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Different Interpretations (different + interpretation)
Selected AbstractsOrganizational Output Innovativeness: A Theoretical Exploration, Illustrated by a Case of a Popular Music FestivalCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2008Iván Orosa Paleo Different interpretations of innovation and innovativeness lead to different approaches and different methods to measure organizational output innovativeness. Two indicators of innovativeness are derived from two divergent approaches: the Referent Innovativeness Index and the Classification Innovativeness Index. The article uses the case of the popular music festival to discuss how these indexes can be operationalized and calculated, as well as to outline the implications of the differences between the methods. [source] The tritocerebrum and the clypeolabrum in mandibulate arthropods: segmental interpretationsACTA ZOOLOGICA, Issue 3 2010Jacques Bitsch Abstract Bitsch, J. and Bitsch, C. 2010. The tritocerebrum and the clypeolabrum in mandibulate arthropods: segmental interpretations. ,Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 91: 249,266 Different interpretations of the segmental composition of the head in mandibulate arthropods are critically reviewed, with particular focus on three closely associated structures: the tritocerebrum, the stomatogastric nervous system and the clypeolabrum. The main conclusions arising from the different discussions are the following. (1) Each tritocerebral ganglion has a dual composition, clearly discernable in some crustacean and hexapod species, including a dorsal portion connected with the second antennae and a ventral portion connected with the stomatogastric nervous system via the frontal ganglion. (2) The suboesophageal commissure linking the tritocerebral lobes of the two sides, can be wholly ascribed to the tritocerebral segment. (3) The stomatogastric nervous system is a morphologically autonomous system that is not fundamentally affected by head metamerization. (4) The clypeolabrum, the epistome,labrum and the hypostome are regarded as homologous formations. The clypeolabrum represents a fundamental structure of the head probably present in the arthropod ground plan. Its close spatial and developmental association with the stomodeum and its derivative, the stomatogastric nervous system, suggests that it is an anterior outgrowth of the forehead arising from a preoral territory (presegmental acron or protocerebral,ocular region?) and secondarily connected with the tritocerebrum, rather than derived from a pair of reduced appendages. [source] Does being against euthanasia legislation equate to being anti-euthanasia?INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2006C. M. Cartwright Abstract This study investigated issues raised in qualitative data from our previous studies of health professionals and community members, which suggested that being opposed to euthanasia legislation did not necessarily equate to being anti-euthanasia per se. A postal survey of 1002 medical practitioners, 1000 nurses and 1200 community members was undertaken. In addition to a direct question on changing the law to allow active voluntary euthanasia (AVE), four statements assessed attitudes to euthanasia with or without a change in legislation. Responses were received from 405 doctors (43%), 429 nurses (45%) and 405 community members (38%). Compared with previous studies there was a slight increase in support for a change in the law from medical practitioners, a slight decrease in support from community members and almost no change among nurses. Different interpretations of the results of the four attitude questions are possible, depending on the perspective of the interpreter. [source] Increased expression of cytotoxic effector molecules: Different interpretations for steroid-based and steroid-free immunosuppressionPEDIATRIC TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2003Thomas Satterwhite Abstract: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) effector molecules have been studied as markers of acute rejection in renal allograft recipients on steroid-based immunosuppression. We hypothesized that basal CTL gene expression may vary with time post-transplantation as well as with different immunosuppression protocols (steroid-based or steroid-free). Variations in CTL gene expression may thus impact on the ability to predict acute allograft rejection. We used the non-invasive method of quantitative competitive-reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (QC-RT-PCR) to quantify the amounts of CTL effector molecules (granulysin, GL; perforin, P; granzyme B, GB) in serial peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) samples from steroid-free and steroid-based adult and pediatric renal allograft recipients. Patients on both protocols were clinically monitored by protocol biopsies at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months post-transplantation and for graft function at 1 yr post-transplantation in a separate clinical study. Steroid-free patients with stable graft function showed an increase in GL, P, and GB gene expression over time post-transplantation with the increase being seen largely by the first post-transplant month. A further increase in GL expression was noted at the end of the first post-transplant year in the absence of acute rejection, whereas GB and P levels were unchanged. At comparative time-points post-transplantation, CTL genes were found to be higher in steroid-free patients with stable graft function, compared to steroid-based recipients with either clinically stable graft function or acute rejection. This study suggests that levels of CTL gene expression, although important in a steroid-based regimen to monitor the risk of acute rejection, may not be similarly applied in patients on steroid-free immunosuppression. The early increase in levels seen in steroid-free patients appears to correlate with the total absence of steroids. As steroid-free patients seem to have a lower incidence of acute rejection and better long-term graft function at 1 yr, the early increase in CTL genes in the absence of acute rejection may suggest an early adaptive immune activation response, promoting early graft acceptance in this protocol. [source] Caring in nursing: a different interpretationJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 6 2001Jane Sumner PhD MN RNC Caring in nursing: a different interpretation Aim.,To apply Habermas' (1995) Theory of Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action to the nurse,patient relationship, offering a different interpretation to the nurse,patient relationship that is caring in nursing. Rationale.,Many authors have described the nurse,patient relationship, but Habermas' theory synthesizes the components into a complex matrix that is caring in nursing. Findings.,The theory offers three claims to normative validity: the claim to truth which is the factual objective knowledge; the claim to truthfulness which refers to the intrasubjective self; and the claim to right which is the intersubjective interaction. The validity claims explain the patient's personal and illness self, the nurse's personal and professional self, and the interaction/discourse. The interaction is situation specific, and is identified as moral because dialogue/discourse requires a ,considerateness' of each for the other. ,Considerateness' in discourse requires certain rules, including that each participant has an equal voice, be followed in order for the Principle of Universalization to occur. Habermas draws on Kohlberg's (1981), and Selman's (1980) work to develop three levels of moral maturity of communication. These are preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. Initial moral maturity is egocentric, subjective, and obedient to authority. Maturity develops with recognition of other and reciprocity. At the postconventional level there is mutuality and the ability for abstract reasoning. There is a third person objectivity combining speaker and addressee/listener perspectives. Norms are not just accepted, they are reasoned through. This leads to justification of the norm, which is then accepted as valid. When the three validity claims are met and there is genuine ,considerateness' in the interaction there is communicative action. The reverse is strategic action, where the communication is coercive. When there is communicative action both patient and nurse are validated with a sense of fulfillment or The Governance of Networks and Economic Power: The Nature and Impact of Subcontracting RelationshipsJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 5 2003Silvia Sacchetti Abstract., Current debate on networking focuses on network structures and firm strategies. In this perspective, theoretical analysis has been concerned with allocative issues. This essay proposes a different interpretation. Starting from the existing theoretical framework, we emphasise the nature and the implications of different types of networks with respect to socio-economic development from a distributional point of view. Within this context, we develop the analysis of subcontracting starting from the concept of economic power. We then provide an analysis of governance in production by considering the attitudes and the nature of the actors involved. The externalisation of activities by large transnationals, which characterises current corporate restructuring, is often related to the search for greater flexibility, but also for greater power over governments, labour, and subcontractors. Differently, networks based on the mutual dependence of actors, which are not necessarily built around a large firm, could , under particular conditions , reach large production scales or more complex scopes without breaking the links with territorial systems, thus including local objectives in the strategic decision-making process. Our conclusion is that the impact of subcontracting networks varies enormously. This is crucial to an understanding of future trends and possibilities. Not least, firms and public policy agencies need to understand the implications of different forms of subcontracting network and how those forms actually differ in practice. [source] Locomotor impairment of gravid lizards: is the burden physical or physiological?JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2000Olsson Pregnancy is associated with reduced locomotor performance in several reptile species, but the reasons for this reduction remain unclear. Previous authors generally have assumed that the decreased maternal mobility is due to the physical burden of the clutch, but our data on a viviparous Tasmanian scincid lizard (Niveoscincus microlepidotum) suggest a different interpretation. Running speeds of gravid female skinks decrease during gestation (as litter mass increases), but this locomotor impairment is due to physiological changes associated with pregnancy, rather than simple physical burdening. Maternal running speeds are unrelated to litter masses, and do not increase in the week after parturition. Females with very large abdominal fat-bodies (due to ad libitum feeding in the laboratory), equivalent in mass to the litter, nonetheless run rapidly. If the locomotor ,costs' of reproduction reflect all-or-none physiological changes associated with pregnancy, then the magnitude of such costs may correlate only weakly with the actual level of reproductive investment. Because life-history models predict that the relationship between fecundity and ,cost' has important evolutionary consequences, our results highlight the need to clarify the causal basis for locomotor impairment in gravid reptiles. [source] The behrens-fisher problem revisited: A bayes-frequentist synthesisTHE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF STATISTICS, Issue 1 2001Malay Ghosh Abstract The Behrens-Fisher problem concerns the inference for the difference between the means of two normal populations whose ratio of variances is unknown. In this situation, Fisher's fiducial interval differs markedly from the Neyman-Pearson confidence interval. A prior proposed by Jeffreys leads to a credible interval that is equivalent to Fisher's solution but it carries a different interpretation. The authors propose an alternative prior leading to a credible interval whose asymptotic coverage probability matches the frequentist coverage probability more accurately than the interval of Jeffreys. Their simulation results indicate excellent matching even in small samples. Le problème de Bahrens-Fisher concerne l'inférence pour la différence entre les moyennes de deux populations normales dont le repport des variances est inconnu. Dans cette situation, l'intervalle de confiance fiduciaire de Fisher est fort different de celui de Neyman-Pearson. Une loi a priori proposée par Jeffreys conduit à un intervalle de crédibilité équivalent à la solution de Fisher, mais qui n'a pas la même interprétation. Les auteurs proposent une nouvelle loi a priori menant à un intervalle de crédibilité dont le taux de couverture asymptotique est plus près du taux fréquentiste que celui de l'intervalle de Jeffreys. Leurs simulations montrent que cette observation reste valable dans de petits échantillons. [source] Tutorial: Using Confidence Curves in Medical ResearchBIOMETRICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005Ralf Bender Abstract Confidence intervals represent a routinely used standard method to document the uncertainty of estimated effects. In most cases, for the calculation of confidence intervals the conventional fixed 95% confidence level is used. Confidence curves represent a graphical illustration of confidence intervals for confidence levels varying between 0 and 100%. Although such graphs have been repeatedly proposed under different names during the last 40 years, confidence curves are rarely used in medical research. In this paper, we introduce confidence curves and present a short historical review. We draw attention to the different interpretation of one- and two-sided statistical inference. It is shown that these two options also have influence on the plotting of appropriate confidence curves. We illustrate the use of one- and two-sided confidence curves and explain their correct interpretation. In medical research more emphasis on the choice between the one- and two-sided approaches should be given. One- and two-sided confidence curves are useful complements to the conventional methods of presenting study results. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Exploration and Exploitation in Innovation: Reframing the InterpretationCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Ying Li There has been a burgeoning literature about exploitation and exploration since March's seminal article in 1991. However, in reviewing the extant literature we find different interpretations of both concepts leading to ambiguity and even some inconsistency. This paper focuses in particular on the interpretation of exploration and exploitation in the literature on technological innovation. It addresses two critical research questions. First, what are the different interpretations of exploitation and exploration? Second, how can we set up a framework that reconciles these differences and reduces the ambiguity that we find in the literature? To answer these two questions, we first explain what the root causes of these different viewpoints are. Second, we provide a theoretical framework that integrates the different perspectives, sets up a new typology to define exploration and exploitation, identifies white spaces in the current research and provides guidance for future research. [source] Shadow-Experiences and the Phenomenal Structure of ColorsDIALECTICA, Issue 2 2010René Jagnow It is a common assumption among philosophers of perception that phenomenal colors are exhaustively characterized by the three phenomenal dimensions of the color solid: hue, saturation and lightness. The hue of a color is its redness, blueness or yellowness, etc. The saturation of a color refers to the strength of its hue in relation to gray. The lightness of a color determines its relation to black and white. In this paper, I argue that the phenomenology of shadows forces us to consider illumination as an additional dimension of phenomenal colors. For this purpose, I will first introduce two different interpretations of shadow-experiences, which Chalmers has called the simple and the complex interpretations, and show that they both fail to account for important phenomenal facts about shadow-experiences. I will then introduce my own alternative interpretation based on the idea that illumination is a dimension of phenomenal colors and explain how it can account for these facts. [source] Using neutral landscapes to identify patterns of aggregation across resource pointsECOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2006Jill Lancaster Many organisms are aggregated within resource patches and aggregated spatially across landscapes with multiple resources. Such patchy distributions underpin models of population regulation and species coexistence, so ecologists require methods to analyse spatially-explicit data of resource distribution and use. I describe a method for analysing maps of resources and testing hypotheses about how resource distribution influences the distribution of organisms, where resource patches can be described as points in a landscape and the number of organisms on each resource point is known. Using a mark correlation function and the linearised form of Ripley's K-function, this version of marked point pattern analysis can characterise and test hypotheses about the spatial distribution of organisms (marks) on resource patches (points). The method extends a version of point pattern analysis that has wide ecological applicability, it can describe patterns over a range of scales, and can detect mixed patterns. Statistically, Monte Carlo permutations are used to estimate the difference between the observed and expected values of the mark correlation function. Hypothesis testing employs a flexible neutral landscape approach in which spatial characteristics of point patterns are preserved to some extent, and marks are randomised across points. I describe the steps required to identify the appropriate neutral landscape and apply the analysis. Simulated data sets illustrate how the choice of neutral landscape can influence ecological interpretations, and how this spatially-explicit method and traditional dispersion indices can yield different interpretations. Interpretations may be general or context-sensitive, depending on information available about the underlying point pattern and the neutral landscape. An empirical example of caterpillars exploiting food plants illustrates how this technique might be used to test hypotheses about adult oviposition and larval dispersal. This approach can increase the value of survey data, by making it possible to quantify the distribution of resource points in the landscape and the pattern of resource use by species. [source] THE EUROPEAN COURT: THE FORGOTTEN POWERHOUSE BUILDING THE EUROPEAN SUPERSTATEECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2004Martin Howe Less attention is paid to the European Court of Justice than to other European Union institutions when discussing the centralising tendencies of the Union. However, the court has given an important impetus to the process of centralisation through its individual decisions and also through its tendency to give effect in its decisions to what it believes to be the,purpose'of EU treaties rather than to the text of the treaties. The proposed EU constitution will significantly widen the power of the European Court since it includes articles which are wide open to a number of different interpretations, and it will be for the court to decide how they should be interpreted. [source] Using Dimensionality-Based DIF Analyses to Identify and Interpret Constructs That Elicit Group DifferencesEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2005Mark J. Gierl In this paper I describe and illustrate the Roussos-Stout (1996) multidimensionality-based DIF analysis paradigm, with emphasis on its implication for the selection of a matching and studied subtest for DIF analyses. Standard DIF practice encourages an exploratory search for matching subtest items based on purely statistical criteria, such as a failure to display DIF. By contrast, the multidimensional DIF paradigm emphasizes a substantively-informed selection of items for both the matching and studied subtest based on the dimensions suspected of underlying the test data. Using two examples, I demonstrate that these two approaches lead to different interpretations about the occurrence of DIF in a test. It is argued that selecting a matching and studied subtest, as identified using the DIF analysis paradigm, can lead to a more informed understanding of why DIF occurs. [source] Conceptualizing desertification in Southern Europe: stakeholder interpretations and multiple policy agendasENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2005M. Juntti Abstract This paper explores the link between agricultural, environmental and structural policies and desertification in Southern Europe. The focus is on the way policy goals evolve in the implementation process and become translated into actions at the operative level. The results derive from policy stakeholder interviews from four research areas situated in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The significance of policies as drivers of desertification varies between the case study areas, and harmful land management practices often result from power imbalances between interest groups involved in land-use planning and policy implementation rather than from flaws in the policies themselves. The vagueness of the definition of what ,desertification' constitutes allows for different interpretations of its nature, significance and the consequent weight it is given in land management decision-making, thus lending itself to be both misinterpreted and misappropriated by different stakeholder interests. The paper discusses the interplay between five different discourses of desertification and four distinct agendas of policy implementation and land use. The agendas either enhance or mitigate desertification and represent the interests of actors who have acquired a powerful position in the network of stakeholders, often relying on, and simultaneously maintaining, discourses and structures that lend them first right to decision-making over the natural resources of the locality. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Tricks of Festival: Children, Enculturation, and American HalloweenETHOS, Issue 2 2005CINDY DELL CLARK The American children's ritual, Halloween, involves an emergent, active and complex process rather than unidirectional socialization of children by adults. Inversions of meaning are prominent in Halloween through: 1) adult support for inverted, anti-normative themes, and 2) a turnabout by which children gain ascendance through costumed trick-or-treating. Based on interviews with six and seven year old children and their parents, as well as participant observation at Halloween events, Halloween's inversions had different interpretations for adults compared to children. For example the degree and quality of fear associated with Halloween varied between elders and children. Following the traumatic events of September 11, 2001, adult-rendered meanings of Halloween were shown to be unfixed and subject to modification. These findings raise critical questions about simplistic notions of socialization and cultural reduplication. [source] Life Stories, War, and Veterans: On the Social Distribution of MemoriesETHOS, Issue 1 2004Edna Lomsky-Feder On the basis of examining life stories narrated by 63 Israeli male veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this article delves into the social construction of personal memory. Focusing on the remembering subject will allow us to study this process by highlighting the agent who creates his or her world, but at the same time it will disclose how society frames and channels the agent's choices. My contention is that personal memory (traumatic or normalizing, conforming or critical) is embedded within, designed by, and derives its meaning from, a memory field that offers different interpretations of war. Yet this memory field is not an open space, and the remembering subject is not free to choose any interpretation he wishes. Cultural criteria "distribute" accessibility to different collective memories according to social entitlement. These "distributive criteria" dictate who is entitled to remember and what is to be remembered, thereby controlling the extent of trauma and criticism of personal memory. [source] Pan Evaporation Trends and the Terrestrial Water Balance.GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2009Declines in pan evaporation have been reported across the USA, former Soviet Union, India, China, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, among other places. The trend is large , approximately an order of magnitude larger than model-based estimates of top of the atmosphere radiative forcing. The pan evaporation trend also has a different sign (i.e. decline) from commonly held conceptions. These are a remarkably interesting set of observations. In the first article of this two-part series, we discussed the measurements themselves and then presented summaries of the worldwide observations. In this, the second article, we outline the use of energy balance methods to attribute the observed changes in pan evaporation to changes in the underlying physical variables, namely, radiation, temperature, vapour pressure deficit and wind speed. We find that much of the decline in pan evaporation can be attributed to declines in radiation (i.e. dimming) and/or wind speed (i.e. stilling). We then discuss the interpretation of changes in the terrestrial water balance. This has been an area of much misunderstanding and confusion, most of which can be rectified through use of the familiar and longstanding supply/demand framework. The key in using the pan evaporation data to make inferences about changes in the terrestrial water balance is to distinguish between water- and energy-limited conditions where different interpretations apply. [source] A Methodological Overview of Network Vulnerability AnalysisGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2008ALAN T. MURRAY ABSTRACT Evaluating network infrastructures for potential vulnerabilities is an important component of strategic planning, particularly in the context of managing and mitigating service disruptions. Many methods have been proposed to facilitate such analysis, providing different interpretations of infrastructure vulnerability. The primary approaches that have been employed for network vulnerability analysis can be broadly classified as scenario-specific, strategy-specific, simulation, and mathematical modeling methodologies. Research on network vulnerability assessment has traditionally focused on one of these methodologies without consideration of the others. This article highlights the important implications of methodology for both infrastructure planning and policy development. To better understand the theoretical and practical trade-offs associated with methodology selection, this article provides a review of these categories of analysis, examining benefits and shortcomings with regard to practical planning issues and policy interpretation. [source] Democracy and sustainable development,what is the alternative to cost,benefit analysis?INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006Peter Söderbaum Abstract Cost,benefit analysis (CBA) is part of neoclassical economics, a specific paradigm, or theoretical perspective. In searching for alternatives to CBA, competing theoretical frameworks in economics appear to be a natural starting point. Positional analysis (PA) as an alternative to CBA is built on institutional theory and a different set of assumptions about human beings, organizations, markets, etc. Sustainable development (SD) is a multidimensional concept that includes social and ecological dimensions in addition to monetary aspects. If the political commitment to SD in the European Union and elsewhere is taken seriously, then approaches to decision making should be chosen that 1st open the door for multidimensional analysis rather than close it. Sustainable development suggests a direction for development in a broad sense but is still open to different interpretations. Each such interpretation is political in kind, and a 2nd criterion for judging different approaches is whether they are ideologically open rather than closed. Although methods for decision making have traditionally been connected with mathematical objective functions and optimization, the purpose of PA is to illuminate a decision situation in a many-sided way with respect to possibly relevant ideological orientations, alternatives, and consequences. Decisions are understood in terms of matching the ideological orientation of each decision maker with the expected effects profile of each alternative considered. Appropriateness and pattern recognition are other concepts in understanding this process. [source] Fossilization: five central issuesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 2 2004ZhaoHong Han Second language acquisition research over the past three decades has generated a wide spectrum of different interpretations of "fossilization", a construct introduced by Selinker (1972) for characterizing lack of grammatical development in second language learning. These conceptual differences found in the literature, it has become increasingly clear, create confusion rather than offering clarification, thereby obstructing a coherent understanding of the theoretical notion as well as empirical research findings. This article addresses the conceptual differences by raising and discussing five central issues: (1) Is fossilization global or local? (2) Is L2 ultimate attainment isomorphic with fossilization? (3) Is fossilization a product or a process? (4) Is stabilization synonymous with fossilization? (5) Should empirical studies of fossilization span five years or more? [source] EU Social Policy after Lisbon,JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 3 2006MARY DALY This article focuses on the Lisbon strategy, the latest ,moment' in EU social policy. Following developments up to the end of 2005, it seeks to assess the significance of the poverty/social inclusion open method of co-ordination in terms of what it indicates about the EU's engagement with social policy. The article proceeds by interrogating a series of arguments for and against significance. It considers in turn different interpretations of: the functions and rationale of the EU policy process on poverty and social inclusion; the application and unfolding of the method of open co-ordination in this particular policy domain; and the politics underlying it. In elaborating the sui generis aspects of EU social policy especially as associated with Lisbon, the analysis discusses the possibility that social policy is developing its own dynamic at EU level. However, although significant elements can be identified, the relative fragility of poverty and social exclusion within the EU policy portfolio is highlighted. It is there but lacks firm foundation. [source] Should biomass be considered more frequently as a currency in terrestrial arthropod community analyses?JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007MICHEL SAINT-GERMAIN Summary 1Community structure involving large taxonomical groups is frequently used to assess changes in ecosystems along environmental gradients or in response to disturbance. For terrestrial arthropods, abundance is generally used as the response variable in community data analyses; biomass, however, is generally a better indicator of the functionality of a species within a community, as it is strongly correlated with metabolism. 2In this study, we considered whether biomass should be used more often in community analyses with terrestrial arthropod biodiversity data, particularly when asking questions involving strong functional components. We selected 10 previously published and five unpublished Coleoptera abundance data sets, and produced biomass species-by-sample matrices using body length to body mass conversion equations, and then compared the results obtained using commonly used ecological analyses. 3Correlations between species abundance and biomass varied from strong to poor, depending on the taxa considered and on the sampling method used. We show that abundance and biomass can produce different results in community data analysis and lead to alternative interpretations for data sets with poor abundance to biomass correlations. 4Synthesis and applications. When dealing with databases showing poor abundance to biomass relationships, the question of the relevance of using biomass instead of abundance emerges, and the choice of the response variable to be used in analyses should be considered carefully. At the very least, when studying terrestrial arthropod biodiversity, one should consider the use of biomass with simple conversion equations that do not require obtaining the mass of individual specimens. This approach may lead to different interpretations. For research questions in which trophic interactions may play an important role, biomass may provide a broader and more accurate picture of the processes driving changes in community structure. [source] Therapist effects in randomised controlled trials: what to do about themJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 7-8 2010Stephen J Walters Aims and objectives., The aim of this study is to describe and compare three statistical methods to allow for therapist effects in individually randomised controlled trials. Background., In an individually randomised controlled trial where the intervention is delivered by a health professional it seems likely that the effectiveness of the intervention, independent of any treatment effect, could depend on the skill of the health professional delivering it. This leads to a potential clustering of the outcomes for the patients being treated by the same health professional. Design., Retrospective statistical analysis of outcomes from four example randomised controlled trial datasets with potential clustering by health professional. Methods., Three methods to allow for clustering are described: cluster level analysis; random effects models and marginal models. These models were fitted to continuous outcome data from four example randomised controlled trial datasets with potential clustering by health professional. Results., The cluster level models produced the widest confidence intervals. Little difference was found between the estimates of the regression coefficients for the treatment effect and confidence intervals between the individual patient level models for the datasets. The conclusions reached for each dataset match those published in the original papers. The intracluster correlation coefficient ranged from <0·001,0·04 for the outcomes, which shows only minor levels of clustering within the datasets. Conclusions., The models, which use individual level data are to be preferred. Treatment coefficients from these models have different interpretations. The choice of model should depend on the scientific question being asked. Relevance to clinical practice., We recommend that researchers should be aware of any potential clustering, by health professional, in their randomised controlled trial and use appropriate methods to account for this clustering in the statistical analysis of the data. [source] Rodlet cells in teleosts: a new insight into their nature and functionsJOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2004M. Manera The nature of rodlet cells (RCs) and their functions is subject to a number of different interpretations. This review provides a detailed analysis of the parasitic and endogenous origin of these cells. Two new functional aspects of RCs are considered in detail. The possible function of RCs as immune cells was derived from studies that reported an increase in the number of RCs in fish infected with protozoan and metazoan parasites, particularly at the site of the pathogen infection and/or attachment. Accordingly, RCs represent inflammatory cells, with a similar role to eosinophile granule cells, epithelioid cells and mesothelial cells. Rodlet cells may potentially act as biomarkers. Experimental studies that examined the response of RCs in fish exposed to chemical substances such as metals and herbicides reported an increase in the number of RCs in the tissues of the fish. Fish exposed to these substances expressed myelinic figures in the cytoplasm of the RCs and various degrees of rodlet degeneration and high vacuolization of RC cytoplasm were often noticed. Further lines of research are suggested that might elucidate the true function of these enigmatic cells. [source] Aggregation of ordinal and cardinal preferences: a framework based on distance functionsJOURNAL OF MULTI CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS, Issue 3-4 2008Jacinto González-Pachón Abstract In this paper a collective choice function (CCF), formulated within a p -metric distance function framework, is proposed as a generator of several compromise consensuses. Even though, the proposed CCF is not smooth, it is however demonstrated that it can be straightforwardly transformed into easily computable goal programming models. Finally, several cases of individual preferences aggregation are obtained by providing different interpretations of the CCF parameters: ordinal and complete information, ordinal and partial information and a cardinal case through ,pairwise' comparison matrices. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Constructive and Classical Models for Results in Economics and Game TheoryMETROECONOMICA, Issue 2-3 2004Kislaya Prasad ABSTRACT A standard approach in economic theory is to use a formal language to prove results about an economy or a game. In this paper, model theory is used to examine interpretations of such results. The particular focus is on constructive theorems, since results established by constructive methods are valid for many different interpretations, whereas classical theorems are valid more narrowly. I discuss why non-classical models may be of interest and also describe applications of model theory to economics in classical contexts, e.g. non-standard analysis. The paper advocates a viewpoint suggesting that constructive models are tools for studying worlds in which agents' knowledge of the world is incomplete. [source] Closeness and distance in the nurse-patient relation.NURSING PHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2006The relevance of Edith Stein's concept of empathy Abstract, This paper emanates from the concept of empathy as understood by the German philosopher Edith Stein. It begins by highlighting different interpretations of empathy. According to the German philosopher Martin Buber, empathy cannot be achieved as an act of will. In contrast, the psychologist Carl Rogers believes that empathy is identical with dialogue and is the outcome of a cognitive act of active listening. The empathy concept of Edith Stein, philosopher and follower of Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, goes beyond these conflicting views and offers a more complex interpretation, with relevance for both healthcare and nursing education. When studying Stein's three-level model of empathy, a field of tension between perspectives of closeness and distance becomes apparent. The paper concludes by suggesting Stein's model of empathy as a strategy to overcome the tension and meet the demands of empathy. [source] Descartes's Theory of DistinctionPHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2002PAUL HOFFMAN In the first part of this paper I explore the relations among distinctness, separability, number, and non-identity. I argue that Descartes believes plurality in things themselves arises from distinction, so that things distinct in any of the three ways are not identical. The only exception concerns universals which, considered in things themselves, are identical to particulars. I also argue that to be distinct is to be separable. Things distinct by reason are separable only in thought by means of ideas not clear and distinct. In the second part I argue that the notion of separability in Descartes's account of real distinction between mind and body is subject to five different interpretations. I claim that the heart of Cartesian dualism concerns the separability of the attributes thought and extension. It does not require that mind and body are separable in the sense that each can exist without the other existing. [source] The Naturalness versus Wildness Debate: Ambiguity, Inconsistency, and Unattainable ObjectivityRESTORATION ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2007Ben Ridder Abstract The naturalness versus wildness debate has gained some prominence in recent years and has seen considerable discussion of issues akin to those that have generated such tension between restorationists and preservationists. This debate is hampered by the terms in which it is framed. The primary meaning of both naturalness and wildness relates to the description of processes or behavior that lack human intervention. This enables human activities and artifacts (such as childbirth, food, and medicine) to be rated according to naturalness. However, when the terms are applied to the description of species and ecosystems, process-oriented definitions are forgotten in favor of historical benchmarks. This can result in serious inconsistencies between those who adhere to the different interpretations, exemplified by the tendency of conservationists to view "naturalness" as being consistent with human intervention in natural processes. The choice of one or the other interpretation is motivated by whether one prioritizes the conservation of biodiversity or minimizing human intervention. There have been claims that naturalness provides an objective measure for assessing biodiversity and calls for value-laden terms to be avoided. Yet, the values are central, and the best that can be hoped for is that the debate be framed using terms that are more indicative of these underlying values. It is suggested here that naturalness versus wildness be recast as "protecting biodiversity" versus "respect for nature's autonomy." Not only do these terms avoid the ambiguities of their forebears but they also expose the debate as the result of slight shifts in value priorities rather than fundamentally opposed worldviews. [source]
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