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Research And Development Activities (research + and_development_activity)
Selected AbstractsBuilding the capacity for evidence-based clinical nursing leadership: the role of executive co-coaching and group clinical supervision for quality patient servicesJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2007BA (Hons), JO ALLEYNE DProf Aim, The general aims of this article were to facilitate primary care nurses (District Nurse Team Leaders) to link management and leadership theories with clinical practice and to improve the quality of the service provided to their patients. The specific aim was to identify, create and evaluate effective processes for collaborative working so that the nurses' capacity for clinical decision-making could be improved. Background, This article, part of a doctoral study on Clinical Leadership in Nursing, has wider application in the workplace of the future where professional standards based on collaboration will be more critical in a world of work that will be increasingly complex and uncertain. This article heralds the type of research and development activities that the nursing and midwifery professions should give premier attention to, particularly given the recent developments within the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. The implications of: Agenda for Change, the Knowledge and Skills Framework, ,Our Health, Our Care, Our Say' and the recent proposals from the article Modernising Nursing Career, to name but a few, are the key influences impacting on and demanding new ways of clinical supervision for nurses and midwives to improve the quality of patient management and services. Method, The overall approach was based on an action research using a collaborative enquiry within a case study. This was facilitated by a process of executive co-coaching for focused group clinical supervision sessions involving six district nurses as co-researchers and two professional doctoral candidates as the main researchers. The enquiry conducted over a period of two and a half years used evidence-based management and leadership interventions to assist the participants to develop ,actionable knowledge'. Group clinical supervision was not practised in this study as a form of ,therapy' but as a focus for the development of actionable knowledge, knowledge needed for effective clinical management and leadership in the workplace. Findings, ,,Management and leadership interventions and approaches have significantly influenced the participants' capacity to improve the quality of services provided to their patients. ,,Using various techniques, tools, methods and frameworks presented at the sessions increased participants' confidence to perform. ,,A structured approach like the Clinical Nursing Leadership Learning and Action Process (CLINLAP) model makes implementing change more practical and manageable within a turbulent care environment. The process of Stakeholder Mapping and Management made getting agreement to do things differently much easier. Generally it is clear that many nurses and midwives, according to the participants, have to carry out management and leadership activities in their day-to-day practice. The traditional boundary between the private, the public and the voluntary sector management is increasingly becoming blurred. Conclusion, It is conclusive that the district nurses on this innovative programme demonstrated how they were making sense of patterns from the past, planning for the future and facilitating the clinical nursing leadership processes today to improve quality patient services tomorrow. Their improved capacity to manage change and lead people was demonstrated, for example, through their questioning attitudes about the dominance of general practitioners. They did this, for example, by initiating and leading case conferences with the multi-disciplinary teams. It became evident from this study that to use group clinical supervision with an executive co-coaching approach for the implementation and to sustain quality service demand that ,good nursing' is accepted as being synonymous with ,good management'. This is the future of ,new nursing'. [source] Polymer-Derived Ceramics: 40 Years of Research and Innovation in Advanced CeramicsJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 7 2010Paolo Colombo Preceramic polymers were proposed over 30 years ago as precursors for the fabrication of mainly Si-based advanced ceramics, generally denoted as polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs). The polymer to ceramic transformation process enabled significant technological breakthroughs in ceramic science and technology, such as the development of ceramic fibers, coatings, or ceramics stable at ultrahigh temperatures (up to 2000°C) with respect to decomposition, crystallization, phase separation, and creep. In recent years, several important advances have been achieved such as the discovery of a variety of functional properties associated with PDCs. Moreover, novel insights into their structure at the nanoscale level have contributed to the fundamental understanding of the various useful and unique features of PDCs related to their high chemical durability or high creep resistance or semiconducting behavior. From the processing point of view, preceramic polymers have been used as reactive binders to produce technical ceramics, they have been manipulated to allow for the formation of ordered pores in the meso-range, they have been tested for joining advanced ceramic components, and have been processed into bulk or macroporous components. Consequently, possible fields of applications of PDCs have been extended significantly by the recent research and development activities. Several key engineering fields suitable for application of PDCs include high-temperature-resistant materials (energy materials, automotive, aerospace, etc.), hard materials, chemical engineering (catalyst support, food- and biotechnology, etc.), or functional materials in electrical engineering as well as in micro/nanoelectronics. The science and technological development of PDCs are highly interdisciplinary, at the forefront of micro- and nanoscience and technology, with expertise provided by chemists, physicists, mineralogists, and materials scientists, and engineers. Moreover, several specialized industries have already commercialized components based on PDCs, and the production and availability of the precursors used has dramatically increased over the past few years. In this feature article, we highlight the following scientific issues related to advanced PDCs research: (1) General synthesis procedures to produce silicon-based preceramic polymers. (2) Special microstructural features of PDCs. (3) Unusual materials properties of PDCs, that are related to their unique nanosized microstructure that makes preceramic polymers of great and topical interest to researchers across a wide spectrum of disciplines. (4) Processing strategies to fabricate ceramic components from preceramic polymers. (5) Discussion and presentation of several examples of possible real-life applications that take advantage of the special characteristics of preceramic polymers. Note: In the past, a wide range of specialized international symposia have been devoted to PDCs, in particular organized by the American Ceramic Society, the European Materials Society, and the Materials Research Society. Most of the reviews available on PDCs are either not up to date or deal with only a subset of preceramic polymers and ceramics (e.g., silazanes to produce SiCN-based ceramics). Thus, this review is focused on a large number of novel data and developments, and contains materials from the literature but also from sources that are not widely available. [source] Analyzing the determinants of firm's absorptive capacity: beyond R&DR & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2008Jaider Vega-Jurado This article proposes a new model for analyzing the determinants of absorptive capacity in companies. We suggest that absorptive capacity is determined not only by research and development activities, but also by a set of internal factors, which we group into three basic categories: organizational knowledge, formalization, and social integration mechanisms. In addition, we suggest that these factors may influence all components of the firm's absorptive capacity, and that the influence can be positive or negative depending on the applicability of the knowledge being absorbed. This paper thus advances the understanding of absorptive capacity by exploring a largely ignored aspect in the literature: the role of knowledge attributes. We show how the model can be operationalized and empirically tested and provide preliminary evidence supporting most of the propositions in the analytical model. [source] Freshwater prawn farming in Bangladesh: history, present status and future prospectsAQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 8 2008Nesar Ahmed Abstract Within the overall agro-based economy in Bangladesh, freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) farming is currently one of the most important sectors of the national economy. During the last two decades, its development has attracted considerable attention for its export potential. Freshwater prawn farming offers diverse livelihood opportunities for a large number of rural poor. Although the prospects for prawn farming are positive, it requires some research and development activities for long-term sustainability. This paper provides an overview of freshwater prawn farming in Bangladesh. [source] Driving towards an improved research and development cultureJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008MARY P. McNICHOLL BSc (Hons) Background, This study examined the research and development culture and capacity within one NHS Trust in Northern Ireland. Strengths and challenges were identified and opportunities for further research and development expansion were sought. Methods, This is a two-stage project incorporating a baseline survey (n = 379) followed by consultation with key stakeholders across the Trust (n = 11). Findings, In the survey, over half of the respondents (n = 194) stated they had participated in a research project and a significant number (n = 313) read health care journals. Identification of barriers to research resulted in findings similar to other published work. Staff responded positively about using research in practice (n = 328) and that practice should be influenced by research (n = 312). Nurse Managers indicated support for research and development activity. Conclusion, The study provides a starting point from which to develop a positive research and development culture within this Trust. Implications for nursing management, After establishing a baseline of research and development activity across a large acute Trust, the strengths and weaknesses of such activity were identified with a view to informing a strategy to develop this aspect of professional activity. A change in an organizational culture cannot be made without full support of both the clinicians and their managers. [source] Measuring Distress Risk: The Effect of R&D IntensityTHE JOURNAL OF FINANCE, Issue 6 2007LAUREL A. FRANZEN ABSTRACT Because of upward trends in research and development activity, accounting measures of financial distress have become less accurate. We document that (1) higher research and development spending increases the likelihood of misclassifying solvent firms, (2) adjusting for conservative accounting of research and development increases the number of correctly identified distressed firms, and (3) adjusted measures of distress alleviate previously documented anomalously low returns of large, high distress risk, low book-to-market firms. The results hold after updating stale parameters and under various tax assumptions. Our evidence raises concerns about interpretation of extant literature that relies on accounting measures of distress. [source] | ||||||||||