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Methodological Developments (methodological + development)
Selected AbstractsMETHODOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LUMINESCENCE DATING OF BRICK FROM ENGLISH LATE-MEDIEVAL AND POST-MEDIEVAL BUILDINGS,ARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 4 2007I. K. BAILIFF Fired clay brick samples, obtained from a group of seven high-status late-medieval and post-medieval buildings in England ranging in age from c. ad 1390 to 1740, were dated by the luminescence method using an optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) technique. The results obtained indicate that, when applied to quartz extracted from brick, the technique is capable of producing dates that are in consistently good agreement with independent dating evidence for the buildings. For six samples taken from a group of four dating ,control' buildings the mean difference between the central values of luminescence and assigned ages was 5 ± 10 years (SD, n = 6). The methodology used is appropriate for application to other standing buildings in other temporal and geographic regions, and may be used with confidence where conventional dating methods are less certain. The study also examines the luminescence characteristics of quartz and the characteristics of the lithogenic radionuclides in brick samples and identifies various aspects related to the assessment of experimental uncertainty in testing the reliability of the method. [source] A Cross-Atlantic Dialogue: The Progress of Research and Theory in the Study of International MigrationINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2004Alejandro Portes The articles included in this issue were originally presented at a conference on Conceptual and Methodological Developments in the Study of International Migration held at Princeton University in May 2003. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Committee on International Migration of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Center for Migration and Development (CMD) at Princeton, and this journal. Its purpose was to review recent innovations in this field, both in theory and empirical research, across both sides of the Atlantic. The conference was deliberately organized as a sequel to a similar event convened by the SSRC on Sanibel Island in January 1996 in order to assess the state of international migration studies within the United States from an inter-disciplinary perspective. A selection of articles from that conference was published as a special issue of International Migration Review (Vol. 31, No. 4, Winter), and the full set of articles was published as the Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience (Hirschman, Kasinitz and DeWind, 1999). [source] Public health achievements II: Methodological developmentAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 2 2004Jeanne Daly No abstract is available for this article. [source] Cancer as a chronic illness?EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CANCER CARE, Issue 3 2002Reconsidering categorization, exploring experience Cancer as a chronic illness? Reconsidering categorization and exploring experience This article explores the different ways that user experience is defined and conceptualized, and the various policy and professional contexts in which emphasis is placed on exploring users' views. We go on to examine the experience of cancer as a chronic illness and argue that, although there are common features in the experience of cancer and people with chronic illness, the differences are too significant and cancer should not be defined as a chronic condition. We conclude with a consideration of the methodological difficulties of documenting user experience and identify the need for further methodological development. [source] Advances in optically stimulated luminescence dating of individual grains of quartz from archeological depositsEVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 6 2007Zenobia Jacobs Abstract Paleoanthropologists and archeologists interested in occupation histories, faunal remains, and objects of material culture have become increasingly reliant on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to construct Quaternary chronologies. In part, the increased use of OSL dating reflects its capacity to date events beyond the range of radiocarbon dating and in contexts where suitable organic materials are absent. An earlier review in Evolutionary Anthropology by Feathers1 provides a general account of the principles of luminescence dating. Since then, however, important advances have been made in OSL dating of quartz, so that it is now possible to date individual sand-sized grains and thereby resolve issues of postdepositional mixing of archeological sediments. In this review, we discuss the most important of these advances and their implications with regard to improved age control of archeological sites. We cover aspects of instrumental and methodological development that have facilitated the widespread measurement of single grains related to archeological questions and illustrate our review with some examples of where archeological problems have been resolved using single-grain OSL dating. We do not propose single-grain dating as a panacea, because there are instances where it is not straightforward to use or the results may be difficult to interpret; dating in such contexts remains the subject of continuing research. [source] Quality, imagery and marketing: producer perspectives on quality products and services in the lagging rural regions of the European UnionGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2001Brian Ilbery A range of factors, including consumer concerns about food safety, the growing popularity of rural tourism and policy initiatives to promote endogenous rural development, is converging to promote a relocalization of food production and service provision, especially in those regions marginalized by the globalization of the food supply system. The recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK has starkly illustrated the fragility of localized systems which depend heavily on consumers travelling to them. Within such a context, the importance of successful marketing strategies has become even more apparent. This paper reports on a questionnaire survey which investigated promotional and marketing strategies among a diverse range of producers and service providers in marginal agricultural areas of the EU. The findings suggest that many producers are situated towards the "formal" end of a marketing continuum, whereby ability to promote quality products and services (QPS) lies with a range of intermediaries. This raises doubts about the future economic benefits of QPS, should current marketing structures persist. The discussion offers critical reflections on interdisciplinary and international research of this nature, and advocates further theoretical and methodological development in order to explore in more depth many of the aspects raised in this exploratory investigation. [source] Research Agenda for Frailty in Older Adults: Toward a Better Understanding of Physiology and Etiology: Summary from the American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging Research Conference on Frailty in Older AdultsJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 6 2006Jeremy Walston MD Evolving definitions of frailty, and improved understanding of molecular and physiological declines in multiple systems that may increase vulnerability in frail, older adults has encouraged investigators from many disciplines to contribute to this emerging field of research. This article reports on the results of the 2004 American Geriatrics Society/National Institute on Aging conference on a Research Agenda on Frailty in Older Adults, which brought together a diverse group of clinical and basic scientists to encourage further investigation in this area. This conference was primarily focused on physical and physiological aspects of frailty. Although social and psychological aspects of frailty are critically important and merit future research, these topics were largely beyond the scope of this meeting. Included in this article are sections on the evolving conceptualization and definitions of frailty; physiological underpinnings of frailty, including the potential contributions of inflammatory, endocrine, skeletal muscle, and neurologic system changes; potential molecular and genetic contributors; proposed animal models; and integrative, system biology approaches that may help to facilitate future frailty research. In addition, several specific recommendations as to future directions were developed from suggestions put forth by participants, including recommendations on definition and phenotype development, methodological development to perform clinical studies of individual-system and multiple-system vulnerability to stressors, development of animal and cellular models, application of population-based studies to frailty research, and the development of large collaborative networks in which populations and resources can be shared. This meeting and subsequent article were not meant to be a comprehensive review of frailty research; instead, they were and are meant to provide a more-targeted research agenda-setting process. [source] Demographic Issues in Longevity Risk AnalysisJOURNAL OF RISK AND INSURANCE, Issue 4 2006Eric Stallard Fundamental to the modeling of longevity risk is the specification of the assumptions used in demographic forecasting models that are designed to project past experience into future years, with or without modifications based on expert opinion about influential factors not represented in the historical data. Stochastic forecasts are required to explicitly quantify the uncertainty of forecasted cohort survival functions, including uncertainty due to process variance, parameter errors, and model misspecification errors. Current applications typically ignore the latter two sources although the potential impact of model misspecification errors is substantial. Such errors arise from a lack of understanding of the nature and causes of historical changes in longevity and the implications of these factors for the future. This article reviews the literature on the nature and causes of historical changes in longevity and recent efforts at deterministic and stochastic forecasting based on these data. The review reveals that plausible alternative sets of forecasting assumptions have been derived from the same sets of historical data, implying that further methodological development will be needed to integrate the various assumptions into a single coherent forecasting model. Illustrative calculations based on existing forecasts indicate that the ranges of uncertainty for older cohorts' survival functions will be at a manageable level. Uncertainty ranges for younger cohorts will be larger and the need for greater precision will likely motivate further model development. [source] Linking ecological and hydromorphological data: approaches, challenges and future prospects for riverine scienceAQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue S1 2010I. P. Vaughan Abstract 1.Research linking river ecology and hydromorphology is driven by concerns about hydromorphological pressures (e.g. abstraction, land-use change) and legislative (e.g. EU Water Framework Directive) or management needs (e.g. climate-change adaptation). Unfortunately, much of the science is still weak or qualitative (cf. links between ecology and water quality). 2.Rapid progress is required, but financial resources are limited. In response, research opportunities using existing ecological and hydromorphological data and survey methods need to be explored further. 3.There are challenges inherent in using existing data, which are often collected for different purposes, and this paper highlights aspects of spatial scale, temporal coverage, sampling biases, data quality and mining, and the problems faced when using pre-defined sets of variables. 4.While the prospects for exploiting existing data are mixed, distinct strengths arise from extensive geographic coverage, the ability to improve the evidence base rapidly and at low cost, and the generation of testable hypotheses. 5.Current survey methods usually record biological or hydromorphic patterns, or inventories of features (cf. physical processes, or ecosystem functions or services). Their greatest use is likely to be in extending current spatially extensive biological or water chemistry monitoring to more integrated ,eco-hydromorphic' monitoring. 6.With further methodological development, there is real scope for illuminating several aspects of riverine ecology, including the direct ecological and physical consequences of modifying river systems; revealing indirect sensitivity to other pressures, such as climate change; offering a more holistic picture of the distribution of pressures on river ecosystems; and developing hydromorphology as a unifying theme in river studies. However, such developments require funding commitments from research sponsors. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A Multilevel Model for Continuous Time Population EstimationBIOMETRICS, Issue 3 2009Jason M. Sutherland Summary Statistical methods have been developed and applied to estimating populations that are difficult or too costly to enumerate. Known as multilist methods in epidemiological settings, individuals are matched across lists and estimation of population size proceeds by modeling counts in incomplete multidimensional contingency tables (based on patterns of presence/absence on lists). As multilist methods typically assume that lists are compiled instantaneously, there are few options available for estimating the unknown size of a closed population based on continuously (longitudinally) compiled lists. However, in epidemiological settings, continuous time lists are a routine byproduct of administrative functions. Existing methods are based on time-to-event analyses with a second step of estimating population size. We propose an alternative approach to address the twofold epidemiological problem of estimating population size and of identifying patient factors related to duration (in days) between visits to a health care facility. A Bayesian framework is proposed to model interval lengths because, for many patients, the data are sparse; many patients were observed only once or twice. The proposed method is applied to the motivating data to illustrate the methods' applicability. Then, a small simulation study explores the performance of the estimator under a variety of conditions. Finally, a small discussion section suggests opportunities for continued methodological development for continuous time population estimation. [source] Reflections on smoking relapse researchDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 1 2006SAUL SHIFFMAN Abstract This paper presents personal reflections on the history, current status and the future of research on smoking relapse. Relapse was traditionally viewed primarily as an outcome, to be reduced with increased treatment. In the 1980s, relapse research was invigorated by a focus on the process of relapse, focusing on the specific situations in which lapses to smoking occurred, and on the processes that mediated progression from a lapse to a relapse. This line of research had substantial influence on treatment, but has currently been displaced by a return to a pure outcomes-focus, driven in part by the practical need to find treatments that work and to package them for dissemination. At the same time, technological and methodological developments have enabled detailed monitoring of experience and behaviour throughout the relapse process, and progression of these developments will make monitoring of relapse process compelling in the future. The need to understand how interventions work will also drive a resurgence of research on the relapse process. Finally, the same technological and conceptual developments that enable detailed monitoring of behaviour will spawn the development of just-in-time interventions that are offered and implemented as needed, rather than being addressed in the abstract in advance of the need [source] Advances in chiral separation using capillary electromigration techniquesELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 1-2 2007Gerald Gübitz Professor Abstract This review gives an overview of recent develoments in CZE, EKC, and CEC covering the literature since the year 2004. Since there appeared a special issue on applications, this review focuses on the progress in electromigration techniques and new methodological developments. New techniques, new chiral selectors as well as new chiral stationary phases for CEC are discussed. [source] Counting the COST: a European collaboration on the efficiency of psychotherapeutic treatment of patients with eating disordersEUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW, Issue 3 2005Hans Kordy Abstract In 1993, a European collaboration on the efficiency of psychotherapeutic treatment of patients with Eating Disorders was initiated. The European Union supported it under the name COST Action B6 from 1994,2001. This unique opportunity to co-ordinate research and to exchange clinical experience eventually attracted more than 200 researchers and clinicians from 19 European countries. This is the first paper of a series of five through which we report on the general background, the organizational structure, the objectives, the design, the main findings, and specific methodological developments of COST Action B6. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. [source] Adjusting life for quality or disability: stylistic difference or substantial dispute?,HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 11 2009Mara Airoldi Abstract This paper focuses on the contrast between describing the benefit of a healthcare intervention as gain in health (QALY-type ideas) or a disability reduction (DALY-type ideas). The background is an apparent convergence in practice of the work conducted under both traditions. In the light of these methodological developments, we contrast a health planner who wants to maximise health and one who wants to minimise disability. To isolate the effect of framing the problem from a health or a disability perspective, we do not use age-weighting in calculating DALY and employ a common discounting methodology and the same set of quality of life weights. We find that interventions will be ranked in a systematically different way. The difference, however, is not determined by the use of a health or a disability perspective but by the use of life expectancy tables to determine the years of life lost. We show that this feature of the DALY method is problematic and we suggest its dismissal in favour of a fixed reference age rendering the use of a health or a disability perspective merely stylistic. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On the evolution of statistical methods as applied to clinical trialsJOURNAL OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, Issue 5 2004D. Machin Abstract. This paper describes how statistical methods have evolved in parallel with activities associated with randomized control trials. In particular we emphasize the pivotal role of two papers published in British Journal of Cancer, and the paper describing the Cox proportional hazards model. In addition, the importance of early papers on estimating the sample size required for trials is highlighted. Later developments including the increasing roles for competing risks, multilevel modelling and Bayesian methodologies are described. The interplay between computer software and statistical methodological developments is stressed. Finally some future directions are indicated. [source] Improved artifact correction for combined electroencephalography/functional MRI by means of synchronization and use of vectorcardiogram recordingsJOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING, Issue 3 2008Karen J. Mullinger BSc Abstract Purpose To demonstrate that two methodological developments (synchronization of the MR scanner and electroencephalography [EEG] clocks and use of the scanner's vectorcardiogram [VCG]) improve the quality of EEG data recorded in combined EEG/functional MRI experiments in vivo. Materials and Methods EEG data were recorded using a 32-channel system, during simultaneous multislice EPI acquisition carried out on a 3 Tesla scanner. Recordings were made on three subjects in the resting state and on five subjects using a block paradigm involving visual stimulation with a 10-Hz flashing checkerboard. Results Gradient artifacts were significantly reduced in the EEG data recorded in vivo when synchronization and a TR equal to a multiple of the EEG clock period were used. This was evident from the greater attenuation of the signal at multiples of the slice acquisition frequency. Pulse artifact correction based on R-peak markers derived from the VCG was shown to offer a robust alternative to the conventionally used ECG-based method. Driven EEG responses at frequencies of up to 60 Hz due to the visual stimulus could be more readily detected in data recorded with EEG and MR scanner clock synchronization. Conclusion Synchronization of the scanner and EEG clocks, along with VCG-based R-peak detection is advantageous in removing gradient and pulse artifacts in combined EEG/fMRI recordings. This approach is shown to allow the robust detection of high frequency driven activity in the EEG data. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008;27:607,616. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Enhancing the quality of argumentation in school scienceJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 10 2004Jonathan Osborne The research reported in this study focuses on the design and evaluation of learning environments that support the teaching and learning of argumentation in a scientific context. The research took place over 2 years, between 1999 and 2001, in junior high schools in the greater London area. The research was conducted in two phases. In phase 1, working with a group of 12 science teachers, the main emphasis was to develop sets of materials and strategies to support argumentation in the classroom, and to support and assess teachers' development with teaching argumentation. Data were collected by video- and audio-recording the teachers' attempts to implement these lessons at the beginning and end of the year. During this phase, analytical tools for evaluating the quality of argumentation were developed based on Toulmin's argument pattern. Analysis of the data shows that there was significant development in the majority of teachers use of argumentation across the year. Results indicate that the pattern of use of argumentation is teacher-specific, as is the nature of the change. In phase 2 of the project, the focus of this paper, teachers taught the experimental groups a minimum of nine lessons which involved socioscientific or scientific argumentation. In addition, these teachers taught similar lessons to a comparison group at the beginning and end of the year. The purpose of this research was to assess the progression in student capabilities with argumentation. For this purpose, data were collected from 33 lessons by video-taping two groups of four students in each class engaging in argumentation. Using a framework for evaluating the nature of the discourse and its quality developed from Toulmin's argument pattern, the findings show that there was improvement in the quality of students' argumentation. This research presents new methodological developments for work in this field. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 994,1020, 2004 [source] How are new citation-based journal indicators adding to the bibliometric toolbox?JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 7 2009Loet Leydesdorff The launching of Scopus and Google Scholar, and methodological developments in social-network analysis have made many more indicators for evaluating journals available than the traditional impact factor, cited half-life, and immediacy index of the ISI. In this study, these new indicators are compared with one another and with the older ones. Do the various indicators measure new dimensions of the citation networks, or are they highly correlated among themselves? Are they robust and relatively stable over time? Two main dimensions are distinguished,size and impact,which together shape influence. The h-index combines the two dimensions and can also be considered as an indicator of reach (like Indegree). PageRank is mainly an indicator of size, but has important interactions with centrality measures. The Scimago Journal Ranking (SJR) indicator provides an alternative to the journal impact factor, but the computation is less easy. [source] Historical Figuration: Poetics, Historiography, and New Genre Studies1LITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2006W. Scott Howard This essay has four interconnected goals: 1) to reflect upon some of the major theoretical and methodological developments (since about 1950) in the fields of early modern literary studies and history vis-à-vis the question of historicism; 2) to address, within the context of seventeenth-century England, inter-relationships between poetics and historiography; 3) to examine that "interdisciplinarity" specifically in terms of the seventeenth-century English poetic elegy; and 4) to trace (from Plato to Puttenham) and to argue for a specific theoretical aspect of that inter-relationship, which I will call historical figuration. My argument will hinge upon these connecting points, especially the latter two. On the one hand, I will argue that an early modern paradigm shift from theocentric to increasingly secular narrative frameworks for personal and national histories contributes to a transformation in poetic genre. English poets began to formulate a new intra-textual crisis of linguistic signification within the elegy's construction of loss and spiritual consolation as the experience of death and mourning became less theocentric and communal and more secular and individualized during the seventeenth century. This new intra-textuality to elegiac resistance emerges gradually but consistently from approximately the 1620s onward, facilitating the genre's new articulations of consolation situated within and against historical contexts rather than projected toward a transcendental horizon. On the other hand, I will also argue that this distinctive inter-relationship between poetics and historiography may be theorized as historical figuration, which may be linked directly to key contributions to the history of poetic theory from Plato to Puttenham. My two-fold thesis thus attempts to engender and engage what some may see as a trans-discursive poetics of culture. However, I would hesitate to place my argument within the new-historicist camp, but would hope instead that this essay may contribute to the emerging, interdisciplinary sub-field of new genre studies, which seeks to examine literary genres as manifestations of aesthetic forms and social discourses. [source] Statistical methods in spatial geneticsMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 23 2009GILLES GUILLOT Abstract The joint analysis of spatial and genetic data is rapidly becoming the norm in population genetics. More and more studies explicitly describe and quantify the spatial organization of genetic variation and try to relate it to underlying ecological processes. As it has become increasingly difficult to keep abreast with the latest methodological developments, we review the statistical toolbox available to analyse population genetic data in a spatially explicit framework. We mostly focus on statistical concepts but also discuss practical aspects of the analytical methods, highlighting not only the potential of various approaches but also methodological pitfalls. [source] Plasmid DNA electrotransfer for intracellular and secreted proteins expression: new methodological developments and applicationsTHE JOURNAL OF GENE MEDICINE, Issue S1 2004Carole Bloquel Abstract In vivo electrotransfer is a physical method of gene delivery in various tissues and organs, relying on the injection of a plasmid DNA followed by electric pulse delivery. The importance of the association between cell permeabilization and DNA electrophoresis for electrotransfer efficiency has been highlighted. In vivo electrotransfer is of special interest since it is the most efficient non-viral strategy of gene delivery and also because of its low cost, easiness of realization and safety. The potentiality of this technique can be further improved by optimizing plasmid biodistribution in the targeted organ, plasmid structure, and the design of the encoded protein. In particular, we found that plasmids of smaller size were electrotransferred more efficiently than large plasmids. It is also of importance to study and understand kinetic expression of the transgene, which can be very variable, depending on many factors including cellular localization of the protein, physiological activity and regulation. The most widely targeted tissue is skeletal muscle, because this strategy is not only promising for the treatment of muscle disorders, but also for the systemic secretion of therapeutic proteins. Vaccination and oncology gene therapy are also major fields of application of electrotransfer, whereas application to other organs such as liver, brain and cornea are expanding. Many published studies have shown that plasmid electrotransfer can lead to long-lasting therapeutic effects in various pathologies such as cancer, blood disorders, rheumatoid arthritis or muscle ischemia. DNA electrotransfer is also a powerful laboratory tool to study gene function in a given tissue. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||