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Useful Knowledge (useful + knowledge)
Selected AbstractsBridging the Social and Digital Divides in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala: A Capabilities ApproachDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2008Jayan Jose Thomas ABSTRACT Combining empirical evidence with Amartya Sen's concept of capabilities, this article argues that the digital divide is not merely a problem of access to ICTs. It is part of a larger developmental problem in which vast sections of the world's population are deprived of the capabilities to use ICTs, acquire information and convert information into useful knowledge. Fieldwork research including sample surveys conducted in rural locations in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in India shows that these capabilities can only be created through large-scale complementary interventions in economic and social development. [source] Pharmacogenetics of antihypertensive treatmentDRUG DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH, Issue 3 2004Donna K. Arnett Abstract Hypertension is a common disorder associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, in the United States, only about one third of those who are aware of their hypertensive status successfully control their blood pressure. One reason for this is the variable and unpredictable response individuals have to pharmacologic treatment. Clinicians often resort to a trial-and-error approach to match patients with effective drug treatment. It is the goal of hypertension pharmacogenetics to apply knowledge of genetic predictors of treatment response to drugs that lower blood pressure and to translate this knowledge into clinical practice. To date, more than 30 studies have investigated associations between specific genetic polymorphisms and response to particular antihypertensive drugs. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors have been most frequently studied, followed by diuretics, beta-blockers, angiotensin II blockers, adrenergic alpha-agonists, and calcium channel blockers. Renin,angiotensin,aldosterone system genes have been the most widely studied, with the angiotensin-converting enzyme I/D variant being typed in about one third of all hypertension pharmacogenetic studies to date. In a number of cases, significant and potentially promising associations between genes and drug treatments have been reported. However, taken in sum, the literature suggests that the path from gene-drug-outcome association studies to clinically useful knowledge may be neither short nor direct. In the future, carefully designed studies must acknowledge that hypertension is caused by multiple genes and environmental factors that act in concert. These considerations, along with a better understanding of the complexities of the biology of hypertension, open the next set of opportunities for hypertension pharmacogenetics research. Drug Dev. Res. 62:191,199, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Bridging the Divides: The Need for a Pragmatic Semiotics of Teacher Knowledge ResearchEDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 4 2005Jerry Rosiek In this essay, we consider four approaches to research on teacher knowledge: the scholarship of teaching, action research and teacher research, narrative inquiry, and critical-cultural teacher research. Similarities and differences among these four approaches are highlighted. The most salient difference lies in the way each approach identifies different discourses as sources of distortion in teacher knowledge research. Although some divergence within a field of study can be a valuable source of debate and dialogue, we believe the differences identified here risk dividing the field of teacher knowledge research in unproductive ways. What is needed, we propose, is a semiotic theory that acknowledges the way teacher knowledge is irreducibly mediated by multiple discourses while preserving a commitment to the idea that individual teachers' experiences can be a source of novel and useful knowledge. We examine two semiotic theories , French poststructuralism and Charles Sanders Peirce's pragmatic semiotics , and critically assess how they might facilitate more constructive dialogue among differing conceptions of teachers' knowledge research. [source] Social Capital, Networks, and Community Environments in Bangkok, ThailandGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2002Amrita Daniere This paper considers the case of Bangkok where, as in many Asian cities, the expansion of urban areas has outpaced the ability of public entities to manage and provide basic services. One potential way to improve the capacity of neighborhoods to assist in provision or improvement in environmental services is to enhance the positive contributions provided by local social networks and social capital. A conceptual framework is presented to explore the role of social networks in environmental management in polluted urban environments. This is followed by a brief description of the methodology and survey instrument used to collect information from a sample of community households in Bangkok and an analysis of the results from this survey regarding environmental practices, community action, and social networks. Some of the results suggest that increasing the number of social interactions that residents of a community experience is associated with increased community participation as, apparently, is increasing knowledge about what happens to waste or waste water after it leaves the community. Local public education efforts that focus on useful knowledge about environmental impacts may well be an effective way to encourage community participation. [source] Natural bond orbital-based energy density analysis for correlated methods: Second-order Møller,Plesset perturbation and coupled-cluster singles and doublesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 8 2008Yutaka Imamura Abstract Natural bond orbital-based energy density analysis (NBO-EDA), which split energies into atomic and bonding contributions, is proposed for correlated methods such as coupled-cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) and second-order Møller,Plesset (MP2) perturbation. Applying NBO-EDA for CCSD and MP2 to ethylene and the Diels,Alder reaction, we are successful in obtaining useful knowledge regarding electron correlation of ,- and ,-type orbitals, and clarifying the difference of the reaction barriers and heat of reaction calculated by CCSD and MP2. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008 [source] Learning, literacy, and identityNEW DIRECTIONS FOR ADULT & CONTINUING EDUCATION, Issue 106 2005Lyn Tett Assumptions about learner identity are often based on a deficit view of the working classes. This chapter illustrates an alternative discourse that shows how one family literacy program in Scotland generated useful knowledge. [source] Ethics and medical research in childrenPEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA, Issue 10 2009ANDREW J. DAVIDSON MBBS MD FANZCA Summary The ethics of clinical research is based on several well-known guidelines and documents. The guidelines vary between countries, but the principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice are constant. These principles are reflected in requirements to obtain free and informed consent, to minimize risk or harm, and to not overly burden or disadvantage particular populations. For research to be ethical, it must also be of such a standard, and be conducted in such a manner that it will generate knew and useful knowledge. Children have limited capacity for understanding and may be more open to coercion. Therefore, they are regarded as a particularly vulnerable population, and specific clauses regarding children are incorporated into many guidelines. A key concept in these clauses is the degree of risk acceptable for children involved in research. While it is generally agreed that children require particular attention because of their vulnerability, there is also increasing concern that children in general should not be disadvantaged by lack of knowledge due to reduced research activity. Finally, an increasingly active area of research in children involves genetics and biobanking. Research in these areas raises new and challenging ethical issues. [source] Diffusion of innovations: Anatomical informatics and iPodsTHE ANATOMICAL RECORD : ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2006Robert B. Trelease Abstract Over the course of many centuries, evolving scientific methods and technologies have advanced the study of anatomy. More recently, such dissemination of innovations has been formally studied in multidisciplinary psychosocial contexts, yielding useful knowledge about underlying principles and processes. We review these precepts and show how diffusion of innovations theory and principles apply to the development and dissemination of anatomical information methods and resources. We consider the factors affecting the late-20th-century dissemination of personal computers and World Wide Web hypermedia into widespread use in anatomical research and instruction. We report on the results of a small experiment in applied diffusion, the development and Internet-based distribution of learning resources for a popular, widely distributed personal media player. With these wearable microcomputer devices already in use by a variety of students, new opportunities exist for widespread dissemination of anatomical information. The continuing evolution of wearable computing devices underscores the need for maintaining anatomical information transportability via standardized data formats. Anat Rec (Part B: New Anat) 289B:160,168, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] THE ENCYCLOPÉDIE AND THE IDEA OF THE DECORATIVE ARTSART HISTORY, Issue 2 2005Élisabeth Lavezzi The decorative arts do not appear as a category of useful knowledge in Diderot's and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie but those arts now called decorative arts, such as cabinet-making, were central to the eighteenth-century Parisian economy and a defining feature of a publication which set itself the task of raising the status of the useful arts. This essay explores the antecedents of the notion of the decorative arts in the history of ideas. By comparing Renaissance, baroque and enlightened art theory, it charts the faltering emergence of a definition of arts such as marquetry that no longer sees them as either materially or procedurally dependent on the finer arts of painting or architecture. In the subtle shifts of meaning the object gives way to the maker as principal element upon which the definition of an art turns. [source] | ||||||||||||||||