the guideline documents and standards for applications on human-computer interaction. Special attention is given to the 'Convoltron', a prototype version of a signal processor for synthesizing the head-related transfer functions.

  11. [Interrelationships between soil fauna and soil environmental factors in China: research advance].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yi; Wei, Wei; Yang, Xing-zhong; Chen, Li-ding; Yang, Lei

    2010-09-01

    Soil fauna has close relations with various environmental factors in soil ecosystem. To explore the interrelationships between soil fauna and soil environmental factors is of vital importance to deep understand the dynamics of soil ecosystem and to assess the functioning of the ecosystem. The environmental factors affecting soil fauna can be classified as soil properties and soil external environment. The former contains soil basic physical and chemical properties, soil moisture, and soil pollution. The latter includes vegetation, land use type, landform, and climate, etc. From these aspects, this paper summarized the published literatures in China on the interrelationships between soil fauna and soil environmental factors. It was considered that several problems were existed in related studies, e.g., fewer researches were made in integrating soil fauna's bio-indicator function, research methods were needed to be improved, and the studies on the multi-environmental factors and their large scale spatial-temporal variability were in deficiency. Corresponding suggestions were proposed, i.e., more work should be done according to the practical needs, advanced experiences from abroad should be referenced, and comprehensive studies on multi-environmental factors and long-term monitoring should be conducted on large scale areas.

  12. Modifiable risk factors for schizophrenia and autism--shared risk factors impacting on brain development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamlyn, Jess; Duhig, Michael; McGrath, John; Scott, James

    2013-05-01

    Schizophrenia and autism are two poorly understood clinical syndromes that differ in age of onset and clinical profile. However, recent genetic and epidemiological research suggests that these two neurodevelopmental disorders share certain risk factors. The aims of this review are to describe modifiable risk factors that have been identified in both disorders, and, where available, collate salient systematic reviews and meta-analyses that have examined shared risk factors. Based on searches of Medline, Embase and PsycINFO, inspection of review articles and expert opinion, we first compiled a set of candidate modifiable risk factors associated with autism. Where available, we next collated systematic-reviews (with or without meta-analyses) related to modifiable risk factors associated with both autism and schizophrenia. We identified three modifiable risk factors that have been examined in systematic reviews for both autism and schizophrenia. Advanced paternal age was reported as a risk factor for schizophrenia in a single meta-analysis and as a risk factor in two meta-analyses for autism. With respect to pregnancy and birth complications, for autism one meta-analysis identified maternal diabetes and bleeding during pregnancy as risks factors for autism whilst a meta-analysis of eight studies identified obstetric complications as a risk factor for schizophrenia. Migrant status was identified as a risk factor for both autism and schizophrenia. Two separate meta-analyses were identified for each disorder. Despite distinct clinical phenotypes, the evidence suggests that at least some non-genetic risk factors are shared between these two syndromes. In particular, exposure to drugs, nutritional excesses or deficiencies and infectious agents lend themselves to public health interventions. Studies are now needed to quantify any increase in risk of either autism or schizophrenia that is associated with these modifiable environmental factors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc

  13. Identifying nurse staffing research in Medline: development and testing of empirically derived search strategies with the PubMed interface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Michael; Hausner, Elke; Klaus, Susan F; Dunton, Nancy E

    2010-08-23

    The identification of health services research in databases such as PubMed/Medline is a cumbersome task. This task becomes even more difficult if the field of interest involves the use of diverse methods and data sources, as is the case with nurse staffing research. This type of research investigates the association between nurse staffing parameters and nursing and patient outcomes. A comprehensively developed search strategy may help identify nurse staffing research in PubMed/Medline. A set of relevant references in PubMed/Medline was identified by means of three systematic reviews. This development set was used to detect candidate free-text and MeSH terms. The frequency of these terms was compared to a random sample from PubMed/Medline in order to identify terms specific to nurse staffing research, which were then used to develop a sensitive, precise and balanced search strategy. To determine their precision, the newly developed search strategies were tested against a) the pool of relevant references extracted from the systematic reviews, b) a reference set identified from an electronic journal screening, and c) a sample from PubMed/Medline. Finally, all newly developed strategies were compared to PubMed's Health Services Research Queries (PubMed's HSR Queries). The sensitivities of the newly developed search strategies were almost 100% in all of the three test sets applied; precision ranged from 6.1% to 32.0%. PubMed's HSR queries were less sensitive (83.3% to 88.2%) than the new search strategies. Only minor differences in precision were found (5.0% to 32.0%). As with other literature on health services research, nurse staffing studies are difficult to identify in PubMed/Medline. Depending on the purpose of the search, researchers can choose between high sensitivity and retrieval of a large number of references or high precision, i.e. and an increased risk of missing relevant references, respectively. More standardized terminology (e.g. by consistent use of the

  14. Identifying and assessing the factors affecting skill gap in digital marketing in communication industry companies

    OpenAIRE

    Ghotbifar, Fereshteh; Marjani, Mohammad Reza; Ramazani, Abbas

    2017-01-01

    As far as new communication channels are concerned, there have been extensive developments in communications and marketing in digital era. Today, therefore, companies try to take advantage of digital marketing channels to provide suitable services to customers to improve their satisfaction level. However, this study aimed to identify and assess factors affecting skill gap in digital marketing. This was descriptive correlation study. The population consisted of experts in communications indust...

  15. Identifying Factors Associated with Risk Assessment Competencies of Public Health Emergency Responders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Jiejing; Ren, Jiaojiao; Wu, Qunhong; Hao, Yanhua; Sun, Hong; Ning, Ning; Ding, Ding

    2017-06-04

    This study aimed to better understand the current situation of risk assessment and identify the factors associated with competence of emergency responders in public health risk assessment. The participants were selected by a multi-stage, stratified cluster sampling method in Heilongjiang Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The questionnaires that measured their perceptions on risk assessment competences were administered through the face-to-face survey. A final sample of 1889 staff was obtained. Of this sample, 78.6% of respondents rated their own risk assessment competences as "relatively low", contrasting with 21.4% rated as "relatively high". Most of the respondents (62.7%) did not participate in any risk assessment work. Only 13.7% and 42.7% of respondents reported participating in risk assessment training and were familiar with risk assessment tools. There existed statistical significance between risk assessment-related characteristics of respondents and their self-rated competences scores. Financial support from the government and administrative attention were regarded as the important factors contributing to risk assessment competences of CDC responders. Higher attention should be given to risk assessment training and enhancing the availability of surveillance data. Continuous efforts should be made to remove the financial and technical obstacles to improve the competences of risk assessment for public health emergency responders.

  16. A Sensitivity Analysis Approach to Identify Key Environmental Performance Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xi Yu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Life cycle assessment (LCA is widely used in design phase to reduce the product’s environmental impacts through the whole product life cycle (PLC during the last two decades. The traditional LCA is restricted to assessing the environmental impacts of a product and the results cannot reflect the effects of changes within the life cycle. In order to improve the quality of ecodesign, it is a growing need to develop an approach which can reflect the changes between the design parameters and product’s environmental impacts. A sensitivity analysis approach based on LCA and ecodesign is proposed in this paper. The key environmental performance factors which have significant influence on the products’ environmental impacts can be identified by analyzing the relationship between environmental impacts and the design parameters. Users without much environmental knowledge can use this approach to determine which design parameter should be first considered when (redesigning a product. A printed circuit board (PCB case study is conducted; eight design parameters are chosen to be analyzed by our approach. The result shows that the carbon dioxide emission during the PCB manufacture is highly sensitive to the area of PCB panel.

  17. Osteoporosis among Fallers without Concomitant Fracture Identified in an Emergency Department: Frequencies and Risk Factors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Glintborg, Bente; Hesse, Ulrik; Houe, Thomas

    2011-01-01

    aged 50-80 years sustaining a low-energy fall without fracture were identified from an ED (n = 199). Patients answered a questionnaire on risk factors and underwent osteodensitometry. Data was compared to a group of patients routinely referred to osteodensitometry from general practice (n = 201......). Results. Among the 199 included fallers, 41 (21%) had osteoporosis. Among these, 35 (85%) reported either previous fracture or reduced body height (>3¿cm). These two risk factors were more frequent among fallers with osteoporosis compared to fallers with normal bone mineral density or osteopenia (previous...... if the patient has a prior fracture or declined body height. Since fallers generally have higher fracture risk, the ED might serve as an additional entrance to osteodensitometry compared to referral from primary care....

  18. Identifying diffusion patterns of research articles on Twitter: A case study of online engagement with open access articles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alperin, Juan Pablo; Gomez, Charles J; Haustein, Stefanie

    2018-03-01

    The growing presence of research shared on social media, coupled with the increase in freely available research, invites us to ask whether scientific articles shared on platforms like Twitter diffuse beyond the academic community. We explore a new method for answering this question by identifying 11 articles from two open access biology journals that were shared on Twitter at least 50 times and by analyzing the follower network of users who tweeted each article. We find that diffusion patterns of scientific articles can take very different forms, even when the number of times they are tweeted is similar. Our small case study suggests that most articles are shared within single-connected communities with limited diffusion to the public. The proposed approach and indicators can serve those interested in the public understanding of science, science communication, or research evaluation to identify when research diffuses beyond insular communities.

  19. Evaluation of an inpatient fall risk screening tool to identify the most critical fall risk factors in inpatients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Wen-Hsuan; Kang, Chun-Mei; Ho, Mu-Hsing; Kuo, Jessie Ming-Chuan; Chen, Hsiao-Lien; Chang, Wen-Yin

    2017-03-01

    To evaluate the accuracy of the inpatient fall risk screening tool and to identify the most critical fall risk factors in inpatients. Variations exist in several screening tools applied in acute care hospitals for examining risk factors for falls and identifying high-risk inpatients. Secondary data analysis. A subset of inpatient data for the period from June 2011-June 2014 was extracted from the nursing information system and adverse event reporting system of an 818-bed teaching medical centre in Taipei. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and logistic regression analysis. During the study period, 205 fallers and 37,232 nonfallers were identified. The results revealed that the inpatient fall risk screening tool (cut-off point of ≥3) had a low sensitivity level (60%), satisfactory specificity (87%), a positive predictive value of 2·0% and a negative predictive value of 99%. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0·805 (sensitivity, 71·8%; specificity, 78%). To increase the sensitivity values, the Youden index suggests at least 1·5 points to be the most suitable cut-off point for the inpatient fall risk screening tool. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a considerably increased fall risk in patients with impaired balance and impaired elimination. The fall risk factor was also significantly associated with days of hospital stay and with admission to surgical wards. The findings can raise awareness about the two most critical risk factors for falls among future clinical nurses and other healthcare professionals and thus facilitate the development of fall prevention interventions. This study highlights the needs for redefining the cut-off points of the inpatient fall risk screening tool to effectively identify inpatients at a high risk of falls. Furthermore, inpatients with impaired balance and impaired elimination should be closely

  20. Identifying Ghanaian Pre-Service Teachers' Readiness for Computer Use: A Technology Acceptance Model Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gyamfi, Stephen Adu

    2016-01-01

    This study extends the technology acceptance model to identify factors that influence technology acceptance among pre-service teachers in Ghana. Data from 380 usable questionnaires were tested against the research model. Utilising the extended technology acceptance model (TAM) as a research framework, the study found that: pre-service teachers'…

  1. Humanism Factors and Islam Viewpoint from Motahri's Point of View

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yousefi, Zargham; Yousefy, Alireza; Keshtiaray, Narges

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this research is to criticize liberal humanism based on Islam viewpoint emphasizing Motahri's point of view. In this paper, the researchers tried to identify liberalism humanism factors with analytical look in order to present a new categorization called "main factor of liberal humanism". Then, each factor was studied and…

  2. Identifying the factors influencing practice variation in thrombosis medicine: A qualitative content analysis of published practice-pattern surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skeith, Leslie; Gonsalves, Carol

    2017-11-01

    Practice variation, the differences in clinical management between physicians, is one reason why patient outcomes may differ. Identifying factors that contribute to practice variation in areas of clinical uncertainty or equipoise may have implications for understanding and improving patient care. To discern what factors may influence practice variation, we completed a qualitative content analysis of all practice-pattern surveys in thrombosis medicine in the last 10years. Out of 2117 articles screened using a systematic search strategy, 33 practice-pattern surveys met eligibility criteria. Themes were identified using constant comparative analysis of qualitative data. Practice variation was noted in all 33 practice-pattern surveys. Contributing factors to variation included lack of available evidence, lack of clear and specific guideline recommendations, past experience, patient context, institutional culture and the perceived risk and benefit of a particular treatment. Additional themes highlight the value placed on expertise in challenging clinical scenarios, the complexity of practice variation and the value placed on minimizing practice variation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. A structured elicitation method to identify key direct risk factors for the management of natural resources

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Smith

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The high level of uncertainty inherent in natural resource management requires planners to apply comprehensive risk analyses, often in situations where there are few resources. In this paper, we demonstrate a broadly applicable, novel and structured elicitation approach to identify important direct risk factors. This new approach combines expert calibration and fuzzy based mathematics to capture and aggregate subjective expert estimates of the likelihood that a set of direct risk factors will cause management failure. A specific case study is used to demonstrate the approach; however, the described methods are widely applicable in risk analysis. For the case study, the management target was to retain all species that characterise a set of natural biological elements. The analysis was bounded by the spatial distribution of the biological elements under consideration and a 20-year time frame. Fourteen biological elements were expected to be at risk. Eleven important direct risk factors were identified that related to surrounding land use practices, climate change, problem species (e.g., feral predators, fire and hydrological change. In terms of their overall influence, the two most important risk factors were salinisation and a lack of water which together pose a considerable threat to the survival of nine biological elements. The described approach successfully overcame two concerns arising from previous risk analysis work: (1 the lack of an intuitive, yet comprehensive scoring method enabling the detection and clarification of expert agreement and associated levels of uncertainty; and (2 the ease with which results can be interpreted and communicated while preserving a rich level of detail essential for informed decision making.

  4. Water Resources Management in Tanzania: Identifying Research ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    many factors affecting water resources decision making, it is ubiquitous in that it permeates the planning, policy-making .... estimated that in many farming systems, more than 70% of the rain ..... Using correlation techniques, the relationship ...

  5. Review of critical factors for SEA implementation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang Jie, E-mail: jasmine@plan.aau.dk; Christensen, Per; Kornov, Lone

    2013-01-15

    The implementation process involved in translating Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) intention into action is vital to an effective SEA. Many factors influence implementation and thus the effectiveness of an SEA. Empirical studies have identified and documented some factors influencing the implementation of an SEA. This research is fragmented, however, and it is still not clear what are the most critical factors of effective SEA performance, and how these relate to different stages of the implementation process or other contextual circumstances. The paper takes its point of departure in implementation theory. Firstly, we introduce implementation theory, and then use it in practice to establish a more comprehensive model related to the stages in the implementation process. Secondly, we identify the critical factors in order to see how they are related to the different stages of SEA or are more general in character. Finally we map the different critical factors and how they influence the overall results of an SEA. Based on a literature review, we present a comprehensive picture of the critical factors and where they are found in the process. We conclude that most of the critical factors identified are of a more general character influencing the SEA process as such, while only one out of four of these factors relates to the specific stages of the SEA. Based on this mapping we can sketch a picture of the totality of critical factors. In this study 266 notions of critical factors were identified. Seen at the level of notions of critical factors, only 24% of these relate to specific stages while for 76% the critical factors are of a more general nature. These critical factors interact in complex ways and appear in different combinations in different stages of the implementation process so tracing the cause and effect is difficult. The pervasiveness of contextual and general factors also clearly suggests that there is no single way to put SEA into practice. The

  6. Review of critical factors for SEA implementation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Jie; Christensen, Per; Kørnøv, Lone

    2013-01-01

    The implementation process involved in translating Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) intention into action is vital to an effective SEA. Many factors influence implementation and thus the effectiveness of an SEA. Empirical studies have identified and documented some factors influencing the implementation of an SEA. This research is fragmented, however, and it is still not clear what are the most critical factors of effective SEA performance, and how these relate to different stages of the implementation process or other contextual circumstances. The paper takes its point of departure in implementation theory. Firstly, we introduce implementation theory, and then use it in practice to establish a more comprehensive model related to the stages in the implementation process. Secondly, we identify the critical factors in order to see how they are related to the different stages of SEA or are more general in character. Finally we map the different critical factors and how they influence the overall results of an SEA. Based on a literature review, we present a comprehensive picture of the critical factors and where they are found in the process. We conclude that most of the critical factors identified are of a more general character influencing the SEA process as such, while only one out of four of these factors relates to the specific stages of the SEA. Based on this mapping we can sketch a picture of the totality of critical factors. In this study 266 notions of critical factors were identified. Seen at the level of notions of critical factors, only 24% of these relate to specific stages while for 76% the critical factors are of a more general nature. These critical factors interact in complex ways and appear in different combinations in different stages of the implementation process so tracing the cause and effect is difficult. The pervasiveness of contextual and general factors also clearly suggests that there is no single way to put SEA into practice. The

  7. Identifying and Studying the Factors Effective on Greenhouses Profitability in the Varamin Plain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Narges Rajabi Tehrani

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research was economic evaluation of green houses and the factors that affect their profitability in the Varamin plain. The type of this research is descriptive-correlation research that was conducted by using a survey method. The statistical population of the research consisted of the beneficiary farmers of established and cultivated green houses in the Varamin plain. The sample size was 108 farmers. The sampling method was simple random sampling method. The main tool of this research study is a questionnaire that whose validity was verified by using a panel of experts and professors in the field of agriculture. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed through a pre-test for which the Cronbach alpha was between 0.78 and 0.85 which is considered to be acceptable. The results of this research study show that the mean of the profitability index of cost benefit  was 2.286 and thus there is a significant positive correlation between agricultural experience, the level of famer education, agricultural income, the total area of the green house, technical knowledge, using of information resources with the cost benefit  profitability index. The results of regression analysis also indicated that the five variables of agricultural experience, agricultural income, the total area of the green house, technical knowledge, using of information resources well explain for 51.5 % of the changes in the cost benefit profitability index of the green houses located in the Varamin plain. Finally, it is recommended to improve the cost benefit profitability index by actions such as increasing the level of technical knowledge and farmers' access to and use of information resources.

  8. Identifying practice-related factors for high-volume prescribers of antibiotics in Danish general practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aabenhus, Rune; Siersma, Volkert Dirk; Sandholdt, Håkon

    2017-01-01

    practice-related factors driving high antibiotic prescribing rates. Results: We included 98% of general practices in Denmark (n = 1962) and identified a 10% group of high prescribers who accounted for 15% of total antibiotic prescriptions and 18% of critically important antibiotic prescriptions. Once case...... prescriptions issued over the phone compared with all antibiotic prescriptions; and a high number of consultations per 1000 patients. We also found that a low number of consultations per 1000 patients was associated with a reduced likelihood of being a high prescriber of antibiotics. Conclusions: An apparent...

  9. Primary factors identified in sport science students' coaching philosophies : sport education and community involvement

    OpenAIRE

    Liandi van den Berg

    2014-01-01

    Youth sport coaches have a great influence on the experiences and development of children who participate in organized sport. Given this influence of coaches on children and the huge participation numbers of children in sports, coach education programmes received increasing research attention over the past 30 years. Numerous important facets of coach educational programmes have been identified, of which the first key developmental domain as indicated by the President's Council on Fitness, Spo...

  10. Organizational factors in Korean NPPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, D. J.; Kim, Y. I.; Jeong, C. H.; Kim, J. W.

    2003-01-01

    Organizational factors are referred to as the factors that influence the achievement of a goal of an organization. Latent problems of an organization could contribute to causing human errors in such stages as design, operation and maintenance, and furthermore, leading to an severe accident. In order to evaluate an organization from the safety viewpoint, it is necessary to identify the organizational factors in a systematic fashion. In this paper, some efforts to identify the organizational factors in Korean NPPs are presented. The study was performed in the following steps: 1) Reviewing the definitions and range of the organizational factors used by the previous 13 researches, 2) Structuring the organizational factors by screening and collating factors, 3) Analysing the organizational factors that is considered to have contributed to the trip events based on the trip report of Korean NPPs, 4) Suggesting a more reliable taxonomy of organizational factors for event analysis by applying the Onion Structure Model to the selected factors

  11. Anterior cruciate ligament injury: Identifying information sources and risk factor awareness among the general population.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasuharu Nagano

    Full Text Available Raising awareness on a disorder is important for its prevention and for promoting public health. However, for sports injuries like the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL injury no studies have investigated the awareness on risk factors for injury and possible preventative measures in the general population. The sources of information among the population are also unclear. The purpose of the present study was to identify these aspects of public awareness about the ACL injury.A questionnaire was randomly distributed among the general population registered with a web based questionnaire supplier, to recruit 900 participants who were aware about the ACL injury. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: Question 1 asked them about their sources of information regarding the ACL injury; Question 2 asked them about the risk factors for ACL injury. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the information sources that provide a good understanding of the risk factors.The leading source of information for ACL injury was television (57.0%. However, the results of logistic regression analysis revealed that television was not an effective medium to create awareness about the risk factors, among the general population. Instead "Lecture by a coach", "Classroom session on Health", and "Newspaper" were significantly more effective in creating a good awareness of the risk factors (p < 0.001.

  12. Critical success factors for positive user experience in hotel websites:applying Herzberg’s two factor theory for user experience modeling

    OpenAIRE

    Sambhanthan, Arunasalam; Good, Alice

    2013-01-01

    This research presents the development of a critical success factor matrix for increasing positive user experience of hotel websites based upon user ratings. Firstly, a number of critical success factors for web usability have been identified through the initial literature review. Secondly, hotel websites were surveyed in terms of critical success factors identified through the literature review. Thirdly, Herzberg’s motivation theory has been applied to the user rating and the critical succ...

  13. Physiologically-based toxicokinetic models help identifying the key factors affecting contaminant uptake during flood events

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brinkmann, Markus; Eichbaum, Kathrin; Kammann, Ulrike; Hudjetz, Sebastian; Cofalla, Catrina; Buchinger, Sebastian; Reifferscheid, Georg; Schüttrumpf, Holger; Preuss, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • A PBTK model for trout was coupled with a sediment equilibrium partitioning model. • The influence of physical exercise on pollutant uptake was studies using the model. • Physical exercise during flood events can increase the level of biliary metabolites. • Cardiac output and effective respiratory volume were identified as relevant factors. • These confounding factors need to be considered also for bioconcentration studies. - Abstract: As a consequence of global climate change, we will be likely facing an increasing frequency and intensity of flood events. Thus, the ecotoxicological relevance of sediment re-suspension is of growing concern. It is vital to understand contaminant uptake from suspended sediments and relate it to effects in aquatic biota. Here we report on a computational study that utilizes a physiologically based toxicokinetic model to predict uptake, metabolism and excretion of sediment-borne pyrene in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). To this end, data from two experimental studies were compared with the model predictions: (a) batch re-suspension experiments with constant concentration of suspended particulate matter at two different temperatures (12 and 24 °C), and (b) simulated flood events in an annular flume. The model predicted both the final concentrations and the kinetics of 1-hydroxypyrene secretion into the gall bladder of exposed rainbow trout well. We were able to show that exhaustive exercise during exposure in simulated flood events can lead to increased levels of biliary metabolites and identified cardiac output and effective respiratory volume as the two most important factors for contaminant uptake. The results of our study clearly demonstrate the relevance and the necessity to investigate uptake of contaminants from suspended sediments under realistic exposure scenarios

  14. Physiologically-based toxicokinetic models help identifying the key factors affecting contaminant uptake during flood events

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brinkmann, Markus; Eichbaum, Kathrin [Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research,ABBt – Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen (Germany); Kammann, Ulrike [Thünen-Institute of Fisheries Ecology, Palmaille 9, 22767 Hamburg (Germany); Hudjetz, Sebastian [Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research,ABBt – Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen (Germany); Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße 1, 52056 Aachen (Germany); Cofalla, Catrina [Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße 1, 52056 Aachen (Germany); Buchinger, Sebastian; Reifferscheid, Georg [Federal Institute of Hydrology (BFG), Department G3: Biochemistry, Ecotoxicology, Am Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz (Germany); Schüttrumpf, Holger [Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße 1, 52056 Aachen (Germany); Preuss, Thomas [Department of Environmental Biology and Chemodynamics, Institute for Environmental Research,ABBt- Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen (Germany); and others

    2014-07-01

    Highlights: • A PBTK model for trout was coupled with a sediment equilibrium partitioning model. • The influence of physical exercise on pollutant uptake was studies using the model. • Physical exercise during flood events can increase the level of biliary metabolites. • Cardiac output and effective respiratory volume were identified as relevant factors. • These confounding factors need to be considered also for bioconcentration studies. - Abstract: As a consequence of global climate change, we will be likely facing an increasing frequency and intensity of flood events. Thus, the ecotoxicological relevance of sediment re-suspension is of growing concern. It is vital to understand contaminant uptake from suspended sediments and relate it to effects in aquatic biota. Here we report on a computational study that utilizes a physiologically based toxicokinetic model to predict uptake, metabolism and excretion of sediment-borne pyrene in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). To this end, data from two experimental studies were compared with the model predictions: (a) batch re-suspension experiments with constant concentration of suspended particulate matter at two different temperatures (12 and 24 °C), and (b) simulated flood events in an annular flume. The model predicted both the final concentrations and the kinetics of 1-hydroxypyrene secretion into the gall bladder of exposed rainbow trout well. We were able to show that exhaustive exercise during exposure in simulated flood events can lead to increased levels of biliary metabolites and identified cardiac output and effective respiratory volume as the two most important factors for contaminant uptake. The results of our study clearly demonstrate the relevance and the necessity to investigate uptake of contaminants from suspended sediments under realistic exposure scenarios.

  15. Identifying key research objectives to make European forests greener for bats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danilo Russo

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Bats are a biodiverse mammal order providing key ecosystem services such as pest suppression, pollination and seed dispersal. Bats are also very sensitive to human actions, and significant declines in many bat populations have been recorded consequently. Many bat species find crucial roosting and foraging opportunities in European forests. Such forests have historically been exploited by humans and are still influenced by harvesting. One of the consequences of this pressure is the loss of key habitat resources, often making forests inhospitable to bats. Despite the legal protection granted to bats across Europe, the impacts of forestry on bats are still often neglected. Because forest exploitation influences forest structure at several spatial scales, economically viable forestry could become more sustainable and even favour bats. We highlight that a positive future for bat conservation that simultaneously benefits forestry is foreseeable, although more applied research is needed to develop sound management. Key future research topics include the detection of factors influencing the carrying capacity of forests, and determining the impacts of forest management and the economic importance of bats in forests. Predictive tools to inform forest managers are much needed, together with greater synergies between forest managers and bat conservationists.

  16. Identifying knowledge gaps for gene drive research to control invasive animal species: The next CRISPR step

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorian Moro

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Invasive animals have been linked to the extinctions of native wildlife, and to significant agricultural financial losses or impacts. Current approaches to control invasive species require ongoing resources and management over large geographic scales, and often result in the short-term suppression of populations. New and innovative approaches are warranted. Recently, the RNA guided gene drive system based on CRISPR/Cas9 is being proposed as a potential gene editing tool that could be used by wildlife managers as a non-lethal addition or alternative to help reduce pest animal populations. While regulatory control and social acceptance are crucial issues that must be addressed, there is an opportunity now to identify the knowledge and research gaps that exist for some important invasive species. Here we systematically determine the knowledge gaps for pest species for which gene drives could potentially be applied. We apply a conceptual ecological risk framework within the gene drive context within an Australian environment to identify key requirements for undertaking work on seven exemplar invasive species in Australia. This framework allows an evaluation of the potential research on an invasive species of interest and within a gene drive and risk context. We consider the currently available biological, genetic and ecological information for the house mouse, European red fox, feral cat, European rabbit, cane toad, black rat and European starling to evaluate knowledge gaps and identify candidate species for future research. We discuss these findings in the context of future thematic areas of research worth pursuing in preparation for a more formal assessment of the use of gene drives as a novel strategy for the control of these and other invasive species. Keywords: Invasive species, Gene drive, CRISPR, Pest management, Islands

  17. Key factors in children's competence to consent to clinical research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hein, Irma M.; Troost, Pieter W.; Lindeboom, Robert; Benninga, Marc A.; Zwaan, C. Michel; van Goudoever, Johannes B.; Lindauer, Ramón J. L.

    2015-01-01

    Although law is established on a strong presumption that persons younger than a certain age are not competent to consent, statutory age limits for asking children's consent to clinical research differ widely internationally. From a clinical perspective, competence is assumed to involve many factors

  18. Identifying community risk factors for HIV among South African adolescents with mental health problems: a qualitative study of parental perceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kagee, Ashraf; Donenberg, Geri; Davids, Alicia; Vermaak, Redwaan; Simbayi, Leickness; Ward, Catherine; Naidoo, Pamela; Mthembu, Jacky

    2014-01-01

    High risk sexual behaviour, alcohol and drug use, and mental health problems combine to yield high levels of HIV-risk behaviour among adolescents with mental health problems. In South Africa, little research has been conducted on parental perspectives of HIV-risk among this population. We conducted a series of focus group discussions with 28 mothers of adolescents receiving services at two mental health clinics in South Africa to identify, from their perspectives, the key community problems facing their children. Participants indicated that HIV remained a serious threat to their adolescent children's well-being, in addition to substance abuse, early sexual debut, and teenage pregnancy. These social problems were mentioned as external to their household dynamics, and thus seemingly beyond the purview of the parent-adolescent relationship. These data have implications for the design of family-based interventions to ameliorate the factors associated with HIV-risk among youth receiving mental health services.

  19. Identifying Obstacles and Research Gaps of Telemedicine Projects: Approach for a State-of-the-Art Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harst, Lorenz; Timpel, Patrick; Otto, Lena; Wollschlaeger, Bastian; Richter, Peggy; Schlieter, Hannes

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents an approach for an evaluation of finished telemedicine projects using qualitative methods. Telemedicine applications are said to improve the performance of health care systems. While there are countless telemedicine projects, the vast majority never makes the threshold from testing to implementation and diffusion. Projects were collected from German project databases in the area of telemedicine following systematically developed criteria. In a testing phase, ten projects were subject to a qualitative content analysis to identify limitations, need for further research, and lessons learned. Using Mayring's method of inductive category development, six categories of possible future research were derived. Thus, the proposed method is an important contribution to diffusion and translation research regarding telemedicine, as it is applicable to a systematic research of databases.

  20. An appraisal of the quality of published qualitative dental research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masood, Mohd; Thaliath, Ebin T; Bower, Elizabeth J; Newton, J Timothy

    2011-06-01

    To appraise the quality of published qualitative research in dentistry and identify aspects of quality, which require attention in future research. Qualitative research studies on dental topics were appraised using the critical appraisal skills programme (CASP) appraisal framework for qualitative research. The percentage of CASP criteria fully met during the assessment was used as an indication of the quality of each paper. Individual criteria were not weighted. Forty-three qualitative studies were identified for appraisal of which 48% had a dental public health focus. Deficiencies in detail of reporting, research design, methodological rigour, presentation of findings, reflexivity, credibility of findings and relevance of study were identified. Problems with quality were apparent irrespective of journal impact factor, although papers from low impact factor journals exhibited the most deficiencies. Journals with the highest impact factors published the least qualitative research. The quality of much of the qualitative research published on dental topics is mediocre. Qualitative methods are underutilized in oral health research. If quality guidelines such as the CASP framework are used in the context of a thorough understanding of qualitative research design and data analysis, they can promote good practice and the systematic assessment of qualitative research. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  1. Increasing the Value of Research: A Comparison of the Literature on Critical Success Factors for Projects, IT Projects and Enterprise Resource Planning Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annie Maddison Warren

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Since the beginning of modern project management in the 1960s, academic researchers have sought to identify a definitive list of Critical Success Factors (CSFs, the key things that project managers must get right in order to deliver a successful product. With the advent of Information Technology (IT projects and, more recently, projects to deliver Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP systems, attention has turned to identifying definitive lists of CSFs for these more specific project types. The purpose of this paper is to take stock of this research effort by examining how thinking about each type of project has evolved over time, before producing a consolidated list of CSFs for each as a basis for comparison. This process reveals a high degree of similarity, leading to the conclusion that the goal of identifying a generic list of CSFs for project management has been achieved. Therefore, rather than continuing to describe lists of CSFs, researchers could increase the value of their contribution by taking a step forward and focusing on why, despite this apparent knowledge of how to ensure their success, ERP projects continue to fail.

  2. Experiences, attitudes and barriers towards research amongst junior faculty of Pakistani medical universities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kauser Samreen

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The developing world has had limited quality research and in Pakistan, research is still in its infancy. We conducted a study to assess the proportion of junior faculty involved in research to highlight their attitude towards research, and identify the factors associated with their research involvement. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in four medical universities/teaching hospitals in Pakistan, representing private and public sectors. A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from 176 junior faculty members of studied universities/hospitals. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors related to attitudes and barriers in research among those currently involved in research with those who were not. Results Overall, 41.5% of study subjects were currently involved in research. A highly significant factor associated with current research involvement was research training during the post-graduate period (p Conclusion Less than half of the study participants were currently involved in research. Research output may improve if identified barriers are rectified. Further studies are recommended in this area.

  3. The use of human factors methods to identify and mitigate safety issues in radiation therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chan, Alvita J.; Islam, Mohammad K.; Rosewall, Tara; Jaffray, David A.; Easty, Anthony C.; Cafazzo, Joseph A.

    2010-01-01

    Background and purpose: New radiation therapy technologies can enhance the quality of treatment and reduce error. However, the treatment process has become more complex, and radiation dose is not always delivered as intended. Using human factors methods, a radiotherapy treatment delivery process was evaluated, and a redesign was undertaken to determine the effect on system safety. Material and methods: An ethnographic field study and workflow analysis was conducted to identify human factors issues of the treatment delivery process. To address specific issues, components of the user interface were redesigned through a user-centered approach. Sixteen radiation therapy students were then used to experimentally evaluate the redesigned system through a usability test to determine the effectiveness in mitigating use errors. Results: According to findings from the usability test, the redesigned system successfully reduced the error rates of two common errors (p < .04 and p < .01). It also improved the mean task completion time by 5.5% (p < .02) and achieved a higher level of user satisfaction. Conclusions: These findings demonstrated the importance and benefits of applying human factors methods in the design of radiation therapy systems. Many other opportunities still exist to improve patient safety in this area using human factors methods.

  4. Risk factors and study designs used in research of youths' suicide behaviour-an epidemiological discussion with focus on level of evidence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Erik; Larsen, Kim Juul; Agerbo, Esben

    2014-01-01

    to level of evidence (LoE). Methods: We searched PubMed and psycINFO in order to identify relevant individual studies. Results: We included 36 studies of children and youth on suicidal behaviour and ideation-many rank low on LoE. For suicide, cohort design was often used, and mental illness (depression......Introduction: Many different epidemiology study designs have been used to analyse risk factors for suicide behaviour. The purpose of this study was to obtain an insight into the current study design used in research on youths' risk factors for suicide behaviour and to rank the studies according......, substance abuse and severity of mental illness) was the most common risk factor. Cohort studies are ranked 2b, which is high according to LoE. For suicide attempts, survey was often used, and psychopathology, substance abuse and being exposed to suicidal behaviour were the most common risk factors...

  5. Identifying Contextual Factors of Employee Satisfaction of Performance Management at a Thai State Enterprise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Molraudee Saratun

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Although there has been an increase in Performance Management (PM literature over the years arguing that PM perceptions are likely to be a function of PM process components and contextual factors, the actual relationship between the contextual factors and employee satisfaction of PM remains little explored.  Extending previous research, this study examines relationships between contextual factors and employees’ PM satisfaction.  Derived from the literature, these contextual factors are motivation and empowerment of employees, role conflict, role ambiguity, perceived organisational support, procedural justice and distributive justice.  Seven directional hypotheses are tested accordingly through a series of regression analyses.  This article finds that these contextual factors, with the exception of role conflict, are directly predictive of enhanced employees’ PM satisfaction at the Thai state enterprise. Keywords: Performance management, contextual factors, performance management satisfaction, public organisations, Thailand. /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

  6. Alternative approaches for identifying acute systemic toxicity: Moving from research to regulatory testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamm, Jon; Sullivan, Kristie; Clippinger, Amy J; Strickland, Judy; Bell, Shannon; Bhhatarai, Barun; Blaauboer, Bas; Casey, Warren; Dorman, David; Forsby, Anna; Garcia-Reyero, Natàlia; Gehen, Sean; Graepel, Rabea; Hotchkiss, Jon; Lowit, Anna; Matheson, Joanna; Reaves, Elissa; Scarano, Louis; Sprankle, Catherine; Tunkel, Jay; Wilson, Dan; Xia, Menghang; Zhu, Hao; Allen, David

    2017-06-01

    Acute systemic toxicity testing provides the basis for hazard labeling and risk management of chemicals. A number of international efforts have been directed at identifying non-animal alternatives for in vivo acute systemic toxicity tests. A September 2015 workshop, Alternative Approaches for Identifying Acute Systemic Toxicity: Moving from Research to Regulatory Testing, reviewed the state-of-the-science of non-animal alternatives for this testing and explored ways to facilitate implementation of alternatives. Workshop attendees included representatives from international regulatory agencies, academia, nongovernmental organizations, and industry. Resources identified as necessary for meaningful progress in implementing alternatives included compiling and making available high-quality reference data, training on use and interpretation of in vitro and in silico approaches, and global harmonization of testing requirements. Attendees particularly noted the need to characterize variability in reference data to evaluate new approaches. They also noted the importance of understanding the mechanisms of acute toxicity, which could be facilitated by the development of adverse outcome pathways. Workshop breakout groups explored different approaches to reducing or replacing animal use for acute toxicity testing, with each group crafting a roadmap and strategy to accomplish near-term progress. The workshop steering committee has organized efforts to implement the recommendations of the workshop participants. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. DRIVING AND LIMITING FACTORS IN THE FARM MANAGEMENT BY YOUNG FARMERS IN THE CONTEXT OF SURVEY RESEARCH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Kiełbasa

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the study was to identify driving and limiting factors of farm management in a region of fragmented agriculture. The paper presents the results of the research conducted in the South-Eastern Poland (Macroregion of Małopolska and Pogórze. The survey was conducted in 2014 in the farms managed by young farmers, i.e. the benefi ciaries of the measure “Setting up of young farmers” from the RDP 2007–2013, with the use of a survey method with a questionnaire interview. The research was empirical, and its main goal was to present a case study of the farm management by young farmers in terms of specifi c management barriers. The results of the studies pointed to the fragmented agrarian structure as the one of the biggest barriers of the eff ective farm management. The young farmers pointed that fragmented agrarian structure signifi cantly impedes the purchase or lease of agricultural land, and the farm development in the same way. The survey pointed to the factors that contribute to the young farmers: the entrepreneurial attitude, activity and creativity, training, the management knowledge and better access to the Common Agricultural Policy instruments.

  8. The Self-Report Family Inventory: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodrich, Kristopher M.; Selig, James P.; Trahan, Don P., Jr.

    2012-01-01

    Researchers explored the factor structure of the Self-Report Family Inventory with a sample of heterosexual parents who have a son or daughter who self-identifies as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Results suggest that a two-factor solution is appropriate. Research and clinical implications are offered. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

  9. Identifying factors causing cost overrun of the construction projects ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Swapnil P Wanjari

    Cost overrun in India; ANOVA; factor analysis; construction projects. 1. Introduction ... gramme Implementation in India [2], projects of public .... case if a respondent never came across of such factor. ..... The co-relation matrix for variables of cost overruns was ..... There are various problems observed due to communication.

  10. Common Factor Analysis Versus Principal Component Analysis: Choice for Symptom Cluster Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hee-Ju Kim, PhD, RN

    2008-03-01

    Conclusion: If the study purpose is to explain correlations among variables and to examine the structure of the data (this is usual for most cases in symptom cluster research, CFA provides a more accurate result. If the purpose of a study is to summarize data with a smaller number of variables, PCA is the choice. PCA can also be used as an initial step in CFA because it provides information regarding the maximum number and nature of factors. In using factor analysis for symptom cluster research, several issues need to be considered, including subjectivity of solution, sample size, symptom selection, and level of measure.

  11. Factors that Motivate Business Faculty to Conduct Research: An Expectancy Theory Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yining; Gupta, Ashok; Hoshower, Leon

    2006-01-01

    In this study, the authors used expectancy theory to examine key factors that motivate business faculty to conduct research. The survey results, from 320 faculty members at 10 business schools, showed that faculty members who assign higher importance ratings to both the extrinsic and the intrinsic rewards of research exhibit higher research…

  12. Mechanisms of change in psychotherapy for depression: An empirical update and evaluation of research aimed at identifying psychological mediators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemmens, Lotte H J M; Müller, Viola N L S; Arntz, Arnoud; Huibers, Marcus J H

    2016-12-01

    We present a systematic empirical update and critical evaluation of the current status of research aimed at identifying a variety of psychological mediators in various forms of psychotherapy for depression. We summarize study characteristics and results of 35 relevant studies, and discuss the extent to which these studies meet several important requirements for mechanism research. Our review indicates that in spite of increased attention for the topic, advances in theoretical consensus about necessities for mechanism research, and sophistication of study designs, research in this field is still heterogeneous and unsatisfactory in methodological respect. Probably the biggest challenge in the field is demonstrating the causal relation between change in the mediator and change in depressive symptoms. The field would benefit from a further refinement of research methods to identify processes of therapeutic change. Recommendations for future research are discussed. However, even in the most optimal research designs, explaining psychotherapeutic change remains a challenge. Psychotherapy is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that might work through interplay of multiple mechanisms at several levels. As a result, it might be too complex to be explained in relatively simple causal models of psychological change. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Identifying the bleeding trauma patient: predictive factors for massive transfusion in an Australasian trauma population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Jeremy Ming; Hitos, Kerry; Fletcher, John P

    2013-09-01

    Military and civilian data would suggest that hemostatic resuscitation results in improved outcomes for exsanguinating patients. However, identification of those patients who are at risk of significant hemorrhage is not clearly defined. We attempted to identify factors that would predict the need for massive transfusion (MT) in an Australasian trauma population, by comparing those trauma patients who did receive massive transfusion with those who did not. Between 1985 and 2010, 1,686 trauma patients receiving at least 1 U of packed red blood cells were identified from our prospectively maintained trauma registry. Demographic, physiologic, laboratory, injury, and outcome variables were reviewed. Univariate analysis determined significant factors between those who received MT and those who did not. A predictive multivariate logistic regression model with backward conditional stepwise elimination was used for MT risk. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS PASW. MT patients had a higher pulse rate, lower Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, lower systolic blood pressure, lower hemoglobin level, higher Injury Severity Score (ISS), higher international normalized ratio (INR), and longer stay. Initial logistic regression identified base deficit (BD), INR, and hemoperitoneum at laparotomy as independent predictive variables. After assigning cutoff points of BD being greater than 5 and an INR of 1.5 or greater, a further model was created. A BD greater than 5 and either INR of 1.5 or greater or hemoperitoneum was associated with 51 times increase in MT risk (odds ratio, 51.6; 95% confidence interval, 24.9-95.8). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the model was 0.859. From this study, a combination of BD, INR, and hemoperitoneum has demonstrated good predictability for MT. This tool may assist in the determination of those patients who might benefit from hemostatic resuscitation. Prognostic study, level III.

  14. Underlying Factors for Practicality of the Production Control Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arica, Emrah; Strandhagen, Jan Ola; Hvolby, Hans-Henrik

    2012-01-01

    and communication technology, coordination and feedback, human factors and decision making, and measurement are the identified factors to be taken into account. Industrial interviews with three case companies, that are participating to the research program called The Norwegian Manufacturing Future (SFI NORMAN......This paper gives indications to important factors that must be considered for effectiveness of the production control systems under uncertainty. Five key factors have been identified by the literature study. Production schedule generation and execution approach under uncertainty, information...

  15. Identifying and Quantifying Cultural Factors That Matter to the IT Workforce: An Approach Based on Automated Content Analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmiedel, Theresa; Müller, Oliver; Debortoli, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    builds on 112,610 online reviews of Fortune 500 IT companies collected from Glassdoor, an online platform on which current and former employees can anonymously review companies and their management. We perform an automated content analysis to identify cultural factors that employees emphasize...

  16. Human factors in maintenance: Development and research in Swedish nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salo, I.; Svensson, Ola

    2001-11-01

    The present report investigated previously completed, ongoing, and planned research and development projects focusing human factors and maintenance work carried out at Swedish nuclear power plants and SKI. In addition, needs for future research and development works were also investigated. Participants from all nuclear power plants and SKI were included in the study. Participants responded to a set of questions in an interview. The interviews also generated a list of future research and development projects

  17. Human factors in maintenance: development and research in Swedish nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salo, I.; Svenson, O.

    2001-11-01

    The report investigated previously completed, ongoing, and planned research and development projects focusing human factors and maintenance work carried out at Swedish nuclear power plants and SKI. In addition, needs for future research and development works were also investigated. Participants from all nuclear power plants and SKI were included in the study. Participants responded to a set of questions in an interview. The interviews also generated a list of future research and development projects. (au)

  18. Human factors in maintenance: Development and research in Swedish nuclear power plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salo, I. [Lund Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Psychology; Svensson, Ola [Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Psychology

    2001-11-01

    The present report investigated previously completed, ongoing, and planned research and development projects focusing human factors and maintenance work carried out at Swedish nuclear power plants and SKI. In addition, needs for future research and development works were also investigated. Participants from all nuclear power plants and SKI were included in the study. Participants responded to a set of questions in an interview. The interviews also generated a list of future research and development projects.

  19. Identifying and Prioritizing Cleaner Production Strategies in Raw Materials’ Warehouse of Yazdbaf Textile Company in 2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Taghi Ghaneian

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Cleaner productions in textile industry is achieved by reducing water and chemicals’ consumption, saving energy, reducing production of air pollution and solid wastes, reducing toxicity and noise pollution through many solutions. The purpose of the present research was to apply Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT and Quality Systems Planning Matrix (QSPM techniques in identifying and prioritizing production in raw materials’ warehouse of Yazdbaf Textile Factory. Materials and Methods: In this research, effective internal and external factors in cleaner production were identified by providing the required information through field visit and interview with industry managers and supervisors of raw materials’ warehouse. Finally, To form matrix of internal and external factors 17 important internal factors and 7 important external factors were identified and selected respectively.Then, QSPM matrix was formed to determine the attractiveness and priority of the selected strategies by using results of internal and external factors and SWOT matrixes. Results: According to the results, the total score of raw materials’ warehouse in Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE matrix is equal to 2.90 which shows the good situation of warehouse than the internal factors. However, the total score in External Factor Evaluation (EFE matrix is 2.14 and indicates the relative weak situation of warehouse than the external factors. Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, continuity, monitor, and improvement of the general plan of qualitative control (QC of raw materials and laboratory as well as more emphasis on quality indexes according to its importance in the production processes were selected as the most important strategies. 

  20. What do human factors and ergonomics professionals value in research publications? Re-examining the research-practice gap.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Amy Z Q; Williamson, Ann; Shorrock, Steven T

    2014-01-01

    The research-practice gap is of concern in human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) as there is a belief that HF/E research may not be making an impact on practice in the 'real world'. A potential issue is what researchers and practitioners perceive as important in HF/E journal articles as a primary means of conveying research findings to practitioners. This study examined the characteristics that make scientific journal articles appeal to HF/E researchers and practitioners using a web-based survey. HF/E researchers and practitioners were more similar than expected in judgements of important attributes and the selection of articles. Both practitioners and researchers considered practical significance to be more important than theoretical significance, in direct contrast to professionals from a related discipline--psychology. Well-written articles were appreciated across disciplines. The results signal a strong interest in practical applications in HF/E, but a relative lack of focus on development of theories that should be the basis for practical applications.

  1. Research trends on music and advertising

    OpenAIRE

    Ruth, Nicolas; Spangardt, Benedikt

    2017-01-01

    Research on music and advertising is diverse and unstructured. Looking at the most important factors that define related research, this article aims to introduce a typology of four research fields that reflect the interplay of the complex relationship between music and advertising. An analysis of relevant studies revealed diverse research gaps and clustered the main research traditions. Eventually, we identified four types of research, namely advertising with music, advertising with musicians...

  2. Honorary authorship in radiologic research articles: assessment of frequency and associated factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisenberg, Ronald L; Ngo, Long; Boiselle, Philip M; Bankier, Alexander A

    2011-05-01

    To quantify the frequency of perceived honorary authorship in radiologic journals and to identify specific factors that increase its prevalence. This study qualified for exempt status by the institutional review board. An electronic survey was sent to first authors of all original research articles published in Radiology and European Radiology over 3 years. Questions included guidelines used for determining authorship, contributions of coauthors, the perception of honorary authorship, and demographic information. Univariable analysis of sample proportions was performed by using χ(2) tests. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the independent factors that were associated with the probability of perceiving honorary authorship. Of the 392 (29.3%) of 1338 first authors who responded to the survey, 102 (26.0%) perceived that one or more coauthors did not make sufficient contributions to merit being included as an author. Of the 392 respondents, 231 (58.9%) stated that one or more coauthors performed only "nonauthor" tasks according to International Committee of Medical Journal Editors criteria. Factors associated with an increased first-author perception of honorary authorship included lower academic rank (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 2.89; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.66, 5.06), as well as working in an environment in which the section or department head was automatically listed as an author (adjusted OR: 3.80; 95% CI: 2.13, 6.79). The percentage of honorary authorship was significantly higher (P = .019) among respondents who did not follow journal requirements for authorship. The rate of perceived honorary authorship (overall, 26.0%) was substantially more frequent among respondents of lower academic rank and in those working in an environment in which their section or department head was automatically listed as an author. http://radiology.rsna.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1148/radiol.11101500/-/DC1. RSNA, 2011

  3. Exploring intentions of physician-scientist trainees: factors influencing MD and MD/PhD interest in research careers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwan, Jennifer M; Daye, Dania; Schmidt, Mary Lou; Conlon, Claudia Morrissey; Kim, Hajwa; Gaonkar, Bilwaj; Payne, Aimee S; Riddle, Megan; Madera, Sharline; Adami, Alexander J; Winter, Kate Quinn

    2017-07-11

    Prior studies have described the career paths of physician-scientist candidates after graduation, but the factors that influence career choices at the candidate stage remain unclear. Additionally, previous work has focused on MD/PhDs, despite many physician-scientists being MDs. This study sought to identify career sector intentions, important factors in career selection, and experienced and predicted obstacles to career success that influence the career choices of MD candidates, MD candidates with research-intense career intentions (MD-RI), and MD/PhD candidates. A 70-question survey was administered to students at 5 academic medical centers with Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs) and Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) from the NIH. Data were analyzed using bivariate or multivariate analyses. More MD/PhD and MD-RI candidates anticipated or had experienced obstacles related to balancing academic and family responsibilities and to balancing clinical, research, and education responsibilities, whereas more MD candidates indicated experienced and predicted obstacles related to loan repayment. MD/PhD candidates expressed higher interest in basic and translational research compared to MD-RI candidates, who indicated more interest in clinical research. Overall, MD-RI candidates displayed a profile distinct from both MD/PhD and MD candidates. MD/PhD and MD-RI candidates experience obstacles that influence their intentions to pursue academic medical careers from the earliest training stage, obstacles which differ from those of their MD peers. The differences between the aspirations of and challenges facing MD, MD-RI and MD/PhD candidates present opportunities for training programs to target curricula and support services to ensure the career development of successful physician-scientists.

  4. Monochromatic and identifiable photons used in photonuclear research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beil, Hans; Bergere, Roland.

    1980-07-01

    A general overview is given of the most common experimental procedures for the production and utilisation of monochromatic and (or) identifiable photon probes actually operational in 1979. Their basic characteristics, merits and drawbacks, together with their respective major domains of experimental physics to which they are usually applied, are also investigated. Methods for producing such monochromatic and (or) identifiable photon probes, with a continuously variable energy from a few MeV up till about 180 GeV, are treated in some detail. Some of the most promising future trends in the ulterior development of such electromagnetic probes are also mentioned

  5. Factors affecting nuclear research reactor utilization across countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hien, P.D.

    2000-01-01

    In view of the worldwide declining trend of research reactor utilization and the fact that many reactors in developing countries are under-utilised, a question naturally arises as to whether the investment in a research reactor is justifiable. Statistical analyses were applied to reveal relationships between the status of reactor utilization and socio-economic conditions among countries, that may provide a guidance for reactor planning and cost benefit assessment. The reactor power has significant regression relationships with size indicators such as GNP, electricity consumption and R and D expenditure. Concerning the effectiveness of investment in research reactors, the number of reactor operation days per year only weakly correlates with electricity consumption and R and D expenditure, implying that there are controlling factors specific of each group of countries. In the case of less developed countries, the low customer demands on reactor operation may be associated with the failure in achieving quality assurance for the reactor products and services, inadequate investment in the infrastructure for reactor exploitation, the shortage of R and D funding and well trained manpower and the lack of measures to get the scientific community involved in the application of nuclear techniques. (author)

  6. Identifying the principal driving factors of water ecosystem dependence and the corresponding indicator species in a pilot City, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, C. S.; Shao, N. F.; Yang, S. T.; Xiang, H.; Lou, H. Z.; Sun, Y.; Yang, Z. Y.; Zhang, Y.; Yu, X. Y.; Zhang, C. B.; Yu, Q.

    2018-01-01

    The world's aquatic ecosystems yield numerous vital services, which are essential to human existence but have deteriorated seriously in recent years. By studying the mechanisms of interaction between ecosystems and habitat processes, the constraining factors can be identified, and this knowledge can be used to improve the success rate of ecological restoration initiatives. At present, there is insufficient data on the link between hydrological, water quality factors and the changes in the structure of aquatic communities to allow any meaningful study of driving factors of aquatic ecosystems. In this study, the typical monitoring stations were selected by fuzzy clustering analysis based on the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of water ecology in Jinan City, the first pilot city for the construction of civilized aquatic ecosystems in China. The dominant species identification model was used to identify the dominant species of the aquatic community. The driving effect of hydrological and water quality factors on dominant species was analyzed by Canonical Correspondence Analysis. Then, the principal factors of aquatic ecosystem dependence were selected. The results showed that there were 10 typical monitoring stations out of 59 monitoring sites, which were representative of aquatic ecosystems, 9 dominant fish species, and 20 dominant invertebrate species. The selection of factors for aquatic ecosystem dependence in Jinan were highly influenced by its regional conditions. Chemical environmental parameters influence the temporal and spatial variation of invertebrate much more than that of fish in Jinan City. However, the methodologies coupling typical monitoring stations selection, dominant species determination and driving factors identification were certified to be a cost-effective way, which can provide in-deep theoretical and technical directions for the restoration of aquatic ecosystems elsewhere.

  7. Identifying non-pharmacological risk factors for falling in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gravesande, Janelle; Richardson, Julie

    2017-07-01

    To identify the non-pharmacological risk factors for falling in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). A systematic review of randomized controlled trials, prospective cohort studies, cross-sectional studies and before/after studies was conducted. Eligible studies identified non-pharmacological risk factors for falling in older adults with DM2. Medline, Embase, Pubmed and CINAHL were searched for relevant studies published through December 2015. Reference lists were also searched for relevant studies. Search terms were DM2, risk factors, falls and falling, older adults, aging, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, accidental falls and trip. Publication language was restricted to English. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria: four cross-sectional, six prospective cohorts, two randomized controlled trials and one before/after study. These studies included a total of 13,104 participants, ≥50 years. The most common risk factors for falling were impaired balance, reduced walking velocity, peripheral neuropathy and comorbid conditions. However, lower extremity pain, being overweight and comorbid conditions had the greatest impact on fall risk. Interventions to reduce falling in older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus should focus on reducing lower extremity pain, reducing body weight and managing comorbid conditions. Implications for Rehabilitation    Diabetes mellitus:   • Older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) have a higher risk for falling than older adults without.   • Older adults with DM2 are more likely to suffer serious injuries when they fall.   • Comprehensive risk factor identification is necessary for rehabilitation professionals to accurately determine whether their clients are at risk for falling.   • Rehabilitation professionals also need to tailor interventions based on the client's risk factors in order to effectively reduce falls and fall-related injuries.

  8. Identifying the challenging factors in the transition from colleges of engineering to employment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baytiyeh, Hoda; Naja, Mohamad

    2012-03-01

    The transition from university to a career in engineering is a challenging process. This study examined the perceptions of engineering graduates regarding the difficulties they encountered in their transition from the university to the workplace. Lebanese practising engineers (n=217), living around the world, were surveyed to identify their current employment situations and their attitudes toward their academic preparation. Factor analysis revealed three main challenges facing engineering graduates: communication; responsibility; self-confidence. Seventeen interviews were conducted to gather information on ways to facilitate this transition. Comments reflected the need for better collaboration between engineering schools and engineering firms. The results will provide insight for engineering colleges, faculty members and administrators into the challenges faced by graduates and their aspirations for a smoother transition into employment.

  9. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Factors Related to Educators' Pursuit of Doctoral Degrees

    Science.gov (United States)

    George-Reid, Kimberly A.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors for professional doctoral degree attainment among educators. The researcher examined the following intrinsic motivating factors: personal attainment, skill and ability enhancement, and goals. The researcher also included the following extrinsic factors:…

  10. Research proposal: Industry convergence - Driving forces, factors and consequences

    OpenAIRE

    Weaver, Benjamin

    2007-01-01

    Industry convergence – the merger of hitherto separate industries – is a phenomenon that has had a profound effect on several industries and received considerable interest among practitioners and business press over the past decades. Despite this, industry con- vergence has only received limited attention from the academic management field, al- though an emergent discussion on convergence can be identified. Prior research is limited by a lack of coherent theoretical definitions of convergence...

  11. Factors associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen research among Chinese Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Wanzhen; Ma, Grace X; Tan, Yin; Fang, Carolyn; Weaver, JoEllen; Jin, Ming; Lai, Philip

    2014-04-01

    A paucity of information exists on the recruitment of Asian Americans for biospecimen research. Although studies show that Chinese Americans are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, little is known about their willingness to participate in HBV-related biospecimen research and how knowledge, attitudes, and cultural factors impact their willingness to participate. The study was guided by Community-Based Participatory Research principles. Data were derived from an assessment study on HBV-related biospecimen research participation among Chinese Americans in the Philadelphia region. The assessment was conducted with 415 Chinese Americans recruited from eight Chinese community-based organizations. Cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes toward biospecimen research were examined for associations with their willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Overall, 192 (46.3%) of 415 participants who completed the assessment indicated they were willing to participate if they were invited to donate blood to be frozen and stored for future HBV biospecimen studies. Cultural variables significant in bivariate analysis included collectivism, knowledge about biospecimen research, and Yin-Yang beliefs. Fatalism and individualism were not associated with participation willingness. In multivariate analysis, age, health care attitudes, and trust were significantly associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Asian American communities have little knowledge of biospecimen banking and will benefit from educational campaigns that emphasize collective benefits and attitudes towards and trust in the health care system. Understanding cultural factors is important for improving Chinese Americans' knowledge, awareness, and intentions of participation in biospecimen research. Similar efforts need to be undertaken to develop culturally appropriate educational intervention programs to increase participation in biospecimen research

  12. Factors Associated with Willingness to Participate in Biospecimen Research Among Chinese Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Wanzhen; Tan, Yin; Fang, Carolyn; Weaver, JoEllen; Jin, Ming; Lai, Philip

    2014-01-01

    A paucity of information exists on the recruitment of Asian Americans for biospecimen research. Although studies show that Chinese Americans are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, little is known about their willingness to participate in HBV-related biospecimen research and how knowledge, attitudes, and cultural factors impact their willingness to participate. The study was guided by Community-Based Participatory Research principles. Data were derived from an assessment study on HBV-related biospecimen research participation among Chinese Americans in the Philadelphia region. The assessment was conducted with 415 Chinese Americans recruited from eight Chinese community-based organizations. Cultural beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes toward biospecimen research were examined for associations with their willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Overall, 192 (46.3%) of 415 participants who completed the assessment indicated they were willing to participate if they were invited to donate blood to be frozen and stored for future HBV biospecimen studies. Cultural variables significant in bivariate analysis included collectivism, knowledge about biospecimen research, and Yin-Yang beliefs. Fatalism and individualism were not associated with participation willingness. In multivariate analysis, age, health care attitudes, and trust were significantly associated with willingness to participate in biospecimen banking research. Asian American communities have little knowledge of biospecimen banking and will benefit from educational campaigns that emphasize collective benefits and attitudes towards and trust in the health care system. Understanding cultural factors is important for improving Chinese Americans' knowledge, awareness, and intentions of participation in biospecimen research. Similar efforts need to be undertaken to develop culturally appropriate educational intervention programs to increase participation in biospecimen research

  13. Factors Affecting Turkish Students' Achievement in Mathematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demir, Ibrahim; Kilic, Serpil; Depren, Ozer

    2009-01-01

    Following past researches, student background, learning strategies, self-related cognitions in mathematics and school climate variables were important for achievement. The purpose of this study was to identify a number of factors that represent the relationship among sets of interrelated variables using principal component factor analysis and…

  14. Factors Influencing Livelihood Diversification among Rural Farmers ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This research study was set out to analyze factors influencing rural farmer's engagement in livelihood diversification in the study area. The specific objectives were; to identify the different levels of farmers' engagement in livelihood diversification, determine the socio-demographic factors or forces that influence farmers' ...

  15. Sustainable Entrepreneurship Orientation: A Reflection on Status-Quo Research on Factors Facilitating Responsible Managerial Practices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sascha Kraus

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available With the global financial system having undergone vast changes since the financial crisis of 2007, scientific research concerning the investor’s point of view on sustainable investments has drastically increased. However, there remains a lack of research focused on the entrepreneur’s angle regarding sustainable oriented investments. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of sustainable financial markets by bringing together entrepreneurial and financial research. This paper provides a structured literature review, based on which the authors identify three relevant levels that they believe have an effect on the successful implementation of managerial sustainable practices; these are the individual, the firm, and the contextual levels. The results show that on the individual level sustainable entrepreneurs tend to derive their will to act more sustainably from their personal values or traits. On the organizational level, though, it can be concluded that an small and medium sized enterprise’s internal culture and the reconfiguration of resources are critical determinants for adopting a sustainable entrepreneurial orientation. Finally, on the contextual level, researchers have focused on a better understanding of how entrepreneurs can help society and the environment through sustainable entrepreneurship, and how they can act as role models or change agents in light of the fact that the choice of investing or financing based on sustainability is still in its infancy. By providing an overview on facilitating factors for responsible managerial practices on the entrepreneur’s side, this research contributes to a better understanding for both theory and practice on how sustainable practices can be implemented and facilitated.

  16. Identifying and Prioritizing the Key Factors Influencing Customer Decision Making in Buying Organizational Software (A survey about HAMKARAN Co.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    shahryar Azizi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Expansion of adopting information systems, specially packed software, facilitate managing the organizational process, hence, identification the factors influence customer buying decision is vital for software providers. This mixed method study tried to identify the factors affecting decision making of buying new organizational software, classify and rank them beside. In-depth interviews with 10 customers of Hamkaran system that had the potential of buying new software have been done and content analysis of these interviews revealed some factors in five categories that became the base of questionnaire design. This study is applied in view of aim, and is descriptive-survey in view of entity. Sample of 177 customers of System Group Co. have been chosen for the study. Kruskal-Wallis test and T test of normality showed all factors to be effective. Then the factors have been prioritized using Frideman test which are as follows: buyer`s internal organizational factors, product feature, factors related to sellers organization, factors related to process and selling promotion, market and environmental factors.

  17. Identifying the main Individual Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Decision making Biases: A Qualitative Content Analysis Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Kambiz Talebi; Pouria Nouri; Abdolah Ahmadi Kafeshani

    2014-01-01

    Entrepreneurial decisions are one of the most important functions of entrepreneurs so as to manage their ventures on a daily basis. These decisions are not fully rational and because of various factors like cognitive and personal characteristics, environmental and firm-related issues, entrepreneurial decisions are prone to biases. Decision making biases has become a favorable research topic among entrepreneurial scholars. Decision making biases are responsible for lots of entrepreneurial succ...

  18. A novel cell growth-promoting factor identified in a B cell leukemia cell line, BALL-1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dao, T.; Holan, V.; Minowada, J.

    1993-01-01

    A novel leukemia cell growth-promoting activity has been identified in the culture supernatant from a human B cell leukemia cell line, BALL-1. The supernatant from unstimulated cultures of the BALL-1 cells significantly promoted the growth of 16 out of 24 leukemia/lymphoma cell lines of different lineages (T, B and non-lymphoid) in a minimal concentration of fetal bovine serum (FBS), and 5 out of 12 cases of fresh leukemia cells in FBS-free medium. The growth-promoting sieve filtration and dialysis. The MW of the factor was less than 10 kDa. The growth-promoting activity was heat and acid stable and resistant to trypsin treatment. The factor isolated from the BALL-1 supernatant was distinct from known polypeptide growth factors with MW below 10 kDa, such as epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor α, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), IGF-II and insulin, as determine by specific antibodies and by cell-growth-promoting tests. The factor is the BALL-1 supernatant did not promote the proliferation of normal human fresh peripheral blood lymphocytes or mouse fibroblast cell line, BALB/C 3T3. In addition to the BALL-1 supernatant, a similar growth-promoting activity was found in the culture supernatant from 13 of 17 leukemia/lymphoma cell lines tested. The activity in these culture supernatant promoted the growth of leukemia/lymphoma cell lines in autocrine and/or paracrine fashions. These observations suggest that the low MW cell growth-promoting activity found in the BALL-1 culture supernatant is mediated by a novel factor which may be responsible for the clonal expansion of particular leukemic clones. (author)

  19. Z factor: a new index for measuring academic research output

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhuo Min

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract With rapid progress in scientific research activities and growing competition for funding resources, it becomes critical to effectively evaluate an individual researcher's annual academic performance, or their cumulative performance within the last 3–5 years. It is particularly important for young independent investigators, and is also useful for funding agencies when determining the productivity and quality of grant awardees. As the funding becomes increasingly limited, having an unbiased method of measuring recent performance of an individual scientist is clearly needed. Here I propose the Z factor, a new and useful way to measure recent academic performance.

  20. Identifying influential directors in the United States corporate governance network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xuqing; Vodenska, Irena; Wang, Fengzhong; Havlin, Shlomo; Stanley, H. Eugene

    2011-10-01

    The influence of directors has been one of the most engaging topics recently, but surprisingly little research has been done to quantitatively evaluate the influence and power of directors. We analyze the structure of the US corporate governance network for the 11-year period 1996-2006 based on director data from the Investor Responsibility Research Center director database, and we develop a centrality measure named the influence factor to estimate the influence of directors quantitatively. The US corporate governance network is a network of directors with nodes representing directors and links between two directors representing their service on common company boards. We assume that information flows in the network through information-sharing processes among linked directors. The influence factor assigned to a director is based on the level of information that a director obtains from the entire network. We find that, contrary to commonly accepted belief that directors of large companies, measured by market capitalization, are the most powerful, in some instances, the directors who are influential do not necessarily serve on boards of large companies. By applying our influence factor method to identify the influential people contained in the lists created by popular magazines such as Fortune, Networking World, and Treasury and Risk Management, we find that the influence factor method is consistently either the best or one of the two best methods in identifying powerful people compared to other general centrality measures that are used to denote the significance of a node in complex network theory.

  1. Identifying influential directors in the United States corporate governance network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xuqing; Vodenska, Irena; Wang, Fengzhong; Havlin, Shlomo; Stanley, H Eugene

    2011-10-01

    The influence of directors has been one of the most engaging topics recently, but surprisingly little research has been done to quantitatively evaluate the influence and power of directors. We analyze the structure of the US corporate governance network for the 11-year period 1996-2006 based on director data from the Investor Responsibility Research Center director database, and we develop a centrality measure named the influence factor to estimate the influence of directors quantitatively. The US corporate governance network is a network of directors with nodes representing directors and links between two directors representing their service on common company boards. We assume that information flows in the network through information-sharing processes among linked directors. The influence factor assigned to a director is based on the level of information that a director obtains from the entire network. We find that, contrary to commonly accepted belief that directors of large companies, measured by market capitalization, are the most powerful, in some instances, the directors who are influential do not necessarily serve on boards of large companies. By applying our influence factor method to identify the influential people contained in the lists created by popular magazines such as Fortune, Networking World, and Treasury and Risk Management, we find that the influence factor method is consistently either the best or one of the two best methods in identifying powerful people compared to other general centrality measures that are used to denote the significance of a node in complex network theory.

  2. Identifying risk factors of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 subtype) in Indonesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loth, Leo; Gilbert, Marius; Wu, Jianmei; Czarnecki, Christina; Hidayat, Muhammad; Xiao, Xiangming

    2011-10-01

    Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), subtype H5N1, was first officially reported in Indonesia in 2004. Since then the disease has spread and is now endemic in large parts of the country. This study investigated the statistical relationship between a set of risk factors and the presence or absence of HPAI in Indonesia during 2006 and 2007. HPAI was evaluated through participatory disease surveillance (PDS) in backyard village chickens (the study population), and risk factors included descriptors of people and poultry distribution (separating chickens, ducks and production sectors), poultry movement patterns and agro-ecological conditions. The study showed that the risk factors "elevation", "human population density" and "rice cropping" were significant in accounting for the spatial variation of the PDS-defined HPAI cases. These findings were consistent with earlier studies in Thailand and Vietnam. In addition "commercial poultry population", and two indicators of market locations and transport; "human settlements" and "road length", were identified as significant risk factors in the models. In contrast to several previous studies carried out in Southeast Asia, domestic backyard ducks were not found to be a significant risk factor in Indonesia. The study used surrogate estimates of market locations and marketing chains and further work should focus on the actual location of the live bird markets, and on the flow of live poultry and poultry products between them, so that patterns of possible transmission, and regions of particular risk could be better inferred. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Critical success factors in ERP implementation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Blerta Abazi Chaushi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This study conducts state of the art literature review of critical success factors for enterprise resource planning systems implementation success. Since research on critical success factors for ERP implementation success is very rare and fragmented, this study provides a more comprehensive list of ten factors that companies that have adopted and struggle with the implementation, as well as companies who are in the process of considering implementation of ERP system can easily adopt and follow. The main contribution of this paper is that these ten new critical success factors are identifi ed through a thorough analysis of 22 selected research papers and is more comprehensive and straightforwardly employable for use.

  4. A Review of Factors for Tax Compliance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicoleta BARBUTA-MISU

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to identify the variables of tax compliance analysed by researchers from various countries and adapting them to the Romanian conditions to create a model to include factors that influence decision of tax compliance. Tax compliance has been studied in economics by analysing the individual decision of a representative person between paying taxes and evading taxes. In the research of tax compliance have been done many empirical studies that emphasized the impact of a wide variety of potential determinants of voluntary compliance with individual income/profit tax filing and reporting obligations. The most important determinants identified are: economic factors as the level of income, audit probabilities, tax audit, tax rate, tax benefits, penalties, fines and other non-economic factors as attitudes toward taxes, personal, social and national norms, perceived fairness etc.

  5. A retrospective analysis to identify the factors affecting infection in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Ji Hyun; Kim, Hyeon-Young; Lee, Hanna; Yun, Eun Kyoung

    2015-12-01

    This study compares the performance of the logistic regression and decision tree analysis methods for assessing the risk factors for infection in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The subjects were 732 cancer patients who were receiving chemotherapy at K university hospital in Seoul, Korea. The data were collected between March 2011 and February 2013 and were processed for descriptive analysis, logistic regression and decision tree analysis using the IBM SPSS Statistics 19 and Modeler 15.1 programs. The most common risk factors for infection in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were identified as alkylating agents, vinca alkaloid and underlying diabetes mellitus. The logistic regression explained 66.7% of the variation in the data in terms of sensitivity and 88.9% in terms of specificity. The decision tree analysis accounted for 55.0% of the variation in the data in terms of sensitivity and 89.0% in terms of specificity. As for the overall classification accuracy, the logistic regression explained 88.0% and the decision tree analysis explained 87.2%. The logistic regression analysis showed a higher degree of sensitivity and classification accuracy. Therefore, logistic regression analysis is concluded to be the more effective and useful method for establishing an infection prediction model for patients undergoing chemotherapy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL, SITUATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS ON VOLUNTEERS COMMITTEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcela Sefora (SANA NEMTEANU

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Volunteerism as an activity in the context of non profit organizations aknowledged an increasing growth in Romania after the fall of comunism. Research in the nonprofit field is clustered around the identification ofinfluencial factors regarding volunteer involvement. Interest in academic research regarding non profit, third sector and non profit marketing gainedmore popularity in the last two decades. Theories of marketingapplicable in nonprofit sector are disscused, being adopted theorethical constructs from either sciences alsoas sociology, psychology, anthropology and organizational behavior schiences. General accepted conceptual and empirical constructs are not yet developed, which leads to the fact that study on influencial factors on volunteerism stillneeds to be developed and tested. The maininfluencial factors identified in the literature review cluster around personal, situational and organizational. Personal factors analysed were the socio-demographic, motivations, situational factors were cost and time oportunity, availability, experience in the field. On theother side organizational factors identified were charachteristics of the job, internal marketing and relationship with clients. Identified factors have influence on volunteer satisfaction regarding the activity in the organization and organizational commitement, increasing the retention of volunteers

  7. Life support decision making in critical care: Identifying and appraising the qualitative research evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giacomini, Mita; Cook, Deborah; DeJean, Deirdre

    2009-04-01

    The objective of this study is to identify and appraise qualitative research evidence on the experience of making life-support decisions in critical care. In six databases and supplementary sources, we sought original research published from January 1990 through June 2008 reporting qualitative empirical studies of the experience of life-support decision making in critical care settings. Fifty-three journal articles and monographs were included. Of these, 25 reported prospective studies and 28 reported retrospective studies. We abstracted methodologic characteristics relevant to the basic critical appraisal of qualitative research (prospective data collection, ethics approval, purposive sampling, iterative data collection and analysis, and any method to corroborate findings). Qualitative research traditions represented include grounded theory (n = 15, 28%), ethnography or naturalistic methods (n = 15, 28%), phenomenology (n = 9, 17%), and other or unspecified approaches (n = 14, 26%). All 53 documents describe the research setting; 97% indicate purposive sampling of participants. Studies vary in their capture of multidisciplinary clinician and family perspectives. Thirty-one (58%) report research ethics board review. Only 49% report iterative data collection and analysis, and eight documents (15%) describe an analytically driven stopping point for data collection. Thirty-two documents (60%) indicated a method for corroborating findings. Qualitative evidence often appears outside of clinical journals, with most research from the United States. Prospective, observation-based studies follow life-support decision making directly. These involve a variety of participants and yield important insights into interactions, communication, and dynamics. Retrospective, interview-based studies lack this direct engagement, but focus on the recollections of fewer types of participants (particularly patients and physicians), and typically address specific issues (communication and

  8. The Carbon_h-factor: predicting individuals' research impact at early stages of their career.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claus-Christian Carbon

    Full Text Available Assessing an individual's research impact on the basis of a transparent algorithm is an important task for evaluation and comparison purposes. Besides simple but also inaccurate indices such as counting the mere number of publications or the accumulation of overall citations, and highly complex but also overwhelming full-range publication lists in their raw format, Hirsch (2005 introduced a single figure cleverly combining different approaches. The so-called h-index has undoubtedly become the standard in scientometrics of individuals' research impact (note: in the present paper I will always use the term "research impact" to describe the research performance as the logic of the paper is based on the h-index, which quantifies the specific "impact" of, e.g., researchers, but also because the genuine meaning of impact refers to quality as well. As the h-index reflects the number h of papers a researcher has published with at least h citations, the index is inherently positively biased towards senior level researchers. This might sometimes be problematic when predictive tools are needed for assessing young scientists' potential, especially when recruiting early career positions or equipping young scientists' labs. To be compatible with the standard h-index, the proposed index integrates the scientist's research age (Carbon_h-factor into the h-index, thus reporting the average gain of h-index per year. Comprehensive calculations of the Carbon_h-factor were made for a broad variety of four research-disciplines (economics, neuroscience, physics and psychology and for researchers performing on three high levels of research impact (substantial, outstanding and epochal with ten researchers per category. For all research areas and output levels we obtained linear developments of the h-index demonstrating the validity of predicting one's later impact in terms of research impact already at an early stage of their career with the Carbon_h-factor being approx

  9. Industry-identified combustion research needs: Special study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Keller, J.G.; Soelberg, N.R.; Kessinger, G.F.

    1995-11-01

    This report discusses the development and demonstration of innovative combustion technologies that improve energy conservation and environmental practices in the US industrial sector. The report includes recommendations by industry on R&D needed to resolve current combustion-related problems. Both fundamental and applied R&D needs are presented. The report assesses combustion needs and suggests research ideas for seven major industries, which consume about 78% of all energy used by industry. Included are the glass, pulp and paper, refinery, steel, metal casting, chemicals, and aluminum industries. Information has been collected from manufacturers, industrial operators, trade organizations, and various funding organizations and has been supplemented with expertise at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory to develop a list of suggested research and development needed for each of the seven industries.

  10. Modeling and Analysis of Multidiscipline Research Teams at NASA Langley Research Center: A Systems Thinking Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waszak, Martin R.; Barthelemy, Jean-Francois; Jones, Kenneth M.; Silcox, Richard J.; Silva, Walter A.; Nowaczyk, Ronald H.

    1998-01-01

    Multidisciplinary analysis and design is inherently a team activity due to the variety of required expertise and knowledge. As a team activity, multidisciplinary research cannot escape the issues that affect all teams. The level of technical diversity required to perform multidisciplinary analysis and design makes the teaming aspects even more important. A study was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center to develop a model of multidiscipline teams that can be used to help understand their dynamics and identify key factors that influence their effectiveness. The study sought to apply the elements of systems thinking to better understand the factors, both generic and Langley-specific, that influence the effectiveness of multidiscipline teams. The model of multidiscipline research teams developed during this study has been valuable in identifying means to enhance team effectiveness, recognize and avoid problem behaviors, and provide guidance for forming and coordinating multidiscipline teams.

  11. Prognostic Factors for Refractory Status Epilepticus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Gordon Millichap

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN studied the outcome and identified prognostic factors for refractory status epilepticus (RSE in 54 adult patients, median age 52 years [range 18-93].

  12. An assessment of South Africa's research journals: Impact factors, Eigenfactors and structure of editorial boards

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Androniki E.M. Pouris

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Scientific journals play an important role in academic information exchange and their assessment is of interest to science authorities, editors and researchers. The assessment of journals is of particular interest to South African authorities as the country's universities are partially funded according to the number of publications they produce in accredited journals, such as the Thomson Reuters indexed journals. Scientific publishing in South Africa has experienced a revolution during the last 10 years. Our objective here is to report the performance of the country's journals during 2009 and 2010 according to a number of metrics (i.e. impact factors, Eigenfactors and the international character of editorial boards; to identify and compare the impact of the South African journals that have been recently added to the Thomson Reuters' Journal Citation Reports; and to elaborate on issues related to science policy.

  13. RNAseq Analyses Identify Tumor Necrosis Factor-Mediated Inflammation as a Major Abnormality in ALS Spinal Cord.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David G Brohawn

    Full Text Available ALS is a rapidly progressive, devastating neurodegenerative illness of adults that produces disabling weakness and spasticity arising from death of lower and upper motor neurons. No meaningful therapies exist to slow ALS progression, and molecular insights into pathogenesis and progression are sorely needed. In that context, we used high-depth, next generation RNA sequencing (RNAseq, Illumina to define gene network abnormalities in RNA samples depleted of rRNA and isolated from cervical spinal cord sections of 7 ALS and 8 CTL samples. We aligned >50 million 2X150 bp paired-end sequences/sample to the hg19 human genome and applied three different algorithms (Cuffdiff2, DEseq2, EdgeR for identification of differentially expressed genes (DEG's. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA identified inflammatory processes as significantly elevated in our ALS samples, with tumor necrosis factor (TNF found to be a major pathway regulator (IPA and TNFα-induced protein 2 (TNFAIP2 as a major network "hub" gene (WGCNA. Using the oPOSSUM algorithm, we analyzed transcription factors (TF controlling expression of the nine DEG/hub genes in the ALS samples and identified TF's involved in inflammation (NFkB, REL, NFkB1 and macrophage function (NR1H2::RXRA heterodimer. Transient expression in human iPSC-derived motor neurons of TNFAIP2 (also a DEG identified by all three algorithms reduced cell viability and induced caspase 3/7 activation. Using high-density RNAseq, multiple algorithms for DEG identification, and an unsupervised gene co-expression network approach, we identified significant elevation of inflammatory processes in ALS spinal cord with TNF as a major regulatory molecule. Overexpression of the DEG TNFAIP2 in human motor neurons, the population most vulnerable to die in ALS, increased cell death and caspase 3/7 activation. We propose that therapies targeted to reduce inflammatory TNFα signaling may be

  14. Women, Research Performance and Work Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dever, Maryanne; Morrison, Zoe

    2009-01-01

    This article presents findings from a qualitative study focused on the conditions that support high research productivity in women. Interviewees were all active researchers and many were national or international leaders in their respective fields. While personal factors such as motivation, focus, and good scholarly habits were identified as…

  15. X-factor for innovation: identifying future excellent professionals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    den Hertog, J.H.

    2016-01-01

    In this study we wanted to identify which type of individual is capable of achieving professional excellence. Our main question therefore read: which individual antecedents predict professional excellence? We chose to focus on personality traits and specifically on proactive personality - the

  16. Factors influencing workplace health promotion intervention: a qualitative systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rojatz, Daniela; Merchant, Almas; Nitsch, Martina

    2017-10-01

    Although workplace health promotion (WHP) has evolved over the last 40 years, systematically collected knowledge on factors influencing the functioning of WHP is scarce. Therefore, a qualitative systematic literature review was carried out to systematically identify and synthesize factors influencing the phases of WHP interventions: needs assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. Research evidence was identified by searching electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Social Sciences Citation Index, ASSIA, ERIC, IBBS and PsycINFO) from 1998 to 2013, as well as by cross-checking reference lists of included peer-reviewed articles. The inclusion criteria were: original empirical research, description of WHP, description of barriers to and/or facilitators of the planning, implementation and/or evaluation of WHP. Finally, 54 full texts were included. From these, influencing factors were extracted and summarized using thematic analysis. The majority of influencing factors referred to the implementation phase, few dealt with planning and/or evaluation and none with needs assessment. The influencing factors were condensed into topics with respect to factors at contextual level (e.g. economic crisis); factors at organizational level (e.g. management support); factors at intervention level (e.g. quality of intervention concept); factors at implementer level (e.g. resources); factors at participant level (e.g. commitment to intervention) and factors referring to methodological and data aspects (e.g. data-collection issues). Factors regarding contextual issues and organizational aspects were identified across three phases. Therefore, future research and practice should consider not only the influencing factors at different levels, but also at different phases of WHP interventions. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Identifying Socio-Cultural Factors That Impact the Use of Open Educational Resources in Local Public Administrations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Stoffregen

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this paper is to define relevant barriers to the exchange of Open Educational Resources in local public administrations. Building upon a cultural model, eleven experts were interviewed and asked to evaluate several factors, such as openness in discourse, learning at the workplace, and superior support, among others. The result is a set of socio-cultural factors that shape the use of Open Educational Resources in public administrations. Significant factors are, in this respect, the independent choice of learning resources, the spirit of the platform, the range of available formats and access to technologies. Practitioners use these factors to elaborate on the readiness of public administrations towards the use of open e-Learning systems. To academic debates on culture in e-Learning, the results provide an alternative model that is contextualized to meet the demands of public sector contexts. Overall, the paper contributes to the lack of research about open e-Learning systems in the public sector, as well as regarding culture in the management of learning and knowledge exchange.

  18. [Advance in researches on vegetation cover and management factor in the soil erosion prediction model].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yan; Yuan, Jianping; Liu, Baoyuan

    2002-08-01

    Vegetation cover and land management are the main limiting factors of soil erosion, and quantitative evaluation on the effect of different vegetation on soil erosion is essential to land use and soil conservation planning. The vegetation cover and management factor (C) in the universal soil loss equation (USLE) is an index to evaluate this effect, which has been studied deeply and used widely. However, the C factor study is insufficient in China. In order to strengthen the research of C factor, this paper reviewed the developing progress of C factor, and compared the methods of estimating C value in different USLE versions. The relative studies in China were also summarized from the aspects of vegetation canopy coverage, soil surface cover, and root density. Three problems in C factor study were pointed out. The authors suggested that cropland C factor research should be furthered, and its methodology should be unified in China to represent reliable C values for soil loss prediction and conservation planning.

  19. [Muscle and bone health as a risk factor of fall among the elderly. An approach to identify high-risk fallers by risk assessment].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kikuchi, Reiko; Kozaki, Koichi; Nakamura, Tetsuro; Toba, Kenji

    2008-06-01

    Fall-induced hip fracture is one of the major causes rendering the elderly to be in a low ADL or bed-ridden status. Fall is not only the cause for fractures, but it lowers elderly peoples'ADL. History of fall, age, decline of motor function, orthostatic hypotension, balance deficit, dementia, drug and environmental factors were raised as possible risk factor for falls. We created a fall predicting score which consist of 21 risk factors and a history of falls. We found that the score is useful to identify high-risk fallers. It would be necessary to identify high-risk fallers early and give an appropriate individual approach.

  20. The factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder: a literature update, critique of methodology, and agenda for future research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elhai, Jon D; Palmieri, Patrick A

    2011-08-01

    We present an update of recent literature (since 2007) exploring the factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom measures. Research supporting a four-factor emotional numbing model and a four-factor dysphoria model is presented, with these models fitting better than all other models examined. Variables accounting for factor structure differences are reviewed, including PTSD query instructions, type of PTSD measure, extent of trauma exposure, ethnicity, and timing of administration. Methodological and statistical limitations with recent studies are presented. Finally, a research agenda and recommendations are offered to push this research area forward, including suggestions to validate PTSD’s factors against external measures of psychopathology, test moderators of factor structure, and examine heterogeneity of symptom presentations based on factor structure examination.

  1. Impact of identifying factors which trigger bothersome tinnitus on the treatment outcome in tinnitus retraining therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molini, Egisto; Faralli, Mario; Calzolaro, Lucia; Ricci, Giampietro

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this work was to ascertain any differences in the effectiveness of rehabilitation therapy in relation to the presence or absence of a known negative reinforcement responsible for the tinnitus-related pathology. Between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2008, we recruited 294 subjects suffering from incapacitating tinnitus and/or hyperacusis. The patients underwent tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) according to the methods described by Jastreboff and Hazell [Tinnitus Retraining Therapy: Implementing the Neurophysiological Model. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp 121-133]. We clinically assessed the presence or absence of known phenomena of associative learning, regarding the presence of adverse events temporally correlated with tinnitus and the treatment outcome. The separate analysis of the 2 subgroups shows a statistically significant difference in the improvement rate between the group with a known triggering factor and the group without a triggering factor, with a preponderance of the former with a 91% improvement rate versus approximately 56% for the latter. In our study, the inability to identify factors triggering bothersome tinnitus negatively affected the treatment outcome in TRT. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  2. 20 Years of persistent identifiers - Which systems are here to stay?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klump, Jens; Huber, Robert; Lehnert, Kerstin

    2016-04-01

    Web-based persistent identifiers have been around for more than 20 years, a period long enough to start observing patterns of success and failure. Persistent identifiers were invented to address challenges arising from the distributed and disorganised nature of the internet, which not only allowed new technologies to emerge, it also made it difficult to maintain a persistent record of science. Persistent identifiers now allow unambiguous identification of resources on the net. The expectations were that persistent identifiers would lead to greater accessibility, transparency and reproducibility of research results. Over the past two decades a number of persistent identifier systems have been built, one of them being Digital Object Identifiers (DOI). While DOI were originally invented by the publishing industry, they quickly became an established way for the identification of research resources. At first, these resources referred to scholarly literature and related resources. Other identifier systems, some of them using DOI as an example, were developed as grass-roots efforts by the scientific community. The concept of using persistent identifiers has since been expanded to other, non-textual resources, like datasets (DOI, EPIC) and geological specimens (IGSN), and more recently to authors and contributors of scholarly works (ORCID), and to software and instruments. A common witticism states that "a great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from." Setting up identifier systems is technically trivial. The real challenge lies in creating a governance system for the respective identifiers. Which systems will stand the test of time? Drawing on data from the Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3data.org) and our own experience in the field, this presentation looks at the history and adoption of existing identifier systems and how this gives us some indications towards factors influencing sustainability of these systems.

  3. Design considerations for identifying breast cancer risk factors in a population-based study in Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brinton, Louise A; Awuah, Baffour; Nat Clegg-Lamptey, Joe; Wiafe-Addai, Beatrice; Ansong, Daniel; Nyarko, Kofi M; Wiafe, Seth; Yarney, Joel; Biritwum, Richard; Brotzman, Michelle; Adjei, Andrew A; Adjei, Ernest; Aitpillah, Francis; Edusei, Lawrence; Dedey, Florence; Nyante, Sarah J; Oppong, Joseph; Osei-Bonsu, Ernest; Titiloye, Nicholas; Vanderpuye, Verna; Brew Abaidoo, Emma; Arhin, Bernard; Boakye, Isaac; Frempong, Margaret; Ohene Oti, Naomi; Okyne, Victoria; Figueroa, Jonine D

    2017-06-15

    Although breast cancer is becoming more prevalent in Africa, few epidemiologic studies have been undertaken and appropriate methodologic approaches remain uncertain. We therefore conducted a population-based case-control study in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, enrolling 2,202 women with lesions suspicious for breast cancer and 2,161 population controls. Biopsy tissue for cases prior to neoadjuvant therapy (if given), blood, saliva and fecal samples were sought for study subjects. Response rates, risk factor prevalences and odds ratios for established breast cancer risk factors were calculated. A total of 54.5% of the recruited cases were diagnosed with malignancies, 36.0% with benign conditions and 9.5% with indeterminate diagnoses. Response rates to interviews were 99.2% in cases and 91.9% in controls, with the vast majority of interviewed subjects providing saliva (97.9% in cases vs. 98.8% in controls) and blood (91.8% vs. 82.5%) samples; lower proportions (58.1% vs. 46.1%) provided fecal samples. While risk factor prevalences were unique as compared to women in other countries (e.g., less education, higher parity), cancer risk factors resembled patterns identified elsewhere (elevated risks associated with higher levels of education, familial histories of breast cancer, low parity and larger body sizes). Subjects with benign conditions were younger and exhibited higher socioeconomic profiles (e.g., higher education and lower parity) than those with malignancies, suggesting selective referral influences. While further defining breast cancer risk factors in Africa, this study showed that successful population-based interdisciplinary studies of cancer in Africa are possible but require close attention to diagnostic referral biases and standardized and documented approaches for high-quality data collection, including biospecimens. © 2017 UICC.

  4. Risk factors for antenatal depression, postnatal depression and parenting stress

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milgrom Jeannette

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Given that the prevalence of antenatal and postnatal depression is high, with estimates around 13%, and the consequences serious, efforts have been made to identify risk factors to assist in prevention, identification and treatment. Most risk factors associated with postnatal depression have been well researched, whereas predictors of antenatal depression have been less researched. Risk factors associated with early parenting stress have not been widely researched, despite the strong link with depression. The aim of this study was to further elucidate which of some previously identified risk factors are most predictive of three outcome measures: antenatal depression, postnatal depression and parenting stress and to examine the relationship between them. Methods Primipara and multiparae women were recruited antenatally from two major hoitals as part of the beyondblue National Postnatal Depression Program 1. In this subsidiary study, 367 women completed an additional large battery of validated questionnaires to identify risk factors in the antenatal period at 26–32 weeks gestation. A subsample of these women (N = 161 also completed questionnaires at 10–12 weeks postnatally. Depression level was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI. Results Regression analyses identified significant risk factors for the three outcome measures. (1. Significant predictors for antenatal depression: low self-esteem, antenatal anxiety, low social support, negative cognitive style, major life events, low income and history of abuse. (2. Significant predictors for postnatal depression: antenatal depression and a history of depression while also controlling for concurrent parenting stress, which was a significant variable. Antenatal depression was identified as a mediator between seven of the risk factors and postnatal depression. (3. Postnatal depression was the only significant predictor for parenting stress and also acted as a mediator

  5. Risk factors for antenatal depression, postnatal depression and parenting stress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leigh, Bronwyn; Milgrom, Jeannette

    2008-04-16

    Given that the prevalence of antenatal and postnatal depression is high, with estimates around 13%, and the consequences serious, efforts have been made to identify risk factors to assist in prevention, identification and treatment. Most risk factors associated with postnatal depression have been well researched, whereas predictors of antenatal depression have been less researched. Risk factors associated with early parenting stress have not been widely researched, despite the strong link with depression. The aim of this study was to further elucidate which of some previously identified risk factors are most predictive of three outcome measures: antenatal depression, postnatal depression and parenting stress and to examine the relationship between them. Primipara and multiparae women were recruited antenatally from two major hoitals as part of the beyondblue National Postnatal Depression Program 1. In this subsidiary study, 367 women completed an additional large battery of validated questionnaires to identify risk factors in the antenatal period at 26-32 weeks gestation. A subsample of these women (N = 161) also completed questionnaires at 10-12 weeks postnatally. Depression level was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Regression analyses identified significant risk factors for the three outcome measures. (1). Significant predictors for antenatal depression: low self-esteem, antenatal anxiety, low social support, negative cognitive style, major life events, low income and history of abuse. (2). Significant predictors for postnatal depression: antenatal depression and a history of depression while also controlling for concurrent parenting stress, which was a significant variable. Antenatal depression was identified as a mediator between seven of the risk factors and postnatal depression. (3). Postnatal depression was the only significant predictor for parenting stress and also acted as a mediator for other risk factors. Risk factor profiles for

  6. Using Market Research to Characterize College Students and Identify Potential Targets for Influencing Health Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berg, Carla J.; Ling, Pamela M.; Guo, Hongfei; Windle, Michael; Thomas, Janet L.; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S.; An, Lawrence C.

    2013-01-01

    Marketing campaigns, such as those developed by the tobacco industry, are based on market research, which defines segments of a population by assessing psychographic characteristics (i.e., attitudes, interests). This study uses a similar approach to define market segments of college smokers, to examine differences in their health behaviors (smoking, drinking, binge drinking, exercise, diet), and to determine the validity of these segments. A total of 2,265 undergraduate students aged 18–25 years completed a 108-item online survey in fall 2008 assessing demographic, psychographic (i.e., attitudes, interests), and health-related variables. Among the 753 students reporting past 30-day smoking, cluster analysis was conducted using 21 psychographic questions and identified three market segments – Stoic Individualists, Responsible Traditionalists, and Thrill-Seeking Socializers. We found that segment membership was related to frequency of alcohol use, binge drinking, and limiting dietary fat. We then developed three messages targeting each segment and conducted message testing to validate the segments on a subset of 73 smokers representing each segment in spring 2009. As hypothesized, each segment indicated greater relevance and salience for their respective message. These findings indicate that identifying qualitatively different subgroups of young adults through market research may inform the development of engaging interventions and health campaigns targeting college students. PMID:25264429

  7. Factors Impacting Program Delivery: The Importance of Implementation Research in Extension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ryan J. Gagnon

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Cooperative Extension is in a unique position, given its relationship with research-based, Land-Grant Universities, to advance the scholarship of implementation research. A stronger shift towards evidence-based practice has been occurring, oriented towards the assessment of programs for outcomes. This paper explores core concepts related to program implementation and delves into factors that influence successful implementation of Extension programs and services. The importance of implementation within the Extension Program Development Model is explored, along with emerging issues and trends.

  8. Dating violence among college students: the risk and protective factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaukinen, Catherine

    2014-10-01

    The research review synthesizes the knowledge base on risk and protective factors for dating violence while highlighting its relevance to violence against college women. In particular, the review highlights the personal, family, relationship, and behavioral factors that heighten the risk of dating violence victimization and perpetration while also noting the methodological limitations of the current body of empirical research and identifying directions for future academic work. Researchers have identified the correlation between risky health and behavioral factors and dating violence, most often modeling these as part of the etiology of dating violence among college students. Less often have scholars explored these as co-occurring risk factors. This approach to dating violence may be used to develop meaningful and impactful interventions to reduce the incidence and prevalence of college dating violence while also addressing the other health risk behaviors that impact academic success and place students' well-being at risk. © The Author(s) 2014.

  9. Factors Affecting Mobile Tagging Awareness; A Research on Social Media Consumers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kübra DALDAL

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the study is to identify the factors affecting awareness of mobile tagging on social media. The study assumes that the mobile tagging awareness levels of social media consumers are high. As a result of the literature review made in the scope of the purpose and assumption of the study, it was identified that the variables used in the measurement of brand awareness levels are recognition, remembering, being first in remembering, brand dominance, brand knowledge and brand opinion. A conceptual model showing the relation between these variables and mobile tagging awareness levels of social media consumers and hypotheses connected to this model were developed and a survey form, loyal to the relevant literature, was prepared in order to obtain the data necessary for the analyses. The universe of the study covers the consumers who are members of social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. For the analysis of the data obtained as a result of the survey conducted, descriptive statistics containing percentages and frequencies, factor analysis and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient was used in the analysis of the hypotheses.

  10. An exploration of the factor structure of the nursing work index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slater, Paul; McCormack, Brendan

    2007-01-01

    The nurse shortage is increasing in the developed world. Organisational context is important in determining issues associated with nurse shortages, such as retention, recruitment, and job satisfaction. Recent research has utilised the Nursing Work Index-Revised (NWI-R) as a measure of organisational context traits. Within the NWI-R a four-factor model has been reported as being important in determining good organisational context, yet researchers have recently questioned the stability of the four-factor structure. No known study has attempted to replicate the four-factor structure reported in the NWI-R. The aim of this research is to examine the factor structure of the 15 items that comprise the four factors of the NWI-R. The NWI-R is an instrument that is focused on capturing organisational attributes that characterise professional nursing environments. A random sample of 172 (50%) acute care hospital nurses completed the NWI-R as part of a larger research project. The sample was diverse concerning nursing grade and specialty. Data were analysed using SPSS.11.0 to extract factors' structures (principal component and maximum likelihood), measures of homogeneity and descriptive statistics were generated from the findings. The four-factor structure of the NWI-R was not replicated in the data analysis. Instead a modified three-factor structure was identified accounting for 57% of the variance. Measures of internal consistency were acceptable. Previous research utilised the four factors of the NWI-R as a method to identify supportive organisational context and practice. The three-factor model raises questions regarding the stability of the findings using the NWI-R. This research shows the synthesis of the two models in light of previous findings. The findings might have far reaching implications for research that has utilised the NWI-R as a measure of organisational context. Further research is required to examine this study's findings and literature.

  11. Organizational Factors and Instructional Decision-Making: A Cognitive Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hora, Matthew Tadashi

    2012-01-01

    Given the limited adoption of research-based teaching methods at the postsecondary level, research is necessary that examines why faculty choose to teach the way they do. In this article, I draw on insights from research on teacher cognition and naturalistic decision-making research to identify how perceptions of organizational factors influence…

  12. Tobacco control recommendations identified by LGBT Atlantans in a community-based participatory research project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryant, Lawrence; Damarin, Amanda K; Marshall, Zack

    2014-01-01

    Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are increasingly aware that disproportionately high smoking rates severely impact the health of their communities. Motivated to make a change, a group of LGBT community members, policymakers, and researchers from Atlanta carried out a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project. This formative research study sought to identify recommendations for culturally relevant smoking prevention and cessation interventions that could improve the health of Atlanta's LGBT communities. Data presented here come from four focus groups with 36 participants and a community meeting with 30 participants. Among study participants, the most favored interventions were providing LGBT-specific cessation programs, raising awareness about LGBT smoking rates, and getting community venues to go smoke-free. Participants also suggested providing reduced-cost cessation products for low-income individuals, using LGBT "role models" to promote cessation, and ensuring that interventions reach all parts of the community. Findings reinforce insights from community-based research with other marginalized groups. Similarities include the importance of tailoring cessation programs for specific communities, the need to acknowledge differences within communities, and the significance of community spaces in shaping discussions of cessation. Further, this study highlights the need for heightened awareness. The Atlanta LGBT community is largely unaware that high smoking rates affect its health, and is unlikely to take collective action to address this problem until it is understood.

  13. Research Results of Bioenergetics Factors Influence on Crop Production Yields Increase

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. P. Grishin

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The results of a fundamental research is presented confirming two hypotheses concerning the process of a crop harvest forming and transpiration as the two main bio-energetic factors of fertility. Transpiration is a thermodynamic process in an open self-organizing system, which has a dissipative random character. Transpiration consumes about 95 percent of the water consumed by the plant. (Purpose of research The research objective is to obtain results confirming two hypotheses, according to which the efficiency of the process of crop formation is due to transpiration as a bio-energy factor of fertility and its components: photosynthetic exergy and thermal exergy. (Methods and materials The basic principles of thermodynamic systems self-organization, as well as methods of experimental studies of the principle of subordination to the parameter of the order in which the system control variable is dependent on parameter of the order. The relation of the order parameter (thermal exergy of solar radiation (SR and the variable control (transpiration was determined. The values of the correlation coefficients of these two processes have a value close to one. This confirms that transpiration is a dissipative self-organizing process underlying the transpiration irrigation mechanism. It is revealed that a fractal dimension of a time series of transpiration of cucumber with natural light, a potato is artificial, and their probability haracteristics: the mathematical expectation, standard deviation and variance. (Results and discussion We received confirmation of the scientific hypothesis about the influence of limiting climatic factors on the theoretical limit of plant productivity and fractal dimension of transpiration as an indicator of production processes in crop production. (Conclusions We put forward supplemental scientific hypothesis about the influence of limiting climatic factors on the theoretical limit of plant productivity. It was showed that

  14. Genome-wide RNAi Screening to Identify Host Factors That Modulate Oncolytic Virus Therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allan, Kristina J; Mahoney, Douglas J; Baird, Stephen D; Lefebvre, Charles A; Stojdl, David F

    2018-04-03

    High-throughput genome-wide RNAi (RNA interference) screening technology has been widely used for discovering host factors that impact virus replication. Here we present the application of this technology to uncovering host targets that specifically modulate the replication of Maraba virus, an oncolytic rhabdovirus, and vaccinia virus with the goal of enhancing therapy. While the protocol has been tested for use with oncolytic Maraba virus and oncolytic vaccinia virus, this approach is applicable to other oncolytic viruses and can also be utilized for identifying host targets that modulate virus replication in mammalian cells in general. This protocol describes the development and validation of an assay for high-throughput RNAi screening in mammalian cells, the key considerations and preparation steps important for conducting a primary high-throughput RNAi screen, and a step-by-step guide for conducting a primary high-throughput RNAi screen; in addition, it broadly outlines the methods for conducting secondary screen validation and tertiary validation studies. The benefit of high-throughput RNAi screening is that it allows one to catalogue, in an extensive and unbiased fashion, host factors that modulate any aspect of virus replication for which one can develop an in vitro assay such as infectivity, burst size, and cytotoxicity. It has the power to uncover biotherapeutic targets unforeseen based on current knowledge.

  15. Proteinuria in adult Saudi patients with sickle cell disease is not associated with identifiable risk factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleem Aamer

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Renal involvement in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD is associated with signi-ficant morbidity and mortality. Proteinuria is common in patients with SCD and is a risk factor for future development of renal failure. We sought to identify risk factors, if any, associated with pro-teinuria in adult Saudi patients with SCD. We studied 67 patients with SCD followed-up at the King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All patients underwent 24-hour urine collection to measure creatinine clearance and to quantify proteinuria. In addition, blood was examined for evaluation of hematological and biochemical parameters. Clinical information was gathered from review of the patients′ charts. A urine protein level of more than 0.150 grams/24 hours was consi-dered abnormal. Urine protein was correlated with various clinical and laboratory parameters. Thirty-one males and 36 females were evaluated. The mean age of the cohort was 23.8 (± 7.2 years. Twenty-seven patients (40.3% had proteinuria of more than 0.150 grams/24 hours. The study group had a mean hemoglobin level of 8.5 (± 2.8 g/dL and mean fetal hemoglobin (HbF level of 14.4% (± 7.3%. Majority of the patients (61 had hemoglobin SS genotype and six patients had S-β0 thala-ssemia. None of the parameters evaluated correlated with proteinuria although there was a border-line association with older age and higher systolic blood pressure (P = 0.073 and 0.061 respec-tively. Hydroxyurea use for more than a year was not beneficial. In conclusion, our study suggests that proteinuria in adult Saudi patients is not associated with any clear identifiable risk factors.

  16. The Big Five Personality Factors and Application Fields

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnė Matuliauskaitė

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The Big five factors are used in many research fields. The literature survey showed that the personality trait theory was used to study and explain relations with different variables. The article focuses on a brief description of methods that can help with identifying the Big five factors and considers the model for applying them in personnel selection. The paper looks at scientific researches assessing relations between the Big five factors and different variables such as job performance, academic performance, student knowledge management and evaluation.Article in Lithuanian

  17. An international eDelphi study identifying the research and education priorities in wound management and tissue repair.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cowman, Seamus; Gethin, Georgina; Clarke, Eric; Moore, Zena; Craig, Gerardine; Jordan-O'Brien, Julie; McLain, Niamh; Strapp, Helen

    2012-02-01

    To incorporate an international and multidisciplinary consensus in the determination of the research and education priorities for wound healing and tissue repair. A compelling reason for the study is the lack of an agreed list of priorities for wound care research and education. Furthermore, there is a growth in the prevalence of chronic wounds, a growth in wound care products and marketing, and an increase in clinician attendance at conferences and education programmes. The study used a survey method. A four-round eDelphi technique was used to collect responses from an international population of health professionals across 24 countries. Responses were obtained from 360 professionals representing many health care settings. The top education priorities related to the standardisation of all foundation education programmes in wound care, the inclusion of wound care in all professional undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes, selecting dressings and the prevention of pressure ulcers. The top research priorities related to the dressing selection, pressure ulcer prevention and wound infection. conclusion: Professionals from different backgrounds and countries who are engaged in wound management share a common set of priorities for research and education. Most notably, the priorities identified relate to long-established clinical challenges in wound care and underpin the principles of good patient care practices. The priorities are closely allied to an ageing population and identify many challenges ahead for practitioners engaged in wound management services. The provision of wound care is a major investment of health service resources and remains a clinical challenge today. Research is essential to building evidence-based practice and fundamental to development of quality in standards of practice; education is central to achieving competence to deliver effective care. The determination of research and education priorities is therefore an absolute requirement

  18. An international eDelphi study identifying the research and education priorities in wound management and tissue repair.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    2012-02-01

    Aim. To incorporate an international and multidisciplinary consensus in the determination of the research and education priorities for wound healing and tissue repair. Background. A compelling reason for the study is the lack of an agreed list of priorities for wound care research and education. Furthermore, there is a growth in the prevalence of chronic wounds, a growth in wound care products and marketing, and an increase in clinician attendance at conferences and education programmes. Design. The study used a survey method. Methods. A four-round eDelphi technique was used to collect responses from an international population of health professionals across 24 countries. Results. Responses were obtained from 360 professionals representing many health care settings. The top education priorities related to the standardisation of all foundation education programmes in wound care, the inclusion of wound care in all professional undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes, selecting dressings and the prevention of pressure ulcers. The top research priorities related to the dressing selection, pressure ulcer prevention and wound infection. Conclusion. Professionals from different backgrounds and countries who are engaged in wound management share a common set of priorities for research and education. Most notably, the priorities identified relate to long-established clinical challenges in wound care and underpin the principles of good patient care practices. The priorities are closely allied to an ageing population and identify many challenges ahead for practitioners engaged in wound management services. Relevance to clinical practice. The provision of wound care is a major investment of health service resources and remains a clinical challenge today. Research is essential to building evidence-based practice and fundamental to development of quality in standards of practice; education is central to achieving competence to deliver effective care. The

  19. The research-practice gap: bridging the schism between eating disorder researchers and practitioners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lilienfeld, Scott O; Ritschel, Lorie A; Lynn, Steven Jay; Brown, Amanda P; Cautin, Robin L; Latzman, Robert D

    2013-07-01

    The field of eating disorders (EDs) treatment has been beset by a marked disjunction between scientific evidence and clinical application. We describe the nature and scope of the research-practice gap in the ED field. We draw on surveys and broader literature to better understand the research-practice gap in ED treatment and reasons for resistance to evidence-based practice. We identify three sources of the research-practice gap: (1) attitudinal factors, (2) differences in the definition of "evidence," and (3) cognitive factors, especially naïve realism and confirmation bias. We affirm the role of science as a safeguard against human fallibility and as a means of bridging the research-practice gap, and delineate key principles of scientific thinking for ED researchers and practitioners. We conclude with proposals for narrowing the research-practice gap in ED treatment and enhancing the quality of interventions for ED clients. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. FACTORS INFLUENCING BRAND LOYALTY IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS FANS

    OpenAIRE

    Yun-Tsan Lin; Chen-Hsien Lin

    2008-01-01

    Many researchers have provided comprehensive definitions for the term of brand loyalty and also examined the factors affecting brand loyalty with many empirical studies. But there is little research focusing on the brand loyalty of professional sports fans. The topic area about factors influencing brand loyalty in professional sports fans was identified because these fans bring significant financial benefits every year and stimulate economic growth in the United States. Although different con...

  1. Burden of liver disease in Europe: epidemiology and analysis of risk factors to identify prevention policies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pimpin, Laura; Cortez-Pinto, Helena; Negro, Francesco; Corbould, Emily; Lazarus, Jeffrey V; Webber, Laura; Sheron, Nick

    2018-05-16

    The burden of liver disease in Europe continues to grow. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of liver diseases and their risk factors in European countries, and identify public health interventions that could impact on these risk factors to reduce the burden of liver disease. As part of the HEPAHEALTH project, commissioned by EASL, we extracted information on historical and current prevalence and mortality from national and international literature and databases on liver disease in 35 countries in the WHO European region, as well as historical and recent prevalence data on their main determinants; alcohol consumption, obesity and hepatitis B and C virus infections. We extracted information from peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify public health interventions targeting these risk factors. The epidemiology of liver disease is diverse and countries cluster with similar pictures, although the exact composition of diseases and the trends in risk factors which drive them is varied. Prevalence and mortality data indicate that increasing cirrhosis and liver cancer may be linked to dramatic increases in harmful alcohol consumption in Northern European countries, and viral hepatitis epidemics in Eastern and Southern European countries. Countries with historically low levels of liver disease may experience an increase in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the future, given the rise of obesity across the majority of European countries. Interventions exist for curbing harmful alcohol use, reducing obesity, preventing or treating viral hepatitis, and screening for liver disease at an early stage. Liver disease in Europe is a serious issue, with increasing cirrhosis and liver cancer. The public health and hepatology communities are uniquely placed to implement measures aimed at reducing their causes: harmful alcohol consumption, child and adult obesity prevalence and chronic infection with hepatitis viruses, which will in turn reduce the burden of liver disease. The

  2. Planning Today for Tomorrow’s Research: Analysis of Factors Influencing Participation in a Pediatric Cancer Research Biorepository

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rania M. Labib

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundBiobanks have become a powerful tool that fosters biomedical research. The success of biobanks depends upon people’s perception and willingness to donate their samples for research. This is the first biorepository in Egypt, hence, little is known about the beliefs and attitudes of parents toward participation.AimTo investigate the level of willingness of Egyptians to donate samples of their children and themselves for research and the different factors influencing participation.Materials and methodsA structured questionnaire was designed covering multiple items expected to affect the enrollment decision. This was conducted in-person, and data collected included demographic data, socioeconomic, and educational level. In addition, in the case of refusal, participants were asked about reasons behind their decision.ResultsOnly about 3.1% of patients have not been enrolled in the project, and 0.3% have withdrawn. Three demographic factors were found having disparate trends in the decision-making process to participate or not: father’s education (p = 0.0001, mother’s education (p = 0.0001, and father’s age (p = 0.034.ConclusionEgyptian parents were willing to donate their samples as well as their children’s samples in our research biorepository. The idea of participation was presented in an interview during which the consent form was explained in a comprehensive transparent way allowing participants the right to refuse or withdraw at any time. Still, different communication approaches are needed with older, more highly educated parents to encourage them to participate.

  3. Influential Factors Affecting Materials Management in Construction Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jusoh Zairra Mat

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Construction projects are more often than not plagued by poor performances such as delays, cost overrun, low productivity, construction wastes and compromised quality. Amongst the critical contributory factors of poor project performances, is the ineffectiveness of materials management occurring in the construction sites. Indeed, materials management is a very important component for construction projects. However, there are only limited numbers of research available regarding this topic. Thus, this research focuses its study on materials management, specifically in identifying the influential factors that affect materials management in the construction project activities. Literatures from books, journal articles and conference papers related to poor project performances and materials management have been reviewed. Consequently, this study sorted the salient influential factors and categorized them based on their specific group. Out of 47 factors identified, they are classified into 8 groups. They are (1 site condition; (2 planning and handling on site; (3 management; (4 materials; (5 supplier and manufacturer default; (6 transportation; (7 contractual; and (8 governmental interferences. In conclusion, this study contends that by identifying the influential factors affecting materials management, it will help construction players to avoid the occurrence of those factors and will minimize the negative impacts on the overall performance of construction projects. Hence, the handling-over of project will be according to schedule and not delayed by materials mismanagement.

  4. A research framework of organizational factors on safety in the Republic of Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kwang Seok Lee

    1997-01-01

    Korean nuclear society is yet unfamiliar with the topic, 'organizational factors on safety', while having shown lots of accomplishments in the area of physical and human factors on safety. However, recent large-scale accidents in other technological areas illustrate the importance of managing organization factors on safety. Recently Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) started paying attention to this topic and is trying to establish a future research framework of organizational factors on safety. This paper tries to explain overall direction of the framework. Our framework, as managing organizational factors on safety, considers two kinds of areas: design of management systems, which implies a feed-forward system including organizational models; and operation of those systems, which implies a feedback system including management information and implementation systems. Our framework also considers the evolution stage of a management system. Management systems evolve from visibility stage to optimization stage. To optimize a management system, we should be able to control the system. To control the system, we should be able to see how the system is going. In addition, this paper tries to share some experience of KAERI on how organizational structure and culture affects organizational performance in R and D perspective. (author). 2 refs, 1 fig

  5. Factors associated with online media attention to research: a cohort study of articles evaluating cancer treatments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haneef, Romana; Ravaud, Philippe; Baron, Gabriel; Ghosn, Lina; Boutron, Isabelle

    2017-01-01

    New metrics have been developed to assess the impact of research and provide an indication of online media attention and data dissemination. We aimed to describe online media attention of articles evaluating cancer treatments and identify the factors associated with high online media attention. We systematically searched MEDLINE via PubMed on March 1, 2015 for articles published during the first 6 months of 2014 in oncology and medical journals with a diverse range of impact factors, from 3.9 to 54.4, and selected a sample of articles evaluating a cancer treatment regardless of study design. Altmetric Explorer was used to identify online media attention of selected articles. The primary outcome was media attention an article received online as measured by Altmetric score (i.e., number of mentions in online news outlets, science blogs and social media). Regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors associated with high media attention, and regression coefficients represent the logarithm of ratio of mean (RoM) values of Altmetric score per unit change in the covariate. Among 792 articles, 218 (27.5%) received no online media attention (Altmetric score = 0). The median [Q1-Q3] Altmetric score was 2.0 [0.0-8.0], range 0.0-428.0. On multivariate analysis, factors associated with high Altmetric score were presence of a press release (RoM = 10.14, 95%CI [4.91-20.96]), open access to the article (RoM = 1.48, 95%CI [1.02-2.16]), and journal impact factor (RoM = 1.10, 95%CI [1.07-1.12]. As compared with observational studies, systematic reviews were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 1.46, 95%CI [0.74-2.86]; P  = 0.27), nor were RCTs (RoM = 0.65, 95%CI [0.41-1.02]; P  = 0.059) and phase I/II non-RCTs (RoM = 0.58, 95%CI [0.33-1.05]; P  = 0.07). The articles with abstract conclusions favouring study treatments were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 0.97, 95%CI [0.60-1.58]; P  = 0

  6. Identifying Strategic Scientific Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    As NCI's central scientific strategy office, CRS collaborates with the institute's divisions, offices, and centers to identify research opportunities to advance NCI's vision for the future of cancer research.

  7. An International Approach to identify the root causes of Childhood Leukemia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laurier, Dominique

    2015-01-01

    Living near a nuclear site is one of the risk factors studied for childhood leukemia. The IRSN and BfS brought together scientists from several disciplines under the aegis of the European Association MelodiGLO to take stock of the existing epidemiological studies, their contributions and their limitations as well as to identify the analysis and research avenues to provide more robust answers. (author)

  8. Development and testing of a medline search filter for identifying patient and public involvement in health research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Morwenna; Bethel, Alison; Boddy, Kate

    2017-06-01

    Research involving the public as partners often proves difficult to locate due to the variations in terms used to describe public involvement, and inability of medical databases to index this concept effectively. To design a search filter to identify literature where patient and public involvement (PPI) was used in health research. A reference standard of 172 PPI papers was formed. The references were divided into a development set and a test set. Search terms were identified from common words, phrases and synonyms in the development set. These terms were combined as a search strategy for medline via OvidSP, which was then tested for sensitivity against the test set. The resultant search filter was then assessed for sensitivity, specificity and precision using a previously published systematic review. The search filter was found to be highly sensitive 98.5% in initial testing. When tested against results generated by a 'real-life' systematic review, the filter had a specificity of 81%. However, sensitivity dropped to 58%. Adjustments to the population group of terms increased the sensitivity to 73%. The PPI filter designed for medline via OvidSP could aid information specialists and researchers trying to find literature specific to PPI. © 2016 Health Libraries Group.

  9. [Research progress in genetic abnormalities and etiological factors of congenital anorectal malformation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yanli; Ren, Hongxia

    2016-01-01

    Congenital anorectal malformation (ARM) is one of the most common gastrointestinal congenital diseases, accounting for 1/4 in digestive tract malformation, and is one of the congenital malformations in routine surveillance by the World Health Organization. Because of the variety of risk factors and the complexity of the pathological changes, etiology of ARM is still not clear. It is mostly considered that ARM is resulted from hereditary factors and environmental factors in the development of embryogenesis. Through animal experiments, scholars have found that Hox, Shh, Fgf, Wnt, Cdx and TCF4, Eph and ephrin play crucial role during the development of digestive tract. When the genes/signaling pathway dysfunction occurs, ARM may happen. In addition, ARM is related to the external factors in pregnancy. Because of the complexity of related factors in the development of human embryogenesis, the research progress of human ARM is very slow. This paper reviews relevant literatures in genetic factors and environmental factors, in order to provide the theoretical basis for the treatment and prevention of ARM.

  10. Risk Factors and Biomarkers of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, Nathan G.; Singh, Malkit K.; ElShelmani, Hanan; Mansergh, Fiona C.; Wride, Michael A.; Padilla, Maximilian; Keegan, David; Hogg, Ruth E.; Ambati, Balamurali K.

    2016-01-01

    A biomarker can be a substance or structure measured in body parts, fluids or products that can affect or predict disease incidence. As age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, much research and effort has been invested in the identification of different biomarkers to predict disease incidence, identify at risk individuals, elucidate causative pathophysiological etiologies, guide screening, monitoring and treatment parameters, and predict disease outcomes. To date, a host of genetic, environmental, proteomic, and cellular targets have been identified as both risk factors and potential biomarkers for AMD. Despite this, their use has been confined to research settings and has not yet crossed into the clinical arena. A greater understanding of these factors and their use as potential biomarkers for AMD can guide future research and clinical practice. This article will discuss known risk factors and novel, potential biomarkers of AMD in addition to their application in both academic and clinical settings. PMID:27156982

  11. Identifying significant factors which can contribute to successful transitions from school to lasting employment affiliation for pupils in vocational training programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils Breilid

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: This study deals with young people receiving special needs education in schools and their transition to lasting employment in private or public sector. Through a qualitative approach, the article aims at “identifying significant factors which can, contribute to successful transitions from school to lasting employment affiliation for pupils in vocational training programs”Theoretical approach: The theoretical approach of this article is descriptions and interpretation of the Norwegian educational legislation and the theory of «empowerment». These theoretical perspectives will be included in the empirical discussion. Method: The methodological approach is qualitative. Through four semi-structured interviews of young informants who have completed upper secondary school in a vocational education program, and have had a minimum of one-year training in an enterprise. Thematic analysis of the data is conducted with the application of NVivo 11, a computer program that is suitable for qualitative data-analysis and mixed research methods.Results and discussion: Through thematic analysis of the data, we found three significant factors contributing to successful transitions from school to lasting employment:      a Application and development of the pupil’s competence - mastery and meaning      b The significance of relations, communication and well-functioning socio-ecological          networks      c The importance of pupil participation and involvement in decision making

  12. Transcriptome analyses identify five transcription factors differentially expressed in the hypothalamus of post- versus prepubertal Brahman heifers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortes, M R S; Nguyen, L T; Weller, M M D C A; Cánovas, A; Islas-Trejo, A; Porto-Neto, L R; Reverter, A; Lehnert, S A; Boe-Hansen, G B; Thomas, M G; Medrano, J F; Moore, S S

    2016-09-01

    Puberty onset is a developmental process influenced by genetic determinants, environment, and nutrition. Mutations and regulatory gene networks constitute the molecular basis for the genetic determinants of puberty onset. The emerging knowledge of these genetic determinants presents opportunities for innovation in the breeding of early pubertal cattle. This paper presents new data on hypothalamic gene expression related to puberty in (Brahman) in age- and weight-matched heifers. Six postpubertal heifers were compared with 6 prepubertal heifers using whole-genome RNA sequencing methodology for quantification of global gene expression in the hypothalamus. Five transcription factors (TF) with potential regulatory roles in the hypothalamus were identified in this experiment: , , , , and . These TF genes were significantly differentially expressed in the hypothalamus of postpubertal versus prepubertal heifers and were also identified as significant according to the applied regulatory impact factor metric ( cancer and developmental processes. Mutations in were associated with puberty in humans. Mutations in these TF, together with other genetic determinants previously discovered, could be used in genomic selection to predict the genetic merit of cattle (i.e., the likelihood of the offspring presenting earlier than average puberty for Brahman). Knowledge of key mutations involved in genetic traits is an advantage for genomic prediction because it can increase its accuracy.

  13. [Advances on the research of the environmental risk factors of children autism].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, D N; Jin, Y T

    2017-12-06

    Autism spectrum disorder is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by social interaction and communication impairments, accompanied by repetitive behaviors. Little is known about the causes and contributing factors for autism. It is difficult to prevent and cure, and has become a globe public health problem. With the development in the prevalence of autism, the idea how the environmental factors cause the autism, gains all attentions. Summarizing latest epidemiological studies and experimental evidence, this review is focused on the effect of environmental factors, including air pollutant, heavy metal and pesticides, and discussed the relation between environmental risk factors and autism. The results showed that risks of autism in children may increase following in prenatal exposure to air pollutants, heavy metal and pesticides. It is needed to do the research on the mechanism of environmental risk factor and autism for more prevention, treatment and control suggestions.

  14. A Study Identifying Causes of Construction Waste Production and Applying Safety Management on Construction Site

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Asghar Najafpoor

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Background and purpose: In a recent century, the amount of construction waste has increased significantly. Although the building industry has a considerable role in the development of a society, it is regarded as an environmentally destructive. Source reduction is the highest goal in the waste management hierarchy and is in priority. It also has economic benefits by reducing costs associated with transportation, disposal or recycling of wastes. The present study is aimed to identify activities generating the wastes in design, transportation and storage and procurement of building materials. Materials and Methods: This was questionnaire survey. A total of 94 professionals in the construction industry were attended in this study. To determine the validity and reliability of the instrument, content validity method and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.79 were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows. Frequencies, percentage, mean and standard deviation were determined in this research. Results: The results showed that handling and storage have been chosen as the most causative factor of waste production in construction activity. Improper material storage was identified major factor in producing waste in handling and storage phase. Usage of low-quality material in design stage and material price changes in procurement were recognized as major causes of waste production in these stages. Conclusion: All studied phases in this research were identified as causative factors in producing of waste. Identifying causes of construction waste production will help us decide better how to control this sort of wastes.

  15. Review of the research and application of KERMA factor and DPA cross section

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-03-01

    The data for recoil atom spectra, KERMA factor and displacement cross sections from neutron-induced reactions are calling increasing interest for applications to the study of radiation damage, calculation of heat generation in reactor, neutron therapy and biological research. PKA spectra sub-working group was recently established in Japanese Nuclear Data Committee as a part of developing JENDL Special Purpose Data Files. Current status of the data and various features of application of the KERMA-related problems were reviewed and discussed at the first meeting of the sub-working group. Present report is a compilation of the items presented at the meeting, covering a brief review of the existing research and the data, method of calculation, the KERMA factor data in neutron therapy, the deduction of KERMA factor of C-12 from neutron reaction measurement and analysis, the data base for radiation damage, the damage simulation calculation, and the method of storaging the evaluated data in ENDF/B-VI format. (author)

  16. Empirical research on the influencing factors of the occupational stress for construction workers

    Science.gov (United States)

    LV, Xing; WU, Xiang; CI, Huipeng; LIU, Qing; YAO, Yongzheng

    2017-04-01

    Employee’s occupational stress and safety performance are highly related, which has been generally recognized by the researchers. We did this research to understand the status of the stress for construction workers, and explore the influence factors of pressure source with characteristics of construction industry. Based on the results of previous studies, we designed questionnaire to collect the influence factors on occupational stressors. The study selected workers from certain construction units at the grass-roots level as sample source. According to the results of the questionnaire, we redesigned the interview outline, and did the semi-structured interviews on workers randomly selected. Finally, we developed a scale which combined the characteristics of construction projects in China. Using SPSS software for factor analysis, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistical analysis, the results show that there are six factors affecting the workers’ occupational stress, including The Work Itself, Family-Work, Career Development, Organization Style, Interpersonal Relationship and Role Management Style. The work itself is the main sources of occupational stress. The results can be used by the construction company to provide guidance for workers to control and manage occupational stress.

  17. Identifying Human Trafficking Victims on a Psychiatry Inpatient Service: a Case Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Phuong T; Lamkin, Joanna; Coverdale, John H; Scott, Samuel; Li, Karen; Gordon, Mollie R

    2018-06-01

    Human trafficking is a serious and prevalent human rights violation that closely intersects with mental health. Limited empirical attention has been paid to the presentations and identification of trafficking victims in psychiatric settings. The primary goal of this paper is to describe the varied presentations of trafficking victims on an urban inpatient psychiatric unit. A literature review was conducted to identify relevant empirical articles to inform our examination of cases. Adult inpatient cases meeting criteria for known or possible human trafficking were systematically identified and illustrative cases were described. Six cases were identified including one male and five females. Two had been labor trafficked and four were suspected or confirmed to have been sex trafficked. The cases demonstrated a tremendous diversity of demographic and psychiatric identifying factors. These cases indicate the importance of routinely screening for trafficking victims in inpatient psychiatry settings. Identification of cases is a requisite step in providing informed and evidence-based treatments and enabling the secondary prevention of re-exploitation. Additional research is warranted given the limited current empirical research on this topic area.

  18. Identifying factors influencing contraceptive use in Bangladesh: evidence from BDHS 2014 data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hossain, M B; Khan, M H R; Ababneh, F; Shaw, J E H

    2018-01-30

    Birth control is the conscious control of the birth rate by methods which temporarily prevent conception by interfering with the normal process of ovulation, fertilization, and implantation. High contraceptive prevalence rate is always expected for controlling births for those countries that are experiencing high population growth rate. The factors that influence contraceptive prevalence are also important to know for policy implication purposes in Bangladesh. This study aims to explore the socio-economic, demographic and others key factors that influence the use of contraception in Bangladesh. The contraception data are extracted from the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data which were collected by using a two stage stratified random sampling technique that is a source of nested variability. The nested sources of variability must be incorporated in the model using random effects in order to model the actual parameter effects on contraceptive prevalence. A mixed effect logistic regression model has been implemented for the binary contraceptive data, where parameters are estimated through generalized estimating equation by assuming exchangeable correlation structure to explore and identify the factors that truly affect the use of contraception in Bangladesh. The prevalence of contraception use by currently married 15-49 years aged women or their husbands is 62.4%. Our study finds that administrative division, place of residence, religion, number of household members, woman's age, occupation, body mass index, breastfeeding practice, husband's education, wish for children, living status with wife, sexual activity in past year, women amenorrheic status, abstaining status, number of children born in last five years and total children ever died were significantly associated with contraception use in Bangladesh. The odds of women experiencing the outcome of interest are not independent due to the nested structure of the data. As a result, a mixed

  19. A New Tool for Identifying Research Standards and Evaluating Research Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bacon, Donald R.; Paul, Pallab; Stewart, Kim A.; Mukhopadhyay, Kausiki

    2012-01-01

    Much has been written about the evaluation of faculty research productivity in promotion and tenure decisions, including many articles that seek to determine the rank of various marketing journals. Yet how faculty evaluators combine journal quality, quantity, and author contribution to form judgments of a scholar's performance is unclear. A…

  20. Functional requirements for the man-vehicle systems research facility. [identifying and correcting human errors during flight simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clement, W. F.; Allen, R. W.; Heffley, R. K.; Jewell, W. F.; Jex, H. R.; Mcruer, D. T.; Schulman, T. M.; Stapleford, R. L.

    1980-01-01

    The NASA Ames Research Center proposed a man-vehicle systems research facility to support flight simulation studies which are needed for identifying and correcting the sources of human error associated with current and future air carrier operations. The organization of research facility is reviewed and functional requirements and related priorities for the facility are recommended based on a review of potentially critical operational scenarios. Requirements are included for the experimenter's simulation control and data acquisition functions, as well as for the visual field, motion, sound, computation, crew station, and intercommunications subsystems. The related issues of functional fidelity and level of simulation are addressed, and specific criteria for quantitative assessment of various aspects of fidelity are offered. Recommendations for facility integration, checkout, and staffing are included.

  1. Identifying potentially eligible subjects for research: paper-based logs versus the hospital administrative database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magee, L A; Massey, K; von Dadelszen, P; Fazio, M; Payne, B; Liston, R

    2011-12-01

    The Canadian Perinatal Network (CPN) is a national database focused on threatened very pre-term birth. Women with one or more conditions most commonly associated with very pre-term birth are included if admitted to a participating tertiary perinatal unit at 22 weeks and 0 days to 28 weeks and 6 days. At BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre, we compared traditional paper-based ward logs and a search of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) electronic database of inpatient discharges to identify patients. The study identified 244 women potentially eligible for inclusion in the CPN admitted between April and December 2007. Of the 155 eligible women entered into the CPN database, each method identified a similar number of unique records (142 and 147) not ascertained by the other: 10 (6.4%) by CIHI search and 5 (3.2%) by ward log review. However, CIHI search achieved these results after reviewing fewer records (206 vs. 223) in less time (0.67 vs. 13.6 hours for ward logs). Either method is appropriate for identification of potential research subjects using gestational age criteria. Although electronic methods are less time-consuming, they cannot be performed until after the patient is discharged and records and charts are reviewed. Each method's advantages and disadvantages will dictate use for a specific project.

  2. Factors Influencing Environmental Scanning in the Organizational Context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zita Correia

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper identifies and analyses the factors internal to the organization, which affect the activity of environmental scanning, understood here as the information seeking activity of managers, directed at the company's external environment. These factors include individual factors, such as information consciousness and exposure to information, and organizational factors such as information climate and "outwardness". The main relationships among them are also analysed. These factors were identified in the course of research aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the environmental scanning process (Correia & Wilson, 1996. The methodology used - a case-study approach coupled with the grounded theory method of qualitative analysis - was of major importance in obtaining information that is grounded largely on the personal experience of managers.

  3. Research design considerations for chronic pain prevention clinical trials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gewandter, Jennifer S; Dworkin, Robert H; Turk, Dennis C

    2015-01-01

    Although certain risk factors can identify individuals who are most likely to develop chronic pain, few interventions to prevent chronic pain have been identified. To facilitate the identification of preventive interventions, an IMMPACT meeting was convened to discuss research design considerations...

  4. Pre-Analytical Parameters Affecting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Measurement in Plasma: Identifying Confounders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walz, Johanna M; Boehringer, Daniel; Deissler, Heidrun L; Faerber, Lothar; Goepfert, Jens C; Heiduschka, Peter; Kleeberger, Susannah M; Klettner, Alexa; Krohne, Tim U; Schneiderhan-Marra, Nicole; Ziemssen, Focke; Stahl, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) is intensively investigated in various medical fields. However, comparing VEGF-A measurements is difficult because sample acquisition and pre-analytic procedures differ between studies. We therefore investigated which variables act as confounders of VEGF-A measurements. Following a standardized protocol, blood was taken at three clinical sites from six healthy participants (one male and one female participant at each center) twice one week apart. The following pre-analytical parameters were varied in order to analyze their impact on VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant (EDTA vs. PECT / CTAD), cannula (butterfly vs. neonatal), type of centrifuge (swing-out vs. fixed-angle), time before and after centrifugation, filling level (completely filled vs. half-filled tubes) and analyzing method (ELISA vs. multiplex bead array). Additionally, intrapersonal variations over time and sex differences were explored. Statistical analysis was performed using a linear regression model. The following parameters were identified as statistically significant independent confounders of VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant, centrifuge, analyzing method and sex of the proband. The following parameters were no significant confounders in our data set: intrapersonal variation over one week, cannula, time before and after centrifugation and filling level of collection tubes. VEGF-A measurement results can be affected significantly by the identified pre-analytical parameters. We recommend the use of CTAD anticoagulant, a standardized type of centrifuge and one central laboratory using the same analyzing method for all samples.

  5. Pre-Analytical Parameters Affecting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Measurement in Plasma: Identifying Confounders.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johanna M Walz

    Full Text Available Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A is intensively investigated in various medical fields. However, comparing VEGF-A measurements is difficult because sample acquisition and pre-analytic procedures differ between studies. We therefore investigated which variables act as confounders of VEGF-A measurements.Following a standardized protocol, blood was taken at three clinical sites from six healthy participants (one male and one female participant at each center twice one week apart. The following pre-analytical parameters were varied in order to analyze their impact on VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant (EDTA vs. PECT / CTAD, cannula (butterfly vs. neonatal, type of centrifuge (swing-out vs. fixed-angle, time before and after centrifugation, filling level (completely filled vs. half-filled tubes and analyzing method (ELISA vs. multiplex bead array. Additionally, intrapersonal variations over time and sex differences were explored. Statistical analysis was performed using a linear regression model.The following parameters were identified as statistically significant independent confounders of VEGF-A measurements: analyzing center, anticoagulant, centrifuge, analyzing method and sex of the proband. The following parameters were no significant confounders in our data set: intrapersonal variation over one week, cannula, time before and after centrifugation and filling level of collection tubes.VEGF-A measurement results can be affected significantly by the identified pre-analytical parameters. We recommend the use of CTAD anticoagulant, a standardized type of centrifuge and one central laboratory using the same analyzing method for all samples.

  6. External factors affecting decision-making and use of evidence in an Australian public health policy environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zardo, Pauline; Collie, Alex; Livingstone, Charles

    2014-05-01

    This study examined external factors affecting policy and program decision-making in a specific public health policy context: injury prevention and rehabilitation compensation in the Australian state of Victoria. The aim was twofold: identify external factors that affect policy and program decision-making in this specific context; use this evidence to inform targeting of interventions aimed at increasing research use in this context. Qualitative interviews were undertaken from June 2011 to January 2012 with 33 employees from two state government agencies. Key factors identified were stakeholder feedback and action, government and ministerial input, legal feedback and action, injured persons and the media. The identified external factors were able to significantly influence policy and program decision-making processes: acting as both barriers and facilitators, depending on the particular issue at hand. The factors with the most influence were the Minister and government, lawyers, and agency stakeholders, particularly health providers, trade unions and employer groups. This research revealed that interventions aimed at increasing use of research in this context must target and harness the influence of these groups. This research provides critical insights for researchers seeking to design interventions to increase use of research in policy environments and influence decision-making in Victorian injury prevention and rehabilitation compensation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Future Directions in Research on Racism-Related Stress and Racial-Ethnic Protective Factors for Black Youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Shawn C T; Neblett, Enrique W

    2017-01-01

    Research on racism-related stress and racial-ethnic protective factors represents an important enterprise for optimizing the mental health of African American and other racial and ethnic minority youth. However, there has been a relative dearth of work on these factors in the clinical psychology research literature, and more work is needed in outlets such as these. To this end, the current article adopts a developmental psychopathology framework and uses recent empirical findings to outline our current understanding of racism-related stress and racial-ethnic protective factors (i.e., racial identity, racial socialization, Africentric worldview) for African American youth. We then provide nine recommendations-across basic, applied, and broader/cross-cutting research lines-that we prioritize as essential to advancing the future scientific investigation of this crucial research agenda. Within and across these recommendations, we issue a charge to researchers and clinicians alike, with the ultimate goal of alleviating the negative mental health impact that racism-related stress can have on the well-being and mental health of African American and other racial and ethnic minority youth.

  8. Identifying and Managing Engineering Design Requirements for Emerging Markets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Xuemeng

    , especially for those companies originally from developed markets, to acquire an in-depth understanding of particular design requirements in emerging markets in order to adapt both company products and approaches in such contexts. Prior studies on the identification and management of design requirements have...... predominantly been conducted in the context of developed countries and relatively affluent markets. Emerging markets are distinct from developed markets in terms of numerous contextual factors, e.g., regulatory environments and competitive landscapes. These factors influence the requirement identification...... attention. There is a need for an overview of different perspectives in requirement identification for manufacturing companies and their corresponding assessments in the context of emerging markets. Therefore, this research project is motivated to 1) investigate the process of identifying and managing...

  9. Exploratory Factor Analysis as a Construct Validation Tool: (Mis)applications in Applied Linguistics Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karami, Hossein

    2015-01-01

    Factor analysis has been frequently exploited in applied research to provide evidence about the underlying factors in various measurement instruments. A close inspection of a large number of studies published in leading applied linguistic journals shows that there is a misconception among applied linguists as to the relative merits of exploratory…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ma Jin

    2006-06-01

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

  11. Research of Factors Affecting Pension Funds Efficiency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virgilijus Sakalauskas

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Currently Lithuania has an old-age pension system of three pillars.Unfortunately, when making an investment decision, too few factors are used that affect strategy effectiveness. It is necessary to develop tools to better assess the risks and more accurately simulate the potential long-term investment scenarios.The article deals with the investment strategy to the second and third pillar pension funds in order to maximize investment returns and reduce risks. A smart software tool allows you to simulate an accrual depending on the rate of return, the accumulation period, the level of contributions, the fund’s profitability and other factors.The study shows that using the Social Insurance Fund contributions, personal contributions and the state provided additives can accumulate significantly greater amounts of money than collecting only the second pillar pension funds contributions. For implementation of the proposed methodology it is necessary to ensure a minimum level of personal pension scheme members fundraising to the third pillar pension funds. On the other hand, the study revealed that in some cases investment to private pension funds can be useless.Private pension funds have become popular between unprofessional investors who don’t have sufficient knowledge. Research shows that financial institutions do not always provide the optimal proposals. Advanced software tools can help make better investment decisions. Commercial tools usually show potential profits of investment, but not always pay sufficient attention to potential risks. This article analyzes both good and bad investment scenarios.

  12. Research of Factors Affecting Pension Funds Efficiency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marius Liutvinavičius

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Currently Lithuania has an old-age pension system of three pillars. Unfortunately, when making an investment decision, too few factors are used that affect strategy effectiveness. It is necessary to develop tools to better assess the risks and more accurately simulate the potential long-term investment scenarios. The article deals with the investment strategy to the second and third pillar pension funds in order to maximize investment returns and reduce risks. A smart software tool allows you to simulate an accrual depending on the rate of return, the accumulation period, the level of contributions, the fund’s profitability and other factors. The study shows that using the Social Insurance Fund contributions, personal contributions and the state provided additives can accumulate significantly greater amounts of money than collecting only the second pillar pension funds contributions. For implementation of the proposed methodology it is necessary to ensure a minimum level of personal pension scheme members fundraising to the third pillar pension funds. On the other hand, the study revealed that in some cases investment to private pension funds can be useless. Private pension funds have become popular between unprofessional investors who don’t have sufficient knowledge. Research shows that financial institutions do not always provide the optimal proposals. Advanced software tools can help make better investment decisions. Commercial tools usually show potential profits of investment, but not always pay sufficient  attention to potential risks. This article analyzes both good and bad investment scenarios.

  13. Clinical trial regulation in Argentina: overview and analysis of regulatory framework, use of existing tools, and researchers' perspectives to identify potential barriers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Lauren; Ortiz, Zulma; Cuervo, Luis G; Reveiz, Ludovic

    2011-11-01

    To review and analyze the regulatory framework of clinical trial registration, use of existing tools (publicly accessible national/international registration databases), and users' perspectives to identify possible barriers to registration compliance by sponsors and researchers in Argentina. Internationally registered trials recruiting patients in Argentina were found through clincialtrials.gov and the International Clinical Trial Registration Platform (ICTRP) and compared with publically available clinical trials registered through the National Administration of Drugs, Foods, and Medical Devices (ANMAT). A questionnaire addressing hypothesized attitudinal, knowledge-related, idiomatic, technical, economic, and regulatory barriers that could discourage or impede registration of clinical trials was developed, and semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample of researchers (investigators, sponsors, and monitors) in Argentina. A response rate of 74.3% (n = 29) was achieved, and 27 interviews were ultimately used for analysis. Results suggested that the high proportion of foreign-sponsored or multinational trials (64.8% of all protocols approved by ANMAT from 1994-2006) may contribute to a communication gap between locally based investigators and foreign-based administrative officials. A lack of knowledge about available international registration tools and limited awareness of the importance of registration were also identified as limiting factors for local investigators and sponsors. To increase compliance and promote clinical trial registration in Argentina, national health authorities, sponsors, and local investigators could take the following steps: implement a grassroots educational campaign to improve clinical trial regulation, support local investigator-sponsor-initiated clinical trials, and/or encourage local and regional scientific journal compliance with standards from the International Committee of Medical Journal

  14. Learning in context: identifying gaps in research on the transfer of medical communication skills to the clinical workplace.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eertwegh, V. van den; Dulmen, S. van; Dalen, J. van; Scherpbier, A.J.J.A.; Vleuten, C.P.M. van der

    2013-01-01

    Objective: In order to reduce the inconsistencies of findings and the apparent low transfer of communication skills from training to medical practice, this narrative review identifies some main gaps in research on medical communication skills training and presents insights from theories on learning

  15. Learning in context: identifying gaps in research on the transfer of medical communication skills to the clinical workplace

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eertwegh, V. van den; Dulmen, S. van; Dalen, J. Van; Scherpbier, A.J.J.A.; Vleuten, C.P.M. van der

    2013-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: In order to reduce the inconsistencies of findings and the apparent low transfer of communication skills from training to medical practice, this narrative review identifies some main gaps in research on medical communication skills training and presents insights from theories on learning

  16. Research on EMI Reduction of Multi-stage Interleaved Bridgeless Power Factor Corrector

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Qingnan; Thomsen, Ole Cornelius; Andersen, Michael A. E.

    2012-01-01

    Working as an electronic pollution eliminator, the Power Factor Corrector's (PFC) own Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) problems have been blocking its performance improvement for long. In this paper, a systematic research on EMI generation of a multi-stage Two-Boost-Circuit Interleaved Bridgeless...

  17. Model endophenotype for bipolar disorder: Qualitative Analysis, etiological factors, and research areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naraiana de Oliveira Tavares

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to present an updated view of the writings on the endophenotype model for bipolar disorder using analytical methodologies. A review and analysis of networks was performed through descriptors and keywords that characterize the composition of the endophenotype model as a model of health. Information was collected from between 1992 and 2014, and the main thematic areas covered in the articles were identified. We discuss the results and question their cohesion, emphasizing the need to strengthen and identify the points of connection between etiological factors and characteristics that make up the model of endophenotypes for bipolar disorder.

  18. Analysis of transcription factor mRNAs in identified oxytocin and vasopressin magnocellular neurons isolated by laser capture microdissection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madison Humerick

    Full Text Available The oxytocin (Oxt and vasopressin (Avp magnocellular neurons (MCNs in the hypothalamus are the only neuronal phenotypes that are present in the supraoptic nucleus (SON, and are characterized by their robust and selective expression of either the Oxt or Avp genes. In this paper, we take advantage of the differential expression of these neuropeptide genes to identify and isolate these two individual phenotypes from the rat SON by laser capture microdissection (LCM, and to analyze the differential expression of several of their transcription factor mRNAs by qRT-PCR. We identify these neuronal phenotypes by stereotaxically injecting recombinant Adeno-Associated Viral (rAAV vectors which contain cell-type specific Oxt or Avp promoters that drive expression of EGFP selectively in either the Oxt or Avp MCNs into the SON. The fluorescent MCNs are then dissected by LCM using a novel Cap Road Map protocol described in this paper, and the purified MCNs are extracted for their RNAs. qRT-PCR of these RNAs show that some transcription factors (RORA and c-jun are differentially expressed in the Oxt and Avp MCNs.

  19. Leveraging Health Care Simulation Technology for Human Factors Research: Closing the Gap Between Lab and Bedside.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deutsch, Ellen S; Dong, Yue; Halamek, Louis P; Rosen, Michael A; Taekman, Jeffrey M; Rice, John

    2016-11-01

    We describe health care simulation, designed primarily for training, and provide examples of how human factors experts can collaborate with health care professionals and simulationists-experts in the design and implementation of simulation-to use contemporary simulation to improve health care delivery. The need-and the opportunity-to apply human factors expertise in efforts to achieve improved health outcomes has never been greater. Health care is a complex adaptive system, and simulation is an effective and flexible tool that can be used by human factors experts to better understand and improve individual, team, and system performance within health care. Expert opinion is presented, based on a panel delivered during the 2014 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Health Care Symposium. Diverse simulators, physically or virtually representing humans or human organs, and simulation applications in education, research, and systems analysis that may be of use to human factors experts are presented. Examples of simulation designed to improve individual, team, and system performance are provided, as are applications in computational modeling, research, and lifelong learning. The adoption or adaptation of current and future training and assessment simulation technologies and facilities provides opportunities for human factors research and engineering, with benefits for health care safety, quality, resilience, and efficiency. Human factors experts, health care providers, and simulationists can use contemporary simulation equipment and techniques to study and improve health care delivery. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

  20. The Audit of Principal Effectiveness: Instrumentation for Principalship Research. A Research Project Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valentine, Jerry W.; Bowman, Michael L.

    Using the literature and research on principal effectiveness as a foundation, the Audit of Principal Effectiveness was developed. Initially, 162 items forming 12 theoretical factors describing effective principal behavior were identified and sorted into two documents. The documents, each containing 81 items, were mailed to a total of 3,660…