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Widespread Attention (widespread + attention)
Selected AbstractsFamily member presence during resuscitation in the emergency department: An Australian perspectiveEMERGENCY MEDICINE AUSTRALASIA, Issue 4 2004Bernice Redley Abstract Objective: The practice of family member presence during resuscitation in the ED has attracted widespread attention over the last few decades. Despite the recommendations of international organizations, clinical staff remain reluctant to engage in this practice in many EDs. This paper separates the evidence from opinion to determine the current state of knowledge about this practice. Methods: A search strategy was developed and used to locate research based publications, which were subsequently reviewed for the strength of evidence providing the basis for recommendations. Results: The literature was examined to reveal what patients and their family members want; the outcomes of family presence during resuscitation for patients and their family members; staff views and practices regarding family presence during resuscitation. Findings suggest that providing the opportunity to be with their critically ill family member is both important to and beneficial for families, however, disparity in staff views has been identified as a major obstacle to family presence during resuscitation. Examination of published guidelines and staff practices described in the literature revealed consistent elements. Conclusion: Although critics point to the lack of rigour in this body of literature, the current state of knowledge suggests merit in pursuing future research to examine and measure effects of family member presence during resuscitation on patients, family members and healthcare providers. [source] Towards Optimization of Materials for Dye-Sensitized Solar CellsADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 45 2009Yanhong Luo Abstract Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have received widespread attention owing to their low cost, easy fabrication, and relatively high solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency. Based on the nanocrystalline TiO2 electrode, Ru-polypyridyl-complex dye, liquid electrolyte with I,/I3, redox couple, and Pt counter electrode, DSCs have already exhibited an efficiency above 11% and offer an appealing alternative to conventional solar cells. However, further improvements in the efficiency and stability are still required to drive forward practical application. These improvements require the cooperative optimization of the component materials, structures, and processing techniques. In this Research News article, recent progress in DSCs made by our group are reviewed, including some novel approaches to the synthesis of solid-state and environmentally friendly electrolytes, the fabrication of alternative low-cost nanostructural electrodes, and the control of recombination at the interfaces. [source] Microbial transformation of androst-4-ene-3, 17-dione by Bordetella sp.JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2009B4 CGMCC 222 Abstract BACKGROUND: Microbial transformation of steroids has attracted widespread attention, especially the transformation of those steroids synthesized with difficulty by chemical methods. In this study, microbial transformation of androst-4-ene-3, 17-dione (AD) by Bordetella sp. B4 was investigated, and the effect of temperature on transformation was studied. RESULTS: Three metabolites were purified by preparative TLC and HPLC, and identified as androsta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione (ADD), 9,-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3, 17-dione (9,-OH-AD), and 3-hydroxy-9, 10-secoandrost-1, 3, 5-triene-9, 17-dione (3-OH-SATD) by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and mass spectroscopy (MS). It was first reported that the genus of Bordetella has the capability of AD degradation. Microbial transformation of AD was performed at 30 °C, 37 °C, 40 °C and 45 °C. The 9,-OH-AD yield reached a maximum within 16 h when the strain was cultivated in media with AD as sole carbon at 37 °C. Surprisingly, ADD was produced by the strain cultivated at 40 °C but not at 37 °C, which was different from previous reports. It was deduced that the alcohol dehydrogenase that catalyzed the transformation of AD to ADD may be temperature sensitive. CONCLUSION: Androst-4-ene-3,17-dione was converted into 9,-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3, 17-dione and other metabolites rapidly by Bordetella sp. B4. It is anticipated that the strain Bordetella sp. B4 CGMCC 2229 can be used in the steroids industry. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Anatomy of a crisis: the causes and consequences of surging food pricesAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2008Derek Headey Agricultural policy; Commodity markets; Biofuels Abstract Although the potential causes and consequences of recent rising international food prices have attracted widespread attention, many existing appraisals are superficial and/or piecemeal. This article attempts to provide a more comprehensive review of these issues based on the best and most recent research, as well as on fresh theoretical and empirical analysis. We first analyze the causes of the current crisis by considering how well standard explanations hold up against relevant economic theory and important stylized facts. Some explanations turn out to hold up much better than others, especially rising oil prices, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, biofuels demand, and some commodity-specific explanations. We then provide an appraisal of the likely macro- and microeconomic impacts of the crisis on developing countries. We observe a large gap between macro and micro factors, which, when identifying the most vulnerable countries, often point in different directions. We conclude with a brief discussion of what ought to be learned from this crisis. [source] Bringing the Moral Economy back in , to the Study of 21st-Century Transnational Peasant MovementsAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2005MARC EDELMAN James Scott's The Moral Economy of the Peasant (1976) appeared at a time when "peasant studies" had begun to occupy an important place in the social sciences. The book's focus on Vietnam, as well as its novel argument about the causes of rural rebellion, attracted widespread attention and unleashed acerbic debates about peasants' "rationality" and the applicability of concepts from neoclassical economics to smallholding agriculturalists. In this article, I analyze E. P. Thompson's notion of "moral economy" and Scott's use of it to develop an experiential theory of exploitation. I then discuss other influences on Scott, including Karl Polanyi, A. V. Chayanov, and the Annales historians. "Moral economy" and "subsistence crisis" are concepts that Scott elaborated mainly in relation to village or national politics. In the final section of the article, I outline changes affecting peasantries in the globalization era and the continuing relevance of moral economic discourses in agriculturalists' transnational campaigns against the WTO. [source] Search and navigation in dynamic environments , from individual behaviors to population distributionsOIKOS, Issue 5 2008Thomas Mueller Animal movement receives widespread attention within ecology and behavior. However, much research is restricted within isolated sub-disciplines focusing on single phenomena such as navigation (e.g. homing behavior), search strategies (e.g. Levy flights) or theoretical considerations of optimal population dispersion (e.g. ideal free distribution). To help synthesize existing research, we outline a unifying conceptual framework that integrates individual-level behaviors and population-level spatial distributions with respect to spatio-temporal resource dynamics. We distinguish among (1) non-oriented movements based on diffusion and kinesis in response to proximate stimuli, (2) oriented movements utilizing perceptual cues of distant targets, and (3) memory mechanisms that assume prior knowledge of a target's location. Species' use of these mechanisms depends on life-history traits and resource dynamics, which together shape population-level patterns. Resources with little spatial variability should facilitate sedentary ranges, whereas resources with predictable seasonal variation in spatial distributions should generate migratory patterns. A third pattern, ,nomadism', should emerge when resource distributions are unpredictable in both space and time. We summarize recent advances in analyses of animal trajectories and outline three major components on which future studies should focus: (1) integration across alternative movement mechanisms involving links between state variables and specific mechanisms, (2) consideration of dynamics in resource landscapes or environments that include resource gradients in predictability, variability, scale, and abundance, and finally (3) quantitative methods to distinguish among population distributions. We suggest that combining techniques such as evolutionary programming and pattern oriented modeling will help to build strong links between underlying movement mechanisms and broad-scale population distributions. [source] Getting out of the habitus: an alternative model of dynamically embodied social actionTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 3 2000Brenda Farnell Although Bourdieu's theory of practice has drawn widespread attention to the role of the body and space in social life, the concept of habitus is problematic as an explanatory account of dynamic embodiment because it lacks an adequate conception of the nature and location of human agency. An alternative model is presented which locates agency in the causal powers and capacities of embodied persons to engage in dialogic, signifying acts. Grounded in a non-Cartesian concept of person and ,new realist', post-positivist philosophy of science, vocal signs and action signs, not the dispositions of a habitus, become the means by which humans exercise agency in dynamically embodied practices. Ethnographic data from the communicative practices of the Nakota (Assiniboine) people of northern Montana (USA) support and illustrate the theoretical argument. [source] | ||||||||||