Constraints on the use of 137Cs as a time-marker to support CRS and SIT chronologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abril, J.M.

2004-01-01

CRS and SIT are two 210 Pb-based models widely used in the radiometric dating of recent sediments. 210 Pb chronologies should be validated using at least one independent tracer, such as 137 Cs. This paper demonstrates that simple methods based on the identification of 137 Cs fallout peaks cannot provide a definitive support for CRS and SIT chronologies. Two main arguments will support this assertion: Firstly, the 137 Cs time-marks cannot support a CRS or SIT chronology if the derived sedimentation rates cannot explain the whole 137 Cs activity profile without postulating mixing. Secondly, the support by the 137 Cs time-marks for a given CRS or SIT chronology cannot be considered as definitive if other dating models can equally explain the whole set of data, thereby producing a different chronology. Several case studies selected from the literature are used to support the present discussion. - Simple methods based on the identification of 137 Cs fallout peaks cannot provide a definite support for CRS and SIT chronologies

Design, synthesis and evaluation of VEGF-siRNA/CRS as a novel vector for gene delivery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao W

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Wen Zhao, Yifan Zhang, Xueyun Jiang, Chunying Cui School of Chemical Biology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China Abstract: Small interfering RNA (siRNA delivery is a prospective method in gene therapy, but it has application limitations such as negative charge, water solubility and high molecular weight. In this study, a safe and efficient nano-vector, CRS, was designed and synthesized to facilitate siRNA delivery. Physical and chemical properties of VEGF-siRNA/CRS were characterized by methods including scanning electron microscopy (SEM, transmission electron microscopy, zeta potential (ζ measurement, drug-releasing rate measurement, gel electrophoresis and confocal microscopy. The biological activities were evaluated using cell viability assay, gene-silencing efficacy assay in vitro, real-time polymerase chain reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA and antitumor tests in vivo. The mean nanoparticle size of VEGF-siRNA/CRS was 121.4±0.3 nm with positive ζ potential of 7.69±4.47 mV. The release rate of VEGF-siRNA from VEGF-siRNA/CRS was 82.50% sustained for 48 h in Tris-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid buffer (pH 8.0. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the efficiency of the transfection, and the result showed that VEGF mRNA expression had been knocked down by 82.36%. The expression of VEGF protein was also recorded to be downregulated to 14.83% using ELISA. The results of cytotoxicity measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay showed that VEGF-siRNA/CRS had significant inhibitory effect on HeLa cells. The results of antitumor assays indicated that VEGF-siRNA/CRS exhibited tumor cell growth inhibition in vivo. The results demonstrated that VEGF-siRNA could be delivered and transported by the designed carrier, while siRNA could be released constantly and led to an increasing gene-silencing effect against VEGF gene. In conclusion, VEGF-siRNA/CRS is a promising carrier for si

Assessment of a Chemotherapy Response Score (CRS) System for Tubo-Ovarian High-Grade Serous Carcinoma (HGSC)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ditzel, Helena M; Strickland, Kyle C; Meserve, Emily E

2018-01-01

A chemotherapy response score (CRS) system was recently described to assess the histopathologic response and prognosis of patients with tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The current study was performed as an independent assessment of this CRS syst...

The Clinical Significance of Specific Antibody Deficiency (SAD) Severity in Chronic Rhinosinusitis (CRS).

Science.gov (United States)

Keswani, Anjeni; Dunn, Neha M; Manzur, Angelica; Kashani, Sara; Bossuyt, Xavier; Grammer, Leslie C; Conley, David B; Tan, Bruce K; Kern, Robert C; Schleimer, Robert P; Peters, Anju T

Despite the increased identification of specific antibody deficiency (SAD) in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), little is known about the relationship between SAD severity and the severity and comorbidities of CRS. The prevalence of an impaired antibody response in the general population is also unknown. The objective of this study was to determine if the SAD severity stratification applies to real-life data of patients with CRS. An electronic health record database was used to identify patients with CRS evaluated for humoral immunodeficiency with quantitative immunoglobulins and Streptococcus pneumoniae antibody titers before and after pneumococcal vaccine. SAD severity was defined, according to the guidelines, based on the numbers of titers ≥1.3 μg/dL after vaccination: severe (≤2 serotypes), moderate (3-6 serotypes), and mild (7-10 serotypes). Comorbidities and therapeutic response were assessed. The prevalence of an impaired antibody response in a normal population was assessed. Twenty-four percent of the patients with CRS evaluated for immunodeficiency had SAD, whereas 11% of a normal population had an impaired immune response to polysaccharide vaccination (P SAD. Twenty-four (10%) had severe SAD, 120 (50%) had moderate SAD, and 95 (40%) had mild SAD. Patients with moderate-to-severe SAD had worse asthma, a greater likelihood of pneumonia, and more antibiotic courses in the 2 years after vaccination than patients with mild SAD. This study provides real world data supporting stratification of SAD by severity, demonstrating a significant increase in the comorbid severity of asthma and infections in CRS patients with moderate-to-severe SAD compared with those with mild SAD and those without SAD. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ARM CLASIC ER2 CRS/EDOP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gerald Heymsfield

2010-12-20

Data was taken with the NASA ER-2 aircraft with the Cloud Radar System and other instruments in conjunction with the DOE ARM CLASIC field campaign. The flights were near the SGP site in north Central Oklahoma and targeted small developing convection. The CRS is a 94 GHz nadir pointing Doppler radar. Also on board the ER-2 was the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL). Seven science flights were conducted but the weather conditions did not cooperate in that there was neither developing convection, or there was heavy rain.

Modeling the downward transport of {sup 210}Pb in Peatlands: Initial Penetration‐Constant Rate of Supply (IP-CRS) model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olid, Carolina, E-mail: olid.carolina@gmail.com [Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-90187, Umeå (Sweden); Diego, David [Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, NO-5020 Bergen (Norway); Garcia-Orellana, Jordi [Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra (Spain); Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra (Spain); Cortizas, Antonio Martínez [Departamento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Klaminder, Jonatan [Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE-90187, Umeå (Sweden)

2016-01-15

The vertical distribution of {sup 210}Pb is commonly used to date peat deposits accumulated over the last 100–150 years. However, several studies have questioned this method because of an apparent post-depositional mobility of {sup 210}Pb within some peat profiles. In this study, we introduce the Initial Penetration–Constant Rate of Supply (IP-CRS) model for calculating ages derived from {sup 210}Pb profiles that are altered by an initial migration of the radionuclide. This new, two-phased, model describes the distribution of atmospheric-derived {sup 210}Pb ({sup 210}Pb{sub xs}) in peat taking into account both incorporation of {sup 210}Pb into the accumulating peat matrix as well as an initial flushing of {sup 210}Pb through the uppermost peat layers. The validity of the IP-CRS model is tested in four anomalous {sup 210}Pb peat records that showed some deviations from the typical exponential decay profile not explained by variations in peat accumulation rates. Unlike the most commonly used {sup 210}Pb-dating model (Constant Rate of Supply (CRS)), the IP-CRS model estimates peat accumulation rates consistent with typical growth rates for peatlands from the same areas. Confidence in the IP-CRS chronology is also provided by the good agreement with independent chronological markers (i.e. {sup 241}Am and {sup 137}Cs). Our results showed that the IP-CRS can provide chronologies from peat records where {sup 210}Pb mobility is evident, being a valuable tool for studies reconstructing past environmental changes using peat archives during the Anthropocene. - Highlights: • Accurate age dating of peat and sediment cores is critical for evaluating change. • A new {sup 210}Pb dating model that includes vertical transport of {sup 210}Pb was developed. • The IP-CRS model provided consistent peat accumulation rates. • The IP-CRS ages were consistent with independent chronological markers. • The IP-CRS model derives peat ages where downward {sup 210}Pb transport is

Evaluation of ISO CRS Envelopes Relative to U.S. Vehicles and Child Restraint Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Jingwen; Manary, Miriam A; Klinich, Kathleen D; Reed, Matthew P

2015-01-01

The objectives of this study are to use computer simulation to evaluate the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 13216-3:2006(E) child restraint system (CRS) envelopes relative to rear seat compartments from vehicles and CRSs in the U.S. market, investigate the potential compatibility issues of U.S. vehicles and CRSs, and demonstrate whether necessary modifications can be made to introduce such a system into compatibility evaluations between U.S. vehicles and CRSs. Three-dimensional geometry models for 26 vehicles and 16 convertible CRS designs developed previously were used. Geometry models of 3 forward-facing and 3 rear-facing CRS envelopes provided by the ISO were built in the current study. The virtual fit process closely followed the physical procedures described in the ISO standards. The results showed that the current ISO rear-facing envelopes can provide reasonable classifications for CRSs and vehicles, but the forward-facing envelopes do not represent products currently in the U.S. market. In particular, all of the selected vehicles could accommodate the largest forward-facing CRS envelope at the second-row seat location behind the driver seat. In contrast, half of the selected CRSs could not fit within any of the forward-facing ISO CRS envelopes, mainly due to protrusion at the rear-top corner of the envelope. The results also indicate that the rear seat compartment in U.S. vehicles often cannot accommodate a large portion of convertible CRSs in the rear-facing position. The increased demand for vehicle fuel economy and the recommendation to keep children rear-facing longer may lead to smaller cars and larger CRSs, which may increase the potential for fit problems. The virtual classifications indicated that contact between the forward-facing CRSs and the head restraints in the rear seats as well as that between the rear-facing CRSs and the back of the front seats is a main concern regarding the compatibility between the vehicles and the

Annotated bibliography on selected areas of coal mining research and development. Report prepared for the Committee on Science and Technology, US House of Representatives, Ninety-Sixth Congress, First Session by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-01-01

The Congressional Research Service has completed an annotated bibliography on coal mining research and development. Although the completion of the study was delayed in order to permit CRS analysts to search the libraries of Bituminous Coal, Research Inc., and the Bureau of Mines in the Pittsburgh area, current re-emphasis on the use of coal as an energy source indicates a sustained relevance. The bibliography presents key references to coal-mining R and D under six subject headings keyed to issues of central concern in coal production: (1) mine health and safety, (2) methane recovery, (3) 1-hour rescuer, (4) use of diesels underground, (5) coal preparation, and (6) manpower development in coal mining.

Border Security: Barriers Along the U.S. International Border

Science.gov (United States)

2006-10-30

Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Order Code RL33659 Border Security...Presidencia,” May 12, 2005. Translation by CRS. Available at [http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/actividades/crecimiento/?contenido=18195& pagina =31]. Last

Titanium composite conversion coating formation on CRS In the presence of Mo and Ni ions: Electrochemical and microstructure characterizations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eivaz Mohammadloo, H.; Sarabi, A.A., E-mail: Sarabi@aut.ac.ir

2016-11-30

Highlights: • Eco-friendly protective thin films for covering the CRS substrates were presented. • Comprehensive analyses were performed to evaluate the surface characteristics. • Promising approach for the surface modification of CRS substrate by Ti-based conversion coatings. - Abstract: There have been an increasing interest in finding a replacement for the chromating process due to environmental and health concerns. Hence, in this study Chrome-free chemical conversion coatings were deposited on the surface of cold-rolled steel (CRS) on the basis of Titanium (TiCC), Titanium-Nickel (TiNiCC) and titanium-molybdate (TiMoCC) based conversion coating solutions. The surface characterization was performed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle measuring device. Also, the corrosion behavior was assessed by the means of potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. FESEM and AFM study show that the TiNiCC is denser and more uniform than that TiCC and TiMoCC since, TiMoCC conversion coating presents network feature, and there were abundant micro-cracks on the surface of the coating. XPS results confirmed the precipitation of Ti and Ni oxide/hydroxide, Mn dioxide/trioxide on the surface of different Ti-based conversion coatings. Electrochemical results revealed that all Ti-based conversion coatings have better anti-corrosion properties than bare CRS. Moreover, TiNiCC treatment inhibited the corrosion of CRS to a significant degree (polarization resistance (R{sub p}) = 5510 Ω cm{sup 2}) in comparison with TiCC (R{sub p} = 2705 Ω cm{sup 2}) and TiMoCC (R{sub p} = 805 Ω cm{sup 2}).

Impact of ICT on Agricultural Extension Services Delivery: Evidence from the Catholic Relief Services SMART Skills and Farmbook Project in Kenya

Science.gov (United States)

Tata, Joyous S.; McNamara, Paul E.

2018-01-01

Purpose: The study was carried out to assess the impact of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Skills for Marketing and Rural Transformation (SMART) skills and Farmbook information communication technology (ICT) on agricultural extension service delivery by front-line extension officers in two counties in Kenya. The second objective was to assess…

Security and the Environment in Pakistan

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-03

Specialist in Agricultural Policy August 3, 2010 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R41358 Report Documentation Page Form...Specialist in Natural Resources Policy ncarter@crs.loc.gov, 7-0854 Renée Johnson Specialist in Agricultural Policy rjohnson@crs.loc.gov, 7-9588

Hospital readmission rates and risk factors for readmission following cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for peritoneal surface malignancies.

Science.gov (United States)

Dreznik, Yael; Hoffman, Aviad; Hamburger, Tamar; Ben-Yaacov, Almog; Dux, Yossi; Jacoby, Harel; Berger, Yaniv; Nissan, Aviram; Gutman, Mordechai

2018-02-08

Cytoreductive surgery and Hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC) for peritoneal surface malignancies is associated with high morbidity. The increased numbers of patients undergoing CRS/HIPEC in recent years mandates risk analysis and quality assurance. However, only scarce data exist regarding causative parameters for readmission. The aim of this study was to assess readmission rates and risk factors associated with readmission. A retrospective-cohort study including patients from two high-volume centers who underwent CRS/HIPEC surgery between the years 2007-2016 was performed. Patients' demographics, peri-operative data and readmission rates were recorded. 223 patients were included in the study. The 7 and 30-day readmission rates were 3.5% (n = 8) and 11% (n = 25), respectively. Late readmission rates (up to 90 days) were 11% (n = 25). The most common causes of readmission were surgical related infections (35%), small bowel obstruction (17.5%) and dehydration (14%). Post-operative complications were associated with higher readmission rates (p = 0.0001). PCI score was not associated with higher rates of readmission. Readmissions following CRS/HIPEC occur mainly due to infectious complications and dehydrations. Patients following CRS/HIPEC should be discharged after careful investigation to a community based continuing care with access for IV fluid replacement or antibiotics administration when required. Copyright © 2018 Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (Scottish charity number SC005317) and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Qualitative research in health services research - discussion paper, Part 2: Qualitative research in health services research in Germany - an overview].

Science.gov (United States)

Karbach, U; Stamer, M; Holmberg, C; Güthlin, C; Patzelt, C; Meyer, T

2012-08-01

This is the second part of a 3-part discussion paper by the working group on "Qualitative Methods" in the German network of health services research (DNVF) that shall contribute to the development of a memorandum concerning qualitative health services research. It aims to depict the different types of qualitative research that are conducted in health services research in Germany. In addition, the authors present a specific set of qualitative data collection and analysis tools to demonstrate the potential of qualitative research for health services research. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH - AN OVERVIEW: To give an overview of the types of qualitative research conducted in German health services research, the abstracts of the 8th German Conference on Health Services Research were filtered to identify qualitative or mixed-methods studies. These were then analysed by looking at the context which was studied, who was studied, the aims of the studies, and what type of methods were used. Those methods that were mentioned most often for data collection and analysis are described in detail. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AT THE CONFERENCE FOR HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH 2009: Approximately a fifth of all abstracts (n=74) had a qualitative (n=47) or a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative methods (n=27). Research aims included needs assessment (41%), survey development (36%), evaluation (22%), and theorizing (1%). Data collection mostly consisted of one-on-one interviews (n=45) and group discussions (n=29). Qualitative content analysis was named in 35 abstracts, 30 abstracts did not reference their method of analysis. In addition to a quantitative summary of the abstract findings, the diversity of fields addressed by qualitative methods is highlighted. Although drawing conclusions on the use of qualitative methods in German health services research from the analysis of conference abstracts is not possible, the overview we present demonstrates the

Compact modeling of CRS devices based on ECM cells for memory, logic and neuromorphic applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linn, E; Ferch, S; Waser, R; Menzel, S

2013-01-01

Dynamic physics-based models of resistive switching devices are of great interest for the realization of complex circuits required for memory, logic and neuromorphic applications. Here, we apply such a model of an electrochemical metallization (ECM) cell to complementary resistive switches (CRSs), which are favorable devices to realize ultra-dense passive crossbar arrays. Since a CRS consists of two resistive switching devices, it is straightforward to apply the dynamic ECM model for CRS simulation with MATLAB and SPICE, enabling study of the device behavior in terms of sweep rate and series resistance variations. Furthermore, typical memory access operations as well as basic implication logic operations can be analyzed, revealing requirements for proper spike and level read operations. This basic understanding facilitates applications of massively parallel computing paradigms required for neuromorphic applications. (paper)

Potential Use of Classroom Response Systems (CRS, Clickers) in Foods, Nutrition, and Dietetics Higher Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Gould, Susan Martin

2016-10-01

Although hundreds of articles have been published about the use of classroom response systems (CRS, clickers) in higher education, few address the use in foods, nutrition, and dietetics courses, especially upper-division, major courses. This technology has the potential to increase student engagement, motivation, assessment, and, possibly, learning. Thoughtfully designed questions may stimulate discussions, especially about challenging nutrition topics. This article presents the viability and potential benefits for the use of CRS in foods, nutrition, and dietetics classes through a brief literature summary, overview of the author's experiences, and guidance for implementing this technology. Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Agricultural Research Service

Science.gov (United States)

... Menu United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Research Research Home National Programs Research Projects Scientific Manuscripts International Programs Scientific Software/Models Databases and Datasets Office of Scientific Quality ...

Exploring the trend in referrals for consideration of CRS and HIPEC to understand the attitudes of clinicians in the development of a national cancer centre programme in peritoneal disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Weining; Tan, Grace Hwei Ching; Skanthakumar, Thakshayeni; Chia, Claramae Shulyn; Soo, Khee Chee; Teo, Melissa Ching Ching

2017-10-30

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) improve survival in selected patients with peritoneal metastases. However, only some patients who are potentially eligible for the procedure are considered and referred to the appropriate surgical department. By studying the trends of patients being considered for CRS and HIPEC in our centre, we hope to better understand the demographics of our patient cohort and the attitudes of physicians involved towards CRS and HIPEC. Patients who were presented and discussed at our institution's multidisciplinary tumour board (MDTB) for consideration of CRS and HIPEC, between 5 January 2011 and 16 December 2015, were identified from the institutional database and included in the study. Patient demographics and clinico-pathological data were retrospectively collected from electronic records and clinical charts. A total of 407 patients were presented at the MDTB for consideration of CRS and HIPEC. Referrals were most commonly from oncology-related departments (65.8%, n = 268). This was followed by referrals from other hospitals (15.0%, n = 61), overseas self-referrals (12.0%, n = 49) and non-oncologic departments within the same institution (7.1%, n = 29). Referrals made by oncology-related departments and overseas self-referrals showed an increasing trend over the years. Of the patients discussed, 197 patients (48.4%) were recommended for CRS and HIPEC, and 134 (68.0%) successfully underwent the procedure. There is growing acceptance of CRS and HIPEC in patients and oncologic-related departments. However, consideration of this procedure as a treatment option remains low in non-oncologic departments. Dissemination of information and well-defined clinical recommendations may help physicians identify and select potentially eligible patients for consideration of CRS and HIPEC.

Reactive Fabrication and Effect of NbC on Microstructure and Tribological Properties of CrS Co-Based Self-Lubricating Coatings by Laser Cladding.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Liuyang; Yan, Hua; Yao, Yansong; Zhang, Peilei; Gao, Qiushi; Qin, Yang

2017-12-28

The CrS/NbC Co-based self-lubricating composite coatings were successfully fabricated on Cr12MoV steel surface by laser clad Stellite 6, WS₂, and NbC mixed powders. The phase composition, microstructure, and tribological properties of the coatings ware investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), as well as dry sliding wear testing. Based on the experimental results, it was found reactions between WS₂ and Co-based alloy powder had occurred, which generated solid-lubricant phase CrS, and NbC play a key role in improving CrS nuclear and refining microstructure of Co-based composite coating during laser cladding processing. The coatings were mainly composed of γ-Co, CrS, NbC, Cr 23 C₆, and CoC x . Due to the distribution of the relatively hard phase of NbC and the solid lubricating phase CrS, the coatings had better wear resistance. Moreover, the suitable balance of CrS and NbC was favorable for further decreasing the friction and improving the stability of the contact surfaces between the WC ball and the coatings. The microhardness, friction coefficient, and wear rate of the coating 4 (Clad powders composed of 60 wt % Stellite 6, 30 wt % NbC and 10 wt % WS₂) were 587.3 HV 0.5 , 0.426, and 5.61 × 10 -5 mm³/N·m, respectively.

Reactive Fabrication and Effect of NbC on Microstructure and Tribological Properties of CrS Co-Based Self-Lubricating Coatings by Laser Cladding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liuyang Fang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The CrS/NbC Co-based self-lubricating composite coatings were successfully fabricated on Cr12MoV steel surface by laser clad Stellite 6, WS2, and NbC mixed powders. The phase composition, microstructure, and tribological properties of the coatings ware investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM, and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS, as well as dry sliding wear testing. Based on the experimental results, it was found reactions between WS2 and Co-based alloy powder had occurred, which generated solid-lubricant phase CrS, and NbC play a key role in improving CrS nuclear and refining microstructure of Co-based composite coating during laser cladding processing. The coatings were mainly composed of γ-Co, CrS, NbC, Cr23C6, and CoCx. Due to the distribution of the relatively hard phase of NbC and the solid lubricating phase CrS, the coatings had better wear resistance. Moreover, the suitable balance of CrS and NbC was favorable for further decreasing the friction and improving the stability of the contact surfaces between the WC ball and the coatings. The microhardness, friction coefficient, and wear rate of the coating 4 (Clad powders composed of 60 wt % Stellite 6, 30 wt % NbC and 10 wt % WS2 were 587.3 HV0.5, 0.426, and 5.61 × 10−5 mm3/N·m, respectively.

Characterization of the molecular basis of group II intron RNA recognition by CRS1-CRM domains.

Science.gov (United States)

Keren, Ido; Klipcan, Liron; Bezawork-Geleta, Ayenachew; Kolton, Max; Shaya, Felix; Ostersetzer-Biran, Oren

2008-08-22

CRM (chloroplast RNA splicing and ribosome maturation) is a recently recognized RNA-binding domain of ancient origin that has been retained in eukaryotic genomes only within the plant lineage. Whereas in bacteria CRM domains exist as single domain proteins involved in ribosome maturation, in plants they are found in a family of proteins that contain between one and four repeats. Several members of this family with multiple CRM domains have been shown to be required for the splicing of specific plastidic group II introns. Detailed biochemical analysis of one of these factors in maize, CRS1, demonstrated its high affinity and specific binding to the single group II intron whose splicing it facilitates, the plastid-encoded atpF intron RNA. Through its association with two intronic regions, CRS1 guides the folding of atpF intron RNA into its predicted "catalytically active" form. To understand how multiple CRM domains cooperate to achieve high affinity sequence-specific binding to RNA, we analyzed the RNA binding affinity and specificity associated with each individual CRM domain in CRS1; whereas CRM3 bound tightly to the RNA, CRM1 associated specifically with a unique region found within atpF intron domain I. CRM2, which demonstrated only low binding affinity, also seems to form specific interactions with regions localized to domains I, III, and IV. We further show that CRM domains share structural similarities and RNA binding characteristics with the well known RNA recognition motif domain.

The pure rotational spectrum of the CrS radical in its X  5Π(r) state.

Science.gov (United States)

Pulliam, R L; Ziurys, L M

2010-11-07

The pure rotational spectrum of the CrS radical has been measured in its ground X (5)Π(r) state using gas-phase millimeter/submillimeter direct absorption methods. The molecule was created by the reaction of chromium vapor, sublimed in a Broida-type oven, with hydrogen sulfide. Eleven rotational transitions were recorded for this free radical in the frequency range of 280-405 GHz; in most transitions, all five spin components were observed, and lambda-doubling was resolved in the Ω=0, 1, and 2 ladders. The data were fit with a Hund's case (a) Hamiltonian and rotational, spin-orbit, spin-spin, and lambda-doubling constants were established. Higher order spin and spin-orbit terms were essential in the analysis. The lambda-doubling constants indicate a nearby (5)Σ(+) state at an energy of ∼1500-2000 cm(-1). A bond length of 2.0781 Å was derived for CrS from the data, which is larger than the value of 2.0682 Å found for MnS by ∼0.01 Å. In contrast, the bond distance for MnO is greater than that of CrO by 0.03 Å, an illustration of the subtle differences between 3d oxide and sulfides. CrS is the second molecule in a (5)Π state that has been studied by rotational spectroscopy.

Defense Primer: DOD Contractors

Science.gov (United States)

2017-02-10

functions, from intelligence analysis or software development to landscaping or food service. Why does DOD use individual contractors? Going back to...that provide professional services, from research to management support. The bulk of contractors—more than 70%—provide products, and these include...10 U.S.C. Part IV: Service, Supply, and Procurement. CRS Products CRS In Focus IF10548, Defense Primer: U.S. Defense Industrial Base, by Daniel

Agriculture in Pending U.S. Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-04

Panama, and South Korea Remy Jurenas Specialist in Agricultural Policy February 4, 2010 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov...Free Trade Agreement: Labor Issues. Author Contact Information Remy Jurenas Specialist in Agricultural Policy rjurenas@crs.loc.gov, 7-7281 .

Manual on service business for policy research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

The contents of this book are summary of service business for policy research : conception classification and ways of service business for policy research, propel procedure of service business for policy research on system of committee, management, choice, contract, evaluation and post management, related regulation on service business for policy research : management regulation on service business for policy research, guide of evaluation for service business for policy research, estimation standard of policy research cost, law arrangement of national contract, required document on service business for policy research, and application manual for PRISM.

Flooding in Pakistan: Overview and Issues for Congress

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-21

Melissa D. Ho Specialist in Agricultural Policy mho@crs.loc.gov, 7-5342 Bruce Vaughn, Coordinator Specialist in Asian Affairs bvaughn...Carter Specialist in Natural Resources Policy 7-0854 ncarter@crs.loc.gov Agricultural Effects of Flooding Melissa D. Ho Specialist in Agricultural ... Policy 7-5342 mho@crs.loc.gov Flooding in Pakistan: Overview and Issues for Congress Congressional Research Service 26 Area of Expertise Name

A Test Study to Display Buried Anti-Tank Landmines with GPR and Research Soil Characteristics with CRS

Science.gov (United States)

Kadioglu, Selma; Kagan Kadioglu, Yusuf

2014-05-01

An anti-tank mine (AT mine) is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive charge, and a fuze designed only to be triggered by vehicles or, in some cases, tampering with the mine. There are a lot of AT mine types. In our test study, MK4 and MK5 AT mine types has been used. The Mk 5 was a cylindrical metal cased U.K. anti-tank blast mine that entered service in 1943, during the Second World War. General Specifications of them are 203 mm diameter, 127 mm height, 4.4-5.7 kg weight, 2.05-3.75 kg of TNT explosive content and 350 lbs operating pressure respectively. The aims of the test study were to image anti-tank landmine with GPR method and to analyse the soil characteristics before the mines made explode and after made be exploded and determine changing of the soil characteristics. We realized data measurement on the real 6 unexploded anti-tank landmine buried approximately 15 cm in depth. The mines spaced 3 m were buried in two lines. Space between lines was 1.5 m. We gathered data on the profiles, approximately 7 m, with a Ramac CUII system and 800 MHz shielded antenna. We collected soil samples on the mines, near and around the mines, on the area in village. We collected soil samples before exploding and after exploding mines. We imaged anti-tank landmines on the depth slices of the GPR data and in their interactive transparent 3D subsets successfully. We used polarized microscope and confocal Raman spectroscopy (CRS) to identify soil characteristic before and after exploitation. The results presented that GPR method and its 3D imaging were successful to determine AT mines, and there was no important changing on mineralogical and petrographical characterization of the soil before and after exploding processing. This project has been supported by Ankara University under grant no 11B6055002. The study is a contribution to the EU funded COST action TU

Job Loss and Infrastructure Job Creation Spending During the Recession

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-26

Recession Linda Levine Specialist in Labor Economics May 26, 2010 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R40080 . c11173008 Report...2.8 million.23 Author Contact Information Linda Levine Specialist in Labor Economics llevine@crs.loc.gov, 7-7756

Comparison of valsartan and benazepril when combined with atorvastatin in protecting patients with early cardio-renal syndrome (CRS).

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, D-F; Tang, S-Y; Hu, Y-J; Chen, J; Peng, X; Huang, Q

2015-04-01

The aims to investigate the different protective effects of valsartan and benazepril when combined with atorvastatin in the cardio-renal functions of cardio-renal syndrome (CRS) patients. A total of 200 early CRS patients were enrolled in the present study, including 104 males and 96 females, with an average age of 62.2 ± 7.7 years. The same group of patients were set as the control group prior to treatment, and then randomly divided into two groups; the A group was treated with valsartan (80 mg/d) and atorvastatin (20 mg/d); the B group was treated with benazepril (10 mg/d) and atorvastatin (20 mg/d). The treatment period was 24 months. The clinical efficacy and clinical events were observed and the following parameters of each patient were measured before and after treatment: 24h urine protein; creatinine clearance; serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP); high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP); blood lipid level; liver function and ejection fraction (EF) value. Compared with the control group, the clinical symptoms of the treatment groups were improved with decreased blood lipid levels, significantly decreased serum BNP and hsCRP levels and significantly increased EF values and creatinine clearance rates (p benazepril effectively improved the cardio-renal functions of early CRS patients. There was no significant difference between the two treatments however, valsartan appeared to be better tolerated by patients.

Research data services in veterinary medicine libraries.

Science.gov (United States)

Kerby, Erin E

2016-10-01

The study investigated veterinary medicine librarians' experience with and perceptions of research data services. Many academic libraries have begun to offer research data services in response to researchers' increased need for data management support. To date, such services have typically been generic, rather than discipline-specific, to appeal to a wide variety of researchers. An online survey was deployed to identify trends regarding research data services in veterinary medicine libraries. Participants were identified from a list of contacts from the MLA Veterinary Medical Libraries Section. Although many respondents indicated that they have a professional interest in research data services, the majority of veterinary medicine librarians only rarely or occasionally provide data management support as part of their regular job responsibilities. There was little consensus as to whether research data services should be core to a library's mission despite their perceived importance to the advancement of veterinary research. Furthermore, most respondents stated that research data services are just as or somewhat less important than the other services that they provide and feel only slightly or somewhat prepared to offer such services. Lacking a standard definition of "research data" and a common understanding of precisely what research data services encompass, it is difficult for veterinary medicine librarians and libraries to define and understand their roles in research data services. Nonetheless, they appear to have an interest in learning more about and providing research data services.

Research Data Services in European Academic Research Libraries

OpenAIRE

Tenopir, Carol; Talja, Sanna; Horstmann, Wolfram; Late, Elina; Hughes, Dane; Pollock, Danielle; Schmidt, Birgit; Baird, Lynn; Sandusky, Robert J.; Allard, Suzie

2017-01-01

Research data is an essential part of the scholarly record, and management of research data is increasingly seen as an important role for academic libraries. This article presents the results of a survey of directors of the Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER) academic member libraries to discover what types of research data services (RDS) are being offered by European academic research libraries and what services are planned for the future. Overall, the survey found that librar...

Energic, Exergic, Exergo‐economic investigation and optimization of auxiliary cooling system (ACS equipped with compression refrigerating system (CRS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omid Karimi Sadaghiyani

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Heller main cooling tower as air-cooled heat exchanger is used in the combined cycle power plants (CCPP to reduce the temperature of condenser. In extreme summer heat, the efficiency of the cooling tower is reduced and it lessens performance of Steam Turbine Generation (STG unit of Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP. Thus, the auxiliary cooling system (ACS is equipped with compression refrigerating system (CRS. This auxiliary system is linked with the Heller main cooling tower and improves the performance of power plant. In other words, this auxiliary system increases the generated power of STG unit of CCPP by decreasing the temperature of returning water from cooling tower Therefore, in the first step, the mentioned auxiliary cooling system (ACS as a heat exchanger and compression refrigerating system (CRS have been designed via ASPEN HTFS and EES code respectively. In order to validate their results, these two systems have been built and theirs experimentally obtained data have been compared with ASPEN and EES results. There are good agreements between results. After that, exergic and exergo-economic analysis of designed systems have been carried out. Finally, the compression refrigerating system (CRS has been optimized via Genetic Algorithm (GA. Increasing in exergy efficiency (ε from 14.23% up to 36.12% and decreasing the total cost rate (ĊSystem from 378.2 ($/h to 308.2 ($/h are as results of multi-objective optimization.

Impact abroad of the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant: March-September 1979. Prepared for the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation and Federal Services of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1980-01-01

On March 28, 1979, an accident occurred in a nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It caused widespread fears of catastrophe and raised doubts as to the adequacy of what some nuclear utilities and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have done to assure safe operation of nuclear power plants. Now, some ten months after the accident, its effects on Federal regulation and upon the public's attitude toward nuclear power are still evolving. The final effects remain hidden in the future. They can be expected to have an impact on the development of nuclear power in the United States and also abroad. The accident at Three Mile island has been investigated and analyzed exhaustively by the NRC, by the nuclear industry, by a Presidential commission (the Kemeny Commission), and by two committees of Congress. Some of these studies are still in progress. Many foreign governments sent teams to analyze and report on the accident and reactions to it. Because the future of nuclear power abroad seems likely to bear imprint of the accident, and because of the inescapable interconnection between nuclear power in the United States and in other countries, Senator John Glenn's Subcommittee on Energy, Nu-Proliferation and Federal Services of the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, asked the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to arrange for reviews of the impacts abroad. The CRS contracted for this review with two well-situated analysts. One is Geoffrey Greenhalgh, an Englishman who has had a long association with the nuclear power industry in Europe and is a support of it. The other is Walter C. Patterson, who is one of the leading articulate critics of nuclear power and has long been associated with Friends of the Earth, in London

Treatment of hypermyoglobinemia after CRS + HIPEC for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis: A retrospective comparative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Gang; Ji, Zhong-He; Yu, Yang; Li, Xin-Bao; Zhang, Yan-Bin; Peng, Kai-Wen; Li, Yan

2017-11-01

This retrospective comparative study aims to explore the time courses of serum myoglobin (Mb) changes, and summarize our experience in treating patients with hypermyoglobinemia after cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC).This study covered 60 patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis treated with CRS + HIPEC as the study group, and another 25 cancer patients treated with conventional extensive surgery without HIPEC as the control group from February to October 2016. In the study group, patients with postoperative hypermyoglobinemia were on a comprehensive treatment regimen consisting intravenous injection of sodium bicarbonate solution according to the Mb level. In the control group, patients were recorded and treated with the same regimen except for special sodium bicarbonate solution. The preoperative and postoperative serum Mb, blood urine nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine (Cr) levels were evaluated.There were no significantly difference between the 2 groups in serum Mb, BUN, and Cr levels before surgery. Postoperative serum Mb levels were elevated in both groups and significantly higher on postoperative 0 to 2 days (P sodium bicarbonate could accelerate the reduction in serum Mb levels and reduce the risk for major organ damages.

Linking ecosystem services with cultural landscape research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schaich, Harald; Biding, Claudia; Plieninger, Tobias

2010-01-01

The concept of ecosystem services facilitates the valuation of the multiple services from ecosystems and landscapes, the identification of trade-offs between different land use scenarios, and also informs decision making in land use planning. Unfortunately, cultural services have been mostly...... neglected within the ecosystem services framework. This could result in trade-off assessments which are biased and mislead ecosystem management and landscape planning. However, cultural landscape research approaches have proven valuable in the assessment of different nonmaterial landscape values...... and cultural services. In this paper, we compare the objectives, approaches, and methodologies adopted by ecosystem services research and cultural landscape research through a bibliographic research. Both research communities investigate the human dimension of ecosystems and landscapes and, hence, study...

E-Services in Danish Research Libraries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scupola, Ada

2008-01-01

This chapter reports the findings of a case study of e-services adoption at research libraries. The case under consideration is Roskilde University Library (RUB), a research library supporting learning activities at Roskilde University. The research focuses on the main issues that RUB had to deal...... research libraries in Denmark. The main results can be summarized as follows: 1) Adoption of e-services has forced RUB to innovate rapidly. Innovation is driven, among other factors, by ICT developments (technology push), but innovation is also user-driven and pervasive throughout the organization.  2) E...... with in the process of adopting e-services and the future challenges that e-services provide for RUB. The chapter also presents the consequences of e-services adoption for Roskilde University library's organization, its business model and the relationships with customers, publishers (providers of knowledge) and other...

Research evaluation support services in biomedical libraries.

Science.gov (United States)

Gutzman, Karen Elizabeth; Bales, Michael E; Belter, Christopher W; Chambers, Thane; Chan, Liza; Holmes, Kristi L; Lu, Ya-Ling; Palmer, Lisa A; Reznik-Zellen, Rebecca C; Sarli, Cathy C; Suiter, Amy M; Wheeler, Terrie R

2018-01-01

The paper provides a review of current practices related to evaluation support services reported by seven biomedical and research libraries. A group of seven libraries from the United States and Canada described their experiences with establishing evaluation support services at their libraries. A questionnaire was distributed among the libraries to elicit information as to program development, service and staffing models, campus partnerships, training, products such as tools and reports, and resources used for evaluation support services. The libraries also reported interesting projects, lessons learned, and future plans. The seven libraries profiled in this paper report a variety of service models in providing evaluation support services to meet the needs of campus stakeholders. The service models range from research center cores, partnerships with research groups, and library programs with staff dedicated to evaluation support services. A variety of products and services were described such as an automated tool to develop rank-based metrics, consultation on appropriate metrics to use for evaluation, customized publication and citation reports, resource guides, classes and training, and others. Implementing these services has allowed the libraries to expand their roles on campus and to contribute more directly to the research missions of their institutions. Libraries can leverage a variety of evaluation support services as an opportunity to successfully meet an array of challenges confronting the biomedical research community, including robust efforts to report and demonstrate tangible and meaningful outcomes of biomedical research and clinical care. These services represent a transformative direction that can be emulated by other biomedical and research libraries.

[Health services research for the public health service (PHS) and the public health system].

Science.gov (United States)

Hollederer, A; Wildner, M

2015-03-01

There is a great need for health services research in the public health system and in the German public health service. However, the public health service is underrepresented in health services research in Germany. This has several structural, historical and disciplinary-related reasons. The public health service is characterised by a broad range of activities, high qualification requirements and changing framework conditions. The concept of health services research is similar to that of the public health service and public health system, because it includes the principles of multidisciplinarity, multiprofessionalism and daily routine orientation. This article focuses on a specified system theory based model of health services research for the public health system and public health service. The model is based on established models of the health services research and health system research, which are further developed according to specific requirements of the public health service. It provides a theoretical foundation for health services research on the macro-, meso- and microlevels in public health service and the public health system. Prospects for public health service are seen in the development from "old public health" to "new public health" as well as in the integration of health services research and health system research. There is a significant potential for development in a better linkage between university research and public health service as is the case for the "Pettenkofer School of Public Health Munich". © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Research data services in veterinary medicine libraries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erin E. Kerby, MSI

2017-01-01

Conclusions: Lacking a standard definition of ‘‘research data’’ and a common understanding of precisely what research data services encompass, it is difficult for veterinary medicine librarians and libraries to define and understand their roles in research data services. Nonetheless, they appear to have an interest in learning more about and providing research data services.

Evaluation of [O-methyl-11C]RS-15385-197 as a positron emission tomography radioligand for central α2-adrenoceptors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hume, S.P.; Hirani, E.; Opacka-Juffry, J.; Osman, S.; Myers, R.; Gunn, R.N.; McCarron, J.A.; Pike, V.W.; Clark, R.D.; Melichar, J.; Nutt, D.J.

2000-01-01

Carbon-11 labelled RS-15385-197 and its ethylsulphonyl analogue, RS-79948-197, were evaluated in rats as potential radioligands to image central α 2 -adrenoceptors in vivo. The biodistributions of both compounds were comparable with that obtained in an earlier study using tritiated RS-79948-197 and were consistent with the known localisation of α 2 -adrenoceptors. The maximal signals (total to non-specific binding) were, however, reduced, in the order [ 11 C]RS-79948-197 11 C]RS-15385-197 3 H]RS-79948-197, primarily due to the difference in radiolabel position (O-methyl for carbon-11 compared with S-ethyl for tritium). This resulted in the in-growth of radiolabelled metabolites in plasma, which, in turn, contributed to the non-specific component of brain radioactivity. Nonetheless, the signal ratio of ∝5 for a receptor-dense tissue compared with the receptor-sparse cerebellum, at 90-120 min after radioligand injection, encouraged the development of [O-methyl- 11 C]RS-15385-197 for human positron emission tomography (PET). Unfortunately, in two human PET scans (each of 90 min), brain extraction of the radioligand was minimal, with volumes of distribution more than an order of magnitude lower than that measured in rats. Following intravenous injection, radioactivity was retained in plasma and metabolism of the radiolabelled compound was very low. Retrospective measurements of in vitro plasma protein binding and in vivo brain uptake index (BUI) in rats demonstrated a higher protein binding of the radioligand in human compared with rat plasma and a lower BUI in the presence of human plasma. It is feasible that a higher affinity of RS-15385-197 for human plasma protein compared with receptor limited the transport of the radioligand. Although one of the PET scans showed a slight heterogeneity in biodistribution of radioactivity which was consistent with the known localisation of α 2 -adrenoceptors in human brain, it was concluded that [O-methyl- 11 C]RS-15385

The Research Funding Service: a model for expanded library services

OpenAIRE

Means, Martha L.

2000-01-01

Traditionally, libraries have provided a modest amount of information about grants and funding opportunities to researchers in need of research funding. Ten years ago, the University of Washington (UW) Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center joined in a cooperative effort with the School of Medicine to develop a complete, library-based grant and funding service for health sciences researchers called the Research Funding Service. The library provided space, access to the library colle...

Investigation on solder joint strength of nickel tin-plated and CRS tabs with PCB

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luay Hussain

2002-01-01

Failure analysis on easily peels off Nickel and CRS steel tabs from PCB was carried out. Nickel Tin plated tabs, CRS steel tabs and tube were joined to the PCB using reflow/ convection soldering, in an oven. The solder paste composition is Sn36/Pb35/Ag2. Peel test was conducted and it was found that many tabs could be easily peeled off with low force. Porosities which varies from 0.4 mm to < 0.01mm in diameter, developed during soldering process and solidification was noted. It was found, the number, size and position of these porosities inside the solder layer on both parts of the tabs affect the peel strength. Scanning Electron Microscopy study and EDX analysis were carried out. It was found that the low peel strength values were due to the combination of generation and development of porosities during soldering process which act as stress concentrators and the evolution (growth) of eutectic Sn/Pb and Sn/Ni/Cu brittle grainy phase. Large eutectic microstructure with brittle Sn-Ni-Cu grainy phase enhances the failure with low peeling forces. Sample showing no feature of Sn/Ni/Cu grain gave high peeling strength value. Solder reflow, an important process, can result in strength enhancement (if it was controlled for example in a furnace). (Author)

Forging New Service Paths: Institutional Approaches to Providing Research Data Management Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Regina Raboin

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: This paper describes three different institutional experiences in developing research data management programs and services, challenges/opportunities and lessons learned.Overview: This paper is based on the Librarian Panel Discussion during the 4th Annual University of Massachusetts and New England Region e-Science Symposium. Librarians representing large public and private research universities presented an overview of service models developed at their respective organizations to bring support for data management and eScience to their communities. The approaches described include two library-based, integrated service models and one collaboratively-staffed, center-based service model.Results: Three institutions describe their experiences in creating the organizational capacity for research data management support services. Although each institutional approach is unique, common challenges include garnering administrative support, managing the integration of services with new or existing staff structures, and continuing to meet researchers needs as they evolve.Conclusions: There is no one way to provide research data management services, but any staff position, committee, or formalized center reflects an overarching organizational commitment to data management support.

Research and services provision on the world research market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Witold Wiśniowski

2013-03-01

Full Text Available It is necessary to create new knowledge for the development of the economy. The source of new knowledge are research: basic, applied and industrial, which complement each other to form one whole. Each of these research has other sources of financing and other purposes. Due to the large influx of foreign technology to Poland industrial research is not growing as we would expect. To balance this deficiency the Research Institutes may provide services on the world market. It would be advisable to seek the provision of services on the global research market so that it could became a Polish smart specialization. This specialization would include the sale of intellect, which should never run out of customers.

The experiences of health services research and health services research training in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, O R

1984-12-01

Early in the 1970s the Korean government recognized the necessity of Health Services Research (HSR). The law of the Korea Health Development Institute was promulgated in 1975, and a contribution from the Republic was combined with an Agency for International Development loan to field test low-cost health service strategies. A program to deploy Community Health Practitioners (CHPs), similar to family nurse practitioners or Medex has been demonstrated to be effective. The CHP training program grew from 9 in 1980 to 1343 in 1984. CHP's main functions are curative, preventive, educative, and administrative. They are selected registered nurses and/or midwives, where possible from serviced communities. They are trained in 24 weeks, including 12 weeks of clinical practice, in an anticipated recruiting post. CHPs help train village health volunteers (VHVs), who are literate women chosen by their communities. They work closely with the CHPs as a liaison with the village and in information gathering. An HSR orientation workshop held in Chuncheon in 1980, discussed role, policy, status, finance components, information systems, behavioral and manpower components, staff training, protocols for project development, HSR in the future and evaluation of the conference. In 1980, a National Workshop on Biomedical Research Methodology was also held, with World Health Organization and Korean consultants. Training of junior scientists would include introduction to scientific method, statement of problems, quantitative study technics, research proposals, and interpretation of results. The Korean Institute of Public Health sponsored a 1982 experts forum on the health care system, medical facilities, organizational management, financing and medical security, and health behavioral aspects. Training of trainers and lower level field workers, orientation of program managers, researchers, and communities themselves should all be training priorities. In future, CHPs should be refresher

[Qualitative Research in Health Services Research - Discussion Paper, Part 3: Quality of Qualitative Research].

Science.gov (United States)

Stamer, M; Güthlin, C; Holmberg, C; Karbach, U; Patzelt, C; Meyer, T

2015-12-01

The third and final discussion paper of the German Network of Health Services Research's (DNVF) "Qualitative Methods Working Group" demonstrates methods for the evaluation and quality of qualitative research in health services research. In this paper we discuss approaches described in evaluating qualitative studies, including: an orientation to the general principles of empirical research, an approach-specific course of action, as well as procedures based on the research-process and criteria-oriented approaches. Divided into general and specific aspects to be considered in a qualitative study quality evaluation, the central focus of the discussion paper undertakes an extensive examination of the process and criteria-oriented approaches. The general aspects include the participation of relevant groups in the research process as well as ethical aspects of the research and data protection issues. The more specific aspects in evaluating the quality of qualitative research include considerations about the research interest, research questions, and the selection of data collection methods and types of analyses. The formulated questions are intended to guide reviewers and researchers to evaluate and to develop qualitative research projects appropriately. The intention of this discussion paper is to ensure a transparent research culture, and to reflect on and discuss the methodological and research approach of qualitative studies in health services research. With this paper we aim to initiate a discussion on high quality evaluation of qualitative health services research. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Supporting Informed Decision Making - Center for Research Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

CRS conducts portfolio analyses and collects data on scientific topics, funding mechanisms, and investigator characteristics to help NCI leadership make data-driven decisions about the scientific research enterprise.

Research evaluation support services in biomedical libraries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Elizabeth Gutzman

2018-01-01

Conclusions: Libraries can leverage a variety of evaluation support services as an opportunity to successfully meet an array of challenges confronting the biomedical research community, including robust efforts to report and demonstrate tangible and meaningful outcomes of biomedical research and clinical care. These services represent a transformative direction that can be emulated by other biomedical and research libraries.

ServiceNow as a platform – practical research

OpenAIRE

Nechyporenko, Tamara

2015-01-01

In this thesis I am going to cover the main aspects of ServiceNow platform, what is it, and related areas to ServiceNow technologies such as cloud service technologies and ITIL framework, how it is used in ServiceNow. All the definitions and descriptions will be in details and a reader can get the important terms and definitions. The main scope of the thesis is practical research and creation of portal based on that research. The portal will be implemented using ServiceNow platform, Servic...

The Differences in the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters between FATCA and CRS

OpenAIRE

Arkiomaa, Minea

2016-01-01

In my pro gradu thesis, I introduce the applicable principles of automatic exchange of account information in international tax matters in the context of the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, regulation and contrast this with the OECD's Global Forum drafted Common Reporting Standard, or CRS. The recently implemented policies require that certain actors in the financial sector, such as banks and investment entities report their foreign clients and their account infor...

78 FR 50144 - Health Services Research and Development Service, Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-16

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Health Services Research and Development Service, Scientific Merit... management, and nursing research. Applications are reviewed for scientific and technical merit, mission... Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, that the Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D...

Researcher-library collaborations: Data repositories as a service for researchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Andrew S; Millman, David S; Steiger, Lisa; Adolph, Karen E; Gilmore, Rick O

New interest has arisen in organizing, preserving, and sharing the raw materials-the data and metadata-that undergird the published products of research. Library and information scientists have valuable expertise to bring to bear in the effort to create larger, more diverse, and more widely used data repositories. However, for libraries to be maximally successful in providing the research data management and preservation services required of a successful data repository, librarians must work closely with researchers and learn about their data management workflows. Databrary is a data repository that is closely linked to the needs of a specific scholarly community-researchers who use video as a main source of data to study child development and learning. The project's success to date is a result of its focus on community outreach and providing services for scholarly communication, engaging institutional partners, offering services for data curation with the guidance of closely involved information professionals, and the creation of a strong technical infrastructure. Databrary plans to improve its curation tools that allow researchers to deposit their own data, enhance the user-facing feature set, increase integration with library systems, and implement strategies for long-term sustainability.

Research on Internal Controls and Auditing. Navy Financial Management Improvement Program. Volume 3.

Science.gov (United States)

1980-06-01

EXAMPLES & EVALUATION GUIDANCE 3 I IMPACT DESTRUCTION C DISCLOSURE [ MODIFICATION 0 DENIAL OF SERVICE 0 JUSTIFICATION Fzgure -2 t -- 0 f I is...spec ifir correction codes. All batches will be rebalanced ifre r correction. (2) CRT Input All transactions will normnal lv be inputted via CR~s

Research and Practice of the News Map Compilation Service

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, T.; Liu, W.; Ma, W.

2018-04-01

Based on the needs of the news media on the map, this paper researches on the news map compilation service, conducts demand research on the service of compiling news maps, designs and compiles the public authority base map suitable for media publication, and constructs the news base map material library. It studies the compilation of domestic and international news maps with timeliness and strong pertinence and cross-regional characteristics, constructs the hot news thematic gallery and news map customization services, conducts research on types of news maps, establish closer liaison and cooperation methods with news media, and guides news media to use correct maps. Through the practice of the news map compilation service, this paper lists two cases of news map preparation services used by different media, compares and analyses cases, summarizes the research situation of news map compilation service, and at the same time puts forward outstanding problems and development suggestions in the service of news map compilation service.

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE OF THE NEWS MAP COMPILATION SERVICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Zhao

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Based on the needs of the news media on the map, this paper researches on the news map compilation service, conducts demand research on the service of compiling news maps, designs and compiles the public authority base map suitable for media publication, and constructs the news base map material library. It studies the compilation of domestic and international news maps with timeliness and strong pertinence and cross-regional characteristics, constructs the hot news thematic gallery and news map customization services, conducts research on types of news maps, establish closer liaison and cooperation methods with news media, and guides news media to use correct maps. Through the practice of the news map compilation service, this paper lists two cases of news map preparation services used by different media, compares and analyses cases, summarizes the research situation of news map compilation service, and at the same time puts forward outstanding problems and development suggestions in the service of news map compilation service.

78 FR 12422 - Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board, Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-22

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... nursing research. Applications are reviewed for scientific and technical merit, mission relevance, and the... Program Manager, Scientific Merit Review Board, Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research...

Service users' perceptions about their hospital admission elicited by service user-researchers or by clinicians.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Donoghue, Brian

2013-05-01

OBJECTIVE Service users may express positive, ambivalent, or negative views of their hospital admission. The objective of this study was to determine whether the background of the interviewer-service user-researcher or clinician-influences the information elicited. The primary outcome was the level of perceived coercion on admission, and secondary outcomes were perceived pressures on admission, procedural justice, perceived necessity for admission, satisfaction with services, and willingness to consent to participate in the study. METHODS Participants voluntarily and involuntarily admitted to three hospitals in Ireland were randomly allocated to be interviewed at hospital discharge by either a service user-researcher or a clinician. Interviewers used the MacArthur Admission Experience Survey and the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire. RESULTS A total of 161 participants were interviewed. No differences by interviewer status or by admission status (involuntary or voluntary) were found in levels of perceived coercion, perceived pressures, procedural justice, perceived necessity, or satisfaction with services. Service users were more likely to decline to participate if their consent was sought by a service user-researcher (24% versus 8%, p=.003). CONCLUSIONS Most interviewees gave positive accounts of their admission regardless of interviewer status. The findings indicate that clinicians and researchers can be more confident that service users\\' positive accounts of admissions are not attributable to a response bias. Researchers can also feel more confident in directly comparing the results of studies undertaken by clinicians and by service user-researchers.

78 FR 6854 - Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-31

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board will meet on February 13-14, 2013, at the... research. Applications are reviewed for scientific and technical merit. Recommendations regarding funding...

Managing postgraduate research service quality: Developing and assessing a conceptual model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shawn Ramroop

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on the conceptual development and empirical evaluation of a postgraduate (PG research service quality management model, through conducting an electronic survey among a cohort of master’s and doctorate graduates at one of the top three research universities in South Africa, using specifically developed and validated research instruments.By fitting the data from a sample of 117 graduates to a conceptual model using structural equation modelling, it became evident that the PG research students’ perception of the Organisational Climate for Research (OCR is associated with their perception of the PG Research Service Quality (PGSQUAL, the PG Service Experience (SERVEXP and their perception of their Role (RC. However, no association was found between the students’ perception of the research climate (OCR and their satisfaction (SERVSAT with the research service; the service experience (SERVEXP and postgraduate research service quality (PGSQUAL; service satisfaction (SERVSAT and postgraduate service quality (PGSQUAL.  The aforementioned findings imply that higher education institutions need to create a research climate which is supportive of service quality, and better manage the research climate, so that the PG students are clear about their role, which will eventually translate to a better PG service experience and improved perception of PG service quality.

Research Data Management - Building Service Infrastructure and Capacity

KAUST Repository

Baessa, Mohamed A.

2018-03-07

Research libraries support the missions of their institutions by facilitating the flow of scholarly information to and from the institutions’ researchers. As research in many disciplines becomes more data and software intensive, libraries are finding that services and infrastructure developed to preserve and provide access to textual documents are insufficient to meet their institutions’ needs. In response, libraries around the world have begun assessing the data management needs of their researchers, and expanding their capacity to meet the needs that they find. This discussion panel will discuss approaches to building research data management services and infrastructure in academic libraries. Panelists will discuss international efforts to support research data management, while highlighting the different models that universities have adopted to provide a mix of services and infrastructure tailored to their local needs.

Forest Service Global Change Research Strategy, 2009-2019 Implementation Plan

Science.gov (United States)

Allen Solomon; Richard A. Birdsey; Linda A. Joyce

2010-01-01

In keeping with the research goals of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the climate change strategy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the climate change framework of the Forest Service, this Forest Service Global Change Research Strategy, 2009-2019 Implementation Plan (hereafter called the Research Plan), was written by Forest Service Research...

[Research progress of ecosystem service flow.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hui Min; Fan, Yu Long; Ding, Sheng Yan

2016-07-01

With the development of social economy, human disturbance has resulted in a variety of ecosystem service degradation or disappearance. Ecosystem services flow plays an important role in delivery, transformation and maintenance of ecosystem services, and becomes one of the new research directions. In this paper, based on the classification of ecosystem services flow, we analyzed ecosystem service delivery carrier, and investigated the mechanism of ecosystem service flow, including the information, property, scale features, quantification and cartography. Moreover, a tentative analysis on cost-effective of ecosystem services flow (such as transportation costs, conversion costs, usage costs and cost of relativity) was made to analyze the consumption cost in ecosystem services flow process. It aimed to analyze dissipation cost in ecosystem services flow process. To a certain extent, the study of ecosystem service flow solved the problem of "double counting" in ecosystem services valuation, which could make a contribution for the sake of recognizing hot supply and consumption spots of ecosystem services. In addition, it would be conducive to maximizing the ecosystem service benefits in the transmission process and putting forward scientific and reasonable ecological compensation.

77 FR 42365 - Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board, Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-18

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit...-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that various subcommittees of the Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board will meet on August 28-30, 2012, at the Boston Omni Parker...

Comparison of Design Research on Manufacturing Firms Moving Towards Services

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Matzen, Detlef; Sakao, Tomohiko; Sandström, Gunilla Ölundh

2007-01-01

Corresponding to a steadily advancing integration of roducts and service operations in the manufacturing industry, a number of research groups within the design community are working with issues of integrated product and service development. Although closely related, the evolving groups focus...... on different research dimensions, and thus the terminologies and concepts used in research contributions are not fully compatible. This research attempts to promote and support an evolving collaboration between the different research groups within the design community, by analysing and comparing the key...... contribution areas of three of the existing groups, namely the groups of Integrated Product and Service Engineering, Service/Product Engineering and Product/Service-System development. A review of the groups’ research contributions is carried out and the main characteristics’ of their research is compared...

Malaysia: Political Transition and Implications for U.S. Policy

Science.gov (United States)

2003-10-21

function. Each state has a state legislature. The lower house of Malaysia’s Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat , has 193 members elected for terms not to exceed...five years. The upper house, the Dewan Negara, has 43 members appointed by the King and 26 elected members with two from each state. Malaysia is an...Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Order Code RL32129 Malaysia : Political

Delivering research data management services fundamentals of good practice

CERN Document Server

Jones, Sarah; Whyte, Angus

2014-01-01

The research landscape is changing, with key global research funders now requiring institutions to demonstrate how they will preserve and share research data. However, the practice of structured research data management is very new, and the construction of services remains experimental and in need of models and standards of approach. This groundbreaking guide will lead researchers, institutions and policy makers through the processes needed to set up and run effective institutional research data management services. This book will provide a step-by-step explanation of the components for an institutional service - effectively a 'how to guide'. Case studies from the newly emerging service infrastructures in the UK, USA and Australia will draw out the lessons learnt from working (or near to delivery) exemplars. Different approaches are highlighted and compared, for example, a case study of a researcher-focused strategy from Australia contrasted with a national, top-down approach. A chapter on the redeveloped UK ...

From theory to practice: improving the impact of health services research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Levine Robert

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background While significant strides have been made in health research, the incorporation of research evidence into healthcare decision-making has been marginal. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of how the utility of health services research can be improved through the use of theory. Integrating theory into health services research can improve research methodology and encourage stronger collaboration with decision-makers. Discussion Recognizing the importance of theory calls for new expectations in the practice of health services research. These include: the formation of interdisciplinary research teams; broadening the training for those who will practice health services research; and supportive organizational conditions that promote collaboration between researchers and decision makers. Further, funding bodies can provide a significant role in guiding and supporting the use of theory in the practice of health services research. Summary Institutions and researchers should incorporate the use of theory if health services research is to fulfill its potential for improving the delivery of health care.

Does Intraoperative Systematic Bacterial Sampling During Complete Cytoreductive Surgery (CRS) with Hyperthermic Intraoperative Peritoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) Influence Postoperative Treatment? A New Predictive Factor for Postoperative Abdominal Infectious Complications.

Science.gov (United States)

Dazza, Marie; Schwarz, Lilian; Coget, Julien; Frebourg, Noelle; Wood, Gregory; Huet, Emmanuel; Bridoux, Valérie; Veber, Benoit; Tuech, Jean-Jacques

2016-12-01

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is an emerging curative treatment option for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. It has a long-term survival benefit but is associated with high rates of morbidity, ranging from 12 % to 65 %, mainly due to infectious complications. We sought to evaluate the clinical relevance of routine intraoperative bacteriological sampling following CRS/HIPEC. Between November 2010 and December 2014, every patients receiving CRS/HIPEC were included. Three samples were routinely collected from standardized locations for intraperitoneal rinsing liquid bacteriological analysis (RLBA) after completion of HIPEC. The clinical and surgical features, bacteriological results, and short-term outcomes were retrospectively reviewed. The overall mortality and morbidity rates were 5 and 45 %, respectively. Among the 75 included patients, 40 % (n = 30) had at least one positive bacterial culture. Risk factors for a positive culture were colorectal resection (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 3.072, 95 % CI 1.843-8.004; p = 0.009) and blood loss >1000 mL (HR = 4.272, 95 % CI 1.080-18.141; p = 0.031). Among 26 (35 %) patients with abdominal infectious complications, 13 (17 %) experienced isolated complications. A positive RLBA result was independently associated with abdominal infectious complications (HR = 5.108, 95 % CI 1.220-16.336; p = 0.024) and isolated abdominal infectious complications (HR = 4.199, 95 % CI 1.064-15.961; p = 0.04). Forty percent of the RLBA samples obtained following CRS/HIPEC tested positive for bacteria. Bacterial sampling of rinsing liquid should be systematically performed. An aggressive and immediate antibiotic strategy needs to be evaluated.

Dairy and functional foods research in the Agricultural Research Service

Science.gov (United States)

The Dairy and Functional Foods Research Unit is the only group in the Agricultural Research Service that is dedicated to solving critical problems in milk utilization and fruit and vegetable byproducts from specialty crops. The many areas of investigation include development of specialty cheese, c...

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2008-12-01

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

[Memorandum IV: Theoretical and Normative Grounding of Health Services Research].

Science.gov (United States)

Baumann, W; Farin, E; Menzel-Begemann, A; Meyer, T

2016-05-01

With Memoranda and other initiatives, the German Network for Health Service Research [Deutsches Netzwerk Versorgungsforschung e.V. (DNVF)] is fostering the methodological quality of care research studies for years. Compared to the standards of empirical research, questions concerning the role and function of theories, theoretical approaches and scientific principles have not been taken up on its own. Therefore, the DNVF e.V. has set up a working group in 2013, which was commissioned to prepare a memorandum on "theories in health care research". This now presented memorandum will primarily challenge scholars in health care services research to pay more attention to questions concerning the theoretical arsenal and the background assumptions in the research process. The foundation in the philosophy of science, the reference to normative principles and the theory-bases of the research process are addressed. Moreover, the memorandum will call on to advance the theorizing in health services research and to strengthen not empirical approaches, research on basic principles or studies with regard to normative sciences and to incorporate these relevant disciplines in health services research. Research structures and funding of health services research needs more open space for theoretical reflection and for self-observation of their own, multidisciplinary research processes. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Salutogenic service user involvement in nursing research: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mjøsund, Nina Helen; Vinje, Hege Forbech; Eriksson, Monica; Haaland-Øverby, Mette; Jensen, Sven Liang; Kjus, Solveig; Norheim, Irene; Portaasen, Inger-Lill; Espnes, Geir Arild

2018-05-12

The aim was to explore the process of involving mental healthcare service users in a mental health promotion research project as research advisors and to articulate features of the collaboration which encouraged and empowered the advisors to make significant contributions to the research process and outcome. There is an increasing interest in evaluating aspects of service user involvement in nursing research. Few descriptions exist of features that enable meaningful service user involvement. We draw on experiences from conducting research which used the methodology interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore how persons with mental disorders perceived mental health. Aside from the participants in the project, five research advisors with service user experience were involved in the entire research process. We applied a case study design to explore the ongoing processes of service user involvement. Documents and texts produced while conducting the project (2012-2016), as well as transcripts from multistage focus group discussions with the research advisors, were analysed. The level of involvement was dynamic and varied throughout the different stages of the research process. Six features: leadership, meeting structure, role clarification, being members of a team, a focus on possibilities and being seen and treated as holistic individuals, were guiding principles for a salutogenic service user involvement. These features strengthened the advisors' perception of themselves as valuable and competent contributors. Significant contributions from research advisors were promoted by facilitating the process of involvement. A supporting structure and atmosphere were consistent with a salutogenic service user involvement. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Transfusion research priorities for blood services in sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Bates, Imelda; Hassall, Oliver; Mapako, Tonderai

2017-06-01

Evidence to support many blood transfusion policies and practices in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is weak or lacking. SSA cannot extrapolate from wealthy countries' research findings because its environment, users and structures are very different and SSA has critical blood shortages. SSA needs to generate its own evidence but research funds are very scarce and need to be carefully targeted to match need. This study aimed to define this need by determining research priorities for blood services in SSA. Thirty-five stakeholders representing diverse blood services' interests and expertise participated in a workshop. An adapted 'consensus development method' was used to identify, agree and justify research priorities under five themes through small group and plenary discussion, and cumulative voting. Research priorities covered traditional research areas, such as clinical use of blood and infection screening, but also highlighted many new, under-researched topics, mostly concerning blood service 'systems', such as economics, blood components and regulation. Lack of electronic information management systems was an important hindrance to the blood services' ability to generate robust research data. This study has identified and prioritised novel research that will help blood services in SSA to address their own needs including their most urgent problem: the lack of access to adequate blood supplies. To catalyse this research blood services in SSA need to enhance their capacity to conduct, commission and manage research and to strengthen their collaborations within and beyond Africa. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A theoretical framework to support research of health service innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Amanda; Gardner, Glenn; Osborne, Sonya

2015-02-01

Health service managers and policy makers are increasingly concerned about the sustainability of innovations implemented in health care settings. The increasing demand on health services requires that innovations are both effective and sustainable; however, research in this field is limited, with multiple disciplines, approaches and paradigms influencing the field. These variations prevent a cohesive approach, and therefore the accumulation of research findings, in the development of a body of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough examination of the research findings and provide an appropriate theoretical framework to examine sustainability of health service innovation. This paper presents an integrative review of the literature available in relation to sustainability of health service innovation and provides the development of a theoretical framework based on integration and synthesis of the literature. A theoretical framework serves to guide research, determine variables, influence data analysis and is central to the quest for ongoing knowledge development. This research outlines the sustainability of innovation framework; a theoretical framework suitable for examining the sustainability of health service innovation. If left unaddressed, health services research will continue in an ad hoc manner, preventing full utilisation of outcomes, recommendations and knowledge for effective provision of health services. The sustainability of innovation theoretical framework provides an operational basis upon which reliable future research can be conducted.

NATO Advanced Research Institute on Health Services Systems

CERN Document Server

Werff, Albert; Hirsch, Gary; Barnard, Keith

1984-01-01

The Advanced Research Institute on "Health Services Systems" was held under the auspices of the NATO Special Programme Panel on Systems Science as a part of the NATO Science Committee's continuous effort to promote the advancement of science through international cooperation. A special word is said in this respect supra by Pro­ fessor Checkland, Chairman of the Systems Science Panel. The Advanced Research Institute (ARI) was organized for the purpose of bringing together senior scientists to seek a consensus on the assessment of the present state of knowledge on the specific topic of "health services systems" and to present views and recom­ mendations for future health services research directions, which should be of value to both the scientific community and the people in charge of reorienting health services. The conference was structured so as to permit the assembly of a variety of complementary viewpoints through intensive group discussions to be the basis of this final report. Invitees were selected fr...

Service Learning: Applications and Research in Business

Science.gov (United States)

Andrews, Christine P.

2007-01-01

Researchers have described "service learning" as an ideal way to integrate experiential education into coursework while meeting community needs and imbuing students with civic responsibility. They have advocated service learning in business as a method to implement course concepts and increase student understanding of the external environment. In…

Health Services Research for Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

McCarty, Dennis; Roman, Paul M; Sorensen, James; Weisner, Constance

2009-01-01

Health services research is a multidisciplinary field that examines ways to organize, manage, finance, and deliver high-quality care. This specialty within substance abuse research developed from policy analyses and needs assessments that shaped federal policy and promoted system development in the 1970s. After the authorization of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), patient information systems supported studies of treatment processes and outcomes. Health services research grew substantially in the 1990s when NIAAA and NIDA moved into the National Institutes of Health and legislation allocated 15% of their research portfolio to services research. The next decade will emphasize research on quality of care, adoption and use of evidence-based practices (including medication), financing reforms and integration of substance abuse treatment with primary care and mental health services.

The Trump Administrations March 2017 Defense Budget Proposals: Frequently Asked Questions

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-03

The Trump Administration’s March 2017 Defense Budget Proposals: Frequently Asked Questions Pat Towell Specialist in U.S. Defense Policy and...Budget Lynn M. Williams Analyst in U.S. Defense Budget Policy April 3, 2017 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R44806 The Trump ...8 The Trump Administration’s March 2017 Defense Budget Proposals: FAQs Congressional Research Service 1 Introduction On

CASE STUDY: Uzbekistan — Competition research improves services

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

2010-12-22

Dec 22, 2010 ... Small Grants Competition for Distribution Sector Research ... restrictive business practices in international money transfer services and find ways to .... through its own methodology on analyzing the financial services market [.

Preliminary construction of a service provider--informed domestic violence research agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Christine E; Welch, Metoka L

2010-12-01

This article presents the results of a statewide survey of domestic violence (DV) service providers that focused on the needs, background characteristics, and opinions of service providers related to research. The survey included an examination of service providers' motivation for working in the field, research background and training, and perceptions of research as well as the topics they believe are important for researchers to study, the resources they consult to learn about DV, and their suggestions to help researchers learn more about the nature of their work. The results are integrated into a preliminary agenda for future DV research that accounts for the needs and insight of service providers.

Service Robotics in Healthcare: A Perspective for Information Systems Researchers?

OpenAIRE

Garmann-Johnsen, Niels Frederik; Mettler, Tobias; Sprenger, Michaela

2014-01-01

Recent advances in electronics and telecommunication have paved the way for service robots to enter the clinical world. While service robotics has long been a core research theme in computer science and other engineering-related fields, it has attracted little interest of Information Systems (IS) researchers so far. We argue that service robotics represents an interesting area of investigation, especially for healthcare, since current research lacks a thorough examination of socio-technical p...

Key insights for the future of urban ecosystem services research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peleg Kremer

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Understanding the dynamics of urban ecosystem services is a necessary requirement for adequate planning, management, and governance of urban green infrastructure. Through the three-year Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES research project, we conducted case study and comparative research on urban biodiversity and ecosystem services across seven cities in Europe and the United States. Reviewing > 50 peer-reviewed publications from the project, we present and discuss seven key insights that reflect cumulative findings from the project as well as the state-of-the-art knowledge in urban ecosystem services research. The insights from our review indicate that cross-sectoral, multiscale, interdisciplinary research is beginning to provide a solid scientific foundation for applying the ecosystem services framework in urban areas and land management. Our review offers a foundation for seeking novel, nature-based solutions to emerging urban challenges such as wicked environmental change issues.

Implementing an online pharmaceutical service using design science research.

Science.gov (United States)

Lapão, Luís Velez; da Silva, Miguel Mira; Gregório, João

2017-03-27

The rising prevalence of chronic diseases is pressing health systems to introduce reforms. Primary healthcare and multidisciplinary models have been suggested as approaches to deal with this challenge, with new roles for nurses and pharmacists being advocated. More recently, implementing healthcare based on information systems and technologies (e.g. eHealth) has been proposed as a way to improve health services. However, implementing online pharmaceutical services, including their adoption by pharmacists and patients, is still an open research question. In this paper we present ePharmacare, a new online pharmaceutical service implemented using Design Science Research. The Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) was chosen to implement this online service for chronic diseases management. In the paper, DSRM's different activities are explained, from the definition of the problem to the evaluation of the artifact. During the design and development activities, surveys, observations, focus groups, and eye-tracking glasses were used to validate pharmacists' and patients' requirements. During the demonstration and evaluation activities the new service was used with real-world pharmacists and patients. The results show the contribution of DSRM in the implementation of online services for pharmacies. We found that pharmacists spend only 50% of their time interacting with patients, uncovering a clear opportunity to implement online pharmaceutical care services. On the other hand, patients that regularly visit the same pharmacy recognize the value in patient follow-up demanding to use channels such as the Internet for their pharmacy interactions. Limitations were identified regarding the high workload of pharmacists, but particularly their lack of know-how and experience in dealing with information systems (IST) for the provision of pharmaceutical services. This paper summarizes a research project in which an online pharmaceutical service was proposed, designed, developed

Cultural Ecosystem Services: A Literature Review and Prospects for Future Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andra Ioana. Milcu

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Cultural ecosystem services constitute a growing field of research that is characterized by an increasing number of publications from various academic disciplines. We conducted a semiquantitative review of publications explicitly dealing with cultural ecosystem services. Our aims were: (1 to provide an overview of the current state of research, (2 to classify the diversity of research approaches by identifying clusters of publications that address cultural ecosystem services in similar ways, and (3 to highlight some important challenges for the future of cultural ecosystem services research. We reviewed 107 publications and extracted 20 attributes describing their type and content, including methods, scales, drivers of change, and trade-offs between services. Using a cluster analysis on a subset of attributes we identified five groups of publications: Group 1, conceptual focus, deals with theoretical issues; Group 2, descriptive reviews, consists mostly of desktop studies; Group 3, localized outcomes, deals with case studies coming from different disciplines; Group 4, social and participatory, deals mainly with assessing preferences and perceptions; and Group 5, economic assessments, provides economic valuations. Emerging themes in cultural ecosystem services research relate to improving methods for cultural ecosystem services valuation, studying cultural ecosystem services in the context of ecosystem service bundles, and more clearly articulating policy implications. Based on our findings, we conclude that: (1 cultural ecosystem services are well placed as a tool to bridge gaps between different academic disciplines and research communities, (2 capitalizing on the societal relevance of cultural ecosystem services could help address real-world problems, and (3 cultural ecosystem services have the potential to foster new conceptual links between alternative logics relating to a variety of social and ecological issues.

Scenario of research on Food Service in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flávia Milagres CAMPOS

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: The present study aims to investigate the scenario of research on Food Service in Brazil based on the Stricto Sensu Graduate Programs in Nutrition, research groups, and scientific production. Methods: A search of the research lines including studies related to this topic and the researchers engaged in those studies was conducted. The research groups were identified on the Directory of Research Groups in Brazil website and the profile of the scientific production was based on articles included in the Scientific Electronic Library Online database. Articles published in international journals that were related to research lines focused on food production were also searched and analyzed. Results: The search identified only two graduate programs with research lines that describe the food production as the object of study although 13 graduate programs carry out research related to Food Service, especially focused on nutritional and sanitary aspects of food. The same trend was observed in the national articles. The internationalization of these two research line results from the academic publication in 22 different journals over the past 5 years. Thirty five professors were identified and most of them hold a PhD in Food Science and Technology. The number of research groups increased from two in 2000 to twenty nine in 2010. Conclusion: The inclusion of Food Service in graduate programs is still limited. The main trend observed is towards a closer relationship with Food Science and Technology in terms of the lines of research, professional qualification, and published studies.

LiGA Research and Service at CAMD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goettert, Jost; Datta, Proyag; Desta, Yohannes; Jin, Yoonyoung; Ling Zhonggeng; Singh, Varshni

2006-01-01

Since 1995 CAMD has been offering exposure services, so called print shop for a variety of users interested in making precision High-Aspect-Ratio Microstructures (HARMST) for various application. Services have been expanded beyond only the print shop service in recent years and now include x-ray mask fabrication, substrate preparation for PMMA and SU- 8 resists, electroplating, finishing and molding. Metallic and polymeric parts are now routinely fabricated for precision engineering, micro-fluidic and micro-optic applications. This paper presents a brief overview of the actual status of LiGA services provided at CAMD including ongoing research efforts and examples of LiGA components for different applications

Apparel Merchandising Students Learn Customer Service Strategies while Conducting Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Paulins, V, Ann

2000-01-01

Apparel merchandising students participated in a cooperative research project in which they observed customer service techniques by posing as customers in retail stores. The project taught research processes, collaboration, and principles of customer service. (SK)

Framing design research for service orientation through PSS approaches

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sakao, Tomohiko; Sandström, Gunilla Ölundh; Matzen, Detlef

2009-01-01

on the literature analysis, the authors present three crucial dimensions for service oriented design research, i.e. an offer dimension representing products and services, a provider dimension, and a customer/user dimension. In addition, three research targets are proposed; PSS-offer modelling, PSS development......, and PSS potential. Furthermore, several promising future research directions are identified. These include evaluating economic consequences or environmental benefits, establishing terminology, organizational issues, and developing methods and tools to support designers. The boundaries to other research...... fields are getting blurry and many aspects of other professionalisms must be taken into account. Thus, there is especially need in future research to open towards other research areas....

Applied research and service activities at the University of Missouri Research Reactor Facility (MURR)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alger, D.M.

1987-01-01

The University Of Missouri operates MURR to provide an intense source of neutron and gamma radiation for research and applications by experimenters from its four campuses and by experimenters from other universities, government and industry. The 10 MW reactor, which has been operating an average of 155 hours per week for the past eight years, produces thermal neutron fluxes up to 6-7x10 14 n/cm 2 -s in the central flux trap and beamport source fluxes of up to 1.2x10 14 n/cm 2 -s. The mission of the reactor facility, to promote research, education and service, is the same as the overall mission of the university and therefore, applied research and service supported by industrial firms have been welcomed. The university recognized after a few years of reactor operation that in order to build utilization, it would be necessary to develop in-house research programs including people, equipment and activity so that potential users could more easily and quickly obtain the results needed. Nine research areas have been developed to create a broadly based program to support the level of activity needed to justify the cost of operating the facility. Applied research and service generate financial support for about one-half of the annual budget. The applied and service programs provide strong motivation for university/industry association in addition to the income generated. (author)

Service quality in alcohol treatment: a research note.

Science.gov (United States)

Resnick, Sheilagh M; Griffiths, Mark D

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate service quality in a UK privately funded alcohol treatment clinic. Data were gathered via interviews with two groups of participants using the SERVQUAL questionnaire. The first group comprised 32 patients and the second 15 clinic staff. The SERVQUAL instrument measures service quality expectations and perceptions across five service dimensions and identifies gaps between service expectations and perceptions of what was delivered. Patients' service quality expectations were exceeded on four of five dimensions. However, staff members felt services fell below expectations on four of five dimensions with the "reliability" service dimension emerging as the common service element falling below expectations for both participant groups. It was concluded that achieving consistent service delivery and increasing empathy between staff and patients improves overall service quality perceptions. The paper relies on self-report methods from a relatively small number of individuals. There have been limited research studies measuring alcohol treatment service quality in the private sector.

The use of "mixing" procedure of mixed methods in health services research.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wanqing; Creswell, John

2013-08-01

Mixed methods research has emerged alongside qualitative and quantitative approaches as an important tool for health services researchers. Despite growing interest, among health services researchers, in using mixed methods designs, little has been done to identify the procedural aspects of doing so. To describe how mixed methods researchers mix the qualitative and quantitative aspects of their studies in health services research. We searched the PubMed for articles, using mixed methods in health services research, published between January 1, 2006 and December 30, 2010. We identified and reviewed 30 published health services research articles on studies in which mixed methods had been used. We selected 3 articles as illustrations to help health services researcher conceptualize the type of mixing procedures that they were using. Three main "mixing" procedures have been applied within these studies: (1) the researchers analyzed the 2 types of data at the same time but separately and integrated the results during interpretation; (2) the researchers connected the qualitative and quantitative portions in phases in such a way that 1 approach was built upon the findings of the other approach; and (3) the researchers mixed the 2 data types by embedding the analysis of 1 data type within the other. "Mixing" in mixed methods is more than just the combination of 2 independent components of the quantitative and qualitative data. The use of "mixing" procedure in health services research involves the integration, connection, and embedding of these 2 data components.

Technical advances in rhinologic basic science research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramanathan, Murugappan; Turner, Justin H; Lane, Andrew P

2009-10-01

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is the single most common self-reported chronic health condition in the United States and is estimated to affect 16% of the adult population annually. Despite the prevalence of this disease, there still exists an incomplete understanding of CRS pathophysiology. In this review, the authors highlight technological advances in rhinology: real-time polymerase chain reaction, epithelial cell culture, flow cytometry, genomics/single-nucleotide polymorphism detection, microarrays, and genetic/nongenetic animal models of sinusitis. The purpose of this review is to describe these methodologies and their contributions toward achieving a better understanding of CRS.

DOE's foreign research reactor transportation services contract: Perspective and experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patterson, John

1997-01-01

DOE committed to low- and moderate-income countries participating in the foreign research reactor spent fuel returns program that the United States government would provide for the transportation of the spent fuel. In fulfillment of that commitment, DOE entered into transportation services contracts with qualified, private-sector firms. NAC will discuss its experience as a transportation services provider, including range of services available to the foreign reactors, advantages to DOE and to the foreign research reactors, access to contract services by high income countries and potential advantages, and experience with initial tasks performed under the contract. (author)

Health services research in urology.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Hua-Yin; Ulmer, William; Kowalczyk, Keith J; Hu, Jim C

2011-06-01

Health services research (HSR) is increasingly important given the focus on patient-centered, cost-effective, high-quality health care. We examine how HSR affects contemporary evidence-based urologic practice and its role in shaping future urologic research and care. PubMed, urologic texts, and lay literature were reviewed for terms pertaining to HSR/outcomes research and urologic disease processes. HSR is a broad discipline that focuses on access, cost, and outcomes of Health care. Its use has been applied to a myriad of urologic conditions to identify deficiencies in access, to evaluate cost-effectiveness of therapies, and to evaluate structural, process, and outcome quality measures. HSR utilizes an evidence-based approach to identify the most effective ways to organize/manage, finance, and deliver high-quality urologic care and to tailor care optimized to individuals.

Beyond Assessment: Conducting Theoretically Grounded Research on Service-Learning in Gerontology Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Tina M; Pearl, Andrew J

2016-01-01

Service-learning is a useful pedagogical tool and high-impact practice, providing multiple benefits. Gerontology (and other) courses frequently include service-learning activities but lack theory-based, intentional research on outcomes. Here, the authors define service-learning and contextualize it in higher education, provide an overview of research and assessment in service-learning and gerontology courses, demonstrate the shortcomings of program evaluations, and offer suggestions for future research to advance and generate theory.

Current state of seagrass ecosystem services: Research and policy integration

KAUST Repository

Ruiz-Frau, A.; Gelcich, S.; Hendriks, I.E.; Duarte, Carlos M.; Marbà , N.

2017-01-01

areas; a type of service research bias, provisioning and regulating services have received extensive attention while cultural services remain understudied; a type of discipline bias, the ecological aspects of SGES have been well documented while economic

A 2-1-1 research collaboration: participant accrual and service quality indicators.

Science.gov (United States)

Eddens, Katherine S; Alcaraz, Kassandra I; Kreuter, Matthew W; Rath, Suchitra; Greer, Regina

2012-12-01

In times of crises, 2-1-1 serves as a lifeline in many ways. These crises often cause a spike in call volume that can challenge 2-1-1's ability to meet its service quality standards. For researchers gathering data through 2-1-1s, a sudden increase in call volume might reduce accrual as 2-1-1 has less time to administer study protocols. Research activities imbedded in 2-1-1 systems may affect directly 2-1-1 service quality indicators. Using data from a 2-1-1 research collaboration, this paper examines the impact of crises on call volume to 2-1-1, how call volume affects research participant accrual through 2-1-1, and how research recruitment efforts affect 2-1-1 service quality indicators. t-tests were used to examine the effect of call volume on research participant accrual. Linear and logistic regressions were used to examine the effect of research participant accrual on 2-1-1 service quality indicators. Data were collected June 2010-December 2011; data were analyzed in 2012. Findings from this collaboration suggest that crises causing spikes in call volume adversely affect 2-1-1 service quality indicators as well as accrual of research participants. Administering a brief (2-3 minute) health risk assessment did not affect service quality negatively, but administering a longer (15-18 minute) survey had a modest adverse effect on these indicators. In 2-1-1 research collaborations, both partners need to understand the dynamic relationship among call volume, research accrual, and service quality and adjust expectations accordingly. If research goals include administering a longer survey, increased staffing of 2-1-1 call centers may be needed to avoid compromising service quality. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mixed Methods in Biomedical and Health Services Research

Science.gov (United States)

Curry, Leslie A.; Krumholz, Harlan M.; O’Cathain, Alicia; Plano Clark, Vicki L.; Cherlin, Emily; Bradley, Elizabeth H.

2013-01-01

Mixed methods studies, in which qualitative and quantitative methods are combined in a single program of inquiry, can be valuable in biomedical and health services research, where the complementary strengths of each approach can yield greater insight into complex phenomena than either approach alone. Although interest in mixed methods is growing among science funders and investigators, written guidance on how to conduct and assess rigorous mixed methods studies is not readily accessible to the general readership of peer-reviewed biomedical and health services journals. Furthermore, existing guidelines for publishing mixed methods studies are not well known or applied by researchers and journal editors. Accordingly, this paper is intended to serve as a concise, practical resource for readers interested in core principles and practices of mixed methods research. We briefly describe mixed methods approaches and present illustrations from published biomedical and health services literature, including in cardiovascular care, summarize standards for the design and reporting of these studies, and highlight four central considerations for investigators interested in using these methods. PMID:23322807

Astroserver - Research Services in the Stellar Webshop

Science.gov (United States)

Németh, Péter

2017-12-01

A quick look at research and development in astronomy shows that we live in exciting times. Exoplanetary systems, supernovae, and merging binary black holes were far out of reach for observers two decades ago and now such phenomena are recorded routinely. This quick development would not have been possible without the ability for researchers to be connected, to think globally and to be mobile. Classical short-term positions are not always suitable to support these conditions and freelancing may be a viable alternative.We introduce the Astroserver framework, which is a new freelancing platform for scientists, and demonstrate through examples how it contributed to some recent projects related to hot subdwarf stars and binaries. These contributions, which included spectroscopic data mining, computing services and observing services, as well as artwork, allowed a deeper look into the investigated systems. The work on composite spectra binaries provided new details for the hypervelocity wide subdwarf binary PB 3877 and found diverse and rare systems with sub-giant companions in high-resolution spectroscopic surveys. The models for the peculiar abundance pattern of the evolved compact star LP 40-365 showed it to be a bound hypervelocity remnant of a supernova Iax event. Some of these works also included data visualizations to help presenting the new results. Such services may be of interest for many researchers.

Integrated modelling of ecosystem services and energy systems research

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwala, Matthew; Lovett, Andrew; Bateman, Ian; Day, Brett; Agnolucci, Paolo; Ziv, Guy

2016-04-01

The UK Government is formally committed to reducing carbon emissions and protecting and improving natural capital and the environment. However, actually delivering on these objectives requires an integrated approach to addressing two parallel challenges: de-carbonising future energy system pathways; and safeguarding natural capital to ensure the continued flow of ecosystem services. Although both emphasise benefiting from natural resources, efforts to connect natural capital and energy systems research have been limited, meaning opportunities to improve management of natural resources and meet society's energy needs could be missed. The ecosystem services paradigm provides a consistent conceptual framework that applies in multiple disciplines across the natural and economic sciences, and facilitates collaboration between them. At the forefront of the field, integrated ecosystem service - economy models have guided public- and private-sector decision making at all levels. Models vary in sophistication from simple spreadsheet tools to complex software packages integrating biophysical, GIS and economic models and draw upon many fields, including ecology, hydrology, geography, systems theory, economics and the social sciences. They also differ in their ability to value changes in natural capital and ecosystem services at various spatial and temporal scales. Despite these differences, current models share a common feature: their treatment of energy systems is superficial at best. In contrast, energy systems research has no widely adopted, unifying conceptual framework that organises thinking about key system components and interactions. Instead, the literature is organised around modelling approaches, including life cycle analyses, econometric investigations, linear programming and computable general equilibrium models. However, some consistencies do emerge. First, often contain a linear set of steps, from exploration to resource supply, fuel processing, conversion

The MacGyver effect: alive and well in health services research?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moriarty Helen J

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In a manner similar to the television action hero MacGyver, health services researchers need to respond to the pressure of unpredictable demands and constrained time frames. The results are often both innovative and functional, with the creation of outputs that could not have been anticipated in the initial planning and design of the research. Discussion In the conduct of health services research many challenges to robust research processes are generated as a result of the interface between academic research, health policy and implementation agendas. Within a complex and rapidly evolving environment the task of the health services researcher is, therefore, to juggle sometimes contradictory pressures to produce valid results. Summary This paper identifies the MacGyver-type dilemmas which arise in health services research, wherein innovation may be called for, to maintain the intended scientific method and rigour. These 'MacGyver drivers' are framed as opposing issues from the perspective of both academic and public policy communities. The ideas expressed in this paper are illustrated by four examples from research projects positioned at the interface between public policy strategy and academia.

Analyzing Music Services Positioning Through Qualitative Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Cuadrado

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Information technologies have produced new ways of distributing and consuming music, mainly by youth, in relation to both goods and services. In the case of goods, there has been a dramatic shift from traditional ways of buying and listening to music to new digital platforms. There has also been an evolution in relation to music services. In this sense, live music concerts have been losing their audiences over the past few years, as have music radio stations, in favor of streaming platforms. Curious about this phenomenon, we conducted an exploratory research in order to analyze how all these services, both traditional and new ones were perceived. Specifically, we aimed to study youth´s assessment of the three most relevant music service categories: music radio stations, digital streaming platforms, and pop-rock music festivals. To do so, we used the projective technique of image association to gather information. The population of the study consisted of individuals between 18 and 25 years of age. Our results, after using content analysis, were poor due to spontaneous recall. Therefore, we duplicated the study, but in a more focus-oriented way. Information gathered this time allowed us not only to better know how all these organizations are positioned but also to obtain a list of descriptors to be used in a subsequent descriptive research study.

Current state of seagrass ecosystem services: Research and policy integration

KAUST Repository

Ruiz-Frau, A.

2017-10-12

Seagrasses contribute to the maintenance of human wellbeing. However certain aspects of their role as ecosystem service (ES) providers remain understudied. Here, we synthesise the state of seagrass ES (SGES) research and policy implications. Additionally, we recommend ways in which SGES research can be integrated in to policy design, by drawing lessons from the case of Blue Carbon (BC). SGES research suffers from three main biases: a geographical bias, SGES has been restricted to chartered seagrass areas; a type of service research bias, provisioning and regulating services have received extensive attention while cultural services remain understudied; a type of discipline bias, the ecological aspects of SGES have been well documented while economic and social aspects remain in comparison understudied. These are particularly important, as an understanding of the social and economic considerations of the provision of ES is fundamental to facilitate its integration into policy frameworks. Lessons drawn from the operationalization process of BC show the reoccurrence of certain aspects that have enabled the integration of BC into policy. These aspects are grouped under 4 different categories. From the analysis of these elements we draw lessons that could facilitate the operationalization of other ecosystem services and their incorporation into management policy frameworks.

Ensuring Biologics Advanced Development and Manufacturing Capability for the United States Government: A Summary of Key Findings and Conclusions

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-06

CRISP Computer Retrieval Information on Scientific Projects DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DCA Demand Capacity Assessment DHS...2007. 8. BARDA, HHS. Personal interview. 20 September 2007. 9. Bravata DM . Reducing mortality from anthrax bioterrorism: strategies for stockpiling...Projects ( CRISP ). Novel smallpox vaccine derived from VV/VAR Immunome. EPIVAX, INC. 17. Congressional Research Services (CRS) RL32917: Bioterrorism

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: An Overview. CRS Report for Congress.

Science.gov (United States)

Aleman, Steven R.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes several programs to support and improve the education of children with disabilities. The grants to States, preschool, and infants and toddlers programs are formula grant programs that fund special education services. The discretionary grant programs fund research, demonstrations,…

[The Engineering and Technical Services Directorate at the Glenn Research Center

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, James

2004-01-01

My name is James Moon and I am a senior at Tennessee State University where my major is Aeronautical and Industrial Technology with a concentration in industrial electronics. I am currently serving my internship in the Engineering and Technical Services Directorate at the Glenn Research Center (GRC). The Engineering and Technical Service Directorate provides the services and infrastructure for the Glenn Research Center to take research concepts to reality. They provide a full range of integrated services including engineering, advanced prototyping and testing, facility management, and information technology for NASA, industry, and academia. Engineering and Technical Services contains the core knowledge in Information Technology (IT). This includes data systems and analysis, inter and intranet based systems design and data security. Including the design and development of embedded real-time s o h a r e applications for flight and supporting ground systems, Engineering and Technical Services provide a wide range of IT services and products specific to the Glenn Research Center research and engineering community. In the 7000 Directorate I work directly in the 7611 organization. This organization is known as the Aviation Environments Technical Branch. My mentor is Vincent Satterwhite who is also the Branch Chief of the Aviation Environments Technical Branch. In this branch, I serve as the Assistant program manager of the Engineering Technology Program. The Engineering Technology Program (ETP) is one of three components of the High School L.E.R.C.I.P. This is an Agency-sponsored, eight-week research-based apprenticeship program designed to attract traditionally underrepresented high school students that demonstrate an aptitude for and interest in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology.

Public health services and systems research: current state of finance research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ingram, Richard C; Bernet, Patrick M; Costich, Julia F

2012-11-01

There is a growing recognition that the US public health system should strive for efficiency-that it should determine the optimal ways to utilize limited resources to improve and protect public health. The field of public health finance research is a critical part of efforts to understand the most efficient ways to use resources. This article discusses the current state of public health finance research through a review of public health finance literature, chronicles important lessons learned from public health finance research to date, discusses the challenges faced by those seeking to conduct financial research on the public health system, and discusses the role of public health finance research in relation to the broader endeavor of Public Health Services and Systems Research.

Public Service Motivation Research : Achievements, Challenges, and Future Directions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Perry, James L.; Vandenabeele, Wouter

2015-01-01

This article takes stock of public service motivation research to identify achievements, challenges, and an agenda for research to build on progress made since 1990. After enumerating achievements and challenges, the authors take stock of progress on extant proposals to strengthen research. In

Developing nursing capacity for health systems and services research in Cuba, 2008-2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez, Nelcy

2012-07-01

Health systems and services research by nursing personnel could inform decision-making and nursing care, providing evidence concerning quality of and patient satisfaction. Such studies are rather uncommon in Cuban research institutes, where clinical research predominates. Assess the results of a strategy implemented between 2008 and 2011 to develop nursing capacity for health systems and services research in 14 national research institutes based in Havana. The study comprised four stages: description of approaches to health systems and services research by nurses worldwide and in Cuba; analysis of current capacities for such research in Cuba; intervention design and implementation; and evaluation. Various techniques were used including: literature review, bibliometric analysis, questionnaire survey, consultation with experts, focus groups, and workshops for participant orientation and design and followup of research projects. Qualitative information reduction and quantitative information summary methods were used. Initially, 32 nursing managers participated; a further 105 nurses from the institutes were involved in research teams formed during intervention implementation. Of all published nursing research articles retrieved, 8.9% (185 of 2081) concerned health systems and services research, of which 26.5% (49 of 185) dealt with quality assessment. At baseline, 75% of Cuban nurses surveyed had poor knowledge of health systems and services research. Orientation, design and followup workshops for all institute teams developed individual and institutional capacity for health systems and services research. Post-intervention, 84.7% (27) of nurses reached good knowledge and 14.3% (5) fair; institutional research teams were formed and maintained in 9 institutes, and 13 projects designed and implemented (11 institutional, 2 addressing ministerial-level priorities) to research nursing issues at selected centers. A systematic strategy to build nursing capacity for health

[Analysis on influencing factors for child restraint system use in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China].

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Xiao; Jin, Ye; Peng, Ji; Xia, Qinghua; Ma, Jianping; Wang, Linhong; Duan, Leilei

2016-01-01

To understand the factors related with child restraint system (CRS) use, and provide evidence for the development of appropriate intervention measures to promote the use of CRS for the protection of child passengers' safety. Self-administrated questionnaire survey was conducted among 0-6 years old children's parents who owned private cars selected through stratified cluster random sampling in Shanghai and Shenzhen to collect date about CRS use and related factors. Group discussion was conducted among some of the parents randomly selected to further understand the reasons for using or not using CRS. Of 7528 parents surveyed, 39.23% (2820/7189) reported to have CRS and 17.14% (1232/7189) reported consistent use of CRS. Multivariate analysis indicated that young age of children, high level of education of parents, good family economic status, awareness of importance of children's safety were the positive factors for CRS use. The frequency and distance of children'car taking and the seatbelt use of drivers significantly influenced the CRS use. The main reasons for not purchasing CRS included limited car space (53.33%, 2329/4 367), low frequency of children car taking (48.55%, 2120/4367), difficulty in installation (42.25%, 1845/4367), high cost (38.58%, 1685/4367), and unreliable quality (31.03%, 1355/4367). The main reasons for not using CRS included children's refusal (67.36%, 293/435), short travel distance (53.79%, 234/435), difficulty in installation or use (53.10%, 231/435), limited car space (32.41%, 141/435), and unnecessary (25.75%, 112/435). Parents have gaps and misunderstandings in using CRSs to protect child passengers safety. There are demands of technical guiding service in use of CRS. Integrated intervention measures should be implemented targeting at the identified barriers and needs in CRS use to promote child passenger safety, which include strengthening the propaganda and education, promoting the legislation and law enforcement, strengthening market

An analysis of the Research Team-Service User relationship from the Service User perspective: a consideration of 'The Three Rs' (Roles, Relations, and Responsibilities) for healthcare research organisations.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Melanie; Rowley, Emma; Morriss, Richard; Manning, Nick

2015-12-01

This article debates interview data from service users who engaged with the work of a Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC). The evidence base, to date, concerning the nature of CLAHRC work at the frontline (i.e. What is it actually like to do CLAHRC work?) is meagre; thus, this article represents an original contribution to that literature. Further, this article analyses service users' participation in research - as members of the research team - and so contributes to the body of developing literature regarding involvement too. This article explores the nature of the Research Team-Service User relationship, plus associated roles, relations and responsibilities of collaborative health research. Qualitative social science research was undertaken in a health-care research organization utilizing interview method and a medical sociology and organizational sociology theoretical framework for analysis. Data utilized originate from a larger evaluation study that focuses on the CLAHRC as an iterative organization and explores members' experiences. There can be a disparity between initial expectations and actual experiences of involvement for service users. Therefore, as structured via 'The Three Rs' (Roles, Relations and Responsibilities), aspects of the relationship are evaluated (e.g. motivation, altruism, satisfaction, transparency, scope, feedback, communication, time). Regarding the inclusion of service users in health research teams, a careful consideration of 'The Three Rs' is required to ensure expectations match experiences. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Involving mental health service users in suicide-related research: a qualitative inquiry model.

Science.gov (United States)

Lees, David; Procter, Nicholas; Fassett, Denise; Handley, Christine

2016-03-01

To describe the research model developed and successfully deployed as part of a multi-method qualitative study investigating suicidal service-users' experiences of mental health nursing care. Quality mental health care is essential to limiting the occurrence and burden of suicide, however there is a lack of relevant research informing practice in this context. Research utilising first-person accounts of suicidality is of particular importance to expanding the existing evidence base. However, conducting ethical research to support this imperative is challenging. The model discussed here illustrates specific and more generally applicable principles for qualitative research regarding sensitive topics and involving potentially vulnerable service-users. Researching into mental health service users with first-person experience of suicidality requires stakeholder and institutional support, researcher competency, and participant recruitment, consent, confidentiality, support and protection. Research with service users into their experiences of sensitive issues such as suicidality can result in rich and valuable data, and may also provide positive experiences of collaboration and inclusivity. If challenges are not met, objectification and marginalisation of service-users may be reinforced, and limitations in the evidence base and service provision may be perpetuated.

Petronas: research and scientific services

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-01-01

Petroleum is one of Malaysia's major commodities. In 1993 alone, Malaysia exported about 21 million tonne crude petroleum and 3.4 million tonne of petroleum products with export value of about RM 9.2 billion. Despite the large local and export market of the fuel, our petroleum industry is facing several difficulties. The supply of petrol will inevitably deplete. The industry faces an increase in the exploration costs and decline in the discovery of large reserves. Petronas research and scientific services Sdn Bhd was established 3 years ago. The company which supports its holding company's needs in R and D started its history as an analytical laboratory in 1978. Today, it is one of the leading upstream and downstream petroleum research institute in this region

Information-seeking behavior of basic science researchers: implications for library services.

Science.gov (United States)

Haines, Laura L; Light, Jeanene; O'Malley, Donna; Delwiche, Frances A

2010-01-01

This study examined the information-seeking behaviors of basic science researchers to inform the development of customized library services. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted on a sample of basic science researchers employed at a university medical school. The basic science researchers used a variety of information resources ranging from popular Internet search engines to highly technical databases. They generally relied on basic keyword searching, using the simplest interface of a database or search engine. They were highly collegial, interacting primarily with coworkers in their laboratories and colleagues employed at other institutions. They made little use of traditional library services and instead performed many traditional library functions internally. Although the basic science researchers expressed a positive attitude toward the library, they did not view its resources or services as integral to their work. To maximize their use by researchers, library resources must be accessible via departmental websites. Use of library services may be increased by cultivating relationships with key departmental administrative personnel. Despite their self-sufficiency, subjects expressed a desire for centralized information about ongoing research on campus and shared resources, suggesting a role for the library in creating and managing an institutional repository.

Comments on Navarro's review of Health services research: an anthology.

Science.gov (United States)

White, K L

1993-01-01

In preparing Health Services Research: An Anthology, the editors attempted to broaden the definition of health services research promulgated by the National Library of Medicine. Many articles in the Anthology focused on stemming the avalanche of medicine's unevaluated procedures and prescribing practices, and on broadening the horizons of the medical establishment. Another anthology is clearly needed to address Virchow's dictum that medicine is politics writ large.

Pediatric Oncology Branch - Support Services | Center for Cancer Research

Science.gov (United States)

Support Services As part of the comprehensive care provided at the NCI Pediatric Oncology Branch, we provide a wide range of services to address the social, psychological, emotional, and practical facets of pediatric cancer and to support patients and families while they are enrolled in clinical research protocols.

Growth Disparity between Medical Research and Medical Services ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Growth Disparity between Medical Research and Medical Services in India. British rulers opened hospitals for modern medicine; medical colleges; nurses schools etc. in the 19th century to the joyous welcome of natives. During the same period, they set up Indian Research Fund Association two years ahead of the MRC of ...

An interoperable research data infrastructure to support climate service development

Science.gov (United States)

De Filippis, Tiziana; Rocchi, Leandro; Rapisardi, Elena

2018-02-01

Accessibility, availability, re-use and re-distribution of scientific data are prerequisites to build climate services across Europe. From this perspective the Institute of Biometeorology of the National Research Council (IBIMET-CNR), aiming at contributing to the sharing and integration of research data, has developed a research data infrastructure to support the scientific activities conducted in several national and international research projects. The proposed architecture uses open-source tools to ensure sustainability in the development and deployment of Web applications with geographic features and data analysis functionalities. The spatial data infrastructure components are organized in typical client-server architecture and interact from the data provider download data process to representation of the results to end users. The availability of structured raw data as customized information paves the way for building climate service purveyors to support adaptation, mitigation and risk management at different scales.This work is a bottom-up collaborative initiative between different IBIMET-CNR research units (e.g. geomatics and information and communication technology - ICT; agricultural sustainability; international cooperation in least developed countries - LDCs) that embrace the same approach for sharing and re-use of research data and informatics solutions based on co-design, co-development and co-evaluation among different actors to support the production and application of climate services. During the development phase of Web applications, different users (internal and external) were involved in the whole process so as to better define user needs and suggest the implementation of specific custom functionalities. Indeed, the services are addressed to researchers, academics, public institutions and agencies - practitioners who can access data and findings from recent research in the field of applied meteorology and climatology.

The establishment of research ethics consultation services (RECS): an emerging research resource.

Science.gov (United States)

McCormick, Jennifer B; Sharp, Richard R; Ottenberg, Abigale L; Reider, Carson R; Taylor, Holly A; Wilfond, Benjamin S

2013-02-01

Emphasis on translational research to facilitate progression from the laboratory into the community also creates a dynamic in which ethics and social policy questions and solutions are ever pressing. In response, academic institutions are creating Research Ethics Consultation Services (RECS). All Clinical Translational Science Award institutions were surveyed in early 2010 to determine which institutions have a RECS in operation and what is their composition and function. Of the 46 institutions surveyed, 33 (70%) have a RECS. Only 15 RECS have received any consult requests in the last year. Issues that are common among these relatively nascent services include relationships with institutional oversight committees, balancing requestor concerns about confidentiality with research integrity and human subjects protection priorities, tracking consult data and outcomes, and developing systems for internal evaluation. There is variability in how these issues are approached. It will be important to be attentive to the institutional context to develop an appropriate approach. Further data about the issues raised by requestors and the recommendations provided are necessary to build a community of scholars who can navigate and resolve ethical issues encountered along the translational research pathway. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Technical Service Agreement (TSA) | Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

Science.gov (United States)

Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) scientists provide services and solutions to collaborators through the Technical Services Program, whose portfolio includes more than 200 collaborations with more than 80 partners. The Frederi

E-research platform of EPOS Thematic Core Service "ANTHROPOGENIC HAZARDS"

Science.gov (United States)

Orlecka-Sikora, Beata; Lasocki, Stanisław; Grasso, Jean Robert; Schmittbuhl, Jean; Kwiatek, Grzegorz; Garcia, Alexander; Cassidy, Nigel; Sterzel, Mariusz; Szepieniec, Tomasz; Dineva, Savka; Biggare, Pascal; Saccorotti, Gilberto; Sileny, Jan; Fischer, Tomas

2016-04-01

EPOS Thematic Core Service ANTHROPOGENIC HAZARDS (TCS AH) aims to create new research opportunities in the field of anthropogenic hazards evoked by exploitation of georesources. TCS AH, based on the prototype built in the framework of the IS-EPOS project (https://tcs.ah-epos.eu/), financed from Polish structural funds (POIG.02.03.00-14-090/13-00), is being further developed within EPOS IP project (H2020-INFRADEV-1-2015-1, INFRADEV-3-2015). TCS AH is designed as a functional e-research environment to ensure a researcher the maximum possible freedom for in silico experimentation by providing a virtual laboratory in which researcher will be able to create own workspace with own processing streams. The unique integrated RI is: (i) data gathered in the so- called "episodes", comprehensively describing a geophysical process, induced or triggered by human technological activity, which under certain circumstances can become hazardous for people, infrastructure and the environment and (ii) problem-oriented, specific high-level services, with the particular attention devoted to methods analyzing correlations between technology, geophysical response and resulting hazard. Services to be implemented are grouped within six blocks: (1) Basic services for data integration and handling; (2) Services for physical models of stress/strain changes over time and space as driven by geo-resource production; (3) Services for analysing geophysical signals; (4) Services to extract the relation between technological operations and observed induced seismic/deformation; (5) Services to quantitative probabilistic assessments of anthropogenic seismic hazard - statistical properties of anthropogenic seismic series and their dependence on time-varying anthropogenesis; ground motion prediction equations; stationary and time-dependent probabilistic seismic hazard estimates, related to time-changeable technological factors inducing the seismic process; (6) Simulator for Multi

A strategy for building public service motivation research Internationally

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kim, S.; Vandenabeele, W.V.

2010-01-01

As public service motivation research grows qualitatively and quantitatively, some scholars question its appropriateness for international applications. This essay sets out a strategy of convergence for international research and measurement approaches. Studies that assess commonalities in public

Qualitative Methods in Mental Health Services Research

Science.gov (United States)

Palinkas, Lawrence A.

2014-01-01

Qualitative and mixed methods play a prominent role in mental health services research. However, the standards for their use are not always evident, especially for those not trained in such methods. This paper reviews the rationale and common approaches to using qualitative and mixed methods in mental health services and implementation research based on a review of the papers included in this special series along with representative examples from the literature. Qualitative methods are used to provide a “thick description” or depth of understanding to complement breadth of understanding afforded by quantitative methods, elicit the perspective of those being studied, explore issues that have not been well studied, develop conceptual theories or test hypotheses, or evaluate the process of a phenomenon or intervention. Qualitative methods adhere to many of the same principles of scientific rigor as quantitative methods, but often differ with respect to study design, data collection and data analysis strategies. For instance, participants for qualitative studies are usually sampled purposefully rather than at random and the design usually reflects an iterative process alternating between data collection and analysis. The most common techniques for data collection are individual semi-structured interviews, focus groups, document reviews, and participant observation. Strategies for analysis are usually inductive, based on principles of grounded theory or phenomenology. Qualitative methods are also used in combination with quantitative methods in mixed method designs for convergence, complementarity, expansion, development, and sampling. Rigorously applied qualitative methods offer great potential in contributing to the scientific foundation of mental health services research. PMID:25350675

Classical table services in commercial catering: standardization proposal and clarifications for future researches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodolfo Wendhausen Krause

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This study aims to synthesize the scientific knowledge with the empirical knowledge of the authors of this article on the four main types/styles of individual services in gastronomic full service establishments. In addition, it seeks to, as secondary objectives, to simplify and standardize the types of classic services in restaurants. These objectives were met through a positivist methodological approach. It had as research techniques a comparative analysis and synthesis of the state of the art on the typology of classical services with the empirical knowledge of the authors. Subsequently, the validation of standardization proposal was made by a panel of evaluators. We came to simplify the services into three basic categories: French Service; Direct English Service and Platted Service. It is understood that, because it is an exploratory study, the proposal is the beginning of scientific research on the subject. Therefore, it has to be investigated in greater depth in future studies. Therefore, the research field of the mise en place is the area that greater needs research of this nature.

How will we know "good" qualitative research when we see it? Beginning the dialogue in health services research.

OpenAIRE

Devers, K J

1999-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To lay the foundation for an explicit review and dialogue concerning the criteria that should be used to evaluate qualitative health services research. Clear criteria are critical for the discipline because they provide a benchmark against which research can be assessed. DATA SOURCES: Existing literature in the social sciences and health services research, particularly in primary care and medicine. PRINCIPAL FINDING: Traditional criteria for evaluating qualitative research are root...

Forest Service Global Change Research Strategy, 2009-2019

Science.gov (United States)

Allen Solomon; Richard Birdsey; Linda A. Joyce; Jennifer Hayes

2009-01-01

In keeping with the research goals of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, the Research and Development agenda of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), helps define climate change policy and develop best management practices for forests (both rural and urban) and grasslands. These actions are taken to sustain ecosystem health, adjust management...

An interoperable research data infrastructure to support climate service development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. De Filippis

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Accessibility, availability, re-use and re-distribution of scientific data are prerequisites to build climate services across Europe. From this perspective the Institute of Biometeorology of the National Research Council (IBIMET-CNR, aiming at contributing to the sharing and integration of research data, has developed a research data infrastructure to support the scientific activities conducted in several national and international research projects. The proposed architecture uses open-source tools to ensure sustainability in the development and deployment of Web applications with geographic features and data analysis functionalities. The spatial data infrastructure components are organized in typical client–server architecture and interact from the data provider download data process to representation of the results to end users. The availability of structured raw data as customized information paves the way for building climate service purveyors to support adaptation, mitigation and risk management at different scales.This work is a bottom-up collaborative initiative between different IBIMET-CNR research units (e.g. geomatics and information and communication technology – ICT; agricultural sustainability; international cooperation in least developed countries – LDCs that embrace the same approach for sharing and re-use of research data and informatics solutions based on co-design, co-development and co-evaluation among different actors to support the production and application of climate services. During the development phase of Web applications, different users (internal and external were involved in the whole process so as to better define user needs and suggest the implementation of specific custom functionalities. Indeed, the services are addressed to researchers, academics, public institutions and agencies – practitioners who can access data and findings from recent research in the field of applied meteorology and climatology.

Research Support in Australian Academic Libraries: Services, Resources, and Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Haddow, Gaby; Mamtora, Jayshree

2017-01-01

In the last decade Australian academic libraries have increasingly aligned their research support services with assessment criteria used in the national research evaluation exercise (Excellence for Research in Australia). The same period has seen growing interest in research impact outside of traditional measures, such as bibliometrics. Social…

Astroserver – Research Services in the Stellar Webshop

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Németh Péter

2017-12-01

Full Text Available A quick look at research and development in astronomy shows that we live in exciting times. Exoplanetary systems, supernovae, and merging binary black holes were far out of reach for observers two decades ago and now such phenomena are recorded routinely. This quick development would not have been possible without the ability for researchers to be connected, to think globally and to be mobile. Classical short-term positions are not always suitable to support these conditions and freelancing may be a viable alternative.We introduce the Astroserver framework, which is a new freelancing platform for scientists, and demonstrate through examples how it contributed to some recent projects related to hot subdwarf stars and binaries. These contributions, which included spectroscopic data mining, computing services and observing services, as well as artwork, allowed a deeper look into the investigated systems. The work on composite spectra binaries provided new details for the hypervelocity wide subdwarf binary PB 3877 and found diverse and rare systems with sub-giant companions in high-resolution spectroscopic surveys. The models for the peculiar abundance pattern of the evolved compact star LP 40-365 showed it to be a bound hypervelocity remnant of a supernova Iax event. Some of these works also included data visualizations to help presenting the new results. Such services may be of interest for many researchers.

Service-oriented computing : State of the art and research challenges

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papazoglou, Michael P.; Traverso, Paolo; Dustdar, Schahram; Leymann, Frank

2007-01-01

Service-oriented computing promotes the idea of assembling application components into a network of services that can be loosely coupled to create flexible, dynamic business processes and agile applications that span organizations and computing platforms. An SOC research road map provides a context

Counseling Services and Student Success. Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Francis, Perry C.; Horn, Aaron S.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this research brief is to provide an overview of mental health issues and counseling services on college campuses. The findings from several national surveys are reviewed to estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depression, suicide and suicidal ideation, and violence among college students. Common prevention and treatment programs…

RESEARCH OF EXPECTED AND PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY IN HOTEL MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milan Bradić

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the concept and measurement of quality of service in the hotel sector. The ratings of guests’ expectations and calculations of SERVQUAL gap (discrepancies between expectations and perceptions, has been the most reliable method in estimating the precise diagnosis of quality deficiency. The findings of questionnaire research aimed at measuring the service quality in spa hotels are presented in this paper. The research was conducted in hotels of the third category (three-star hotels which are located in the most visited spa centers in Serbia: Vrnjačka banja, Niška banja, Soko banja and Mataruška banja, during the months of September - November 2009. Service quality was measured with a model based on SERVQUAL model. The results may be important for providers of hotel services and contribute to the advancement of business through the adjustment of the product needs of hotel guests.

78 FR 70102 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies; Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-22

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative... notice under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, that the Clinical Science Research and... Development Officer through the Director of the Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the...

77 FR 72438 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-05

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative... under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, that the Clinical Science Research and... through the Director of the Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the relevance and...

78 FR 53015 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-27

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative... under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, that the Clinical Science Research and... Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the relevance and feasibility of proposed projects and...

Building a science of partnership-focused research: forging and sustaining partnerships to support child mental health prevention and services research.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradshaw, Catherine P; Haynes, Katherine Taylor

2012-07-01

Building on growing interest in translational research, this paper provides an overview of a special issue of Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Service Research, which is focused on the process of forging and sustaining partnerships to support child mental health prevention and services research. We propose that partnership-focused research is a subdiscipline of translational research which requires additional research to better refine the theoretical framework and the core principles that will guide future research and training efforts. We summarize some of the major themes across the eight original articles and three commentaries included in the special issue. By advancing the science of partnership-focused research we will be able to bridge the gap between child mental health prevention and services research and practice.

Sustainability of financial professional services through marketing strategy- an empirical research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dutescu Adriana

2017-07-01

Full Text Available All types of companies providing financial professional services use, formally or informally, marketing principles and tools for the development of their business, in order to straighten their sustainability. By the end of 2009, in Romania, the financial professional services market has had a relatively constant and predictable development, the mandatory nature of these services being their most important promoter. This article presents the results of a survey aimed to highlight the impact of different marketing principles, techniques and tools on the sustainability of financial professional services in accounting and audit nowadays. The research is based on a questionnaire circulated to professionals with the relevant expertise in the financial-accounting domain. The number of responses obtained was considered meaningful, allowing the research results to be extrapolated to the entire studied population. The respondents, whose anonymity was respected, had multiple choice answers for most of the questions and also having the option of opened answers. The main findings of our research are a starting point in providing solutions to improve the sustainability of financial professional services through a coherent, innovative and effective marketing strategy.

Peace corps partnered health services implementation research in global health: opportunity for impact.

Science.gov (United States)

Dykens, Andrew; Hedrick, Chris; Ndiaye, Youssoupha; Linn, Annē

2014-09-01

There is abundant evidence of the affordable, life-saving interventions effective at the local primary health care level in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, the understanding of how to deliver those interventions in diverse settings is limited. Primary healthcare services implementation research is needed to elucidate the contextual factors that can influence the outcomes of interventions, especially at the local level. US universities commonly collaborate with LMIC universities, communities, and health system partners for health services research but common barriers exist. Current challenges include the capacity to establish an ongoing presence in local settings in order to facilitate close collaboration and communication. The Peace Corps is an established development organization currently aligned with local health services in many LMICs and is well-positioned to facilitate research partnerships. This article explores the potential of a community-Peace Corps-academic partnership approach to conduct local primary healthcare services implementation research. The Peace Corps is well positioned to offer insights into local contextual factors because volunteers work closely with local leaders, have extensive trust within local communities, and have an ongoing, constant, well-integrated presence. However, the Peace Corps does not routinely conduct primary healthcare services implementation research. Universities, within the United States and locally, could benefit from the established resources and trust of the Peace Corps to conduct health services implementation research to advance access to local health services and further the knowledge of real world application of local health services in a diversity of settings. The proposed partnership would consist of (1) a local community advisory board and local health system leaders, (2) Peace Corps volunteers, and (3) a US-LMIC academic institutional collaboration. Within the proposed partnership approach

Application of Constant Rate of Supply model (CRS) in dating of Guanabara Bay sediments using 210Pb measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braganca, Maura Julia Camara da Silva

1992-09-01

A geochronological study of the Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) based on 210P b dating technique to determine sedimentation rates and using the Constant Rate of Supply model (CRS) is presented in this work. Sediment samples were collected from river-head of Estrela, Sao Joao de Meriti, Guapimirim, Guaxindiba e Imbuacu. A low energy gamma spectrometry ( 210P b, samples taken from the Estrela and Sao Joao de Meriti rivers. Radiochemical method was applied to determine the amount of 210P b in samples collected near Guapimirim, Guaxindiba and Imbuacu Rivers. Atomic absorption spectrometry with air-acetylene flame technique was used to determine the amount of copper in all these samples. Experimental data shown the following variation in the concentration levels of copper and 210P b: (i) copper; from 2.5 μg/g to 37.1 μg/g (Imbuacu River); from 3.6 to 228.1 μg/g (Estrela River); from 11.6 to 73.4 μg/g (Guapimirim River); from 12.0 to 52.9 μg/g (Guaxindiba River) and from 90.8 to to 237.7 μg/g (Sao Joao de Meriti River), (ti) 210P b; from 2.0 Bq/kg to 27.0 Bq/kg (Imbuacu River); from 25.2 to 136.6 Bq/kg (Estrela River); from 40.0 to 90.0 Bq/kg (Sao Joao de Meriti River); from 7.0 to 70.0 Bq/kg (Guapimirim River); from 10.0 to 48.0 Bq/kg (Guaxindiba River). The sedimentation rates ranged from 0.30 cm/y in the Imbuacu River for a depth below of 35 cm to 1.3 cm/y for 0-30 cm depth in Guaxindiba River. It was concluded that the experimental data found in this work are consistent with those published in the scientific literature and that they can be predicted by the CRS model. (author)

Application of Gap Model in the Researches of Hotel Services Quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivana Blešić

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This work presents the research results of the hotel services quality by applying Gap model and SERVQUAL questionnaire. The research was conducted in five health spa centers in the West Morava river valley region during August and September 2008. The reach is aimed at testing of Gap model, i.e. identification of exceptions when the hotel services quality in the observed sample is concerned.

Research on Logistics Service Providers Selection Based on AHP and VIKOR

Science.gov (United States)

Shan, Lu

The logistics service providers supply a kind of service which is a service product, thus there is a plenty of uncertainty and fuzzy in selecting logistics service providers. AHP is first used to calculate the weights of logistics services providers evaluations and then VIKOR method developed for multi-criteria optimization determining a compromise solution is applied to select the logistics services providers. The latter method provides a maximum "group utility" for the "majority" and minimum of an individual regret for the "opponent". This decision making process of logistics services providers selection is verified to be scientific and feasible through the empirical research.

Supporting Theory Building in Integrated Services Research

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Mark; Atkinson, Mary; Downing, Dick

2008-01-01

This literature review was commissioned by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to draw together current and recent studies of integrated working, in order to build an overview of the theories and models of such working. The review is important for current work on evaluating the early impact of integrated children's services and…

Paucity of qualitative research in general medical and health services and policy research journals: analysis of publication rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Gagliardi, Anna R; Dobrow, Mark J

2011-10-12

Qualitative research has the potential to inform and improve health care decisions but a study based on one year of publications suggests that it is not published in prominent health care journals. A more detailed, longitudinal analysis of its availability is needed. The purpose of this study was to identify, count and compare the number of qualitative and non-qualitative research studies published in high impact health care journals, and explore trends in these data over the last decade. A bibliometric approach was used to identify and quantify qualitative articles published in 20 top general medical and health services and policy research journals from 1999 to 2008. Eligible journals were selected based on performance in four different ranking systems reported in the 2008 ISI Journal Citation Reports. Qualitative and non-qualitative research published in these journals were identified by searching MEDLINE, and validated by hand-searching tables of contents for four journals. The total number of qualitative research articles published during 1999 to 2008 in ten general medical journals ranged from 0 to 41, and in ten health services and policy research journals from 0 to 39. Over this period the percentage of empirical research articles that were qualitative ranged from 0% to 0.6% for the general medical journals, and 0% to 6.4% for the health services and policy research journals. This analysis suggests that qualitative research it is rarely published in high impact general medical and health services and policy research journals. The factors that contribute to this persistent marginalization need to be better understood.

Research

African Journals Online (AJOL)

abp

2015-09-22

Sep 22, 2015 ... Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS), characterized by multiple defects to the ... Majority of caregivers (97.8%) reported to the health facility within two days ... Index case was a 9 year old girl from Simchembu 2 Primary School.

Community action research track: Community-based participatory research and service-learning experiences for medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Gimpel, Nora; Kindratt, Tiffany; Dawson, Alvin; Pagels, Patti

2018-04-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and service-learning are unique experiential approaches designed to train medical students how to provide individualized patient care from a population perspective. Medical schools in the US are required to provide support for service-learning and community projects. Despite this requirement, few medical schools offer structured service-learning. We developed the Community Action Research Track (CART) to integrate population medicine, health promotion/disease prevention and the social determinants of health into the medical school curriculum through CBPR and service-learning experiences. This article provides an overview of CART and reports the program impact based on students' participation, preliminary evaluations and accomplishments. CART is an optional 4‑year service-learning experience for medical students interested in community health. The curriculum includes a coordinated longitudinal program of electives, community service-learning and lecture-based instruction. From 2009-2015, 146 CART students participated. Interests in public health (93%), community service (73%), primary care (73%), CBPR (60%) and community medicine (60%) were the top reasons for enrolment. Significant improvements in mean knowledge were found when measuring the principles of CBPR, levels of prevention, determining health literacy and patient communication strategies (all p's Projects were disseminated by at least 65 posters and four oral presentations at local, national and international professional meetings. Six manuscripts were published in peer-reviewed journals. CART is an innovative curriculum for training future physicians to be community-responsive physicians. CART can be replicated by other medical schools interested in offering a longitudinal CBPR and service-learning track in an urban metropolitan setting.

Research into Australian emergency services personnel mental health and wellbeing: An evidence map.

Science.gov (United States)

Varker, Tracey; Metcalf, Olivia; Forbes, David; Chisolm, Katherine; Harvey, Sam; Van Hooff, Miranda; McFarlane, Alexander; Bryant, Richard; Phelps, Andrea J

2018-02-01

Evidence maps are a method of systematically characterising the range of research activity in broad topic areas and are a tool for guiding research priorities. 'Evidence-mapping' methodology was used to quantify the nature and distribution of recent peer-reviewed research into the mental health and wellbeing of Australian emergency services personnel. A search of the PsycINFO, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases was performed for primary research articles that were published between January 2011 and July 2016. In all, 43 studies of primary research were identified and mapped. The majority of the research focused on organisational and individual/social factors and how they relate to mental health problems/wellbeing. There were several areas of research where very few studies were detected through the mapping process, including suicide, personality, stigma and pre-employment factors that may contribute to mental health outcomes and the use of e-health. No studies were detected which examined the prevalence of self-harm and/or harm to others, bullying, alcohol/substance use, barriers to care or experience of families of emergency services personnel. In addition, there was no comprehensive national study that had investigated all sectors of emergency services personnel. This evidence map highlights the need for future research to address the current gaps in mental health and wellbeing research among Australian emergency services personnel. Improved understanding of the mental health and wellbeing of emergency services personnel, and the factors that contribute, should guide organisations' wellbeing policies and procedures.

E-service research trends in the domain of e-Government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scupola, Ada; Islam, M. Sirajul

2011-01-01

review to examine the e-service research trends during the period between 2005 and 2009 mostly in terms of, research methods, theoretical models and frameworks employed as well as type of research questions. The results show that there has been a good amount of papers focusing on ‘e-Service’ within...

Service Integration to Enhance Research Data Management: RSpace Electronic Laboratory Notebook Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stuart Macdonald

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Research Data Management (RDM provides a framework that supports researchers and their data throughout the course of their research and is increasingly regarded as one of the essential areas of responsible conduct of research. New tools and infrastructures make possible the generation of large volumes of digital research data in a myriad of formats. This facilitates new ways to analyse, share and reuse these outputs, with libraries, IT services and other service units within academic institutions working together with the research community to develop RDM infrastructures to curate and preserve this type of research output and make them re-usable for future generations. Working on the principle that a rationalised and continuous flow of data between systems and across institutional boundaries is one of the core goals of information management, this paper will highlight service integration via Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN, which streamline research data workflows, result in efficiency gains for researchers, research administrators and other stakeholders, and ultimately enhance the RDM process.

Research into the influence of internal interdepartmental integration on service innovation and customer loyalty

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jui-Chan; Wu, Tzu-Jung; Wen, Hao-Ming; Hsin-Fei, Wu; Hairui, Ji

2017-06-01

It is the most important for the company to improve customer value and customer loyalty through service innovation. However, at present, only researches related to organizations or consumer behaviors are conducted, there is rare research into the combination between organization level and consumer behavior, and this research tries to explore this aspect, which is the motivation and contribution of this research. This research aims to explore the relationship between "Interdepartmental Integration", "Service Innovation" and "Customer Loyalty", according to the analysis results, the relationship between "interdepartmental integration and service innovation" and "service innovation and customer loyalty" has a low positive correlation and it reaches significant level; it shows the relationship between "interdepartmental interaction and progressive innovation" and "interdepartmental collaboration and fundamental innovation" is significant.

Effects of mobile phone WeChat services improve adherence to corticosteroid nasal spray treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis after functional endoscopic sinus surgery: a 3-month follow-up study.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Shaoyan; Liang, Zibin; Zhang, Rongkai; Liao, Wei; Chen, Yuan; Fan, Yunping; Li, Huabin

2017-03-01

The objective of the study is to investigate the impact of receiving daily WeChat services on one's cell phone on adherence to corticosteroid nasal spray treatment in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients after functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). This study was a two-arm, randomized, follow-up investigation. Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with/without nasal polyps following bilateral FESS were randomised to receive, or to not receive, daily WeChat service on their cell phone to take corticosteroid nasal spray treatment. A prescription of budesonide aqueous nasal spray 128 µg bid was given to all the subjects. Then they returned to the clinic after 30, 60, 90 days. The primary study outcome was adherence to nasal spray treatment, whereas secondary outcomes were change in endoscopic findings and SinoNasal Outcome Test-20 (SNOT-20). On the whole, there was a significant inter-group difference in the change of adherence rate (F = 90.88, p = 0.000). The WeChat group had much higher adherence rate than the control group during the follow-up. In terms of postoperative endoscopic scores and SNOT-20, except granulation score, no significant differences were observed between the two randomization groups. WeChat services are already after a short period of observation associated with improved adherence to corticosteroid nasal spray treatment in CRS patients after FESS.

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

Paucity of qualitative research in general medical and health services and policy research journals: analysis of publication rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background Qualitative research has the potential to inform and improve health care decisions but a study based on one year of publications suggests that it is not published in prominent health care journals. A more detailed, longitudinal analysis of its availability is needed. The purpose of this study was to identify, count and compare the number of qualitative and non-qualitative research studies published in high impact health care journals, and explore trends in these data over the last decade. Methods A bibliometric approach was used to identify and quantify qualitative articles published in 20 top general medical and health services and policy research journals from 1999 to 2008. Eligible journals were selected based on performance in four different ranking systems reported in the 2008 ISI Journal Citation Reports. Qualitative and non-qualitative research published in these journals were identified by searching MEDLINE, and validated by hand-searching tables of contents for four journals. Results The total number of qualitative research articles published during 1999 to 2008 in ten general medical journals ranged from 0 to 41, and in ten health services and policy research journals from 0 to 39. Over this period the percentage of empirical research articles that were qualitative ranged from 0% to 0.6% for the general medical journals, and 0% to 6.4% for the health services and policy research journals. Conclusions This analysis suggests that qualitative research it is rarely published in high impact general medical and health services and policy research journals. The factors that contribute to this persistent marginalization need to be better understood. PMID:21992238

Making research relevant? Ecological methods and the ecosystem services framework

Science.gov (United States)

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

2017-07-01

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

Research-Based Program Development: Refining the Service Model for a Geographic Alliance

Science.gov (United States)

Rutherford, David J.; Lovorn, Carley

2018-01-01

Research conducted in 2013 identified the perceptions that K-12 teachers and administrators hold with respect to: (1) the perceived needs in education, (2) the professional audiences that are most important to reach, and (3) the service models that are most effective. The specific purpose of the research was to refine and improve the services that…

How will we know "good" qualitative research when we see it? Beginning the dialogue in health services research.

Science.gov (United States)

Devers, K J

1999-12-01

To lay the foundation for an explicit review and dialogue concerning the criteria that should be used to evaluate qualitative health services research. Clear criteria are critical for the discipline because they provide a benchmark against which research can be assessed. Existing literature in the social sciences and health services research, particularly in primary care and medicine. Traditional criteria for evaluating qualitative research are rooted in the philosophical perspective (positivism) most closely associated with quantitative research and methods. As a result, qualitative research and methods may not be used as frequently as they can be and research results generated from qualitative studies may not be disseminated as widely as possible. However, alternative criteria for evaluating qualitative research have been proposed that reflect a different philosophical perspective (post-positivism). Moreover, these criteria are tailored to the unique purposes for which qualitative research is used and the research designs traditionally employed. While criteria based on these two different philosophical perspectives have much in common, some important differences exist. The field of health services research must engage in a collective, "qualitative" process to determine which criteria to adopt (positivist or post-positivist), or whether some combination of the two is most appropriate. Greater clarity about the criteria used to evaluate qualitative research will strengthen the discipline by fostering a more appropriate and improved use of qualitative methods, a greater willingness to fund and publish "good" qualitative research, and the development of more informed consumers of qualitative research results.

QFD-ANP Approach for the Conceptual Design of Research Vessels: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Venkata Subbaiah, Kambagowni; Yeshwanth Sai, Koneru; Suresh, Challa

2016-10-01

Conceptual design is a subset of concept art wherein a new idea of product is created instead of a visual representation which would directly be used in a final product. The purpose is to understand the needs of conceptual design which are being used in engineering designs and to clarify the current conceptual design practice. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a customer oriented design approach for developing new or improved products and services to enhance customer satisfaction. House of quality (HOQ) has been traditionally used as planning tool of QFD which translates customer requirements (CRs) into design requirements (DRs). Factor analysis is carried out in order to reduce the CR portions of HOQ. The analytical hierarchical process is employed to obtain the priority ratings of CR's which are used in constructing HOQ. This paper mainly discusses about the conceptual design of an oceanographic research vessel using analytical network process (ANP) technique. Finally the QFD-ANP integrated methodology helps to establish the importance ratings of DRs.

Navy Ohio Replacement (SSBN[X]) Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-05

Navy Ohio Replacement (SSBN[X]) Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress Ronald O’Rourke Specialist in Naval...Affairs April 5, 2016 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R41129 Navy Ohio Replacement (SSBN[X]) Ballistic Missile Submarine...1,091.1 million in research and development funding for the Ohio replacement program (ORP), a program to design and build a new class of 12 ballistic

IAEA-RCA training course on in-service inspection of research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has acquired a wide range of experience for over four decades in design, construction, operation and maintenance of research reactors. The two-week training course on In-Service Inspection of Research Reactors (ISI) has greatly increased the awareness in the field of ISI of Research Reactors. The training course has been formulated so as to cover most of the topics relevant to ISI of research reactors. Important topics such as rationale for in-service inspection, material degradation mechanisms, non-destructive examination techniques, design evaluation of flaws and radiological, codal and regulatory aspects of ISI for research reactors were covered. Lectures on ISI of elastomeric materials and concrete structures, which are generally used in the construction of reactors have also been included in the course. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

77 FR 31072 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-24

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative... Development Officer through the Director of the Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the... notice under Public Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Clinical Science...

76 FR 19189 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-06

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative... through the Director of the Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the relevance and... notice under Public Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Clinical Science...

76 FR 65781 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-24

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative... Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the relevance and feasibility of proposed projects and... notice under Public Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Clinical Science...

75 FR 28686 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service; Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-21

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service; Cooperative... through the Director of the Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the relevance and... notice under Public Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Clinical Science...

Mixed-methods designs in mental health services research: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Palinkas, Lawrence A; Horwitz, Sarah M; Chamberlain, Patricia; Hurlburt, Michael S; Landsverk, John

2011-03-01

Despite increased calls for use of mixed-methods designs in mental health services research, how and why such methods are being used and whether there are any consistent patterns that might indicate a consensus about how such methods can and should be used are unclear. Use of mixed methods was examined in 50 peer-reviewed journal articles found by searching PubMed Central and 60 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded projects found by searching the CRISP database over five years (2005-2009). Studies were coded for aims and the rationale, structure, function, and process for using mixed methods. A notable increase was observed in articles published and grants funded over the study period. However, most did not provide an explicit rationale for using mixed methods, and 74% gave priority to use of quantitative methods. Mixed methods were used to accomplish five distinct types of study aims (assess needs for services, examine existing services, develop new or adapt existing services, evaluate services in randomized controlled trials, and examine service implementation), with three categories of rationale, seven structural arrangements based on timing and weighting of methods, five functions of mixed methods, and three ways of linking quantitative and qualitative data. Each study aim was associated with a specific pattern of use of mixed methods, and four common patterns were identified. These studies offer guidance for continued progress in integrating qualitative and quantitative methods in mental health services research consistent with efforts by NIH and other funding agencies to promote their use.

Qualitative data analysis for health services research: developing taxonomy, themes, and theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Elizabeth H; Curry, Leslie A; Devers, Kelly J

2007-08-01

To provide practical strategies for conducting and evaluating analyses of qualitative data applicable for health services researchers. DATA SOURCES AND DESIGN: We draw on extant qualitative methodological literature to describe practical approaches to qualitative data analysis. Approaches to data analysis vary by discipline and analytic tradition; however, we focus on qualitative data analysis that has as a goal the generation of taxonomy, themes, and theory germane to health services research. We describe an approach to qualitative data analysis that applies the principles of inductive reasoning while also employing predetermined code types to guide data analysis and interpretation. These code types (conceptual, relationship, perspective, participant characteristics, and setting codes) define a structure that is appropriate for generation of taxonomy, themes, and theory. Conceptual codes and subcodes facilitate the development of taxonomies. Relationship and perspective codes facilitate the development of themes and theory. Intersectional analyses with data coded for participant characteristics and setting codes can facilitate comparative analyses. Qualitative inquiry can improve the description and explanation of complex, real-world phenomena pertinent to health services research. Greater understanding of the processes of qualitative data analysis can be helpful for health services researchers as they use these methods themselves or collaborate with qualitative researchers from a wide range of disciplines.

Positioning the arts for intervention design research in the human services.

Science.gov (United States)

Moxley, David P; Calligan, Holly Feen

2015-12-01

The arts have been integral to the human experience fostering innovation in social arrangements, strengthening group cohesion, and merging esthetics with the utilitarian properties of technology. For intervention design research in the human services the arts can harness innovation and creativity in meeting human needs and addressing social issues. Given their capacities to stimulate expression of first person experience through interpretative strategies, the arts can equip people and groups, including researchers, with opportunities to express primary experiential knowledge through creative means, portray useful ways of meeting human needs, educate others about the social issues people experience, and formulate intervention strategies or even models to address the causes and consequences of those issues. In this paper, the authors discuss how the arts can inform and deepen human service intervention design and development and, as a result, advance innovation in the human services. They offer a rationale supporting the inclusion of the arts in the design of human service interventions, examine the contributions of the arts to the formulation of intervention concept and developmental research to further improve interventions, and consider how the arts can advance the reflexivity of intervention designers. The authors draw implications for how researchers can position the arts in the nine steps of intervention design and development the authors offer in this paper. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 79446 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service; Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-20

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service; Cooperative... Officer through the Director of the Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the relevance and... notice under Public Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Clinical Science...

76 FR 73781 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service; Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-29

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service; Cooperative... Officer through the Director of the Clinical Science Research and Development Service on the relevance and... notice under Public Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Clinical Science...

"We Serve You, Right?" A Case Study Adapting Coorientation to Customer Service Research

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, JoAnna

2010-01-01

An abundance of academic research has focused on identifying, explicating, operationalizing, and analyzing variables used to understand the dynamics of customer service. Despite this scholarly attention, applied researchers and the popular press have long reported consumers' dissatisfaction with the service received during their customer…

A seamless ubiquitous emergency medical service for crisis situations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Bor-Shing

2016-04-01

In crisis situations, a seamless ubiquitous communication is necessary to provide emergency medical service to save people's lives. An excellent prehospital emergency medicine provides immediate medical care to increase the survival rate of patients. On their way to the hospital, ambulance personnel must transmit real-time and uninterrupted patient information to the hospital to apprise the physician of the situation and provide options to the ambulance personnel. In emergency and crisis situations, many communication channels can be unserviceable because of damage to equipment or loss of power. Thus, data transmission over wireless communication to achieve uninterrupted network services is a major obstacle. This study proposes a mobile middleware for cognitive radio (CR) for improving the wireless communication link. CRs can sense their operating environment and optimize the spectrum usage so that the mobile middleware can integrate the existing wireless communication systems with a seamless communication service in heterogeneous network environments. Eventually, the proposed seamless mobile communication middleware was ported into an embedded system, which is compatible with the actual network environment without the need for changing the original system architecture. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information Technology Research Services: Powerful Tools to Keep Up with a Rapidly Moving Field

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Paul

2010-01-01

Marty firms offer Information Technology Research reports, analyst calls, conferences, seminars, tools, leadership development, etc. These entities include Gartner, Forrester Research, IDC, The Burton Group, Society for Information Management, 1nfoTech Research, The Corporate Executive Board, and so on. This talk will cover how a number of such services are being used at the Goddard Space Flight Center to improve our IT management practices, workforce skills, approach to innovation, and service delivery. These tools and services are used across the workforce, from the executive leadership to the IT worker. The presentation will cover the types of services each vendor provides and their primary engagement model. The use of these services at other NASA Centers and Headquarters will be included. In addition, I will explain how two of these services are available now to the entire NASA IT workforce through enterprise-wide subscriptions.

Fedora Content Modelling for Improved Services for Research Databases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Elbæk, Mikael Karstensen; Heller, Alfred; Pedersen, Gert Schmeltz

A re-implementation of the research database of the Technical University of Denmark, DTU, is based on Fedora. The backbone consists of content models for primary and secondary entities and their relationships, giving flexible and powerful extraction capabilities for interoperability and reporting....... By adopting such an abstract data model, the platform enables new and improved services for researchers, librarians and administrators....

Recruiting to cohort studies in specialist healthcare services: Lessons learned from clinical research nurses in UK cleft services.

Science.gov (United States)

Zucchelli, Fabio; Rumsey, Nichola; Humphries, Kerry; Bennett, Rhiannon; Davies, Amy; Sandy, Jonathan; Stock, Nicola Marie

2018-03-01

To explore the experiences of clinical research nurses recruiting patients in a large specialist care-based cohort study. Longitudinal studies are vital to better understand the aetiology and moderators of health conditions. This need is especially salient for congenital conditions, such as cleft lip and/or palate, where establishing large, comprehensive data sets from birth is vital to improve understanding and to inform interventions. Various barriers exist in recruiting patients to large cohort studies. The role of clinical research nurses embedded within health settings has grown over past decades to facilitate data collection, yet challenges remain. Qualitative descriptive study. Individual semi-structured interviews with 12 clinical research nurses based in 10 National Health Service cleft services across the UK, recruiting to the Cleft Collective Birth Cohort Study. Of seven emergent themes, three highlighted challenges to recruiting patients, another three described facilitative factors, and one theme overlapped challenges and facilitators. Challenges included the life circumstances of potential participants; language barriers; and limited clinical research nurse time for study. Facilitative factors included integrating research into clinical practice; patient information shared with clinical research nurses; and support from the university-based research study team. The theme "Method of data collection" related to both challenges and facilitators. The qualitative data from clinical research nurses recruiting to a large birth cohort study provide helpful practical detail for specialist healthcare teams, specialist nurses, clinical research nurses and researchers looking to optimise recruitment and data collection in longitudinal studies. The findings suggest the importance of specialist clinical services and research study teams cooperating to embed research into everyday clinical practice, without compromising care. This should facilitate patients

77 FR 8330 - Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-14

... Disorders; HCR 2--Substance Use Disorders; HCR 3--Rehabilitation/Rural; HCR 4--Women's Health; HCR 5--Pain... Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board will meet on March 6-8, 2012, at the Hilton New Orleans... to the Chief Research and Development Officer. On March 6, the subcommittee on Nursing Research...

Advances on radiation protection dosimetry research, development and services at AEOI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohrabi, M.

1993-01-01

Radiation dosimetry is the main counterpart of an effective national radiation protection program to protect radiation workers, public and the environment against harmful effects of radiation. Research and development on radiation dosimetry are of vital needs to support national dosimetry services. The National Radiation Protection Department (NRPD) of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) being a National Authority on radiation protection is also responsible for radiation dosimetry research, development and services. Some highlights of such activities at NRPD are reviewed and discussed

CRS&SI Technology Application Program.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-01

This project report presents details of research carried out by the George Mason University : Consortium under a research contract from the U.S. Department of Transportations Research : and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), in support o...

Conditional random slope: A new approach for estimating individual child growth velocity in epidemiological research.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Michael; Bassani, Diego G; Racine-Poon, Amy; Goldenberg, Anna; Ali, Syed Asad; Kang, Gagandeep; Premkumar, Prasanna S; Roth, Daniel E

2017-09-10

Conditioning child growth measures on baseline accounts for regression to the mean (RTM). Here, we present the "conditional random slope" (CRS) model, based on a linear-mixed effects model that incorporates a baseline-time interaction term that can accommodate multiple data points for a child while also directly accounting for RTM. In two birth cohorts, we applied five approaches to estimate child growth velocities from 0 to 12 months to assess the effect of increasing data density (number of measures per child) on the magnitude of RTM of unconditional estimates, and the correlation and concordance between the CRS and four alternative metrics. Further, we demonstrated the differential effect of the choice of velocity metric on the magnitude of the association between infant growth and stunting at 2 years. RTM was minimally attenuated by increasing data density for unconditional growth modeling approaches. CRS and classical conditional models gave nearly identical estimates with two measures per child. Compared to the CRS estimates, unconditional metrics had moderate correlation (r = 0.65-0.91), but poor agreement in the classification of infants with relatively slow growth (kappa = 0.38-0.78). Estimates of the velocity-stunting association were the same for CRS and classical conditional models but differed substantially between conditional versus unconditional metrics. The CRS can leverage the flexibility of linear mixed models while addressing RTM in longitudinal analyses. © 2017 The Authors American Journal of Human Biology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Evolution of Research and Information Services at the American Federation of Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, F. Howard; Bailey, Bernadette

2002-01-01

Provides a history of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union and its information services and research functions. Examines the research department and the influence of technology, shifting from collecting information to using information from the Internet and online databases that has made access easier. Analyzes information services with…

Marketing Research on Passenger Satisfaction With Public Transport Service in the City of Belgrade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Branislav Radnović

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to determine, based on conducted marketing research, the level of passenger satisfaction with public transport services for the purpose of making better marketing decisions in the example of the City of Belgrade. The main task is to test the hypothesis on the existence of significant influence of factors, such as quality service, attitude and behaviour of employees (e.g. driver, adequate informing, quality of vehicles, line routes and timetable, on passenger satisfaction. Correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used for interpreting the obtained results and examining the formulated hypothesis. Empirical research has shown that there is a significant correlation between the aforementioned factors and passenger satisfaction with public transport services. The obtained results provided recommendations and guidelines for improving and increasing the quality of public transport services. The research results also provide the basis for future research that could examine the relationship between passenger satisfaction with services and sub-groups within the analyzed factors.

Using design science research to develop online enhanced pharmaceutical care services.

Science.gov (United States)

Lapão, Luís Velez; Gregório, João; Mello, Diogo; Cavaco, Afonso; Mira Da Silva, Miguel; Lovis, Christian

2014-01-01

The ePharmaCare project aims at assessing the potential of eHealth services for the provision of pharmaceutical services interacting actively with patients. The results presented here focus on the first three steps of Design Science Research Methodology. A mixed methods approach was used with an online survey to collect data on use of information technologies in community pharmacy, followed by an exploratory observational time and business processes study, which use the shadowing method to identify and assess the opportunity to lunch online services. Combining this with the Service Experiment Blueprint and the Dáder method an enhanced pharmaceutical service was designed. Next, an artifact is developed and a prototype is implemented to demonstrate the value of online pharmaceutical services' delivery. This new service could represent a new perspective for pharmaceutical services integration within the health system.

A Trust Framework for Online Research Data Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malcolm Wolski

2017-06-01

Full Text Available There is worldwide interest in the potential of open science to increase the quality, impact, and benefits of science and research. More recently, attention has been focused on aspects such as transparency, quality, and provenance, particularly in regard to data. For industry, citizens, and other researchers to participate in the open science agenda, further work needs to be undertaken to establish trust in research environments. Based on a critical review of the literature, this paper examines the issue of trust in an open science environment, using virtual laboratories as the focus for discussion. A trust framework, which has been developed from an end-user perspective, is proposed as a model for addressing relevant issues within online research data services and tools.

The Evolution of the Research - Development Services at the Regional Level in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia-Irina RĂBONȚU

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Research and Development services are the first of the services that support the process of innovation, innovation, and eco-innovation, with a special attention from developing countries that invest a significant percentage of GDP in these type of services. Studying the evolution of R & D services in the territorial profile is a major issue in the current context because these services are the first step in any stage of innovation, development, competitiveness, raising the standard of living of the population, increasing the economic well-being and social issues of a country. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature in the field and to analyze the evolution of the main relevant indicators in describing the level at which R & D services in Romania, and at the regional level, indicators for which there are publicly available statistical data in the official databases. The study, based on fundamental research in the field and the results of numerous bibliographic sources on this topic, uses specific statistical methods of territorial analysis. The obtained results outline an overview of the research and development services in Romania, but also at the level of the NUTS2 regions highlighting the gaps between them.

Medical universities educational and research online services: benchmarking universities' website towards e-government.

Science.gov (United States)

Farzandipour, Mehrdad; Meidani, Zahra

2014-06-01

Websites as one of the initial steps towards an e-government adoption do facilitate delivery of online and customer-oriented services. In this study we intended to investigate the role of the websites of medical universities in providing educational and research services following the E-government maturity model in the Iranian universities. This descriptive and cross- sectional study was conducted through content analysis and benchmarking the websites in 2012. The research population included the entire medical university website (37). Delivery of educational and research services through these university websites including information, interaction, transaction, and Integration were investigated using a checklist. The data were then analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and using SPSS software. Level of educational and research services by websites of the medical universities type I and II was evaluated medium as 1.99 and 1.89, respectively. All the universities gained a mean score of 1 out of 3 in terms of integration of educational and research services. Results of the study indicated that Iranian universities have passed information and interaction stages, but they have not made much progress in transaction and integration stages. Failure to adapt to e-government in Iranian medical universities in which limiting factors such as users' e-literacy, access to the internet and ICT infrastructure are not so crucial as in other organizations, suggest that e-government realization goes beyond technical challenges.

Empirical research in service engineering based on AHP and fuzzy methods

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yanrui; Cao, Wenfu; Zhang, Lina

2015-12-01

Recent years, management consulting industry has been rapidly developing worldwide. Taking a big management consulting company as research object, this paper established an index system of service quality of consulting, based on customer satisfaction survey, evaluated service quality of the consulting company by AHP and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation methods.

Action Research on Development and Application of Internet of Things Services in Hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Arum; Chang, Hyejung; Lee, Kyoung Jun

2017-01-01

Services based on the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have emerged in various business environments. To enhance health service quality and maximize benefits, this study applied an IoT technology based on NFC and iBeacon as an omni-channel service for patient care in hospitals. Application of the IoT technology based on NFC and iBeacon was conducted in a general hospital during August 2015 through June 2016, and the development and evaluation results were aligned to an action research framework. The five phases in the action research included diagnosing, planning action, taking action, evaluating action, and specifying learning phases. During the first two phases, problems of functional operations in a hospital were diagnosed and eight service models were designed by using iBeacon and NFC to solve the problems. Service models were applied to the hospital by installing beacons, wearable beacons, beacon scanners, and NFC tags during the third phase. During the fourth and fifth phases, the roles and benefits of stakeholders participating in the service models were evaluated, and issues and knowledge of the whole application process were derived and summarized from technological, economic, social and legal perspectives, respectively. From an action research perspective, IoT-based healthcare services were developed and verified. IoT-based services enable the hospital to acquire lifelog data for precision medicine and ultimately be able to go one step closer to precision medical care. The derived service models could provide patients more enhanced healthcare services and improve the work efficiency and effectiveness of the hospital.

75 FR 3542 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-21

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... Board is to review rehabilitation research and development applications for scientific and technical...

75 FR 40036 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-13

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... is to review rehabilitation research and development applications for scientific and technical merit...

Improving Aboriginal maternal and infant health services in the 'Top End' of Australia; synthesis of the findings of a health services research program aimed at engaging stakeholders, developing research capacity and embedding change.

Science.gov (United States)

Barclay, Lesley; Kruske, Sue; Bar-Zeev, Sarah; Steenkamp, Malinda; Josif, Cathryn; Narjic, Concepta Wulili; Wardaguga, Molly; Belton, Suzanne; Gao, Yu; Dunbar, Terry; Kildea, Sue

2014-06-02

Health services research is a well-articulated research methodology and can be a powerful vehicle to implement sustainable health service reform. This paper presents a summary of a five-year collaborative program between stakeholders and researchers that led to sustainable improvements in the maternity services for remote-dwelling Aboriginal women and their infants in the Top End (TE) of Australia. A mixed-methods health services research program of work was designed, using a participatory approach. The study area consisted of two large remote Aboriginal communities in the Top End of Australia and the hospital in the regional centre (RC) that provided birth and tertiary care for these communities. The stakeholders included consumers, midwives, doctors, nurses, Aboriginal Health Workers (AHW), managers, policy makers and support staff. Data were sourced from: hospital and health centre records; perinatal data sets and costing data sets; observations of maternal and infant health service delivery and parenting styles; formal and informal interviews with providers and women and focus groups. Studies examined: indicator sets that identify best care, the impact of quality of care and remoteness on health outcomes, discrepancies in the birth counts in a range of different data sets and ethnographic studies of 'out of hospital' or health centre birth and parenting. A new model of maternity care was introduced by the health service aiming to improve care following the findings of our research. Some of these improvements introduced during the five-year research program of research were evaluated. Cost effective improvements were made to the acceptability, quality and outcomes of maternity care. However, our synthesis identified system-wide problems that still account for poor quality of infant services, specifically, unacceptable standards of infant care and parent support, no apparent relationship between volume and acuity of presentations and staff numbers with the

Available reprocessing and recycling services for research reactor spent nuclear fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tozser, Sandor Miklos; Adelfang, Pablo; Bradley, Ed [International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria); Budu, Madalina [SOSNY Research and Development Company, Moscow (Russian Federation); Chiguer, Mustapha [AREVA, Paris (France)

2015-05-15

International activities in the back-end of the research reactor (RR) fuel cycle have so far been dominated by the programmes of acceptance of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) by the country where it was originally enriched. These programmes will soon have achieved their goals and the SNF take-back programmes will cease. However, the needs of the nuclear community dictate that the majority of the research reactors continue to operate using low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel in order to meet the varied mission objectives. As a result, inventories of LEU SNF will continue to be created and the back-end solution of RR SNF remains a critical issue. In view of this fact, the IAEA, based on the experience gained during the decade of international cooperation in supporting the objectives of the HEU take-back programmes, will draw up a report presenting available reprocessing and recycling services for research reactor spent nuclear fuel. This paper gives an overview of the guiding document which will address all aspects of Reprocessing and Recycling Services for RR SNF, including an overview of solutions, decision making support, service suppliers, conditions (prerequisites, options, etc.), services offered by the managerial and logistics support providers with a focus on available transport packages and applicable transport modes.

A Framework of Sustainable Service Supply Chain Management: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weihua Liu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In recent years, the interdisciplinary research of supply chains and sustainability has received extensive, yet gradual, attention; when compared to the rapid economic growth of the service industry, however, sustainable supply chain management has not been systematically explored yet. It has not only great theoretical significance, but also positive practical significance to provide a framework for the operation of a sustainable service supply chain from a sustainable development point of view. Based on the triple bottom line (TBL, we have analyzed related sustainable supply chain management research between 2006 and 2015, reviewed papers involving two or three bottom lines as well, and then introduced some classical frameworks for manufacturing supply chain management and service supply chain management. Afterward, by analyzing the differences between the manufacturing and service industries, we propose a framework of sustainable service supply chain management (SSSCM. Based on the impacts of sustainable development TBL on service supply chain participants, we have finally made a framework for sustainable operation facing triads service supply chain and proposed a future research agenda.

Conducting Online Behavioral Research Using Crowdsourcing Services in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Majima, Yoshimasa; Nishiyama, Kaoru; Nishihara, Aki; Hata, Ryosuke

2017-01-01

Recent research on human behavior has often collected empirical data from the online labor market, through a process known as crowdsourcing. As well as the United States and the major European countries, there are several crowdsourcing services in Japan. For research purpose, Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is the widely used platform among those services. Previous validation studies have shown many commonalities between MTurk workers and participants from traditional samples based on not only personality but also performance on reasoning tasks. The present study aims to extend these findings to non-MTurk (i.e., Japanese) crowdsourcing samples in which workers have different ethnic backgrounds from those of MTurk. We conducted three surveys ( N = 426, 453, 167, respectively) designed to compare Japanese crowdsourcing workers and university students in terms of their demographics, personality traits, reasoning skills, and attention to instructions. The results generally align with previous studies and suggest that non-MTurk participants are also eligible for behavioral research. Furthermore, small screen devices are found to impair participants' attention to instructions. Several recommendations concerning this sample are presented.

Participatory Research Into Inclusive Practice: Improving Services for People With Long Term Neurological Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tina Cook

2017-11-01

Full Text Available People with long-term conditions are intensive users of health services as well as being long term users of social care and community services. In the UK, the Department of Health has suggested that the development of a more inclusive approach to services could furnish benefits to people with long-term conditions and financial savings for service providers. Researchers with a varied set of expertise and experience (users of neuro-rehabilitation services, staff working in services, people working with third sector agencies and university academics adopted a participatory research approach to work together to explore what inclusion might look and feel like for people who are long term users of health services. The element of critique and mutual challenge, developed within the research process, disturbed current presentations of inclusion and inclusive practice. It revealed that the more usually expected components of inclusion (trust, respect and shared responsibility whilst necessary for inclusive practice, are not necessarily sufficient. Inclusion is revealed as a complex and challenging process that requires the active construction of a critical communicative space for dialectical and democratic learning for service development.

Planetary Space Weather Services for the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

André, Nicolas; Grande, Manuel

2016-04-01

Under Horizon 2020, the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (EPN2020-RI) will include an entirely new Virtual Access Service, WP5 VA1 "Planetary Space Weather Services" (PSWS) that will extend the concepts of space weather and space situational awareness to other planets in our Solar System and in particular to spacecraft that voyage through it. VA1 will make five entirely new 'toolkits' accessible to the research community and to industrial partners planning for space missions: a general planetary space weather toolkit, as well as three toolkits dedicated to the following key planetary environments: Mars (in support ExoMars), comets (building on the expected success of the ESA Rosetta mission), and outer planets (in preparation for the ESA JUICE mission to be launched in 2022). This will give the European planetary science community new methods, interfaces, functionalities and/or plugins dedicated to planetary space weather in the tools and models available within the partner institutes. It will also create a novel event-diary toolkit aiming at predicting and detecting planetary events like meteor showers and impacts. A variety of tools (in the form of web applications, standalone software, or numerical models in various degrees of implementation) are available for tracing propagation of planetary and/or solar events through the Solar System and modelling the response of the planetary environment (surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres) to those events. But these tools were not originally designed for planetary event prediction and space weather applications. So WP10 JRA4 "Planetary Space Weather Services" (PSWS) will provide the additional research and tailoring required to apply them for these purposes. The overall objectives of this Joint Research Aactivities will be to review, test, improve and adapt methods and tools available within the partner institutes in order to make prototype planetary event and space weather services operational in

Teaching Qualitative Research for Human Services Students: A Three-Phase Model

Science.gov (United States)

Goussinsky, Ruhama; Reshef, Arie; Yanay-Ventura, Galit; Yassour-Borochowitz, Dalit

2011-01-01

Qualitative research is an inherent part of the human services profession, since it emphasizes the great and multifaceted complexity characterizing human experience and the sociocultural context in which humans act. In the department of human services at Emek Yezreel College, Israel, we have developed a three-phase model to ensure a relatively…

The Value of Qualitative Description in Health Services and Policy Research

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Health services and policy (HSP) researchers have long used qualitative research methodologies to explore health system issues. However, the appropriateness of one approach, qualitative description, for HSP research is still often overlooked. In this article, I discuss the role that qualitative description can play in HSP research, and argue for its greater acceptance as a valid form of academic scholarship. PMID:28277201

Evaluation system of Research and Development projects and services from ININ

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reglero, R.

1994-01-01

To make a plan for a project is one thing; to control it are a hundred things at the same time. Because of this fact, the enterprises and Research and Development Institutions have searched better ways to manage this activities. The management system of Research and Development projects and services from ININ, is used as a recording, evaluation tracking, information and control of result instrument for these activities. The need to have update information of different activities in the working areas of ININ, such as: Projects, technical or technological services either internal or external; diffusion programs and human resources training programs; and departmental activities, has taken to the development of uniform methods of recording, evaluation tracking and control of events, which allow the standardization, compilation, analysis and reporting of the results in an easy and quick way. The elaboration of an original scheme for the evaluation system of assessment for Research and Development projects and services was started in July 1988, and the data acquisition was manual. The use of Personal Computers began at 1992. (Author)

75 FR 65404 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... & Regenerative Medicine Subcommittee of the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit..., examination, reference to, [[Page 65405

Data-Intensive Cloud Service Provision for Research Institutes: the Network Connectivity Problem

CERN Document Server

Cass, Tony; CERN. Geneva. IT Department

2016-01-01

Much effort (and money) has been invested in recent years to ensure that academic and research sites are well interconnected with high-capacity networks that, in most cases, span national and continental boundaries. However, these dedicated research and education networks, whether national (NRENs) or trans-continental (RENs), frequently have Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) that restrict their use by commercial entities, notably Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). After a brief summary of the issues involved, we describe three approaches to removing the network connectivity barrier that threatens to limit the ability of academic and research institutions to profit effectively from services offered by CSPs.

Medical Universities Educational and Research Online Services: Benchmarking Universities’ Website Towards E-Government

Science.gov (United States)

Farzandipour, Mehrdad; Meidani, Zahra

2014-01-01

Background: Websites as one of the initial steps towards an e-government adoption do facilitate delivery of online and customer-oriented services. In this study we intended to investigate the role of the websites of medical universities in providing educational and research services following the E-government maturity model in the Iranian universities. Methods: This descriptive and cross- sectional study was conducted through content analysis and benchmarking the websites in 2012. The research population included the entire medical university website (37). Delivery of educational and research services through these university websites including information, interaction, transaction, and Integration were investigated using a checklist. The data were then analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and using SPSS software. Results: Level of educational and research services by websites of the medical universities type I and II was evaluated medium as 1.99 and 1.89, respectively. All the universities gained a mean score of 1 out of 3 in terms of integration of educational and research services. Conclusions: Results of the study indicated that Iranian universities have passed information and interaction stages, but they have not made much progress in transaction and integration stages. Failure to adapt to e-government in Iranian medical universities in which limiting factors such as users’ e-literacy, access to the internet and ICT infrastructure are not so crucial as in other organizations, suggest that e-government realization goes beyond technical challenges. PMID:25132713

Research data services in academic libraries: Data intensive roles for the future?

Science.gov (United States)

Tenopir, Carol; Hughes, Dane; Allard, Suzie; Frame, Mike; Birch, Ben; Sandusky, Robert; Langseth, Madison L.; Lundeen, Andrew

2015-01-01

Objectives: The primary objectives of this study are to gauge the various levels of Research Data Service academic libraries provide based on demographic factors, gauging RDS growth since 2011, and what obstacles may prevent expansion or growth of services.

Data and Data Products for Climate Research: Web Services at the Asia-Pacific Data-Research Center (APDRC)

Science.gov (United States)

DeCarlo, S.; Potemra, J. T.; Wang, K.

2012-12-01

The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Hawaii maintains a data center for climate studies called the Asia-Pacific Data-Research Center (APDRC). This data center was designed within a center of excellence in climate research with the intention of serving the needs of the research scientist. The APDRC provides easy access to a wide collection of climate data and data products for a wide variety of users. The data center maintains an archive of approximately 100 data sets including in-situ and remote data, as well as a range of model-based output. All data are available via on-line browsing tools such as a Live Access Server (LAS) and DChart, and direct binary access is available through OPeNDAP services. On-line tutorials on how to use these services are now available. Users can keep up-to-date with new data and product announcements via the APDRC facebook page. The main focus of the APDRC has been climate scientists, and the services are therefore streamlined to such users, both in the number and types of data served, but also in the way data are served. In addition, due to the integration of the APDRC within the IPRC, several value-added data products (see figure for an example using Argo floats) have been developed via a variety of research activities. The APDRC, therefore, has three main foci: 1. acquisition of climate-related data, 2. maintenance of integrated data servers, and 3. development and distribution of data products The APDRC can be found at http://apdrc.soest.hawaii.edu. The presentation will provide an overview along with specific examples of the data, data products and data services available at the APDRC.; APDRC product example: gridded field from Argo profiling floats

Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment: A Research-Based Pedagogy for Teaching Science with Classroom Response Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Beatty, Ian D.; Gerace, William J.

2009-01-01

"Classroom response systems" (CRSs) are a promising instructional technology, but most literature on CRS use fails to distinguish between technology and pedagogy, to define and justify a pedagogical perspective, or to discriminate between pedagogies. "Technology-enhanced formative assessment" (TEFA) is our pedagogy for CRS-based science…

Operational Planetary Space Weather Services for the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

André, Nicolas; Grande, Manuel

2017-04-01

Under Horizon 2020, the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (EPN2020-RI, http://www.europlanet-2020-ri.eu) includes an entirely new Virtual Access Service, "Planetary Space Weather Services" (PSWS) that will extend the concepts of space weather and space situational awareness to other planets in our Solar System and in particular to spacecraft that voyage through it. PSWS will provide at the end of 2017 12 services distributed over 4 different service domains - 1) Prediction, 2) Detection, 3) Modelling, 4) Alerts. These services include 1.1) A 1D MHD solar wind prediction tool, 1.2) Extensions of a Propagation Tool, 1.3) A meteor showers prediction tool, 1.4) A cometary tail crossing prediction tool, 2.1) Detection of lunar impacts, 2.2) Detection of giant planet fireballs, 2.3) Detection of cometary tail events, 3.1) A Transplanet model of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, 3.2) A model of the Mars radiation environment, 3.3.) A model of giant planet magnetodisc, 3.4) A model of Jupiter's thermosphere, 4) A VO-event based alert system. We will detail in the present paper some of these services with a particular emphasis on those already operational at the time of the presentation (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, 3.1, 4). The proposed Planetary Space Weather Services will be accessible to the research community, amateur astronomers as well as to industrial partners planning for space missions dedicated in particular to the following key planetary environments: Mars, in support of ESA's ExoMars missions; comets, building on the success of the ESA Rosetta mission; and outer planets, in preparation for the ESA JUpiter ICy moon Explorer (JUICE). These services will also be augmented by the future Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo observations. This new facility will not only have an impact on planetary space missions but will also allow the hardness of spacecraft and their components to be evaluated under variety of known conditions, particularly radiation conditions, extending

VES/TEM 1D joint inversion by using Controlled Random Search (CRS) algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Bortolozo, Cassiano Antonio; Porsani, Jorge Luís; Santos, Fernando Acácio Monteiro dos; Almeida, Emerson Rodrigo

2015-01-01

Electrical (DC) and Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) soundings are used in a great number of environmental, hydrological, and mining exploration studies. Usually, data interpretation is accomplished by individual 1D models resulting often in ambiguous models. This fact can be explained by the way as the two different methodologies sample the medium beneath surface. Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) is good in marking resistive structures, while Transient Electromagnetic sounding (TEM) is very sensitive to conductive structures. Another difference is VES is better to detect shallow structures, while TEM soundings can reach deeper layers. A Matlab program for 1D joint inversion of VES and TEM soundings was developed aiming at exploring the best of both methods. The program uses CRS - Controlled Random Search - algorithm for both single and 1D joint inversions. Usually inversion programs use Marquadt type algorithms but for electrical and electromagnetic methods, these algorithms may find a local minimum or not converge. Initially, the algorithm was tested with synthetic data, and then it was used to invert experimental data from two places in Paraná sedimentary basin (Bebedouro and Pirassununga cities), both located in São Paulo State, Brazil. Geoelectric model obtained from VES and TEM data 1D joint inversion is similar to the real geological condition, and ambiguities were minimized. Results with synthetic and real data show that 1D VES/TEM joint inversion better recovers simulated models and shows a great potential in geological studies, especially in hydrogeological studies.

National Database for Autism Research (NDAR): Big Data Opportunities for Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Payakachat, Nalin; Tilford, J Mick; Ungar, Wendy J

2016-02-01

The National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) is a US National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research data repository created by integrating heterogeneous datasets through data sharing agreements between autism researchers and the NIH. To date, NDAR is considered the largest neuroscience and genomic data repository for autism research. In addition to biomedical data, NDAR contains a large collection of clinical and behavioral assessments and health outcomes from novel interventions. Importantly, NDAR has a global unique patient identifier that can be linked to aggregated individual-level data for hypothesis generation and testing, and for replicating research findings. As such, NDAR promotes collaboration and maximizes public investment in the original data collection. As screening and diagnostic technologies as well as interventions for children with autism are expensive, health services research (HSR) and health technology assessment (HTA) are needed to generate more evidence to facilitate implementation when warranted. This article describes NDAR and explains its value to health services researchers and decision scientists interested in autism and other mental health conditions. We provide a description of the scope and structure of NDAR and illustrate how data are likely to grow over time and become available for HSR and HTA.

Product-services as a research field: past, present and future. Reflections from a decade of research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tukker, A.; Tischner, U.

2006-01-01

In the last decade many researchers, institutes and programs in the EU paid attention to product-service systems (PSS). Given this massive effort, it is time to take stock. Is PSS research a theoretical field in its own right? Is the PSS concept indeed the road to the Factor 10 world? Is it the road

Commercial products and services of research reactors. Proceedings of a technical meeting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-07-01

Although the number of operational research reactors is steadily decreasing, more than half of those that remain are greatly underutilized and, in most cases, underfunded. To continue to play a key role in the development of peaceful uses of nuclear technology, the remaining research reactors will need to provide useful products and services to private, national and regional customers, in some cases with adequate revenue generation for reliable, safe and secure facility management and operation. In the light of declining governmental financial support and the need for improved physical security and conversion to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, many research reactors have been challenged to generate income to offset increasing operational and maintenance costs. The renewed interest in nuclear power (and therefore in nuclear education and training), the global expansion of diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine, and the extensive use of semiconductors in electronics and in other areas have created new opportunities for research reactors, prominent among them, markets for products and services in regions and countries without such facilities. It is clear that such initiatives towards greater self-reliance will need to address such aspects as market surveys, marketing and business plans, and cost of delivery services. It will also be important to better inform present and future potential end users of research reactor services of the capabilities and products that can be provided. This publication is a compilation of material from an IAEA technical meeting on “Commercial Products and Services of Research Reactors”, held in Vienna, Austria, from 28 June to 2 July 2010. The overall objective of the meeting was to exchange information on good practices and to provide concrete examples, in technical presentations and brainstorming discussions, to promote and facilitate the development of commercial applications of research reactors. The meeting also aimed to

US Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges Network: a continental research platform for catchment-scale research

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel Neary; Deborah Hayes; Lindsey Rustad; James Vose; Gerald Gottfried; Stephen Sebesteyn; Sherri Johnson; Fred Swanson; Mary Adams

2012-01-01

The US Forest Service initiated its catchment research program in 1909 with the first paired catchment study at Wagon Wheel Gap, Colorado, USA. It has since developed the Experimental Forests and Ranges Network, with over 80 long-term research study sites located across the contiguous USA, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. This network provides a unique, powerful...

Implementation of Web 2.0 services in academic, medical and research libraries: a scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Gardois, Paolo; Colombi, Nicoletta; Grillo, Gaetano; Villanacci, Maria C

2012-06-01

Academic, medical and research libraries frequently implement Web 2.0 services for users. Several reports notwithstanding, characteristics and effectiveness of services are unclear. To find out: the Web 2.0 services implemented by medical, academic and research libraries; study designs, measures and types of data used in included articles to evaluate effectiveness; whether the identified body of literature is amenable to a systematic review of results. Scoping review mapping the literature on the topic. Searches were performed in 19 databases. research articles in English, Italian, German, French and Spanish (publication date ≥ 2006) about Web 2.0 services for final users implemented by academic, medical and research libraries. Reviewers' agreement was measured by Cohen's kappa. From a data set of 6461 articles, 255 (4%) were coded and analysed. Conferencing/chat/instant messaging, blogging, podcasts, social networking, wikis and aggregators were frequently examined. Services were mainly targeted at general academic users of English-speaking countries. Data prohibit a reliable estimate of the relative frequency of implemented Web 2.0 services. Case studies were the prevalent design. Most articles evaluated different outcomes using diverse assessment methodologies. A systematic review is recommended to assess the effectiveness of such services. © 2012 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2012 Health Libraries Group.

Research and development portfolio of the sustainability science team national sustainable operations USDA Forest Service

Science.gov (United States)

Trista Patterson; David Nicholls; Jonathan Long

2015-01-01

The Sustainability Science Team (SST) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Sustainable Operations Initiative is a 18-member virtual research and development team, located across five regions and four research stations of the USDA Forest Service. The team provides research, publication, systems analysis, and decision support to the Sustainable...

Quantified Academic Selves: The Gamification of Research through Social Networking Services

Science.gov (United States)

Hammarfelt, Björn; de Rijcke, Sarah; Rushforth, Alexander D.

2016-01-01

Introduction: Our study critically engages with techniques of self-quantification in contemporary academia, by demonstrating how social networking services enact research and scholarly communication as a "game". Method: The empirical part of the study involves an analysis of two leading platforms: Impactstory and ResearchGate. Observed…

Bigger on the inside: building Research Data Services at the University of Virginia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele P. Claibourn

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Every story has a beginning, where the narrator chooses to start, though this is rarely the genesis. This story begins with the launch of the University of Virginia Library's new Research Data Services unit in October 2013. Born from the conjoining of a data management team and a data analysis team, Research Data Services expanded to encompass data discovery and acquisitions, research software support, and new expertise in the use of restricted data. Our purpose is to respond to the challenges created by the growing ubiquity and scale of data by helping researchers acquire, analyze, manage, and archive these resources. We have made serious strides toward becoming ‘the face of data services at U.Va.’  This article tells a bit of our story so far, relays some early challenges and how we've responded to them, outlines several initial successes, and summarizes a few lessons going forward.

The Research of China's Civil Aviation Passenger Multi-Channel Service Technology Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Zhibing, Xue; Xinming, Wang

IATA is promoting Simplifying the Business. The traditional passenger services and business process, such as ticketing, airport counters, had a great influence. The airlines have the passenger service and convenience as the next product development requirements. With civil aviation industry and their company's products construction, the authors propose a solution of passenger multi-channel service product platform. The solution is to streamline the business as the breakthrough point, around the convenience of passengers travel services to travelers as the center, using the current mainstream and the latest IT technology to establish passenger service product platform. The solution will promote DCS e-ticketing business development and service channel diversity. In this paper, the research results have been applied in the product platform construction of the authors' company. The practice shows that through traditional business with the latest IT technologies, traditional passenger services into the emerging service model, passenger service product platform has strong advantages and characteristics. Based on the platform, various types of service products is growing rapidly.

Faculty at Work: Focus on Research, Scholarship, and Service.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackburn, Robert T.; And Others

1991-01-01

A study compared selected personal and environmental motivational variables in college faculty with allocation of work effort to research, scholarship, and service. Faculty were from eight liberal arts and sciences departments in a range of institution types. For all institutional types, self-valuation motivators significantly accounted for the…

Prison health service directors' views on research priorities and organizational issues in conducting research in prison: outcomes of a national deliberative roundtable.

Science.gov (United States)

Simpson, Paul Leslie; Guthrie, Jill; Butler, Tony

2017-06-12

Purpose Given that prisoners have significant health needs across most areas, the paucity of prisoner health research, and the difficulties involved in the conduct of research in this setting, there is a need to develop research priorities that align with key stakeholder groups. One such group are those responsible for health service provision in prisons - prison health service directors. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Prison health service directors in each Australian state and territory were invited to participate in a national (deliberative) roundtable where the consensus building nominal group technique was utilized. This involved the identification of research priorities and organizational issues in conducting research with prisoners, and ranking research priorities. A thematic analysis was conducted on organizational issues. Findings In total, 13 participants attended the roundtable. Participants identified 28 research priorities and 12 organizational issues. Top ranked research priorities were mental health, cognitive and intellectual disability, post-release health maintenance, ageing prisoners, chronic health conditions and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Themes identified from the organizational issues included prisoner access to research participation, health and research literacy of custodial staff, and institutional protectionism in response to research that may discover negative information about the custodial setting. Research limitations/implications These findings should inform future efforts to improve research infrastructures to undertake research to improve the health of people in Australian prisons, and help to align researchers' efforts with those of a key organizational stakeholder. Originality/value This is the first paper to determine the research priorities and organizational issues in conducting research in prisons of prison health service directors.

South Baltic representative coastal field surveys, including monitoring at the Coastal Research Station in Lubiatowo, Poland

Science.gov (United States)

Ostrowski, Rafał; Schönhofer, Jan; Szmytkiewicz, Piotr

2016-10-01

The paper contains a brief description of selected investigations carried out in the south Baltic coastal zone, with the particular focus on the history and recent activities conducted at the Coastal Research Station in Lubiatowo (CRS Lubiatowo), Poland. These activities comprise field investigations of nearshore hydrodynamic, lithodynamic, and morphodynamic processes. The study area is a sandy multi-bar shore with a mild slope, much exposed to the impact of waves approaching from NW-NE sector. The shore has a dissipative character which means that the wave energy is subject to gradual dissipation in the nearshore zone and only a small part of this energy is reflected by the shore. Due to the big wind fetch in N-NNE direction, the location of CRS Lubiatowo is favourable to registration of the maximum values of parameters of hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes which occur in the Baltic during extreme storms.

Developing Library GIS Services for Humanities and Social Science: An Action Research Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Ningning; Fosmire, Michael; Branch, Benjamin Dewayne

2017-01-01

In the academic libraries' efforts to support digital humanities and social science, GIS service plays an important role. However, there is no general service model existing about how libraries can develop GIS services to best engage with digital humanities and social science. In this study, we adopted the action research method to develop and…

Semantic Web-Based Services for Supporting Voluntary Collaboration among Researchers Using an Information Dissemination Platform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanmin Jung

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Information dissemination platforms for supporting voluntary collaboration among researchers should assure that controllable and verified information is being disseminated. However, previous related studies on this field narrowed their research scopes into information type and information specification. This paper focuses on the verification and the tracing of information using an information dissemination platform and other Semantic Web-based services. Services on our platform include information dissemination services to support reliable information exchange among researchers and knowledge service to provide unrevealed information. The latter is also divided into the two: knowledgization using ontology and inference using a Semantic Web-based inference engine. This paper discusses how this platform supports instant knowledge addition and inference. We demonstrate our approach by constructing an ontology for national R&D reference information using 37,656 RDF triples from about 2,300 KISTI (Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information outcomes. Three knowledge services including 'Communities of Practice', 'Researcher Tracing,' and 'Research Map' were implemented on our platform using a Jena framework. Our study shows that information dissemination platforms will make a meaningful contribution to the possibility of realizing a practical Semantic Web-based information dissemination platform.

Protecting the Homeland: The Importance of Counter-Illicit Trafficking to Prevent an Attack with Weapons of Mass Destruction

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

Congressional Research Service, U.S. International Borders: Brief Facts, Janice Cheryl Beaver , RS21729 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, November 9...and the opportunity to utilize the breadth of smuggling options for transportation. The commercial prevalence of radiological material and the...Janice Cheryl Beaver . RS21729. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office November 9, 2006. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21729.pdf (accessed

U.S. Manufacturing: Federal Programs Reported Providing Support and Addressing Trends

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-28

inventory accounting method. This method enables taxpayers to reduce the tax burden on the difference between the sales price and the cost of inventories...Treasury does not consider this accounting method to be a tax expenditure. We included it here because both the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and...Requesters March 2017 GAO-17-240 United States Government Accountability Office United States Government Accountability Office

Oil spill research program, U. S. Minerals Management Service

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

LaBelle, R. P.; Mullin, J. V.; White, A. C.

1997-01-01

The oil spill prevention and response research program of the U.S. Minerals Management Service was described including its goals and objectives, some recently funded projects, and future research directions. As it is now the trend in most research organizations, a large part of the program is carried out in cooperation with other major research centers to leverage funds and to maximize study results. For example, joint research with Environment Canada focuses on the physical and chemical properties of dispersants, remote sensing and mapping oil slicks and shoreline cleanup strategies. Similarly, cooperative projects are underway with the National Institute of Standards and Technology in assessing the capabilities of in-situ burning as an oil spill response tool. Research capabilities of OHMSETT - The National Oil Spill Response Test Facility were also reviewed. A series of tables listed titles of research projects completed during 1995-1996. 5 tabs.,

CERN Analysis Preservation: A Novel Digital Library Service to Enable Reusable and Reproducible Research

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(CDS)2079501; Chen, Xiaoli; Dani, Anxhela; Dasler, Robin Lynnette; Delgado Fernandez, Javier; Fokianos, Pamfilos; Herterich, Patricia Sigrid; Simko, Tibor

2016-01-01

The latest policy developments require immediate action for data preservation, as well as reproducible and Open Science. To address this, an unprecedented digital library service is presented to enable the High-Energy Physics community to preserve and share their research objects (such as data, code, documentation, notes) throughout their research process. While facing the challenges of a “big data” community, the internal service builds on existing internal databases to make the process as easy and intrinsic as possible for researchers. Given the “work in progress” nature of the objects preserved, versioning is supported. It is expected that the service will not only facilitate better preservation techniques in the community, but will foremost make collaborative research easier as detailed metadata and novel retrieval functionality provide better access to ongoing works. This new type of e-infrastructure, fully integrated into the research workflow, could help in fostering Open Science practices acro...

Knowledge services in science and technology - improving the university/research centre - company relationship

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magalhaes, Adriana Braz Vendramini Bicca

2009-01-01

This research proposes a conceptual model for Knowledge Services Structure applicable to Science and Technology Parks (STP) and targeted to micro, small and medium enterprises, in order to improve the business - university - research centers relationship. The idea emerged from exploratory studies on STP and the observation of a knowledge gap on this subject: academic studies that have proposed support services structures to link companies - university - research centers in STP were not available. The study methodology is composed by: exploratory studies complemented by action research. Five aspects of analysis (knowledge services, business development, ordinary/ S and T infrastructure services, expansion of area, and image / visibility) were chosen; a questionnaire based on the these aspects were elaborated and applied by e-mail (e-survey), using as data-base the IASP associated members for the selection of potential respondents. The questionnaire was answered by STP managers from different countries (Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, United Kingdom, China, Brazil, Turkey and Uruguay) and, for a deeper and better answers understanding, presential interviews were conducted in certain European STP. After presentation, analysis and discussion of the results, a conceptual model of knowledge service structure for STP has been made, using as basis the Technology Park of Sao Paulo structure. During the formulation of the conceptual model stage, a brief discussion on the importance of knowing and meet the customer needs meant on the inclusion of a customer-interface in the final model. (author)

Forensic Service Supply by Audit Firms: Classification, Market, Methods, and Prior Research

OpenAIRE

Quick, Reiner

2017-01-01

Provision of non-audit services is of increasing economic importance for audit firms Especially provision to non-audit clients Wide range of offered services From detection to prevention, from bribery to fraud to violation of code of conduct Small, but growing market with Big 4 as clear leaders Wide variety of backgrounds of forensic services professionals Consequently, diverse portfolio of methods Most research focuses on fraud with some high-quality publications Miss...

SURFdrive, a sync and share service for Dutch higher education and research

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2014-01-01

During the first three months of this year we have setup an Owncloud-based sync and share service for Dutch higher education and research. This service uses a SAML2-based federated login. In this presentation we will discuss the requirements, choices we have made, tests we have done, the technical setup and the experiences we have had so far not only with the software and our setup but also setting up this service.

INNOVATION, CUSTOMER ATTACHMENT SOURCE IN RETAIL SERVICES EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN DIY RETAIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Săniuţă Adina

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The topic of the present study is innovation of services in the retail trade of bricolage (Do-It-Yourself, DIY products and the influence that innovation has on the increase of customer attachment to companies in this field. The Romanian bricolage market brings together representatives of large specialised retail chains in Europe along with large domestic operators, which led us to the choice of this trade as a research field. Innovation is considered an important factor that brings a significant contribution to the success of a business (O\\'Cass, Song and Yuan, 2012, and services are a priority for economic development. Despite all these, innovation in services is still insufficiently exploited both theoretically and empirically. The object of this study is to apply a qualitative research through semi-conducted interviews with managers from the bricolage retail field in order to validate the conceptual model whose inputs, innovation along with the availability and professionalism of the sales staff, act as generators of customer attachment to the company, leading to increased turnover, a permanent fund of customers and loyalty to the store. As a second stage, the proposed model will be tested through a quantitative research, by making use of the customer’s points of view. The three hypotheses of this research (H1: Innovation in services is determined by: the customer’s involvement in the implementation of the service, the use of gadgets in the store to facilitate access to information to the customer, the extension of the in-store services to the virtual environment and customer experience; H2: Innovation together with the availability and knowledge of the sales staff are sources of the customer’s attachment; H3: attachment acts as a catalyst for the turnover, the permanent fund of customers and the loyalty to the store have been accepted, the study revealing that in the retail trade of bricolage products, the staff’s availability and

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...

Research and development related to the services engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rembado, J. L.

2000-01-01

In the present paper it is clarified what is understood by the expression R and D, Research and Development in the Servicie Engineering's which support the nuclear power plants exploitation, being more appropriated to talk about Innovation and Technological Development. In this paper it is analysed the need to have an innovation as per the marketing needs and to have a technological development to maintain an independence to let us to keep and increase the company's activity. It is described how the Services Engineering's with technological development turn to equipment suppliers which can be supplied to the nuclear sector as well as to other industrial sectors. Finally, it is described the innovation and technological development evolution, the technological polities objectives and the action lines of Tecnatom, S. A. as a Services Engineering's. (Author)

Hearing the voices of service user researchers in collaborative qualitative data analysis: the case for multiple coding.

Science.gov (United States)

Sweeney, Angela; Greenwood, Kathryn E; Williams, Sally; Wykes, Til; Rose, Diana S

2013-12-01

Health research is frequently conducted in multi-disciplinary teams, with these teams increasingly including service user researchers. Whilst it is common for service user researchers to be involved in data collection--most typically interviewing other service users--it is less common for service user researchers to be involved in data analysis and interpretation. This means that a unique and significant perspective on the data is absent. This study aims to use an empirical report of a study on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for psychosis (CBTp) to demonstrate the value of multiple coding in enabling service users voices to be heard in team-based qualitative data analysis. The CBTp study employed multiple coding to analyse service users' discussions of CBT for psychosis (CBTp) from the perspectives of a service user researcher, clinical researcher and psychology assistant. Multiple coding was selected to enable multiple perspectives to analyse and interpret data, to understand and explore differences and to build multi-disciplinary consensus. Multiple coding enabled the team to understand where our views were commensurate and incommensurate and to discuss and debate differences. Through the process of multiple coding, we were able to build strong consensus about the data from multiple perspectives, including that of the service user researcher. Multiple coding is an important method for understanding and exploring multiple perspectives on data and building team consensus. This can be contrasted with inter-rater reliability which is only appropriate in limited circumstances. We conclude that multiple coding is an appropriate and important means of hearing service users' voices in qualitative data analysis. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Methodological reporting in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods health services research articles.

Science.gov (United States)

Wisdom, Jennifer P; Cavaleri, Mary A; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J; Green, Carla A

2012-04-01

Methodologically sound mixed methods research can improve our understanding of health services by providing a more comprehensive picture of health services than either method can alone. This study describes the frequency of mixed methods in published health services research and compares the presence of methodological components indicative of rigorous approaches across mixed methods, qualitative, and quantitative articles. All empirical articles (n = 1,651) published between 2003 and 2007 from four top-ranked health services journals. All mixed methods articles (n = 47) and random samples of qualitative and quantitative articles were evaluated to identify reporting of key components indicating rigor for each method, based on accepted standards for evaluating the quality of research reports (e.g., use of p-values in quantitative reports, description of context in qualitative reports, and integration in mixed method reports). We used chi-square tests to evaluate differences between article types for each component. Mixed methods articles comprised 2.85 percent (n = 47) of empirical articles, quantitative articles 90.98 percent (n = 1,502), and qualitative articles 6.18 percent (n = 102). There was a statistically significant difference (χ(2) (1) = 12.20, p = .0005, Cramer's V = 0.09, odds ratio = 1.49 [95% confidence interval = 1,27, 1.74]) in the proportion of quantitative methodological components present in mixed methods compared to quantitative papers (21.94 versus 47.07 percent, respectively) but no statistically significant difference (χ(2) (1) = 0.02, p = .89, Cramer's V = 0.01) in the proportion of qualitative methodological components in mixed methods compared to qualitative papers (21.34 versus 25.47 percent, respectively). Few published health services research articles use mixed methods. The frequency of key methodological components is variable. Suggestions are provided to increase the transparency of mixed methods studies and

The Development of Qualitative Classroom Action Research Workshop for In-Service Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Buaraphan, Khajornsak

2016-01-01

In-service science teachers in Thailand are mandated to conduct classroom research, which can be quantitative and qualitative research, to improve teaching and learning. Comparing to quantitative research, qualitative research is a research approach that most of the Thai science teachers are not familiar with. This situation impedes science…

Methodological Reporting in Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Health Services Research Articles

Science.gov (United States)

Wisdom, Jennifer P; Cavaleri, Mary A; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J; Green, Carla A

2012-01-01

Objectives Methodologically sound mixed methods research can improve our understanding of health services by providing a more comprehensive picture of health services than either method can alone. This study describes the frequency of mixed methods in published health services research and compares the presence of methodological components indicative of rigorous approaches across mixed methods, qualitative, and quantitative articles. Data Sources All empirical articles (n = 1,651) published between 2003 and 2007 from four top-ranked health services journals. Study Design All mixed methods articles (n = 47) and random samples of qualitative and quantitative articles were evaluated to identify reporting of key components indicating rigor for each method, based on accepted standards for evaluating the quality of research reports (e.g., use of p-values in quantitative reports, description of context in qualitative reports, and integration in mixed method reports). We used chi-square tests to evaluate differences between article types for each component. Principal Findings Mixed methods articles comprised 2.85 percent (n = 47) of empirical articles, quantitative articles 90.98 percent (n = 1,502), and qualitative articles 6.18 percent (n = 102). There was a statistically significant difference (χ2(1) = 12.20, p = .0005, Cramer's V = 0.09, odds ratio = 1.49 [95% confidence interval = 1,27, 1.74]) in the proportion of quantitative methodological components present in mixed methods compared to quantitative papers (21.94 versus 47.07 percent, respectively) but no statistically significant difference (χ2(1) = 0.02, p = .89, Cramer's V = 0.01) in the proportion of qualitative methodological components in mixed methods compared to qualitative papers (21.34 versus 25.47 percent, respectively). Conclusion Few published health services research articles use mixed methods. The frequency of key methodological components is variable. Suggestions are provided to increase the

Recruitment of multiple stakeholders to health services research: Lessons from the front lines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brouwers Melissa C

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Self-administered surveys are an essential methodological tool for health services and knowledge translation research, and engaging end-users of the research is critical. However, few documented accounts of the efforts invested in recruitment of multiple different stakeholders to one health services research study exist. Here, we highlight the challenges of recruiting key stakeholders (policy-makers, clinicians, guideline developers to a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR funded health services research (HSR study aimed to develop an updated and refined version of a guideline appraisal tool, the AGREE. Methods Using evidence-based methods of recruitment, our goal was to recruit 192 individuals: 80 international guideline developers, 80 Canadian clinicians and 32 Canadian policy/decision-makers. We calculated the participation rate and the recruitment efficiency. Results We mailed 873 invitation letters. Of 838 approached, our participation rate was 29%(240 and recruitment efficiency, 19%(156. One policy-maker manager did not allow policy staff to participate in the study. Conclusions Based on the results from this study, we suggest that future studies aiming to engage similar stakeholders in HSR over sample by at least 5 times to achieve their target sample size and allow for participant withdrawals. We need continued efforts to communicate the value of research between researchers and end-users of research (policy-makers, clinicians, and other researchers, integration of participatory research strategies, and promotion of the value of end-user involvement in research. Future research to understand methods of improving recruitment efficiency and engaging key stakeholders in HSR is warranted.

Recruitment of multiple stakeholders to health services research: lessons from the front lines.

Science.gov (United States)

Kho, Michelle E; Rawski, Ellen; Makarski, Julie; Brouwers, Melissa C

2010-05-13

Self-administered surveys are an essential methodological tool for health services and knowledge translation research, and engaging end-users of the research is critical. However, few documented accounts of the efforts invested in recruitment of multiple different stakeholders to one health services research study exist. Here, we highlight the challenges of recruiting key stakeholders (policy-makers, clinicians, guideline developers) to a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funded health services research (HSR) study aimed to develop an updated and refined version of a guideline appraisal tool, the AGREE. Using evidence-based methods of recruitment, our goal was to recruit 192 individuals: 80 international guideline developers, 80 Canadian clinicians and 32 Canadian policy/decision-makers. We calculated the participation rate and the recruitment efficiency. We mailed 873 invitation letters. Of 838 approached, our participation rate was 29%(240) and recruitment efficiency, 19%(156). One policy-maker manager did not allow policy staff to participate in the study. Based on the results from this study, we suggest that future studies aiming to engage similar stakeholders in HSR over sample by at least 5 times to achieve their target sample size and allow for participant withdrawals. We need continued efforts to communicate the value of research between researchers and end-users of research (policy-makers, clinicians, and other researchers), integration of participatory research strategies, and promotion of the value of end-user involvement in research. Future research to understand methods of improving recruitment efficiency and engaging key stakeholders in HSR is warranted.

77 FR 21622 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-10

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit...-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board will be held on April 20, 2012, 131 M Street NE., Washington, DC...

75 FR 72872 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-26

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit...-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board will be held on December 13-14, 2010, at the Hilton Alexandria Old...

Semantic Service Search, Service Evaluation and Ranking in Service Oriented Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Hai; Hussain, Farookh Khadeer; Chang, Elizabeth

The theory of Service Oriented Environment (SOE) emerges with advanced connectivity of the Internet technologies, openness of business environment and prosperousness of business activities. Service, as a critical object impenetrating every corner of SOE, is a hot research topic in many research domains. Software Engineering (SE), as a subject in engineering field, its researchers pay more attention to supporting advanced technologies for promoting service activities in SOE. In this paper, we draw the position in the research field of semantic service search, service evaluation and ranking in SOE. By means of the case study and literature review research approach, we discover the research motivations and research issues in this field.

Concepts of social epidemiology in health services research

OpenAIRE

von dem Knesebeck, Olaf

2015-01-01

Background Social epidemiologists aim to identify social characteristics that affect the pattern of disease and health distribution in a society and to understand its mechanisms. Some important concepts of social epidemiology are: social inequalities, social relationships, social capital, and work stress. Discussion Concepts used in social epidemiology can make a useful contribution to health services research because the underlying social factors do not only influence health but are also rel...

Development of Surveillance and In-Service Inspection Programme for Indian Research Reactors Cirus and Dhruva

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shukla, D.K.

2006-01-01

Many safety requirements for research reactors are quite similar to those of power reactors. For research reactors with a higher hazard potential, the use of safety codes and guides for power reactors is more appropriate. However, there are many important differences between power reactors and research reactors that must be taken into account to ensure that adequate safety margins are available in design and operation of the research reactor. Most research reactors may have small potential for hazard to the public compared to power reactors but may pose a greater potential hazard to the plant operators. The need for greater flexibility in use of research reactors for individual experiments requires a different safety approach. Safety rules for power reactors are required to be substantially modified for application to specific research reactor. Following the intent of the available safety guides for surveillance and In-Service Inspection of Nuclear Power Plants, guidelines were formulated to develop surveillance and In-Service Inspection programme for research reactors Cirus and Dhruva. Based on the specific design of these research reactors, regulatory requirements, the degree of sophistication and experience of the technical organization involved in operating the research reactor, guidelines were evolved for developing and implementing the surveillance and In-Service Inspection programme for research reactors Cirus (40 MWt) and Dhruva (100 MWt) located at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, India. Paper describes the approach adopted for formulation of surveillance and In-service Inspection programme for Dhruva reactor in detail. (author)

Laboratory services series: the utilization of scientific glassblowing in a national research and development laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farnham, R.M.; Poole, R.W.

1976-04-01

Glassblowing services at a national research and development laboratory provide unique equipment tailored for specific research efforts, small-scale process items for flowsheet demonstrations, and solutions for unusual technical problems such as glass-ceramic unions. Facilities, equipment, and personnel necessary for such services are described

Access and preservation of digital research content: Linked open data services - A research library perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Kraft, Angelina; Sens, Irina; Löwe, Peter; Dreyer, Britta

2016-04-01

Globally resolvable, persistent digital identifiers have become an essential tool to enable unambiguous links between published research results and their underlying digital resources. In addition, this unambiguous identification allows citation. In an ideal research world, any scientific content should be citable and the coherent content, as well as the citation itself, should be persistent. However, today's scientists do not just produce traditional research papers - they produce comprehensive digital collections of objects which, alongside digital texts, include digital resources such as research data, audiovisual media, digital lab journals, images, statistics and software code. Researchers start to look for services which allow management of these digital resources with minimum time investment. In light of this, we show how the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) develops supportive frameworks to accompany the life cycle of scientific knowledge generation and transfer. This includes technical infrastructures for • indexing, cataloguing, digital preservation, DOI names and licencing for text and digital objects (the TIB DOI registration, active since 2004) and • a digital repository for the deposition and provision of accessible, traceable and citeable research data (RADAR). One particular problem for the management of data originating from (collaborating) research infrastructures is their dynamic nature in terms of growth, access rights and quality. On a global scale, systems for access and preservation are in place for the big data domains (e.g. environmental sciences, space, climate). However, the stewardship for disciplines without a tradition of data sharing, including the fields of the so-called long tail, remains uncertain. The RADAR - Research Data Repository - project establishes a generic end-point data repository, which can be used in a collaborative way. RADAR enables clients to upload, edit, structure and describe their

The power and the pain: Mammographic compression research from the service-users' perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, Leslie; Hogg, Peter; Newton-Hughes, Ann

2013-01-01

Purpose: to explore the value service-users can add to our understanding of inter-practitioner compression variability in mammography. Imaging of the breast for the screening and detection of breast carcinoma is generally carried out by mammographic examination the technique for which includes compression of the breast. Evolving research calls into question compression practice in terms of practitioner consistency thus raising the possibility that strong compression may not be required. We were interested to know whether this was important to service-users and if such knowledge might influence their behaviour. Methods: and sample: A qualitative study involving 3 focus groups interviews (n = 4, 6 and 5). Participants were first asked to reflect on their own experiences of breast compression within the context of a breast screening examination, then interpret the results of the evolving research detailed above. We then explored whether these participants might behave differently during future mammography in light being appraised of these research findings. Results: A grounded approach was used to analyse the data into themes. The two overarching themes were i) Service-User Empowerment, which illustrates the difficulties participants believe women would encounter in exercising power in the breast screening mammographic examination; and ii) Service User Experience of Mammography, which unearthed unanticipated aspects of the examination, other than compression, that contribute to pain and discomfort and which therefore need investigation. Conclusion: Involving service-users more collaboratively in research can help investigators understand the impact of their work and highlight patient-relevant areas for further investigation

Becoming Reflective and Inquiring Teachers: Collaborative Action Research for In-service Chilean Teachers

OpenAIRE

Martine Pellerin; Fraño Ivo Paukner Nogués

2015-01-01

This article discusses the outcomes of a case study that engaged Chilean in-service teachers in systematic action research (AR) as a means of improving their pedagogical practice and effecting changes in their educational context. The study involved six in-service teachers from a region of Chile and two university researchers. The findings show that knowledge of systematic AR provided the teachers with the necessary means to engage in a critical reflection and inquiry process regarding their ...

Research on SaaS and Web Service Based Order Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Jianhua; Sheng, Buyun; Gong, Lixiong; Yang, Mingzhong

To solve the order tracking of across enterprises in Dynamic Virtual Enterprise (DVE), a SaaS and web service based order tracking solution was designed by analyzing the order management process in DVE. To achieve the system, the SaaS based architecture of data management on order tasks manufacturing states was constructed, and the encapsulation method of transforming application system into web service was researched. Then the process of order tracking in the system was given out. Finally, the feasibility of this study was verified by the development of a prototype system.

Environmental justice research shows the importance of social feedbacks in ecosystem service trade-offs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil M. Dawson

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this article, we shine a spotlight on approaches to research ecosystem service trade-offs and critically assess their representation of relevant social dynamics. Although studies linking ecosystem services and human well-being have provided theoretical insights into social and ecological trade-offs, we argue that ecosystem services research has paid insufficient attention to "social feedbacks," people's cognitive and behavioral responses to change. We demonstrate that augmenting ecosystem services research with environmental justice approaches (exploring perceptions of the distribution of costs and benefits, decision making procedures, and recognition of different values and identities can more effectively capture important responses to ecosystem governance. Spatial analysis of land use change, mixed-method assessment of multidimensional well-being, and qualitative environmental justice research were applied in three villages adjacent to Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area in northern Laos. Spatial analysis showed that, from 2006 to 2015, forest clearance for cultivation remained stable within the protected area. Well-being assessment revealed the local population benefited from rapidly increasing incomes, asset ownership, and reduced poverty during that time. In combination, spatial and well-being analyses paint a picture of limited trade-offs, despite growing incentives to exploit protected land and resources through cash crops and high-value forest products. In contrast, results from environmental justice research revealed profound trade-offs between conservation and local practices, and highlight governance deficiencies relating to procedure and recognition. Consequently, formal protected area rules were perceived to be illegitimate by many and actively undermined, for example through negotiated access with alternative authorities. We conclude that although well-being research provides an essential foundation to understand diverse

Pre-Service Science Teachers' Perception of the Principles of Scientific Research

Science.gov (United States)

Can, Sendil; Kaymakci, Güliz

2016-01-01

The purpose of the current study employing the survey method is to determine the pre-service science teachers' perceptions of the principles of scientific research and to investigate the effects of gender, grade level and the state of following scientific publications on their perceptions. The sampling of the current research is comprised of 125…

PROVISION OF RESEARCH SUPPORT SERVICES TO ODL LEARNERS BY TUTORS: A Focus on the Zimbabwe Open University’s Bachelor of Education (Educational Management Research Students’ Supervision Experiences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tichaona MAPOLISA

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The study examined the ODL learners’ perceptions of the quality of provision of research support services to the ODL learners by tutors. It focused on the Zimbabwe Open University’s (ZOU Bachelor of Education (Educational Management research students’ experiences. It was a qualitative multiple case study of four of the 10 Regional Centres of the ZOU. It purposively sampled 40 out of 160 research participants because they possessed desirable research characteristics for this study. The study was deemed significant in influencing tutors and policy makers to consider their research students’ supervision experiences as a basis for improving the quality of services for future research supervision practices and research projects. The study was guided by a two fold theory namely, thee Facilitation Theory (Nyawaranda, 2005 and the Nurturing Theory (Anderson, Pay and Mac Laughlin, 2006. Both theories advocate for the need of the supervisors to give their students a big heart. In terms of research supervision services offered by tutors the study indicated the time students were offered to meet research supervisors, prompt returns of marked work, and tutor student motivation and counselling as key services. In connection with the joys about research supervision, the students highly regarded: the manner in which tutors motivated them, tutors guidance in choosing research topic, tutor mentorship during research supervision and provision of workshops to polish up their research skills. In line with the challenges to the provision of research support services, three categories of challenges emerged. First, student-related challenges included lack of time, lack of money, lack of library facilities, lack of motivation and commitment to do research, lack of adequate theory in the area being researched on and family problems. Second, supervisor-related challenges included: too little direction, too little practical help given, too few meeting with students

Using SERVQUAL and Kano research techniques in a patient service quality survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Christoglou, Konstantinos; Vassiliadis, Chris; Sigalas, Ioakim

2006-01-01

This article presents the results of a service quality study. After an introduction to the SERVQUAL and the Kano research techniques, a Kano analysis of 75 patients from the General Hospital of Katerini in Greece is presented. The service quality criterion used satisfaction and dissatisfaction indices. The Kano statistical analysis process results strengthened the hypothesis of previous research regarding the importance of personal knowledge, the courtesy of the hospital employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence (assurance dimension). Managerial suggestions are made regarding the best way of acting and approaching hospital patients based on the basic SERVQUAL model.

Mixed Methods in Biomedical and Health Services Research

OpenAIRE

Curry, Leslie A.; Krumholz, Harlan M.; O’Cathain, Alicia; Plano Clark, Vicki L.; Cherlin, Emily; Bradley, Elizabeth H.

2013-01-01

Mixed methods studies, in which qualitative and quantitative methods are combined in a single program of inquiry, can be valuable in biomedical and health services research, where the complementary strengths of each approach can yield greater insight into complex phenomena than either approach alone. Although interest in mixed methods is growing among science funders and investigators, written guidance on how to conduct and assess rigorous mixed methods studies is not readily accessible to th...

Pricing decision research for TPL considering different logistics service level influencing the market demand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Li

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: With the rapid development of economy and the support of government policy, the development of the logistics industry has become a new economic growth engine. As we all know, the reasonable price of logistics service is the most critical factor for logistics enterprises to win market share and make profit. At the same time, the service level is one of the most important factors which will influence the size of the market share. Therefore, this paper constructs a pricing model considering a situation that the logistics service level affects the market demand. This model helps the enterprises to make scientific decisions.Methodology: To achieve this objective, this paper constructs the TPL service and the pricing decision models based on the game theory.Findings: The conclusion shows that under the situation of independent decision-making, the enterprise which has strong ability of logistics service does not necessarily have a competitive advantage, while pricing equilibrium under the situation of joint decision-making, not only make both sides get more income, but also be conducive to improve the level of service.Research limitations: In this research, there are some assumptions that might affect the accuracy the model such as there are only two TPL enterprises to participate in, and considerations are taken under the condition of complete information environment. These assumptions can be relaxed in the future work.Originality: In this research, logistics service level is taken account into the areas of logistics service pricing, which makes the models more practical and more perfect. And this paper constructs game models based on game theory to make up the limitations of traditional pricing theories in logistics service pricing.

[Organisation of scientific and research work of Navy medical service].

Science.gov (United States)

Gavrilov, V V; Myznikov, I L; Kuz'minov, O V; Shmelev, S V; Oparin, M Iu

2013-03-01

The main issues of organization of scientific and research work of medical service in the North Fleet are considered in the present article. Analysis of some paragraphs of documents, regulating this work at army level is given. The authors give an example of successful experience of such work in the North Fleet, table some suggestions which allow to improve the administration of scientific and research work in the navy and also on the district scale.

The G4R GMES Academy - linking research, academia, service providers and local authorities.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeil, Peter; Tramutoli, Valerio

2013-04-01

The GMES Academy intends to enhance the role of the academic and R&D communities in the evolution of EO & GI services. The GMES4Regions G4R initiative, aiming to strengthen the link between GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) and European regions, inaugurated the GMES Academy at the University Mozarteum of Salzburg (Austria) on 13th - 14th September 2012. This academy has been created with the objective of fostering a dialogue among the private sector, Local and Regional Administration (LRA) and the academic and research community, in order to improve the development of Earth Observation (EO) and Geographic Information (GI) services. On this occasion, Z_GIS, the Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics of Salzburg University, hosted the round table "Fostering Downstream Services for the Regions - contributions from Research & Academia," during which the participants had the opportunity to discuss with representatives of the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) the future role of the academic community in this domain. Stakeholders from the academic and R&D world adopted the 'Salzburg Declaration on GMES related Research', calling for strengthening connections between research activities and educational programmes to improve GMES services. The Declaration calls mainly for: • fostering education and training on GMES • ensuring cooperation among the academic and research community through the GMES Academy • maintaining a political commitment towards the implementation of such academic initiatives. The GMES Academy is established as a platform with six components: GATEWAY - the directory of Universities and Research Centres BRIDGE - an inventory of research briefs documenting the latest offerings from research to effective applications FACILITATOR - a portal to seek or propose internships or contract research across Europe and addressing outreach and advocacy: LINK - Access to the repository of on-going GMES related

Sustainability and wildland fire: The origins of Forest Service Wildland Fire Research

Science.gov (United States)

Diane M. Smith

2017-01-01

On June 1, 2015, the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Branch of Research. Established in 1915 to centralize and elevate the pursuit of research throughout the agency, the Branch of Research focused on everything from silvicultural investigations conducted by the experiment stations to...

A critical analysis of the implementation of service user involvement in primary care research and health service development using normalization process theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Tierney, Edel; McEvoy, Rachel; O'Reilly-de Brún, Mary; de Brún, Tomas; Okonkwo, Ekaterina; Rooney, Michelle; Dowrick, Chris; Rogers, Anne; MacFarlane, Anne

2016-06-01

There have been recent important advances in conceptualizing and operationalizing involvement in health research and health-care service development. However, problems persist in the field that impact on the scope for meaningful involvement to become a routine - normalized - way of working in primary care. In this review, we focus on current practice to critically interrogate factors known to be relevant for normalization - definition, enrolment, enactment and appraisal. Ours was a multidisciplinary, interagency team, with community representation. We searched EBSCO host for papers from 2007 to 2011 and engaged in an iterative, reflexive approach to sampling, appraising and analysing the literature following the principles of a critical interpretive synthesis approach and using Normalization Process Theory. Twenty-six papers were chosen from 289 papers, as a purposeful sample of work that is reported as service user involvement in the field. Few papers provided a clear working definition of service user involvement. The dominant identified rationale for enrolling service users in primary care projects was linked with policy imperatives for co-governance and emancipatory ideals. The majority of methodologies employed were standard health services research methods that do not qualify as research with service users. This indicates a lack of congruence between the stated aims and methods. Most studies only reported positive outcomes, raising questions about the balance or completeness of the published appraisals. To improve normalization of meaningful involvement in primary care, it is necessary to encourage explicit reporting of definitions, methodological innovation to enhance co-governance and dissemination of research processes and findings. © 2014 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Service Users perspectives in PROMISE and research.

Science.gov (United States)

Rae, Sarah

2017-09-01

Since its inception in 2013, PROMISE (PROactive Management of Integrated Services and Environments) has been supporting service users and staff at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) on a journey to reduce reliance on force. The author's own personal experiences led to the founding of PROMISE and illustrates how individual experiences can influence a patient to lead change. Coproduction is actively embedded in PROMISE. Patients have been meaningfully involved because they are innovators and problem solvers who bring an alternative viewpoint by the very nature of their condition. A patient is more than just a person who needs to be 'fixed' they are individuals with untapped skills and added insight. There have been 2 separate Patient Advisory Groups (PAGs) since the project was first established. The first Patient Advisory Group was recruited to work with the PROMISE researchers on a study which used a participatory qualitative approach. Drawing on their lived experience and different perspectives the PAG was instrumental in shaping the qualitative study, including the research questions. Their active involvement helped to ensure that that the study was sensitively designed, methodologically robust and ethically sound. The 2 nd PAG was formed in 2016 to give the project an overall steer. Patients in this group contributed to the work on the 'No' Audit and reviewed several CPFT policies such as the Seclusion and Segregation policy which has impacted on frontline practice. They also made a significant contribution to the study design for a funding application that was submitted by the PROMISE team to the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Both PAGs were supported by funding from East of England Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC EoE) and were influential in different ways. An evaluation of the 2 nd PAG which was conducted in June 2017 showed very high satisfaction levels. The free text

Using Participatory and Service Design to Identify Emerging Needs and Perceptions of Library Services among Science and Engineering Researchers Based at a Satellite Campus

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Andrew; Kuglitsch, Rebecca; Bresnahan, Megan

2015-01-01

This study used participatory and service design methods to identify emerging research needs and existing perceptions of library services among science and engineering faculty, post-graduate, and graduate student researchers based at a satellite campus at the University of Colorado Boulder. These methods, and the results of the study, allowed us…

Impacts of Transitioning from Firm Fixed Price to Fixed Price Incentive Firm Target Contracts in PEO Missiles and Space

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-01

this graph, the Defense Index recognized lower operating margins than S&P indices for capital goods, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology , technical...Research Service. https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RS22942.pdf Frick, D. (2013). Risk in fixed-price contracts. Defense AT&L Magazine . November...Joint_Light_Tactical_Vehicle Kendall, F. (2011). Better Buying Power special issue foreword. Defense AT&L Magazine . September-October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.dau.mil

Outsourcing and the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT): Contractors on the Battlefield

Science.gov (United States)

2005-05-26

Outsourcing: The OMB Circular A-76 Policy, CRS Report for Congress (Washington, D.C., 22 July 2003), CSR -6 – 8. 10 Defense Reform Initiative; and the...Japanese tried to kill as many U.S soldiers and sailors as possible before they died. In a November 2004 Congressional Research Service ( CSR ) report for...such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco , Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. A commander

Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2014

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-15

Garcia, and Thomas J. Nicola . Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2014 Congressional Research Service Contents...landing zones near the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and the Tan Son Nhut Airfield. Mayaguez incident. On May 15, 1975, President Ford reported he had ordered...Report R41989, Congressional Authority to Limit Military Operations, by Jennifer K. Elsea, Michael John Garcia and Thomas J. Nicola . CRS Report R43344

International Food Aid Programs: Background and Issues

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-03

D. Ho Analyst in Agricultural Policy Charles E. Hanrahan Senior Specialist in Agricultural Policy February 3, 2010 Congressional Research Service...U.S. Treasury. 10 In United States agricultural policy , “monetization” is a P.L. 480 provision (Section 203) first included in the Food Security Act...Contact Information Melissa D. Ho Analyst in Agricultural Policy mho@crs.loc.gov, 7-5342 Charles E. Hanrahan Senior Specialist in Agricultural

78 FR 41198 - Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative Studies Scientific Evaluation...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-09

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Clinical Science Research and Development Service Cooperative... under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, that the Clinical Science Research and.... The Committee advises the Chief Research and Development Officer through the Director of the Clinical...

Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) promotes sustained access to digital research data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Berchum, M.; Kraaikamp, Emilie

2015-01-01

Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) promotes sustained access to digital research data. For this purpose, DANS encourages researchers to archive and reuse data in a sustained form. In the online archiving system EASY research data is stored in a permanent and sustainable manner, according

Planetary Space Weather Service: Part of the the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

Grande, Manuel; Andre, Nicolas

2016-07-01

Over the next four years the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure will set up an entirely new European Planetary Space Weather service (PSWS). Europlanet RI is a part of of Horizon 2020 (EPN2020-RI, http://www.europlanet-2020-ri.eu). The Virtual Access Service, WP5 VA1 "Planetary Space Weather Services" will extend the concepts of space weather and space situational awareness to other planets in our Solar System and in particular to spacecraft that voyage through it. VA1 will make five entirely new 'toolkits' accessible to the research community and to industrial partners planning for space missions: a general planetary space weather toolkit, as well as three toolkits dedicated to the following key planetary environments: Mars (in support ExoMars), comets (building on the expected success of the ESA Rosetta mission), and outer planets (in preparation for the ESA JUICE mission to be launched in 2022). This will give the European planetary science community new methods, interfaces, functionalities and/or plugins dedicated to planetary space weather in the tools and models available within the partner institutes. It will also create a novel event-diary toolkit aiming at predicting and detecting planetary events like meteor showers and impacts. A variety of tools (in the form of web applications, standalone software, or numerical models in various degrees of implementation) are available for tracing propagation of planetary and/or solar events through the Solar System and modelling the response of the planetary environment (surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres) to those events. But these tools were not originally designed for planetary event prediction and space weather applications. So WP10 JRA4 "Planetary Space Weather Services" (PSWS) will provide the additional research and tailoring required to apply them for these purposes. The overall objectives of this Joint Research Aactivities will be to review, test, improve and adapt methods and tools

A Framework for Teaching Practice-Based Research with a Focus on Service Users

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Michael J.; Isokuortti, Nanne

2016-01-01

The integration of research and practice in social work education and agency practice is both complex and challenging. The analysis presented here builds upon the classic social work generalist framework (engagement, assessment, service planning and implementation, service evaluation, and termination) by developing a three-part framework to…

Research into Learning Resulting from Quality School Library Media Service.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchant, Maurice P.; And Others

1984-01-01

This annotated bibliography of 20 research reports identifies what has been determined about the effects of library media services on learning and suggests methodologies available for similar studies. Organization is according to area of learning affected--academic achievement; language, reading, and library skills; mathematics; science; social…

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

Science.gov (United States)

Whitley, Meredith A.

2014-01-01

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

Public services in early modern European towns: An agenda for further research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Davids, C.A.

2010-01-01

Starting with a set of key questions formulated by Walter Prevenier in 1984, this article proposes an agenda for future research on urban public services in early modern European towns. The author suggests, first of all, a shift in research strategy toward a greater emphasis on actor-oriented

Interrelations for Teaching, Research, and Service: The Faculty Satisfaction Dilemma.

Science.gov (United States)

Serafin, Ana Gil

This study investigated the extent of the interrelations of faculty satisfaction with the position functions of teaching, research, and service across Venezuelan teacher college campuses. In particular the study concerned the extent to which the variations in the variable teaching satisfaction were associated with the variations in the variables…

Organisational benefits of a strong research culture in a health service: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Harding, Katherine; Lynch, Lauren; Porter, Judi; Taylor, Nicholas F

2017-03-01

Objective The aim of the present study was to determine whether there is an association between having research culture in a health service and better organisational performance. Methods Using systematic review methods, databases were searched, inclusion criteria applied and study quality appraised. Data were extracted from selected studies and the results were synthesised descriptively. Results Eight studies were selected for review. Five studies compared health services with high versus low levels of research activity among the workforce. Three studies evaluated the effect of specific interventions focused on the health workforce. All studies reported a positive association between research activity and organisational performance. Improved organisational performance included lower patient mortality rates (two of two studies), higher levels of patient satisfaction (one of one study), reduced staff turnover (two of two studies), improved staff satisfaction (one of two studies) and improved organisational efficiency (four of five studies). Conclusions A stronger research culture appears to be associated with benefits to patients, staff and the organisation. What is known about this topic? Research investment in the health workforce can increase research productivity of the health workforce. In addition, investment in clinical research can lead to positive health outcomes. However, it is not known whether a positive research culture among the health workforce is associated with improved organisational performance. What does this paper add? The present systematic review of the literature provides evidence that a positive research culture and interventions directed at the health workforce are associated with patient, staff and organisational benefits. What are the implications for practitioners? For health service managers and policy makers, one interpretation of the results could be to provide support for initiatives directed at the health workforce to increase a

[Health services research under internal (urological) control: utopia or order of the day?].

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, A

2014-12-01

Health services research investigates the structures and processes of the healthcare system under routine daily conditions. Comprehensive scientific knowledge of healthcare services research is necessary to accomplish a management tailored to the needs of the complex healthcare system. Under, over and incorrect supply should be avoided and healthcare provision should be further developed in line with supply and demand while remaining financially feasible. Additionally, cooperation should be structurally constructed across sectorial boundaries of health services resulting in the development of a transparent manageable process. A special focus in urology in this process is initially the representation of the quality of results in the reality of treatment of the most commonly occurring urological tumors. The organizational structures and technical instrumentation for these challenges are only rudimentary and the necessary measures are currently also not financially sustained.

Strengthening the case for saproxylic arthropod conservation: a call for ecosystem services research

Science.gov (United States)

Michael Ulyshen

2013-01-01

While research on the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity is becoming widely embraced as an important tool in conservation, the services provided by saproxylic arthropods - an especially diverse and threatened assemblage dependent on dead or dying wood - remain unmeasured. A conceptual model depicting the reciprocal relationships between dead wood and...

Support Services for Higher Degree Research Students: A Survey of Three Australian Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Pujitha; Woodman, Karen; Taji, Acram; Travelyan, James; Samani, Shamim; Sharda, Hema; Narayanaswamy, Ramesh; Lucey, Anthony; Sahama, Tony; Yarlagadda, Prasad K. D. V.

2016-01-01

A survey was conducted across three Australian universities to identify the types and format of support services available for higher degree research (HDR, or MA and Ph.D.) students. The services were classified with regards to availability, location and accessibility. A comparative tool was developed to help institutions categorise their services…

A systematic evaluation of payback of publicly funded health and health services research in Hong Kong

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chong Doris SY

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Health and Health Services Research Fund (HHSRF is dedicated to support research related to all aspects of health and health services in Hong Kong. We evaluated the fund's outcomes and explored factors associated with the translation of research findings to changes in health policy and provider behaviour. Methods A locally suitable questionnaire was developed based on the "payback" evaluation framework and was sent to principal investigators of the completed research projects supported by the fund since 1993. Research "payback" in six outcome areas was surveyed, namely knowledge production, use of research in the research system, use of research project findings in health system policy/decision making, application of the research findings through changed behaviour, factors influencing the utilization of research, and health/health service/economic benefits. Results Principal investigators of 178 of 205 (87% completed research projects returned the questionnaire. Investigators reported research publications in 86.5% (mean = 5.4 publications per project, career advancement 34.3%, acquisition of higher qualifications 38.2%, use of results in policy making 35.4%, changed behaviour in light of findings 49.4%, evidence of health service benefit 42.1% and generated subsequent research in 44.9% of the projects. Payback outcomes were positively associated with the amount of funding awarded. Multivariate analysis found participation of investigators in policy committees and liaison with potential users were significantly associated with reported health service benefit (odds ratio [OR]participation = 2.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28–6.40; ORliaison = 2.03, 95% CI 1.05–3.91, policy and decision-making (ORparticipation = 10.53, 95% CI 4.13–26.81; ORliaison = 2.52, 95% CI 1.20–5.28, and change in behavior (ORparticipation = 3.67, 95% CI 1.53–8.81. Conclusion The HHSRF has produced substantial outcomes and compared

Research Progress of Global Land Domain Service Computing:Take GlobeLand 30 as an Example

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHEN Jun

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Combining service-computing technology with domain requirements is one of the important development directions of geographic information under Internet+, which provides highly efficient technical means for information sharing and collaborative services. Using GlobeLand 30 as an example, this paper analyzes the basic problems of integrating land cover information processing and service computing, introduces the latest research progress in domain service modeling, online computing method and dynamic service technology, and the GlobeLand 30 information service platform. The paper also discusses the further development directions of GlobeLand 30 domain service computing.

Subcontracting and network development in the value chain of Talentree Research services

OpenAIRE

Leppilampi, Antti

2013-01-01

The main goal of the research is to investigate the role of subcontractors as a part of market research companies’ value chain. Another objective of the thesis is to find out how network development and knowledge sharing can help Talentree Research services to cope with changing business environments. Data was gathered through a questionnaire and a company representative interview. The questionnaire was sent to the key persons of a randomly selected group of Finnish market research compan...

Research and service programs in the PHS: challenges in organization

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Institute of Medicine Staff; Institute of Medicine

1991-01-01

... Committee on Co-Administration of Service and Research Programs of the National Institutes of Health, the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, and Related Agencies INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1991 Copyrightoriginal retained, the be not from cannot book, paper original however, for version formatting, author...

Intellectual disability in Africa: implications for research and service development.

Science.gov (United States)

McKenzie, Judith Anne; McConkey, Roy; Adnams, Colleen

2013-09-01

Although intellectual disability (ID) is probably the largest impairment grouping on the African continent, few indigenous research and evaluation studies have been undertaken. This article is an initial attempt to relate service delivery issues to an African research agenda. We critically analysed the available literature, drawing on academic publications and those of non-governmental agencies. In this process we identified several key issues for further investigation, namely: understanding ID in African contexts, access to education and health care, the provision of appropriate assistance and support, and income generation. We relate our analysis to the recommendations made in the World Report on Disability but with a specific focus on ID in Africa. The need for mainstreaming and prioritising ID in non-disability related and across impairment programmes is highlighted. We note the importance of families and emphasise the need to draw on informal and traditional forms of care and participation. The need for reliable research evidence to support practice is highlighted. We conclude with a call to action by and on behalf of individuals with ID to be included in the development priorities of the continent. Implications for Rehabilitation Service provision for people with intellectual disabilities in Africa is not always well served by insights obtained from western research agendas. Appropriate and effective rehabilitation requires an understanding of the context and the environment in which the disabled person operates. Indigenous research into the provision of support to families and the inclusion of persons with intellectual disability into mainstream programmes as well as disability specific provision is recommended.

The Satellite Data Thematic Core Service within the EPOS Research Infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

Manunta, Michele; Casu, Francesco; Zinno, Ivana; De Luca, Claudio; Buonanno, Sabatino; Zeni, Giovanni; Wright, Tim; Hooper, Andy; Diament, Michel; Ostanciaux, Emilie; Mandea, Mioara; Walter, Thomas; Maccaferri, Francesco; Fernandez, Josè; Stramondo, Salvatore; Bignami, Christian; Bally, Philippe; Pinto, Salvatore; Marin, Alessandro; Cuomo, Antonio

2017-04-01

EPOS, the European Plate Observing System, is a long-term plan to facilitate the integrated use of data, data products, software and services, available from distributed Research Infrastructures (RI), for solid Earth science in Europe. Indeed, EPOS integrates a large number of existing European RIs belonging to several fields of the Earth science, from seismology to geodesy, near fault and volcanic observatories as well as anthropogenic hazards. The EPOS vision is that the integration of the existing national and trans-national research infrastructures will increase access and use of the multidisciplinary data recorded by the solid Earth monitoring networks, acquired in laboratory experiments and/or produced by computational simulations. The establishment of EPOS will foster the interoperability of products and services in the Earth science field to a worldwide community of users. Accordingly, the EPOS aim is to integrate the diverse and advanced European Research Infrastructures for solid Earth science, and build on new e-science opportunities to monitor and understand the dynamic and complex solid-Earth System. One of the EPOS Thematic Core Services (TCS), referred to as Satellite Data, aims at developing, implementing and deploying advanced satellite data products and services, mainly based on Copernicus data (namely Sentinel acquisitions), for the Earth science community. This work intends to present the technological enhancements, fostered by EPOS, to deploy effective satellite services in a harmonized and integrated way. In particular, the Satellite Data TCS will deploy five services, EPOSAR, GDM, COMET, 3D-Def and MOD, which are mainly based on the exploitation of SAR data acquired by the Sentinel-1 constellation and designed to provide information on Earth surface displacements. In particular, the planned services will provide both advanced DInSAR products (deformation maps, velocity maps, deformation time series) and value-added measurements (source model

An examination of the research priorities for a hospice service in New Zealand: A Delphi study.

Science.gov (United States)

de Vries, Kay; Walton, Jo; Nelson, Katherine; Knox, Rhondda

2016-06-01

Palliative care research is relatively diverse and prioritizing research in this field is dependent on multiple factors such as complex ethical decisions in designing and conducting the research; access to participants who may be deemed "vulnerable" and an increasingly medically focused approach to care. The aim of this study was to inform organizational decision-making and policy development regarding future research priorities for a hospice service in New Zealand. A modified three-round Delphi technique was employed. Participants were drawn from one dedicated specialist palliative care service that delivers care in the community, day-care, hospice inpatient, aged residential care, and acute hospital palliative care service. A purposive sample included palliative care staff (n = 10, 18, 9, for rounds 1-3, respectively) volunteers (n = 10, 12, 11); and patients and family carers (n = 6, 8, for rounds 1 and 2). Patients and family carers were not involved in the third round. At final ranking of six research themes encompassing 23 research topics were identified by staff and volunteers. These were: symptom management; aged care; education; community; patient and family; and bereavement support and young people. Patients and family carers agreed on four themes, made up of 10 research topics. These were: decision-making, bereavement and loss, symptom management; and recognition of need and response of service. The study generated a rich set of research themes and specific research topics. The perspectives of staff and volunteers are significantly different from those of patients and family members, in spite of the recognition by all concerned that palliative care services work within a philosophy of patient-centered care. Open discussion of ideas has the potential to engage both staff and patients and carers in quality improvement initiatives, and to reinforce the value of research for patient care.

Research use and support needs, and research activity in social care: a cross-sectional survey in two councils with social services responsibilities in the UK.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooke, Jo; Bacigalupo, Ruth; Halladay, Linsay; Norwood, Hayley

2008-09-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of research activity, research use, research interests and research skills in the social care workforce in two UK councils with social service responsibilities (CSSRs). A cross-sectional survey was conducted of the social care workforce in two CSSRs (n = 1512) in 2005. The sample was identified in partnership with the councils, and included employees with professional qualifications (social workers and occupational therapists); staff who have a role to assess, plan and monitor care; service managers; commissioners of services; and those involved with social care policy, information management and training. The survey achieved a response rate of 24% (n = 368). The Internet was reported as an effective source of research information; conversely, research-based guidelines were reported to have a low impact on practice. Significant differences were found in research use, by work location, and postgraduate training. Most respondents saw research as useful for practice (69%), and wanted to collaborate in research (68%), but only 11% were planning to do research within the next 12 months. Having a master's degree was associated with a greater desire to lead or collaborate in research. A range of research training needs, and the preferred modes of delivery were identified. Support to increase research activity includes protected time and mentorship. The study concludes that a range of mechanisms to make research available for the social care workforce needs to be in place to support evidence-informed practice. Continual professional development to a postgraduate level supports the use and production of evidence in the social care workforce, and promotes the development of a research culture. The term research is used to include service user consultations, needs assessment and service evaluation. The findings highlight a relatively large body of the social care workforce willing to collaborate and conduct research

The next phase in professional services research: From implementation to sustainability.

Science.gov (United States)

Crespo-Gonzalez, Carmen; Garcia-Cardenas, Victoria; Benrimoj, Shalom I

The provision of professional pharmacy services has been heralded as the professional and the economic future of pharmacy. There are different phases involved in a service creation including service design, impact evaluation, implementation and sustainability. The two first phases have been subject to extensive research. In the last years the principles of Implementation science have been applied in pharmacy to study the initial uptake and integration of evidence-based services into routine practice. However, little attention has been paid to the sustainability of those services, during which there is a continued use of the service previously implemented to achieve and sustain long-term outcomes. The objective of this commentary is to describe the differences and common characteristics between the implementation and the sustainability phase and to propose a definition for pharmacy. A literature search was performed. Four critical elements were identified: 1. The aim of the implementation phase is to incorporate new services into practice, the sustainability phase's aim is to make the services routine to achieve and sustain long-term benefits 2. At the implementation phase planned activities are used as a process to integrate the new service, at the sustainability phase there is a continuous improvement of the service 3. The implementation phase occurs during the period of time between the adoption of a service and its integration. Some authors suggest the sustainability phase is a concomitant phase with the implementation phase and others suggest it is independent 4. There is a lack of consensus regarding the duration of each phase. The following definition of sustainability for pharmacy services is proposed: "Sustainability is a phase in the process of a professional pharmacy service, in which the service previously integrated into practice during the implementation phase is routinized and institutionalized over time to achieve and sustain the expected service

Technical Note: Harmonizing met-ocean model data via standard web services within small research groups

Science.gov (United States)

Signell, Richard; Camossi, E.

2016-01-01

Work over the last decade has resulted in standardised web services and tools that can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of working with meteorological and ocean model data. While many operational modelling centres have enabled query and access to data via common web services, most small research groups have not. The penetration of this approach into the research community, where IT resources are limited, can be dramatically improved by (1) making it simple for providers to enable web service access to existing output files; (2) using free technologies that are easy to deploy and configure; and (3) providing standardised, service-based tools that work in existing research environments. We present a simple, local brokering approach that lets modellers continue to use their existing files and tools, while serving virtual data sets that can be used with standardised tools. The goal of this paper is to convince modellers that a standardised framework is not only useful but can be implemented with modest effort using free software components. We use NetCDF Markup language for data aggregation and standardisation, the THREDDS Data Server for data delivery, pycsw for data search, NCTOOLBOX (MATLAB®) and Iris (Python) for data access, and Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service for data preview. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach with two use cases involving small research modelling groups at NATO and USGS.

Creating and supporting a mixed methods health services research team.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowers, Barbara; Cohen, Lauren W; Elliot, Amy E; Grabowski, David C; Fishman, Nancy W; Sharkey, Siobhan S; Zimmerman, Sheryl; Horn, Susan D; Kemper, Peter

2013-12-01

To use the experience from a health services research evaluation to provide guidance in team development for mixed methods research. The Research Initiative Valuing Eldercare (THRIVE) team was organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to evaluate The Green House nursing home culture change program. This article describes the development of the research team and provides insights into how funders might engage with mixed methods research teams to maximize the value of the team. Like many mixed methods collaborations, the THRIVE team consisted of researchers from diverse disciplines, embracing diverse methodologies, and operating under a framework of nonhierarchical, shared leadership that required new collaborations, engagement, and commitment in the context of finite resources. Strategies to overcome these potential obstacles and achieve success included implementation of a Coordinating Center, dedicated time for planning and collaborating across researchers and methodologies, funded support for in-person meetings, and creative optimization of resources. Challenges are inevitably present in the formation and operation of effective mixed methods research teams. However, funders and research teams can implement strategies to promote success. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Uses of cancer registries for public health and clinical research in Europe: Results of the European Network of Cancer Registries survey among 161 population-based cancer registries during 2010–2012

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Siesling, Sabine; Louwman, W.J.; Kwast, A.; van den Hurk, C.J.G.; O'Callaghan, M.; Rosso, S.; Zanetti, R.; Storm, H.; Comber, H.; Steliarova-Foucher, E.; Coebergh, J.W.W.

2015-01-01

Aim To provide insight into cancer registration coverage, data access and use in Europe. This contributes to data and infrastructure harmonisation and will foster a more prominent role of cancer registries (CRs) within public health, clinical policy and cancer research, whether within or outside the

Directions in healthcare research: pointers from retailing and services marketing.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Rompay, Thomas L J; Tanja-Dijkstra, Karin

2010-01-01

Although the importance of the environment in relation to healing processes has been well established, empirical evidence for environmental effects on patient well-being and behavior is sparse. In addition, few attempts have been made to integrate insights from related fields of research such as retailing and services marketing with findings from healthcare studies. In this paper, relevant findings and insights from these domains are discussed. What insights and findings from retailing and services marketing are (potentially) of interest to the healthcare context, and how should one interpret and follow up on these results in healthcare environments? Research in retailing and services marketing indicates that physical environmental factors (i.e., music and scent) and social environmental factors (i.e., crowded conditions) may affect consumer satisfaction and well-being. In addition, environmental effects have been shown to vary with contextual factors (e.g., the type of environment) and consumer needs (e.g., the extent to which consumers value social contact or stimulation in a specific setting). Although the evidence base for environmental factors in health environments is steadily growing, few attempts have been made to integrate findings from both domains. The findings presented indicate that environmental variables such as music and scent can contribute to patient well-being and overall satisfaction. In addition, findings suggest that these variables may be used to counteract the negative effects resulting from crowded conditions in different healthcare units. Taking into account recent developments in the healthcare industry, the importance of creating memorable and pleasant patient experiences is likely to grow in the years to come. Hence, the finding that subtle and relatively inexpensive manipulations may affect patient well-being in profound ways should inspire follow-up research aimed at unraveling the specifics of environmental influences in health

The U.S. Minerals Management Service - oil spill response research program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mullin, J.V.

1998-01-01

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), is the principal U.S. Government agency funding offshore oil spill response research. The MMS, a bureau of the Department of the lnterior, maintains a comprehensive Oil Spill Response Research program in support of oil spill prevention and response. Through funding provided by MMS, scientists and engineers from the public and private sectors worldwide are working to address outstanding gaps in information and technology concerning the cleanup of oil spills. A large portion of the program is executed through cooperation with major research centers to leverage funds and maximize sharing of research results. This paper outlines the program, its goals, results from recently funded projects and future research directions. (author)

Available Reprocessing and Recycling Services for Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-01-01

The high enriched uranium (HEU) take back programmes will soon have achieved their goals. When there are no longer HEU inventories at research reactors and no commerce in HEU for research reactors, the primary driver for the take back programmes will cease. However, research reactors will continue to operate in order to meet their various mission objectives. As a result, inventories of low enriched uranium spent nuclear fuel will continue to be created during the research reactors' lifetime and, therefore, there is a need to develop national final disposition routes. This publication is designed to address the issues of available reprocessing and recycling services for research reactor spent fuel and discusses the various back end management aspects of the research reactor fuel cycle.

Use of qualitative methods in published health services and management research: a 10-year review.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiner, Bryan J; Amick, Halle R; Lund, Jennifer L; Lee, Shoou-Yih Daniel; Hoff, Timothy J

2011-02-01

Over the past 10 years, the field of health services and management research has seen renewed interest in the use of qualitative research methods. This article examines the volume and characteristics of qualitative research articles published in nine major health services and management journals between 1998 and 2008. Qualitative research articles comprise 9% of research articles published in these journals. Although the publication rate of qualitative research articles has not kept pace with that of quantitative research articles, citation analysis suggests that qualitative research articles contribute comparably to the field's knowledge base. A wide range of policy and management topics has been examined using qualitative methods. Case study designs, interviews, and documentary sources were the most frequently used methods. Half of qualitative research articles provided little or no detail about key aspects the study's methods. Implications are discussed and recommendations are offered for promoting the publication of qualitative research.

Fast Facts: Recent Statistics from the Library Research Service, No. 225-231 (July-November, 2005)

Science.gov (United States)

Lietzau, Zeth; Lance, Keith Curry; Dickenson, Don

2005-01-01

Seven issues of Fast Facts from the Library Research Service that cover information from libraries across Colorado are contained in this document. These issues focus on topics from various library sectors and include patron use of AskColorado (a statewide virtual reference service) and the rising use of online services, Colorado public library…

Understanding the value of mixed methods research: the Children's Safety Initiative-Emergency Medical Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Matthew; O'Brien, Kerth; Meckler, Garth; Chang, Anna Marie; Guise, Jeanne-Marie

2016-07-01

Mixed methods research has significant potential to broaden the scope of emergency care and specifically emergency medical services investigation. Mixed methods studies involve the coordinated use of qualitative and quantitative research approaches to gain a fuller understanding of practice. By combining what is learnt from multiple methods, these approaches can help to characterise complex healthcare systems, identify the mechanisms of complex problems such as medical errors and understand aspects of human interaction such as communication, behaviour and team performance. Mixed methods approaches may be particularly useful for out-of-hospital care researchers because care is provided in complex systems where equipment, interpersonal interactions, societal norms, environment and other factors influence patient outcomes. The overall objectives of this paper are to (1) introduce the fundamental concepts and approaches of mixed methods research and (2) describe the interrelation and complementary features of the quantitative and qualitative components of mixed methods studies using specific examples from the Children's Safety Initiative-Emergency Medical Services (CSI-EMS), a large National Institutes of Health-funded research project conducted in the USA. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

[Psychosocial research and family planning services in Mexico].

Science.gov (United States)

Urbina Fuentes, M; Vernon Carter, R

1985-01-01

Psychosocial and service studies round out data from the demographic and contraceptive prevalence studies that have been conducted every 3 years since 1976 in Mexico. The studies can be formative, providing basic information for development of a program, or evaluative, indicating how well a program is performing. Among formative psychosocial studies in Mexico have been knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) studies, which are usually helpful in the initial stages of family planning program implementation. A 1964 study of knowledge and practice in 7 Mexican cities showed that attitudes toward family planning were more traditional and disapproving in Mexico City than in other areas, but that many women wanted no more children. About 1/4 of the population of Mexico City knew no contraceptive methods and about 1/2 knew only less effective traditional methods. By 1979, 72% of women knew at least 1 effective method. KAP studies have demonstrated differences in the family size desires of men and women and in the determinants of attitudes toward birth control. Formative studies of surgical contraception have been psychologically oriented, and have helped provide a rational basis for making the operation accessible to the public. Despite some passing problems, most women have adapted to sterilization and their libidos have normalized by 18 months postoperative. Studies of the knowledge and attitudes of physicians conducted in the early days of family planning programs have helped in the design of programs to inform them of the advantages and side affects of contraceptive methods. Other studies have helped identify traditional midwives with large practices in rural areas who could be trained to deliver family planning services and have demonstrated that they develop a good understanding of contraindications and side effects of oral contraceptives. Teaching materials for IEC programs have been evaluated with small samples, but minimal attention has been given to research on

Bibliometric analysis of health services research in otolaryngology journals.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Gordon H

2012-11-01

Determine current health services research (HSR) publication trends in major general otolaryngology journals. Bibliometric analysis. All main issues of 8 high-impact general-interest otolaryngology journals published worldwide in 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2011 were searched for HSR-related publications. To qualify as HSR, the abstract of the article must discuss access to care, cost, delivery of care, financing, health organizational or system issues, quality of care, resource utilization, and/or health outcomes. Otolaryngology topics were classified as general, pediatrics, oncology, otology and neurotology, sleep disorders, sinonasal disease, facial plastics, and/or laryngology. Other key measures included study authorship and external sponsorship or mechanism of support. Of 5958 total articles, 449 (7.5%) qualified as HSR. There was a statistically significant increase in the number of HSR publications across all journals from 2002 to 2011 (P research (337, 75.1%) was the most common type of HSR being published. The most common subject was oncology (112, 24.9%), whereas the least represented was trauma and facial plastics (4, 0.9%). First and corresponding authors were based in 31 countries, although the United States was the predominant country of origin. Nearly 95% of HSR articles in the current sample demonstrated multidisciplinary authorship. An estimated 22.9% of first authors and 17.8% of corresponding authors were female. Two-thirds of HSR publications reported no external sponsor, whereas the remainder was supported most commonly by philanthropy and hospital-based sources. Health services research is an international, multidisciplinary field of inquiry with an increasing presence in major otolaryngology journals.

Topical anti-infective sinonasal irrigations: update and literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jivianne T; Chiu, Alexander G

2014-01-01

Sinonasal anti-infective irrigations have emerged as a promising therapeutic modality in the comprehensive management of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), particularly in the context of recalcitrant disease. The purpose of this article was to delineate the current spectrum of topical anti-infective therapies available and evaluate their role in the treatment of CRS. A systematic literature review was performed on all studies investigating the use of topical antimicrobial solutions in the medical therapy of CRS. Anti-infective irrigations were stratified into topical antibacterial, antifungal, and additive preparations according to their composition and respective microbicidal properties. The use of topical antibiotic irrigations has been supported by low-level studies in the treatment of refractory CRS, with optimal results achieved in patients who have undergone prior functional endoscopic sinus surgery and received culture-directed therapy. Multiple evidence-based reviews have not established any clinical benefit with the administration of topical antifungals, and their use is not currently recommended in the management of routine CRS. Topical additives including surfactants may be beneficial as adjunctive treatment for recalcitrant CRS, but additional research is needed to investigate their efficacy in comparison with other agents and establish safety profiles. Topical anti-infective solutions are not recommended as first-line therapy for routine CRS but may be considered as a potential option for patients with refractory CRS who have failed traditional medical and surgical intervention. Additional research is necessary to determine which patient populations would derive the most benefit from each respective irrigation regimen and identify potential toxicities associated with prolonged use.

Incorporating Service-Learning, Technology, and Research Supportive Teaching Techniques into the University Chemistry Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Saitta, E. K. H.; Bowdon, M. A.; Geiger, C. L.

2011-01-01

Technology was integrated into service-learning activities to create an interactive teaching method for undergraduate students at a large research institution. Chemistry students at the University of Central Florida partnered with high school students at Crooms Academy of Information Technology in interactive service learning projects. The…

Climate services in the tourism sector - examples and market research

Science.gov (United States)

Damm, Andrea; Köberl, Judith; Prettenthaler, Franz; Kortschak, Dominik; Hofer, Marianne; Winkler, Claudia

2017-04-01

Tourism is one of the most weather-sensitive sectors. Hence, dealing with weather and climate risks is an important part of operational risk management. WEDDA® (WEather Driven Demand Analysis), developed by Joanneum Research, represents a comprehensive and flexible toolbox for managing weather and climate risks. Modelling the demand for products or services of a particular economic sector or company and its weather and climate sensitivity usually forms the starting and central point of WEDDA®. Coupling the calibrated demand models to either long-term climate scenarios or short-term weather forecasts enables the use of WEDDA® for the following areas of application: (i) implementing short-term forecasting systems for the prediction of the considered indicator; (ii) quantifying the weather risk of a particular economic sector or company using parameters from finance (e.g. Value-at-Risk); (iii) assessing the potential impacts of changing climatic conditions on a particular economic sector or company. WEDDA® for short-term forecasts on the demand for products or services is currently used by various tourism businesses, such as open-air swimming pools, ski areas, and restaurants. It supports tourism and recreation facilities to better cope with (increasing) weather variability by optimizing the disposability of staff, resources and merchandise according to expected demand. Since coping with increasing weather variability forms one of the challenges with respect to climate change, WEDDA® may become an important component within a whole pool of weather and climate services designed to support tourism and recreation facilities to adapt to climate change. Climate change impact assessments at European scale, as conducted in the EU-FP7 project IMPACT2C, provide basic information of climate change impacts on tourism demand not only for individual tourism businesses, but also for regional and national tourism planners and policy makers interested in benchmarks for the

Qualitative and mixed methods in mental health services and implementation research.

Science.gov (United States)

Palinkas, Lawrence A

2014-01-01

Qualitative and mixed methods play a prominent role in mental health services research. However, the standards for their use are not always evident, especially for those not trained in such methods. This article reviews the rationale and common approaches to using qualitative and mixed methods in mental health services and implementation research based on a review of the articles included in this special series along with representative examples from the literature. Qualitative methods are used to provide a "thick description" or depth of understanding to complement breadth of understanding afforded by quantitative methods, elicit the perspective of those being studied, explore issues that have not been well studied, develop conceptual theories or test hypotheses, or evaluate the process of a phenomenon or intervention. Qualitative methods adhere to many of the same principles of scientific rigor as quantitative methods but often differ with respect to study design, data collection, and data analysis strategies. For instance, participants for qualitative studies are usually sampled purposefully rather than at random and the design usually reflects an iterative process alternating between data collection and analysis. The most common techniques for data collection are individual semistructured interviews, focus groups, document reviews, and participant observation. Strategies for analysis are usually inductive, based on principles of grounded theory or phenomenology. Qualitative methods are also used in combination with quantitative methods in mixed-method designs for convergence, complementarity, expansion, development, and sampling. Rigorously applied qualitative methods offer great potential in contributing to the scientific foundation of mental health services research.

The Use of RESTful Web Services in Medical Informatics and Clinical Research and Its Implementation in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Aerts, Jozef

2017-01-01

RESTful web services nowadays are state-of-the-art in business transactions over the internet. They are however not very much used in medical informatics and in clinical research, especially not in Europe. To make an inventory of RESTful web services that can be used in medical informatics and clinical research, including those that can help in patient empowerment in the DACH region and in Europe, and to develop some new RESTful web services for use in clinical research and regulatory review. A literature search on available RESTful web services has been performed and new RESTful web services have been developed on an application server using the Java language. Most of the web services found originate from institutes and organizations in the USA, whereas no similar web services could be found that are made available by European organizations. New RESTful web services have been developed for LOINC codes lookup, for UCUM conversions and for use with CDISC Standards. A comparison is made between "top down" and "bottom up" web services, the latter meant to answer concrete questions immediately. The lack of RESTful web services made available by European organizations in healthcare and medical informatics is striking. RESTful web services may in short future play a major role in medical informatics, and when localized for the German language and other European languages, can help to considerably facilitate patient empowerment. This however requires an EU equivalent of the US National Library of Medicine.

Update on the Health Services Research Doctoral Core Competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, James F; Menachemi, Nir; Maciejewski, Matthew L

2018-03-13

To present revised core competencies for doctoral programs in health services research (HSR), modalities to deliver these competencies, and suggested methods for assessing mastery of these competencies. Core competencies were originally developed in 2005, updated (but unpublished) in 2008, modestly updated for a 2016 HSR workforce conference, and revised based on feedback from attendees. Additional feedback was obtained from doctoral program directors, employer/workforce experts and attendees of presentation on these competencies at the AcademyHealth's June 2017 Annual Research Meeting. The current version (V2.1) competencies include the ethical conduct of research, conceptual models, development of research questions, study designs, data measurement and collection methods, statistical methods for analyzing data, professional collaboration, and knowledge dissemination. These competencies represent a core that defines what HSR researchers should master in order to address the complexities of microsystem to macro-system research that HSR entails. There are opportunities to conduct formal evaluation of newer delivery modalities (e.g., flipped classrooms) and to integrate new Learning Health System Researcher Core Competencies, developed by AHRQ, into the HSR core competencies. Core competencies in HSR are a continually evolving work in progress because new research questions arise, new methods are developed, and the trans-disciplinary nature of the field leads to new multidisciplinary and team building needs. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Health services research related to performance indicators and benchmarking in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klazinga, Niek; Fischer, Claudia; ten Asbroek, Augustinus

2011-01-01

Measuring quality of care through performance indicators and subsequently using these to compare, learn, and improve (benchmarking) has become a central component of health care policy. This paper aims to identify the main themes of health services research in this area and focuses on opportunities

Cybersecurity: Authoritative Reports and Resources

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-25

Report R41536, Keeping America’s Pipelines Safe and Secure: Key Issues for Congress, by Paul W. Parfomak • CRS Report R41886, The Smart Grid and...that the Stuxnet malware is a game changer for critical information infrastructure protection; PLC controllers of SCADA systems infected with the...Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R42507 Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is

Why, and how, mixed methods research is undertaken in health services research in England: a mixed methods study

Science.gov (United States)

O'Cathain, Alicia; Murphy, Elizabeth; Nicholl, Jon

2007-01-01

Background Recently, there has been a surge of international interest in combining qualitative and quantitative methods in a single study – often called mixed methods research. It is timely to consider why and how mixed methods research is used in health services research (HSR). Methods Documentary analysis of proposals and reports of 75 mixed methods studies funded by a research commissioner of HSR in England between 1994 and 2004. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 20 researchers sampled from these studies. Results 18% (119/647) of HSR studies were classified as mixed methods research. In the documentation, comprehensiveness was the main driver for using mixed methods research, with researchers wanting to address a wider range of questions than quantitative methods alone would allow. Interviewees elaborated on this, identifying the need for qualitative research to engage with the complexity of health, health care interventions, and the environment in which studies took place. Motivations for adopting a mixed methods approach were not always based on the intrinsic value of mixed methods research for addressing the research question; they could be strategic, for example, to obtain funding. Mixed methods research was used in the context of evaluation, including randomised and non-randomised designs; survey and fieldwork exploratory studies; and instrument development. Studies drew on a limited number of methods – particularly surveys and individual interviews – but used methods in a wide range of roles. Conclusion Mixed methods research is common in HSR in the UK. Its use is driven by pragmatism rather than principle, motivated by the perceived deficit of quantitative methods alone to address the complexity of research in health care, as well as other more strategic gains. Methods are combined in a range of contexts, yet the emerging methodological contributions from HSR to the field of mixed methods research are currently limited to the single

Critical Communication Pedagogy and Service Learning in a Mixed-Method Communication Research Course

Science.gov (United States)

Rudick, C. Kyle; Golsan, Kathryn B.; Freitag, Jennifer

2018-01-01

Course: Mixed-Method Communication Research Methods. Objective: The purpose of this semester-long activity is to provide students with opportunities to cultivate mixed-method communication research skills through a social justice-informed service-learning format. Completing this course, students will be able to: recognize the unique strengths of…

Embedding Research into Practice through Innovation and Creativity: A Case Study from Social Services

Science.gov (United States)

Petch, Alison; Lightowler, Claire; Pattoni, Lisa; Watson, Ian

2014-01-01

This paper explores ways in which IRISS (Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services) promotes the delivery of cost effective social services in Scotland that support the achievement of positive outcomes. The approach to evidence-informed practice is characterised as four pillars of activity. The first focuses on improving awareness…

Service Modularity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Avlonitis, Viktor; Hsuan, Juliana

2015-01-01

The purpose of this research is to investigate the studies on service modularity with a goal of informing service science and advancing contemporary service systems research. Modularity, a general systems property, can add theoretical underpinnings to the conceptual development of service science...... in general and service systems in particular. Our research is guided by the following question: how can modularity theory inform service system design? We present a review of the modularity literature and associated concepts. We then introduce the contemporary service science and service system discourse...

The ASME research task force on risk-based in-service inspection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balkey, K.R.; Chapman, O.J.V.

1997-01-01

The use of risk-based methods in the development of in-service inspection (ISI) and in-service testing (IST) programs for nuclear power plant and other industrial applications has been studied for the last several years through the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Centre for Research and Technology Development (ASME 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996). The results of this work are being used as a foundation to develop specific requirements for implementation of risk-based technology in ASME Codes and Standards, regulatory requirements and industry programs both in the U.S. and other countries. This paper provides a brief overview of the ASME Research Methodology and how it has been adapted for application to the inspection of piping within the USA. It also relates how the reliability of nondestructive examination (NDE) methods for pressure boundary components can impact the risk and discusses the relationship between this and NDE qualification/demonstration now being implemented in Europe and the USA. (orig.)

Virtual Planetary Space Weather Services offered by the Europlanet H2020 Research Infrastructure

Science.gov (United States)

André, N.; Grande, M.; Achilleos, N.; Barthélémy, M.; Bouchemit, M.; Benson, K.; Blelly, P.-L.; Budnik, E.; Caussarieu, S.; Cecconi, B.; Cook, T.; Génot, V.; Guio, P.; Goutenoir, A.; Grison, B.; Hueso, R.; Indurain, M.; Jones, G. H.; Lilensten, J.; Marchaudon, A.; Matthiä, D.; Opitz, A.; Rouillard, A.; Stanislawska, I.; Soucek, J.; Tao, C.; Tomasik, L.; Vaubaillon, J.

2018-01-01

Under Horizon 2020, the Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (EPN2020-RI) will include an entirely new Virtual Access Service, "Planetary Space Weather Services" (PSWS) that will extend the concepts of space weather and space situational awareness to other planets in our Solar System and in particular to spacecraft that voyage through it. PSWS will make twelve new services accessible to the research community, space agencies, and industrial partners planning for space missions. These services will in particular be dedicated to the following key planetary environments: Mars (in support of the NASA MAVEN and European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express and ExoMars missions), comets (building on the outstanding success of the ESA Rosetta mission), and outer planets (in preparation for the ESA JUpiter ICy moon Explorer mission), and one of these services will aim at predicting and detecting planetary events like meteor showers and impacts in the Solar System. This will give the European planetary science community new methods, interfaces, functionalities and/or plugins dedicated to planetary space weather as well as to space situational awareness in the tools and models available within the partner institutes. A variety of tools (in the form of web applications, standalone software, or numerical models in various degrees of implementation) are available for tracing propagation of planetary and/or solar events through the Solar System and modelling the response of the planetary environment (surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheres) to those events. But these tools were not originally designed for planetary event prediction and space weather applications. PSWS will provide the additional research and tailoring required to apply them for these purposes. PSWS will be to review, test, improve and adapt methods and tools available within the partner institutes in order to make prototype planetary event and space weather services operational in Europe at the end

FEDIX on-line information service: Design, develop, test, and implement an on-line research and education information service. Annual status report, September 1992--August 1993

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rodman, J.A.

1993-08-01

Federal Information Exchange, Inc. (FIE) is a diversified information services company that is recognized as the major electronic link between the higher education community and the Federal government in the field of research administration. FIE provides a range of information related services to the government, academic and private sectors, including database management, software development and technical support. FEDIX is the on-line information service designed, developed and implemented by FIE to accomplish the following objectives: (1). Broaden the participation of the education community in Federal research and education programs by providing free and unrestricted on-line access to information from all participating Federal agencies; and (2). Provide the education community with on-line access to a single keyword-searchable system for research and educational funding opportunities at the participating Federal agencies.

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Data and Services for Research and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhong; Ostrenga, Dana; Teng, William; Kempler, Steven

2012-01-01

Precipitation is a critical component of the Earth's hydrological cycle. Launched on 27 November 1997, TRMM is a joint U.S.-Japan satellite mission to provide the first detailed and comprehensive data set of the four-dimensional distribution of rainfall and latent heating over vastly under-sampled tropical and subtropical oceans and continents (40 S - 40 N). Over the past 14 years, TRMM has been a major data source for meteorological, hydrological and other research and application activities around the world. The purpose of this short article is to inform that the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) provides TRMM archive and near-real-time precipitation data sets and services for research and applications. TRMM data consist of orbital data from TRMM instruments at the sensor s resolution, gridded data at a range of spatial and temporal resolutions, subsets, ground-based instrument data, and ancillary data. Data analysis, display, and delivery are facilitated by the following services: (1) Mirador (data search and access); (2) TOVAS (TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System); (3) OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol); (4) GrADS Data Server (GDS); and (5) Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) for the GIS community. Precipitation data application services are available to support a wide variety of applications around the world. Future plans include enhanced and new services to address data related issues from the user community. Meanwhile, the GES DISC is preparing for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission which is scheduled for launch in 2014.

Mobile technology and academic libraries innovative services for research and learning

CERN Document Server

Canuel, Robin

2017-01-01

In seventeen chapters ranging from A Mobile-First Library Site Redesign to Mobile Technology Support for Field Research to Virtual Reality Library Environments, Mobile Technology and Academic Libraries explores how librarians around the world are working to adapt their spaces, collections, teaching, and services to the new possibilities presented by mobile technology. This is a detailed and thorough examination of technology that's emerging now and how to incorporate it into your library to help the students and researchers of both today and tomorrow.

Implementation of a nationwide health economic consultation service to assist substance use researchers: Lessons learned.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Sean M; Leff, Jared A; Linas, Benjamin P; Morgan, Jake R; McCollister, Kathryn; Schackman, Bruce R

2018-03-20

Health economic evaluation findings assist stakeholders in improving the quality, availability, scalability, and sustainability of evidence-based services, and in maximizing the efficiency of service delivery. The Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorders, HCV, and HIV (CHERISH) is a NIDA-funded multi-institutional center of excellence whose mission is to develop and disseminate health-economic research on healthcare utilization, health outcomes, and health-related behaviors that informs substance use disorder treatment policy, and HCV and HIV care of people who use substances. We designed a consultation service that is free to researchers whose work aligns with CHERISH's mission. The service includes up to six hours of consulting time. After prospective consultees submit their request online, they receive a screening call from the consultation service director, who connects them with a consultant with relevant expertise. Consultees and consultants complete web-based evaluations following the consultation; consultees also complete a six-month follow-up. We report on the status of the service from its inception in July 2015 through June 2017. We have received 28 consultation requests (54% Early Stage Investigators, 57% MD or equivalent, 28% PhD, 61% women) on projects typically related to planning a study or grant application (93%); 71% were HIV/AIDS-related. Leading topics included cost-effectiveness (43%), statistical-analysis/econometrics (36%), cost (32%), cost-benefit (21%), and quality-of-life (18%). All consultees were satisfied with their overall experience, and felt that consultation expectations and objectives were clearly defined and the consultant's expertise was matched appropriately with their needs. Results were similar for consultants, who spent a median of 3 hours on consultations. There is a need for health-economic methodological guidance among substance use, HCV, and HIV researchers. Lessons learned

Current Topics and Trends in Military Dental Research: A Tri-Service Panel Discussion

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-09

Tri- Service Panel Discussion presented at/published to SURF 2016 (San Antonio Military Health System & Universities Research Forum), UT San Antonio...meting.) SURF 2016 (San Antonio Mili tary Health System & U niversities Research Forum), UT San Antonio, TX; 20 May 2016 D 11e. OTHER (Describe...if you are a Graduate Health Sciences Education student and your department has told you they cannot fund your publication, the 59th Clinical Research

A systematic review of nursing research priorities on health system and services in the Americas.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Alessandra Bassalobre; Cassiani, Silvia Helena De Bortoli; Reveiz, Ludovic

2015-03-01

To systematically review literature on priorities in nursing research on health systems and services in the Region of the Americas as a step toward developing a nursing research agenda that will advance the Regional Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage. This was a systematic review of the literature available from the following databases: Web of Science, PubMed, LILACS, and Google. Documents considered were published in 2008-2014; in English, Spanish, or Portuguese; and addressed the topic in the Region of the Americas. The documents selected had their priority-setting process evaluated according to the "nine common themes for good practice in health research priorities." A content analysis collected all study questions and topics, and sorted them by category and subcategory. Of 185 full-text articles/documents that were assessed for eligibility, 23 were selected: 12 were from peer-reviewed journals; 6 from nursing publications; 4 from Ministries of Health; and 1 from an international organization. Journal publications had stronger methodological rigor; the majority did not present a clear implementation or evaluation plan. After compiling the 444 documents' study questions and topics, the content analysis resulted in a document with 5 categories and 16 subcategories regarding nursing research priorities on health systems and services. Research priority-setting is a highly important process for health services improvement and resources optimization, but implementation and evaluation plans are rarely included. The resulting document will serve as basis for the development of a new nursing research agenda focused on health systems and services, and shaped to advance universal health coverage and universal access to health.

Soil "ecosystem" services and natural capital: Critical appraisal of research on uncertain ground

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philippe C. Baveye

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Over the last few years, considerable attention has been devoted in the scientific literature and in the media to the concept of ecosystem services of soils. The monetary valuation of these services, demanded by many governments and international agencies, is often depicted as a necessary condition for the preservation of the natural capital that soils represent. This focus on soil services is framed in the context of a general interest in ecosystem services that allegedly started in 1997, and took off in earnest after 2005. The careful analysis of the literature proposed in this article shows that, in fact, interest in the multifunctionality of soils emerged already in the mid-60s, at a time when hundreds of researchers worldwide were trying, and largely failing, to figure out how to put price tags meaningfully on nature's services. Soil scientists, since, have tried to better understand various functions/services of soils, as well as their possible relation with key soil characteristics, like biodiversity. They have also tried to make progress on the challenging quantification of soil functions/services. However, researchers have shown very little interest in monetary valuation, undoubtedly in part because it is not clear what economic and financial markets might do with prices of soil functions/services, even if we could somehow come up with such numbers, and because there is no assurance at all, based on neoclassical economic theory, that markets would manage soil resources optimally. Instead of monetary valuation, focus in the literature has been put on decision-making methods, like Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA and Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN, which do not require the systematic monetization of soil functions/services and easily accommodate deliberative approaches involving a variety of stakeholders. A prerequisite to progress in such public deliberations is that participants be very cognizant of the extreme relevance of soils

Access to health services in Western Newfoundland, Canada: Issues, barriers and recommendations emerging from a community-engaged research project

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janelle Hippe

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Research indicates that people living in rural and remote areas of Canada face challenges to accessing health services. This article reports on a community-engaged research project conducted by investigators at Memorial University of Newfoundland in collaboration with the Rural Secretariat Regional Councils and Regional Partnership Planners for the Corner Brook–Rocky Harbour and Stephenville–Port aux Basques Rural Secretariat Regions of Newfoundland and Labrador. The aim of this research was to gather information on barriers to accessing health services, to identify solutions to health services’ access issues and to inform policy advice to government on enhancing access to health services. Data was collected through: (1 targeted distribution of a survey to communities throughout the region, and (2 informal ‘kitchen table’ discussions to discuss health services’ access issues. A total of 1049 surveys were collected and 10 kitchen table discussions were held. Overall, the main barriers to care listed in the survey included long wait times, services not available in the area and services not available at time required. Other barriers noted by survey respondents included transportation problems, financial concerns, no medical insurance coverage, distance to travel and weather conditions. Some respondents reported poorer access to maternal/child health and breast and cervical screening services and a lack of access to general practitioners, pharmacy services, dentists and nurse practitioners. Recommendations that emerged from this research included improving the recruitment of rural physicians, exploring the use of nurse practitioners, assisting individuals with travel costs,  developing specialist outreach services, increasing use of telehealth services and initiating additional rural and remote health research. Keywords: rural, remote, healthcare, health services, social determinants of health

Research methods in health: investigating health and health services. 4th edition

OpenAIRE

Bowling, Ann

2014-01-01

This bestselling book provides an accessible introduction to the concepts and practicalities of research methods in health and health services. This new edition has been extensively re-worked and expanded and now includes expanded coverage of: Qualitative methods Social research Evaluation methodology Mixed methods Secondary data analysis Literature reviewing and critical appraisal Evidence based practiceCovering all core methodologies in detail the book looks at the following kinds of health...

NASA Space Weather Center Services: Potential for Space Weather Research

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yihua; Kuznetsova, Masha; Pulkkinen, Antti; Taktakishvili, A.; Mays, M. L.; Chulaki, A.; Lee, H.; Hesse, M.

2012-01-01

The NASA Space Weather Center's primary objective is to provide the latest space weather information and forecasting for NASA's robotic missions and its partners and to bring space weather knowledge to the public. At the same time, the tools and services it possesses can be invaluable for research purposes. Here we show how our archive and real-time modeling of space weather events can aid research in a variety of ways, with different classification criteria. We will list and discuss major CME events, major geomagnetic storms, and major SEP events that occurred during the years 2010 - 2012. Highlights of major tools/resources will be provided.

EPOS Thematic Core Service ANTHROPOGENIC HAZARDS (TCS AH) - development of e-research platform

Science.gov (United States)

Orlecka-Sikora, Beata

2017-04-01

TCS AH is based on IS-EPOS Platform. The Platform facilitates research on anthropogenic hazards and is available online, free of charge https://tcs.ah-epos.eu/. The Platform is a final product of the IS-EPOS project, founded by the national programme - POIG - which was implemented in 2013-2015 (POIG.02.03.00-14-090/13-00). The platform is a result of a joint work of scientific community and industrial partners. Currently, the development of TCS AH is carried under EPOS IP project (H2020-INFRADEV-1-2015-1, INFRADEV-3-2015). Platform is an open virtual access point for researchers and Ph. D. students interested in anthropogenic seismicity and related hazards. This environment is designed to ensure a researcher the maximum possible liberty for experimentation by providing a virtual laboratory, in which the researcher can design own processing streams and process the data integrated on the platform. TCS AH integrates: data and specific high-level services. Data gathered in the so-called "episodes", comprehensively describing a geophysical process, induced or triggered by human technological activity, which, under certain circumstances can become hazardous for people, infrastructure and the environment. 7 sets of seismic, geological and technological data were made available on the Platform. The data come from Poland, Germany, UK and Vietnam, and refer to underground mining, reservoir impoundment, shale gas exploitation and geothermal energy production. The next at least 19 new episodes related to conventional hydrocarbon extraction, reservoir treatment, underground mining and geothermal energy production are being integrated within the framework of EPOS IP project. The heterogeneous multi-disciplinary data (seismic, displacement, geomechanical data, production data etc.) are transformed to unified structures to form integrated and validated datasets. To deal with this various data the problem-oriented services were designed and implemented. The particular attention

Delivery through innovation: CSIR research on water services infrastructure operation through franchising

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Wall, K

2006-02-01

Full Text Available There is a great need for institutional innovations aimed at improving access to basic water services in South Africa, and sustaining that improvement. In support of effective delivery, the CSIR, with the support of the Water Research Commission...

Using customer-focused research and design to build a self-service online store: a case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmadi MB

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Michael B Ahmadi,1 William Trefzger,2 Rich Morey,1 Ileana Quintas31Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, 2Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Baltimore, 3IQ Solutions, Inc, Rockville, MD, USAAbstract: American government information centers need to be responsive to an increasingly customer driven information environment while ensuring the sustainability of operations. Enhanced self-service options offer one avenue for addressing both of these needs. This article presents a case study of how the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration used extensive stakeholder research and a customer-centric design to reframe its service model by building a self-service online store that integrates access to more than 1300 behavioral health publications previously housed in two separate clearinghouses. The redesigned Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Store offers users a modern e-commerce website that not only helps customers find, order, download, and share products, but also encourages serendipitous content exploration, which has led to increased orders containing both substance abuse and mental health publications.Keywords: customer research, taxonomy, usability testing, web analytics, web design

Virtualization of open-source secure web services to support data exchange in a pediatric critical care research network.

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, Lewis J; Sward, Katherine A; Newth, Christopher J L; Khemani, Robinder G; Cryer, Martin E; Thelen, Julie L; Enriquez, Rene; Shaoyu, Su; Pollack, Murray M; Harrison, Rick E; Meert, Kathleen L; Berg, Robert A; Wessel, David L; Shanley, Thomas P; Dalton, Heidi; Carcillo, Joseph; Jenkins, Tammara L; Dean, J Michael

2015-11-01

To examine the feasibility of deploying a virtual web service for sharing data within a research network, and to evaluate the impact on data consistency and quality. Virtual machines (VMs) encapsulated an open-source, semantically and syntactically interoperable secure web service infrastructure along with a shadow database. The VMs were deployed to 8 Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network Clinical Centers. Virtual web services could be deployed in hours. The interoperability of the web services reduced format misalignment from 56% to 1% and demonstrated that 99% of the data consistently transferred using the data dictionary and 1% needed human curation. Use of virtualized open-source secure web service technology could enable direct electronic abstraction of data from hospital databases for research purposes. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

National Biological Service Research Supports Watershed Planning

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Craig D.

1996-01-01

The National Biological Service's Leetown Science Center is investigating how human impacts on watershed, riparian, and in-stream habitats affect fish communities. The research will provide the basis for a Ridge and Valley model that will allow resource managers to accurately predict and effectively mitigate human impacts on water quality. The study takes place in the Opequon Creek drainage basin of West Virginia. A fourth-order tributary of the Potomac, the basin falls within the Ridge and Valley. The study will identify biological components sensitive to land use patterns and the condition of the riparian zone; the effect of stream size, location, and other characteristics on fish communities; the extent to which remote sensing can reliable measure the riparian zone; and the relationship between the rate of landscape change and the structure of fish communities.

Dynamaid, an Anthropomorphic Robot for Research on Domestic Service Applications

OpenAIRE

Stückler, Jörg; Behnke, Sven

2011-01-01

Domestic tasks require three main skills from autonomous robots: robust navigation, object manipulation, and intuitive communication with the users. Most robot platforms, however, support only one or two of the above skills. In this paper we present Dynamaid, a robot platform for research on domestic service applications. For robust navigation, Dynamaid has a base with four individually steerable differential wheel pairs, which allow omnidirectional motion. For mobile manipulation, Dynamaid i...

Becoming Reflective and Inquiring Teachers: Collaborative Action Research for In-service Chilean Teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martine Pellerin

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the outcomes of a case study that engaged Chilean in-service teachers in systematic action research (AR as a means of improving their pedagogical practice and effecting changes in their educational context. The study involved six in-service teachers from a region of Chile and two university researchers. The findings show that knowledge of systematic AR provided the teachers with the necessary means to engage in a critical reflection and inquiry process regarding their own practice. The teacher participants also perceived the self-reflective spiral of reflection and action to be crucial in establishing new habits of inquiry and reflection about their own pedagogical actions. The findings support earlier studies (e.g., Price & Valli, 2005; Steven & Kitchen, 2005, 2011 concerning the necessity of including knowledge of systematic AR in teacher preparation programs in order to foster strong habits of inquiry and reflection among preservice teachers. Finally, the study suggests that participation in a systematic reflection and inquiry process contributes to empowering in-service teachers to become agents of pedagogical change through their own actions.

Designing a tool for service-dominant business strategies using action design research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lüftenegger, E.R.; Comuzzi, M.; Grefen, P.W.P.J.

2017-01-01

Both academic research and industrial practice recognize difficulties in translating the principles of service-dominant (S-D) business logic into actionable insights for practitioners, particularly when considering S-D logic at the strategic level. To address this problem, this paper focuses on the

The Effects of Different Teaching, Research, and Service Emphases on Individual and Organizational Outcomes in Higher Education Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Terpstra, David E.; Honoree, Andre L.

2009-01-01

The authors investigated the relative emphasis that educators give to teaching, research, and service in the business discipline and 4 other academic disciplines. The authors also investigated the effects of different faculty activity emphases on faculty teaching effectiveness, research performance, service levels, job and pay satisfaction,…

Research on Clinical Preventive Services for Adolescents and Young Adults: Where Are We and Where Do We Need to Go?

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Sion K; Aalsma, Matthew C; Weitzman, Elissa R; Garcia-Huidobro, Diego; Wong, Charlene; Hadland, Scott E; Santelli, John; Park, M Jane; Ozer, Elizabeth M

2017-03-01

We reviewed research regarding system- and visit-level strategies to enhance clinical preventive service delivery and quality for adolescents and young adults. Despite professional consensus on recommended services for adolescents, a strong evidence base for services for young adults, and improved financial access to services with the Affordable Care Act's provisions, receipt of preventive services remains suboptimal. Further research that builds off successful models of linking traditional and community clinics is needed to improve access to care for all youth. To optimize the clinical encounter, promising clinician-focused strategies to improve delivery of preventive services include screening and decision support tools, particularly when integrated into electronic medical record systems and supported by training and feedback. Although results have been mixed, interventions have moved beyond increasing service delivery to demonstrating behavior change. Research on emerging technology-such as gaming platforms, mobile phone applications, and wearable devices-suggests opportunities to expand clinicians' reach; however, existing research is based on limited clinical settings and populations. Improved monitoring systems and further research are needed to examine preventive services facilitators and ensure that interventions are effective across the range of clinical settings where youth receive preventive care, across multiple populations, including young adults, and for more vulnerable populations with less access to quality care. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effectiveness of classroom response systems within an active learning environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Welch, Susan

2013-11-01

In nursing education, the inclusion of pedagogical tools is necessary to transform Millennial classrooms. One such pedagogical tool currently offered is classroom response systems (CRS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of CRS as a pedagogical tool in improving nursing students' examination performance within an active learning environment. A pretest-posttest design was used to determine whether there was a relationship between the use of CRS (independent variable) and nursing students' examination performance in a first-year Professional Practice course (dependent variable). Paired t tests revealed no greater improvement in posttest scores. Therefore, the use of CRS technology was not effective in increasing nursing students' examination scores in the Professional Practice course. Additional research is needed to provide adequate understanding of the effectiveness of CRS within the nursing education classroom. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

Research on Methods for Discovering and Selecting Cloud Infrastructure Services Based on Feature Modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huamin Zhu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Nowadays more and more cloud infrastructure service providers are providing large numbers of service instances which are a combination of diversified resources, such as computing, storage, and network. However, for cloud infrastructure services, the lack of a description standard and the inadequate research of systematic discovery and selection methods have exposed difficulties in discovering and choosing services for users. First, considering the highly configurable properties of a cloud infrastructure service, the feature model method is used to describe such a service. Second, based on the description of the cloud infrastructure service, a systematic discovery and selection method for cloud infrastructure services are proposed. The automatic analysis techniques of the feature model are introduced to verify the model’s validity and to perform the matching of the service and demand models. Finally, we determine the critical decision metrics and their corresponding measurement methods for cloud infrastructure services, where the subjective and objective weighting results are combined to determine the weights of the decision metrics. The best matching instances from various providers are then ranked by their comprehensive evaluations. Experimental results show that the proposed methods can effectively improve the accuracy and efficiency of cloud infrastructure service discovery and selection.

Quantitative marketing research on behavior of the small and medium companies on financial advisory services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duguleana, L.

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of quantitative marketing research conducted among small and medium enterprises in Braşov County. The research identified organizational elements of the consumer behavior in the use of the financial advisory services. The objective is to determine whether there is association between firm size and the number of financial advice services outsourced. Results of the study will be based construction of the price policy for financial advisory firms, tailored to the financial constraints faced by small and medium enterprises in Romania.

Translating Health Services Research into Practice in the Safety Net.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Susan L; Fischer, Ilana; Havranek, Edward P

2016-02-01

To summarize research relating to health services research translation in the safety net through analysis of the literature and case study of a safety net system. Literature review and key informant interviews at an integrated safety net hospital. This paper describes the results of a comprehensive literature review of translational science literature as applied to health care paired with qualitative analysis of five key informant interviews conducted with senior-level management at Denver Health and Hospital Authority. Results from the literature suggest that implementing innovation may be more difficult in the safety net due to multiple factors, including financial and organizational constraints. Results from key informant interviews confirmed the reality of financial barriers to innovation implementation but also implied that factors, including institutional respect for data, organizational attitudes, and leadership support, could compensate for disadvantages. Translating research into practice is of critical importance to safety net providers, which are under increased pressure to improve patient care and satisfaction. Results suggest that translational research done in the safety net can better illuminate the special challenges of this setting; more such research is needed. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

77 FR 40412 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board, Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-09

...: August 7 Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease; Rehabilitation Engineering and Prosthetics/Orthotics; and... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit...-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that subcommittees of the Rehabilitation Research and Development...

Fast Facts: Recent Statistics from the Library Research Service, Numbers 283-289. January-December, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Library Research Service, 2010

2010-01-01

Issues 283 through 289 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data collected from libraries in Colorado and throughout the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2010 include the relationship between computer access in libraries and use of traditional services, analysis of the third year of data…

Public service quality improvements: a case for exemption from IRB review of public administration research.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Sara R

2014-01-01

Should the exemption from Institutional Review Board (IRB) evaluations currently in place for quality improvements research be extended to public administration research that addresses questions of improving the quality of public service delivery? As a means to both reduce the level of disdain held by a group of social science researchers for IRBs and to reduce the cost of review for minimal risk studies, I argue here that much of the current public administration research should also be exempted from normal processes of review by IRBs on the basis of their similarity to Quality Improvements (QI) research, a category of studies already granted exemption. This argument dovetails provisions currently in place for studies of public service and public benefit, but reframes these exemptions in the language of "quality improvements," which may be a more comfortable language for IRBs concerned to demonstrate compliance for review of all fields. To expedite this argument into the practices of IRBs, I included a checklist that researchers could use to self-identify their studies as QI, not research as such.

EUROCOURSE recipe for cancer surveillance by visible population-based cancer RegisTrees in Europe: From roots to fruits.

Science.gov (United States)

Coebergh, Jan Willem; van den Hurk, Corina; Louwman, Marieke; Comber, Harry; Rosso, Stefano; Zanetti, Roberto; Sacchetto, Lidia; Storm, Hans; van Veen, Evert-Ben; Siesling, Sabine; van den Eijnden-van Raaij, Janny

2015-06-01

Currently about 160 population-based cancer registries (CRs) in Europe have extensive experience in generating valid information on variation in cancer risk and survival with time and place. Most CRs cover all cancers, but some are confined to specific cancers or to children. They cover 15-55% of the populations in all of the larger member states of the European Union (EU), except the United Kingdom (UK), and 100% coverage in 80% of those with populations below 20 million. The EU FP 7 EUROCOURSE project, which operated in 2009-2013, explored the essential role of CRs in cancer research and public health, and also focused attention on their programme owners (POs) and stakeholders (e.g. cancer societies, oncological professionals, cancer patient groups, and planners, providers and evaluators of cancer care and mass screening). Generally, all CRs depended on their regional and/or national oncological context and were increasingly involved in population-based studies of quality of cancer care, long-term prognosis and quality of life, one third being very active. Within the public health domain, CRs, in addition to describing the variety of environmental and lifestyle-related cancer epidemics, have also contributed actively to aetiologic research by a European databases that showed wide discrepancies in cancer risk and survival across the EU, and in more depth by follow-up of cohorts and recruitment for case-control studies. CRs were also actively contributing to independent evaluation of mass screening as an intervention which affects quality of care and cancer mortality. The potential of CRs for clinical evaluation has grown substantially through interaction with clinical stakeholders and more incidentally biobanks, also with greater involvement of patient groups - with a special focus on elderly patients who generally do not take part in clinical trials. Whereas 25-35% of CRs are active in a range of cancer research areas, the rest have a low profile and usually

How the I Shapes the Eye: The Imperative of Reflexivity in Global Service-Learning Qualitative Research

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Emily

2015-01-01

While literature on research methods abounds, little attention has been given to understanding how qualitative researchers and their approaches to research (i.e., the researcher's stance) shape what we know about global service-learning (GSL) and how we come to know what we know about GSL. Researchers often uncritically adopt a particular research…

Lambdastation: a forwarding and admission control service to interface production network facilities with advanced research network paths

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DeMar, Philip; Petravick, Don; /Fermilab

2004-12-01

Over the past several years, there has been a great deal of research effort and funding put into the deployment of optical-based, advanced technology wide-area networks. Fermilab and CalTech have initiated a project to enable our production network facilities to exploit these advanced research network facilities. Our objective is to forward designated data transfers across these advanced wide area networks on a per-flow basis, making use our capacious production-use storage systems connected to the local campus network. To accomplish this, we intend to develop a dynamically provisioned forwarding service that would provide alternate path forwarding onto available wide area advanced research networks. The service would dynamically reconfigure forwarding of specific flows within our local production-use network facilities, as well as provide an interface to enable applications to utilize the service. We call this service LambdaStation. If one envisions wide area optical network paths as high bandwidth data railways, then LambdaStation would functionally be the railroad terminal that regulates which flows at the local site get directed onto the high bandwidth data railways. LambdaStation is a DOE-funded SciDac research project in its very early stage of development.

76 FR 5650 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-01

... Rehabilitation. March 1--Rehabilitation Engineering and Prosthetics/Orthotics. March 1-2--Psychological Health... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit...-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Rehabilitation Research and Development...

[Methods in health services research. The example of the evaluation of the German disease management programmes].

Science.gov (United States)

Morfeld, M; Wirtz, M

2006-02-01

According to the established definition of Pfaff, health services research analyses patients' path through the institutions of the health care system. The focus is on development, evaluation and implementation of innovative measures of health care. By increasing its quality health services research strives for an improvement of efficacy and efficiency of the health care system. In order to allow for an appropriate evaluation it is essential to differentiate between structure, process and outcome quality referring to (1) the health care system in its entirety, (2) specific health care units as well as (3) processes of communication in different settings. Health services research comprises a large array of scientific disciplines like public health, medicine, social sciences and social care. For the purpose of managing its tasks adequately a special combination of instruments and methodological procedures is needed. Thus, diverse techniques of evaluation research as well as special requirements for study designs and assessment procedures are of vital importance. The example of the German disease management programmes illustrates the methodical requirements for a scientific evaluation.

7 CFR 2.66 - Administrator, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... extension program through grants to regional rural development centers and competitive grants to land-grant... Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 for USDA (15 U.S.C. 638(e)-(k)). (51) Administer a..., and Extension Service. (1) Administer research and technology development grants related to the...

Mapping ecosystem services demand: A review of current research and future perspectives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolff, S.; Schulp, C.J.E.; Verburg, P.H.

2015-01-01

Mapping the demand for ecosystem services (ES) has received increased attention in scientific research and is seen as a relevant tool to inform conservation planning, land use planning and management. Yet, there is a varying understanding of the concept of ES demand, which has implications on how

Fast Facts: Recent Statistics from the Library Research Service, Nos. 214-224. February 11-March 31, 2005

Science.gov (United States)

Steffen, Nicolle Olivia; Lance, Keith Curry; Lietzau, Zeth; Dickenson, Don

2005-01-01

Eleven issues of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service cover information from libraries across Colorado. These issues focus on topics from the public, academic, and school sectors. These topics include patron use of AskColorado (a statewide virtual reference service) and the rising use of online services. The "Fast…

Recent and future advances in anticancer drug delivery: an interview with Khaled Greish.

Science.gov (United States)

Greish, Khaled

2018-05-01

Khaled Greish speaks to Hannah Makin, Commissioning Editor: Khaled Greish is Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine, and head of the Nano-research unit, at Princes Al-Jawhara Center, Arabian Gulf University, Kingdom of Bahrain. His previous appointments included Senior lecturer of Pharmacology at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at University of Utah (UT, USA). He has published >70 peer reviewed papers, and ten book chapters in the field of targeted anticancer drug delivery. Controlled Release Society (CRS) awarded him the CRS Postdoctoral Achievement Award in 2008 and in 2010; he was elected as member of the CRS College of Fellows. In recognition of his research, University of Otago awarded him "Early Career Awards for Distinction in Research" in 2014. His research focuses on nanomedicine, tumor vascular biology and anticancer drug discovery/development.

Dental Health Services Research Unit celebrates 30 years: Report of conference to mark the 30th anniversary of the Dental Health Services Research Unit (DHSRU) at Dundee, held on 1st December 2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Eaton, Kenneth A; Pitts, Nigel B

2009-04-01

Over the years, several members of the staff of the Dental Health Services Research Unit (DHSRU) at Dundee have published papers in Primary Dental Care. Furthermore, its Director, Professor Nigel Pitts, together with Drs Jan Clarkson and Gail Topping have co-edited a number of the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK)'s standards manuals and contributed to others. It had been suggested to the Unit by several parties that, having been in funded existence for some 30 years, it would be appropriate to mark this anniversary with a conference to explore 'Dental Health Services Research: After 30 years, what was the impact, what have we learned and where are we going?' So, following a range of consultations, the conference was convened at the West Park Conference Centre in Dundee with a mixed audience representing both dental research and dental practice.

77 FR 9731 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-17

...--Rehabilitation Engineering and Prosthetics/Orthotics. March 7--Career Development Award Program. March 13--Spinal... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit...-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that a meeting of the Rehabilitation Research and Development...

Developing longitudinal qualitative designs: lessons learned and recommendations for health services research.

Science.gov (United States)

Calman, Lynn; Brunton, Lisa; Molassiotis, Alex

2013-02-06

Longitudinal qualitative methods are becoming increasingly used in the health service research, but the method and challenges particular to health care settings are not well described in the literature.We reflect on the strategies used in a longitudinal qualitative study to explore the experience of symptoms in cancer patients and their carers, following participants from diagnosis for twelve months; we highlight ethical, practical, theoretical and methodological issues that need to be considered and addressed from the outset of a longitudinal qualitative study. Key considerations in undertaking longitudinal qualitative projects in health research, include the use of theory, utilizing multiple methods of analysis and giving consideration to the practical and ethical issues at an early stage. These can include issues of time and timing; data collection processes; changing the topic guide over time; recruitment considerations; retention of staff; issues around confidentiality; effects of project on staff and patients, and analyzing data within and across time. As longitudinal qualitative methods are becoming increasingly used in health services research, the methodological and practical challenges particular to health care settings need more robust approaches and conceptual improvement. We provide recommendations for the use of such designs. We have a particular focus on cancer patients, so this paper will have particular relevance for researchers interested in chronic and life limiting conditions.

Statistical Analysis of the Reflectivity of a Heliostats Field. Application to the CRS Heliostats Field of the Plataforma Solar de Almeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez Reche, J.

2003-01-01

Reflectivity measuring in a heliostats field of a solar central tower is a task that should be performed periodically. The reflectivity of the field is a value that should be known to evaluate the system, moreover it plays an important role in several simulation codes which are useful for the daily operation of the system. When the size of the heliostats field increases (tens of heliostats) it is necessary to find a method, due to operability reasons, that allows us to offer a reflectivity value measuring only in few facets guaranteeing that the statistical error of this value is within a reasonable range. In this report a statistical analysis of the reflectivity in a heliostats field is presented. The analysis was particularized for the CRS heliostats field of the Plataforma Solar de Almeria. The results of the present study allow us to guarantee a reflectivity value of the heliostats field with a statistical error below 1% measuring only 12 facets (instead of the 1116 facets that compose the field). (Author) 6 refs

Nursing identity and patient-centredness in scholarly health services research: a computational text analysis of PubMed abstracts 1986-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Erica; Campbell, Steve; Goldberg, Lynette R

2015-01-22

The most important and contested element of nursing identity may be the patient-centredness of nursing, though this concept is not well-treated in the nursing identity literature. More conceptually-based mapping of nursing identity constructs are needed to help nurses shape their identity. The field of computational text analytics offers new opportunities to scrutinise how growing disciplines such as health services research construct nursing identity. This paper maps the conceptual content of scholarly health services research in PubMed as it relates to the patient-centeredness of nursing. Computational text analytics software was used to analyse all health services abstracts in the database PubMed since 1986. Abstracts were treated as indicative of the content of health services research. The database PubMed was searched for all research papers using the term "service" or "services" in the abstract or keywords for the period 01/01/1986 to 30/06/2013. A total of 234,926 abstracts were obtained. Leximancer software was used in 1) mapping of 4,144,458 instances of 107 concepts; 2) analysis of 106 paired concept co-occurrences for the nursing concept; and 3) sentiment analysis of the nursing concept versus patient, family and community concepts, and clinical concepts. Nursing is constructed within quality assurance or service implementation or workforce development concepts. It is relatively disconnected from patient, family or community care concepts. For those who agree that patient-centredness should be a part of nursing identity in practice, this study suggests that there is a need for development of health services research into both the nature of the caring construct in nursing identity and its expression in practice. More fundamentally, the study raises questions about whether health services research cultures even value the politically popular idea of nurses as patient-centred caregivers and whether they should.

Biomarkers of cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity related to CAR-T cell therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhenguang; Han, Weidong

2018-01-01

Severe cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity following chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy can be life-threatening in some cases, and management of those toxicities is still a great challenge for physicians. Researchers hope to understand the pathophysiology of CRS and neurotoxicity, and identify predictive biomarkers that can forecast those toxicities in advance. Some risk factors for severe CRS and/or neurotoxicity including patient and treatment characteristics have been identified in multiple clinical trials of CAR-T cell therapy. Moreover, several groups have identified some predictive biomarkers that are able to determine beforehand which patients may suffer severe CRS and/or neurotoxicity during CAR-T cell therapy, facilitating testing of early intervention strategies for those toxicities. However, further studies are needed to better understand the biology and related risk factors for CRS and/or neurotoxicity, and determine if those identified predictors can be extrapolated to other series. Herein, we review the pathophysiology of CRS and neurotoxicity, and summarize the progress of predictive biomarkers to improve CAR-T cell therapy in cancer.

Using In-Service and Coaching to Increase Teachers' Accurate Use of Research-Based Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Kretlow, Allison G.; Cooke, Nancy L.; Wood, Charles L.

2012-01-01

Increasing the accurate use of research-based practices in classrooms is a critical issue. Professional development is one of the most practical ways to provide practicing teachers with training related to research-based practices. This study examined the effects of in-service plus follow-up coaching on first grade teachers' accurate delivery of…

Available reprocessing and recycling services for research reactor spent nuclear fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tozser, Sandor; Marshall, Frances M.; Adelfang, Pablo; Bradley, Edward [International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria); Budu, Madalina Elena [SOSNY Research and Development Company, Moscow (Russian Federation); Chiguer, Mustapha [AREVA, Paris La Defense (France)

2016-03-15

International activities in the back end of the research reactor (RR) fuel cycle have so far been dominated by the programmes of acceptance of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) by the country where it was originally enriched. In the future inventories of LEU SNF will continue to be created and the back end solution of RR SNF remains a critical issue. The IAEA, based on the experience gained during the decade of international cooperation in supporting the objectives of the HEU take-back programmes, drew up a report presenting available reprocessing and recycling services for RR SNF. This paper gives an overview of the report, which will address all aspects of reprocessing and recycling services for RR SNF.

Cutting-edge research in developing the library of the future new paths for building future services

CERN Document Server

Eden, Bradford Lee

2015-01-01

Cutting-Edge Research in the 21st-Century Academic Library: New Paths for Building Future Services explores examples of exciting new library services and workflows and provides opportunities for the rest of the library profession to model and adapt for their own communities and patrons.

78 FR 9455 - Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board, Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-08

.... Rehabilitation Engineering and February 20, 2013 Courtyard DC/U.S. Prosthetics/Orthotics. Capitol. Brain Injury... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Scientific Merit... Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, that the subcommittees of the Rehabilitation Research and...

The RADAR Project—A Service for Research Data Archival and Publication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelina Kraft

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of the RADAR (Research Data Repository project is to set up and establish an infrastructure that facilitates research data management: the infrastructure will allow researchers to store, manage, annotate, cite, curate, search and find scientific data in a digital platform available at any time that can be used by multiple (specialized disciplines. While appropriate and innovative preservation strategies and systems are in place for the big data communities (e.g., environmental sciences, space, and climate, the stewardship for many other disciplines, often called the “long tail research domains”, is uncertain. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, the RADAR collaboration project develops a service oriented infrastructure for the preservation, publication and traceability of (independent research data. The key aspect of RADAR is the implementation of a two-stage business model for data preservation and publication: clients may preserve research results for up to 15 years and assign well-graded access rights, or to publish data with a DOI assignment for an unlimited period of time. Potential clients include libraries, research institutions, publishers and open platforms that desire an adaptable digital infrastructure to archive and publish data according to their institutional requirements and workflows.

Developing institutional repository at National Institute for Materials Science : Researchers directory service “SAMURAI” and Research Collection Library

Science.gov (United States)

Takaku, Masao; Tanifuji, Mikiko

National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has developed an institutional repository “NIMS eSciDoc” since 2008. eSciDoc is an open source repository software made in Germany, and provides E-Science infrastructures through its flexible data model and rich Web APIs. NIMS eScidoc makes use of eSciDoc functions to benefit for NIMS situations. This article also focuses on researchers directory service “SAMURAI” in addition to NIMS eSciDoc. Successfully launched in October 2010, SAMURAI provides approximately 500 researchers' profile and publication information.

Coordinated research efforts for establishing an international radiotherapy dose intercomparison service based on the alanine/ESR system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nette, H.P.; Onori, S.; Fattibene, P.; Regulla, D.; Wieser, A.

1993-01-01

The IAEA has long been active in the field of high-dose standardization. An International Dose Assurance Service (IDAS) was established based on alanine/ESR dosimetry. This service operates over the range of 100 Gy to 100 kGy and is directed towards industrial radiation processing in IAEA member states. It complements the IAEA/WHO TLD postal dose intercomparison service for dose assurance in hospital radiotherapy departments. Experience with the alanine high dose service suggests that the alanine dosimeter might provide superior performance to TLD in the therapy dose range. Preliminary test measurements with the participation of GSF/Germany, Istituto Superiore di Sanita/Italy (both providing alanine dosimeters and their evaluation) and IAEA (providing reference irradiations) seems to justify research efforts through an IAEA Coordinated Research Programme (CRP). This CRP, entitled ''Therapy Level Dosimetry with the Alanine/ESR System'' is presently under set-up. It will include general work common to all assigned/potential contract holders as well as some specific research topics in accordance to individual proposals of each participant. (author)

Service user involvement enhanced the research quality in a study using interpretative phenomenological analysis - the power of multiple perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Mjøsund, Nina Helen; Eriksson, Monica; Espnes, Geir Arild; Haaland-Øverby, Mette; Jensen, Sven Liang; Norheim, Irene; Kjus, Solveig Helene Høymork; Portaasen, Inger-Lill; Vinje, Hege Forbech

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine how service user involvement can contribute to the development of interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology and enhance research quality. Interpretative phenomenological analysis is a qualitative methodology used in nursing research internationally to understand human experiences that are essential to the participants. Service user involvement is requested in nursing research. We share experiences from 4 years of collaboration (2012-2015) on a mental health promotion project, which involved an advisory team. Five research advisors either with a diagnosis or related to a person with severe mental illness constituted the team. They collaborated with the research fellow throughout the entire research process and have co-authored this article. We examined the joint process of analysing the empirical data from interviews. Our analytical discussions were audiotaped, transcribed and subsequently interpreted following the guidelines for good qualitative analysis in interpretative phenomenological analysis studies. The advisory team became 'the researcher's helping hand'. Multiple perspectives influenced the qualitative analysis, which gave more insightful interpretations of nuances, complexity, richness or ambiguity in the interviewed participants' accounts. The outcome of the service user involvement was increased breadth and depth in findings. Service user involvement improved the research quality in a nursing research project on mental health promotion. The interpretative element of interpretative phenomenological analysis was enhanced by the emergence of multiple perspectives in the qualitative analysis of the empirical data. We argue that service user involvement and interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology can mutually reinforce each other and strengthen qualitative methodology. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Researching Connection between Service Orientation and Work Satisfaction: A Study of Hotel Employees (Novi Sad, Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marko D. Petrović

2012-10-01

Full Text Available In recent years, researches of service industry put in the centre of many papers the phenomena of the relation between service orientation and work (job satisfaction of the employees in the service sector. It have been analyzed many factors that affect the quality of hotel services and opportunities to improve service processes. One of the most important factor of service quality in the hospitality industry is service orientation of employees. On the other side, if the employees are satisfied with the work they are motivated to satisfy customer needs. The purpose of the paper is to study connections and differences among the hotel employees in service orientation and work satisfaction. To determine these issues, we used service orientation scale, developed by Dienhart, Gregoire, Downey and Knight (1992 and work satisfaction scale developed by Lytle (1994. We expected three factor solution for service orientation scale and uni-factor solution for work satisfaction. The results will be discussed and some practical recommendations will be given.

Health services research and data linkages: issues, methods, and directions for the future.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradley, Cathy J; Penberthy, Lynne; Devers, Kelly J; Holden, Debra J

2010-10-01

Research on pressing health services and policy issues requires access to complete, accurate, and timely patient and organizational data. This paper describes how administrative and health records (including electronic medical records) can be linked for comparative effectiveness and health services research. We categorize the major agents (i.e., who owns and controls data and who carries out the data linkage) into three areas: (1) individual investigators; (2) government sponsored linked data bases; and (3) public-private partnerships that facilitate linkage of data owned by private organizations. We describe challenges that may be encountered in the linkage process, and the benefits of combining secondary databases with primary qualitative and quantitative sources. We use cancer care research to illustrate our points. To fill the gaps in the existing data infrastructure, additional steps are required to foster collaboration among institutions, researchers, and public and private components of the health care sector. Without such effort, independent researchers, governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations are likely to continue building upon a fragmented and costly system with limited access. Discussion. Without the development and support for emerging information technologies across multiple health care settings, the potential for data collected for clinical and transactional purposes to benefit the research community and, ultimately, the patient population may go unrealized. The current environment is characterized by budget and technical challenges, but investments in data infrastructure are arguably cost-effective given the need to reform our health care system and to monitor the impact of health reform initiatives. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Finding the community in sustainable online community engagement: Not-for-profit organisation websites, service-learning and research

OpenAIRE

Dodd, Alice

2017-01-01

This article explores the use of action research (2008–2014) based on a case study of the Sustainable Online Community Engagement (SOCE) Project, a service-learning project in which University of South Australia students build websites for not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, to demonstrate that effective teaching, public service and research are interdependent. A significant problem experienced in the SOCE project was that, despite some training and ongoing assistance, the community organisat...

Managing Quality by Action Research--Improving Quality Service Delivery in Higher Education as a Marketing Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Corbitt, Brian

1998-01-01

Describes two action research projects undertaken at an Australian university to improve quality of services to foreign students and improve the institution's image through word of mouth, or informal marketing. Each project, although small, facilitated changes or improvements to a targeted service. The role of management in empowering employees…

Stakeholder Perceptions of the Need for Research on Elements of Service Dog Partnerships in the Workplace

Science.gov (United States)

Glenn, Margaret K.

2015-01-01

Purpose: To examine the perceived need for research on elements of successful service dog partnerships in the workplace outlined by stakeholders in an exploratory study. Method: A structured mixed methods approach was used to gather ideas from people with service dogs, trainers, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and other health care…

Describing an Environment for a Self-Sustaining Technology Transfer Service in a Small Research Budget University: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Nieb, Sharon Lynn

2014-01-01

This single-site qualitative study sought to identify the characteristics that contribute to the self sustainability of technology transfer services at universities with small research budgets through a case study analysis of a small research budget university that has been operating a financially self-sustainable technology transfer service for…

Ionospheric research for space weather service support

Science.gov (United States)

Stanislawska, Iwona; Gulyaeva, Tamara; Dziak-Jankowska, Beata

2016-07-01

Knowledge of the behavior of the ionosphere is very important for space weather services. A wide variety of ground based and satellite existing and future systems (communications, radar, surveillance, intelligence gathering, satellite operation, etc) is affected by the ionosphere. There are the needs for reliable and efficient support for such systems against natural hazard and minimalization of the risk failure. The joint research Project on the 'Ionospheric Weather' of IZMIRAN and SRC PAS is aimed to provide on-line the ionospheric parameters characterizing the space weather in the ionosphere. It is devoted to science, techniques and to more application oriented areas of ionospheric investigation in order to support space weather services. The studies based on data mining philosophy increasing the knowledge of ionospheric physical properties, modelling capabilities and gain applications of various procedures in ionospheric monitoring and forecasting were concerned. In the framework of the joint Project the novel techniques for data analysis, the original system of the ionospheric disturbance indices and their implementation for the ionosphere and the ionospheric radio wave propagation are developed since 1997. Data of ionosonde measurements and results of their forecasting for the ionospheric observatories network, the regional maps and global ionospheric maps of total electron content from the navigational satellite system (GNSS) observations, the global maps of the F2 layer peak parameters (foF2, hmF2) and W-index of the ionospheric variability are provided at the web pages of SRC PAS and IZMIRAN. The data processing systems include analysis and forecast of geomagnetic indices ap and kp and new eta index applied for the ionosphere forecasting. For the first time in the world the new products of the W-index maps analysis are provided in Catalogues of the ionospheric storms and sub-storms and their association with the global geomagnetic Dst storms is

Communication Capacity Research in the Majority World: Supporting the human right to communication specialist services.

Science.gov (United States)

Hopf, Suzanne C

2018-02-01

Receipt of accessible and appropriate specialist services and resources by all people with communication and/or swallowing disability is a human right; however, it is a right rarely achieved in either Minority or Majority World contexts. This paper considers communication specialists' efforts to provide sustainable services for people with communication difficulties living in Majority World countries. The commentary draws on human rights literature, particularly Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Communication Capacity Research program that includes: (1) gathering knowledge from policy and literature; (2) gathering knowledge from the community; (3) understanding speech, language and literacy use and proficiency; and (4) developing culturally and linguistically appropriate resources and assessments. To inform the development of resources and assessments that could be used by speech-language pathologists as well as other communication specialists in Fiji, the Communication Capacity Research program involved collection and analysis of data from multiple sources including 144 community members, 75 school students and their families, and 25 teachers. The Communication Capacity Research program may be applicable for achieving the development of evidence-based, culturally and linguistically sustainable SLP services in similar contexts.

RESEARCH ACTION: IMPLEMENTATION ZERO BASED BUDGET (ZBB IN THE PROVIDER SERVICE LEASING EQUIPAMENTS OF CARGO HANDLING.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Levi Gimenez

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This article aims to present the implementation of zero-based budgeting in a rental service provider of cargo handling equipment using the action research methodology. The goal was to examine the possibility of concomitant use of this instrument in service providers in need of accurate information that enables targeting at the best result in a setting avid for quick decisions and actions. Action research was used as research method. It was concluded that it is suitable for this branch, confirming its position as a useful model for restructuring and cutting costs, improving operational and financial results, and as a factor improving organizational environment (behavioral aspects, indirectly creating value to stakeholders.

IAEA Launches Expert Advisory Service for Research Reactor Infrastructure, First Mission to Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2018-01-01

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has launched a new peer review service to assist Member States in the development of infrastructure for nuclear research reactors, expanding the range of its expert advisory missions. The first Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review for Research Reactors (INIR-RR) was conducted this week in Nigeria at the invitation of the Government, which is planning to build the country’s second research reactor. Research reactors are used for research, development, education and training. They play a vital role across several fields, producing radioisotopes used in research, medicine, industry and agriculture. Operation of a research reactor requires a national infrastructure — including a legal and regulatory framework — to ensure that national and international obligations are met during planning, design, construction, operation and decommissioning.

Patients-people-place: developing a framework for researching organizational culture during health service redesign and change.

Science.gov (United States)

Gale, Nicola K; Shapiro, Jonathan; McLeod, Hugh S T; Redwood, Sabi; Hewison, Alistair

2014-08-20

Organizational culture is considered by policy-makers, clinicians, health service managers and researchers to be a crucial mediator in the success of implementing health service redesign. It is a challenge to find a method to capture cultural issues that is both theoretically robust and meaningful to those working in the organizations concerned. As part of a comparative study of service redesign in three acute hospital organizations in England, UK, a framework for collecting data reflective of culture was developed that was informed by previous work in the field and social and cultural theory. As part of a larger mixed method comparative case study of hospital service redesign, informed by realist evaluation, the authors developed a framework for researching organisational culture during health service redesign and change. This article documents the development of the model, which involved an iterative process of data analysis, critical interdisciplinary discussion in the research team, and feedback from staff in the partner organisations. Data from semi-structured interviews with 77 key informants are used to illustrate the model. In workshops with NHS partners to share and debate the early findings of the study, organizational culture was identified as a key concept to explore because it was perceived to underpin the whole redesign process. The Patients-People-Place framework for studying culture focuses on three thematic areas ('domains') and three levels of culture in which the data could be organised. The framework can be used to help explain the relationship between observable behaviours and cultural artefacts, the values and habits of social actors and the basic assumptions underpinning an organization's culture in each domain. This paper makes a methodological contribution to the study of culture in health care organizations. It offers guidance and a practical approach to investigating the inherently complex phenomenon of culture in hospital organizations

Online Pharmaceutical Care Provision: Full-Implementation of an eHealth Service Using Design Science Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregório, João; Pizarro, Ângela; Cavaco, Afonso; Wipfli, Rolf; Lovis, Christian; Mira da Silva, Miguel; Lapão, Luís Velez

2015-01-01

Chronic diseases are pressing health systems to introduce reforms, focused on primary care and multidisciplinary models. Community pharmacists have developed a new role, addressing pharmaceutical care and services. Information systems and technologies (IST) will have an important role in shaping future healthcare provision. However, the best way to design and implement an IST for pharmaceutical service provision is still an open research question. In this paper, we present a possible strategy based on the use of Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM). The application of the DSRM six stages is described, from the definition and characterization of the problem to the evaluation of the artefact.

Understanding the value of mixed methods research: the Children’s Safety Initiative-Emergency Medical Services

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Matthew; O’Brien, Kerth; Meckler, Garth; Chang, Anna Marie; Guise, Jeanne-Marie

2016-01-01

Mixed methods research has significant potential to broaden the scope of emergency care and specifically emergency medical services investigation. Mixed methods studies involve the coordinated use of qualitative and quantitative research approaches to gain a fuller understanding of practice. By combining what is learnt from multiple methods, these approaches can help to characterise complex healthcare systems, identify the mechanisms of complex problems such as medical errors and understand aspects of human interaction such as communication, behaviour and team performance. Mixed methods approaches may be particularly useful for out-of-hospital care researchers because care is provided in complex systems where equipment, interpersonal interactions, societal norms, environment and other factors influence patient outcomes. The overall objectives of this paper are to (1) introduce the fundamental concepts and approaches of mixed methods research and (2) describe the interrelation and complementary features of the quantitative and qualitative components of mixed methods studies using specific examples from the Children’s Safety Initiative-Emergency Medical Services (CSI-EMS), a large National Institutes of Health-funded research project conducted in the USA. PMID:26949970

Application of non-destructive testing and in-service inspection to research reactors. Results of a co-ordinated research project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-12-01

-destructive testing (NDT), are generally called in-service inspections (ISI) and, together with the above specific techniques, are the subject of the present TECDOC. The main objectives of the TECDOC are to present a number of these special techniques and to give guidance for their application. The guidance and recommendations given in this publication form the basis for the conduct of ISI of research reactors with limited hazard potential to the public. This TECDOC is based on the results of a Co-ordinated Research Project (CRP) on the Application of Non-destructive Testing and In-service Inspection to Research Reactors that the IAEA organized in 1995 to supplement its activities on research reactor ageing within its Research Reactor Safety Programme (RRSP). Because of the importance of such in-service inspections within the programmes for the management of ageing in research reactors, this TECDOC will be useful to a large fraction of the currently operating research reactors that are over 30 years old

Examples of in-service inspections and typical maintenance schedule for low-power research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boeck, H.

1997-01-01

In-service inspection methods for low-power research reactors are described which have been developed during the past 37 years of the operation of the TRIGA reactor Vienna. Special tools have been developed during this period and their application for maintenance and in-serve inspection is discussed. Two practical in-service inspections at a TRIGA reactor and at a MTR reactor are presented. Further a typical maintenance plan for a TRIGA reactor is listed in the annex. (author)

iSERVO: Implementing the International Solid Earth Research Virtual Observatory by Integrating Computational Grid and Geographical Information Web Services

Science.gov (United States)

Aktas, Mehmet; Aydin, Galip; Donnellan, Andrea; Fox, Geoffrey; Granat, Robert; Grant, Lisa; Lyzenga, Greg; McLeod, Dennis; Pallickara, Shrideep; Parker, Jay; Pierce, Marlon; Rundle, John; Sayar, Ahmet; Tullis, Terry

2006-12-01

We describe the goals and initial implementation of the International Solid Earth Virtual Observatory (iSERVO). This system is built using a Web Services approach to Grid computing infrastructure and is accessed via a component-based Web portal user interface. We describe our implementations of services used by this system, including Geographical Information System (GIS)-based data grid services for accessing remote data repositories and job management services for controlling multiple execution steps. iSERVO is an example of a larger trend to build globally scalable scientific computing infrastructures using the Service Oriented Architecture approach. Adoption of this approach raises a number of research challenges in millisecond-latency message systems suitable for internet-enabled scientific applications. We review our research in these areas.

Cognitive Radio RF: Overview and Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Van Tam Nguyen

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Cognitive radio system (CRS is a radio system which is aware of its operational and geographical environment, established policies, and its internal state. It is able to dynamically and autonomously adapt its operational parameters and protocols and to learn from its previous experience. Based on software-defined radio (SDR, CRS provides additional flexibility and offers improved efficiency to overall spectrum use. CRS is a disruptive technology targeting very high spectral efficiency. This paper presents an overview and challenges of CRS with focus on radio frequency (RF section. We summarize the status of the related regulation and standardization activities which are very important for the success of any emerging technology. We point out some key research challenges, especially implementation challenges of cognitive radio (CR. A particular focus is on RF front-end, transceiver, and analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog interfaces which are still a key bottleneck in CRS development.

ECOHAB: Culver_M- NOAA CSC/Coastal Remote Sensing West Florida Coast Cruise, 1999-04 (NODC Accession 0000535)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Abstract: The Coastal Services Center's (CSC) Coastal Remote Sensing (CRS) program is involved with programs to validate satellite algorithms for ocean properties....

Incidence of gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in patients with refractory chronic sinusitis upon clinical treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliveira, Marcela Schmidt B. de

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS is a pathology that has structural and histological alterations. The association between CRS and the gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD has been widely discussed in the last years. For this relationship to be confirmed, it is necessary to find evidences that the patients with CRS present a major incidence of GERD, that the physiopathology of both diseases explains the association between them and that the GERD treatment cures or improves the CRS' symptoms. Objectives: To evaluate the incidence of GERD in patients with CRS and a level of improvement of the nasosinusal disease symptoms after treatment with protons pump inhibitors. Methods: Retrospective study with 30 patients with CRS refractory to the clinical treatment and/or nasal cavity polypoid pathology with indication of the paranasal sinuses functional endoscopic surgery. We applied a questionnaire for evaluation of the symptomatology and previous treatment for gastroesophageal reflux. The data were submitted to statistical analysis by the Chi-Square test or Fisher's exact test with a significance of 5%. Results: Out of the patients with GERD, 33% had an improvement of the CRS' symptomatology with medications for treatment of the gastric pathology. Conclusion: It is not possible yet to state that the GER is a factor responsible for the CRS and it must be researched as a cofactor or eliciting factor when there is not other evident etiology. However, there are plausible biological mechanisms for such association.

Secondary data sources for health services research in urologic oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Alexander P; Friedlander, David F; Trinh, Quoc-Dien

2018-04-01

Though secondary data analyses of large datasets may reduce logistical and financial barriers required to perform significant and innovative work, such research requires specialized skills in data handling and statistical techniques as well as thorough and detailed knowledge of the data sources being used. To provide an overview of several common types of secondary data, focusing on strengths, weaknesses and examples of how these data may be used for health services research. Secondary data comprise a broad and heterogeneous category. This review covers several large categories of such data with examples of their use and discussions about their strengths and weaknesses. Sources include administrative data, claims-based datasets, electronic health records health surveys, patient or disease or both registries, quality improvement initiatives, as well as data from existing trials. Linkages of different types of data may expand the scope of questions answerable using secondary data analysis. Specific strengths and weaknesses of each type of dataset are discussed along with examples from the recent urologic literature. Choice of the appropriate data source should be tailored to the specific research question as well as the research resources and expertise available. Appropriate decisions about which data to use are the foundation for valid, high-impact research using secondary data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health Services Research and Health Economy - Quality Care Training in Gynaecology, with Focus On Gynaecological Oncology.

Science.gov (United States)

Lux, M P; Fasching, P A; Loehberg, C R; Jud, S M; Schrauder, M G; Bani, M R; Thiel, F C; Hack, C C; Hildebrandt, T; Beckmann, M W

2011-12-01

In the era of cost increases and reduced resources in the German healthcare system, the value of health services research and health economics is increasing more and more. Health services research attempts to develop concepts for the most effective ways to organise, manage, finance and deliver high-quality care and evaluates the implementation of these concepts with regard to daily routine conditions. Goals are the assessment of benefits and the economic advantages and disadvantages of new and established diagnostic methods, drugs and vaccines. Regarding these goals, it is clear that health services research goes hand in hand with health economics, which evaluates the benefits of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in relation to the costs. Both scientific fields have focus principally on gynaecology and particularly on gynaecological oncology in Germany, as can be seen by numerous publications. These present several advantages compared with clinical trials - they uncover gaps in health care, question the material, staffing and consequently the financial resources required and they allow the estimation of value and the comparison of different innovations to identify the best options for our patients.

Improving patient care trajectories: an innovative quasi-experimental research method for health services.

Science.gov (United States)

Campos, Eneida Rached; Moreira-Filho, Djalma de Carvalho; Silva, Marcos Tadeu Nolasco da

2018-05-01

Scores to predict treatment outcomes have earned a well-deserved place in healthcare practice. However, when used to help achieve excellence in the care of a given disease, scores should also take into account organizational and social aspects. This article aims to create scores to obtain key variables and its application in the management of care of a given disease. We present a method called Epidemiological Planning for Patient Care Trajectory (PELC) and its application in a research of HIV pediatric patients. This case study is presented by means of two studies. The first study deals with the development of the method PELC. The second is HIV Pediatric case-control study based on PELC method. HIV pediatric research - the first practical PELC application - found these four key variables to the individual quality level care trajectories: adherence to ART, attending at least one appointment with the otolaryngologist, attending at least one appointment with social services, and having missed one or more routine appointments. We believe PELC method can be used in researches about any kind of care trajectories, contributing to quality level advancements in health services, with emphasis on patient safety and equity in healthcare.

Nurses' perceptions of children's pain: a pilot study of cognitive representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Hulle Vincent, Catherine

2007-03-01

Despite advances in pain assessment and management, hospitalized children continue to report high levels of pain intensity. Untreated pain can have deleterious effects on multiple body functions, resulting in delayed recovery, prolonged hospitalization, and worsening illness. Prior research demonstrates that nurses administered analgesia that was less than amounts recommended by standards and less than that available by physician order. This study was conducted to better understand how nurses think about and respond to children's pain by examining pediatric nurses' cognitive representations (CRs) and comparing the contents of CRs with standards of practice and with management decisions in case studies. Kaplan's theory of CR guided the research. Twenty registered nurses' CRs were measured by the Conceptual Content Cognitive Map open-ended technique. Descriptive and content analyses revealed that participants have rich and diverse CRs of children's pain. Cognitive map content items (294) were coded by investigators as belonging to an assessment (63%) or management (37%) domain. Items were further coded into multiple subgroups in each domain. For assessment, 65% of participants included the use of children's self-report of pain in their maps while 80% included behavioral manifestations; 50% included both. For management, 75% of participants identified pharmacological approaches, 60% identified nonpharmacological approaches, and 35% identified family involvement; 25% identified all three approaches. Indicators in participants' cognitive maps suggest there may be a relationship between nurses' CRs and choice of analgesic administration. Findings provide the direction for future education and research to improve children's pain relief.

A Research on Expectation and Perception of Service Quality in Tourism Education at University Level in Ankara

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gonca Güzel Şahin

2011-12-01

Full Text Available To supply qualified manpower that is necessary in tourism sector, “quality of education” is one most important factor in higher education institutions. In this study, expectations on tourism education and level of satisfaction of the students that are the most important part of higher education institutions have been researched. In the research, service quality measurement models that are listed in the literature have been used to measure service quality in higher education institutions. By using the servqual model, the level of meeting the expectations of students about tourism education served by higher education institutions has been measured and important aspects of service quality according to students have been showed. The results of this study that is focused on tourism education and service quality show that the students, one of the major groups of higher education institutions, have a very low level of satisfaction about their education.

Quality Service Standard of Food and Beverage Service Staff in Hotel

OpenAIRE

Thanasit Suksutdhi

2014-01-01

This survey research aims to study the standard of service quality of food and beverage service staffs in hotel business by studying the service standard of three sample hotels, Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, and Banyan Tree Phuket. In order to find the international service standard of food and beverage service, triangular research, i.e. quantitative, qualitative, and survey were employed. In this research, questionnaires and in-depth interview were used for ge...