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Terms modified by Comprehensive Selected AbstractsPulmonary Regurgitation after Tetralogy of Fallot Repair: Clinical Features, Sequelae, and Timing of Pulmonary Valve ReplacementCONGENITAL HEART DISEASE, Issue 6 2007Naser M. Ammash MD ABSTRACT Pulmonary regurgitation following repair of tetralogy of Fallot is a common postoperative sequela associated with progressive right ventricular enlargement, dysfunction, and is an important determinant of late morbidity and mortality. Although pulmonary regurgitation may be well tolerated for many years following surgery, it can be associated with progressive exercise intolerance, heart failure, tachyarrhythmia, and late sudden death. It also often necessitates re-intervention. Identifying the appropriate timing of such intervention could be very challenging given the risk of prosthetic valve degeneration and the increased risk of reoperation. Comprehensive informed and regular assessment of the postoperative patient with tetralogy of Fallot, including evaluation of pulmonary regurgitation, right heart structure and function, is crucial to the optimal care of these patients. Pulmonary valve replacement performed in an experienced tertiary referral center is associated with low operative morbidity and mortality and very good long-term results. Early results of percutaneous pulmonary valve replacement are also promising. [source] Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Has No Benefit for Patients with Primary Cutaneous Melanoma: An Assertion Based on Comprehensive, Critical AnalysisDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 6 2005David G. Brodland MD No abstract is available for this article. [source] Psychotherapy of borderline personality disorderACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 5 2009M. C. ZanariniArticle first published online: 6 OCT 200 Objective:, Psychotherapy is considered the primary treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Currently, there are four comprehensive psychosocial treatments for BPD. Two of these treatments are considered psychodynamic in nature: mentalization-based treatment and transference-focused psychotherapy. The other two are considered to be cognitive-behavioral in nature: dialectical behavioral therapy and schema-focused therapy. Method:, A review of the relevant literature was conducted. Results:, Each of these lengthy and complex psychotherapies significantly reduces the severity of borderline psychopathology or at least some aspects of it, particularly physically self-destructive acts. Conclusion:, Comprehensive, long-term psychotherapy can be a useful form of treatment for those with BPD. However, less intensive and less costly forms of treatment need to be developed. [source] Toward a Current, Comprehensive, Integrative, and Flexible Model of Motivation for Instructional DesignPERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2006Patricia L. Hardré Workplace motivation historically has been an HR function, with ID as a training function. This division produces a split between motivation and training, leaving them isolated from one another. Intervention design needs to include motivation throughout its phases, to maximize motivating opportunities for performance improvement. The current models included in instructional design texts and resources are important, but tend to lack some characteristics that would make them more useful and productive for designers. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical and conceptual framework for the devel-opment of a new model of motivation for intervention design that is current, comprehensive, integrative, and flex-ible. To that end, we (1) review the key points of the call for such a model; (2) present a framework for such a model; (3) offer a conceptual prototype for a model to meet designer's needs and include perspectives from experts in instructional design and performance technology, including how it fills out an integrative theoretical base of motivation for the field; and (4) present future development implications for the field. [source] Health and Safety Needs in Early Care and Education Programs: What do Directors, Child Health Records, and National Standards Tell Us?PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2010Abbey Alkon ABSTRACT Objective: To identify the overlapping and unique health and safety needs and concerns identified by early care and education (ECE) directors, health records, and observed compliance with national health and safety (NHS) standards. Design and Sample: Cross-sectional study. 127 ECE programs from 5 California counties participated in the study, including 118 directors and 2,498 children's health records. Measures: Qualitative data were collected using standardized ECE directors' interviews to identify their health and safety concerns; and objective, quantitative data were collected using child health record reviews to assess regular health care, immunizations, health insurance, special health care needs, and screening tests and an observation Checklist of 66 key NHS standards collected by research assistants. Results: The overlapping health and safety needs and concerns identified by the directors and through observations were hygiene and handwashing, sanitation and disinfection, supervision, and the safety of indoor and outdoor equipment. Some of the health and safety needs identified by only one assessment method were health and safety staff training, medical plans for children with special health care needs and follow-up on positive screening tests. Conclusions: Comprehensive, multimethod assessments are useful to identify health and safety needs and develop public health nursing interventions for ECE programs. [source] 17 Our Patients, Our Residents, Their Case-Based Evidence: Development of an Intradepartmental Medical Education JournalACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 2008Christopher Miller As clinical educators, we place a premium on teaching at the bedside. This academic medicine hallmark has many competitors in today's challenging emergency department environment. We therefore sought to complement bedside teaching with the creation of a monthly, case-based, best-evidence-practice, intra-departmental medical education journal. Residents were encouraged to annotate interesting cases during their shifts in a written log found in the emergency department. Monthly, a senior EM resident reviewed the cases and earmarked a select few for detailed review based on their potential educational merit. Comprehensive, evidence-based teaching summaries were presented in a case-report format (see attached examples). The completed manuscript was distributed electronically to staff and residents as a monthly medical education journal. Survey methodology performed at the conclusion of the publication's first year assessed its educational impact and estimated resources required for publication. 90% of residents reported reading the journal monthly, and 80% felt it was of high educational value. The mean preparation time was 16 hours per month. To assess reproducible and lasting didactic benefit, the journal was introduced at a second EM academic institution. To date, 19 issues at the primary site and 7 issues at the second have been published. Multi-institutional validation of its educational impact is ongoing, but interim analysis suggests continued success at both sites. [source] Prospective Validation of a Comprehensive In silico hERG Model and its Applications to Commercial Compound and Drug DatabasesCHEMMEDCHEM, Issue 5 2010Munikumar Abstract Ligand-based in silico hERG models were generated for 2,644 compounds using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machines (SVM). As a result, the dataset used for the model generation is the largest publicly available (see Supporting Information). Extended connectivity fingerprints (ECFPs) and functional class fingerprints (FCFPs) were used to describe chemical space. All models showed area under curve (AUC) values ranging from 0.89 to 0.94 in a fivefold cross-validation, indicating high model consistency. Models correctly predicted 80,% of an additional, external test set; Y-scrambling was also performed to rule out chance correlation. Additionally models based on patch clamp data and radioligand binding data were generated separately to analyze their predictive ability when compared to combined models. To experimentally validate the models, 50 of the predicted hERG blockers from the Chembridge database and ten of the predicted non-hERG blockers from an in-house compound library were selected for biological evaluation. Out of those 50 predicted hERG blockers, tested at a concentration of 10,,M, 18 compounds showed more than 50,% displacement of [3H]astemizole binding to cell membranes expressing the hERG channel. Ki values of four of the selected binders were determined to be in the micromolar and high nanomolar range (Ki (VH01)=2.0,,M, Ki (VH06)=0.15,,M, Ki (VH19)=1.1,,M and Ki (VH47)=18 ,M). Of these four compounds, VH01 and VH47 showed also a second, even higher affinity binding site with Ki values of 7.4,nM and 36,nM, respectively. In the case of non-hERG blockers, all ten compounds tested were found to be inactive, showing less than 50,% displacement of [3H]astemizole binding at 10,,M. These experimentally validated models were then used to virtually screen commercial compound databases to evaluate whether they contain hERG blockers. 109,784 (23,%) of Chembridge, 133,175 (38,%) of Chemdiv, 111,737 (31,%) of Asinex and 11,116 (18,%) of the Maybridge database were predicted to be hERG blockers by at least two of the models, a prediction which could, for example, be used as a pre-filtering tool for compounds with potential hERG liabilities. [source] A Comprehensive and Comparative Review of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment OutcomeCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2000Robert J. Williams There are relatively few studies on adolescent substance abuse treatment. The ones that exist tend to be methodologically weak. Methodologically stronger studies have usually found most adolescents receiving treatment to have significant reductions in substance use and problems in other life areas in the year following treatment. Average rate of sustained abstinence after treatment is 38% (range, 30,55) at 6 months and 32% at 12 months (range, 14,47). Variables most consistently related to successful outcome are treatment completion, low pretreatment substance use, and peer/ parent social support/nonuse of substances. There is evidence that treatment is superior to no treatment, but insufficient evidence to compare the effectiveness of treatment types. The exception to this is that outpatient family therapy appears superior to other forms of outpatient treatment. [source] Mediation, power, and cultural differenceCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2003Morgan Brigg In Western mediation practice, conflict and violence are typically seen as destructive and unhelpful ways of being, and this does not allow for the constitutive and productive role of conflict in many non-Western traditions. The playing out of these assumptions in mediation practice effects an operation of power that is particularly significant in intercultural mediations. Explicit and implicit mediator techniques lead disputants in intercultural mediations to behave in ways consistent with the goals of mediation and Western norms around conflict and selfhood. The specificity of this analysis means that the findings are indicative and explorative rather than comprehensive. Nevertheless, the results highlight the need to consider ways in which researchers and mediators can begin to mitigate this operation of power and respond to cultural difference in ethical ways. [source] Accounting Recognition, Moral Hazard, and Communication,CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 3 2000PIERRE JINGHONG LIANG Abstract Two complementary sources of information are studied in a multiperiod agency model. One is an accounting source that partially but credibly conveys the agent's private information through accounting recognition. The other is an unverified communication by the agent (i.e., a self-report). In a simple setting with no communication, alternative labor market frictions lead to alternative optimal recognition policies. When the agent is allowed to communicate his or her private information, accounting signals serve as a veracity check on the agent's self-report. Finally, such communication sometimes makes delaying the recognition optimal. We see contracting and confirmatory roles of accounting as its comparative advantage. As a source of information, accounting is valuable because accounting reports are credible, comprehensive, and subject to careful and professional judgement. While other information sources may be more timely in providing valuation information about an entity, audited accounting information, when used in explicit or implicit contracts, ensures the accuracy of the reports from nonaccounting sources. [source] Oversight and Delegation in Corporate Governance: deciding what the board should decideCORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2006Michael Useem American boards of directors increasingly treat their delegation of authority to management as a careful and self-conscious decision. Numerically dominated by non-executives, boards recognize that they cannot run the company, and many are now seeking to provide stronger oversight of the company without crossing the line into management. Based on interviews with informants at 31 major companies, we find that annual calendars and written protocols are often used to allocate decision rights between the board and management. Written protocols vary widely, ranging from detailed and comprehensive to skeletal and limited in scope. While useful, such calendars and protocols do not negate the need for executives to make frequent judgement calls on what issues should go to the board and what should remain within management. Executives still set much of the board's decision-making agenda, and despite increasingly asserting their sovereignty in recent years, directors remain substantially dependent upon the executives' judgement on what should come to the board. At the same time, a norm is emerging among directors and executives that the latter must be mindful of what directors want to hear and believe they should decide. [source] The Green Onion: a corporate environmental strategy frameworkCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2010Scott Victor Valentine Abstract Since the 1990s, there has been a proliferation of research exploring the benefits of proactive corporate environmental management initiatives. Unfortunately, the absence of a comprehensive, strategic planning framework relegates much of this valuable research to a study of good ideas for making money while operating more sustainably. This paper presents a framework for guiding corporate environmental strategy to bring order to existing observations and allow social scientists to begin the process of ,orderly control and prediction'. The research is based on modified grounded theory and an extensive literature review pertaining to the benefits of corporate environmental management. The framework has been named the ,Green Onion' to highlight the multiple strategic layers of influence uncovered and the importance of retaining resilient outer layers (i.e., stakeholder management) to protect the highly potent core of functional environmental management initiatives (i.e., cost saving initiatives). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Scoring corporate environmental and sustainability reports using GRI 2000, ISO 14031 and other criteriaCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2002Prof. J. Emil Morhardt The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which current voluntary corporate environmental reports meet the requirements of two new sets of guidelines: (i) the Global Reporting Initiative GRI 2000 sustainability reporting guidelines and (ii) the ISO 14031 environmental performance evaluation standard. We converted them to comprehensiveness scoring systems then used them along with three existing comprehensiveness scoring systems to evaluate the 1999 reports of 40 of the largest global industrial companies. Many of the reports scored highly with the existing systems, but the GRI and ISO guidelines are much more detailed and comprehensive, and resulted in much lower scores. In particular, the economic and social topics that make up 42% of the potential GRI score and the environmental condition indicators that make up 22% of the ISO 14031 score were minimally addressed in all of the companies' environmental reports. Current reporting practices of the companies whose reports we examined here are well below the standards reflected in the GRI and ISO 14031 guidelines, even when the reports scored well with existing report scoring systems. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [source] Impact of the international program for quality assessment and standardization for immunological measures relevant to HIV/AIDS: QASICYTOMETRY, Issue 2 2002Francis Mandy Abstract Measurements of CD4 T-cell levels are essential for the assessment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease course, clinical staging, epidemiological studies, and decisions regarding prophylactic therapies against opportunistic infection. Until now, only in the industrialized countries was T-cell subset monitoring considered a practical option to assess disease progression. The Quality Assessment and Standardization for Immunological Measures Relevant to HIV/AIDS (QASI) program was established in 1997 to meet performance assessment for immunophenotyping laboratories in countries where such service is not available. The QASI program is provided at no cost to any laboratory in a resource-poor setting that wishes to participate. This report describes the beneficial impact of participation in the QASI program. Carefully selected commercial stabilized whole blood preparations were sent regularly to participating laboratories. Participants reported the T-cell subset values they obtained by flow cytometry. Once the aggregate mean values for the T-cell subsets were established for the shipment, a comprehensive and confidential report was sent to each laboratory. The results from five consecutive shipments were analyzed. The coefficient of variation decreased from 7.2% to 4.7% and from 14.2% to 8.8% for percent and absolute CD4 T-cell counts, respectively. With the implementation of the QASI program using commercial stabilized whole blood specimens, it is possible to reduce interlaboratory error. This study illustrates that a quality assessment program can improve the overall performance of laboratories. Reducing interlaboratory variation can enhance significantly the effectiveness of multicenter HIV vaccine or drug trial evaluation. Cytometry (Clin. Cytometry) 50:111,116, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] European guidelines for quality assurance in cervical cancer screening: recommendations for cytology laboratories,CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 2 2007H. G. Wiener The quality of a cervical cytology laboratory depends on adequate handling and staining of the samples, screening and interpretation of the slides and reporting of the results. These guidelines give an overview of procedures recommended in Europe to manage the balance between best patient care possible, laboratory quality assurance and cost effectiveness and will be published as a chapter 4 in the European Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Cervical Cancer Screening. The laboratory guidelines include protocols for personnel and organisation, material requirements, handling and analysing cervical samples, recording of results, quality management and communication. The section on quality management is comprehensive and includes protocols for all aspects of internal and external quality assurance. The guidelines are extensively referenced and as far as possible the recommendations are evidence-based. [source] Multidisciplinary treatment approach for crown fracture and crown-root fracture , a case reportDENTAL TRAUMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2007Wilson Roberto Poi Abstract,,, The increased incidence of traumatic injuries to anterior teeth is a consequence of leisure activities, where the most common injuries are crown fractures. Treatment of the dental trauma is complex and requires a comprehensive and accurate diagnostic and treatment plan. It is also important to consider the biological, functional, esthetic and economic aspects, as well as the patient's desire. The purpose of this article is to report a case that shows the multidisciplinary approach required to successfully manage the rehabilitation of a maxillary central incisor with a complex crown fracture and a maxillary lateral incisor, that at first presented an oblique crown-root fracture, and after the orthodontic extrusion, suffered a more apical new crown-root fracture. [source] Obstetrician-gynecologists' screening patterns for anxiety during pregnancy,DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 2 2008Victoria H. Coleman M.A. Abstract As obstetrician-gynecologists (ob-gyns) take on a greater role in women's healthcare, it is important that they are aware of the high prevalence of anxiety disorders in their patient population. Anxiety disorders present during pregnancy can have detrimental effects on both mother and child. In this study, we queried 1,193 ob-gyns on their screening rates, practice patterns, training, and knowledge as they relate to anxiety disorders during pregnancy. We achieved a 44% response rate (n=397) after three mailings. Physicians reported a moderate interest in screening for and diagnosing anxiety, but less interest in treatment. Only 20% of respondents (n=79) screen for anxiety during pregnancy, and they typically refer anxiety-disordered patients to mental health professionals. Ob-gyns with comprehensive or adequate training were significantly more likely to screen than those who stated that their training was inadequate. Having a friend who has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder also significantly increased both the likelihood that these physicians would screen and the reported level of interest in screening of anxiety disorders during pregnancy. At present, the majority of ob-gyns feel that their training in this area was barely adequate to inadequate. Specifically, generalized anxiety disorder may be the least understood. Increased training in this area would allow ob-gyns to overcome what they list as the primary barrier to anxiety screening during pregnancy,that is, inadequate training about anxiety disorders. Depression and Anxiety 0:1,10, 2007. Published © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Circuits and systems in stress.DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 1 2002Abstract This paper follows the preclinical work on the effects of stress on neurobiological and neuroendocrine systems and provides a comprehensive working model for understanding the pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies of the neurobiology of PTSD in clinical populations are reviewed. Specific brain areas that play an important role in a variety of types of memory are also preferentially affected by stress, including hippocampus, amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and cingulate. This review indicates the involvement of these brain systems in the stress response, and in learning and memory. Affected systems in the neural circuitry of PTSD are reviewed (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis), catecholaminergic and serotonergic systems, endogenous benzodiazepines, neuropeptides, hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis (HPT-axis), and neuro-immunological alterations) as well as changes found with structural and functional neuroimaging methods. Converging evidence has emphasized the role of early-life trauma in the development of PTSD and other trauma-related disorders. Current and new targets for systems that play a role in the neural circuitry of PTSD are discussed. This material provides a basis for understanding the psychopathology of stress-related disorders, in particular PTSD. Depression and Anxiety 16:14,38, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Embryogenesis and ossification of Emydura subglobosa (Testudines, Pleurodira, Chelidae) and patterns of turtle developmentDEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 11 2009Ingmar Werneburg Abstract Using the Standard Event System (SES) to study patterns of vertebrate development, we describe a series of 17 embryos of the pleurodire turtle Emydura subglobosa. Based on a sequence heterochrony analysis including 23 tetrapod taxa, we identified autapomorphic developmental shifts that characterise Testudines, Cryptodira, and Pleurodira. The main results are that Testudines are characterised by an autapomorphic late neck development, whereas pleurodires and cryptodires show a different developmental timing of the mandibular process. Additionally, we described the ossification pattern of E. subglobosa and compared the data to those of five other turtles. Pleurodires show the epiplastron to ossify before or simultaneously with maxilla and dentary. In contrast, cryptodires show a later ossification of this bone. Because evolutionary developmental studies on turtles have previously focused only on "model organisms" that all belong to Cryptodira, we underline the necessity to include a pleurodire taxon for a more comprehensive, phylogenetically more informative approach. Developmental Dynamics 238:2770,2786, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Prospective studies of suicidal behavior in major depressive and bipolar disorders: what is the evidence for predictive risk factors?ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 3 2006M. A. Oquendo Objective:, Prospective studies over the past 30 years have identified an array of predictive indicators for suicidal acts in mood disorders. However, prediction of suicidal behavior remains an elusive goal. This paper reviewed evidence from prospective studies for clinical factors that elevate risk of suicidal acts in that group. Method:, English language prospective studies of suicidal behavior in major depressive and bipolar disorders were examined. Results:, The predictors with the best support were a past history of suicidal behavior and the presence of refractory or recurrent depressions. For other risk factors, there was either not enough data to consider them robust or findings were contradictory. Conclusion:, Future studies must not only be comprehensive in their inclusion of potentially contributing factors, but must also address their relative importance towards the goal of developing predictive models and enhance suicide prevention efforts. [source] Insulin therapy in EuropeDIABETES/METABOLISM: RESEARCH AND REVIEWS, Issue S3 2002Werner A. Scherbaum Abstract The prevalence of type 1 diabetes is rising in all European countries, particularly in Scandinavia and the UK. Insulin therapy in Europe is strongly influenced by the results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS), both of which showed the importance of tight metabolic control in patients with diabetes. The importance of tight glycemic control is also emphasized in the Saint Vincent Declaration, which established 5-year goals for antidiabetic therapy in Europe. Insulin therapy in Europe has been significantly improved over the past 10,years, owing to a number of developments. These include increased use of intensive insulin therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes; the development of new insulin analogs, including insulin glargine for injection therapy and short-acting agents that are particularly suitable for use in pumpsand the establishment of comprehensive and standardized treatment goals and guidelines. Nevertheless, important obstacles must still be overcome to optimize therapy for patients with diabetes and reduce the long-term complications of this disease. These obstacles include low public awareness of diabetes and its symptoms, training of physicians as well as patients that is often insufficient to ensure adherence to professional guidelines for diabetes care, and limitations in communication among professional care providers. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Global Guideline for Type 2 Diabetes: recommendations for standard, comprehensive, and minimal careDIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 6 2006IDF Clinical Guidelines Task Force Abstract The Clinical Guidelines Task Force of the International Diabetes Federation has created an evidence-based Global Guideline for the care of people with Type 2 diabetes around the world. The recommendations developed for three levels of care (standard, comprehensive, and minimal), which can be applied in settings with different resources, are presented here. The source document is published elsewhere. [source] Assessing prolonged recovery in first-episode psychosisACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2002L. Wong The Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) is a comprehensive, specialized treatment service for individuals residing in the western metropolitan region of Melbourne who are experiencing their first psychotic episode. A subprogramme of EPPIC, the Treatment Resistance Early Assessment Team (TREAT), has been developing a framework for the management of individuals experiencing ,prolonged recovery' in early psychosis. TREAT is a consultation team that provides technical assistance to clinicians within EPPIC, comprising senior clinicians with expertise in the biopsychosocial treatment of early psychosis and persisting positive and negative symptoms. A system has recently been set up within the TREAT framework to routinely assess clinical and functional outcomes of these clients using standardized instruments. Case managers are trained to conduct assessments at multiple timepoints over the duration of their clients' treatment at EPPIC. A summary will be presented on the current sample (n=15) and examples of clinician and client feedback reports will be illustrated. Discussion is also provided on the development of training, procedures and materials to enhance integration of clinician and client outcome measures into routine clinical practice. [source] Housing anxiety and multiple geographies in post-tsunami Sri LankaDISASTERS, Issue 4 2009Camillo Boano Tsunami intervention has been an extraordinary and unprecedented relief and recovery operation. This article underlines the complexities posed by shelter and housing intervention in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, revealing a pragmatic, reductionist approach to shelter and housing reconstruction in a contested and fragmented environment. Competition, housing anxiety and buffer zone implementation have resulted in compulsory villagisation inland, stirring feelings of discrimination and tension, and becoming major obstacles to equitable rebuilding of houses and livelihoods. A new tsunami geography has been imposed on an already vulnerable conflict-based geography, in which shelter has been conceived as a mono-dimensional artefact. An analysis of the process and outcomes of temporary and permanent post-tsunami housing programmes yields information about the extent to which shelter policies and programmes serve not only physical needs but ,higher order' objectives for a comprehensive and sustainable recovery plan. [source] Why the poor pay with their lives: oil pipeline vandalisation, fires and human security in NigeriaDISASTERS, Issue 3 2009Freedom C. Onuoha Since its discovery in Nigeria in 1956 crude oil has been a source of mixed blessing to the country. It is believed to have generated enormous wealth, but it has also claimed a great many lives. Scholarly attention on the impact of oil on security in Nigeria has largely focused on internal conflicts rather than on how disasters associated with oil pipeline vandalisation have impacted on human security in terms of causing bodily injuries and death, destroying livelihoods and fracturing families. This paper examines how pipeline vandalisation affects human security in these ways. It identifies women and children as those who are hardest hit and questions why the poor are the most vulnerable in oil pipeline disasters in this country. It recommends the adoption of a comprehensive and integrated framework of disaster management that will ensure prompt response to key early warning signs, risk-reduction and appropriate mitigation and management strategies. [source] Spain's greatest and most recent mine disasterDISASTERS, Issue 1 2008Flor Ma. On 25 April 1998, the mineral waste retaining wall at the Swedish-owned pyrite mine at Aznalcóllar (Seville, Spain) burst,2 causing the most harmful environmental and socio-economic disaster in the history of the River Guadiamar basin. The damage was so great that the regional government decided in May 1998 to finance a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research initiative with the objective of eradicating or at least minimising all of the negative social, economic and environmental impacts. This paper utilises a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis to identify eight strategic measures aimed at providing policymakers with key guidelines on implementing a sustainable development model, in a broad sense. Empirical evidence, though, reveals that, to date, major efforts to tackle the negative impacts have centred on environmental concerns and that the socio-economic consequences have not been completely mitigated. [source] Tools for planning and coordinating development of medical countermeasures in the public sectorDRUG DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH, Issue 4 2009Ian Manger Abstract In spite of significant increases in biodefense spending in the 7 years since the 2001 anthrax attacks, the United States may not yet be fully prepared to respond effectively to many potential biothreats. The principal reasons appear to be that: (1) the problem is extremely complex, and the metrics for success are often unclear; (2) although the US Congress has allocated substantial resources for this effort, these funds are insufficient for the task as initially conceived, i.e., "one drug for each bug;" and (3) there is insufficient coordination among the many agencies working to achieve the goal of protecting the nation from biothreats. In the last few years, much of the biodefense community has come to recognize that an approach that focuses on developing and stockpiling a medical countermeasure (MCM) for each possible biothreat agent is unachievable for reasons of cost, time, and the sheer diversity of emerging threats. Promising alternative models are emerging, including broad spectrum and technology platform approaches, but the requisite cross-agency planning and coordination, although improving, is still problematic. We have developed a set of software tools and methods for using them that could support the desired coordination and that could also provide for more rapid, comprehensive, and shared identification of key enabling technologies for accomplishing the development of effective medical countermeasures in time to counter or prevent a biothreat. The tools and methods could also make possible a collaborative public-private partnership for the development of MCM, which many believe is critical to success. Drug Dev Res 70:327,334, 2009 © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Correcting sinners, correcting texts: a context for the Paenitentiale pseudo-TheodoriEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 1 2006Carine Van Rhijn This article presents the preliminary results of an investigation into the history of the Penitential of Pseudo-Theodore. It outlines the text's manu-script history, the scope of its contents, and its sources, arguing that it was a comprehensive, systematic collection. It also reconsiders the evidence for when and where it was composed, suggesting it was probably written in north-eastern France or the eastern Rhineland in the 820s or 830s. [source] Sediment transmission and storage: the implications for reconstructing landform developmentEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 1 2010R. C. Chiverrell Abstract The late Holocene (last 3000 years) development of the lower Ribble valley (northwest England) displays evidence for a complex response to a sediment recharge event forced by land-use change induced increases in erosion and sediment delivery. The deposition of fluvial sediments during the late Holocene was restricted to a series of reaches or depocenters separated by zones with no sediment accumulation constrained by older glacial and fluvial terrain. Apparent reach-wide correlations of fluvial terraces break down under the scrutiny applied by comprehensive and extensive radiocarbon control. Bayesian testing of relative order models show that large-scale geomorphological changes, e.g. the progression from one terrace level to another, were time transgressive between different depocenters. The different histories of sediment delivery and storage are probably a function of local- and process-scale variations in these depocenters, and reflect (dis)connectivity relationships within a reach in propagating a basin-scale change (superslug) in the sediment regime. Disconnectivity in the depositional regime through a fluvial reach limits what we can reconstruct in terms of sediment budgets, but radiocarbon dating of multiple palaeochannels offers considerable potential for landform-based research to uncover rates of change within individual depocenters. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Long-term InHM simulations of hydrologic response and sediment transport for the R-5 catchmentEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 9 2007Christopher S. Heppner Abstract The physics-based model known as the Integrated Hydrology Model (InHM) is used to simulate continuous hydrologic response and event-based sediment transport for the R-5 catchment (Oklahoma, USA). For the simulations reported herein the R-5 boundary-value problem was refined, from that reported by Loague et al. (2005), to include (i) an improved conceptualization of the local hydrogeologic setting, (ii) a more accurate topographical representation of the catchment, (iii) improved boundary conditions for surface-water outflow, subsurface-water outflow and evapotranspiration, (iv) improved characterization of surface and subsurface hydraulic parameters and (v) improved initial conditions. The hydrologic-response simulations were conducted in one-year periods, for a total of six years. The sediment-transport simulations were conducted for six selected events. The multi-year water-balance results from the hydrologic-response simulations match the observed aggregate behavior of the catchment. Event hydrographs were generally simulated best for the larger events. Soil-water content was over-estimated during dry periods compared with the observed data. The sediment-transport simulations were more successful in reproducing the total sediment mass than the peak sediment discharge rate. The results from the effort reported here reinforce the contention that comprehensive and detailed datasets are crucial for testing physics-based hydrologic-response models. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||