Research Problems (research + problem)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Priorities for Nursing Research in Korea

JOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 4 2002
Mi Ja Kim
Purpose: To identify priorities for nursing research in Korea. Methods: A national sample of nurses in academic and clinical settings, representing varied clinical specialties, participated in two rounds of a Delphi survey. Participants listed five most important nursing research problems rated on three dimensions: the degree of nurses' lead role, contribution to nursing profession, and nurses' contribution to health and welfare of patients and clients. A total of 29 research areas were derived from 1,013 research problems identified from the Delphi surveys, and 26 expert panel members who participated in a 1-day workshop to determine the priority of these areas. Key words of 706 research articles published in the major nursing research journals in Korea were analyzed to identify priorities. Results: In the two rounds of Delphi surveys 347 of 1,047 nurses participated (31%,33% response rates respectively). Top three research areas common to both Delphi survey and literature analysis were: clinical nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing research. Cultural nursing was rated the lowest in the Delphi survey but was rated third by the expert panel members. Conclusions: In the clinical practice area, research on the advanced practice nursing system was the first priority research problem followed by development of nursing interventions, clinical competency, quality and effectiveness of nursing care, and standardized nursing tasks. Research on home health care, nursing education, utilization of nursing research, and geriatric nursing were other areas of priority. Nurses around the world are encouraged to develop collaborative research projects based on common priority areas. [source]


Contextual Factors and the Extreme Right Vote in Western Europe, 1980,2002

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2009
Kai Arzheimer
Research on the voters of the extreme right in Western Europe has become a minor industry, but relatively little attention has been paid to the twin question of why support for these parties is often unstable, and why the extreme right is so weak in many countries. Moreover, the findings from different studies often contradict each other. This article aims at providing a more comprehensive and satisfactory answer to this research problem by employing a broader database and a more adequate modeling strategy. The main finding is that while immigration and unemployment rates are important, their interaction with other political factors is much more complex than suggested by previous research. Moreover, persistent country effects prevail even if a whole host of individual and contextual variables is controlled for. [source]


The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 5 2007
Karen Willis
Abstract Objective: To define the role of social theory and examine how research studies using qualitative methods can use social theory to generalise their results beyond the setting of the study or to other social groups. Approach: The assumptions underlying public health research using qualitative methods derive from a range of social theories that include conflict theory, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, the sociology of knowledge and feminism. Depending on the research problem, these and other social theories provide conceptual tools and models for constructing a suitable research framework, and for collecting and analysing data. In combination with the substantive health literature, the theoretical literature provides the conceptual bridge that links the conclusions of the study to other social groups and settings. Conclusion: While descriptive studies using qualitative research methods can generate important insights into social experience, the use of social theory in the construction and conduct of research enables researchers to extrapolate their findings to settings and groups broader than the ones in which the research was conducted. [source]


The Conventions of Management Research and their Relevance to Management Practice

BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2002
M. Kelemen
This paper recognizes the failure of management research to communicate with practitioners, and speculates over the reasons why this may be the case. It is possible that the researchers' interests may not always coincide with management practitioners'; however, even when such interests are congruent, it seems that relatively little management research is published in practitioner journals. We suggest that this is because academic research is written in a style that tends to alienate most practitioners. This paper isolates the stylistic conventions associated with research targeted to academics (typically published in academic journals) and research targeted to practitioners (typically published in practitioner-oriented journals). Such stylistic differences are illustrated through a study of organizational change whose findings have been published in both academic and practitioner format, namely in the Administrative Science Quarterly and the Harvard Business Review. We suggest that the gap between these two types of research could be narrowed through processes of translation (i.e. academic jargon could be translated in practitioner language). In addition we might consider greater use of Mode 2 research over Mode 1 research (academic). Mode 2 research presupposes that teams of academics and practitioners assemble to define the research problem and methodology in terms appropriate to a particular context and in a way that accounts for all existing interests so that translation processes are seamless. However, Mode 2 creates its own gap in that the knowledge is more contextual and may not reach a wide audience. [source]


Benefiting from Commissioned Research: The Role of Researcher , Client Cooperation

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2002
Geir Grundvåg Ottesen
This paper discusses why commissioned research is often neglected and misunderstood, as well as how its use can be enhanced. We argue that the lack of use of such research can be attributed to differences in researchers' and practitioners' knowledge and expectations regarding research problems, solutions, interpretations, and applications. Two hypotheses are proposed, which link the use of research to cooperation between researchers and users during the production of the research, and to assistance in interpreting and applying the research results. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 65 buyers of 86 research projects in the seafood industry. The reported findings reveal that collaboration fosters research utilisation, but also that close cooperation between the providers and the users of research may substitute assistance in enhancing research utilisation. [source]


Some ideas for QFT research

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL, Issue 7 2003
Isaac Horowitz
Feedback theory is much less popular now than 5 years ago. However, there is little question that the problem of achieving desired system tolerances from uncertain plants, at minimum cost of feedback, will remain an important, enduring one for many future generations. Although much progress has been made, it is minuscule in comparison with the extent of the problem. The purpose here is to suggest some significant QFT research problems, some tantalizingly on the boundary of the unknown. There have been in the past many suggestions for improvements in feedback synthesis. Most e.g. the Smith Regulator (Int. J. Control 1983;38:977) have been illusory, because they were formulated in a qualitative context, without the disciplines of quantitative uncertainty and performance specifications, degrees of freedom, sensor noise, plant modification, etc. Without such disciplines, it is impossible to properly evaluate competing techniques. The reader is referred to the 1991 Survey paper for some background, Horowitz (Int. J. Control 1991;53(2):255). Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


A JavaÔ universal vehicle router for routing unmanned aerial vehicles

INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2004
R.W. Harder
Abstract We consider vehicle routing problems in the context of the Air Force operational problem of routing unmanned aerial vehicles from base locations to various reconnaissance sites. The unmanned aerial vehicle routing problem requires consideration of heterogeneous vehicles, vehicle endurance limits, time windows, and time walls for some of the sites requiring coverage, site priorities, and asymmetric travel distances. We propose a general architecture for operational research problems, specified for vehicle routing problems, that encourages object-oriented programming and code reuse. We create an instance of this architecture for the unmanned aerial vehicle routing problem and describe the components of this architecture to include the general user interface created for the operational users of the system. We employ route building heuristics and tabu search in a symbiotic fashion to provide a user-defined level-of-effort solver interface. Empirical tests of solution algorithms parameterized for solution speed reveal reasonable solution quality is attained. [source]


The Sociology of Adolescence and Youth in the 1990s: A Critical Commentary

JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 4 2000
Frank F. Furstenberg
The 1990s saw considerable advances in the state of research on adolescence and youth. This article provides a critical commentary on a subset of this research, focusing on the causes and consequences of the lengthened period in which the transition to adulthood occurs. It provides a brief history of adolescence research, identifying a select set of topics, themes, and research problems that will guide research on adolescence and youth over the next decade. These research foci, which include peer group relations, biological influences on adolescence, employment experiences, increased autonomy, and racial and gender differences, are described as representing either continuities or advances in adolescence research. The strengths and shortcomings of this research are detailed. The paper concludes by suggesting promising areas for future research and by providing guidelines for undertaking such research. [source]


Priorities for Nursing Research in Korea

JOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 4 2002
Mi Ja Kim
Purpose: To identify priorities for nursing research in Korea. Methods: A national sample of nurses in academic and clinical settings, representing varied clinical specialties, participated in two rounds of a Delphi survey. Participants listed five most important nursing research problems rated on three dimensions: the degree of nurses' lead role, contribution to nursing profession, and nurses' contribution to health and welfare of patients and clients. A total of 29 research areas were derived from 1,013 research problems identified from the Delphi surveys, and 26 expert panel members who participated in a 1-day workshop to determine the priority of these areas. Key words of 706 research articles published in the major nursing research journals in Korea were analyzed to identify priorities. Results: In the two rounds of Delphi surveys 347 of 1,047 nurses participated (31%,33% response rates respectively). Top three research areas common to both Delphi survey and literature analysis were: clinical nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing research. Cultural nursing was rated the lowest in the Delphi survey but was rated third by the expert panel members. Conclusions: In the clinical practice area, research on the advanced practice nursing system was the first priority research problem followed by development of nursing interventions, clinical competency, quality and effectiveness of nursing care, and standardized nursing tasks. Research on home health care, nursing education, utilization of nursing research, and geriatric nursing were other areas of priority. Nurses around the world are encouraged to develop collaborative research projects based on common priority areas. [source]


A view of the data on P2P file-sharing systems

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 10 2009
Wai Gen Yee
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing is a leading Internet application. Millions of users use P2P file-sharing systems daily to search for and download files, accounting for a large portion of Internet traffic. Due to their scale, it is important to fully understand how these systems work. We analyze user queries and shared files collected on the Gnutella system, draw some conclusions on the nature of the application, and propose some research problems. [source]


Modern analytical ultracentrifugation in protein science: A tutorial review

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 9 2002
Jacob Lebowitz
Abstract Analytical ultracentrifugation (AU) is reemerging as a versatile tool for the study of proteins. Monitoring the sedimentation of macromolecules in the centrifugal field allows their hydrodynamic and thermodynamic characterization in solution, without interaction with any matrix or surface. The combination of new instrumentation and powerful computational software for data analysis has led to major advances in the characterization of proteins and protein complexes. The pace of new advancements makes it difficult for protein scientists to gain sufficient expertise to apply modern AU to their research problems. To address this problem, this review builds from the basic concepts to advanced approaches for the characterization of protein systems, and key computational and internet resources are provided. We will first explore the characterization of proteins by sedimentation velocity (SV). Determination of sedimentation coefficients allows for the modeling of the hydrodynamic shape of proteins and protein complexes. The computational treatment of SV data to resolve sedimenting components has been achieved. Hence, SV can be very useful in the identification of the oligomeric state and the stoichiometry of heterogeneous interactions. The second major part of the review covers sedimentation equilibrium (SE) of proteins, including membrane proteins and glycoproteins. This is the method of choice for molar mass determinations and the study of self-association and heterogeneous interactions, such as protein,protein, protein,nucleic acid, and protein,small molecule binding. [source]


Ridge regression in two-parameter solution

APPLIED STOCHASTIC MODELS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, Issue 6 2005
Stan Lipovetsky
Abstract We consider simultaneous minimization of the model errors, deviations from orthogonality between regressors and errors, and deviations from other desired properties of the solution. This approach corresponds to a regularized objective that produces a consistent solution not prone to multicollinearity. We obtain a generalization of the ridge regression to two-parameter model that always outperforms a regular one-parameter ridge by better approximation, and has good properties of orthogonality between residuals and predicted values of the dependent variable. The results are very convenient for the analysis and interpretation of the regression. Numerical runs prove that this technique works very well. The examples are considered for marketing research problems. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The polychaete Platynereis dumerilii (Annelida): a laboratory animal with spiralian cleavage, lifelong segment proliferation and a mixed benthic/pelagic life cycle

BIOESSAYS, Issue 3 2004
Albrecht Fischer
Platynereis dumerilii, a marine polychaetous annelid with indirect development, can be continuously bred in the laboratory. Here, we describe its spectacular reproduction and development and address a number of open research problems. Oogenesis is easily studied because the oocytes grow while floating in the coelom. Unlike the embryos of other model spiralians, the Platynereis embryo is transparent giving insight into the dynamic structures and processes inside the cells that accompany the prevailing anisotropic cleavages. Functional studies on cell specification and differential gene expression in embryos, larvae, and later stages are underway. Lifelong proliferation of uniform trunk segments qualifies Platynereis as a model for the study of gene expression and of the functional circuitry of this process. Platynereis can also become a stepping stone in the comparison of segmentation between annelids and arthropods because it comes closer to the putative ancestral morphology and style of development than other model annelids. BioEssays 26:314,325, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Two-dimensional Numerical Modeling Research on Continent Subduction Dynamics

ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 1 2004
WANG Zhimin
Abstract Continent subduction is one of the hot research problems in geoscience. New models presented here have been set up and two-dimensional numerical modeling research on the possibility of continental subduction has been made with the finite element software, ANSYS, based on documentary evidence and reasonable assumptions that the subduction of oceanic crust has occurred, the subduction of continental crust can take place and the process can be simplified to a discontinuous plane strain theory model. The modeling results show that it is completely possible for continental crust to be subducted to a depth of 120 km under certain circumstances and conditions. At the same time, the simulations of continental subduction under a single dynamical factor have also been made, including the pull force of the subducted oceanic lithosphere, the drag force connected with mantle convection and the push force of the mid-ocean ridge. These experiments show that the drag force connected with mantle convection is critical for continent subduction. [source]


Pro-family Organizations in Calgary, 1998: Beliefs, Interconnections and Allies,

CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 1 2001
Gillian Anderson
Dans cet article, nous comparons les convictions des différents groupes pro-famille de Calgary et nous préscntons la structure des liens qui unissent ces groupes. Les données, recueillies en 1998, proviennent de documents et d'entretiens semi-structurés avec les chefs de file de ces groupes. Nous abordons ici trois problèmes de recherche. Tout d'abord, nous examinons la teneur des relations entre groupes pro-famille et pro-vie. Tous les groupes pro-famille, même ceux qui se prononcent résolument contre l'avortement, se dis-tinguent des groupes pro-vie sur le plan tant organisational que politique. Ensuite, nous nous penchons sur le rôle des croyances chré-tiennes au sein du mouvement. Nous affirmons que, bien que les groupes chrétiens aient été dominants en 1998, la promotion, de la famille hétérosexuelle nucléaire, et non les questions de doctrine, a été fondamentale pour le mouvement. Enfin, nous examinons si le mouvement s'est scindé entre socioconservateurs et centristes, les centristes étant peu représentatifs en 1998. En outre, l'un des groupes présentant un profil centriste, la National Foundation for Family Research and Education, a tout fait pour légitimer du point de vue scientifique les arguments moraux des socioconservateurs en faveur de la famille. En conclusion, nous soutenons que le mouvement pro-famille à Calgary s'est éloigné de sa vocation initiale de contre-mouvement antiféministe. Dans l'avenir, la popularité du mouvement pro-famille au Canada dépendra peut-être des valeurs postféministes qu'il affichera. This paper presents a comparative study of the beliefs of pro-family organizations in Calgary and a structural mapping of organizational ties. Data were gathered in 1998 from documents and semi-structured interviews with group leaders. Three research problems are addressed. The first concerns the closeness of the relationship between pro-family and pro-life groups. We find that all pro-family groups, even those with strong anti-abortion convictions, were organizationally and politically distinctive from pro-life groups. The second problem considers the role of Christian beliefs in the movement. We ascertain that although Christian groups were dominant in 1998, promotion of the heterosexual nuclear family, not doctrinal issues, was fundamental to the movement. The third problem concerns whether the movement was bifurcated between social conservative and centrist segments. The centrist segment was quite weak in 1998. Furthermore, one of the groups with a centrist persona, the National Foundation for Family Research and Education, strove to supply scientific legitimation for social conservatives' moral claims about the family. In conclusion, the article argues that the pro-family movement in Calgary has broken free of its initial phase as an anti-feminist countermovement and suggests that the future popularity of pro-family advocacy in Canada will be proportional to the degree that it is couched in a post-feminist framework. [source]