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Selected AbstractsHybrid Framework for Managing Uncertainty in Life Cycle InventoriesJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Eric D. Williams Summary Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used to inform decisions related to environmental technologies and polices, such as carbon footprinting and labeling, national emission inventories, and appliance standards. However, LCA studies of the same product or service often yield very different results, affecting the perception of LCA as a reliable decision tool. This does not imply that LCA is intrinsically unreliable; we argue instead that future development of LCA requires that much more attention be paid to assessing and managing uncertainties. In this article we review past efforts to manage uncertainty and propose a hybrid approach combining process and economic input,output (I-O) approaches to uncertainty analysis of life cycle inventories (LCI). Different categories of uncertainty are sometimes not tractable to analysis within a given model framework but can be estimated from another perspective. For instance, cutoff or truncation error induced by some processes not being included in a bottom-up process model can be estimated via a top-down approach such as the economic I-O model. A categorization of uncertainty types is presented (data, cutoff, aggregation, temporal, geographic) with a quantitative discussion of methods for evaluation, particularly for assessing temporal uncertainty. A long-term vision for LCI is proposed in which hybrid methods are employed to quantitatively estimate different uncertainty types, which are then reduced through an iterative refinement of the hybrid LCI method. [source] Oral implant restoration for enhanced oral functionCLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHARMACOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 1-2 2005Patrick J Henry SUMMARY 1.,The present paper reviews the clinical applications of implant-anchored restorations replacing teeth and defects of the craniofacial skeleton resultant from congenital, traumatic and surgical tissue loss. 2.,Different categories of tooth and tissue loss were treated in controlled multicentre prospective clinical trials. More recent developments have been the subject of limited pilot studies. 3.,Long-term results and meta-analysis reviews have shown that osseointegrated implant-supported restorations were at least equal to, and in some applications superior to, traditional treatment methods. 4.,Based on the outcome of a 30 year research and development programme and validation in numerous clinical trials, osseointegrated implant dental rehabilitation has become a viable treatment alternative for missing teeth and, for some applications, is considered to be a standard of care. [source] A survey of mobile and wireless technologies for augmented reality systemsCOMPUTER ANIMATION AND VIRTUAL WORLDS (PREV: JNL OF VISUALISATION & COMPUTER ANIMATION), Issue 1 2008George Papagiannakis Abstract Recent advances in hardware and software for mobile computing have enabled a new breed of mobile augmented reality (AR) systems and applications. A new breed of computing called ,augmented ubiquitous computing' has resulted from the convergence of wearable computing, wireless networking, and mobile AR interfaces. In this paper, we provide a survey of different mobile and wireless technologies and how they have impact AR. Our goal is to place them into different categories so that it becomes easier to understand the state of art and to help identify new directions of research. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Local authorities, climate change and small and medium enterprises: identifying effective policy instruments to reduce energy use and carbon emissionsCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008Jaryn Bradford Abstract This paper discusses potential policy options available to local and municipal authorities, to achieve reductions in energy usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Researchers conducted surveys with 112 SMEs, and the results have been used to disaggregate the category of ,SME' into sub-sectors based on industrial sector, two measurements of employee size and annual turnover. A statistical analysis identifies key characteristics and behaviours of the sub-sectors of firms and discusses the type of policy measure these groups of SMEs would probably respond to. The key results of the research indicate that categories of firms differ in terms of energy use behaviours, internal constraints and attitudes toward possible policy options. The paper presents a ,policy matrix' to represent the most and least likely policy options to achieve energy savings from different categories of SMEs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Comparison of ADA and WHO criteria for the diagnosis of diabetes in elderly KoreansDIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 10 2002K. M. Choi Abstract Aims This study was conducted to compare the prevalence and cardiovascular risk factors of different categories of glucose tolerance in the elderly Korean population using World Health Organization (WHO) and American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria. Methods This study included 1456 non-diabetic subjects over the age of 60 years, selected from a cross-sectional study, which was conducted in 1999 in Seoul, Korea. Fasting and post-challenge 2-h plasma glucose, insulin levels, body mass index (BMI), waist,hip ratio (WHR), blood pressure, and lipid profiles were examined. Prevalence of glucose tolerance categories and the level of agreement (, statistics) were obtained using WHO 2-h criteria and ADA fasting criteria. Comparison of cardiovascular risk factors among several concordant and discordant glucose intolerance groups was done. Results The prevalence rates of newly diagnosed diabetes of elderly men defined by WHO 2-h criteria and ADA fasting criteria were 11.8% and 4.8%, respectively. That of elderly women was 8.1% by WHO 2-h criteria and 3.1% by ADA fasting criteria. The prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) by WHO criteria was also higher than that of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) by ADA criteria (23.5% vs. 10.0% men, 23.7% vs. 7.5% women). The level of agreement between ADA fasting criteria and WHO 2-h criteria was low (weighted , = 0.228 men, weighted , = 0.301 women). The concordant diabetic women by both ADA fasting criteria and WHO 2-h criteria showed higher BMI, WHR, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels than concordant normal subjects. However, the isolated post-challenge hyperglycaemia (IPH) women group was not different significantly from the concordant normal women group except in BMI. Conclusions Our results clearly show that the 1997 ADA fasting criteria are less sensitive for diagnosing diabetes than oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)-based WHO criteria in elderly Koreans. Also, there is a poor agreement of different categories of glucose tolerance between ADA and WHO criteria; therefore, the OGTT remains a valuable test in diagnosing diabetes and classifying various categories of glucose intolerance, especially in elderly Koreans. [source] Pulmonary neuroendocrine neoplasms: A review of clinicopathologic and cytologic featuresDIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 8 2010F.I.A.C., Momin T. Siddiqui M.D. Abstract Neuroendocrine tumors form a distinct group of lung neoplasms sharing characteristic cytohistologic, immunohistochemical, ultrastructural, and molecular features. The objective of this review article is to discuss the diagnostic classifications and the morphologic cytologic,histologic features for the different categories of neuroendocrine tumors of the lung. An accurate characterization of the neuroendocrine tumors of the lung requires knowledge of specific criteria separating the major categories, which is highly essential for determining prognosis and treatment options for these patients. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010;38:607,617. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Some Formal Ontological RelationsDIALECTICA, Issue 3 2004E. J. Lowe Some formal ontological relations are identified, in the context of an account of ontological categorization. It is argued that neither formal ontological relations nor ontological categories should themselves be regarded as elements of being, but that this does not undermine the claim of formal ontology to be a purely objective science. It is also argued that some formal ontological relations, like some ontological categories, are more basic than others. A four-category ontology is proposed, in which two basic categories of universals and two basic categories of particulars are distinguished in terms of certain formal ontological relations characteristically obtaining between entities belonging to the different categories. [source] THE LOGIC OF AUTHORITARIAN BARGAINSECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 1 2009RAJ M. DESAI Dictatorships do not survive by repression alone. Rather, dictatorial rule is often explained as an "authoritarian bargain" by which citizens relinquish political rights for economic security. The applicability of the authoritarian bargain to decision-making in non-democratic states, however, has not been thoroughly examined. We conceptualize this bargain as a simple game between a representative citizen and an autocrat who faces the threat of insurrection, and where economic transfers and political influence are simultaneously determined. Our model yields implications for empirical patterns that are expected to exist. Tests of a system of equations with panel data comprising 80 non-democratic states between 1975 and 1999 generally confirm the predictions of the authoritarian-bargain thesis, with some variation across different categories of dictatorship. [source] Variation in Vocal Performance in the Songs of a Wood-Warbler: Evidence for the Function of Distinct Singing ModesETHOLOGY, Issue 7 2004Martin D. Beebee Male North American wood-warblers (family Parulidae) subdivide their song repertoires into two different categories, or modes, of singing (first and second category songs). These two modes are thought to be specialized for interacting with females and males, although the data are inconclusive. I conducted an acoustic analysis of the song types used by yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia) for type I (first category) and type II (second category) singing to ask whether there are consistent structural differences between them which could provide insight into how they might function as separate signals. I found that type I songs are performed closer to the upper boundary of a song performance limit, measured in terms of the difficulty of production, compared with type II songs. By contrast, the performance of specific song types did not depend on whether they were used for type I singing vs. type II singing by different males. In addition, type I songs had a greater amplitude increase across the first two syllables compared with type II songs. There was no relationship between the performance of type I or type II songs and male condition. These results suggest that wood-warblers might subdivide their song repertoire into distinct categories to highlight the relative vocal performance of their songs. [source] The Chorus Song of Cooperatively Breeding Laughing Kookaburras (Coraciiformes, Halcyonidae: Dacelo novaeguineae): Characterization and Comparison Among GroupsETHOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Myron C. Baker I studied vocalizations of laughing kookaburras in Western Australia by sampling the laugh-song choruses of eight different groups and the isolated vocalizations of four individuals of this cooperatively breeding species. These data provided a description of the acoustic structure of vocal elements of the laugh song and a between-group comparison of laugh choruses. I identified six different categories of syllables: some syllable types appear graded with modal forms predominating. Group choruses were produced by several birds vocalizing simultaneously, usually following initiation by a single bird producing one of two typical introductory sets of syllable repetitions. Statistical analyses of samples of mid-chorus vocalizations of kookaburra groups revealed that the samples from each of the eight groups clustered in principal coordinate space and the group clusters segregated from each other to a significant degree. Linear discriminant analysis assigned 24 of the 25 samples to their correct groups. These results suggest that there is group-specific vocal signature information in the laugh chorus. The within-group similarity and between-group differences may result from heritable variation or from imitation learning. Observations of the contexts of the laugh chorus vocalization supported the interpretations of others that the chorus song is involved in group advertisement of territory occupancy and in defense of the communal borders. [source] Taxonomy and structure of Croatian personality-descriptive adjectivesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 2 2005Boris Mla This paper describes the development of a comprehensive taxonomy of Croatian personality-descriptive terms, organized in three studies. In the first study three judges searched through a standard dictionary of the Croatian language for person-descriptive terms. In the second study, personality-descriptive adjectives were classified by seven judges into 13 different categories of descriptors. In the third study, the 483 adjectives that the majority of judges in the second study classified as dispositions were rated for self-descriptions by 515 University of Zagreb students and for peer-descriptions by 513 students' best acquaintances. Self- and peer ratings were factor analysed separately and the Croatian emic lexical factors from both data sets were interpreted to be similar to the Big-Five factors: Agreeableness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Intellect, and Emotional Stability. The inspection of factor content of the Croatian emic factors and their relation to imported Big-Five measures revealed high correspondences for all five Croatian factors although the relation between the Croatian and the imported factors of Emotional Stability and Agreeableness was somewhat more complex. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Regional development policies and the constructions of gender equality: The Swedish caseEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2007CHRISTINE HUDSON Drawing on Carole Bacchi's ,What's the Problem? Approach', we explore how arguments concerning the new forms of regional policy are assigning different categories of people different subject positions and, in particular, we focus on the kind of subject positions that are being given to women as a group in this context. The discourse being shaped in national policy is, however, interpreted in specific contexts. Accordingly, we compare the way this new discourse is being (re)interpreted and (re)constructed and the subject positions being ascribed to women in the regional development partnerships and growth strategies in two Swedish regions: Västerbotten and Jönköping. Finally, we draw attention to how both the form and the content of Swedish regional development policies create great difficulties for politicizing gender as a power dimension in society. We suggest that regional politics has become de-politicized and argue for the need for it to be re-politicized with gender included as a conflict dimension. [source] Free Movement of Persons and European Solidarity1EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007Stefano Giubboni The article aims to re-construct the system of Community rules regarding the free movement of persons within the EU from the point of view of the justifying criteria for the cross-border access to national welfare systems of the different categories of ,migrants'. The focus of the article is on the different degrees and models of solidarity which, at least at the present stage of the European integration process, justify correspondingly graduated and differentiated forms of cross-border access to Member States' social and welfare benefits for the various categories of persons who move about within the EU. [source] Centralisation versus Decentralisation of Public Policies: Does the Heterogeneity of Individual Preferences Matter?,FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2008Carlo Mazzaferro This paper explores the role of the heterogeneity of fiscal preferences in the assignment of policy tasks to different levels of government (decentralisation versus centralisation). With reference to a sample of European countries, a median-voter mechanism of collective decision is assumed to work at both a national and a supranational level. Using data from a large international survey (the International Social Survey Programme, ISSP), a series of econometric models are estimated in order to make individual attitudes representative of different categories of public expenditure and of different countries. The dominance of decentralisation over centralisation or vice versa is determined on the basis of the utility loss that each individual suffers in connection with the distance between his or her own most preferred level of public expenditure and that chosen by the national/supranational median voter. The main finding is that, differently from the predictions of Oates's decentralisation theorem, the assignment of responsibilities at the supranational level (centralisation) for a number of public expenditure programmes (healthcare, education, unemployment benefits) dominates (or is close to dominating) decentralisation, even in the absence of economies of scale and interregional spillovers. However, when the possibility of interjurisdictional mobility is explicitly considered, in line with the predictions of Tiebout's model, decentralisation dominance becomes more and more substantial and also prevails in the sectors where, under the nonmobility assumption, the assignment of responsibilities at the supranational level is efficient. [source] Pharmacokinetic predictions in children by using the physiologically based pharmacokinetic modellingFUNDAMENTAL & CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 6 2008F. Bouzom Abstract Nowadays, 50,90% of drugs used in children have never been actually studied in this population. Consequently, either our children are often exposed to the risk of adverse drug events or to lack of efficacy, or they are unable to benefit from a number of therapeutic advances offered to adults, as no clinical study has been properly performed in children. Actually the main methods used to calculate the dose for a child are based on allometric methods taking into account different categories of age, the body weight and/or the body surface area. Unfortunately, these calculation methods consider the children as small adults, which is not the case. Physiologically based pharmacokinetics is one way to integrate the physiological changes occurring in the childhood and to anticipate their impact on the pharmacokinetic processes: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion/elimination. From different examples, the application of this modelling approach is discussed as a possible and valuable method to minimize the ethical and technical difficulties of conducting research in children. [source] THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF THE CENTRAL PLACE SYSTEM IN TRØNDELAG, NORWAY, OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS , VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF OLD AND RECENT THEORIES AND TRENDSGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2007Britt Dale ABSTRACT. The IGU Symposium on Urban Geography in Lund in 1960 was a path-breaking event towards new nomothetic thinking within the discipline. In nearly half of the papers, the state of the art in central place research was presented and debated. The symposium was the main source of inspiration for a study of the central place system in Midt-Norge in the 1960s, a research project that has been followed up in stages over a 40-year period. The result is a unique collection of data, covering all central places in the region and the location of approximately 200 service functions of different categories in the 1960s, 1980s and c. 2000. Despite the profound changes that have taken place on the part of the consumer, as well as the supplier, the main structure of the central place hierarchy has been surprisingly stable. However, when looking at the growth and decline of each of the different service functions, considerable dynamics have been found. There are tendencies of centralization/concentration as well as decentralization/dispersion. Furthermore, the functional division of labour by vertical steps and tiers in the 1960s has been supplemented by horizontal specialization between places, and also in the lower levels of the central place hierarchy. In this paper, we present and discuss some of the main changes that have taken place in the system in the light of older and newer theories and trends. [source] Richness patterns, species distributions and the principle of extreme deconstructionGLOBAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Levi Carina Terribile ABSTRACT Aim, To analyse the global patterns in species richness of Viperidae snakes through the deconstruction of richness into sets of species according to their distribution models, range size, body size and phylogenetic structure, and to test if environmental drivers explaining the geographical ranges of species are similar to those explaining richness patterns, something we called the extreme deconstruction principle. Location, Global. Methods, We generated a global dataset of 228 terrestrial viperid snakes, which included geographical ranges (mapped at 1° resolution, for a grid with 7331 cells world-wide), body sizes and phylogenetic relationships among species. We used logistic regression (generalized linear model; GLM) to model species geographical ranges with five environmental predictors. Sets of species richness were also generated for large and small-bodied species, for basal and derived species and for four classes of geographical range sizes. Richness patterns were also modelled against the five environmental variables through standard ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regressions. These subsets are replications to test if environmental factors driving species geographical ranges can be directly associated with those explaining richness patterns. Results, Around 48% of the total variance in viperid richness was explained by the environmental model, but richness sets revealed different patterns across the world. The similarity between OLS coefficients and the primacy of variables across species geographical range GLMs was equal to 0.645 when analysing all viperid snakes. Thus, in general, when an environmental predictor it is important to model species geographical ranges, this predictor is also important when modelling richness, so that the extreme deconstruction principle holds. However, replicating this correlation using subsets of species within different categories in body size, range size and phylogenetic structure gave more variable results, with correlations between GLM and OLS coefficients varying from ,0.46 up to 0.83. Despite this, there is a relatively high correspondence (r = 0.73) between the similarity of GLM-OLS coefficients and R2 values of richness models, indicating that when richness is well explained by the environment, the relative importance of environmental drivers is similar in the richness OLS and its corresponding set of GLMs. Main conclusions, The deconstruction of species richness based on macroecological traits revealed that, at least for range size and phylogenetic level, the causes underlying patterns in viperid richness differ for the various sets of species. On the other hand, our analyses of extreme deconstruction using GLM for species geographical range support the idea that, if environmental drivers determine the geographical distribution of species by establishing niche boundaries, it is expected, at least in theory, that the overlap among ranges (i.e. richness) will reveal similar effects of these environmental drivers. Richness patterns may be indeed viewed as macroecological consequences of population-level processes acting on species geographical ranges. [source] Questioning the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 Special Areas of Conservation strategy: the case of CreteGLOBAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos ABSTRACT Aim, This study examines the effectiveness of the selected ,network' of Natura 2000 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) at a regional scale in Greece, in terms of its representativeness of plant biodiversity. Location, The island of Crete is used as a case study because it is considered to be one of the 10 hotspots for biodiversity in the Mediterranean Basin. Methods, Hotspot analysis and complementarity algorithms are used to define priority areas for conservation and calculate their spatial overlap with the Natura 2000 SACs in Crete. Results, The various categories of hotspots contain subsamples of plant categories, used for their definition. Spatial overlap among different categories of hotspots, areas of complementary diversity and Natura 2000 SCAs is low. Main conclusions, The results show that the Natura 2000 SACs ,network' in Crete seems insufficient to ensure satisfactory representation of the regional plant biodiversity elements. [source] September 11, Anti-Terror Laws and Civil Liberties: Britain, France and Germany Compared1GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 1 2003Dirk Haubrich The attacks on the United States of America in September 2001 have spurred a rapid implementation of new Anti-Terrorism legislation around the world. In an effort to, ostensibly, safeguard against the repetition of similar events on their own territories, many democracies have taken far-reaching legislative steps that might threaten the ideal of liberty on which their societies have traditionally been built. This article examines the laws introduced in Britain, France and Germany to establish the extent to which civil liberties in eight different categories have been curtailed. It concludes that, despite the otherwise similar characteristics of the countries studied, the legal provisions differ significantly in scope and depth, a fact that might be explained by: the different levels of threat perception; Britain's history of anti-terror legislation; and the respective power balances between judiciaries and legislatures. [source] Measuring the shortage of medical practitioners in rural and urban areas in developing countries: a simple framework and simulation exercises with data from IndiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Homi Katrak Abstract This paper suggests a simple framework to estimate the shortage of medical practitioners in rural and urban areas in developing countries. Shortages are defined with respect to four main considerations. The overall numbers and also the different categories of practitioners in the rural and urban areas, the relatively greater difficulties of access in the rural areas (which reduce the number of accessible practitioners) and the greater health hazards in those areas (which lead to greater need for medical treatment). The quantitative effect of these factors is examined by undertaking simulation exercises with data for the Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh state, India and also data for that state. The simulations turned up the following results. The un-weighted total number of practitioners, per head of population, is relatively greater in the rural areas; this is because of the relatively large numbers of the unqualified doctors in those areas. On the other hand, a ,quality adjusted' total, with lower weights for the unqualified doctors, found little overall difference between the rural and urban areas. Third, allowance for rural,urban differences in the difficulties of access showed that the number of accessible practitioners is much lower in the rural areas. Fourth, rural,urban differences in the incidence of health hazards and estimates of the need for medical treatment also showed a marked shortage of practitioners in the rural areas. The main implication of the results is that developmental efforts in the rural areas, including improvements in transport facilities and reduction of health hazards, would help to greatly reduce the shortage of practitioners in those areas. Training programmes to improve the quality of practitioners in the rural areas are also required. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Design of multichannel MAC protocols for wireless ad hoc networksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2009Shou-Chih Lo Medium access control (MAC) protocols coordinate channel access between wireless stations, and they significantly affect the network throughput of wireless ad hoc networks. MAC protocols that are based on a multichannel model can increase the throughput by enabling more simultaneous transmission pairs in the network. In this paper, we comprehensively compare different design methods for multichannel MAC protocols. We classify existing protocols into different categories according to the channel negotiation strategies they employ. The common problems that may be encountered in multichannel design are discussed. We then propose a hybrid protocol that combines the advantages of the two methods of a common control channel and a common control period. The simulation results show that our proposed protocol can significantly outperform two representative protocols. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Nursing Diagnosis in Medical-Surgical PatientsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING TERMINOLOGIES AND CLASSIFICATION, Issue 2003Márcia Paschoalina Volpato PURPOSE. To identify nursing diagnoses identified in patients in a medical-surgical unit. METHODS. Data were collected through interviews and physical examination of 60 patients on a female ward in order to formulate NANDA diagnoses. The data collection tool was based on Gordon's 11 Functional Health Patterns. Four researchers with medical-surgical nursing expertise reached the nursing diagnosis through consensus. FINDINGS. A total of 338 diagnoses were identified from 49 different categories. Nineteen categories were identified in more than 10% of the sample: risk for infection (58%), pain (50%), constipation (42%), activity intolerance (35%), sleep pattern disturbance (28%), altered physical mobility (27%), impaired skin integrity (27%), fatigue (25%), sexual pattern dysfunction (23%), anxiety (23%), risk for ineffective manipulation of therapeutic regimen (20%), risk for trauma (20%), risk for impaired skin integrity (18%), ineffective coping (18%), altered nutrition: more than body requirements (12%), impaired communication (12%), urinary incontinence (10%), fluid volume excess (10%), and altered nutrition: less than body requirements (10%). The most frequent diagnoses related to Health Functional Patterns were identified in health control and perception, with 28% of the 338 formulated diagnoses, activity-exercise and nutritional-metabolic with 20% each. CONCLUSIONS. There was great diversity in the quality of the reported needs in the studied sample, which demands extensive knowledge and a wide range of abilities to identify needs as well as implement care in the affected patients. Studies such as this one will enhance delineation of the nursing knowledge base in order to justify allocation of human resources in specific areas. [source] Support staff in community pharmacy: who are they and what do they want?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, Issue 2 2008Dr. Ellen I Schafheutle research fellow Objective To collect information on different categories of support staff, their deployment in community pharmacy, their levels of experience and qualifications, and their opinions on a number of topical issues, such as training and regulation. Method Two ,snapshot' surveys, one of community pharmacists, another of support staff employed by them. Three focus groups with support staff. Setting The surveys were conducted in community pharmacies in two primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. Two focus groups were conducted in one of the PCTs with respondents who had taken part in the survey; a third took place in a third PCT during the design phase. Key findings Medicines counter assistants (MCAs) formed the largest category of support staff (56%); 21% were dispensing assistants (DAs); 17% were pharmacy technicians (PTs). All community pharmacies employed at least one (60%), and often more than one MCA, but 20% had no DAs and 40% operated without a PT. Nearly all (93%) support staff were women, and about one-third worked part-time. More mature (40+ years) staff commonly only held an MCA qualification and were often not keen on further training. Younger staff held higher qualifications and were interested in further training and career progression. The majority of all categories of staff showed high levels of job satisfaction and loyalty to their employer. Most held positive views towards the regulation of support staff. Poor salaries were identified as potential barriers to further training and regulation, and pharmacists identified problems recruiting support staff. Conclusion Many different categories of support staff are employed in community pharmacies, although some operated without DAs or a PT. Support staff were generally satisfied with their jobs, but increasing requirements for formal qualifications and regulation of support staff, if not accompanied by adequate recognition and remuneration, may worsen recruitment problems. [source] Immunophenotypic analysis of human articular chondrocytes: Changes in surface markers associated with cell expansion in monolayer cultureJOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Jose Diaz-Romero Cartilage tissue engineering relies on in vitro expansion of primary chondrocytes. Monolayer is the chosen culture model for chondrocyte expansion because in this system the proliferative capacity of chondrocytes is substantially higher compared to non-adherent systems. However, human articular chondrocytes (HACs) cultured as monolayers undergo changes in phenotype and gene expression known as "dedifferentiation." To gain a better understanding of the cellular mechanisms involved in the dedifferentiation process, our research focused on the characterization of the surface molecule phenotype of HACs in monolayer culture. Adult HACs were isolated by enzymatic digestion of cartilage samples obtained post-mortem. HACs cultured in monolayer for different time periods were analyzed by flow cytometry for the expression of cell surface markers with a panel of 52 antibodies. Our results show that HACs express surface molecules belonging to different categories: integrins and other adhesion molecules (CD49a, CD49b, CD49c, CD49e, CD49f, CD51/61, CD54, CD106, CD166, CD58, CD44), tetraspanins (CD9, CD63, CD81, CD82, CD151), receptors (CD105, CD119, CD130, CD140a, CD221, CD95, CD120a, CD71, CD14), ectoenzymes (CD10, CD26), and other surface molecules (CD90, CD99). Moreover, differential expression of certain markers in monolayer culture was identified. Up-regulation of markers on HACs regarded as distinctive for mesenchymal stem cells (CD10, CD90, CD105, CD166) during monolayer culture suggested that dedifferentiation leads to reversion to a primitive phenotype. This study contributes to the definition of HAC phenotype, and provides new potential markers to characterize chondrocyte differentiation stage in the context of tissue engineering applications. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Therapeutic effect of statin on aortic stenosis: a review with meta-analysisJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 4 2010H. Ge MD Background:, Aortic stenosis (AS) is a common progressive disease. Statins have been hypothesized to delay its progression via pleiotropic mechanisms. However, results of clinical trials focusing on statin therapy in AS patients have been controversial. Objective:, To analyse and summarize the findings in recent statin trials and to discuss the rationale of statin usage in AS populations. Methods:, A comprehensive database search was conducted by two independent reviewers. Controlled trials that compared progression of AS between statin and non-statin therapy published before 31 December 2008 were included. Data were extracted for meta-analysis, to estimate overall effects, if available. Factors that contributed to heterogeneities among the trials were analysed. Results:, The meta-analysis included nine trials with a total of 2947 patients. Statin therapy displayed an overall statistically significant effect on delaying AS progression. The weighted mean difference (statin vs. control) of annual increase of peak aortic-jet velocity was ,0·12 m/s (95% confidence interval ,0·22 to ,0·03); the increase of mean transaortic pressure gradient was ,1·64 mmHg per year (,3·27 to ,0·01); Heterogeneity-analysis suggested that the baseline risk factors and characteristics of the patients, the use of different statins, and the time point to initiate statin therapy, may be important considerations when interpreting the result of individual studies. Conclusion:, Although the Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) trial reported negative results in delaying AS progression in low-risk patients, the potential benefits of statins in those with multiple risk factors and their value in preventing future coronary events call for further investigation of different categories of AS patients. [source] Inappropriate prescribing in the elderly: a comparison of the Beers criteria and the improved prescribing in the elderly tool (IPET) in acutely ill elderly hospitalized patientsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 6 2006P. J. Barry MB Summary Background:, In appropriate prescribing is a significant and persistent problem in elderly people, both in hospital and the community and has been described in several countries in Europe and also the USA. The problem of inappropriate prescribing has not been quantified in the Republic of Ireland. The most commonly used criteria for the identification of inappropriate prescribing are the Beers' criteria [both independent of diagnosis (ID) and considering diagnosis (CD) , 2003 version]. The Beers' criteria ID includes 48 different categories of either single medications or multiple medications of a similar class identified as inappropriate prescriptions and the Beers' criteria CD contains 19 different categories containing possible drug,disease interactions. A second tool, the improved prescribing in the elderly tool (IPET) has also been validated and used in hospital and community studies and has 14 categories of either explicitly contraindicated medications or possible drug,disease interactions. Objectives:, The primary aim of the study is to measure the incidence of inappropriate prescribing among older community-dwelling individuals presenting to an acute hospital in the Republic of Ireland. A secondary aim of this study was also therefore to compare the efficacy of the above two tools in identifying inappropriate prescribing. Methods:, A prospective, consecutive observational cohort study was carried out over a 4-month period. The setting was an urban-based university hospital acute geriatric medicine assessment unit. Subjects in this study (n = 350) were consecutively screened on admission to hospital (mean age = 80·3 ± 6·1 years) and all patients had both Beers' criteria ID and CD and IPET applied to their list of prescription drugs on admission, cross-referenced with their list of current active medical diagnosis. Results:, The results of the study identified a high rate of inappropriate prescribing among this population of community-dwelling subjects. The total number of inappropriate prescriptions identified using the Beers' criteria (ID) was 148 affecting 121 patients. The Beers' criteria (CD) identified 69 inappropriate prescriptions in 60 patients and the IPET identified 112 inappropriate prescriptions in 78 patients. The Beers criteria (ID and CD combined) identified at least one inappropriate prescription in 34% of subjects and the IPET identified one in at least 22% of subjects. Conclusions:, This study identifies high rates of use of inappropriate medications in community-dwelling elderly presenting with acute illness to hospital. These are comparable with inappropriate prescribing rates identified in previous studies. The revised Beers' criteria (2003) identified more inappropriate prescriptions than the IPET in this population of elders. [source] The reduction of psychological aggression across varied interpersonal contexts through repentance and forgivenessAGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 3 2006Judy Eaton Abstract Research on the resolution of interpersonal conflict has shown that forgiveness is important in reducing aggression and promoting prosocial interactions following a transgression. Although the benefits of forgiveness have been demonstrated in a variety of relationship contexts, a single theoretical model has not been tested across these different contexts. In this study, we employed an attributional framework to examine the relationship between attributions of responsibility for a transgression, repentance, emotions, forgiveness, and psychological aggression toward three different categories of transgressor: a coworker, a friend, and a romantic partner. One hundred and seven participants were asked to describe a recent transgression with a coworker, a friend, and a romantic partner. In each case, responsibility for the event, the degree to which the transgressor apologized, anger, sympathy, forgiveness, and subsequent psychological aggression toward the transgressor were measured. A basic model of aggression reduction, whereby repentance facilitates forgiveness and reduces psychological aggression, was reliable in each category of transgressor. A comparison of the models showed minor differences in how individuals respond to transgressors. Although coworkers apologized less, they were just as likely to be forgiven as romantic partners and friends. In addition, participants were least likely to respond with psychological aggression when a friend transgressed against them. This research provides a theoretical framework within which to study forgiveness and aggression across a variety of contexts. Aggr. Behav. 32:1,12, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] FOOD SAFETY KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF CONSUMERS OF VARIOUS FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTSJOURNAL OF FOOD SAFETY, Issue 3 2009R. GURUDASANI ABSTRACT In the present study, food safety knowledge and attitude of 300 consumers from nine different categories of food service establishments (FSEs) were assessed. Results revealed that most consumers (60%) eating at various FSEs were young, in the age group of 18,35 years. Some of the consumers could identify the carriers for foodborne diseases such as cholera, food poisoning and jaundice, but most of them did not know about the carriers of typhoid, gastroenteritis and amebiosis. Most of the consumers received information on food safety from family and friends. A positive association was seen between education of consumers and frequency of receiving information from various sources such as magazines, TV/radio, posters/hoardings, newspapers, school/colleges, health workers and family/friends. Most consumers had a positive attitude toward food hygiene, and they believed in punishing street food vendors who violated the food safety norms. Most consumers believed that government intervention would help in improving the quality of street foods. A lot of better-educated food handlers believed that adherence to norms on the personal hygiene of the food handler should be made compulsory, and that training of persons in street food service is essential to ensure quality of food and food safety. In conclusion, various sources of information should be used to increase consumer awareness on food safety. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS In the present study, situational analysis was conducted to obtain data on food safety knowledge and attitude of consumers. Results indicated that although some of the consumers could identify the carriers for foodborne diseases, such as cholera, food poisoning and jaundice, most of them did not know about the carriers of typhoid, gastroenteritis and amebiosis. Thus, efforts should be made to educate consumers about the relation between food and diseases and the importance of making proper food choices for consumption. Most consumers had a positive attitude toward food safety and believed government intervention would help in improving the quality of street foods. Such data can form the basis for seeking the attention of government to undertake measures to improve the quality of foods served at various food outlets. Also, it was found that very few consumers received information on food safety from various sources like magazines, TV/radio, posters, newspapers, health workers, nongovernment organizations, etc. This calls for attention of food safety educators to use a variety of audio-visual aids to spread the messages on food safety. Such area-specific data on consumers' knowledge on food safety can assist in developing food safety education programs. [source] THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND DIALYSIS WORKFORCE STUDY IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTJOURNAL OF RENAL CARE, Issue 4 2009Nick Polaschek RN SUMMARY Background: Given increasing demand for renal replacement therapy, this study sought to identify of key workforce issues facing dialysis units, based on a "snapshot" of the current workforce. Methods: A web-based survey of all dialysis unit managers in Australia and New Zealand, in October 2008, about their workforce. Results: A significant minority of dialysis staff in most regions were not registered nurses. Many renal registered nurses worked part-time. Staff/patient ratios in dialysis units varied significantly by region, reflecting the relative prevalence of home therapies. Most dialysis units were generally adequately staffed. The proportion of registered nurses with specific renal qualifications varied significantly by region. Conclusion: The changing character of the workforce in the dialysis unit in the future will require clarification of the relationships between different categories of dialysis staff. Specialty education for nurses needs to be oriented to equipping staff to be effective in their changing work environment. [source] AN EVALUATION OF THE AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATING MISSING FECAL COLIFORM DATA,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 6 2004Ashu Jain ABSTRACT: This paper presents the findings of a study aimed at evaluating the available techniques for estimating missing fecal coliform (FC) data on a temporal basis. The techniques investigated include: linear and nonlinear regression analysis and interpolation functions, and the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs). In all, seven interpolation, two regression, and one ANN model structures were investigated. This paper also investigates the validity of a hypothesis that estimating missing FC data by developing different models using different data corresponding to different dynamics associated with different trends in the FC data may result in a better model performance. The FC data (counts/100 ml) derived from the North Fork of the Kentucky River in Kentucky were employed to calibrate and validate various models. The performance of various models was evaluated using a wide variety of standard statistical measures. The results obtained in this study are able to demonstrate that the ANNs can be preferred over the conventional techniques in estimating missing FC data in a watershed. The regression technique was not found suitable in estimating missing FC data on a temporal basis. Further, it has been found that it is possible to achieve a better model performance by first decomposing the whole data set into different categories corresponding to different dynamics and then developing separate models for separate categories rather than developing a single model for the composite data set. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||