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Factor Approach (factor + approach)
Selected AbstractsApproaches for derivation of environmental quality criteria for substances applied in risk assessment of discharges from offshore drilling operationsINTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Dag Altin Abstract In order to achieve the offshore petroleum industries "zero harm" goal to the environment, the environmental impact factor for drilling discharges was developed as a tool to identify and quantify the environmental risks associated with disposal of drilling discharges to the marine environment. As an initial step in this work the main categories of substances associated with drilling discharges and assumed to contribute to toxic or nontoxic stress were identified and evaluated for inclusion in the risk assessment. The selection were based on the known toxicological properties of the substances, or the total amount discharged together with their potential for accumulation in the water column or sediments to levels that could be expected to cause toxic or nontoxic stress to the biota. Based on these criteria 3 categories of chemicals were identified for risk assessment the water column and sediments: Natural organic substances, metals, and drilling fluid chemicals. Several approaches for deriving the environmentally safe threshold concentrations as predicted no effect concentrations were evaluated in the process. For the water column consensus were reached for using the species sensitivity distribution approach for metals and the assessment factor approach for natural organic substances and added drilling chemicals. For the sediments the equilibrium partitioning approach was selected for all three categories of chemicals. The theoretically derived sediment quality criteria were compared to field-derived threshold effect values based on statistical approaches applied on sediment monitoring data from the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The basis for derivation of predicted no effect concentration values for drilling discharges should be consistent with the principles of environmental risk assessment as described in the Technical Guidance Document on Risk Assessment issued by the European Union. [source] Goal attainment for multiple cardiovascular risk factors in community-based clinical practice (a Canadian experience)JOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009Pendar Farahani MD MSc Abstract Background, The primary goal in the clinical management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) disease is to reduce major CV risk factors. A single risk factor approach has been traditionally used for demonstrating effectiveness of therapeutic interventions designed to reduce CV risk in clinical trials, but a global CV risk reduction approach should be adopted when assessing effectiveness in the clinical practice setting. Objectives, To explore combined goal achievement for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting plasma glucose and systolic-diastolic blood pressure, in patients with dyslipidemia on pharmacotherapy in community-based clinical practices across Canada. Methods, In a cross-sectional study, patients filling a prescription for any antihyperlipidemia therapy in selected pharmacies in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Nova Scotia were recruited. Family physicians of the participating patients were requested to provide information from the patient's medical record. Ten-year CV risk was identified for each patient according to the Framingham criteria. Results, High-risk patients comprised 52% of the patient population; 34% were moderate-risk and 14% were low-risk. Patients had a mean of 2.8 CV risk factors; high-risk 3.7, moderate-risk 2.3 and low-risk 1.2. LDL-C goal attainment was observed in 62%, 79% and 96% of patients in high-risk, moderate-risk and low-risk strata respectively. BP goal was achieved in high-risk patients 58%, moderate-risk 83% and low-risk 95%. Glucose levels were below the threshold in 91% of patients. Complete global CV risk reduction was achieved in only 21%, 66% and 92% of high-risk, moderate-risk and low-risk strata respectively. Conclusion, This study illustrates that many patients with dyslipidemia in the Canadian population, and in particular the high-risk patients, did not meet the therapeutic targets for specific CV risk factors according to the Canadian guidelines. Overall, 54% of patients failed to achieve a state of complete global CV risk reduction. [source] A global perspective on changes in the burden of caries and periodontitis: implications for dentistry,JOURNAL OF ORAL REHABILITATION, Issue 12 2007V. BAELUM Summary, The structure and contents of most oral health care systems and the contents of dental curricula reflect a deep-rooted tradition for attempting to cure oral diseases by refined technological means. However, better oral health conditions for the world's populations necessitate the application of up-to-date scientific knowledge to control the major oral diseases. This review points out that not only should the structure and contents of oral health care delivery systems be based on state-of-the-art knowledge about the biology of the oral diseases; they must also take into account the trends for change in caries and periodontal diseases within and between populations, and acknowledge the impact of changes in treatment philosophies for these trends. The oral disease profiles for populations in low- and high-income countries are briefly described, and it is concluded that the rapidly changing disease profiles observed in high-income countries necessitate re-thinking of the future role and organization of dentistry in such countries. The priorities for low- and middle-income countries must be to avoid repeating the mistakes made in the high-income countries. Instead, these societies might take advantage of setting priorities based on a population-based common risk factor approach. If such an approach is adopted, the training of personnel with oral health care competence must be rethought. The authors suggest three different cadres of dental care providers to be considered for an approach that allows health care planners in different populations around the world to prioritize appropriate oral health care with due respect for the socio-economic conditions prevailing. [source] Incidence and risk factors for pulmonary embolism in the postpartum periodJOURNAL OF THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS, Issue 5 2010J. M. MORRIS Summary.,Background: Pregnancy and the postpartum period are times of hypercoagulability, increasing the risk of pulmonary embolism. Better quantification of risk factors can help target women who are most likely to benefit from postpartum thromboprophylaxis with heparin. Objectives: To determine the incidence rate and timing of postpartum pulmonary embolism, and assess perinatal risk factors predictive of the event. Patients/Methods: Antenatal, delivery and postpartum admission records of a cohort of 510 889 pregnancies were analysed. Pulmonary embolism was identified from ICD-10 codes at delivery, transfer or upon readmission at any time in the postpartum period. Results: Pulmonary embolism occurred in 375 women and was most common postpartum. The rate of postpartum pulmonary embolism without an antecedent thrombotic event was 0.45 per 1000 births. By the end of 4 weeks postpartum, the weekly rate approached the background rate of pulmonary embolism in the population. Although the Caesarean section rate rose significantly throughout the study period, and pulmonary embolism was more common following abdominal birth, the rate of pulmonary embolism following Caesarean birth fell. Regression modelling demonstrated that stillbirth (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] =5.97), lupus (aOR = 8.83) and transfusion of a coagulation product (aOR = 8.84) were most strongly associated with pulmonary embolism postpartum. Conclusions: Pulmonary embolism most commonly occurs up to 4 weeks postpartum and following abdominal birth. Despite this the absolute event rate is low and a broadly inclusive risk factor approach to the use of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis will require many women to be exposed to heparin to prevent an embolic event. [source] A design database for moulded pulp packaging structurePACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004X. Ma Abstract In this study, a structural factor approach is developed to allow a modular design method be used for the packaging design of thin-walled structures. Numerical simulations of the structural units are carried out to evaluate the influence of the structural factors under static loading, by using the commercial finite element code ABAQUS/Explicit. Empirical relations between the load-bearing capacity of structural units and structural factors are established based on numerical simulations. A database is then constructed that has the ability to provide valuable information for the loading performances of different structural units. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Comparing factor analytical and circumplex models of brand personality in brand positioningPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 10 2009Jia Yao Esther Bao Competition has never been greater, which means it is more important than ever that organizations assess their brand management strategies, including brand personality management. However, little empirical research addresses the brand personality concept, particularly its role in product evaluation. An exception, which views brand personality as a set of human personality characteristics associated with a brand, has been criticized for its use of a factor analytical approach. An alternative approach posits that the brand represents a relationship partner with which the consumer may choose to engage; it corresponds to the interpersonal circumplex approach to personality modeling. The present study compares these two approaches by developing brand positioning maps and predicting consumer outcomes. The results support the factor approach in a purely quantitative sense, but the circumplex approach offers both a richer qualitative explanation of the findings by encompassing a broad spectrum of traits and a more diagnostic prediction of consumer outcomes. The alternative conceptualization of brand personality contained in these results should be of interest to brand managers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] An investigation of innovation antecedents in small firms in the context of a small developing countryR & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2000Athanasios Hadjimanolis The present research was conducted in Cyprus, a small developing country. A large number (n=140) of manufacturing small and medium sized firms were surveyed, via a questionnaire administered during personal interviews with the firms' owners or managers. A research model based on the antecedent factor approach was used. The main variables affecting innovation according to the survey results include: strategy, expenditure on R&D, co-operation with external technology providers, use of technological information sources and overall performance of the firm. Contrary to expectations and literature claims, some environmental variables, e.g. intensity of competition, were not correlated to innovation. Managers and public policy makers in similar contexts can increase the innovativeness of firms by paying attention to its main determinants, as identified by the above research. [source] A fast distance-based approach for determining the number of components in mixturesTHE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF STATISTICS, Issue 1 2003Sujit K. Sahu Abstract The authors propose a procedure for determining the unknown number of components in mixtures by generalizing a Bayesian testing method proposed by Mengersen & Robert (1996). The testing criterion they propose involves a Kullback-Leibler distance, which may be weighted or not. They give explicit formulas for the weighted distance for a number of mixture distributions and propose a stepwise testing procedure to select the minimum number of components adequate for the data. Their procedure, which is implemented using the BUGS software, exploits a fast collapsing approach which accelerates the search for the minimum number of components by avoiding full refitting at each step. The performance of their method is compared, using both distances, to the Bayes factor approach. Les auteurs proposentune une façon de déterminer le nombre inconnu de composantes d'un mélange grâce à une généralisation d'un test bayésien de Mengersen & Robert (1996). Le critère qu'ils proposent repose sur une distance de Kullback-Leibler, laquelle peut être pondérée ou non. Ils calculent la distance pondérée explicitement pour divers mélanges de lois et proposent une procédure de test pas-à-pas conduisant au choix du plus petit nombre de composantes fournissant un bon ajustement. Leur procédure, implantée au moyen du logiciel BUGS, exploite la notion d'emboîtement pour accélérer les calculs nécessaires à ce choix en évitant qu'ils soient entièrement repris à chaque étape. La performance de leur technique est comparée à celle basée sur la notion de facteur de Bayes. [source] | ||||||||||||||||