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Ultimate Goal (ultimate + goal)
Selected AbstractsHapten,protein binding: from theory to practical application in the in vitro prediction of skin sensitizationCONTACT DERMATITIS, Issue 4 2005Maja Divkovic In view of the forthcoming European Union ban on in vivo testing of cosmetic and toiletry ingredients, following the publication of the 7th amendment to the Cosmetics Directive, the search for practical, alternative, non-animal approaches is gathering pace. For the end-point of skin sensitization, the ultimate goal, i.e. the development and validation of alternative in vitro/in silico assays by 2013, may be achieved through a better understanding of the skin sensitization process on the cellular and molecular levels. One of the key molecular events in skin sensitization is protein haptenation, i.e. the chemical modification of self-skin protein(s) thus forming macromolecular immunogens. This concept is widely accepted and in theory can be used to explain the sensitizing capacity of many known skin sensitizers. Thus, the principle of protein or peptide haptenation could be used in in vitro assays to predict the sensitization potential of a new chemical entity. In this review, we consider some of the theoretical aspects of protein haptenation, how mechanisms of protein haptenation can be investigated experimentally and how we can use such knowledge in the development of novel, alternative approaches for predicting skin sensitization potential in the future. [source] Ecological implications of plants' ability to tell the timeECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 6 2009Víctor Resco Abstract The circadian clock (the endogenous mechanism that anticipates diurnal cycles) acts as a central coordinator of plant activity. At the molecular and organism level, it regulates key traits for plant fitness, including seed germination, gas exchange, growth and flowering, among others. In this article, we explore current evidence on the effect of the clock for the scales of interest to ecologists. We begin by synthesizing available knowledge on the effect of the clock on biosphere,atmosphere interactions and observe that, at least in the systems where it has been tested, the clock regulates gas exchange from the leaf to the ecosystem level, and we discuss its implications for estimates of the carbon balance. Then, we analyse whether incorporating the action of the clock may help in elucidating the effects of climate change on plant distributions. Circadian rhythms are involved in regulating the range of temperatures a species can survive and affects plant interactions. Finally, we review the involvement of the clock in key phenological events, such as flowering time and seed germination. Because the clock may act as a common mechanism affecting many of the diverse branches of ecology, our ultimate goal is to stimulate further research into this pressing, yet unexplored, topic. [source] European governance of natural resources and participation in a multi-level context: An editorialENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2009Felix Rauschmayer Abstract Policy markers are looking at two different directions for guidance when addressing the challenges of multi-level environmental governance in the face of global environmental change. First, they are seeking scientific advice to find solutions to policy problems. Second, they are emphasizing participation of the public and/or stakeholders to enhance the legitimacy of governance. In this editorial we explore the challenges of participation in a multi-level governance context, outline a practically relevant strategy for research on multi-level governance of natural resources and briefly outline the key contributions of the five articles that comprise this special issue. The special issue maps issues of key importance for research on multi-level governance of natural resources rather than offering conclusions from systematic comparative studies , the latter is the ultimate goal of the GoverNat project from which the contributions stem. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] The clinical impact of pharmacogenetics on the treatment of epilepsyEPILEPSIA, Issue 1 2009Wolfgang Löscher Summary Drug treatment of epilepsy is characterized by unpredictability of efficacy, adverse drug reactions, and optimal doses in individual patients, which, at least in part, is a consequence of genetic variation. Since genetic variability in drug metabolism was reported to affect the treatment with phenytoin more than 25 years ago, the ultimate goal of pharmacogenetics is to use the genetic makeup of an individual to predict drug response and efficacy, as well as potential adverse drug events. However, determining the practical relevance of pharmacogenetic variants remains difficult, in part because of problems with study design and replication. This article reviews the published work with particular emphasis on pharmacogenetic alterations that may affect efficacy, tolerability, and safety of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), including variation in genes encoding drug target (SCN1A), drug transport (ABCB1), drug metabolizing (CYP2C9, CYP2C19), and human leucocyte antigen (HLA) proteins. Although the current studies associating particular genes and their variants with seizure control or adverse events have inherent weaknesses and have not provided unifying conclusions, several results, for example that Asian patients with a particular HLA allele, HLA-B*1502, are at a higher risk for Stevens-Johnson syndrome when using carbamazepine, are helpful to increase our knowledge how genetic variation affects the treatment of epilepsy. Although genetic testing raises ethical and social issues, a better understanding of the genetic influences on epilepsy outcome is key to developing the much needed new therapeutic strategies for individuals with epilepsy. [source] Discussion on ,Personality psychology as a truly behavioural science' by R. Michael FurrEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 5 2009Article first published online: 14 JUL 200 Yes We Can! A Plea for Direct Behavioural Observation in Personality Research MITJA D. BACK and BORIS EGLOFF Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany mback@uni-leipzig.de Furr's target paper (this issue) is thought to enhance the standing of personality psychology as a truly behavioural science. We wholeheartedly agree with this goal. In our comment we argue for more specific and ambitious requirements for behavioural personality research. Specifically, we show why behaviour should be observed directly. Moreover, we illustratively describe potentially interesting approaches in behavioural personality research: lens model analyses, the observation of multiple behaviours in diverse experimentally created situations and the observation of behaviour in real life. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The Categories of Behaviour Should be Clearly Defined PETER BORKENAU Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany p.borkenau@psych.uni-halle.de The target paper is helpful by clarifying the terminology as well as the strengths and weaknesses of several approaches to collect behavioural data. Insufficiently considered, however, is the clarity of the categories being used for the coding of behaviour. Evidence is reported showing that interjudge agreement for retrospective and even concurrent codings of behaviour does not execeed interjudge agreement for personality traits if the categories being used for the coding of behaviour are not clearly defined. By contrast, if the behaviour to be registered is unambiguously defined, interjudge agreement may be almost perfect. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Behaviour Functions in Personality Psychology PHILIP J. CORR Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK Philip.Corr@btopenworld.com Furr's target paper highlights the importance, yet under-representation, of behaviour in published articles in personality psychology. Whilst agreeing with most of his points, I remain unclear as to how behaviour (as specifically defined by Furr) relates to other forms of psychological data (e.g. cognitive task performance). In addition, it is not clear how the functions of behaviour are to be decided: different behaviours may serve the same function; and identical behaviours may serve different functions. To clarify these points, methodological and theoretical aspects of Furr's proposal would benefit from delineation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. On the Difference Between Experience-Sampling Self-Reports and Other Self-Reports WILLIAM FLEESON Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA fleesonW@wfu.edu Furr's fair but evaluative consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of behavioural assessment methods is a great service to the field. As part of his consideration, Furr makes a subtle and sophisticated distinction between different self-report methods. It is easy to dismiss all self-reports as poor measures, because some are poor. In contrast, Furr points out that the immediacy of the self-reports of behaviour in experience-sampling make experience-sampling one of the three strongest methods for assessing behaviour. This comment supports his conclusion, by arguing that ESM greatly diminishes one the three major problems afflicting self-reports,lack of knowledge,and because direct observations also suffer from the other two major problems afflicting self-reports. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. What and Where is ,Behaviour' in Personality Psychology? LAURA A. KING and JASON TRENT Department of Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA kingla@missouri.edu Furr is to be lauded for presenting a coherent and persuasive case for the lack of behavioural data in personality psychology. While agreeing wholeheartedly that personality psychology could benefit from greater inclusion of behavioural variables, here we question two aspects of Furr's analysis, first his definition of behaviour and second, his evidence that behaviour is under-appreciated in personality psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Naturalistic Observation of Daily Behaviour in Personality Psychology MATTHIAS R. MEHL Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA mehl@email.arizona.edu This comment highlights naturalistic observation as a specific method within Furr's (this issue) cluster direct behavioural observation and discusses the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) as a naturalistic observation sampling method that can be used in relatively large, nomothetic studies. Naturalistic observation with a method such as the EAR can inform researchers' understanding of personality in its relationship to daily behaviour in two important ways. It can help calibrate personality effects against act-frequencies of real-world behaviour and provide ecological, behavioural personality criteria that are independent of self-report. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Measuring Behaviour D. S. MOSKOWITZ and JENNIFER J. RUSSELL Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada dsm@psych.mcgill.ca Furr (this issue) provides an illuminating comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of various methods for assessing behaviour. In the selection of a method for assessing behaviour, there should be a careful analysis of the definition of the behaviour and the purpose of assessment. This commentary clarifies and expands upon some points concerning the suitability of experience sampling measures, referred to as Intensive Repeated Measurements in Naturalistic Settings (IRM-NS). IRM-NS measures are particularly useful for constructing measures of differing levels of specificity or generality, for providing individual difference measures which can be associated with multiple layers of contextual variables, and for providing measures capable of reflecting variability and distributional features of behaviour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Behaviours, Non-Behaviours and Self-Reports SAMPO V. PAUNONEN Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada paunonen@uwo.ca Furr's (this issue) thoughtful analysis of the contemporary body of research in personality psychology has led him to two conclusions: our science does not do enough to study real, observable behaviours; and, when it does, too often it relies on ,weak' methods based on retrospective self-reports of behaviour. In reply, I note that many researchers are interested in going beyond the study of individual behaviours to the behaviour trends embodied in personality traits; and the self-report of behaviour, using well-validated personality questionnaires, is often the best measurement option. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. An Ethological Perspective on How to Define and Study Behaviour LARS PENKE Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK lars.penke@ed.ac.uk While Furr (this issue) makes many important contributions to the study of behaviour, his definition of behaviour is somewhat questionable and also lacks a broader theoretical frame. I provide some historical and theoretical background on the study of behaviour in psychology and biology, from which I conclude that a general definition of behaviour might be out of reach. However, psychological research can gain from adding a functional perspective on behaviour in the tradition of Tinbergens's four questions, which takes long-term outcomes and fitness consequences of behaviours into account. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. What is a Behaviour? MARCO PERUGINI Faculty of Psychology, University of Milan,Bicocca, Milan, Italy marco.perugini@unimib.it The target paper proposes an interesting framework to classify behaviour as well as a convincing plea to use it more often in personality research. However, besides some potential issues in the definition of what is a behaviour, the application of the proposed definition to specific cases is at times inconsistent. I argue that this is because Furr attempts to provide a theory-free definition yet he implicitly uses theoretical considerations when applying the definition to specific cases. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Is Personality Really the Study of Behaviour? MICHAEL D. ROBINSON Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA Michael.D.Robinson@ndsu.edu Furr (this issue) contends that behavioural studies of personality are particularly important, have been under-appreciated, and should be privileged in the future. The present commentary instead suggests that personality psychology has more value as an integrative science rather than one that narrowly pursues a behavioural agenda. Cognition, emotion, motivation, the self-concept and the structure of personality are important topics regardless of their possible links to behaviour. Indeed, the ultimate goal of personality psychology is to understanding individual difference functioning broadly considered rather than behaviour narrowly considered. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Linking Personality and Behaviour Based on Theory MANFRED SCHMITT Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany schmittm@uni-landau.de My comments on Furr's (this issue) target paper ,Personality as a Truly Behavioural Science' are meant to complement his behavioural taxonomy and sharpen some of the presumptions and conclusions of his analysis. First, I argue that the relevance of behaviour for our field depends on how we define personality. Second, I propose that every taxonomy of behaviour should be grounded in theory. The quality of behavioural data does not only depend on the validity of the measures we use. It also depends on how well behavioural data reflect theoretical assumptions on the causal factors and mechanisms that shape behaviour. Third, I suggest that the quality of personality theories, personality research and behavioural data will profit from ideas about the psychological processes and mechanisms that link personality and behaviour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The Apparent Objectivity of Behaviour is Illusory RYNE A. SHERMAN, CHRISTOPHER S. NAVE and DAVID C. FUNDER Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA funder@ucr.edu It is often presumed that objective measures of behaviour (e.g. counts of the number of smiles) are more scientific than more subjective measures of behaviour (e.g. ratings of the degree to which a person behaved in a cheerful manner). We contend that the apparent objectivity of any behavioural measure is illusory. First, the reliability of more subjective measures of behaviour is often strikingly similar to the reliabilities of so-called objective measures. Further, a growing body of literature suggests that subjective measures of behaviour provide more valid measures of psychological constructs of interest. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Personality and Behaviour: A Neglected Opportunity? LIAD UZIEL and ROY F. BAUMEISTER Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA Baumeister@psy.fsu.edu Personality psychology has neglected the study of behaviour. Furr's efforts to provide a stricter definition of behaviour will not solve the problem, although they may be helpful in other ways. His articulation of various research strategies for studying behaviour will be more helpful for enabling personality psychology to contribute important insights and principles about behaviour. The neglect of behaviour may have roots in how personality psychologists define the mission of their field, but expanding that mission to encompass behaviour would be a positive step. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Relation between Stakeholder Management, Firm Value, and CEO Compensation: A Test of Enlightened Value MaximizationFINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010Bradley W. Benson Whether firms pursue shareholder value maximization or the maximization of stakeholder welfare is a controversial issue whose outcomes seem irreconcilable. We propose that firms are likely to compensate their executives for pursuing the firm's goal be it shareholder value maximization or the maximization of stakeholder welfare. In this paper, we examine the correlation between firm value, stakeholder management, and compensation. We find that stakeholder management is positively related to firm value. However, firms do not compensate managers for having good relationships with its stakeholders. These results do not support stakeholder theory. We also find an endogenous association between compensation and firm value. Our results are consistent with Jensen's (2001) enlightened value maximization theory. Managers are compensated for achieving the firm's ultimate goal, value maximization. However, managers optimize interaction with stakeholders to accomplish this objective. [source] Safety and supply of haemophilia products: worldwide perspectivesHAEMOPHILIA, Issue 4 2004A. Farrugia Summary., The survival and well-being of people with haemophilia depends on the supply of safe therapeutic products. Safety and supply are entirely intertwined principles; in the absence of adequate amounts of coagulation products, safety measures may be compromised in order to enhance supply, leading to risks which may result in morbidity and mortality. As haemophilia therapy has emerged through the development of blood transfusion and plasma fractionation, the safety of the blood supply in general has had a strong effect on haemophilia care. Despite the gradual detachment of haemophilia care from blood transfusion through the use of recombinant products, the majority of the world's population with haemophilia in the developing world will be reliant on blood products for the foreseeable future. It is, therefore, important to continue efforts for a safe and sufficient blood supply worldwide. As such a blood supply develops, possibly in tandem with an independent plasma fractionation industry, the level of haemophilia care should improve with the gradual introduction of concentrates for the ultimate goal of covering all aspects of care. Constant vigilance for the threat of blood-borne pathogens should be linked to considerations of how these products are to be manufactured. This should be governed entirely by considerations of safety and pharmaceutical competence. Of equal importance is a governmental capacity to oversee the entry and maintenance of these products on the market. While it is not possible for all countries to have a regulatory authority of the same status as that of the developed countries, it is perfectly feasible to develop a set of basic principles which allow an assessment of basic product safety, quality and efficacy to be made. [source] Optimal HIV testing and earlier care: the way forward in EuropeHIV MEDICINE, Issue 2008T Coenen The articles in this supplement were developed from a recent pan-European conference entitled ,HIV in Europe 2007: Working together for optimal testing and earlier care', which took place on 26,27 November in Brussels, Belgium. The conference, organized by a multidisciplinary group of experts representing advocacy, clinical and policy areas of the HIV field, was convened in an effort to gain a common understanding on the role of HIV testing and counselling in optimizing diagnosis and the need for earlier care. Key topics discussed at the conference and described in the following articles include: current barriers to HIV testing across Europe, trends in the epidemiology of HIV in the region, problems associated with undiagnosed infection and the psychosocial barriers impacting on testing. The supplement also provides a summary of the World Health Organization's recommendations for HIV testing in Europe and an outline of an indicator disease-guided approach to HIV testing proposed by a committee of experts from the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS). We hope that consideration of the issues discussed in this supplement will help to shift the HIV field closer towards our ultimate goal: provision of optimal HIV testing and earlier care across the whole of the European region. [source] Tissue Engineering Using Laminar Cellular AssembliesADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 32-33 2009Joseph Yang Abstract As proposed in the late 1980s by Langer and Vacanti, the ultimate goal of tissue engineering is the development of structures that can be used to treat or replace damaged or diseased organs and tissues. For the regeneration of various organs such as the heart, liver, and kidney, the development of adequate vascular networks within the engineered tissues remains a significant obstacle in the formation of cell-dense structures that resemble the native parenchyma. While tissue engineering using biodegradable scaffolds has been successful in the re-creation of tissues where extracellular matrix is abundant, we have developed cell-sheet-based tissue engineering for the construction of tissues using laminar assemblies of cells harvested from temperature-responsive culture dishes. Using cell sheet engineering, we present new strategies for the development of organ-like tissue structures containing well-organized vascular networks. [source] The Zwitterion Effect in Ionic Liquids: Towards Practical Rechargeable Lithium-Metal Batteries,ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 20 2005N. Byrne Practical lithium-metal batteries are the ultimate goal of battery researchers. The addition of a zwitterionic compound (see Figure) to an ionic liquid electrolyte doped with a lithium salt results in a 100% enhancement of the current densities achieved in the cycling of a lithium-metal cell. This phenomenon arises due to increased lithium-ion mobility or a reduced solid electrolyte interphase layer resistance. [source] Subsessions: A granular approach to click path analysisINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 7 2004Ernestina Menasalvas The fiercely competitive web-based electronic commerce (e-commerce) environment has made necessary the application of intelligent methods to gather and analyze information collected from consumer web sessions. Knowledge about user behavior and session goals can be discovered from the information gathered about user activities, as tracked by web clicks. Most current approaches to customer behavior analysis study the user session by examining each web page access. However, the abstraction of subsessions provides a more granular view of user activity. Here, we propose a method of increasing the granularity of the user session analysis by isolating useful subsessions within sessions. Each subsession represents a high-level user activity such as performing a purchase or searching for a particular type of information. Given a set of previously identified subsessions, we can determine at which point the user begins a preidentified subsession by tracking user clicks. With this information we can (1) optimize the user experience by precaching pages or (2) provide an adaptive user experience by presenting pages according to our estimation of the user's ultimate goal. To identify subsessions, we present an algorithm to compute frequent click paths from which subsessions then can be isolated. The algorithm functions by scanning all user sessions and extracting all frequent subpaths by using a distance function to determining subpath similarity. Each frequent subpath represents a subsession. An analysis of the pages represented by the subsession provides additional information about semantically related activities commonly performed by users. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Using ancient DNA analysis in palaeopathology: a critical analysis of published papers, with recommendations for future workINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 6 2008C. Roberts Abstract Despite an observable increase in the number of studies using ancient DNA analysis to diagnose disease in human remains, there remain issues to be addressed about the quality of the resulting publications. This paper describes the qualitative analysis of published papers that describe the detection of pathogenic DNA in human skeletal and mummified remains from archaeological sites. Its ultimate goal is to provide an overview of the main problematic issues in relationship to standards developed in molecular biology and to make recommendations for future work. Sixty-five papers published between 1993 and 2006 were surveyed and the quality of each was assessed using 15 criteria. Interesting results emerged. Of particular note was the high number of papers that did not acknowledge the use of even basic contamination control (90%) or procedures to validate results independently (85%). This study illustrates that attention to contamination control and authentication of results is needed in future research, if confidence in aDNA analysis in palaeopathology is to be increased. Additionally, methods of analysis must be described in published papers to ensure transparency in processes utilised to generate the data. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Tourist shopping experiences and satisfactionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 2 2007Cevat Tosun Abstract This paper examines tourists' perceived satisfaction with local shopping culture, staff service quality, product value and reliability, physical features of shops, payment methods, and other shopping and shop attributes with special reference to the region of Cappadocia, Turkey. A survey questionnaire was designed and conducted with tourists visiting the region on a guided tour. It was found that the respondents recorded different levels of satisfaction with various attributes of shops and shopping. Based on the research results, it is suggested that providing a higher level of shopping experience for tourists and increasing the contribution of shopping to the regional economy requires supporting indigenous local people via various fiscal and educational instruments to continue producing and retailing authentic handicrafts and souvenir goods. It is believed that this not only is necessary for the achievement of higher levels of tourist satisfaction and greater economic benefits for the local economy but also for achieving the ultimate goal of sustained and sustainable tourism development. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Silica-Supported Zirconium Complexes and their Polyoligosilsesquioxane Analogues in the Transesterification of Acrylates: Part 1.ADVANCED SYNTHESIS & CATALYSIS (PREVIOUSLY: JOURNAL FUER PRAKTISCHE CHEMIE), Issue 13 2009Characterization, Synthesis Abstract Various silica-supported acetylacetonate and alkoxy zirconium(IV) complexes have been prepared and characterized by quantitative chemical measurements of the surface reaction products, quantitative surface microanalysis of the surface complexes, in situ infrared spectroscopy, CP-MAS 13C,NMR spectroscopy and EXAFS. The complex (SiO)Zr(acac)3 (acac=acetylacetonate ligand) (1) can be obtained by reaction of zirconium tetraacetylacetonate [Zr(acac)4] with a silica surface previously dehydroxylated at 500,°C. The complexes (SiO)3Zr(acac) (2) and (SiO)3Zr(O- n- Bu) (n- Bu=butyl ligand) (3) can be synthesized by reaction of (SiO)3ZrH with, respectively, acetylacetone and n -butanol at room temperature. The spectroscopic data, including EXAFS spectroscopy, confirm that in compound 1 the zirconium is linked to the surface by only one SiOZr bond whereas in the case of compounds 2 and 3 the zirconium is linked to 3 surface oxygen atoms which are sigma bonded. EXAFS data indicate also that the acetylacetonate ligands behave as chelating ligands leading to a hepta-coordination around the zirconium atom in 1 and a penta-coordination in 2. In order to provide a molecular analogue of 1, the synthesis of the following polyoligosilsesquioxane derivative (c -C5H9)7Si8O12(CH3)2Zr(acac)3 (1,) was achieved. The compound 1, is obtained by reacting (c -C5H9)7Si8O11(CH3)2(OH), 4, with an equimolecular amount of Zr(acac)4. In the same manner, syntheses of complexes (c -C5H9)7Si7O12Zr(acac) (2,) and of (c-C5H9)7Si7O12Zr(O- n- Bu) (3,) were achieved by reaction of the unmodified trisilanol, (c -C5H9)7Si7O9(OH)3, with respectively Zr(acac)4 and Zr(O- n- Bu)4 at 60,°C in tetrahydrofuran. Compounds 1,, 2, and 3, can be considered as good models of 1, 2 and 3 since their spectroscopic properties are comparable with those of the surface complexes. The synthetic results obtained will permit us to study the catalytic properties of these surface complexes and of their molecular analogues with the ultimate goal of delineating clear structure-activity relationships. [source] Medication communication: a concept analysisJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 4 2010Elizabeth Manias manias e. (2010) Medication communication: a concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing66(4), 933,943. Abstract Title.,Medication communication: a concept analysis. Aim., This paper is a report of a concept analysis of medication communication with a particular focus on how it applies to nursing. Background., Medication communication is a vital component of patient safety, quality of care, and patient and family engagement. Nevertheless, this concept has been consistently taken-for-granted without adequate analysis, definition or clarification in the quality and patient safety literature. Data sources., A literature search was undertaken using bibliographic databases, internet search engines, and hand searches. Literature published in English between January 1988 and June 2009 was reviewed. Walker and Avant's approach was used to guide the concept analysis. Discussion., Medication communication is a dynamic and complex process. Defining attributes consider who speaks, who is silent, what is said, what aspects of medication care are prioritized, the use of body language in conversations, and actual words used. Open communication occurs if there is cooperation among individuals in implementing plans of care. Antecedents involve environmental influences such as ward culture and geographical space, and sociocultural influences such as beliefs about the nature of interactions. Consequences involve patient and family engagement in communication, evidence of appropriate medication use, the frequency and type of medication-related adverse events, and the presence of medication adherence. Empirical referents typically do not reflect specific aspects of medication communication. Conclusion., This concept analysis can be used by nurses to guide them in understanding the complexities surrounding medication communication, with the ultimate goal of improving patient safety, quality of care, and facilitating patient and family engagement. [source] Towards a decision support system for health promotion in nursingJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 2 2003Kate Caelli PhD RN RM Aims. This study was designed to investigate what type of models, techniques and data are necessary to support the development of a decision support system for health promotion practice in nursing. Specifically, the research explored how interview data can be interpreted in terms of Concept Networks and Bayesian Networks, both of which provide formal methods for describing the dependencies between factors or variables in the context of decision-making in health promotion. Background. In nursing, the lack of generally accepted examples or guidelines by which to implement or evaluate health promotion practice is a challenge. Major gaps have been identified between health promotion rhetoric and practice and there is a need for health promotion to be presented in ways that make its attitudes and practices more easily understood. New tools, paradigms and techniques to encourage the practice of health promotion would appear to be beneficial. Concept Networks and Bayesian Networks are techniques that may assist the research team to understand and explicate health promotion more specifically and formally than has been the case, so that it may more readily be integrated into nursing practice. Methods. As the ultimate goal of the study was to investigate ways to use the techniques described above, it was necessary to first generate data as text. Textual descriptions of health promotion in nursing were derived from in-depth qualitative interviews with nurses nominated by their peers as expert health promoting practitioners. Findings. The nurses in this study gave only general and somewhat vague outlines of the concepts and ideas that guided their practice. These data were compared with descriptions from various sources that describe health promotion practices in nursing, then examples of a Conceptual Network and a representative Bayesian Network were derived from the data. Conclusions. The study highlighted the difficulty in describing health promotion practice, even among nurses recognized for their expertise in health promotion. Nevertheless, it indicated the data collection and analysis methods necessary to explicate the cognitive processes of health promotion and highlighted the benefits of using formal conceptualization techniques to improve health promotion practice. [source] Effects of incorporating nanosized calcium phosphate particles on properties of whisker-reinforced dental composites,,JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS RESEARCH, Issue 1 2007Hockin H. K. Xu Abstract Clinical data indicate that secondary caries and restoration fracture are the most common problems facing tooth restorations. Our ultimate goal was to develop mechanically-strong and caries-inhibiting dental composites. The specific goal of this pilot study was to understand the relationships between composite properties and the ratio of reinforcement filler/releasing filler. Nanoparticles of monocalcium phosphate monohydrate (MCPM) were synthesized and incorporated into a dental resin for the first time. Silicon carbide whiskers were fused with silica nanoparticles and mixed with the MCPM particles at MCPM/whisker mass ratios of 1:0, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, and 0:1. The composites were immersed for 1,56 days to measure Ca and PO4 release. When the MCPM/whisker ratio was changed from 0:1 to 1:2, the composite flexural strength (mean ± SD; n = 5) decreased from 174 ± 26 MPa to 138 ± 9 MPa (p < 0.05). A commercial nonreleasing composite had a strength of 112 ± 14 MPa. When the MCPM/whisker ratio was changed from 1:2 to 1:1, the Ca concentration at 56 days increased from 0.77 ± 0.04 mmol/L to 1.74 ± 0.06 mmol/L (p < 0.05). The corresponding PO4 concentration increased from 3.88 ± 0.21 mmol/L to 9.95 ± 0.69 mmol/L (p < 0.05). Relationships were established between the amount of release and the MCPM volume fraction vMCPM in the resin: [Ca]= 42.9 v, and [PO4] = 48.7 v. In summary, the method of combining nanosized releasing fillers with reinforcing fillers yielded Ca- and PO4 -releasing composites with mechanical properties matching or exceeding a commercial stress-bearing, nonreleasing composite. This method may be applicable to the use of other Ca,PO4 fillers in developing composites with high stress-bearing and caries-preventing capabilities, a combination not yet available in any dental materials. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2006 [source] Home care with regard to definition, care recipients, content and outcome: systematic literature reviewJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 6 2003Bibbi Thomé MSc Summary ,,In spite of the fact that home care has grown considerably during the last few years and will continue to grow even more in the future, home care as a phenomenon and a concept is not clearly defined. ,,The aim of this study was to review the empirical literature for the description of home care as a phenomenon and as a concept, especially with regard to who the care recipients are, what actions and assessments are performed and what effects are achieved for the care recipient in terms of functional health status and quality of life (QoL). ,,Twenty-six relevant studies meeting the inclusion criteria and requirements for methodological quality were identified. ,,The phenomenon of home care is described through content, outcome and objectives. The content of home care involved a range of activities from actions preventing decreased functional abilities in old people to palliative care in advanced diseases. ,,The outcome had two different underlying foci: (1) for the benefit of the patient based on the assumption that being cared at home increases their QoL, (2) in the interests of the society, to minimize hospital care by moving activities to the home of the patient. ,,The objectives were found to be aiming at improving the QoL and/or maintaining independence, by means of actions and assessments, based on the patient's needs, undertaken to preserve and increase functional ability and make it possible for the person to remain at home. ,,In conclusion, home care as a phenomenon was the care provided by professionals to people in their own homes with the ultimate goal of not only contributing to their life quality and functional health status, but also to replace hospital care with care in the home for societal reasons; home care covered a wide range of activities, from preventive visits to end-of-life care. [source] Accurate prediction of proton chemical shifts.JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 16 2001Abstract Forty-five proton chemical shifts in 14 aromatic molecules have been calculated at several levels of theory: Hartree,Fock and density functional theory with several different basis sets, and also second-order Møller,Plesset (MP2) theory. To obtain consistent experimental data, the NMR spectra were remeasured on a 500 MHz spectrometer in CDCl3 solution. A set of 10 molecules without strong electron correlation effects was selected as the parametrization set. The calculated chemical shifts (relative to benzene) of 29 different protons in this set correlate very well with the experiment, and even better after linear regression. For this set, all methods perform roughly equally. The best agreement without linear regression is given by the B3LYP/TZVP method (rms deviation 0.060 ppm), although the best linear fit of the calculated shifts to experimental values is obtained for B3LYP/6-311++G**, with an rms deviation of only 0.037 ppm. Somewhat larger deviations were obtained for the second test set of 4 more difficult molecules: nitrobenzene, azulene, salicylaldehyde, and o -nitroaniline, characterized by strong electron correlation or resonance-assisted intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The results show that it is possible, at a reasonable cost, to calculate relative proton shieldings in a similar chemical environment to high accuracy. Our ultimate goal is to use calculated proton shifts to obtain constraints for local conformations in proteins; this requires a predictive accuracy of 0.1,0.2 ppm. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 22: 1887,1895, 2001 [source] Mathematical Frameworks for Modeling Listeria Cross-contamination in Food-JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 6 2004D.W. Schaffner ABSTRACT: The possibility of modeling the cross-contamination of Listeria species, total Listeria monocytogenes, or specific L. monocytogenes strains using a quantitative mathematical model using Monte Carlo simulation techniques is proposed. This article illustrates this approach using 2 different models: one that tracks L. monocytogenes number and prevalence for 4 different strains (Model I) and one that tracks only prevalence for a single strain (Model II). These models have been developed to provide a starting framework for predictive modelers and scientists studying L. monocytogenes to begin research together with the ultimate goal of understanding and controlling L. monocytogenes in food-processing plants. [source] Strategic Responses to Environmental Regulation in the U.K. Automotive Sector: The European Union End-of-Life Vehicle Directive and the Porter HypothesisJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2006Jo Crotty Summary As of 1 January 2006 all automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and component manufacturers operating within the European Union will need to comply with the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (referred to hereafter as the EU ELV Directive). The EU ELV Directive compels all OEMs to take back and dismantle all motor vehicles for domestic use at the end of their useful lives. Each component part will then be either reused or recycled. To this end, the ultimate goal of the EU ELV Directive is that all motor vehicles for domestic use will have a reuse or recyclable content of 85% at the end of their useful lives, moving toward 95% by 2015. The burden of the EU ELV Directive falls on both the OEMs and their component manufacturers, forcing them to innovate and "design for disassembly." This being the case, it offers a unique real world example with which to test the Porter Hypothesis. Porter asserts that strict, correctly formulated environmental regulation can offer a firm secondary benefits through improved product design and the reduction of waste. This in turn allows the firm to offset the cost of compliance. Because the EU ELV Directive has been fashioned to force firms into a process of innovation and redesign, the magnitude of these so-called offsets can be judged. This article employs Rugman and Verbeke's 1998 strategic matrix of firm response to environmental regulation to examine qualitative details of the strategic response of automotive component manufacturers and OEMs in the United Kingdom to the demands of the directive to judge the volume of offsets generated. This analysis shows no support for the Porter Hypothesis and challenges the assumptions of Rugman and Verbeke's model. [source] Jonathan Edwards and the Language of Nature: The Re-Enchantment of the World in the Age of Scientific ReasoningJOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, Issue 1 2002Avihu Zakai For a long time Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) was thought of more as a preacher of hellfire and revival than as a theologian, and rather as a Calvinist theologian than a philosopher of importance, and he was dismissed accordingly. Yet Edwards was more than a hellfire preacher, more than a theologian. This New England divine was one of the rare individuals anywhere to recognize and answer the challenges posed to traditional Christian belief by the emergence of new modes of thought in early modern history - the new ideas of the scientific thought and the Enlightenment. His force of mind is evident in his exposition of the poverty of mechanical philosophy, which radically transformed the traditional Christian dialectic of God's utter transcendence and divine immanence by gradually dimin-ishing divine sovereignty with respect to creation, providence, and redemption, thus leading to the disenchantment of the world. Edwards constructed a teleological and theological alternative to the prevailing mechanistic interpretation of the essential nature of reality, whose ultimate goal was the re-enchantment of the world by reconstituting the glory of God's majestic sovereignty, power, and will within the order of creation. [source] The black,white "achievement gap" as a perennial challenge of urban science education: A sociocultural and historical overview with implications for research and practice,JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 10 2001Obed Norman A perennial challenge for urban education in the United States is finding effective ways to address the academic achievement gap between African American and White students. There is widespread and justified concern about the persistence of this achievement gap. In fact, historical evidence suggests that this achievement gap has existed at various times for groups other than African Americans. What conditions prevailed when this achievement gap existed for these other groups? Conversely, under what conditions did the gap diminish and eventually disappear for these groups? This article explores how sociocultural factors involved in the manifestation and eventual disappearance of the gap for these groups may shed some light on how to address the achievement gap for African American students in urban science classrooms. Our conclusion is that the sociocultural position of groups is crucial to understanding and interpreting the scholastic performance of students from various backgrounds. We argue for a research framework and the exploration of research questions incorporating insights from Ogbu's cultural, ecological theory, as well as goal theory, and identity theory. We present these as theories that essentially focus on student responses to societal disparities. Our ultimate goal is to define the problem more clearly and contribute to the development of research-based classroom practices that will be effective in reducing and eventually eliminating the achievement gap. We identify the many gaps in society and the schools that need to be addressed in order to find effective solutions to the problem of the achievement gap. Finally, we propose that by understanding the genesis of the gap and developing strategies to harness the students' responses to societal disparities, learning can be maximized and the achievement gap can be significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely, in urban science classrooms. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1101,1114, 2001 [source] Four Motives for Community InvolvementJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 3 2002C. Daniel Batson A conceptual analysis is offered that differentiates four types of motivation for community involvement: egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism. Differentiation is based on identification of a unique ultimate goal for each motive. For egoism, the ultimate goal is to increase one's own welfare; for altruism, it is to increase the welfare of another individual or individuals; for collectivism, to increase the welfare of a group; and for principlism, to uphold one or more moral principles. As sources of community involvement, each of these four forms of motivation has its strengths; each also has its weaknesses. More effective efforts to stimulate community involvement may come from strategies that orchestrate motives so that the strengths of one motive can overcome weaknesses of another. Among the various possibilities, strategies that combine appeals to either altruism or collectivism with appeals to principle may be especially promising. [source] Strategy hubs: Domain portals to help find comprehensive informationJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2006Suresh K. Bhavnani Recent studies suggest that the wide variability in type, detail, and reliability of online information motivate expert searchers to develop procedural search knowledge. In contrast to prior research that has focused on finding relevant sources, procedural search knowledge focuses on how to order multiple relevant sources with the goal of retrieving comprehensive information. Because such procedural search knowledge is neither spontaneously inferred from the results of search engines, nor from the categories provided by domain-specific portals, the lack of such knowledge leads most novice searchers to retrieve incomplete information. In domains like healthcare, such incomplete information can lead to dangerous consequences. To address the above problem, a new kind of domain portal called a Strategy Hub was developed and tested. Strategy Hubs provide critical search procedures and associated high-quality links to enable users to find comprehensive and accurate information. We begin by describing how we collaborated with physicians to systematically identify generalizable search procedures to find comprehensive information about a disease, and how these search procedures were made available through the Strategy Hub. A controlled experiment suggests that this approach can improve the ability of novice searchers in finding comprehensive and accurate information, when compared to general-purpose search engines and domain-specific portals. We conclude with insights on how to refine and automate the Strategy Hub design, with the ultimate goal of helping users find more comprehensive information when searching in unfamiliar domains. [source] Mapping the intake of different elements in vegetal tissues by dual-energy X-ray imaging at Da,ne synchrotron light sourceMICROSCOPY RESEARCH AND TECHNIQUE, Issue 3 2008L. Reale Abstract This article reports on the first utilization of the soft X-ray beamline at the Da,ne synchrotron light source for mapping the intake of different elements in plant tissues. As a test, the method of dual-energy X-ray microradiography was applied to the investigation of the natural sulfur content in dried leaf and root samples. Our ultimate goal was to monitor the pollutant lead and its intake, which was added in controlled doses to the hydroponic medium of laboratory-controlled samples of vegetal species. The results obtained by the nondestructive X-ray radiographic analysis are compared to the values of concentrations determined by a standard chemical analysis utilizing atomic absorption spectroscopy. From this comparison the validity of the X-ray detection of heavy metals in biological samples has been confirmed. The superposition of the dual energy results on the simple planar radiography shows the representation of the pollutant intake directly on the sample structures. It should be pointed out that this method, developed here for plant root and leaves could be applied to any biological sample of interest, but the preparation and observation conditions necessitate different strategies according to the type of sample under analysis. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Phymatotrichum (cotton) root rot caused by Phymatotrichopsis omnivora: retrospects and prospectsMOLECULAR PLANT PATHOLOGY, Issue 3 2010SRINIVASA RAO UPPALAPATI SUMMARY Phymatotrichum (cotton or Texas) root rot is caused by the soil-borne fungus Phymatotrichopsis omnivora (Duggar) Hennebert. The broad host range of the fungus includes numerous crop plants, such as alfalfa and cotton. Together with an overview of existing knowledge, this review is aimed at discussing the recent molecular and genomic approaches that have been undertaken to better understand the disease development at the molecular level with the ultimate goal of developing resistant germplasm. Taxonomy:Phymatotrichopsis omnivora (Duggar) Hennebert [synonym Phymatotrichum omnivorum (Shear) Duggar] is an asexual fungus with no known sexual stage. Mitosporic botryoblastospores occasionally form on epigeous spore mats in nature, but perform no known function and do not contribute to the disease cycle. The fungus has been affiliated erroneously with the polypore basidiomycete Sistotrema brinkmannii (Bres.) J. Erikss. Recent phylogenetic studies have placed this fungus in the ascomycete order Pezizales. Host range and disease symptoms: The fungus infects most dicotyledonous field crops, causing significant losses to cotton, alfalfa, grape, fruit and nut trees and ornamental shrubs in the south-western USA, northern Mexico and possibly parts of central Asia. However, this fungus does not cause disease in monocotyledonous plants. Symptoms include an expanding tissue collapse (rot) of infected taproots. In above-ground tissues, the root rot results in vascular discoloration of the stem and rapid wilting of the leaves without abscission, and eventually the death of the plant. Characteristic mycelial strands of the pathogen are typically present on the root's surface, aiding diagnosis. Pathogenicity: Confocal imaging of P. omnivora interactions with Medicago truncatula roots revealed that infecting hyphae do not form any specialized structures for penetration and mainly colonize cortical cells and eventually form a mycelial mantle covering the root's surfaces. Cell wall-degrading enzymes have been implicated in penetration and symptom development. Global gene expression profiling of infected M. truncatula revealed roles for jasmonic acid, ethylene and the flavonoid pathway during disease development. Phymatotrichopsis omnivora apparently evades induced host defences and may suppress the host's phytochemical defences at later stages of infection to favour pathogenesis. Disease control: No consistently effective control measures are known. The long-lived sclerotia and facultative saprotrophism of P. omnivora make crop rotation ineffective. Chemical fumigation methods are not cost-effective for most crops. Interestingly, no genetic resistance has been reported in any of the susceptible crop species. [source] Recent advances in computational fluid dynamics relevant to the modelling of pesticide flow on leaf surfacesPEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE (FORMERLY: PESTICIDE SCIENCE), Issue 1 2010C Richard Glass Abstract Increasing societal and governmental concern about the worldwide use of chemical pesticides is now providing strong drivers towards maximising the efficiency of pesticide utilisation and the development of alternative control techniques. There is growing recognition that the ultimate goal of achieving efficient and sustainable pesticide usage will require greater understanding of the fluid mechanical mechanisms governing the delivery to, and spreading of, pesticide droplets on target surfaces such as leaves. This has led to increasing use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as an important component of efficient process design with regard to pesticide delivery to the leaf surface. This perspective highlights recent advances in CFD methods for droplet spreading and film flows, which have the potential to provide accurate, predictive models for pesticide flow on leaf surfaces, and which can take account of each of the key influences of surface topography and chemistry, initial spray deposition conditions, evaporation and multiple droplet spreading interactions. The mathematical framework of these CFD methods is described briefly, and a series of new flow simulation results relevant to pesticide flows over foliage is provided. The potential benefits of employing CFD for practical process design are also discussed briefly. © Crown copyright 2009. Reproduced with permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Improving communication of drug risks to prevent patient injury: proceedings of a workshopPHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 3 2003William H. Campbell Abstract Purpose The Centers for Education & Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) is conducting a series of workshops on managing the risks of therapeutics, with the ultimate goal to develop an agenda for research and education about risk and its management. This paper presents the results of the first workshop in the series, a 2-day meeting focused on communication of drug risks to healthcare professionals and patients. Methods The 50 workshop participants represented the medical-products industry, academia, consumer groups, regulatory bodies and the media. Together, they sought to identify and understand barriers to successful risk communication, to identify tools or methods that could improve risk communication, and to develop research and education agendas that would lead to better risk communication in the future. Results Limitations of current methods of risk communication were identified, and research and education agendas were proposed to clarify and resolve these issues. Conclusion Common themes for potential solutions include enhanced education of healthcare providers, increased motivation of patients and families, use of creative communication technologies, and better organization of and access to medical records and information. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Thermal conductivity reduction in fullerene-enriched p-type bismuth telluride compositesPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (A) APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, Issue 1 2010N. Gothard Abstract We present a systematic study of the effects of fullerene nanoinclusions upon a p-type bismuth,antimony,telluride matrix, where the ultimate goal is maximizing the figure of merit by reducing the thermal conductivity (TC). Nanocomposites consisting of a bismuth,telluride matrix with fullerene inclusions have been prepared both by mechanical mixing and ball milling, with the final consolidation in each case achieved by uniaxial hot pressing. A series of samples was produced with fullerene concentrations ranging from fractional levels to several molar percent, and the effects of the fullerene additions upon the resulting microstructure have been considered. Thermal and electrical transport properties have been measured from 10 to 300,K, and the data are discussed in light of the underlying physical mechanisms. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||