Emergent Expertise?

Science.gov (United States)

McGivern, Patrick

2014-01-01

The concept of emergence appears in various places within the literature on expertise and expert practice. Here, I examine some of these applications of emergence in the light of two prominent accounts of emergence from the philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. I evaluate these accounts with respect to several specific contexts in which…

Supplier's evaluation - internal and external audits and surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fowler, J.L.; Derrick, R.

1976-01-01

The quality programme for SGHWR type reactors places responsibility upon all purchasers to evaluate potential suppliers' quality systems and to conduct audits and surveillance on the implementation of suppliers' quality assurance programmes during contract performance. This will be carried out in accordance with the requirements of Central Electricity Board standard QA42. It also places a responsibilty on every supplier to conduct in-house audits and surveillance of the effectiveness of his own quality assurance programmes. These procedures are discussed. (U.K.)

Security Expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

systematic study of security expertise and opens up a productive dialogue between science and technology studies and security studies to investigate the character and consequences of this expertise. In security theory, the study of expertise is crucial to understanding whose knowledge informs security making......This volume brings together scholars from different fields to explore the power, consequences and everyday practices of security expertise. Expertise mediates between different forms of knowledge: scientific and technological, legal, economic and political knowledge. This book offers the first...... and to reflect on the impact and responsibility of security analysis. In science and technology studies, the study of security politics adds a challenging new case to the agenda of research on expertise and policy. The contributors investigate cases such as academic security studies, security think tanks...

Evaluation of health surveillance activities of hajj 2013 in the hajj embarkation Palangkaraya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elvan Virgo Hoesea

2014-05-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Meningococcal meningitis and MERS-CoV is a disease that can be transmitted to a wary pilgrim considering the high incidence of both diseases in the Middle East region. This study was conducted to evaluate the surveillance activities conducted at embarkation Palangkaraya pilgrimage between 2013 and assess the surveillance activities based on the attributes of surveillance and barriers that occur in the implementation of activities. Experiment was conducted with descriptive design using quantitative approach. Questionnaires were completed at 6 implementing surveillance activities. Interviews were conducted to obtain information about the variables under study includes data collection, processing, analysis and interpretation, dissemination of information and surveillance attributes such as simplicity, flexibility, acceptability, sensitivity, positive predictive value, representatif, timeliness, data quality and data stability. Implementation health surveillance in the hajj embarkation Palangkaraya in 2013 showed all stages of the surveillance activities have been conducted in accordance with the procedures as well as evaluating surveillance activities in accordance attribute shows all the attributes of surveillance can be assessed, unless the sensitivity and positive predictive value because no cases of meningococcal meningitis. Conclusion that the implementation of health surveillance activities Hajj has been running quite well based approach to surveillance and surveillance attributes. The report has been used by the agency activities related to the activities of hajj embarkation. Need to increase the quantity and quality of manpower resources and facilities Keywords: disease transmission, hajj health surveillance, assessment                             attributes

Committee to evaluate Sandia`s risk expertise: Final report. Volume 1: Presentations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dudley, E.C.

1998-05-01

On July 1--2, 1997, Sandia National Laboratories hosted the External Committee to Evaluate Sandia`s Risk Expertise. Under the auspices of SIISRS (Sandia`s International Institute for Systematic Risk Studies), Sandia assembled a blue-ribbon panel of experts in the field of risk management to assess their risk programs labs-wide. Panelists were chosen not only for their own expertise, but also for their ability to add balance to the panel as a whole. Presentations were made to the committee on the risk activities at Sandia. In addition, a tour of Sandia`s research and development programs in support of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission was arranged. The panel attended a poster session featuring eight presentations and demonstrations for selected projects. Overviews and viewgraphs from the presentations are included in Volume 1 of this report. Presentations are related to weapons, nuclear power plants, transportation systems, architectural surety, environmental programs, and information systems.

Expertise in musical improvisation and creativity: the mediation of idea evaluation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oded M Kleinmintz

Full Text Available The current study explored the influence of musical expertise, and specifically training in improvisation on creativity, using the framework of the twofold model, according to which creativity involves a process of idea generation and idea evaluation. Based on the hypothesis that a strict evaluation phase may have an inhibiting effect over the generation phase, we predicted that training in improvisation may have a "releasing effect" on the evaluation system, leading to greater creativity. To examine this hypothesis, we compared performance among three groups--musicians trained in improvisation, musicians not trained in improvisation, and non-musicians--on divergent thinking tasks and on their evaluation of creativity. The improvisation group scored higher on fluency and originality compared to the other two groups. Among the musicians, evaluation of creativity mediated how experience in improvisation was related to originality and fluency scores. It is concluded that deliberate practice of improvisation may have a "releasing effect" on creativity.

Expertise in musical improvisation and creativity: the mediation of idea evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinmintz, Oded M; Goldstein, Pavel; Mayseless, Naama; Abecasis, Donna; Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G

2014-01-01

The current study explored the influence of musical expertise, and specifically training in improvisation on creativity, using the framework of the twofold model, according to which creativity involves a process of idea generation and idea evaluation. Based on the hypothesis that a strict evaluation phase may have an inhibiting effect over the generation phase, we predicted that training in improvisation may have a "releasing effect" on the evaluation system, leading to greater creativity. To examine this hypothesis, we compared performance among three groups--musicians trained in improvisation, musicians not trained in improvisation, and non-musicians--on divergent thinking tasks and on their evaluation of creativity. The improvisation group scored higher on fluency and originality compared to the other two groups. Among the musicians, evaluation of creativity mediated how experience in improvisation was related to originality and fluency scores. It is concluded that deliberate practice of improvisation may have a "releasing effect" on creativity.

Expertise in Musical Improvisation and Creativity: The Mediation of Idea Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinmintz, Oded M.; Goldstein, Pavel; Mayseless, Naama; Abecasis, Donna; Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G.

2014-01-01

The current study explored the influence of musical expertise, and specifically training in improvisation on creativity, using the framework of the twofold model, according to which creativity involves a process of idea generation and idea evaluation. Based on the hypothesis that a strict evaluation phase may have an inhibiting effect over the generation phase, we predicted that training in improvisation may have a “releasing effect” on the evaluation system, leading to greater creativity. To examine this hypothesis, we compared performance among three groups - musicians trained in improvisation, musicians not trained in improvisation, and non-musicians - on divergent thinking tasks and on their evaluation of creativity. The improvisation group scored higher on fluency and originality compared to the other two groups. Among the musicians, evaluation of creativity mediated how experience in improvisation was related to originality and fluency scores. It is concluded that deliberate practice of improvisation may have a “releasing effect” on creativity. PMID:25010334

Expertise and contra expertise independence and transparency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abarnou, G.; Ades, Y.; Ancelin, G.; Balle, St.; Bardy, J.Ch.; Beringer, F.; Blanc, M.; Bontoux, J.; Bovy, M.; Brunet, F.; Calafat, A.; Cartier, M.; Constant, H.; Delcourt, R.; Duvert, J.C.; Eichholtzer, F.; Fernandez, P.; Fernex, S.; Foechterle, A.; Gatesoupe, J.P.; Geneau, Ch.; Goerg, C.; Gourod, A.; Graschaire, G.; Hubscher Ibert, J.; Jaegert, M.; Lacoste, A.C.; Lacote, J.P.; Laroche, D.; Lazar, Ph.; Lelievre, D.; Levasseur, E.; Levent, L.; Louvat, D.; Manon, Ch.; Maugein, J.; Melguen, M.; Mouchet, Ch.; Mourat, J.P.; Naegelen, L.; Niquet, G.; Perves, J.P.; Potelet, P.; Regent, A.; Romann, J.M.; Rossa, N.; Saut, C.; Sazy, Ch.; Schmitt, P.; Sene, M.; Sene, Raymond; Sornein, J.F.; Sugier, A.; Tfibel, V.; Uhart, M.; Vidal, J.; Vieillard Baron, B.; Vigny, P.; Walgenwitz, G.; Wiest, A.; Wisselmann, R.; Zuberbuhler, A.

2006-01-01

About sixty participants: members of C.L.I., academics, elected representatives, manufacturers, representatives of association, institutional, crossed their experiences. The debate was mainly centred on the role of the expert, the limits of its intervention and its independence. The presented titles are following: experiences of two C.L.I. in expertise; the work of communication of the nuclear experts; interest and limits of the expertise; presentation of the I.R.S.N. and the D.G.S.N.R.; expertise: problems and experiences; presentation of the works realised in work group; the considerations of the C.S.S.I.N.. (N.C.)

A prospective randomized trial of content expertise versus process expertise in small group teaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Peets, Adam D; Cooke, Lara; Wright, Bruce; Coderre, Sylvain; McLaughlin, Kevin

2010-10-14

Effective teaching requires an understanding of both what (content knowledge) and how (process knowledge) to teach. While previous studies involving medical students have compared preceptors with greater or lesser content knowledge, it is unclear whether process expertise can compensate for deficient content expertise. Therefore, the objective of our study was to compare the effect of preceptors with process expertise to those with content expertise on medical students' learning outcomes in a structured small group environment. One hundred and fifty-one first year medical students were randomized to 11 groups for the small group component of the Cardiovascular-Respiratory course at the University of Calgary. Each group was then block randomized to one of three streams for the entire course: tutoring exclusively by physicians with content expertise (n = 5), tutoring exclusively by physicians with process expertise (n = 3), and tutoring by content experts for 11 sessions and process experts for 10 sessions (n = 3). After each of the 21 small group sessions, students evaluated their preceptors' teaching with a standardized instrument. Students' knowledge acquisition was assessed by an end-of-course multiple choice (EOC-MCQ) examination. Students rated the process experts significantly higher on each of the instrument's 15 items, including the overall rating. Students' mean score (±SD) on the EOC-MCQ exam was 76.1% (8.1) for groups taught by content experts, 78.2% (7.8) for the combination group and 79.5% (9.2) for process expert groups (p = 0.11). By linear regression student performance was higher if they had been taught by process experts (regression coefficient 2.7 [0.1, 5.4], p teach first year medical students within a structured small group environment; preceptors with process expertise result in at least equivalent, if not superior, student outcomes in this setting.

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisping, L.E.

1994-02-01

This document contains the planned 1994 schedules for routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP), Drinking Water Project, and Ground-Water Surveillance Project. Samples are routinely collected for the SESP and analyzed to determine the quality of air, surface water, soil, sediment, wildlife, vegetation, foodstuffs, and farm products at Hanford Site and surrounding communities. The responsibility for monitoring the onsite drinking water falls outside the scope of the SESP. The Hanford Environmental Health Foundation is responsible for monitoring the nonradiological parameters as defined in the National Drinking Water Standards while PNL conducts the radiological monitoring of the onsite drinking water. PNL conducts the drinking water monitoring project concurrent with the SESP to promote efficiency and consistency, utilize the expertise developed over the years, and reduce costs associated with management, procedure development, data management, quality control and reporting. The ground-water sampling schedule identifies ground-water sampling events used by PNL for environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bisping, L.E.

1994-02-01

This document contains the planned 1994 schedules for routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP), Drinking Water Project, and Ground-Water Surveillance Project. Samples are routinely collected for the SESP and analyzed to determine the quality of air, surface water, soil, sediment, wildlife, vegetation, foodstuffs, and farm products at Hanford Site and surrounding communities. The responsibility for monitoring the onsite drinking water falls outside the scope of the SESP. The Hanford Environmental Health Foundation is responsible for monitoring the nonradiological parameters as defined in the National Drinking Water Standards while PNL conducts the radiological monitoring of the onsite drinking water. PNL conducts the drinking water monitoring project concurrent with the SESP to promote efficiency and consistency, utilize the expertise developed over the years, and reduce costs associated with management, procedure development, data management, quality control and reporting. The ground-water sampling schedule identifies ground-water sampling events used by PNL for environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site.

Evaluation of a Surveillance Review Software based on Automatic Image Summaries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rocchi, S.; Hadfi, G.; John, M.; Moeslinger, M.; Murray, J.; Juengling, K.; Sequeira, V.; Versino, C.; )

2015-01-01

Surveillance streams from safeguards instruments contain thousands of images. Inspectors review them in order to find safeguards-relevant events. Statistically a very small fraction of the images is expected to be safeguards-relevant. For this reason inspectors need a tool which helps them to focus their attention directly to the relevant parts of the surveillance stream. The current approach for surveillance review makes use of scene change detection within areas of interest (AOIs). The data reduction provided can be effective for the review of regular processes, and requires specific knowledge of the process/environment under review for the proper setting of the AOIs. The VideoZoom approach, developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre-Institute for Transuranium Elements (JRC-ITU), detects scene changes on the whole image plane. Changes are then summarized and rendered at different levels of abstraction in four layers of summaries, each one revealing more information about the image changes. By means of a zooming interface, the reviewer is able to navigate the summary layers and decide which are to be examined with full photographic detail or skipped because they are clearly not safeguards-relevant. In this way reviewers can make best use of their time by investigating what really requires their attention. VideoZoom was evaluated by a group of IAEA inspectors on a benchmark of image reviews, with promising results in terms of identification of safeguards-relevant events, efficiency and usability. Following the positive results collected during the preliminary benchmark, the IAEA initiated a task under the European Commission Support Programme (EC SP), aimed at the research, development, and evaluation of surveillance review software based on VideoZoom and compatible with surveillance streams produced by NGSS cameras, the current safeguards surveillance technology deployed by the IAEA. This paper provides a description of the VideoZoom approach to

PET-CT in Staging, Response Evaluation, and Surveillance of Lymphoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Thanarajasingam, Gita; Bennani-Baiti, Nabila; Thompson, Carrie A

2016-05-01

Lymphoma represents a broad spectrum of diseases with diverse biology, clinical behavior, and imaging features. Functional imaging with 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET-CT) is widely recognized as the most sensitive and specific imaging modality for patients with lymphoma and is used as part of staging, response evaluation, and surveillance in patients with Hodgkin (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Recent efforts at standardizing the conduct and consensus interpretation of PET-CT have facilitated its use in patients on clinical studies and beyond. The role of PET-CT has been affirmed in some clinical situations, such as staging and end-of-treatment evaluation in Hodgkin lymphoma and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and in the evaluation of aggressive transformation of an indolent lymphoma. However, the role of functional imaging in other histologies and clinical settings is not as clear given the higher rate of false positive results and the costs inherent to PET-CT. There is little evidence to suggest its utility or impact on outcome in most indolent lymphomas, or in the setting of post-treatment surveillance. In addition, there remains controversy about the value of PET-CT in early response assessment during active therapy, particularly in DLBCL. This review will evaluate the evidence surrounding the role of PET-CT in staging, response evaluation and surveillance of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Designing and evaluating risk-based surveillance systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Willeberg, Preben; Nielsen, Liza Rosenbaum; Salman, Mo

2012-01-01

Risk-based surveillance systems reveal occurrence of disease or infection in a sample of population units, which are selected on the basis of risk factors for the condition under study. The purpose of such systems for supporting practical animal disease policy formulations and management decisions...... with prudent use of resources while maintaining acceptable system performance. High-risk category units are selected for testing by identification of the presence of specific high-risk factor(s), while disregarding other factors that might also influence the risk. On this basis we argue that the most...... applicable risk estimate for use in designing and evaluating a risk-based surveillance system would be a crude (unadjusted) relative risk, odds ratio or apparent prevalence. Risk estimates found in the published literature, however, are often the results of multivariable analyses implicitly adjusting...

Evaluation of Syndromic Surveillance Systems in 6 US State and Local Health Departments.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Mathew J; Yoon, Paula W; Collins, James M; Davidson, Arthur J; Mac Kenzie, William R

Evaluating public health surveillance systems is critical to ensuring that conditions of public health importance are appropriately monitored. Our objectives were to qualitatively evaluate 6 state and local health departments that were early adopters of syndromic surveillance in order to (1) understand the characteristics and current uses, (2) identify the most and least useful syndromes to monitor, (3) gauge the utility for early warning and outbreak detection, and (4) assess how syndromic surveillance impacted their daily decision making. We adapted evaluation guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and gathered input from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention subject matter experts in public health surveillance to develop a questionnaire. We interviewed staff members from a convenience sample of 6 local and state health departments with syndromic surveillance programs that had been in operation for more than 10 years. Three of the 6 interviewees provided an example of using syndromic surveillance to identify an outbreak (ie, cluster of foodborne illness in 1 jurisdiction) or detect a surge in cases for seasonal conditions (eg, influenza in 2 jurisdictions) prior to traditional, disease-specific systems. Although all interviewees noted that syndromic surveillance has not been routinely useful or efficient for early outbreak detection or case finding in their jurisdictions, all agreed that the information can be used to improve their understanding of dynamic disease control environments and conditions (eg, situational awareness) in their communities. In the jurisdictions studied, syndromic surveillance may be useful for monitoring the spread and intensity of large outbreaks of disease, especially influenza; enhancing public health awareness of mass gatherings and natural disasters; and assessing new, otherwise unmonitored conditions when real-time alternatives are unavailable. Future studies should explore opportunities to

E-Commerce Audit Judgment Expertise: Does Expertise in System Change Management and Information Technology Auditing Mediate E-Commerce Audit Judgment Expertise?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jagdish PATHAK

2010-01-01

Full Text Available A global survey of 203 E-commerce auditors was conducted to investigate the perceptions about the potential determinants of expertise in E-commerce audits. We hypothesize and find evidence indicating that information technology and communication expertise are positively related to expertise in E-commerce audit judgment. We also find that system change management expertise and information technology audit expertise mediate this relationship.

Evaluation of an Electronic Smart-Card Based School Absenteeism Surveillance System

OpenAIRE

So, HC; Lam, CK; Tam, YH; Cowling, BJ; Leung, GM; Lau, EHY; Ip, DKM

2014-01-01

We evaluated the performance of an electronic smart-card based school absenteeism surveillance system which was initiated in 2008 in Hong Kong. The result demonstrated the feasibility and potential benefit of employing electronic school absenteeism data as captured automatically by a smart card system as an alternative data stream for monitoring influenza activities, and flexibility in establishing surveillance for emerging diseases. The increasing popularity of usage of smart card technology...

A methodological framework for the evaluation of syndromic surveillance systems: a case study of England.

Science.gov (United States)

Colón-González, Felipe J; Lake, Iain R; Morbey, Roger A; Elliot, Alex J; Pebody, Richard; Smith, Gillian E

2018-04-24

Syndromic surveillance complements traditional public health surveillance by collecting and analysing health indicators in near real time. The rationale of syndromic surveillance is that it may detect health threats faster than traditional surveillance systems permitting more timely, and hence potentially more effective public health action. The effectiveness of syndromic surveillance largely relies on the methods used to detect aberrations. Very few studies have evaluated the performance of syndromic surveillance systems and consequently little is known about the types of events that such systems can and cannot detect. We introduce a framework for the evaluation of syndromic surveillance systems that can be used in any setting based upon the use of simulated scenarios. For a range of scenarios this allows the time and probability of detection to be determined and uncertainty is fully incorporated. In addition, we demonstrate how such a framework can model the benefits of increases in the number of centres reporting syndromic data and also determine the minimum size of outbreaks that can or cannot be detected. Here, we demonstrate its utility using simulations of national influenza outbreaks and localised outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis. Influenza outbreaks are consistently detected with larger outbreaks being detected in a more timely manner. Small cryptosporidiosis outbreaks (framework constitutes a useful tool for public health emergency preparedness in multiple settings. The proposed framework allows the exhaustive evaluation of any syndromic surveillance system and constitutes a useful tool for emergency preparedness and response.

Framework for evaluating public health surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks: recommendations from the CDC Working Group.

Science.gov (United States)

Buehler, James W; Hopkins, Richard S; Overhage, J Marc; Sosin, Daniel M; Tong, Van

2004-05-07

The threat of terrorism and high-profile disease outbreaks has drawn attention to public health surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks. State and local health departments are enhancing existing surveillance systems and developing new systems to better detect outbreaks through public health surveillance. However, information is limited about the usefulness of surveillance systems for outbreak detection or the best ways to support this function. This report supplements previous guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. Use of this framework is intended to improve decision-making regarding the implementation of surveillance for outbreak detection. Use of a standardized evaluation methodology, including description of system design and operation, also will enhance the exchange of information regarding methods to improve early detection of outbreaks. The framework directs particular attention to the measurement of timeliness and validity for outbreak detection. The evaluation framework is designed to support assessment and description of all surveillance approaches to early detection, whether through traditional disease reporting, specialized analytic routines for aberration detection, or surveillance using early indicators of disease outbreaks, such as syndromic surveillance.

Proposal of a framework for evaluating military surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks on duty areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Webber Daniel

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In recent years a wide variety of epidemiological surveillance systems have been developed to provide early identification of outbreaks of infectious disease. Each system has had its own strengths and weaknesses. In 2002 a Working Group of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC produced a framework for evaluation, which proved suitable for many public health surveillance systems. However this did not easily adapt to the military setting, where by necessity a variety of different parameters are assessed, different constraints placed on the systems, and different objectives required. This paper describes a proposed framework for evaluation of military syndromic surveillance systems designed to detect outbreaks of disease on operational deployments. Methods The new framework described in this paper was developed from the cumulative experience of British and French military syndromic surveillance systems. The methods included a general assessment framework (CDC, followed by more specific methods of conducting evaluation. These included Knowledge/Attitude/Practice surveys (KAP surveys, technical audits, ergonomic studies, simulations and multi-national exercises. A variety of military constraints required integration into the evaluation. Examples of these include the variability of geographical conditions in the field, deployment to areas without prior knowledge of naturally-occurring disease patterns, the differences in field sanitation between locations and over the length of deployment, the mobility of military forces, turnover of personnel, continuity of surveillance across different locations, integration with surveillance systems from other nations working alongside each other, compatibility with non-medical information systems, and security. Results A framework for evaluation has been developed that can be used for military surveillance systems in a staged manner consisting of initial, intermediate and final

Neural basis of nonanalytical reasoning expertise during clinical evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Durning, S.J.; Costanzo, M.E.; Artino, A.R.; Graner, J.; Vleuten, C.P.M. van der; Beckman, T.J.; Wittich, C.M.; Roy, M.J.H.M. van; Holmboe, E.S.; Schuwirth, L.

2015-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Understanding clinical reasoning is essential for patient care and medical education. Dual-processing theory suggests that nonanalytic reasoning is an essential aspect of expertise; however, assessing nonanalytic reasoning is challenging because it is believed to occur on the

Evaluation of the influenza sentinel surveillance system in Madagascar, 2009-2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Rakotoarisoa, Alain; Randrianasolo, Laurence; Tempia, Stefano; Guillebaud, Julia; Razanajatovo, Norosoa; Randriamampionona, Lea; Piola, Patrice; Halm, Ariane; Heraud, Jean-Michel

2017-05-01

Evaluation of influenza surveillance systems is poor, especially in Africa. In 2007, the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar and the Malagasy Ministry of Public Health implemented a countrywide system for the prospective syndromic and virological surveillance of influenza-like illnesses. In assessing this system's performance, we identified gaps and ways to promote the best use of resources. We investigated acceptability, data quality, flexibility, representativeness, simplicity, stability, timeliness and usefulness and developed qualitative and/or quantitative indicators for each of these attributes. Until 2007, the influenza surveillance system in Madagascar was only operational in Antananarivo and the observations made could not be extrapolated to the entire country. By 2014, the system covered 34 sentinel sites across the country. At 12 sites, nasopharyngeal and/or oropharyngeal samples were collected and tested for influenza virus. Between 2009 and 2014, 177 718 fever cases were detected, 25 809 (14.5%) of these fever cases were classified as cases of influenza-like illness. Of the 9192 samples from patients with influenza-like illness that were tested for influenza viruses, 3573 (38.9%) tested positive. Data quality for all evaluated indicators was categorized as above 90% and the system also appeared to be strong in terms of its acceptability, simplicity and stability. However, sample collection needed improvement. The influenza surveillance system in Madagascar performed well and provided reliable and timely data for public health interventions. Given its flexibility and overall moderate cost, this system may become a useful platform for syndromic and laboratory-based surveillance in other low-resource settings.

Expertise in physiological breech birth: A mixed-methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Shawn; Parker, Pam; Scamell, Mandie

2018-06-01

The safety of vaginal breech birth depends on the expertise of birth attendants, yet the meaning of "expertise" remains unclear and subjectively defined. The objective of this study was to define expertise and the roles experts may play in expanding access to this service. We performed an integrative analysis of two strands of data concerning expertise in physiological breech birth, including the following: survey data from a Delphi study involving 26 very experienced clinicians (mean experience = 135 breech births) and 2 service user representatives, and interviews from a grounded theory study of 14 clinicians more moderately experienced with physiological methods (5-30 upright breech births). Data were pooled and analyzed using constant comparative methods. Expertise is defined by its ongoing function, the generation of comparatively good outcomes, and confidence and competence among colleagues. Although clinical experience is important, expertise is developed and expressed in social clinical roles, which expand as experience grows: clinician, mentor, specialist, and expert. To develop expertise within a service, clinicians who have an interest in breech birth should be supported to perform these roles within specialist teams. Specialist breech teams may facilitate the development of expertise within maternity care settings. Evaluation of expertise based on enablement of women and colleagues, as well as outcomes, will potentially avoid the pitfalls of alienation produced by some forms of specialist authority. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Quality assurance in coding expertise of hospital cases in the German DRG system. Evaluation of inter-rater reliability in MDK expertise].

Science.gov (United States)

Huber, H; Brambrink, M; Funk, R; Rieger, M

2012-10-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences in the D-DRG results of a hospital case by 2 independently coding MKD raters. Calculation of the 2-inter-rater reliability was performed by examination of the coding of individual hospital cases. The reasons for the non-agreement of the expert evaluations and suggestions to improve the process are discussed. From the expert evaluation pool of the MDK-WL a random sample of 0.7% of the 57,375 expertises was taken. Distribution equality with the basic total was tested by the χ² test or, respectively, Fisher's exact test. For the total of 402 individual hospital cases, the G-DRG case sums of 2 experts of the MDK were determined independently and the results checked for each individual case for agreement or non-agreement. The corresponding confidence intervals with standard errors were analysed to test if certain major diagnosis categories (MDC) were statistically significantly more affected by differing expertise results than others. In 280 of the total 402 tested hospital cases, the 2 MDK raters independently reached the same G-DRG results; in 122 cases the G-DRG case sums determined by the 2 raters differed (agreement 70%; CI 65.2-74.1). Different DRG results between the 2 experts occurred regularly in the entire MDC spectrum. No MDC chapter in which significant differences between the 2 raters arose could be identified. The results of our study demonstrate an almost 70% agreement in the evaluation of hospital cost accounts by 2 independently operating MDK. This result leaves room for improvement. Optimisation potentials can be recognised on the basis of the results. Potential for improvement was established in combination with regular further training and the expansion of binding internal code recommendations as well as exchange of code-relevant information among experts in internal forums. The presented model is in principle suitable for cross-border examinations within the MDK system with the advantage that

[Traumatic brain injuries--forensic and expertise aspects].

Science.gov (United States)

Vuleković, Petar; Simić, Milan; Misić-Pavkov, Gordana; Cigić, Tomislav; Kojadinović, Zeljko; Dilvesi, Dula

2008-01-01

Traumatic brain injuries have major socio-economic importance due to their frequency, high mortality and serious consequences. According to their nature the consequences of these injuries may be classified as neurological, psychiatric and esthetic. Various lesions of brain structures cause neurological consequences such as disturbance of motor functions, sensibility, coordination or involuntary movements, speech disturbances and other deviations, as well as epilepsy. Psychiatric consequences include cognitive deficit, emotional disturbances and behavior disturbances. CRIMINAL-LEGAL ASPECT OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES AND LITIGATION: Criminal-legal aspect of traumatic brain injuries expertise understands the qualification of these injuries as mild, serious and qualified serious body injuries as well as the expertise about the mechanisms of their occurrence. Litigation expertise includes the estimation of pain, fear, diminished, i.e. lost vital activity and disability, esthetic marring, and psychological suffer based on the diminished general vital activity and esthetic marring. Evaluation of consequences of traumatic brain injuries should be performed only when it can be positively confirmed that they are permanent, i.e. at least one year after the injury. Expertise of these injuries is interdisciplinary. Among clinical doctors the most competent medical expert is the one who is in charge for diagnostics and injury treatment, with the recommendation to avoid, if possible, the doctor who conducted treatment. For the estimation of general vital activity, the neurological consequences, pain and esthetic marring expertise, the most competent doctors are neurosurgeon and neurologist. Psychological psychiatric consequences and fear expertise have to be performed by the psychiatrist. Specialists of forensic medicine contribute with knowledge of criminal low and legal expertise.

Is the HIV sentinel surveillance system adequate in China? Findings from an evaluation of the national HIV sentinel surveillance system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc Bulterys

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Background: An external evaluation was conducted to assess the performance of the national HIV sentinel surveillance system (HSS, identify operational challenges at national and local levels and provide recommendations for improvement.Methods: The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems were followed to assess the key attributes of HSS. Comprehensive assessment activities were conducted, including: using a detailed checklist to review surveillance guidelines, protocols and relevant documents; conducting self-administered, anonymous surveys with 286 local China CDC staff; and carrying out field observations in 32 sentinel sites in four provinces.Results: China has built an extensive HSS with 1888 sentinel sites to monitor HIV epidemic trends by population groups over time. The strengths of HSS lie in its flexibility, simplicity, usefulness and increase in coverage in locations and populations. With its rapid expansion in 2010, HSS faces challenges in maintaining acceptability, timeliness, data quality, representativeness and sustainability.Recommendations: Implementation of the national guidelines should be standardized by strengthening training, monitoring and supervision of all staff involved, including community-based organizations. National surveillance guidelines need to be revised to strengthen data quality and representativeness, particularly to include specific instructions on HIV testing result provision, collection of identifying information, sample size and sampling methods particularly for men who have sex with men (MSM, collection of refusal information, and data interpretation. Sustainability of China’s HSS could be strengthened by applying locally tailored surveillance strategies, strengthening coordination and cooperation among government agencies and ensuring financial and human resources.

E-expertise modern collective intelligence

CERN Document Server

Gubanov, Dmitry; Novikov, Dmitry; Raikov, Alexander

2014-01-01

  This book focuses on organization and mechanisms of expert decision-making support using modern information and communication technologies, as well as information analysis and collective intelligence technologies (electronic expertise or simply e-expertise). Chapter 1 (E-Expertise) discusses the role of e-expertise in decision-making processes. The procedures of e-expertise are classified, their benefits and shortcomings are identified, and the efficiency conditions are considered. Chapter 2 (Expert Technologies and Principles) provides a comprehensive overview of modern expert technologies. A special emphasis is placed on the specifics of e-expertise. Moreover, the authors study the feasibility and reasonability of employing well-known methods and approaches in e-expertise. Chapter 3 (E-Expertise: Organization and Technologies) describes some examples of up-to-date technologies to perform e-expertise. Chapter 4 (Trust Networks and Competence Networks) deals with the problems of expert finding and grouping...

CCTV Coverage Index Based on Surveillance Resolution and Its Evaluation Using 3D Spatial Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyoungah Choi

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We propose a novel approach to evaluating how effectively a closed circuit television (CCTV system can monitor a targeted area. With 3D models of the target area and the camera parameters of the CCTV system, the approach produces surveillance coverage index, which is newly defined in this study as a quantitative measure for surveillance performance. This index indicates the proportion of the space being monitored with a sufficient resolution to the entire space of the target area. It is determined by computing surveillance resolution at every position and orientation, which indicates how closely a specific object can be monitored with a CCTV system. We present full mathematical derivation for the resolution, which depends on the location and orientation of the object as well as the geometric model of a camera. With the proposed approach, we quantitatively evaluated the surveillance coverage of a CCTV system in an underground parking area. Our evaluation process provided various quantitative-analysis results, compelling us to examine the design of the CCTV system prior to its installation and understand the surveillance capability of an existing CCTV system.

Current expertise location by exploiting the dynamics of knowledge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josef Nozicka

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Systems for expertise location are either very expensive in terms of the costs of maintenance or they tend to become obsolete or incomplete during the time. This article presents a new approach to knowledge mapping/expertise location allowing reducing the costs of knowledge mapping by maintaining the accuracy of the knowledge map. The efficiency of the knowledge map is achieved by introducing the knowledge estimation measures analysing the dynamics of knowledge of company employees and their textual results of work. Finding an expert with most up-to date knowledge is supported by focusing publishing history analysis. The efficiency of proposed measures within various timeframes of publishing history is evaluated by evaluation method introduced within the article. The evaluation took place in the environment of a middle-sized software company allowing seeing directly a practical usability of the expertise location technique. The results form various implications deployment of knowledge map within the company.

Evaluating surveillance strategies for the early detection of low pathogenicity avian influenza infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Comin, Arianna; Stegeman, Arjan; Marangon, Stefano; Klinkenberg, Don

2012-01-01

In recent years, the early detection of low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) viruses in poultry has become increasingly important, given their potential to mutate into highly pathogenic viruses. However, evaluations of LPAI surveillance have mainly focused on prevalence and not on the ability to act as an early warning system. We used a simulation model based on data from Italian LPAI epidemics in turkeys to evaluate different surveillance strategies in terms of their performance as early warning systems. The strategies differed in terms of sample size, sampling frequency, diagnostic tests, and whether or not active surveillance (i.e., routine laboratory testing of farms) was performed, and were also tested under different epidemiological scenarios. We compared surveillance strategies by simulating within-farm outbreaks. The output measures were the proportion of infected farms that are detected and the farm reproduction number (R(h)). The first one provides an indication of the sensitivity of the surveillance system to detect within-farm infections, whereas R(h) reflects the effectiveness of outbreak detection (i.e., if detection occurs soon enough to bring an epidemic under control). Increasing the sampling frequency was the most effective means of improving the timeliness of detection (i.e., it occurs earlier), whereas increasing the sample size increased the likelihood of detection. Surveillance was only effective in preventing an epidemic if actions were taken within two days of sampling. The strategies were not affected by the quality of the diagnostic test, although performing both serological and virological assays increased the sensitivity of active surveillance. Early detection of LPAI outbreaks in turkeys can be achieved by increasing the sampling frequency for active surveillance, though very frequent sampling may not be sustainable in the long term. We suggest that, when no LPAI virus is circulating yet and there is a low risk of virus introduction

Evaluating surveillance strategies for the early detection of low pathogenicity avian influenza infections.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arianna Comin

Full Text Available In recent years, the early detection of low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI viruses in poultry has become increasingly important, given their potential to mutate into highly pathogenic viruses. However, evaluations of LPAI surveillance have mainly focused on prevalence and not on the ability to act as an early warning system. We used a simulation model based on data from Italian LPAI epidemics in turkeys to evaluate different surveillance strategies in terms of their performance as early warning systems. The strategies differed in terms of sample size, sampling frequency, diagnostic tests, and whether or not active surveillance (i.e., routine laboratory testing of farms was performed, and were also tested under different epidemiological scenarios. We compared surveillance strategies by simulating within-farm outbreaks. The output measures were the proportion of infected farms that are detected and the farm reproduction number (R(h. The first one provides an indication of the sensitivity of the surveillance system to detect within-farm infections, whereas R(h reflects the effectiveness of outbreak detection (i.e., if detection occurs soon enough to bring an epidemic under control. Increasing the sampling frequency was the most effective means of improving the timeliness of detection (i.e., it occurs earlier, whereas increasing the sample size increased the likelihood of detection. Surveillance was only effective in preventing an epidemic if actions were taken within two days of sampling. The strategies were not affected by the quality of the diagnostic test, although performing both serological and virological assays increased the sensitivity of active surveillance. Early detection of LPAI outbreaks in turkeys can be achieved by increasing the sampling frequency for active surveillance, though very frequent sampling may not be sustainable in the long term. We suggest that, when no LPAI virus is circulating yet and there is a low risk of virus

Real-Time Surveillance of Infectious Diseases: Taiwan's Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Jian, Shu-Wan; Chen, Chiu-Mei; Lee, Cheng-Yi; Liu, Ding-Ping

Integration of multiple surveillance systems advances early warning and supports better decision making during infectious disease events. Taiwan has a comprehensive network of laboratory, epidemiologic, and early warning surveillance systems with nationwide representation. Hospitals and clinical laboratories have deployed automatic reporting mechanisms since 2014 and have effectively improved timeliness of infectious disease and laboratory data reporting. In June 2016, the capacity of real-time surveillance in Taiwan was externally assessed and was found to have a demonstrated and sustainable capability. We describe Taiwan's disease surveillance system and use surveillance efforts for influenza and Zika virus as examples of surveillance capability. Timely and integrated influenza information showed a higher level and extended pattern of influenza activity during the 2015-16 season, which ensured prompt information dissemination and the coordination of response operations. Taiwan also has well-developed disease detection systems and was the first country to report imported cases of Zika virus from Miami Beach and Singapore. This illustrates a high level of awareness and willingness among health workers to report emerging infectious diseases, and highlights the robust and sensitive nature of Taiwan's surveillance system. These 2 examples demonstrate the flexibility of the surveillance systems in Taiwan to adapt to emerging infectious diseases and major communicable diseases. Through participation in the GHSA, Taiwan can more actively collaborate with national counterparts and use its expertise to strengthen global and regional surveillance capacity in the Asia Pacific and in Southeast Asia, in order to advance a world safe and secure from infectious disease.

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisping, L.E.

1995-02-01

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This document contains the planned 1994 schedules for routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP), Drinking Water Project, and Ground-Water Surveillance Project. Samples are routinely collected for the SESP and analyzed to determine the quality of air, surface water, soil, sediment, wildlife, vegetation, foodstuffs, and farm products at Hanford Site and surrounding communities. The responsibility for monitoring onsite drinking water falls outside the scope of the SESP. PNL conducts the drinking water monitoring project concurrent with the SESP to promote efficiency and consistency, utilize expertise developed over the years, and reduce costs associated with management, procedure development, data management, quality control, and reporting. The ground-water sampling schedule identifies ground-water sampling .events used by PNL for environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site. Sampling is indicated as annual, semi-annual, quarterly, or monthly in the sampling schedule. Some samples are collected and analyzed as part of ground-water monitoring and characterization programs at Hanford (e.g. Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Operational). The number of samples planned by other programs are identified in the sampling schedule by a number in the analysis column and a project designation in the Cosample column. Well sampling events may be merged to avoid redundancy in cases where sampling is planned by both-environmental surveillance and another program

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bisping, L.E.

1995-02-01

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This document contains the planned 1994 schedules for routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP), Drinking Water Project, and Ground-Water Surveillance Project. Samples are routinely collected for the SESP and analyzed to determine the quality of air, surface water, soil, sediment, wildlife, vegetation, foodstuffs, and farm products at Hanford Site and surrounding communities. The responsibility for monitoring onsite drinking water falls outside the scope of the SESP. PNL conducts the drinking water monitoring project concurrent with the SESP to promote efficiency and consistency, utilize expertise developed over the years, and reduce costs associated with management, procedure development, data management, quality control, and reporting. The ground-water sampling schedule identifies ground-water sampling .events used by PNL for environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site. Sampling is indicated as annual, semi-annual, quarterly, or monthly in the sampling schedule. Some samples are collected and analyzed as part of ground-water monitoring and characterization programs at Hanford (e.g. Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Operational). The number of samples planned by other programs are identified in the sampling schedule by a number in the analysis column and a project designation in the Cosample column. Well sampling events may be merged to avoid redundancy in cases where sampling is planned by both-environmental surveillance and another program.

Powering Ideas through Expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

2016-01-01

This contribution discusses how ideas are powered through expertise and moral authority. Professionals compete with each other to power ideas by linking claims to expertise, how things best work, to moral claims about how things should be. To show how, we draw on a case of battles over global tax...... reporting multinational corporations should provide to ensure they pay their fair share of tax. Ideas powered by expertise contain shared causal beliefs, as well as principled beliefs about value systems. We demonstrate that professionals can contest the established order when demonstrations of expertise...

Pain evaluation during gynaecological surveillance in women with Lynch syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Helder-Woolderink, Jorien; de Bock, Geertruida; Hollema, Harry; van Oven, Magda; Mourits, Marian

To evaluate perceived pain during repetitive annual endometrial sampling at gynaecologic surveillance in asymptomatic women with Lynch syndrome (LS) over time and in addition to symptomatic women without LS, undergoing single endometrial sampling. In this prospective study, 52 women with LS or first

SOA-surveillance Nederland

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rijlaarsdam J; Bosman A; Laar MJW van de; CIE

2000-01-01

In May 1999 a working group was started to evaluate the current surveillance systems for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and to make suggestions for a renewed effective and efficient STD surveillance system in the Netherlands. The surveillance system has to provide insight into the prevalence

Quality surveillance at Duke Power operating nuclear stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bradley, W.H.

1985-01-01

The Duke Power quality assurance (QA) program originally had three levels of QA audits that reported results to different levels of management and in different time frames. It soon became obvious that although problems were being identified, considerable confusion was being created by reporting them to different levels. Additionally, it was recognized that all audits were dealing in history: events that had already occurred and therefore could not be averted. What was needed was a problem identification system focused on current activities. The Duke quality surveillance program was created by dropping the first level of audits and replacing it with an on-the-scene review system to identify current problems. The quality surveillance program is a success and will be even more so after surveillance personnel acquire additional technical expertise. To that end, a training program has been initiated that will stop just short of operator licensing in the operations area and will also include other areas such as health physics and chemistry

Pain evaluation during gynaecological surveillance in women with Lynch syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Helder-Woolderink, Jorien; de Bock, Geertruida; Hollema, Harry; van Oven, Magda; Mourits, Marian

2017-04-01

To evaluate perceived pain during repetitive annual endometrial sampling at gynaecologic surveillance in asymptomatic women with Lynch syndrome (LS) over time and in addition to symptomatic women without LS, undergoing single endometrial sampling. In this prospective study, 52 women with LS or first degree relatives who underwent repetitive annual gynaecological surveillance including endometrial sampling of which 33 were evaluated twice or more and 50 symptomatic women without LS who had single endometrial sampling, were included. Pain intensity was registered with VAS scores. Differences in pain intensities between subsequent visits (in LS) and between the two groups were evaluated. The use of painkillers before endometrial sampling was registered. If women with LS decided for preventive surgery, the reason was recorded. The LS group reported a median VAS score of 5.0 (range 0-10) at the first surveillance (n = 52) and at the second visit (n = 24). Women who repeatedly underwent endometrial sampling more often used painkillers for this procedure. During the study period 7/52 (13 %) women with LS choose for preventive surgery, another 4/52 (8 %) refused further endometrial sampling. Painful endometrial sampling was mentioned as main reason to quit screening. The median VAS score of the 50 symptomatic women was 5.0 (range 1-9). Endometrial sampling, irrespective of indication, is a painful procedure, with a median VAS score of 5.0. During subsequent procedures in women with LS, the median pain score does not aggravate although one in five women chose an alternative for endometrial sampling.

Developing expertise in surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Alderson, David

2010-01-01

The concept of expertise is widely embraced but poorly defined in surgery. Dictionary definitions differentiate between authority and experience, while a third view sees expertise as a mind-set rather than a status. Both absolute and relative models of expertise have been developed, and each allows a richer understanding of the application of these concepts to emerge. Trainees must develop both independent and interdependent expertise, and an appreciation of the essentially constructivist and uncertain nature of medical knowledge. Approach may be more important than innate talent; the concepts of 'flow', sustained 'deliberate practice' and 'adaptive expertise' are examples of expert approaches to learning. Non-analytical reasoning plays a key role in decision making at expert levels of practice. A technically gifted surgeon may be seen as a safety hazard rather than an expert if inter-dependent expertise has not been developed. Key roles of a surgical educator are to facilitate the development of an expert approach to education and to enable entry into and movement towards the centre of an expert community of practice.

Process Evaluation of a Workers' Health Surveillance Program for Meat Processing Workers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Holland, Berry J; Brouwer, Sandra; de Boer, Michiel R; Reneman, Michiel F; Soer, Remko

2017-01-01

Objective To evaluate the implementation process of a workers' health surveillance (WHS) program in a Dutch meat processing company. Methods Workers from five plants were eligible to participate in the WHS program. The program consisted of four evaluative components and an intervention component.

Process Evaluation of a Workers' Health Surveillance Program for Meat Processing Workers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Holland, Berry; Brouwer, Sandra; de Boer, Michiel R; Reneman, Michiel F; Soer, Remko

Objective To evaluate the implementation process of a workers' health surveillance (WHS) program in a Dutch meat processing company. Methods Workers from five plants were eligible to participate in the WHS program. The program consisted of four evaluative components and an intervention component.

Expertise, motivation and teaching in learning companion systems

OpenAIRE

Uresti, Jorge Adolfo Ramirez; du Boulay, Benedict

2004-01-01

This paper describes work carried out to explore the role of a learning companion as a teachable student of the human student. A LCS for Binary Boolean Algebra has been developed to explore the hypothesis that a learning companion with less expertise than the human student would be beneficial if the student taught it. The system implemented two companions with different expertise and two types of motivational conditions. An empirical evaluation was conducted. Although significant differential...

Evaluation of community-based surveillance for Guinea worm, South ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2012-08-03

Aug 3, 2012 ... deleted at the Data Manager Level in Loki. Conclusion. Community-based surveillance for guinea worm is a good example of a surveillance system on which an integrated disease surveillance system can be based in countries with poor surveillance like South Sudan. This makes its potential value to ...

Evaluation of Surveillance for Documentation of Freedom from Bovine Tuberculosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liza R. Nielsen

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The objective was to study how surveillance for bovine tuberculosis (bTB could be made more resource-effective in a bTB free country. A stochastic scenario tree model was developed to: (1 evaluate the sensitivity (CSe of four surveillance system components (SSC (i.e., meat inspection of slaughtered domestic cattle, farmed deer and pigs, and tuberculin testing of adult export cattle given that bTB would enter one of these components, (2 estimate the probability of freedom (PFree from bTB over time, and (3 evaluate how future alternative programmes based on visual meat inspection would affect the confidence in freedom from bTB at the very low animal-level design prevalence 0.0002% and a low probabilities of introduction (1%. All, except the export cattle component reached a PFree above 96% within five years. The PFree was slightly reduced if surveillance was changed to visual inspection, e.g., PFree was reduced from 96.5% to 94.3% in the cattle component, and from 98.5% to 97.7% in the pig component after 24 years. In conclusion, visual meat inspection of pigs and cattle will only reduce the confidence in freedom from bTB slightly. However, with negligible probability of introduction (0.1% the PFree could be maintained well above 99% in the cattle, pigs and deer components, which highlights the importance of rigid testing and quarantine procedures in trade of livestock.

Prescribing safety, negotiating expertise. Building of nuclear safety human factors expertise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolina, Gregory

2008-01-01

This Ph.D thesis is dedicated to a specific type of expertise, the safety of nuclear installations in the field of human and organisational factors. Empirical work is at the foundation of this thesis: the monitoring of experts 'in action', allowed a detailed reconstruction of three cases they were examining. The analysis, at the core of which lies the definition of what an efficient expertise can be, emphasizes the incompleteness of the knowledge that links together the nuclear facilities' organisational characteristics and their safety. This leads us to identify the expert's three ranges of actions (rhetorical, cognitive, operative). Defined from objectives and constraints likely to influence the expert's behaviour, those three ranges each require specific skills. A conception of expertise based on these ranges seems adaptable to other sectors and allows an enrichment of models of expertise cited in literature. Historical elements from French institutions of nuclear safety are also called upon to take into consideration some of the determinants of the expertise; its efficiency relies on the upholding of a continuous dialogue between the regulators (the experts and the control authority) and the regulated (the operators). This type of historically inherited regulation makes up a specificity of the French system of external control of nuclear risks. (author) [fr

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Adolescents and Surveillance System for the Obesity Prevention Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Tabacchi, Garden; Bianco, Antonino; Alessi, Nicola; Filippi, Anna Rita; Napoli, Giuseppe; Jemni, Monèm; Censi, Laura; Breda, João; Schumann, Nathali Lehmann; Firenze, Alberto; Vitale, Francesco; Mammina, Caterina

2016-03-01

The Adolescents Surveillance System for Obesity prevention (ASSO) Project aimed at developing standardized and web-based tools for collecting data on adolescents' obesity and its potential determinants. This has been implemented and piloted in the local area of Palermo city, Italy. The aim of the present study is to provide an overview of the Project's design, implementation, and evaluation, highlighting all the aspects for a potential scale-up of the surveillance system on the whole national territory and abroad, as a sustainable and effective source of data.The overall structure and management, the ASSO-toolkit, the ASSO-NutFit software, and all developed and used procedures for recruiting, training, and data collecting/analyzing are addressed. An interim evaluation has been performed through a feasibility study; a final Project evaluation has been performed reporting the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) and the attributes that a surveillance system should have.This article provides a detailed overview of the Project and highlights that ASSO can be considered a valid, logical, coherent, efficient, and sustainable surveillance system that is consistent with countries' needs and priorities.The system developed by the ASSO Project provides high-quality data and complies with several characteristics typical of a suitable surveillance system. It has a potential of being adopted within the National Health Service and other countries' Health Services for monitoring adolescents' obesity and its determinants, such as food intakes, behaviors, physical activity, and fitness profiles.

Evaluation of the surveillance program of Streptococcus agalactiae in Danish dairy herds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, H. J.; Pedersen, L. H.; Aarestrup, Frank Møller

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the Danish surveillance program of Streptococcus agalactiae in dairy herds with respect to 1) fluctuation over time of the presence of S. agalactiae in bulk tank milk, 2) sensitivity and specificity of the bacteriological method used, and 3) contamination...... the isolates. Streptococcus agalactiae was found in eight of 96 herds in which S. agalactiae had never previously been found during the surveillance program. Streptococcus agalactiae was not found in all seven sampling rounds in any of the eight herds. Comparing the approved method with supplemental findings...

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed Rabea Baatwah

2013-06-01

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

GHOST: global hepatitis outbreak and surveillance technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Longmire, Atkinson G; Sims, Seth; Rytsareva, Inna; Campo, David S; Skums, Pavel; Dimitrova, Zoya; Ramachandran, Sumathi; Medrzycki, Magdalena; Thai, Hong; Ganova-Raeva, Lilia; Lin, Yulin; Punkova, Lili T; Sue, Amanda; Mirabito, Massimo; Wang, Silver; Tracy, Robin; Bolet, Victor; Sukalac, Thom; Lynberg, Chris; Khudyakov, Yury

2017-12-06

Hepatitis C is a major public health problem in the United States and worldwide. Outbreaks of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections associated with unsafe injection practices, drug diversion, and other exposures to blood are difficult to detect and investigate. Effective HCV outbreak investigation requires comprehensive surveillance and robust case investigation. We previously developed and validated a methodology for the rapid and cost-effective identification of HCV transmission clusters. Global Hepatitis Outbreak and Surveillance Technology (GHOST) is a cloud-based system enabling users, regardless of computational expertise, to analyze and visualize transmission clusters in an independent, accurate and reproducible way. We present and explore performance of several GHOST implemented algorithms using next-generation sequencing data experimentally obtained from hypervariable region 1 of genetically related and unrelated HCV strains. GHOST processes data from an entire MiSeq run in approximately 3 h. A panel of seven specimens was used for preparation of six repeats of MiSeq libraries. Testing sequence data from these libraries by GHOST showed a consistent transmission linkage detection, testifying to high reproducibility of the system. Lack of linkage among genetically unrelated HCV strains and constant detection of genetic linkage between HCV strains from known transmission pairs and from follow-up specimens at different levels of MiSeq-read sampling indicate high specificity and sensitivity of GHOST in accurate detection of HCV transmission. GHOST enables automatic extraction of timely and relevant public health information suitable for guiding effective intervention measures. It is designed as a virtual diagnostic system intended for use in molecular surveillance and outbreak investigations rather than in research. The system produces accurate and reproducible information on HCV transmission clusters for all users, irrespective of their level of bioinformatics

Surveillance for travel-related disease--GeoSentinel Surveillance System, United States, 1997-2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Kira; Esposito, Douglas H; Han, Pauline; Kozarsky, Phyllis; Freedman, David O; Plier, D Adam; Sotir, Mark J

2013-07-19

In 2012, the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide was projected to reach a new high of 1 billion arrivals, a 48% increase from 674 million arrivals in 2000. International travel also is increasing among U.S. residents. In 2009, U.S. residents made approximately 61 million trips outside the country, a 5% increase from 1999. Travel-related morbidity can occur during or after travel. Worldwide, 8% of travelers from industrialized to developing countries report becoming ill enough to seek health care during or after travel. Travelers have contributed to the global spread of infectious diseases, including novel and emerging pathogens. Therefore, surveillance of travel-related morbidity is an essential component of global public health surveillance and will be of greater importance as international travel increases worldwide. September 1997-December 2011. GeoSentinel is a clinic-based global surveillance system that tracks infectious diseases and other adverse health outcomes in returned travelers, foreign visitors, and immigrants. GeoSentinel comprises 54 travel/tropical medicine clinics worldwide that electronically submit demographic, travel, and clinical diagnosis data for all patients evaluated for an illness or other health condition that is presumed to be related to international travel. Clinical information is collected by physicians with expertise or experience in travel/tropical medicine. Data collected at all sites are entered electronically into a database, which is housed at and maintained by CDC. The GeoSentinel network membership program comprises 235 additional clinics in 40 countries on six continents. Although these network members do not report surveillance data systematically, they can report unusual or concerning diagnoses in travelers and might be asked to perform enhanced surveillance in response to specific health events or concerns. During September 1997-December 2011, data were collected on 141,789 patients with confirmed or

Perceptual evaluation of visual alerts in surveillance videos

Science.gov (United States)

Rogowitz, Bernice E.; Topkara, Mercan; Pfeiffer, William; Hampapur, Arun

2015-03-01

Visual alerts are commonly used in video monitoring and surveillance systems to mark events, presumably making them more salient to human observers. Surprisingly, the effectiveness of computer-generated alerts in improving human performance has not been widely studied. To address this gap, we have developed a tool for simulating different alert parameters in a realistic visual monitoring situation, and have measured human detection performance under conditions that emulated different set-points in a surveillance algorithm. In the High-Sensitivity condition, the simulated alerts identified 100% of the events with many false alarms. In the Lower-Sensitivity condition, the simulated alerts correctly identified 70% of the targets, with fewer false alarms. In the control condition, no simulated alerts were provided. To explore the effects of learning, subjects performed these tasks in three sessions, on separate days, in a counterbalanced, within subject design. We explore these results within the context of cognitive models of human attention and learning. We found that human observers were more likely to respond to events when marked by a visual alert. Learning played a major role in the two alert conditions. In the first session, observers generated almost twice as many False Alarms as in the No-Alert condition, as the observers responded pre-attentively to the computer-generated false alarms. However, this rate dropped equally dramatically in later sessions, as observers learned to discount the false cues. Highest observer Precision, Hits/(Hits + False Alarms), was achieved in the High Sensitivity condition, but only after training. The successful evaluation of surveillance systems depends on understanding human attention and performance.

Rituals of environmental expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Lars Kjerulf

2008-01-01

Use of experts in media reports about the environment is not confined to its information function. Voices of expertise also serve a ritual function in societal communication by enacting collective sentiments and common world views cast around consensus as well as conflict. This article presents...... theoretical discussions and examples from a case study of Danish television news coverage of the environment supporting such an understanding of expertise in broadcast media. And adds to the discussion of expertise a discussion of the opposing category of lay knowledge....

Understanding Expertise from Elite Badminton Coaches

Science.gov (United States)

Sheu, Feng-Ru

2011-01-01

Badminton is a growing sport with a limited amount of expertise both in players and coaches so attempts are being made to extend the expertise internationally. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of coaching expertise in badminton because such an understanding might have implications for a more general understanding of expertise,…

Competence and Professional Expertise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evers, A.T.; Heijden, B.I.J.M. van der; Mulder, M.

2017-01-01

Theoretical and empirical controversies exist about the understanding and potentials of the concepts of competence and professional expertise. In this chapter, both concepts will be thoroughly conceptualised and discussed. Competence and professional expertise are important as all professionals need

Competence and Professional Expertise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evers, Arnoud; Van der Heijden, Beatrice

2018-01-01

Theoretical and empirical controversies exist about the understanding and potentials of the concepts competence and professional expertise. In this chapter, both concepts will be thoroughly conceptualised and discussed. Competence and professional expertise are important as all professionals need to

From Formal Expertise to Co-expertise: Experience in the Field of Protection against Radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lochard, Jacques

2002-01-01

As a result of the growing difficulties confronting the heads of public and private high-risk activities, expertise practices have changed radically over the past years in the areas of risk assessment and management. In answer to the erosion of the credibility and legitimacy of traditional 'scientific' expertise, new forms of expertise based on citizen participation have emerged, particularly in fields involving public trust. The author's aim is to analyse the main changes in the field of radiological protection, on the basis of his 25 years of experience in the field. In conclusion, the author discusses the independence of expert assessment, an issue central to the present debate on the organization and practice of expertise in the field of high-risk activities

African Swine Fever in Uganda: Qualitative Evaluation of Three Surveillance Methods with Implications for Other Resource-Poor Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Chenais, Erika; Sternberg-Lewerin, Susanna; Boqvist, Sofia; Emanuelson, Ulf; Aliro, Tonny; Tejler, Emma; Cocca, Giampaolo; Masembe, Charles; Ståhl, Karl

2015-01-01

Animal diseases impact negatively on households and on national economies. In low-income countries, this pertains especially to socio-economic effects on household level. To control animal diseases and mitigate their impact, it is necessary to understand the epidemiology of the disease in its local context. Such understanding, gained through disease surveillance, is often lacking in resource-poor settings. Alternative surveillance methods have been developed to overcome some of the hurdles obstructing surveillance. The objective of this study was to evaluate and qualitatively compare three methods for surveillance of acute infectious diseases using African swine fever in northern Uganda as an example. Report-driven outbreak investigations, participatory rural appraisals (PRAs), and a household survey using a smartphone application were evaluated. All three methods had good disease-detecting capacity, and each of them detected many more outbreaks compared to those reported to the World Organization for Animal Health during the same time period. Apparent mortality rates were similar for the three methods although highest for the report-driven outbreak investigations, followed by the PRAs, and then the household survey. The three methods have different characteristics and the method of choice will depend on the surveillance objective. The optimal situation might be achieved by a combination of the methods: outbreak detection via smartphone-based real-time surveillance, outbreak investigation for collection of biological samples, and a PRA for a better understanding of the epidemiology of the specific outbreak. All three methods require initial investments and continuous efforts. The sustainability of the surveillance system should, therefore, be carefully evaluated before making such investments.

The committee of scientific expertise coordination; Le comite de coordination d'expertise scientifique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-07-01

Placed under the MIES control, the Committee of scientific expertise coordination defines the needs, the contain and the planing of expertises realized in function of Climate national and international decisions and negotiations calendars. The Committee verifies the different expertises and offers the administrations, scientific tools and techniques useful for the negotiations. It can also define long-dated research needs which require the scientific community mobilization. This paper provides some document of the Committee: objectives, operating and priorities of the Committee, scenarios ''Factor 4'' and ''crack technology'', perceptions and practices, developing countries (China, India...), Euromed. (A.L.B.)

Evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of bovine brucellosis surveillance in a disease-free country using stochastic scenario tree modelling.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viviane Hénaux

Full Text Available Surveillance systems of exotic infectious diseases aim to ensure transparency about the country-specific animal disease situation (i.e. demonstrate disease freedom and to identify any introductions. In a context of decreasing resources, evaluation of surveillance efficiency is essential to help stakeholders make relevant decisions about prioritization of measures and funding allocation. This study evaluated the efficiency (sensitivity related to cost of the French bovine brucellosis surveillance system using stochastic scenario tree models. Cattle herds were categorized into three risk groups based on the annual number of purchases, given that trading is considered as the main route of brucellosis introduction in cattle herds. The sensitivity in detecting the disease and the costs of the current surveillance system, which includes clinical (abortion surveillance, programmed serological testing and introduction controls, were compared to those of 19 alternative surveillance scenarios. Surveillance costs included veterinary fees and laboratory analyses. The sensitivity over a year of the current surveillance system was predicted to be 91±7% at a design prevalence of 0.01% for a total cost of 14.9±1.8 million €. Several alternative surveillance scenarios, based on clinical surveillance and random or risk-based serological screening in a sample (20% of the population, were predicted to be at least as sensitive but for a lower cost. Such changes would reduce whole surveillance costs by 20 to 61% annually, and the costs for farmers only would be decreased from about 12.0 million € presently to 5.3-9.0 million € (i.e. 25-56% decrease. Besides, fostering the evolution of the surveillance system in one of these directions would be in agreement with the European regulations and farmers perceptions on brucellosis risk and surveillance.

Evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of bovine brucellosis surveillance in a disease-free country using stochastic scenario tree modelling.

Science.gov (United States)

Hénaux, Viviane; Calavas, Didier

2017-01-01

Surveillance systems of exotic infectious diseases aim to ensure transparency about the country-specific animal disease situation (i.e. demonstrate disease freedom) and to identify any introductions. In a context of decreasing resources, evaluation of surveillance efficiency is essential to help stakeholders make relevant decisions about prioritization of measures and funding allocation. This study evaluated the efficiency (sensitivity related to cost) of the French bovine brucellosis surveillance system using stochastic scenario tree models. Cattle herds were categorized into three risk groups based on the annual number of purchases, given that trading is considered as the main route of brucellosis introduction in cattle herds. The sensitivity in detecting the disease and the costs of the current surveillance system, which includes clinical (abortion) surveillance, programmed serological testing and introduction controls, were compared to those of 19 alternative surveillance scenarios. Surveillance costs included veterinary fees and laboratory analyses. The sensitivity over a year of the current surveillance system was predicted to be 91±7% at a design prevalence of 0.01% for a total cost of 14.9±1.8 million €. Several alternative surveillance scenarios, based on clinical surveillance and random or risk-based serological screening in a sample (20%) of the population, were predicted to be at least as sensitive but for a lower cost. Such changes would reduce whole surveillance costs by 20 to 61% annually, and the costs for farmers only would be decreased from about 12.0 million € presently to 5.3-9.0 million € (i.e. 25-56% decrease). Besides, fostering the evolution of the surveillance system in one of these directions would be in agreement with the European regulations and farmers perceptions on brucellosis risk and surveillance.

40 CFR 1508.26 - Special expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Special expertise. 1508.26 Section 1508.26 Protection of Environment COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY TERMINOLOGY AND INDEX § 1508.26 Special expertise. Special expertise means statutory responsibility, agency mission, or related program...

Global expertise of the ten-year environmental situation of AREVA N.C..2. part: environmental impact at the level of catchment basins and surveillance evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-01-01

The second step of the expertise of the ten-year environmental assessment 1994-2003 of Areva NC allowed to complete the work on the themes and the sites that were not treated during the first step. The analysis concerned the impacts on the mine installations of the mine division of La Crouzille and more particularly of impacts observed since the sites refitting. The detail of this analysis and the results to which it allowed to achieve are the object of this present report. (N.C.)

Beyond Faces and Expertise

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Mintao; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.; Bülthoff, Isabelle

2016-01-01

Holistic processing—the tendency to perceive objects as indecomposable wholes—has long been viewed as a process specific to faces or objects of expertise. Although current theories differ in what causes holistic processing, they share a fundamental constraint for its generalization: Nonface objects cannot elicit facelike holistic processing in the absence of expertise. Contrary to this prevailing view, here we show that line patterns with salient Gestalt information (i.e., connectedness, closure, and continuity between parts) can be processed as holistically as faces without any training. Moreover, weakening the saliency of Gestalt information in these patterns reduced holistic processing of them, which indicates that Gestalt information plays a crucial role in holistic processing. Therefore, holistic processing can be achieved not only via a top-down route based on expertise, but also via a bottom-up route relying merely on object-based information. The finding that facelike holistic processing can extend beyond the domains of faces and objects of expertise poses a challenge to current dominant theories. PMID:26674129

Evaluation of self-swabbing coupled with a telephone health helpline as an adjunct tool for surveillance of influenza viruses in Ontario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. McGolrick

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Calls to a telephone health helpline (THHL have been previously evaluated for the ability to monitor specific syndromes, such as fever and influenza-like-illness or gastrointestinal illness. This method of surveillance has been shown to be highly correlated with traditional surveillance methods, and to have potential for early detection of community-based illness. Self-sampling, or having a person take his/her own nasal swab, has also proven successful as a useful method for obtaining a specimen, which may be used for respiratory virus detection. Methods This study describes a self-swabbing surveillance system mediated by a nurse-led THHL in Ontario whereby syndromic surveillance concepts are used to recruit and monitor participants with influenza-like illness. Once recruited, participants collect a nasal specimen obtained by self-swabbing and submit for testing and laboratory confirmation. Enumeration of weekly case counts was used to evaluate the timeliness of the self-swabbing surveillance system through comparison to other respiratory virus and influenza surveillance systems in Ontario. The operational efficiency of the system was also evaluated. Results The mean and median number of days between the day that a participant called the THHL, to the day a package was received at the laboratory for testing were approximately 10.4 and 8.6 days, respectively. The time between self-swab collection and package reception was 4.9 days on average, with a median of 4 days. The self-swabbing surveillance system adequately captured the 2014 influenza B season in a timely manner when compared to other Ontario-based sources of influenza surveillance data from the same year; however, the emergence of influenza B was not detected any earlier than with these other surveillance systems. Influenza A surveillance was also evaluated. Using the THHL self-swabbing system, a peak in the number of cases for influenza A was observed approximately

African swine fever in Uganda: qualitative evaluation of three surveillance methods with implications for other resource-poor settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erika eChenais

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Animal diseases impact negatively on households and on national economies. In low-income countries this pertains especially to socio-economic effects on household level. To control animal diseases and mitigate their impact, it is necessary to understand the epidemiology of the disease in its local context. Such understanding, gained through disease surveillance, is often lacking in resource-poor settings. Alternative surveillance methods have been developed to overcome some of the hurdles obstructing surveillance. The objective of this study was to evaluate and qualitatively compare three methods for surveillance of acute infectious diseases using African swine fever (ASF in northern Uganda as an example. Report-driven outbreak investigations, participatory rural appraisals (PRA, and a household survey using a smartphone application were evaluated. All three methods had good disease-detecting capacity, each of them detected many more outbreaks compared to those reported to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE during the same time period. Apparent mortality rates were similar for the three methods although highest for the report-driven outbreak investigations, followed by the PRAs, and then the household survey. The three methods have different characteristics and the method of choice will depend on the surveillance objective. The optimal situation might be achieved by a combination of the methods: outbreak detection via smartphone-based real-time surveillance, outbreak investigation for collection of biological samples, and a PRA for a better understanding of the epidemiology of the specific outbreak. All three methods require initial investments and continuous efforts. The sustainability of the surveillance system should therefore be carefully evaluated before making such investments.

Musical expertise and second language learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Chobert, Julie; Besson, Mireille

2013-06-06

Increasing evidence suggests that musical expertise influences brain organization and brain functions. Moreover, results at the behavioral and neurophysiological levels reveal that musical expertise positively influences several aspects of speech processing, from auditory perception to speech production. In this review, we focus on the main results of the literature that led to the idea that musical expertise may benefit second language acquisition. We discuss several interpretations that may account for the influence of musical expertise on speech processing in native and foreign languages, and we propose new directions for future research.

Evaluating the electronic tuberculosis register surveillance system in Eden District, Western Cape, South Africa, 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Mlotshwa, Mandla; Smit, Sandra; Williams, Seymour; Reddy, Carl; Medina-Marino, Andrew

2017-01-01

Tuberculosis (TB) surveillance data are crucial to the effectiveness of National TB Control Programs. In South Africa, few surveillance system evaluations have been undertaken to provide a rigorous assessment of the platform from which the national and district health systems draws data to inform programs and policies. Evaluate the attributes of Eden District's TB surveillance system, Western Cape Province, South Africa. Data quality, sensitivity and positive predictive value were assessed using secondary data from 40,033 TB cases entered in Eden District's ETR.Net from 2007 to 2013, and 79 purposively selected TB Blue Cards (TBCs), a medical patient file and source document for data entered into ETR.Net. Simplicity, flexibility, acceptability, stability and usefulness of the ETR.Net were assessed qualitatively through interviews with TB nurses, information health officers, sub-district and district coordinators involved in the TB surveillance. TB surveillance system stakeholders report that Eden District's ETR.Net system was simple, acceptable, flexible and stable, and achieves its objective of informing TB control program, policies and activities. Data were less complete in the ETR.Net (66-100%) than in the TBCs (76-100%), and concordant for most variables except pre-treatment smear results, antiretroviral therapy (ART) and treatment outcome. The sensitivity of recorded variables in ETR.Net was 98% for gender, 97% for patient category, 93% for ART, 92% for treatment outcome and 90% for pre-treatment smear grading. Our results reveal that the system provides useful information to guide TB control program activities in Eden District. However, urgent attention is needed to address gaps in clinical recording on the TBC and data capturing into the ETR.Net system. We recommend continuous training and support of TB personnel involved with TB care, management and surveillance on TB data recording into the TBCs and ETR.Net as well as the implementation of a well

The Importance of Domain-Specific Expertise in Creativity

Science.gov (United States)

Baer, John

2015-01-01

Although creativity and expertise are related, they are nonetheless very different things. Expertise does not usually require creativity, but creativity generally does require a certain level of expertise. There are similarities in the relationships of both expertise and creativity to domains, however. Research has shown that just as expertise in…

1998 annual report Office of Occupational Medicine and Medical Surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gebus, George R.

1999-01-01

the mission of EH-61 is the prevention of worker illness by fostering outstanding occupational medicine and medical surveillance programs within the DOE complex. The EH-61 annual report for 1998 describes our major activities and achievements as we have worked toward realizing this mission through our main program lines (1) Surveillance; (2) policy(Field SUppOti; (3) Information/Communication; and (4) Research. Some of our major 1998 accomplishments are highlighted below for more details, please consult the corresponding sections of this report. The FORMER BERYLLIUM WORKERS MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM identifies and locates former employees exposed to beryllium and provides enhanced medical monitoring for early identification of chronic beryllium disease (CBD). Over Z0,000 current and former workers have been contacted to date, and there have been about 8,8oo responders. More than 100 cases of CBD have been detected. The DOE FORMER WORKERS PROGRAM (FWP) is targeted primarily to former workers who have either retired or left DOE facilities. In FY 1998, there were 10 pilot projects operating at 9 sites. These pilots will validate approaches for medical screening of former employees and health risk communication efforts. When completed in FY 2002, the information gained from the pilots will serve as a basis for projecting funding and resources needed for the FWP in the years ahead. We have helped develop health-related POLICIES/GUIDANCE, that will promote the health of the contractor workforce by addressing current and emerging issues related to occupational health. The RADIATION EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE CENTER/TRAINING SITE (REAC/TS) is supported by EH-61 and assists DOE by maintaining state-of-the-art expertise in radiation medicine and biodosimetry. This support provides DOE with a national and international 24-hour response capability for evaluating and managing victims of radiation accidents occurring at its facilities or among the general public. In collaboration

Evaluation of the enterovirus laboratory surveillance system in Denmark, 2010 to 2013

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Condell, Orla; Midgley, Sofie E; Christiansen, Claus Bohn

2016-01-01

The primary aim of the Danish enterovirus (EV) surveillance system is to document absence of poliovirus infection. The conflict in Syria has left many children unvaccinated and movement from areas with polio cases to Europe calls for increased awareness to detect and respond to virus-transmission......The primary aim of the Danish enterovirus (EV) surveillance system is to document absence of poliovirus infection. The conflict in Syria has left many children unvaccinated and movement from areas with polio cases to Europe calls for increased awareness to detect and respond to virus......-transmission in a timely manner. We evaluate the national EV laboratory surveillance, to generate recommendations for system strengthening. The system was analysed for completeness of viral typing analysis and clinical information and timeliness of specimen collection, laboratory results and reporting of clinical...... information. Of 23,720 specimens screened, 2,202 (9.3%) were EV-positive. Submission of cerebrospinal fluid and faecal specimens from primary diagnostic laboratories was 79.5% complete (845/1,063), and varied by laboratory and patient age. EV genotypes were determined in 68.5% (979/1,430) of laboratory...

Multicenter Evaluation of a Novel Surveillance Paradigm for Complications of Mechanical Ventilation

Science.gov (United States)

Klompas, Michael; Khan, Yosef; Kleinman, Kenneth; Evans, R. Scott; Lloyd, James F.; Stevenson, Kurt; Samore, Matthew; Platt, Richard

2011-01-01

Background Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) surveillance is time consuming, subjective, inaccurate, and inconsistently predicts outcomes. Shifting surveillance from pneumonia in particular to complications in general might circumvent the VAP definition's subjectivity and inaccuracy, facilitate electronic assessment, make interfacility comparisons more meaningful, and encourage broader prevention strategies. We therefore evaluated a novel surveillance paradigm for ventilator-associated complications (VAC) defined by sustained increases in patients' ventilator settings after a period of stable or decreasing support. Methods We assessed 600 mechanically ventilated medical and surgical patients from three hospitals. Each hospital contributed 100 randomly selected patients ventilated 2–7 days and 100 patients ventilated >7 days. All patients were independently assessed for VAP and for VAC. We compared incidence-density, duration of mechanical ventilation, intensive care and hospital lengths of stay, hospital mortality, and time required for surveillance for VAP and for VAC. A subset of patients with VAP and VAC were independently reviewed by a physician to determine possible etiology. Results Of 597 evaluable patients, 9.3% had VAP (8.8 per 1,000 ventilator days) and 23% had VAC (21.2 per 1,000 ventilator days). Compared to matched controls, both VAP and VAC prolonged days to extubation (5.8, 95% CI 4.2–8.0 and 6.0, 95% CI 5.1–7.1 respectively), days to intensive care discharge (5.7, 95% CI 4.2–7.7 and 5.0, 95% CI 4.1–5.9), and days to hospital discharge (4.7, 95% CI 2.6–7.5 and 3.0, 95% CI 2.1–4.0). VAC was associated with increased mortality (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.3–3.2) but VAP was not (OR 1.1, 95% CI 0.5–2.4). VAC assessment was faster (mean 1.8 versus 39 minutes per patient). Both VAP and VAC events were predominantly attributable to pneumonia, pulmonary edema, ARDS, and atelectasis. Conclusions Screening ventilator settings for VAC captures a

Targeted surveillance for postnatal hearing loss: a program evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Beswick, Rachael; Driscoll, Carlie; Kei, Joseph; Glennon, Shirley

2012-07-01

The importance of monitoring hearing throughout early childhood cannot be understated. However, there is a lack of evidence available regarding the most effective method of monitoring hearing following the newborn screen. The goal of this study was to describe a targeted surveillance program using a risk factor registry to identify children with a postnatal hearing loss. All children who were born in Queensland, Australia between September 2004 and December 2009, received a bilateral 'pass' on newborn hearing screening, and had at least one risk factor, were referred for targeted surveillance and were included in this study. The cohort was assessed throughout early childhood in accordance with Queensland's diagnostic assessment protocols. During the study period, 7320 (2.8% of 261,328) children were referred for targeted surveillance, of which 56 were identified with a postnatal hearing loss (0.77%). Of these, half (50.0%) were identified with a mild hearing loss, and 64.3% were identified with a sensorineural hearing loss. In regards to risk factors, syndrome, craniofacial anomalies, and severe asphyxia had the highest yield of positive cases of postnatal hearing loss for children referred for targeted surveillance, whereas, low birth weight, bacterial meningitis, and professional concern had a particularly low yield. Limitations of the targeted surveillance program were noted and include: (1) a lost contact rate of 32.4%; (2) delays in first surveillance assessment; (3) a large number of children who required on-going monitoring; and (4) extensive diagnostic assessments were completed on children with normal hearing. Examination of the lost contact rate revealed indigenous children were more likely to be documented as lost contact. In addition, children with one risk factor only were significantly more likely to not attend a surveillance appointment. Positive cases of postnatal hearing loss were detected through the targeted surveillance program. However, the

Anticorruption expertise of law-enforcement acts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey B. Polyakov

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Objective to substantiate public necessity to define the subject methodological and organizational capabilities of anticorruption expertise of law enforcement acts. Methods universal dialecticmaterialistic method was used to study the needs in anticorruption expertise of law enforcement acts in the mechanism of legal regulation based on it general scientific and special formal legal and comparative legal methods of research used for the definition of subjectmatter of the proposed expertise. Results the value of anticorruption expertise of law enforcement was shown corruption factors and corruption indicators enabling legislation were identified ways of conducting such examinations were proposed. Scientific novelty the article examines the need and the subject proposes methods of a new type of anticorruption expertise. Practical significance the conditions of corruption are defined which are created in law enforcement activities and methods for their detection are proposed. nbsp

Evaluation of HIV Surveillance System in Rivers State, Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sony Computer (Iby)

HIV surveillance system generates information for timely and appropriate ..... active type of surveillance.14 Nonetheless, it requires training, supervision and motivation ... very effectively.14 The introduction of reward-system could be included.

Relational Expertise in Participatory Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dindler, Christian; Iversen, Ole Sejer

2014-01-01

This paper positions relation expertise as a core competence in participatory design. It is an expertise that demands the participatory designer to stimulate the emergence of loosely coupled knotworks, and obtain symbiotic agreement between participants disregarding their professional and social...

Evaluation of a Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia Public Health Surveillance System in Tennessee.

Science.gov (United States)

Fill, Mary-Margaret A; Moncayo, Abelardo C; Bloch, Karen C; Dunn, John R; Schaffner, William; Jones, Timothy F

2017-09-01

Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsioses are endemic in Tennessee, with ∼2,500 cases reported during 2000-2012. Because of this substantial burden of disease, we performed a three-part evaluation of Tennessee's routine surveillance for SFG rickettsioses cases and deaths to assess the system's effectiveness. Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) SFG rickettsioses surveillance records were matched to three patient series: 1) patients with positive serologic specimens from a commercial reference laboratory during 2010-2011, 2) tertiary medical center patients with positive serologic tests during 2007-2013, and 3) patients identified from death certificates issued during 1995-2014 with SFG rickettsiosis-related causes of death. Chart reviews were performed and patients were classified according to the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists' case definition. Of 254 SFG Rickettsia -positive serologic specimens from the reference laboratory, 129 (51%) met the case definition for confirmed or probable cases of rickettsial disease after chart review. The sensitivity of the TDH surveillance system to detect cases was 45%. Of the 98 confirmed or probable cases identified from the medical center, the sensitivity of the TDH surveillance system to detect cases was 34%. Of 27 patients identified by death certificates, 12 (44%) were classified as confirmed or probable cases; four (33%) were reported to TDH, but none were correctly identified as deceased. Cases of SFG rickettsioses were underreported and fatalities not correctly identified. Efforts are needed to improve SFG rickettsiosis surveillance in Tennessee.

The Role of Hackers in Countering Surveillance and Promoting Democracy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastian Kubitschko

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Practices related to media technologies and infrastructures (MTI are an increasingly important part of democratic constellations in general and of surveillance tactics in particular. This article does not seek to discuss surveillance per se, but instead to open a new line of inquiry by presenting qualitative research on the Chaos Computer Club (CCC—one of the world’s largest and Europe’s oldest hacker organizations. Despite the longstanding conception of hacking as infused with political significance, the scope and style of hackers’ engagement with emerging issues related to surveillance remains poorly understood. The rationale of this paper is to examine the CCC as a civil society organization that counter-acts contemporary assemblages of surveillance in two ways: first, by de-constructing existing technology and by supporting, building, maintaining and using alternative media technologies and infrastructures that enable more secure and anonymous communication; and second, by articulating their expertise related to contemporary MTI to a wide range of audiences, publics and actors. Highlighting the significance of “privacy” for the health of democracy, I argue that the hacker organization is co-determining “interstitial spaces within information processing practices” (Cohen, 2012, p. 1931, and by doing so is acting on indispensable structural features of contemporary democratic constellations.

The role of bureaucratic expertise in nuclear waste policy: Agency power and policy development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henkels, M.

1989-01-01

The role of agency expertise in the nuclear waste policy process is explored during three periods: (1) 1957-1959 when nuclear wastes entered the public agenda, (2) 1970-1972 when the Atomic Energy Commission attempted to establish a waste repository in Kansas, and (3) 1984-1986 during the Department of Energy's implementation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The study evaluated whether the preconditions for dependence on or deference to agency expertise have become less favorable, weakening agency control of the policy process. Five factors of expertise power are evaluated, beginning with the agency's role in the nuclear-energy and radioactive-waste information system. Perspectives on nuclear energy generally and of waste issues specifically are examined next; both indicate attitudes on the tractability of the problem and the likelihood of policy success. References to agency behavior and policies are used to evaluate views of agency competency. Finally, views of agency trustworthiness are examined through the comparison of portrayals of agency priorities and motivations. Agency expertise is evaluated in four contexts: (1) Congressional hearings, (2) nationally prominent newspapers, (3) journals of the scientific community, and (4) state and local papers of affected areas. State and tribal officials involved in the 1980s' nuclear waste policy process were surveyed also

The committee of scientific expertise coordination; Le comite de coordination d'expertise scientifique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-07-01

Placed under the MIES control, the Committee of scientific expertise coordination defines the needs, the contain and the planing of expertises realized in function of Climate national and international decisions and negotiations calendars. The Committee verifies the different expertises and offers the administrations, scientific tools and techniques useful for the negotiations. It can also define long-dated research needs which require the scientific community mobilization. This paper provides some document of the Committee: objectives, operating and priorities of the Committee, scenarios ''Factor 4'' and ''crack technology'', perceptions and practices, developing countries (China, India...), Euromed. (A.L.B.)

Supporting surveillance capacity for antimicrobial resistance: Laboratory capacity strengthening for drug resistant infections in low and middle income countries [version 1; referees: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna C. Seale

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR threatens our ability to treat common and life threatening infections. Identifying the emergence of AMR requires strengthening of surveillance for AMR, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs where the burden of infection is highest and health systems are least able to respond. This work aimed, through a combination of desk-based investigation, discussion with colleagues worldwide, and visits to three contrasting countries (Ethiopia, Malawi and Vietnam, to map and compare existing models and surveillance systems for AMR, to examine what worked and what did not work. Current capacity for AMR surveillance varies in LMICs, but and systems in development are focussed on laboratory surveillance. This approach limits understanding of AMR and the extent to which laboratory results can inform local, national and international public health policy. An integrated model, combining clinical, laboratory and demographic surveillance in sentinel sites is more informative and costs for clinical and demographic surveillance are proportionally much lower. The speed and extent to which AMR surveillance can be strengthened depends on the functioning of the health system, and the resources available. Where there is existing laboratory capacity, it may be possible to develop 5-20 sentinel sites with a long term view of establishing comprehensive surveillance; but where health systems are weaker and laboratory infrastructure less developed, available expertise and resources may limit this to 1-2 sentinel sites. Prioritising core functions, such as automated blood cultures, reduces investment at each site. Expertise to support AMR surveillance in LMICs may come from a variety of international, or national, institutions. It is important that these organisations collaborate to support the health systems on which AMR surveillance is built, as well as improving technical capacity specifically relating to AMR

The Automation-by-Expertise-by-Training Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Strauch, Barry

2017-03-01

I introduce the automation-by-expertise-by-training interaction in automated systems and discuss its influence on operator performance. Transportation accidents that, across a 30-year interval demonstrated identical automation-related operator errors, suggest a need to reexamine traditional views of automation. I review accident investigation reports, regulator studies, and literature on human computer interaction, expertise, and training and discuss how failing to attend to the interaction of automation, expertise level, and training has enabled operators to commit identical automation-related errors. Automated systems continue to provide capabilities exceeding operators' need for effective system operation and provide interfaces that can hinder, rather than enhance, operator automation-related situation awareness. Because of limitations in time and resources, training programs do not provide operators the expertise needed to effectively operate these automated systems, requiring them to obtain the expertise ad hoc during system operations. As a result, many do not acquire necessary automation-related system expertise. Integrating automation with expected operator expertise levels, and within training programs that provide operators the necessary automation expertise, can reduce opportunities for automation-related operator errors. Research to address the automation-by-expertise-by-training interaction is needed. However, such research must meet challenges inherent to examining realistic sociotechnical system automation features with representative samples of operators, perhaps by using observational and ethnographic research. Research in this domain should improve the integration of design and training and, it is hoped, enhance operator performance.

The nature of expertise and human resource functions supporting expertise in nuclear industry organizations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rintala, N.; Katri, S.; Eila, J.; Pahkin, K.; Anneli, L.

2007-01-01

Full text: The nuclear industry worldwide faces the challenge of preserving the existing expertise, competence and knowledge despite of the ageing workforce and upcoming retirements. Challenges are also imposed by the reducing amount of new recruits and students entering the nuclear industry, which amounts to fewer young professionals that have the potential to become nuclear experts in the future. Although many other industries share similar challenges, the preservation of expertise in the nuclear industry is even more important due to the safety-critical nature of the nuclear operations and the special characteristics that high-reliability organizations such as nuclear power plants have. As a response to the risk of knowledge loss, nuclear organizations have engaged in knowledge capturing efforts. New information systems and organizational practices have been implemented to safeguard nuclear expertise. Recently, IAEA has proposed nuclear organizations to design and adopt people-centered programs that encompass themes such as workforce planning, recruitment, training, succession planning, leadership development and knowledge management. Thus, in order to address the current risks to nuclear expertise, attention should be focused on these different areas and corresponding human resources (HR) functions within the nuclear organizations. Our paper presents results from a project which examines the nature of expert work and human resources (HR) functions that support the development and preservation of expertise. The study adopts a qualitative cross-sectional case study design. Two organizational units from different nuclear industry organizations have been selected as cases. The research data will be gathered in April-May 2007 and preliminary results will be presented in the International Conference of Knowledge Management in Nuclear Facilities, in June 2007. The main data will comprise of thematic interviews to experts, their managers and HR representatives

The paradox of scientific expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alrøe, Hugo Fjelsted; Noe, Egon

2011-01-01

Modern societies depend on a growing production of scientific knowledge, which is based on the functional differentiation of science into still more specialised scientific disciplines and subdisciplines. This is the basis for the paradox of scientific expertise: The growth of science leads to a f...... cross-disciplinary research and in the collective use of different kinds of scientific expertise, and thereby make society better able to solve complex, real-world problems.......Modern societies depend on a growing production of scientific knowledge, which is based on the functional differentiation of science into still more specialised scientific disciplines and subdisciplines. This is the basis for the paradox of scientific expertise: The growth of science leads...... to a fragmentation of scientific expertise. To resolve this paradox, the present paper investigates three hypotheses: 1) All scientific knowledge is perspectival. 2) The perspectival structure of science leads to specific forms of knowledge asymmetries. 3) Such perspectival knowledge asymmetries must be handled...

The value of information: Current challenges in surveillance implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Stärk, Katharina D C; Häsler, Barbara

2015-11-01

Animal health surveillance is a complex activity that involves multiple stakeholders and provides decision support across sectors. Despite progress in the design of surveillance systems, some technical challenges remain, specifically for emerging hazards. Surveillance can also be impacted by political interests and costly consequences of case reporting, particularly in relation to international trade. Constraints on surveillance can therefore be of technical, economic and political nature. From an economic perspective, both surveillance and intervention are resource-using activities that are part of a mitigation strategy. Surveillance provides information for intervention decisions and thereby helps to offset negative effects of animal disease and to reduce the decision uncertainty associated with choices on disease control. It thus creates monetary and non-monetary benefits, both of which may be challenging to quantify. The technical relationships between surveillance, intervention and loss avoidance have not been established for most hazards despite being important consideration for investment decisions. Therefore, surveillance cannot just be maximised to minimise intervention costs. Economic appraisals of surveillance need to be done on a case by case basis for any hazard considering both surveillance and intervention performance, the losses avoided and the values attached to them. This can be achieved by using an evaluation approach which provides a systematic investigation of the worth or merit of surveillance activities. Evaluation is driven by a specific evaluation question which for surveillance systems commonly considers effectiveness, efficiency, implementation and/or compliance issues. More work is needed to provide guidance on the appropriate selection of evaluation attributes and general good practice in surveillance evaluation. Due to technical challenges, economic constraints and variable levels of capacity, the implementation of surveillance systems

Expertise and Intuitions about Reference

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edouard Machery

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Many philosophers hold that experts’ semantic intuitions are more reliable and provide better evidence than lay people’s intuitions—a thesis commonly called “the Expertise Defense.” Focusing on the intuitions about the reference of proper names, this article critically assesses the Expertise Defense.

Digital gaming expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toft-Nielsen, Claus

In a digitally saturated environment digital media users of all kinds, engaged in different areas of activity, are increasingly categorized in terms of their ability to appropriate and use digital media – they are regarded as non-users, experts, natives, or literates for instance. Within communic......In a digitally saturated environment digital media users of all kinds, engaged in different areas of activity, are increasingly categorized in terms of their ability to appropriate and use digital media – they are regarded as non-users, experts, natives, or literates for instance. Within...... communication and game studies there are multiple understandings of how digital expertise is expressed and performed, and subsequently how these expressions and performances can be valued, understood and theorized within the research community. Among other things expertise with and within digital games has......-of-game (Schrøder, 2003) in a three-year-long study of men and women (couples and singles) playing the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game to date, World of Warcraft. In focusing on how different aspects of gaming expertise are articulated, negotiated, and performed, I aim to illustrate how...

Science, expertise, and democracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Weinberg, Justin; Elliott, Kevin C

2012-06-01

The combination of government's significant involvement in science, science's significant effects on the public, and public ignorance (of both politics and science) raise important challenges for reconciling scientific expertise with democratic governance. Nevertheless, there have recently been a variety of encouraging efforts to make scientific activity more responsive to social values and to develop citizens' capacity to engage in more effective democratic governance of science. This essay introduces a special issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, "Science, Expertise, and Democracy," consisting of five papers that developed from the inaugural Three Rivers Philosophy conference held at the University of South Carolina in April 2011. The pieces range from a general analysis of the in-principle compatibility of scientific expertise and democracy to much more concrete studies of the intersection between scientific practices and democratic values in areas such as weight-of-evidence analysis, climate science, and studies of locally undesirable land uses.

Expertise seeking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hertzum, Morten

2014-01-01

used sources. Studies repeatedly show the influence of the social network – of friendships and personal dislikes – on the expertise-seeking network of organisations. In addition, people are no less prominent than documentary sources, in work contexts as well as daily-life contexts. The relative...

Teacher expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Jens

Teacher Expertise: How to improve the relationship between Theory and Practice in Teacher Education Jens Rasmussen, Department of Education, Aarhus University In several studies and reports it has been nailed over and over that teachers’ matter. So this is not the question in this study. The ques......Teacher Expertise: How to improve the relationship between Theory and Practice in Teacher Education Jens Rasmussen, Department of Education, Aarhus University In several studies and reports it has been nailed over and over that teachers’ matter. So this is not the question in this study....... The question is how teacher preparation leads to effective teachers. The study Expert in Teaching paid special attention to the intention of connecting coursework more directly to practice in pre-service teacher education. The overall objective of the study was to strengthen the relationship between theory...... that the three parties (college teachers, practice teachers and teacher students) found it difficult to perform and maintain their different roles....

Beyond Faces and Expertise: Facelike Holistic Processing of Nonface Objects in the Absence of Expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Mintao; Bülthoff, Heinrich H; Bülthoff, Isabelle

2016-02-01

Holistic processing-the tendency to perceive objects as indecomposable wholes-has long been viewed as a process specific to faces or objects of expertise. Although current theories differ in what causes holistic processing, they share a fundamental constraint for its generalization: Nonface objects cannot elicit facelike holistic processing in the absence of expertise. Contrary to this prevailing view, here we show that line patterns with salient Gestalt information (i.e., connectedness, closure, and continuity between parts) can be processed as holistically as faces without any training. Moreover, weakening the saliency of Gestalt information in these patterns reduced holistic processing of them, which indicates that Gestalt information plays a crucial role in holistic processing. Therefore, holistic processing can be achieved not only via a top-down route based on expertise, but also via a bottom-up route relying merely on object-based information. The finding that facelike holistic processing can extend beyond the domains of faces and objects of expertise poses a challenge to current dominant theories. © The Author(s) 2015.

Integrating LCA and EHS expertise in the assessment of nanoparticles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Stig Irving; Hankin, Steve; Chaudry, Qasim

DTU with their expertise in LCA have joined forces with IOM in two nanotechnology-related projects, one of which additionally involves and is lead by FERA. The first project, Nancore, includes the evaluation of health risks and environmental impacts over the life cycle concurrently with the devel......DTU with their expertise in LCA have joined forces with IOM in two nanotechnology-related projects, one of which additionally involves and is lead by FERA. The first project, Nancore, includes the evaluation of health risks and environmental impacts over the life cycle concurrently...... the overall environmental impacts of the technology. Through the concurrent assessments, the strengths of the two tools are combined to provide a more qualified assessment of both the health and safety aspects and the life cycle impacts. The overall aim of the second project, sponsored by Defra...

Powering Ideas through Expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

2016-01-01

policy. Corporate reporting for tax purposes is an area where the European Union, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, large global accountancy firms and non-governmental organizations have been active. The point of contention here is what form of financial...... reporting multinational corporations should provide to ensure they pay their fair share of tax. Ideas powered by expertise contain shared causal beliefs, as well as principled beliefs about value systems. We demonstrate that professionals can contest the established order when demonstrations of expertise...

Evaluation of a radioactive aerosol surveillance system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scripsick, R.C.; Stafford, R.G.; Beckman, R.J.; Tillery, M.I.; Romero, P.O.

Measurements of the dilution of air contaminants between worker breathing zone and area air samplers were made by releasing a test aerosol in a workroom equipped with an aerosol surveillance system. The data were used to evaluate performance, and suggest improvements in design of the workroom's alarming air monitor system. It was found that a breathing zone concentration of 960 times the maximum permissible concentration in air (MPC/sub a/) for a half-hour was required to trigger alarms of the existing monitoring system under some release conditions. Alternative air monitor placement, suggested from dilution measurements, would reduce this average triggering concentration to 354 MPC/sub a/. Deployment of additional air monitors could further reduce the average triggering concentration to 241 MPC/sub a/. The relation between number of monitors and triggering concentration was studied. No significant decrease in average triggering concentration was noted for arrays containing greater than five monitors

Evaluation of tuberculosis public health surveillance, Al-Madinah province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed J. Alkhalawi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of the study is to evaluate the quality of the data, the sensitivity of the surveillance, and the completeness of identification and investigation of tuberculosis (TB patient’s contacts. The study covered the TB surveillance program in Al-Madinah province in 2011. First, we reviewed all the notifications, treatment cards, and register books, as well as monthly and quarterly reports, for completeness and accuracy of data. Then, we searched for the missed cases that were not reported. Finally, we reviewed all the patients’ household contacts’ reports to assess the degree of completion of identification and investigation. There were 444 cases detected during the study period; only 200 cases were reported. The sensitivity of the TB surveillance system was 45%. Among the 200 reported cases, the results revealed high completeness rates for demographic and disease data and low completeness rates for the test result fields. The contact identification and investigation showed that 34.4% of smear-positive cases’ contacts were not identified. Only 67% of identified contacts were investigated. The review of hospital records and lab registers showed that 244 cases were not reported. In conclusion, the TB surveillance system has several areas that need improvement.

Bureaucratic power in note-writing: authoritative expertise within the state.

Science.gov (United States)

Mangset, Marte; Asdal, Kristin

2018-02-24

What produces the power of senior civil servants at ministries of finance, positioned at the top of the bureaucratic hierarchy? Max Weber has claimed that a hierarchical organization, meritocratic recruitment and procedural work provide bureaucracies with legitimacy. In particular he insisted on the role of Fachwissen (disciplinary knowledge) obtained through formal education. However, he also argued for the role of Dienstwissen, forms of knowledge and skills stemming from the experience of service in itself. Weber did not elaborate on this concept in detail, and few analysts of governmental expertise have examined this notion. We draw on the practice-turn in sociology, combining the study of governmental expertise with micro-sociological studies of administrative practices. By analysing interviews with 48 senior civil servants at the British, French and Norwegian ministries of finance about their daily practices, this article demonstrates that bureaucratic note-writing and the procedural evaluation of such notes constitute a key form of expertise that yields authority. The study provides an analytical framework for understanding what administrative expertise consists of, how it is integral to procedural work, the forms bureaucratic hierarchies take in practice and how these three dimensions provide authority. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2018.

Post-tensioning system surveillance program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drew, G.E.

1979-01-01

Nuclear power plant containment structure post-tensioning system tendon surveillance program is described in detail. Data collected over three yearly post-tensioning system Surveillance Programs is presented and evaluated to correlate anticipated stress losses with actual losses. In addition corrosion protected system performance is analyzed

Delusions of expertise: the high standard of proof needed to demonstrate skills at horserace handicapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Browne, Matthew; Rockloff, Matthew J; Blaszcynski, Alex; Allcock, Clive; Windross, Allen

2015-03-01

Gamblers who participate in skill-oriented games (such as poker and sports-betting) are motivated to win over the long-term, and some monitor their betting outcomes to evaluate their performance and proficiency. In this study of Australian off-track horserace betting, we investigated which levels of sustained returns would be required to establish evidence of skill/expertise. We modelled a random strategy to simulate 'naïve' play, in which equal bets were placed on randomly selected horses using a representative sample of 211 weekend races. Results from a Monte Carlo simulation yielded a distribution of return-on-investments for varying number of bets (N), showing surprising volatility, even after a large number of repeated bets. After adjusting for the house advantage, a gambler would have to place over 10,000 bets in individual races with net returns exceeding 9 % to be reasonably considered an expert punter (α = .05). Moreover, a record of fewer bets would require even greater returns for demonstrating expertise. As such, validated expertise is likely to be rare among race bettors. We argue that the counter-intuitively high threshold for demonstrating expertise by tracking historical performance is likely to exacerbate known cognitive biases in self-evaluation of expertise.

Evaluation of outbreak detection performance using multi-stream syndromic surveillance for influenza-like illness in rural Hubei Province, China: a temporal simulation model based on healthcare-seeking behaviors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yunzhou Fan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Syndromic surveillance promotes the early detection of diseases outbreaks. Although syndromic surveillance has increased in developing countries, performance on outbreak detection, particularly in cases of multi-stream surveillance, has scarcely been evaluated in rural areas. OBJECTIVE: This study introduces a temporal simulation model based on healthcare-seeking behaviors to evaluate the performance of multi-stream syndromic surveillance for influenza-like illness. METHODS: Data were obtained in six towns of rural Hubei Province, China, from April 2012 to June 2013. A Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered model generated 27 scenarios of simulated influenza A (H1N1 outbreaks, which were converted into corresponding simulated syndromic datasets through the healthcare-behaviors model. We then superimposed converted syndromic datasets onto the baselines obtained to create the testing datasets. Outbreak performance of single-stream surveillance of clinic visit, frequency of over the counter drug purchases, school absenteeism, and multi-stream surveillance of their combinations were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves and activity monitoring operation curves. RESULTS: In the six towns examined, clinic visit surveillance and school absenteeism surveillance exhibited superior performances of outbreak detection than over the counter drug purchase frequency surveillance; the performance of multi-stream surveillance was preferable to signal-stream surveillance, particularly at low specificity (Sp <90%. CONCLUSIONS: The temporal simulation model based on healthcare-seeking behaviors offers an accessible method for evaluating the performance of multi-stream surveillance.

In-service training and expertise requirements in radiation protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klener, V.; Heribanova, A.

2003-01-01

Proper selection of staff and their special education and training in radiation protection are important factors when assuring faultless man-machine interaction and thereby a reduced likelihood of human factor failure in hazardous practices. University-level institutions can only provide education in the individual partial segments of the multidisciplinary area of radiation protection, whereas the proper practices are learned by graduate personnel on the job, by performing operational tasks at their particular workplace. The scope o expertise of subjects providing radiation protection surveillance and the requirements for their special education and training are outlined. Supervising persons appointed by the radiation source handling licensee to perform a number of operational tasks at the workplace assume a prominent position. Alternatively, systematic supervision at the workplace can be contracted by the licensee from an external body, provided that the latter has acquired appropriate licence from the State Office for Nuclear Safety. The provisions of the Atomic Act and the related implementing regulations with respect to special training and to the examination of professional competence before an expert commission are briefly outlined. (author)

Soil and vegetation surveillance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Antonio, E.J.

1995-06-01

Soil sampling and analysis evaluates long-term contamination trends and monitors environmental radionuclide inventories. This section of the 1994 Hanford Site Environmental Report summarizes the soil and vegetation surveillance programs which were conducted during 1994. Vegetation surveillance is conducted offsite to monitor atmospheric deposition of radioactive materials in areas not under cultivation and onsite at locations adjacent to potential sources of radioactivity.

Evaluation of outbreak detection performance using multi-stream syndromic surveillance for influenza-like illness in rural Hubei Province, China: a temporal simulation model based on healthcare-seeking behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Yunzhou; Wang, Ying; Jiang, Hongbo; Yang, Wenwen; Yu, Miao; Yan, Weirong; Diwan, Vinod K; Xu, Biao; Dong, Hengjin; Palm, Lars; Nie, Shaofa

2014-01-01

Syndromic surveillance promotes the early detection of diseases outbreaks. Although syndromic surveillance has increased in developing countries, performance on outbreak detection, particularly in cases of multi-stream surveillance, has scarcely been evaluated in rural areas. This study introduces a temporal simulation model based on healthcare-seeking behaviors to evaluate the performance of multi-stream syndromic surveillance for influenza-like illness. Data were obtained in six towns of rural Hubei Province, China, from April 2012 to June 2013. A Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered model generated 27 scenarios of simulated influenza A (H1N1) outbreaks, which were converted into corresponding simulated syndromic datasets through the healthcare-behaviors model. We then superimposed converted syndromic datasets onto the baselines obtained to create the testing datasets. Outbreak performance of single-stream surveillance of clinic visit, frequency of over the counter drug purchases, school absenteeism, and multi-stream surveillance of their combinations were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves and activity monitoring operation curves. In the six towns examined, clinic visit surveillance and school absenteeism surveillance exhibited superior performances of outbreak detection than over the counter drug purchase frequency surveillance; the performance of multi-stream surveillance was preferable to signal-stream surveillance, particularly at low specificity (Sp performance of multi-stream surveillance.

The committee of scientific expertise coordination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-01-01

Placed under the MIES control, the Committee of scientific expertise coordination defines the needs, the contain and the planing of expertises realized in function of Climate national and international decisions and negotiations calendars. The Committee verifies the different expertises and offers the administrations, scientific tools and techniques useful for the negotiations. It can also define long-dated research needs which require the scientific community mobilization. This paper provides some document of the Committee: objectives, operating and priorities of the Committee, scenarios ''Factor 4'' and ''crack technology'', perceptions and practices, developing countries (China, India...), Euromed. (A.L.B.)

Development of professional expertise in optometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Faucher, Caroline

2011-04-01

Development of professional expertise is the gradual transition from novice to expert within a profession. Studies on expertise in the profession of optometry have never been published. However, many studies have been performed in other health professions (e.g., nursing, medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy). This report is an overview of the development of professional expertise that will highlight some applications for optometry. A 5-level scale of professional expertise development, divided into 2 parts, is described. The first part is the progression of students during their professional studies (novice, intermediate, competent). The second part is the professional development occurring during the practice years (advanced, expert). Personal and collective efforts are required to foster the progression toward expertise. Great interest for the profession, motivation, and deliberate practice are individual attitudes that help this progression. The "optometric community of practice," by means of university (professional) training, continuing education, and collaboration between colleagues, also contributes to this process. Professional development is an integral part of the Optometric Oath. Each clinical case is a potential learning experience contributing to one's professional development. Optometrists' attitudes are predominant factors in the progression from one level to another. Copyright © 2011 American Optometric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the use of cell phone messaging for community Ebola syndromic surveillance in high risked settings in Southern Sierra Leone.

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Kangbai; Mohamed, Koroma

2015-09-01

Most underdeveloped countries do not meet core disease outbreak surveillance because of the lack of human resources, laboratory and infrastructural facilities. The use of cell phone technology for disease outbreak syndromic surveillance is a new phenomenon in Sierra Leone despite its successes in other developing countries like Sri Lanka. In this study we set to evaluate the effectiveness of using cell phone technology for Ebola hemorrhagic fever syndromic surveillance in a high risked community in Sierra Leone. This study evaluated the effectiveness of using cell phone messaging (text and calls) for community Ebola hemorrhagic fever syndromic surveillance in high risked community in southern Sierra Leone. All cell phone syndromic surveillance data used for this study was reported as cell phone alert messages-texts and voice calls; by the Moyamba District Health Management Team for both Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspect and mortalities. We conducted a longitudinal data analysis of the monthly cumulative confirmed Ebola hemorrhagic fever cases and mortalities collected by both the traditional sentinel and community cell phone syndromic surveillance from August 2014 to October 2014. A total of 129 and 49 Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspect and confirmed cases respectively were recorded using the community Ebola syndromic surveillance cell phone alert system by the Moyamba District Health Management Team in October 2014. The average number of Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspects and confirmed cases for October 2014 were 4.16 (Std.dev 3.76) and 1.58 (Std.dev 1.43) respectively. Thirty-four percent (n=76) of the community Ebola syndromic surveillance cell phone alerts that were followed-up within 24 hours reported Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspect cases while 65.92% (n=147) reported mortality. Our study suggests some form of underreporting by the traditional sentinel Ebola hemorrhagic fever disease surveillance system in Moyamba District southern Sierra Leone for August

Evaluation of the national Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for dengue fever in Taiwan, 2010-2012.

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Caoimhe McKerr

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In Taiwan, around 1,500 cases of dengue fever are reported annually and incidence has been increasing over time. A national web-based Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NDSS has been in operation since 1997 to monitor incidence and trends and support case and outbreak management. We present the findings of an evaluation of the NDSS to ascertain the extent to which dengue fever surveillance objectives are being achieved.We extracted the NDSS data on all laboratory-confirmed dengue fever cases reported during 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012 to assess and describe key system attributes based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance evaluation guidelines. The system's structure and processes were delineated and operational staff interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Crude and age-adjusted incidence rates were calculated and key demographic variables were summarised to describe reporting activity. Data completeness and validity were described across several variables.Of 5,072 laboratory-confirmed dengue fever cases reported during 2010-2012, 4,740 (93% were reported during July to December. The system was judged to be simple due to its minimal reporting steps. Data collected on key variables were correctly formatted and usable in > 90% of cases, demonstrating good data completeness and validity. The information collected was considered relevant by users with high acceptability. Adherence to guidelines for 24-hour reporting was 99%. Of 720 cases (14% recorded as travel-related, 111 (15% had an onset >14 days after return, highlighting the potential for misclassification. Information on hospitalization was missing for 22% of cases. The calculated PVP was 43%.The NDSS for dengue fever surveillance is a robust, well maintained and acceptable system that supports the collection of complete and valid data needed to achieve the surveillance objectives. The simplicity of the system engenders compliance leading to

Surveillance, Evaluation of Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (PMDT at DR-TB Centre, NITRD, New Delhi

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Preeti Padda

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: PMDT was launched in 2007 in our country but drug resistant TB remains to be a public health problem. Effective surveillance is the backbone for success of any programme and true stands for PMDT. Aim & Objectives: To identify the strengths and constraints of the surveillance evaluation system. Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in January 2015 at DR-TB Centre of NITRD, New Delhi which caters to a population of 29 lacs. PMDT surveillance system was evaluated using attributes like simplicity, data quality, acceptability, positive predictive value, representativeness and timeliness defined by CDC, USA guidelines. Relevant information was collected using data abstraction form and interview with stakeholders. Data was analysed using EpiInfo 07 version. Results: Nodal officer and District TB officer are responsible for surveillance system activities of PMDT at DR-TB centre and district level, respectively. All the reports (100% were submitted on time and all the districts were reporting to DR-TB centre. 75% of TB-HIV coordinators found reporting formats to be simple but all the quarterly reports were found to be complete. Data quality was not found to be optimal. Conclusion: Private sector needs to be taken on board as they have no to minimal involvement in PMDT. For data quality improvement time to time training of medical officers and health workers should be organized.

Detangling Value: A study into the benefits of using in-house CSR expertise compared with the benefits of using CSR consultancy expertise

OpenAIRE

MacCarthy, Jennifer

2007-01-01

Abstract The topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an area with an increasing breadth of literature. However, literature regarding how CSR expertise is sourced for developing CSR projects and programmes within companies is distinctly weak. This study takes, arguably, the two most predominant forms of CSR expertise, in-house CSR expertise and CSR consultancies, and investigates what value these different types of expertise offer in sourcing for CSR activities. Bey...

Evaluating surveillance indicators supporting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, 2011-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-12

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was established in 1988 by the World Health Assembly to interrupt transmission of wild poliovirus (WPV); completion of this initiative was declared a programmatic emergency of public health in January 2012. Polio cases are detected through surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) with linked stool specimens tested for polioviruses (PVs) at accredited laboratories within the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN). AFP surveillance findings are supplemented by testing sewage samples (environmental surveillance) collected at selected sites. Virologic data guide where targeted immunization activities should be conducted or improved. Key performance indicators are used to 1) monitor AFP surveillance quality at national and subnational levels to identify gaps where PV transmission could occur undetected; 2) provide evidence of where PV circulation has been interrupted; and 3) allow timely detection of an outbreak. Standardized surveillance indicators allow progress to be monitored over time and compared among countries. This report presents AFP surveillance performance indicators at national and subnational levels for countries affected by polio during 2011-2012, and trends in environmental surveillance, updating previous reports. In the 19 countries with transmission of PV (WPV and/or circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus [cVDPV]) during 2011-2012, national performance indicator targets were met in 12 (63%) countries in 2011 and 13 (68%) countries in 2012. Seven countries (37%) in 2011 had ≥80% of the population living in areas meeting performance indicators, increasing to nine countries (47%) in 2012. Performance indicators for timely reporting of PV isolation and characterization were met in four of six World Health Organization (WHO) regions in 2011 and five regions in 2012. To achieve global polio eradication, efforts are needed to improve and maintain AFP surveillance and laboratory performance.

Evaluation of cholera surveillance system in Osu Klottey District, Accra, Ghana (2011-2013).

Science.gov (United States)

Adjei, Eric Yirenkyi; Malm, Keziah Laurencia; Mensah, Kofi Nyarko; Sackey, Samuel Oko; Ameme, Donne; Kenu, Ernest; Abdulai, Marijanatu; Mills, Richael; Afari, Edwin

2017-01-01

Cholera is an acute illness characterized by profuse watery diarrhea. It is caused by vibrio cholera subgroup 01 and 0139. Rapid administration of fluid replacement therapy and supportive treatment can reduce mortality to around 1%. By the close of 2011, 10,628 cases and 100 deaths were reported in Ghana with a case fatality rate of 0.99. It is important to evaluate the cholera surveillance system in Ghana to determine if it is meeting its objective. The study was conducted in Osu Klottey district in the Accra Metropolitan area in January 2014. We assessed the operations (attributes and performance) of the surveillance system for cholera using CDC guidelines (2001). Surveillance data records at the district level from 2011-2013 were extracted and analyzed for frequency using Microsoft excel. Stakeholders and key informants were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Records were also reviewed at some health facilities and at district levels. In 2011 and 2012, case fatality rates (1.3% and 0.65%) respectively. Males were mostly affected. The most affected age group was 20-29. In 2011, Predictive value positive was 69.2% and 50% in 2012.Cholera peaked in March 2011 and April 2012. The Government of Ghana funded the system. The system is sensitive, simple, stable, flexible, acceptable and representative. It was also useful and data quality was relatively good. Predictive Value Positive was also good. The surveillance system is achieving its set out objectives. The system is sensitive, simple, stable, flexible, and acceptable. Predictive value positive was good.

Containment/surveillance concepts for international safeguards in reprocessing plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bleck, M.E.; Cameron, C.P.; Camp, A.L.

1980-01-01

This paper examines the potential role of advanced containment/surveillance instrumentation systems for international safeguards in reprocessing plants. Several conceptual systems for the surveillance of containment boundary penetrations in a reference reprocessing plant are described and evaluated. The results of the evaluation aid in understanding the potential capabilities and limitations of containment/surveillance as an international safeguards concept in this type of facility

Designing Education for Professional Expertise Development

Science.gov (United States)

Elvira, Quincy; Imants, Jeroen; Dankbaar, Ben; Segers, Mien

2017-01-01

How to facilitate learning by novices (students) on their road to expertise has attracted the attention of a vast number of researchers in cognitive and educational psychology as well in the field of learning and instruction. Although many studies have investigated the phenomenon of expertise development, the implications of the findings for…

Evaluating Surveillance Breast Imaging and Biopsy in Older Breast Cancer Survivors

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Tracy Onega

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Patterns of surveillance among breast cancer survivors are not well characterized and lack evidence-based practice guidelines, particularly for imaging modalities other than mammography. We characterized breast imaging and related biopsy longitudinally among breast cancer survivors in relation to women’s characteristics. Methods. Using data from a state-wide (New Hampshire breast cancer screening registry linked to Medicare claims, we examined use of mammography, ultrasound (US, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, and biopsy among breast cancer survivors. We used generalized estimating equations (GEE to model associations of breast surveillance with women’s characteristics. Results. The proportion of women with mammography was high over the follow-up period (81.5% at 78 months, but use of US or MRI was much lower (8.0%—first follow-up window, 4.7% by 78 months. Biopsy use was consistent throughout surveillance periods (7.4%–9.4%. Surveillance was lower among older women and for those with a higher stage of diagnosis. Primary therapy was significantly associated with greater likelihood of breast surveillance. Conclusions. Breast cancer surveillance patterns for mammography, US, MRI, and related biopsy seem to be associated with age, stage, and treatment, but need a larger evidence-base for clinical recommendations.

Assessing expertise in introductory physics using categorization task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Mason

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The ability to categorize problems based upon underlying principles, rather than surface features or contexts, is considered one of several proxy predictors of expertise in problem solving. With inspiration from the classic study by Chi, Feltovich, and Glaser, we assess the distribution of expertise among introductory physics students by asking three introductory physics classes, each with more than a hundred students, to categorize mechanics problems based upon similarity of solution. We compare their categorization with those of physics graduate students and faculty members. To evaluate the effect of problem context on students’ ability to categorize, two sets of problems were developed for categorization. Some problems in one set included those available from the prior study by Chi et al. We find a large overlap between calculus-based introductory students and graduate students with regard to their categorizations that were assessed as “good.” Our findings, which contrast with those of Chi et al., suggest that there is a wide distribution of expertise in mechanics among introductory and graduate students. Although the categorization task is conceptual, introductory students in the calculus-based course performed better than those in the algebra-based course. Qualitative trends in categorization of problems are similar between the non-Chi problems and problems available from the Chi study used in our study although the Chi problems used are more difficult on average.

An integrated national mortality surveillance system for death registration and mortality surveillance, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shiwei; Wu, Xiaoling; Lopez, Alan D; Wang, Lijun; Cai, Yue; Page, Andrew; Yin, Peng; Liu, Yunning; Li, Yichong; Liu, Jiangmei; You, Jinling; Zhou, Maigeng

2016-01-01

In China, sample-based mortality surveillance systems, such as the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's disease surveillance points system and the Ministry of Health's vital registration system, have been used for decades to provide nationally representative data on health status for health-care decision-making and performance evaluation. However, neither system provided representative mortality and cause-of-death data at the provincial level to inform regional health service needs and policy priorities. Moreover, the systems overlapped to a considerable extent, thereby entailing a duplication of effort. In 2013, the Chinese Government combined these two systems into an integrated national mortality surveillance system to provide a provincially representative picture of total and cause-specific mortality and to accelerate the development of a comprehensive vital registration and mortality surveillance system for the whole country. This new system increased the surveillance population from 6 to 24% of the Chinese population. The number of surveillance points, each of which covered a district or county, increased from 161 to 605. To ensure representativeness at the provincial level, the 605 surveillance points were selected to cover China's 31 provinces using an iterative method involving multistage stratification that took into account the sociodemographic characteristics of the population. This paper describes the development and operation of the new national mortality surveillance system, which is expected to yield representative provincial estimates of mortality in China for the first time.

Evaluating the Impact of Business Service Expertise and Business Links on the Performance of SMEs in England

OpenAIRE

John Bryson; David Ingram; Peter Daniels

1999-01-01

The last decade has seen a growing body of research on information-intensive business service firms. These are companies that supply expertise and knowledge which are considered to add value to the output of their clients. This paper explores the impact of business service expertise provided via business link on the performance, profitability and competitiveness of client companies. The authors use a unique survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England as well as case studies...

Powering Ideas through Expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seabrooke, Leonard; Wigan, Duncan

2016-01-01

This contribution discusses how ideas are powered through expertise and moral authority. Professionals compete with each other to power ideas by linking claims to expertise, how things best work, to moral claims about how things should be. To show how, we draw on a case of battles over global tax...... policy. Corporate reporting for tax purposes is an area where the European Union, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, large global accountancy firms and non-governmental organizations have been active. The point of contention here is what form of financial...... can be fused with claims to moral authority. Such a constellation is more likely when political conditions are favourable....

A Web-Based, Hospital-Wide Health Care-Associated Bloodstream Infection Surveillance and Classification System: Development and Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tseng, Yi-Ju; Wu, Jung-Hsuan; Lin, Hui-Chi; Chen, Ming-Yuan; Ping, Xiao-Ou; Sun, Chun-Chuan; Shang, Rung-Ji; Sheng, Wang-Huei; Chen, Yee-Chun; Lai, Feipei; Chang, Shan-Chwen

2015-09-21

Surveillance of health care-associated infections is an essential component of infection prevention programs, but conventional systems are labor intensive and performance dependent. To develop an automatic surveillance and classification system for health care-associated bloodstream infection (HABSI), and to evaluate its performance by comparing it with a conventional infection control personnel (ICP)-based surveillance system. We developed a Web-based system that was integrated into the medical information system of a 2200-bed teaching hospital in Taiwan. The system automatically detects and classifies HABSIs. In this study, the number of computer-detected HABSIs correlated closely with the number of HABSIs detected by ICP by department (n=20; r=.999 Psystem performed excellently with regard to sensitivity (98.16%), specificity (99.96%), positive predictive value (95.81%), and negative predictive value (99.98%). The system enabled decreasing the delay in confirmation of HABSI cases, on average, by 29 days. This system provides reliable and objective HABSI data for quality indicators, improving the delay caused by a conventional surveillance system.

The Development of Sport Expertise: From Leeds to MVP Legend.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Katherine Thomas

1994-01-01

Contributions of motor skill and cognition to sport performance change across age, expertise, and sports. Knowledge and decision making should not limit the development of expertise. Specific strategies for teachers may help students develop expertise. The paper discusses the contribution of knowledge and skill to expertise and its development.…

Preserving skills and expertise for nuclear safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Storey, P.

2002-01-01

Full text: For many decades to come the international nuclear sector will require a wide range of highly trained, experienced and competent personnel. However, with the decline in the availability of nuclear expertise which is being felt in many countries, maintaining safety competence for both the industry and the regulator becomes a difficult challenge. Assessing the extent of the decline now and predicting what is the likely need for expertise in the future is an important task for all countries. Assessment should take account of likely scenarios for change in the nuclear industry and should aim to identify areas of expertise most likely to be at risk. International Agencies are playing a key role in raising awareness about regulatory concern and are starting to coordinate response and exchange good practice. Regulatory responsibility for preserving skills and expertise and International Agency leadership are essential for a successful outcome to the issue. (author)

Air surveillance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patton, G.W.

1995-06-01

This section of the 1994 Hanford Site Environmental Report summarizes the air surveillance and monitoring programs currently in operation at that Hanford Site. Atmospheric releases of pollutants from Hanford to the surrounding region are a potential source of human exposure. For that reason, both radioactive and nonradioactive materials in air are monitored at a number of locations. The influence of Hanford emissions on local radionuclide concentrations was evaluated by comparing concentrations measured at distant locations within the region to concentrations measured at the Site perimeter. This section discusses sample collection, analytical methods, and the results of the Hanford air surveillance program. A complete listing of all analytical results summarized in this section is reported separately by Bisping (1995).

Air surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patton, G.W.

1995-01-01

This section of the 1994 Hanford Site Environmental Report summarizes the air surveillance and monitoring programs currently in operation at that Hanford Site. Atmospheric releases of pollutants from Hanford to the surrounding region are a potential source of human exposure. For that reason, both radioactive and nonradioactive materials in air are monitored at a number of locations. The influence of Hanford emissions on local radionuclide concentrations was evaluated by comparing concentrations measured at distant locations within the region to concentrations measured at the Site perimeter. This section discusses sample collection, analytical methods, and the results of the Hanford air surveillance program. A complete listing of all analytical results summarized in this section is reported separately by Bisping (1995)

Using Highlighting to Train Attentional Expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Roads, Brett; Mozer, Michael C; Busey, Thomas A

2016-01-01

Acquiring expertise in complex visual tasks is time consuming. To facilitate the efficient training of novices on where to look in these tasks, we propose an attentional highlighting paradigm. Highlighting involves dynamically modulating the saliency of a visual image to guide attention along the fixation path of a domain expert who had previously viewed the same image. In Experiment 1, we trained naive subjects via attentional highlighting on a fingerprint-matching task. Before and after training, we asked subjects to freely inspect images containing pairs of prints and determine whether the prints matched. Fixation sequences were automatically scored for the degree of expertise exhibited using a Bayesian discriminative model of novice and expert gaze behavior. Highlighted training causes gaze behavior to become more expert-like not only on the trained images but also on transfer images, indicating generalization of learning. In Experiment 2, to control for the possibility that the increase in expertise is due to mere exposure, we trained subjects via highlighting of fixation sequences from novices, not experts, and observed no transition toward expertise. In Experiment 3, to determine the specificity of the training effect, we trained subjects with expert fixation sequences from images other than the one being viewed, which preserves coarse-scale statistics of expert gaze but provides no information about fine-grain features. Observing at least a partial transition toward expertise, we obtain only weak evidence that the highlighting procedure facilitates the learning of critical local features. We discuss possible improvements to the highlighting procedure.

Using Highlighting to Train Attentional Expertise.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brett Roads

Full Text Available Acquiring expertise in complex visual tasks is time consuming. To facilitate the efficient training of novices on where to look in these tasks, we propose an attentional highlighting paradigm. Highlighting involves dynamically modulating the saliency of a visual image to guide attention along the fixation path of a domain expert who had previously viewed the same image. In Experiment 1, we trained naive subjects via attentional highlighting on a fingerprint-matching task. Before and after training, we asked subjects to freely inspect images containing pairs of prints and determine whether the prints matched. Fixation sequences were automatically scored for the degree of expertise exhibited using a Bayesian discriminative model of novice and expert gaze behavior. Highlighted training causes gaze behavior to become more expert-like not only on the trained images but also on transfer images, indicating generalization of learning. In Experiment 2, to control for the possibility that the increase in expertise is due to mere exposure, we trained subjects via highlighting of fixation sequences from novices, not experts, and observed no transition toward expertise. In Experiment 3, to determine the specificity of the training effect, we trained subjects with expert fixation sequences from images other than the one being viewed, which preserves coarse-scale statistics of expert gaze but provides no information about fine-grain features. Observing at least a partial transition toward expertise, we obtain only weak evidence that the highlighting procedure facilitates the learning of critical local features. We discuss possible improvements to the highlighting procedure.

Effects of expertise on football betting.

Science.gov (United States)

Khazaal, Yasser; Chatton, Anne; Billieux, Joël; Bizzini, Lucio; Monney, Grégoire; Fresard, Emmanuelle; Thorens, Gabriel; Bondolfi, Guido; El-Guebaly, Nady; Zullino, Daniele; Khan, Riaz

2012-05-11

Football (soccer) is one of the most popular sports in the world, including Europe. It is associated with important betting activities. A common belief, widely spread among those who participate in gambling activities, is that knowledge and expertise on football lead to better prediction skills for match outcomes. If unfounded, however, this belief should be considered as a form of "illusion of control." The aim of this study was to examine whether football experts are better than nonexperts at predicting football match scores. Two hundred and fifty-eight persons took part in the study: 21.3% as football experts, 54.3% as laypersons (non-initiated to football), and 24.4% as football amateurs. They predicted the scores of the first 10 matches of the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. Logistic regressions were carried out to assess the link between the accuracy of the forecasted scores and the expertise of the participants (expert, amateur, layperson), controlling for age and gender. The variables assessed did not predict the accuracy of scoring prognosis (R2 ranged from 1% to 6%). Expertise, age, and gender did not appear to have an impact on the accuracy of the football match prognoses. Therefore, the belief that football expertise improves betting skills is no more than a cognitive distortion called the "illusion of control." Gamblers may benefit from psychological interventions that target the illusion of control related to their believed links between betting skills and football expertise. Public health policies may need to consider the phenomenon in order to prevent problem gambling related to football betting.

Eye movements as an index of pathologist visual expertise: a pilot study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tad T Brunyé

Full Text Available A pilot study examined the extent to which eye movements occurring during interpretation of digitized breast biopsy whole slide images (WSI can distinguish novice interpreters from experts, informing assessments of competency progression during training and across the physician-learning continuum. A pathologist with fellowship training in breast pathology interpreted digital WSI of breast tissue and marked the region of highest diagnostic relevance (dROI. These same images were then evaluated using computer vision techniques to identify visually salient regions of interest (vROI without diagnostic relevance. A non-invasive eye tracking system recorded pathologists' (N = 7 visual behavior during image interpretation, and we measured differential viewing of vROIs versus dROIs according to their level of expertise. Pathologists with relatively low expertise in interpreting breast pathology were more likely to fixate on, and subsequently return to, diagnostically irrelevant vROIs relative to experts. Repeatedly fixating on the distracting vROI showed limited value in predicting diagnostic failure. These preliminary results suggest that eye movements occurring during digital slide interpretation can characterize expertise development by demonstrating differential attraction to diagnostically relevant versus visually distracting image regions. These results carry both theoretical implications and potential for monitoring and evaluating student progress and providing automated feedback and scanning guidance in educational settings.

The Copyright Surveillance Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mike Zajko

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Creative works are now increasingly distributed as digital “content” through the internet, and copyright law has created powerful incentives to monitor and control these flows. This paper analyzes the surveillance industry that has emerged as a result. Copyright surveillance systems identify copyright infringement online and identify persons to hold responsible for infringing acts. These practices have raised fundamental questions about the nature of identification and attribution on the internet, as well as the increasing use of algorithms to make legal distinctions. New technologies have threatened the profits of some media industries through copyright infringement, but also enabled profitable forms of mass copyright surveillance and enforcement. Rather than a system of perfect control, copyright enforcement continues to be selective and uneven, but its broad reach results in systemic harm and provides opportunities for exploitation. It is only by scrutinizing copyright surveillance practices and copyright enforcement measures that we can evaluate these consequences.

Expertise and age-related changes in components of intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Masunaga, H; Horn, J

2001-06-01

In a sample of 263 male GO players at 48 levels of expertise and ranging from 18 to 78 years of age, it was found that factors of expertise deductive reasoning (EDR) and expertise working memory (EWM) were independent of factors of fluid reasoning (Gf) and short-term working memory (STWM) that, along with cognitive speed (Gs), have been found to characterize decline of intelligence in adulthood. The main effects of analyses of cross-sectional age differences indicated age-related decline in EDR and EWM as well as in Gf, STWM, and Gs. However, interaction and partialing analyses indicated that decline in EDR and EWM decreased to no decline with increase in level of expertise. The results thus suggest that with increase in factors known to raise the level of expertise--particularly, intensive, well-designed practice--there may be no age-related decline in the intelligence that is measured in the abilities of expertise.

The evaluation of the Chernobyl reactor accident by the help of the Hungarian Surveillance of Germinal Mutations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Czeizel, A.E.; Elek, Cs.; Susanszky, E.

1992-01-01

The germinal mutagenic consequences or radioactive fall-out deposition from the Chernobyl accident in Hungary was evaluated in the ongoing program on the population-based Hungarian Surveillance of Germinal Mutations. The surveillance is based on three groups of indicator conditions: 15 sentinel anomalies (indicators of germinal dominant gene mutations), Down syndrome (an indicator of germinal numerical and structural chromosomal mutations) and unidentified multiple congenital abnormalities (indicators of germinal dominant gene and chromosomal mutations). Cases with indicator conditions were selected from the material of the Hungarian Congenital Abnormality Registry. After the diagnostic accuracies were checked, familial and sporadic cases were separated and only the latter group was evaluated for evidence of new mutations. The analysis did not reveal any measurable germinal mutagenic effects of the Chernobyl reactor accident in Hungary. (author)

Thoughts on Expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Glaser, Robert

This paper briefly reviews research on tasks in knowledge-rich domains including developmental studies, work in artificial intelligence, studies of expert/novice problem solving, and information processing analysis of aptitude test tasks that have provided increased understanding of the nature of expertise. Particularly evident is the finding that…

Vaccine-preventable diseases: evaluation of vaccination programmes and optimisation of surveillance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maas, Nicoline van der

2018-01-01

The Netherlands has a National Immunisation Programme (NIP) and a seasonal influenza vaccination programme. Surveillance enables countries to monitor and assess the impact of these programmes. Dutch surveillance is coordinated by the Centre for Infectious Disease Control and consists of 5 pillars,

Conflict Resolution and Public Participation Center of Expertise

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — On October 17, 2008, the Conflict Resolution and Public Participation Center (CPCX) was named a Corps Center of Expertise (CX) and Directory of Expertise (DX). The...

Effects of expertise on football betting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khazaal Yasser

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Football (soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, including Europe. It is associated with important betting activities. A common belief, widely spread among those who participate in gambling activities, is that knowledge and expertise on football lead to better prediction skills for match outcomes. If unfounded, however, this belief should be considered as a form of “illusion of control.” The aim of this study was to examine whether football experts are better than nonexperts at predicting football match scores. Methods Two hundred and fifty-eight persons took part in the study: 21.3% as football experts, 54.3% as laypersons (non-initiated to football, and 24.4% as football amateurs. They predicted the scores of the first 10 matches of the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. Logistic regressions were carried out to assess the link between the accuracy of the forecasted scores and the expertise of the participants (expert, amateur, layperson, controlling for age and gender. Results The variables assessed did not predict the accuracy of scoring prognosis (R2 ranged from 1% to 6%. Conclusions Expertise, age, and gender did not appear to have an impact on the accuracy of the football match prognoses. Therefore, the belief that football expertise improves betting skills is no more than a cognitive distortion called the “illusion of control.” Gamblers may benefit from psychological interventions that target the illusion of control related to their believed links between betting skills and football expertise. Public health policies may need to consider the phenomenon in order to prevent problem gambling related to football betting.

Toward a multifactorial model of expertise: beyond born versus made.

Science.gov (United States)

Hambrick, David Z; Burgoyne, Alexander P; Macnamara, Brooke N; Ullén, Fredrik

2018-02-15

The debate over the origins of individual differences in expertise has raged for over a century in psychology. The "nature" view holds that expertise reflects "innate talent"-that is, genetically determined abilities. The "nurture" view counters that, if talent even exists, its effects on ultimate performance are negligible. While no scientist takes seriously a strict nature-only view of expertise, the nurture view has gained tremendous popularity over the past several decades. This environmentalist view holds that individual differences in expertise reflect training history, with no important contribution to ultimate performance by innate ability ("talent"). Here, we argue that, despite its popularity, this view is inadequate to account for the evidence concerning the origins of expertise that has accumulated since the view was first proposed. More generally, we argue that the nature versus nurture debate in research on expertise is over-or certainly should be, as it has been in other areas of psychological research for decades. We describe a multifactorial model for research on the nature and nurture of expertise, which we believe will provide a progressive direction for future research on expertise. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Perception and description of premium beers by panels with different degrees of product expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giacalone, Davide; Ribeiro, Leticia Machado; Frøst, Michael Bom

2016-01-01

The present study compares subjects with varying degrees of product expertise with regards to their ability to provide a sensory profile of beverages. Eight premium beers were evaluated by three different panels using a Napping® test, followed by a descriptive task. Two panels were constituted of...... were all above 0.90, indicating high configurational similarity. In contrast, PLS-DA showed significant differences in the use of attributes, particularly between Experts and Novices, suggesting that product expertise is more associated with descriptive, rather than perceptual, ability....

The Inverse Relation Between Risks and Benefits: The Role of Affect and Expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Sokolowska, Joanna; Sleboda, Patrycja

2015-07-01

Although risk and benefits of risky activities are positively correlated in the real world, empirical results indicate that people perceive them as negatively correlated. The common explanation is that confounding benefits and losses stems from affect. In this article, we address the issue that has not been clearly established in studies on the affect heuristic: to what extent boundary conditions, such as judgments' generality and expertise, influence the presence of the inverse relation in judgments of hazards. These conditions were examined in four studies in which respondents evaluated general or specific benefits and risks of "affect-rich" and "affect-poor" hazards (ranging from investments to applications of stem cell research). In line with previous research, affect is defined as good or bad feelings integral to a stimulus. In contrast to previous research, affect is considered as related both to personal feelings and to social controversies associated with a hazard. Expertise is related to personal knowledge (laypersons vs. experts) as well as to objective knowledge (targets well vs. poorly known to science). The direct comparison of the input from personal and objective ignorance into the inverse relation has not been investigated previously. It was found that affect invoked by a hazard guides general but not specific judgments of its benefits and risks. Technical expertise helps to avoid simplified evaluations of consequences as long as they are well known to science. For new, poorly understood hazards (e.g., stem cell research), expertise does not protect from the perception of the inverse relation between benefits and risks. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Assessing Expertise in Radiology : Evaluating and Improving the Assessment of Knowledge and Image Interpretation Skill

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ravesloot, C.J.

2016-01-01

Aim: Expert radiologists are excellent image interpreters. Unfortunately, image interpretation errors are frequent even among experienced radiologists and not much is known about which factors lead to expertise. Increasing assessment quality can improve radiological performance. Progress tests can

Negotiating knowledges and expertise in refugee resettlement organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Steimel

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Interviews with both refugees and organizational staff in two nonprofit refugee resettlement organizations in the United States reveal the ways in which knowledge(s and expertise are crafted, threatened, and understood in refugee organizations. Refugee-participants described the need for knowledgeable communication, barriers to the communication of knowledge, and processes of negotiating whose expertise is involved. Organizational staff participants described the duty of communicating expert knowledge, the limits of knowledge as expertise, and alternative communications of expertise. These tensions surrounding “knowing” in refugee resettlement organizations highlights the need for a more complex theoretical understanding of the processes of knowing present in refugee resettlement. These tensions also suggest areas in which refugee resettlement agencies and other nonprofit staff can make on-the-ground changes to better facilitate refugee resettlement processes.

Retrospective Evaluation of Pharmacist Interventions on Use of Antimicrobials Using a Clinical Surveillance Software in a Small Community Hospital

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel R. Huber

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America “Guidelines for Developing an Institutional Program to Enhance Antimicrobial Stewardship” recommend the use of computer-based surveillance programs for efficient and thorough identification of potential interventions as part of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP. This retrospective study examined the benefit of utilizing a clinical surveillance software program to help guide antimicrobial therapy in an inpatient setting, in a small community hospital, without a formal ASP. The electronic health record (EHR was used to retrieve documentations for the following types of antibiotic interventions: culture surveillance, duplicate therapy, duration of therapy and renal dose adjustments. The numbers of interventions made during the three-month periods before and after implementation of the clinical surveillance software were compared. Antibiotic related interventions aggregated to 144 and 270 in the pre- and post-implementation time frame, respectively (p < 0.0001. The total number of antibiotic interventions overall and interventions in three of the four sub-categories increased significantly from the pre-implementation to post-implementation period. Clinical surveillance software is a valuable tool to assist pharmacists in evaluating antimicrobial therapy.

Detecting Ebola with limited laboratory access in the Democratic Republic of Congo: evaluation of a clinical passive surveillance reporting system.

Science.gov (United States)

Ashbaugh, Hayley R; Kuang, Brandon; Gadoth, Adva; Alfonso, Vivian H; Mukadi, Patrick; Doshi, Reena H; Hoff, Nicole A; Sinai, Cyrus; Mossoko, Mathias; Kebela, Benoit Ilunga; Muyembe, Jean-Jacques; Wemakoy, Emile Okitolonda; Rimoin, Anne W

2017-09-01

Ebola virus disease (EVD) can be clinically severe and highly fatal, making surveillance efforts for early disease detection of paramount importance. In areas with limited access to laboratory testing, the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may be a vital tool in improving outbreak response. Using DRC IDSR data from the nation's four EVD outbreak periods from 2007-2014, we assessed trends of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) and EVD differential diagnoses reportable through IDSR. With official case counts from active surveillance of EVD outbreaks, we assessed accuracy of reporting through the IDSR passive surveillance system. Although the active and passive surveillance represent distinct sets of data, the two were correlated, suggesting that passive surveillance based only on clinical evaluation may be a useful predictor of true cases prior to laboratory confirmation. There were 438 suspect VHF cases reported through the IDSR system and 416 EVD cases officially recorded across the outbreaks examined. Although collected prior to official active surveillance cases, case reporting through the IDSR during the 2007, 2008 and 2012 outbreaks coincided with official EVD epidemic curves. Additionally, all outbreak areas experienced increases in suspected cases for both malaria and typhoid fever during EVD outbreaks, underscoring the importance of training health care workers in recognising EVD differential diagnoses and the potential for co-morbidities. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Hospitalization records as a tool for evaluating performance of food- and water-borne disease surveillance systems: a Massachusetts case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mor, Siobhan M; DeMaria, Alfred; Naumova, Elena N

2014-01-01

We outline a framework for evaluating food- and water-borne surveillance systems using hospitalization records, and demonstrate the approach using data on salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and giardiasis in persons aged ≥65 years in Massachusetts. For each infection, and for each reporting jurisdiction, we generated smoothed standardized morbidity ratios (SMR) and surveillance to hospitalization ratios (SHR) by comparing observed surveillance counts with expected values or the number of hospitalized cases, respectively. We examined the spatial distribution of SHR and related this to the mean for the entire state. Through this approach municipalities that deviated from the typical experience were identified and suspected of under-reporting. Regression analysis revealed that SHR was a significant predictor of SMR, after adjusting for population age-structure. This confirms that the spatial "signal" depicted by surveillance is in part influenced by inconsistent testing and reporting practices since municipalities that reported fewer cases relative to the number of hospitalizations had a lower relative risk (as estimated by SMR). Periodic assessment of SHR has potential in assessing the performance of surveillance systems.

Hospitalization records as a tool for evaluating performance of food- and water-borne disease surveillance systems: a Massachusetts case study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siobhan M Mor

Full Text Available We outline a framework for evaluating food- and water-borne surveillance systems using hospitalization records, and demonstrate the approach using data on salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and giardiasis in persons aged ≥65 years in Massachusetts. For each infection, and for each reporting jurisdiction, we generated smoothed standardized morbidity ratios (SMR and surveillance to hospitalization ratios (SHR by comparing observed surveillance counts with expected values or the number of hospitalized cases, respectively. We examined the spatial distribution of SHR and related this to the mean for the entire state. Through this approach municipalities that deviated from the typical experience were identified and suspected of under-reporting. Regression analysis revealed that SHR was a significant predictor of SMR, after adjusting for population age-structure. This confirms that the spatial "signal" depicted by surveillance is in part influenced by inconsistent testing and reporting practices since municipalities that reported fewer cases relative to the number of hospitalizations had a lower relative risk (as estimated by SMR. Periodic assessment of SHR has potential in assessing the performance of surveillance systems.

Surveillance extension experience at WWER-440 type reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillemot, F.; Uri, G.; Oszwald, F.; Trampus, P.

1993-01-01

In WWER-440 reactors, the surveillance specimens are located in accelerated irradiation positions. After 5 years, all specimens are withdrawn and the operational changes are not monitored. At Paks NPP a new surveillance program extension has been settled in order to avoid these original program disadvantages and generate further data for plant lifetime management. This paper includes: research performed to prepare the surveillance extension programme, the evaluation method for the surveillance extension, and first results (Charpy and tensile tests). (authors). 6 refs., 12 figs., 3 tabs

Surveillance extension experience at WWER-440 type reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gillemot, F; Uri, G [Budapesti Mueszaki Egyetem, Budapest (Hungary); Oszwald, F; Trampus, P

1994-12-31

In WWER-440 reactors, the surveillance specimens are located in accelerated irradiation positions. After 5 years, all specimens are withdrawn and the operational changes are not monitored. At Paks NPP a new surveillance program extension has been settled in order to avoid these original program disadvantages and generate further data for plant lifetime management. This paper includes: research performed to prepare the surveillance extension programme, the evaluation method for the surveillance extension, and first results (Charpy and tensile tests). (authors). 6 refs., 12 figs., 3 tabs.

Programs and Expertise

CERN Document Server

2001-01-01

Description of programs and expertise implemented by Radiation Protection Centre is presented. RPC implements study assessing the doses received by air crew members of Lithuanian Airlines. In 2001 RPC started measurements of indoor radon concentrations in the houses of regions with karst formations, commenced new program analyzing amounts of radionuclides in typical diet of hospital patients.

[Consistency and Reliability of MDK Expertise Examining the Encoding in the German DRG System].

Science.gov (United States)

Gaertner, T; Lehr, F; Blum, B; van Essen, J

2015-09-01

Hospital inpatient stays are reimbursed on the basis of German diagnosis-related groups (G-DRG). The G-DRG classification system is based on complex coding guidelines. The Medical Review Board of the Statutory Health Insurance Funds (MDK) examines the encoding by hospitals and delivers individual expertises on behalf of the German statutory health insurance companies in cases in which irregularities are suspected. A study was conducted on the inter-rater reliability of the MDK expertises regarding the scope of the assessment. A representative sample of 212 MDK expertises was taken from a selected pool of 1 392 MDK expertises in May 2013. This representative sample underwent a double-examination by 2 independent MDK experts using a special software based on the 3MTM G-DRG Grouper 2013 of 3M Medica, Germany. The following items encoded by the hospitals were examined: DRG, principal diagnosis, secondary diagnoses, procedures and additional payments. It was analysed whether the results of MDK expertises were consistent, reliable and correct. 202 expertises were eligible for evaluation, containing a total of 254 questions regarding one or more of the 5 items encoded by hospitals. The double-examination by 2 independent MDK experts showed matching results in 187 questions (73.6%) meaning they had been examined consistently and correctly. 59 questions (23.2%) did not show matching results, nevertheless they had been examined correctly regarding the scope of the assessment. None of the principal diagnoses was significantly affected by inconsistent or wrong judgment. A representative sample of MDK expertises examining the DRG encoding by hospitals showed a very high percentage of correct examination by the MDK experts. Identical MDK expertises cannot be achieved in all cases due to the scope of the assessment. Further improvement and simplification of codes and coding guidelines are required to reduce the scope of assessment with regard to correct DRG encoding and its

A new rejection of moral expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Cowley, Christopher

2005-01-01

There seem to be two clearly-defined camps in the debate over the problem of moral expertise. On the one hand are the "Professionals", who reject the possibility entirely, usually because of the intractable diversity of ethical beliefs. On the other hand are the "Ethicists", who criticise the Professionals for merely stipulating science as the most appropriate paradigm for discussions of expertise. While the subject matter and methodology of good ethical thinking is certainly different from that of good clinical thinking, they argue, this is no reason for rejecting the possibility of a distinctive kind of expertise in ethics, usually based on the idea of good justification. I want to argue that both are incorrect, partly because of the reasons given by one group against the other, but more importantly because both neglect what is most distinctive about ethics: that it is personal in a very specific way, without collapsing into relativism.

The building of a pluralist expertise group about uranium mines in Limousin (France)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gay, D. . E-mal: didier.gay@irsn.fr

2007-01-01

Uranium mining and milling industry once played a major strategic and economic role in France. After the definitive cessation of mining and milling activity in 2001, more than 200 sites are currently under closure and post-closure phases. Decisions required in this frame raise particular difficulties because of the sensitivity of some technical issues and the strong scrutiny and requirements of local and national NGOs. This is particular true in Limousin, the region that stands for the cradle and the heart of the national uranium history. In order to deal with this complex and disputed topic, the ministries of environment, health and industry recently decided to set up a pluralist expertise group with the aim to come to analyze and give a critical point of view on the various technical documents prepared by AREVA NC about the surveillance and control of its mining sites in the department of Haute-Vienne in the Limousin region and than provide recommendations to public authorities to improve current situation. (author)

The building of a pluralist expertise group about uranium mines in Limousin (France)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gay, D.

2006-01-01

Uranium mining and milling industry once played a major strategic and economic role in France. After the definitive cessation of mining and milling activity in 2001, more than 200 sites are currently under closure and post-closure phases. Decisions required in this frame raise particular difficulties because of the sensitivity of some technical issues and the strong scrutiny and requirements of local and national NGOs. This is particular true in Limousin, the region that stands for the cradle and the heart of the national uranium history. In order to deal with this complex and disputed topic, the ministries of environment, health and industry recently decided to set up a pluralist expertise group with the aim to come to analyze and give a critical point of view on the various technical documents prepared by AREVA NC about the surveillance and control of its mining sites in the department of Haute-Vienne in the Limousin region and than provide recommendations to public authorities to improve current situation. (author)

Duplex evaluation following femoropopliteal angioplasty and stenting: criteria and utility of surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Baril, Donald T; Marone, Luke K

2012-07-01

Surveillance following lower extremity bypass, carotid endarterectomy, and endovascular aortic aneurysm repair has become the standard of care at most institutions. Conversely, surveillance following lower extremity endovascular interventions is performed somewhat sporadically in part because the duplex criteria for recurrent stenoses have been ill defined. It appears that duplex surveillance after peripheral endovascular interventions, as with conventional bypass, is beneficial in identifying recurrent lesions which may preclude failure and occlusion. In-stent stenosis following superficial femoral artery angioplasty and stenting can be predicted by both peak systolic velocity and velocity ratio data as measured by duplex ultrasound. Duplex criteria have been defined to determine both ≥50% in-stent stenosis and ≥80% in-stent stenosis. Although not yet well studied, it appears that applying these criteria during routine surveillance may assist in preventing failure of endovascular interventions.

Performance Evaluations for Super-Resolution Mosaicing on UAS Surveillance Videos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aldo Camargo

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS have been widely applied for reconnaissance and surveillance by exploiting information collected from the digital imaging payload. The super-resolution (SR mosaicing of low-resolution (LR UAS surveillance video frames has become a critical requirement for UAS video processing and is important for further effective image understanding. In this paper we develop a novel super-resolution framework, which does not require the construction of sparse matrices. The proposed method implements image operations in the spatial domain and applies an iterated back-projection to construct super-resolution mosaics from the overlapping UAS surveillance video frames. The Steepest Descent method, the Conjugate Gradient method and the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm are used to numerically solve the nonlinear optimization problem for estimating a super-resolution mosaic. A quantitative performance comparison in terms of computation time and visual quality of the super-resolution mosaics through the three numerical techniques is presented.

Expertise in chess

OpenAIRE

Gobet, F

2006-01-01

This chapter provides an overview of research into chess expertise. After an historical background and a brief description of the game and the rating system, it discusses the information processes enabling players to choose good moves, and in particular the trade-offs between knowledge and search. Other topics include blindfold chess, talent, and the role of deliberate practice and tournament experience.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance Among Cirrhotic Patients With Commercial Health Insurance.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, David S; Valderrama, Adriana; Kamalakar, Rajesh; Sansgiry, Sujit S; Babajanyan, Svetlana; Lewis, James D

2016-03-01

To evaluate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance rates among commercially insured patients, and evaluate factors associated with compliance with surveillance recommendations. Most HCC occurs in patients with cirrhosis. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and European Association for the Study of the Liver guidelines each recommend biannual HCC surveillance for cirrhotic patients to diagnose HCC at an early, curable stage. However, compliance with these guidelines in commercially insured patients is unknown. We used the Truven Health Analytics databases from 2006 to 2010, using January 1, 2006 as the anchor date for evaluating outcomes. The primary outcome was continuous surveillance measure, defined as the proportion of time "up-to-date" with surveillance (PTUDS), with the 6-month interval immediately following each ultrasound categorized as "up-to-date." During a median follow-up of 22.9 (interquartile range, 16.3 to 33.9) months among 8916 cirrhotic patients, the mean PTUDS was 0.34 (SD, 0.29), and the median was 0.31 (interquartile range, 0.03 to 0.52). These values increased only modestly with inclusion of serum alpha-fetoprotein testing, contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomographic scans or magnetic resonance imagings, and/or extension of up-to-date time to 12 months. Being diagnosed by a nongastroenterology provider and increasing age were significantly associated with decreased HCC surveillance (Psurveillance (Psurveillance rates remained low. HCC surveillance rates in commercially insured at-risk patients remain poor despite formalized guidelines, highlighting the need to develop interventions to improve surveillance rates.

An evaluation of the Australian Rotavirus Surveillance Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts-Witteveen, April R; Patel, Mahomed S; Roche, Paul W

2008-09-01

The Australian Rotavirus Serotyping Program (ARSP) serotypes rotavirus isolates obtained from stool samples sent from Australian laboratories. In collaboration with ARSP the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing evaluated the program for its utility and capacity to monitor effectiveness of the rotavirus vaccines recently introduced into the Australian National Immunisation Program. The system was described using ARSP annual reports and staff interviews. The attributes of the system were assessed by adapting standard guidelines for evaluating a surveillance system. Email surveys or face to face interviews were conducted with staff of ARSP, participating laboratories, rotavirus vaccine manufacturing companies and representatives of the Communicable Diseases Network Australia. The ability of the ARSP to monitor changes in rotavirus serotype epidemiology was assessed. ARSP serotypes rotavirus isolates received from participating laboratories at least bi-annually, with results being reported at least as often. Serotype analyses have informed formulation of rotavirus vaccines and contributed to forecasting the extent of outbreaks caused by novel serotypes. The ARSP will be able to monitor changes in rotavirus serotype epidemiology and identify probable vaccination failures. Enhancement of the representativeness and sensitivity of the system are needed for the data to remain useful in the public health context. Methods for transferring data between the program and state and territory health departments need to be developed.

[The Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency performance evaluation at the management contract model].

Science.gov (United States)

Moreira, Elka Maltez de Miranda; Costa, Ediná Alves

2010-11-01

The Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) is supervised by the Ministry of Health by means of a management contract, a performance evaluation tool. This case study was aimed at describing and analyzing Anvisa's performance evaluation model based on the agency's institutional purpose, according to the following analytical categories: the management contract formalization, evaluation tools, evaluators and institutional performance. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis revealed that Anvisa signed only one management contract with the Ministry of Health in 1999, updated by four additive terms. The Collegiate Board of Directors and the Advisory Center for Strategic Management play the role of Anvisa's internal evaluators and an Assessing Committee, comprising the Ministry of Health, constitutes its external evaluator. Three phases were identified in the evaluation model: the structuring of the new management model (1999-2000), legitimation regarding the productive segment (2001-2004) and widespread legitimation (2005). The best performance was presented in 2000 (86.05%) and the worst in 2004 (40.00%). The evaluation model was shown to have contributed little towards the agency's institutional purpose and the effectiveness measurement of the implemented actions.

Survey on the Use of Whole-Genome Sequencing for Infectious Diseases Surveillance: Rapid Expansion of European National Capacities, 2015–2016

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joana Revez

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Whole-genome sequencing (WGS has become an essential tool for public health surveillance and molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases and antimicrobial drug resistance. It provides precise geographical delineation of spread and enables incidence monitoring of pathogens at genotype level. Coupled with epidemiological and environmental investigations, it delivers ultimate resolution for tracing sources of epidemic infections. To ascertain the level of implementation of WGS-based typing for national public health surveillance and investigation of prioritized diseases in the European Union (EU/European Economic Area (EEA, two surveys were conducted in 2015 and 2016. The surveys were designed to determine the national public health reference laboratories’ access to WGS and operational WGS-based typing capacity for national surveillance of selected foodborne pathogens, antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, and vaccine-preventable diseases identified as priorities for European genomic surveillance. Twenty-eight and twenty-nine out of the 30 EU/EEA countries participated in the survey in 2015 and 2016, respectively. National public health reference laboratories in 22 and 25 countries had access to WGS-based typing for public health applications in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Reported reasons for limited or no access were lack of funding, staff, and expertise. Illumina technology was the most frequently used followed by Ion Torrent technology. The access to bioinformatics expertise and competence for routine WGS data analysis was limited. By mid-2016, half of the EU/EEA countries were using WGS analysis either as first- or second-line typing method for surveillance of the pathogens and antibiotic resistance issues identified as EU priorities. The sampling frame as well as bioinformatics analysis varied by pathogen/resistance issue and country. Core genome multilocus allelic profiling, also called cgMLST, was the most frequently used annotation

Prescribing safety, negotiating expertise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolina, Gregory

2010-01-01

Owing to their presumed impact on the safety of high-risk installations, the interactions between regulators and the regulated are a major but seldom explored subject of research in risk management. A study by experts on human and organizational factors in nuclear safety sheds light on the various phases (and their effects) of the process whereby experts produce assessments. Light is shed on a 'negotiated expertise' typical of the French style of safety regulations in nuclear installations. It is based on an ongoing technical dialog between experts and operators ('French cooking' for Anglo-Saxons). This analysis of 'expertise' and thus of the 'logics of action' implemented by experts proposes a typology of actions that can be transposed to other sorts of risk or other fields of activity. It hands us the keys for understanding a very contemporary activity. (author)

Surveillance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albrechtslund, Anders; Coeckelbergh, Mark; Matzner, Tobias

Studying surveillance involves raising questions about the very nature of concepts such as information, technology, identity, space and power. Besides the maybe all too obvious ethical issues often discussed with regard to surveillance, there are several other angles and approaches that we should...... like to encourage. Therefore, our panel will focus on the philosophical, yet non-ethical issues of surveillance in order to stimulate an intense debate with the audience on the ethical implications of our enquiries. We also hope to provide a broader and deeper understanding of surveillance....

Evaluation 2000 and regulation and method. Release monitoring and environmental surveillance around Cea centers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-06-01

This publication counts for the year 2000 for the evaluation of liquid and gaseous radioactive effluents releases and the radioactivity levels measured in the vicinity of Cea centers, through the air, water, vegetation and milk surveillance. An analysis of the results from 1996 to 2000 allows to follow their evolution. A second booklet develops the sampling and measurement methods made on effluents in environment. It present besides the regulation applied to effluents monitoring. (N.C.)

Social and psychological risks expertise in crisis communities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shvalb, Y.

1998-01-01

Emerging and development of crises in the communities leads to considerable increase of individual's risks' quality and quantity. Irrespectively of risk scale - partial or total influence on a community - a number of tendencies of risks increase could be identified. On social level risks result from the tendency of social protection decrease and restriction in free choice of activities' forms and kinds. On group level confrontation and clashes emerge, increase intolerance and decrease tolerance are identified. On interpersonal (micro group) level aggression and abuse intensify. On individual level a complex of negative psychological statuses develops, which is diverse both as for its content and forms. Reasons of crisis development and its dynamics determine the content and concrete forms of risks on all levels. Systematic description of risks and development of psychological support programmes for population in risk presupposes organization and delivering of comprehensive social and psychological expertise of situation. Such an expertise makes it possible to unite in a comprehensive model of the multi-professional descriptions of crisis situations on the above mentioned levels, the subjective concepts of the population (or its separate groups) together with evaluation of various projects and programmes on crisis coping and risks decrease options. (author)

Evaluation of satellite technology for pipeline route surveillance and the prevention of third party interference damage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Palmer-Jones, Roland; Hopkins, Phil [Penspen Integrity, Newcastle upon Tyne (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: r.palmer-jones@penspen.com; p.hopkins@penspen.com; Fraser, Andy [Integrated Statistical Solutions (United States)]. E-mail: andy@issquared.co.uk; Dezobry, Jerome [Gas de France, Paris (France)]. E-mail: jerome.dezobry@gazdefrance.com; Merrienboer, Hugo Van [Gasunie, Groningen (Netherlands)]. E-mail: H.A.M.van.Merrienboer@gasunie.nl

2003-07-01

The damage caused by Third Party Interference (TPI) is one of the major causes of pipeline failures. Consequently, new technologies for identifying activities that may cause damage to our pipelines are constantly being developed. A recently completed project sponsored by a number of pipeline operators has investigated the use of high-resolution satellites for the integrity management of onshore transmission pipelines. The sponsors were BG Technology (on behalf of Transco), Dansk Olie NatureGas, Gasunie, BP, Gaz de France, Distrigas, and the Health and Safety Executive. The project started with a general review of the satellite technologies available and their potential. The study was then focussed on the identification of activities that might result in damage to the pipeline and the potential of high-resolution optical satellites in identifying hazardous activities. A key element of the study was a comparison with existing surveillance systems, which generally involve regular aerial patrols of the pipeline route. To achieve this a survey was carried out to try and evaluate the costs and benefits of existing systems. In addition a simple model for analysing the cost benefit of pipeline surveillance was constructed, and a functional specification for a surveillance system drafted. Finally the performance of the IKONOS 2 high-resolution satellite system was tested in a controlled experiment using targets placed along a pipeline route. The results of this test were compared with a similar test of helicopter-based surveillance carried out by one of the sponsors. (author)

Harnessing the Department of Energy’s High-Performance Computing Expertise to Strengthen the U.S. Chemical Enterprise

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dixon, David A.; Dupuis, Michel; Garrett, Bruce C.; Neaton, Jeffrey B.; Plata, Charity; Tarr, Matthew A.; Tomb, Jean-Francois; Golab, Joseph T.

2012-01-17

High-performance computing (HPC) is one area where the DOE has developed extensive expertise and capability. However, this expertise currently is not properly shared with or used by the private sector to speed product development, enable industry to move rapidly into new areas, and improve product quality. Such use would lead to substantial competitive advantages in global markets and yield important economic returns for the United States. To stimulate the dissemination of DOE's HPC expertise, the Council for Chemical Research (CCR) and the DOE jointly held a workshop on this topic. Four important energy topic areas were chosen as the focus of the meeting: Biomass/Bioenergy, Catalytic Materials, Energy Storage, and Photovoltaics. Academic, industrial, and government experts in these topic areas participated in the workshop to identify industry needs, evaluate the current state of expertise, offer proposed actions and strategies, and forecast the expected benefits of implementing those strategies.

Driven by expertise and insulation?: the autonomy of European regulatory agencies

OpenAIRE

Ossege, Christoph

2015-01-01

Expertise and autonomy are cornerstones to the effective operation and legitimacy of European Regulatory Agencies (ERAs). Yet, we know little about ERAs' actual autonomy, nor about factors shaping it. This article studies ERAs' actual autonomy from public and private actors, emphasising two crucial explanatory factors: expertise and rulemaking competences. The lack of insights on expertise is particularly striking, as expertise -the "raison d'être" and main resource of expert bodies- provides...

Intuitive expertise in ICT graduate supervision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jill Jameson

2002-12-01

Full Text Available Intuitive expertise in the application of advanced interdisciplinary facilitation is the subject of this personal reflection on the graduate supervisory style of Professor David Squires in computers in education. This single-case reflective study examines the characteristics of effective supervision observed during masters and doctoral supervision at King's College in the years 1990-9. Interdisciplinarity in ICT graduate studies particularly requires a fluency of supervisory expertise in enabling supervisees to combine multiple complex perspectives from a number of fields of knowledge. Intuitive combinatory aspects of supervision are highlighted in this reflection on the role carried out by an academic expert in facilitating student success. This is examined from a perspective incorporating affective as well as intellectual elements, informed by characteristics identified in professional sports and performing arts coaching/mentoring. Key characteristics comprising a model of intuitive expertise in ICT graduate supervision were outlined. The resultant portrait aims to complement existing literature on graduate supervision, with reference to the field of ICTI computers in education relating to student hypermedia composition.

Assessing Expertise in Introductory Physics Using Categorization Task

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Andrew; Singh, Chandralekha

2011-01-01

The ability to categorize problems based upon underlying principles, rather than surface features or contexts, is considered one of several proxy predictors of expertise in problem solving. With inspiration from the classic study by Chi, Feltovich, and Glaser, we assess the distribution of expertise among introductory physics students by asking…

Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Personalized Surveillance After Colorectal Adenomatous Polypectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

McFerran, Ethna; O'Mahony, James F; Fallis, Richard; McVicar, Duncan; Zauber, Ann G; Kee, Frank

2017-01-01

Lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is 5%, and 5-year survival at early stage is 92%. Individuals with precancerous lesions removed at primary screening are typically recommended surveillance colonoscopy. Because greater benefits are anticipated for those with higher risk of colorectal cancer, scope for risk-specific surveillance recommendations exists. This review assesses published cost-effectiveness estimates of postpolypectomy surveillance to consider the potential for personalized recommendations by risk group. Meta-analyses of incidence of advanced neoplasia postpolypectomy for low-risk cases were comparable to those without adenoma, with both rates under the lifetime risk of 5%. This group may not benefit from intensive surveillance, which risks unnecessary harm and inefficient use of often scarce colonoscopy capacity. Therefore, greater personalization through deintensified strategies for low-risk individuals could be beneficial. The potential for noninvasive testing, such as fecal immunochemical tests, combined with primary prevention or chemoprevention may reserve colonoscopy for targeted use in personalized risk-stratified surveillance. This review appraised evidence supporting a program of personalized surveillance in patients with colorectal adenoma according to risk group and compared the effectiveness of surveillance colonoscopy with alternative prevention strategies. It assessed trade-offs among costs, benefits, and adverse effects that must be considered in a decision to adopt or reject personalized surveillance. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Nursing expertise: a course of ambiguity and evolution in a concept.

Science.gov (United States)

Hutchinson, Marie; Higson, Mary; Cleary, Michelle; Jackson, Debra

2016-12-01

In this article, we clarify and describe the nature of nursing expertise and provide a framework to guide its identification and further development. To have utility and rigour, concept-driven research and theories of practice require underlying concepts that are robust, valid and reliable. Advancing understanding of a concept requires careful attention to explicating its knowledge, metaphors and conceptual meaning. Examining the concepts and metaphors of nursing expertise, and how they have been interpreted into the nursing discourse, we aimed to synthesise definitions and similarities between concepts and elicit the defining characteristics and properties of nursing expertise. In clarifying the concept, we sought to move beyond the ambiguity that currently surrounds expertise in nursing and unravel it to make explicit the characteristics of nursing expertise from published peer-reviewed studies and structured literature synthesis. Findings indicate a lack of clarity surrounding the use of the term expertise. Traditional reliance upon intuition as a way of explaining expert performance is slowly evolving. Emerging from the analysis is a picture of expertise as the relationship between networks of contextual reasoning, understanding and practice. Striking absences in the discourse include limited explication of ethical reasoning and theorising a broader interpretation of expertise reflective of contemporary forms of nursing. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Expertise for Teaching Biology Situated in the Context of Genetic Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Zande, Paul; Akkerman, Sanne F.; Brekelmans, Mieke; Waarlo, Arend Jan; Vermunt, Jan D.

2012-07-01

Contemporary genomics research will impact the daily practice of biology teachers who want to teach up-to-date genetics in secondary education. This article reports on a research project aimed at enhancing biology teachers' expertise for teaching genetics situated in the context of genetic testing. The increasing body of scientific knowledge concerning genetic testing and the related consequences for decision-making indicate the societal relevance of an educational approach based on situated learning. What expertise do biology teachers need for teaching genetics in the personal health context of genetic testing? This article describes the required expertise by exploring the educational practice. Nine experienced teachers were interviewed about the pedagogical content, moral and interpersonal expertise areas concerning how to teach genetics in the personal health context of genetic testing, and the lessons of five of them were observed. The findings showed that the required teacher expertise encompasses specific pedagogical content expertise, interpersonal expertise and a preference for teacher roles and teaching approaches for the moral aspects of teaching in this context. A need for further development of teaching and learning activities for (reflection on) moral reasoning came to the fore. Suggestions regarding how to apply this expertise into context-based genetics education are discussed.

Moral Expertise in the Clinic: Lessons Learned from Medicine and Science.

Science.gov (United States)

McClimans, Leah; Slowther, Anne

2016-08-01

Philosophers and others have questioned whether or not expertise in morality is possible. This debate is not only theoretical, but also affects the perceived legitimacy of clinical ethicists. One argument against moral expertise is that in a pluralistic society with competing moral theories no one can claim expertise regarding what another ought morally to do. There are simply too many reasonable moral values and intuitions that affect theory choice and its application; expertise is epistemically uniform. In this article, we discuss how similar concerns have recently threatened to undermine expertise in medicine and science. In contrast, we argue that the application of values is needed to exercise medical, scientific, and moral expertise. As long as these values are made explicit, worries about a pretense to authority in the context of a liberal democracy are ill-conceived. In conclusion, we argue for an expertise that is epistemically diverse. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Neuro-Oncology Branch patient experience and expertise | Center for Cancer Research

Science.gov (United States)

Experience and Expertise We have more than 20 years of experience working with patients and their physicians to offer a comprehensive approach to patient care. Patients travel from all over the world to be evaluated and treated by our clinical team. The Brain Tumor Clinic sees hundreds of new patients and 2,000–3,000 follow-up patients each year. 

Introduction to surveillance studies

CERN Document Server

Petersen, JK

2012-01-01

Introduction & OverviewIntroduction Brief History of Surveillance Technologies & TechniquesOptical SurveillanceAerial Surveillance Audio Surveillance Radio-Wave SurveillanceGlobal Positioning Systems Sensors Computers & the Internet Data Cards Biochemical Surveillance Animal Surveillance Biometrics Genetics Practical ConsiderationsPrevalence of Surveillance Effectiveness of Surveillance Freedom & Privacy IssuesConstitutional Freedoms Privacy Safeguards & Intrusions ResourcesReferences Glossary Index

Experiencing art: the influence of expertise and painting abstraction level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elina ePihko

2011-09-01

Full Text Available How does expertise influence the perception of representational and abstract paintings? We asked 20 experts on art history and 20 laypersons to explore and evaluate a series of paintings ranging in style from representational to abstract in five categories. We compared subjective aesthetic judgments and emotional evaluations, gaze patterns, and electrodermal reactivity between the two groups of participants. The level of abstraction affected aesthetic judgments and emotional valence ratings of the laypersons but had no effect on the opinions of the experts: the laypersons’ aesthetic and emotional ratings were highest for representational paintings and lowest for abstract paintings, whereas the opinions of the experts were independent of the abstraction level. The gaze patterns of both groups changed as the level of abstraction increased: the number of fixations and the length of the scanpaths increased while the duration of the fixations decreased. The viewing strategies—reflected in the target, location and path of the fixations—however indicated that experts and laypersons paid attention to different aspects of the paintings. The electrodermal reactivity did not vary according to the level of abstraction in either group but expertise was reflected in weaker responses, compared with laypersons, to information received about the paintings.

What is an expert? A systems perspective on expertise

Science.gov (United States)

Caley, Michael Julian; O'Leary, Rebecca A; Fisher, Rebecca; Low-Choy, Samantha; Johnson, Sandra; Mengersen, Kerrie

2014-01-01

Expert knowledge is a valuable source of information with a wide range of research applications. Despite the recent advances in defining expert knowledge, little attention has been given to how to view expertise as a system of interacting contributory factors for quantifying an individual's expertise. We present a systems approach to expertise that accounts for many contributing factors and their inter-relationships and allows quantification of an individual's expertise. A Bayesian network (BN) was chosen for this purpose. For illustration, we focused on taxonomic expertise. The model structure was developed in consultation with taxonomists. The relative importance of the factors within the network was determined by a second set of taxonomists (supra-experts) who also provided validation of the model structure. Model performance was assessed by applying the model to hypothetical career states of taxonomists designed to incorporate known differences in career states for model testing. The resulting BN model consisted of 18 primary nodes feeding through one to three higher-order nodes before converging on the target node (Taxonomic Expert). There was strong consistency among node weights provided by the supra-experts for some nodes, but not others. The higher-order nodes, “Quality of work” and “Total productivity”, had the greatest weights. Sensitivity analysis indicated that although some factors had stronger influence in the outer nodes of the network, there was relatively equal influence of the factors leading directly into the target node. Despite the differences in the node weights provided by our supra-experts, there was good agreement among assessments of our hypothetical experts that accurately reflected differences we had specified. This systems approach provides a way of assessing the overall level of expertise of individuals, accounting for multiple contributory factors, and their interactions. Our approach is adaptable to other situations where it

Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection Based on Surveillance Attributes in RSU Haji Surabaya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Spica Redina Vebrilian

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Surveillance system is instrumental in reducing the incidence of nosocomial infection. The implementation of this surveillance system is necessary in the hospital. Surveillance CAUTI is one of the focus prevention and infection control program in RSU Haji Surabaya 2015. The success of surveillance system highly depends on the association of attributes inside it. Surveillance attributes are indicator that describes the characteristics ofsurveillance system. In 2015, there was a delay in the collection of data reports which exceeds the prescribed time limit and there was also a lot of blank space in the confi rmation sheet. It affects the surveillance system in RSU Haji Surabaya. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the surveillance CAUTI based on the surveillance attributes in RSU Haji Surabaya2015. This research is a descriptive evaluative research. Subjects in this study are the surveillance attributes (simplicity, flexibility, acceptability, sensitivity, positive predictive value, representativeness, timeliness, data quality, and stability CAUTI in RSU Haji Surabaya, while survey respondents are IPCN, IPCLN, and head nurse. Data collected by interview and documentation study. The results showed that the attributes of surveillance is already has simplicity, high acceptability, high sensitivity, high positive predictive value, representative, and high stability. However, other attributes were not fl exible, not timeliness, and has a low data quality. Alternative solutions that can be done are to improve the regulatory function in every unit, establish standardization of hospital data, and manage reward and punishment system. Keywords: surveillance system, surveillance attributes, evaluation, nosocomial infections, CAUTI

France bundles knowledge and expertise in intelligent energy networks; Frankrijk bundelt kennis en expertise in intelligente energienetwerken

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Kooij, E.

2012-03-15

The networks that provides cities, office buildings, houses, cars and mobile phones with energy, is expected in the coming years to be digitized. The French innovation cluster Systematic has recently taken the initiative to set up a knowledge partnership which should connect knowledge and expertise with regard to future smart grids [Dutch] Het netwerk dat onze steden, kantoren, huizen, auto's en mobieltjes van energie voorziet, zal naar verwachting in de komende jaren een digitalisering ondergaan. Het Franse innovatiecluster Systematic heeft onlangs het initiatief genomen een samenwerkingsverband op te richten die kennis en expertise op het gebied van toekomstige intelligente energienetwerken bij elkaar brengt.

Instructional Design for Accelerated Macrocognitive Expertise in the Baseball Workplace

OpenAIRE

Fadde, Peter J.

2016-01-01

The goal of accelerating expertise can leave researchers and trainers in human factors, naturalistic decision making, sport science, and expertise studies concerned about seemingly insufficient application of expert performance theories, findings and methods for training macrocognitive aspects of human performance. Video-occlusion methods perfected by sports expertise researchers have great instructional utility, in some cases offering an effective and inexpensive alternative to high-fidelity...

Adults' and Children's Understanding of How Expertise Influences Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Danovitch, Judith H; Shenouda, Christine K

2018-01-01

Adults and children use information about expertise to infer what a person is likely to know, but it is unclear whether they realize that expertise also has implications for learning. We explore adults' and children's understanding that expertise in a particular category supports learning about a closely related category. In four experiments, 5-year-olds and adults (n = 160) judged which of two people would be better at learning about a new category. When faced with an expert and a nonexpert, adults consistently indicated that expertise supports learning in a closely related category; however, children's judgments were inconsistent and were strongly influenced by the description of the nonexpert. The results suggest that although children understand what it means to be an expert, they may judge an individual's learning capacity based on different considerations than adults.

The influence of expertise on continuous categories: A whole report study of colour expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dall, Jonas Olsen; Sørensen, Thomas Alrik

2018-01-01

Recently research has shifted from examining discrete categories (e.g. letters) to continuous categories (e.g. colours). While studies have shown that stimuli specific expertise influence discrete categories, there are little research into how it influences continuous categories. The current study...

Evaluating technologies of oil spill surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hover, G.L.

1993-01-01

Surveillance and monitoring of oil in the marine environment imposes a broad spectrum of remote sensing requirements. At the US Coast Guard Research ampersand Development Center, the environmental safety branch is sponsoring oil spill remote sensing research in four areas of technology: Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Frequency-scanning microwave radiometry (FSR), Laser fluorosensing (LFS), and Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) imagers. SAR technology uses sophisticated signal processing to overcome prior limitations, providing images of higher and more uniform spatial acuity which may enable interpreters to more-readily distinguish petroleum slicks from others. The ability to determine the distribution of oil thickness within a slick is necessary when an estimate of oil volume is desired. Scientists at MIT have formulated a new approach to radiometric oil thickness measurement that takes advantage of recent advances in electronic component technology. The initial data collected with a prototype FSR instrument have validated the FSR concept and more work is ongoing. The Coast Guard is co-funding a program to demonstrate and evaluate the capabilities of an airborne laser fluorosensor to support oil spill response operations. During a controlled test, the instrument successfully demonstrated an ability to detect oil on water, ice, and various beach surfaces. Additional testing included different oil types and allowed for weathering. Data analysis is ongoing. Recent developments in infrared imager technology have produced a wide variety of off-the-shelf, portable cameras that could potentially provide a rapid-response spill assessment capability. The R ampersand D Center has been involved in the testing of many of these sensors

Microprocessor-based integrated LMFBR core surveillance. Pt. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elies, V.

1985-12-01

This report is the result of the KfK part of a joint study of KfK and INTERATOM. The aim of this study is to explore the advantages of microprocessors and microelectronics for a more sophisticated core surveillance, which is based on the integration of separate surveillance techniques. After a description of the experimental results gained with the different surveillance techniques so far, it is shown which kinds of correlation can be done using the evaluation results obtained from the single surveillance systems. The main part of this report contains the systems analysis of a microcomputer-based system integrating different surveillance methods. After an analysis of the hardware requirements a hardware structure for the integrated system is proposed. The software structure is then described for the subsystem performing the different surveillance algorithms as well as for the system which does the correlation thus deriving additional information from the single results. (orig.) [de

Classification of Recommender Expertise in the Wikipedia Recommender System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Christian D.; Pilkauskas, Povilas; Lefévre, Thomas

2011-01-01

to the quality of articles. The Wikipedia Recommender System (WRS) was developed to help users determine the credibility of articles based on feedback from other Wikipedia users. The WRS implements a collaborative filtering system with trust metrics, i.e., it provides a rating of articles which emphasizes...... an evaluation of four existing knowledge classification schemes with respect to these requirements. This evaluation helped us identify a classification scheme, which we have implemented in the current version of the Wikipedia Recommender System....... feedback from recommenders that the user has agreed with in the past. This exposes the problem that most recommenders are not equally competent in all subject areas. The first WRS prototype did not include an evaluation of the areas of expertise of recommenders, so the trust metric used in the article...

Classification of Recommender Expertise in the Wikipedia Recommender System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Christian D.; Pilkauskas, Povilas; Lefevre, Thomas

2011-01-01

to the quality of articles. The Wikipedia Recommender System (WRS) was developed to help users determine the credibility of articles based on feedback from other Wikipedia users. The WRS implements a collaborative filtering system with trust metrics, i.e., it provides a rating of articles "which emphasizes...... an evaluation of four existing knowledge classification schemes with respect to these requirements. This evaluation helped us identify a classification scheme, which we have implemented in the current version of the Wikipedia Recommender System....... feedback from recommenders that the user has agreed with in the past. This exposes the problem that most recommenders are not equally competent in all subject areas. The first WRS prototype did not include an evaluation of the areas of expertise of recommenders, so the trust metric used in the article...

From Meaning Well to Doing Well: Ethical Expertise in the GIS Domain

Science.gov (United States)

Huff, Chuck

2014-01-01

There is evidence to support the idea that moral action can be thought of in terms of expertise in a domain. This paper reviews work on the development of moral expertise across five levels, from novice to expertise. It addresses the role of habit in expertise and self-regulation strategies that signal when habitual action is not working and that…

Rapid Dynamic Assessment of Expertise to Improve the Efficiency of Adaptive Elearning

Science.gov (United States)

Kalyuga, Slava; Sweller, John

2005-01-01

In this article we suggest a method of evaluating learner expertise based on assessment of the content of working memory and the extent to which cognitive load has been reduced by knowledge retrieved from long-term memory. The method was tested in an experiment with an elementary algebra tutor using a yoked control design. In the learner-adapted…

Developing the experts we need: Fostering adaptive expertise through education.

Science.gov (United States)

Mylopoulos, Maria; Kulasegaram, Kulamakan; Woods, Nicole N

2018-03-08

In this era of increasing complexity, there is a growing gap between what we need our medical experts to do and the training we provide them. While medical education has a long history of being guided by theories of expertise to inform curriculum design and implementation, the theories that currently underpin our educational programs do not account for the expertise necessary for excellence in the changing health care context. The more comprehensive view of expertise gained by research on both clinical reasoning and adaptive expertise provides a useful framing for re-shaping physician education, placing emphasis on the training of clinicians who will be adaptive experts. That is, have both the ability to apply their extensive knowledge base as well as create new knowledge as dictated by patient needs and context. Three key educational approaches have been shown to foster the development of adaptive expertise: learning that emphasizes understanding, providing students with opportunities to embrace struggle and discovery in their learning, and maximizing variation in the teaching of clinical concepts. There is solid evidence that a commitment to these educational approaches can help medical educators to set trainees on the path towards adaptive expertise. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of the ability of standardized supports to improve public health response to syndromic surveillance for respiratory diseases in Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura A. Rivera

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite widespread implementation of syndromic surveillance systems within public health agencies, previous studies of the implementation and use of these systems have indicated that the functions and responses taken in response to syndromic surveillance data vary widely according to local context and preferences. The objective of the Syndromic Surveillance Evaluation Study was to develop and implement standardized supports in local public health agencies in Ontario, Canada, and evaluate the ability of these supports to affect actions taken as part of public health communicable disease control programs. Methods Local public health agencies (LPHA in Ontario, which used syndromic surveillance based on emergency department visits for respiratory disease, were recruited and randomly allocated to the study intervention or control group. The intervention group health agencies received standardized supports in terms of a standardized aberrant event detection algorithm and a response protocol dictating steps to investigate and assess the public health significance of syndromic surveillance alerts. The control group continued with their pre-existing syndromic surveillance infrastructure and processes. Outcomes were assessed using logbooks, which collected quantitative and qualitative information about alerts received, investigation steps taken, and public health responses. The study was conducted prospectively for 15 months (October 2013 to February 2015. Results Fifteen LPHAs participated in the study (n = 9 intervention group, n = 6 control group. A total of 1,969 syndromic surveillance alerts were received by all LPHAs. Variations in the types and amount of responses varied by LPHA, in particularly differences were noted by the size of the health unit. Smaller health units had more challenges to both detect and mount a response to any alerts. LPHAs in the control group were more likely to declare alerts to have public

[Effects of attitude formation, persuasive message, and source expertise on attitude change: an examination based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the Attitude Formation Theory].

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, M; Saito, K; Wakabayashi, M

1990-04-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate how attitude change is generated by the recipient's degree of attitude formation, evaluative-emotional elements contained in the persuasive messages, and source expertise as a peripheral cue in the persuasion context. Hypotheses based on the Attitude Formation Theory of Mizuhara (1982) and the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Petty and Cacioppo (1981, 1986) were examined. Eighty undergraduate students served as subjects in the experiment, the first stage of which involving manipulating the degree of attitude formation with respect to nuclear power development. Then, the experimenter presented persuasive messages with varying combinations of evaluative-emotional elements from a source with either high or low expertise on the subject. Results revealed a significant interaction effect on attitude change among attitude formation, persuasive message and the expertise of the message source. That is, high attitude formation subjects resisted evaluative-emotional persuasion from the high expertise source while low attitude formation subjects changed their attitude when exposed to the same persuasive message from a low expertise source. Results exceeded initial predictions based on the Attitude Formation Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model.

Engineering expertise on shift in nuclear power plants: the foreign experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melber, B.D.; Schreiber, R.E.

1983-02-01

This report describes the practices of selected foreign countries with providing engineering expertise on shift in nuclear power plants. The extent to which engineering expertise is made available and the alternative models of providing such expertise are presented. The implications of foreign practices for US consideration of alternatives are discussed, with reference to the shift technical advisor (STA) position and to a proposed shift engineer position. The procedure used to obtain information on foreign practices was primarily a review of the literature, including publications, presentations, and government and utility reports. There are two approaches that are in use to make engineering expertise available on shift: (1) employing a graduate engineer in a line management operations position; and (2) creating a specific engineering position for the purpose of providing expertise to the operations staff

French Case Study: Pluralist Expertise Group on Uranium Mines in Limousin. Annex II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2014-05-15

The uranium mining and milling industry once played a major strategic and economic role in France. After the definitive cessation of mining and milling activities in 2001, more than 200 sites are currently in the closure and post-closure phases. Decisions required in this frame raise particular difficulties because of the sensitivity of some technical issues and the strong scrutiny and requirements of local and national non-governmental organizations. This is particularly true in Limousin, the region that stands at the heart of the national uranium history. In order to deal with this complex and disputed topic, the ministries of environment, health and industry recently decided to set up a Pluralist Expertise Group (GEP) with the aim of analysing and providing a critical point of view on the various technical documents prepared by the operator, AREVA NC, about the surveillance and control of its former mining sites in the department of Haute-Vienne in the Limousin region, and then providing recommendations to public authorities to improve the current situation. This expert group presents their reports to the local committee for nuclear information.

Attaching Hollywood to a Surveillant Assemblage: Normalizing Discourses of Video Surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Randy K Lippert

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This article examines video surveillance images in Hollywood film. It moves beyond previous accounts of video surveillance in relation to film by theoretically situating the use of these surveillance images in a broader “surveillant assemblage”. To this end, scenes from a sample of thirty-five (35 films of several genres are examined to discern dominant discourses and how they lend themselves to normalization of video surveillance. Four discourses are discovered and elaborated by providing examples from Hollywood films. While the films provide video surveillance with a positive associative association it is not without nuance and limitations. Thus, it is found that some forms of resistance to video surveillance are shown while its deterrent effect is not. It is ultimately argued that Hollywood film is becoming attached to a video surveillant assemblage discursively through these normalizing discourses as well as structurally to the extent actual video surveillance technology to produce the images is used.

Evaluation of the enterovirus laboratory surveillance system in Denmark, 2010 to 2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Condell, Orla; Midgley, Sofie; Christiansen, Claus Bohn; Chen, Ming; Chen Nielsen, Xiaohui; Ellermann-Eriksen, Svend; Mølvadgaard, Mette; Schønning, Kristian; Vermedal Hoegh, Silje; Andersen, Peter Henrik; Voldstedlund, Marianne; Fischer, Thea Kølsen

2016-05-05

The primary aim of the Danish enterovirus (EV) surveillance system is to document absence of poliovirus infection. The conflict in Syria has left many children unvaccinated and movement from areas with polio cases to Europe calls for increased awareness to detect and respond to virus-transmission in a timely manner. We evaluate the national EV laboratory surveillance, to generate recommendations for system strengthening. The system was analysed for completeness of viral typing analysis and clinical information and timeliness of specimen collection, laboratory results and reporting of clinical information. Of 23,720 specimens screened, 2,202 (9.3%) were EV-positive. Submission of cerebrospinal fluid and faecal specimens from primary diagnostic laboratories was 79.5% complete (845/1,063), and varied by laboratory and patient age. EV genotypes were determined in 68.5% (979/1,430) of laboratory-confirmed cases, clinical information was available for 63.1% (903/1,430). Primary diagnostic results were available after a median of 1.4 days, typing results after 17 days, detailed clinical information after 33 days. The large number of samples typed demonstrated continued monitoring of EV-circulation in Denmark. The system could be strengthened by increasing the collection of supplementary faecal specimens, improving communication with primary diagnostic laboratories, adapting the laboratory typing methodology and collecting clinical information with electronic forms.

[Development of an index system for the comprehensive evaluation on public health emergency events surveillance system in China].

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Zhiheng; Ni, Daxin; Cao, Yang; Meng, Ling; Tu, Wenxiao; Li, Leilei; Li, Qun; Jin, Lianmei

2015-06-01

To establish a comprehensive evaluation index system for the China Public Health Emergency Events Surveillance System (CPHEESS). A draft index system was built through literature review and under the consideration of the characteristics on CPHEESS. Delphi method was adapted to determine the final index system. The index system was divided into primary, secondary and tertiary levels. There were 4 primary indicators: System structure, Network platform, Surveillance implementation reports with Data analysis and utilization. There were 16 secondary and 70 tertiary indicators being set, with System structure including 14 tertiary indicators (accounted for 20.00%), 21 Network platforms (accounted for 30.00%). Twenty-four Surveillance implementation reports (accounted for 34.29%), 11 Data analysis and utilization (accounted for 15.71%). The average score of importance of each indicators was 4.29 (3.77-4.94), with an average coefficient variation as 0.14 (0.12-0.16). The mean Chronbach's α index was 0.84 (0.81-0.89). The adaptability of each related facilities indicator was specified. The primary indicators were set in accordance with the characteristics and goals of the surveillance systems. Secondary indicators provided key elements in the management and control of the system while the tertiary indicators were available and operative. The agreement rate of experts was high with good validity and reliability. This index system could be used for CPHEESS in future.

Effectiveness and Cost-benefit Evaluation of a Comprehensive Workers' Health Surveillance Program for Sustainable Employability of Meat Processing Workers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holland, van Berry J.; Reneman, Michiel F; Soer, Remko; Brouwer, Sandra; de Boer, Michiel R

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive workers' health surveillance (WHS) program on aspects of sustainable employability and cost-benefit. Methods A cluster randomized stepped wedge trial was performed in a Dutch meat processing company from february 2012 until march 2015. In

Effectiveness and Cost-benefit Evaluation of a Comprehensive Workers' Health Surveillance Program for Sustainable Employability of Meat Processing Workers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Holland, Berry J; Reneman, Michiel F; Soer, Remko; Brouwer, Sandra; de Boer, Michiel R

2017-01-01

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive workers' health surveillance (WHS) program on aspects of sustainable employability and cost-benefit. Methods A cluster randomized stepped wedge trial was performed in a Dutch meat processing company from february 2012 until march 2015. In

Surveillance of medium-size dams; Surveillance des barrages de taille moyenne

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-12-31

French hydro-power buildings belong to the government and are retroceded by the licence holder when the granting delay comes to an end. Experience has shown that less care is given by licence holders to the maintenance of medium-size dams that to big dams. For this reason, the French Ministry of Industry decided to harmonize and standardize the surveillance practices of medium-size dams. A circular was signed on May 23, 1997 which concerns the 10 to 20 m height dams with water reservoir volumes lower than the H{sup 2} x V{sup 0.5} criterion which is an evaluation of the potential risk of the dam. The surveillance modalities concern: the construction, the licence holder file, the first filling up, the operation, and the periodical safety inspections. (J.S.)

The contribution of research on expertise to understanding of expert thinking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krnjaić Zora

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Expertise is determined based on the high level of mastery of knowledge and skills in different areas of human activities (science, art, sports and other less formal domains. This paper explores the contribution of empirical research on expertise to understanding of the nature of expert thinking. For that purpose we have compiled an overview and performed an analysis of the findings of relevant research on expertise based on different approaches and paradigms. We have included the studies that researched experts singled out based on their exceptional performances in different domains (absolute expertise and the studies based on comparing experts with novices (relative expertise. We have analyzed the studies using different paradigms: psychometric and cognitive paradigms, as well as the new offshoot, the paradigm based on viewing giftedness as developing expertise. Research results provide empirically grounded findings on the characteristics of expert thinking and consistently point to the fact that knowledge is the core of expertise. The characteristics of expert knowledge are operationalized via the quantity and organization of knowledge and the mastery of deep contents and knowledge systems, which enables the recognition of rules, models and information sets, as well as the use of knowledge in further studying, detecting and solving different problems. It can be concluded that research findings on expertise are one of the foundations in the conceptualization of expert thinking. They significantly contribute to obtaining an insight into the way in which knowledge shapes thought and into understanding the mechanisms of demonstrating knowledge in the mental processes of experts.

Tuberous sclerosis complex surveillance and management: recommendations of the 2012 International Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Consensus Conference.

Science.gov (United States)

Krueger, Darcy A; Northrup, Hope

2013-10-01

Tuberous sclerosis complex is a genetic disorder affecting every organ system, but disease manifestations vary significantly among affected individuals. The diverse and varied presentations and progression can be life-threatening with significant impact on cost and quality of life. Current surveillance and management practices are highly variable among region and country, reflective of the fact that last consensus recommendations occurred in 1998 and an updated, comprehensive standard is lacking that incorporates the latest scientific evidence and current best clinical practices. The 2012 International Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Consensus Group, comprising 79 specialists from 14 countries, was organized into 12 separate subcommittees, each led by a clinician with advanced expertise in tuberous sclerosis complex and the relevant medical subspecialty. Each subcommittee focused on a specific disease area with important clinical management implications and was charged with formulating key clinical questions to address within its focus area, reviewing relevant literature, evaluating the strength of data, and providing a recommendation accordingly. The updated consensus recommendations for clinical surveillance and management in tuberous sclerosis complex are summarized here. The recommendations are relevant to the entire lifespan of the patient, from infancy to adulthood, including both individuals where the diagnosis is newly made as well as individuals where the diagnosis already is established. The 2012 International Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Consensus Recommendations provide an evidence-based, standardized approach for optimal clinical care provided for individuals with tuberous sclerosis complex. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Expertise Engine: MAST in the 2020s

Science.gov (United States)

Goldston Peek, Joshua Eli; Smith, Arfon M.; Momcheva, Ivelina G.

2018-06-01

The original Hubble Space Telescope archive showed how encapsulating expertise in science-ready data products could accelerate the pace of scientific advancement, and enable extremely productive archival research. In the 2000s, MAST and the Hubble Legacy Archive showed how taking these products to the next level further democratized astronomy, with archival science overtaking PI science as the dominant output of MAST missions. We argue that these data products fundamentally act as a vector for expertise, allowing novice users access to the detailed and advanced techniques of experts. In the 2020s we will see an explosion of data volume, data precision, and data complexity which will demand an even more powerful and sophisticated expertise engine. We’ll discuss how MAST plans to rise to meet that challenge.

Invasive Species Working Group: Research Summary and Expertise Directory

Science.gov (United States)

Jack Butler; Dean Pearson; Mee-Sook Kim

2009-01-01

Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) personnel have scientific expertise in widely ranging disciplines and conduct multidisciplinary research on invasive species issues with emphasis in terrestrial and aquatic habitats throughout the Interior West, Great Plains, and related areas (fig. 1; Expertise Directory; appendix). RMRS invasive species research covers an array...

The politics of expertise in participatory forestry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Green, Kathryn E.; Lund, Jens Friis

2015-01-01

In this paper, we show how the framing of a community-based forest management (CBFM) intervention implies the professionalization of forest management and the privileging of certain forms of knowledge in a village in Tanzania. We describe how the framing of CBFM in technical and procedural terms......, and the subsequent construction of expertise by implementers through training, combine with existing signifiers of social stratification to shape struggles over participation and access to benefits from forest use and management. We also describe how the perceived necessity of expertise is not questioned by village...

What are the benefits of medical screening and surveillance?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Wilken

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Pre-employment examination is considered to be an important practice and is commonly performed in several countries within the European Union. The benefits of medical surveillance programmes are not generally accepted and their structure is often inconsistent. The aim of this review was to evaluate, on the basis of the available literature, the usefulness of medical screening and surveillance. MEDLINE was searched from its inception up to March 2010. Retrieved literature was evaluated in a peer-review process and relevant data was collected following a systematic extraction schema. Pre-placement screening identifies subjects who are at an increased risk for developing work-related allergic disease, but pre-employment screening is too low to be used as exclusion criteria. Medical surveillance programmes can identify workers who have, or who are developing, work-related asthma. These programmes can also be used to avoid worsening of symptoms by implementing preventive measures. A combination of different tools within the surveillance programme, adjusted for the risk of the individual worker, improves the predictive value. Medical surveillance programmes provide medical as well as socioeconomic benefits. However, pre-employment screening cannot be used to exclude workers. They may act as a starting point for surveillance strategies. A stratified approach can increase the effectiveness and reduce the costs for such programmes.

Development of a Machine Learning Algorithm for the Surveillance of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew J Maenner

Full Text Available The Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM Network conducts population-based surveillance of autism spectrum disorder (ASD among 8-year old children in multiple US sites. To classify ASD, trained clinicians review developmental evaluations collected from multiple health and education sources to determine whether the child meets the ASD surveillance case criteria. The number of evaluations collected has dramatically increased since the year 2000, challenging the resources and timeliness of the surveillance system. We developed and evaluated a machine learning approach to classify case status in ADDM using words and phrases contained in children's developmental evaluations. We trained a random forest classifier using data from the 2008 Georgia ADDM site which included 1,162 children with 5,396 evaluations (601 children met ADDM ASD criteria using standard ADDM methods. The classifier used the words and phrases from the evaluations to predict ASD case status. We evaluated its performance on the 2010 Georgia ADDM surveillance data (1,450 children with 9,811 evaluations; 754 children met ADDM ASD criteria. We also estimated ASD prevalence using predictions from the classification algorithm. Overall, the machine learning approach predicted ASD case statuses that were 86.5% concordant with the clinician-determined case statuses (84.0% sensitivity, 89.4% predictive value positive. The area under the resulting receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.932. Algorithm-derived ASD "prevalence" was 1.46% compared to the published (clinician-determined estimate of 1.55%. Using only the text contained in developmental evaluations, a machine learning algorithm was able to discriminate between children that do and do not meet ASD surveillance criteria at one surveillance site.

The burden of rare cancers in Italy: the surveillance of rare cancers in Italy (RITA) project.

Science.gov (United States)

Trama, Annalisa; Mallone, Sandra; Ferretti, Stefano; Meduri, Francesca; Capocaccia, Riccardo; Gatta, Gemma

2012-01-01

The project Surveillance of rare cancers in Italy (RITA) provides, for the first time, estimates of the burden of rare cancers in Italy based on the list of rare cancers proposed in collaboration with the European project Surveillance of Rare Cancers in Europe (RARECARE). RITA analyzed data from Italian population-based cancer registries (CR). The period of diagnosis was 1988 to 2002, and vital status information was available up to December 31, 2003. Incidence rates were estimated for the period 1995-2002, survival for the years 2000-2002 (with the period method of Brenner), and complete prevalence at January 1, 2003. Rare cancers are those with an incidence <6/100,000/year. In Italy, every year there are 60,000 new diagnoses of rare cancers corresponding to 15% of all new cancer diagnoses. Five-year relative survival was on the average worse for rare cancers (53%) than for common cancers (73%). A total of 770,000 patients were living in Italy in 2008 with a diagnosis of a rare cancer, 22% of the total cancer prevalence. Our estimates constitute a useful base for further research and support the idea that rare cancers are a public health problem that deserves attention. Centers of expertise for rare cancers that pool cases, expertise and resources could ensure an adequate clinical management for these diseases. Our data also showed that cancer registries are suitable sources of data to estimate incidence, prevalence and survival for rare cancers and should continue to monitoring rare cancers in Italy.

Wine Expertise Predicts Taste Phenotype.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, John E; Pickering, Gary J

2012-03-01

Taste phenotypes have long been studied in relation to alcohol intake, dependence, and family history, with contradictory findings. However, on balance - with appropriate caveats about populations tested, outcomes measured and psychophysical methods used - an association between variation in taste responsiveness and some alcohol behaviors is supported. Recent work suggests super-tasting (operationalized via propylthiouracil (PROP) bitterness) not only associates with heightened response but also with more acute discrimination between stimuli. Here, we explore relationships between food and beverage adventurousness and taste phenotype. A convenience sample of wine drinkers (n=330) were recruited in Ontario and phenotyped for PROP bitterness via filter paper disk. They also filled out a short questionnaire regarding willingness to try new foods, alcoholic beverages and wines as well as level of wine involvement, which was used to classify them as a wine expert (n=110) or wine consumer (n=220). In univariate logisitic models, food adventurousness predicted trying new wines and beverages but not expertise. Likewise, wine expertise predicted willingness to try new wines and beverages but not foods. In separate multivariate logistic models, willingness to try new wines and beverages was predicted by expertise and food adventurousness but not PROP. However, mean PROP bitterness was higher among wine experts than wine consumers, and the conditional distribution functions differed between experts and consumers. In contrast, PROP means and distributions did not differ with food adventurousness. These data suggest individuals may self-select for specific professions based on sensory ability (i.e., an active gene-environment correlation) but phenotype does not explain willingness to try new stimuli.

From deep to superficial categorization with increasing expertise.

OpenAIRE

Ormerod, Thomas C.; Fritz, Catherine O.; Ridgway, James

1999-01-01

An experimental study of task design expertise is reported wherein a set of 12 mathematics tasks were sorted by specialist designers of mathematics tasks and by experienced mathematics teachers without specialist design experience. Contrary to the frequent finding of increasing conceptual depth with increasing expertise, conceptual depth did not differ between groups. Teachers sorted on the basis of mathematical content earlier than designers, and were more specific in their content-based cat...

Irradiation temperature measurements in the surveillance program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pav, T.; Krhounek, V.

1991-01-01

Evaluation of the diamond monitor method for the determination of the irradiation temperature in the surveillance programme of WWER-440 reactors is discussed. One of the difficulties with the practical application of the method is that the measured values of irradiation temperature are unlikely high. Using a thermodynamical model of the processes in the annealing of the irradiated diamond crystals, it was shown that experimental difficulties came from the principles of the method used. An analysis was performed of the thermal field inside the capsule of the surveillance chain in operational conditions, using the finite element method. The diamond monitor method was suggested to be eliminated from the surveillance programme and the use was proposed of the value of 273+-3 degC (as the most likely value) for the irradiation temperature of surveillance samples in WWER-440 reactors. (Z.S.). 3 tabs., 6 figs., 4 refs

Talent in the taxi: a model system for exploring expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Woollett, Katherine; Spiers, Hugo J; Maguire, Eleanor A

2009-05-27

While there is widespread interest in and admiration of individuals with exceptional talents, surprisingly little is known about the cognitive and neural mechanisms underpinning talent, and indeed how talent relates to expertise. Because many talents are first identified and nurtured in childhood, it can be difficult to determine whether talent is innate, can be acquired through extensive practice or can only be acquired in the presence of the developing brain. We sought to address some of these issues by studying healthy adults who acquired expertise in adulthood. We focused on the domain of memory and used licensed London taxi drivers as a model system. Taxi drivers have to learn the layout of 25,000 streets in London and the locations of thousands of places of interest, and pass stringent examinations in order to obtain an operating licence. Using neuropsychological assessment and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we addressed a range of key questions: in the context of a fully developed brain and an average IQ, can people acquire expertise to an exceptional level; what are the neural signatures, both structural and functional, associated with the use of expertise; does expertise change the brain compared with unskilled control participants; does it confer any cognitive advantages, and similarly, does it come at a cost to other functions? By studying retired taxi drivers, we also consider what happens to their brains and behaviour when experts stop using their skill. Finally, we discuss how the expertise of taxi drivers might relate to the issue of talent and innate abilities. We suggest that exploring talent and expertise in this manner could have implications for education, rehabilitation of patients with cognitive impairments, understanding individual differences and possibly conditions such as autism where exceptional abilities can be a feature.

Reassembling Surveillance Creep

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bøge, Ask Risom; Lauritsen, Peter

2017-01-01

We live in societies in which surveillance technologies are constantly introduced, are transformed, and spread to new practices for new purposes. How and why does this happen? In other words, why does surveillance “creep”? This question has received little attention either in theoretical developm......We live in societies in which surveillance technologies are constantly introduced, are transformed, and spread to new practices for new purposes. How and why does this happen? In other words, why does surveillance “creep”? This question has received little attention either in theoretical...... development or in empirical analyses. Accordingly, this article contributes to this special issue on the usefulness of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) by suggesting that ANT can advance our understanding of ‘surveillance creep’. Based on ANT’s model of translation and a historical study of the Danish DNA database......, we argue that surveillance creep involves reassembling the relations in surveillance networks between heterogeneous actors such as the watchers, the watched, laws, and technologies. Second, surveillance creeps only when these heterogeneous actors are adequately interested and aligned. However...

Evaluation of a Broad-Spectrum Partially Automated Adverse Event Surveillance System: A Potential Tool for Patient Safety Improvement in Hospitals With Limited Resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Saikali, Melody; Tanios, Alain; Saab, Antoine

2017-11-21

The aim of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity and resource efficiency of a partially automated adverse event (AE) surveillance system for routine patient safety efforts in hospitals with limited resources. Twenty-eight automated triggers from the hospital information system's clinical and administrative databases identified cases that were then filtered by exclusion criteria per trigger and then reviewed by an interdisciplinary team. The system, developed and implemented using in-house resources, was applied for 45 days of surveillance, for all hospital inpatient admissions (N = 1107). Each trigger was evaluated for its positive predictive value (PPV). Furthermore, the sensitivity of the surveillance system (overall and by AE category) was estimated relative to incidence ranges in the literature. The surveillance system identified a total of 123 AEs among 283 reviewed medical records, yielding an overall PPV of 52%. The tool showed variable levels of sensitivity across and within AE categories when compared with the literature, with a relatively low overall sensitivity estimated between 21% and 44%. Adverse events were detected in 23 of the 36 AE categories defined by an established harm classification system. Furthermore, none of the detected AEs were voluntarily reported. The surveillance system showed variable sensitivity levels across a broad range of AE categories with an acceptable PPV, overcoming certain limitations associated with other harm detection methods. The number of cases captured was substantial, and none had been previously detected or voluntarily reported. For hospitals with limited resources, this methodology provides valuable safety information from which interventions for quality improvement can be formulated.

Using Acute Flaccid Paralysis Surveillance as a Platform for Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Wassilak, Steven G F; Williams, Cheryl L; Murrill, Christopher S; Dahl, Benjamin A; Ohuabunwo, Chima; Tangermann, Rudolf H

2017-07-01

Surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is a fundamental cornerstone of the global polio eradication initiative (GPEI). Active surveillance (with visits to health facilities) is a critical strategy of AFP surveillance systems for highly sensitive and timely detection of cases. Because of the extensive resources devoted to AFP surveillance, multiple opportunities exist for additional diseases to be added using GPEI assets, particularly because there is generally 1 district officer responsible for all disease surveillance. For this reason, integrated surveillance has become a standard practice in many countries, ranging from adding surveillance for measles and rubella to integrated disease surveillance for outbreak-prone diseases (integrated disease surveillance and response). This report outlines the current level of disease surveillance integration in 3 countries (Nepal, India, and Nigeria) and proposes that resources continue for long-term maintenance in resource-poor countries of AFP surveillance as a platform for surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases and other outbreak-prone diseases. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Expertise synthesis on the CSPE; Synthese d'expertise sur la CSPE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blonde, G.; Poizat, F

2008-01-15

This document presents a synthesis of the results of an expertise realized on the CSPE, the compensation tax of the electric public service. This tax concerns the management of the electricity production additional costs in isolated areas, the solidarity, a policy to favor the energy efficiency and the renewable energies. The document explains the historical aspects of the tax elaboration, its financial importance, the consequences and the impacts on the competition. (A.L.B.)

Redefining syndromic surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Katz

2011-12-01

Full Text Available With growing concerns about international spread of disease and expanding use of early disease detection surveillance methods, the field of syndromic surveillance has received increased attention over the last decade. The purpose of this article is to clarify the various meanings that have been assigned to the term syndromic surveillance and to propose a refined categorization of the characteristics of these systems. Existing literature and conference proceedings were examined on syndromic surveillance from 1998 to 2010, focusing on low- and middle-income settings. Based on the 36 unique definitions of syndromic surveillance found in the literature, five commonly accepted principles of syndromic surveillance systems were identified, as well as two fundamental categories: specific and non-specific disease detection. Ultimately, the proposed categorization of syndromic surveillance distinguishes between systems that focus on detecting defined syndromes or outcomes of interest and those that aim to uncover non-specific trends that suggest an outbreak may be occurring. By providing an accurate and comprehensive picture of this field’s capabilities, and differentiating among system types, a unified understanding of the syndromic surveillance field can be developed, encouraging the adoption, investment in, and implementation of these systems in settings that need bolstered surveillance capacity, particularly low- and middle-income countries.

Developing a Deeper Understanding of "Mathematics Teaching Expertise": An Examination of Three Chinese Mathematics Teachers' Resource Systems as Windows into Their Work and Expertise

Science.gov (United States)

Pepin, Birgit; Xu, Binyan; Trouche, Luc; Wang, Chongyang

2017-01-01

In order to develop a deeper understanding of mathematics teaching expertise, in this study we use the Documentational Approach to Didactics to explore the resource systems of three Chinese mathematics "expert" teachers. Exploiting the Western and Eastern literature we examine the notion of "mathematics teaching expertise", as…

Health surveillance of radiological work

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pauw, H.; Vliet, J.V.D.; Zuidema, H.

1988-01-01

Shielding x-ray devices and issuing film badges to radiological workers in 1936 can be considered the start of radiological protection in the Philips enterprises in the Netherlands. Shielding and equipment were constantly improved based upon the dosimetry results of the filmbadges. The problem of radioactive waste led to the foundation of a central Philips committee for radiological protection in 1956, which in 1960 also issued an internal license system in order to regulate the proper precautions to be taken : workplace design and layout, technological provisions and working procedures. An evaluation of all radiological work in 1971 learnt that a stricter health surveillance program was needed to follow up the precautions issued by the license. On one hand a health surveillance program was established and on the other hand all types of radiological work were classified. In this way an obligatory and optimal health surveillance program was issued for each type of radiological work

Evaluation of sanitary consequences of Chernobylsk accident in France. Epidemiological surveillance plan, state of knowledge, risks evaluation and perspectives; Evaluation des consequences sanitaires de l'accident de Tchernobyl en France. Dispositif de surveillance epidemiologique, etat des connaissances, evaluation des risques et perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verger, P.; Cherie-Challine, L

2000-12-15

This report jointly written by IPSN and InVS, reviews the sanitary consequences in France of the Chernobyl accident, which occurred in 1986. The first point is dedicated to a short presentation of the knowledge relative to the sanitary consequences of the Chernobyl accident in the high contaminated countries and to the risk factors of the thyroid cancer. Secondly, this report describes the main systems of epidemiological surveillance of health implemented in France in 1986 and in 1999, as well as the data of the incidence and mortality of thyroid cancer observed in France since 1975. In addition, this report presents an analysis of the risk of thyroid cancer related to radioactive contamination in France, for young people of less than 15 years of age who where living in 1986 in the highest contaminated areas of France (Eastern territories). For this purpose, the theoretical number of thyroid cancers in excess is evaluated for this population, on the basis of different available risk model. Finally starting from the results of risk assessment, there is a discussion about the relevance and the feasibility of different epidemiological methods in view of answering the questions related to the sanitary consequences of the Chernobyl accident. In conclusion, this report recommends to reinforce the surveillance of thyroid cancer in France. (author)

An Evaluation of the National Malaria Surveillance System of Bhutan, 2006-2012, as it Approaches the Goal of Malaria Elimination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole West

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Bhutan is progressing towards malaria elimination. The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the ability of the surveillance system from 2006-2012 to meet the objectives of the Bhutan Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (VDCP and to highlight priorities requiring attention as the nation transitions to elimination.Methods: The evaluation was conducted using the Center for Disease Control guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. Data sources included a search of publically available literature, VDCP program data, and interviews with malaria surveillance personnel. Blood slide quality assurance and control through formal assessment of slide preparation and measures of between reader correlation was performed. Results: Total malaria cases declined from 2006-2012. The average slide positivity rate decreased from 3.4% in 2006 to 0.2% in 2012. The proportion of non-residents in all cases increased to its highest value of 22.6% in 2012, and significant clustering in the border regions of India was noted, with Sarpang accounting for more cases than any other district from 2009 onward. Case detection was almost exclusively passive, but flexibility and sensitivity was demonstrated by the later addition of active case detection and specification of imported and locally-acquired cases. Spatial data was limited to the village level, not allowing identification of transmission hotspots. For blood smears, statistical measures of between reader agreement and predictive value were not computed. Blood smear quality was suboptimal by at least one criteria in over half of evaluated smears. Timeliness in reporting of cases was on a weekly to monthly basis, and did not meet the WHO goal of immediate notification.Conclusions: As of 2012, the national malaria surveillance system demonstrated flexibility, representativeness, simplicity, and stability. The full potential for data analysis was not yet realized. Attaining the goal of

Fusion of expertise among accounting accounting faculty. Towards an expertise model for academia in accounting.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Njoku, Jonathan C.; van der Heijden, Beatrice; Inanga, Eno L.

2010-01-01

This paper aims to portray an accounting faculty expert. It is argued that neither the academic nor the professional orientation alone appears adequate in developing accounting faculty expertise. The accounting faculty expert is supposed to develop into a so-called ‘flexpert’ (Van der Heijden, 2003)

Development of technology on the material surveillance of CANDU pressure tubes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noh, Kye Hoh; Han, Jung Hoh; Lee, Duk Hyun [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1995-05-01

Material degradation of pressure tubes, which are the most important components in CANDU fuel channel, can only be evaluated by removing and examining them(material surveillance). This study aimed at establishment of overall evaluation technology including the evaluation of the material degradation for the integrity of pressure tubes of Wolsung units. Material tests for pressure tubes were performed as follows; (1) Evaluation on life limiting factors of pressure tubes (2) Review on leak-before-break and integrity maintenance technology of pressure tubes (3) Survey on selection criteria for tubes to be inspected and on related regulations for material surveillance (4) Analysis of material surveillance test procedure (5) Basic examinations of Wolsung unit 1 pressure tube material(TEM, texture, chemical component etc) (6) Manufacture of test equipments and test (DHCV, hydriding, grip and tensile specimen etc). 23 figs, 6 tabs, 59 refs. (Author).

Development of technology on the material surveillance of CANDU pressure tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noh, Kye Hoh; Han, Jung Hoh; Lee, Duk Hyun

1995-05-01

Material degradation of pressure tubes, which are the most important components in CANDU fuel channel, can only be evaluated by removing and examining them(material surveillance). This study aimed at establishment of overall evaluation technology including the evaluation of the material degradation for the integrity of pressure tubes of Wolsung units. Material tests for pressure tubes were performed as follows; (1) Evaluation on life limiting factors of pressure tubes (2) Review on leak-before-break and integrity maintenance technology of pressure tubes (3) Survey on selection criteria for tubes to be inspected and on related regulations for material surveillance (4) Analysis of material surveillance test procedure (5) Basic examinations of Wolsung unit 1 pressure tube material(TEM, texture, chemical component etc) (6) Manufacture of test equipments and test (DHCV, hydriding, grip and tensile specimen etc). 23 figs, 6 tabs, 59 refs. (Author)

The plays and arts of surveillance: studying surveillance as entertainment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albrechtslund, Anders; Dubbeld, L.

2006-01-01

This paper suggests a direction in the development of Surveillance Studies that goes beyond current attention for the caring, productive and enabling aspects of surveillance practices. That is, surveillance could be considered not just as positively protective, but even as a comical, playful,

Accurate diagnosis of CHD by Paediatricians with Expertise in Cardiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, Hannah C; Massey, Hannah; Yates, Robert W M; Kelsall, A Wilfred

2017-08-01

Introduction Paediatricians with Expertise in Cardiology assess children with a full history, examination, and often perform an echocardiogram. A minority are then referred to an outreach clinic run jointly with a visiting paediatric cardiologist. The accuracy of the echocardiography diagnosis made by the Paediatrician with Expertise in Cardiology is unknown. Materials and methods We conducted a retrospective review of clinic letters for children seen in the outreach clinic for the first time between March, 2004 and March, 2011. Children with CHD diagnosed antenatally or elsewhere were excluded. We recorded the echocardiography diagnosis made by the paediatric cardiologist and previously by the Paediatrician with Expertise in Cardiology. The Paediatrician with Expertise in Cardiology referred 317/3145 (10%) children seen in the local cardiac clinics to the outreach clinic over this period, and among them 296 were eligible for inclusion. Their median age was 1.5 years (range 1 month-15.1 years). For 244 (82%) children, there was complete diagnostic agreement between the Paediatrician with Expertise in Cardiology and the paediatric cardiologist. For 29 (10%) children, the main diagnosis was identical with additional findings made by the paediatric cardiologist. The abnormality had resolved in 17 (6%) cases by the time of clinic attendance. In six (2%) patients, the paediatric cardiologist made a different diagnosis. In total, 138 (47%) patients underwent a surgical or catheter intervention. Discussion Paediatricians with Expertise in Cardiology can make accurate diagnoses of CHD in children referred to their clinics. This can allow effective triage of children attending the outreach clinic, making best use of limited specialist resources.

Precursors to the Development of Flexible Expertise: Metacognitive Self-Evaluations as Antecedences and Consequences in Adult Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Birney, Damian P.; Beckmann, Jens F.; Wood, Robert E.

2012-01-01

The current study investigates a conceptualization of "flexible expertise" as it relates to adult learning within the context of management and leadership training. Three research domains and their relation to metacognitive outcomes are integrated: 1) individual differences in abilities, personality, and mindsets, 2) deliberate practice and…

The design and evaluation of an antimicrobial resistance surveillance system for neonatal intensive care units in Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Rezaei-Hachesu, Peyman; Samad-Soltani, Taha; Yaghoubi, Sajad; GhaziSaeedi, Marjan; Mirnia, Kayvan; Masoumi-Asl, Hossein; Safdari, Reza

2018-07-01

Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) have complex patients in terms of their diagnoses and required treatments. Antimicrobial treatment is a common therapy for patients in NICUs. To solve problems pertaining to empirical therapy, antimicrobial stewardship programs have recently been introduced. Despite the success of these programs in terms of data collection, there is still inefficiency in terms of analyzing and reporting the data. Thus, to successfully implement these stewardship programs, the design of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance systems is recommended as a first step. As a result, this study aimed to design an AMR surveillance system for use in the NICUs in northwestern Iranian hospitals to cover these information gaps. The recommended system is compatible with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The business intelligence (BI) requirements were extracted in an interview with a product owner (PO) using a valid and reliable checklist. Following this, an AMR surveillance system was designed and evaluated in relation to user experiences via a user experience questionnaire (UEQ). Finally, an association analysis was performed on the database, and the results were reported by identifying the important multidrug resistances in the database. A customized software development methodology was proposed. The three major modules of the AMR surveillance are the data registry, dashboard, and decision support modules. The data registry module was implemented based on a three-tier architecture, and the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) and dashboard modules were designed based on the BI requirements of the Scrum product owner (PO). The mean values of UEQ measures were in a good range. This measures showed the suitable usability of the AMR surveillance system. Applying efficient software development methodologies allows for the systems' compatibility with users' opinions and requirements. In addition, the construction of interdisciplinary

One Health-ness Evaluation of Cysticercosis Surveillance Design in Portugal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Gloria Fonseca

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The increasing occurrence of human cysticercosis, a zoonotic neglected disease, is challenging the traditional prevention and control paradigm and calling for One Health (OH solutions in industrialized countries. OH solutions for health interventions are increasingly being used to capture expected and unexpected outcomes across people, animals, and the environment. The Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH proposes an evidence-based framework, relying on systems and mixed methods approaches to evaluate the One Health-ness. In this case study, this tool is used to evaluate the design of the Observatory of Taeniasis and Cysticercosis, as an example of intersectorial collaboration for surveillance in Portugal. The OH Initiative (drivers and expected outcomes and its system (boundaries, aim, dimensions, actors, and stakeholders were described. The different aspects of this Initiative were scored with values from 0 (=no OH approach to 1 (=perfect OH approach. The OH index was 0.31. Its OH ratio is 1.98. Overall scores were as follows: OH thinking 0.75; OH planning 0.60; OH working 0.60; OH sharing 0.35; OH learning 0.50; and systemic organization 0.50. Operational levels of the Initiative are the main strengths, indicating a comprehensive multidimensional innovative approach and transdisciplinarity. Critical issues in the supporting infrastructure were observed, related to communication, learning and organizational gaps in the project, with the evaluation being conducted as the project is being designed and implemented. The strengths and weaknesses detected may be used to refine the Initiative. This case study therefore exemplifies and supports OH assessment also for ongoing projects, at design and early implementation stages for guiding and guaranteeing an OH-oriented perspective.

Achieving an optimal allocation of resources for animal health surveillance, intervention and disease mitigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasler, B; Delabouglise, A; Babo Martins, S

2017-04-01

The primary role of animal health economics is to inform decision-making by determining optimal investments for animal health. Animal health surveillance produces information to guide interventions. Consequently, investments in surveillance and intervention must be evaluated together. This article explores the different theoretical frameworks and methods developed to assess and optimise the spending of resources in surveillance and intervention and their technical interdependence. The authors present frameworks that define the relationship between health investment and losses due to disease, and the relationship between surveillance and intervention resources. Surveillance and intervention are usually considered as technical substitutes, since increased investments in surveillance reduce the level of intervention resources required to reach the same benefit. The authors also discuss approaches used to quantify externalities and non-monetary impacts. Finally, they describe common economic evaluation types, including optimisation, acceptability and least-cost studies.

Child injury surveillance capabilities in NSW: informing policy and practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Mitchell

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Injury is one of the most common reasons why a child is hospitalised. Information gained from injury surveillance activities provides an estimate of the injury burden, describes injury event circumstances, can be used to monitor injury trends over time, and is used to design and evaluate injury prevention activities. This perspective article provides an overview of child injury surveillance capabilities within New South Wales (NSW, Australia, following a stocktake of population-based injury-related data collections using the Evaluation Framework for Injury Surveillance Systems. Information about childhood injury in NSW is obtained from multiple administrative data collections that were not specifically designed to conduct injury surveillance. Obtaining good information for child injury surveillance in NSW will involve better coordination of information from agencies that record information about childhood injury. Regular reporting about childhood injury to provide a comprehensive profile of injuries of children and young people in the state should be considered, along with the provision and/or linkage of child injury information from multiple data collections. This could support the development of a suite of injury performance indicators to monitor childhood injury reduction strategies across NSW.

Competencies of Thai expertise teacher and PCK

Science.gov (United States)

Chantaranima, Tarntip; Yuenyong, Chokchai

2018-01-01

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) was accepted by worldwide Educators that it is a ubiquitous word in the preparation of teachers in the past decade. This study uses Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) framework as a lens for classifying the guidelines and expectations for categorizing expertise teachers. Therefore, the paper tries to clarify the relationship between competencies of Thai expertise teacher and PCK elements. To promote skillful Thai teachers by offering them academic titles, the Office of the Teacher Civil Service and Education Personal Commission were developed to provide guidelines and expectations for categorizing expertise teachers (OTEPC, 2009). This article focuses on the guideline criteria which are three areas of consideration. The first area of consideration is teacher's disciplines including virtues and professional conducts. The second area of consideration is teacher's knowledge and teaching ability. The last area of consider is teacher's performance. It seemed that the OTEPC guideline pay too much attention on the first area. However, there are some issues of PCK appearing on the OTEPC teacher competency. The paper will discuss some suggestions of fill up PCK in the OTEPC guideline. The paper may have implication for Thailand teacher education.

Evaluation of sanitary consequences of Chernobylsk accident in France. Epidemiological surveillance plan, state of knowledge, risks evaluation and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verger, P.; Cherie-Challine, L.

2000-12-01

This report jointly written by IPSN and InVS, reviews the sanitary consequences in France of the Chernobyl accident, which occurred in 1986. The first point is dedicated to a short presentation of the knowledge relative to the sanitary consequences of the Chernobyl accident in the high contaminated countries and to the risk factors of the thyroid cancer. Secondly, this report describes the main systems of epidemiological surveillance of health implemented in France in 1986 and in 1999, as well as the data of the incidence and mortality of thyroid cancer observed in France since 1975. In addition, this report presents an analysis of the risk of thyroid cancer related to radioactive contamination in France, for young people of less than 15 years of age who where living in 1986 in the highest contaminated areas of France (Eastern territories). For this purpose, the theoretical number of thyroid cancers in excess is evaluated for this population, on the basis of different available risk model. Finally starting from the results of risk assessment, there is a discussion about the relevance and the feasibility of different epidemiological methods in view of answering the questions related to the sanitary consequences of the Chernobyl accident. In conclusion, this report recommends to reinforce the surveillance of thyroid cancer in France. (author)

Surveillance and Critical Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Fuchs

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this comment, the author reflects on surveillance from a critical theory approach, his involvement in surveillance research and projects, and the status of the study of surveillance. The comment ascertains a lack of critical thinking about surveillance, questions the existence of something called “surveillance studies” as opposed to a critical theory of society, and reflects on issues such as Edward Snowden’s revelations, and Foucault and Marx in the context of surveillance.

Short report: Improving record-review surveillance of young children with an autism spectrum disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiggins, Lisa D; Robins, Diana L; Yeargin-Allsopp, Marshalyn

2013-09-01

Records-based autism spectrum disorder surveillance developed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been extended to younger cohorts, although the utility of additional record sources has not been examined. We therefore conducted a pilot project to describe whether Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance could identify younger children with an autism spectrum disorder evaluated as part of an ongoing screening study at Georgia State University. In all, 31 families of children who screened positive for autism spectrum disorder and received a clinical evaluation at Georgia State University agreed to participate in the project. Of these, 10 children lived inside the surveillance area and had records abstracted and reviewed for this project. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance results (i.e. autism spectrum disorder or non-autism spectrum disorder) were compared with Georgia State University evaluation results (i.e. autism spectrum disorder or non-autism spectrum disorder). In all, 4 of the 10 children were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder after the Georgia State University evaluation. None of the 4 children with an autism spectrum disorder were identified by current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance methods but all 4 children were identified by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance methods when additional record sources were included (i.e. records from the statewide early intervention program and Georgia State University evaluation). These findings suggest that partnering with early intervention programs and encouraging early autism spectrum disorder screening might improve autism spectrum disorder surveillance among young children.

Musical expertise induces neuroplasticity of the planum temporale.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Martin; Elmer, Stefan; Jäncke, Lutz

2012-04-01

The present manuscript summarizes and discusses the implications of recent neuroimaging studies, which have investigated the relationship between musical expertise and structural, as well as functional, changes in an auditory-related association cortex, namely, the planum temporale (PT). Since the bilateral PT is known to serve as a spectrotemporal processor that supports perception of acoustic modulations in both speech and music, it comes as no surprise that musical expertise corresponds to functional sensitivity and neuroanatomical changes in cortical architecture. In this context, we focus on the following question: To what extent does musical expertise affect the functioning of the left and right plana temporalia? We discuss the relationship between behavioral, hemodynamic, and neuroanatomical data obtained from musicians in light of maturational and developmental issues. In particular, we introduce two studies of our group that show to what extent brains of musicians are more proficient in phonetic task performance. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

An adaptive toolbox approach to the route to expertise in sport.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira, Rita F; Lobinger, Babett H; Raab, Markus

2014-01-01

Expertise is characterized by fast decision-making which is highly adaptive to new situations. Here we propose that athletes use a toolbox of heuristics which they develop on their route to expertise. The development of heuristics occurs within the context of the athletes' natural abilities, past experiences, developed skills, and situational context, but does not pertain to any of these factors separately. This is a novel approach because it integrates separate factors into a comprehensive heuristic description. The novelty of this approach lies within the integration of separate factors determining expertise into a comprehensive heuristic description. It is our contention that talent identification methods and talent development models should therefore be geared toward the assessment and development of specific heuristics. Specifically, in addition to identifying and developing separate natural abilities and skills as per usual, heuristics should be identified and developed. The application of heuristics to talent and expertise models can bring the field one step away from dichotomized models of nature and nurture toward a comprehensive approach to the route to expertise.

An adaptive toolbox approach to the route to expertise in sport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita F De Oliveira

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Expertise is characterized by fast decision-making which is highly adaptive to new situations. Here we propose that athletes use a toolbox of heuristics which they develop on their route to expertise. The development of heuristics occurs within the context of the athletes’ natural abilities, past experiences, developed skills, and situational context, but does not pertain to any of these factors separately. This is a novel approach because it integrates separate factors into a comprehensive heuristic description. The novelty of this approach lies within the integration of separate factors determining expertise into a comprehensive heuristic description. It is our contention that talent identification methods and talent development models should therefore be geared towards the assessment and development of specific heuristics. Specifically, in addition to identifying and developing separate natural abilities and skills as per usual, heuristics should be identified and developed. The application of heuristics to talent and expertise models can bring the field one step away from dichotomized models of nature and nurture towards a comprehensive approach to the route to expertise.

Ideology, Critique and Surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heidi Herzogenrath-Amelung

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The 2013 revelations concerning global surveillance programmes demonstrate in unprecedented clarity the need for Critical Theory of information and communication technologies (ICTs to address the mechanisms and implications of increasingly global, ubiquitous surveillance. This is all the more urgent because of the dominance of the “surveillance ideology” (the promise of security through surveillance that supports the political economy of surveillance. This paper asks which theoretical arguments and concepts can be useful for philosophically grounding a critique of this surveillance ideology. It begins by examining how the surveillance ideology works through language and introduces the concept of the ‘ideological packaging’ of ICTs to show how rhetoric surrounding the implementation of surveillance technologies reinforces the surveillance ideology. It then raises the problem of how ideology-critique can work if it relies on language itself and argues that Martin Heidegger’s philosophy can make a useful contribution to existing critical approaches to language.

Approaches to canine health surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Neill, Dan G; Church, David B; McGreevy, Paul D; Thomson, Peter C; Brodbelt, Dave C

2014-01-01

Effective canine health surveillance systems can be used to monitor disease in the general population, prioritise disorders for strategic control and focus clinical research, and to evaluate the success of these measures. The key attributes for optimal data collection systems that support canine disease surveillance are representativeness of the general population, validity of disorder data and sustainability. Limitations in these areas present as selection bias, misclassification bias and discontinuation of the system respectively. Canine health data sources are reviewed to identify their strengths and weaknesses for supporting effective canine health surveillance. Insurance data benefit from large and well-defined denominator populations but are limited by selection bias relating to the clinical events claimed and animals covered. Veterinary referral clinical data offer good reliability for diagnoses but are limited by referral bias for the disorders and animals included. Primary-care practice data have the advantage of excellent representation of the general dog population and recording at the point of care by veterinary professionals but may encounter misclassification problems and technical difficulties related to management and analysis of large datasets. Questionnaire surveys offer speed and low cost but may suffer from low response rates, poor data validation, recall bias and ill-defined denominator population information. Canine health scheme data benefit from well-characterised disorder and animal data but reflect selection bias during the voluntary submissions process. Formal UK passive surveillance systems are limited by chronic under-reporting and selection bias. It is concluded that active collection systems using secondary health data provide the optimal resource for canine health surveillance.

Democracy and expertise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sundqvist, G.

1992-01-01

In the middle of the 1970s when Sweden had realized half of its planned nuclear power programme (six reactors of twelve), nuclear power came up on the top of the political agenda. This paper reports that the new government, who had to make the final decisions about the programme, was divided and disagreed about the future use of nuclear power. When the crucial decisions had to be made the government consulted both the expertise and the general public (in a referendum), but the outcome of these consultations were used only to legitimate the government's decisions

Molecular surveillance of measles and rubella in the WHO European Region: new challenges in the elimination phase.

Science.gov (United States)

Santibanez, S; Hübschen, J M; Ben Mamou, M C; Muscat, M; Brown, K E; Myers, R; Donoso Mantke, O; Zeichhardt, H; Brockmann, D; Shulga, S V; Muller, C P; O'Connor, P M; Mulders, M N; Mankertz, A

2017-08-01

The WHO European Region (EUR) has adopted the goal of eliminating measles and rubella but individual countries perform differently in achieving this goal. Measles virus spread across the EUR by mobile groups has recently led to large outbreaks in the insufficiently vaccinated resident population. As an instrument for monitoring the elimination process and verifying the interruption of endemic virus transmission, molecular surveillance has to provide valid and representative data. Irrespective of the country's specific situation, it is required to ensure the functionality of the laboratory surveillance that is supported by the WHO Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network. To investigate whether the molecular surveillance in the EUR is adequate for the challenges in the elimination phase, we addressed the quality assurance of molecular data, the continuity and intensity of molecular monitoring, and the analysis of transmission chains. Published articles, the molecular External Quality Assessment Programme of the WHO, the Centralized Information System for Infectious Diseases of the WHO EUR and the WHO Measles and Rubella Nucleotide Surveillance databases served as information sources. Molecular proficiency testing conducted by the WHO in 2016 has shown that the expertise for measles and rubella virus genotyping exists in all parts of the EUR. The analysis of surveillance data reported nationally to the WHO in 2013-2016 has revealed some countries with outbreaks but not sufficiently representative molecular data. Long-lasting supranational MV transmission chains were identified. A more systematic molecular monitoring and recording of the transmission pattern for the whole EUR could help to create a meaningful picture of the elimination process. Copyright © 2017 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. All rights reserved.

A Multimodal Neural Network Recruited by Expertise with Musical Notation

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Yetta Kwailing; Gauthier, Isabel

2010-01-01

Prior neuroimaging work on visual perceptual expertise has focused on changes in the visual system, ignoring possible effects of acquiring expert visual skills in nonvisual areas. We investigated expertise for reading musical notation, a skill likely to be associated with multimodal abilities. We compared brain activity in music-reading experts…

Child development in primary care: a surveillance proposal.

Science.gov (United States)

Coelho, Renato; Ferreira, José Paulo; Sukiennik, Ricardo; Halpern, Ricardo

2016-01-01

To evaluate a child development surveillance tool proposal to be used in primary care, with simultaneous use of the Denver II scale. This was a cross-sectional study of 282 infants aged up to 36 months, enrolled in a public daycare in a countryside community in Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. Child development was assessed using the surveillance tool and the Denver II scale. The prevalence of probable developmental delay was 53%; most of these cases were in the alert group and 24% had normal development, but with risk factors. At the Denver scale, the prevalence of suspected developmental delay was 32%. When risk factors and sociodemographic variables were assessed, no significant difference was observed. The evaluation of this surveillance tool resulted in objective and comparable data, which were adequate for a screening test. It is easily applicable as a screening tool, even though it was originally designed as a surveillance tool. The inclusion of risk factors to the scoring system is an innovation that allows for the identification of children with suspected delay in addition to developmental milestones, although the definition of parameters and choice of indicators should be thoroughly studied. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Who is Surveilling Whom?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Mette

2014-01-01

This article concerns the particular form of counter-surveillance termed “sousveillance”, which aims to turn surveillance at the institutions responsible for surveillance. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives “mediatization” and “aerial surveillance,” the article studies WikiLeaks’ publication...

Evaluation of a serological Salmonella Mix-ELISA for poultry used in a national surveillance programme

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feld, Niels Christian; Ekeroth, Lars; Gradel, K.O.

2000-01-01

by Mix-ELISA and by faecal culture, and in case of a positive result in either of these a repeated, serological testing was performed, and 60 animals were organ-cultured. If one of these samplings was positive, the flock was declared salmonella infected. In a period of 3 months, 35 flocks were found......A Mix-ELISA using lipopolysaccharide antigens from Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis and Typhimurium? was evaluated using samples collected over time in the Danish salmonella surveillance programme for poultry. Serological samples (n = 42813) taken from broiler-breeder flocks after a year...

System specification for the integrated monitoring and surveillance system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-09-01

This System Specification establishes the requirements for the Plutonium Focus Area (PFA) Integrated Monitoring and Surveillance System (IMSS). In this document, ''Integrated Monitoring and Surveillance System'' is used to describe the concept of integrated sensors, computers, personnel, and systems that perform the functions of sensing conditions, acquiring data, monitoring environmental safety and health, controlling and accounting for materials, monitoring material stability, monitoring container integrity, transferring data, and analyzing, reporting, and storing data. This concept encompasses systems (e.g. sensors, personnel, databases, etc.) that are already in place at the sites but may require modifications or additions to meet all identified surveillance requirements. The purpose of this System Specification is to provide Department of Energy (DOE) sites that store plutonium materials with a consolidation of all known requirements for the storage and surveillance of 3013 packages of stabilized plutonium metals and oxides. This compilation may be used (1) as a baseline for surveillance system design specifications where 3013 packages of stabilized plutonium metals and oxides will be stored and monitored; (2) as a checklist for evaluating existing surveillance systems to ensure that all requirements are met for the storage and surveillance of 3013 packages of stabilized plutonium metals and oxides; and (3) as a baseline for preparing procurement specifications tailored for site specific storage and surveillance of 3013 packages of stabilized plutonium metals and oxides

A conceptual framework for the evaluation of HLB surveillance activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Surveillance activities play an integral part in disease prevention and control, and underpin the three main stages of disease mitigation: the prevention of entry and establishment of exotic pathogens; the detailed investigation of more established pathogens; and the monitoring of disease control me...

Semi-automated reviewing station for IAEA optical surveillance data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Darnell, R.A.; Sonnier, C.S.

1987-01-01

A study is underway on the use of computer vision technology to assist in visual inspection of optical surveillance data. The IAEA currently uses optical surveillance as one of its principle Containment and Surveillance (C/S) measures. The review process is a very time-consuming and tedious task, due to the large amount of optical surveillance data to be reviewed. For some time, the IAEA has identified as one of its principle needs an automated optical surveillance data reviewing station that assists the reviewer in identifying activities of safeguards interest, such as the movement of a very large spent fuel cask. The present development reviewing station consists of commercially available digital image processing hardware controlled by a personal computer. The areas under study include change detection, target discrimination, tracking, and classification. Several algorithms are being evaluated in each of these areas using recorded video tape of safeguards relevant scenes. The computer vision techniques and current status of the studies are discussed

The legacy of uranium mines: pluralist expertise group experiment on the uranium mines in the Limousin (France)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ringeard, Caroline; Sugier, Annie; Catelinois, Olivier; Sene, Monique; Devin, Patrick; Sugier, Annie

2008-01-01

Full text: In France, as mining and milling operations drew to a close, from the 80s until 2001 (and particularly from around 1990 onwards), AREVA-NC has carried out with the administration very important work on remediation and rehabilitation of more than 200 sites to assure the protection of the population and the environment, with continuous monitoring of the environment, which is ongoing. The closure and the remediation over this period has caused some concern in the public and NGO's. The issue is of particular concern in Limousin. Among actions taken by the French Government and Regional authorities, the Pluralist Expertise Group (GEP) concerning the legacy of uranium mines in Limousin was created after a joint mission letter from Ministries of environment, industry and health (2005). The group brings together experts from various technical fields (earth sciences, metrology, radioecology, radiation protection, public health surveillance ...) including French institutes, the industrial operator, local and national NGOs, independent experts and foreign experts. Three multi-partite working groups (WG) have been set up to discuss the current status and management options for the sites: WG 1: Inventory of substances and transfers in the environment; WG 2: Impact on the environment and the local population and public health surveillance; WG 3: Regulations and long-term control and management. The purpose of this paper is to describe the work of WG2 on impacts and surveillance.The WG 2 draws up a status report of the current situation, both at national and international level, for its three topics (impact on the environment, impact on the population and health surveillance). The work of this multi-partite group will be described, as per the two following paragraphs which summarize the state of progress of WG 2's work. Impact on the environment: The characterisation of the radioecological and chemical risk is based on methods developed within the framework of European

On the assessment of expertise profiles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berendsen, R.; Rijke, M. de; Balog, K.; Bogers, T.; Bosch, A.P.J. van den

2013-01-01

Expertise retrieval has attracted significant interest in the field of information retrieval. Expert finding has been studied extensively, with less attention going to the complementary task of expert profiling, that is, automatically identifying topics about which a person is knowledgeable. We

Evaluation of HFIR vessel surveillance data and hydro-test conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheverton, R.D.; Nanstad, R.K.

1994-01-01

Surveillance specimens for the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) pressure vessel were removed and tested during 1993, after the vessel had accumulated 701,469 MWd of operation. The data agree well with HFIR surveillance data obtained in previous years. In conjunction with this effort, the vessel hydro-test conditions were reevaluated and found to be more than adequate. In view of this result, and because there are economic incentives for reducing the frequency of hydro testing, an analysis was performed to determine the minimum permissible frequency. The value obtained is substantially less than that presently specified. It was also determined that a somewhat lower cooling-tower-basin temperature is acceptable (improves operational flexibility). In 1986, after ∼20 years of reactor operation, it was discovered that the vessel embrittlement rate was substantially greater than expected. Possible reasons for the accelerated rate are reviewed in this report

Delivery of health surveillance for hand-arm vibration in the West Midlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinoulty, Mary

2006-01-01

Concerns about provider competence and quality of hand-arm vibrations (HAVs) health surveillance programmes were identified by Health & Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors. To evaluate health surveillance programmes and compare them with published HSE guidance. To identify deficiencies and areas for improvement in the health surveillance programmes. A proforma was developed for the study and used on a sample of 10 local occupational health providers. All 10 organizations were aware of current HSE guidance for health surveillance for HAVs but only a minority (30%) were following it. Occupational health provider training, written procedures and health surveillance delivery were all identified as areas requiring improvement. The majority of organizations were not following HSE guidance. Occupational health providers undertaking health surveillance for HAV require specific training.

Selection and evaluation of video tape recorders for surveillance applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez, R.L.

1988-01-01

Unattended surveillance places unique requirements on video recorders. One such requireemnt, extended operational reliability, often cannot be determined from the manufacturers' data. Subsequent to market surveys and preliminary testing, the Sony 8mm EVO-210 recorder was selected for use in the Modular Integrated Video System (MIVS), while concurrently undergoing extensive reliability testing. A microprocessor based controller was developed to life test and evaluate the performance of the video cassette recorders. The controller has the capability to insert a unique binary count in the vertical interval of the recorder video signal for each scene. This feature allows for automatic verification of the recorded data using a MIVS Review Station. Initially, twenty recorders were subjected to the accelerated lift test, which involves recording one scene (eight video frames) every 15 seconds. The recorders were operated in the exact manner in which they are utilized in the MIVS. This paper describes the results of the preliminary testing, accelerated life test and the extensive testing on 130 Sony EVO-210 recorders

Relative importance of expertise, lifting height and weight lifted on posture and lumbar external loading during a transfer task in manual material handling.

Science.gov (United States)

Plamondon, André; Larivière, Christian; Delisle, Alain; Denis, Denys; Gagnon, Denis

2012-01-01

The objective of this study was to measure the effect size of three important factors in manual material handling, namely expertise, lifting height and weight lifted. The effect of expertise was evaluated by contrasting 15 expert and 15 novice handlers, the effect of the weight lifted with a 15-kg box and a 23-kg box and the effect of lifting height with two different box heights: ground level and a 32 cm height. The task consisted of transferring a series of boxes from a conveyor to a hand trolley. Lifting height and weight lifted had more effect size than expertise on external back loading variables (moments) while expertise had low impact. On the other hand, expertise showed a significant effect of posture variables on the lumbar spine and knees. All three factors are important, but for a reduction of external back loading, the focus should be on the lifting height and weight lifted. The objective was to measure the effect size of three important factors in a transfer of boxes from a conveyor to a hand trolley. Lifting height and weight lifted had more effect size than expertise on external back loading variables but expertise was a major determinant in back posture.

Evaluation of temporal surveillance system sensitivity and freedom from bovine viral diarrhea in Danish dairy herds using scenario tree modelling.

Science.gov (United States)

Foddai, Alessandro; Stockmarr, Anders; Boklund, Anette

2016-06-21

The temporal sensitivity of the surveillance system (TemSSe) for Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) in Danish dairy herds was evaluated. Currently, the Danish antibody blocking ELISA is used to test quarterly bulk tank milk (BTM). To optimize the surveillance system as an early warning system, we considered the possibility of using the SVANOVIR ELISA, as this test has been shown to detect BVD-positive herds earlier than the blocking ELISA in BTM tests. Information from data (2010) and outputs from two published stochastic models were fed into a stochastic scenario tree to estimate the TemSSe. For that purpose we considered: the risk of BVD introduction into the dairy population, the ELISA used and the high risk period (HRP) from BVD introduction to testing (at 90 or 365 days). The effect of introducing one persistently infected (PI) calf or one transiently infected (TI) milking cow into 1 (or 8) dairy herd(s) was investigated. Additionally we estimated the confidence in low (PLow) herd prevalence (tree methodology, could be applied to optimize early warning surveillance systems of different animal diseases.

Surveillance and Resilience in Theory and Practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles D. Raab

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Surveillance is often used as a tool in resilience strategies towards the threat posed by terrorist attacks and other serious crime. “Resilience” is a contested term with varying and ambiguous meaning in governmental, business and social discourses, and it is not clear how it relates to other terms that characterise processes or states of being. Resilience is often assumed to have positive connotations, but critics view it with great suspicion, regarding it as a neo-liberal governmental strategy. However, we argue that surveillance, introduced in the name of greater security, may itself erode social freedoms and public goods such as privacy, paradoxically requiring societal resilience, whether precautionary or in mitigation of the harms it causes to the public goods of free societies. This article develops new models and extends existing ones to describe resilience processes unfolding over time and in anticipation of, or in reaction to, adversities of different kinds and severity, and explores resilience both on the plane of abstract analysis and in the context of societal responses to mass surveillance. The article thus focuses upon surveillance as a special field for conceptual analysis and modelling of situations, and for evaluating contemporary developments in “surveillance societies”.

The scripts and expertise of firesetters: A preliminary conceptualization

OpenAIRE

Butler, Helen; Gannon, Theresa A.

2015-01-01

The importance of cognition in the facilitation and reinforcement of criminal behavior has been highlighted and recognized in numerous offender populations. Coupled with this is an emerging body of literature suggesting offenders may, in fact, display a certain level of expertise in their offending. In this paper, the notion of offending expertise along with cognition—specifically the concept of offence scripts—will be explored in relation to firesetting behavior for the first time. Using res...

Digital Student Expertise in the Making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stenbøg, Sofie

student (e.g. Bennett et. al. 2008, Helsper & Eynon 2009). In this paper I go beyond the idea of digital expertise as something intrinsic. Building on STS’s central notion of performativity (e.g. Law & Singleton 2000) the paper argues that digital expertise should be studied as a temporary achievement......Digital Natives, iGens’ or New Millennium Learners (Prensky 2001, Raphelson 2014, OECD 2008). There are many labels for the generation of young (western) citizens who have grown up with digital, web based technologies as a crucial part of their everyday life. This genera-tion now inhabits schools...... all around the world and their entry has not escaped the attention from teachers, school managers and policy makers. A current trend within education management, in Denmark as well as internationally, is to incorporate the students’ digital skills or ‘expertise’ as a resource in teaching, e.g. through...

The Influence of Pre-stimulus EEG Activity on Reaction Time During a Verbal Sternberg Task is Related to Musical Expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Carina; Diaz Hernandez, Laura; Koenig, Thomas; Kottlow, Mara; Elmer, Stefan; Jäncke, Lutz

2016-01-01

Previous work highlighted the possibility that musical training has an influence on cognitive functioning. The suggested reason for this influence is the strong recruitment of attention, planning, and working memory functions during playing a musical instrument. The purpose of the present work was twofold, namely to evaluate the general relationship between pre-stimulus electrophysiological activity and cognition, and more specifically the influence of musical expertise on working memory functions. With this purpose in mind, we used covariance mapping analyses to evaluate whether pre-stimulus electroencephalographic activity is predictive for reaction time during a visual working memory task (Sternberg paradigm) in musicians and non-musicians. In line with our hypothesis, we replicated previous findings pointing to a general predictive value of pre-stimulus activity for working memory performance. Most importantly, we also provide first evidence for an influence of musical expertise on working memory performance that could distinctively be predicted by pre-stimulus spectral power. Our results open novel perspectives for better comprehending the vast influences of musical expertise on cognition.

Environmental surveillance: An integral part of the spill contingency plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salinas, J.; Bozzo, W.

1993-01-01

Typically, the initial response to spills is directed at containing, controlling, and stopping the flow of spilled materials. The primary goal of such a response is to limit the spread and further impact of spilled material, and to initiate timely cleanup and recovery of affected areas. Surveillance of actual spill impacts has often followed an after the fact approach, using only immediately available resources. Surveillance may occur quickly after a spill, but in most incidents its occurs as a follow-up action after initial response and containment have been achieved. Insufficient planning may produce spill surveillance that inadequately assesses impacts, fails to incorporate baseline data, and does not clearly identify a cleanup recovery and endpoint. The management and operations contractor for the US Dept. of Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) conducts environmental surveillance activities in response to spill incidents when they occur at these facilities. These surveillance activities, when conducted as part of the response, are useful instruments in the initial assessment of spill incidents, management of spill response, containment, and cleanup activities, and for monitoring and documenting postspill impacts and recovery. An Environmental Surveillance Plan (ESP) incorporated in the SPR Spill Contingency Plan provides for initiation of environmental surveillance as part of the spill response. The ESP outlines, through alogic tree, conditions for activating the plan, key indicator parameters for evaluation, detailed methods for establishing surveillance stations, lists of key personnel, locations of equipment necessary to perform surveillance, and conditions for termination of environmental surveillance

[A review on the advancement of internet-based public health surveillance program].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Y Q; Ma, W J

2017-02-10

Internet data is introduced into public health arena under the features of fast updating and tremendous volume. Mining and analyzing internet data, researchers can model the internet-based surveillance system to assess the distribution of health-related events. There are two main types of internet-based surveillance systems, i.e. active and passive, which are distinguished by the sources of information. Through passive surveillance system, information is collected from search engine and social media while the active system gathers information through provision of the volunteers. Except for serving as a real-time and convenient complementary approach to traditional disease, food safety and adverse drug reaction surveillance program, Internet-based surveillance system can also play a role in health-related behavior surveillance and policy evaluation. Although several techniques have been applied to filter information, the accuracy of internet-based surveillance system is still bothered by the false positive information. In this article, we have summarized the development and application of internet-based surveillance system in public health to provide reference for a better surveillance program in China.

Flight nursing expertise: towards a middle-range theory

Science.gov (United States)

Reimer, Andrew P.; Moore, Shirley M.

2010-01-01

Aim This paper presents a middle-range Theory of Flight Nursing Expertise. Background Rotary-wing (helicopter) medical transport has grown rapidly in the USA since its introduction, particularly during the past 5 years. Patients once considered too sick to transport are now being transported more frequently and over longer distances. Many limitations are imposed by the air medical transport environment and these require nurses to alter their practice. Data sources A literature search was conducted using Pubmed, Medline, CINAHL, secondary referencing and an Internet search from 1960 to 2008 for studies related to the focal concepts in flight nursing. Discussion The middle-range Theory of Flight Nursing Expertise is composed of nine concepts (experience, training, transport environment of care, psychomotor skills, flight nursing knowledge, cue recognition, pattern recognition, decision-making and action) and their relationships. Five propositions describe the relationships between those concepts and how they apply to flight nursing expertise. Implications for nursing After empirical testing, this theory may be a useful tool to assist novice flight nurses to attain the skills necessary to provide safe and competent care more efficiently, and may aid in designing curricula and programmes of research. Conclusion Research is needed to determine the usefulness of this theory in both rotary and fixed-wing medical transport settings, and to examine the similarities and differences related to expertise needed for different flight nurse team compositions. Curriculum and training innovations can result from increased understanding of the concepts and relationships proposed in this theory. PMID:20337803

An Agent Based Approach To Finding Expertise In The Engineering Design Environment

OpenAIRE

Crowder, Richard; Hughes, Gareth; Hall, Wendy

2003-01-01

During the engineering design process people need to locate colleagues with knowledge to resolve a problem. As identified by discussions with practicing designers the use of computer based systems that assist users with finding such expertise will become increasingly important. In this paper we discuss the development of an agent based Expertise Finder suitable for use within an engineering design environment. A key feature of our approach is that the Expertise Finder returns both recommended...

A dynamic network model of expertise and exceptional performance in sports

NARCIS (Netherlands)

den Hartigh, Ruud; van Geert, Paul

2014-01-01

Introduction The study of expertise and exceptional performance covers a range from “beginner” to world-class performance. While developing sport expertise a variety of interacting internal and external performance factors are involved, which may differ between athletes (Phillips et al., 2010). The

Financial Expertise as an Arms Race

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Glode, V.; Green, R.C.; Lowery, R.

2010-01-01

We propose a model in which rms involved in trading securities overinvest in financial expertise. Intermediaries or traders in the model meet and bargain over a financial asset. As in the bargaining model in Dang (2008), counterparties endogenously decide whether to acquire information, and improve

Financial Expertise as an Arms Race

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Glode, V.; Green, R.C.; Lowery, R.

2010-01-01

We propose a model in which firms involved in trading securities overinvest in financial expertise. Intermediaries or traders in the model meet and bargain over a financial asset. As in the bargaining model in Dang (2008), counterparties endogenously decide whether to acquire information, and

Rethinking global health research: towards integrative expertise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MacLachlan Malcolm

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract The Bamako Call for Action on Research for Health stresses the importance of inter-disciplinary, inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral working. This challenges much of our current research and postgraduate research training in health, which mostly seeks to produce narrowly focused content specialists. We now need to compliment this type of research and research training, by offering alternative pathways that seek to create expertise, not only in specific narrow content areas, but also in the process and context of research, as well as in the interaction of these different facets of knowledge. Such an approach, developing 'integrative expertise', could greatly facilitate better research utilisation, helping policy makers and practitioners work through more evidence-based practice and across traditional research boundaries.

The results of gynecologic surveillance in families with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ketabi, Zohreh; Gerdes, Anne-Marie; Mosgaard, Berit

2014-01-01

Objective. We aimed to estimate the incidence rate of endometrial cancer (EC) and to evaluate the results of EC-surveillance in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) families. Methods. All at-risk women recommended for EC-surveillance by the HNPCC-register-2959 women (19,334 women yea...... of having Lynch syndrome. We conclude that EC surveillance should only be targeted at MMR-mutation carriers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved....

Defining Pedagogic Expertise: Students and New Lecturers as Co-Developers in Learning and Teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camille Kandiko Howson

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated a model of student-engaged educational development. Despite widespread commitment to student engagement across many institutional activities, student participation as partners with faculty in teaching and learning enhancement has been identified as a threshold concept for educational development. This study sought not only to establish a student-engaged model of teaching observation in a United Kingdom context, but also to critically examine the ways in which student, faculty, and developer participants conceptualise student expertise in relation to learning and teaching. Concept-map mediated interviews with students and faculty in humanities and healthcare subjects elicited conceptions and comparative knowledge structures of pedagogical intelligence for the purposes of enhancing teaching practice. The outcomes of the study are considered in relation to the theorisation of student engagement with particular focus on perspectives of expertise and power relations.

Mining Surveillance and Maintenance Dollars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MARTINEZ, R.

2000-01-01

Accelerating site cleanup to reduce facility risks to the workers, the public and the environment during a time of declining federal budgets represents a significant technical and economic challenge to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Operations Offices and their respective contractors. A significant portion of a facility's recurring annual expenses are associated with routine, long-term surveillance and maintenance (S and M) activities. However, ongoing S and M activities do nothing to reduce risks and basically spend money that could be reallocated towards facility deactivation. This paper discusses the background around DOE efforts to reduce surveillance and maintenance costs, one approach used to perform cost reviews, lessons learned from field implementation and what assistance is available to assist DOE sites in performing these evaluations

Evaluation of the Components of the North Carolina Syndromic Surveillance System Heat Syndrome Case Definition.

Science.gov (United States)

Harduar Morano, Laurel; Waller, Anna E

To improve heat-related illness surveillance, we evaluated and refined North Carolina's heat syndrome case definition. We analyzed North Carolina emergency department (ED) visits during 2012-2014. We evaluated the current heat syndrome case definition (ie, keywords in chief complaint/triage notes or International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification [ ICD-9-CM] codes) and additional heat-related inclusion and exclusion keywords. We calculated the positive predictive value and sensitivity of keyword-identified ED visits and manually reviewed ED visits to identify true positives and false positives. The current heat syndrome case definition identified 8928 ED visits; additional inclusion keywords identified another 598 ED visits. Of 4006 keyword-identified ED visits, 3216 (80.3%) were captured by 4 phrases: "heat ex" (n = 1674, 41.8%), "overheat" (n = 646, 16.1%), "too hot" (n = 594, 14.8%), and "heatstroke" (n = 302, 7.5%). Among the 267 ED visits identified by keyword only, a burn diagnosis or the following keywords resulted in a false-positive rate >95%: "burn," "grease," "liquid," "oil," "radiator," "antifreeze," "hot tub," "hot spring," and "sauna." After applying the revised inclusion and exclusion criteria, we identified 9132 heat-related ED visits: 2157 by keyword only, 5493 by ICD-9-CM code only, and 1482 by both (sensitivity = 27.0%, positive predictive value = 40.7%). Cases identified by keywords were strongly correlated with cases identified by ICD-9-CM codes (rho = .94, P definition through the use of additional inclusion and exclusion criteria substantially improved the accuracy of the surveillance system. Other jurisdictions may benefit from refining their heat syndrome case definition.

"Blueprint version 2.0": updating public health surveillance for the 21st century.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Perry F; Hadler, James L; Stanbury, Martha; Rolfs, Robert T; Hopkins, Richard S

2013-01-01

Rapid changes to the United States public health system challenge the current strategic approach to surveillance. During 2011, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists convened national experts to reassess public health surveillance in the United States and update surveillance strategies that were published in a 1996 report and endorsed by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Although surveillance goals, historical influences, and most methods have not changed, surveillance is being transformed by 3 influences: public health information and preparedness as national security issues; new information technologies; and health care reform. Each offers opportunities for surveillance, but each also presents challenges that public health epidemiologists can best meet by rigorously applying surveillance evaluation concepts, engaging in national standardization activities driven by electronic technologies and health care reform, and ensuring an adequately trained epidemiology workforce.

Master schedule for CY-1979 Hanford environmental surveillance routine program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumer, P.J.; Houston, J.R.; Eddy, P.A.

1978-12-01

The current schedule of data collection for the routine environmental surveillance program at the Hanford Site, as conducted by the Environmental Evaluation Section of Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratory for the Department of Energy (DOE), is given. Modifications to the schedule are made during the year and special areas of study, usually of short duration, are not scheduled. The environmental surveillance program objectives are to evaluate the levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, and to monitor Hanford operations for compliance with applicable environmental criteria and Washington State Water Quality Standards. Air quality data are obtained in a separate program administered by the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation. The collection schedule for potable water is shown but it is not part of the routine environmental surveillance program. Water quality data for Hanford Site potable water systems are published each year by the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation. The data collected are available in routine reports issued by the Environmental Evaluations staff. Groundwater data and evaluation are reported in the series, ''Radiological Status of the Groundwater Beneath the Hanford Project for...,'' the latest issue being PNL-2624 for CY-1977. Data from locations within the plant boundaries are presented in the annual ''Environmental Status of the Hanford Site for...'' report series, the most recent report being PNL-2677 for 1977. Data from offsite locations are presented in the annual ''Environmental Surveillance at Hanford for...'' series of reports, the latest being PNL-2614 for 1977

Supervisor Expertise: Resolving the Dilemma between Bureaucratic Control and Teacher Autonomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Street, Mary Sue; Licata, Joseph W.

1989-01-01

Ideally, teacher confidence in the principal's instructional or supervisory expertise can overcome concerns about professional autonomy and bureaucratic control. This study focuses on elementary teachers' perceptions of the relationships among the principal's supervisory expertise, teacher sense of autonomy, and the robustness of school climate.…

Expertise prompts initial faster processing followed by increased short-term memory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dall, Jonas Olsen; Watanabe, Katsumi; Sørensen, Thomas Alrik

2017-01-01

with varying degrees of expertise in Japanese reading participated: Danish students (novice), Danish students studying Japanese (trained), and Japanese students (expert).The results showed that while expertise enhanced VSTM only for the expert group, replicating our previous study (Dall et al., 2016), it did...

US States' Childhood Obesity Surveillance Practices and Recommendations for Improving Them, 2014-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Blondin, Kelly J; Giles, Catherine M; Cradock, Angie L; Gortmaker, Steven L; Long, Michael W

2016-07-28

Routine collection, analysis, and reporting of data on child height, weight, and body mass index (BMI), particularly at the state and local levels, are needed to monitor the childhood obesity epidemic, plan intervention strategies, and evaluate the impact of interventions. Child BMI surveillance systems operated by the US government do not provide state or local data on children across a range of ages. The objective of this study was to describe the extent to which state governments conduct child BMI surveillance. From August through December 2014, we conducted a structured telephone survey with state government administrators to learn about state surveillance of child BMI. We also searched websites of state health and education agencies for information about state surveillance. State agency administrators in 48 states and Washington, DC, completed telephone interviews (96% response rate). Based on our interviews and Internet research, we determined that 14 states collect child BMI data in a manner consistent with standard definitions of public health surveillance. The absence of child BMI surveillance systems in most states limits the ability of public health practitioners and policymakers to develop and evaluate responses to the childhood obesity epidemic. Greater investment in surveillance is needed to identify the most effective and cost-effective childhood obesity interventions.

Reflections on clinical expertise and silent know-how in voice therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iwarsson, Jenny

2014-01-01

The concept of ‘clinical expertise’ is described as a part of evidence-based practice (EBP) together with ‘external scientific evidence’ and ‘patient values and perspectives’. However, clinical expertise in the management of voice disorders has not been described or discussed in much detail....... The expertise seems to consist partly of silent know-how that, from the outside, may seem improperly related to the personality of the speech-language pathologist or exclusively dependent on the number of years in the field. In this paper, it is suggested that clinical expertise in voice therapy consists...

Driven by Expertise and Insulation? The Autonomy of European Regulatory Agencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph Ossege

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Expertise and autonomy are cornerstones to the effective operation and legitimacy of European Regulatory Agencies (ERAs. Yet, we know little about ERAs’ actual autonomy, nor about factors shaping it. This article studies ERAs’ actual autonomy from public and private actors, emphasising two crucial explanatory factors: expertise and rulemaking competences. The lack of insights on expertise is particularly striking, as expertise—the “raison d’être” and main resource of expert bodies—provides ERAs with a potentially powerful means to increase autonomy. Relying on a rational institutionalist framework within which ERAs enjoy substantive discretion to pursue their goals, the study empirically compares three powerful ERAs—the European Medicines Agency, the European Chemicals Agency, and the European Food Safety Authority. Based on the analysis of 39 semi-structured expert interviews, findings show that expertise is a crucial explanation for ERAs’ substantive autonomy from the Commission. Towards research intensive private stakeholders, the role of expertise becomes less pronounced. Instead, ERAs are more successful in protecting their autonomy by engaging in the risk-averse interpretation of the regulatory framework and by adapting rules over time to adapt their needs: they engage in “procedural insulation”. Political salience provides a scope condition for ERAs to use expert knowledge and rulemaking competences more strategically—potentially undermining scientific quality.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad dam safety and surveillance program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jansen Luis; Zulkhairi Abd Talib

2006-01-01

This paper discusses the current practice of dam surveillance, which includes dam monitoring which is a process of visual inspections, measuring, processing, compiling and analyzing dam instrumentation data to determine the performance of a dam. The prime objective of the dam surveillance system is to ensure that any occurrence and development of safety deficiencies and problems are quickly detected, identified, analyzed and the required remedial actions are determined and consequently carried out in due time. In brief, the section is responsible to ensure that the dam monitoring and surveillance works are implemented as per scheduled and in accordance with the requirement and guidelines prepared by the dam designers and in accordance with international commission on large dams, ICOLD. The paper also illustrates and recommends an alternative approach for dam surveillance program using risk management approach, which is currently being actively adopted by some countries like USA, Canada, Australia and etc, towards improving the dam safety management and the decision making process. The approach provides a wider area of opportunity, improvements and benefits particular in the evaluation and modifications to the dam performance and safety. The process provides an effective and efficient tool for the decision makers and engineers through a comprehensive evaluation and a good understanding of the hazards, risks and consequences in relation to dam safety investigations. (Author)

Recommendations for centres of expertise in rare anaemias. The ENERCA White Book

OpenAIRE

Joan-Lluis Vives Corrons; María del Mar Mañú Pereira; Carlos Romeo-Casabona; Pilar Nicolás; Béatrice Gulbis; Androulla Eleftheriou; Michael Angastiniotis; Patricia Aguilar Martínez; Paola Bianchi; Richard Van Wijk; Hermann Heimpel; Barbara De la Salle; Andrea Mosca

2014-01-01

The Community added value of Centres of Expertise (CoE) and European Reference Networks (ERN) is particularly high for rare diseases (RD) due to the rarity of these conditions, which implies both a small number of patients and scarcity of expertise within a single country. Gathering expertise at the European level is therefore, paramount in order to ensure equal access to accurate information, appropriate and timely diagnosis and high quality clinical care and follow up for patients with rare...

Social networks and expertise development for Australian breast radiologists.

Science.gov (United States)

Taba, Seyedamir Tavakoli; Hossain, Liaquat; Willis, Karen; Lewis, Sarah

2017-02-11

In this study, we explore the nexus between social networks and expertise development of Australian breast radiologists. Background literature has shown that a lack of appropriate social networks and interaction among certain professional group(s) may be an obstacle for knowledge acquisition, information flow and expertise sharing. To date there have not been any systematic studies investigating how social networks and expertise development are interconnected and whether this leads to improved performance for breast radiologists. This study explores the value of social networks in building expertise alongside with other constructs of performance for the Australian radiology workforce using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 17 breast radiologists. The findings from this study emphasise the influences of knowledge transfer and learning through social networks and interactions as well as knowledge acquisition and development through experience and feedback. The results also show that accessibility to learning resources and a variety of timely feedback on performance through the information and communication technologies (ICT) is likely to facilitate improved performance and build social support. We argue that radiologists' and, in particular, breast radiologists' work performance, needs to be explored not only through individual numerical characteristics but also by analysing the social context and peer support networks in which they operate and we identify multidisciplinary care as a core entity of social learning.

Expertise effects in cutaneous wind perception

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pluijms, Joost P.; Cañal-Bruland, Rouwen; Bergmann Tiest, Wouter M.; Mulder, F.A.; Savelsbergh, Geert J.P.

2015-01-01

We examined whether expertise effects are present in cutaneous wind perception. To this end, we presented wind stimuli consisting of different wind directions and speeds in a wind simulator. The wind simulator generated wind stimuli from 16 directions and with three speeds by means of eight

The role of surgical expertise with regard to chronic postoperative inguinal pain (CPIP) after Lichtenstein correction of inguinal hernia: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, J F M; Meyer, V M; Voropai, D A; Keus, E; Wijsmuller, A R; Ploeg, R J; Pierie, J P E N

2016-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a relation exists between surgical expertise and incidence of chronic postoperative inguinal pain (CPIP) after inguinal hernia repair using the Lichtenstein procedure . CPIP after inguinal hernia repair remains a major clinical problem despite many efforts to address this problem. Recently, case volume and specialisation have been found correlated to significant improvement of outcomes in other fields of surgery; to date these important factors have not been reviewed extensively enough in the context of inguinal hernia surgery. A systematic literature review was performed to identify randomised controlled trials reporting on the incidence of CPIP after the Lichtenstein procedure and including the expertise of the surgeon. Surgical expertise was subdivided into expert and non-expert. In a total of 16 studies 3086 Lichtenstein procedures were included. In the expert group the incidence of CPIP varied between 6.9 and 11.7 % versus an incidence of 18.1 and 39.4 % in the non-expert group. Due to the heterogeneity between groups no statistical significance could be demonstrated. The results of this evaluation suggest that an association between surgical expertise and CPIP is highly likely warranting further analysis in a prospectively designed study.

OPTIMIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE OF THE APPLICATIONS FOR STATE SUBSIDIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Yu. Tuzova

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The main aspects of the evaluation of projects for the grant of Federal Target Program «Researches and developments in priority directions of scientific and technological complex of Russia for 2014-2020» is discussed. This subject is very relevant, because the efficiency of scientific and technical expertise is a guarantee of the eff ectiveness of innovative projects management. This is particularly important for the projects, which have significant practical orientation and being competitive in the international scientific and technical level.The purpose of this article is a justification of importance of improvement of technologies of information support of experts. These technologies allow to draw the attention of the expert to a number of discrepancies in the documentation, to quickly process the large volume of information at various scientometric databases, to reduce the manhours of the expert per project and to increase efficiency of scientific and technical expertise.Advantages and disadvantages of the use of machine analysis of keyword and semantic analysis of documents during the scientific and technical expertise have been described. The criteria for peer review as a quality research project; qualifications, work experience, academic achievements of the project implementing team and instrument base; the potential Bidder; financial support of the project. Various criteria for analysis of the project (quality of the research project, qualifications, work experience, academic achievements of the project implementing team and their instrument base, the potential and the project financial support are considered.Conclusions. First, use of modern information technology in scientific and technical expertise allows to expand the information field and an expert to carry out a deeper analysis of projects. Secondly, the stocktaking of the advantages and disadvantages of using machine analysis for keywords and semantic analysis of the documents

Evaluation of Efficacy and Sedative Profiles of H1 Antihistamines by Large-Scale Surveillance Using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Norimasa Izumi

2008-01-01

Conclusions: The sedative properties of the H1 antihistamines obtained from VAS analysis were very similar to those of H1R occupancy from positron emission tomography (PET studies and PIR from meta-analysis. Our results indicate that large-scale surveillance using VAS might be useful to evaluate the profiles of H1 antihistamines.

Evaluation of Electronic Healthcare Databases for Post-Marketing Drug Safety Surveillance and Pharmacoepidemiology in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yu; Zhou, Xiaofeng; Gao, Shuangqing; Lin, Hongbo; Xie, Yanming; Feng, Yuji; Huang, Kui; Zhan, Siyan

2018-01-01

Electronic healthcare databases (EHDs) are used increasingly for post-marketing drug safety surveillance and pharmacoepidemiology in Europe and North America. However, few studies have examined the potential of these data sources in China. Three major types of EHDs in China (i.e., a regional community-based database, a national claims database, and an electronic medical records [EMR] database) were selected for evaluation. Forty core variables were derived based on the US Mini-Sentinel (MS) Common Data Model (CDM) as well as the data features in China that would be desirable to support drug safety surveillance. An email survey of these core variables and eight general questions as well as follow-up inquiries on additional variables was conducted. These 40 core variables across the three EHDs and all variables in each EHD along with those in the US MS CDM and Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) CDM were compared for availability and labeled based on specific standards. All of the EHDs' custodians confirmed their willingness to share their databases with academic institutions after appropriate approval was obtained. The regional community-based database contained 1.19 million people in 2015 with 85% of core variables. Resampled annually nationwide, the national claims database included 5.4 million people in 2014 with 55% of core variables, and the EMR database included 3 million inpatients from 60 hospitals in 2015 with 80% of core variables. Compared with MS CDM or OMOP CDM, the proportion of variables across the three EHDs available or able to be transformed/derived from the original sources are 24-83% or 45-73%, respectively. These EHDs provide potential value to post-marketing drug safety surveillance and pharmacoepidemiology in China. Future research is warranted to assess the quality and completeness of these EHDs or additional data sources in China.

Dedicated OO expertise applied to Run II software projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amidei, D.

2000-01-01

The change in software language and methodology by CDF and D0 to object-oriented from procedural Fortran is significant. Both experiments requested dedicated expertise that could be applied to software design, coding, advice and review. The Fermilab Run II offline computing outside review panel agreed strongly with the request and recommended that the Fermilab Computing Division hire dedicated OO expertise for the CDF/D0/Computing Division joint project effort. This was done and the two experts have been an invaluable addition to the CDF and D0 upgrade software projects and to the Computing Division in general. These experts have encouraged common approaches and increased the overall quality of the upgrade software. Advice on OO techniques and specific advice on C++ coding has been used. Recently a set of software reviews has been accomplished. This has been a very successful instance of a targeted application of computing expertise, and constitutes a very interesting study of how to move toward modern computing methodologies in HEP

Introduction: Recent advances in expertise research.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rikers, Remy; Paas, Fred

2007-01-01

During the 55th meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA, 2004) in San Diego, a symposium was organized on Recent Advances in Expertise Research. Most papers in this special issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology were presented in this symposium. The aim of this special issue is

GSFC Supplier Surveillance

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Michael P.

2011-01-01

Topics covered include: Develop Program/Project Quality Assurance Surveillance Plans The work activities performed by the developer and/or his suppliers are subject to evaluation and audit by government-designated representatives. CSO supports project by selecting on-site supplier representative s by one of several methods: (1) a Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) person via a Letter Of Delegation (LOD), (2) an independent assurance contractor (IAC) via a contract Audits, Assessments, and Assurance (A3) Contract Code 300 Mission Assurance Support Contract (MASC)

Expertise and processing distorted structure in chess.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, James C; Boggan, Amy L; Krawczyk, Daniel C

2013-01-01

A classic finding in research on human expertise and knowledge is that of enhanced memory for stimuli in a domain of expertise as compared to either stimuli outside that domain, or within-domain stimuli that have been degraded or distorted in some way. However, we do not understand how experts process degradation or distortion of stimuli within the expert domain (e.g., a face with the eyes, nose, and mouth in the wrong positions, or a chessboard with pieces placed randomly). Focusing on the domain of chess, we present new fMRI evidence that when experts view such distorted/within-domain stimuli, they engage an active search for structure-a kind of exploratory chunking-that involves a component of a prefrontal-parietal network linked to consciousness, attention and working memory.

Master schedule for CY-1980 Hanford Environmental Surveillance Routine Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumer, P.J.; Houston, J.R.; Eddy, P.A.

1979-12-01

The current schedule of data collection for the routine environmental surveillance program at the Hanford Site is presented. The enviromental surveillance program objectives are to evaluate the levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, as required in Manual Chapter 0513, and to monitor Hanford operations for compliance with applicable environmental criteria given in Manual Chapter 0524 and Washington State Water Quality Standards. Data are reported on the following topics: air; Columbia River; sanitary water; surface water; ground water; foodstuffs; wildlife; soil and vegetation; external radiation measurement; portable instrument surveys; and surveillance of waste disposal sites;

Doing the right things and doing things right : inpatient drug surveillance assisted by clinical decision support

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Helmons, Pieter J.; Suijkerbuijk, Bas O.; Nannan Panday, Prashant V.; Kosterink, Jos G. W.

Increased budget constraints and a continuous focus on improved quality require an efficient inpatient drug surveillance process. We describe a hospital-wide drug surveillance strategy consisting of a multidisciplinary evaluation of drug surveillance activities and using clinical decision support to

Developing a deeper understanding of mathematics teaching expertise : An examination of three Chinese mathematics teachers’ resource systems as windows into their work and expertise

OpenAIRE

Pepin , Birgit; Xu , Binyan; Trouche , Luc; Wang , Chongyang

2017-01-01

International audience; In order to develop a deeper understanding of mathematics teaching expertise, in this study we use the Documentational Approach to Didactics to explore the resource systems of three Chinese mathematics Bexpert^ teachers. Exploiting theWestern and Eastern literature we examine the notion of Bmathematics teaching expertise^, as it is perceived in the East and the West. The data consist of two rounds of in-depth interviews, observations and teachers’ representations of th...

Surveillance Culture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

What does it mean to live in a world full of surveillance? In this documentary film, we take a look at everyday life in Denmark and how surveillance technologies and practices influence our norms and social behaviour. Researched and directed by Btihaj Ajana and Anders Albrechtslund....

Process Evaluation of a Workers' Health Surveillance Program for Meat Processing Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

van Holland, Berry J; Brouwer, Sandra; de Boer, Michiel R; Reneman, Michiel F; Soer, Remko

2017-09-01

Objective To evaluate the implementation process of a workers' health surveillance (WHS) program in a Dutch meat processing company. Methods Workers from five plants were eligible to participate in the WHS program. The program consisted of four evaluative components and an intervention component. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate seven process aspects. Data were gathered by interviews with stakeholders, participant questionnaires, and from registries of the company and occupational health service. Results Two recruitment strategies were used: open invitation or automatic participation. Of the 986 eligible workers, 305 participated in the program. Average reach was 53 %. Two out of five program components could not be assessed on dose delivered, dose received and fidelity. If components were assessable, 85-100 % of the components was delivered, 66-100 % of the components was received by participants, and fidelity was 100 %. Participants were satisfied with the WHS program (mean score 7.6). Contextual factors that facilitated implementation were among others societal developments and management support. Factors that formed barriers were program novelty and delayed follow-up. Conclusion The WHS program was well received by participants. Not all participants were offered the same number of program components, and not all components were performed according to protocol. Deviation from protocol is an indication of program failure and may affect program effectiveness.

Mobile phone-based syndromic surveillance system, Papua New Guinea.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosewell, Alexander; Ropa, Berry; Randall, Heather; Dagina, Rosheila; Hurim, Samuel; Bieb, Sibauk; Datta, Siddhartha; Ramamurthy, Sundar; Mola, Glen; Zwi, Anthony B; Ray, Pradeep; MacIntyre, C Raina

2013-11-01

The health care system in Papua New Guinea is fragile, and surveillance systems infrequently meet international standards. To strengthen outbreak identification, health authorities piloted a mobile phone-based syndromic surveillance system and used established frameworks to evaluate whether the system was meeting objectives. Stakeholder experience was investigated by using standardized questionnaires and focus groups. Nine sites reported data that included 7 outbreaks and 92 cases of acute watery diarrhea. The new system was more timely (2.4 vs. 84 days), complete (70% vs. 40%), and sensitive (95% vs. 26%) than existing systems. The system was simple, stable, useful, and acceptable; however, feedback and subnational involvement were weak. A simple syndromic surveillance system implemented in a fragile state enabled more timely, complete, and sensitive data reporting for disease risk assessment. Feedback and provincial involvement require improvement. Use of mobile phone technology might improve the timeliness and efficiency of public health surveillance.

Towards “Operating Within” the Field: Doctoral Students’ Views of Supervisors’ Discipline Expertise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Gube

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: This paper considers the role of supervisors’ discipline expertise in doctoral learning from a student perspective. Background:\tDoctoral students need to develop expertise in a particular field of study. In this context, developing expertise requires doctoral students to master disciplinary knowledge, conventions and scholarship under the guidance of supervisors. Methodology\t: The study draws on a mixed-method approach, using an online survey and semi-structured interviews conducted with doctoral students. Contribution: The paper brings to the fore the role of supervisors’ discipline expertise on doctoral students’ research progress. Findings: The survey data suggest that doctoral students nominate their supervisors on the basis of their discipline expertise. They also view supervisors’ expertise as key to the development of ‘insider’ knowledge of their doctoral research. Recommendations for Practitioners: Supervisors play a pivotal role in helping doctoral students overcome intellectual barriers by imparting their discipline knowledge as well as balancing satisfactory doctoral completion rate and high quality student experience. Impact on Society\t: Doctoral supervision equips doctoral students with the right arsenal to be able to competently operate within their field and prepares them for their future research or professional career that demands a high level of discipline expertise. Future Research:\tThe scope of the findings leaves open a discussion about the experiences of doctoral students matched with non-discipline expert supervisory teams; for example, the extent of the mismatch and its ramifications.

Educational Expertise, Advocacy, and Media Influence

Science.gov (United States)

Malin, Joel R.; Lubienski, Christopher

2015-01-01

The efforts of many advocacy organizations to advance their preferred policies despite conflicting evidence of the effectiveness of these policies raise questions about factors that shape successful policy promotion. While many may like to think that expertise on an issue in question is an essential prerequisite for influence in public policy…

Psychological Factors Associated with Paranursing Expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Brammer, Robert; Haller, Katherine

The psychological factors associated with paranursing expertise were examined in a study of 135 certified nursing assistants (CNAs) at a geriatric nursing facility in Amarillo, Texas. Data were collected through a project-developed screening tool called the Geriatric Employee Screening Tool (GEST), which is a true-false instrument patterned after…

A systematic review of the use of an expertise-based randomised controlled trial design.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Jonathan A; Elders, Andrew; Boachie, Charles; Bassinga, Ted; Fraser, Cynthia; Altman, Doug G; Boutron, Isabelle; Ramsay, Craig R; MacLennan, Graeme S

2015-05-30

Under a conventional two-arm randomised trial design, participants are allocated to an intervention and participating health professionals are expected to deliver both interventions. However, health professionals often have differing levels of expertise in a skill-based interventions such as surgery or psychotherapy. An expertise-based approach to trial design, where health professionals only deliver an intervention in which they have expertise, has been proposed as an alternative. The aim of this project was to systematically review the use of an expertise-based trial design in the medical literature. We carried out a comprehensive search of nine databases--AMED, BIOSIS, CENTRAL, CINAHL, Cochrane Methodology Register, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Science Citation Index, and PsycINFO--from 1966 to 2012 and performed citation searches using the ISI Citation Indexes and Scopus. Studies that used an expertise-based trial design were included. Two review authors independently screened the titles and abstracts and assessed full-text reports. Data were extracted and summarised on the study characteristics, general and expertise-specific study methodology, and conduct. In total, 7476 titles and abstracts were identified, leading to 43 included studies (54 articles). The vast majority (88%) used a pure expertise-based design; three (7%) adopted a hybrid design, and two (5%) used a design that was unclear. Most studies compared substantially different interventions (79%). In many cases, key information relating to the expertise-based design was absent; only 12 (28%) reported criteria for delivering both interventions. Most studies recruited the target sample size or very close to it (median of 101, interquartile range of 94 to 118), although the target was reported for only 40% of studies. The proportion of participants who received the allocated intervention was high (92%, interquartile range of 82 to 99%). While use of an expertise-based trial design is growing, it remains uncommon

Surveyor mobile surveillance system for hazardous environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silverman, E.B.; Simmons, R.K.; Kniazewycz, B.G.; Darvish, A.R.; Irving, T.L.

1987-01-01

A successful program was recently conducted to test and evaluate a commercial-ready, wireless, remotely operated surveillance system for use in nuclear power plants. This evaluation of the Surveyor mobile surveillance system took place at Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation's Nine Mile Point Nuclear Power Station. The remotely operated vehicle measures radiation, temperature and relative humidity and provides optical inspection capability. The vehicle is readily maneuvered in 36-inch wide passageways and labyrinth entries and can climb stairs, negotiating 180-degree turns on stair landings. The system consists of a supervisory control station and a rugged, remotely-operated, battery-powered vehicle. The surveyor system is specifically designed to decrease personnel radiation exposure by supplementing the functions of an auxiliary operator or wealth physics technician to perform periodic component inspections inside particular areas within a nuclear power plant

How to attain expertise in clinical communication?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wouda, Jan C.; van de Wiel, Harry B. M.

2013-01-01

Several factors complicate the attainment of expertise in clinical communication. Medical curricula and postgraduate training insufficiently provide the required learning conditions of deliberate practice to overcome these obstacles. In this paper we provide recommendations for learning objectives

International safeguards for a light-water reactor fuels reprocessing plant: containment and surveillance concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cameron, C.P.; Bleck, M.E.

1980-12-01

Concepts for containment/surveillance for reprocessing plants are described, conceptual designs are developed, and their effectiveness is evaluated. A technical approach to design of containment/surveillance systems is presented, and design considerations are discussed. This is the second in a series of reports. The first described the basis for the study of international safeguards for reprocessing plants. In this second report, only containment/surveillance is discussed. The third report will discuss the integration of concepts for containment/surveillance and material accountancy

Are the current notification criteria for Lyme borreliosis in Norway suitable? Results of an evaluation of Lyme borreliosis surveillance in Norway, 1995–2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily MacDonald

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The approach to surveillance of Lyme borreliosis varies between countries, depending on the purpose of the surveillance system and the notification criteria used, which prevents direct comparison of national data. In Norway, Lyme borreliosis is notifiable to the Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases (MSIS. The current notification criteria include a combination of clinical and laboratory results for borrelia infection (excluding Erythema migrans but there are indications that these criteria are not followed consistently by clinicians and by laboratories. Therefore, an evaluation of Lyme borreliosis surveillance in Norway was conducted to describe the purpose of the system and to assess the suitability of the current notification criteria in order to identify areas for improvement. Methods The CDC Guidelines for Evaluation of Surveillance Systems were used to develop the assessment of the data quality, representativeness and acceptability of MSIS for surveillance of Lyme borreliosis. Data quality was assessed through a review of data from 1996 to 2013 in MSIS and a linkage of MSIS data from 2008 to 2012 with data from the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR. Representativeness and acceptability were assessed through a survey sent to 23 diagnostic laboratories. Results Completeness of key variables for cases reported to MSIS was high, except for geographical location of exposureThe NPR-MSIS linkage identified 1047 cases in both registries, while 363 were only reported to MSIS and 3914 were only recorded in NPR. A higher proportion of cases found in both registries were recorded as neuroborreliosis in MSIS (84.4 % than those cases found only in MSIS (20.1 %. The trend (average yearly increase or decrease in reported cases of neuroborreliosis in MSIS was not significantly different from the trend for all other clinical manifestations recorded in MSIS in negative binomial regression (p = 0.3. The 16 surveyed laboratories

3013/9975 Surveillance Program Interim Summary Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dunn, K.; Hackney, B.; McClard, J.

2011-06-22

The K-Area Materials Storage (KAMS) Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) requires a surveillance program to monitor the safety performance of 3013 containers and 9975 shipping packages stored in KAMS. The SRS surveillance program [Reference 1] outlines activities for field surveillance and laboratory tests that demonstrate the packages meet the functional performance requirements described in the DSA. The SRS program also supports the complexwide Integrated Surveillance Program (ISP) [Reference 2] for 3013 containers. The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the SRS portion of the surveillance program activities through fiscal year 2010 (FY10) and formally communicate the interpretation of these results by the Surveillance Program Authority (SPA). Surveillance for the initial 3013 container random sampling of the Innocuous bin and the Pressure bin has been completed and there has been no indication of corrosion or significant pressurization. The maximum pressure observed was less than 50 psig, which is well below the design pressure of 699 psig for the 3013 container [Reference 3]. The data collected during surveillance of these bins has been evaluated by the Materials Identification and Surveillance (MIS) Working Group and no additional surveillance is necessary for these bins at least through FY13. A decision will be made whether additional surveillance of these bins is needed during future years of storage and as additional containers are generated. Based on the data collected to date, the SPA concludes that 3013 containers in these bins can continue to be safely stored in KAMS. This year, 13 destructive examinations (DE) were performed on random samples from the Pressure & Corrosion bin. To date, DE has been completed for approximately 30% of the random samples from the Pressure & Corrosion bin. In addition, DE has been performed on 6 engineering judgment (EJ) containers, for a total of 17 to date. This includes one container that exceeded the 3013

Expertise synthesis on the CSPE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blonde, G.; Poizat, F.

2008-01-01

This document presents a synthesis of the results of an expertise realized on the CSPE, the compensation tax of the electric public service. This tax concerns the management of the electricity production additional costs in isolated areas, the solidarity, a policy to favor the energy efficiency and the renewable energies. The document explains the historical aspects of the tax elaboration, its financial importance, the consequences and the impacts on the competition. (A.L.B.)

Mobile Phone–based Syndromic Surveillance System, Papua New Guinea

Science.gov (United States)

Ropa, Berry; Randall, Heather; Dagina, Rosheila; Hurim, Samuel; Bieb, Sibauk; Datta, Siddhartha; Ramamurthy, Sundar; Mola, Glen; Zwi, Anthony B.; Ray, Pradeep; MacIntyre, C. Raina

2013-01-01

The health care system in Papua New Guinea is fragile, and surveillance systems infrequently meet international standards. To strengthen outbreak identification, health authorities piloted a mobile phone–based syndromic surveillance system and used established frameworks to evaluate whether the system was meeting objectives. Stakeholder experience was investigated by using standardized questionnaires and focus groups. Nine sites reported data that included 7 outbreaks and 92 cases of acute watery diarrhea. The new system was more timely (2.4 vs. 84 days), complete (70% vs. 40%), and sensitive (95% vs. 26%) than existing systems. The system was simple, stable, useful, and acceptable; however, feedback and subnational involvement were weak. A simple syndromic surveillance system implemented in a fragile state enabled more timely, complete, and sensitive data reporting for disease risk assessment. Feedback and provincial involvement require improvement. Use of mobile phone technology might improve the timeliness and efficiency of public health surveillance. PMID:24188144

Musical expertise and the ability to imagine loudness.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Bishop

Full Text Available Most perceived parameters of sound (e.g. pitch, duration, timbre can also be imagined in the absence of sound. These parameters are imagined more veridically by expert musicians than non-experts. Evidence for whether loudness is imagined, however, is conflicting. In music, the question of whether loudness is imagined is particularly relevant due to its role as a principal parameter of performance expression. This study addressed the hypothesis that the veridicality of imagined loudness improves with increasing musical expertise. Experts, novices and non-musicians imagined short passages of well-known classical music under two counterbalanced conditions: 1 while adjusting a slider to indicate imagined loudness of the music and 2 while tapping out the rhythm to indicate imagined timing. Subtests assessed music listening abilities and working memory span to determine whether these factors, also hypothesised to improve with increasing musical expertise, could account for imagery task performance. Similarity between each participant's imagined and listening loudness profiles and reference recording intensity profiles was assessed using time series analysis and dynamic time warping. The results suggest a widespread ability to imagine the loudness of familiar music. The veridicality of imagined loudness tended to be greatest for the expert musicians, supporting the predicted relationship between musical expertise and musical imagery ability.

Musical expertise and the ability to imagine loudness.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, Laura; Bailes, Freya; Dean, Roger T

2013-01-01

Most perceived parameters of sound (e.g. pitch, duration, timbre) can also be imagined in the absence of sound. These parameters are imagined more veridically by expert musicians than non-experts. Evidence for whether loudness is imagined, however, is conflicting. In music, the question of whether loudness is imagined is particularly relevant due to its role as a principal parameter of performance expression. This study addressed the hypothesis that the veridicality of imagined loudness improves with increasing musical expertise. Experts, novices and non-musicians imagined short passages of well-known classical music under two counterbalanced conditions: 1) while adjusting a slider to indicate imagined loudness of the music and 2) while tapping out the rhythm to indicate imagined timing. Subtests assessed music listening abilities and working memory span to determine whether these factors, also hypothesised to improve with increasing musical expertise, could account for imagery task performance. Similarity between each participant's imagined and listening loudness profiles and reference recording intensity profiles was assessed using time series analysis and dynamic time warping. The results suggest a widespread ability to imagine the loudness of familiar music. The veridicality of imagined loudness tended to be greatest for the expert musicians, supporting the predicted relationship between musical expertise and musical imagery ability.

Varying Use of Conceptual Metaphors across Levels of Expertise in Thermodynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Jeppsson, Fredrik; Haglund, Jesper; Amin, Tamer G.

2015-04-01

Many studies have previously focused on how people with different levels of expertise solve physics problems. In early work, focus was on characterising differences between experts and novices and a key finding was the central role that propositionally expressed principles and laws play in expert, but not novice, problem-solving. A more recent line of research has focused on characterising continuity between experts and novices at the level of non-propositional knowledge structures and processes such as image-schemas, imagistic simulation and analogical reasoning. This study contributes to an emerging literature addressing the coordination of both propositional and non-propositional knowledge structures and processes in the development of expertise. Specifically, in this paper, we compare problem-solving across two levels of expertise-undergraduate students of chemistry and Ph.D. students in physical chemistry-identifying differences in how conceptual metaphors (CMs) are used (or not) to coordinate propositional and non-propositional knowledge structures in the context of solving problems on entropy. It is hypothesised that the acquisition of expertise involves learning to coordinate the use of CMs to interpret propositional (linguistic and mathematical) knowledge and apply it to specific problem situations. Moreover, we suggest that with increasing expertise, the use of CMs involves a greater degree of subjective engagement with physical entities and processes. Implications for research on learning and instructional practice are discussed. Third contribution to special issue entitled: Conceptual metaphor and embodied cognition in science learning

Evaluation of PM-10 commercial inlets for new surveillance air sampler

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langer, G.

1986-01-01

The inlet for the present Rock Flats Plant surveillance sampler does not meet the new but still tentative PM-10 (<10-μm particle mass) criterion for sampling the hazardous fraction of airborne dust. Since this criterion relates mainly to non-radioactive emissions, DOE and EPA are presently in the process of promulgating emission guidelines specifically for non-reactor DOE nuclear facilities. The authors present approach is to select a commercial inlet and modify its, if necessary, to meet the PM-10 criterion, keeping in mind that they may have to recover the dust collected in the inlet. There is no EPA-approved PM-10 inlet design; instead, EPA issued a performance specification. As a nuclear operation, Rocky Flats has to sample continuously to ensure no period remains unmonitored, instead of every sixth day, as set forth by EPA for non-nuclear installations. During this study period, the authors developed an inlet evaluation methodology to meet the above, anticipated EPA requirements. Also, they started testing two potential inlets. 6 references, 2 figures, 1 table

Drawing on a Sculpted Space of Actions : Educating for Expertise while Avoiding a Cognitive Monster

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keestra, M.

Although expertise is usually considered as a positive outcome of education and practice in domains as varied as sports, science, music and politics, there are also concerns about negative effects of expertise. Since expertise is facilitated largely by implicit, automatic cognitive and brain

The multi-camera optical surveillance system (MOS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otto, P.; Wagner, H.; Richter, B.; Gaertner, K.J.; Laszlo, G.; Neumann, G.

1991-01-01

The transition from film camera to video surveillance systems, in particular the implementation of high capacity multi-camera video systems, results in a large increase in the amount of recorded scenes. Consequently, there is a substantial increase in the manpower requirements for review. Moreover, modern microprocessor controlled equipment facilitates the collection of additional data associated with each scene. Both the scene and the annotated information have to be evaluated by the inspector. The design of video surveillance systems for safeguards necessarily has to account for both appropriate recording and reviewing techniques. An aspect of principal importance is that the video information is stored on tape. Under the German Support Programme to the Agency a technical concept has been developed which aims at optimizing the capabilities of a multi-camera optical surveillance (MOS) system including the reviewing technique. This concept is presented in the following paper including a discussion of reviewing and reliability

Evaluation of PM-10 commercial inlets for new surveillance air sampler

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langer, G.

1987-01-01

The purpose of this project is to adapt an existing sampling inlet or develop a new one to collect airborne dust particles <10-μm aerodynamic equivalent diameter. These inlets are necessary to meet new EPA and DOE guidelines for surveillance of nuclear facilities

Nutritional surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, J B; Mitchell, J T

1983-01-01

The concept of nutritional surveillance is derived from disease surveillance, and means "to watch over nutrition, in order to make decisions that lead to improvements in nutrition in populations". Three distinct objectives have been defined for surveillance systems, primarily in relation to problems of malnutrition in developing countries: to aid long-term planning in health and development; to provide input for programme management and evaluation; and to give timely warning of the need for intervention to prevent critical deteriorations in food consumption. Decisions affecting nutrition are made at various administrative levels, and the uses of different types of nutritional surveillance information can be related to national policies, development programmes, public health and nutrition programmes, and timely warning and intervention programmes. The information should answer specific questions, for example concerning the nutritional status and trends of particular population groups.Defining the uses and users of the information is the first essential step in designing a system; this is illustrated with reference to agricultural and rural development planning, the health sector, and nutrition and social welfare programmes. The most usual data outputs are nutritional outcome indicators (e.g., prevalence of malnutrition among preschool children), disaggregated by descriptive or classifying variables, of which the commonest is simply administrative area. Often, additional "status" indicators, such as quality of housing or water supply, are presented at the same time. On the other hand, timely warning requires earlier indicators of the possibility of nutritional deterioration, and agricultural indicators are often the most appropriate.DATA COME FROM TWO MAIN TYPES OF SOURCE: administrative (e.g., clinics and schools) and household sample surveys. Each source has its own advantages and disadvantages: for example, administrative data often already exist, and can be

A conceptual framework for economic optimization of single hazard surveillance in livestock production chains.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Xuezhen; Claassen, G D H; Oude Lansink, A G J M; Saatkamp, H W

2014-06-01

Economic analysis of hazard surveillance in livestock production chains is essential for surveillance organizations (such as food safety authorities) when making scientifically based decisions on optimization of resource allocation. To enable this, quantitative decision support tools are required at two levels of analysis: (1) single-hazard surveillance system and (2) surveillance portfolio. This paper addresses the first level by presenting a conceptual approach for the economic analysis of single-hazard surveillance systems. The concept includes objective and subjective aspects of single-hazard surveillance system analysis: (1) a simulation part to derive an efficient set of surveillance setups based on the technical surveillance performance parameters (TSPPs) and the corresponding surveillance costs, i.e., objective analysis, and (2) a multi-criteria decision making model to evaluate the impacts of the hazard surveillance, i.e., subjective analysis. The conceptual approach was checked for (1) conceptual validity and (2) data validity. Issues regarding the practical use of the approach, particularly the data requirement, were discussed. We concluded that the conceptual approach is scientifically credible for economic analysis of single-hazard surveillance systems and that the practicability of the approach depends on data availability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Context-specific effects of musical expertise on audiovisual integration

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, Laura; Goebl, Werner

2014-01-01

Ensemble musicians exchange auditory and visual signals that can facilitate interpersonal synchronization. Musical expertise improves how precisely auditory and visual signals are perceptually integrated and increases sensitivity to asynchrony between them. Whether expertise improves sensitivity to audiovisual asynchrony in all instrumental contexts or only in those using sound-producing gestures that are within an observer's own motor repertoire is unclear. This study tested the hypothesis that musicians are more sensitive to audiovisual asynchrony in performances featuring their own instrument than in performances featuring other instruments. Short clips were extracted from audio-video recordings of clarinet, piano, and violin performances and presented to highly-skilled clarinetists, pianists, and violinists. Clips either maintained the audiovisual synchrony present in the original recording or were modified so that the video led or lagged behind the audio. Participants indicated whether the audio and video channels in each clip were synchronized. The range of asynchronies most often endorsed as synchronized was assessed as a measure of participants' sensitivities to audiovisual asynchrony. A positive relationship was observed between musical training and sensitivity, with data pooled across stimuli. While participants across expertise groups detected asynchronies most readily in piano stimuli and least readily in violin stimuli, pianists showed significantly better performance for piano stimuli than for either clarinet or violin. These findings suggest that, to an extent, the effects of expertise on audiovisual integration can be instrument-specific; however, the nature of the sound-producing gestures that are observed has a substantial effect on how readily asynchrony is detected as well. PMID:25324819

Quality of endoscopic surveillance of Barrett's esophagus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vogt, Jes Sefland; Larsen, Anders Christian; Sommer, Thorbjørn

2018-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate adherence to Barrett's esophagus (BE) surveillance guidelines in Denmark. METHODS: The Danish Pathology Registry was used to identify 3692 patients. A total of 300 patients were included by drawing a simple random sample. Description...

Hanford Site ground-water surveillance for 1989

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, J.C.; Bryce, R.W.; Bates, D.J.; Kemner, M.L.

1990-06-01

This annual report of ground-water surveillance activities provides discussions and listings of results for ground-water monitoring at the Hanford Site during 1989. The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) assesses the impacts of Hanford operations on the environment for the US Department of Energy (DOE). The impact Hanford operations has on ground water is evaluated through the Hanford Site Ground-Water Surveillance program. Five hundred and sixty-seven wells were sampled during 1989 for Hanford ground-water monitoring activities. This report contains a listing of analytical results for calendar year (CY) 1989 for species of importance as potential contaminants. 30 refs., 29 figs,. 4 tabs

Field evaluation of two commercial mosquito traps baited with different attractants and colored lights for malaria vector surveillance in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponlawat, Alongkot; Khongtak, Patcharee; Jaichapor, Boonsong; Pongsiri, Arissara; Evans, Brian P

2017-08-07

Sampling for adult mosquito populations is a means of evaluating the efficacy of vector control operations. The goal of this study was to evaluate and identify the most efficacious mosquito traps and combinations of attractants for malaria vector surveillance along the Thai-Myanmar border. In the first part of the study, the BG-Sentinel™ Trap (BGS Trap) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention miniature light trap (CDC LT) baited with different attractants (BG-lure® and CO 2 ) were evaluated using a Latin square experimental design. The six configurations were BGS Trap with BG-lure, BGS Trap with BG-lure plus CO 2 , BGS Trap with CO 2 , CDC LT with BG-lure, CDC LT with BG lure plus CO 2 , and CDC LT with CO 2 . The second half of the study evaluated the impact of light color on malaria vector collections. Colors included the incandescent bulb, ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diode (LED), green light stick, red light stick, green LED, and red LED. A total of 8638 mosquitoes consisting of 42 species were captured over 708 trap-nights. The trap types, attractants, and colored lights affected numbers of female anopheline and Anopheles minimus collected (GLM, P surveillance when baited with CO 2 and the BG-lure in combination and can be effectively used as the new gold standard technique for collecting malaria vectors in Thailand.

Limits on surveillance: frictions, fragilities and failures in the operation of camera surveillance.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dubbeld, L.

2004-01-01

Public video surveillance tends to be discussed in either utopian or dystopian terms: proponents maintain that camera surveillance is the perfect tool in the fight against crime, while critics argue that the use of security cameras is central to the development of a panoptic, Orwellian surveillance

Large-scale machine learning and evaluation platform for real-time traffic surveillance

Science.gov (United States)

Eichel, Justin A.; Mishra, Akshaya; Miller, Nicholas; Jankovic, Nicholas; Thomas, Mohan A.; Abbott, Tyler; Swanson, Douglas; Keller, Joel

2016-09-01

In traffic engineering, vehicle detectors are trained on limited datasets, resulting in poor accuracy when deployed in real-world surveillance applications. Annotating large-scale high-quality datasets is challenging. Typically, these datasets have limited diversity; they do not reflect the real-world operating environment. There is a need for a large-scale, cloud-based positive and negative mining process and a large-scale learning and evaluation system for the application of automatic traffic measurements and classification. The proposed positive and negative mining process addresses the quality of crowd sourced ground truth data through machine learning review and human feedback mechanisms. The proposed learning and evaluation system uses a distributed cloud computing framework to handle data-scaling issues associated with large numbers of samples and a high-dimensional feature space. The system is trained using AdaBoost on 1,000,000 Haar-like features extracted from 70,000 annotated video frames. The trained real-time vehicle detector achieves an accuracy of at least 95% for 1/2 and about 78% for 19/20 of the time when tested on ˜7,500,000 video frames. At the end of 2016, the dataset is expected to have over 1 billion annotated video frames.

Music and words in the visual cortex: The impact of musical expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Mongelli, Valeria; Dehaene, Stanislas; Vinckier, Fabien; Peretz, Isabelle; Bartolomeo, Paolo; Cohen, Laurent

2017-01-01

How does the human visual system accommodate expertise for two simultaneously acquired symbolic systems? We used fMRI to compare activations induced in the visual cortex by musical notation, written words and other classes of objects, in professional musicians and in musically naïve controls. First, irrespective of expertise, selective activations for music were posterior and lateral to activations for words in the left occipitotemporal cortex. This indicates that symbols characterized by different visual features engage distinct cortical areas. Second, musical expertise increased the volume of activations for music and led to an anterolateral displacement of word-related activations. In musicians, there was also a dramatic increase of the brain-scale networks connected to the music-selective visual areas. Those findings reveal that acquiring a double visual expertise involves an expansion of category-selective areas, the development of novel long-distance functional connectivity, and possibly some competition between categories for the colonization of cortical space. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation 2000 and regulation and method. Release monitoring and environmental surveillance around Cea centers; Bilan 2000 et reglementation et methode. Controle des rejets et surveillance de l'environnement des centres CEA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-06-01

This publication counts for the year 2000 for the evaluation of liquid and gaseous radioactive effluents releases and the radioactivity levels measured in the vicinity of Cea centers, through the air, water, vegetation and milk surveillance. An analysis of the results from 1996 to 2000 allows to follow their evolution. A second booklet develops the sampling and measurement methods made on effluents in environment. It present besides the regulation applied to effluents monitoring. (N.C.)

Handbook of surveillance technologies

CERN Document Server

Petersen, JK

2012-01-01

From officially sanctioned, high-tech operations to budget spy cameras and cell phone video, this updated and expanded edition of a bestselling handbook reflects the rapid and significant growth of the surveillance industry. The Handbook of Surveillance Technologies, Third Edition is the only comprehensive work to chronicle the background and current applications of the full-range of surveillance technologies--offering the latest in surveillance and privacy issues.Cutting-Edge--updates its bestselling predecessor with discussions on social media, GPS circuits in cell phones and PDAs, new GIS s

Metacognition and action: A new pathway to understanding social and cognitive aspects of expertise in sport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tadhg Eoghan Macintyre

2014-10-01

Full Text Available For over a century, psychologists have investigated the mental processes of expert performers - people who display exceptional knowledge and/or skills in specific fields of human achievement. Since the 1960s, expertise researchers have made considerable progress in understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie such exceptional performance. Whereas the first modern studies of expertise were conducted in relatively formal knowledge domains such as chess, more recent investigations have explored elite performance in dynamic perceptual-motor activities such as sport. Unfortunately, although these studies have led to the identification of certain domain-free generalizations about expert-novice differences, they shed little light on an important issue: namely, experts’ metacognitive activities or their insights into, and regulation of, their own mental processes. In an effort to rectify this oversight, the present paper argues that metacognitive processes and inferences play an important if neglected role in expertise. In particular, we suggest that metacognition (including such processes as ‘meta-attention’, ‘meta-imagery’ and ‘meta-memory’, as well as social aspects of this construct provides a window on the genesis of expert performance. Following a critique of the standard empirical approach to expertise, we explore some research on ‘metacognition’ and ‘metacognitive inference’ among experts in sport. After that, we provide a brief evaluation of the relationship between psychological skills training and metacognition and comment on the measurement of metacognitive processes. Finally, we summarize our conclusions and outline some potentially new directions for research on metacognition in action.

Current nuclear industry practices with regard to the integration of surveillances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, M.; Smith, C.

1992-04-01

Commercial nuclear industry practices regarding the integration of technical specification (TS) surveillance and maintenance activities are identified in this report. A questionnaire was developed and used to obtain current industry practices from NRC Regional personnel and INEL engineers with utility experience. Some of these practices indicate that the scheduling of TS surveillance and maintenance items could be more effectively coordinated. Also, must utilities do not formally consider risk implications when they are scheduling maintenance. Methodologies and approaches for proposing and evaluating changes to improve the integration of TS surveillance and maintenance activities have been identified for planned future work

[Importance for surveillance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among Chinese adults].

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, L W; Wang, L H

2018-05-10

The first national surveillance of COPD in mainland China was carried out in 2014, with the nationally representative data obtained. The national surveillance was significantly important for the monitoring of prevalence, risk factors, and changing trend of COPD among Chinese adults aged ≥ 40. The surveillance was also important in the development of national COPD prevention and control policy, the evaluation of prevention and control progress, the establishment of COPD comprehensive surveillance system, and the building of a professional COPD monitoring and prevention team. In this editorial, we briefly introduced the method and content of COPD surveillance, and reported the rate of spirometry examination and COPD awareness among adults aged ≥40 in China. We also analyzed the rate of main risk factors for COPD, such as tobacco smoking, occupational exposure to dust or chemical and indoor exposure to biomass or coal, and the distribution of high-risk population. This study provided fundamental data for the prevention and control of COPD in China.

Containment and surveillance devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, J.W.; Johnson, C.S.; Stieff, L.R.

The growing acceptance of containment and surveillance as a means to increase safeguards effectiveness has provided impetus to the development of improved surveillance and containment devices. Five recently developed devices are described. The devices include one photographic and two television surveillance systems and two high security seals that can be verified while installed

A conceptual framework for economic optimization of an animal health surveillance portfolio.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, X; Claassen, G D H; Oude Lansink, A G J M; Saatkamp, H W

2016-04-01

Decision making on hazard surveillance in livestock product chains is a multi-hazard, multi-stakeholder, and multi-criteria process that includes a variety of decision alternatives. The multi-hazard aspect means that the allocation of the scarce resource for surveillance should be optimized from the point of view of a surveillance portfolio (SP) rather than a single hazard. In this paper, we present a novel conceptual approach for economic optimization of a SP to address the resource allocation problem for a surveillance organization from a theoretical perspective. This approach uses multi-criteria techniques to evaluate the performances of different settings of a SP, taking cost-benefit aspects of surveillance and stakeholders' preferences into account. The credibility of the approach has also been checked for conceptual validity, data needs and operational validity; the application potentials of the approach are also discussed.

Evaluating the feasibility and participants' representativeness of an online nationwide surveillance system for influenza in France.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marion Debin

Full Text Available The increasing Internet coverage and the widespread use of digital devices offer the possibility to develop new digital surveillance systems potentially capable to provide important aid to epidemiological and public health monitoring and research. In France, a new nationwide surveillance system for influenza-like illness, GrippeNet.fr, was introduced since the 2011/2012 season based on an online participatory mechanism and open to the general population. We evaluate the recruitment and participation of users to the first pilot season with respect to similar efforts in Europe to assess the feasibility of establishing a participative network of surveillance in France. We further investigate the representativeness of the GrippeNet.fr population along a set of indicators on geographical, demographic, socio-economic and health aspects. Participation was widespread in the country and with rates comparable to other European countries with partnered projects running since a longer time. It was not representative of the general population in terms of age and gender, however all age classes were represented, including the older classes (65+ years old, generally less familiar with the digital world, but considered at high risk for influenza complications. Once adjusted on demographic indicators, the GrippeNet.fr population is found to be more frequently employed, with a higher education level and vaccination rate with respect to the general population. A similar propensity to commute for work to different regions was observed, and no significant difference was found for asthma and diabetes. Results show the feasibility of the system, provide indications to inform adjusted epidemic analyses, and highlight the presence of specific population groups that need to be addressed by targeted communication strategies to achieve a higher representativeness in the following seasons.

A surveillance sector review applied to infectious diseases at a country level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Easther Sally

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The new International Health Regulations (IHR require World Health Organization (WHO member states to assess their core capacity for surveillance. Such reviews also have the potential to identify important surveillance gaps, improve the organisation of disparate surveillance systems and to focus attention on upstream hazards, determinants and interventions. Methods We developed a surveillance sector review method for evaluating all of the surveillance systems and related activities across a sector, in this case those concerned with infectious diseases in New Zealand. The first stage was a systematic description of these surveillance systems using a newly developed framework and classification system. Key informant interviews were conducted to validate the available information on the systems identified. Results We identified 91 surveillance systems and related activities in the 12 coherent categories of infectious diseases examined. The majority (n = 40 or 44% of these were disease surveillance systems. They covered all categories, particularly for more severe outcomes including those resulting in death or hospitalisations. Except for some notifiable diseases and influenza, surveillance of less severe, but important infectious diseases occurring in the community was largely absent. There were 31 systems (34% for surveillance of upstream infectious disease hazards, including risk and protective factors. This area tended to have many potential gaps and lack integration, partly because such systems were operated by a range of different agencies, often outside the health sector. There were fewer surveillance systems for determinants, including population size and characteristics (n = 9, and interventions (n = 11. Conclusions It was possible to create and populate a workable framework for describing all the infectious diseases surveillance systems and related activities in a single developed country and to identify potential

Selection of 3013 Containers for Field Surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larry Peppers; Elizabeth Kelly; James McClard; Gary Friday; Theodore Venetz; Jerry Stakebade

2007-01-01

This report revises and combines three earlier reports dealing with the binning, statistical sampling, and sample selection of 3013 containers for field surveillance. It includes changes to the binning specification resulting from completion of the Savannah River Site packaging campaign and new information from the shelf-life program and field surveillance activities. The revised bin assignments result in changes to the random sample specification. These changes are necessary to meet the statistical requirements of the surveillance program. This report will be reviewed regularly and revised as needed. Section 1 of this report summarizes the results of an extensive effort to assign all of the current and projected 3013 containers in the Department of Energy (DOE) inventory to one of three bins (Innocuous, Pressure and Corrosion, or Pressure) based on potential failure mechanisms. Grouping containers into bins provides a framework to make a statistical selection of individual containers from the entire population for destructive and nondestructive field surveillance. The binning process consisted of three main steps. First, the packaged containers were binned using information in the Integrated Surveillance Program database and a decision tree. The second task was to assign those containers that could not be binned using the decision tree to a specific bin using container-by-container engineering review. The final task was to evaluate containers not yet packaged and assign them to bins using process knowledge. The technical basis for the decisions made during the binning process is included in Section 1. A composite decision tree and a summary table show all of the containers projected to be in the DOE inventory at the conclusion of packaging at all sites. Decision trees that provide an overview of the binning process and logic are included for each site. Section 2 of this report describes the approach to the statistical selection of containers for surveillance and

Introduction of software tools for epidemiological surveillance in infection control in Colombia

Science.gov (United States)

Motoa, Gabriel; Vallejo, Marta; Blanco, Víctor M; Correa, Adriana; de la Cadena, Elsa; Villegas, María Virginia

2015-01-01

Introduction: Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) are a challenge for patient safety in the hospitals. Infection control committees (ICC) should follow CDC definitions when monitoring HAI. The handmade method of epidemiological surveillance (ES) may affect the sensitivity and specificity of the monitoring system, while electronic surveillance can improve the performance, quality and traceability of recorded information. Objective: To assess the implementation of a strategy for electronic surveillance of HAI, Bacterial Resistance and Antimicrobial Consumption by the ICC of 23 high-complexity clinics and hospitals in Colombia, during the period 2012-2013. Methods: An observational study evaluating the introduction of electronic tools in the ICC was performed; we evaluated the structure and operation of the ICC, the degree of incorporation of the software HAI Solutions and the adherence to record the required information. Results: Thirty-eight percent of hospitals (8/23) had active surveillance strategies with standard criteria of the CDC, and 87% of institutions adhered to the module of identification of cases using the HAI Solutions software. In contrast, compliance with the diligence of the risk factors for device-associated HAIs was 33%. Conclusions: The introduction of ES could achieve greater adherence to a model of active surveillance, standardized and prospective, helping to improve the validity and quality of the recorded information. PMID:26309340

Introduction of software tools for epidemiological surveillance in infection control in Colombia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Gómez, Cristhian; Motoa, Gabriel; Vallejo, Marta; Blanco, Víctor M; Correa, Adriana; de la Cadena, Elsa; Villegas, María Virginia

2015-01-01

Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) are a challenge for patient safety in the hospitals. Infection control committees (ICC) should follow CDC definitions when monitoring HAI. The handmade method of epidemiological surveillance (ES) may affect the sensitivity and specificity of the monitoring system, while electronic surveillance can improve the performance, quality and traceability of recorded information. To assess the implementation of a strategy for electronic surveillance of HAI, Bacterial Resistance and Antimicrobial Consumption by the ICC of 23 high-complexity clinics and hospitals in Colombia, during the period 2012-2013. An observational study evaluating the introduction of electronic tools in the ICC was performed; we evaluated the structure and operation of the ICC, the degree of incorporation of the software HAI Solutions and the adherence to record the required information. Thirty-eight percent of hospitals (8/23) had active surveillance strategies with standard criteria of the CDC, and 87% of institutions adhered to the module of identification of cases using the HAI Solutions software. In contrast, compliance with the diligence of the risk factors for device-associated HAIs was 33%. The introduction of ES could achieve greater adherence to a model of active surveillance, standardized and prospective, helping to improve the validity and quality of the recorded information.

Processes mediating expertise in air traffic control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Meeuwen, Ludo; Jarodzka, Halszka; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Van Merriënboer, Jeroen; De Bock, Jeano; Kirschner, Paul A.

2011-01-01

Van Meeuwen, L. W., Jarodzka, H., Brand-Gruwel, S., Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., De Bock, J. J. P. R., & Kirschner, P. A. (2010, September). Processes mediating expertise in air traffic control. Poster presented at the European Association for Aviation Psychology Conference, Budapest.

Acute flaccid paralysis and its differential diagnosis in in kurdistan province, Western iran; an 11-year surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Soltani, Jafar; Esmailnasab, Nader; Roshani, Daem; Karimi, Mohamad; Amjadi, Mohamad-Jamil

2014-04-01

The surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is a key strategy for monitoring the progress of poliomyelitis eradication and is a sensitive measure for detecting potential cases of poliomyelitis and poliovirus infection. This study was conducted to describe the characteristics of patients reported with AFP, and to evaluate the performance of the surveillance system in Kurdistan province, western Iran, using indicators recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). This observational study was conducted from January 2000 to December 2010 at the Kurdistan Center for Disease Control and the Department of Pediatrics. All children who fulfilled the WHO definition for AFP were included in our study. The stool samples of all the children were sent for poliovirus isolation. All the patients were evaluated for 60 days after the onset of symptoms to identify the signs of residual weakness. One-hundred thirty nine children aged Kurdistan during the study period, we achieved the WHO target for AFP surveillance. All performance indicators but one consistently met the WHO requirements and therefore demonstrated the effectiveness of the AFP surveillance program in Kurdistan. The effective surveillance system in Kurdistan and its evaluation may serve as a model for the surveillance of other infectious diseases.

Digital dashboard design using multiple data streams for disease surveillance with influenza surveillance as an example.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Calvin K Y; Ip, Dennis K M; Cowling, Benjamin J; Ho, Lai Ming; Leung, Gabriel M; Lau, Eric H Y

2011-10-14

Great strides have been made exploring and exploiting new and different sources of disease surveillance data and developing robust statistical methods for analyzing the collected data. However, there has been less research in the area of dissemination. Proper dissemination of surveillance data can facilitate the end user's taking of appropriate actions, thus maximizing the utility of effort taken from upstream of the surveillance-to-action loop. The aims of the study were to develop a generic framework for a digital dashboard incorporating features of efficient dashboard design and to demonstrate this framework by specific application to influenza surveillance in Hong Kong. Based on the merits of the national websites and principles of efficient dashboard design, we designed an automated influenza surveillance digital dashboard as a demonstration of efficient dissemination of surveillance data. We developed the system to synthesize and display multiple sources of influenza surveillance data streams in the dashboard. Different algorithms can be implemented in the dashboard for incorporating all surveillance data streams to describe the overall influenza activity. We designed and implemented an influenza surveillance dashboard that utilized self-explanatory figures to display multiple surveillance data streams in panels. Indicators for individual data streams as well as for overall influenza activity were summarized in the main page, which can be read at a glance. Data retrieval function was also incorporated to allow data sharing in standard format. The influenza surveillance dashboard serves as a template to illustrate the efficient synthesization and dissemination of multiple-source surveillance data, which may also be applied to other diseases. Surveillance data from multiple sources can be disseminated efficiently using a dashboard design that facilitates the translation of surveillance information to public health actions.

3013/9975 Surveillance Program Interim Summary Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunn, K.; Hackney, B.; McClard, J.

2011-01-01

The K-Area Materials Storage (KAMS) Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) requires a surveillance program to monitor the safety performance of 3013 containers and 9975 shipping packages stored in KAMS. The SRS surveillance program (Reference 1) outlines activities for field surveillance and laboratory tests that demonstrate the packages meet the functional performance requirements described in the DSA. The SRS program also supports the complexwide Integrated Surveillance Program (ISP) (Reference 2) for 3013 containers. The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the SRS portion of the surveillance program activities through fiscal year 2010 (FY10) and formally communicate the interpretation of these results by the Surveillance Program Authority (SPA). Surveillance for the initial 3013 container random sampling of the Innocuous bin and the Pressure bin has been completed and there has been no indication of corrosion or significant pressurization. The maximum pressure observed was less than 50 psig, which is well below the design pressure of 699 psig for the 3013 container (Reference 3). The data collected during surveillance of these bins has been evaluated by the Materials Identification and Surveillance (MIS) Working Group and no additional surveillance is necessary for these bins at least through FY13. A decision will be made whether additional surveillance of these bins is needed during future years of storage and as additional containers are generated. Based on the data collected to date, the SPA concludes that 3013 containers in these bins can continue to be safely stored in KAMS. This year, 13 destructive examinations (DE) were performed on random samples from the Pressure and Corrosion bin. To date, DE has been completed for approximately 30% of the random samples from the Pressure and Corrosion bin. In addition, DE has been performed on 6 engineering judgment (EJ) containers, for a total of 17 to date. This includes one container that exceeded the 3013

Strengthening Injury Surveillance System in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Motevalian Seyed Abbas

2012-02-01

Full Text Available 【Abstract】Objective: To strengthen the current Injury Surveillance System (IS System in order to better monitor injury conditions, improve protection ways and promote safety. Methods: At first we carried out a study to evaluate the frameworks of IS System in the developed countries. Then all the available documents from World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Organization, as well as Minister of Health and Medical Education concerning Iran were reviewed. Later a national stakeholder抯 consultation was held to collect opinions and views. A national workshop was also intended for provincial representatives from 41 universities to identify the barriers and limitations of the existing program and further to strengthen injury surveillance. Results: The evaluation of the current IS System revealed many problems, mainly presented as lack of accurate pre- and post-hospital death registry, need of precise injury data registry in outpatient medical centers, incomplete injury data registry in hospitals and lack of accuracy in definition of variables in injury registry. The five main characteristics of current IS System including flexibility, acceptability, simplicity, usefulness and timeliness were evaluated as moderate by experts. Conclusions: Major revisions must be considered in the current IS System in Iran. The following elements should be added to the questionnaire: identifier, manner of arrival to the hospital, situation of the injured patient, consumption of alcohol and opioids, other involved participants in the accident, intention, severity and site of injury, side effects of surgery and medication, as well as one month follow-up results. Data should be collected from 10% of all hospitals in Iran and analyzed every 3 months. Simultaneously data should be online to be retrieved by researches. Key words: Wounds and injuries; Population surveillance; Registries; Iran

Sensitivity of the Dengue Surveillance System in Brazil for Detecting Hospitalized Cases

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

We evaluated the sensitivity of the dengue surveillance system in detecting hospitalized cases in ten capital cities in Brazil from 2008 to 2013 using a probabilistic record linkage of two independent information systems hospitalization (SIH-SUS) adopted as the gold standard and surveillance (SINAN). Sensitivity was defined as the proportion of cases reported to the surveillance system amid the suspected hospitalized cases registered in SIH-SUS. Of the 48,174 hospitalizations registered in SIH-SUS, 24,469 (50.7%) were reported and registered in SINAN, indicating an overall sensitivity of 50.8% (95%CI 50.3–51.2). The observed sensitivity for each of the municipalities included in the study ranged from 22.0% to 99.1%. The combination of the two data sources identified 71,161 hospitalizations, an increase of 97.0% over SINAN itself. Our results allowed establishing the proportion of underreported dengue hospitalizations in the public health system in Brazil, highlighting the use of probabilistic record linkage as a valuable tool for evaluating surveillance systems. PMID:27192405

Application of teleoperator expertise to robotics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grisham, D.L.; Lambert, J.E.

1985-01-01

This paper will briefly describe the evolution of Monitor remote handling system and its present capabilities and accomplishments. It will also suggest that the equipment and operational expertise can be applied to robotic systems in radioactive and other hostile environments. The Monitor methods of operation, tooling devised and employed, and the applications of these methods to robotic systems will be described

Influenza surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karolina Bednarska

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Influenza surveillance was established in 1947. From this moment WHO (World Health Organization has been coordinating international cooperation, with a goal of monitoring influenza virus activity, effective diagnostic of the circulating viruses and informing society about epidemics or pandemics, as well as about emergence of new subtypes of influenza virus type A. Influenza surveillance is an important task, because it enables people to prepare themselves for battle with the virus that is constantly mutating, what leads to circulation of new and often more virulent strains of influenza in human population. As vaccination is the most effective method of fighting the virus, one of the major tasks of GISRS is developing an optimal antigenic composition of the vaccine for the current epidemic season. European Influenza Surveillance Network (EISN has also developed over the years. EISN is running integrated epidemiological and virological influenza surveillance, to provide appropriate data to public health experts in member countries, to enable them undertaking relevant activities based on the current information about influenza activity. In close cooperation with GISRS and EISN are National Influenza Centres - national institutions designated by the Ministry of Health in each country.

A sociological analysis of ethical expertise: The case of bioethics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathan Emmerich

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the question of ethical expertise and does so in the context of bioethics or, more accurately, applied ethics and the ethical governance of the life sciences. This analysis builds on a perspective set out in a previous paper and develops it further such that it relates to democratic processes. I argue that the academic practice of applied ethics exhibits a particular logic, way of thinking or eidos. Drawing on work in the history of science I present the logic of this practice as underpinned by a particular set of values or ethos. This can be contrasted with what Bernstein calls the democratic ethos as well as that of everyday moral agents. Using the framework of expertise developed by Collins and Evan’s—which differentiates between ubiquitous, contributory, and interactional expertise—I suggest that (bioethicists should modulate their expertise depending on the particular nature of the fora—academic, public, and policy-making—they are speaking in.

Anticipatory Governance: Bioethical Expertise for Human/Animal Chimeras

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Alison; Salter, Brian

2012-01-01

The governance demands generated by the use of human/animal chimeras in scientific research offer both a challenge and an opportunity for the development of new forms of anticipatory governance through the novel application of bioethical expertise. Anticipatory governance can be seen to have three stages of development whereby bioethical experts move from a reactive to a proactive stance at the edge of what is scientifically possible. In the process, the ethicists move upstream in their engagement with the science of human-to-animal chimeras. To what extent is the anticipatory coestablishment of the principles and operational rules of governance at this early stage in the development of the human-to-animal research field likely to result in a framework for bioethical decision making that is in support of science? The process of anticipatory governance is characterised by the entwining of the scientific and the philosophical so that judgements against science are also found to be philosophically unfounded, and conversely, those activities that are permissible are deemed so on both scientific and ethical grounds. Through what is presented as an organic process, the emerging bioethical framework for human-to-animal chimera research becomes a legitimating framework within which ‘good’ science can safely progress. Science gives bioethical expertise access to new governance territory; bioethical expertise gives science access to political acceptability. PMID:23576848

The Influence of Art Expertise and Training on Emotion and Preference Ratings for Representational and Abstract Artworks.

Science.gov (United States)

van Paasschen, Jorien; Bacci, Francesca; Melcher, David P

2015-01-01

Across cultures and throughout recorded history, humans have produced visual art. This raises the question of why people report such an emotional response to artworks and find some works more beautiful or compelling than others. In the current study we investigated the interplay between art expertise, and emotional and preference judgments. Sixty participants (40 novices, 20 art experts) rated a set of 150 abstract artworks and portraits during two occasions: in a laboratory setting and in a museum. Before commencing their second session, half of the art novices received a brief training on stylistic and art historical aspects of abstract art and portraiture. Results showed that art experts rated the artworks higher than novices on aesthetic facets (beauty and wanting), but no group differences were observed on affective evaluations (valence and arousal). The training session made a small effect on ratings of preference compared to the non-trained group of novices. Overall, these findings are consistent with the idea that affective components of art appreciation are less driven by expertise and largely consistent across observers, while more cognitive aspects of aesthetic viewing depend on viewer characteristics such as art expertise.

The Influence of Art Expertise and Training on Emotion and Preference Ratings for Representational and Abstract Artworks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorien van Paasschen

Full Text Available Across cultures and throughout recorded history, humans have produced visual art. This raises the question of why people report such an emotional response to artworks and find some works more beautiful or compelling than others. In the current study we investigated the interplay between art expertise, and emotional and preference judgments. Sixty participants (40 novices, 20 art experts rated a set of 150 abstract artworks and portraits during two occasions: in a laboratory setting and in a museum. Before commencing their second session, half of the art novices received a brief training on stylistic and art historical aspects of abstract art and portraiture. Results showed that art experts rated the artworks higher than novices on aesthetic facets (beauty and wanting, but no group differences were observed on affective evaluations (valence and arousal. The training session made a small effect on ratings of preference compared to the non-trained group of novices. Overall, these findings are consistent with the idea that affective components of art appreciation are less driven by expertise and largely consistent across observers, while more cognitive aspects of aesthetic viewing depend on viewer characteristics such as art expertise.

Comparison of embrittlement trend curves to high fluence surveillance results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bogaert, A.S.; Gerard, R.; Chaouadi, R.

2011-01-01

In the regulatory justification of the integrity of the reactor pressure vessels (RPV) for long term operation, use is made of predictive formulas (also called trend curves) to evaluate the RPV embrittlement (expressed in terms of RTNDT shifts) in function of fluence, chemical composition and in some cases temperature, neutron flux or product form. It has been shown recently that some of the existing or proposed trend curves tend to underpredict high dose embrittlement. Due to the scarcity of representative surveillance data at high dose, some test reactor results were used in these evaluations and raise the issue of representativeness of the accelerated test reactor irradiations (dose rate effects). In Belgium the surveillance capsules withdrawal schedule was modified in the nineties in order to obtain results corresponding to 60 years of operation or more with the initial surveillance program. Some of these results are already available and offer a good opportunity to test the validity of the predictive formulas at high dose. In addition, advanced surveillance methods are used in Belgium like the Master Curve, increased tensile tests, and microstructural investigations. These techniques made it possible to show the conservatism of the regulatory approach and to demonstrate increased margins, especially for the first generation units. In this paper the surveillance results are compared to different predictive formulas, as well as to an engineering hardening model developed at SCK.CEN. Generally accepted property-to-property correlations are critically revisited. Conclusions are made on the reliability and applicability of the embrittlement trend curves. (authors)

Expertise dissimilarity and creativity: the contingent roles of tacit and explicit knowledge sharing.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Xu; Hsieh, J J Po-An; He, Wei

2014-09-01

In this study, we investigated whether team-level knowledge sharing moderates the effects of individual-level expertise dissimilarity on individual employees' creativity in research and development (R&D) project teams. Expertise dissimilarity--defined as the difference in expertise and knowledge between a focal team member and her or his fellow team members--was operationalized in terms of the research department to which each member belonged. In Study 1, multilevel analyses of data collected from 200 members of 40 R&D project teams in a telecommunications company revealed that a team member with expertise dissimilar to that of her or his teammates was more likely to exhibit creativity when the project team as a whole engaged in higher levels of tacit, rather than explicit, knowledge sharing. In contrast, a member whose expertise was similar to that of her or his teammates was more likely to exhibit creative behavior when the team engaged in higher levels of explicit, rather than tacit, knowledge sharing. These findings were largely replicated in Study 2 using data collected from 82 members of 25 project teams from another telecommunications company. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

The utility industry and reactor surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jenkins, R.B.

1983-01-01

Every commercial nuclear power reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is required to have a reactor vessel surveillance program at the time of plant licensing. The program is part of a continuing structural integrity assessment of the RPV. As such, the surveillance program supplements Section III of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code (1), which is the design basis for nuclear power plant component pressure boundaries. The Code assumes that the materials of construction are ductile in the evaluation and design of all components. The surveillance program for each RPV is intended to provide assurance of continued applicability of the ASME Code, Appendix G, assessment of that RPV's operating limits. This assessment ensures that the RPV is always in a condition which precludes the unstable propagation of flaws in the vessel wall material. The potential presence of flaws and the desire to ensure ductility are significant considerations in ferritic steels such as those used to fabricate nuclear reactor pressure vessels. These materials are known to exhibit transition from ductile-to-brittle fracture behavior over a determined temperature range. Neutron irradiation tends to shift this ductile-to-brittle behavior transition zone to a temperature higher than unirradiated materials

Surveillance robot for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, J.R.; Harvey, H.W.; Satterlee, P.E. Jr.

1985-01-01

A demonstration project to determine the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of mobile surveillance robots in nuclear power plants is being conducted by the Remote Technology Corporation (REMOTEC) for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Phase I of the project was completed in March 1984 and included a survey of currently used robotic equipment and the development of a robotics application methodology. Three Tennessee Valley Authority plants were analyzed to identify specific plant areas with a high potential for surveillance robotics. Based on these results, a number of robotic system applications were prepared and evaluated for cost-effectiveness. The system with the highest potential, a mobile surveillance robot, was selected for fabrication and in-plant demonstration testing in a phase II effort. The design, fabrication, and assembly of SURBOT has been completed and cold testing is in process. It will be installed at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant early in 1986 for demonstration testing. Current projections are that SURBOT can be used in approx.40 rooms within the auxiliary building and will have annual savings of over 100 person-rem exposure, 1000 sets of C-zone clothing, and 1000 person-hours of labor

Musical expertise and foreign speech perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Montes, Eduardo; Hernández-Pérez, Heivet; Chobert, Julie; Morgado-Rodríguez, Lisbet; Suárez-Murias, Carlos; Valdés-Sosa, Pedro A; Besson, Mireille

2013-01-01

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the influence of musical expertise on the automatic perception of foreign syllables and harmonic sounds. Participants were Cuban students with high level of expertise in music or in visual arts and with the same level of general education and socio-economic background. We used a multi-feature Mismatch Negativity (MMN) design with sequences of either syllables in Mandarin Chinese or harmonic sounds, both comprising deviants in pitch contour, duration and Voice Onset Time (VOT) or equivalent that were either far from (Large deviants) or close to (Small deviants) the standard. For both Mandarin syllables and harmonic sounds, results were clear-cut in showing larger MMNs to pitch contour deviants in musicians than in visual artists. Results were less clear for duration and VOT deviants, possibly because of the specific characteristics of the stimuli. Results are interpreted as reflecting similar processing of pitch contour in speech and non-speech sounds. The implications of these results for understanding the influence of intense musical training from childhood to adulthood and of genetic predispositions for music on foreign language perception are discussed.

Musical expertise and foreign speech perception

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo eMartínez-Montes

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this experiment was to investigate the influence of musical expertise on the automatic perception of foreign syllables and harmonic sounds. Participants were Cuban students with high level of expertise in music or in visual arts and with the same level of general education and socio-economic background. We used a multi-feature Mismatch Negativity (MMN design with sequences of either syllables in Mandarin Chinese or harmonic sounds, both comprising deviants in pitch contour, duration and Voice Onset Time (VOT or equivalent that were either far from (Large deviants or close to (Small deviants the standard. For both Mandarin syllables and harmonic sounds, results were clear-cut in showing larger MMNs to pitch contour deviants in musicians than in visual artists. Results were less clear for duration and VOT deviants, possibly because of the specific characteristics of the stimuli. Results are interpreted as reflecting similar processing of pitch contour in speech and non-speech sounds. The implications of these results for understanding the influence of intense musical training from childhood to adulthood and of genetic predispositions for music on foreign language perception is discussed.

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisping, L.E.

1997-01-01

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)(a) for the US Department of Energy (DOE). This document contains the planned 1997 schedules for routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP) and Drinking Water Monitoring Project. In addition, Section 3.0, Biota, also reflects a rotating collection schedule identifying the year a specific sample is scheduled for collection. The purpose of these monitoring projects is to evaluate levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, as required in DOE Order 5400.1, General Environmental Protection Program, and DOE Order 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment. The sampling methods will be the same as those described in the Environmental Monitoring Plan, US Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, DOE/RL91-50, Rev. 1, US Department of Energy, Richland, Washington

Surveillance plan for the early detection of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in migratory birds in the United States: surveillance year 2009

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Christopher J.

2009-01-01

Executive Summary: This Surveillance Plan (Plan) describes plans for conducting surveillance of wild birds in the United States and its Territories and Freely-Associated States to provide for early detection of the introduction of the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) subtype of the influenza A virus by migratory birds during the 2009 surveillance year, spanning the period of April 1, 2009 - March 31, 2010. The Plan represents a continuation of surveillance efforts begun in 2006 under the Interagency Strategic Plan for the Early Detection of H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Wild Migratory Birds (U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of the Interior, 2006). The Plan sets forth sampling plans by: region, target species or species groups to be sampled, locations of sampling, sample sizes, and sampling approaches and methods. This Plan will be reviewed annually and modified as appropriate for subsequent surveillance years based on evaluation of information from previous years of surveillance, changing patterns and threats of H5N1 HPAI, and changes in funding availability for avian influenza surveillance. Specific sampling strategies will be developed accordingly within each of six regions, defined here as Alaska, Hawaiian/Pacific Islands, Lower Pacific Flyway (Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona), Central Flyway, Mississippi Flyway, and Atlantic Flyway.

Secure Video Surveillance System (SVSS) for unannounced safeguards inspections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galdoz, Erwin G.; Pinkalla, Mark

2010-01-01

The Secure Video Surveillance System (SVSS) is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC). The joint project addresses specific requirements of redundant surveillance systems installed in two South American nuclear facilities as a tool to support unannounced inspections conducted by ABACC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The surveillance covers the critical time (as much as a few hours) between the notification of an inspection and the access of inspectors to the location in facility where surveillance equipment is installed. ABACC and the IAEA currently use the EURATOM Multiple Optical Surveillance System (EMOSS). This outdated system is no longer available or supported by the manufacturer. The current EMOSS system has met the project objective; however, the lack of available replacement parts and system support has made this system unsustainable and has increased the risk of an inoperable system. A new system that utilizes current technology and is maintainable is required to replace the aging EMOSS system. ABACC intends to replace one of the existing ABACC EMOSS systems by the Secure Video Surveillance System. SVSS utilizes commercial off-the shelf (COTS) technologies for all individual components. Sandia National Laboratories supported the system design for SVSS to meet Safeguards requirements, i.e. tamper indication, data authentication, etc. The SVSS consists of two video surveillance cameras linked securely to a data collection unit. The collection unit is capable of retaining historical surveillance data for at least three hours with picture intervals as short as 1sec. Images in .jpg format are available to inspectors using various software review tools. SNL has delivered two SVSS systems for test and evaluation at the ABACC Safeguards Laboratory. An additional 'proto-type' system remains

Regional Disease Surveillance Meeting - Final Paper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lesperance, Ann M.; Mahy, Heidi A.

2006-08-08

On June 1, 2006, public health officials working in surveillance, epidemiological modeling, and information technology communities from the Seattle/Tacoma area and State of Washington met with members of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to discuss the current state of disease surveillance and gaps and needs to improve the current systems. The meeting also included a discussion of PNNL initiatives that might be appropriate to enhance disease surveillance and the current tools being used for disease surveillance. Participants broke out into two groups to identify critical gaps and needs for improving a surveillance system, and discuss the requirements for developing improved surveillance. Each group developed a list of key priorities summarizing the requirements for improved surveillance. The objective of this meeting was to work towards the development of an improved disease surveillance system.

Vascular access surveillance: case study of a false paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Paulson, William D; Moist, Louise; Lok, Charmaine E

2013-01-01

The hemodialysis vascular access surveillance controversy provides a case study of how enthusiasm for a new test or treatment can lead to adoption of a false paradigm. Paradigms are the beliefs and assumptions shared by those in a field of knowledge, and are commonly included in clinical practice guidelines. The guidelines of the National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative recommend that arteriovenous vascular accesses undergo routine surveillance for detection and correction of stenosis. This recommendation is based on the paradigm that surveillance of access blood flow or dialysis venous pressure combined with correction of stenosis improves access outcomes. However, the quality of evidence that supports this paradigm has been widely criticized. We tested the validity of the surveillance paradigm by applying World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for evaluating screening tests to a literature review of published vascular access studies. These criteria include four components: undesired condition, screening test, intervention, and desired outcome. The WHO criteria show that surveillance as currently practiced fails all four components and provides little or no significant benefit, suggesting that surveillance is a false paradigm. Once a paradigm is established, however, challenges to its validity are usually resisted even as new evidence indicates the paradigm is not valid. Thus, it is paramount to apply rigorous criteria when developing guidelines. Regulators may help promote needed changes in paradigms when cost and safety considerations coincide. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A review of zoonotic disease surveillance supported by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, R L; Kronmann, K C; Daniels, C C; Meyers, M; Byarugaba, D K; Dueger, E; Klein, T A; Evans, B P; Vest, K G

2012-05-01

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC), Division of Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System conducts disease surveillance through a global network of US Department of Defense research laboratories and partnerships with foreign ministries of agriculture, health and livestock development in over 90 countries worldwide. In 2010, AFHSC supported zoonosis survey efforts were organized into four main categories: (i) development of field assays for animal disease surveillance during deployments and in resource limited environments, (ii) determining zoonotic disease prevalence in high-contact species which may serve as important reservoirs of diseases and sources of transmission, (iii) surveillance in high-risk human populations which are more likely to become exposed and subsequently infected with zoonotic pathogens and (iv) surveillance at the human-animal interface examining zoonotic disease prevalence and transmission within and between human and animal populations. These efforts have aided in the detection, identification and quantification of the burden of zoonotic diseases such as anthrax, brucellosis, Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever, dengue fever, Hantaan virus, influenza, Lassa fever, leptospirosis, melioidosis, Q fever, Rift Valley fever, sandfly fever Sicilian virus, sandfly fever Naples virus, tuberculosis and West Nile virus, which are of military and public health importance. Future zoonotic surveillance efforts will seek to develop local capacity for zoonotic surveillance focusing on high risk populations at the human-animal interface. © 2011 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Universities and the Public Recognition of Expertise

Science.gov (United States)

Arnoldi, Jakob

2007-01-01

This article argues that new sites of knowledge production, increasingly cultivated by the mass media, are threatening the role of academics and universities as traditional sources of expertise. Drawing upon the conceptual categories of Pierre Bourdieu, the article suggests an alternative way of understanding this "crisis of legitimacy."

Master schedule for CY-1981 Hanford environmental surveillance routine program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumer, P.J.; Sula, M.J.; Eddy, P.A.

1980-12-01

The current schedule of data collection for the routine environmental surveillance program at the Hanford Site is provided. Questions about specific entries should be referred to the authors since modifications to the schedule are made during the year and special areas of study, usually of short duration, are not scheduled. The environmental surveillance program objectives are to evaluate the levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, as required in Manual Chapter 0513, and to monitor Hanford operations for compliance with applicable environmental criteria given in Manual Chapter 0524 and Washington State Water Quality Standards. Air quality data obtained in a separate program are also reported. The collection schedule for potable water is shown but it is not part of the routine environmental surveillance program. Schedules are presented for the following subjects: air, Columbia River, sanitary water, surface water, ground water, foodstuffs, wildlife, soil and vegetation, external radiation measurement, portable instrument surveys, and surveillance of waste disposal sites

The mediatization of health expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Christa Lykke

2016-01-01

, the article is informed by ‘mediatization’ theory and demonstrates how television influences changes to the discursive construction of Health and health expertise in factual programming in this 20-year period. The analysis demonstrates how early factual programmes were dominated by information on illness......This article concerns the Danish public service broadcaster, Danmark Radio, and the programmes on health it produced from 1990 to 2010. It applies a historical perspective and, methodologically, the study is based on a qualitative content analysis of selected health programmes. Theoretically...

Surface Environmental Surveillance Procedures Manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanf, Robert W.; Poston, Ted M.

2000-01-01

Shows and explains certain procedures needed for surface environmental surveillance. Hanford Site environmental surveillance is conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP). The basic requirements for site surveillance are set fourth in DOE Order 5400.1, General Environmental Protection Program Requirements. Guidance for the SESP is provided in DOE Order 5484.1, Environmental Protection, Safety, and Health Protection Information Reporting Requirements and DOE Order 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and Environment. Guidelines for environmental surveillance activities are provided in DOE/EH-0173T, Environmental Regulatory Guide for Radiological Effluent Monitoring and Environmental Surveillance. An environmental monitoring plan for the Hanford Site is outlined in DOE/RL 91-50 Rev. 2, Environmental Monitoring Plan, United States Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office. Environmental surveillance data are used in assessing the impact of current and past site operations on human health and the environment, demonstrating compliance with applicable local, state, and federal environmental regulations, and verifying the adequacy of containment and effluent controls. SESP sampling schedules are reviewed, revised, and published each calendar year in the Hanford Site Environmental Surveillance Master Sampling Schedule. Environmental samples are collected by SESP staff in accordance with the approved sample collection procedures documented in this manual. Personnel training requirements are documented in SESP-TP-01 Rev.2, Surface Environmental Surveillance Project Training Program.

Hanford Site Environmental Surveillance Master Sampling Schedule for Calendar Year 2005

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bisping, Lynn E.

2005-01-19

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Sampling is conducted to evaluate levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs. This document contains the calendar year 2005 schedules for the routine and non-routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP) and Drinking Water Monitoring Project.

Music and language expertise influence the categorization of speech and musical sounds: behavioral and electrophysiological measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmer, Stefan; Klein, Carina; Kühnis, Jürg; Liem, Franziskus; Meyer, Martin; Jäncke, Lutz

2014-10-01

In this study, we used high-density EEG to evaluate whether speech and music expertise has an influence on the categorization of expertise-related and unrelated sounds. With this purpose in mind, we compared the categorization of speech, music, and neutral sounds between professional musicians, simultaneous interpreters (SIs), and controls in response to morphed speech-noise, music-noise, and speech-music continua. Our hypothesis was that music and language expertise will strengthen the memory representations of prototypical sounds, which act as a perceptual magnet for morphed variants. This means that the prototype would "attract" variants. This so-called magnet effect should be manifested by an increased assignment of morphed items to the trained category, by a reduced maximal slope of the psychometric function, as well as by differential event-related brain responses reflecting memory comparison processes (i.e., N400 and P600 responses). As a main result, we provide first evidence for a domain-specific behavioral bias of musicians and SIs toward the trained categories, namely music and speech. In addition, SIs showed a bias toward musical items, indicating that interpreting training has a generic influence on the cognitive representation of spectrotemporal signals with similar acoustic properties to speech sounds. Notably, EEG measurements revealed clear distinct N400 and P600 responses to both prototypical and ambiguous items between the three groups at anterior, central, and posterior scalp sites. These differential N400 and P600 responses represent synchronous activity occurring across widely distributed brain networks, and indicate a dynamical recruitment of memory processes that vary as a function of training and expertise.

Characteristics of the IAEA correlation monitor material for surveillance programmes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallin, K.; Valo, M.; Rintamaa, R.; Toerroenen, K.

1989-08-01

Within the IAEA Coordinated Research Programme on optimizing of reactor pressure vessel surveillance programmes and their analysis, phase 3, a specially tailored 'radiation sensitive' correlation monitor material has been fabricated. This material will serve as a reference to the IAEA programme for future vessel surveillance programmes throughout the world. An extensive evaluation of the correlation monitor material in the as-received condition has been carried out in Finland and the results are presented here. The mechanical properties measured at different temperatures include Charpy V notch and instrumented precracked Charpy data, and elastic-plastic fracture toughness (J). The specimen size and geometry have been varied in the tests. Correlation between different fracture properties are evaluated and discussed

Processes mediating expertise in air traffic control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Meeuwen, Ludo; Jarodzka, Halszka; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia; Van Merriënboer, Jeroen; De Bock, Jeano; Kirschner, Paul A.

2010-01-01

Van Meeuwen, L., Jarodzka, H., Brand-Gruwel, S., Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., De Bock, J. J. P. R., & Kirschner, P. A. (2010, August). Processes mediating expertise in air traffic control. Meeting of the EARLI SIG6/7 Instructional Design and Learning and Instruction with Computers, Ulm, Germany.

Critical Surveillance Studies in the Information Society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Allmer

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The overall aim of this paper is to clarify how we can theorize and systemize economic surveillance. Surveillance studies scholars like David Lyon stress that economic surveillance such as monitoring consumers or the workplace are central aspects of surveillance societies. The approach that is advanced in this work recognizes the importance of the role of the economy in contemporary surveillance societies. The paper at hand constructs theoretically founded typologies in order to systemize the existing literature of surveillance studies and to analyze examples of surveillance. Therefore, it mainly is a theoretical approach combined with illustrative examples. This contribution contains a systematic discussion of the state of the art of surveillance and clarifies how different notions treat economic aspects of surveillance. In this work it is argued that the existing literature is insufficient for studying economic surveillance. In contrast, a typology of surveillance in the modern economy, which is based on foundations of a political economy approach, allows providing a systematic analysis of economic surveillance on the basis of current developments on the Internet. Finally, some political recommendations are drawn in order to overcome economic surveillance. This contribution can be fruitful for scholars who want to undertake a systematic analysis of surveillance in the modern economy and who want to study the field of surveillance critically.

World Alliance for Risk Factor Surveillance White Paper on Surveillance and Health Promotion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Campostrini

2015-02-01

Full Text Available This is not a research paper on risk factor surveillance. It is an effort by a key group of researchers and practitioners of risk factor surveillance to define the current state of the art and to identify the key issues involved in the current practice of behavioral risk factor surveillance. Those of us who are the principal authors have worked and carried out research in this area for some three decades. As a result of a series of global meetings beginning in 1999 and continuing every two years since then, a collective working group of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE was formed under the name World Alliance of Risk Factor Surveillance (WARFS. Under this banner the organization sought to write a comprehensive statement on the importance of surveillance to health promotion and public health. This paper, which has been revised and reviewed by established peers in the field, is the result. It provides the reader with a clear summary of the major issues that need to be considered by any and all seeking to carry out behavioral risk factor surveillance.

Evaluation of mammographic surveillance services in women aged 40-49 years with a moderate family history of breast cancer: a single-arm cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, S W; Mackay, J; Thomas, S; Anderson, E; Chen, T H H; Ellis, I; Evans, G; Fielder, H; Fox, R; Gui, G; Macmillan, D; Moss, S; Rogers, C; Sibbering, M; Wallis, M; Warren, R; Watson, E; Whynes, D; Allgood, P; Caunt, J

2013-03-01

Women with a significant family history of breast cancer are often offered more intensive and earlier surveillance than is offered to the general population in the National Breast Screening Programme. Up to now, this strategy has not been fully evaluated. To evaluate the benefit of mammographic surveillance for women aged 40-49 years at moderate risk of breast cancer due to family history. The study is referred to as FH01. This was a single-arm cohort study with recruitment taking place between January 2003 and February 2007. Recruits were women aged women were offered annual mammography for at least 5 years and observed for the occurrence of breast cancer during the surveillance period. The age group 40-44 years was targeted so that they would still be aged women, 94% of whom were aged women aged 40-49 years with a significant family history of breast or ovarian cancer is both clinically effective in reducing breast cancer mortality and cost-effective. There is a need to further standardise familial risk assessment, to research the impact of digital mammography and to clarify the role of breast density in this population. National Research Register N0484114809. This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 17, No. 11. See the HTA programme website for further project information.

Surveillance and Datalink Communication Performance Analysis for Distributed Separation Assurance System Architectures

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, William W.; Linse, Dennis J.; Alaverdi, Omeed; Ifarraguerri, Carlos; Seifert, Scott C.; Salvano, Dan; Calender, Dale

2012-01-01

This study investigates the effects of two technical enablers: Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) and digital datalink communication, of the Federal Aviation Administration s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) under two separation assurance (SA) system architectures: ground-based SA and airborne SA, on overall separation assurance performance. Datalink performance such as successful reception probability in both surveillance and communication messages, and surveillance accuracy are examined in various operational conditions. Required SA performance is evaluated as a function of subsystem performance, using availability, continuity, and integrity metrics to establish overall required separation assurance performance, under normal and off-nominal conditions.

Repeated participation in pancreatic cancer surveillance by high-risk individuals imposes low psychological burden

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Konings, Ingrid C. A. W.; Sidharta, Grace N.; Harinck, Femme; Aalfs, Cora M.; Poley, Jan-Werner; Kieffer, Jacobien M.; Kuenen, Marianne A.; Smets, Ellen M. A.; Wagner, Anja; van Hooft, Jeanin E.; van Rens, Anja; Fockens, Paul; Bruno, Marco J.; Bleiker, Eveline M. A.

2016-01-01

When assessing the feasibility of surveillance for pancreatic cancer (PC), it is important to address its psychological burden. The aim of this ongoing study is to evaluate the psychological burden of annual pancreatic surveillance for individuals at high risk to develop PC. This is a multicenter

Institutionalized Ignorance as a Precondition for Rational Risk Expertise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Merkelsen, Henrik

2011-01-01

the lowest organizational level, where concrete risks occur, to the highest organizational level, where the body of professional risk expertise is situated. The article emphasizes the role of knowledge, responsibility, loyalty, and trust as risk-attenuation factors and concludes by suggesting......The present case study seeks to explain the conditions for experts’ rational risk perception by analyzing the institutional contexts that constitute a field of food safety expertise in Denmark. The study highlights the role of risk reporting and how contextual factors affect risk reporting from...... that the preconditions for the expert's rationality may rather be a lack of risk-specific knowledge due to poor risk reporting than a superior level of risk knowledge....

75 FR 41872 - Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP): Surveillance...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-19

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP): Surveillance, Natural History... evaluation of ``Surveillance, Natural History, Quality of Care and Outcomes of Diabetes Mellitus with Onset...

75 FR 13560 - Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP): Surveillance...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-22

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP): Surveillance, Natural History... evaluation of ``Surveillance, Natural History, Quality of Care and Outcomes of Diabetes Mellitus With Onset...

Surveillance of the environmental radioactivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneider, Th.; Gitzinger, C.; Jaunet, P.; Eberbach, F.; Clavel, B.; Hemidy, P.Y.; Perrier, G.; Kiper, Ch.; Peres, J.M.; Josset, M.; Calvez, M.; Leclerc, M.; Leclerc, E.; Aubert, C.; Levelut, M.N.; Debayle, Ch.; Mayer, St.; Renaud, Ph.; Leprieur, F.; Petitfrere, M.; Catelinois, O.; Monfort, M.; Baron, Y.; Target, A.

2008-01-01

The objective of these days was to present the organisation of the surveillance of the environmental radioactivity and to allow an experience sharing and a dialog on this subject between the different actors of the radiation protection in france. The different presentations were as follow: evolution and stakes of the surveillance of radioactivity in environment; the part of the European commission, regulatory aspects; the implementation of the surveillance: the case of Germany; Strategy and logic of environmental surveillance around the EDF national centers of energy production; environmental surveillance: F.B.F.C. site of Romans on Isere; steps of the implementation 'analysis for release decree at the F.B.F.C./C.E.R.C.A. laboratory of Romans; I.R.S.N. and the environmental surveillance: situation and perspectives; the part of a non institutional actor, the citizenship surveillance done by A.C.R.O.; harmonization of sampling methods: the results of inter operators G.T. sampling; sustainable observatory of environment: data traceability and samples conservation; inter laboratories tests of radioactivity measurements; national network of environmental radioactivity measurement: laboratories agreements; the networks of environmental radioactivity telemetry: modernization positioning; programme of observation and surveillance of surface environment and installations of the H.A.-M.A.V.L. project (high activity and long life medium activity); Evolution of radionuclides concentration in environment and adaptation of measurements techniques to the surveillance needs; the national network of radioactivity measurement in environment; modes of data restoration of surveillance: the results of the Loire environment pilot action; method of sanitary impacts estimation in the area of ionizing radiations; the radiological impact of atmospheric nuclear tests in French Polynesia; validation of models by the measure; network of measurement and alert management of the atmospheric

Improving national surveillance of Lyme neuroborreliosis in Denmark through electronic reporting of specific antibody index testing from 2010 to 2012

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dessau, Ram Benny; Espenhain, L; Mølbak, K

2015-01-01

Our aim was to evaluate the results of automated surveillance of Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) in Denmark using the national microbiology database (MiBa), and to describe the epidemiology of laboratory-confirmed LNB at a national level. MiBa-based surveillance includes electronic transfer of labora......Our aim was to evaluate the results of automated surveillance of Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) in Denmark using the national microbiology database (MiBa), and to describe the epidemiology of laboratory-confirmed LNB at a national level. MiBa-based surveillance includes electronic transfer...

Cognitive and neuronal bases of expertise

OpenAIRE

Campitelli, Guillermo

2003-01-01

This thesis examines the cognitive and neural bases of expertise. In so doing, several psychological phenomena were investigated-imagery. memory and thinking-using different tasks, and a variety of techniques of data gathering, including standard behavioural experiments, questionnaires, eye-movement recording, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Chess players participated in all the studies, and chess tasks were used. The data confirmed the versatility and power of chess as ...

Child development surveillance: intervention study with nurses of the Family Health Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichert, Altamira Pereira da Silva; Collet, Neusa; Eickmann, Sophie Helena; Lima, Marília de Carvalho

2015-01-01

to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational action in child development surveillance performed by nurses working in primary health care. interventional study with a before-and-after type of design, carried out with 45 nurses and 450 mothers of children under 2 years of age. Initially, it was evaluated the practices and knowledge of nurses on child development surveillance and the mothers were interviewed about these practices. Subsequently, workshops were carried out with nurses and four months later, the knowledge of nurses and the maternal information were reevaluated. after intervention there was significant increase in the frequency of the following aspects: from 73% to 100%, in relation to the practice of nurses of asking the opinion of mothers about their children's development; from 42% to 91%, regarding the use of the systematized instrument of evaluation; from 91% to 100% with respect to guidance to mothers on how to stimulate child development. the intervention contributed to the increase of knowledge of nurses and implementation of child development surveillance, showing the importance of this initiative to improve the quality of child health care.

On the Dynamics of Building Systems of Scientific Expertise: The Case of Ionizing Radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boudia, Soraya

2008-01-01

An examination of historical work shows that several systems of scientific expertise were shaped by public controversies. Taking the case of the health and environmental hazards of radioactivity as an example, this articles seeks to account for a twofold dynamic at work in building and/or reconfiguring systems of scientific expertise: expertise either as a resource to manage public mobilisation or as vector whereby some of the criticisms are incorporated into existing institutional systems by reconfiguring them or setting up new organisations

Performance indicators for rinderpest surveillance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-12-01

In 1986, the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture initiated a programme of assistance to FAO and IAEA Member States for the development of effective, quality assured veterinary laboratory diagnostic services. This programme introduced the use of standardized and internationally validated ELISA-based systems for the diagnosis and surveillance of the major transboundary diseases that affect livestock. This approach has proved of immense value in the monitoring of national, regional and global animal disease control and eradication programmes. One such programme focuses on the global elimination of rinderpest. Co-ordinated by FAO through the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP) the joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture has developed critical diagnostic and epidemiological tools to assist this effort. As the final stages of the global eradication of rinderpest are reached, it is fitting that the Joint Division should again take the lead in providing guidance to Member States on how best to meet the criteria for quality assurance of national disease surveillance programmes - a prerequisite for international acceptance of freedom from a particular disease. This publication is intended to provide countries involved in rinderpest eradication with a detailed protocol for using performance indicators in evaluating their disease surveillance system and making, where necessary, adjustments to meet the criteria for acceptance specified in the OIE Rinderpest Pathway - a pathway that leads to international recognition of freedom from rinderpest. An initial publication (IAEA-TECDOC-1161) described guidelines for the use of performance indicators in rinderpest surveillance programmes. This publication now describes in detail the protocols and the linked indicators which have been developed and field validated through a series of FAO/IAEA meetings and through IAEA expert assignments to countries in Africa.

Performance indicators for rinderpest surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-12-01

In 1986, the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture initiated a programme of assistance to FAO and IAEA Member States for the development of effective, quality assured veterinary laboratory diagnostic services. This programme introduced the use of standardized and internationally validated ELISA-based systems for the diagnosis and surveillance of the major transboundary diseases that affect livestock. This approach has proved of immense value in the monitoring of national, regional and global animal disease control and eradication programmes. One such programme focuses on the global elimination of rinderpest. Co-ordinated by FAO through the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP) the joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture has developed critical diagnostic and epidemiological tools to assist this effort. As the final stages of the global eradication of rinderpest are reached, it is fitting that the Joint Division should again take the lead in providing guidance to Member States on how best to meet the criteria for quality assurance of national disease surveillance programmes - a prerequisite for international acceptance of freedom from a particular disease. This publication is intended to provide countries involved in rinderpest eradication with a detailed protocol for using performance indicators in evaluating their disease surveillance system and making, where necessary, adjustments to meet the criteria for acceptance specified in the OIE Rinderpest Pathway - a pathway that leads to international recognition of freedom from rinderpest. An initial publication (IAEA-TECDOC-1161) described guidelines for the use of performance indicators in rinderpest surveillance programmes. This publication now describes in detail the protocols and the linked indicators which have been developed and field validated through a series of FAO/IAEA meetings and through IAEA expert assignments to countries in Africa

Inappropriate colonoscopic surveillance of hyperplastic polyps.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Keane, R A

2011-11-15

Colonoscopic surveillance of hyperplastic polyps alone is controversial and may be inappropriate. The colonoscopy surveillance register at a university teaching hospital was audited to determine the extent of such hyperplastic polyp surveillance. The surveillance endoscopy records were reviewed, those patients with hyperplastic polyps were identified, their clinical records were examined and contact was made with each patient. Of the 483 patients undergoing surveillance for colonic polyps 113 (23%) had hyperplastic polyps alone on last colonoscopy. 104 patients remained after exclusion of those under appropriate surveillance. 87 of the 104 patients (84%) were successfully contacted. 37 patients (8%) were under appropriate colonoscopic surveillance for a significant family history of colorectal carcinoma. 50 (10%) patients with hyperplastic polyps alone and no other clinical indication for colonoscopic surveillance were booked for follow up colonoscopy. This represents not only a budgetary but more importantly a clinical opportunity cost the removal of which could liberate valuable colonoscopy time for more appropriate indications.

[The genesis, system, functions, and tendencies in the development of forensic expertise].

Science.gov (United States)

Rossinskaya, E R

The author considers the main landmarks in the formation and development of the science of forensic expertise and related activities. Special attention is given to the necessity of increasing knowledge and skills in judicial proceedings, further elaboration and perfection of the theory and practice of forensic expertise to meet the requirements put forward by the XXIth century. It is emphasized that this work is needed to lay the foundation for the creation of the self-consistent science - forensic expertology, based on the interdisciplinary general theory of forensic expertise. The author builds up the definition of the subject of forensic expertology taking into consideration the basic issues studied by this science. The scientific paradigm, its functions, tendencies and prospects for its further development are substantiated.

Evaluation of the international standardized 24-h dietary recall methodology (GloboDiet) for potential application in research and surveillance within African settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Aglago, Elom Kouassivi; Landais, Edwige; Nicolas, Geneviève; Margetts, Barrie; Leclercq, Catherine; Allemand, Pauline; Aderibigbe, Olaide; Agueh, Victoire Damienne; Amuna, Paul; Annor, George Amponsah; El Ati, Jalila; Coates, Jennifer; Colaiezzi, Brooke; Compaore, Ella; Delisle, Hélène; Faber, Mieke; Fungo, Robert; Gouado, Inocent; El Hamdouchi, Asmaa; Hounkpatin, Waliou Amoussa; Konan, Amoin Georgette; Labzizi, Saloua; Ledo, James; Mahachi, Carol; Maruapula, Segametsi Ditshebo; Mathe, Nonsikelelo; Mbabazi, Muniirah; Mirembe, Mandy Wilja; Mizéhoun-Adissoda, Carmelle; Nzi, Clement Diby; Pisa, Pedro Terrence; El Rhazi, Karima; Zotor, Francis; Slimani, Nadia

2017-06-19

Collection of reliable and comparable individual food consumption data is of primary importance to better understand, control and monitor malnutrition and its related comorbidities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including in Africa. The lack of standardised dietary tools and their related research support infrastructure remains a major obstacle to implement concerted and region-specific research and action plans worldwide. Citing the magnitude and importance of this challenge, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO) launched the "Global Nutrition Surveillance initiative" to pilot test the use of a standardized 24-h dietary recall research tool (GloboDiet), validated in Europe, in other regions. In this regard, the development of the GloboDiet-Africa can be optimised by better understanding of the local specific methodological needs, barriers and opportunities. The study aimed to evaluate the standardized 24-h dietary recall research tool (GloboDiet) as a possible common methodology for research and surveillance across Africa. A consultative panel of African and international experts in dietary assessment participated in six e-workshop sessions. They completed an in-depth e-questionnaire to evaluate the GloboDiet dietary methodology before and after participating in the e-workshop. The 29 experts expressed their satisfaction on the potential of the software to address local specific needs when evaluating the main structure of the software, the stepwise approach for data collection and standardisation concept. Nevertheless, additional information to better describe local foods and recipes, as well as particular culinary patterns (e.g. mortar pounding), were proposed. Furthermore, food quantification in shared-plates and -bowls eating situations and interviewing of populations with low literacy skills, especially in rural settings, were acknowledged as requiring further specific considerations and appropriate solutions. An overall

Syndromic surveillance for local outbreaks of lower-respiratory infections: would it work?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cees C van den Wijngaard

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Although syndromic surveillance is increasingly used to detect unusual illness, there is a debate whether it is useful for detecting local outbreaks. We evaluated whether syndromic surveillance detects local outbreaks of lower-respiratory infections (LRIs without swamping true signals by false alarms.Using retrospective hospitalization data, we simulated prospective surveillance for LRI-elevations. Between 1999-2006, a total of 290762 LRIs were included by date of hospitalization and patients place of residence (>80% coverage, 16 million population. Two large outbreaks of Legionnaires disease in the Netherlands were used as positive controls to test whether these outbreaks could have been detected as local LRI elevations. We used a space-time permutation scan statistic to detect LRI clusters. We evaluated how many LRI-clusters were detected in 1999-2006 and assessed likely causes for the cluster-signals by looking for significantly higher proportions of specific hospital discharge diagnoses (e.g. Legionnaires disease and overlap with regional influenza elevations. We also evaluated whether the number of space-time signals can be reduced by restricting the scan statistic in space or time. In 1999-2006 the scan-statistic detected 35 local LRI clusters, representing on average 5 clusters per year. The known Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in 1999 and 2006 were detected as LRI-clusters, since cluster-signals were generated with an increased proportion of Legionnaires disease patients (p:<0.0001. 21 other clusters coincided with local influenza and/or respiratory syncytial virus activity, and 1 cluster appeared to be a data artifact. For 11 clusters no likely cause was defined, some possibly representing as yet undetected LRI-outbreaks. With restrictions on time and spatial windows the scan statistic still detected the Legionnaires' disease outbreaks, without loss of timeliness and with less signals generated in time (up to 42% decline.To our

Impact of a surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance program in orthopedics and traumatology.

Science.gov (United States)

Mabit, C; Marcheix, P S; Mounier, M; Dijoux, P; Pestourie, N; Bonnevialle, P; Bonnomet, F

2012-10-01

Surveillance of surgical site infections (SSI) is a priority. One of the fundamental principles for the surveillance of SSI is based on receiving effective field feedback (retro-information). The aim of this study was to report the results of a program of SSI surveillance and validate the hypothesis that there is a correlation between creating a SSI surveillance program and a reduction in SSI. The protocol was based on the weekly collection of surveillance data obtained directly from the different information systems in different departments. A delay of 3 months was established before extraction and analysis of data and information from the surgical teams. The NNIS index (National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System) developed by the American surveillance system and the reduction of length of hospital stay index Journées d'hospitalisation évitées (JHE). Since the end of 2009, 7156 surgical procedures were evaluated (rate of inclusion 97.3%), and 84 SSI were registered with a significant decrease over time from 1.86% to 0.66%. A total of 418 days of hospitalization have been saved since the beginning of the surveillance system. Our surveillance system has three strong points: follow-up is continuous, specifically adapted to orthopedic traumatology and nearly exhaustive. The extraction of data directly from hospital information systems effectively improves the collection of data on surgical procedures. The implementation of a SSI surveillance protocol reduces SSI. Level III. Prospective study. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Methods of nutrition surveillance in low-income countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronica Tuffrey

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In 1974 a joint FAO/UNICEF/WHO Expert Committee met to develop methods for nutrition surveillance. There has been much interest and activity in this topic since then, however there is a lack of guidance for practitioners and confusion exists around the terminology of nutrition surveillance. In this paper we propose a classification of data collection activities, consider the technical issues for each category, and examine the potential applications and challenges related to information and communication technology. Analysis There are three major approaches used to collect primary data for nutrition surveillance: repeated cross-sectional surveys; community-based sentinel monitoring; and the collection of data in schools. There are three major sources of secondary data for surveillance: from feeding centres, health facilities, and community-based data collection, including mass screening for malnutrition in children. Surveillance systems involving repeated surveys are suitable for monitoring and comparing national trends and for planning and policy development. To plan at a local level, surveys at district level or in programme implementation areas are ideal, but given the usually high cost of primary data collection, data obtained from health systems are more appropriate provided they are interpreted with caution and with contextual information. For early warning, data from health systems and sentinel site assessments may be valuable, if consistent in their methods of collection and any systematic bias is deemed to be steady. For evaluation purposes, surveillance systems can only give plausible evidence of whether a programme is effective. However the implementation of programmes can be monitored as long as data are collected on process indicators such as access to, and use of, services. Surveillance systems also have an important role to provide information that can be used for advocacy and for promoting accountability for

Expertise in unexpected places: Children's acceptance of information from gender counter-stereotypical experts.

Science.gov (United States)

Boseovski, Janet J; Hughes, Chelsea; Miller, Stephanie E

2016-01-01

The current study examined children's willingness to accept novel information from expert informants with nontraditional gender role interests. Four- to 8-year-olds heard conflicting information about traditionally feminine or masculine domains from a gender counter-stereotypical expert (e.g., a boy with expertise in ballet) and a layperson of the other gender (e.g., a girl with little knowledge about ballet). Participants were asked which informant was correct, who they would prefer to learn from in the future, and to rate their liking of each informant. Overall, participants selected the gender counter-stereotypical expert as correct. Four- to 5-year-olds reported a preference to learn from same-gender participants in the future irrespective of expertise, whereas 6- to 8-year-olds reported wanting to learn from counter-stereotypical experts. Boys showed relatively greater acceptance of information from a male counter-stereotypical expert than from a female counter-stereotypical expert. Although participants reported greater liking of same-gender informants, liking evaluations were largely positive irrespective of gender norm deviations. Implications for children's acceptance of gender nonconforming activities are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning and Development Expertise: An Australian Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, Steven; Harvey, Jack

2015-01-01

Learning and development (L&D) practitioners draw on a distinctive range of knowledge, skills and techniques in their work. Over the years, there have been attempts to capture this range and identify typical L&D roles. The research presented here was undertaken to identify characteristic areas of expertise (AOEs) of L&D practice in…

The unrivalled expertise for Pu recycling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fournier, W.; Pouilloux, M.

1997-01-01

Relying on the outstanding performances of the reprocessing facilities and the growing fabrication facilities, the in-reactor Pu recycling program in France and in other European countries is steadily implemented and has reached full-scale industrial operation. The RCR strategy -Reprocessing, Conditioning and Recycling- developed by COGEMA is now a well proven industrial reality. In 1997, plutonium recycling through MOX fuel is a mature industry, with successful operational experience and large-scale fabrication plants. In this field, COGEMA is the main actor, on operating simultaneously three complete multidesign fuel production plants: MELOX plant (in Marcoule), CADARACHE plant and DESSEL plant (in Belgium). Present MOX production capacity available to COGEMA fits 175 tHM per year and will be extended to reach about 325 tHM in the year 2000, that will represent 75% of the total MOX fabrication capacity in Europe. The industrial mastery and the high production level in MOX production assured by high technology processes confers COGEMA an unrivalled expertise for Pu recycling. This allows COGEMA to be a major actor in Pu-based fuels in the coming second nuclear era with advanced fuel cycles. The paper depicts the steps of the progressive advance of COGEMA to reach the Pu recycling expertise. (author)

Converging requirements and emerging challenges to public health diseases surveillance and bio surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rao, V.; Abel, T.

2009-01-01

Disease surveillance systems are a critical component of an early warning system for public health agencies to prepare and respond to major public health catastrophes. With a growing emphasis for more robust early indicator and warning systems to track emerging and dangerous diseases of suspicious nature, considerable emphasis is now placed on deployment of more expanded electronic disease surveillance systems. The architectural considerations for bio surveillance information system are based on collection, analysis and dissemination of human, veterinary and agricultural related disease surveillance to broader regional areas likely to be affected in the event of an emerging disease, or due to bioterrorism and better coordinate plans, preparations and response by governmental agencies and multilateral forums. The diseases surveillance systems architectures by intent and design could as well support biological threat monitoring and threat reduction initiatives. As an illustrative sample set, this paper will describe the comparative informatics requirements for a disease surveillance systems developed by CSC for the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) currently operational nationwide, and biological weapons threat assessment developed as part of the Threat Agent Detection and Response (TADR) Network under the US Biological Threat Reduction Program and deployed at Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.(author)

“Veillant Panoptic Assemblage”: Mutual Watching and Resistance to Mass Surveillance after Snowden

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vian Bakir

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The Snowden leaks indicate the extent, nature, and means of contemporary mass digital surveillance of citizens by their intelligence agencies and the role of public oversight mechanisms in holding intelligence agencies to account. As such, they form a rich case study on the interactions of “veillance” (mutual watching involving citizens, journalists, intelligence agencies and corporations. While Surveillance Studies, Intelligence Studies and Journalism Studies have little to say on surveillance of citizens’ data by intelligence agencies (and complicit surveillant corporations, they offer insights into the role of citizens and the press in holding power, and specifically the political-intelligence elite, to account. Attention to such public oversight mechanisms facilitates critical interrogation of issues of surveillant power, resistance and intelligence accountability. It directs attention to the veillant panoptic assemblage (an arrangement of profoundly unequal mutual watching, where citizens’ watching of self and others is, through corporate channels of data flow, fed back into state surveillance of citizens. Finally, it enables evaluation of post-Snowden steps taken towards achieving an equiveillant panoptic assemblage (where, alongside state and corporate surveillance of citizens, the intelligence-power elite, to ensure its accountability, faces robust scrutiny and action from wider civil society.

Development of reconstitution method for surveillance specimens using surface activated joining

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakamura, Terumi; Kaihara, Shoichiro; Yoshida, Kazuo; Sato, Akira [Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan); Onizawa, Kunio; Nishiyama, Yutaka; Fukaya, Kiyoshi; Suzuki, Masahide

1996-03-01

Evaluation of embrittlement of reactor vessel steel due to irradiation requires surveillance tests. However, many surveillance specimens are necessary for nuclear plants life extension. Therefore, a specimen reconstitution technique has become important to provide the many specimens for continued surveillance. A surface activated joining (SAJ) method has been developed to join various materials together at low temperatures with little deformation, and is useful to bond irradiated specimens. To assess the validity of this method, Charpy impact tests were carried out, and the characteristics caused by heating during joining were measured. The test results showed the Charpy impact values were almost the same as base materials, and surface activated joining reduced heat affected zone to less than 2 mm. (author).

How to attain expertise in clinical communication?

Science.gov (United States)

Wouda, Jan C; van de Wiel, Harry B M

2013-12-01

Several factors complicate the attainment of expertise in clinical communication. Medical curricula and postgraduate training insufficiently provide the required learning conditions of deliberate practice to overcome these obstacles. In this paper we provide recommendations for learning objectives and teaching methods for the attainment of professional expertise in patient education. Firstly, we propose to use functional learning objectives derived from the goals and strategies of clinical communication. Secondly, we recommend using teaching and assessment methods which: (1) contain stimulating learning tasks with opportunities for immediate feedback, reflection and corrections, and (2) give ample opportunity for repetition, gradual refinements and practice in challenging situations. Video-on-the-job fits these requirements and can be used to improve the competency in patient education of residents and medical staff in clinical practice. However, video-on-the-job can only be successful if the working environment supports the teaching and learning of communication and if medical staff which supervises the residents, is motivated to improve their own communication and didactic skills. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Descriptive review of tuberculosis surveillance systems across the circumpolar regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annie-Claude Bourgeois

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Tuberculosis is highly prevalent in many Arctic areas. Members of the International Circumpolar Surveillance Tuberculosis (ICS-TB Working Group collaborate to increase knowledge about tuberculosis in Arctic regions. Objective: To establish baseline knowledge of tuberculosis surveillance systems used by ICS-TB member jurisdictions. Design: Three questionnaires were developed to reflect the different surveillance levels (local, regional and national; all 3 were forwarded to the official representative of each of the 15 ICS-TB member jurisdictions in 2013. Respondents self-identified the level of surveillance conducted in their region and completed the applicable questionnaire. Information collected included surveillance system objectives, case definitions, data collection methodology, storage and dissemination. Results: Thirteen ICS-TB jurisdictions [Canada (Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nunavik, Nunavut, Yukon, Finland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Russian Federation (Arkhangelsk, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Yakutia (Sakha Republic, United States (Alaska] voluntarily completed the survey – representing 2 local, 7 regional and 4 national levels. Tuberculosis reporting is mandatory in all jurisdictions, and case definitions are comparable across regions. The common objectives across systems are to detect outbreaks, and inform the evaluation/planning of public health programmes and policies. All jurisdictions collect data on confirmed active tuberculosis cases and treatment outcomes; 11 collect contact tracing results. Faxing of standardized case reporting forms is the most common reporting method. Similar core data elements are collected; 8 regions report genotyping results. Data are stored using customized programmes (n=7 and commercial software (n=6. Nine jurisdictions provide monthly, bi-annual or annual reports to principally government and/or scientific/medical audiences. Conclusion: This review successfully establishes

Surveillance of the exposure to ionizing radiations of the University health staff

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomasina, F.; Sponton, F.; Pintado, C.; Laborde, A.; Blanco, D.; Stolovas, N.; Satragno, N.

2011-01-01

Introduction The surveillance program for the workers exposed to ionizing radiations involves personal dosemeters of exposed workers, and their assessment and comparison with the reference values, which allow prioritizing and taking effective preventive action. Objectives To present the occupational health surveillance program for university workers exposed to ionizing radiations during the 2003-2006 period.Methods Longitudinal and descriptive study. Dosimetric data were obtained from secondary source, on the basis of the dosimetric surveillance program in the University of the Republic. The exposure was evaluated through film dosimetry. The personal dosimetric value records were analyzed within the surveillance program in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.Results It was observed that the dosimetric values did not exceed the reference values accepted as annual maximum figures. The annual maximum dose received was 15,72 milisieverts in the diagnosis and specialized treatment areas of the university hospital. Conclusions Surveillance of exposure to radiations allowed directing the specific systematic medical check-ups as well as stretching the taking of radioprotective measures. In this regard, the Department of Occupational Health is carrying out educational tasks and disseminating the surveillance program in order to reinforce preventive measures.

"No level up!": no effects of video game specialization and expertise on cognitive performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Gobet, Fernand; Johnston, Stephen J; Ferrufino, Gabriella; Johnston, Matthew; Jones, Michael B; Molyneux, Antonia; Terzis, Argyrios; Weeden, Luke

2014-01-01

Previous research into the effects of action video gaming on cognition has suggested that long term exposure to this type of game might lead to an enhancement of cognitive skills that transfer to non-gaming cognitive tasks. However, these results have been controversial. The aim of the current study was to test the presence of positive cognitive transfer from action video games to two cognitive tasks. More specifically, this study investigated the effects that participants' expertise and genre specialization have on cognitive improvements in one task unrelated to video gaming (a flanker task) and one related task (change detection task with both control and genre-specific images). This study was unique in three ways. Firstly, it analyzed a continuum of expertise levels, which has yet to be investigated in research into the cognitive benefits of video gaming. Secondly, it explored genre-specific skill developments on these tasks by comparing Action and Strategy video game players (VGPs). Thirdly, it used a very tight experiment design, including the experimenter being blind to expertise level and genre specialization of the participant. Ninety-two university students aged between 18 and 30 (M = 21.25) were recruited through opportunistic sampling and were grouped by video game specialization and expertise level. While the results of the flanker task were consistent with previous research (i.e., effect of congruence), there was no effect of expertise, and the action gamers failed to outperform the strategy gamers. Additionally, contrary to expectation, there was no interaction between genre specialization and image type in the change detection task, again demonstrating no expertise effect. The lack of effects for game specialization and expertise goes against previous research on the positive effects of action video gaming on other cognitive tasks.

Surveillance of antibiotic resistance

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Alan P.

2015-01-01

Surveillance involves the collection and analysis of data for the detection and monitoring of threats to public health. Surveillance should also inform as to the epidemiology of the threat and its burden in the population. A further key component of surveillance is the timely feedback of data to stakeholders with a view to generating action aimed at reducing or preventing the public health threat being monitored. Surveillance of antibiotic resistance involves the collection of antibiotic susceptibility test results undertaken by microbiology laboratories on bacteria isolated from clinical samples sent for investigation. Correlation of these data with demographic and clinical data for the patient populations from whom the pathogens were isolated gives insight into the underlying epidemiology and facilitates the formulation of rational interventions aimed at reducing the burden of resistance. This article describes a range of surveillance activities that have been undertaken in the UK over a number of years, together with current interventions being implemented. These activities are not only of national importance but form part of the international response to the global threat posed by antibiotic resistance. PMID:25918439

L’expertise psychiatrique au service de la gouvernance ? Psychiatric expertise in the service of governance? ¿La pericia psiquiátrica al servicio de la gobernanza?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier Dembinski

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Cet article analyse le processus d’institutionnalisation d’une expertise gestionnaire en psychiatrie dans le cadre du nouveau management public. Portée par des acteurs intéressés à la faire fonctionner, cette expertise est le produit d’une hybridation entre connaissances gestionnaire et médicale. Elle participe aujourd’hui à la construction d’un appareil idéologique d’État dont l’objectif est d’obtenir la rationalisation de l’activité en psychiatrie.The article examines the process by means of which the New Public Management framework institutionalizes management expertise in the field of psychiatry. Conveyed by actors who have a stake in success, such expertise is the product of a hybridization between managerial and medical knowledge. Today it underpins the construction of an ideological state apparatus whose objective is to rationalize certain activities in psychiatry.En este artículo se analiza el proceso de institucionalización de una pericia de gestión en psiquiatría, en el marco del nuevo management público. Esgrimida por actores interesados en hacerla funcionar, dicha pericia es el producto de una hibridación de conocimientos de gestión y medicina. Actualmente contribuye a la construcción de un aparato ideológico de Estado que busca lograr una racionalización de la actividad psiquiátrica.

A Global Cancer Surveillance Framework Within Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance: Making the Case for Population-Based Cancer Registries.

Science.gov (United States)

Piñeros, Marion; Znaor, Ariana; Mery, Les; Bray, Freddie

2017-01-01

The growing burden of cancer among several major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) requires national implementation of tailored public health surveillance. For many emerging economies where emphasis has traditionally been placed on the surveillance of communicable diseases, it is critical to understand the specificities of NCD surveillance and, within it, of cancer surveillance. We propose a general framework for cancer surveillance that permits monitoring the core components of cancer control. We examine communalities in approaches to the surveillance of other major NCDs as well as communicable diseases, illustrating key differences in the function, coverage, and reporting in each system. Although risk factor surveys and vital statistics registration are the foundation of surveillance of NCDs, population-based cancer registries play a unique fundamental role specific to cancer surveillance, providing indicators of population-based incidence and survival. With an onus now placed on governments to collect these data as part of the monitoring of NCD targets, the integration of cancer registries into existing and future NCD surveillance strategies is a vital requirement in all countries worldwide. The Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development, endorsed by the World Health Organization, provides a means to enhance cancer surveillance capacity in low- and middle-income countries. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluation of surveillance case definition in the diagnosis of leptospirosis, using the Microscopic Agglutination Test: a validation study.

Science.gov (United States)

Dassanayake, Dinesh L B; Wimalaratna, Harith; Agampodi, Suneth B; Liyanapathirana, Veranja C; Piyarathna, Thibbotumunuwe A C L; Goonapienuwala, Bimba L

2009-04-22

Leptospirosis is endemic in both urban and rural areas of Sri Lanka and there had been many out breaks in the recent past. This study was aimed at validating the leptospirosis surveillance case definition, using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT). The study population consisted of patients with undiagnosed acute febrile illness who were admitted to the medical wards of the Teaching Hospital Kandy, from 1st July 2007 to 31st July 2008. The subjects were screened to diagnose leptospirosis according to the leptospirosis case definition. MAT was performed on blood samples taken from each patient on the 7th day of fever. Leptospirosis case definition was evaluated in regard to sensitivity, specificity and predictive values, using a MAT titre >or= 1:800 for confirming leptospirosis. A total of 123 patients were initially recruited of which 73 had clinical features compatible with the surveillance case definition. Out of the 73 only 57 had a positive MAT result (true positives) leaving 16 as false positives. Out of the 50 who didn't have clinical features compatible with the case definition 45 had a negative MAT as well (true negatives), therefore 5 were false negatives. Total number of MAT positives was 62 out of 123. According to these results the test sensitivity was 91.94%, specificity 73.77%, positive predictive value and negative predictive values were 78.08% and 90% respectively. Diagnostic accuracy of the test was 82.93%. This study confirms that the surveillance case definition has a very high sensitivity and negative predictive value with an average specificity in diagnosing leptospirosis, based on a MAT titre of >or= 1: 800.

A GIS-driven integrated real-time surveillance pilot system for national West Nile virus dead bird surveillance in Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aramini Jeff

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background An extensive West Nile virus surveillance program of dead birds, mosquitoes, horses, and human infection has been launched as a result of West Nile virus first being reported in Canada in 2001. Some desktop and web GIS have been applied to West Nile virus dead bird surveillance. There have been urgent needs for a comprehensive GIS services and real-time surveillance. Results A pilot system was developed to integrate real-time surveillance, real-time GIS, and Open GIS technology in order to enhance West Nile virus dead bird surveillance in Canada. Driven and linked by the newly developed real-time web GIS technology, this integrated real-time surveillance system includes conventional real-time web-based surveillance components, integrated real-time GIS components, and integrated Open GIS components. The pilot system identified the major GIS functions and capacities that may be important to public health surveillance. The six web GIS clients provide a wide range of GIS tools for public health surveillance. The pilot system has been serving Canadian national West Nile virus dead bird surveillance since 2005 and is adaptable to serve other disease surveillance. Conclusion This pilot system has streamlined, enriched and enhanced national West Nile virus dead bird surveillance in Canada, improved productivity, and reduced operation cost. Its real-time GIS technology, static map technology, WMS integration, and its integration with non-GIS real-time surveillance system made this pilot system unique in surveillance and public health GIS.

Implementing Expertise-Based Training Methods to Accelerate the Development of Peer Academic Coaches

Science.gov (United States)

Blair, Lisa

2016-01-01

The field of expertise studies offers several models from which to develop training programs that accelerate the development of novice performers in a variety of domains. This research study implemented two methods of expertise-based training in a course to develop undergraduate peer academic coaches through a ten-week program. An existing…

Comparative assessment of passive surveillance in disease-free and endemic situation: Example of Brucella melitensis surveillance in Switzerland and in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haracic Sabina

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Globalization and subsequent growth in international trade in animals and animal products has increased the importance of international disease reporting. Efficient and reliable surveillance systems are needed in order to document the disease status of a population at a given time. In this context, passive surveillance plays an important role in early warning systems. However, it is not yet routinely integrated in the assessment of disease surveillance systems because different factors like the disease awareness (DA of people reporting suspect cases influence the detection performance of passive surveillance. In this paper, we used scenario tree methodology in order to evaluate and compare the quality and benefit of abortion testing (ABT for Brucella melitensis (Bm between the disease free situation in Switzerland (CH and a hypothetical disease free situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH, taking into account DA levels assumed for the current endemic situation in BH. Results The structure and input parameters of the scenario tree were identical for CH and BH with the exception of population data in small ruminants and the DA in farmers and veterinarians. The sensitivity analysis of the stochastic scenario tree model showed that the small ruminant population structure and the DA of farmers were important influential parameters with regard to the unit sensitivity of ABT in both CH and BH. The DA of both farmers and veterinarians was assumed to be higher in BH than in CH due to the current endemic situation in BH. Although the same DA cannot necessarily be assumed for the modelled hypothetical disease free situation as for the actual endemic situation, it shows the importance of the higher vigilance of people reporting suspect cases on the probability that an average unit processed in the ABT-component would test positive. Conclusion The actual sensitivity of passive surveillance approaches heavily depends on the context in

Non-process instrumentation surveillance and test reduction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrell, R.; LeDonne, V.; Donat, T.; Thomson, I.; Sarlitto, M.

1993-12-01

Analysis of operating experience, instrument failure modes, and degraded instrument performance has led to a reduction in Technical Specification surveillance and test requirements for nuclear power plant process instrumentation. These changes have resulted in lower plant operations and maintenance (O ampersand M) labor costs. This report explores the possibility of realizing similar savings by reducing requirements for non-process instrumentation. The project team reviewed generic Technical Specifications for the four major US nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) vendors (Westinghouse, General Electric, Combustion Engineering, and Babcock ampersand Wilcox) to identify nonprocess instrumentation for which surveillance/test requirements could be reduced. The team surveyed 10 utilities to identify specific non-process instrumentation at their plants for which requirements could be reduced. The team evaluated utility analytic approaches used to justify changes in surveillance/test requirements for process equipment to determine their applicability to non-process instrumentation. The report presents a prioritized list of non-process instrumentation systems suitable for surveillance/test requirements reduction. The top three systems in the list are vibration monitors, leak detection monitors, and chemistry monitors. In general, most non-process instrumentation governed by Technical Specification requirements are candidates for requirements reduction. If statistical requirements are somewhat relaxed, the analytic approaches previously used to reduce requirements for process instrumentation can be applied to non-process instrumentation. The report identifies as viable the technical approaches developed and successfully used by Southern California Edison, Arizona Public Service, and Boston Edison

Environmental surveillance for polioviruses in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Asghar, Humayun; Diop, Ousmane M; Weldegebriel, Goitom; Malik, Farzana; Shetty, Sushmitha; El Bassioni, Laila; Akande, Adefunke O; Al Maamoun, Eman; Zaidi, Sohail; Adeniji, Adekunle J; Burns, Cara C; Deshpande, Jagadish; Oberste, M Steve; Lowther, Sara A

2014-11-01

This article summarizes the status of environmental surveillance (ES) used by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, provides the rationale for ES, gives examples of ES methods and findings, and summarizes how these data are used to achieve poliovirus eradication. ES complements clinical acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance for possible polio cases. ES detects poliovirus circulation in environmental sewage and is used to monitor transmission in communities. If detected, the genetic sequences of polioviruses isolated from ES are compared with those of isolates from clinical cases to evaluate the relationships among viruses. To evaluate poliovirus transmission, ES programs must be developed in a manner that is sensitive, with sufficiently frequent sampling, appropriate isolation methods, and specifically targeted sampling sites in locations at highest risk for poliovirus transmission. After poliovirus ceased to be detected in human cases, ES documented the absence of endemic WPV transmission and detected imported WPV. ES provides valuable information, particularly in high-density populations where AFP surveillance is of poor quality, persistent virus circulation is suspected, or frequent virus reintroduction is perceived. Given the benefits of ES, GPEI plans to continue and expand ES as part of its strategic plan and as a supplement to AFP surveillance. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

Instructional Design for Accelerated Macrocognitive Expertise in the Baseball Workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Fadde, Peter J

2016-01-01

The goal of accelerating expertise can leave researchers and trainers in human factors, naturalistic decision making, sport science, and expertise studies concerned about seemingly insufficient application of expert performance theories, findings and methods for training macrocognitive aspects of human performance. Video-occlusion methods perfected by sports expertise researchers have great instructional utility, in some cases offering an effective and inexpensive alternative to high-fidelity simulation. A key problem for instructional designers seems to be that expertise research done in laboratory and field settings doesn't get adequately translated into workplace training. Therefore, this article presents a framework for better linkage of expertise research/training across laboratory, field, and workplace settings. It also uses a case study to trace the development and implementation of a macrocognitive training program in the very challenging workplace of the baseball batters' box. This training, which was embedded for a full season in a college baseball team, targeted the perceptual-cognitive skill of pitch recognition that allows expert batters to circumvent limitations of human reaction time in order to hit a 90 mile-per-hour slider. While baseball batting has few analogous skills outside of sports, the instructional design principles of the training program developed to improve batting have wider applicability and implications. Its core operational principle, supported by information processing models but challenged by ecological models, decouples the perception-action link for targeted part-task training of the perception component, in much the same way that motor components routinely are isolated to leverage instructional efficiencies. After targeted perceptual training, perception and action were recoupled via transfer-appropriate tasks inspired by in situ research tasks. Using NCAA published statistics as performance measures, the cooperating team

Instructional Design for Accelerated Macrocognitive Expertise in the Baseball Workplace

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter J. Fadde

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The goal of accelerating expertise can leave researchers and trainers in human factors, naturalistic decision making, sport science, and expertise studies concerned about seemingly insufficient application of expert performance theories, findings and methods for training macrocognitive aspects of human performance. Video-occlusion methods perfected by sports expertise researchers have great instructional utility, in some cases offering an effective and inexpensive alternative to high-fidelity simulation. A key problem for instructional designers seems to be that expertise research done in laboratory and field settings doesn’t get adequately translated into workplace training. Therefore, this article presents a framework for better linkage of expertise research/training across laboratory, field, and workplace settings. It also uses a case study to trace the development and implementation of a macrocognitive training program in the very challenging workplace of the baseball batters’ box. This training, which was embedded for a full season in a college baseball team, targeted the perceptual-cognitive skill of pitch recognition that allows expert batters to circumvent limitations of human reaction time in order to hit a 90 mile-per-hour slider. While baseball batting has few analogous skills outside of sports, the instructional design principles of the training program developed to improve batting have wider applicability and implications. Its core operational principle, supported by information processing models but challenged by ecological models, decouples the perception-action link for targeted part-task training of the perception component, in much the same way that motor components routinely are isolated to leverage instructional efficiencies. After targeted perceptual training, perception and action were recoupled via transfer-appropriate tasks inspired by in situ research tasks. Using NCAA published statistics as performance measures

Relapse surveillance in AFP-positive hepatoblastoma: re-evaluating the role of imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rojas, Yesenia; Vasudevan, Sanjeev A.; Nuchtern, Jed G. [Baylor College of Medicine, Pediatric Surgery Division, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Texas Children' s Hospital, Houston, TX (United States); Guillerman, R.P. [Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Radiology, Texas Children' s Hospital, Houston, TX (United States); Zhang, Wei [Texas Children' s Hospital, Surgical Outcomes Center, Houston, TX (United States); Thompson, Patrick A. [Baylor College of Medicine, Hematology-Oncology Division, Department of Pediatrics, Texas Children' s Cancer Center, Texas Children' s Hospital, Houston, TX (United States); University of North Carolina, Hematology-Oncology Division, Department of Pediatrics, North Carolina Children' s Hospital, Chapel Hill, NC (United States)

2014-10-15

Children with hepatoblastoma routinely undergo repetitive surveillance imaging, with CT scans for several years after therapy, increasing the risk of radiation-induced cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of surveillance CT scans compared to serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels for the detection of hepatoblastoma relapse. This was a retrospective study of all children diagnosed with AFP-positive hepatoblastoma from 2001 to 2011 at a single institution. Twenty-six children with hepatoblastoma were identified, with a mean age at diagnosis of 2 years 4 months (range 3 months to 11 years). Mean AFP level at diagnosis was 132,732 ng/ml (range 172.8-572,613 ng/ml). Five of the 26 children had hepatoblastoma relapse. A total of 105 imaging exams were performed following completion of therapy; 88 (84%) CT, 8 (8%) MRI, 5 (5%) US and 4 (4%) FDG PET/CT exams. A total of 288 alpha-fetoprotein levels were drawn, with a mean of 11 per child. The AFP level was elevated in all recurrences and no relapses were detected by imaging before AFP elevation. Two false-positive AFP levels and 15 false-positive imaging exams were detected. AFP elevation was found to be significantly more specific than PET/CT and CT imaging at detecting relapse. We recommend using serial serum AFP levels as the preferred method of surveillance in children with AFP-positive hepatoblastoma, reserving imaging for the early postoperative period, for children at high risk of relapse, and for determination of the anatomical site of clinically suspected recurrence. Given the small size of this preliminary study, validation in a larger patient population is warranted. (orig.)

Environmental surveillance of low-level radioactive waste management areas at Los Alamos during 1985

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-01-01

This report was compiled as a part of the DOE-sponsored radioactive waste site surveillance program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The report is a source document for data collected in 1985. However, an attempt is made to interpret the data as it relates to radionuclide transport to serve in guiding future waste site surveillance activities. This report contains information on one active and 11 inactive radioactive waste management areas at Los Alamos. Sections include the use history, current status, and future stabilization needs for all sites; the results of detailed surveillance activities at Areas G and C; and a dose evaluation based on the waste site and Laboratory environmental surveillance data. 9 refs., 30 figs., 13 tabs

The changing role of veterinary expertise in the food chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Enticott, Gareth; Donaldson, Andrew; Lowe, Philip; Power, Megan; Proctor, Amy; Wilkinson, Katy

2011-07-12

This paper analyses how the changing governance of animal health has impacted upon veterinary expertise and its role in providing public health benefits. It argues that the social sciences can play an important role in understanding the nature of these changes, but also that their ideas and methods are, in part, responsible for them. The paper begins by examining how veterinary expertise came to be crucial to the regulation of the food chain in the twentieth century. The relationship between the veterinary profession and the state proved mutually beneficial, allowing the state to address the problems of animal health, and the veterinary profession to become identified as central to public health and food supply. However, this relationship has been gradually eroded by the application of neoliberal management techniques to the governance of animal health. This paper traces the impact of these techniques that have caused widespread unease within and beyond the veterinary profession about the consequences for its role in maintaining the public good of animal health. In conclusion, this paper suggests that the development of the social sciences in relation to animal health could contribute more helpfully to further changes in veterinary expertise.

ASM LabCap's contributions to disease surveillance and the International Health Regulations (2005).

Science.gov (United States)

Specter, Steven; Schuermann, Lily; Hakiruwizera, Celestin; Sow, Mah-Séré Keita

2010-12-03

The revised International Health Regulations [IHR(2005)], which requires the Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop core capacities to detect, assess, report, and respond to public health threats, is bringing new challenges for national and international surveillance systems. As more countries move toward implementation and/or strengthening of their infectious disease surveillance programs, the strengthening of clinical microbiology laboratories becomes increasingly important because they serve as the first line responders to detect new and emerging microbial threats, re-emerging infectious diseases, the spread of antibiotic resistance, and the possibility of bioterrorism. In fact, IHR(2005) Core Capacity #8, "Laboratory", requires that laboratory services be a part of every phase of alert and response.Public health laboratories in many resource-constrained countries require financial and technical assistance to build their capacity. In recognition of this, in 2006, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) established an International Laboratory Capacity Building Program, LabCap, housed under the ASM International Board. ASM LabCap utilizes ASM's vast resources and its membership's expertise-40,000 microbiologists worldwide-to strengthen clinical and public health laboratory systems in low and low-middle income countries. ASM LabCap's program activities align with HR(2005) by building the capability of resource-constrained countries to develop quality-assured, laboratory-based information which is critical to disease surveillance and the rapid detection of disease outbreaks, whether they stem from natural, deliberate or accidental causes.ASM LabCap helps build laboratory capacity under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and under a sub-contract with the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID

Applications and Comparisons of Four Time Series Models in Epidemiological Surveillance Data

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Alistair A.; Li, Xiaosong

2014-01-01

Public health surveillance systems provide valuable data for reliable predication of future epidemic events. This paper describes a study that used nine types of infectious disease data collected through a national public health surveillance system in mainland China to evaluate and compare the performances of four time series methods, namely, two decomposition methods (regression and exponential smoothing), autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and support vector machine (SVM). The data obtained from 2005 to 2011 and in 2012 were used as modeling and forecasting samples, respectively. The performances were evaluated based on three metrics: mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and mean square error (MSE). The accuracy of the statistical models in forecasting future epidemic disease proved their effectiveness in epidemiological surveillance. Although the comparisons found that no single method is completely superior to the others, the present study indeed highlighted that the SVMs outperforms the ARIMA model and decomposition methods in most cases. PMID:24505382

Issues ignored in laboratory quality surveillance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeng Jing; Li Xingyuan; Zhang Tingsheng

2008-01-01

According to the work requirement of the related laboratory quality surveillance in ISO17025, this paper analyzed and discussed the issued ignored in the laboratory quality surveillance. In order to solve the present problem, it is required to understand the work responsibility in the quality surveillance correctly, to establish the effective working routine in the quality surveillance, and to conduct, the quality surveillance work. The object in the quality surveillance shall be 'the operator' who engaged in the examination/calibration directly in the laboratory, especially the personnel in training (who is engaged in the examination/calibration). The quality supervisors shall be fully authorized, so that they can correctly understand the work responsibility in quality surveillance, and are with the rights for 'full supervision'. The laboratory also shall arrange necessary training to the quality supervisor, so that they can obtain sufficient guide in time and are with required qualification or occupation prerequisites. (authors)

Active animal health surveillance in European Union Member States: gaps and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Bisdorff, B; Schauer, B; Taylor, N; Rodríguez-Prieto, V; Comin, A; Brouwer, A; Dórea, F; Drewe, J; Hoinville, L; Lindberg, A; Martinez Avilés, M; Martínez-López, B; Peyre, M; Pinto Ferreira, J; Rushton, J; VAN Schaik, G; Stärk, K D C; Staubach, C; Vicente-Rubiano, M; Witteveen, G; Pfeiffer, D; Häsler, B

2017-03-01

Animal health surveillance enables the detection and control of animal diseases including zoonoses. Under the EU-FP7 project RISKSUR, a survey was conducted in 11 EU Member States and Switzerland to describe active surveillance components in 2011 managed by the public or private sector and identify gaps and opportunities. Information was collected about hazard, target population, geographical focus, legal obligation, management, surveillance design, risk-based sampling, and multi-hazard surveillance. Two countries were excluded due to incompleteness of data. Most of the 664 components targeted cattle (26·7%), pigs (17·5%) or poultry (16·0%). The most common surveillance objectives were demonstrating freedom from disease (43·8%) and case detection (26·8%). Over half of components applied risk-based sampling (57·1%), but mainly focused on a single population stratum (targeted risk-based) rather than differentiating between risk levels of different strata (stratified risk-based). About a third of components were multi-hazard (37·3%). Both risk-based sampling and multi-hazard surveillance were used more frequently in privately funded components. The study identified several gaps (e.g. lack of systematic documentation, inconsistent application of terminology) and opportunities (e.g. stratified risk-based sampling). The greater flexibility provided by the new EU Animal Health Law means that systematic evaluation of surveillance alternatives will be required to optimize cost-effectiveness.

Radiation surveillance in Austria in 2000. Dates and evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bobek, E.; Streeruwitz, E.

2001-11-01

This report presents results of the radiation surveillance in Austria in 2000, performed by the competent authorities, based on the Austrian Radiation Protection Act. In particular data of large scale monitoring concerning radioactive contamination and of nuclear research reactor emission and immission control are given. In Austria an extensive program is realized for the purpose of large scale surveillance on radioactivity. On the one hand an early radiation warning system with 336 gamma dose rate monitors and several partly nuclide specific air contamination monitors is operated. The data are automatically communicated to various authorities in real-time. On the other hand the radionuclide content of various media such as air, precipitation, surface water, foodstuffs etc is monitored by periodic sampling and subsequent analysis in laboratories. In addition to this routine program special projects are carried out for investigation of specific media and to improve the knowledge of the time dependence respectively of regional aspects of the contamination situation. The inspection of the nuclear installations by the authorities concerning emissions and immissions is set up of two parts: inspection of the quality of the internal control by the operator and independent surveillance by examination of samples taken by the authority. In 2000 the average annual radiation exposure of the Austrian population amounted to about 4.2 mSv effective dose per person. The contributions dominating by far originate from natural and medical sources of radiation. In comparison with these, contributions from all other sources of radiation are extremely small. The average annual effective dose caused by natural radiation amounts to approximately 2.9 mSv per person. The inhalation of the radioactive noble gas radon and its short lived progeny in the mean contributes more than half to this exposure. Mainly because of different radon concentrations considerable variations in natural

The Effect of Domain and Technical Expertise on the Training Outcomes for Case Management Systems in High Domain Expertise Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Steven L.

2017-01-01

The successful implementation of an enterprise system requires training and end users in the new systems and procedures. There has been no research reporting a relationship between Domain Expertise (DE) and the successful implementation of an enterprise system. This study sought to begin filling this knowledge gap by exploring the relationship…

Automated surveillance system for hospital-acquired urinary tract infections in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Condell, Orla; Gubbels, Sophie; Nielsen, J

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: The Danish Hospital-Acquired Infections Database (HAIBA) is an automated surveillance system using hospital administrative, microbiological, and antibiotic medication data. AIM: To define and evaluate the case definition for hospital-acquired urinary tract infection (HA-UTI) and to de......BACKGROUND: The Danish Hospital-Acquired Infections Database (HAIBA) is an automated surveillance system using hospital administrative, microbiological, and antibiotic medication data. AIM: To define and evaluate the case definition for hospital-acquired urinary tract infection (HA-UTI......) and to describe surveillance data from 2010 to 2014. METHODS: The HA-UTI algorithm defined a laboratory-diagnosed UTI as a urine culture positive for no more than two micro-organisms with at least one at ≥10(4)cfu/mL, and a probable UTI as a negative urine culture and a relevant diagnosis code or antibiotic...... treatment. UTI was considered hospital-acquired if a urine sample was collected ≥48h after admission and UTI was calculated per 10,000 risk-days. For validation, prevalence was calculated for each day and compared to point prevalence survey (PPS) data. FINDINGS: HAIBA...

[Surveillance in Spain 3 years since the enactment of the Public Health Law].

Science.gov (United States)

Pousa, Anxela; Godoy, Pere; Aragonés, Nuria; Cano, Rosa; Sierra, María José; González, Francisco; Mayoral, José María

2016-01-01

In 2014, the Epidemiological Surveillance Working Group of the Sociedad Española de Epidemiología (Spanish Society of Epidemiology), carried out a descriptive study in order to evaluate the level of development of the Spanish Public Health Law since its enactment in 2011. A survey collecting data on the existence of information systems and other aspects pertaining to each surveillance section included in the law was sent to all 19 autonomous communities and cities. All regional authorities reported the presence of an information system for communicable diseases, and six also reported an information system for social factors. 18 reported that at least one chronic disease was subject to surveillance and 14 confirmed surveillance of some of its determinants. They all systematically analysed the data derived from the communicable diseases. There is room for improvement in Public Health surveillance in Spain, and action should be aimed at the main health problems. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Spatio-temporal analysis of Salmonella surveillance data in Thailand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Coutinho Calado Domingues, Ana Rita; Vieira, Antonio; Hendriksen, Rene S.

2014-01-01

This study evaluates the usefulness of spatio-temporal statistical tools to detect outbreaks using routine surveillance data where limited epidemiological information is available. A dataset from 2002 to 2007 containing information regarding date, origin, source and serotype of 29 586 Salmonella ...

Surviving Surveillance: How Pregnant Women and Mothers Living With HIV Respond to Medical and Social Surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Greene, Saara; Ion, Allyson; Kwaramba, Gladys; Lazarus, Lisa; Loutfy, Mona

2017-12-01

Pregnant women and mothers living with HIV are under surveillance of service providers, family members, and the community at large. Surveillance occurs throughout the medical management of their HIV during pregnancy, preventing HIV transmission to their baby, infant feeding practices, and as part of assessments related to their ability to mother. Enacted and anticipatory HIV-related stigma can exacerbate the negative impact that being under surveillance has on mothers living with HIV as they move through their pregnancy, birthing, and mothering experiences. In response, women living with HIV find ways to manage their experiences of surveillance through engaging in acts of distancing, planning, and resisting at different points in time, and sometimes enacting all three practices at once. Positioning the narratives of pregnant women and mothers living with HIV in relation to their experiences of surveillance illuminates the relationship between the surveillance of mothers living with HIV and HIV-related stigma.

Best Practice for Developmental Stuttering: Balancing Evidence and Expertise

Science.gov (United States)

Byrd, Courtney T.; Donaher, Joseph

2018-01-01

Purpose: Best practice for developmental stuttering remains a topic of debate. In the clinical forum following the introduction, four fluency experts balance the evidence and expertise to describe their approach to assessment and treatment.

Analysis to evaluate predictors of fiberboard aging to guide surveillance sampling for the 9975 life extension program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelly, Elizabeth J. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Daugherty, William L. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Hackney, Elizabeth R. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

2016-05-09

During surveillance of the 9975 shipping package at the Savannah River Site K-Area Complex, several package dimensions are recorded. The analysis described in this report shows that, based on the current data analysis, two of these measurements, Upper Assembly Outer Diameter (UAOD) and Upper Assembly Inside Height (UAIH), do not have statistically significant aging trends regardless of wattage levels. In contrast, this analysis indicates that the measurement of Air Shield Gap (ASGap) does show a significant increase with age. It appears that the increase is greater for high wattage containers, but this result is dominated by two measurements from high-wattage containers. For all three indicators, additional high-wattage, older containers need to be examined before any definitive conclusions can be reached. In addition, the current analysis indicates that ASGap measurements for low and medium wattage containers are increasing slowly over time. To reduce uncertainties and better capture the aging trend for these containers, additional low and medium wattage older containers should also be examined. Based on this analysis, surveillance guidance is to augment surveillance containers resulting from 3013 surveillance with 9975-focused sampling that targets older, high wattage containers and also includes some older, low and medium wattage containers. This focused sampling began in 2015 and will continue in 2016. The UAOD, UAIH and ASGap data are highly variable. It is possible that additional factors such as seasonal variation and packaging site location might reduce variability and be useful for focusing surveillance and predicting aging.

Child development surveillance: intervention study with nurses of the Family Health Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Altamira Pereira da Silva Reichert

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational action in child development surveillance performed by nurses working in primary health care.Methods: interventional study with a before-and-after type of design, carried out with 45 nurses and 450 mothers of children under 2 years of age. Initially, it was evaluated the practices and knowledge of nurses on child development surveillance and the mothers were interviewed about these practices. Subsequently, workshops were carried out with nurses and four months later, the knowledge of nurses and the maternal information were reevaluated.Results: after intervention there was significant increase in the frequency of the following aspects: from 73% to 100%, in relation to the practice of nurses of asking the opinion of mothers about their children's development; from 42% to 91%, regarding the use of the systematized instrument of evaluation; from 91% to 100% with respect to guidance to mothers on how to stimulate child development.Conclusions: the intervention contributed to the increase of knowledge of nurses and implementation of child development surveillance, showing the importance of this initiative to improve the quality of child health care.

Limited utility of routine surveillance imaging for classical Hodgkin lymphoma patients in first complete remission.

Science.gov (United States)

Pingali, Sai Ravi; Jewell, Sarah W; Havlat, Luiza; Bast, Martin A; Thompson, Jonathan R; Eastwood, Daniel C; Bartlett, Nancy L; Armitage, James O; Wagner-Johnston, Nina D; Vose, Julie M; Fenske, Timothy S

2014-07-15

The objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) who achieved complete remission with frontline therapy and then underwent either clinical surveillance or routine surveillance imaging. In total, 241 patients who were newly diagnosed with cHL between January 2000 and December 2010 at 3 participating tertiary care centers and achieved complete remission after first-line therapy were retrospectively analyzed. Of these, there were 174 patients in the routine surveillance imaging group and 67 patients in the clinical surveillance group, based on the intended mode of surveillance. In the routine surveillance imaging group, the intended plan of surveillance included computed tomography and/or positron emission tomography scans; whereas, in the clinical surveillance group, the intended plan of surveillance was clinical examination and laboratory studies, and scans were obtained only to evaluate concerning signs or symptoms. Baseline patient characteristics, prognostic features, treatment records, and outcomes were collected. The primary objective was to compare overall survival for patients in both groups. For secondary objectives, we compared the success of second-line therapy and estimated the costs of imaging for each group. After 5 years of follow-up, the overall survival rate was 97% (95% confidence interval, 92%-99%) in the routine surveillance imaging group and 96% (95% confidence interval, 87%-99%) in the clinical surveillance group (P = .41). There were few relapses in each group, and all patients who relapsed in both groups achieved complete remission with second-line therapy. The charges associated with routine surveillance imaging were significantly higher than those for the clinical surveillance strategy, with no apparent clinical benefit. Clinical surveillance was not inferior to routine surveillance imaging in patients with cHL who achieved complete remission with frontline therapy. Routine

Evaluation of the radiological situation of the French environment in 2007. Synthesis of the I.R.S.N. surveillance networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

After a reminder of the objectives and the organisation of the radiological surveillance, the radiological events detected in 2007 are given: high tritium activity in a water sampling (Saclay), detection of alpha emitters in aerosols sampling (Pierrelatte), detection of cobalt 60 in an aerosol sampling (Somanu Areva), increase of a global beta activity in aerosols (north-east and center of France), detection of uranium in water (Pithiviers). We find then the results of the surveillance of fuel cycle sites, the results of the surveillance of the research centers and naval base, the results of the surveillance of radioactive release of nuclear medicine services, the results of the general surveillance of the territory (and the different Internet sites that give these data). This report ends with notions about radioactivity and ionizing radiations as well as radiation protection basic knowledge. (N.C.)

Chasing expertise: reappraising the role of intuitive process in creative decisionmaking

OpenAIRE

Melrose, Susan

2015-01-01

What are some of the implications for the ways we think about contemporary dance-making, today, if we start from the premise that while art-making is a mode of work, expertise in that mode of work is rarely thematised in Dance writing - even though that expertise is widely celebrated in the world or worlds of dance and performance? \\ud I asked in the early days of the 21stC why terms like “performance mastery”, “virtuosity” and “disciplinary expertise” figured so rarely in performance and dan...

Reporting and Surveillance for Norovirus Outbreaks

Science.gov (United States)

... Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN) Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the United States CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program CDC Feature: Surveillance for Norovirus Outbreaks Top ...

Organizational change and human expertise in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masson, M.; Malaisc, N.

1992-01-01

Reliability and safety are two very important goals, which depend on technical and organizational factors, but also on human expertise. How to ensure a safe functioning of a nuclear power plant in a changing context, and what might be the role and aspects of training and transfer of knowledge? These are the questions we shall deal with in this paper, on the basis of two field studies. The two field studies stress the needs for setting up case based training, which best ensure the acquisition of know-how. Furthermore, as shown by the second one, gaining expertise involves developing large repertoires of highly skilled, semi-routinized activities. Supporting expert operators not only should tackle problem solving activities but should thus also include the prevention of routine errors, which go along with skill acquisition. (author)

Standard protocol for conducting pre-operational environmental surveillance around nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hegde, A.G.; Verma, P.C.; Rajan, M.P.

2009-02-01

This document presents the standard procedures for evaluation of site specific environmental transfer factors around NPP sites. The scope of this document is to provide standard protocol to be followed for conducting pre-operational environmental surveillance around nuclear facilities. Such surveillances have been proposed to be carried out by university professionals under DAE-BRNS projects. This document contains a common methodology in terms of sampling, processing, measurements and analysis of elemental/radionuclides, while keeping the site specific requirements also in place. (author)

Standard protocol for conducting pre-operational environmental surveillance around nuclear facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hegde, A G; Verma, P C; Rajan, M P [Health Safety and Environment Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

2009-02-15

This document presents the standard procedures for evaluation of site specific environmental transfer factors around NPP sites. The scope of this document is to provide standard protocol to be followed for conducting pre-operational environmental surveillance around nuclear facilities. Such surveillances have been proposed to be carried out by university professionals under DAE-BRNS projects. This document contains a common methodology in terms of sampling, processing, measurements and analysis of elemental/radionuclides, while keeping the site specific requirements also in place. (author)

Malaria surveillance and use of evidence in planning and decision ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr. L Mboera

system on malaria was evaluated using a structured questionnaire and check list. ... Disease surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and ... cases and deaths is critical for the design, implementation and monitoring and ...

Reactor Vessel Surveillance Program for Advanced Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeong, Kyeong-Hoon; Kim, Tae-Wan; Lee, Gyu-Mahn; Kim, Jong-Wook; Park, Keun-Bae; Kim, Keung-Koo

2008-10-15

This report provides the design requirements of an integral type reactor vessel surveillance program for an integral type reactor in accordance with the requirements of Korean MEST (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Development) Notice 2008-18. This report covers the requirements for the design of surveillance capsule assemblies including their test specimens, test block materials, handling tools, and monitors of the surveillance capsule neutron fluence and temperature. In addition, this report provides design requirements for the program for irradiation surveillance of reactor vessel materials, a layout of specimens and monitors in the surveillance capsule, procedures of installation and retrieval of the surveillance capsule assemblies, and the layout of the surveillance capsule assemblies in the reactor.

Effects of Forgetting Phenomenon on Surveillance Test Interval

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Ho-Joong; Jang, Seung-Cheol

2007-01-01

Technical Specifications (TS) requirements for nuclear power plants (NPPs) define Surveillance Requirements (SRs) to assure safety during operation. SRs include surveillance test intervals (STIs) and the optimization of the STIs is one of the main issues in risk-informed applications. Surveillance tests are required in NPPs to detect failures in standby equipment to assure their availability in an accident. However, operating experience of the plants suggests that, in addition to the beneficial effects of detecting latent faults, the tests also may have adverse effects on plant operation or equipment; e.g., plant transient caused by the test and wear-out of safety system equipment due to repeated testing. Recent studies have quantitatively evaluated both the beneficial and adverse effects of testing to decide on an acceptable test interval. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of forgetting phenomenon on STI. It is a fundamental human characteristic that a person engaged in a repetitive task will improve his performance over time. The learning phenomenon is observed by the decrease in operation time per unit as operators gain experience by performing additional tasks. However, once there is a break of sufficient length, forgetting starts to take place. In surveillance tests, the most common factor to determine the amount of forgetting is the length of STI, where the longer the STI, the greater the amount of forgetting

Developing expertise in gynecologic surgery: reflective perspectives of international experts on learning environments and processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hardre PL

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Patricia L Hardré,1 Mikio Nihira,2 Edgar L LeClaire3 1Department of Educational Psychology, University of Oklahoma College of Education, Norman, 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, OK, 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Kansas College of Medicine, Kansas City, KS, USA Abstract: Research in medical education does not provide a clear understanding of how professional expertise develops among surgeons and what experiential factors contribute to that development. To address this gap, the researchers interviewed 16 international experts in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery to assess their reflective perceptions of what specific opportunities and experiences initiated and supported their development toward expertise in their field. Characteristics and influences explaining the speed and quality of expertise development were sorted into the following themes: the dynamic process of expertise development, internal and personal characteristics, general aptitudes and preparatory skills, role modeling and interpersonal influences, opportunities to learn and practice, and roles and reference points. Across the narratives and perspectives of these expert surgeons, both individual characteristics and choices, and contextual activities and opportunities were necessary and important. Experiences with greatest impact on quality of expertise development included those provided by the environment and mentors, as well as those sought out by learners themselves, to elaborate and supplement existing opportunities. The ideal combination across experts was interaction and integration of individual characteristics with experiential opportunities. Grounded in theory and research in expertise development, these findings can support improvement of medical education, both for individual mentors and strategic program development. As surgery evolves at a continuously

Master schedule for CY-1982 Hanford environmental surveillance routine program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blumer, P.J.; Sula, M.J.; Eddy, P.A.

1981-12-01

This report provides the current schedule of data collection for the routine environmental surveillance program at the Hanford Site. The environmental surveillance program objectives are to evaluate and report the levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, as required in DOE Order 5484.1. The routine sampling schedule provided does not include samples which are planned to be collected during FY-1982 in support of special studies or for quality control purposes. In addition, the routine program outlined in this schedule is subject to modification during the year in response to changes in Site operations, program requirements, or unusual sample results. Sampling schedules are presented for the following: air; Columbia River; sanitary water; surface water; ground water; foodstuffs; wildlife; soil and vegetation; external radiation measurements; portable instrument surveys; and surveillance of waste disposal sites

Expertise Effects in Face-Selective Areas are Robust to Clutter and Diverted Attention, but not to Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

McGugin, Rankin Williams; Van Gulick, Ana E; Tamber-Rosenau, Benjamin J; Ross, David A; Gauthier, Isabel

2015-09-01

Expertise effects for nonface objects in face-selective brain areas may reflect stable aspects of neuronal selectivity that determine how observers perceive objects. However, bottom-up (e.g., clutter from irrelevant objects) and top-down manipulations (e.g., attentional selection) can influence activity, affecting the link between category selectivity and individual performance. We test the prediction that individual differences expressed as neural expertise effects for cars in face-selective areas are sufficiently stable to survive clutter and manipulations of attention. Additionally, behavioral work and work using event related potentials suggest that expertise effects may not survive competition; we investigate this using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects varying in expertise with cars made 1-back decisions about cars, faces, and objects in displays containing one or 2 objects, with only one category attended. Univariate analyses suggest car expertise effects are robust to clutter, dampened by reducing attention to cars, but nonetheless more robust to manipulations of attention than competition. While univariate expertise effects are severely abolished by competition between cars and faces, multivariate analyses reveal new information related to car expertise. These results demonstrate that signals in face-selective areas predict expertise effects for nonface objects in a variety of conditions, although individual differences may be expressed in different dependent measures depending on task and instructions. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Between visibility and surveillance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Uldam, Julie

As activists move from alternative media platforms to commercial social media platforms they face increasing challenges in protecting their online security and privacy. While government surveillance of activists is well-documented in both scholarly research and the media, corporate surveillance...

Real-time whole-genome sequencing for routine typing, surveillance, and outbreak detection of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

OpenAIRE

Joensen, Katrine Grimstrup; Scheutz, Flemming; Lund, Ole; Hasman, Henrik; Kaas, Rolf Sommer; Nielsen, Eva M.; Aarestrup, Frank Møller

2014-01-01

Fast and accurate identification and typing of pathogens are essential for effective surveillance and outbreak detection. The current routine procedure is based on a variety of techniques, making the procedure laborious, time-consuming, and expensive. With whole-genome sequencing (WGS) becoming cheaper, it has huge potential in both diagnostics and routine surveillance. The aim of this study was to perform a real-time evaluation of WGS for routine typing and surveillance of verocytotoxin-prod...

Real-Time Whole-Genome Sequencing for Routine Typing, Surveillance, and Outbreak Detection of Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli

OpenAIRE

Joensen, Katrine Grimstrup; Scheutz, Flemming; Lund, Ole; Hasman, Henrik; Kaas, Rolf S.; Nielsen, Eva M.; Aarestrup, Frank M.

2014-01-01

Fast and accurate identification and typing of pathogens are essential for effective surveillance and outbreak detection. The current routine procedure is based on a variety of techniques, making the procedure laborious, time-consuming, and expensive. With whole-genome sequencing (WGS) becoming cheaper, it has huge potential in both diagnostics and routine surveillance. The aim of this study was to perform a real-time evaluation of WGS for routine typing and surveillance of verocytotoxin-prod...

Surveillance of healthcare-associated infection in hospitalised South African children: Which method performs best?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A Dramowski

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background. In 2012, the South African (SA National Department of Health mandated surveillance of healthcare-associated infection (HAI, but made no recommendations of appropriate surveillance methods. Methods. Prospective clinical HAI surveillance (the reference method was conducted at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, from 1 May to 31 October 2015. Performance of three surveillance methods (point prevalence surveys (PPSs, laboratory surveillance and tracking of antimicrobial prescriptions was compared with the reference method using surveillance evaluation guidelines. Factors associated with failure to detect HAI were identified by logistic regression analysis. Results. The reference method detected 417 HAIs among 1 347 paediatric hospitalisations (HAI incidence of 31/1000 patient days; 95% confidence interval (CI 28.2 - 34.2. Surveillance methods had variable sensitivity (S and positive predictive value (PPV: PPS S = 24.9% (95% CI 21 - 29.3, PPV = 100%; laboratory surveillance S = 48.4% (95% CI 43.7 - 53.2, PPV = 55.2% (95% CI 50.1 - 60.2; and antimicrobial prescriptions S = 66.4% (95% CI 61.8 - 70.8%, PPV = 88.5% (95% CI 84.5 - 91.6. Combined laboratory-antimicrobial surveillance achieved superior HAI detection (S = 84.7% (95% CI 80.9 - 87.8%, PPV = 97% (95% CI 94.6 - 98.4%. Factors associated with failure to detect HAI included patient transfer (odds ratio (OR 2.0, single HAI event (OR 2.8, age category 1 - 5 years (OR 2.1 and hospitalisation in a general ward (OR 2.3. Conclusions. Repeated PPSs, laboratory surveillance and/or antimicrobial prescription tracking are feasible HAI surveillance methods for low-resource settings. Combined laboratory-antimicrobial surveillance achieved the best sensitivity and PPV. SA paediatric healthcare facilities should individualise HAI surveillance, selecting a method suited to available resources and practice context.