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Research Efforts (research + effort)
Kinds of Research Efforts Selected AbstractsAlignment of Emergency Medicine Research Efforts with Clinical and Translational Science AwardsACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 7 2008Chadwick D. Miller MD Abstract The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) represent a major new funding pathway for health science investigators seeking National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds. This new pathway provides institutional-level support for clinical and translational research and is not tied to one organ system or disease process, fitting well with emergency medicine (EM) research needs. These awards open unique opportunities for advancing EM research. The CTSA mechanism provides institutional support from the NIH to promote both clinical and translational science. Of the 60 expected awards, 38 sites are currently funded. EM investigators can benefit the institutions applying for these awards and simultaneously gain from involvement. Some opportunities for participation provided by the CTSA include research training programs, joining multidisciplinary research teams, seed grant funding, and use of the CTSA-developed research infrastructure. Involvement of EM can benefit institutions by enhancing acute care research collaboration both within and among institutions. Emergency medicine researchers at institutions either planning to submit a CTSA application or with funded CTSA grants are encouraged to become actively involved in CTSA-related research programs. [source] Molecular evidence-based medicineEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL INVESTIGATION, Issue 5 2007Evolution, integration of information in the genomic era Abstract Evidence-based medicine and molecular medicine have both been influential in biomedical research in the last 15 years. Despite following largely parallel routes to date, the goals and principles of evidence-based and molecular medicine are complementary and they should be converging. I define molecular evidence-based medicine as the study of medical information that makes sense of the advances of molecular biological disciplines and where errors and biases are properly appreciated and placed in context. Biomedical measurement capacity improves very rapidly. The exponentially growing mass of hypotheses being tested requires a new approach to both statistical and biological inference. Multidimensional biology requires careful exact replication of research findings, but indirect corroboration is often all that is achieved at best. Besides random error, bias remains a major threat. It is often difficult to separate bias from the spirit of scientific inquiry to force data into coherent and ,significant' biological stories. Transparency and public availability of protocols, data, analyses and results may be crucial to make sense of the complex biology of human disease and avoid being flooded by spurious research findings. Research efforts should be integrated across teams in an open, sharing environment. Most research in the future may be designed, performed, and integrated in the public cyberspace. [source] Circadian Variation in Blood Pressure: Dipper or NondipperJOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPERTENSION, Issue 2002Pierre Larochelle MD Awareness of an increased incidence of cardiovascular events shortly after awakening has heightened interest in the chronopathology of cardiovascular diseases. Blood pressure varies according to cycles characterized by a reduction during sleep and an increase on awakening. The surge in blood pressure coincides with the circadian nature of various endocrine and hematologic parameters that also have a putative role in triggering the onset of cardiovascular events. The nighttime decrease is absent or blunted in some hypertensive patients (termed "nondippers"), an effect associated with increased morbidity. Drugs can influence the effect of these circadian patterns. Research efforts are focused on clarifying an underlying pathophysiologic process that could be modified by pharmacologic or other means. Long-acting angiotensin II receptor blockers have an effect on blood pressure over 24 hours due to their long half-life, but could also limit the morning surge in blood pressure through an effect on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and noradrenergic systems. [source] A multi-ontology framework to guide agriculture and food towards diet and healthJOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 8 2007Matthew C Lange Abstract Global increases in metabolic diseases that can be influenced by diet have re-emphasized the importance of considering how different foods can improve human health. The entire agricultural enterprise has an unprecedented opportunity to increase its value by producing foods that improve the health of consumers. Research efforts in agriculture/food science/nutrition are endeavoring to do so, although little tangible success has been achieved. At the core of the problem is a failure to define the goal itself: health. Health, as a scientifically measurable concept, is poorly defined relative to disease, and yet consensus-based, curated vocabularies that describe the multiple variations in human health in useful terms are critical to unifying the scientific fields related to agriculture and nutrition. Each of the life-science disciplines relating to health has developed databases, thesauri, and/or ontologies to capture such knowledge. High-throughput and -omic technologies are expanding both the amount and heterogeneity of available information. Unfortunately, the language used to describe substantially similar (even logically equivalent) concepts is often different between information systems. Increasing the future value of agriculture, therefore, will depend on creating a process for generating common ontologies of the concept of health, and guiding the development of a common language. This paper illustrates a framework for integrating heterogeneous ontologies into interdisciplinary, foods-for-health knowledge systems. A common system of language that describes health and is shared by all the life-science disciplines will provide immediate benefits in terms of increased health-claim regulatory efficiencies and predictive functions for individualized diets. Ultimately, these vocabularies will guide agriculture to its next goal of producing health-enhancing foods. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Evaluation of antifungals in the surgical intensive care unit: a multi-institutional studyMYCOSES, Issue 3 2006Kevin W. Garey Summary In the USA, >50% of candidemia episodes occur in medical or surgical intensive care units (SICU). However, studies focused on patterns and rationale for antifungal use are lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate systemic antifungal usage in SICU patients. Retrospective audit of SICU patients receiving antifungal therapy from four American hospitals. Medical records were reviewed for demographics, hospital variables, microbiology results, antifungal regimens and indications for therapy. A total of 2411 patient-days of antifungal use were evaluated in 225 patients. Fluconazole was the most frequently prescribed antifungal (1846 patient-days) followed by amphotericin B deoxycholate (251 patient-days), lipid formulations of amphotericin B (201 patient-days), itraconazole (71 patient-days), and caspofungin (42 patient-days). Antifungals were prescribed empirically (44%), for preemptive therapy in critically ill patients colonised with Candida (43%), or for candidiasis (12%). Candida species were recovered from 98% of patients with positive fungal cultures most commonly from pulmonary (53%) or urinary sources (17%). Fluconazole is the most frequently prescribed antifungal agent in SICUs and is most often prescribed for empiric or preemptive indications. Research efforts to identify patients who warrant preemptive antifungal therapy for invasive candidiasis could dramatically change antifungal prescribing patterns in the SICU. [source] Baculovirus P35 protein: An overview of its applications across multiple therapeutic and biotechnological arenasBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 2 2010Sudhir Sahdev Abstract Baculovirus immediate early P35 protein is well known for its anti-apoptotic as well as anti-oxidant properties. Mechanism of action of P35 involves inhibition of a vast range of initiator to executioner class of caspases. In addition, P35's role in inhibiting oxidant-induced mitochondrial damage, primarily in the apoptotic pathway, has also been extensively investigated. Elucidation of P35's functions during regulation of programmed cell death (PCD) has led to a renewed focus on exploiting this basic knowledge for clinical and other related applications. This review outlines specific biochemical and genetic pathways where P35 intervenes and regulates rate-limiting steps in the apoptotic signaling cascade. Research efforts are underway to utilize P35 as an agent in regulating apoptosis and under certain circumstances, also explore the therapeutic potential of its anti-oxidant features. One of the major outcomes of recent studies include significantly improved effectiveness of cytochrome P450 directed enzyme pro-drug delivery tools when used in conjunction with P35, which may help in alleviating drug resistance in tumor cells and simultaneously prolonging the cytotoxic effects of anti-cancer drugs. Moreover, applied research carried out recently in the fields of diabetes, ischemia-induced neuronal cell death, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), multiple sclerosis (MS), inflammatory arthritis, cardiovascular and ocular disorders illustrate P35's utilization across diverse therapeutic areas and will certainly make it an attractive biomolecule for the discovery research. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010 [source] Increasing the pool of academically oriented African-American medical and surgical oncologists,,§CANCER, Issue S1 2003Lisa A. Newman M.D., M.P.H. Abstract BACKGROUND In the United States, breast cancer mortality rates are significantly higher among African-American women than among women of other ethnic backgrounds. Research efforts to evaluate the socioeconomic, environmental, biologic, and genetic mechanisms explaining this disparity are needed. METHODS Data regarding patterns in the ethnic distribution of physicians and oncologists were accumulated from a review of the literature and by contacting cancer-oriented professional societies. This information was evaluated by participants in a national meeting, "Summit Meeting Evaluating Research on Breast Cancer in African American Women." Results of the data collection and the conference discussion are summarized. RESULTS Ethnic minority specialists are underrepresented in academic medicine in general, and in the field of oncology in particular. This fact is unfortunate because ethnic minority students are more likely to express a commitment to providing care to medically underserved communities and, thus, they need to be better represented in these professions. Correcting these patterns of underrepresentation may favorably influence the design and implementation of culturally and ethnically sensitive research. CONCLUSIONS Efforts to improve the ethnic diversity of oncology specialists should begin at the level of recruiting an ethnically diverse premed and medical student population. These recruitment efforts should place an emphasis on the value of mentoring. Cancer 2003;97(1 Suppl):329,34. Published 2003 by the American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11027 [source] Triggering Creativity in Teams: An Exploratory InvestigationCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2002Sven F. Kyle´n Triggering, developing and maintaining creativity in teams is critical to the economic performance of the firm. This article presents an exploratory action research effort in a health care organization that focused on interaction patterns amongst team members, creativity and performance. The results indicate that the teams' inquiry and dialogue into their interaction patterns have the potential of influencing creativity. Team interaction patterns were found to influence team performance. Directions for future research are discussed. [source] Capturing Flow in the Business ClassroomDECISION SCIENCES JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE EDUCATION, Issue 2 2008Yi Maggie Guo ABSTRACT This study focuses on the flow experience in business education. Flow experience, characterized by concentration, control, and enjoyment, can lead to better learning outcomes. Leading preconditions of flow include the balance of challenge and skill, feedback, and goal clarity. Other situational factors affect the flow experience through the mediating effects of these three factors. In this article, we extend an existing framework linking flow and learning. Using the model as a guide, we start our research effort of flow in business education by conducting a field survey of student learning experience in terms of flow and influential factors. Data were collected using business students taking an introductory Operations Management course. The analysis reveals that flow does exist in classroom learning. Its key dimensions are concentration, sense of control, and enjoyment. The more important leading factor is having clear feedback. Characteristics of both the instructor and students play a role in the flow experience of students during lecture. It is evident that flow theory offers a useful framework for business education research. Suggestions for future research are made. [source] Great northern researchers: discoverers of the earliest Palaeozoic vertebratesACTA ZOOLOGICA, Issue 2009Hans-Peter Schultze Abstract The lives and works of Dr Elga Mark-Kurik and Dr Valentina Karatajute-Talimaa, Estonian and Lithuanian palaeontologists, respectively, are presented as part of their celebration at the 11th Symposium on Early/Lower Vertebrates at Uppsala. Both graduated from the university of their home town, Tartu and Vilnius, respectively. Elga became a Researcher at the Institute of Geology of the Estonian S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, in Tallinn, whereas Valentina worked for the Institute of Geology, Vilnius. Both were mentored by D. V. Obruchev of Moscow. Elga chose placoderms and psammosteid heterostracans as main research objects. Valentina also began with whole fish, antiarch placoderms, but then chose fish microfossils with W. Gross as mentor and discovered the oldest chondrichthyans. Both work as palaeobiologists understanding the implications of their fossils for functional interpretation and palaeogeography; their main contribution is in biostratigraphy (over 50% of their publications). In 1976 Elga organized the 1st Middle Palaeozoic Fossil Fish Symposium in Tallinn. The co-operation of young eastern and western palaeoichthyologists begun there culminating in the 1990s with the international research effort of the UNESCO-IUGS International Geological Correlation Programmes (328, 406 and 491). [source] Technology and innovation in the psychosocial treatment of methamphetamine use, risk and dependenceDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 3 2008FRANCES J. KAY-LAMBKIN Abstract Issues. The dramatic increase in methamphetamine use has led to the urgent need for high-quality, effective treatments and management strategies for methamphetamine use problems to be developed and disseminated. Although some evidence exists for the use of psychological, pharmacological and other approaches to treatment for problematic methamphetamine use, other evidence suggests that many methamphetamine users do not access these treatment options due to a range of individual and service-level barriers. Approach. A review of available research literature was undertaken to identify treatment strategies for methamphetamine users, which overcome the problems associated with treatment access for this important target group and involve technological and other innovative approaches. Key Findings. Several approaches to addressing problematic methamphetamine use have been suggested, including assertive engagement strategies, flexibility in the provision of treatment and retention strategies and use of a multi-focused intervention package, such as stepped care, perhaps including new technologies as alternatives or supplements to face-to-face-delivered treatments. No research currently exists to examine the possible benefit of these strategies for people with methamphetamine use problems. Implications. The use of stepped-care intervention packages has the potential to address many of the current challenges faced by both clinicians and clients in treating methamphetamine use problems. Conclusions. Although promising, these approaches require further attention and research effort, particularly among the specific group of methamphetamine users. [source] Neuroprotection in emerging psychotic disordersEARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2007Gregor Berger Abstract Aim:, The emerging phase of psychotic disorders is pleomorphic and fluctuates in presentation. Hence, from a clinical perspective, treatment modalities are often unclear. This paper investigates the rational and potential use of neuroprotective agents in emerging psychotic disorders. Methods:, Medline databases were searched from 1966 to 2006 followed by the cross-checking of references using following keywords: neuroprotection, apoptosis, natural cell death, neurodevelopment, plasticity, neurogenesis, combined with brain and schizophrenia. Results:, Agents such as atypical antipsychotics, antidepressants, omega-3 fatty acids, modulators of glutamateric neurotransmission (e.g. ampakines, glycine, memantine), erythropoietin, N -acetylcysteine, COX-2 inhibitors or antioxidants have neuroprotective (anti-apoptotic) properties and may therefore be able to protect brain maturational processes disturbed in emerging psychotic disorders. Clinical trials suggest that atypical antipsychotics, antidepressants, omega-3 fatty acids and low-dose lithium as sole treatments were able to improve symptoms and functioning, and delay or in some cases even prevent the onset of frank psychosis. Initially these substances have been chosen because they have been used either as sole or augmentation treatments in established psychotic disorders. However, chronicity and already effective treatments may overshadow their potential clinical use in emerging (prodromal) psychosis. Conclusion:, Neuroprotection as a new treatment paradigm for at-risk mental states seems to be promising and pilot data are suggestive that more benign interventions may already be sufficient to delay or even prevent the onset of frank psychosis. A coordinated research effort will be necessary to address the question which agents should be used under which circumstances. [source] Structure of two macrolepidopteran assemblages on Salix nigra (Marsh) and Acer negundo L.: abundance, diversity, richness, and persistence of scarce speciesECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 4 2000Pedro Barbosa Summary 1. Most insect species occur at low abundance but a greater research effort has been devoted to so-called outbreak species and little research is available on scarce (low abundance) species that are typical of most insect species. 2. Larval free-feeding macrolepidoptera of two riparian trees Salix nigra (Marsh) (black willow) and Acer negundo L. (box elder) were sampled and sorted by species and abundance. 3. Data collected established that the majority of species in the assemblages in each tree species occurred at low abundance in each of the 5 years when larvae were sampled. 4. Species in the Noctuidae and Geometridae dominated both assemblages. 5. On both trees, assemblages were dominated numerically by relatively few species, a pattern that has been observed for insect assemblages on plants in managed and unmanaged habitats. [source] Amalgam Electrodes for ElectroanalysisELECTROANALYSIS, Issue 8 2003Øyvind Mikkelsen Abstract Liquid mercury is a unique material for the indicator electrode in voltammetry. One reason for this is the high overvoltage for hydrogen formation, thus extending the actual potential window. Diluted amalgams are important reaction products in voltammetric (polarographic) processes, however liquid amalgams are rarely used directly as electrode material for analytical purposes. Because of the fact that voltammetry is very suitable for field and remote monitoring, issues concerning the use of mercury electrodes in environmental analyses have led to considerable research effort aimed at finding alternative tools with acceptable performance. Solid electrodes are such alternatives. Different types of electrodes are reviewed. In particular, solid amalgam electrodes are very promising, with acceptable low toxicity to be used for field measurements. Solid amalgam electrodes are easy and cheap to construct and are stable over a reasonable time up to several weeks. Assessment of the toxicity risk and the long time stability for remote and unattended monitoring is discussed. The differences between solid dental amalgam electrodes, made by using techniques known from dental clinical practice, and mercury film or mercury layer electrodes on solid substrates are reviewed. In particular the dental technique for constructing solid amalgam electrodes gives advantage because it's fast and inexpensive. Also the technique for making dental amalgam has been explored and optimized over years by dentists, giving advantage when the same technique is used for constructing electrodes. Dental amalgam electrodes has been found to act similar to a silver electrodes, but with high overvoltage towards hydrogen. This make it possible to use the dental amalgam electrode for detection of zinc, cobalt and nickel in additions to other metals like lead, copper, thallium, cadmium, bismuth, iron etc. Also the use for reducible organic compounds is expected to be promising. [source] A Bayesian hierarchical extreme value model for lichenometryENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 6 2006Daniel Cooley Abstract Currently, there is a tremendous scientific research effort in the area of climate change. In this paper, our motivation is to improve the understanding of historical climatic events such as the Little Ice Age (LIA), a period of relatively cold weather around 1450,1850 AD. Although the LIA is well documented in Europe, its extent and timing are not known in areas of the globe where climatological records were not kept during this period. To study the climate, which predates historical records, proxy climate records must be used. A proxy record for the timing of climatic cooling events are the ages of the moraines left behind by glacial advances. Unfortunately, to determine the ages of these moraines in alpine environments there is little material available but lichens. Hence, lichenometry was developed to determine the ages of glacial landforms by using lichen measurements. To our knowledge, this article provides the first attempt at deriving a comprehensive statistical model for lichenometry. Our model foundation is based on extreme value theory because only the largest lichens are measured in lichenometry studies. This application is novel to extreme value theory because the quantities of interest (the ages of climatic events) are not the measured quantities (lichen diameters), i.e., it is a inverse problem. We model the lichen measurements with the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution, upon which a Bayesian hierarchical model is built. The hierarchical model enables estimation of the hidden covariate ages of the moraines. The model also allows for pooling of data from different locations and evaluation of spatial differences in lichen growth. Parameter inference is obtained using a straightforward Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Our procedure is applied to data gathered from the Cordillera Real region in Bolivia. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Tensile and compressive damage coupling for fully-reversed bending fatigue of fibre-reinforced compositesFATIGUE & FRACTURE OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, Issue 6 2002W. Van Paepegem ABSTRACT Due to their high specific stiffness and strength, fibre-reinforced composite materials are winning through in a wide range of applications in automotive, naval and aerospace industry. Their design for fatigue is a complicated problem and a large research effort is being spent on it today. However there is still a need for extensive experimental testing or large safety factors to be adopted, because numerical simulations of the fatigue damage behaviour of fibre-reinforced composites are often found to be unreliable. This is due to the limited applicability of the theoretical models developed so far, compared to the complex multi-axial fatigue loadings that composite components often have to sustain in in-service loading conditions. In this paper a new phenomenological fatigue model is presented. It is basically a residual stiffness model, but through an appropriate choice of the stress measure, the residual strength and thus final failure can be predicted as well. Two coupled growth rate equations for tensile and compressive damage describe the damage growth under tension,compression loading conditions and provide a much more general approach than the use of the stress ratio R. The model has been applied to fully-reversed bending of plain woven glass/epoxy specimens. Stress redistributions and the three stages of stiffness degradation (sharp initial decline , gradual deterioration , final failure) could be simulated satisfactorily. [source] Investigation of air gaps entrapped in protective clothing systemsFIRE AND MATERIALS, Issue 3 2002Young Kim Il Air gaps entrapped in protective clothing are known as one of the major factors affecting heat transfer through multiple layers of flexible clothing fabrics. The identification and quantification of the air gaps are two aspects of a multidisciplinary research effort directed toward improving the flame/thermal protective performance of the clothing. Today's three-dimensional (3-D) whole body digitizers, which provide accurate representations of the surface of the human body, can be a novel means for visualizing and quantifying the air gaps between the wearer and his clothing. In this paper we discuss how images from a 3-D whole body digitizer are used to determine local and global distributions of air gaps and the quantification of air gap sizes in single and multilayer clothing systems dressed on a thermal manikin. Examples are given that show concordance between air gap distributions and burn patterns obtained from full-scale manikin fire tests. We finish with a discussion of the application of air gap information to bench-scale testing to improve the protective performance of current flame/thermal protective clothing. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Rural Youth Migration Trends in Australia: an Overview of Recent Trends and Two Inland Case StudiesGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008NEIL ARGENT Abstract Much of what has been written on the topic of Australian rural youth migration trends and processes has often proceeded from data-free, or data-poor grounds. In this context, this paper analyses recent trends in youth (15 to 24 years of age) migration for a temporally-consistent set of Statistical Divisions (SDs) in inland rural Australia, and for local government areas within the Northern Tablelands and Slopes and Ranges of northern New South Wales and the Western Australian Central Wheatbelt. The paper finds that rates of youth loss from rural regions have increased over the past twenty years. Yet the patterns, processes, causes and impacts of rural youth migration are distributed in a spatially-uneven fashion. Some remote areas are receiving net migration gains while booming ,sea change' coastal regions have experienced heavy losses. While the ,flight to the bright city lights' syndrome is evident, relatively high proportions of young people in the Northern SD of NSW move within their immediate region. Nevertheless, some common understandings concerning youth mobility were also confirmed. Gender differentials in migration propensity between women and men are evident even at quite local scales. Young people are also more likely to search out capital cities than the rest of the population. Most inland areas still continue to experience heavy losses of local youth. A more precise understanding of rural youth migration trends is an important stepping stone in the establishment of a reinvigorated research effort into young rural people's perspectives of their changing life chances in their home communities. [source] Noninvasive diagnosis and monitoring of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: Present and future,HEPATOLOGY, Issue 2 2007Anna Wieckowska Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in the United States, and its prevalence is increasing worldwide. It currently affects approximately 30% of adults and 10% of children in the United States. NAFLD represents a wide spectrum of conditions ranging from simple fatty liver which in general follows a benign nonprogressive clinical course, to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is a more serious form of NAFLD that may progress to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. At present, a liver biopsy remains the only reliable way to diagnose NASH and establish the presence of fibrosis. Current noninvasive clinically available tests lack accuracy and reliability. In light of the dramatic increase in the prevalence of NAFLD in conjunction with the significant research effort in developing novel therapies for patients with NASH, noninvasive, simple, reproducible, and reliable biomarkers are greatly needed. They will not only help in the diagnosis of NASH, but also be useful for assessment of treatment response and prognosis and remain a research priority in the NAFLD field. (HEPATOLOGY 2007;46:582,589.) [source] Bioaccessibility studies of ferro-chromium alloy particles for a simulated inhalation scenario: A comparative study with the pure metals and stainless steelINTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010Klara Midander Abstract The European product safety legislation, REACH, requires that companies that manufacture, import, or use chemicals demonstrate safe use and high level of protection of their products placed on the market from a human health and environmental perspective. This process involves detailed assessment of potential hazards for various toxicity endpoints induced by the use of chemicals with a minimum use of animal testing. Such an assessment requires thorough understanding of relevant exposure scenarios including material characteristics and intrinsic properties and how, for instance, physical and chemical properties change from the manufacturing phase, throughout use, to final disposal. Temporary or permanent adverse health effects induced by particles depend either on their shape or physical characteristics, and/or on chemical interactions with the particle surface upon human exposure. Potential adverse effects caused by the exposure of metal particles through the gastrointestinal system, the pulmonary system, or the skin, and their subsequent potential for particle dissolution and metal release in contact with biological media, show significant gaps of knowledge. In vitro bioaccessibility testing at conditions of relevance for different exposure scenarios, combined with the generation of a detailed understanding of intrinsic material properties and surface characteristics, are in this context a useful approach to address aspects of relevance for accurate risk and hazard assessment of chemicals, including metals and alloys and to avoid the use of in vivo testing. Alloys are essential engineering materials in all kinds of applications in society, but their potential adverse effects on human health and the environment are very seldom assessed. Alloys are treated in REACH as mixtures of their constituent elements, an approach highly inappropriate because intrinsic properties of alloys generally are totally different compared with their pure metal components. A large research effort was therefore conducted to generate quantitative bioaccessibility data for particles of ferro-chromium alloys compared with particles of the pure metals and stainless steel exposed at in vitro conditions in synthetic biological media of relevance for particle inhalation and ingestion. All results are presented combining bioaccessibility data with aspects of particle characteristics, surface composition, and barrier properties of surface oxides. Iron and chromium were the main elements released from ferro-chromium alloys upon exposure in synthetic biological media. Both elements revealed time-dependent release processes. One week exposures resulted in very small released particle fractions being less than 0.3% of the particle mass at acidic conditions and less than 0.001% in near pH-neutral media. The extent of Fe released from ferro-chromium alloy particles was significantly lower compared with particles of pure Fe, whereas Cr was released to a very low and similar extent as from particles of pure Cr and stainless steel. Low release rates are a result of a surface oxide with passive properties predominantly composed of chromium(III)-rich oxides and silica and, to a lesser extent, of iron(II,III)oxides. Neither the relative bulk alloy composition nor the surface composition can be used to predict or assess the extent of metals released in different synthetic biological media. Ferro-chromium alloys cannot be assessed from the behavior of their pure metal constituents. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2010;6:441,455. © 2009 SETAC [source] A review of recent climate variability and climate change in southeastern AustraliaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 7 2008Bradley F. Murphy Abstract Southeastern Australia (SEA) has suffered from 10 years of low rainfall from 1997 to 2006. A protracted dry spell of this severity has been recorded once before during the 20th century, but current drought conditions are exacerbated by increasing temperatures. Impacts of this dry decade are wide-ranging, so a major research effort is being directed to better understand the region's recent climate, its variability and climate change. This review summarizes the conditions of these 10 years and the main mechanisms that affect the climate. Most of the rainfall decline (61%) has occurred in autumn (March,May). Daily maximum temperatures are rising, as are minimum temperatures, except for cooler nights in autumn in the southwest of SEA closely related to lower rainfall. A similar rainfall decline occurred in the southwest of western Australia around 1970 that has many common features with the SEA decline. SEA rainfall is produced by mid-latitude storms and fronts, interactions with the tropics through continental-scale cloudbands and cut-off lows. El Niño-Southern Oscillation impacts on SEA rainfall, as does the Indian Ocean, but neither has a direct influence in autumn. Trends have been found in both hemispheric (the southern annular mode) and local (sub-tropical ridge) circulation features that may have played a role in reducing the number and impact of mid-latitude systems around SEA, and thus reducing rainfall. The role of many of these mechanisms needs to be clarified, but there is likely to be an influence of enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations on SEA climate, at least on temperature. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society [source] The determinants of export performance: A review of the research in the literature between 1998 and 2005INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 4 2008Carlos M.P. Sousa Considerable attention has been paid to the determinants of export performance. However, despite this research effort in identifying and examining the influence of such determinants, the literature is characterized by fragmentation and diversity, hindering theory development and practical advancement in the field. This paper attempts to review and synthesize the knowledge on the subject. As a result, this study reviews and evaluates 52 articles published between 1998 and 2005 to assess the determinants of export performance. The assessment reveals that: (a) more studies have been conducted outside the USA; (b) the majority of the studies focus on manufacturing firms, with relatively few studies examining the service sector; (c) the majority of the export studies continue to focus on small to medium-sized firms; (d) there is a continuous increase in the sample size; (e) despite the problems that may arise from the use of single informants, it seems that none of the studies reviewed here collected data from more than one informant in the firm; (f) an increasing number of studies have been using the export venture as the unit of analysis; (g) the level of statistical sophistication has improved; (h) the use of control and moderating variables in export performance studies has increased; (i) more studies have started to include the external environment in their models, including domestic market characteristics; and (j) market orientation as a key determinant of export performance emerges in this review. Finally, conclusions are drawn, along with some suggestions for further research. [source] Cross-strain protection reduces effectiveness of virally vectored fertility control: results from individual-based multistrain modelsJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2007ANTHONY D. ARTHUR Summary 1Pest mammals have severe economic, environmental and social impacts throughout the world. Fertility control could reduce these impacts. Virally vectored immunocontraception (VVIC) has been proposed as an economic way to achieve this. However, the ability of an immunocontraceptive virus to control populations may be compromised if: (i) sufficient infected mice are not made infertile; (ii) the virus does not transmit at a sufficient rate; (iii) there is competition with field strains of virus; or (iv) its ability to induce infertility is altered by the presence of field strains. We tested this with stochastic, individual-based, disease,host models based on murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) and house mice Mus musculus domesticus. 2Using field estimates of the MCMV transmission rate, immunocontraceptive MCMV (icMCMV) could prevent mouse populations from growing rapidly to damaging levels provided > 70% of mice infected with the virus became infertile. Successful control was possible even if engineering icMCMV reduced its transmission rate to c. 30% of the field-estimated value, but greater reductions in the transmission rate compromised successful control. 3Effective control was compromised if there was competition between icMCMV and field strains because of cross-immunity to infection or if previous infection with field strains blocked the development of infertility in mice subsequently infected with icMCMV. In these cases effectiveness was diminished, particularly if the transmission rate of icMCMV was reduced relative to field strains, or if close to 100% infertility of infected mice could not be achieved. If the blocking developed early after infection with field strains, doubling the transmission rate of icMCMV relative to field strains still could not produce successful control. 4Synthesis and applications. VVIC requires preliminary estimates of its efficacy to satisfy regulatory requirements before it can be released into the environment. Our models indicate that successful control of an outbreaking species using VVIC is possible if high levels of infertility can be achieved, but this is compromised by cross-strain protection and low transmission rates of engineered virus. Future research effort should focus on determining whether these compromising effects occur for specific engineered viruses and, if so, whether they can be overcome. [source] Who joins a preventive intervention?JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2001How risk status predicts enrollment The objective of this study was to identify social, psychological, and health-related variables that predict mothers' refusals to join a prevention program for families of children with chronic illnesses. A two-step recruitment process was used with 193 families of children with chronic illnesses. First, families were recruited for a longitudinal research survey. Then, mothers were given the opportunity to randomly receive one of two programs. Mothers who refused the opportunity to participate in either program continued in the research project. Data were collected through structured interviews at baseline and 12 months later. Compared to mothers who agreed to participate in one of the programs, those who refused reported more confidence, more support, and less depression and higher functional status and better adjustment in their child. Mothers who agree to participate in a longitudinal research effort but refuse to participate in an intervention program are likely to be functioning well, and may perceive no need for a program designed to prevent mental health problems. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source] Experimental study of the hydraulic operation of an annular centrifugal contactor with various mixing vane geometriesAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 8 2010Kent E. Wardle Abstract The annular centrifugal contactor is a combination mixer/centrifuge that has been developed for solvent extraction processes for recycling used nuclear reactor fuel. The experimental observations presented were part of a simulation-focused research effort aimed at providing a more complete understanding of the fluid flow within these contactors to enable further advancements in design and operation of future units and greater confidence for use of such contactors in a variety of other solvent extraction applications. Laser doppler velocimetry (LDV), particle image velocimetry (PIV), pressure measurements, and high-speed video imaging for a range of flow rates and rotor speeds were performed to characterize the flow of water in the annular mixing region of the contactor using three different mixing vane geometries. It was found that the geometry of the mixing vanes has a significant impact on the annular liquid height and general flow in the contactor mixing zone. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source] Battle in the Boardroom: A Discursive PerspectiveJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 1 2002Wilson Ng This article examines the centrality of discourse in achieving managerially relevant outcomes, with a focus on the in-situ performance context of corporate storytellers. The Ric,urian concept of speech act, capturing both the intentionality of organizational discourse and the social context of its production and reception, implicitly guided our research effort. The article has at its core a story of how senior organizational officers exploited the volatile circumstances of a public takeover in Singapore. By looking at the social construction of narratives in their many fragments we come to see how a key protagonist carves out a powerful position. The efficacy of his performances can be seen to be dependent upon the effective use of poetic tropes and the receptiveness of listeners to particular Chinese archetypal relationship-driven themes. In crafting our story we use multiple texts which were produced in and around two case organizations. As such we offer a carefully constructed collage, a mixture of production and reproduction, sticking closely to forms of communication that key organizational actors used to plan, enact and interpret their actions and those of others. Whilst our story offers insights to readers with an interest in organizational discourse, corporate governance and Asian management practices, we refrain from imposing an authoritarian interpretation that insists on identifying with the intentions of the authors. [source] Nursing's Contribution to the Literature on Preterm Labor and BirthJOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 5 2003FAAN professor of obstetrics, Margaret Comerford Freda EdD, gynecology Although preterm labor and birth continues to plague us as an unsolved mystery in maternal/child health, much has actually been learned over the past few decades. Most reviews of the preterm labor literature examine the research in an interdisciplinary manner; this article instead looks at the active role that nurses have taken in the research concerning preterm labor and birth. This article will categorize research conducted by nurses over the past 30 years on preterm labor and birth, emphasizing some of the changes in nursing practice engendered by nursing's important research effort. [source] Dendritic macromers for hydrogel formation: Tailored materials for ophthalmic, orthopedic, and biotech applicationsJOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 2 2008Mark W. Grinstaff Abstract Dendritic macromolecules are well-defined highly branched macromolecules synthesized via a divergent or convergent approach. A salient feature of the macromolecules described herein, and a goal of our research effort, is to prepare dendritic macromolecules suitable for in vitro and in vivo use by focusing on biocompatible building blocks and biodegradable linkages. These dendritic macromolecules can be subsequently crosslinked to form hydrogels using a photochemical acrylate-based or a chemical ligation strategy. The properties,mechanical, swelling, degradation, and so forth,of the hydrogels can be tuned by altering the composition, crosslinking chemistry, wt %, generation number and so forth. The utility and diverse applicability is demonstrated through successful use of these hydrogels in three unique applications: hydrogel adhesives for repairing corneal wounds, hydrogel scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering, and hydrogel reaction chambers for high throughput screening of molecular recognition events. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 383,400, 2008. [source] Managing nitrogen on the farm: the devil is in the detail,JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 4 2007Mark Shepherd Abstract Agricultural activity is a major source of nitrate in surface and ground waters. There has been a large research effort over the last 20 years to understand nitrate leaching processes and to develop ,best management practices' (BMPs) that can be adopted in farming systems to reduce losses to the wider environment. This paper reviews some of the issues relating to the development, use and adoption of these BMPs in farming systems. There is significant evidence from farming systems experiments and modelling studies that combinations of BMPs can decrease nitrate losses from agricultural land, though nothing is foolproof (the weather plays a key role in determining success). The challenges are greater in some regions (dry climate, ,leaky' soils) and in some enterprises (intensive animal farming systems). The adoption of BMPs on farms requires attention to detail and a high level of management skill, so providing advisory support to farmers is essential. Even with the progress that has been made in recent years, there is still work to do. This includes encouraging uptake on farms and dealing with potential conflicts between BMPs when they create ,pollution swapping' or where there is potential for a large economic penalty for the farmer. We also suggest that there is a need for more innovation in developing BMPs and a need to recognise that, in some situations, radical changes to farming systems may be the only solution. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry [source] The Challenge of Cross-Cultural Clinical Trials Research: Case Report from the Tibetan Autonomous Region, People's Republic of ChinaMEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2005VINCANNE ADAMS Efforts to conduct Western clinical research in non-Western medical settings with little or no familiarity with such methodologies are on the rise, but documented accounts of the ways that biomedical science requires negotiation and translation across cultures are not plentiful. This article adds to this literature through analysis of an NICHD-funded collaborative research effort in women's health carried out in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The research involved a feasibility study for an eventual clinical trial comparing Tibetan medicine with misoprostol for preventing postpartum hemorrhage in delivering women. It explores strategies of negotiation and translation in and around notions of the scientific method, informed consent procedures, randomization, blinding, placebo, and concepts of medical standardization. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||