Real Situations (real + situation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Knowledge and attitude towards paediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation among the carers of patients attending the Emergency Department of the Children's Hospital at Westmead

EMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 5 2009
Jonathan Cu
Abstract The present study aimed to describe the knowledge and attitudes of parents and carers in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on infants and children. A self-administered questionnaire distributed to a convenience sample of parents and carers attending the Emergency Department of The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia from February to March 2008. Main outcome measures were the prevalence of previous cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, willingness and confidence to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on infants and children compared with adults, and an objective assessment of knowledge of current resuscitation guidelines. A total of 348 parents and carers were surveyed; 53% had received previous cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, 75% prior to the previous year. There was no significant difference on their willingness to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on an adult versus a child (75.6% and 75.8% respectively, P= 0.870). However, 81% were willing to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a relative whereas only 64% were willing to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a stranger (P < 0.001). Respondents were moderately confident in delivering cardiopulmonary resuscitation to a collapsed child; mean score of 2.9 on 5-point Likert scale. Only 11% of respondents knew the correct rate for chest compressions and the ratio of compressions to ventilations; 8% had performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a real situation. Parents and carers are willing to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, especially on family members. However, their knowledge of the current guidelines was poor. More public education is required to update those with previous training and to encourage those who haven't to be trained. [source]


Virtual Experiments and Their Use in Teaching Experimental Design

INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL REVIEW, Issue 3 2007
Paul L. Darius
Summary The ability to design experiments in an appropriate and efficient way is an important skill, but students typically have little opportunity to get that experience. Most textbooks introduce standard general-purpose designs, and then proceed with the analysis of data already collected. In this paper we explore a tool for gaining design experience: computer-based virtual experiments. These are software environments which mimic a real situation of interest and invite the user to collect data to answer a research question. Two prototype environments are described. The first one is suitable for a course that deals with screening or response surface designs, the second one allows experimenting with block and row-column designs. They are parts of a collection we developed called ENV2EXP, and can be freely used over the web. We also describe our experience in using them in several courses over the last few years. [source]


Resolving Paternity Relationships Using X-Chromosome STRs and Bayesian Networks

JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 4 2007
Didier Hatsch Ph.D.
Abstract:, X-chromosomal short tandem repeats (X-STRs) are very useful in complex paternity cases because they are inherited by male and female offspring in different ways. They complement autosomal STRs (as-STRs) allowing higher paternity probabilities to be attained. These probabilities are expressed in a likelihood ratio (LR). The formulae needed to calculate LR depend on the genotype combinations of suspected pedigrees. LR can also be obtained by the use of Bayesian networks (BNs). These are graphical representations of real situations that can be used to easily calculate complex probabilities. In the present work, two BNs are presented, which are designed to derive LRs for half-sisters/half-sisters and mother/daughter/paternal grandmother relationships. These networks were validated against known formulae and show themselves to be useful in other suspect pedigree situations than those for which they were developed. The BNs were applied in two paternity cases. The application of the mother/daughter/paternal grandmother BN highlighted the complementary value of X-STRs to as-STRs. The same case evaluated without the mother underlined that missing information tends to be conservative if the alleged father is the biological father and otherwise nonconservative. The half-sisters case shows a limitation of statistical interpretations in regard to high allelic frequencies. [source]


Values and evaluation in health care

JOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2001
A. Sarvimäki PHD RN
The purpose of this paper is to broaden the view of evaluation in health care by ,problemizing' the concepts of quality and evaluation and relating them to a more general discussion of values. The discussion of the concept of quality shows that the concept of quality is often vague or contradictory and that the relationship between quality and costs is problematic. The discussion is broadened by studying quality and evaluation from the viewpoint of four categories of values: scientific values, aesthetic values, ethical values and economic values. The authors also show that values, in addition to constituting the basis for evaluation, actually guide the whole process of care. Values are explicit and implicit elements of the care culture and the individual's action system. The authors conclude that the four value categories could be used to study which values actually guide the care process in real situations. [source]


Fretting behaviour of low-friction coatings

LUBRICATION SCIENCE, Issue 3 2005
C. Langlade
Abstract The choice of an appropriate low-friction coating for an industrial application is generally a difficult task. As many parameters are involved and are often unknown, selection criteria are hard to define. In order to elucidate the case of fretting conditions, a simulator has been used to reproduce the degradation mechanisms observed for real situations. Numerous experiments performed with this machine permit one to define endurance life criteria. The evolution of the life observed has been analysed as a function of the contact pressure and the film thickness. Using a Wöhler approach, endurance curves have been plotted that give useful information for selecting appropriate coatings. As other parameters may be of some interest, performance indices have been associated with them, and the results can be presented on a multi-axis (polar) diagram. [source]


Symbolic interactionism and the concept of power

THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
Alex Dennis
Abstract Symbolic interactionism is often represented as a perspective which is limited by its restriction to ,micro' aspects of social organization. As such, it is allegedly unable to adequately conceptualize ,macro' phenomena such as social structure, patterns of inequality, and power. Such a view is routinely presented in undergraduate textbooks. This paper contests such a view through a consideration of the concept of power. We argue that the interactionist research tradition does show a fundamental concern with power phenomena, and that a reconsideration of the concept is timely in light of theoretical developments in sociology more generally. An increasing concern with the analysis of culture, the continuing influence of Foucault, the development of feminist perspectives, and the emerging consensus around neo-Weberian thought have all contributed to a renewal of interest in themes long ago explored by interactionists. As examples we suggest that interactionist studies in the fields of deviance and education have been concerned above all with the authoritative imposition of consequential identities, i.e., with the social processes through which power is enacted and institutionalized in real situations. Such developments have led some to argue that interactionism has now been incorporated into the mainstream of sociology. We conclude, however, by arguing that such a view runs the risk of granting to orthodox sociological thought a legitimacy which is analytically unwarranted, and which fails to recognize the alternative theoretical and philosophical foundations of symbolic interactionist thought. [source]