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Methodological Point (methodological + point)
Selected AbstractsApnea testing for the diagnosis of brain deathACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 6 2005C. J. G. Lang Objectives,,, A review is given on various methods, preconditions and pitfalls of apnea testing for the diagnosis of brain death. Materials and methods,,, An extensive medical data base search was implemented by information gathered from books and our own experience with more than 2000 apnea tests. Results,,, While testing for apnea (AT) is considered indispensable worldwide, recommendations and handling differ. Rather than relying on elapsed time, a specific target value for the partial arterial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) should be aimed at being the maximum physiological stimulus for respiration. Methodological points are elaborated upon in detail for apneic oxygenation and hypoventilation. Conclusion,,, AT is an indispensable element of diagnosing brain death. Although with proper handling and adequate precautions AT is safe, it should be performed as a last resort. An international agreement on target values for the PaCO2 is desirable. [source] Illegal Migration: What Can We Know And What Can We Explain?INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2004The Case of Germany Methodological problems in the study of illegal migration as defined in this article relate to questions of indicators for illegal migration, with special reference to Germany. It is argued and demonstrated that illegal immigrants are traceable, to some degree, in official statistics and that these can be analyzed for trends. In present-day migration processes, illegal immigration frequently is undertaken with the support of human smugglers. The analysis of the social organization of different forms of smuggling is the other main focus of the article. From a methodological point of view, the literature and public discourse lack adequate concepts for describing and explaining the social organization of human smuggling. The theory of organized crime as a main actor in human smuggling is criticized. The study borrows concepts from market and networks theory and applies these to different forms of human smuggling and illegal migration. The social and technological organization of smuggling is under constant pressure to adapt to new conditions. The dynamism for this change results mainly from an "arms race" between smugglers and law enforcement. Since control over territory and population are central elements of state sovereignty, the state cannot simply withdraw from this race. [source] The New Economic Sociology of Prices: An Analysis Inspired by the Austrian School of EconomicsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Renaud Fillieule The new economic sociology includes some reference studies on the sociology of prices. They have not until now been studied by economists, and this article attempts to fill that gap by offering a detailed analysis, inspired by the Austrian School of Economics, of their object and approach. We first show that, from a theoretical point of view, the explanations advanced by these sociologists are based implicitly on basic models of economics, such as the "law of supply and demand" and the "law of costs," and that they cannot therefore replace economic explanations of prices. Secondly, from a methodological point of view, these studies are based on field surveys that provide concrete information on certain markets but they lose sight of an aspect that is fundamental to the Austrian School, the interdependence of prices in different markets. And when this interdependence is taken into account, namely, in the case of the relationship between cost and price, the causal link postulated by sociologists goes from cost to price when Austrian economists argue that it goes in the opposite direction. [source] Oscillations in growth of multicellular tumour spheroids: a revisited quantitative analysisCELL PROLIFERATION, Issue 4 2010A. S. Gliozzi Objectives:, Multicellular tumour spheroids (MTS) provide an important tool for study of the microscopic properties of solid tumours and their responses to therapy. Thus, observation of large-scale volume oscillations in MTS, reported several years ago by two independent groups (1,2), in our opinion represent a remarkable discovery, particularly if this could promote careful investigation of the possible occurrence of volume oscillations of tumours ,in vivo'. Materials and methods:, Because of high background noise, quantitative analysis of properties of observed oscillations has not been possible in previous studies. Such an analysis can be now performed, thanks to a recently proposed approach, based on formalism of phenomenological universalities (PUN). Results:, Results have provided unambiguous confirmation of the existence of MTS volume oscillations, and quantitative evaluation of their properties, for two tumour cell lines. Proof is based not only on quality of fitting of the experimental datasets, but also on determination of well-defined values of frequency and amplitude of the oscillations for each line investigated, which would not be consistent with random fluctuation. Conclusions:, Biological mechanisms, which can be directly responsible for observed oscillations, are proposed, which relates also to recent work on related topics. Further investigations, both at experimental and at modelling levels, are also suggested. Finally, from a methodological point of view, results obtained represent further confirmation of applicability and usefulness of the PUN approach. [source] Herausforderungen für die Lehre am Beispiel der mechanischen VerfahrenstechnikCHEMIE-INGENIEUR-TECHNIK (CIT), Issue 3 2003W. Peukert Prof. Dr.-Ing. Abstract Rasche technologische Entwicklungen haben für Chemieingenieure bzw. Verfahrenstechniker neue Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten eröffnet, wodurch sich zusätzliche Anforderungen an die Ausbildung ergeben. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt die Lösungsansätze im Fachgebiet der Partikeltechnik: Es findet eine noch stärkere Betonung der Grundlagen statt, wobei Beispiele aus klassischen und neuen Anwendungen exemplarisch vertieft werden. Kernpunkt des Curriculums sind die Produkteigenschaften. Besonderes Gewicht wird außerdem auf die Betrachtung ganzer Prozesse gelegt. Die Vorlesungen sind in drei Ebenen strukturiert: Grundlagen, Grundoperationen und Prozesse/Anwendungen. Methodisch wird ein zweifacher Ansatz verfolgt: Die Lehre der grundlegenden Fakten wird ergänzt durch eine aktive Teilnahme der Studenten, insbesondere bei der Erarbeitung von Beispielen und in Labor- bzw. Rechnerpraktika. Durch eine ganzheitliche Sicht der Universitätsausbildung sollen auch ,soft skills" gefördert werden. Mechanical Process Engineering as an Example for Educational Challenges Due to rapid technological developments new opportunities for chemical engineers evolved leading to additional demands in education. The present article describes how this challenge is faced in the subject particle technology: Fundamentals are emphasised even more, with exemplary treatment of classical as well as new applications. Key item of the curriculum is the product property approach. Furthermore, the view of complete processes is emphasised. The courses are structured in three levels: Fundamentals, Unit Operations and Processes/Applications. From the methodological point of view a twofold approach is used: Teaching the fundamentals is complemented by an active participation of the students in working on examples and application problems as well as lab and virtual experiments. By following an integrated view of university education also soft skills of students are promoted. [source] Unified QSAR & network-based computational chemistry approach to antimicrobials.JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 1 2010Abstract In the previous work, we reported a multitarget Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (mt-QSAR) model to predict drug activity against different fungal species. This mt-QSAR allowed us to construct a drug,drug multispecies Complex Network (msCN) to investigate drug,drug similarity (González-Díaz and Prado-Prado, J Comput Chem 2008, 29, 656). However, important methodological points remained unclear, such as follows: (1) the accuracy of the methods when applied to other problems; (2) the effect of the distance type used to construct the msCN; (3) how to perform the inverse procedure to study species,species similarity with multidrug resistance CNs (mdrCN); and (4) the implications and necessary steps to perform a substructural Triadic Census Analysis (TCA) of the msCN. To continue the present series with other important problem, we developed here a mt-QSAR model for more than 700 drugs tested in the literature against different parasites (predicting antiparasitic drugs). The data were processed by Linear Discriminate Analysis (LDA) and the model classifies correctly 93.62% (1160 out of 1239 cases) in training. The model validation was carried out by means of external predicting series; the model classified 573 out of 607, that is, 94.4% of cases. Next, we carried out the first comparative study of the topology of six different drug,drug msCNs based on six different distances such as Euclidean, Chebychev, Manhattan, etc. Furthermore, we compared the selected drug,drug msCN and species,species mdsCN with random networks. We also introduced here the inverse methodology to construct species,species msCN based on a mt-QSAR model. Last, we reported the first substructural analysis of drug,drug msCN using Triadic Census Analysis (TCA) algorithm. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2010 [source] | |||||||||||||