Important Phenomenon (important + phenomenon)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Comorbidity and mixed anxiety-depressive disorder: clinical curiosity or pathophysiological need?

HUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, Issue S1 2001
Hans-Ulrich Wittchen
Abstract The paper reviews available epidemiological evidence for the existence of and the implications of comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders and mixed anxiety,depressive (MAD) disorders. Using epidemiolological evidence of prevalence and incidence and data relating to time-course of illness, risk factor and outcome, it is concluded: (1) that anxiety,depression comorbidity is quite frequent in epidemiological and clinical settings throughout the world; (2) this comorbidity is diagnosis-specific and is associated with increased vulnerabilities and risks as well as poorer outcome and marked disabilities; and (3) no such evidence was found for MAD disorders. Contrary to what was predicted, the prevalence of MAD disorders was quite low even when using the more recent criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition. (4) Furthermore, there was quite a heterogeneous pattern in terms of risk, severity and outcome making it questionable whether this disorder, as currently defined, is a clinical entity. These findings are discussed in terms of two perspectives, the ,lumpers' with their dimensional view and the ,splitters' with their categorical view. It is concluded that although comorbidity of threshold anxiety and depressive disorders seems to be an important phenomenon, no such evidence is provided for MAD disorders. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Ethical Dilemma and Moral Distress: Proposed New NANDA Diagnoses

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING TERMINOLOGIES AND CLASSIFICATION, Issue 1 2005
Beverly Kopala
purpose., To propose two NANDA diagnoses,ethical dilemma and moral distress,and to distinguish between the NANDA diagnosis decisional conflict and the proposed nursing diagnosis of ethical dilemma. sources used., Journal articles, books, and focus group research findings. data synthesis., Moral/ethical situations exist in health care. Nurses' experiences of ethical dilemmas and moral distress are extrapolated to the types and categories of ethical dilemmas and moral distress that patients experience and are used as the basis for development of two new nursing diagnoses. conclusion., The two proposed NANDA diagnoses fill a void in current standardized terminology. practice implications., It is important that nurses have the ability to diagnose ethical or moral situations in health care. Currently, NANDA does not offer a means to document this important phenomenon. The creation of two sets of nursing diagnoses, ethical dilemma and moral distress, will enable nurses to recognize and track nursing care related to ethical or moral situations. [source]


Age and Assessments of Professional Expertise: The Relationship between Higher Level Employees' Age and Self-assessments or Supervisor Ratings of Professional Expertise

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 4 2001
Beatrice Van Der Heijden
In this article the relationship between higher level employees' age and assessments of professional expertise is described. Hypotheses have been tested with original survey data from 417 higher level employees and 224 direct supervisors. Concerning the analyses of the effects of age, our hypotheses have for the greater part been confirmed. In our study, we have found that age-related stereotyping is an important phenomenon where assessments concerning professional expertise are made by supervisors. As regards the self-ratings, there is no relationship between age and professional expertise. Further research is needed to understand the pattern of differences between the two types of ratings. Some speculations concerning improvements of the measurements are discussed. [source]


Interfirm Modularity and Its Implications for Product Development,

THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2005
Nancy Staudenmayer
Industries characterized by interfirm modularity, in which the component products of different firms work together to create a system, are becoming increasingly widespread. In such industries, the existence of a common architecture enables consumers to mix and match the products of different firms. Industries ranging from stereos, cameras, and bicycles to computers, printing, and wireless services are now characterized by interfirm modularity. While the increasing presence of this context has been documented, the implications for the product development process remain underdeveloped. For the present study, in-depth field-based case studies of seven firms experiencing an environment of interfirm modularity were conducted in order to deepen understanding of this important phenomenon. What unique challenges did this context pose and why? What solutions did firms experiment with, and which seemed to work? Based on an inductive process of data analysis from these case studies, three primary categories of challenges raised by this environment were identified. First, firms were frustrated at their lack of control over the definition of their own products. The set of features and functions in products were constrained to a great extent by an architecture that the firm did not control. Second, while an environment of interfirm modularity should in theory eliminate interdependencies among firms since interfaces between products are defined ex-ante, the present study found, ironically, that interdependencies were ubiquitous. Interdependencies continually emerged throughout the product development process, despite efforts to limit them. Third, firms found that the quantity and variegated nature of external relationships made their management exceedingly difficult. The sheer complexity was daunting, given both the size of the external network as well as the number of ties per external collaborator. Partners with whom control over the architecture was shared often had divergent interests,or at least not fully convergent interests. The solutions to these challenges were creative and in many cases counter to established wisdom. For instance, research has suggested many ways for a firm to influence architectural standards. While the firms in the present sample followed some of this advice, they also focused on a more neglected aspect of architecture,the compliance and testing standards that accompany modules and interfaces. By concentrating their efforts in a different area, even smaller firms in this sample were able to have some influence. Instead of focusing on the elimination of interdependencies, it was found that firms benefited from concentrating on the management of interdependencies as they emerged. Finally, while layers of management and "bureaucracy" are often viewed as unproductive, these firms found that adding structure, through positions such as Relationship Manager, was highly beneficial in handling the coordination and control of a wide range of external relationships. [source]


THE INDIVIDUAL AND TRANSFORMATION OF BRIDEWEALTH IN RURAL NORTH CHINA

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 4 2005
Yunxiang Yan
Drawing on data collected from longitudinal fieldwork, this article explores how the practice of bridewealth in a north China village has been transformed into a new form of property division within the groom's family and how the bride has replaced her parents as the recipient of bridewealth. At the individual level, this transformation has evolved through a long process during which individual brides and grooms negotiated with their parents over control of bridewealth. A misunderstanding about Western individualism provides village youths with a new ideological tool to justify their relentless extraction of money from their parents. At the level of family life, the changing norm of bridewealth has shaped and in turn has helped to re-shape mate choice, family division, and support for the elderly. These family changes occurred within the context of other social changes at the macro level and are closely linked to the role of the powerful state. While emphasizing the active role of the individual in transforming the practice of bridewealth, an important phenomenon that by and large has been overlooked in most studies of marriage transactions, the article also examines the specific strategies by which individuals exercise their agency, choosing to take advantage of the custom of bridewealth instead of abandoning it when it affords them greater autonomy in mate choice and marriage negotiations. [source]


Rapid Screening of Lectins for Multivalency Effects with a Glycodendrimer Microarray

CHEMBIOCHEM, Issue 13 2010
Núria Parera Pera Dr.
Abstract Multivalency is an important phenomenon in protein,carbohydrate interactions. In order to evaluate glycodendrimers as multivalent inhibitors of carbohydrate binding proteins, we displayed them on a microarray surface. Valencies were varied from 1 to 8, and corrections were made for the valencies so that all surfaces contained the same amount of the sugar ligand. Five different carbohydrates were attached to the dendrimers. A series of fluorescent lectins was evaluated, and for each of them a binding profile was obtained from a single experiment showing both the specificity of the lectin for a certain sugar and whether it prefers multivalent ligands or not. Very distinct binding patterns were seen for the various lectins. The results were rationalized with respect to the interbinding distances of the lectins. [source]


External Demand Decline-caused Industry Collapse in China

CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 1 2010
Pingyao Lai
J60; L15; L52 Abstract Industry collapse has become an important phenomenon in China's recent economic growth fluctuation. This paper develops a simple model to analyze this phenomenon. Our analysis focuses on an external demand decline-caused industry collapse. The model reveals that the combination of large-scale decline in external demand with a horizontal domestic supply curve causes the domestic export industry to undergo a sharp decrease in output in a short period of time, which further leads to a sharp decline in employment. The conventional stabilization policy is less effective in coping with this sudden industry collapse. The Chinese Government needs to formulate an appropriate structural industry stabilization policy to cope with the sudden industry collapse, and, in particular, to implement a direct employment aid program to deal with unemployment resulting from the industry collapse. [source]