Extraction of the human cerebral ventricular system from MRI: inclusion of anatomical knowledge and clinical perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aziz, Aamer; Hu, Qingmao; Nowinski, Wieslaw L.

2004-04-01

The human cerebral ventricular system is a complex structure that is essential for the well being and changes in which reflect disease. It is clinically imperative that the ventricular system be studied in details. For this reason computer assisted algorithms are essential to be developed. We have developed a novel (patent pending) and robust anatomical knowledge-driven algorithm for automatic extraction of the cerebral ventricular system from MRI. The algorithm is not only unique in its image processing aspect but also incorporates knowledge of neuroanatomy, radiological properties, and variability of the ventricular system. The ventricular system is divided into six 3D regions based on the anatomy and its variability. Within each ventricular region a 2D region of interest (ROI) is defined and is then further subdivided into sub-regions. Various strict conditions that detect and prevent leakage into the extra-ventricular space are specified for each sub-region based on anatomical knowledge. Each ROI is processed to calculate its local statistics, local intensity ranges of cerebrospinal fluid and grey and white matters, set a seed point within the ROI, grow region directionally in 3D, check anti-leakage conditions and correct growing if leakage occurs and connects all unconnected regions grown by relaxing growing conditions. The algorithm was tested qualitatively and quantitatively on normal and pathological MRI cases and worked well. In this paper we discuss in more detail inclusion of anatomical knowledge in the algorithm and usefulness of our approach from clinical perspective.

Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Agro-climatology Analysis Tools and Knowledge Base Products for Food Security Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budde, M. E.; Rowland, J.; Anthony, M.; Palka, S.; Martinez, J.; Hussain, R.

2017-12-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) supports the use of Earth observation data for food security monitoring through its role as an implementing partner of the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has developed tools designed to aid food security analysts in developing assumptions of agro-climatological outcomes. There are four primary steps to developing agro-climatology assumptions; including: 1) understanding the climatology, 2) evaluating current climate modes, 3) interpretation of forecast information, and 4) incorporation of monitoring data. Analysts routinely forecast outcomes well in advance of the growing season, which relies on knowledge of climatology. A few months prior to the growing season, analysts can assess large-scale climate modes that might influence seasonal outcomes. Within two months of the growing season, analysts can evaluate seasonal forecast information as indicators. Once the growing season begins, monitoring data, based on remote sensing and field information, can characterize the start of season and remain integral monitoring tools throughout the duration of the season. Each subsequent step in the process can lead to modifications of the original climatology assumption. To support such analyses, we have created an agro-climatology analysis tool that characterizes each step in the assumption building process. Satellite-based rainfall and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)-based products support both the climatology and monitoring steps, sea-surface temperature data and knowledge of the global climate system inform the climate modes, and precipitation forecasts at multiple scales support the interpretation of forecast information. Organizing these data for a user-specified area provides a valuable tool for food security analysts to better formulate agro-climatology assumptions that feed into food security assessments. We have also developed a knowledge base for over 80 countries that provide rainfall and NDVI-based products, including annual and seasonal summaries, historical anomalies, coefficient of variation, and number of years below 70% of annual or seasonal averages. These products provide a quick look for analysts to assess the agro-climatology of a country.

K-12 Neuroscience Education Outreach Program: Interactive Activities for Educating Students about Neuroscience.

PubMed

Deal, Alex L; Erickson, Kristen J; Bilsky, Edward J; Hillman, Susan J; Burman, Michael A

2014-01-01

The University of New England's Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences has developed a successful and growing K-12 outreach program that incorporates undergraduate and graduate/professional students. The program has several goals, including raising awareness about fundamental issues in neuroscience, supplementing science education in area schools and enhancing undergraduate and graduate/professional students' academic knowledge and skill set. The outreach curriculum is centered on core neuroscience themes including: Brain Safety, Neuroanatomy, Drugs of Abuse and Addiction, Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders, and Cognition and Brain Function. For each theme, lesson plans were developed based upon interactive, small-group activities. Additionally, we've organized our themes in a "Grow-up, Grow-out" approach. Grow-up refers to returning to a common theme, increasing in complexity as we revisit students from early elementary through high school. Grow-out refers to integrating other scientific fields into our lessons, such as the chemistry of addiction, the physics of brain injury and neuronal imaging. One of the more successful components of our program is our innovative team-based model of curriculum design. By creating a team of undergraduate, graduate/professional students and faculty, we create a unique multi-level mentoring opportunity that appears to be successful in enhancing undergraduate students' skills and knowledge. Preliminary assessments suggest that undergraduates believe they are enhancing their content knowledge and professional skills through our program. Additionally, we're having a significant, short-term impact on K-12 interest in science. Overall, our program appears to be enhancing the academic experience of our undergraduates and exciting K-12 students about the brain and science in general.

Funds of Knowledge: An Investigation of Coherence within the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogg, Linda

2011-01-01

Two decades ago academics based at the University of Arizona brought the anthropological concept of Funds of Knowledge into the educational realm, providing a new conceptual framework to counter deficit theorizing of Latino students and their families. The growing body of literature evidences the belief and hope of academics in the potential of…

Radical Conversations: Part One Social-Constructivist Methods in the ABE Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muth, Bill

2008-01-01

For the past 40 years adult learning theory has stressed the need for adults to share in the planning of their own learning and socially construct new knowledge by building on their background knowledge and life experiences. Despite growing acceptance of social-constructivist pedagogies in community-based literacy programs and even corporate…

What's Next? Experiences of a Formal Course for Academic Developers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skead, Melanie

2018-01-01

A growing impetus for disciplinary status for academic development has prompted efforts to construct a principled knowledge base in this emerging field. This paper considers the impact of academic developers' access to structured knowledge through a systematic process. In 2011, the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning at…

K-12 Neuroscience Education Outreach Program: Interactive Activities for Educating Students about Neuroscience

PubMed Central

Deal, Alex L.; Erickson, Kristen J.; Bilsky, Edward J.; Hillman, Susan J.; Burman, Michael A.

2014-01-01

The University of New England’s Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences has developed a successful and growing K-12 outreach program that incorporates undergraduate and graduate/professional students. The program has several goals, including raising awareness about fundamental issues in neuroscience, supplementing science education in area schools and enhancing undergraduate and graduate/professional students’ academic knowledge and skill set. The outreach curriculum is centered on core neuroscience themes including: Brain Safety, Neuroanatomy, Drugs of Abuse and Addiction, Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders, and Cognition and Brain Function. For each theme, lesson plans were developed based upon interactive, small-group activities. Additionally, we’ve organized our themes in a “Grow-up, Grow-out” approach. Grow-up refers to returning to a common theme, increasing in complexity as we revisit students from early elementary through high school. Grow-out refers to integrating other scientific fields into our lessons, such as the chemistry of addiction, the physics of brain injury and neuronal imaging. One of the more successful components of our program is our innovative team-based model of curriculum design. By creating a team of undergraduate, graduate/professional students and faculty, we create a unique multi-level mentoring opportunity that appears to be successful in enhancing undergraduate students’ skills and knowledge. Preliminary assessments suggest that undergraduates believe they are enhancing their content knowledge and professional skills through our program. Additionally, we’re having a significant, short-term impact on K-12 interest in science. Overall, our program appears to be enhancing the academic experience of our undergraduates and exciting K-12 students about the brain and science in general. PMID:25565921

Constructing an Entrepreneurial Architecture: An Emergent Framework for Studying the Contemporary University beyond the Entrepreneurial Turn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelles, Jen; Vorley, Tim

2010-01-01

Universities are engines of the knowledge-based economy, both as sites of knowledge production and exploitation. Over the past two decades a "Third Mission" for universities has been articulated, alongside teaching and research; and this third mission is understood as commercial engagement. While growing literatures on the entrepreneurial…

Systems of evidence-based healthcare and personalised health information: some international and national trends.

PubMed

Gordon, C; Gray, J A; Toth, B; Veloso, M

2000-01-01

In Europe, North America and elsewhere, growing interest has focussed on evidence-based healthcare systems, incorporating the deployment of practice guidelines, as a field of application for health telematics. The clinical benefit and technical feasibility of common European approaches to this task has recently been demonstrated. In Europe it is likely that, building on recent progress in electronic health record architecture (EHRA) standards, a sufficient state of maturity can be reached to justify initiation within CEN TC251 of a prestandards process on guideline content formats during the current 5th Framework of EC RT&D activity. There is now a similar impetus to agree standards for this field in North America. Thanks to fruitful EC-USA contacts during the 4th Framework programme, there is now a chance, given well-planned coordination, to establish a global consensus optimally suited to serve the world-wide delivery and application of evidence-based medicine. This review notes three factors which may accelerate progress to convergence: (1) revolutionary changes in the knowledge basis of professional/patient/public healthcare partnerships, involving the key role of the Web as a health knowledge resource for citizens, and a rapidly growing market for personalised health information and advice; (2) the emergence at national levels of digital warehouses of clinical guidelines and EBM knowledge resources, agencies which are capable of brokering common mark-up and interchange media definitions between knowledge providers, industry and healthcare organizations; (3) the closing gap in knowledge management technology, with the advent of XML and RDF, between approaches and services based respectively on text mark-up and knowledge-base paradigms. A current project in the UK National Health Service (the National electronic Library of Health) is cited as an example of a national initiative designed to harness these trends.

Applying Brain-Based Learning Principles to Athletic Training Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Debbie I.

2007-01-01

Objective: To present different concepts and techniques related to the application of brain-based learning principles to Athletic Training clinical education. Background: The body of knowledge concerning how our brains physically learn continues to grow. Brain-based learning principles, developed by numerous authors, offer advice on how to…

Has the Education Paradigm Begun to Shift?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chadwick, Clifton B.

2014-01-01

The author reviews various elements of what may be considered as evidence that the long-awaited shift in the education paradigm is actually happening. Concepts like student-centered learning, attainment-based evaluation, knowledge-based constructivism, and effort-based intelligence are growing, are being more widely recognized as important, and…

Ambulatory orthopaedic surgery patients' knowledge with internet-based education.

PubMed

Heikkinen, Katja; Leino-Kilpi, H; Salanterä, S

2012-01-01

There is a growing need for patient education and an evaluation of its outcomes. The aim of this study was to compare ambulatory orthopaedic surgery patients' knowledge with Internet-based education and face-to-face education with a nurse. The following hypothesis was proposed: Internet-based patient education (experiment) is as effective as face-to-face education with a nurse (control) in increasing patients' level of knowledge and sufficiency of knowledge. In addition, the correlations of demographic variables were tested. The patients were randomized to either an experiment group (n = 72) or a control group (n = 75). Empirical data were collected with two instruments. Patients in both groups showed improvement in their knowledge during their care. Patients in the experiment group improved their knowledge level significantly more in total than those patients in the control group. There were no differences in patients' sufficiency of knowledge between the groups. Knowledge was correlated especially with patients' age, gender and earlier ambulatory surgeries. As a conclusion, positive results concerning patients' knowledge could be achieved with the Internet-based education. The Internet is a viable method in ambulatory care.

The Container Tree Nursery Manual: Volume 7, Seedling processing, storage, and outplanting

Treesearch

Thomas D. Landis; R. Kasten Dumroese; Diane L. Haase

2010-01-01

This manual is based on the best current knowledge of container nursery management and should be used as a general reference. Recommendations were made using the best information available at the time and are, therefore, subject to revision as more knowledge becomes available. Much of the information in this manual was primarily developed from information on growing...

A Distance Learning Review--The Communicational Module "Learning on Demand--Anywhere at Any Time"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tatkovic, Nevenka; Ruzic, Maja

2004-01-01

The society of knowledge refers to the society marked with the principle which requires that knowledge, information and life-time learning hold a key to success in the world of IT technology. Internet, World Wide Web, Web Based Education and ever so growing speed of IT and communicational technologies have enabled the application of new modes,…

Using Game-Based Learning to Foster Critical Thinking in Student Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cicchino, Marc I.

2015-01-01

Previous research indicates the importance of student discourse in the construction of knowledge and the fostering of critical thinking skills, especially in the field of problem-based learning (PBL). Further, a growing body of research on game-based learning (GBL) draws parallels between playing certain types of games and the solving of…

Developing Theory to Guide Building Practitioners' Capacity to Implement Evidence-Based Interventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leeman, Jennifer; Calancie, Larissa; Kegler, Michelle C.; Escoffery, Cam T.; Herrmann, Alison K.; Thatcher, Esther; Hartman, Marieke A.; Fernandez, Maria E.

2017-01-01

Public health and other community-based practitioners have access to a growing number of evidence-based interventions (EBIs), and yet EBIs continue to be underused. One reason for this underuse is that practitioners often lack the capacity (knowledge, skills, and motivation) to select, adapt, and implement EBIs. Training, technical assistance, and…

Trace-Based Microanalytic Measurement of Self-Regulated Learning Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siadaty, Melody; Gaševic, Dragan; Hatala, Marek

2016-01-01

To keep pace with today's rapidly growing knowledge-driven society, productive self-regulation of one's learning processes are essential. We introduce and discuss a trace-based measurement protocol to measure the effects of scaffolding interventions on self-regulated learning (SRL) processes. It guides tracing of learners' actions in a learning…

Case Study of a Computer Based Examination System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fluck, Andrew; Pullen, Darren; Harper, Colleen

2009-01-01

Electronic supported assessment or e-Assessment is a field of growing importance, but it has yet to make a significant impact in the Australian higher education sector (Byrnes & Ellis, 2006). Current computer based assessment models focus on the assessment of knowledge rather than deeper understandings, using multiple choice type questions,…

Building a Pedagogical Coaching Base: Pursuing Expertise in Teaching Sport

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Mullem, Pete; Shimon, Jane; Van Mullem, Heather

2017-01-01

Developing coaching expertise is a lifelong process that enables coaches to grow personally and professionally. One key approach coaches can utilize as part of this journey is to build a sound pedagogical base and implement effective pedagogical skills. In coaching, extensive subject knowledge, coupled with pedagogical experience, provides the…

Team-Based Learning in a Physical Therapy Gross Anatomy Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Killins, Anita M.

2015-01-01

As medical knowledge grows exponentially and healthcare systems continue to utilize interdisciplinary care, it is essential that physical therapy (PT) graduates be prepared to practice efficiently and effectively on healthcare teams. Team-based learning (TBL) is a teaching pedagogy used in medicine to improve academic performance and teamwork…

Automatic Segmentation of the Cortical Grey and White Matter in MRI Using a Region-Growing Approach Based on Anatomical Knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wasserthal, Christian; Engel, Karin; Rink, Karsten; Brechmann, Andr'e.

We propose an automatic procedure for the correct segmentation of grey and white matter in MR data sets of the human brain. Our method exploits general anatomical knowledge for the initial segmentation and for the subsequent refinement of the estimation of the cortical grey matter. Our results are comparable to manual segmentations.

Supporting Evidence-Based Practice in Schools with an Online Database of Best Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Joelle D.; Bowen, Natasha K.; Bowen, Gary L.

2011-01-01

In spite of multidisciplinary recommendations to use evidence-based interventions in schools and a growing knowledge base of such practices, most schools are not using empirically supported interventions. On the basis of a careful analysis of barriers to the implementation of the best researched programs, an online, free, and publicly available…

A Fallibilistic Model for Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawson, A. J.

1971-01-01

Discusses models in inquiry and of instruction based on critical Fallibilistic philosophy, developed by Karl R. Popper, which holds that all knowledge grows by conjecture and refutation. Classroom applications of strategies which result from the model are presented. (JP)

An Agent-Based Model of New Venture Creation: Conceptual Design for Simulating Entrepreneurship

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Provance, Mike; Collins, Andrew; Carayannis, Elias

2012-01-01

There is a growing debate over the means by which regions can foster the growth of entrepreneurial activity in order to stimulate recovery and growth of their economies. On one side, agglomeration theory suggests the regions grow because of strong clusters that foster knowledge spillover locally; on the other side, the entrepreneurial action camp argues that innovative business models are generated by entrepreneurs with unique market perspectives who draw on knowledge from more distant domains. We will show you the design for a novel agent-based model of new venture creation that will demonstrate the relationship between agglomeration and action. The primary focus of this model is information exchange as the medium for these agent interactions. Our modeling and simulation study proposes to reveal interesting relationships in these perspectives, offer a foundation on which these disparate theories from economics and sociology can find common ground, and expand the use of agent-based modeling into entrepreneurship research.

Basic physiological systems indicator's informative assessment for children and adolescents obesity diagnosis tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marukhina, O. V.; Berestneva, O. G.; Emelyanova, Yu A.; Romanchukov, S. V.; Petrova, L.; Lombardo, C.; Kozlova, N. V.

2018-05-01

The healthcare computerization creates opportunities to the clinical decision support system development. In the course of diagnosis, doctor manipulates a considerable amount of data and makes a decision in the context of uncertainty basing upon the first-hand experience and knowledge. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the knowledge scope in medicine is incrementally growing, but the decision-making time does not increase. The amount of medical malpractice is growing and it leads to various negative effects, even the mortality rate increase. IT-solution's development for clinical purposes is one of the most promising and efficient ways to prevent these effects. That is why the efforts of many IT specialists are directed to the doctor's heuristics simulating software or expert-based medical decision-making algorithms development. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop techniques and approaches for the body physiological system's informative value assessment index for the obesity degree evaluation based on the diagnostic findings.

Demonstrating PQS Effectiveness and Driving Continual Improvement: Evidence-Based Risk Reduction.

PubMed

Ramnarine, Emma; O'Donnell, Kevin

2018-04-18

Product knowledge grows and evolves during the life of a product. In order to maintain a state of control and deliver product with consistent quality throughout its commercial life, continuous improvement and product lifecycle management become essential. The practical link between product and process knowledge, risk-based control strategies, and continual improvement and innovation can be made stronger through evidence-based risk reduction. Regulatory relief and flexibility in post approval change management and overall product lifecycle management will only be possible with effective application of science and risk-based concepts and demonstrated effectiveness of the PQS in assuring a state of control. Copyright © 2018, Parenteral Drug Association.

An Analysis of the Competency-Based Secondary Mathematics Curriculum in Sri Lanka

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egodawatte, Gunawardena

2014-01-01

In education, there is a growing interest in the concept of "competency" especially in vocational training and professional development. The concept is strongly associated with the ability to apply knowledge and skills in effective ways in unanticipated situations. In Sri Lanka, a new competency-based mathematics curriculum was…

Excellence in the Knowledge-Based Economy: From Scientific to Research Excellence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sørensen, Mads P.; Bloch, Carter; Young, Mitchell

2016-01-01

In 2013, the European Union (EU) unveiled its new "Composite Indicator for Scientific and Technological Research Excellence." This is not an isolated occurrence; policy-based interest in excellence is growing all over the world. The heightened focus on excellence and, in particular, attempts to define it through quantitative indicators…

What Is Implementation Research? Rationale, Concepts, and Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhattacharyya, Onil; Reeves, Scott; Zwarenstein, Merrick

2009-01-01

Despite the growing knowledge base on evidence-based practices in social work and medicine, there is a large gap between what is known and what is consistently done. Implementation research is the study of methods to promote the uptake of research findings into routine practice. In this article, we describe the rationale for implementation…

Comparing Student Performance on Paper-and-Pencil and Computer-Based-Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardcastle, Joseph; Herrmann-Abell, Cari F.; DeBoer, George E.

2017-01-01

Can student performance on computer-based tests (CBT) and paper-and-pencil tests (PPT) be considered equivalent measures of student knowledge? States and school districts are grappling with this question, and although studies addressing this question are growing, additional research is needed. We report on the performance of students who took…

Recognizing and Utilizing Queer Pedagogy: A Call for Teacher Education to Reconsider the Knowledge Base on Sexual Orientation for Teacher Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zacko-Smith, Jeffrey D.; Smith, G. Pritchy

2010-01-01

In order to teach effectively in hyper-diverse contexts, if effective teaching is considered to be the creation of knowledge, the transmission of ideas, and the "growing" of human beings intellectually, morally and socially, educators at all levels, but particularly those who are new to the field, must be well-versed in multiculturalism and…

Factors Influencing Sharing Activities in Transnational Public Sector Knowledge Networks: The Case of Mobile Disease Surveillance System Adoption in the 2009 Hajj

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gharawi, Mohammed A.

2012-01-01

This dissertation contributes to the growing base of theory relating to Transnational Public Sector Knowledge Networks (TPSKNs) presented by Dawes, Gharawi, and Burke (2012). A case study explores the TPSKN formed between the United States Center for Disease Control and the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health ahead of the 2009 Hajj, one of the…

Neural-like growing networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yashchenko, Vitaliy A.

2000-03-01

On the basis of the analysis of scientific ideas reflecting the law in the structure and functioning the biological structures of a brain, and analysis and synthesis of knowledge, developed by various directions in Computer Science, also there were developed the bases of the theory of a new class neural-like growing networks, not having the analogue in world practice. In a base of neural-like growing networks the synthesis of knowledge developed by classical theories - semantic and neural of networks is. The first of them enable to form sense, as objects and connections between them in accordance with construction of the network. With thus each sense gets a separate a component of a network as top, connected to other tops. In common it quite corresponds to structure reflected in a brain, where each obvious concept is presented by certain structure and has designating symbol. Secondly, this network gets increased semantic clearness at the expense owing to formation not only connections between neural by elements, but also themselves of elements as such, i.e. here has a place not simply construction of a network by accommodation sense structures in environment neural of elements, and purely creation of most this environment, as of an equivalent of environment of memory. Thus neural-like growing networks are represented by the convenient apparatus for modeling of mechanisms of teleological thinking, as a fulfillment of certain psychophysiological of functions.

Knowledge Worker Control: Understanding via Principal and Agency Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, Rebecca; Meacheam, David

2011-01-01

Purpose: The growing prominence of knowledge workers in contemporary organisations has led to a considerable amount of research into their role and activities, however, despite this growing interest, there remains a lack of clarity regarding the relationship of knowledge workers to management. This paper aims to respond by investigating the…

Advanced Networks in Dental Rich Online MEDiA (ANDROMEDA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elson, Bruce; Reynolds, Patricia; Amini, Ardavan; Burke, Ezra; Chapman, Craig

There is growing demand for dental education and training not only in terms of knowledge but also skills. This demand is driven by continuing professional development requirements in the more developed economies, personnel shortages and skills differences across the European Union (EU) accession states and more generally in the developing world. There is an excellent opportunity for the EU to meet this demand by developing an innovative online flexible learning platform (FLP). Current clinical online systems are restricted to the delivery of general, knowledge-based training with no easy method of personalization or delivery of skill-based training. The PHANTOM project, headed by Kings College London is developing haptic-based virtual reality training systems for clinical dental training. ANDROMEDA seeks to build on this and establish a Flexible Learning Platform that can integrate the haptic and sensor based training with rich media knowledge transfer, whilst using sophisticated technologies such as including service-orientated architecture (SOA), Semantic Web technologies, knowledge-based engineering, business intelligence (BI) and virtual worlds for personalization.

Faculty Perceptions of Problem-Based Learning in a Veterinary College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malinowski, Robert

2012-01-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been embraced by several veterinary colleges as one approach to manage the ever-growing body of knowledge in the profession. The goal is to foster the development of problem-solving and critical thinking skills in students, enabling them to make logical and informed decisions, rather than rely on the rote…

Early Childhood Intervention in Portugal: An Overview Based on the Developmental Systems Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinto, Ana Isabel; Grande, Catarina; Aguiar, Cecilia; de Almeida, Isabel Chaves; Felgueiras, Isabel; Pimentel, Julia Serpa; Serrano, Ana Maria; Carvalho, Leonor; Brandao, Maria Teresa; Boavida, Tania; Santos, Paula; Lopes-dos-Santos, Pedro

2012-01-01

Research studies on early childhood intervention (ECI) in Portugal are diffuse regarding both program components and the geographical area under scrutiny. Since the 1990s, a growing body of knowledge and evidence in ECI is being gathered, based on postgraduate teaching, in-service training, and research. This article draws on the systems theory…

The Beck Initiative: Training School-Based Mental Health Staff in Cognitive Therapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Creed, Torrey A.; Jager-Hyman, Shari; Pontoski, Kristin; Feinberg, Betsy; Rosenberg, Zachary; Evans, Arthur; Hurford, Matthew O.; Beck, Aaron T.

2013-01-01

A growing literature supports cognitive therapy (CT) as an efficacious treatment for youth struggling with emotional or behavioral problems. Recently, work in this area has extended the dissemination of CT to school-based settings. The current study has two aims: 1) to examine the development of therapists' knowledge and skills in CT, an…

Diversification of School Psychology: Developing an Evidence Base from Current Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blake, Jamilia J.; Graves, Scott; Newell, Markeda; Jimerson, Shane R.

2016-01-01

Why is there a need to increase the racial/ethnic diversity of faculty in school psychology? Chiefly, school psychologists serve the most racially/ethnically diverse population: children in US schools. Therefore, developing a knowledge base that is inclusive of this wide range of perspective as well as growing a workforce that is reflective of…

An Evaluative Case Study of Project-Based Learning in High School Vocational Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanner, Andrea P.

2012-01-01

There is growing apprehension among business people, educators, and government policy makers regarding the gap between the skills and knowledge needed for success in the workforce and those provided in school. The purpose of this qualitative evaluative case study was to investigate the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) in the…

Knowledge Management in Public Health: Examining the Role of a Web-Based Reporting System for Tobacco Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottlieb, Amy Sue

2009-01-01

The importance and use of data and information to make sound programmatic decisions are receiving increased attention as state and federal funding for public health programs grows tighter and as demands for accountability continue. This dissertation provides insight into fundamental questions regarding the utilization of a Web-based reporting…

[Personalized urooncology based on molecular uropathology: what is the future?].

PubMed

Dahl, E; Haller, F

2013-07-01

Targeted therapies and biomarker validation are key drivers in the advancement of personalized oncology which is a growing topic in all clinical areas. Compared with other professions, such as pulmonology and gynecology, development in urology has so far been retarded but has recently gained increasing momentum. A basis for this is the currently growing and in future accelerated application of new knowledge derived from molecular biology in the field of uropathology. The rapid gain of knowledge is driven by a whole new class of analytical methods, such as massively parallel sequencing (deep sequencing or next generation sequencing), which enables analysis of virtually a new universe of potential biomarkers. This article describes the emerging paradigm shift in molecular pathological diagnostics of urological tumors using the example of prostate cancer.

Synchronized manufacture of composites knowledge study (SMACKS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strickland, B.; Oliver, M.

1990-06-01

The need for a competitive manufacturing knowledge base for the composites industry, encompasses a change from a 'functionally' organized factory to a product-based organization, and has led to major reductions in inventories, manufacturing costs and cycle times. The net effect was that products became more price- and delivery-competitive. It is believed that composite manufacturers have an equal need to improve their competitive edge, particularly as the demand for composite products grows and more manufacturers enter the marketplace. 'SMACKS' has begun to establish these needs and market trends, with a view to establishing the advantages offered to composite manufacturers by synchronized manufacturing methods.

Topological leakage detection and freeze-and-grow propagation for improved CT-based airway segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nadeem, Syed Ahmed; Hoffman, Eric A.; Sieren, Jered P.; Saha, Punam K.

2018-03-01

Numerous large multi-center studies are incorporating the use of computed tomography (CT)-based characterization of the lung parenchyma and bronchial tree to understand chronic obstructive pulmonary disease status and progression. To the best of our knowledge, there are no fully automated airway tree segmentation methods, free of the need for user review. A failure in even a fraction of segmentation results necessitates manual revision of all segmentation masks which is laborious considering the thousands of image data sets evaluated in large studies. In this paper, we present a novel CT-based airway tree segmentation algorithm using topological leakage detection and freeze-and-grow propagation. The method is fully automated requiring no manual inputs or post-segmentation editing. It uses simple intensity-based connectivity and a freeze-and-grow propagation algorithm to iteratively grow the airway tree starting from an initial seed inside the trachea. It begins with a conservative parameter and then, gradually shifts toward more generous parameter values. The method was applied on chest CT scans of fifteen subjects at total lung capacity. Airway segmentation results were qualitatively assessed and performed comparably to established airway segmentation method with no major visual leakages.

A semantic-based method for extracting concept definitions from scientific publications: evaluation in the autism phenotype domain.

PubMed

Hassanpour, Saeed; O'Connor, Martin J; Das, Amar K

2013-08-12

A variety of informatics approaches have been developed that use information retrieval, NLP and text-mining techniques to identify biomedical concepts and relations within scientific publications or their sentences. These approaches have not typically addressed the challenge of extracting more complex knowledge such as biomedical definitions. In our efforts to facilitate knowledge acquisition of rule-based definitions of autism phenotypes, we have developed a novel semantic-based text-mining approach that can automatically identify such definitions within text. Using an existing knowledge base of 156 autism phenotype definitions and an annotated corpus of 26 source articles containing such definitions, we evaluated and compared the average rank of correctly identified rule definition or corresponding rule template using both our semantic-based approach and a standard term-based approach. We examined three separate scenarios: (1) the snippet of text contained a definition already in the knowledge base; (2) the snippet contained an alternative definition for a concept in the knowledge base; and (3) the snippet contained a definition not in the knowledge base. Our semantic-based approach had a higher average rank than the term-based approach for each of the three scenarios (scenario 1: 3.8 vs. 5.0; scenario 2: 2.8 vs. 4.9; and scenario 3: 4.5 vs. 6.2), with each comparison significant at the p-value of 0.05 using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Our work shows that leveraging existing domain knowledge in the information extraction of biomedical definitions significantly improves the correct identification of such knowledge within sentences. Our method can thus help researchers rapidly acquire knowledge about biomedical definitions that are specified and evolving within an ever-growing corpus of scientific publications.

Recursive Hierarchical Image Segmentation by Region Growing and Constrained Spectral Clustering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tilton, James C.

2002-01-01

This paper describes an algorithm for hierarchical image segmentation (referred to as HSEG) and its recursive formulation (referred to as RHSEG). The HSEG algorithm is a hybrid of region growing and constrained spectral clustering that produces a hierarchical set of image segmentations based on detected convergence points. In the main, HSEG employs the hierarchical stepwise optimization (HS WO) approach to region growing, which seeks to produce segmentations that are more optimized than those produced by more classic approaches to region growing. In addition, HSEG optionally interjects between HSWO region growing iterations merges between spatially non-adjacent regions (i.e., spectrally based merging or clustering) constrained by a threshold derived from the previous HSWO region growing iteration. While the addition of constrained spectral clustering improves the segmentation results, especially for larger images, it also significantly increases HSEG's computational requirements. To counteract this, a computationally efficient recursive, divide-and-conquer, implementation of HSEG (RHSEG) has been devised and is described herein. Included in this description is special code that is required to avoid processing artifacts caused by RHSEG s recursive subdivision of the image data. Implementations for single processor and for multiple processor computer systems are described. Results with Landsat TM data are included comparing HSEG with classic region growing. Finally, an application to image information mining and knowledge discovery is discussed.

A Scoping Literature Review: The State of Knowledge on Home Care Equipment and Supplies.

PubMed

Fraser, Kimberly D; Lai, Jonathan; Nissen, Catherine; Choo, Queenie; Davenport, Jamie; Gutscher, Abram

2015-01-01

We explored the state of knowledge on home care supplies and equipment because not much is known about this topic. We used a scoping review for the literature review because it was the most appropriate approach considering the state of the literature. We searched for articles published in both the gray and peer-reviewed literature. We established five overarching themes based on the findings. These were supply management, durable medical equipment, wound care, best practices, and costs. This review demonstrates that although knowledge about home care supplies and equipment is growing, it is still an understudied area.

Reconceptualizing Faculty Mentoring within a Community of Practice Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Emily R.; Calderwood, Patricia E.; Dohm, Faith A.; Gill Lopez, Paula

2013-01-01

Despite the growing knowledge base on mentoring in academia, providing effective mentoring for faculty presents several complex dilemmas for academic units charged with facilitating mentoring. How do we institutionalize voluntary and spontaneous mentoring interaction? How do we support a collaborative climate in an inherently individual and…

Canada in the 21st Century - Triumph or Tragedy? The Front Line.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilgour, David

1996-01-01

Argues that new patterns of trade and production combined with an emphasis on a knowledge-based economy/society make it imperative that Canada upgrade its educational system. Specifically notes that several growing and dominant industries (microelectronics, biotechnology, telecommunications) require a high-tech skilled labor force. (MJP)

REGIONAL-SCALE FISH ECOLOGY IN NORTHEASTERN USA LAKES USING A PROBABILITY-BASED SURVEY DESIGN

EPA Science Inventory

Historically, most fish ecology has been done at local scales. As these data accumulate, the need to set this knowledge into landscape, regional, and historical context grows. There are important broad-scale issues (e.g., non-point source pollution, biodiversity loss, alien spe...

Adolescent Literacy. Fact Sheet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alliance for Excellent Education, 2011

2011-01-01

The nation's workforce is demanding ever more literate workers and citizens. As technology advances and the American economy grows increasingly knowledge based, individuals must be able to read, write, and communicate at higher levels in order to remain economic and social contributors. A student's level of literacy is a critical determinant of…

Lose the Recipe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Theresa A.; Martin, Chanda

2011-01-01

When learning about plants, elementary students are typically given set directions on how to plant seeds and make their plants grow. To enable their class of first-grade students to build their own knowledge and encourage constructivism, the authors decided to take this set of prescribe activities and make them more inquiry-based. In traditional…

The Red and White Yeast Lab: An Introduction to Science as a Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Brian T.

1999-01-01

Describes an experimental system based on an engineered strain of bakers' yeast that is designed to involve students in the process by which scientific knowledge is generated. Students are asked to determine why the yeast grow to form a reproducible pattern of red and white. (WRM)

Identifying Online Preferences and Needs of Early Childhood Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weigel, Daniel J.; Weiser, Dana A.; Bales, Diane W.; Moyses, Kendra J.

2012-01-01

A growing number of early childhood professionals use the Internet to improve their skills, knowledge, and practice. The Internet may be a practical alternative for providing high-quality, research-based training, information, and resources to these professionals. When designing online materials and Web sites, however, it is important to first…

Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners in FCS Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allison, Barbara N.; Rehm, Marsha L.

2007-01-01

The growing diversity in today's classrooms demands that family and consumer sciences (FCS) teachers be knowledgeable, responsive, and well-prepared to work with a multicultural, multilingual student population. To meet the needs of students from all backgrounds, FCS teachers must use a broad array of research-based strategies that support diverse…

GROUNDWATER RECHARGE AND CHEMICAL CONTAMINANTS: CHALLENGES IN COMMUNICATING THE CONNECTIONS AND COLLISIONS OF TWO DISPARATE WORLDS

EPA Science Inventory

The existing knowledge base regarding the presence and significance of chemicals foreign to the subsurface environment is large and growing -the papers in this volume serving as recent testament. But complex questions with few answers surround the unknowns regarding the potenti...

Handbook of Preschool Mental Health Development, Disorders, and Treatment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luby, Joan, L. Ed.

2006-01-01

This important volume comprehensively explores the development of psychiatric disorders in 2- to 6-year-olds, detailing how the growing empirical knowledge base may lead to improved interventions for young children and their families. Leading contributors examine advances in the conceptualization and diagnosis of early-onset disruptive disorders,…

The STEAM behind the Scenes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Carmen Petrick; King, Barbara; González, Diana

2015-01-01

There is a growing need for STEAM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) knowledge and skills across a wide range of professions (Brazell 2013). Yet students often fail to see the usefulness of mathematics beyond the classroom (Kloosterman, Raymond, and Emenaker 1996), and they do not regularly make connections between…

Effectiveness of an Asynchronous Online Module on University Students' Understanding of the Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farina, William J., Jr.; Bodzin, Alec M.

2018-01-01

Web-based learning is a growing field in education, yet empirical research into the design of high quality Web-based university science instruction is scarce. A one-week asynchronous online module on the Bohr Model of the atom was developed and implemented guided by the knowledge integration framework. The unit design aligned with three identified…

The Relative Effects of Inquiry-Based and Commonplace Science Teaching on Students' Knowledge, Reasoning and Argumentation about Sleep Concepts: A Randomized Control Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Christopher D.; Taylor, Joseph A.; Kowalski, Susan M.; Carlson, Janet

2009-01-01

From Dewey to the Standards, inquiry has been an increasingly prominent theme in multiple science education reform movements, yet the transition from theory and advocacy to practice and policy has been disappointing. While there is a growing body of research which suggests that student understanding is enhanced by inquiry-based teaching, only…

Sentiment classification technology based on Markov logic networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Hui; Li, Zhigang; Yao, Chongchong; Zhang, Weizhe

2016-07-01

With diverse online media emerging, there is a growing concern of sentiment classification problem. At present, text sentiment classification mainly utilizes supervised machine learning methods, which feature certain domain dependency. On the basis of Markov logic networks (MLNs), this study proposed a cross-domain multi-task text sentiment classification method rooted in transfer learning. Through many-to-one knowledge transfer, labeled text sentiment classification, knowledge was successfully transferred into other domains, and the precision of the sentiment classification analysis in the text tendency domain was improved. The experimental results revealed the following: (1) the model based on a MLN demonstrated higher precision than the single individual learning plan model. (2) Multi-task transfer learning based on Markov logical networks could acquire more knowledge than self-domain learning. The cross-domain text sentiment classification model could significantly improve the precision and efficiency of text sentiment classification.

A multimedia Anatomy Browser incorporating a knowledge base and 3D images.

PubMed Central

Eno, K.; Sundsten, J. W.; Brinkley, J. F.

1991-01-01

We describe a multimedia program for teaching anatomy. The program, called the Anatomy Browser, displays cross-sectional and topographical images, with outlines around structures and regions of interest. The user may point to these structures and retrieve text descriptions, view symbolic relationships between structures, or view spatial relationships by accessing 3-D graphics animations from videodiscs produced specifically for this program. The software also helps students exercise what they have learned by asking them to identify structures by name and location. The program is implemented in a client-server architecture, with the user interface residing on a Macintosh, while images, data, and a growing symbolic knowledge base of anatomy are stored on a fileserver. This architecture allows us to develop practical tutorial modules that are in current use, while at the same time developing the knowledge base that will lead to more intelligent tutorial systems. PMID:1807699

Using knowledge rules for pharmacy mapping.

PubMed

Shakib, Shaun C; Che, Chengjian; Lau, Lee Min

2006-01-01

The 3M Health Information Systems (HIS) Healthcare Data Dictionary (HDD) is used to encode and structure patient medication data for the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of the Department of Defense's (DoD's) Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA). HDD Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are responsible for initial and maintenance mapping of disparate, standalone medication master files from all 100 DoD host sites worldwide to a single concept-based vocabulary, to accomplish semantic interoperability. To achieve higher levels of automation, SMEs began defining a growing set of knowledge rules. These knowledge rules were implemented in a pharmacy mapping tool, which enhanced consistency through automation and increased mapping rate by 29%.

Developing Academic Language and Content for Emergent Bilinguals through a Science Inquiry Unit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercuri, Sandra; Ebe, Ann E.

2011-01-01

There is growing evidence that schools are not meeting the needs of emergent bilinguals who are falling behind in both academic language development and content knowledge learning. In response to this concern, this article proposes five research-based guidelines for promoting effective instruction for emergent bilinguals. In order to connect…

Communicative Function Demonstration Induces Kind-Based Artifact Representation in Preverbal Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Futo, Judit; Teglas, Erno; Csibra, Gergely; Gergely, Gyorgy

2010-01-01

Human infants grow up in environments populated by artifacts. In order to acquire knowledge about different kinds of human-made objects, children have to be able to focus on the information that is most relevant for sorting artifacts into categories. Traditional theories emphasize the role of superficial, perceptual features in object…

Toward a Model for Early Childhood Environmental Education: Foregrounding, Developing, and Connecting Knowledge through Play-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cutter-Mackenzie, Amy; Edwards, Susan

2013-01-01

Environmental education represents a growing area of interest in early childhood education, especially since the inclusion of environmental principles and practices in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. Traditionally, these two fields of education have been characterized by diverse pedagogical emphases. This article considers how…

Publishing in "SERJ": An Analysis of Papers from 2002-2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zieffler, Andrew; Garfield, Joan; delMas, Robert C.; Le, Laura; Isaak, Rebekah; Bjornsdottir, Audbjorg; Park, Jiyoon

2011-01-01

"SERJ" has provided a high quality professional publication venue for researchers in statistics education for close to a decade. This paper presents a review of the articles published to explore what they suggest about the field of statistics education, the researchers, the questions addressed, and the growing knowledge base on teaching and…

Using Games to Enhance Learning and Teaching: A Beginner's Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitton, Nicola, Ed.; Moseley, Alex, Ed.

2012-01-01

"Using Games to Enhance Learning and Teaching" provides educators with easy and practical ways of using games to support student engagement and learning. Despite growing interest in digital game-based learning and teaching, until now most teachers have lacked the resources or technical knowledge to create games that meet their needs. The only…

Personalized Surgical Risk Assessment Using Population-Based Data Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AbuSalah, Ahmad Mohammad

2013-01-01

The volume of information generated by healthcare providers is growing at a relatively high speed. This tremendous growth has created a gap between knowledge and clinical practice that experts say could be narrowed with the proper use of healthcare data to guide clinical decisions and tools that support rapid information availability at the…

Say Cheese! A Snapshot of Elementary Teachers' Engagement and Motivation for Classroom Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Glenda L.

2014-01-01

Assessment is a complex function requiring an understanding of student learning, assessment principles, practices, and purposes of data to implement effective classroom assessment. The purpose of this study was to add to the growing base of knowledge about teachers' engagement with assessment data and their motivation for classroom assessment.…

Education in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fengzhen, Yang

2002-01-01

In the past 20 years, China's economy has been developing rapidly. Yet is China's education keeping up the same pace as its economic development? What is the current situation for China's education? With the advent of knowledge-based economy, how will education in China adjust itself in order to meet the growing demands of economy? This paper will…

Indigenous Nutrition: Using Traditional Food Knowledge to Solve Contemporary Health Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milburn, Michael P.

2004-01-01

There is a growing recognition of the need to change current dietary patterns and of the value of traditional foodways. The Center for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment, based at McGill University in Montreal, is a research and education resource for Indigenous Peoples created by Canada's Aboriginal Leaders to support traditional…

Knowledge Maps for E-Literacy in ICT-Rich Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taha, Ahmed

2005-01-01

The Web-based information and communication technology (w-ICT) has become a powerful means for delivery and dissemination of digitised information among the emerging virtual learning and business communities. The w-ICT has engendered a growing cybersphere paradigm to accommodate a huge mass of e-resources cast over the Web. Such abundance of…

Growing Reading Fluency: Engaging Readers with Technology and Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parenti, Melissa A.; Chen, Xiaojun

2015-01-01

The presence of technology in K-12 classrooms continues to increase. With the onset of these technological advances, a refined lens for analysis of the effectiveness of these tools is required. Web based tools necessitate a synthesis of Technological, Pedagogical and Content knowledge. Moreover, the use of technology should support the content and…

Learning to Reflect and to Attribute Constructively as Basic Components of Self-Regulated Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masui, Chris; De Corte, Erik

2005-01-01

Background: Higher education is facing a number of problems: adjusting to larger and more heterogeneous student populations, increasing the number of graduating students, and preparing for lifelong learning. Improving learning competence can make a substantial contribution to solving each of these major concerns. The growing knowledge base on…

Podcast Pilots for Distance Planning, Programming, and Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cordes, Sean

2005-01-01

This paper examines podcasting as a library support for distance learning and information systems and services. The manuscript provides perspective on the knowledge base in the growing area of podcasting in libraries and academia. A walkthrough of the podcast creation and distribution process using basic computing skills and open source tools is…

Using Game Making Pedagogy to Facilitate Student Learning of Interactive Multimedia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Gary

2009-01-01

With the growing importance of interactive multimedia in our society, it is increasingly essential to equip students with knowledge of and skills in multimedia production. However, as the traditional lecture based instruction on this emerging subject area is not effective for students in achieving the expected learning outcomes, a seven stage game…

An Online Project-Based Competency Education Approach to Marketing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ye, Christine; Van Os, Jerry; Chapman, Dick; Jacobson, Dax

2017-01-01

As the marketplace becomes more competitive, there is a growing demand for business educators to prepare graduates to adapt to the challenges of the marketplace. However, concerns regarding the pedagogical challenges of balancing conceptual knowledge and practical skills are accumulating in the academic literature. In this article, we make the…

The Changing American Child: The Perspective of Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimiles, Herbert

A study was based on retrospective descriptions obtained from interviews with a large number of teachers who have taught for over 20 years. Three areas of change in students were consistently noted in the descriptions: children today know more, are freer, and grow up more rapidly. More autonomous, and armed with greater knowledge, children emerge…

Reclaiming Reading: Teachers, Students, and Researchers Regaining Spaces for Thinking and Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Richard J., Ed.; Whitmore, Kathryn F., Ed.

2011-01-01

Inviting teachers back to the role of reflective advocates for thoughtful reading instruction, this book presents theory and pedagogical possibilities to reclaim and build upon the knowledge base that was growing when government mandates, scripted commercial programs, and high stakes tests took over as the dominant agenda for reading instruction…

Using scientific evidence to improve information practice.

PubMed

Bradley, J; Marshall, J G

1995-09-01

The recent policy statement of the Medical Library Association (MLA) takes the position that scientific evidence is the basis for improving the quality of library and information sciences now and in the future. Research activity is seen as the foundation of an evolving knowledge base for the profession--a knowledge base that will set health sciences librarians apart from others in an increasingly competitive world of information service providers. The statement represents the culmination of many years of activity by association members, during which the role of research in health information practice has been debated. Over a similar time period, the quality movement, with its increasing demand for the collection and use of data, has been growing. Developments such as total quality management (TQM) and continuous quality improvement (CQI) reinforce the centrality of research with its increasing demand for the collection and use of data, has been growing. Developments such as total quality management (TQM) and continuous quality improvement (CQI) reinforce the centrality of research and its relationship to efficient and effective information practice as envisioned in the MLA policy statement.

Racializing Experiences of Foreign-Born and Ethnically Diverse Black Male Engineering Graduate Students: Implications for Student Affairs Practice, Policy, and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burt, Brian A.; Knight, Alexander; Robeson, Justin

2017-01-01

Despite a growing body of work on the experiences of Black collegians, the higher education knowledge base lacks scholarship focused on Black men in graduate programs who are foreign-born and/or identify ethnically as other than African American. In this article, we provide a domain-specific investigation (i.e., based on students' field of study),…

Electronic health records (EHRs): supporting ASCO's vision of cancer care.

PubMed

Yu, Peter; Artz, David; Warner, Jeremy

2014-01-01

ASCO's vision for cancer care in 2030 is built on the expanding importance of panomics and big data, and envisions enabling better health for patients with cancer by the rapid transformation of systems biology knowledge into cancer care advances. This vision will be heavily dependent on the use of health information technology for computational biology and clinical decision support systems (CDSS). Computational biology will allow us to construct models of cancer biology that encompass the complexity of cancer panomics data and provide us with better understanding of the mechanisms governing cancer behavior. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality promotes CDSS based on clinical practice guidelines, which are knowledge bases that grow too slowly to match the rate of panomic-derived knowledge. CDSS that are based on systems biology models will be more easily adaptable to rapid advancements and translational medicine. We describe the characteristics of health data representation, a model for representing molecular data that supports data extraction and use for panomic-based clinical research, and argue for CDSS that are based on systems biology and are algorithm-based.

Blackboard architecture for medical image interpretation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Darryl N.; Taylor, Christopher J.

1991-06-01

There is a growing interest in using sophisticated knowledge-based systems for biomedical image interpretation. We present a principled attempt to use artificial intelligence methodologies in interpreting lateral skull x-ray images. Such radiographs are routinely used in cephalometric analysis to provide quantitative measurements useful to clinical orthodontists. Manual and interactive methods of analysis are known to be error prone and previous attempts to automate this analysis typically fail to capture the expertise and adaptability required to cope with the variability in biological structure and image quality. An integrated model-based system has been developed which makes use of a blackboard architecture and multiple knowledge sources. A model definition interface allows quantitative models, of feature appearance and location, to be built from examples as well as more qualitative modelling constructs. Visual task definition and blackboard control modules allow task-specific knowledge sources to act on information available to the blackboard in a hypothesise and test reasoning cycle. Further knowledge-based modules include object selection, location hypothesis, intelligent segmentation, and constraint propagation systems. Alternative solutions to given tasks are permitted.

Using Knowledge Rules for Pharmacy Mapping

PubMed Central

Shakib, Shaun C.; Che, Chengjian; Lau, Lee Min

2006-01-01

The 3M Health Information Systems (HIS) Healthcare Data Dictionary (HDD) is used to encode and structure patient medication data for the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA). HDD Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are responsible for initial and maintenance mapping of disparate, standalone medication master files from all 100 DoD host sites worldwide to a single concept-based vocabulary, to accomplish semantic interoperability. To achieve higher levels of automation, SMEs began defining a growing set of knowledge rules. These knowledge rules were implemented in a pharmacy mapping tool, which enhanced consistency through automation and increased mapping rate by 29%. PMID:17238709

Knowledge Creation and Deployment in the Small, but Growing, Enterprise and the Psychological Contract

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leach, Tony

2010-01-01

This paper contains an account of a small scale investigation into the usefulness of the concepts of the learning organisation and organisational learning when seeking to describe the processes of knowledge creation and deployment within the small, but growing, enterprise (SME). A review of the literature reveals a concern that the relationship…

Membranes in Lithium Ion Batteries

PubMed Central

Yang, Min; Hou, Junbo

2012-01-01

Lithium ion batteries have proven themselves the main choice of power sources for portable electronics. Besides consumer electronics, lithium ion batteries are also growing in popularity for military, electric vehicle, and aerospace applications. The present review attempts to summarize the knowledge about some selected membranes in lithium ion batteries. Based on the type of electrolyte used, literature concerning ceramic-glass and polymer solid ion conductors, microporous filter type separators and polymer gel based membranes is reviewed. PMID:24958286

The Organization and Dissolution of Semantic-Conceptual Knowledge: Is the "Amodal Hub" the Only Plausible Model?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gainotti, Guido

2011-01-01

In recent years, the anatomical and functional bases of conceptual activity have attracted a growing interest. In particular, Patterson and Lambon-Ralph have proposed the existence, in the anterior parts of the temporal lobes, of a mechanism (the "amodal semantic hub") supporting the interactive activation of semantic representations in all…

The global land-potential knowledge system (LandPKS): Supporting evidence-based, site-specific land use and management through cloud computing, mobile applications and crowdsourcing

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agricultural production must increase significantly to meet the needs of a growing global population with increasing per capita consumption of food, fiber, building materials, and fuel. Consumption already exceeds net primary production in many parts of the world. In addition to reducing consumptio...

School-Based Human Rights Education: Young Bahrainis' Knowledge and Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eid, Fatima H.

2014-01-01

The growing interest in Human Rights Education (HRE) is linked in this paper to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989). The linkage between citizenship education and HRE is also highlighted, along with the necessary critiques of human rights pronouncements regarding the situation of HRE in Bahrain while the challenges ahead in…

A Seamless Learning Design for Mobile Assisted Language Learning: An Iranian Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foomani, Elham Mohammadi; Hedayati, Mohsen

2016-01-01

Recent developments in information communication technology (ICT) have resulted in a paradigm shift in e-Learning and there is a growing interest in developing design-based research (DBR) focusing on learners and their involvement in knowledge sharing in a contextualized mode. The present study reports a mobile-assisted language learning (MALL)…

Universities and Innovation in the Knowledge Economy: Cases from English Regions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higher Education Management and Policy, 2005

2005-01-01

The last decade has seen a growing increase in policy discourse in many countries on entrepreneurship and innovation with a prominent emphasis on the role to be played by universities. However, it is far from clear to what extent institutional behaviours are influenced by this enterprising policy discourse based on the broad assumption that…

Improving Pedagogy through Action Learning and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Albers, Cheryl

2008-01-01

This ASA Teaching Workshop explored the potential of Action Learning to use teachers' tacit knowledge to collaboratively confront pedagogical issues. The Action Learning model grows out of industrial management and is based on the notion that peers are a valuable resource for learning about how to solve the problems encountered in the workplace.…

An Exploration of Preservice Teachers' Reasoning about Teaching Mathematics to English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turkan, Sultan; de Jong, Ester J.

2018-01-01

Research indicates that many English learners (ELs) have not been effectively supported in meeting their academic learning goals. This explains, in part, the growing interest and corresponding research on the essential teacher knowledge-base for teaching ELs. Despite the attention paid to this issue, research on preservice teachers' reasoning and…

Hidden Stories: Uncovering the Visual Metaphor for Education and Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hube, Amy M.; Tremblay, Kenneth R., Jr.; Leigh, Katharine E.

2015-01-01

Design solutions have become increasingly complex and based on a rapidly growing body of knowledge. In order to articulate a design solution to a client, the graphic use of the design narrative can effectively communicate complex ideas. Two case study interventions were conducted in an interior design program in which students were introduced to…

Group Work Education in Social Work: A Review of the Literature Reveals Possible Solutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaRocque, Sarah E.

2017-01-01

This article examines the growing concerns in the literature that traditional group work education in social work is not providing the foundational knowledge, skills, evidence-based practice, professional uses of self, and adherence to practice standards necessary for effective group practice. An exploration of the best available evidence on group…

Influences of Constructivist-Oriented Nutrition Education on Urban Middle School Students' Nutrition Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCaughtry, Nate; Fahlman, Mariane; Martin, Jeffrey J.; Shen, Bo

2011-01-01

Background: Health professionals are looking to nutrition-based youth health interventions in K-12 schools to combat the growing obesity crisis; however, none have explored the influences of interventions guided by constructivist learning theory. Purpose: This study examined the influences of a constructivist-oriented nutrition education program…

Evaluating Evidence-Based Practice Knowledge and Beliefs Through the e-Learning EBP Academy.

PubMed

Green, Angela; Jeffs, Debra A; Boateng, Beatrice A; Lowe, Gary R; Walden, Marlene

2017-07-01

This research examined evidence-based practice (EBP) knowledge and beliefs before and after a 3-month e-learning program was implemented to build EBP capacity at a large children's hospital. Ten clinicians completed the development, implementation, and evaluation of the e-learning education, comprising phase one. Revision and participation by 41 clinicians followed in phase two. Participants in both phases completed the EBP Beliefs and Implementation Scales preintervention, postintervention, and 6 months after postintervention. EBP beliefs and implementation increased immediately and 6 months after postintervention, with statistically significant increases in both phases. Participants in both phases applied knowledge by completing mentor-supported EBP projects. Although EBP beliefs and implementation scores increased and e-learning provided flexibility for clinician participation, challenges arose, resulting in lower-than-expected completion. Subsequent revisions resulted in hybrid education, integrating classroom and e-learning with project mentoring. This funded e-learning research contributes knowledge to the growing specialty of professional development. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(7):304-311. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Experimental evidence on the impact of food advertising on children's knowledge about and preferences for healthful food.

PubMed

Reisch, Lucia A; Gwozdz, Wencke; Barba, Gianvincenzo; De Henauw, Stefaan; Lascorz, Natalia; Pigeot, Iris

2013-01-01

To understand the rising prevalence of childhood obesity in affluent societies, it is necessary to take into account the growing obesity infrastructure, which over past decades has developed into an obesogenic environment. This study examines the effects of one of the constituent factors of consumer societies and a potential contributory factor to childhood obesity: commercial food communication targeted to children. Specifically, it investigates the impact of TV advertising on children's food knowledge and food preferences and correlates these findings with their weight status. Evaluations of traditional information- and education-based interventions suggest that they may not sustainably change food patterns. Based on prior consumer research, we propose five hypotheses, which we then test using a subsample from the IDEFICS study, a large-scale pan-European intervention study on childhood obesity. The results indicate that advertising has divergent effects on children's food knowledge and preferences and that food knowledge is unrelated to food preferences. This finding has important implications for both future research and public policy.

Identifying Liver Cancer and Its Relations with Diseases, Drugs, and Genes: A Literature-Based Approach

PubMed Central

Song, Min

2016-01-01

In biomedicine, scientific literature is a valuable source for knowledge discovery. Mining knowledge from textual data has become an ever important task as the volume of scientific literature is growing unprecedentedly. In this paper, we propose a framework for examining a certain disease based on existing information provided by scientific literature. Disease-related entities that include diseases, drugs, and genes are systematically extracted and analyzed using a three-level network-based approach. A paper-entity network and an entity co-occurrence network (macro-level) are explored and used to construct six entity specific networks (meso-level). Important diseases, drugs, and genes as well as salient entity relations (micro-level) are identified from these networks. Results obtained from the literature-based literature mining can serve to assist clinical applications. PMID:27195695

Introduction of knowledge bases in patient's data management system: role of the user interface.

PubMed

Chambrin, M C; Ravaux, P; Jaborska, A; Beugnet, C; Lestavel, P; Chopin, C; Boniface, M

1995-02-01

As the number of signals and data to be handled grows in intensive care unit, it is necessary to design more powerful computing systems that integrate and summarize all this information. The manual input of data as e.g. clinical signs and drug prescription and the synthetic representation of these data requires an ever more sophisticated user interface. The introduction of knowledge bases in the data management allows to conceive contextual interfaces. The objective of this paper is to show the importance of the design of the user interface, in the daily use of clinical information system. Then we describe a methodology that uses the man-machine interaction to capture the clinician knowledge during the clinical practice. The different steps are the audit of the user's actions, the elaboration of statistic models allowing the definition of new knowledge, and the validation that is performed before complete integration. A part of this knowledge can be used to improve the user interface. Finally, we describe the implementation of these concepts on a UNIX platform using OSF/MOTIF graphical interface.

Bedside, classroom and bench: collaborative strategies to generate evidence-based knowledge for nursing practice.

PubMed

Weaver, Charlotte A; Warren, Judith J; Delaney, Connie

2005-12-01

The rise of evidence-base practice (EBP) as a standard for care delivery is rapidly emerging as a global phenomenon that is transcending political, economic and geographic boundaries. Evidence-based nursing (EBN) addresses the growing body of nursing knowledge supported by different levels of evidence for best practices in nursing care. Across all health care, including nursing, we face the challenge of how to most effectively close the gap between what is known and what is practiced. There is extensive literature on the barriers and difficulties of translating research findings into practical application. While the literature refers to this challenge as the "Bench to Bedside" lag, this paper presents three collaborative strategies that aim to minimize this gap. The Bedside strategy proposes to use the data generated from care delivery and captured in the massive data repositories of electronic health record (EHR) systems as empirical evidence that can be analysed to discover and then inform best practice. In the Classroom strategy, we present a description for how evidence-based nursing knowledge is taught in a baccalaureate nursing program. And finally, the Bench strategy describes applied informatics in converting paper-based EBN protocols into the workflow of clinical information systems. Protocols are translated into reference and executable knowledge with the goal of placing the latest scientific knowledge at the fingertips of front line clinicians. In all three strategies, information technology (IT) is presented as the underlying tool that makes this rapid translation of nursing knowledge into practice and education feasible.

Hypoxia-based strategies for regenerative dentistry-Views from the different dental fields.

PubMed

Müller, Anna Sonja; Janjić, Klara; Lilaj, Bledar; Edelmayer, Michael; Agis, Hermann

2017-09-01

The understanding of the cell biological processes underlying development and regeneration of oral tissues leads to novel regenerative approaches. Over the past years, knowledge on key roles of the hypoxia-based response has become more profound. Based on these findings, novel regenerative approaches for dentistry are emerging, which target cellular oxygen sensors. These approaches include hypoxia pre-conditioning and pharmacologically simulated hypoxia. The increase in studies on hypoxia and hypoxia-based strategies in regenerative dentistry highlights the growing attention to hypoxia's role in regeneration and its underlying biology, as well as its application in a therapeutic setting. In this narrative review, we present the current knowledge on the role of hypoxia in oral tissues and review the proposed hypoxia-based approaches in different fields of dentistry, including endodontics, orthodontics, periodontics, and oral surgery. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A knowledge-based control system for air-scour optimisation in membrane bioreactors.

PubMed

Ferrero, G; Monclús, H; Sancho, L; Garrido, J M; Comas, J; Rodríguez-Roda, I

2011-01-01

Although membrane bioreactors (MBRs) technology is still a growing sector, its progressive implementation all over the world, together with great technical achievements, has allowed it to reach a mature degree, just comparable to other more conventional wastewater treatment technologies. With current energy requirements around 0.6-1.1 kWh/m3 of treated wastewater and investment costs similar to conventional treatment plants, main market niche for MBRs can be areas with very high restrictive discharge limits, where treatment plants have to be compact or where water reuse is necessary. Operational costs are higher than for conventional treatments; consequently there is still a need and possibilities for energy saving and optimisation. This paper presents the development of a knowledge-based decision support system (DSS) for the integrated operation and remote control of the biological and physical (filtration and backwashing or relaxation) processes in MBRs. The core of the DSS is a knowledge-based control module for air-scour consumption automation and energy consumption minimisation.

Semi-automated knowledge discovery: identifying and profiling human trafficking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poelmans, Jonas; Elzinga, Paul; Ignatov, Dmitry I.; Kuznetsov, Sergei O.

2012-11-01

We propose an iterative and human-centred knowledge discovery methodology based on formal concept analysis. The proposed approach recognizes the important role of the domain expert in mining real-world enterprise applications and makes use of specific domain knowledge, including human intelligence and domain-specific constraints. Our approach was empirically validated at the Amsterdam-Amstelland police to identify suspects and victims of human trafficking in 266,157 suspicious activity reports. Based on guidelines of the Attorney Generals of the Netherlands, we first defined multiple early warning indicators that were used to index the police reports. Using concept lattices, we revealed numerous unknown human trafficking and loverboy suspects. In-depth investigation by the police resulted in a confirmation of their involvement in illegal activities resulting in actual arrestments been made. Our human-centred approach was embedded into operational policing practice and is now successfully used on a daily basis to cope with the vastly growing amount of unstructured information.

Investigating a redesigned physics course for future elementary teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fracchiolla, Claudia

There is a growing concern that the number of students graduating with a STEM major in the U.S. is insufficient to fill the growing demand in STEM careers. In order to fulfill that demand, it is important to increase student retention in STEM majors and also to attract more students to pursue careers in those areas. Previous research has indicated that children start losing interest in science at the elementary level because science is taught with a focus on learning vocabulary and ideas rather than learning through inquiry-based techniques. A factor that affects the quality of science education at the elementary level is the preparation of elementary teachers. Many elementary teachers feel unprepared to teach science because they lack adequate content knowledge as well as the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching the subject. Previous studies of teacher preparation in science identified some areas with which pre-service teachers need assistance. One of these areas is understanding children's ideas of science. To address that issue, this dissertation investigates whether the use of an instructional approach that teaches physics phenomena along with an understanding of how children think about the physical phenomena promotes changes in students' knowledge of children's ideas and use of those ideas in instructional and assessment strategies. Results indicated that students who were explicitly exposed to knowledge of children's ideas more often incorporated those ideas into their own microteaching and demonstrated higher levels of sophistication of knowledge of children's ideas, instructional strategies, and assessment strategies that incorporated those ideas. This research explores an instructional model for blending physics content and pedagogical content knowledge.

Does Competency-Based Education Have a Role in Academic Pharmacy in the United States?

PubMed Central

Medina, Melissa S.

2017-01-01

Competency-based Education (CBE) is an educational model that allows students to learn and demonstrate their abilities at their own pace. CBE is growing in popularity in undergraduate educational programs and its role in pharmacy education in the United States (US) is under review. In comparison, medical education is utilizing competency-based approaches (such as competencies and Entrustable Professional Activities) to ensure that students possess the required knowledge, skills, and attitudes prior to graduation or program completion. The concept of competency-based approaches is growing in use in pharmacy education in the US, but the future related to aspects of this concept (e.g., mandatory Entrustable Professional Activities) is not certain. A review of pharmacy education’s evolution in the US and a comparison of competency-related terms offers insight into the future use of competency-based approaches and CBE in pharmacy education in the US through the lens of benefits and challenges. PMID:28970425

Academic Readiness Indicators: Implications for State Policy. Policy Brief 2013-1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Di Giacomo, F. Tony; Linn, Dane; Monthey, Wanda; Pack, Catherine; Wyatt, Jeffrey

2013-01-01

In recent decades, the United States economy has undergone a dramatic shift to a knowledge-based economy that, when coupled with simultaneous, rapid globalization, has created a greater demand for a more educated and skilled workforce. The share of U.S. jobs requiring some level of postsecondary education is expected to grow to 63% in the next…

Sunderland Software City: An Innovative Approach to Knowledge Exchange in the North East of England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Lynne; Irons, Alastair; MacIntyre, John; Sellers, Charles; Smith, Peter

2010-01-01

This paper presents a collaborative initiative within the North East of England which aims to grow and sustain a software industry, based on the strengths of regional players, including in particular the local university. The project Sunderland Software City has the ambitious aim of developing the people, the infrastructure and the business and…

Review of Research on Educational Leadership and Management in Hong Kong, 1995-2012: Topographical Analysis of an Emergent Knowledge Base

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallinger, Philip; Lee, Tai Hoi Theodor; Szeto, Elson

2013-01-01

A recent study of scholarship on educational leadership and management in East Asia identified a rapidly growing corpus of published studies focusing on educational leadership and management in Hong Kong. This article undertakes a "topographical analysis" of this literature with the aim of describing the nature of topics and research…

Design Concerns in the Engineering of Virtual Worlds for Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapanotti, Lucia; Hall, Jon G.

2011-01-01

The convergence of 3D simulation and social networking into current multi-user virtual environments has opened the door to new forms of interaction for learning in order to complement the face-to-face and Web 2.0-based systems. Yet, despite a growing user community, design knowledge for virtual worlds remains patchy, particularly when it comes to…

The growing knowledge base for limber pine - recent advances

Treesearch

Anna W. Schoettle

2016-01-01

Progress is being made to build the science foundation for effective limber pine management. The power of repeated monitoring assessments now provides valuable condition trends for limber pine (Smith et al. 2013, Cleaver et al. 2015). In Canada, the proportion of dead limber pine increased from 2003-2004 and 2009 and WPBR infection increased from 33% to 43% putting...

Distance Guidance for Lifelong Learners in Hong Kong: Development of an Online Programme Preference Assessment Instrument

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Weiyuan; Ng, Tak-Kay

2006-01-01

In order to build a knowledge-based society and meet the needs of lifelong education, open learning opportunities are growing at exponential rates. While such growth is commendable, there appears to be a very strong demand for distance guidance services in open education programme selection. The purpose of this study was to develop the online…

Education as a Practice of Freedom: Reflections on bell hooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Specia, Akello; Osman, Ahmed A.

2015-01-01

This paper critically analyses the conceptions of bell hooks on education. It focuses on the relevance of hook's ideas to the classroom. It is a theoretical paper based on secondary data that seeks to contribute to the growing body of knowledge in education. The paper is a reflection of hook's reaction to education as a practice of freedom, the…

Discovering relevance knowledge in data: a growing cell structures approach.

PubMed

Azuaje, F; Dubitzky, W; Black, N; Adamson, K

2000-01-01

Both information retrieval and case-based reasoning systems rely on effective and efficient selection of relevant data. Typically, relevance in such systems is approximated by similarity or indexing models. However, the definition of what makes data items similar or how they should be indexed is often nontrivial and time-consuming. Based on growing cell structure artificial neural networks, this paper presents a method that automatically constructs a case retrieval model from existing data. Within the case-based reasoning (CBR) framework, the method is evaluated for two medical prognosis tasks, namely, colorectal cancer survival and coronary heart disease risk prognosis. The results of the experiments suggest that the proposed method is effective and robust. To gain a deeper insight and understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the proposed model, a detailed empirical analysis of the models structural and behavioral properties is also provided.

A University-Industry Collaborative Response to the Growing Global Demand for Student Talent: Using Interpretive Phenomenology to Discover Life-World Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vauterin, Johanna Julia; Linnanen, Lassi; Michelsen, Karl-Erik

2013-01-01

The supply of student talent is now taking on an increasingly global dimension and this has extended the breadth of university-industry interaction. Set in the context of a rapidly growing international student market, knowledge transfer between academia and business through global student talent supply is an emerging practice. This paper…

[Application of entropy-weight TOPSIS model in synthetical quality evaluation of Angelica sinensis growing in Gansu Province].

PubMed

Gu, Zhi-rong; Wang, Ya-li; Sun, Yu-jing; Dind, Jun-xia

2014-09-01

To investigate the establishment and application methods of entropy-weight TOPSIS model in synthetical quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine with Angelica sinensis growing in Gansu Province as an example. The contents of ferulic acid, 3-butylphthalide, Z-butylidenephthalide, Z-ligustilide, linolic acid, volatile oil, and ethanol soluble extractive were used as an evaluation index set. The weights of each evaluation index were determined by information entropy method. The entropyweight TOPSIS model was established to synthetically evaluate the quality of Angelica sinensis growing in Gansu Province by Euclid closeness degree. The results based on established model were in line with the daodi meaning and the knowledge of clinical experience. The established model was simple in calculation, objective, reliable, and can be applied to synthetical quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine.

Story-Telling for Science: One Scientist's Story

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alley, R. B.

2014-12-01

Science is the most successful way humans have developed to understand the world, and application of the knowledge gained has been essential in allowing a few million hunter-gatherers become a few billion grower-builders. Yet, at least anecdotally, there is a growing tendency for many people to reject science without knowing what they are rejecting, and the ranks of scientists are thinned by having so many students arrive at our universities neither prepared to study science nor open to the possibility of doing so. This growing gap represents a growing opportunity for scientists to use their expertise in the service of humanity. Based on my experience, the biggest requirement for scientists to do so is simply to engage, but engagement is more successful in teamwork with experienced communicators and unexpected voices, and using narrative and history.

A community effort towards a knowledge-base and mathematical model of the human pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium LT2.

PubMed

Thiele, Ines; Hyduke, Daniel R; Steeb, Benjamin; Fankam, Guy; Allen, Douglas K; Bazzani, Susanna; Charusanti, Pep; Chen, Feng-Chi; Fleming, Ronan M T; Hsiung, Chao A; De Keersmaecker, Sigrid C J; Liao, Yu-Chieh; Marchal, Kathleen; Mo, Monica L; Özdemir, Emre; Raghunathan, Anu; Reed, Jennifer L; Shin, Sook-il; Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Sara; Steinmann, Jonas; Sudarsan, Suresh; Swainston, Neil; Thijs, Inge M; Zengler, Karsten; Palsson, Bernhard O; Adkins, Joshua N; Bumann, Dirk

2011-01-18

Metabolic reconstructions (MRs) are common denominators in systems biology and represent biochemical, genetic, and genomic (BiGG) knowledge-bases for target organisms by capturing currently available information in a consistent, structured manner. Salmonella enterica subspecies I serovar Typhimurium is a human pathogen, causes various diseases and its increasing antibiotic resistance poses a public health problem. Here, we describe a community-driven effort, in which more than 20 experts in S. Typhimurium biology and systems biology collaborated to reconcile and expand the S. Typhimurium BiGG knowledge-base. The consensus MR was obtained starting from two independently developed MRs for S. Typhimurium. Key results of this reconstruction jamboree include i) development and implementation of a community-based workflow for MR annotation and reconciliation; ii) incorporation of thermodynamic information; and iii) use of the consensus MR to identify potential multi-target drug therapy approaches. Taken together, with the growing number of parallel MRs a structured, community-driven approach will be necessary to maximize quality while increasing adoption of MRs in experimental design and interpretation.

A community effort towards a knowledge-base and mathematical model of the human pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium LT2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thiele, Ines; Hyduke, Daniel R.; Steeb, Benjamin

2011-01-01

Metabolic reconstructions (MRs) are common denominators in systems biology and represent biochemical, genetic, and genomic (BiGG) knowledge-bases for target organisms by capturing currently available information in a consistent, structured manner. Salmonella enterica subspecies I serovar Typhimurium is a human pathogen, causes various diseases and its increasing antibiotic resistance poses a public health problem. Here, we describe a community-driven effort, in which more than 20 experts in S. Typhimurium biology and systems biology collaborated to reconcile and expand the S. Typhimurium BiGG knowledge-base. The consensus MR was obtained starting from two independently developed MRs for S. Typhimurium. Key results of thismore » reconstruction jamboree include i) development and implementation of a community-based workflow for MR annotation and reconciliation; ii) incorporation of thermodynamic information; and iii) use of the consensus MR to identify potential multi-target drug therapy approaches. Finally, taken together, with the growing number of parallel MRs a structured, community-driven approach will be necessary to maximize quality while increasing adoption of MRs in experimental design and interpretation.« less

Collaborating to Compete: Achieving Effective Knowledge Sharing in Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laycock, Martyn

2005-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to present a practitioner overview of the challenges and growing strategic importance of knowledge and knowledge sharing in organizations, considering roles of learning, and in particular networks, together with collaboration in the development of sustainable competitive edge through knowledge, knowledge management and the…

Role of genomics in cardiovascular medicine

PubMed Central

Novelli, Giuseppe; Predazzi, Irene M; Mango, Ruggiero; Romeo, Francesco; Mehta, Jawahar L

2010-01-01

As all branches of science grow and new experimental techniques become readily accessible, our knowledge of medicine is likely to increase exponentially in the coming years. Recently developed technologies have revolutionized our analytical capacities, leading to vast knowledge of many genes or genomic regions involved in the pathogenesis of congenital heart diseases, which are often associated with other genetic syndromes, coronary artery disease and non-ischemic cardiomyopathies and channelopathies. The knowledge-base of the genesis of cardiovascular diseases is likely going to be further revolutionized in this new era of genomic medicine. Here, we review the advances that have been made over the last several years in this field and discuss different genetic mechanisms that have been shown to underlie a variety of cardiovascular diseases. PMID:21191544

Double-edged sword of interdisciplinary knowledge flow from hard sciences to humanities and social sciences: Evidence from China

PubMed Central

Liu, Meijun; Shi, Dongbo

2017-01-01

Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) increasingly absorb knowledge from Hard Sciences, i.e., Science, Technology, Agriculture and Medicine (STAM), as testified by a growing number of citations. However, whether citing more Hard Sciences brings more citations to HSS remains to be investigated. Based on China’s HSS articles indexed by the Web of Science during 1998–2014, this paper estimated two-way fixed effects negative binomial models, with journal effects and year effects. Findings include: (1) An inverse U-shaped curve was observed between the percentage of STAM references to the HSS articles and the number of citations they received; (2) STAM contributed increasing knowledge to China’s HSS, while Science and Technology knowledge contributed more citations to HSS articles. It is recommended that research policy should be adjusted to encourage HSS researchers to adequately integrate STAM knowledge when conducting interdisciplinary research, as over-cited STAM knowledge may jeopardize the readability of HSS articles. PMID:28934277

Double-edged sword of interdisciplinary knowledge flow from hard sciences to humanities and social sciences: Evidence from China.

PubMed

Liu, Meijun; Shi, Dongbo; Li, Jiang

2017-01-01

Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) increasingly absorb knowledge from Hard Sciences, i.e., Science, Technology, Agriculture and Medicine (STAM), as testified by a growing number of citations. However, whether citing more Hard Sciences brings more citations to HSS remains to be investigated. Based on China's HSS articles indexed by the Web of Science during 1998-2014, this paper estimated two-way fixed effects negative binomial models, with journal effects and year effects. Findings include: (1) An inverse U-shaped curve was observed between the percentage of STAM references to the HSS articles and the number of citations they received; (2) STAM contributed increasing knowledge to China's HSS, while Science and Technology knowledge contributed more citations to HSS articles. It is recommended that research policy should be adjusted to encourage HSS researchers to adequately integrate STAM knowledge when conducting interdisciplinary research, as over-cited STAM knowledge may jeopardize the readability of HSS articles.

Enhancing Systems Engineering Education Through Case Study Writing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevens, Jennifer Stenger

2016-01-01

Developing and refining methods for teaching systems engineering is part of Systems Engineering grand challenges and agenda for research in the SE research community. Retention of systems engineering knowledge is a growing concern in the United States as the baby boom generation continues to retire and the faster pace of technology development does not allow for younger generations to gain experiential knowledge through years of practice. Government agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), develop their own curricula and SE leadership development programs to "grow their own" systems engineers. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) conducts its own Center-focused Marshall Systems Engineering Leadership Development Program (MSELDP), a competitive program consisting of coursework, a guest lecture series, and a rotational assignment into an unfamiliar organization engaged in systems engineering. Independently, MSFC developed two courses to address knowledge retention and sharing concerns: Real World Marshall Mission Success course and its Case Study Writers Workshop and Writers Experience. Teaching case study writing and leading students through a hands-on experience at writing a case study on an SE topic can enhance SE training and has the potential to accelerate the transfer of experiential knowledge. This paper is an overview of the pilot experiences with teaching case study writing, its application in case study-based learning, and identifies potential areas of research and application for case study writing in systems engineering education.

Exploring arts-based knowledge translation: sharing research findings through performing the patterns, rehearsing the results, staging the synthesis.

PubMed

Rieger, Kendra; Schultz, Annette S H

2014-04-01

Cultivation of knowledge translation (KT) strategies that actively engage health professionals in critical reflection of their practice and research-based evidence are imperative to address the research-practice gap. While research-based evidence is exponentially growing, our ability to facilitate uptake by nurses and other health professionals has not kept pace. Innovative approaches that extend epistemological bias beyond a singular standpoint of postpositivism, such as the utilization of arts-based methods, expand the possibility to address the complexities of context, engage audience members, promote dissemination within communities of practice, and foster new audiences interested in research findings. In this paper, we address the importance of adopting a social constructivist epistemological stance to facilitate knowledge translation to diverse audiences, explore various arts-based knowledge translation (ABKT) strategies, and open a dialogue concerning evaluative tenets of ABKT. ABKT utilizes various art forms to disseminate research knowledge to diverse audiences and promote evidence-informed practice. ABKT initiatives translate knowledge not based upon a linear model, which views knowledge as an objective entity, but rather operate from the premise that knowledge is socially situated, which demands acknowledging and engaging the learner within their context. Theatre, dance, photography, and poetry are art forms that are commonly used to communicate research findings to diverse audiences. Given the emerging interest and importance of utilizing this KT strategy situated within a social constructivist epistemology, potential challenges and plausible evaluative criteria specific to ABKT are presented. ABKT is an emerging KT strategy that is grounded in social constructivist epistemological tenets, and holds potential for meaningfully sharing new research knowledge with diverse audiences. ABKT is an innovative and synergistic approach to traditional dissemination strategies. This creative KT approach is emerging as potent transformational learning tools that are congruent with the relational nature of nursing practice. ABKT facilitates learning about new research findings in an engaging and critical reflective manner that promotes learning within communities of practice. © 2014 Sigma Theta Tau International.

MoFvAb: Modeling the Fv region of antibodies

PubMed Central

Bujotzek, Alexander; Fuchs, Angelika; Qu, Changtao; Benz, Jörg; Klostermann, Stefan; Antes, Iris; Georges, Guy

2015-01-01

Knowledge of the 3-dimensional structure of the antigen-binding region of antibodies enables numerous useful applications regarding the design and development of antibody-based drugs. We present a knowledge-based antibody structure prediction methodology that incorporates concepts that have arisen from an applied antibody engineering environment. The protocol exploits the rich and continuously growing supply of experimentally derived antibody structures available to predict CDR loop conformations and the packing of heavy and light chain quickly and without user intervention. The homology models are refined by a novel antibody-specific approach to adapt and rearrange sidechains based on their chemical environment. The method achieves very competitive all-atom root mean square deviation values in the order of 1.5 Å on different evaluation datasets consisting of both known and previously unpublished antibody crystal structures. PMID:26176812

Contributing Knowledge and Knowledge Workers: The Role of Chinese Universities in the Knowledge Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Shuang-Ye

2012-01-01

As China has appeared only recently as an important knowledge producer with growing global economic significance, little is known internationally about how these processes develop and are managed within China. The rapidly expanding Chinese higher education system is playing an increasingly important role in China's knowledge economy and therefore…

Organizational change tactics: the evidence base in the literature.

PubMed

Packard, Thomas; Shih, Amber

2014-01-01

Planned organizational change processes can be used to address the many challenges facing human service organizations (HSOs) and improve organizational outcomes. There is massive literature on organizational change, ranging from popular management books to academic research on specific aspects of change. Regarding HSOs, there is a growing literature, including increasing attention to implementation science and evidence-based practices. However, research which offers generalizable, evidence-based guidelines for implementing change is not common. The purpose of the authors was to assess the evidence base in this organizational change literature to lay the groundwork for more systematic knowledge development in this important field.

Remote Control Childhood? Combating the Hazards of Media Culture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Diane E.

Ever since television became a daily staple of U.S. family life, its influence on children has been the subject of study and debate. No aspect of the debate has been more heated than violence in the media. But a growing knowledge base has shifted the focus of the debate from whether media violence contributes to violence in real life to what can…

Promoting Proper Education for Sustainability: An Exploratory Study of ICT Enhanced Problem Based Learning in a Developing Country

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roy, Amit; Kihoza, Patrick; Suhonen, Jarkko; Vesisenaho, Mikko; Tukiaianen, Markku

2014-01-01

One of the goals of education is to create responsible citizens who can adequately understand the problems faced by their societies and who can then act to help solve them. Such behaviour can be fostered through proper education that facilitates expert knowledge about social issues, nurtures the ability to think critically and grows the skills…

Asymmetries of Knowledge and Epistemic Change in Social Gaming Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piirainen-Marsh, Arja; Tainio, Liisa

2014-01-01

While a growing number of studies investigate the role of knowledge and interactional management of knowledge asymmetries in conversation analysis, the epistemic organization of multilingual and second language interactions is still largely unexplored. This article addresses this issue by investigating how knowledge asymmetries and changing…

Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Food Advertising on Children's Knowledge about and Preferences for Healthful Food

PubMed Central

Reisch, Lucia A.; Gwozdz, Wencke; De Henauw, Stefaan; Lascorz, Natalia; Pigeot, Iris

2013-01-01

To understand the rising prevalence of childhood obesity in affluent societies, it is necessary to take into account the growing obesity infrastructure, which over past decades has developed into an obesogenic environment. This study examines the effects of one of the constituent factors of consumer societies and a potential contributory factor to childhood obesity: commercial food communication targeted to children. Specifically, it investigates the impact of TV advertising on children's food knowledge and food preferences and correlates these findings with their weight status. Evaluations of traditional information- and education-based interventions suggest that they may not sustainably change food patterns. Based on prior consumer research, we propose five hypotheses, which we then test using a subsample from the IDEFICS study, a large-scale pan-European intervention study on childhood obesity. The results indicate that advertising has divergent effects on children's food knowledge and preferences and that food knowledge is unrelated to food preferences. This finding has important implications for both future research and public policy. PMID:23691285

Autonomous mental development with selective attention, object perception, and knowledge representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ban, Sang-Woo; Lee, Minho

2008-04-01

Knowledge-based clustering and autonomous mental development remains a high priority research topic, among which the learning techniques of neural networks are used to achieve optimal performance. In this paper, we present a new framework that can automatically generate a relevance map from sensory data that can represent knowledge regarding objects and infer new knowledge about novel objects. The proposed model is based on understating of the visual what pathway in our brain. A stereo saliency map model can selectively decide salient object areas by additionally considering local symmetry feature. The incremental object perception model makes clusters for the construction of an ontology map in the color and form domains in order to perceive an arbitrary object, which is implemented by the growing fuzzy topology adaptive resonant theory (GFTART) network. Log-polar transformed color and form features for a selected object are used as inputs of the GFTART. The clustered information is relevant to describe specific objects, and the proposed model can automatically infer an unknown object by using the learned information. Experimental results with real data have demonstrated the validity of this approach.

Students' inductive reasoning skills and the relevance of prior knowledge: an exploratory study with a computer-based training course on the topic of acne vulgaris.

PubMed

Horn-Ritzinger, Sabine; Bernhardt, Johannes; Horn, Michael; Smolle, Josef

2011-04-01

The importance of inductive instruction in medical education is increasingly growing. Little is known about the relevance of prior knowledge regarding students' inductive reasoning abilities. The purpose is to evaluate this inductive teaching method as a means of fostering higher levels of learning and to explore how individual differences in prior knowledge (high [HPK] vs. low [LPK]) contribute to students' inductive reasoning skills. Twenty-six LPK and 18 HPK students could train twice with an interactive computer-based training object to discover the underlying concept before doing the final comprehension check. Students had a median of 76.9% of correct answers in the first, 90.9% in the second training, and answered 92% of the final assessment questions correctly. More important, 86% of all students succeeded with inductive learning, among them 83% of the HPK students and 89% of the LPK students. Prior knowledge did not predict performance on overall comprehension. This inductive instructional strategy fostered students' deep approaches to learning in a time-effective way.

Embedding evidence-based practice among nursing undergraduates: Results from a pilot study.

PubMed

André, Beate; Aune, Anne G; Brænd, Jorunn A

2016-05-01

Evidence-based practice is currently one of the most important developments in health care. Research in nursing science is rapidly growing; however, translating the knowledge based on this research into clinical practice is often hampered, and may be dependent on reflective skills. The aim of this study was to see how undergraduate nursing students in nursing should increase their skills and knowledge related to evidence-based practice through participation in clinical research projects. A qualitative approach was used in collecting and analyzing the data. Students participated in a pilot clinical research project and a received guidance related to their bachelor thesis. After the project was completed, all students filled in a questionnaire. The students' motivation to participate in this study was reported to be high, but they reported low knowledge related to evidence-based practice. All students reported that their attitude towards evidence-based practice changed in a positive direction during their participation in the project. Evidence-based practice influenced nursing practices by putting more focus on critical thinking, increasing pride and giving a sense of ownership in the clinical field. The curricula and the pedagogical perspectives in nursing education can influence the attitude towards evidence-based practice and skills among nursing bachelor students. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Semantic Data Integration and Knowledge Management to Represent Biological Network Associations.

PubMed

Losko, Sascha; Heumann, Klaus

2017-01-01

The vast quantities of information generated by academic and industrial research groups are reflected in a rapidly growing body of scientific literature and exponentially expanding resources of formalized data, including experimental data, originating from a multitude of "-omics" platforms, phenotype information, and clinical data. For bioinformatics, the challenge remains to structure this information so that scientists can identify relevant information, to integrate this information as specific "knowledge bases," and to formalize this knowledge across multiple scientific domains to facilitate hypothesis generation and validation. Here we report on progress made in building a generic knowledge management environment capable of representing and mining both explicit and implicit knowledge and, thus, generating new knowledge. Risk management in drug discovery and clinical research is used as a typical example to illustrate this approach. In this chapter we introduce techniques and concepts (such as ontologies, semantic objects, typed relationships, contexts, graphs, and information layers) that are used to represent complex biomedical networks. The BioXM™ Knowledge Management Environment is used as an example to demonstrate how a domain such as oncology is represented and how this representation is utilized for research.

New Method for Knowledge Management Focused on Communication Pattern in Product Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noguchi, Takashi; Shiba, Hajime

In the field of manufacturing, the importance of utilizing knowledge and know-how has been growing. To meet this background, there is a need for new methods to efficiently accumulate and extract effective knowledge and know-how. To facilitate the extraction of knowledge and know-how needed by engineers, we first defined business process information which includes schedule/progress information, document data, information about communication among parties concerned, and information which corresponds to these three types of information. Based on our definitions, we proposed an IT system (FlexPIM: Flexible and collaborative Process Information Management) to register and accumulate business process information with the least effort. In order to efficiently extract effective information from huge volumes of accumulated business process information, focusing attention on “actions” and communication patterns, we propose a new extraction method using communication patterns. And the validity of this method has been verified for some communication patterns.

Education for eHealth--a status analysis.

PubMed

Herzog, Juliane; Pohn, Birgit; Forjan, Mathias; Sauermann, Stefan; Urbauer, Philipp

2014-01-01

eHealth is not only a growing market, but also an important factor for new healthcare systems. National and European initiatives implicitly demand a higher level of knowledge in the areas of healthcare, engineering and management. As part of the eLearning4eHealth project an initial web based study was performed concentrating on European and global eHealth related educational programs. The results show that eHealth related courses do not evenly exist for the identified professions. 43% of the offered programs are focused on the engineering sector, whereas only 21% are available for the management sector. In order to offer compatible and comparable state of knowledge in the identified fields of profession and knowledge, further educational programs may be necessary. Despite the found shortcomings, results have shown that international activities have started in order to close the gaps and improve the quality of knowledge in the interdisciplinary field of eHealth.

A Game of Thrones: Organising and Legitimising Knowledge through PISA Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mølstad, Christina E.; Pettersson, Daniel; Forsberg, Eva

2017-01-01

This study investigates knowledge structures and scientific communication using bibliometric methods to explore scientific knowledge production and dissemination. The aim is to develop knowledge about this growing field by investigating studies using international large-scale assessment (ILSA) data, with a specific focus on those using Programme…

Foundation Content Knowledge: What Do Pre-Service Teachers Need to Know?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linsell, Chris; Anakin, Megan

2013-01-01

The mathematics content knowledge of pre-service teachers is a growing area of inquiry. This topic requires further theoretical development due to the limited applicability of current cognitive and practice-oriented frameworks of mathematics content knowledge to beginning pre-service teachers. Foundation content knowledge is an integrated,…

Toward Scalable Trustworthy Computing Using the Human-Physiology-Immunity Metaphor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hively, Lee M; Sheldon, Frederick T

The cybersecurity landscape consists of an ad hoc patchwork of solutions. Optimal cybersecurity is difficult for various reasons: complexity, immense data and processing requirements, resource-agnostic cloud computing, practical time-space-energy constraints, inherent flaws in 'Maginot Line' defenses, and the growing number and sophistication of cyberattacks. This article defines the high-priority problems and examines the potential solution space. In that space, achieving scalable trustworthy computing and communications is possible through real-time knowledge-based decisions about cyber trust. This vision is based on the human-physiology-immunity metaphor and the human brain's ability to extract knowledge from data and information. The article outlines future steps towardmore » scalable trustworthy systems requiring a long-term commitment to solve the well-known challenges.« less

Expert system and process optimization techniques for real-time monitoring and control of plasma processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Jie; Qian, Zhaogang; Irani, Keki B.; Etemad, Hossein; Elta, Michael E.

1991-03-01

To meet the ever-increasing demand of the rapidly-growing semiconductor manufacturing industry it is critical to have a comprehensive methodology integrating techniques for process optimization real-time monitoring and adaptive process control. To this end we have accomplished an integrated knowledge-based approach combining latest expert system technology machine learning method and traditional statistical process control (SPC) techniques. This knowledge-based approach is advantageous in that it makes it possible for the task of process optimization and adaptive control to be performed consistently and predictably. Furthermore this approach can be used to construct high-level and qualitative description of processes and thus make the process behavior easy to monitor predict and control. Two software packages RIST (Rule Induction and Statistical Testing) and KARSM (Knowledge Acquisition from Response Surface Methodology) have been developed and incorporated with two commercially available packages G2 (real-time expert system) and ULTRAMAX (a tool for sequential process optimization).

Cross-disciplinary research in cancer: an opportunity to narrow the knowledge-practice gap.

PubMed

Urquhart, R; Grunfeld, E; Jackson, L; Sargeant, J; Porter, G A

2013-12-01

Health services researchers have consistently identified a gap between what is identified as "best practice" and what actually happens in clinical care. Despite nearly two decades of a growing evidence-based practice movement, narrowing the knowledge-practice gap continues to be a slow, complex, and poorly understood process. Here, we contend that cross-disciplinary research is increasingly relevant and important to reducing that gap, particularly research that encompasses the notion of transdisciplinarity, wherein multiple academic disciplines and non-academic individuals and groups are integrated into the research process. The assimilation of diverse perspectives, research approaches, and types of knowledge is potentially effective in helping research teams tackle real-world patient care issues, create more practice-based evidence, and translate the results to clinical and community care settings. The goals of this paper are to present and discuss cross-disciplinary approaches to health research and to provide two examples of how engaging in such research may optimize the use of research in cancer care.

Enhancing the prospective biology teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) through a peer coaching based model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anwar, Yenny

2018-05-01

This paper presents the results of implementation Peer Coaching Based Model that was implemented in development and Packaging Learning Tool program aimed at developing a Pedagogical Content Knowledge prospective teachers’ capabilities. Development and Packaging Learning Tool is a training program that applies various knowledge, attitude, and skill of students in order to form professional teacher. A need assessment was conducted to identify prospective teachers’ professional needs, especially PCK ability. Tests, questionnaires, interviews, field notes and video recordings were used in this research. The result indicated that the ability of Prospective teachers’ PCK has increased. This can be shown from the N-Gain that included in the medium category. This increase shows that there is integration of pedagogy and content; they have used varied strategies and can explain the reasons for its used. This means that the pattern belongs to the lower limit of the growing- PCK category. It is recommended to use peer coaching model during peer teaching.

There Is Still Nothing Better than Quality Play Experiences for Young Children's Learning and Development: Building the Foundation for Inquiry in Our Educational Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pistorova, Stacey; Slutsky, Ruslan

2018-01-01

Teachers face a growing call for implementing inquiry-based teaching and learning in a current pedagogical environment that contradicts this through educational practices that silo content, disseminate knowledge, and produce classrooms of passive learners. We address a hot topic in the United States on how a push for more "academics" is…

Confidence or Confusion: How Well Are Today's Newly Qualified Teachers in England Prepared to Meet the Additional Needs of Children in Schools?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacBlain, Sean; Purdy, Noel

2011-01-01

Faced with growing numbers of pupils with special needs, as well as those whose first language is not English, head teachers are increasingly faced with the challenge of employing Newly Qualified Teachers who require not only a different type of skills and knowledge base but the necessary personal qualities to effectively respond to the…

DOD Space Systems: Additional Knowledge Would Better Support Decisions about Disaggregating Large Satellites

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

considering new approaches. According to Air Force Space Command, U.S. space systems face intentional and unintentional threats , which have increased...life cycle costs • Demand for more satellites may stimulate new entrants and competition to lower acquisition costs. • Smaller, less complex...Fiscal constraints and growing threats to space systems have led DOD to consider alternatives for acquiring space-based capabilities, including

Model-based reasoning for system and software engineering: The Knowledge From Pictures (KFP) environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailin, Sydney; Paterra, Frank; Henderson, Scott; Truszkowski, Walt

1993-01-01

This paper presents a discussion of current work in the area of graphical modeling and model-based reasoning being undertaken by the Automation Technology Section, Code 522.3, at Goddard. The work was initially motivated by the growing realization that the knowledge acquisition process was a major bottleneck in the generation of fault detection, isolation, and repair (FDIR) systems for application in automated Mission Operations. As with most research activities this work started out with a simple objective: to develop a proof-of-concept system demonstrating that a draft rule-base for a FDIR system could be automatically realized by reasoning from a graphical representation of the system to be monitored. This work was called Knowledge From Pictures (KFP) (Truszkowski et. al. 1992). As the work has successfully progressed the KFP tool has become an environment populated by a set of tools that support a more comprehensive approach to model-based reasoning. This paper continues by giving an overview of the graphical modeling objectives of the work, describing the three tools that now populate the KFP environment, briefly presenting a discussion of related work in the field, and by indicating future directions for the KFP environment.

Reading and reading instruction for children from low-income and non-English-speaking households.

PubMed

Lesaux, Nonie K

2012-01-01

Although most young children seem to master reading skills in the early grades of elementary school, many struggle with texts as they move through middle school and high school. Why do children who seem to be proficient readers in third grade have trouble comprehending texts in later grades? To answer this question, Nonie Lesaux describes what is known about reading development and instruction, homing in on research conducted with children from low-income and non-English-speaking homes. Using key insights from this research base, she offers two explanations. The first is that reading is a dynamic and multifaceted process that requires continued development if students are to keep pace with the increasing demands of school texts and tasks. The second lies in the role of reading assessment and instruction in U.S. schools. Lesaux draws a distinction between the "skills-based competencies" that readers need to sound out and recognize words and the "knowledge-based competencies" that include the conceptual and vocabulary knowledge necessary to comprehend a text's meaning. Although U.S. schools have made considerable progress in teaching skills-based reading competencies that are the focus of the early grades, most have made much less progress in teaching the knowledge-based competencies students need to support reading comprehension in middle and high school. These knowledge-based competencies are key sources of lasting individual differences in reading outcomes, particularly among children growing up in low-income and non-English-speaking households. Augmenting literacy rates, Lesaux explains, will require considerable shifts in the way reading is assessed and taught in elementary and secondary schools. First, schools must conduct comprehensive reading assessments that discern learners' (potential) sources of reading difficulties--in both skills-based and knowledge-based competencies. Second, educators must implement instructional approaches that offer promise for teaching the conceptual and knowledge-based reading competencies that are critical for academic success, particularly for academically vulnerable populations.

A challenge in academia: meeting the healthcare needs of the growing number of older adults.

PubMed

Scherer, Yvonne K; Bruce, Susan A; Montgomery, Carolyn A; Ball, Lisa S

2008-09-01

The purposes of this study were to survey nurse practitioners (NPs) to determine their comfort level with knowledge about caring for individuals aged 65 years and older and to obtain their input on enhancing geriatric content in the educational preparation of advanced practice nurses who provide care to older adults but are not specialists in gerontology. The sample consisted of 500 randomly selected NPs who were certified to practice in New York State. The Geriatric Curriculum Survey designed by the researchers was based on the 47 "Older Adult Care" competencies developed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The survey was mailed to the subjects along with a stamped self-addressed envelope to facilitate its return. Two hundred and twenty-two surveys (44%) were returned. A majority of the respondents were comfortable with their assessment skill knowledge of individuals aged 65 years and older in all areas except those related to cultural/ethnic items. Over half of the respondents were only "somewhat comfortable" with knowledge of management of Alzheimer's disease, delirium, dementia, neurological problems, polypharmacy, and sleep issues. Finally, respondents were asked to rate their knowledge comfort level on topics relevant to physical and psychosocial issues of individuals aged 65 years and older. The majority of respondents only felt "somewhat comfortable" with their knowledge on all but one of the nine items in this category. Health promotion and disease prevention was the only item that over 50% of the respondents felt "very knowledgeable" about. Ninety-five percent indicated they would be better prepared to care for individuals aged 65 years and older if a didactic course in geriatrics was required in their program of study. Seventy percent indicated they would consider taking an online course in geriatrics. Based on the results of this study, an online, four-credit geriatric-focused course "Issues in Geriatric Management" was developed. The course is required in the acute care and adult NP programs. Eventually, this course will be offered as continuing education credit for practicing NPs. The offering of a course focused on geriatrics will help to better prepare NPs to care for the growing number of elderly in this country.

Elder Abuse: Global Situation, Risk Factors, and Prevention Strategies

PubMed Central

Pillemer, Karl; Burnes, David; Riffin, Catherine; Lachs, Mark S.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Elder mistreatment is now recognized internationally as a pervasive and growing problem, urgently requiring the attention of health care systems, social welfare agencies, policymakers, and the general public. In this article, we provide an overview of global issues in the field of elder abuse, with a focus on prevention. Design and Methods: This article provides a scoping review of key issues in the field from an international perspective. Results: By drawing primarily on population-based studies, this scoping review provided a more valid and reliable synthesis of current knowledge about prevalence and risk factors than has been available. Despite the lack of scientifically rigorous intervention research on elder abuse, the review also identified 5 promising strategies for prevention. Implications: The findings highlight a growing consensus across studies regarding the extent and causes of elder mistreatment, as well as the urgent need for efforts to make elder mistreatment prevention programs more effective and evidence based. PMID:26994260

Knowledge diffusion in complex networks by considering time-varying information channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, He; Ma, Jing

2018-03-01

In this article, based on a model of epidemic spreading, we explore the knowledge diffusion process with an innovative mechanism for complex networks by considering time-varying information channels. To cover the knowledge diffusion process in homogeneous and heterogeneous networks, two types of networks (the BA network and the ER network) are investigated. The mean-field theory is used to theoretically draw the knowledge diffusion threshold. Numerical simulation demonstrates that the knowledge diffusion threshold is almost linearly correlated with the mean of the activity rate. In addition, under the influence of the activity rate and distinct from the classic Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible (SIS) model, the density of knowers almost linearly grows with the spreading rate. Finally, in consideration of the ubiquitous mechanism of innovation, we further study the evolution of knowledge in our proposed model. The results suggest that compared with the effect of the spreading rate, the average knowledge version of the population is affected more by the innovation parameter and the mean of the activity rate. Furthermore, in the BA network, the average knowledge version of individuals with higher degree is always newer than those with lower degree.

Behavioral cardiology: current advances and future directions.

PubMed

Rozanski, Alan

2014-07-08

Growing epidemiological evidence identifies key domains relevant to behavioral cardiology, including health behaviors, emotions, mental mindsets, stress management, social connectedness, and a sense of purpose. Each of these domains exists along a continuum, ranging from positive factors that promote health, to negative factors, which are pathophysiological. To date, there has been relatively little translation of this growing knowledge base into cardiology practice. Four initiatives are proposed to meet this challenge: 1) promulgating greater awareness of the potency of psychosocial risks factors; 2) overcoming a current "artificial divide" between conventional and psychosocial risk factors; 3) developing novel cost-effective interventions using Internet and mobile health applications, group-based counseling, and development of tiered-care behavioral management; and 4) in recognition that "one size does not fit all" with respect to behavioral interventions, developing specialists who can counsel patients in multidisciplinary fashion and use evidence-based approaches for promoting patient motivation and execution of health goals. Copyright © 2014 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spheres of Knowledge that Require Open-mindedness and Open Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Branch, B. D.

2009-05-01

The progress of social knowledge is impeded if not paralyzed at present by two fundamental factors, one impinging from knowledge without, and the other operating within the world of science itself' (Mannheim, Wirth, and Shils, p. xi). Hence, a Sphere of Knowledge (SK) defined here as a pseudo-ontology, may require a societal open-mindedness as defined by Dewey (1912). With professional open-mindedness and open data use, such social constructs may bridge and build relations towards efficient and effective societal problem solving. Open data use is defined where information has to be gathered from many sources to provided input for latter decision-making in the public interest. Here, spatial thinking may be the heart of data collection, analysis, and reporting that sustains an informatics experience among all parts of society. Here, at risk may be human survival and sustainability if policy and politics has hindered scientific or evidence-based transfer. Executive Order 12096, Coordinating Geographical Data Acquisition and Access: The National Spatial Data Infrastructure, by the federal government in 1994, may be an example of an informatics gap of knowledge where a federal mandate is not being connected to geosciences tools and community leaders that could benefit an open society. Critical in a SK is how an open society makes effective decisions if the issues it faces are new with unpredictable outcomes. Policy and politics should not impede the scientific or evidence based knowledge transfer but should be a root of democratic tools. Policy development and implementation should reflect such complexities' (Gardner, et al, 2003, p. 2). Conceptually, a SK may be too broad for any one disciplinary to address effectively as a next generation concern. The demand for deep integration of scientific data within and between disciplines is also growing, as larger and broader science questions are becoming more common. Concurrent with the growing demand for next generation information technology for science is a growth in semantic technologies' (McGuinness, Fox, and Brodaric, 2008, p. 1). Thus, if human survivability and sustainability exist in this manner as a societal issue, then effective interdisciplinary collaboration among social and hard sciences must effectively value the other to see an advance of evidence based and science based habits in the citizenry. The effective decision making of society may be dependent on the skills of science, its data sharing, and collaboration skills of multiple disciplines to reach feasible solutions for the public interest.

Advanced data structures for the interpretation of image and cartographic data in geo-based information systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peuquet, D. J.

1986-01-01

A growing need to usse geographic information systems (GIS) to improve the flexibility and overall performance of very large, heterogeneous data bases was examined. The Vaster structure and the Topological Grid structure were compared to test whether such hybrid structures represent an improvement in performance. The use of artificial intelligence in a geographic/earth sciences data base context is being explored. The architecture of the Knowledge Based GIS (KBGIS) has a dual object/spatial data base and a three tier hierarchial search subsystem. Quadtree Spatial Spectra (QTSS) are derived, based on the quadtree data structure, to generate and represent spatial distribution information for large volumes of spatial data.

Protocol for a systematic review of the use of narrative storytelling and visual-arts-based approaches as knowledge translation tools in healthcare

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The arts are powerful, accessible forms of communication that have the potential to impart knowledge by attracting interest and developing meaningful connections. Knowledge translation aims to reduce the ‘evidence-practice’ gap by developing, implementing and evaluating strategies designed to enhance awareness and promote behavior change congruent with research evidence. Increasingly, innovative approaches such as narrative storytelling and other arts-based interventions are being investigated to bridge the growing gap between practice and research. This study is the first to systematically identify and synthesize current research on narrative storytelling and visual art to translate and disseminate health research. Methods A health research librarian will develop and implement search strategies designed to identify relevant evidence. Studies will be included if they are primary research employing narrative storytelling and/or visual art as a knowledge translation strategy in healthcare. Two reviewers will independently perform study selection, quality assessment, and data extraction using standard forms. Disagreements will be resolved through discussion or third party adjudication. Data will be grouped and analyzed by research design, type of knowledge translation strategy (that is, a narrative or visual-arts-based approach), and target audience. An overall synthesis across all studies will be conducted. Discussion The findings from this research project will describe the ‘state of the science’ regarding the use of narrative storytelling and visual art as knowledge translation strategies. This systematic review will provide critical information for: (1) researchers conducting knowledge translation intervention studies; (2) nursing, medicine, and allied healthcare professionals; (3) healthcare consumers, including patients and families; and (4) decision makers and knowledge users who are charged to increase use of the latest research in healthcare settings. PMID:23514237

Protocol for a systematic review of the use of narrative storytelling and visual-arts-based approaches as knowledge translation tools in healthcare.

PubMed

Scott, Shannon D; Brett-MacLean, Pamela; Archibald, Mandy; Hartling, Lisa

2013-03-20

The arts are powerful, accessible forms of communication that have the potential to impart knowledge by attracting interest and developing meaningful connections. Knowledge translation aims to reduce the 'evidence-practice' gap by developing, implementing and evaluating strategies designed to enhance awareness and promote behavior change congruent with research evidence. Increasingly, innovative approaches such as narrative storytelling and other arts-based interventions are being investigated to bridge the growing gap between practice and research. This study is the first to systematically identify and synthesize current research on narrative storytelling and visual art to translate and disseminate health research. A health research librarian will develop and implement search strategies designed to identify relevant evidence. Studies will be included if they are primary research employing narrative storytelling and/or visual art as a knowledge translation strategy in healthcare. Two reviewers will independently perform study selection, quality assessment, and data extraction using standard forms. Disagreements will be resolved through discussion or third party adjudication. Data will be grouped and analyzed by research design, type of knowledge translation strategy (that is, a narrative or visual-arts-based approach), and target audience. An overall synthesis across all studies will be conducted. The findings from this research project will describe the 'state of the science' regarding the use of narrative storytelling and visual art as knowledge translation strategies. This systematic review will provide critical information for: (1) researchers conducting knowledge translation intervention studies; (2) nursing, medicine, and allied healthcare professionals; (3) healthcare consumers, including patients and families; and (4) decision makers and knowledge users who are charged to increase use of the latest research in healthcare settings.

General Pedagogical Knowledge of Future Middle School Teachers: On the Complex Ecology of Teacher Education in the United States, Germany, and Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konig, Johannes; Blomeke, Sigrid; Paine, Lynn; Schmidt, William H.; Hsieh, Feng-Jui

2011-01-01

For more than two decades, three components of teacher knowledge have been discussed, namely, content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and general pedagogical knowledge (GPK). Although there is a growing body of analytic clarification and empirical testing with regard to CK and PCK, especially with a focus on mathematics…

[LONI & Co: about the epistemic specificity of digital spaces of knowledge in cognitive neuroscience].

PubMed

Huber, Lara

2011-06-01

In the neurosciences digital databases more and more are becoming important tools of data rendering and distributing. This development is due to the growing impact of imaging based trial design in cognitive neuroscience, including morphological as much as functional imaging technologies. As the case of the 'Laboratory of Neuro Imaging' (LONI) is showing, databases are attributed a specific epistemological power: Since the 1990s databasing is seen to foster the integration of neuroscientific data, although local regimes of data production, -manipulation and--interpretation are also challenging this development. Databasing in the neurosciences goes along with the introduction of new structures of integrating local data, hence establishing digital spaces of knowledge (epistemic spaces): At this stage, inherent norms of digital databases are affecting regimes of imaging-based trial design, for example clinical research into Alzheimer's disease.

Mobile Phone Based System Opportunities to Home-based Managing of Chemotherapy Side Effects.

PubMed

Davoodi, Somayeh; Mohammadzadeh, Zeinab; Safdari, Reza

2016-06-01

Applying mobile base systems in cancer care especially in chemotherapy management have remarkable growing in recent decades. Because chemotherapy side effects have significant influences on patient's lives, therefore it is necessary to take ways to control them. This research has studied some experiences of using mobile phone based systems to home-based monitor of chemotherapy side effects in cancer. In this literature review study, search was conducted with keywords like cancer, chemotherapy, mobile phone, information technology, side effects and self managing, in Science Direct, Google Scholar and Pub Med databases since 2005. Today, because of the growing trend of the cancer, we need methods and innovations such as information technology to manage and control it. Mobile phone based systems are the solutions that help to provide quick access to monitor chemotherapy side effects for cancer patients at home. Investigated studies demonstrate that using of mobile phones in chemotherapy management have positive results and led to patients and clinicians satisfactions. This study shows that the mobile phone system for home-based monitoring chemotherapy side effects works well. In result, knowledge of cancer self-management and the rate of patient's effective participation in care process improved.

Assessment of Contributions to Patient Safety Knowledge by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-Funded Patient Safety Projects

PubMed Central

Sorbero, Melony E S; Ricci, Karen A; Lovejoy, Susan; Haviland, Amelia M; Smith, Linda; Bradley, Lily A; Hiatt, Liisa; Farley, Donna O

2009-01-01

Objective To characterize the activities of projects funded in Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)' patient safety portfolio and assess their aggregate potential to contribute to knowledge development. Data Sources Information abstracted from proposals for projects funded in AHRQ' patient safety portfolio, information on safety practices from the AHRQ Evidence Report on Patient Safety Practices, and products produced by the projects. Study Design This represented one part of the process evaluation conducted as part of a longitudinal evaluation based on the Context–Input–Process–Product model. Principal Findings The 234 projects funded through AHRQ' patient safety portfolio examined a wide variety of patient safety issues and extended their work beyond the hospital setting to less studied parts of the health care system. Many of the projects implemented and tested practices for which the patient safety evidence report identified a need for additional evidence. The funded projects also generated a substantial body of new patient safety knowledge through a growing number of journal articles and other products. Conclusions The projects funded in AHRQ' patient safety portfolio have the potential to make substantial contributions to the knowledge base on patient safety. The full value of this new knowledge remains to be confirmed through the synthesis of results. PMID:21456108

Knowledge and perception of stroke amongst hospital workers in an African community.

PubMed

Akinyemi, R O; Ogah, O S; Ogundipe, R F; Oyesola, O A; Oyadoke, A A; Ogunlana, M O; Otubogun, F M; Odeyinka, T F; Alabi, B S; Akinyemi, J O; Osinfade, J K; Kalaria, R N

2009-09-01

Stroke is a growing public health problem worldwide. Hospital workers are sources of knowledge on health issues including stroke. The present study aimed at assessing the knowledge and perception of a sample of Nigerian hospital workers about stroke. Hospital-based, cross-sectional survey. Respondents selected by systematic random sampling were interviewed using a 29-item pre-tested, structured, semi-closed questionnaire. There were 370 respondents (63% female, mean age: 34.4 +/- 7.5 years; 61% non-clinical workers). Twenty-nine per cent of respondents did not recognize the brain as the organ affected. Hypertension (88.6%) was the commonest risk factor identified; 13.8% identified evil spirit/witchcraft as a cause of stroke, whilst one-sided body weakness (61.9%) was most commonly identified as warning symptom. Hospital treatment was most preferred by 61.1% of respondents whilst spiritual healing was most preferred by 13.0%. In the bivariate analysis, higher level of education and being a clinical worker correlated with better stroke knowledge (P < 0.001). This study demonstrates gaps in the knowledge of these hospital workers about stroke, and treatment choice influenced by cultural and religious beliefs. Health education is still important, even, amongst health workers and stroke awareness campaigns may need to involve faith-based organizations.

Assessment of contributions to patient safety knowledge by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-funded patient safety projects.

PubMed

Sorbero, Melony E S; Ricci, Karen A; Lovejoy, Susan; Haviland, Amelia M; Smith, Linda; Bradley, Lily A; Hiatt, Liisa; Farley, Donna O

2009-04-01

To characterize the activities of projects funded in Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)'s patient safety portfolio and assess their aggregate potential to contribute to knowledge development. Information abstracted from proposals for projects funded in AHRQ's patient safety portfolio, information on safety practices from the AHRQ Evidence Report on Patient Safety Practices, and products produced by the projects. This represented one part of the process evaluation conducted as part of a longitudinal evaluation based on the Context–Input–Process–Product model. The 234 projects funded through AHRQ's patient safety portfolio examined a wide variety of patient safety issues and extended their work beyond the hospital setting to less studied parts of the health care system. Many of the projects implemented and tested practices for which the patient safety evidence report identified a need for additional evidence. The funded projects also generated a substantial body of new patient safety knowledge through a growing number of journal articles and other products. The projects funded in AHRQ's patient safety portfolio have the potential to make substantial contributions to the knowledge base on patient safety. The full value of this new knowledge remains to be confirmed through the synthesis of results

Atmospheric teleconnection influence on North American land surface phenology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dannenberg, Matthew P.; Wise, Erika K.; Janko, Mark; Hwang, Taehee; Kolby Smith, W.

2018-03-01

Short-term forecasts of vegetation activity are currently not well constrained due largely to our lack of understanding of coupled climate-vegetation dynamics mediated by complex interactions between atmospheric teleconnection patterns. Using ecoregion-scale estimates of North American vegetation activity inferred from remote sensing (1982-2015), we examined seasonal and spatial relationships between land surface phenology and the atmospheric components of five teleconnection patterns over the tropical Pacific, north Pacific, and north Atlantic. Using a set of regression experiments, we also tested for interactions among these teleconnection patterns and assessed predictability of vegetation activity solely based on knowledge of atmospheric teleconnection indices. Autumn-to-winter composites of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) were strongly correlated with start of growing season timing, especially in the Pacific Northwest. The two leading modes of north Pacific variability (the Pacific-North American, PNA, and West Pacific patterns) were significantly correlated with start of growing season timing across much of southern Canada and the upper Great Lakes. Regression models based on these Pacific teleconnections were skillful predictors of spring phenology across an east-west swath of temperate and boreal North America, between 40°N-60°N. While the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) was not strongly correlated with start of growing season timing on its own, we found compelling evidence of widespread NAO-SOI and NAO-PNA interaction effects. These results suggest that knowledge of atmospheric conditions over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans increases the predictability of North American spring phenology. A more robust consideration of the complexity of the atmospheric circulation system, including interactions across multiple ocean basins, is an important step towards accurate forecasts of vegetation activity.

Ethics, Collaboration, and Presentation Methods for Local and Traditional Knowledge for Understanding Arctic Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parsons, M. A.; Gearheard, S.; McNeave, C.

2009-12-01

Local and traditional knowledge (LTK) provides rich information about the Arctic environment at spatial and temporal scales that scientific knowledge often does not have access to (e.g. localized observations of fine-scale ecological change potentially from many different communities, or local sea ice and conditions prior to 1950s ice charts and 1970s satellite records). Community-based observations and monitoring are an opportunity for Arctic residents to provide ‘frontline’ observations and measurements that are an early warning system for Arctic change. The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) was established in response to the growing number of community-based and community-oriented research and observation projects in the Arctic. ELOKA provides data management and user support to facilitate the collection, preservation, exchange, and use of local observations and knowledge. Managing these data presents unique ethical challenges in terms of appropriate use of rare human knowledge and ensuring that knowledge is not lost from the local communities and not exploited in ways antithetical to community culture and desires. Local Arctic residents must be engaged as true collaborative partners while respecting their perspectives, which may vary substantially from a western science perspective. At the same time, we seek to derive scientific meaning from the local knowledge that can be used in conjunction with quantitative science data. This creates new challenges in terms of data presentation, knowledge representations, and basic issues of metadata. This presentation reviews these challenges, some initial approaches to addressing them, and overall lessons learned and future directions.

Integrating traditional ecological knowledge with western science for optimal natural resource management

Treesearch

Serra J. Hoagland

2017-01-01

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been recognized within indigenous communities for millennia; however, traditional ecological knowledge has received growing attention within the western science (WS) paradigm over the past twenty-five years. Federal agencies, national organizations, and university programs dedicated to natural resource management are beginning...

Computer game-based and traditional learning method: a comparison regarding students' knowledge retention.

PubMed

Rondon, Silmara; Sassi, Fernanda Chiarion; Furquim de Andrade, Claudia Regina

2013-02-25

Educational computer games are examples of computer-assisted learning objects, representing an educational strategy of growing interest. Given the changes in the digital world over the last decades, students of the current generation expect technology to be used in advancing their learning requiring a need to change traditional passive learning methodologies to an active multisensory experimental learning methodology. The objective of this study was to compare a computer game-based learning method with a traditional learning method, regarding learning gains and knowledge retention, as means of teaching head and neck Anatomy and Physiology to Speech-Language and Hearing pathology undergraduate students. Students were randomized to participate to one of the learning methods and the data analyst was blinded to which method of learning the students had received. Students' prior knowledge (i.e. before undergoing the learning method), short-term knowledge retention and long-term knowledge retention (i.e. six months after undergoing the learning method) were assessed with a multiple choice questionnaire. Students' performance was compared considering the three moments of assessment for both for the mean total score and for separated mean scores for Anatomy questions and for Physiology questions. Students that received the game-based method performed better in the pos-test assessment only when considering the Anatomy questions section. Students that received the traditional lecture performed better in both post-test and long-term post-test when considering the Anatomy and Physiology questions. The game-based learning method is comparable to the traditional learning method in general and in short-term gains, while the traditional lecture still seems to be more effective to improve students' short and long-term knowledge retention.

Computer game-based and traditional learning method: a comparison regarding students’ knowledge retention

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Educational computer games are examples of computer-assisted learning objects, representing an educational strategy of growing interest. Given the changes in the digital world over the last decades, students of the current generation expect technology to be used in advancing their learning requiring a need to change traditional passive learning methodologies to an active multisensory experimental learning methodology. The objective of this study was to compare a computer game-based learning method with a traditional learning method, regarding learning gains and knowledge retention, as means of teaching head and neck Anatomy and Physiology to Speech-Language and Hearing pathology undergraduate students. Methods Students were randomized to participate to one of the learning methods and the data analyst was blinded to which method of learning the students had received. Students’ prior knowledge (i.e. before undergoing the learning method), short-term knowledge retention and long-term knowledge retention (i.e. six months after undergoing the learning method) were assessed with a multiple choice questionnaire. Students’ performance was compared considering the three moments of assessment for both for the mean total score and for separated mean scores for Anatomy questions and for Physiology questions. Results Students that received the game-based method performed better in the pos-test assessment only when considering the Anatomy questions section. Students that received the traditional lecture performed better in both post-test and long-term post-test when considering the Anatomy and Physiology questions. Conclusions The game-based learning method is comparable to the traditional learning method in general and in short-term gains, while the traditional lecture still seems to be more effective to improve students’ short and long-term knowledge retention. PMID:23442203

Growing the Tree of Teacher Knowledge: Ten Years of Learning to Teach Elementary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulholland, Judith; Wallace, John

2005-01-01

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a much debated and studied construct. In this article, we adopt an all-embracing view of PCK to examine the development of one elementary science teacher's knowledge over a 10-year period. We portray this teacher's knowledge at three critical points in her career--as a student teacher, beginning teacher, and…

"I Ulu No Ka Lala I Ke Kumu", The Branches Grow Because of the Trunk: Ancestral Knowledge as Refusal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chandler, Kapua L.

2018-01-01

This paper will discuss the ways that Native Hawaiian scholars are engaging in innovative strategies that incorporate ancestral knowledges into the academy. Ancestral knowledges are highly valued as Indigenous communities strive to pass on such wisdom and lessons from generation to generation. Ancestral knowledges are all around us no matter where…

The organization and dissolution of semantic-conceptual knowledge: is the 'amodal hub' the only plausible model?

PubMed

Gainotti, Guido

2011-04-01

In recent years, the anatomical and functional bases of conceptual activity have attracted a growing interest. In particular, Patterson and Lambon-Ralph have proposed the existence, in the anterior parts of the temporal lobes, of a mechanism (the 'amodal semantic hub') supporting the interactive activation of semantic representations in all modalities and for all semantic categories. The aim of then present paper is to discuss this model, arguing against the notion of an 'amodal' semantic hub, because we maintain, in agreement with the Damasio's construct of 'higher-order convergence zone', that a continuum exists between perceptual information and conceptual representations, whereas the 'amodal' account views perceptual informations only as a channel through which abstract semantic knowledge can be activated. According to our model, semantic organization can be better explained by two orthogonal higher-order convergence systems, concerning, on one hand, the right vs. left hemisphere and, on the other hand, the ventral vs. dorsal processing pathways. This model posits that conceptual representations may be mainly based upon perceptual activities in the right hemisphere and upon verbal mediation in the left side of the brain. It also assumes that conceptual knowledge based on the convergence of highly processed visual information with other perceptual data (and mainly concerning living categories) may be bilaterally represented in the anterior parts of the temporal lobes, whereas knowledge based on the integration of visual data with action schemata (namely knowledge of actions, body parts and artefacts) may be more represented in the left fronto-temporo-parietal areas. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Informatics in radiology: radiology gamuts ontology: differential diagnosis for the Semantic Web.

PubMed

Budovec, Joseph J; Lam, Cesar A; Kahn, Charles E

2014-01-01

The Semantic Web is an effort to add semantics, or "meaning," to empower automated searching and processing of Web-based information. The overarching goal of the Semantic Web is to enable users to more easily find, share, and combine information. Critical to this vision are knowledge models called ontologies, which define a set of concepts and formalize the relations between them. Ontologies have been developed to manage and exploit the large and rapidly growing volume of information in biomedical domains. In diagnostic radiology, lists of differential diagnoses of imaging observations, called gamuts, provide an important source of knowledge. The Radiology Gamuts Ontology (RGO) is a formal knowledge model of differential diagnoses in radiology that includes 1674 differential diagnoses, 19,017 terms, and 52,976 links between terms. Its knowledge is used to provide an interactive, freely available online reference of radiology gamuts ( www.gamuts.net ). A Web service allows its content to be discovered and consumed by other information systems. The RGO integrates radiologic knowledge with other biomedical ontologies as part of the Semantic Web. © RSNA, 2014.

Developing Project Based Learning, Integrated Courses from Two Different Colleges at an Institution of Higher Education: An Overview of the Processes, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, Marilyn; Shannon, Li-Jen

2016-01-01

All too often, courses in higher education tend to teach isolated bits of facts with little effort to assist in learner assimilation of those facts so as to grow knowledge of the world into a more dynamic understanding. To address the need for a capstone research project for students in their master's program and in an effort to create online…

Development of Orthographic Knowledge in German-Speaking Children: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ise, Elena; Arnoldi, Carolin Judith; Schulte-Körne, Gerd

2014-01-01

There is growing evidence that children develop orthographic knowledge from the very beginning of literacy acquisition. This study investigated the development of German-speaking children's orthographic knowledge with a nonword choice task. One nonword in each pair contained a frequent consonant doublet ("zommul") and the other…

Building Faculty Capacity through the Learning Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moy, Elizabeth; O'Sullivan, Gerard; Terlecki, Melissa; Jernstedt, Christian

2014-01-01

Discoveries in the learning sciences (especially in neuroscience) have yielded a rich and growing body of knowledge about how students learn, yet this knowledge is only half of the story. The other half is "know how," i.e. the application of this knowledge. For faculty members, that means applying the discoveries of the learning sciences…

The Bridge of Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dong, Yu Ren

2014-01-01

Although many English language learners (ELLs) in the United States have knowledge gaps that make it hard for them to master high-level content and skills, ELLs also often have background knowledge relevant to school learning that teachers neglect to access, this author argues. In the Common Core era, with ELLs being the fastest growing population…

Coming Full Circle: Indigenous Knowledge, Environment, and Our Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGregor, Deborah

2004-01-01

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) as a construct of broader society is a relatively recent phenomenon, and the field that supports the acquisition of environmental knowledge from Aboriginal people has rapidly grown over the last two decades. In part, TEK has emerged from the growing recognition that Indigenous people all over the world…

Relationship of Self-Efficacy and Teacher Knowledge for Prospective Elementary Education Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharp, Ann C.; Brandt, Lorilynn; Tuft, Elaine A.; Jay, Sandy

2016-01-01

This research investigates relationships between prospective teachers' self-efficacy of literacy instruction and their growing knowledge of literacy essentials. An instrument was used that is one part self-ratings of confidence levels in teaching specific literacy skills and one part assessment of literacy knowledge required to teach those skills.…

A Finnish Concept for Academic Entrepreneurship: The Case of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lain, Kari

2008-01-01

In a knowledge-driven economy there is a growing need for deeper and more productive interaction between higher education and industry. The full exploitation of knowledge requires strategies, incentives, appropriate systems and strong interaction between the transfer processes and the main processes in higher education. In a knowledge-based…

Conceptualizing a Framework for Advanced Placement Statistics Teaching Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haines, Brenna

2015-01-01

The purpose of this article is to sketch a conceptualization of a framework for Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics Teaching Knowledge. Recent research continues to problematize the lack of knowledge and preparation among secondary level statistics teachers. The College Board's AP Statistics course continues to grow and gain popularity, but is a…

Effectiveness of an Asynchronous Online Module on University Students' Understanding of the Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farina, William J.; Bodzin, Alec M.

2017-12-01

Web-based learning is a growing field in education, yet empirical research into the design of high quality Web-based university science instruction is scarce. A one-week asynchronous online module on the Bohr Model of the atom was developed and implemented guided by the knowledge integration framework. The unit design aligned with three identified metaprinciples of science learning: making science accessible, making thinking visible, and promoting autonomy. Students in an introductory chemistry course at a large east coast university completed either an online module or traditional classroom instruction. Data from 99 students were analyzed and results showed significant knowledge growth in both online and traditional formats. For the online learning group, findings revealed positive student perceptions of their learning experiences, highly positive feedback for online science learning, and an interest amongst students to learn chemistry within an online environment.

CO2 storage resources, reserves, and reserve growth: Toward a methodology for integrated assessment of the storage capacity of oil and gas reservoirs and saline formations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burruss, Robert

2009-01-01

Geologically based methodologies to assess the possible volumes of subsurface CO2 storage must apply clear and uniform definitions of resource and reserve concepts to each assessment unit (AU). Application of the current state of knowledge of geologic, hydrologic, geochemical, and geophysical parameters (contingencies) that control storage volume and injectivity allows definition of the contingent resource (CR) of storage. The parameters known with the greatest certainty are based on observations on known traps (KTs) within the AU that produced oil, gas, and water. The aggregate volume of KTs within an AU defines the most conservation volume of contingent resource. Application of the concept of reserve growth to CR volume provides a logical path for subsequent reevaluation of the total resource as knowledge of CO2 storage processes increases during implementation of storage projects. Increased knowledge of storage performance over time will probably allow the volume of the contingent resource of storage to grow over time, although negative growth is possible.

CO2 storage resources, reserves, and reserve growth: Toward a methodology for integrated assessment of the storage capacity of oil and gas reservoirs and saline formations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burruss, R.C.

2009-01-01

Geologically based methodologies to assess the possible volumes of subsurface CO2 storage must apply clear and uniform definitions of resource and reserve concepts to each assessment unit (AU). Application of the current state of knowledge of geologic, hydrologic, geochemical, and geophysical parameters (contingencies) that control storage volume and injectivity allows definition of the contingent resource (CR) of storage. The parameters known with the greatest certainty are based on observations on known traps (KTs) within the AU that produced oil, gas, and water. The aggregate volume of KTs within an AU defines the most conservation volume of contingent resource. Application of the concept of reserve growth to CR volume provides a logical path for subsequent reevaluation of the total resource as knowledge of CO2 storage processes increases during implementation of storage projects. Increased knowledge of storage performance over time will probably allow the volume of the contingent resource of storage to grow over time, although negative growth is possible. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrating knowledge-based multi-criteria evaluation techniques with GIS for landfill site selection: A case study using AHP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fagbohun, B. J.; Aladejana, O. O.

2016-09-01

A major challenge in most growing urban areas of developing countries, without a pre-existing land use plan is the sustainable and efficient management of solid wastes. Siting a landfill is a complicated task because of several environmental regulations. This challenge gives birth to the need to develop efficient strategies for the selection of proper waste disposal sites in accordance with all existing environmental regulations. This paper presents a knowledge-based multi-criteria decision analysis using GIS for the selection of suitable landfill site in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. In order to identify suitable sites for landfill, seven factors - land use/cover, geology, river, soil, slope, lineament and roads - were taken into consideration. Each factor was classified and ranked based on prior knowledge about the area and existing guidelines. Weights for each factor were determined through pair-wise comparison using Saaty's 9 point scale and AHP. The integration of factors according to their weights using weighted index overlay analysis revealed that 39.23 km2 within the area was suitable to site a landfill. The resulting suitable area was classified as high suitability covering 6.47 km2 (16.49%), moderate suitability 25.48 km2 (64.95%) and low suitability 7.28 km2 (18.56%) based on their overall weights.

Towards a New Generation of Agricultural System Data, Models and Knowledge Products: Design and Improvement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antle, John M.; Basso, Bruno; Conant, Richard T.; Godfray, H. Charles J.; Jones, James W.; Herrero, Mario; Howitt, Richard E.; Keating, Brian A.; Munoz-Carpena, Rafael; Rosenzweig, Cynthia

2016-01-01

This paper presents ideas for a new generation of agricultural system models that could meet the needs of a growing community of end-users exemplified by a set of Use Cases. We envision new data, models and knowledge products that could accelerate the innovation process that is needed to achieve the goal of achieving sustainable local, regional and global food security. We identify desirable features for models, and describe some of the potential advances that we envisage for model components and their integration. We propose an implementation strategy that would link a "pre-competitive" space for model development to a "competitive space" for knowledge product development and through private-public partnerships for new data infrastructure. Specific model improvements would be based on further testing and evaluation of existing models, the development and testing of modular model components and integration, and linkages of model integration platforms to new data management and visualization tools.

Towards a new generation of agricultural system data, models and knowledge products: Design and improvement.

PubMed

Antle, John M; Basso, Bruno; Conant, Richard T; Godfray, H Charles J; Jones, James W; Herrero, Mario; Howitt, Richard E; Keating, Brian A; Munoz-Carpena, Rafael; Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Tittonell, Pablo; Wheeler, Tim R

2017-07-01

This paper presents ideas for a new generation of agricultural system models that could meet the needs of a growing community of end-users exemplified by a set of Use Cases. We envision new data, models and knowledge products that could accelerate the innovation process that is needed to achieve the goal of achieving sustainable local, regional and global food security. We identify desirable features for models, and describe some of the potential advances that we envisage for model components and their integration. We propose an implementation strategy that would link a "pre-competitive" space for model development to a "competitive space" for knowledge product development and through private-public partnerships for new data infrastructure. Specific model improvements would be based on further testing and evaluation of existing models, the development and testing of modular model components and integration, and linkages of model integration platforms to new data management and visualization tools.

Over-the-Counter Medicines: What's Right for You?

MedlinePlus

... Contents: Advice for Americans about Self-Care: Access + Knowledge = Power OTC Know-How: It's on the Label Drug ... Tampering Advice for Americans about Self-Care: Access + Knowledge = Power American medicine cabinets contain a growing choice of ...

Human fertility and differential birth rates in American eugenics and genetics: a brief history.

PubMed

Cooke, K J

1998-05-01

Eugenics is a broad term used to describe a variety of social and state-sponsored reform movements. Although we usually think of Nazi atrocities when we hear the word "eugenics," in this article I discuss the manifestations of hereditary reform worldwide. In particular, I consider the history of eugenics in America, focusing on concerns about the differences in birth rates between various racial, ethnic, and educational groups. In the early twentieth century, the social and cultural expectations that surrounded the growing knowledge in genetics implied an ethical imperative for physicians. Physicians were expected to use their knowledge about genetics to help them decide what sort of advice and assistance should be given to those who wanted knowledge about birth control, or help in resolving problems concerning sterility and infertility. Today, with growing knowledge about human genetics, physicians are subject to increasing pressure to make similar judgments.

Development of the International Guidelines for Home Health Nursing.

PubMed

Narayan, Mary; Farris, Cindy; Harris, Marilyn D; Hiong, Fong Yoke

2017-10-01

Throughout the world, healthcare is increasingly being provided in home and community-based settings. There is a growing awareness that the most effective, least costly, patient-preferred setting is patients' home. Thus, home healthcare nursing is a growing nursing specialty, requiring a unique set of nursing knowledge and skills. Unlike many other nursing specialties, home healthcare nursing has few professional organizations to develop or support its practice. This article describes how an international network of home healthcare nurses developed international guidelines for home healthcare nurses throughout the world. It outlines how the guidelines for home healthcare nursing practice were developed, how an international panel of reviewers was recruited, and the process they used for reaching a consensus. It also describes the plan for nurses to contribute to future updates to the guidelines.

Physical and molecular bases of protein thermal stability and cold adaptation.

PubMed

Pucci, Fabrizio; Rooman, Marianne

2017-02-01

The molecular bases of thermal and cold stability and adaptation, which allow proteins to remain folded and functional in the temperature ranges in which their host organisms live and grow, are still only partially elucidated. Indeed, both experimental and computational studies fail to yield a fully precise and global physical picture, essentially because all effects are context-dependent and thus quite intricate to unravel. We present a snapshot of the current state of knowledge of this highly complex and challenging issue, whose resolution would enable large-scale rational protein design. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visualization of Skin Perfusion by Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Angiography—A Feasibility Study

PubMed Central

Steinbacher, Johannes; Yoshimatsu, Hidehiko; Meng, Stefan; Hamscha, Ulrike M.; Chan, Chun-Sheng; Weninger, Wolfgang J.; Wu, Chieh-Tsai; Cheng, Ming-Huei

2017-01-01

Summary: Plastic and reconstructive surgery relies on the knowledge of angiosomes in the raising of microsurgical flaps. Growing interest in muscle-sparing perforator flaps calls for reliable methods to assess the clinical feasibility of new donor sites in anatomical studies. Several injection techniques are known for the evaluation of vascular territories. Indocyanine green–based fluorescence angiography has found wide application in the clinical assessment of tissue perfusion. In this article, the use of indocyanine green–based fluorescence angiography for the assessment of perforasomes in anatomical studies is described for the first time. PMID:29062637

Fertilizer applications for container-grown ornamental tree production

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Knowledge of better utilization of nutrients during the growing season is needed to produce marketable container-grown ornamental shade trees economically. Fertilizer practices to grow Acer rubrum ‘Red Sunset’ trees in two separate fields (each containing four plots) irrigated with either city or po...

Semantic relatedness for evaluation of course equivalencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Beibei

Semantic relatedness, or its inverse, semantic distance, measures the degree of closeness between two pieces of text determined by their meaning. Related work typically measures semantics based on a sparse knowledge base such as WordNet or Cyc that requires intensive manual efforts to build and maintain. Other work is based on a corpus such as the Brown corpus, or more recently, Wikipedia. This dissertation proposes two approaches to applying semantic relatedness to the problem of suggesting transfer course equivalencies. Two course descriptions are given as input to feed the proposed algorithms, which output a value that can be used to help determine if the courses are equivalent. The first proposed approach uses traditional knowledge sources such as WordNet and corpora for courses from multiple fields of study. The second approach uses Wikipedia, the openly-editable encyclopedia, and it focuses on courses from a technical field such as Computer Science. This work shows that it is promising to adapt semantic relatedness to the education field for matching equivalencies between transfer courses. A semantic relatedness measure using traditional knowledge sources such as WordNet performs relatively well on non-technical courses. However, due to the "knowledge acquisition bottleneck," such a resource is not ideal for technical courses, which use an extensive and growing set of technical terms. To address the problem, this work proposes a Wikipedia-based approach which is later shown to be more correlated to human judgment compared to previous work.

Knowledge Quality Functions for Rule Discovery

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-09-01

Managers in many organizations finding themselves in the possession of large and rapidly growing databases are beginning to suspect the information in their...missing values (Smyth and Goodman, 1992, p. 303). Decision trees "tend to grow very large for realistic applications and are thus difficult to interpret...by humans" (Holsheimer, 1994, p. 42). Decision trees also grow excessively complicated in the presence of noisy databases (Dhar and Tuzhilin, 1993, p

Advances in the understanding and use of the genomic base of microbial secondary metabolite biosynthesis for the discovery of new natural products.

PubMed

McAlpine, James B

2009-03-27

Over the past decade major changes have occurred in the access to genome sequences that encode the enzymes responsible for the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, knowledge of how those sequences translate into the final structure of the metabolite, and the ability to alter the sequence to obtain predicted products via both homologous and heterologous expression. Novel genera have been discovered leading to new chemotypes, but more surprisingly several instances have been uncovered where the apparently general rules of modular translation have not applied. Several new biosynthetic pathways have been unearthed, and our general knowledge grows rapidly. This review aims to highlight some of the more striking discoveries and advances of the decade.

The Critical Role of State Agencies in the Age of Evidence-Based Approaches: The Challenge of New Expectations.

PubMed

Van Dyke, Melissa K; Naoom, Sandra F

2016-01-01

Evidence-based approaches only benefit individuals when fully and effectively implemented. Since funding and monitoring alone will not ensure the full and effective implementation of effective strategies, state agencies have the opportunity to assess and modify current roles, functions, and policies to align with the requirements of evidence-based strategies. Based on a growing body of knowledge to guide effective implementation processes, state agencies, or designated partner organizations, can develop the capacity, mechanisms, and infrastructure to effectively implement evidence-based strategies. This article describes a framework that can guide this process. Informed by the literature and shaped by "real-world experience," the Active Implementation Frameworks provide a stage-matched approach to purposeful, active, and effective implementation.

Career Exploration by Adults. Practice Application Brief No. 14.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerka, Sandra

In an era of rapid social and economic changes, the demand for adult career exploration services is growing in career-tech and one-stop centers and community college and university reentry programs. Career exploration is a process of acquiring self-knowledge and career knowledge and using this knowledge to formulate plans and prepare for a career.…

The Impact of Clickers Use on Vocabulary Knowledge and Satisfaction in an EFL Class in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhonggen, Yu

2014-01-01

Clickers are catching growing attention in education. This study, using data collected from a questionnaire, forty content words, and a vocabulary knowledge scale, aims to identify if clickers can enhance EFL (English as a foreign language) vocabulary knowledge and raise students' satisfaction level compared with the traditional multimedia-based…

Recovering Knowledge for Science Education Research: Exploring the "Icarus Effect" in Student Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Georgiou, Helen; Maton, Karl; Sharma, Manjula

2014-01-01

Science education research has built a strong body of work on students' understandings but largely overlooked the nature of science knowledge itself. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), a rapidly growing approach to education, offers a way of analyzing the organizing principles of knowledge practices and their effects on science education. This…

Elementary Preservice Teachers' Science Vocabulary: Knowledge and Application

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrier, Sarah J.

2013-01-01

Science vocabulary knowledge plays a role in understanding science concepts, and science knowledge is measured in part by correct use of science vocabulary (Lee et al. in "J Res Sci Teach" 32(8):797-816, 1995). Elementary school students have growing vocabularies and many are learning English as a secondary language or depend on schools to learn…

Effect of Participatory Research on Farmers' Knowledge and Practice of IPM: The Case of Cotton in Benin

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Togbé, Codjo Euloge; Haagsma, Rein; Aoudji, Augustin K. N.; Vodouhê, Simplice D.

2015-01-01

Purpose: This study assesses the effect of participatory research on farmers' knowledge and practice of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Benin. The participatory field experiments were carried out during the 2011-2012 cotton growing season, and focused on the development and application of pest management knowledge. Methodology: A…

Placing US Air Force Information Technology Investment Under the Nanoscope A Clear Vision of Nanotechnology’s Impact on Computing in 2030

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-04-01

effectively . Another serious problem is the growing power consumption for high-performance logic chips. If increasing clock frequency and IC density...n) Study Effect of Nanomaterials on Environment What is your judgment of the potential of the various responses based on your knowledge and the...open research closely coupled to internal development and deployment. (n) Study Effect of Nanomaterials on Environment (o) Long-Term, Balanced IT

Cancer and the LGBTQ Population: Quantitative and Qualitative Results from an Oncology Providers’ Survey on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice Behaviors

PubMed Central

Tamargo, Christina L.; Sanchez, Julian A.

2017-01-01

Background: Despite growing social acceptance, the LGBTQ population continues to face barriers to healthcare including fear of stigmatization by healthcare providers, and providers’ lack of knowledge about LGBTQ-specific health issues. This analysis focuses on the assessment of quantitative and qualitative responses from a subset of providers who identified as specialists that treat one or more of the seven cancers that may be disproportionate in LGBTQ patients. Methods: A 32-item web-based survey was emailed to 388 oncology providers at a single institution. The survey assessed: demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practice behaviors. Results: Oncology providers specializing in seven cancer types had poor knowledge of LGBTQ-specific health needs, with fewer than half of the surveyed providers (49.5%) correctly answering knowledge questions. Most providers had overall positive attitudes toward LGBTQ patients, with 91.7% agreeing they would be comfortable treating this population, and would support education and/or training on LGBTQ-related cancer health issues. Conclusion: Results suggest that despite generally positive attitudes toward the LGBTQ population, oncology providers who treat cancer types most prevalent among the population, lack knowledge of their unique health issues. Knowledge and practice behaviors may improve with enhanced education and training on this population’s specific needs. PMID:28991160

Cancer and the LGBTQ Population: Quantitative and Qualitative Results from an Oncology Providers' Survey on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice Behaviors.

PubMed

Tamargo, Christina L; Quinn, Gwendolyn P; Sanchez, Julian A; Schabath, Matthew B

2017-10-07

Despite growing social acceptance, the LGBTQ population continues to face barriers to healthcare including fear of stigmatization by healthcare providers, and providers' lack of knowledge about LGBTQ-specific health issues. This analysis focuses on the assessment of quantitative and qualitative responses from a subset of providers who identified as specialists that treat one or more of the seven cancers that may be disproportionate in LGBTQ patients. A 32-item web-based survey was emailed to 388 oncology providers at a single institution. The survey assessed: demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practice behaviors. Oncology providers specializing in seven cancer types had poor knowledge of LGBTQ-specific health needs, with fewer than half of the surveyed providers (49.5%) correctly answering knowledge questions. Most providers had overall positive attitudes toward LGBTQ patients, with 91.7% agreeing they would be comfortable treating this population, and would support education and/or training on LGBTQ-related cancer health issues. Results suggest that despite generally positive attitudes toward the LGBTQ population, oncology providers who treat cancer types most prevalent among the population, lack knowledge of their unique health issues. Knowledge and practice behaviors may improve with enhanced education and training on this population's specific needs.

Classroom Constructivism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trotter, Andrew

1995-01-01

Constructivism, which holds that knowledge is created out of each individual's own experience, is recapturing researchers' attention. To constructivists, teachers are not omniscient oracles, but nutritionists providing an environment for children to grow their own knowledge. Students might learn division by planning a field trip instead of…

Issues and challenges in resource management and its interaction with levels 2/3 fusion with applications to real-world problems: an annotated perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blasch, Erik; Kadar, Ivan; Hintz, Kenneth; Biermann, Joachim; Chong, Chee-Yee; Salerno, John; Das, Subrata

2007-04-01

Resource management (or process refinement) is critical for information fusion operations in that users, sensors, and platforms need to be informed, based on mission needs, on how to collect, process, and exploit data. To meet these growing concerns, a panel session was conducted at the International Society of Information Fusion Conference in 2006 to discuss the various issues surrounding the interaction of Resource Management with Level 2/3 Situation and Threat Assessment. This paper briefly consolidates the discussion of the invited panel panelists. The common themes include: (1) Addressing the user in system management, sensor control, and knowledge based information collection (2) Determining a standard set of fusion metrics for optimization and evaluation based on the application (3) Allowing dynamic and adaptive updating to deliver timely information needs and information rates (4) Optimizing the joint objective functions at all information fusion levels based on decision-theoretic analysis (5) Providing constraints from distributed resource mission planning and scheduling; and (6) Defining L2/3 situation entity definitions for knowledge discovery, modeling, and information projection

SNAD: Sequence Name Annotation-based Designer.

PubMed

Sidorov, Igor A; Reshetov, Denis A; Gorbalenya, Alexander E

2009-08-14

A growing diversity of biological data is tagged with unique identifiers (UIDs) associated with polynucleotides and proteins to ensure efficient computer-mediated data storage, maintenance, and processing. These identifiers, which are not informative for most people, are often substituted by biologically meaningful names in various presentations to facilitate utilization and dissemination of sequence-based knowledge. This substitution is commonly done manually that may be a tedious exercise prone to mistakes and omissions. Here we introduce SNAD (Sequence Name Annotation-based Designer) that mediates automatic conversion of sequence UIDs (associated with multiple alignment or phylogenetic tree, or supplied as plain text list) into biologically meaningful names and acronyms. This conversion is directed by precompiled or user-defined templates that exploit wealth of annotation available in cognate entries of external databases. Using examples, we demonstrate how this tool can be used to generate names for practical purposes, particularly in virology. A tool for controllable annotation-based conversion of sequence UIDs into biologically meaningful names and acronyms has been developed and placed into service, fostering links between quality of sequence annotation, and efficiency of communication and knowledge dissemination among researchers.

Extracting semantically enriched events from biomedical literature

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Research into event-based text mining from the biomedical literature has been growing in popularity to facilitate the development of advanced biomedical text mining systems. Such technology permits advanced search, which goes beyond document or sentence-based retrieval. However, existing event-based systems typically ignore additional information within the textual context of events that can determine, amongst other things, whether an event represents a fact, hypothesis, experimental result or analysis of results, whether it describes new or previously reported knowledge, and whether it is speculated or negated. We refer to such contextual information as meta-knowledge. The automatic recognition of such information can permit the training of systems allowing finer-grained searching of events according to the meta-knowledge that is associated with them. Results Based on a corpus of 1,000 MEDLINE abstracts, fully manually annotated with both events and associated meta-knowledge, we have constructed a machine learning-based system that automatically assigns meta-knowledge information to events. This system has been integrated into EventMine, a state-of-the-art event extraction system, in order to create a more advanced system (EventMine-MK) that not only extracts events from text automatically, but also assigns five different types of meta-knowledge to these events. The meta-knowledge assignment module of EventMine-MK performs with macro-averaged F-scores in the range of 57-87% on the BioNLP’09 Shared Task corpus. EventMine-MK has been evaluated on the BioNLP’09 Shared Task subtask of detecting negated and speculated events. Our results show that EventMine-MK can outperform other state-of-the-art systems that participated in this task. Conclusions We have constructed the first practical system that extracts both events and associated, detailed meta-knowledge information from biomedical literature. The automatically assigned meta-knowledge information can be used to refine search systems, in order to provide an extra search layer beyond entities and assertions, dealing with phenomena such as rhetorical intent, speculations, contradictions and negations. This finer grained search functionality can assist in several important tasks, e.g., database curation (by locating new experimental knowledge) and pathway enrichment (by providing information for inference). To allow easy integration into text mining systems, EventMine-MK is provided as a UIMA component that can be used in the interoperable text mining infrastructure, U-Compare. PMID:22621266

Extracting semantically enriched events from biomedical literature.

PubMed

Miwa, Makoto; Thompson, Paul; McNaught, John; Kell, Douglas B; Ananiadou, Sophia

2012-05-23

Research into event-based text mining from the biomedical literature has been growing in popularity to facilitate the development of advanced biomedical text mining systems. Such technology permits advanced search, which goes beyond document or sentence-based retrieval. However, existing event-based systems typically ignore additional information within the textual context of events that can determine, amongst other things, whether an event represents a fact, hypothesis, experimental result or analysis of results, whether it describes new or previously reported knowledge, and whether it is speculated or negated. We refer to such contextual information as meta-knowledge. The automatic recognition of such information can permit the training of systems allowing finer-grained searching of events according to the meta-knowledge that is associated with them. Based on a corpus of 1,000 MEDLINE abstracts, fully manually annotated with both events and associated meta-knowledge, we have constructed a machine learning-based system that automatically assigns meta-knowledge information to events. This system has been integrated into EventMine, a state-of-the-art event extraction system, in order to create a more advanced system (EventMine-MK) that not only extracts events from text automatically, but also assigns five different types of meta-knowledge to these events. The meta-knowledge assignment module of EventMine-MK performs with macro-averaged F-scores in the range of 57-87% on the BioNLP'09 Shared Task corpus. EventMine-MK has been evaluated on the BioNLP'09 Shared Task subtask of detecting negated and speculated events. Our results show that EventMine-MK can outperform other state-of-the-art systems that participated in this task. We have constructed the first practical system that extracts both events and associated, detailed meta-knowledge information from biomedical literature. The automatically assigned meta-knowledge information can be used to refine search systems, in order to provide an extra search layer beyond entities and assertions, dealing with phenomena such as rhetorical intent, speculations, contradictions and negations. This finer grained search functionality can assist in several important tasks, e.g., database curation (by locating new experimental knowledge) and pathway enrichment (by providing information for inference). To allow easy integration into text mining systems, EventMine-MK is provided as a UIMA component that can be used in the interoperable text mining infrastructure, U-Compare.

Is Project Based Learning More Effective than Direct Instruction in School Science Classrooms? An Analysis of the Empirical Research Evidence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dann, Clifford

An increasingly loud call by parents, school administrators, teachers, and even business leaders for "authentic learning", emphasizing both group-work and problem solving, has led to growing enthusiasm for inquiry-based learning over the past decade. Although "inquiry" can be defined in many ways, a curriculum called "project-based learning" has recently emerged as the inquiry practice-of-choice with roots in the educational constructivism that emerged in the mid-twentieth century. Often, project-based learning is framed as an alternative instructional strategy to direct instruction for maximizing student content knowledge. This study investigates the empirical evidence for such a comparison while also evaluating the overall quality of the available studies in the light of accepted standards for educational research. Specifically, this thesis investigates what the body of quantitative research says about the efficacy of project-based learning vs. direct instruction when considering student acquisition of content knowledge in science classrooms. Further, existing limitations of the research pertaining to project based learning and secondary school education are explored. The thesis concludes with a discussion of where and how we should focus our empirical efforts in the future. The research revealed that the available empirical research contains flaws in both design and instrumentation. In particular, randomization is poor amongst all the studies considered. The empirical evidence indicates that project-based learning curricula improved student content knowledge but that, while the results were statistically significant, increases in raw test scores were marginal.

Becoming business critical: Knowledge for Healthcare.

PubMed

Lacey Bryant, Sue; Stewart, David; Goswami, Louise; Grant, Maria J

2016-09-01

Significant progress has been made in implementing Knowledge for Healthcare. This editorial reports the central contribution of effective partnerships and the involvement of librarians and knowledge specialists in this work. There are compelling business priorities. Key elements of work-streams on demonstrating impact, workforce development and streamlining are indicated, along with areas of growing importance - knowledge management, embedded roles and health information for the public and patients. Knowledge, and the skills to help people to use it, are business critical. © 2016 Health Libraries Group.

Hospital-based health technology assessment: developments to date.

PubMed

Gagnon, Marie-Pierre

2014-09-01

Health technology assessment (HTA) uses a multidisciplinary approach to answer relevant questions regarding the safety, efficacy, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health technologies. There is growing interest in implementing HTA methods at the hospital level because it could facilitate decision-making regarding acquisition, implementation or discontinuation of technologies or interventions within the hospital. First, this article provides an overview of current international experiences and knowledge of hospital-based HTA. Then, it presents the different types of hospital-based HTA, providing examples of each of these models, as well as their strengths and limitations. Finally, it proposes a set of emerging issues that could help inform decision-makers who consider implementing hospital-based HTA, or other stakeholders interested in the field.

European Responses to Global Competitiveness in Higher Education. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.7.09

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Wende, Marijk

2009-01-01

The growing global competition in which knowledge is a prime factor for economic growth is increasingly shaping policies and setting the agenda for the future of European higher education. With its aim to become the world's leading knowledge economy, the European Union is concerned about its performance in the knowledge sector, in particular in…

Assessing Key Epistemic Features of Didactic-Mathematical Knowledge of Prospective Teachers: The Case of The Derivative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pino-Fan, Luis R.; Godino, Juan D.; Font, Vicenç

2018-01-01

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in studying the knowledge that mathematics teachers require in order for their teaching to be effective. However, only a few studies have focused on the design and application of instruments that are capable of exploring different aspects of teachers' didactic-mathematical knowledge about specific…

A network-based approach for semi-quantitative knowledge mining and its application to yield variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schauberger, Bernhard; Rolinski, Susanne; Müller, Christoph

2016-12-01

Variability of crop yields is detrimental for food security. Under climate change its amplitude is likely to increase, thus it is essential to understand the underlying causes and mechanisms. Crop models are the primary tool to project future changes in crop yields under climate change. A systematic overview of drivers and mechanisms of crop yield variability (YV) can thus inform crop model development and facilitate improved understanding of climate change impacts on crop yields. Yet there is a vast body of literature on crop physiology and YV, which makes a prioritization of mechanisms for implementation in models challenging. Therefore this paper takes on a novel approach to systematically mine and organize existing knowledge from the literature. The aim is to identify important mechanisms lacking in models, which can help to set priorities in model improvement. We structure knowledge from the literature in a semi-quantitative network. This network consists of complex interactions between growing conditions, plant physiology and crop yield. We utilize the resulting network structure to assign relative importance to causes of YV and related plant physiological processes. As expected, our findings confirm existing knowledge, in particular on the dominant role of temperature and precipitation, but also highlight other important drivers of YV. More importantly, our method allows for identifying the relevant physiological processes that transmit variability in growing conditions to variability in yield. We can identify explicit targets for the improvement of crop models. The network can additionally guide model development by outlining complex interactions between processes and by easily retrieving quantitative information for each of the 350 interactions. We show the validity of our network method as a structured, consistent and scalable dictionary of literature. The method can easily be applied to many other research fields.

From print to digital (1985-2015): APA's evolving role in psychological publishing.

PubMed

VandenBos, Gary R

2017-11-01

Knowledge dissemination plays an important role in all scientific fields. The American Psychological Association's (APA) journal publication program was established in 1927. During the 1960s, the Psychological Abstracts publication was computerized. In the mid-1980s, a reenergizing of APA Publishing began, with the establishment of the APA Books Program, as well as the movement of abstracts to CD-ROMs. This article describes the 30-year program of expansion of APA Publishing, covering the period from 1985 through 2015. This period saw the journals program grow from 15 journals to 89 journals, the abstract program grow into an Internet-based delivery system, the creation of the APA's own PsycNET delivery platform, the creation of 6 addition databases, and the establishment of dictionaries and handbooks of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

A web-based course on complementary medicine for medical students and residents improves knowledge and changes attitudes.

PubMed

Cook, David A; Gelula, Mark H; Lee, Mark C; Bauer, Brent A; Dupras, Denise M; Schwartz, Alan

2007-01-01

There is a growing need to educate physicians about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Few introductory courses in CAM have been described. To develop and evaluate an introductory course in CAM for medical students and residents. We conducted a controlled study evaluating a case-based, Web-based course in CAM, making comparison to no intervention. Participants were 123 internal medicine residents, family medicine residents, and 3rd- and 4th-year medical students at academic residency programs in internal medicine and family medicine and two U.S. medical schools. Outcomes included knowledge of CAM, attitudes toward CAM, and course evaluation information. Eighty-nine learners completed the course. Test scores among a subset of these (n = 57) were higher (M +/- SD = 78.7 +/- 10.1) than scores (50.9 +/- 8.5, p < .001) among a no-intervention control group (n = 34), and remained higher (64.9 +/- 11.4) 3 months later. After the course participants felt more comfortable discussing CAM with patients, recognized a greater role for CAM, and knew better where to find information on CAM (ps < .001 compared to baseline). Course ratings were high, although 26% of learners desired greater feedback. This brief course in CAM improved knowledge, changed attitudes, and was well received.

Trends and Knowledge Gaps in the Study of Nature-Based Participation by Latinos in the United States.

PubMed

Tandon, Pooja S; Kuehne, Lauren M; Olden, Julian D

2018-06-19

Mounting evidence supports health and well-being benefits associated with nature experiences, while also highlighting race- and class-based inequalities in access and exposure. We synthesized the literature on nature contact by Latinos in the United States to assess the state of knowledge and strategically identify research needs to improve outcomes and reduce health disparities for this rapidly growing ethnic group. Our systematic review revealed 108 articles with a notable increase in number of papers over the past 3 decades. We noted that the body of research is focused on certain demographic targets (adults in urban areas) with a relative dearth of knowledge for others (children, seniors, and rural areas). Our analysis also revealed strong compartmentalizing of studies into research “clusters” based on nonoverlapping topics and types of outcomes that are measured. Although one-third of studies explored health outcomes, these studies rarely examined other outcomes or research topics. Moreover, less than 7% of studies reported on interventions. Given the potential for nature contact to enhance health and well-being, there is substantial need for multidisciplinary research that explores interactions between social, cultural, and economic factors, and how those ultimately relate to nature contact and outcomes for Latinos in the United States.

Knowledge Management and the Academy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cain, Timothy J.; Branin, Joseph J.; Sherman, W. Michael

2008-01-01

Universities and colleges generate extraordinary quantities of knowledge and innovation, but in many ways the academy struggles to keep pace with the digital revolution. Growing pressures are reshaping how universities must do business--students expecting enhanced access and support, administrators eager to make data-driven strategic decisions,…

What tourist business managers must learn from disaster research.

PubMed

Drabek, Thomas E

2016-01-01

Death and social disruption caused by disasters of varying forms will continue to increase in the future. So too will the impacts on tourism, now one of the fastest growing and largest sectors of the worldwide economy. Tourist business managers must implement evidence-based preparedness activities to enhance the survival potential and future profitability of their firms. Drawing upon recent research studies of the tourist industry during times of crisis and the broad social science knowledge base regarding human responses to disaster, seven key lessons are described. Emergency managers must facilitate the incorporation of these lessons into the culture of tourist business managers.

Manual wheeled mobility--current and future developments from the human engineering research laboratories.

PubMed

Cooper, Rory A; Koontz, Alicia M; Ding, Dan; Kelleher, Annmarie; Rice, Ian; Cooper, Rosemarie

2010-01-01

Medical rehabilitation and assistive technology are immersed in a world transitioning to a basis in evidence-based practice. Fortunately, there is a growing body of knowledge related to manual wheelchair mobility to form a basis for clinical decision making. The results from research studies are useful for designing better wheelchairs, fitting and training people appropriately, contributing to evidence-based-medicine and guiding future research. This review describes some of the work related to manual wheelchairs that has and is being conducted within the University of Pittsburgh and the Human Engineering Research Laboratories of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and its application.

Advanced Computing Methods for Knowledge Discovery and Prognosis in Acoustic Emission Monitoring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mejia, Felipe

2012-01-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has gained significant popularity in the last decade. This growing interest, coupled with new sensing technologies, has resulted in an overwhelming amount of data in need of management and useful interpretation. Acoustic emission (AE) testing has been particularly fraught by the problem of growing data and is…

Finding Time for Fiction.

PubMed

Johnson, Justin M

2015-12-01

With growing advances in psychiatric care come growing amounts of knowledge to be read by psychiatry trainees. This essay presents one resident's experience putting aside some of the official psychiatric literature during residency in favor of more fiction, and his self-perceived growth because of that. Fiction, in the author's perspective, can make us all better psychiatrists.

Transforming Teaching and Learning through the Virtual Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dougherty, Kevin J.

2012-01-01

There is a perfect storm brewing in post-secondary education (PSE) in Ontario. Four major forces are combining in this storm, an ever growing higher education participation rate, the growing demand for effective and timely knowledge delivery, the need to drastically alter how one views teaching and learning, and accelerated technological changes.…

Paxton Revisited: The Essence of the Lived Experiences of Urban Agricultural Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Nicholas R.; Roberts, Richie; Whiddon, Ashley S.; Goossen, Carmelita E.; Kacal, Amanda

2015-01-01

The rapidly growing world population and need for more food and agricultural knowledge has inspired city dwellers to explore urban cultivation practices such as vertical farming and community gardening. Ultra-modern approaches to growing crops and livestock in urban high-rise buildings has sparked the imagination of scientists, agriculturists, and…

Baculovirus phylogeny and evolution.

PubMed

Herniou, Elisabeth A; Jehle, Johannes A

2007-10-01

The family Baculoviridae represents one of the largest and most diverse groups of viruses and a unique model for studying the forces driving the evolution and biodiversity of double-stranded DNA viruses with large genomes. With the advent of comparative genomics, the phylogenetic relationships of baculoviruses have been put on solid bases. This, as well as improved bioinformatic approaches, has provided a detailed picture of baculovirus phylogeny and evolution. According to the present knowledge, baculoviruses can be classified into at least four evolutionary lineages: the most ancestral dipteran nucleopolyhedroviruses, the hymenopteran nucleopolyhedroviruses and the lepidopteran nucleopolyhedroviruses and granuloviruses. Despite the growing understanding of baculovirus phylogeny and macro-evolution, our knowledge of the micro-evolutionary processes within baculovirus species and virus populations is still limited. Here we present the state of the art on baculovirus phylogeny and evolution.

Transforming data into usable knowledge: the CIRC experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mote, P.; Lach, D.; Hartmann, H.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Stevenson, J.

2017-12-01

NOAA's northwest RISA, the Climate Impacts Research Consortium, emphasizes the transformation of data into usable knowledge. This effort involves physical scientists (e.g., Abatzoglou) building web-based tools with climate and hydrologic data and model output, a team performing data mining to link crop loss claims to droughts, social scientists (eg., Lach, Hartmann) evaluating the effectiveness of such tools at communicating with end users, and two-way engagement with a wide variety of audiences who are interested in using and improving the tools. Unusual in this effort is the seamless integration across timescales past, present, and future; data mining; and the level of effort in evaluating the tools. We provide examples of agriculturally relevant climate variables (e.g. growing degree days, day of first fall freeze) and describe the iterative process of incorporating user feedback.

Efficacy of Blended Preservice Training for Resource Parents

PubMed Central

White, Lee; Delaney, Richard; Pacifici, Caesar; Nelson, Carol; Whitkin, Josh; Lovejoy, Maureen; Smalley, Betsy Keefer

2017-01-01

To evaluate a new way of meeting the growing demand for training prospective resource parents, our study compared the efficacy of a blended online and in-person approach with a traditional classroom-only approach. Findings based on a sample of 111 resource parent prospects showed significantly greater gains in knowledge from pre- to posttest for the blended approach over the classroom-only approach. The blended approach also produced dramatically lower dropout rates during preservice training. Both groups made significant gains in parenting awareness from pre to post, but those gains were greater for the classroom-only approach. Post hoc analyses examined this finding more closely. Satisfaction with training was comparably high for both groups. Gains in knowledge and awareness were sustained at a 3-month follow-up assessment. PMID:28626240

Next generation agricultural system data, models and knowledge products: Introduction.

PubMed

Antle, John M; Jones, James W; Rosenzweig, Cynthia E

2017-07-01

Agricultural system models have become important tools to provide predictive and assessment capability to a growing array of decision-makers in the private and public sectors. Despite ongoing research and model improvements, many of the agricultural models today are direct descendants of research investments initially made 30-40 years ago, and many of the major advances in data, information and communication technology (ICT) of the past decade have not been fully exploited. The purpose of this Special Issue of Agricultural Systems is to lay the foundation for the next generation of agricultural systems data, models and knowledge products. The Special Issue is based on a "NextGen" study led by the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Next Generation Agricultural System Data, Models and Knowledge Products: Introduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antle, John M.; Jones, James W.; Rosenzweig, Cynthia E.

2016-01-01

Agricultural system models have become important tools to provide predictive and assessment capability to a growing array of decision-makers in the private and public sectors. Despite ongoing research and model improvements, many of the agricultural models today are direct descendants of research investments initially made 30-40 years ago, and many of the major advances in data, information and communication technology (ICT) of the past decade have not been fully exploited. The purpose of this Special Issue of Agricultural Systems is to lay the foundation for the next generation of agricultural systems data, models and knowledge products. The Special Issue is based on a 'NextGen' study led by the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Managing the data deluge: data-driven GO category assignment improves while complexity of functional annotation increases.

PubMed

Gobeill, Julien; Pasche, Emilie; Vishnyakova, Dina; Ruch, Patrick

2013-01-01

The available curated data lag behind current biological knowledge contained in the literature. Text mining can assist biologists and curators to locate and access this knowledge, for instance by characterizing the functional profile of publications. Gene Ontology (GO) category assignment in free text already supports various applications, such as powering ontology-based search engines, finding curation-relevant articles (triage) or helping the curator to identify and encode functions. Popular text mining tools for GO classification are based on so called thesaurus-based--or dictionary-based--approaches, which exploit similarities between the input text and GO terms themselves. But their effectiveness remains limited owing to the complex nature of GO terms, which rarely occur in text. In contrast, machine learning approaches exploit similarities between the input text and already curated instances contained in a knowledge base to infer a functional profile. GO Annotations (GOA) and MEDLINE make possible to exploit a growing amount of curated abstracts (97 000 in November 2012) for populating this knowledge base. Our study compares a state-of-the-art thesaurus-based system with a machine learning system (based on a k-Nearest Neighbours algorithm) for the task of proposing a functional profile for unseen MEDLINE abstracts, and shows how resources and performances have evolved. Systems are evaluated on their ability to propose for a given abstract the GO terms (2.8 on average) used for curation in GOA. We show that since 2006, although a massive effort was put into adding synonyms in GO (+300%), our thesaurus-based system effectiveness is rather constant, reaching from 0.28 to 0.31 for Recall at 20 (R20). In contrast, thanks to its knowledge base growth, our machine learning system has steadily improved, reaching from 0.38 in 2006 to 0.56 for R20 in 2012. Integrated in semi-automatic workflows or in fully automatic pipelines, such systems are more and more efficient to provide assistance to biologists. DATABASE URL: http://eagl.unige.ch/GOCat/

Towards Linked Open Services and Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krummenacher, Reto; Norton, Barry; Marte, Adrian

The combination of semantic technology and Web services in form of 'Semantic Web Services' has until now been oriented towards extension of the WS-* stack with ontology-based descriptions. The same time, there is a strong movement away from this stack - for which the 'Web' part is little more than branding - towards RESTful services. The Linked Open Data initiative is a keen adopter of this approach and exposes many datasets via SPARQL endpoints and RESTful services. Our developing approach of 'Linked Open Services', whose current state is described in this paper, accommodates such Linked Data endpoints and general RESTful services alongside WS-* stack-based services with descriptions based on RDF and SPARQL. This capitalises on the Linked Data Cloud and makes service description and comprehension more easy and direct to the growing Linked Data community. Along the way, we show how the existing link between service messaging and the semantic viewpoint, commonly called 'lifting and lowering', is usually unduly restricted to ontology-based classification and misses how the effect of a service contributes to the knowledge of its consumer. Our SPARQL-based approach helps also in the composition of services as knowledge-centric processes, and encourages the development and exposure of services that communicate RDF.

Deterministic and fuzzy-based methods to evaluate community resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kammouh, Omar; Noori, Ali Zamani; Taurino, Veronica; Mahin, Stephen A.; Cimellaro, Gian Paolo

2018-04-01

Community resilience is becoming a growing concern for authorities and decision makers. This paper introduces two indicator-based methods to evaluate the resilience of communities based on the PEOPLES framework. PEOPLES is a multi-layered framework that defines community resilience using seven dimensions. Each of the dimensions is described through a set of resilience indicators collected from literature and they are linked to a measure allowing the analytical computation of the indicator's performance. The first method proposed in this paper requires data on previous disasters as an input and returns as output a performance function for each indicator and a performance function for the whole community. The second method exploits a knowledge-based fuzzy modeling for its implementation. This method allows a quantitative evaluation of the PEOPLES indicators using descriptive knowledge rather than deterministic data including the uncertainty involved in the analysis. The output of the fuzzy-based method is a resilience index for each indicator as well as a resilience index for the community. The paper also introduces an open source online tool in which the first method is implemented. A case study illustrating the application of the first method and the usage of the tool is also provided in the paper.

VuWiki: An Ontology-Based Semantic Wiki for Vulnerability Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khazai, Bijan; Kunz-Plapp, Tina; Büscher, Christian; Wegner, Antje

2014-05-01

The concept of vulnerability, as well as its implementation in vulnerability assessments, is used in various disciplines and contexts ranging from disaster management and reduction to ecology, public health or climate change and adaptation, and a corresponding multitude of ideas about how to conceptualize and measure vulnerability exists. Three decades of research in vulnerability have generated a complex and growing body of knowledge that challenges newcomers, practitioners and even experienced researchers. To provide a structured representation of the knowledge field "vulnerability assessment", we have set up an ontology-based semantic wiki for reviewing and representing vulnerability assessments: VuWiki, www.vuwiki.org. Based on a survey of 55 vulnerability assessment studies, we first developed an ontology as an explicit reference system for describing vulnerability assessments. We developed the ontology in a theoretically controlled manner based on general systems theory and guided by principles for ontology development in the field of earth and environment (Raskin and Pan 2005). Four key questions form the first level "branches" or categories of the developed ontology: (1) Vulnerability of what? (2) Vulnerability to what? (3) What reference framework was used in the vulnerability assessment?, and (4) What methodological approach was used in the vulnerability assessment? These questions correspond to the basic, abstract structure of the knowledge domain of vulnerability assessments and have been deduced from theories and concepts of various disciplines. The ontology was then implemented in a semantic wiki which allows for the classification and annotation of vulnerability assessments. As a semantic wiki, VuWiki does not aim at "synthesizing" a holistic and overarching model of vulnerability. Instead, it provides both scientists and practitioners with a uniform ontology as a reference system and offers easy and structured access to the knowledge field of vulnerability assessments with the possibility for any user to retrieve assessments using specific research criteria. Furthermore, Vuwiki can serve as a collaborative knowledge platform that allows for the active participation of those generating and using the knowledge represented in the wiki.

Challenges to Technical and Vocational Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Hermann

Advances in information technology are changing industrialized societies into knowledge societies. The end of the cold war has promoted development of a global economy. Growing ecological consciousness has necessitated that environmental knowledge become part of all education. As the need to remain competitive increases, a new balance in…

The study of knowledge management capability and organizational effectiveness in Taiwanese public utility: the mediator role of organizational commitment.

PubMed

Chiu, Chia-Nan; Chen, Huei-Huang

2016-01-01

Many studies on the significance of knowledge management (KM) in the business world have been performed in recent years. Public sector KM is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that few authors specialize in the field and there are several obstacles to developing a cohesive body of literature. In order to examine their effect of the knowledge management capability [which consists of knowledge infrastructure capability (KIC) and knowledge process capability (KPC)] and organizational effectiveness (OE), this study conducted structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses with 302 questionnaires of Taipei Water Department staffs in Taiwan. In exploring the model developed in this study, the findings show that there exists a significant relationship between KPC and OE, while KIC and OE are insignificant. These results are different from earlier findings in the literature. Furthermore, this research proposed organizational commitment (OC) as the mediator role. The findings suggest that only OC has significant mediating effects between KPC and OE, whereas this is not the case for KIC and OE. It is noteworthy that the above findings inspired managers, in addition to construct the knowledge infrastructure more than focus on social media tools on the Internet, which engage knowledge workers in "peer-to-peer" knowledge sharing across organizational and company boundaries. The results are likely to help organizations (particularly public utilities) sharpen their knowledge management strategies. Academic and practical implications were drawn based on the findings.

A Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network based on local distribution learning.

PubMed

Xing, Youlu; Shi, Xiaofeng; Shen, Furao; Zhou, Ke; Zhao, Jinxi

2016-12-01

In this paper, we propose an unsupervised incremental learning neural network based on local distribution learning, which is called Local Distribution Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network (LD-SOINN). The LD-SOINN combines the advantages of incremental learning and matrix learning. It can automatically discover suitable nodes to fit the learning data in an incremental way without a priori knowledge such as the structure of the network. The nodes of the network store rich local information regarding the learning data. The adaptive vigilance parameter guarantees that LD-SOINN is able to add new nodes for new knowledge automatically and the number of nodes will not grow unlimitedly. While the learning process continues, nodes that are close to each other and have similar principal components are merged to obtain a concise local representation, which we call a relaxation data representation. A denoising process based on density is designed to reduce the influence of noise. Experiments show that the LD-SOINN performs well on both artificial and real-word data. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From bioethics to a sociology of bio-knowledge.

PubMed

Petersen, Alan

2013-12-01

Growing recognition of bioethics' shortcomings, associated in large part with its heavy reliance on abstract principles, or so-called principlism, has led many scholars to propose that the field should be reformed or reconceptualised. Principlism is seen to de-contextualise the process of ethical decision-making, thus restricting bioethics' contributions to debate and policy on new and emergent biotechnologies. This article examines some major critiques of bioethics and argues for an alternative normative approach; namely, a sociology of bio-knowledge focussing on human rights. The article discusses the need for such an approach, including the challenges posed by the recent rise of 'the bio-economy'. It explores some potential alternative bases for a normative sociology of bio-knowledge, before presenting the elements of the proposed human rights-focused approach. This approach, it is argued, will benefit from the insights and concepts offered by various fields of critical scholarship, particularly the emergent sociology of human rights, science and technology studies, Foucaultian scholarship, and feminist bioethics. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Trends on generation and reproduction of knowledge about economic evaluation and health].

PubMed

Arredondo, A; Parada, I

2001-08-01

This paper identifies the trends and recent progress in the generation and reproduction of knowledge on health economic evaluation. Analysis is organized along nine public health action fields, namely: health determinants and predictors, economic value of health, healthcare demand, healthcare supply, microeconomic evaluation of healthcare, healthcare market balance, evaluation of policy instruments, general evaluation of the health system, and healthcare planning, regulation and supervision. Each action field is defined to place the reader in the proper setting and level of analysis. In addition, thematic research topics developed in each action field are proposed and discussed. The generation and reproduction of knowledge on the different action fields was based on the review of the bibliographic databases MEDLINE and LILACS for the 1992-2000 period. Results lead to the conclusion that development and application of economic evaluation of healthcare has been uneven across different countries and that there is a growing increase of applications starting in 1994, the year of initiation of healthcare reform in Latin America.

HIV Knowledge, Risk Behavior, Stigma, and Their Impact on HIV Testing among Asian American and Pacific Islanders: A Review of Literature.

PubMed

Sen, Soma; Nguyen, Hoang Dung; Kim, So Yung; Aguilar, Jemel

2017-01-02

Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are the fastest growing population in the United States with documented increases in HIV rates. AAPIs are as likely as other racial/ethnic groups to engage in HIV-related risk behaviors, while being concomitantly less likely to have been HIV tested. Testing is a critical step in HIV prevention. Research points to various barriers to HIV-related testing including HIV knowledge and attitude and stigma. However, these factors and their impact among AAPIs are poorly understood. Myths about this population's "model minority" status compound AAPIs' sociocultural factors including English language proficiency, access to healthcare, and a culture of "silence" that negatively influences HIV-related research. In this article, the authors review the scientific literature on knowledge, risk behavior, and stigma to document the current state of research. Based on the review the authors offer a set of research, policy, and practice recommendations for social workers and other service providers working with AAPIs.

Upper Secondary Teachers' Knowledge for Teaching Chemical Bonding Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergqvist, Anna; Drechsler, Michal; Chang Rundgren, Shu-Nu

2016-01-01

Researchers have shown a growing interest in science teachers' professional knowledge in recent decades. The article focuses on how chemistry teachers impart chemical bonding, one of the most important topics covered in upper secondary school chemistry courses. Chemical bonding is primarily taught using models, which are key for understanding…

Where the Grass Grows Again: Knowledge Exchange in the Sustainable Agriculture Movement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hassanein, Neva; Kloppenburg, Jack R., Jr.

1995-01-01

Intensive rotational grazing by Wisconsin dairy farmers represents a local expression of the sustainable agriculture movement. Contrary to interpretations that view local knowledge in agriculture as idiosyncratic, these graziers use horizontal forms of organizing and information exchange to overcome the limits of personal experience and share…

Early Developments in Argumentation in Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bazerman, Charles

An evaluation of four seventeenth and eighteenth century essays on optics revealed early trends in the evolution of scientific articles. The later articles showed a growing tendency to (1) separate practice from pure knowledge, (2) organize information around problems of knowledge and theory rather than around chronological events, (3) emphasize…

Linking Parser Development to Acquisition of Syntactic Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Omaki, Akira; Lidz, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

Traditionally, acquisition of syntactic knowledge and the development of sentence comprehension behaviors have been treated as separate disciplines. This article reviews a growing body of work on the development of incremental sentence comprehension mechanisms and discusses how a better understanding of the developing parser can shed light on two…

College Knowledge: A Critical Component of College and Career Readiness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hooker, Sarah; Brand, Betsy

2010-01-01

Policy has traditionally emphasized the completion of academic requirements as the gateway to postsecondary education. There is, however, growing understanding that youth need to develop a wide range of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal resources for career success, civic engagement, and lifelong learning. It also is necessary to address…

Educational Online Technologies in Blended Tertiary Environments: Experts' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuapawa, Kimberley

2017-01-01

Although educational online technologies (EOTs) present an extraordinary range of higher education opportunities, significant gaps in knowledge about their purpose and functionality may impede levels of adoption. As the demand for online learning grows, it is critical that tertiary education institutes (TEIs) address gaps in knowledge by…

Bringing Knowledge Management into an Engineering Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winberg, S. L.; Schach, S. R.; Inggs, M. R.

2007-01-01

The use of effective knowledge management is becoming an essential part of technical development projects in order to enable developers to handle the growing complexity of these projects. In this article we discuss an innovative approach to address this concern from the perspective of an undergraduate engineering curriculum. Instead of adding…

Reprint 1987: Research Administration in a Time of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brandt, Edward N.

2017-01-01

The field of biomedical research has undergone several changes in recent years. These include increased funding, the rapid development in scientific knowledge which speeds up the obsolescence of equipment, facilities and knowledge and the growing complexity of scientific problems. Research administrators can take steps to address these changes…

Educational Theory in an Era of Knowledge Capitalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lundahl, Lisbeth

2012-01-01

Two related aspects of the present "knowledge capitalism" stage of globalisation are discussed in this article: the transformation of education to make it more directly supportive of educational growth and competition, and the growing demands on educational research to provide scientific evidence for education policy and practice, using narrowly…

Growing the Desert: Educational Pathways for Remote Indigenous People. Support Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collier, Pam; King, Sharijn; Lawrence, Kate; Nangala, Irene; Nangala, Marilyn; Schaber, Evelyn; Young, Metta; Guenther, John; Oster, John

2007-01-01

As part of a project funded by the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) and the Desert Knowledge CRC (DKCRC), the "Growing the desert" research team have conducted a broad-ranging analysis of the role of formal and non-formal training opportunities that lead to employment and enterprise opportunities in the…

How fast to northern hardwoods grow?

Treesearch

Rapheal Zon; H.F. Scholz

1929-01-01

The knowledge of the rate at which trees grow in virgin forests, after clear cutting and under selective logging, is indispensable in any forest calculations or forest practice. The enactment of the Forest Crop Law, which brought under its operation about 175,000 acres of cut-over land during the first year, the example set by several progressive lumbermen in selective...

Pharmacogenomic knowledge representation, reasoning and genome-based clinical decision support based on OWL 2 DL ontologies.

PubMed

Samwald, Matthias; Miñarro Giménez, Jose Antonio; Boyce, Richard D; Freimuth, Robert R; Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter; Dumontier, Michel

2015-02-22

Every year, hundreds of thousands of patients experience treatment failure or adverse drug reactions (ADRs), many of which could be prevented by pharmacogenomic testing. However, the primary knowledge needed for clinical pharmacogenomics is currently dispersed over disparate data structures and captured in unstructured or semi-structured formalizations. This is a source of potential ambiguity and complexity, making it difficult to create reliable information technology systems for enabling clinical pharmacogenomics. We developed Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontologies and automated reasoning methodologies to meet the following goals: 1) provide a simple and concise formalism for representing pharmacogenomic knowledge, 2) finde errors and insufficient definitions in pharmacogenomic knowledge bases, 3) automatically assign alleles and phenotypes to patients, 4) match patients to clinically appropriate pharmacogenomic guidelines and clinical decision support messages and 5) facilitate the detection of inconsistencies and overlaps between pharmacogenomic treatment guidelines from different sources. We evaluated different reasoning systems and test our approach with a large collection of publicly available genetic profiles. Our methodology proved to be a novel and useful choice for representing, analyzing and using pharmacogenomic data. The Genomic Clinical Decision Support (Genomic CDS) ontology represents 336 SNPs with 707 variants; 665 haplotypes related to 43 genes; 22 rules related to drug-response phenotypes; and 308 clinical decision support rules. OWL reasoning identified CDS rules with overlapping target populations but differing treatment recommendations. Only a modest number of clinical decision support rules were triggered for a collection of 943 public genetic profiles. We found significant performance differences across available OWL reasoners. The ontology-based framework we developed can be used to represent, organize and reason over the growing wealth of pharmacogenomic knowledge, as well as to identify errors, inconsistencies and insufficient definitions in source data sets or individual patient data. Our study highlights both advantages and potential practical issues with such an ontology-based approach.

Why small-scale cannabis growers stay small: five mechanisms that prevent small-scale growers from going large scale.

PubMed

Hammersvik, Eirik; Sandberg, Sveinung; Pedersen, Willy

2012-11-01

Over the past 15-20 years, domestic cultivation of cannabis has been established in a number of European countries. New techniques have made such cultivation easier; however, the bulk of growers remain small-scale. In this study, we explore the factors that prevent small-scale growers from increasing their production. The study is based on 1 year of ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews conducted with 45 Norwegian cannabis growers, 10 of whom were growing on a large-scale and 35 on a small-scale. The study identifies five mechanisms that prevent small-scale indoor growers from going large-scale. First, large-scale operations involve a number of people, large sums of money, a high work-load and a high risk of detection, and thus demand a higher level of organizational skills than for small growing operations. Second, financial assets are needed to start a large 'grow-site'. Housing rent, electricity, equipment and nutrients are expensive. Third, to be able to sell large quantities of cannabis, growers need access to an illegal distribution network and knowledge of how to act according to black market norms and structures. Fourth, large-scale operations require advanced horticultural skills to maximize yield and quality, which demands greater skills and knowledge than does small-scale cultivation. Fifth, small-scale growers are often embedded in the 'cannabis culture', which emphasizes anti-commercialism, anti-violence and ecological and community values. Hence, starting up large-scale production will imply having to renegotiate or abandon these values. Going from small- to large-scale cannabis production is a demanding task-ideologically, technically, economically and personally. The many obstacles that small-scale growers face and the lack of interest and motivation for going large-scale suggest that the risk of a 'slippery slope' from small-scale to large-scale growing is limited. Possible political implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Operations Assessment of Launch Vehicle Architectures using Activity Based Cost Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ruiz-Torres, Alex J.; McCleskey, Carey

2000-01-01

The growing emphasis on affordability for space transportation systems requires the assessment of new space vehicles for all life cycle activities, from design and development, through manufacturing and operations. This paper addresses the operational assessment of launch vehicles, focusing on modeling the ground support requirements of a vehicle architecture, and estimating the resulting costs and flight rate. This paper proposes the use of Activity Based Costing (ABC) modeling for this assessment. The model uses expert knowledge to determine the activities, the activity times and the activity costs based on vehicle design characteristics. The approach provides several advantages to current approaches to vehicle architecture assessment including easier validation and allowing vehicle designers to understand the cost and cycle time drivers.

Parent Refusal of Topical Fluoride for Their Children: Clinical Strategies and Future Research Priorities to Improve Evidence-Based Pediatric Dental Practice.

PubMed

Chi, Donald L

2017-07-01

A growing number of parents are refusing topical fluoride for their children during preventive dental and medical visits. This nascent clinical and public health problem warrants attention from dental professionals and the scientific community. Clinical and community-based strategies are available to improve fluoride-related communications with parents and the public. In terms of future research priorities, there is a need to develop screening tools to identify parents who are likely to refuse topical fluoride and diagnostic instruments to uncover the reasons for topical fluoride refusal. This knowledge will lead to evidence-based strategies that can be widely disseminated into clinical practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Voronoi interior adjacency-based approach for generating a contour tree

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jun; Qiao, Chaofei; Zhao, Renliang

2004-05-01

A contour tree is a good graphical tool for representing the spatial relations of contour lines and has found many applications in map generalization, map annotation, terrain analysis, etc. A new approach for generating contour trees by introducing a Voronoi-based interior adjacency set concept is proposed in this paper. The immediate interior adjacency set is employed to identify all of the children contours of each contour without contour elevations. It has advantages over existing methods such as the point-in-polygon method and the region growing-based method. This new approach can be used for spatial data mining and knowledge discovering, such as the automatic extraction of terrain features and construction of multi-resolution digital elevation model.

Variation in Generational Perceptions of Child Health and Well-being.

PubMed

Freed, Gary L; Davis, Matthew M; Singer, Dianne C; Gebremariam, Acham; Schultz, Sara L; Matos-Moreno, Amilcar; Wietecha, Mark

To assess adults' perceptions regarding the health and well-being of children today relative to their own health and well-being as youth and the potential for intergenerational differences in those perceptions. A cross-sectional, Internet-based survey of a nationally representative household sample was conducted using GfK Custom Research's Web-enabled KnowledgePanel, a probability-based panel representative of the US population. We assessed perceptions of children's health and well-being today compared to when respondents were growing up, including physical and mental health; and children's education, exercise, diet, health care, safety of communities, and emotional support from families, groups, and organizations. Overall, 1330 (65%) of 2047 adult respondents completed the survey. Only 26% of respondents believed that the current physical health of children, and 14% that the current mental health of children, is better today than when they were growing up. There was a significant trend among generations, with a greater proportion of older generations perceiving the physical health of children to be better today. Only 15% of respondents reported the chances for a child to grow up with good mental health in the future are "better" now than when they were growing up. Adults across all generations in the United States today view children's health as unlikely to meet the goals of the American Dream of continuous improvement. Although demographic changes require continued focus on our aging population, we must equally recognize the importance of advancing a healthy future for our nation's children, who will assume the mantle of our future. Copyright © 2017 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identification of Patients at Risk for Hereditary Colorectal Cancer

PubMed Central

Mishra, Nitin; Hall, Jason

2012-01-01

Diagnosis of hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes requires clinical suspicion and knowledge of such syndromes. Lynch syndrome is the most common cause of hereditary colorectal cancer. Other less common causes include familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS), juvenile polyposis syndrome, and others. There have been a growing number of clinical and molecular tools used to screen and test at risk individuals. Screening tools include diagnostic clinical criteria, family history, genetic prediction models, and tumor testing. Patients who are high risk based on screening should be referred for genetic testing. PMID:23730221

Adaptive temperature profile control of a multizone crystal growth furnace

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Batur, C.; Sharpless, R. B.; Duval, W. M. B.; Rosenthal, B. N.

1991-01-01

An intelligent measurement system is described which is used to assess the shape of a crystal while it is growing inside a multizone transparent furnace. A color video imaging system observes the crystal in real time, and determines the position and the shape of the interface. This information is used to evaluate the crystal growth rate, and to analyze the effects of translational velocity and temperature profiles on the shape of the interface. Creation of this knowledge base is the first step to incorporate image processing into furnace control.

Disability and genetics in the era of genomic medicine.

PubMed

Scully, Jackie Leach

2008-10-01

Genomic medicine offers a growing number of methods to diagnose, cure or prevent disability. Although many disabled people welcome these advances, others have reservations about the impact of genetic knowledge on disabled people's lives, arguing that genetic science might exacerbate the deep ambivalence that society as a whole has towards physical difference and anomaly. It is also possible, however, that being able to specify the genetic bases of disability, and distinguish them from other causative factors, will contribute to a fuller understanding of disability and a better response to disabled people.

A new approach for predicting drought-related vegetation stress: Integrating satellite, climate, and biophysical data over the U.S. central plains

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tadesse, Tsegaye; Brown, Jesslyn F.; Hayes, M.J.

2005-01-01

Droughts are normal climate episodes, yet they are among the most expensive natural disasters in the world. Knowledge about the timing, severity, and pattern of droughts on the landscape can be incorporated into effective planning and decision-making. In this study, we present a data mining approach to modeling vegetation stress due to drought and mapping its spatial extent during the growing season. Rule-based regression tree models were generated that identify relationships between satellite-derived vegetation conditions, climatic drought indices, and biophysical data, including land-cover type, available soil water capacity, percent of irrigated farm land, and ecological type. The data mining method builds numerical rule-based models that find relationships among the input variables. Because the models can be applied iteratively with input data from previous time periods, the method enables to provide predictions of vegetation conditions farther into the growing season based on earlier conditions. Visualizing the model outputs as mapped information (called VegPredict) provides a means to evaluate the model. We present prototype maps for the 2002 drought year for Nebraska and South Dakota and discuss potential uses for these maps.

Alternative soilless media for growing Petunia x hybrida and Impatiens wallerana: physical behavior, effect of fertilization and nitrate losses.

PubMed

Chavez, Walter; Di Benedetto, Adalberto; Civeira, Gabriela; Lavado, Raúl

2008-11-01

The use of alternative soilless media for the production of potted plants requires knowledge of their physical and chemical characteristics to result in the best conditions for plant growth. We investigated the use of alternative soilless media based on river waste and Sphagnun sp. and Carex sp. from Argentinean peatlands on Petuniaxhybrida and Impatiens wallerana production at two fertilization levels (200 and 400mgl(-1)N). River waste or 'temperate peat' is the name given to a material, resulting from the accumulation of aquatic plant residues under an anaerobic subtropical environment, which is dredged from river banks. Our results showed that alternative substrates based on river waste can be used to grow high quality plants. This result was not fully explained on the basis of established methods to evaluate substrate quality. Highly concentrated fertigation solution decreased the substrate quality parameters and plant growth. Nitrate leaching from the alternative substrates containing river waste was lower than the standard peat-based materials, which makes river waste desirable from a sustainable pot production system perspective. River waste and Carex peat are suitable alternatives to Sphagnum peat from the Northern Hemisphere.

Knowledge transfer within EU-funded marine science research - a viewpoint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayliss-Brown, Georgia; Cheallachaín, Cliona Ní

2016-04-01

Knowledge transfer, in its most inherent form, can be tracked back to the earliest phase of the Neolithic Revolution, 10,000 years ago, at a time when innovators shared their thoughts on crop cultivation and livestock farming (Bellwood, 2004). Not to be mistaken for science transfer - the export of modern science to non-scientific audiences - it was in the 1960s, that modern knowledge transfer was initiated, when reporting research achievements shifted towards having institutional and political agendas (Lipphardt & Ludwig, 2011). Albeit that the economic contribution of scientific research has been scrutinised for decades; today, there is a pronounced need for the evaluation of its social, cultural and ecological impact. To have impact, it is essential that scientific knowledge is clear and accessible, as well as robust and credible, so that it can be successfully transferred and applied by those identifying solutions for today's societal and environmental challenges. This phenomenon is receiving growing academic interest, where publications including "knowledge transfer" in the title have increased near exponentially for 60 years. Furthermore, we are seeing a definite shift towards embedding a mission of knowledge transfer in Public Research Organisations. This new approach is rewarding researchers whom deliver on all three institutional missions: teaching, research and knowledge transfer. In addition, the European Commission (2008) recommends that "knowledge transfer between universities and industry is made a permanent political and operational priority" and that "sufficient resources and incentives [be] available to public research organisations and their staff to engage in knowledge transfer activities". It is also anticipated that funding agencies will soon make pathways-to-impact statements, also known as knowledge transfer plans, a mandatory requirement of all project proposals. AquaTT is a leader in scientific knowledge management, including knowledge transfer and dissemination. This Dublin-based SME has an ever-growing portfolio of FP7 and Horizon 2020 projects where they hold knowledge management responsibilities. In this session, we will present AquaTT's experiences in knowledge management for several European Union-funded marine research projects; including MarineTT (http://marinett.eu/) that was recognised as an exemplar project in the ex post evaluation of FP7 to the European Commission. These insights will be supplemented with an overview of the AquaTT-developed step-by-step knowledge transfer methodology, as used by the COLUMBUS project - the EU's flagship Blue Growth and Knowledge Transfer initiative (http://www.columbusproject.eu/). This session will provide a platform to launch AquaTT's European knowledge transfer network, established to support the research community in fostering a culture that recognises and rewards knowledge transfer between scientists and end-users (industry, policy, and wider society), thereby ensuring that research achieves its maximum potential impact. References Bellwood, P. (2004) The First Farmers: Origins of Agricultural Societies. Malden, MA. European Commission (2008) recommendation on the management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and code of practice for universities and other public research organisations http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/pdf/ip_recommendation_en.pdf Lipphardt, V. and D. Ludwig (2011) Knowledge transfer and science transfer. http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/theories-and-methods/knowledge-transfer/veronika-lipphardt-david-ludwig-knowledge-transfer-and-science-transfer

IMM tracking of a theater ballistic missile during boost phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hutchins, Robert G.; San Jose, Anthony

1998-09-01

Since the SCUD launches in the Gulf War, theater ballistic missile (TBM) systems have become a growing concern for the US military. Detection, tracking and engagement during boost phase or shortly after booster cutoff are goals that grow in importance with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This paper addresses the performance of tracking algorithms for TBMs during boost phase and across the transition to ballistic flight. Three families of tracking algorithms are examined: alpha-beta-gamma trackers, Kalman-based trackers, and the interactive multiple model (IMM) tracker. In addition, a variation on the IMM to include prior knowledge of a booster cutoff parameter is examined. Simulated data is used to compare algorithms. Also, the IMM tracker is run on an actual ballistic missile trajectory. Results indicate that IMM trackers show significant advantage in tracking through the model transition represented by booster cutoff.

Journeys, Adventures, Bridges and Puzzles: A case study approach to understanding teachers' conceptions of STEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kenney, Meghan

Legislative changes and discussions about the United States falling further and further behind other nations in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) achievement are growing. As they grow, STEM instruction in elementary school has earned its place as a national area of interest in education. In the case of Ivory School District, teachers are being asked to radically change their daily practices by consistently implementing inquiry-based STEM experiences in their classrooms. As such, teachers are being asked to scale a divide between the district expectations and their knowledge and experience. Many fourth grade educators are teachers who have been trained as generalists and typically do not have specific background or experience in the philosophy, instructional strategies, or content associated with STEM. Using a prototype approach, this study aims to understand how such teachers conceptualize STEM instruction and the relationship between their experience and conceptions.

Identification and control of a multizone crystal growth furnace

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Batur, C.; Sharpless, R. B.; Duval, W. M. B.; Rosenthal, B. N.; Singh, N. B.

1992-01-01

This paper presents an intelligent adaptive control system for the control of a solid-liquid interface of a crystal while it is growing via directional solidification inside a multizone transparent furnace. The task of the process controller is to establish a user-specified axial temperature profile and to maintain a desirable interface shape. Both single-input-single-output and multi-input-multi-output adaptive pole placement algorithms have been used to control the temperature. Also described is an intelligent measurement system to assess the shape of the crystal while it is growing. A color video imaging system observes the crystal in real time and determines the position and the shape of the interface. This information is used to evaluate the crystal growth rate, and to analyze the effects of translational velocity and temperature profiles on the shape of the interface. Creation of this knowledge base is the first step to incorporate image processing into furnace control.

The digital divide: Trends in global mobile and broadband Internet access from 2000–2010

PubMed Central

Ronquillo, Charlene; Currie, Leanne

2012-01-01

The digital divide is described as the gap between those who do and do not have access to digital information and communications technologies (ICT). ICTs are viewed as an indicator of infrastructure and potential for development, and are a growing platform for health information and services delivery. This study compares the penetration of mobile and broadband Internet technologies by global region from 2000 to 2010. Results illustrate the rapid growth of mobile cellular telephone subscriptions in all global regions with trends suggesting a continued increase. Little to modest gains were made in fixed broadband Internet subscriptions globally. There is a growing popularity of mobile subscriptions with use of data communications, exceeding the numbers of fixed Internet subscriptions. This comparison reveals current strengths that can be built on and highlights the importance of awareness of global trends and using such knowledge to inform design and delivery of ICT-based health services. PMID:24199118

A randomized controlled trial of a new behavioral home-based nutrition education program, "Eat Well with CF," in adults with cystic fibrosis.

PubMed

Watson, Helen; Bilton, Diana; Truby, Helen

2008-05-01

Cystic fibrosis (CF) remains the most common genetically inherited disease in the white population and its prognosis is affected by nutritional status. Adults with the disease are now surviving longer and new strategies are required to ensure that they maintain optimal nutrition. This article reports preliminary data from a randomized controlled trial of a 10-week home-based behavioral nutrition intervention, "Eat Well with CF." Outcome measures of weight change over 6 and 12 months and changes in CF-specific nutrition knowledge score, self-efficacy score, reported dietary fat intake and health-related quality-of-life score were compared between the intervention group (n=34) and a standard care control group (n=34). The hypotheses to be tested were that adults with CF completing "Eat Well with CF" would have an improved nutritional status, improvement in specific nutrition knowledge, and an improvement in self-efficacy regarding their ability to cope with a special diet, compared to those receiving standard care. There were substantial improvements in the intervention group's specific CF nutrition knowledge score, self-efficacy score, and reported fat intake compared to control, but no substantial change in body mass index or health-related quality of life over time. Home-based nutrition education incorporating behavioral strategies can be an effective way to support adults with CF, enabling improvement in self-management skills in relation to diet and pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy. This study revealed gaps in basic nutrition knowledge and skills, inadequate knowledge of diet-disease links and pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy. These need to be identified when subjects progress from pediatric to adult care, and programs such as "Eat Well with CF" are a useful adjunct for registered dietitians trying to manage this diverse but growing population.

Evidence-based management.

PubMed

Pfeffer, Jeffrey; Sutton, Robert I

2006-01-01

For the most part, managers looking to cure their organizational ills rely on obsolete knowledge they picked up in school, long-standing but never proven traditions, patterns gleaned from experience, methods they happen to be skilled in applying, and information from vendors. They could learn a thing or two from practitioners of evidence-based medicine, a movement that has taken the medical establishment by storm over the past decade. A growing number of physicians are eschewing the usual, flawed resources and are instead identifying, disseminating, and applying research that is soundly conducted and clinically relevant. It's time for managers to do the same. The challenge is, quite simply, to ground decisions in the latest and best knowledge of what actually works. In some ways, that's more difficult to do in business than in medicine. The evidence is weaker in business; almost anyone can (and many people do) claim to be a management expert; and a motley crew of sources--Shakespeare, Billy Graham,Jack Welch, Attila the Hunare used to generate management advice. Still, it makes sense that when managers act on better logic and strong evidence, their companies will beat the competition. Like medicine, management is learned through practice and experience. Yet managers (like doctors) can practice their craft more effectively if they relentlessly seek new knowledge and insight, from both inside and outside their companies, so they can keep updating their assumptions, skills, and knowledge.

Elder Abuse: Global Situation, Risk Factors, and Prevention Strategies.

PubMed

Pillemer, Karl; Burnes, David; Riffin, Catherine; Lachs, Mark S

2016-04-01

Elder mistreatment is now recognized internationally as a pervasive and growing problem, urgently requiring the attention of health care systems, social welfare agencies, policymakers, and the general public. In this article, we provide an overview of global issues in the field of elder abuse, with a focus on prevention. This article provides a scoping review of key issues in the field from an international perspective. By drawing primarily on population-based studies, this scoping review provided a more valid and reliable synthesis of current knowledge about prevalence and risk factors than has been available. Despite the lack of scientifically rigorous intervention research on elder abuse, the review also identified 5 promising strategies for prevention. The findings highlight a growing consensus across studies regarding the extent and causes of elder mistreatment, as well as the urgent need for efforts to make elder mistreatment prevention programs more effective and evidence based. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease in Northern Tanzania: A Community-Based Study

PubMed Central

Stanifer, John W.; Turner, Elizabeth L.; Egger, Joseph R.; Thielman, Nathan; Karia, Francis; Maro, Venance; Kilonzo, Kajiru; Patel, Uptal D.; Yeates, Karen

2016-01-01

Background Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a leading cause of death among adults in sub-Saharan Africa, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a growing public health threat. Understanding knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with NCDs is vital to informing optimal policy and public health responses in the region, but few community-based assessments have been performed for CKD. To address this gap, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of adults in northern Tanzania using a validated instrument. Methods Between January and June 2014, we administered a structured survey to a random sample of adults from urban and rural communities. The validated instrument consisted of 25 items designed to measure knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with kidney disease. Participants were also screened for CKD, diabetes, hypertension, and human immunodeficiency virus. Results We enrolled 606 participants from 431 urban and rural households. Knowledge of the etiologies, symptoms, and treatments for kidney disease was low (mean score 3.28 out of 10; 95% CI 2.94, 3.63). There were no significant differences by CKD status. Living in an urban setting and level of education had the strongest independent associations with knowledge score. Attitudes were characterized by frequent concern about the health (27.3%; 20.2, 36.0%), economic (73.1%; 68.2, 77.5%), and social impact (25.4%; 18.6, 33.6%) of kidney disease. Practices included the use of traditional healers (15.2%; 9.1, 24.5%) and traditional medicines (33.8%; 25.0, 43.9%) for treatment of kidney disease as well as a willingness to engage with mobile-phone technology in CKD care (94.3%; 90.1, 96.8%). Conclusions Community-based adults in northern Tanzania have limited knowledge of kidney disease. However, there is a modest knowledge base upon which to build public health programs to expand awareness and understanding of CKD, but these programs must also consider the variety of means by which adults in this population meet their healthcare needs. Finally, our assessment of local attitudes suggested that such public health efforts would be well-received. PMID:27280584

A safe place to grow: Children, animals and caring in a life science classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Day, Leslie

The ecological systems of the earth are in crisis. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact an elementary school life science education program based on an ethic of care had on children's ability to value the natural world. It is a study of how care-based science education supports personal connections to animals and nature; and how strength-based science education emphasizes creativity as a means for students to explore and express scientific knowledge through the arts. This qualitative study was conducted in a life science classroom filled with a wide variety of animals: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals the students studied and developed caring relationships with. The participants were 55 fourth, fifth and sixth-grade students who spent two years studying the natural world both inside the classroom and outside in the field. Invertebrates, trees, birds, mammals and wildflowers were studied in fourth grade. Evolution, and the study of vertebrate animals, were studied in the fifth grade. As teacher researcher, I collected data including audio-taped interviews, observations, field notes, and artifacts including children's creative projects expressing their factual understanding and thoughts about the animals and the natural world. This study revealed themes reflecting children's caring for animals, scientific knowledge, creative expression of knowledge, and the natural world. The themes are illustrated through four "portraits of care" based on students' voices, experiences, and class-work. The findings indicate that caring relationships with animals supported personal connections to the natural world and scientific knowledge. Children had better understanding and retained knowledge due to their personal connections to the animals. The concepts of evolution and interdependence of living organisms enhanced their relationships with animals and nature. Through the arts, students expressed scientific knowledge in ways that had personal meaning and a high level of active engagement. Concerned about the environment, some students used their knowledge to affect the behavior of others by creating school newspapers and websites. Inasmuch as an ethic of care in life science supports personal connections to understanding and valuing the natural world, the implications include the recommendation that preservice and inservice science education should support these connections.

Development of a multi-criteria evaluation system to assess growing pig welfare.

PubMed

Martín, P; Traulsen, I; Buxadé, C; Krieter, J

2017-03-01

The aim of this paper was to present an alternative multi-criteria evaluation model to assess animal welfare on farms based on the Welfare Quality® (WQ) project, using an example of welfare assessment of growing pigs. The WQ assessment protocol follows a three-step aggregation process. Measures are aggregated into criteria, criteria into principles and principles into an overall assessment. This study focussed on the first step of the aggregation. Multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) was used to produce a value of welfare for each criterion. The utility functions and the aggregation function were constructed in two separated steps. The Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique (MACBETH) method was used for utility function determination and the Choquet Integral (CI) was used as an aggregation operator. The WQ decision-makers' preferences were fitted in order to construct the utility functions and to determine the CI parameters. The methods were tested with generated data sets for farms of growing pigs. Using the MAUT, similar results were obtained to the ones obtained applying the WQ protocol aggregation methods. It can be concluded that due to the use of an interactive approach such as MACBETH, this alternative methodology is more transparent and more flexible than the methodology proposed by WQ, which allows the possibility to modify the model according, for instance, to new scientific knowledge.

Fuzzy rule-based image segmentation in dynamic MR images of the liver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobashi, Syoji; Hata, Yutaka; Tokimoto, Yasuhiro; Ishikawa, Makato

2000-06-01

This paper presents a fuzzy rule-based region growing method for segmenting two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3- D) magnetic resonance (MR) images. The method is an extension of the conventional region growing method. The proposed method evaluates the growing criteria by using fuzzy inference techniques. The use of the fuzzy if-then rules is appropriate for describing the knowledge of the legions on the MR images. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, it was applied to artificially generated images. In comparison with the conventional method, the proposed method shows high robustness for noisy images. The method then applied for segmenting the dynamic MR images of the liver. The dynamic MR imaging has been used for diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), portal hypertension, and so on. Segmenting the liver, portal vein (PV), and inferior vena cava (IVC) can give useful description for the diagnosis, and is a basis work of a pres-surgery planning system and a virtual endoscope. To apply the proposed method, fuzzy if-then rules are derived from the time-density curve of ROIs. In the experimental results, the 2-D reconstructed and 3-D rendered images of the segmented liver, PV, and IVC are shown. The evaluation by a physician shows that the generated images are comparable to the hepatic anatomy, and they would be useful to understanding, diagnosis, and pre-surgery planning.

Content-based image retrieval with ontological ranking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, Shen-Fu; Tsai, Min-Hsuan; Huang, Thomas S.

2010-02-01

Images are a much more powerful medium of expression than text, as the adage says: "One picture is worth a thousand words." It is because compared with text consisting of an array of words, an image has more degrees of freedom and therefore a more complicated structure. However, the less limited structure of images presents researchers in the computer vision community a tough task of teaching machines to understand and organize images, especially when a limit number of learning examples and background knowledge are given. The advance of internet and web technology in the past decade has changed the way human gain knowledge. People, hence, can exchange knowledge with others by discussing and contributing information on the web. As a result, the web pages in the internet have become a living and growing source of information. One is therefore tempted to wonder whether machines can learn from the web knowledge base as well. Indeed, it is possible to make computer learn from the internet and provide human with more meaningful knowledge. In this work, we explore this novel possibility on image understanding applied to semantic image search. We exploit web resources to obtain links from images to keywords and a semantic ontology constituting human's general knowledge. The former maps visual content to related text in contrast to the traditional way of associating images with surrounding text; the latter provides relations between concepts for machines to understand to what extent and in what sense an image is close to the image search query. With the aid of these two tools, the resulting image search system is thus content-based and moreover, organized. The returned images are ranked and organized such that semantically similar images are grouped together and given a rank based on the semantic closeness to the input query. The novelty of the system is twofold: first, images are retrieved not only based on text cues but their actual contents as well; second, the grouping is different from pure visual similarity clustering. More specifically, the inferred concepts of each image in the group are examined in the context of a huge concept ontology to determine their true relations with what people have in mind when doing image search.

Harnessing Biomedical Natural Language Processing Tools to Identify Medicinal Plant Knowledge from Historical Texts.

PubMed

Sharma, Vivekanand; Law, Wayne; Balick, Michael J; Sarkar, Indra Neil

2017-01-01

The growing amount of data describing historical medicinal uses of plants from digitization efforts provides the opportunity to develop systematic approaches for identifying potential plant-based therapies. However, the task of cataloguing plant use information from natural language text is a challenging task for ethnobotanists. To date, there have been only limited adoption of informatics approaches used for supporting the identification of ethnobotanical information associated with medicinal uses. This study explored the feasibility of using biomedical terminologies and natural language processing approaches for extracting relevant plant-associated therapeutic use information from historical biodiversity literature collection available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The results from this preliminary study suggest that there is potential utility of informatics methods to identify medicinal plant knowledge from digitized resources as well as highlight opportunities for improvement.

Harnessing Biomedical Natural Language Processing Tools to Identify Medicinal Plant Knowledge from Historical Texts

PubMed Central

Sharma, Vivekanand; Law, Wayne; Balick, Michael J.; Sarkar, Indra Neil

2017-01-01

The growing amount of data describing historical medicinal uses of plants from digitization efforts provides the opportunity to develop systematic approaches for identifying potential plant-based therapies. However, the task of cataloguing plant use information from natural language text is a challenging task for ethnobotanists. To date, there have been only limited adoption of informatics approaches used for supporting the identification of ethnobotanical information associated with medicinal uses. This study explored the feasibility of using biomedical terminologies and natural language processing approaches for extracting relevant plant-associated therapeutic use information from historical biodiversity literature collection available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The results from this preliminary study suggest that there is potential utility of informatics methods to identify medicinal plant knowledge from digitized resources as well as highlight opportunities for improvement. PMID:29854223

Exploitation of biotechnology in a large company.

PubMed

Dart, E C

1989-08-31

Almost from the outset, most large companies saw the 'new biotechnology' not as a new business but as a set of very powerful techniques that, in time, would radically improve the understanding of biological systems. This new knowledge was generally seen by them as enhancing the process of invention and not as a substitute for tried and tested ways of meeting clearly identified targets. As the knowledge base grows, so the big-company response to biotechnology becomes more positive. Within ICI, biotechnology is now integrated into five bio-businesses (Pharmaceuticals, Agrochemicals, Seeds, Diagnostics and Biological Products). Within the Central Toxicology Laboratory it also contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms of toxic action of chemicals as part of assessing risk. ICI has entered two of these businesses (Seeds and Diagnostics) because it sees biotechnology making a major contribution to the profitability of each.

LITERATURE FORENSICS? DOOR TO WHAT WAS KNOWN ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Science's all-consuming drive to make new discoveries often risks losing sight of what was already known at one time - that which already exists in the published literature. Inadequate attention to the published literature and insufficient time devoted to its mining and synthesis into new knowledge is a problem faced by all disciplines, especially highly interdisciplinary fields such as environmental forensics, whose knowledge base is fragmented across numerous disciplines. While the conduct of science applies principles of quality assurance to a wide array of its processes, how pervasive are quality controls designed to ensure that planned or ongoing research has not been undertaken before? Has sufficient energy been devoted to mining what has already been discovered and synthesizing it into a larger, more useful perspective? This paper touches on the liabilities associated with insufficient examination of an exponentially growing published literature (

Evaluating Software Assurance Knowledge and Competency of Acquisition Professionals

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

of ISO 12207 -2008, both internationally and in the United States [7]. That standard documents a comprehensive set of activities and supporting...grows, organizations must ensure that their procurement agents acquire high quality, secure software. ISO 12207 and the Software Assurance Competency...cyberattacks grows, organizations must ensure that their procurement agents acquire high quality, secure software. ISO 12207 and the Software Assurance

Impacts of Growing-Season Prescibed Burns in the Florida Pine Flatwoods Type

Treesearch

Kenneth W. Outcalt; John L. Foltz

2004-01-01

A considerable amount of experience and knowledge has been gained in the application of growing-season burning in pine communities across the Southeast. However, there is still concern that burning during this season will cause increased tree mortality and/or growth loss. Pine flatwoods stands in south Florida with 3 years of fuel accumulation were burned during the...

Growing up with Retinoblastoma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maley, Tom

2005-01-01

An account is given of growing up as a child blinded as a result of a cancer of the eye known as retinoblastoma. The role of his mother is brought out, variously as a source of objective knowledge, of one's personal worth, and of the worth of other people in one's community. The strengths and weaknesses of his first school in his home area and…

Effective Practices for Creating Transformative Informal Science Education Programs Grounded in Native Ways of Knowing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mack, Elizabeth; Augare, Helen; Cloud-Jones, Linda Different; David, Dominique; Gaddie, Helene Quiver; Honey, Rose E.; Kawagley, Angayuqaq O.; Plume-Weatherwax, Melissa Little; Fight, Lisa Lone; Meier, Gene; Pete, Tachini; Leaf, James Rattling; Returns From Scout, Elvin; Sachatello-Sawyer, Bonnie; Shibata, Hi'ilani; Valdez, Shelly; Wippert, Rachel

2012-01-01

There are a growing number of informal science education (ISE) programs in Native communities that engage youth in science education and that are grounded in Native ways of knowing. There is also a growing body of research focusing on the relationship between culture, traditional knowledge, and science education. However, there is little research…

Subirrigation for production of native plants in nurseries - concepts, current knowledge, and implementation

Treesearch

Justin L. Schmal; Kas Dumroese; Anthony S. Davis; Jeremy Pinto; Douglass F. Jacobs

2011-01-01

Subirrigation, a method whereby water is allowed to move upward into the growing medium by capillary action, has been the focus of recent research in forest and conservation nurseries growing a wide variety of native plants. Subirrigation reduces the amount of water needed for producing high-quality plants, discharged wastewater, and leaching of nutrients compared with...

Strategic Evaluation of University Knowledge and Technology Transfer Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tran, Thien Anh

2013-01-01

Academic knowledge and technology transfer has been growing in importance both in academic research and practice. A critical question in managing this activity is how to evaluate its effectiveness. The literature shows an increasing number of studies done to address this question; however, it also reveals important gaps that need more research.…

Predicting Trainee Ageism Using Knowledge, Anxiety, Compassion, and Contact with Older Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boswell, Stefanie S.

2012-01-01

Despite the growing proportion of older adults in the population, ageism is prevalent and can facilitate discriminatory behavior, even in healthcare settings. This study used multiple regression to investigate the relationship between knowledge of aging, aging anxiety, and degree of older adult contact with ageism in undergraduates training for…

Learning from Rookie Mistakes: Critical Incidents in Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Science to Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cite, Suleyman; Lee, Eun; Menon, Deepika; Hanuscin, Deborah L.

2017-01-01

While there is a growing literature focused on doctoral preparation for teaching about science teaching, rarely have recommendations extended to preparation for teaching science content to teachers. We three doctoral students employ self-study as a research methodology to investigate our developing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching…

A Comparison of Student Skill Knowledge Estimates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayers, Elizabeth; Nugent, Rebecca; Dean, Nema

2009-01-01

A fundamental goal of educational research is identifying students' current stage of skill mastery (complete/partial/none). In recent years a number of cognitive diagnosis models have become a popular means of estimating student skill knowledge. However, these models become difficult to estimate as the number of students, items, and skills grows.…

Tensions in the Third Space: Locating Relevancy in Preservice Science Teacher Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Handa, Vicente C.; Tippins, Deborah J.

2013-01-01

In this paper, we build on growing conversations centered around indigenous knowledge and its parity with various ways of knowing nature including traditional ecological knowledge, indigenous ways of living in nature, a Japanese way of knowing "seigo-shizen," and Eurocentric sciences. We situate our discussion in Philippine postcolonial…

Social Work Practice with Latinos: Key Issues for Social Workers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furman, Rich; Negi, Nalini Junko; Iwamoto, Derek Kenji; Rowan, Diana; Shukraft, Allison; Gragg, Jennifer

2009-01-01

The Latino population is the fastest growing group in the United States; thus, it is imperative that social workers and other mental health practitioners be knowledgeable about the current literature on how to effectively serve this population. This article elucidates key issues and knowledge, such as immigration and migration concerns; discusses…

Updating Polytechnic Teachers' Knowledge and Skills through Teacher Design Teams in Ghana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bakah, Marie A. B.; Voogt, Joke M.; Pieters, Jules M.

2012-01-01

While teachers and administrators in polytechnics in Ghana have categorically expressed the growing need for the former's knowledge and skills to be updated in the era of polytechnic transformation, little attention has been paid to the subject. This study reports a professional development intervention organised for 16 engineering teachers…

A Career in Teaching: Decisions of the Heart Rather than the Head

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Sullivan, Mary; MacPhail, Ann; Tannehill, Deborah

2009-01-01

There is a growing body of research and scholarship highlighting the importance of teachers and teaching to children's learning and life opportunities (Bransford, Darling-Hammond and LePage 2005). More specifically what teachers do in classrooms is a function of many things (e.g., content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge) including their belief…

Critiquing the Media: Art Knowledge Inside and Outside of School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freedman, Kerry

1997-01-01

Observes that the need for art education to include discussions of popular visual culture that influences student knowledge grows more pressing as mass communication increasingly becomes a major source of information about art. Discusses representations of culture in art in advertising and art in film. Specifically looks at art in the film…

The Best of Both Worlds: School District-Charter Sector Boundary Spanners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yatsko, Sarah; Bruns, Angela

2015-01-01

A growing number of school districts are moving away from the idea that charter schools are the enemy. Instead, districts are breaking down barriers and openly discussing how to share resources, responsibilities, and knowledge of what works. This report explores a lesser-known form of knowledge transfer: the practice of superintendents looking…

InfoThink: Practical Strategies for Using Information in Business.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Mary Woodfill

As the world of business shifts towards a knowledge economy, the growing availability of information delivered in print and electronic media will require professionals well-versed in the methodologies of information thinking and knowledgeable of the practical resources available to them. This book provides a window on the complexities of the…

Self-Care Knowledge of Hypertension Prevention and Control among Women in Contemporary Ghana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asmah, Emmanuel Ekow; Orkoh, Emmanuel

2017-01-01

Background: There has been a growing body of literature on hypertension in many countries, but nonavailability of data hampered empirical research on this issue in Ghana. Purpose: This article presents new and nationally representative household survey evidence on determinants and benefits of self-care knowledge of hypertension prevention and…

Teaching Quality Matters in Higher Education: A Case Study from Turkey and Slovakia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Üstünlüoglu, Evrim

2017-01-01

Despite a growing number of studies on the effectiveness of teaching and quality in higher education, reports indicate that more work is needed regarding meeting expectations in teaching quality, in particular, in investigating lecturers' application of pedagogical knowledge when transferring discipline-specific knowledge. This study aimed to…

Learning to Teach: Alternatives to Trial by Fire

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trautmann, Nancy M.

2008-01-01

The traditional presumption in higher education that subject-matter knowledge is sufficient for effective teaching is breaking down. One cause of this change is the growing knowledge about how people learn, a consequence of which is a heightened focus on student-centered teaching practices. Another is the increasing diversity of students seeking…

Making the Transition to E-Learning: Strategies and Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bullen, Mark, Ed.; Janes, Diane, Ed.

2007-01-01

Higher education institutions around the world are increasingly turning to e-learning as a way of dealing with growing and changing student populations. Education for the knowledge society means new skills and knowledge are needed and it means that lifelong learning has become a necessity. Higher education institutions are looking to e-learning to…

A New Framework and Practice Center for Adapting, Translating, and Scaling Evidence-Based Health/Wellness Programs for People With Disabilities.

PubMed

Rimmer, James H; Vanderbom, Kerri A; Graham, Ian D

2016-04-01

Supporting the transition of people with newly acquired and existing disability from rehabilitation into community-based health/wellness programs, services, and venues requires rehabilitation professionals to build evidence by capturing successful strategies at the local level, finding innovative ways to translate successful practices to other communities, and ultimately to upgrade and maintain their applicability and currency for future scale-up. This article describes a knowledge-to-practice framework housed in a national resource and practice center that will support therapists and other rehabilitation professionals in building and maintaining a database of successful health/wellness guidelines, recommendations, and adaptations to promote community health inclusion for people with disabilities. A framework was developed in the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD) to systematically build and advance the evidence base of health/wellness programs, practices, and services applicable to people with disabilities. N-KATS (NCHPAD Knowledge Adaptation, Translation, and Scale-up) has 4 sequencing strategies: strategy 1-new evidence- and practice-based knowledge is collected and adapted for the local context (ie, community); strategy 2-customized resources are effectively disseminated to key stakeholders including rehabilitation professionals with appropriate training tools; strategy 3-NCHPAD staff serve as facilitators assisting key stakeholders in implementing recommendations; strategy 4-successful elements of practice (eg, guideline, recommendation, adaptation) are archived and scaled to other rehabilitation providers. The N-KATS framework supports the role of rehabilitation professionals as knowledge brokers, facilitators, and users in a collaborative, dynamic structure that will grow and be sustained over time through the NCHPAD.Video abstract available for additional insights from the authors (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A130).

Comparing humans and nonhuman great apes in the broken cloth problem: Is their knowledge causal or perceptual?

PubMed

Albiach-Serrano, Anna; Sebastián-Enesco, Carla; Seed, Amanda; Colmenares, Fernando; Call, Josep

2015-11-01

When presented with the broken cloth problem, both human children and nonhuman great apes prefer to pull a continuous cloth over a discontinuous cloth in order to obtain a desired object resting on top. This has been interpreted as evidence that they preferentially attend to the functionally relevant cues of the task (e.g., presence or absence of a gap along the cloth). However, there is controversy regarding whether great apes' behavior is underpinned by causal knowledge, involving abstract concepts (e.g., support, connection), or by perceptual knowledge, based on percepts (e.g., contact, continuity). We presented chimpanzees, orangutans, and 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children with two versions of the broken cloth problem. The Real condition, made with paper strips, could be solved based on either perceptual cues or causal knowledge. The Painted condition, which looked very similar, could be solved only by attending to perceptual cues. All groups mastered the Real condition, in line with previous results. Older children (3- and 4-year-olds) performed significantly better in this condition than all other groups, but the performance of apes and children did not differ sharply, with 2-year-olds and apes obtaining similar results. In contrast, only 4-year-olds solved the Painted condition. We propose causal knowledge to explain the general good performance of apes and humans in the Real condition compared with the Painted condition. In addition, we suggest that symbolic knowledge might account for 4-year-olds' performance in the Painted condition. Our findings add to the growing literature supporting the idea that learning from arbitrary cues is not a good explanation for the performance of apes and humans on some kinds of physical task. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The relationships of school-based sexuality education, sexual knowledge and sexual behaviors-a study of 18,000 Chinese college students.

PubMed

Li, Chunyan; Cheng, Zixi; Wu, Taiwen; Liang, Xiao; Gaoshan, Junjian; Li, Lihe; Hong, Ping; Tang, Kun

2017-08-25

A growing prevalence of unexpected pregnancies and younger age of sexual debut is observed among Chinese young people, while they lack formal sexuality education from schools and parents. It is necessary to measure their knowledge level of sexual and reproductive health, and how such knowledge associates with their sexual behaviors and reproductive health outcomes, which would shed light on the effectiveness of sexuality education in China. An Internet-based questionnaire survey was conducted from January to August, 2015. 130 colleges were selected from eastern, central, and western parts China with a good balance of geographic distributions. The survey link was subsequently delivered to the focal points in each college for voluntary participation, targeting on undergraduates aged 18 ~ 25. Information on demographics, experience of school-based sexuality education (defined as any course introducing information on sexual and reproductive health) and SRH knowledge quiz was collected. Multivariate linear regression and logistic regression were applied to explore the relationship between students' SRH knowledge, sexual behaviors and reproductive health outcomes, such as sexual intercourse (penetrative sex by vaginal or anal), unprotected sex, pregnancy and abortion, etc. A total sample of 17,966 Chinese college students (mean age = 20.2, 60.4% female) eventually entered the analysis. Only 55.6% of the respondents self-reported having received sexuality education before, and they scored significantly higher (2.33/4.00) in the SRH knowledge quiz than those who had not (1.75/4.00). Among the sexually experienced students (n = 3639, 20.2%), both males and females with higher SRH knowledge were less likely to report having experience of (partner's) pregnancy or abortion (OR < 1, p < 0.05). In the group of sexually experienced males, those with higher SRH knowledge had a slightly later age of sexual debut (coefficient = 0.28, p < 0.001), and were less likely to have unprotected sex during the last or in most sexual intercourses (OR = 0.82, 95%C.I.: 0.69 ~ 0.96). Students' experience of school-based sexuality education may be positively associated with their SRH knowledge level as well as with their sexual behaviors and reproductive health outcomes, but such associations were stronger among males than females. A more effective implementation of school-based sexuality education needs to be scaled up, and a gender-sensitive education strategy to different needs is desirable for SRH promotion among Chinese young people.

American Psychiatric Nurses Association-Transitions in Practice Certificate Program: Bridging the Knowledge Gap in Caring for Psychiatric Patients Within the General Nursing Workforce.

PubMed

Adams, Susie M; Black, Patricia

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to publicize an important new Web-based educational program. Recognizing the growing gap in psychiatric-mental health knowledge and the need to better prepare new graduates and nurses transitioning from other service lines into psychiatric inpatient nursing settings, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association developed a 15-hour, modularized curriculum to provide foundational psychiatric-mental health knowledge. This modularized curriculum, called American Psychiatric Nurses Association Transitions in Practice (ATP) focuses on the knowledge and skills to insure the success of nurses new to psychiatric-mental health nursing settings and to improve the overall care for persons with mental health and substance use disorders. The ATP program is also proving to be useful content for nurses in emergency departments, hospitals, and other health settings to improve their care of patients with psychiatric and mental health needs. A summary of the program modules and a toolkit with suggested measures for nurses, patients, and agency outcomes is described. Feedback from participants completing the ATP program within the first 6 months is overwhelmingly positive and holds promise for widespread application across a variety of health care settings.

A quantitative analysis of the state of knowledge of turtles of the United States and Canada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lovich, Jeffrey E.; Ennen, Joshua R.

2013-01-01

The “information age” ushered in an explosion of knowledge and access to knowledge that continues to revolutionize society. Knowledge about turtles, as measured by number of published papers, has been growing at an exponential rate since the early 1970s, a phenomenon mirrored in all scientific disciplines. Although knowledge about turtles, as measured by number of citations for papers in scientific journals, has been growing rapidly, this taxonomic group remains highly imperiled suggesting that knowledge is not always successfully translated into effective conservation of turtles. We reviewed the body of literature on turtles of the United States and Canada and found that: 1) the number of citations is biased toward large-bodied species, 2) the number of citations is biased toward wide-ranging species, and 3) conservation status has little effect on the accumulation of knowledge for a species, especially after removing the effects of body size or range size. The dispersion of knowledge, measured by Shannon Weiner diversity and evenness indices across species, was identical from 1994 to 2009 suggesting that poorly studied species remained poorly-studied species while well-studied species remained well studied. Several species listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (e.g., Pseudemys alabamensis, Sternotherus depressus, and Graptemys oculifera) remain poorly studied with the estimated number of citations for each ranging from only 13-24. The low number of citations for these species could best be explained by their restricted distribution and/or their smaller size. Despite the exponential increase in knowledge of turtles in the United States and Canada, no species of turtle listed under the Endangered Species Act has ever been delisted for reason of recovery. Therefore, increased knowledge does not necessarily contribute appreciably to recovery of threatened turtles.

Impaired personal trait knowledge, but spared other-person trait knowledge, in an individual with bilateral damage to the medial prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Marquine, María J.; Grilli, Matthew D.; Rapcsak, Steven Z.; Kaszniak, Alfred W.; Ryan, Lee; Walther, Katrin; Glisky, Elizabeth L.

2016-01-01

Functional neuroimaging has revealed that in healthy adults retrieval of personal trait knowledge is associated with increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Separately, neuropsychology has shown that the self-referential nature of memory can be disrupted in individuals with mPFC lesions. However, it remains unclear whether damage to the mPFC impairs retrieval of personal trait knowledge. Therefore, in this neuropsychological case study we investigated the integrity of personal trait knowledge in J.S., an individual who sustained bilateral damage to the mPFC as a result of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm. We measured both accuracy and consistency of J.S.’s personal trait knowledge as well as his trait knowledge of another, frequently seen person, and compared his performance to a group of healthy adults. Findings revealed that J.S. had severely impaired accuracy and consistency of his personal trait knowledge relative to control participants. In contrast, J.S.’s accuracy and consistency of other-person trait knowledge was intact in comparison to control participants. Moreover, J.S. showed a normal positivity bias in his trait ratings. These results, albeit based on a single case, implicate the mPFC as critical for retrieval of personal trait knowledge. Findings also cast doubt on the likelihood that the mPFC, in particular the ventral mPFC, is necessary for storage and retrieval of trait knowledge of other people. Therefore, this case study adds to a growing body of evidence that mPFC damage can disrupt the link between self and memory. PMID:27342256

Citizen Science

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Citizen Science is a fast-growing field in which scientific investigations are conducted by volunteers, which have been successful in expanding scientific knowledge, raising environmental awareness, and leveraging change.

Cancer Immunotherapy and Breaking Immune Tolerance-New Approaches to an Old Challenge

PubMed Central

Makkouk, Amani; Weiner, George

2014-01-01

Cancer immunotherapy has proven to be challenging as it depends on overcoming multiple mechanisms that mediate immune tolerance to self-antigens. A growing understanding of immune tolerance has been the foundation for new approaches to cancer immunotherapy. Adoptive transfer of immune effectors such as antitumor monoclonal antibodies and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells bypasses many of the mechanisms involved in immune tolerance by allowing for expansion of tumor specific effectors ex vivo. Vaccination with whole tumor cells, protein, peptide, or dendritic cells has proven challenging, yet may be more useful when combined with other cancer immunotherapeutic strategies. Immunomodulatory approaches to cancer immunotherapy include treatment with agents that enhance and maintain T cell activation. Recent advances in the use of checkpoint blockade to block negative signals and so maintain the antitumor response are particularly exciting. With our growing knowledge of immune tolerance and ways to overcome it, combination treatments are being developed, tested and have particular promise. One example is in situ immunization that is designed to break tolerance within the tumor microenvironment. Progress in all these areas is continuing based on clear evidence that cancer immunotherapy designed to overcome immune tolerance can be useful for a growing number of cancer patients. PMID:25524899

Practice guidelines for music interventions with hospitalized pediatric patients.

PubMed

Stouffer, Janice W; Shirk, Beverly J; Polomano, Rosemary C

2007-12-01

Music therapy is an effective complementary approach that can achieve specific therapeutic outcomes in the clinical management of pediatric patients. Growing research on music interventions has generated scientific knowledge about how this modality benefits patients and has formed the basis for effective protocols that can be used in practice. Although it can be challenging to translate research-based protocols into routine clinical care at the bedside, it is essential that music therapy interventions be aligned with evidence-based information and that accepted standards be established by the music therapy discipline to achieve the greatest benefit. The importance of partnerships between nurses and music therapists is emphasized to enhance the success of music-based treatments. This discussion synthesizes research findings that can be used to design pediatric practice guidelines in the application of music therapy.

Extension in Tough Times--Addressing Failures in Public and Private Extension, Lessons from the Tasmanian Wool Industry, Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Warren; Coutts, Jeff

2009-01-01

This paper reports research on the impact of introducing a range of extension approaches into the wool-growing regions of Tasmania Australia to meet an emerging knowledge and skills gap in the sector. The wool-growing industry of the state has experienced minimal government extension support for over 15 years. There is a failure in both private…

The Association of Teacher-Student Relationship Quality and Teacher Support with Students' School Satisfaction, Classroom Adjustment, and Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Omae, Hilda Nyougo

2010-01-01

As children grow, they transition from home to school environments, where they acquire and master knowledge and skills, and develop an image of themselves as learners and develop several types of relationships with adults as they grow. As they enter and remain in school, these relationships expand from being solely with parents and caretakers to…

Supervised Learning Based Hypothesis Generation from Biomedical Literature.

PubMed

Sang, Shengtian; Yang, Zhihao; Li, Zongyao; Lin, Hongfei

2015-01-01

Nowadays, the amount of biomedical literatures is growing at an explosive speed, and there is much useful knowledge undiscovered in this literature. Researchers can form biomedical hypotheses through mining these works. In this paper, we propose a supervised learning based approach to generate hypotheses from biomedical literature. This approach splits the traditional processing of hypothesis generation with classic ABC model into AB model and BC model which are constructed with supervised learning method. Compared with the concept cooccurrence and grammar engineering-based approaches like SemRep, machine learning based models usually can achieve better performance in information extraction (IE) from texts. Then through combining the two models, the approach reconstructs the ABC model and generates biomedical hypotheses from literature. The experimental results on the three classic Swanson hypotheses show that our approach outperforms SemRep system.

Therapist drift redux: Why well-meaning clinicians fail to deliver evidence-based therapy, and how to get back on track.

PubMed

Waller, Glenn; Turner, Hannah

2016-02-01

Therapist drift occurs when clinicians fail to deliver the optimum evidence-based treatment despite having the necessary tools, and is an important factor in why those therapies are commonly less effective than they should be in routine clinical practice. The research into this phenomenon has increased substantially over the past five years. This review considers the growing evidence of therapist drift. The reasons that we fail to implement evidence-based psychotherapies are considered, including our personalities, knowledge, emotions, beliefs, behaviours and social milieus. Finally, ideas are offered regarding how therapist drift might be halted, including a cognitive-behavioural approach for therapists that addresses the cognitions, emotions and behaviours that drive and maintain our avoidance of evidence-based treatments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prostate cancer in East Asia: evolving trend over the last decade

PubMed Central

Zhu, Yao; Wang, Hong-Kai; Qu, Yuan-Yuan; Ye, Ding-Wei

2015-01-01

Prostate cancer is now becoming an emerging health priority in East Asia. Most of our current knowledge on Prostate cancer has been generated from studies conducted in Western population; however, there is considerable heterogeneity of Prostate cancer between East and West. In this article, we reviewed epidemiologic trends, risk factors, disease characteristics and management of Prostate cancer in East Asian population over the last decade. Growing evidence from East Asia suggests an important role of genetic and environmental risk factors interactions in the carcinogenesis of Prostate cancer. Exposure to westernized diet and life style and improvement in health care in combination contribute substantially to the increasing epidemic in this region. Diagnostic and treatment guidelines in East Asia are largely based on Western knowledge. Although there is a remarkable improvement in the outcome over the last decade, ample evidence suggests an inneglectable difference in diagnostic accuracy, treatment efficacy and adverse events between different populations. The knowledge from western countries should be calibrated in the Asian setting to provide a better race-based treatment approach. In this review, we intend to reveal the evolving trend of Prostate cancer in the last decade, in order to gain evidence to improve Prostate cancer prevention and control in East Asia. PMID:25080928

The Use of Online Strategies and Social Media for Research Dissemination in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Amanda

2014-01-01

Alongside a growing interest in knowledge mobilization (trying to increase the connection between research, policy and practice) there has been a transformation of how knowledge is produced, accessed and disseminated in light of the internet and social media strategies. Few studies have explored the use of social media for research dissemination.…

Growing Up: The Development of Psychosocial Maturity. Report No. 180.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenberger, Ellen; And Others

The Center for Social Organization of Schools has two objectives: to develop a scientific knowledge of how schools affect their students, and to use this knowledge to develop better school practices and organization. One of the three programs sponsored by the center is the Schools and Maturity Program. It is studying the effects of school, family,…

University-Industry Relationships and the Role of the Individual: Network Ties and the Diversity of Knowledge Transfer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villanueva-Felez, Africa; Bekkers, Rudi; Molas-Gallart, Jordi

2010-01-01

In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the effectiveness of knowledge transfer processes between academia and industry. Although there is growing evidence that the characteristics of individual researchers are important when explaining cases of successful transfer, few studies have taken the individual researcher as their unit of…

Minimizing Disparities and Developing Support by Identifying Differences in Confidence and Knowledge Related to Water Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Melissa; Lamm, Alexa J.

2016-01-01

Extension educators face challenges as they strive to keep up with critical issues in their communities, such as those surrounding water. A growing population and a diminishing water supply necessitate that Florida residents become more knowledgeable about water issues. We conducted research to determine how confident both the general public and…

Education Policy Research and the Global Knowledge Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Michael

2002-01-01

The body of literature on the concept of the "knowledge economy" is both recent and rapidly growing, especially in the related fields of economics and management, yet both less recognised and less established in the field of education. It is a concept that has inspired many national governments and world policy institutions such as the OECD and…

Measuring Teacher Knowledge of Classroom Social Networks: Convergent and Predictive Validity in Elementary School Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madill, Rebecca A.; Gest, Scott D.; Rodkin, Philip C.

2012-01-01

This study contributes to a growing body of literature focused on the role of the teacher's "invisible hand" in managing students social relationships. The authors focus on one specific aspect of attunement, teachers' social network knowledge, which they conceptualize as the completeness and accuracy of the teacher's social network…

Empowering Non-Licensed-in-English Language Teachers to Construct Professional Knowledge in Their Actual and Imagined Communities of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aguirre-Garzón, Edgar Augusto; Castañeda-Peña, Harold Andrés

2017-01-01

Research has accumulated important knowledge over recent decades on how licensed language teachers develop and learn from cognitive and socio-cultural stances. Yet, relatively little evidence exists on how non-licensed-in-English language teachers (NLELTs) grow professionally in their communities. Similarly, few studies have yet investigated the…

Students' knowledge acquisition and ability to apply knowledge into different science contexts in two different independent learning settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cukurova, Mutlu; Bennett, Judith; Abrahams, Ian

2018-01-01

Background: Recently, there is a growing interest in independent learning approaches globally. This is, at least in part, due to an increased demand for so-called '21st century skills' and the potential of independent learning to improve student skills to better prepare them for the future.

What Do the Public Know about Anatomy? Anatomy Education to the Public and the Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Adam M.; Diggle, Peter; Wessels, Quenton

2018-01-01

Public knowledge of the anatomical "self" is lacking and evidence points towards a growing need for anatomy education to the wider public. The public were offered the opportunity to learn human anatomy and complete an anatomical knowledge survey afterwards. Sixty-three participants volunteered to attempt to place 20 anatomical structures…

Do We Need Positive Psychology in Croatian Kindergartens? The Implementation Possibilities Evaluated by Preschool Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tatalovic Vorkapic, Sanja; Vujcic, Lidija

2013-01-01

Constant changes in a modern world and scientific knowledge from the growing field of Positive Psychology appear to make a previously unheeded contribution to preschool teacher competences. The aim of this study was to explore preschool teachers' opinions concerning the need for positive psychology knowledge and its implementation. A nine-item…

Measuring Knowledge of Natural Selection: A Comparison of the CINS, an Open-Response Instrument, and an Oral Interview

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nehm, Ross H.; Schonfeld, Irvin Sam

2008-01-01

Growing recognition of the central importance of fostering an in-depth understanding of natural selection has, surprisingly, failed to stimulate work on the development and rigorous evaluation of instruments that measure knowledge of it. We used three different methodological tools, the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), a modified…

Educators in Non-Formal Vocational Education and Training in Mozambique: A Plea for Recognition and Professionalisation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manuel, Alzira; van der Linden, Josje; Popov, Oleg

2017-01-01

Interest in vocational education and training (VET) is growing. This can be attributed to global socio-economic developments requiring continuously changing knowledge and skills. Adult education and training, particularly in non-formal education (NFE) contributes to provide these skills and knowledge for youth and adults. This puts pressure not…

Studying Computer Science in a Multidisciplinary Degree Programme: Freshman Students' Orientation, Knowledge, and Background

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kautz, Karlheinz; Kofoed, Uffe

2004-01-01

Teachers at universities are facing an increasing disparity in students' prior IT knowledge and, at the same time, experience a growing disengagement of the students with regard to involvement in study activities. As computer science teachers in a joint programme in computer science and business administration, we made a number of similar…

Exploring the Complex Interaction between Governance and Knowledge in Education. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 67

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fazekas, Mihaly; Burns, Tracey

2012-01-01

Governments in all Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries are facing the challenge of governing increasingly complex education systems. There is a growing need for governance structures that can handle this complexity and which can provide actors with the knowledge they need to make decisions. This working paper…

Positioning Continuing Education: Boundaries and Intersections between the Domains Continuing Education, Knowledge Translation, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitto, Simon; Bell, Mary; Peller, Jennifer; Sargeant, Joan; Etchells, Edward; Reeves, Scott; Silver, Ivan

2013-01-01

Public and professional concern about health care quality, safety and efficiency is growing. Continuing education, knowledge translation, patient safety and quality improvement have made concerted efforts to address these issues. However, a coordinated and integrated effort across these domains is lacking. This article explores and discusses the…

The Five Laws of Library Science: Then & Now.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorman, Michael

1998-01-01

Discusses S.R. Ranganathan's five laws (books are for use, every book its reader, every reader his or her book, save the time of the reader, the library is a growing organism) and updates them (libraries serve humanity, respect all forms of knowledge, use technology intelligently to enhance service, protect free access to knowledge, honor the past…

Developing Empirical Benchmarks of Teacher Knowledge Effect Sizes in Studies of Professional Development Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phelps, Geoffrey; Jones, Nathan; Kelcey, Ben; Liu, Shuangshuang; Kisa, Zahid

2013-01-01

Growing interest in teaching quality and accountability has focused attention on the need for rigorous studies and evaluations of professional development (PD) programs. However, the study of PD has been hampered by a lack of suitable instruments. The authors present data from the Teacher Knowledge Assessment System (TKAS), which was designed to…

Postgraduate fellows as teaching assistants in human anatomy: an experimental teaching model at a Chinese research university.

PubMed

Cheng, Xiao; Wang, Lin; Guo, Kaihua; Liu, Shu; Li, Feng; Chu, Guoliang; Zhou, Li-Hua

2011-01-01

Postgraduate fellowship training programs are expanding at Chinese universities. This growing cadre of advanced trainees calls for the development of new learning and training models wherein postgraduate fellows have an ample opportunity to teach more junior learners, thereby expanding their own knowledge base and competitiveness for future employment. Educational reform at Sun Yat-Sen University has recently allowed postgraduate fellows to act as teaching assistants for undergraduate anatomy courses. This model is common in western countries but is novel in China. Copyright © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.

Materializing Heart Regeneration: Biomimicry of Key Observations in Cell Transplantation Therapies and Natural Cardiac Regeneration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Yen P.; Jongpaiboonkit, Leena

2016-07-01

New regenerative paradigms are needed to address the growing global problem of heart failure as existing interventions are unsatisfactory. Outcomes from the current paradigm of cell transplantation have not been stellar but the mechanistic knowledge learned from them is instructive in the development of future paradigms. An emerging biomaterial-based approach incorporating key mechanisms and additional ones scrutinized from the process of natural heart regeneration in zebrafish may become the next evolution in cardiac repair. We highlight, with examples, tested key concepts and pivotal ones that may be integrated into a successful therapy.

Support for comprehensive reuse

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Basili, V. R.; Rombach, H. D.

1991-01-01

Reuse of products, processes, and other knowledge will be the key to enable the software industry to achieve the dramatic improvement in productivity and quality required to satisfy the anticipated growing demands. Although experience shows that certain kinds of reuse can be successful, general success has been elusive. A software life-cycle technology which allows comprehensive reuse of all kinds of software-related experience could provide the means to achieving the desired order-of-magnitude improvements. A comprehensive framework of models, model-based characterization schemes, and support mechanisms for better understanding, evaluating, planning, and supporting all aspects of reuse are introduced.

Flow Control on Low-Pressure Turbine Airfoils Using Vortex Generator Jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Volino, Ralph J.; Ibrahim, Mounir B.; Kartuzova, Olga

2010-01-01

Motivation - Higher loading on Low-Pressure Turbine (LPT) airfoils: Reduce airfoil count, weight, cost. Increase efficiency, and Limited by suction side separation. Growing understanding of transition, separation, wake effects: Improved models. Take advantage of wakes. Higher lift airfoils in use. Further loading increases may require flow control: Passive: trips, dimples, etc. Active: plasma actuators, vortex generator jets (VGJs). Can increased loading offset higher losses on high lift airfoils. Objectives: Advance knowledge of boundary layer separation and transition under LPT conditions. Demonstrate, improve understanding of separation control with pulsed VGJs. Produce detailed experimental data base. Test and develop computational models.

Family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation: using evidence-based knowledge to guide the advanced practice nurse in developing formal policy and practice guidelines.

PubMed

Doolin, Christopher T; Quinn, Lisa D; Bryant, Lesley G; Lyons, Ann A; Kleinpell, Ruth M

2011-01-01

To provide advanced practice nurses (APNs) with the best available evidence for implementation of policies and procedures to allow family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the acute care environment. A comprehensive review of research-based articles from Ebsco Host, CINAHL, Pre-CINAHL, and Medline Plus, as well as statement alerts from nursing credentialing bodies, and practice guidelines were reviewed. Kolcaba's Theory of Comfort and Lewin's Three Step Change Theory provide a framework for implementation of formal policies and procedures. Best available evidence showed more support in favor of allowing families at the bedside during CPR. Implementation of policies and procedures allowing family presence enables facilities to change and grow in a holistic and family-oriented atmosphere. With this evidence-based knowledge the APN will be able to disseminate information to facilitate collaborative change in current practices surrounding staff education, decision making, and self-governance. The APN can then address controversial changes when developing formal policies and procedures, which will increase patient satisfaction and outcomes. ©2010 The Author Journal compilation ©2010 American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Building cancer nursing skills in a resource-constrained government hospital.

PubMed

Strother, R M; Fitch, Margaret; Kamau, Peter; Beattie, Kathy; Boudreau, Angela; Busakhalla, N; Loehrer, P J

2012-09-01

Cancer is a rising cause of morbidity and mortality in resource-constrained settings. Few places in the developing world have cancer care experts and infrastructure for caring for cancer patients; therefore, it is imperative to develop this infrastructure and expertise. A critical component of cancer care, rarely addressed in the published literature, is cancer nursing. This report describes an effort to develop cancer nursing subspecialty knowledge and skills in support of a growing resource-constrained comprehensive cancer care program in Western Kenya. This report highlights the context of cancer care delivery in a resource-constrained setting, and describes one targeted intervention to further develop the skill set and knowledge of cancer care providers, as part of collaboration between developed world academic institutions and a medical school and governmental hospital in Western Kenya. Based on observations of current practice, practice setting, and resource limitations, a pragmatic curriculum for cancer care nursing was developed and implemented.

Neem (Azadirachta indica): towards the ideal insecticide?

PubMed

Benelli, Giovanni; Canale, Angelo; Toniolo, Chiara; Higuchi, Akon; Murugan, Kadarkarai; Pavela, Roman; Nicoletti, Marcello

2017-02-01

Pesticide resistance is going to change rapidly our antibiotics and insecticides arsenal. In this scenario, plant-derived natural products are considered valuable candidates to reverse this negative trend. Growing research attention is focused on neem (Azadirachta indica, Meliaceae), exploring the utility of its products as insecticides and antibiotics. In this review, we summarised the knowledge on neem oil and neem cake by-products in arthropod pest control, with special reference to mosquito vectors of public health importance. To the best of our knowledge, neem-borne products currently showed effective and eco-friendly features, including little non-target effects, multiple mechanisms of action, low cost, easy production in countries with limited industrial facilities. In particular, the potentiality of neem cake as ideal and affordable source of mosquitocidal compounds in anopheline and aedine control programmes is outlined. Overall, we propose the employ of neem-based products as an advantageous alternative to build newer and safer arthropod control tools.

Analyse d'un programme d'electromecanique en ses concepts et principes physiques: Methode et application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gagnon, Richard; Besançon, Jacques; Jean, Pascale

1989-09-01

In many Western countries there is growing interest in the usefulness of scientific knowledge in vocational and technical training. Moreover, there is an increasing tendency in these countries to formulate objectives within teaching programmes, in order to come closer to the real tasks of the world of work. To determine what knowledge is required, a general method of analysing objective-based vocational training programmes was developed. This allows the identification of the minimum scientific and mathematical concepts and principles which are necessary to reach the learning objectives, and the establishment of their relative significance and the requisite level of detail. It has been used to determine the essential physical concepts of the industrial mechanics section (625 hours) of a programme on the electromechanics of automated systems. The results reveal the existence of 41 concepts needed for a total of 2,452.5 hours. A limited group of these is of particular importance.

A Literature Review of Homelessness and Aging: Suggestions for a Policy and Practice-Relevant Research Agenda.

PubMed

Grenier, Amanda; Barken, Rachel; Sussman, Tamara; Rothwell, David; Bourgeois-Guérin, Valérie; Lavoie, Jean-Pierre

2016-03-01

Homelessness among older people is a growing concern across Canada and is expected to rise with demographic change (Crane & Warnes, 2010; Culhane, Metraux, Byrne, Stino, & Bainbridge, 2013). Yet current knowledge, policies, and practices on homelessness largely focus on younger populations. Likewise, research and policies on aging typically overlook homelessness. Responses to homelessness among older people must address complex needs related to health, income security, and housing. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this article outlines the existing and needed research with regards to homelessness among older people. We clarify the intersections of aging and homelessness; review the relevant statistics, including estimated prevalence; discuss pathways and variations in experience; and identify gaps in knowledge. We conclude with a call for an inclusive research agenda that will help build policies and practices to reduce and ultimately to eliminate homelessness among older people in Canada.

The kidney cancer research priority-setting partnership: Identifying the top 10 research priorities as defined by patients, caregivers, and expert clinicians.

PubMed

Jones, Jennifer; Bhatt, Jaimin; Avery, Jonathan; Laupacis, Andreas; Cowan, Katherine; Basappa, Naveen; Basiuk, Joan; Canil, Christina; Al-Asaaed, Sohaib; Heng, Daniel; Wood, Lori; Stacey, Dawn; Kollmannsberger, Christian; Jewett, Michael A S

2017-12-01

It is critically important to define disease-specific research priorities to better allocate limited resources. There is growing recognition of the value of involving patients and caregivers, as well as expert clinicians in this process. To our knowledge, this has not been done this way for kidney cancer. Using the transparent and inclusive process established by the James Lind Alliance, the Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada (KCRNC) sponsored a collaborative consensus-based priority-setting partnership (PSP) to identify research priorities in the management of kidney cancer. The final result was identification of 10 research priorities for kidney cancer, which are discussed in the context of current initiatives and gaps in knowledge. This process provided a systematic and effective way to collaboratively establish research priorities with patients, caregivers, and clinicians, and provides a valuable resource for researchers and funding agencies.

The role of metabolism (and the microbiome) in defining the clinical efficacy of dietary flavonoids1

PubMed Central

Cassidy, Aedín; Minihane, Anne-Marie

2017-01-01

At a population level, there is growing evidence of the beneficial effects of dietary flavonoids on health. However, there is extensive heterogeneity in the response to increased intake, which is likely mediated via wide interindividual variability in flavonoid absorption and metabolism. Flavonoids are extensively metabolized by phase I and phase II metabolism (which occur predominantly in the gastrointestinal tract and liver) and colonic microbial metabolism. A number of factors, including age, sex, and genotype, may affect these metabolic processes. In addition, food composition and flavonoid source are likely to affect bioavailability, and emerging data suggest a critical role for the microbiome. This review will focus on the current knowledge for the main subclasses of flavonoids, including anthocyanins, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, and flavanones, for which there is growing evidence from prospective studies of beneficial effects on health. The identification of key factors that govern metabolism and an understanding of how the differential capacity to metabolize these bioactive compounds affect health outcomes will help establish how to optimize intakes of flavonoids for health benefits and in specific subgroups. We identify research areas that need to be addressed to further understand important determinants of flavonoid bioavailability and metabolism and to advance the knowledge base that is required to move toward the development of dietary guidelines and recommendations for flavonoids and flavonoid-rich foods. PMID:27881391

The role of metabolism (and the microbiome) in defining the clinical efficacy of dietary flavonoids.

PubMed

Cassidy, Aedín; Minihane, Anne-Marie

2017-01-01

At a population level, there is growing evidence of the beneficial effects of dietary flavonoids on health. However, there is extensive heterogeneity in the response to increased intake, which is likely mediated via wide interindividual variability in flavonoid absorption and metabolism. Flavonoids are extensively metabolized by phase I and phase II metabolism (which occur predominantly in the gastrointestinal tract and liver) and colonic microbial metabolism. A number of factors, including age, sex, and genotype, may affect these metabolic processes. In addition, food composition and flavonoid source are likely to affect bioavailability, and emerging data suggest a critical role for the microbiome. This review will focus on the current knowledge for the main subclasses of flavonoids, including anthocyanins, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, and flavanones, for which there is growing evidence from prospective studies of beneficial effects on health. The identification of key factors that govern metabolism and an understanding of how the differential capacity to metabolize these bioactive compounds affect health outcomes will help establish how to optimize intakes of flavonoids for health benefits and in specific subgroups. We identify research areas that need to be addressed to further understand important determinants of flavonoid bioavailability and metabolism and to advance the knowledge base that is required to move toward the development of dietary guidelines and recommendations for flavonoids and flavonoid-rich foods.

Growing and Educational Environment of College Students and Their Motivational and Self-regulated Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Cuixin

Students growing and being educated in different social background may perform differently in their learning process. These differences can be found in self-regulated behavior in fulfilling a certain task. This paper focuses on the differences of students' various growing and educational environment in motivation and self-regulated learning. Results reveal that there exist differences among students from big cities, middle and small town and countryside in motivational and self-regulated learning. It also indicates that students from big cities gain more knowledge of cognitive strategies in there learning process.

R&D in Poland: Is the Country Close to a Knowledge-Driven Economy?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chybowska, Dorota; Chybowski, Leszek; Souchkov, Valeri

2018-06-01

Poland has a strong ambition to evolve rapidly into a knowledge-driven economy. Since 2004, it has been the largest beneficiary of European Union cohesion policy funds among all member states. Between 2007 and 2013, Poland was allocated approximately EUR 67 billion, whereas for 2014-2020 the EU budget earmarked EUR 82.5 billion for Polish cohesion policy. This means that in the coming years, Poland's R&D intensity will grow. But the question remains: is 27 years of free market economy enough to enable a country's economy to become knowledge-based ? This paper offers an analysis of Polish R&D expenditures and investments in terms of their sources (business, government or higher education sectors), types (European Union or state aid) and areas of support (infrastructure, education or innovation). It also characterises the Polish R&D market with its strengths and weaknesses. Then, it examines the process of technology transfer in Poland, comparing it to best practice. Finally, the paper lays out the barriers to effective commercialisation that need to be overcome, and attempts to answer the question raised in its title.

Network-based approaches to climate knowledge discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budich, Reinhard; Nyberg, Per; Weigel, Tobias

2011-11-01

Climate Knowledge Discovery Workshop; Hamburg, Germany, 30 March to 1 April 2011 Do complex networks combined with semantic Web technologies offer the next generation of solutions in climate science? To address this question, a first Climate Knowledge Discovery (CKD) Workshop, hosted by the German Climate Computing Center (Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum (DKRZ)), brought together climate and computer scientists from major American and European laboratories, data centers, and universities, as well as representatives from industry, the broader academic community, and the semantic Web communities. The participants, representing six countries, were concerned with large-scale Earth system modeling and computational data analysis. The motivation for the meeting was the growing problem that climate scientists generate data faster than it can be interpreted and the need to prepare for further exponential data increases. Current analysis approaches are focused primarily on traditional methods, which are best suited for large-scale phenomena and coarse-resolution data sets. The workshop focused on the open discussion of ideas and technologies to provide the next generation of solutions to cope with the increasing data volumes in climate science.

Beyond decision making: class, community organizations, and the healthwork of people living with HIV/AIDS. Contributions from institutional ethnographic research.

PubMed

Mykhalovskiy, Eric

2008-01-01

The consolidation of antiretroviral therapy as the primary biomedical response to HIV infection in the global North has occasioned a growing interest in the health decision making of people living with HIV (PHAs). This interest is burdened by the weight of a behaviorist theoretical orientation that limits decision making to individual acts of rational choice. This article offers an alternative way to understand how PHAs come to take (or not take) biomedical treatments. Drawing on institutional ethnographic research conducted in Toronto, Canada, it explores how the "healthwork" of coming to take (or not take) treatments is organized by extended relations of biomedical knowledge. The article focuses on two aspects of the knowledge relations of coming to take pharmaceutical medications that transcend the conceptual and relational terrain of rational decision-making perspectives. First, it explores disjunctures between the everyday healthwork of poor, socially marginalized PHAs and the terms of biomedical decision making. Second, it investigates the knowledge-mediating activities of community-based organizations that help mitigate those disjunctures.

A Feminist Framework for Nurses on Boards.

PubMed

Sundean, Lisa J; Polifroni, E Carol

Nurses' knowledge, skills, and expertise uniquely situate them to contribute to health care transformation as equal partners in organizational board governance. The Institute of Medicine, the 10,000 Nurses on Boards Coalition, and a growing number of nurse and health care scholars advocate nurse board leadership; however, nurses are rarely appointed as voting board members. When no room is made for nurses to take a seat at the table, the opportunity is lost to harness the power of nursing knowledge for health care transformation and social justice. No philosophical framework underpins the emerging focus on nurse board leadership. The purpose of this article is to add to the extant nursing literature by suggesting feminism as a philosophical framework for nurses on boards. Feminism contributes to the knowledge base of nursing as it relates to the expanding roles of nurses in health care transformation, policy, and social justice. Furthermore, a feminist philosophical framework for nurses on boards sets the foundation for new theory development and validates ongoing advancement of the nursing profession. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

KaBOB: ontology-based semantic integration of biomedical databases.

PubMed

Livingston, Kevin M; Bada, Michael; Baumgartner, William A; Hunter, Lawrence E

2015-04-23

The ability to query many independent biological databases using a common ontology-based semantic model would facilitate deeper integration and more effective utilization of these diverse and rapidly growing resources. Despite ongoing work moving toward shared data formats and linked identifiers, significant problems persist in semantic data integration in order to establish shared identity and shared meaning across heterogeneous biomedical data sources. We present five processes for semantic data integration that, when applied collectively, solve seven key problems. These processes include making explicit the differences between biomedical concepts and database records, aggregating sets of identifiers denoting the same biomedical concepts across data sources, and using declaratively represented forward-chaining rules to take information that is variably represented in source databases and integrating it into a consistent biomedical representation. We demonstrate these processes and solutions by presenting KaBOB (the Knowledge Base Of Biomedicine), a knowledge base of semantically integrated data from 18 prominent biomedical databases using common representations grounded in Open Biomedical Ontologies. An instance of KaBOB with data about humans and seven major model organisms can be built using on the order of 500 million RDF triples. All source code for building KaBOB is available under an open-source license. KaBOB is an integrated knowledge base of biomedical data representationally based in prominent, actively maintained Open Biomedical Ontologies, thus enabling queries of the underlying data in terms of biomedical concepts (e.g., genes and gene products, interactions and processes) rather than features of source-specific data schemas or file formats. KaBOB resolves many of the issues that routinely plague biomedical researchers intending to work with data from multiple data sources and provides a platform for ongoing data integration and development and for formal reasoning over a wealth of integrated biomedical data.

The ICF has made a difference to functioning and disability measurement and statistics.

PubMed

Madden, Rosamond H; Bundy, Anita

2018-02-12

Fifteen years after the publication of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), we investigated: How ICF applications align with ICF aims, contents and principles, and how the ICF has been used to improve measurement of functioning and related statistics. In a scoping review, we investigated research published 2001-2015 relating to measurement and statistics for evidence of: a change in thinking; alignment of applications with ICF specifications and philosophy; and the emergence of new knowledge. The ICF is used in diverse applications, settings and countries, with processes largely aligned with the ICF and intended to improve measurement and statistics: new national surveys, information systems and ICF-based instruments; and international efforts to improve disability data. Knowledge is growing about the components and interactions of the ICF model, the diverse effects of the environment on functioning, and the meaning and measurement of participation. The ICF provides specificity and a common language in the complex world of functioning and disability and is stimulating new thinking, new applications in measurement and statistics, and the assembling of new knowledge. Nevertheless, the field needs to mature. Identified gaps suggest ways to improve measurement and statistics to underpin policies, services and outcomes. Implications for Rehabilitation The ICF offers a conceptualization of functioning and disability that can underpin assessment and documentation in rehabilitation, with a growing body of experience to draw on for guidance. Experience with the ICF reminds practitioners to consider all the domains of participation, the effect of the environment on participation and the importance of involving clients/patients in assessment and service planning. Understanding the variability of functioning within everyday environments and designing interventions for removing barriers in various environments is a vital part of rehabilitation planning.

Enhancing Infant Mental Health Using a Capacity-Building Model: A Case Study of a Process Evaluation of the "Ready, Steady, Grow" Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Farrelly, Christine; Guerin, Suzanne; Victory, Gerard

2017-01-01

Infant mental health (IMH) is best promoted through a continuum of services underpinned by strong service capacity. However, service providers often lack fundamental IMH knowledge and skills. Using the Ready, Steady, Grow (RSG) initiative as a case study of a capacity-building model (P., Hawe, L., King, M., Noort, C., Jordens, & B., Llyod,…

Improving the state of health programming by using diffusion theory.

PubMed

Dearing, James W

2004-01-01

Year by year, the gaps between what is known about behavior change and what is actually practiced in social programs grow larger, especially for community-based programs intended to help minority populations, the poor, and those living in inner-city and rural areas. Internationally, such gaps between the state of knowledge and the state of practice lead to disparities in health, education, and development among societal groups, demographic sub-populations, communities, and countries. Data about disparities are used as evidence of inequality. Here, I discuss uses of certain diffusion of innovation theory-based concepts to systematically redress problems of inequality and disparity by reducing the differences between evidence and practice in social programs that are implemented by intermediaries (practitioners) and communicated by them to needy populations. The emphasis here is on the integrated application of knowledge about innovation attributes, opinion leadership, and clustering from diffusion theory to achieve the objective of more extensive and more rapid diffusion of especially effective programs. A set of implementation steps are offered for researchers, funders of international health programs, and the intermediaries who implement health programs.

The Formative Method for Adapting Psychotherapy (FMAP): A community-based developmental approach to culturally adapting therapy

PubMed Central

Hwang, Wei-Chin

2010-01-01

How do we culturally adapt psychotherapy for ethnic minorities? Although there has been growing interest in doing so, few therapy adaptation frameworks have been developed. The majority of these frameworks take a top-down theoretical approach to adapting psychotherapy. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a community-based developmental approach to modifying psychotherapy for ethnic minorities. The Formative Method for Adapting Psychotherapy (FMAP) is a bottom-up approach that involves collaborating with consumers to generate and support ideas for therapy adaptation. It involves 5-phases that target developing, testing, and reformulating therapy modifications. These phases include: (a) generating knowledge and collaborating with stakeholders (b) integrating generated information with theory and empirical and clinical knowledge, (c) reviewing the initial culturally adapted clinical intervention with stakeholders and revising the culturally adapted intervention, (d) testing the culturally adapted intervention, and (e) finalizing the culturally adapted intervention. Application of the FMAP is illustrated using examples from a study adapting psychotherapy for Chinese Americans, but can also be readily applied to modify therapy for other ethnic groups. PMID:20625458

How updating textual clinical practice guidelines impacts clinical decision support systems: a case study with bladder cancer management.

PubMed

Bouaud, Jacques; Séroussi, Brigitte; Brizon, Ambre; Culty, Thibault; Mentré, France; Ravery, Vincent

2007-01-01

Guideline-based clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) can be effective in increasing physician compliance with recommendations. However, the ever growing pace at which medical knowledge is produced requires that clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) be updated regularly. It is therefore mandatory that CDSSs be revised accordingly. The French Association for Urology publishes CPGs on bladder cancer management every 2 years. We studied the impact of the 2004 revision of these guidelines, with respect to the 2002 version with a CDSS, UroDoc. We proposed a typology of knowledge base modifications resulting from the update of CPGs making the difference between practice, clinical conditions and recommendations refinement as opposed to new practice and new recommendations. The number of formalized recommendations increased from 577 in 2002 to 1,081 in 2004. We evaluated the two versions of UroDoc on a randomized sample of patient records. A single new practice that modifies a decision taken in 49% of all recorded decisions leads to a fall from 67% to 46% of the compliance rate of decisions.

Outcome-based approach to medical education towards academic programmes accreditation: A review article.

PubMed

Mohieldein, Abdelmarouf H

2017-03-01

The rapid change worldwide, as a consequence of advances in science and technology, necessitates the graduation of well-qualified graduates who have the appropriate knowledge and skills to fulfill specific work requirements. Hence, redesigning academic models by focusing on educational outcomes became the target and priority for universities around the world. In this systematic review we collected and retrieved literature using a selection of electronic databases. The objectives of this report is to: 1) provide an overview of the evolution of outcome-based education (OBE), (2) illustrate the philosophy and principle of OBE, (3) list the OBE advantages and benefits, (4) describe the assessment strategies used in OBE, and (5) discuss the role of teachers and students as key elements. In conclusion, there is growing interest by the Saudi government to provide student-centered education in their institutes of higher education to graduate students with the necessary knowledge and skill experiences. Moreover, OBE is considered a holistic approach which offers a powerful and appealing way of reforming and managing medical education for mastery in learning and to meet the prerequisites for local and international accreditation.

BMI Health Report Cards: Parents' Perceptions and Reactions.

PubMed

Jones, Marla; Huffer, Cassie; Adams, Tom; Jones, Logan; Church, Bryan

2017-12-01

In 2003, Arkansas became the first state to require body mass index (BMI) testing in public schools to raise awareness of the growing obesity epidemic among children and adolescents. Limited information exists regarding the effectiveness of school-based BMI screening programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if BMI health report cards affected parents' knowledge or actions regarding their child's health and to determine the accuracy of parents' perceptions of their child as underweight, normal weight, or overweight according to their child's BMI. A questionnaire was developed with the help of physical educators, pediatricians, and exercise scientists to determine parents' perceptions and behaviors regarding BMI report cards. The questionnaire was distributed to parents/guardians of children who sought medical care at two pediatrician's offices in Arkansas. Based on responses to survey questions, parents are not making changes to their child's diet and exercise habits if their child is classified as "at risk" or "overweight." However, parents did report that BMI health report cards are influencing their knowledge about their child's health. The majority of parents in the study (approximately 66%) did not accurately perceive their child's BMI category.

Fundamentals of pulmonary drug delivery.

PubMed

Groneberg, D A; Witt, C; Wagner, U; Chung, K F; Fischer, A

2003-04-01

Aerosol administration of peptide-based drugs plays an important role in the treatment of pulmonary and systemic diseases and the unique cellular properties of airway epithelium offers a great potential to deliver new compounds. As the relative contributions from the large airways to the alveolar space are important to the local and systemic availability, the sites and mechanism of uptake and transport of different target compounds have to be characterized. Among the different respiratory cells, the ciliated epithelial cells of the larger and smaller airways and the type I and type II pneumocytes are the key players in pulmonary drug transport. With their diverse cellular characteristics, each of these cell types displays a unique uptake possibility. Next to the knowledge of these cellular aspects, the nature of aerosolized drugs, characteristics of delivery systems and the depositional and pulmonary clearance mechanisms display major targets to optimize pulmonary drug delivery. Based on the growing knowledge on pulmonary cell biology and pathophysiology due to modern methods of molecular biology, the future characterization of pulmonary drug transport pathways can lead to new strategies in aerosol drug therapy.

The Androgen Receptor and Its Use in Biological Assays: Looking Toward Effect-Based Testing and Its Applications

PubMed Central

Cadwallader, Amy B.; Lim, Carol S.; Rollins, Douglas E.; Botrè, Francesco

2015-01-01

Steroid abuse is a growing problem among amateur and professional athletes. Because of an inundation of newly and illegally synthesized steroids with minor structural modifications and other designer steroid receptor modulators, there is a need to develop new methods of detection which do not require prior knowledge of the abused steroid structure. The number of designer steroids currently being abused is unknown because detection methods in general are only identifying substances with a known structure. The detection of doping is moving away from merely checking for exposure to prohibited substance toward detecting an effect of prohibited substances, as biological assays can do. Cell-based biological assays are the next generation of assays which should be utilized by antidoping laboratories; they can detect androgenic anabolic steroid and other human androgen receptor (hAR) ligand presence without knowledge of their structure and assess the relative biological activity of these compounds. This review summarizes the hAR and its action and discusses its relevance to sports doping and its use in biological assays. PMID:22080898

Mobile robot knowledge base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heath Pastore, Tracy; Barnes, Mitchell; Hallman, Rory

2005-05-01

Robot technology is developing at a rapid rate for both commercial and Department of Defense (DOD) applications. As a result, the task of managing both technology and experience information is growing. In the not-to-distant past, tracking development efforts of robot platforms, subsystems and components was not too difficult, expensive, or time consuming. To do the same today is a significant undertaking. The Mobile Robot Knowledge Base (MRKB) provides the robotics community with a web-accessible, centralized resource for sharing information, experience, and technology to more efficiently and effectively meet the needs of the robot system user. The resource includes searchable information on robot components, subsystems, mission payloads, platforms, and DOD robotics programs. In addition, the MRKB website provides a forum for technology and information transfer within the DOD robotics community and an interface for the Robotic Systems Pool (RSP). The RSP manages a collection of small teleoperated and semi-autonomous robotic platforms, available for loan to DOD and other qualified entities. The objective is to put robots in the hands of users and use the test data and fielding experience to improve robot systems.

A Kalman-Filter-Based Approach to Combining Independent Earth-Orientation Series

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gross, Richard S.; Eubanks, T. M.; Steppe, J. A.; Freedman, A. P.; Dickey, J. O.; Runge, T. F.

1998-01-01

An approach. based upon the use of a Kalman filter. that is currently employed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for combining independent measurements of the Earth's orientation, is presented. Since changes in the Earth's orientation can be described is a randomly excited stochastic process, the uncertainty in our knowledge of the Earth's orientation grows rapidly in the absence of measurements. The Kalman-filter methodology allows for an objective accounting of this uncertainty growth, thereby facilitating the intercomparison of measurements taken at different epochs (not necessarily uniformly spaced in time) and with different precision. As an example of this approach to combining Earth-orientation series, a description is given of a combination, SPACE95, that has been generated recently at JPL.

Site-directed nucleases: a paradigm shift in predictable, knowledge-based plant breeding.

PubMed

Podevin, Nancy; Davies, Howard V; Hartung, Frank; Nogué, Fabien; Casacuberta, Josep M

2013-06-01

Conventional plant breeding exploits existing genetic variability and introduces new variability by mutagenesis. This has proven highly successful in securing food supplies for an ever-growing human population. The use of genetically modified plants is a complementary approach but all plant breeding techniques have limitations. Here, we discuss how the recent evolution of targeted mutagenesis and DNA insertion techniques based on tailor-made site-directed nucleases (SDNs) provides opportunities to overcome such limitations. Plant breeding companies are exploiting SDNs to develop a new generation of crops with new and improved traits. Nevertheless, some technical limitations as well as significant uncertainties on the regulatory status of SDNs may challenge their use for commercial plant breeding. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychology Doctoral Students' Interest in Working with Older Adults: The Roles of Knowledge, Ageism, Aging Anxiety and Contact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobbin, Carrie B.

2012-01-01

Given the growing population of older adults with more reported mental health needs, there are not sufficient psychologists interested in working with this population. This study looked at why interest is so low, looking particularly at the correlations between interest in working with older adults and knowledge about aging, ageism, aging anxiety…

Open-Book Tests to Complement Assessment-Programmes: Analysis of Open and Closed-Book Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heijne-penninga, M.; Kuks, J. B. M.; Schonrock-adema, J.; Snijders, T. A. B.; Cohen-schotanus, J.

2008-01-01

Today's health sciences educational programmes have to deal with a growing and changing amount of knowledge. It is becoming increasingly important for students to be able to use and manage knowledge. We suggest incorporating open-book tests in assessment programmes to meet these changes. This view on the use of open-book tests is discussed and the…

Practitioners' Perceptions of Their Knowledge, Skills and Competencies in Online Teaching of Students with and without Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greer, Diana L.; Smith, Sean J.; Basham, James D.

2014-01-01

The need for skilled teachers in online learning environments is presently evident and projected to grow into the future. A survey of education practitioners (N = 127) about their knowledge and competencies in online teaching of students with and without disabilities found that they generally recognized the importance of online learning and the…

The Organizational Performance of Learning Companies: A Longitudinal and Competitor Analysis Using Market and Accounting Financial Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goh, Swee C.; Ryan, Peter J.

2008-01-01

Purpose: A growing body of literature on organizational learning suggests that companies or organizations with a learning capability can gain a competitive advantage. The argument is that learning organizations are better at knowledge transfer and generating new knowledge to solve problems. The objective of this study is to examine empirically if…

Knowledge Management and the LIS Professions: Investigating the Implications for Practice and for Educational Provision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Bill; Hazeri, Afsaneh; Sarrafzadeh, Maryam

2006-01-01

This paper looks at the complex web of interrelationships that is emerging as the library and information professions come to terms with the growing phenomenon of knowledge management. This is manifest at one level in the wider organisational and business context, and at another in the professional and employment spheres. Two of the authors are…

Development and Validation of Early Childhood Language Teacher Knowledge: A Survey Study of Korean Teachers of English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Jung In

2013-01-01

As English becomes an international language in the world, there is a growing interest in developing English skills from early childhood. In Korea, the demand for English as a foreign language education for young children has increased considerably in the past decade. However, little is still known about the professional knowledge of an early…

DiseaseConnect: a comprehensive web server for mechanism-based disease–disease connections

PubMed Central

Liu, Chun-Chi; Tseng, Yu-Ting; Li, Wenyuan; Wu, Chia-Yu; Mayzus, Ilya; Rzhetsky, Andrey; Sun, Fengzhu; Waterman, Michael; Chen, Jeremy J. W.; Chaudhary, Preet M.; Loscalzo, Joseph; Crandall, Edward; Zhou, Xianghong Jasmine

2014-01-01

The DiseaseConnect (http://disease-connect.org) is a web server for analysis and visualization of a comprehensive knowledge on mechanism-based disease connectivity. The traditional disease classification system groups diseases with similar clinical symptoms and phenotypic traits. Thus, diseases with entirely different pathologies could be grouped together, leading to a similar treatment design. Such problems could be avoided if diseases were classified based on their molecular mechanisms. Connecting diseases with similar pathological mechanisms could inspire novel strategies on the effective repositioning of existing drugs and therapies. Although there have been several studies attempting to generate disease connectivity networks, they have not yet utilized the enormous and rapidly growing public repositories of disease-related omics data and literature, two primary resources capable of providing insights into disease connections at an unprecedented level of detail. Our DiseaseConnect, the first public web server, integrates comprehensive omics and literature data, including a large amount of gene expression data, Genome-Wide Association Studies catalog, and text-mined knowledge, to discover disease–disease connectivity via common molecular mechanisms. Moreover, the clinical comorbidity data and a comprehensive compilation of known drug–disease relationships are additionally utilized for advancing the understanding of the disease landscape and for facilitating the mechanism-based development of new drug treatments. PMID:24895436

Effects of a Multicomponent Restraint Reduction Program for Korean Nursing Home Staff.

PubMed

Kong, Eun-Hi; Song, Eunjin; Evans, Lois K

2017-05-01

Physical restraints are used frequently in Korea, suggesting a growing need for access to programs focused on reduction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a multicomponent restraint reduction program (MRRP) for nursing staff in Korean nursing homes. A cluster-randomized, single-blind, controlled pretest-posttest design was used. A total of 122 nursing staff (nurses and geriatric care assistants) in two Korean nursing homes participated in this study: 62 in the experimental group (EG) and 60 in the control group (CG). Nursing staff in the EG home received the MRRP comprising three educational sessions (two classroom-based and one web-based) and two unit-based consultations. Three instruments were used to measure nursing staff's knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes regarding physical restraints. Data were collected immediately before and after the intervention, and again 1 and 3 months later. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed significant differences between groups in knowledge (p < .001), perceptions (p < .001), and attitudes (p = .011) over time. These significant improvements in the MRRP group (EG) were sustained over the 3-month period. The MRRP effectively improved the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of nursing home staff about restraint use with older adults. Additional studies are recommended to evaluate effects of its components while using larger samples and rigorous research methods and measurements, and the inclusion of boosters or other supports to sustain change. These results provide valuable knowledge regarding a multicomponent intervention for changing nursing home staff attributes that likely influence clinical practice. Elements of the educational content and methods found useful for nursing home staff may also be effective in vocational and continuing education as well as for families of older nursing home residents. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

ATHENA: A knowledge-based hybrid backpropagation-grammatical evolution neural network algorithm for discovering epistasis among quantitative trait Loci

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Growing interest and burgeoning technology for discovering genetic mechanisms that influence disease processes have ushered in a flood of genetic association studies over the last decade, yet little heritability in highly studied complex traits has been explained by genetic variation. Non-additive gene-gene interactions, which are not often explored, are thought to be one source of this "missing" heritability. Methods Stochastic methods employing evolutionary algorithms have demonstrated promise in being able to detect and model gene-gene and gene-environment interactions that influence human traits. Here we demonstrate modifications to a neural network algorithm in ATHENA (the Analysis Tool for Heritable and Environmental Network Associations) resulting in clear performance improvements for discovering gene-gene interactions that influence human traits. We employed an alternative tree-based crossover, backpropagation for locally fitting neural network weights, and incorporation of domain knowledge obtainable from publicly accessible biological databases for initializing the search for gene-gene interactions. We tested these modifications in silico using simulated datasets. Results We show that the alternative tree-based crossover modification resulted in a modest increase in the sensitivity of the ATHENA algorithm for discovering gene-gene interactions. The performance increase was highly statistically significant when backpropagation was used to locally fit NN weights. We also demonstrate that using domain knowledge to initialize the search for gene-gene interactions results in a large performance increase, especially when the search space is larger than the search coverage. Conclusions We show that a hybrid optimization procedure, alternative crossover strategies, and incorporation of domain knowledge from publicly available biological databases can result in marked increases in sensitivity and performance of the ATHENA algorithm for detecting and modelling gene-gene interactions that influence a complex human trait. PMID:20875103

Cots Correlator Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaaf, Kjeld; Overeem, Ruud

2004-06-01

Moore’s law is best exploited by using consumer market hardware. In particular, the gaming industry pushes the limit of processor performance thus reducing the cost per raw flop even faster than Moore’s law predicts. Next to the cost benefits of Common-Of-The-Shelf (COTS) processing resources, there is a rapidly growing experience pool in cluster based processing. The typical Beowulf cluster of PC’s supercomputers are well known. Multiple examples exists of specialised cluster computers based on more advanced server nodes or even gaming stations. All these cluster machines build upon the same knowledge about cluster software management, scheduling, middleware libraries and mathematical libraries. In this study, we have integrated COTS processing resources and cluster nodes into a very high performance processing platform suitable for streaming data applications, in particular to implement a correlator. The required processing power for the correlator in modern radio telescopes is in the range of the larger supercomputers, which motivates the usage of supercomputer technology. Raw processing power is provided by graphical processors and is combined with an Infiniband host bus adapter with integrated data stream handling logic. With this processing platform a scalable correlator can be built with continuously growing processing power at consumer market prices.

Managing caries: the need to close the gap between the evidence base and current practice.

PubMed

Schwendicke, F; Doméjean, S; Ricketts, D; Peters, M

2015-11-13

Underpinned by a changing knowledge of the aetiology of caries and its sequelae, and assisted by established and advancing dental materials, there is growing evidence supporting less invasive management of dental caries based on the principles of minimal intervention dentistry. This narrative review assesses both the evidence and the adoption of less invasive caries management strategies and describes ways in which the gap between evidence and practice might be overcome. While there is increasing data supporting less invasive management of carious lesions, these are not standard in most dental practices worldwide. Usually, clinical studies focused on efficacy as outcome, and did not take into consideration the views and priorities of other stakeholders, such as primary care dentists, educators, patients and those financing services. Involving these stakeholders into study design and demonstrating the broader advantages of new management strategies might improve translation of research into practice. In theory, clinical dentists can rely on a growing evidence in cariology regarding less invasive management options. In practice, further factors seem to impede adoption of these strategies. Future research should address these factors by involving major stakeholders and investigating their prioritised outcomes to narrow or close the evidence gap.

Social work in health care: do practitioners' writings suggest an applied social science?

PubMed

Rehr, H; Rosenberg, G; Showers, N; Blumenfield, S

1998-01-01

There are two sources of literature in social work-one from academics and the other from practitioners. Each group is driven by different motivations to write. Academics seek a 'scientific rationality' for the field, while practitioners assume practical and intuitive reasoning, experience aligned with theory, and the 'art of practice' to guide them. It has been said that practitioners do not write and that 'faculty' are the trustees of the knowledge base of the profession, and are responsible for its promulgation via publication. Practitioners, however, do write about their practice and their programs, and analyze both, but publish much of their work in non-social work media. Their work tends not to be referenced by academic writers. One department's social workers' publications are described. We learn, from their practice writings, what concerns clinicians. Theirs is case-based learning, theoretically supported, in which the organization of services calls for their participation in multi-professional decision-making. There is the growing realization among social workers that practice wisdom and scientific technologies need to be reassessed together to find ways to enhance social work services. Clinicians' knowledge can lead to continuing refinement of practice and enhanced institutional services. If practitioners' writings can be assessed, they may lead to a written practice knowledge base, subject to timely change. Academic and practitioner separateness hampers progress in the field. They need each other, and a shared professional literature. There is beginning indication they are getting together.

Achieving the World Health Organization's vision for clinical pharmacology

PubMed Central

Henry, David; Gray, Jean; Day, Richard; Bochner, Felix; Ferro, Albert; Pirmohamed, Munir; Mörike, Klaus; Schwab, Matthias

2015-01-01

Clinical pharmacology is a medical specialty whose practitioners teach, undertake research, frame policy, give information and advice about the actions and proper uses of medicines in humans and implement that knowledge in clinical practice. It involves a combination of several activities: drug discovery and development, training safe prescribers, providing objective and evidence‐based therapeutic information to ethics, regulatory and pricing bodies, supporting patient care in an increasingly subspecialized arena where co‐morbidities, polypharmacy, altered pharmacokinetics and drug interactions are common and developing and contributing to medicines policies for Governments. Clinical pharmacologists must advocate drug quality and they must also advocate for sustainability of the Discipline. However for this they need appropriate clinical service and training support. This Commentary discusses strategies to ensure the Discipline is supported by teaching, training and policy organizations, to communicate the full benefits of clinical pharmacology services, put a monetary value on clinical pharmacology services and to grow the clinical pharmacology workforce to support a growing clinical, academic and regulatory need. PMID:26466826

Climate change accelerates growth of urban trees in metropolises worldwide.

PubMed

Pretzsch, Hans; Biber, Peter; Uhl, Enno; Dahlhausen, Jens; Schütze, Gerhard; Perkins, Diana; Rötzer, Thomas; Caldentey, Juan; Koike, Takayoshi; Con, Tran van; Chavanne, Aurélia; Toit, Ben du; Foster, Keith; Lefer, Barry

2017-11-13

Despite the importance of urban trees, their growth reaction to climate change and to the urban heat island effect has not yet been investigated with an international scope. While we are well informed about forest growth under recent conditions, it is unclear if this knowledge can be simply transferred to urban environments. Based on tree ring analyses in ten metropolises worldwide, we show that, in general, urban trees have undergone accelerated growth since the 1960s. In addition, urban trees tend to grow more quickly than their counterparts in the rural surroundings. However, our analysis shows that climate change seems to enhance the growth of rural trees more than that of urban trees. The benefits of growing in an urban environment seem to outweigh known negative effects, however, accelerated growth may also mean more rapid ageing and shortened lifetime. Thus, city planners should adapt to the changed dynamics in order to secure the ecosystem services provided by urban trees.

Farmers' assessment of the social and ecological values of land uses in central highland Ethiopia.

PubMed

Duguma, Lalisa Alemayehu; Hager, Herbert

2011-05-01

Often in land use evaluations, especially those in developing countries, only the financial aspect receives serious attention, while the social and ecological values are overlooked. This study compared the social and ecological values of four land use types (small-scale woodlot [SSW], boundary tree and shrub planting [BTP], homestead tree and shrub growing [HTG] and cereal farming [CF]) by a criteria-based scoring approach using a bao game. The impacts of local wealth status and proximity to a forest on the value the community renders to the land use types were also assessed. The value comparison, assessed by relative scoring, was accompanied by farmer's explanations to reveal the existing local knowledge about land use values. It was found that HTG ≥ SSW > BTP > CF for both social and ecological values. Though this trend applies for the medium and rich households, the poor ones chose SSW as the most valuable. With increasing distance from a forest, the social and ecological values of land uses increased. The accompanying scoring justifications indicated the existence of in-depth ecological knowledge, which conform to contemporary scientific reports. Generally, this study showed that social and ecological values, besides financial values, strongly influence farmer's decision in implementing various practices related to the land use types. Thus, such values are worth considering for a holistic understanding of the diverse benefits of land uses. Finally, the strong preference for tree and shrub-based land use types is a good opportunity for enhancing tree and shrub growing to minimize the major environmental problems (e.g., soil degradation, wood shortage and deforestation) in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

Farmers' Assessment of the Social and Ecological Values of Land Uses in Central Highland Ethiopia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duguma, Lalisa Alemayehu; Hager, Herbert

2011-05-01

Often in land use evaluations, especially those in developing countries, only the financial aspect receives serious attention, while the social and ecological values are overlooked. This study compared the social and ecological values of four land use types (small-scale woodlot [SSW], boundary tree and shrub planting [BTP], homestead tree and shrub growing [HTG] and cereal farming [CF]) by a criteria-based scoring approach using a bao game. The impacts of local wealth status and proximity to a forest on the value the community renders to the land use types were also assessed. The value comparison, assessed by relative scoring, was accompanied by farmer's explanations to reveal the existing local knowledge about land use values. It was found that HTG ≥ SSW > BTP > CF for both social and ecological values. Though this trend applies for the medium and rich households, the poor ones chose SSW as the most valuable. With increasing distance from a forest, the social and ecological values of land uses increased. The accompanying scoring justifications indicated the existence of in-depth ecological knowledge, which conform to contemporary scientific reports. Generally, this study showed that social and ecological values, besides financial values, strongly influence farmer's decision in implementing various practices related to the land use types. Thus, such values are worth considering for a holistic understanding of the diverse benefits of land uses. Finally, the strong preference for tree and shrub-based land use types is a good opportunity for enhancing tree and shrub growing to minimize the major environmental problems (e.g., soil degradation, wood shortage and deforestation) in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

Uncontrolled Web-based administration of surveys on factual health-related knowledge: a randomized study of untimed versus timed quizzing.

PubMed

Domnich, Alexander; Panatto, Donatella; Signori, Alessio; Bragazzi, Nicola Luigi; Cristina, Maria Luisa; Amicizia, Daniela; Gasparini, Roberto

2015-04-13

Health knowledge and literacy are among the main determinants of health. Assessment of these issues via Web-based surveys is growing continuously. Research has suggested that approximately one-fifth of respondents submit cribbed answers, or cheat, on factual knowledge items, which may lead to measurement error. However, little is known about methods of discouraging cheating in Web-based surveys on health knowledge. This study aimed at exploring the usefulness of imposing a survey time limit to prevent help-seeking and cheating. On the basis of sample size estimation, 94 undergraduate students were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to complete a Web-based survey on nutrition knowledge, with or without a time limit of 15 minutes (30 seconds per item); the topic of nutrition was chosen because of its particular relevance to public health. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first was the validated consumer-oriented nutrition knowledge scale (CoNKS) consisting of 20 true/false items; the second was an ad hoc questionnaire (AHQ) containing 10 questions that would be very difficult for people without health care qualifications to answer correctly. It therefore aimed at measuring cribbing and not nutrition knowledge. AHQ items were somewhat encyclopedic and amenable to Web searching, while CoNKS items had more complex wording, so that simple copying/pasting of a question in a search string would not produce an immediate correct answer. A total of 72 of the 94 subjects started the survey. Dropout rates were similar in both groups (11%, 4/35 and 14%, 5/37 in the untimed and timed groups, respectively). Most participants completed the survey from portable devices, such as mobile phones and tablets. To complete the survey, participants in the untimed group took a median 2.3 minutes longer than those in the timed group; the effect size was small (Cohen's r=.29). Subjects in the untimed group scored significantly higher on CoNKS (mean difference of 1.2 points, P=.008) and the effect size was medium (Cohen's d=0.67). By contrast, no significant between-group difference in AHQ scores was documented. Unexpectedly high AHQ scores were recorded in 23% (7/31) and 19% (6/32) untimed and timed respondents, respectively, very probably owing to "e-cheating". Cribbing answers to health knowledge items in researcher-uncontrolled conditions is likely to lead to overestimation of people's knowledge; this should be considered during the design and implementation of Web-based surveys. Setting a time limit alone may not completely prevent cheating, as some cheats may be very fast in Web searching. More complex and contextualized wording of items and checking for the "findability" properties of items before implementing a Web-based health knowledge survey may discourage help-seeking, thus reducing measurement error. Studies with larger sample sizes and diverse populations are needed to confirm our results.

Uncontrolled Web-Based Administration of Surveys on Factual Health-Related Knowledge: A Randomized Study of Untimed Versus Timed Quizzing

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background Health knowledge and literacy are among the main determinants of health. Assessment of these issues via Web-based surveys is growing continuously. Research has suggested that approximately one-fifth of respondents submit cribbed answers, or cheat, on factual knowledge items, which may lead to measurement error. However, little is known about methods of discouraging cheating in Web-based surveys on health knowledge. Objective This study aimed at exploring the usefulness of imposing a survey time limit to prevent help-seeking and cheating. Methods On the basis of sample size estimation, 94 undergraduate students were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to complete a Web-based survey on nutrition knowledge, with or without a time limit of 15 minutes (30 seconds per item); the topic of nutrition was chosen because of its particular relevance to public health. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first was the validated consumer-oriented nutrition knowledge scale (CoNKS) consisting of 20 true/false items; the second was an ad hoc questionnaire (AHQ) containing 10 questions that would be very difficult for people without health care qualifications to answer correctly. It therefore aimed at measuring cribbing and not nutrition knowledge. AHQ items were somewhat encyclopedic and amenable to Web searching, while CoNKS items had more complex wording, so that simple copying/pasting of a question in a search string would not produce an immediate correct answer. Results A total of 72 of the 94 subjects started the survey. Dropout rates were similar in both groups (11%, 4/35 and 14%, 5/37 in the untimed and timed groups, respectively). Most participants completed the survey from portable devices, such as mobile phones and tablets. To complete the survey, participants in the untimed group took a median 2.3 minutes longer than those in the timed group; the effect size was small (Cohen’s r=.29). Subjects in the untimed group scored significantly higher on CoNKS (mean difference of 1.2 points, P=.008) and the effect size was medium (Cohen’s d=0.67). By contrast, no significant between-group difference in AHQ scores was documented. Unexpectedly high AHQ scores were recorded in 23% (7/31) and 19% (6/32) untimed and timed respondents, respectively, very probably owing to “e-cheating”. Conclusions Cribbing answers to health knowledge items in researcher-uncontrolled conditions is likely to lead to overestimation of people’s knowledge; this should be considered during the design and implementation of Web-based surveys. Setting a time limit alone may not completely prevent cheating, as some cheats may be very fast in Web searching. More complex and contextualized wording of items and checking for the “findability” properties of items before implementing a Web-based health knowledge survey may discourage help-seeking, thus reducing measurement error. Studies with larger sample sizes and diverse populations are needed to confirm our results. PMID:25872617

Brain Knowledge and the Prevalence of Neuromyths among Prospective Teachers in Greece.

PubMed

Papadatou-Pastou, Marietta; Haliou, Eleni; Vlachos, Filippos

2017-01-01

Although very often teachers show a great interest in introducing findings from the field of neuroscience in their classrooms, there is growing concern about the lack of academic instruction on neuroscience on teachers' curricula because this has led to a proliferation of neuromyths. We surveyed 479 undergraduate (mean age = 19.60 years, SD = 2.29) and 94 postgraduate students (mean age = 28.52 years, SD = 7.16) enrolled in Departments of Education at the University of Thessaly and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. We used a 70-item questionnaire aiming to explore general knowledge on the brain, neuromyths, the participants' attitude toward neuroeducation as well as their reading habits. Prospective teachers were found to believe that neuroscience knowledge is useful for teachers (90.3% agreement), to be somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to the brain (47.33% of the assertions were answered correctly), but to be less well informed when it comes to neuroscientific issues related to special education (36.86% correct responses). Findings further indicate that general knowledge about the brain was found to be the best safeguard against believing in neuromyths. Based on our results we suggest that prospective teachers can benefit from academic instruction on neuroscience. We propose that such instruction takes place in undergraduate courses of Departments of Education and that emphasis is given in debunking neuromyths, enhancing critical reading skills, and dealing with topics relevant to special education.

A rule-based ontological framework for the classification of molecules

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background A variety of key activities within life sciences research involves integrating and intelligently managing large amounts of biochemical information. Semantic technologies provide an intuitive way to organise and sift through these rapidly growing datasets via the design and maintenance of ontology-supported knowledge bases. To this end, OWL—a W3C standard declarative language— has been extensively used in the deployment of biochemical ontologies that can be conveniently organised using the classification facilities of OWL-based tools. One of the most established ontologies for the chemical domain is ChEBI, an open-access dictionary of molecular entities that supplies high quality annotation and taxonomical information for biologically relevant compounds. However, ChEBI is being manually expanded which hinders its potential to grow due to the limited availability of human resources. Results In this work, we describe a prototype that performs automatic classification of chemical compounds. The software we present implements a sound and complete reasoning procedure of a formalism that extends datalog and builds upon an off-the-shelf deductive database system. We capture a wide range of chemical classes that are not expressible with OWL-based formalisms such as cyclic molecules, saturated molecules and alkanes. Furthermore, we describe a surface ‘less-logician-like’ syntax that allows application experts to create ontological descriptions of complex biochemical objects without prior knowledge of logic. In terms of performance, a noticeable improvement is observed in comparison with previous approaches. Our evaluation has discovered subsumptions that are missing from the manually curated ChEBI ontology as well as discrepancies with respect to existing subclass relations. We illustrate thus the potential of an ontology language suitable for the life sciences domain that exhibits a favourable balance between expressive power and practical feasibility. Conclusions Our proposed methodology can form the basis of an ontology-mediated application to assist biocurators in the production of complete and error-free taxonomies. Moreover, such a tool could contribute to a more rapid development of the ChEBI ontology and to the efforts of the ChEBI team to make annotated chemical datasets available to the public. From a modelling point of view, our approach could stimulate the adoption of a different and expressive reasoning paradigm based on rules for which state-of-the-art and highly optimised reasoners are available; it could thus pave the way for the representation of a broader spectrum of life sciences and biomedical knowledge. PMID:24735706

A rule-based ontological framework for the classification of molecules.

PubMed

Magka, Despoina; Krötzsch, Markus; Horrocks, Ian

2014-01-01

A variety of key activities within life sciences research involves integrating and intelligently managing large amounts of biochemical information. Semantic technologies provide an intuitive way to organise and sift through these rapidly growing datasets via the design and maintenance of ontology-supported knowledge bases. To this end, OWL-a W3C standard declarative language- has been extensively used in the deployment of biochemical ontologies that can be conveniently organised using the classification facilities of OWL-based tools. One of the most established ontologies for the chemical domain is ChEBI, an open-access dictionary of molecular entities that supplies high quality annotation and taxonomical information for biologically relevant compounds. However, ChEBI is being manually expanded which hinders its potential to grow due to the limited availability of human resources. In this work, we describe a prototype that performs automatic classification of chemical compounds. The software we present implements a sound and complete reasoning procedure of a formalism that extends datalog and builds upon an off-the-shelf deductive database system. We capture a wide range of chemical classes that are not expressible with OWL-based formalisms such as cyclic molecules, saturated molecules and alkanes. Furthermore, we describe a surface 'less-logician-like' syntax that allows application experts to create ontological descriptions of complex biochemical objects without prior knowledge of logic. In terms of performance, a noticeable improvement is observed in comparison with previous approaches. Our evaluation has discovered subsumptions that are missing from the manually curated ChEBI ontology as well as discrepancies with respect to existing subclass relations. We illustrate thus the potential of an ontology language suitable for the life sciences domain that exhibits a favourable balance between expressive power and practical feasibility. Our proposed methodology can form the basis of an ontology-mediated application to assist biocurators in the production of complete and error-free taxonomies. Moreover, such a tool could contribute to a more rapid development of the ChEBI ontology and to the efforts of the ChEBI team to make annotated chemical datasets available to the public. From a modelling point of view, our approach could stimulate the adoption of a different and expressive reasoning paradigm based on rules for which state-of-the-art and highly optimised reasoners are available; it could thus pave the way for the representation of a broader spectrum of life sciences and biomedical knowledge.

Isolation of Mycobacterium massiliense from a corneal biopsy in India.

PubMed

Kulandai, Lily Therese; Lakshmipathy, Dhanurekha; Ramasubban, Gayathri; Rao, Madhavan Hajib Narahari

2014-12-01

Rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM) are ubiquitous and are usually considered as saprophytes, and have been recovered from the environment, particularly in dust, watery soil and water distribution systems. However, Mycobacterium massiliense is a rare causative agent of ocular infection. We report a case of M. massiliense in a 44-year-old female with signs and symptoms of a corneal ulcer. We carried out PCR-based DNA sequencing targeting the hsp 65 gene for the identification of M. massiliense . To confirm the identification, we also performed PCR-based RFLP targeting the hsp65 gene and PCR-based DNA sequencing targeting the internal transcribed spacer region, which showed 97 % nucleotide identity with M. massiliense . To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in India to report the detection of M. massiliense from a corneal biopsy.

Low-cost detection of RC-IED activation signals in VHF band

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camargo Suarez, Victor Hugo; Marulanda B., Jose Ignacio

2014-05-01

The proliferation of Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Devices (RC-IED) is a growing threat around the world. The ease of construction and low cost of these devices are transforming common things in lethal tramps. The fight against this threats normally involves the use of sophisticated and expensive equipment of Electronic Warfare based on high speed DSP systems, just to detect the presence of detonation signals. In this work is showed how to find activation signals based on the characteristic of the power in a specific band and the previous knowledge about the detonation signals. As proof of concept we have taken the information about the RC-IEDs used in the Colombian conflict and develop an algorithm to find detonation signals based on the measured power in frequencies between 136 MHz and 174 MHz (2 meter civil band)

Quantifiers more or less quantify online: ERP evidence for partial incremental interpretation

PubMed Central

Urbach, Thomas P.; Kutas, Marta

2010-01-01

Event-related brain potentials were recorded during RSVP reading to test the hypothesis that quantifier expressions are incrementally interpreted fully and immediately. In sentences tapping general knowledge (Farmers grow crops/worms as their primary source of income), Experiment 1 found larger N400s for atypical (worms) than typical objects (crops). Experiment 2 crossed object typicality with non-logical subject-noun phrase quantifiers (most, few). Off-line plausibility ratings exhibited the crossover interaction predicted by full quantifier interpretation: Most farmers grow crops and Few farmers grow worms were rated more plausible than Most farmers grow worms and Few farmers grow crops. Object N400s, although modulated in the expected direction, did not reverse. Experiment 3 replicated these findings with adverbial quantifiers (Farmers often/rarely grow crops/worms). Interpretation of quantifier expressions thus is neither fully immediate nor fully delayed. Furthermore, object atypicality was associated with a frontal slow positivity in few-type/rarely quantifier contexts, suggesting systematic processing differences among quantifier types. PMID:20640044

Assessing communities of practice in health policy: a conceptual framework as a first step towards empirical research

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are groups of people that interact regularly to deepen their knowledge on a specific topic. Thanks to information and communication technologies, CoPs can involve experts distributed across countries and adopt a ‘transnational’ membership. This has allowed the strategy to be applied to domains of knowledge such as health policy with a global perspective. CoPs represent a potentially valuable tool for producing and sharing explicit knowledge, as well as tacit knowledge and implementation practices. They may also be effective in creating links among the different ‘knowledge holders’ contributing to health policy (e.g., researchers, policymakers, technical assistants, practitioners, etc.). CoPs in global health are growing in number and activities. As a result, there is an increasing need to document their progress and evaluate their effectiveness. This paper represents a first step towards such empirical research as it aims to provide a conceptual framework for the analysis and assessment of transnational CoPs in health policy. The framework is developed based on the findings of a literature review as well as on our experience, and reflects the specific features and challenges of transnational CoPs in health policy. It organizes the key elements of CoPs into a logical flow that links available resources and the capacity to mobilize them, with knowledge management activities and the expansion of knowledge, with changes in policy and practice and, ultimately, with an improvement in health outcomes. Additionally, the paper addresses the challenges in the operationalization and empirical application of the framework. PMID:24139662

Assessing communities of practice in health policy: a conceptual framework as a first step towards empirical research.

PubMed

Bertone, Maria Paola; Meessen, Bruno; Clarysse, Guy; Hercot, David; Kelley, Allison; Kafando, Yamba; Lange, Isabelle; Pfaffmann, Jérôme; Ridde, Valéry; Sieleunou, Isidore; Witter, Sophie

2013-10-20

Communities of Practice (CoPs) are groups of people that interact regularly to deepen their knowledge on a specific topic. Thanks to information and communication technologies, CoPs can involve experts distributed across countries and adopt a 'transnational' membership. This has allowed the strategy to be applied to domains of knowledge such as health policy with a global perspective. CoPs represent a potentially valuable tool for producing and sharing explicit knowledge, as well as tacit knowledge and implementation practices. They may also be effective in creating links among the different 'knowledge holders' contributing to health policy (e.g., researchers, policymakers, technical assistants, practitioners, etc.). CoPs in global health are growing in number and activities. As a result, there is an increasing need to document their progress and evaluate their effectiveness. This paper represents a first step towards such empirical research as it aims to provide a conceptual framework for the analysis and assessment of transnational CoPs in health policy.The framework is developed based on the findings of a literature review as well as on our experience, and reflects the specific features and challenges of transnational CoPs in health policy. It organizes the key elements of CoPs into a logical flow that links available resources and the capacity to mobilize them, with knowledge management activities and the expansion of knowledge, with changes in policy and practice and, ultimately, with an improvement in health outcomes. Additionally, the paper addresses the challenges in the operationalization and empirical application of the framework.

Cardiovascular disease in the Amish: an exploratory study of knowledge, beliefs, and health care practices.

PubMed

Gillum, Deborah R; Staffileno, Beth A; Schwartz, Karon S; Coke, Lola; Fogg, Louis; Reiling, Denise

2011-01-01

The Old Order Amish population is growing, yet little is known about their cardiovascular health care practices. This ethnographic study explored their cardiovascular knowledge, beliefs, and health care practices. This study showed that the Amish have distinct beliefs and practices which affect their cardiovascular health, and that culturally appropriate education is needed. Copyright © 2011 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

A Comparison of Student Knowledge and Attitude toward Research: Are Main Campus Students Different from Those in a Hybrid Environment?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchanan, Rachel L.; Mathews, Deborah A.

2013-01-01

The trend toward the use of distance education in teaching social work students has been rapidly growing over the past two decades. A constant issue of concern is related to student outcomes. This paper reports on a longitudinal quasi-experimental study assessing the differential knowledge and attitude toward research between social work students…

Co-design, co-production, and dissemination of social-ecological knowledge to promote sustainability and resilience: urban experiences from the U.S

Treesearch

J. Morgan Grove; Rinku Roy Chowdhury; Daniel Childers

2015-01-01

To promote sustainability and resilience, the role of co-design, co-production, and dissemination of social-ecological knowledge is of growing interest and importance. Although the antecedents for this approach are decades old, the integration of science and practice to advance sustainability and resilience is different from earlier approaches in several ways. In this...

Students' Knowledge Acquisition and Ability to Apply Knowledge into Different Science Contexts in Two Different Independent Learning Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cukurova, Mutlu; Bennett, Judith; Abrahams, Ian

2018-01-01

Background: Recently, there is a growing interest in independent learning approaches globally. This is, at least in part, due to an increased demand for so-called "21st century skills" and the potential of independent learning to improve student skills to better prepare them for the future. Purpose: This paper reports a study that…

Guidance of visual search by memory and knowledge.

PubMed

Hollingworth, Andrew

2012-01-01

To behave intelligently in the world, humans must be able to find objects efficiently within the complex environments they inhabit. A growing proportion of the literature on visual search is devoted to understanding this type of natural search. In the present chapter, I review the literature on visual search through natural scenes, focusing on the role of memory and knowledge in guiding attention to task-relevant objects.

[Tuberculosis patient disease knowledge, attitudes and behavioral intentions: the impact of individualized counseling].

PubMed

Wu, Shiau-Jiun; Lu, Po-Liang; Chen, Yen-Hsu; Pan, Hui-Juan; Feng, Ming-Chu

2011-12-01

The Taiwan government currently promotes a case management approach to tuberculosis (TB) treatment to address the growing number of TB and multiple drug-resistant TB cases in Taiwan. The approach aims to improve medical follow-up and monitor quality of care. The efficacy of this case management approach has yet to be evaluated. The current study was designed to evaluate the effect of individualized case manager counseling on TB patient disease knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intention. This study employed a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. Participants first answered an initial questionnaire survey including three structured scales that addressed, respectively, the facets of disease knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intention. TB case managers then delivered two- stage counseling to participants based on assessed individual needs and outstanding issues identified in questionnaire answers. A second questionnaire survey was administered 30~42 days after the intervention. Data on a total of 96 TB patients were collected. Key study findings were (1) individualized counseling significantly improved TB patient disease knowledge (p < .001) and (2) TB patient attitudes correlated significantly and positively with behavior intention (p < .001). Individualized counseling provided during the early stages of TB helps elevate patient awareness of the importance of treatment, enhances compliance and increases the cure rate.

An Ecological Network of Polysaccharide Utilization Among Human Intestinal Symbionts

PubMed Central

Rakoff-Nahoum, Seth; Coyne, Michael J.; Comstock, Laurie E.

2013-01-01

Summary Background: The human intestine is colonized with trillions of microorganisms important to health and disease. There has been an intensive effort to catalog the species and genetic content of this microbial ecosystem. However, little is known of the ecological interactions between these microbes, a prerequisite to understanding the dynamics and stability of this host-associated microbial community. Here we perform a systematic investigation of public goods-based syntrophic interactions among the abundant human gut bacteria, the Bacteroidales. Results: We find evidence for a rich interaction network based on the breakdown and use of polysaccharides. Species that utilize a particular polysaccharide (producers) liberate polysaccharide breakdown products (PBP) that are consumed by other species unable to grow on the polysaccharide alone (recipients). Cross-species gene addition experiments demonstrate that recipients can grow on a polysaccharide if the producer-derived glycoside hydrolase, responsible for PBP generation, is provided. These producer-derived glycoside hydrolases are public goods transported extracellularly in outer membrane vesicles allowing for the creation of PBP and concomitant recipient growth spatially distant from the producer. Recipients can exploit these ecological interactions and conditionally outgrow producers. Finally, we show that these public good-based interactions occur among Bacteroidales species co-resident within a natural human intestinal community. Conclusions: This study examines public-goods based syntrophic interactions between bacterial members of the critically important gut microbial ecosystem. This polysaccharide-based network likely represents foundational relationships creating organized ecological units within the intestinal microbiota, knowledge of which can be applied to impact human health. PMID:24332541

Rice Production Vulnerability to Climate Change in Indonesia: An Overview on Community-based Adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komaladara, A. A. S. P.; Budiasa, I. W.; Ambarawati, I. G. A. A.

2015-12-01

Rice remains to be a major crop and staple food in Indonesia. The task to ensure that rice production meets the demand of a growing population continues to engage the attention of national planners and policy makers. However, the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture production have presented Indonesia with yet another significant challenge. The exposure of rice crops to climate-related hazards such as temperature stress, floods, and drought, may lead to lower yield and self-sufficiency rate. This study explores the vulnerability of rice production to the effects of climate change in Indonesia. Considering the vast geographical span of the country and varying exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to climate change at regional level, this study emphasize the importance of community-based adaptation. Results from a simulation based on production and climate data from 1984 to 2014 indicates that rice production is sensitive to variation in growing season temperature and precipitation. A projection of these climate factors in 2050 has a significant impact on the major rice crop. To manage the impact of climate change, this study turns to the potential roles of farmer organizations, such as Subak, in adaptation strategies. The Subak in Bali is recognized for its cultural and organizational framework that highlights the sharing of knowledge and local wisdom in rice production. This is demonstrated by its efficient community-based irrigation management system, leading to sustainable rice production. Keywords: rice production, climate change, community-based adaptation, Indonesia

A school-based interdisciplinary approach to promote health and academic achievement among children in a deprived neighborhood: study protocol for a mixed-methods evaluation.

PubMed

Abrahamse, Mariëlle E; Jonkman, Caroline S; Harting, Janneke

2018-04-10

The large number of children that grow up in poverty is concerning, especially given the negative developmental outcomes that can persist into adulthood. Poverty has been found as a risk factor to negatively affect academic achievement and health outcomes in children. Interdisciplinary interventions can be an effective way to promote health and academic achievement. The present study aims to evaluate a school-based interdisciplinary approach on child health, poverty, and academic achievement using a mixed-method design. Generally taken, outcomes of this study increase the knowledge about effective ways to give disadvantaged children equal chances early in their lives. An observational study with a mixed-methods design including both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods will be used to evaluate the interdisciplinary approach. The overall research project exists of three study parts including a longitudinal study, a cross-sectional study, and a process evaluation. Using a multi-source approach we will assess child health as the primary outcome. Child poverty and child academic achievement will be assessed as secondary outcomes. The process evaluation will observe the program's effects on the school environment and the program's implementation in order to obtain more knowledge on how to disseminate the interdisciplinary approach to other schools and neighborhoods. The implementation of a school-based interdisciplinary approach via primary schools combining the cross-sectoral domains health, poverty, and academic achievement is innovative and a step forward to reach an ethnic minority population. However, the large variety of the interventions and activities within the approach can limit the validity of the study. Including a process evaluation will therefore help to improve the interpretation of our findings. In order to contribute to policy and practice focusing on decreasing the unequal chances of children growing up in deprived neighborhoods, it is important to study whether the intervention leads to positive developmental outcomes in children. ( NTR 6571 ) (retrospectively registered on August 4, 2017).

First Isolation of carbon dioxide-dependent Proteus mirabilis from an uncomplicated cystitis patient with Sjögren's syndrome.

PubMed

Oana, Kozue; Yamaguchi, Michiko; Nagata, Mika; Washino, Kei-Ichi; Akahane, Takayuki; Takamatsu, Yu-Uki; Tsutsui, Chie; Matsumoto, Takehisa; Kawakami, Yoshiyuki

2013-01-01

An uncomplicated cystitis caused by CO2-dependent Proteus mirabilis was observed in a 64-year-old Japanese female patient with Sjögren's syndrome in the Aomori Kyoritsu Hospital, Aomori, Japan. The initial P. mirabilis isolate came from a midstream urine specimen containing large numbers of Gram-negative, rod-shaped organisms that failed to grow on both Drigalski agar and sheep blood agar incubated in ambient air. The organism did grow when the urine was cultured overnight on blood agar under anaerobic conditions. Hence, we believed that the organism was an anaerobe. Further investigation revealed that the isolate grew on sheep blood agar along with swarming when the atmospheric CO2 concentrations were increased to 5%. Initially, we failed to characterize or identify the P. mirabilis isolate or determine its antimicrobial susceptibilities using the MicroScan WalkAway-40 System because the isolate did not grow in the system. However, the isolate was subsequently identified as P. mirabilis based on its morphological, cultural, and biochemical properties by using the commercially available kit systems, Quick ID-GN and ID-Test EB-20. This identification of the isolate was confirmed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene of the organism. To our knowledge, this is the first clinical isolation of capnophilic P. mirabilis.

Ocean acidification: Linking science to management solutions using the Great Barrier Reef as a case study.

PubMed

Albright, Rebecca; Anthony, Kenneth R N; Baird, Mark; Beeden, Roger; Byrne, Maria; Collier, Catherine; Dove, Sophie; Fabricius, Katharina; Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove; Kelly, Ryan P; Lough, Janice; Mongin, Mathieu; Munday, Philip L; Pears, Rachel J; Russell, Bayden D; Tilbrook, Bronte; Abal, Eva

2016-11-01

Coral reefs are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to ocean acidification. While our understanding of the potential impacts of ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems is growing, gaps remain that limit our ability to translate scientific knowledge into management action. To guide solution-based research, we review the current knowledge of ocean acidification impacts on coral reefs alongside management needs and priorities. We use the world's largest continuous reef system, Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR), as a case study. We integrate scientific knowledge gained from a variety of approaches (e.g., laboratory studies, field observations, and ecosystem modelling) and scales (e.g., cell, organism, ecosystem) that underpin a systems-level understanding of how ocean acidification is likely to impact the GBR and associated goods and services. We then discuss local and regional management options that may be effective to help mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on the GBR, with likely application to other coral reef systems. We develop a research framework for linking solution-based ocean acidification research to practical management options. The framework assists in identifying effective and cost-efficient options for supporting ecosystem resilience. The framework enables on-the-ground OA management to be the focus, while not losing sight of CO2 mitigation as the ultimate solution. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How concerns for bisphosphonate-induced osteonecrosis of the jaw affect clinical practice among dentists: a study from the South Texas Oral Health Network

PubMed Central

Gonzales, Cara B.; Young, Veronica; Ketchum, Norma S.; Bone, Jamie; Oates, Thomas W.; Mungia, Rahma

2015-01-01

Bisphosphonate-induced osteonecrosis of the jaw (BONJ) represents a growing concern for dentists and patients, in that it may alter clinical care. This study assesses the knowledge and perceptions of practicing dentists in relation to the risk of BONJ and how their knowledge and perceptions influence their decisions when developing treatment plans. For this study, a sample of dentists (n = 93) in South Texas completed a 38-item survey about BONJ knowledge and perception and their current clinical practices for patients undergoing bisphosphonate therapy. Knowledge score groupings reflected differences between low-knowledge and high-knowledge dentists in terms of their behavior concerning medical history, alternative treatments offered, and routine blood testing for patients on bisphosphonate therapy. PMID:25734289

A classification of growth friendly spine implants.

PubMed

Skaggs, David L; Akbarnia, Behrooz A; Flynn, John M; Myung, Karen S; Sponseller, Paul D; Vitale, Michael G

2014-01-01

Various types of spinal implants have been used with the objective of minimizing spinal deformities while maximizing the spine and thoracic growth in a growing child with a spinal deformity. The aim of this study was to describe a classification system of growth friendly spinal implants to allow researchers and clinicians to have a common language and facilitate comparative studies. Growth friendly spinal implant systems fall into 3 categories based upon the forces of correction the implants exert on the spine, which are as follows: Distraction-based systems correct spinal deformities by mechanically applying a distractive force across a deformed segment with anchors at the top and bottom of the implants, which commonly attach to the spine, rib, and/or the pelvis. The present examples of distraction-based implants are spine-based or rib-based growing rods, vertical expandable titanium rib prosthesis, and remotely expandable devices. Compression-based systems correct spinal deformities with a compressive force applied to the convexity of the curve causing convex growth inhibition. This compressive force may be generated both mechanically at the time of implantation, as well as over time resulting from longitudinal growth of vertebral endplates hindered by the spinal implants. Examples of compression-based systems are vertebral staples and tethers. Guided growth systems correct spinal deformity by anchoring multiple vertebrae (usually including the apical vertebrae) to rods with mechanical forces including translation at the time of the initial implant. The majority of the anchors are not rigidly attached to the rods, thus permitting longitudinal growth over time as the anchors slide over the rods. Examples of guided growth systems include the Luque trolley and Shilla. Each system has its benefits and shortcomings. Knowledge of the fundamental principles upon which these systems are based may aid the clinician to choose an appropriate treatment for patients. Having a common language for these systems may aid in comparative research. Vertical expandable titanium rib prosthesis is used with humanitarian exemption. The other devices mentioned in this manuscript are not approved for growing constructs by the Food and Drug Administration and are used off-label.

The intellectual structure and substance of the knowledge utilization field: a longitudinal author co-citation analysis, 1945 to 2004.

PubMed

Estabrooks, Carole A; Derksen, Linda; Winther, Connie; Lavis, John N; Scott, Shannon D; Wallin, Lars; Profetto-McGrath, Joanne

2008-11-13

It has been argued that science and society are in the midst of a far-reaching renegotiation of the social contract between science and society, with society becoming a far more active partner in the creation of knowledge. On the one hand, new forms of knowledge production are emerging, and on the other, both science and society are experiencing a rapid acceleration in new forms of knowledge utilization. Concomitantly since the Second World War, the science underpinning the knowledge utilization field has had exponential growth. Few in-depth examinations of this field exist, and no comprehensive analyses have used bibliometric methods. Using bibliometric analysis, specifically first author co-citation analysis, our group undertook a domain analysis of the knowledge utilization field, tracing its historical development between 1945 and 2004. Our purposes were to map the historical development of knowledge utilization as a field, and to identify the changing intellectual structure of its scientific domains. We analyzed more than 5,000 articles using citation data drawn from the Web of Science. Search terms were combinations of knowledge, research, evidence, guidelines, ideas, science, innovation, technology, information theory and use, utilization, and uptake. We provide an overview of the intellectual structure and how it changed over six decades. The field does not become large enough to represent with a co-citation map until the mid-1960s. Our findings demonstrate vigorous growth from the mid-1960s through 2004, as well as the emergence of specialized domains reflecting distinct collectives of intellectual activity and thought. Until the mid-1980s, the major domains were focused on innovation diffusion, technology transfer, and knowledge utilization. Beginning slowly in the mid-1980s and then growing rapidly, a fourth scientific domain, evidence-based medicine, emerged. The field is dominated in all decades by one individual, Everett Rogers, and by one paradigm, innovation diffusion. We conclude that the received view that social science disciplines are in a state where no accepted set of principles or theories guide research (i.e., that they are pre-paradigmatic) could not be supported for this field. Second, we document the emergence of a new domain within the knowledge utilization field, evidence-based medicine. Third, we conclude that Everett Rogers was the dominant figure in the field and, until the emergence of evidence-based medicine, his representation of the general diffusion model was the dominant paradigm in the field.

The intellectual structure and substance of the knowledge utilization field: A longitudinal author co-citation analysis, 1945 to 2004

PubMed Central

Estabrooks, Carole A; Derksen, Linda; Winther, Connie; Lavis, John N; Scott, Shannon D; Wallin, Lars; Profetto-McGrath, Joanne

2008-01-01

Background It has been argued that science and society are in the midst of a far-reaching renegotiation of the social contract between science and society, with society becoming a far more active partner in the creation of knowledge. On the one hand, new forms of knowledge production are emerging, and on the other, both science and society are experiencing a rapid acceleration in new forms of knowledge utilization. Concomitantly since the Second World War, the science underpinning the knowledge utilization field has had exponential growth. Few in-depth examinations of this field exist, and no comprehensive analyses have used bibliometric methods. Methods Using bibliometric analysis, specifically first author co-citation analysis, our group undertook a domain analysis of the knowledge utilization field, tracing its historical development between 1945 and 2004. Our purposes were to map the historical development of knowledge utilization as a field, and to identify the changing intellectual structure of its scientific domains. We analyzed more than 5,000 articles using citation data drawn from the Web of Science®. Search terms were combinations of knowledge, research, evidence, guidelines, ideas, science, innovation, technology, information theory and use, utilization, and uptake. Results We provide an overview of the intellectual structure and how it changed over six decades. The field does not become large enough to represent with a co-citation map until the mid-1960s. Our findings demonstrate vigorous growth from the mid-1960s through 2004, as well as the emergence of specialized domains reflecting distinct collectives of intellectual activity and thought. Until the mid-1980s, the major domains were focused on innovation diffusion, technology transfer, and knowledge utilization. Beginning slowly in the mid-1980s and then growing rapidly, a fourth scientific domain, evidence-based medicine, emerged. The field is dominated in all decades by one individual, Everett Rogers, and by one paradigm, innovation diffusion. Conclusion We conclude that the received view that social science disciplines are in a state where no accepted set of principles or theories guide research (i.e., that they are pre-paradigmatic) could not be supported for this field. Second, we document the emergence of a new domain within the knowledge utilization field, evidence-based medicine. Third, we conclude that Everett Rogers was the dominant figure in the field and, until the emergence of evidence-based medicine, his representation of the general diffusion model was the dominant paradigm in the field. PMID:19014512

Rethinking traditional methods for measuring intellectual capital.

PubMed

Corso, John A

2007-01-01

Historically, approaches to measuring intellectual capital have included both conventional accounting-based measures, such as variants of the market-to-book ratio, and more progressive measures, such as the measurement of intangible assets found in approaches such as the Balanced Scorecard and Human Resource Accounting. As greater emphasis is placed on intellectual capital and its various aspects in the continually growing service and knowledge economy, the use of assessment instruments to inventory the alignment, balance, and variety of intellectual capacities and metrics that assess the effectiveness of succession planning may represent new directions in which organizations can head in the measurement of this important construct.

Women's oral health: growing evidence for enhancing perspectives.

PubMed

Halpern, Leslie R; Kaste, Linda M; Briggs, Charlotte; DiPietro, Luisa A; Erwin, Katherine; Frantsve-Hawley, Julie; Gordon, Sara; Heaton, Brenda; Henshaw, Michelle M; Joskow, Renée; Reisine, Susan T; Sinkford, Jeanne C

2013-04-01

Women's health, including oral health, is an evolving science with foundation knowledge from many disciplines. Key milestones, particularly in the last decade, provide a roadmap towards the necessary inclusion of gender into dental practice. Such focus is especially important for the evolving role of oral health care providers as primary health care providers. Continued progress of the vibrant incorporation of evidence-based women's oral health into the standard practice of oral health care is encouraged. This expanded preface provides an introduction to this DCNA issue, a brief history and timeline of major women's oral health events, and resources for further consideration. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Pinpointing Counterparts to Submillimeter Galaxies in the Aztec/Cosmos Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahl, Matthew; Sheth, K.

2011-01-01

In the last decade, the sub-millimeter field has been opened up and advancing. After SCUBA detected the first two sub-millimeter galaxies (SMGs), follow up observation's revealed hundreds more. Although the number of SMGs continues to grow, our knowledge of SMGs is still based upon roughly 50% of the population. Without accurate positional information of these SMGs, that percentage will remain mostly unchanged. By using CARMA, we were able to generate accurate positional information (< .3 arcsec) on 3 SMGs. With this information, it is possible to accurately identify, the radio and optical counterparts to these SMGs, which is critical to figuring out their redshift.

Exploring the Use of Discrete Gestures for Authentication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chong, Ming Ki; Marsden, Gary

Research in user authentication has been a growing field in HCI. Previous studies have shown that peoples’ graphical memory can be used to increase password memorability. On the other hand, with the increasing number of devices with built-in motion sensors, kinesthetic memory (or muscle memory) can also be exploited for authentication. This paper presents a novel knowledge-based authentication scheme, called gesture password, which uses discrete gestures as password elements. The research presents a study of multiple password retention using PINs and gesture passwords. The study reports that although participants could use kinesthetic memory to remember gesture passwords, retention of PINs is far superior to retention of gesture passwords.

Media and Its Influence on Obesity.

PubMed

Stanford, Fatima Cody; Tauqeer, Zujaja; Kyle, Theodore K

2018-06-01

To review how the media frames obesity and the effect it has upon on public perceptions. The scientific and public health understanding of obesity increasingly points away from individual behaviors and toward medical and community factors, but diffusion of this knowledge is slow. Growing awareness of the importance of body positivity is driving attention to the harms of weight bias and fat shaming. Health science reporting related to obesity, nutrition, and physical activity tends to perpetuate myths and misunderstandings. Moving forward, greater attention to accurate messages about obesity and evidence-based interventions will be essential for progress to reduce suffering and the impact on public health from this chronic disease.

Toward a patient-centric medical information model: issues and challenges for US adoption.

PubMed

Lorence, Daniel; Monatesti, Sabatini; Margenthaler, Robert; Hoadley, Ellen

2005-01-01

As the USA moves, incrementally, toward evidence-based medicine, there is growing awareness of the importance of innovation in information management. Mandates for change include improved use of resources, accelerated diffusion of knowledge and an advanced consumer role. Key among these requirements is the need for a fundamentally different patient information recording system. Within the challenges identified in the most recent national health information technology initiative, we propose a model for an electronic, patient-centric medical information infrastructure, highlighting a transportable, scalable and integrated resource. We identify resources available for technology transfer, promoting consumers as integral parts of the collaborative medical decision-making process.

The Colorado Compendium: An Article-Based Literature Review Program

PubMed Central

Druck, Jeffrey; Pearson, David; Claud, Jonathan

2009-01-01

The immense body of knowledge that emergency medicine (EM) encompasses is constantly growing and ever changing. Textbooks build a strong foundation for the EM resident, but journal articles critical for modifying and improving EM practices are equally important for a well-rounded education. Determining which journal articles are vital to an EM residency education is a challenge. Lacking a formalized list of key articles available to EM residents and realizing that a list of articles without a guide may be difficult and confusing for novice readers, we created the “Colorado Compendium”: a recommended reading list, limited to 100 articles with accompanying summaries, tailored to emergency medicine residents. PMID:19561763

Specific and non-specific enzymes for furanosyl-containing conjugates: biosynthesis, metabolism, and chemo-enzymatic synthesis.

PubMed

Chlubnova, Ilona; Legentil, Laurent; Dureau, Rémy; Pennec, Alizé; Almendros, Mélanie; Daniellou, Richard; Nugier-Chauvin, Caroline; Ferrières, Vincent

2012-07-15

There is no doubt now that the synthesis of compounds of varying complexity such as saccharides and derivatives thereof continuously grows with enzymatic methods. This review focuses on recent basic knowledge on enzymes specifically involved in the biosynthesis and degradation of furanosyl-containing polysaccharides and conjugates. Moreover, and when possible, biocatalyzed approaches, alternative to standard synthesis, will be detailed in order to strengthen the high potential of these biocatalysts to go further with the preparation of rare furanosides. Interesting results will be also proposed with chemo-enzymatic processes based on nonfuranosyl-specific enzymes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lifetime validation of high-reliability (>30,000hr) rotary cryocoolers for specific customer profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cauquil, Jean-Marc; Seguineau, Cédric; Vasse, Christophe; Raynal, Gaetan; Benschop, Tonny

2018-05-01

The cooler reliability is a major performance requested by the customers, especially for 24h/24h applications, which are a growing market. Thales has built a reliability policy based on accelerate ageing and tests to establish a robust knowledge on acceleration factors. The current trend seems to prove that the RM2 mean time to failure is now higher than 30,000hr. Even with accelerate ageing; the reliability growth becomes hardly manageable for such large figures. The paper focuses on these figures and comments the robustness of such a method when projections over 30,000hr of MTTF are needed.

Mastocytosis: current treatment concepts.

PubMed

Worobec, Alexandra S; Metcalfe, Dean D

2002-02-01

An explosion of research on mastocytosis in the last decade has witnessed a greater understanding of the molecular basis of this heterogeneous group of disorders and the conclusion that similar disease phenotypes may indeed be the result of different underlying genotypes. Along with our growing knowledge base of mastocytosis, newer approaches of treating these disorders are becoming available, all under investigational use at this time. This short review highlights the state of the art of current treatment strategies for the different categories of mastocytosis. The future will undoubtedly witness an even greater array of therapeutic options, as we continue to learn more about this enigmatic disease. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

Changing essay writing in undergraduate nursing education through action research: a Swedish example.

PubMed

Friberg, Febe; Lyckhage, Elisabeth Dahlborg

2013-01-01

This article describes the development of literature-based models for bachelor degree essays in Swedish undergraduate nursing education. Students' experiences in a course with literature-based models for bachelor degree essays are discussed. The ever-growing body of nursing research and specialized and complex health care practices make great demands on nursing education in terms of preparing students to be both skilled practitioners and users of research. Teaching to help students understand evidence-based practice is a challenge for nursing education. Action research was used to generate knowledge of and practical solutions to problems in everyday locations. Six models were developed: concept analysis, contributing to evidence-based nursing by means of quantitative research, contributing to evidence-based nursing by means of qualitative research, discourse analysis, analysis of narratives, and literature review. Action research was found to be a relevant procedure for changing ways of working with literature-based, bachelor degree essays. The models that were developed increased students' confidence in writing essays and preparedness for the nursing role.

Dengue Disease Risk Mental Models in the City of Dhaka, Bangladesh: Juxtapositions and Gaps Between the Public and Experts.

PubMed

Dhar-Chowdhury, Parnali; Haque, C Emdad; Driedger, S Michelle

2016-05-01

Worldwide, more than 50 million cases of dengue fever are reported every year in at least 124 countries, and it is estimated that approximately 2.5 billion people are at risk for dengue infection. In Bangladesh, the recurrence of dengue has become a growing public health threat. Notably, knowledge and perceptions of dengue disease risk, particularly among the public, are not well understood. Recognizing the importance of assessing risk perception, we adopted a comparative approach to examine a generic methodology to assess diverse sets of beliefs related to dengue disease risk. Our study mapped existing knowledge structures regarding the risk associated with dengue virus, its vector (Aedes mosquitoes), water container use, and human activities in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. "Public mental models" were developed from interviews and focus group discussions with diverse community groups; "expert mental models" were formulated based on open-ended discussions with experts in the pertinent fields. A comparative assessment of the public's and experts' knowledge and perception of dengue disease risk has revealed significant gaps in the perception of: (a) disease risk indicators and measurements; (b) disease severity; (c) control of disease spread; and (d) the institutions responsible for intervention. This assessment further identifies misconceptions in public perception regarding: (a) causes of dengue disease; (b) dengue disease symptoms; (c) dengue disease severity; (d) dengue vector ecology; and (e) dengue disease transmission. Based on these results, recommendations are put forward for improving communication of dengue risk and practicing local community engagement and knowledge enhancement in Bangladesh. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Problem Formulation in Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) for Environmental Risk Management

PubMed Central

Li, Yan; Thomas, Manoj; Osei-Bryson, Kweku-Muata; Levy, Jason

2016-01-01

With the growing popularity of data analytics and data science in the field of environmental risk management, a formalized Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) process that incorporates all applicable analytical techniques for a specific environmental risk management problem is essential. In this emerging field, there is limited research dealing with the use of decision support to elicit environmental risk management (ERM) objectives and identify analytical goals from ERM decision makers. In this paper, we address problem formulation in the ERM understanding phase of the KDDA process. We build a DM3 ontology to capture ERM objectives and to inference analytical goals and associated analytical techniques. A framework to assist decision making in the problem formulation process is developed. It is shown how the ontology-based knowledge system can provide structured guidance to retrieve relevant knowledge during problem formulation. The importance of not only operationalizing the KDDA approach in a real-world environment but also evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed procedure is emphasized. We demonstrate how ontology inferencing may be used to discover analytical goals and techniques by conceptualizing Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) exposure shifts based on a multilevel analysis of the level of urbanization (and related economic activity) and the degree of Socio-Economic Deprivation (SED) at the local neighborhood level. The HAPs case highlights not only the role of complexity in problem formulation but also the need for integrating data from multiple sources and the importance of employing appropriate KDDA modeling techniques. Challenges and opportunities for KDDA are summarized with an emphasis on environmental risk management and HAPs. PMID:27983713

Knowledge, perceptions, and decision-making about human papillomavirus vaccination among Korean American women: A focus group study

PubMed Central

Kim, Kyounghae; Kim, Boyoung; Choi, Eunsuk; Song, Youngshin; Han, Hae-Ra

2014-01-01

Objective As one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States, Korean American (KA) women experience a heightened cervical cancer burden. The advent of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine offers an unprecedented opportunity to eliminate cervical cancer disparities in KA women. Yet, the uptake of HPV vaccine among KA adolescents remains suboptimal. Hence, we set out to explore knowledge, perceptions, and decision-making about HPV vaccination among KA women. Methods We conducted four focus groups of 26 KA women who participated in a community-based randomized controlled trial to promote breast and cervical cancer screening. Focus group data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results Four main themes emerged from the focus groups: (1) limited awareness and knowledge of HPV vaccine, (2) perceptions and beliefs about HPV vaccination (acceptance, negative perceptions, ambivalence), (3) patterns of decision-making about HPV vaccination (hierarchical, peer-influenced, autonomous, and collaborative), and (4) promoting HPV education and information-sharing in the Korean community. Conclusion KA women are generally favorable toward HPV vaccination but lack awareness and knowledge about HPV. Culturally tailored HPV education programs based on KA women’s decision-making patterns and effective information-sharing by trustworthy sources in comfortable environments are suggested strategies to promote HPV vaccination in the KA community. The findings point to the need for a multi-level approach to addressing linguistic, cultural, and system barriers that the recent immigrant community faces in promoting HPV vaccinations. In the development of targeted interventions for KA women, educational strategies and patterns of decision-making need to be considered. PMID:25747518

Problem Formulation in Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) for Environmental Risk Management.

PubMed

Li, Yan; Thomas, Manoj; Osei-Bryson, Kweku-Muata; Levy, Jason

2016-12-15

With the growing popularity of data analytics and data science in the field of environmental risk management, a formalized Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) process that incorporates all applicable analytical techniques for a specific environmental risk management problem is essential. In this emerging field, there is limited research dealing with the use of decision support to elicit environmental risk management (ERM) objectives and identify analytical goals from ERM decision makers. In this paper, we address problem formulation in the ERM understanding phase of the KDDA process. We build a DM³ ontology to capture ERM objectives and to inference analytical goals and associated analytical techniques. A framework to assist decision making in the problem formulation process is developed. It is shown how the ontology-based knowledge system can provide structured guidance to retrieve relevant knowledge during problem formulation. The importance of not only operationalizing the KDDA approach in a real-world environment but also evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed procedure is emphasized. We demonstrate how ontology inferencing may be used to discover analytical goals and techniques by conceptualizing Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) exposure shifts based on a multilevel analysis of the level of urbanization (and related economic activity) and the degree of Socio-Economic Deprivation (SED) at the local neighborhood level. The HAPs case highlights not only the role of complexity in problem formulation but also the need for integrating data from multiple sources and the importance of employing appropriate KDDA modeling techniques. Challenges and opportunities for KDDA are summarized with an emphasis on environmental risk management and HAPs.

Team table: a framework and tool for continuous factory planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sihn, Wilfried; Bischoff, Juergen; von Briel, Ralf; Josten, Marcus

2000-10-01

Growing market turbulences and shorter product life cycles require a continuous adaptation of factory structures resulting in a continuous factory planning process. Therefore a new framework is developed which focuses on configuration and data management process integration. This enable an online system performance evaluation based on continuous availability of current data. The use of this framework is especially helpful and will guarantee high cost and time savings, when used in the early stages of the planning, called the concept or rough planning phase. The new framework is supported by a planning round table as a tool for team-based configuration processes integrating the knowledge of all persons involved in planning processes. A case study conducted at a German company shows the advantages which can be achieved by implementing the new framework and methods.

Collaborations between home healthcare agencies and schools of nursing: bridging the theory-practice gap at home.

PubMed

Mager, Diana R; Bradley, Sharon

2013-10-01

Home healthcare (HHC) agencies and schools of nursing (SONs) share the mutual goal of using evidence-based knowledge to deliver care while fostering a professionally stimulating environment. As HHC agencies strive to deliver clinically effective, cost-efficient, patient-centered nursing care, SONs use scholarly methods to develop sound practitioners with investigative skills. Collaborations have long existed between these two entities, but few studies describe how theory and practice meld in the ever-growing HHC arena. The purpose of this article is to highlight the need for such future collaborations and to summarize some of the successful collaborative methods used by schools and agencies. Additionally, the collaboration between one nonprofit HHC agency and a university-based SON is described along with the challenges and benefits to both partners.

Intensive plantation culture: 12 years research

Treesearch

Edward A. Hansen

1983-01-01

A collection of papers summarize the status of knowledge for growing hybrid poplars in a short rotation intensively cultured system. The research included studies of propagation, physiology, culture, engineering, insects and diseases, and economics.

Self-perception and knowledge of evidence based medicine by physicians.

PubMed

Aguirre-Raya, Karen A; Castilla-Peón, María F; Barajas-Nava, Leticia A; Torres-Rodríguez, Violeta; Muñoz-Hernández, Onofre; Garduño-Espinosa, Juan

2016-06-29

The influence, legitimacy and application of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) in the world is growing as a tool that integrates, the best available evidence to decision making in patient care. Our goal was to identify the relationship between self-perception about the relevance of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) and the degree of basic knowledge of this discipline in a group of physicians. A survey was carried out in a third level public hospital in Mexico City. Self-perception was measured by means of a structured scale, and the degree of knowledge through parameter or "rubrics" methodology. A total of 320 questionnaires were given to 55 medical students (17 %); 45 pre-graduate medical interns (14 %); 118 medical residents (37 %) and 102 appointed physicians of different specialties (32 %). Self-perception of EBM: The majority of those surveyed (n = 274, 86 %) declared that they were very or moderately familiar with EBM. The great majority (n = 270, 84 %) believe that EBM is very important in clinical practice and 197 physicians (61 %) said that they implement it always or usually. The global index of self-perception was 75 %. Knowledge of EBM: Definition of EBM; Seven of those surveyed (2 %) included 3 of the 4 characteristics of the definition, 82 (26 %) mentioned only two characteristics of the definition, 152 (48 %) mentioned only one characteristic and 79 (25 %) did not include any characteristic of EBM. Phases of the EBM process: The majority of those surveyed (n = 218, 68 %) did not include the steps that characterize the practice of EBM, of which 79 participants (25 %) mentioned elements not related to it. The global index of knowledge was 19 %. The majority of the surveyed physicians have a high self-perception of the relevance of EBM. In spite of this, the majority of them did not know the characteristics that define the EBM and phases of the process for its practice. A major discrepancy was found between self-perception and the level of basic knowledge of EBM among the surveyed physicians.

The history of COPD.

PubMed

Petty, Thomas L

2006-01-01

The evolution of knowledge concerning COPD and its components--emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthmatic bronchitis--covers 200 years. The stethoscope and spirometer became important early tools in diagnosis and assessment. Spirometry remains the most effective means of identification and assessment of the course of COPD and responses to therapy, and is grossly underused for this purpose. Knowledge of the pathogenesis, course and prognosis, and new approaches to therapy have dramatically improved our understanding of this important clinical entity. Smoking cessation improves the early course of disease. Long-term oxygen improves the length and quality of life in selected patients with hypoxemia. Surgery benefits a select few. Today, COPD is a steadily growing global healthcare problem, with increasing morbidity and mortality. Early identification and prevention, and treatment of emerging stages of disease through smoking cessation and a growing number of bronchoactive drugs promises to change the outcome.

The Case for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine

PubMed Central

Reggia, James A.

1983-01-01

Current artificial intelligence (AI) technology can be viewed as producing “systematic artifacts” onto which we project an interpretation of intelligent behavior. One major benefit this technology could bring to medicine is help with handling the tremendous and growing volume of medical knowledge. The reader is led to a vision of the medical library of tomorrow, an interactive, artificially intelligent knowledge source that is fully and directly integrated with daily patient care.

EVOLUTION—Taking Charge and Growing Stronger: The Design, Acceptability, and Feasibility of a Secondary Prevention Empowerment Intervention for Young Women Living with HIV

PubMed Central

Harper, Gary W.; Fernandez, M. Isabel; Hosek, Sybil G.

2014-01-01

Abstract In the United States, youth of 13–24 years account for nearly a quarter of all new HIV infections, with almost 1000 young men and women being infected per month. Young women account for 20% of those new infections. This article describes the design, feasibility, and acceptability of a secondary prevention empowerment intervention for young women living with HIV entitled EVOLUTION: Young Women Taking Charge and Growing Stronger. The nine session intervention aimed to reduce secondary transmission by enhancing social and behavioral skills and knowledge pertaining to young women's physical, social, emotional, and sexual well-being, while addressing the moderating factors such as sexual inequality and power imbalances. Process evaluation data suggest that EVOLUTION is a highly acceptable and feasible intervention for young women living with HIV. Participants reported enjoying both the structure and comprehensive nature of the intervention. Both participants and interventionists reported that the intervention was highly relevant to the lives of young women living with HIV since it not only provided opportunities for them to broaden their knowledge and risk reduction skills in HIV, but it also addressed important areas that impact their daily lives such as stressors, relationships, and their emotional and social well-being. Thus, this study demonstrates that providing a gender-specific, comprehensive group-based empowerment intervention for young women living with HIV appears to be both feasible and acceptable. PMID:24575438

Global trends in milk quality: implications for the Irish dairy industry

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

The quality of Irish agricultural product will become increasingly important with the ongoing liberalisation of international trade. This paper presents a review of the global and Irish dairy industries; considers the impact of milk quality on farm profitability, food processing and human health, examines global trends in quality; and explores several models that are successfully being used to tackle milk quality concerns. There is a growing global demand for dairy products, fuelled in part by growing consumer wealth in developing countries. Global dairy trade represents only 6.2% of global production and demand currently outstrips supply. Although the Irish dairy industry is small by global standards, approximately 85% of annual production is exported annually. It is also the world's largest producer of powdered infant formula. Milk quality has an impact on human health, milk processing and on-farm profitability. Somatic cell count (SCC) is a key measure of milk quality, with a SCC not exceeding 400,000 cells/ml (the EU milk quality standard) generally accepted as the international export standard. There have been ongoing improvements in milk quality among both established and emerging international suppliers. A number of countries have developed successful industry-led models to tackle milk quality concerns. Based on international experiences, it is likely that problems with effective translation of knowledge to practice, rather than incomplete knowledge per se, are the more important constraints to national progress towards improved milk quality. PMID:22081986

Communicating environmental exposure results and health information in a community-based participatory research study.

PubMed

Claudio, Luz; Gilmore, Jalisa; Roy, Mohana; Brenner, Barbara

2018-06-25

Communicating results to participants is a fundamental component of community-based participatory research (CBPR). However, in environmental exposure studies this is not always practiced, partly due to ethical concerns of communicating results that have unknown clinical significance. Growing Up Healthy was a community-based participatory research study that sought to understand the relationship between environmental exposures to phthalates and early puberty in young girls. After in-depth consultation with a Community Advisory Board, study investigators provided group summary results of phthalate exposures and related health information to the parents of study participants. Parents' comprehension and knowledge of the health information provided was then assessed through questionnaires. After receiving the information from the research team, responders were able to correctly answer comprehension questions about phthalate exposures in their community, were able to identify ways to reduce exposure to phthalates, and indicated plans to do so. Questionnaires revealed that parents wanted more information on phthalates, and that children's environmental health was an important concern. We conclude that effective communication of exposure results of unknown clinical significance to participants in environmental health studies can be achieved by providing group summary results and actionable health information. Results suggest that there was an improvement in knowledge of environmental health and in risk reduction behaviors in our study population.

Knowledge and Perceptions About Community-acquired Staphylococcal Infections Among Health Care Workers in Hawai‘i

PubMed Central

Tice, Alan D; Hurwitz, Eric L; Katz, Alan R

2013-01-01

Since the early 1990s, national rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections have increased dramatically.1,2 Initially identified in health care settings, community-acquired MRSA is now a major public health concern. With Hawai‘i's expanding S. aureus and MRSA epidemic closely approximating the national trend in inpatient and outpatient settings,7,8 a high level of knowledge and awareness among health care workers is essential to successfully control this evolving epidemic. Health care and related workers were surveyed to assess their knowledge and perceptions about staphylococcal and MRSA infections. Knowledge was estimated by demonstrated ability to correctly identify risk factors including diabetes and obesity, as well as to demonstrate awareness of a growing staphylococcal and MRSA epidemic.9,10 Perceptions were estimated by level of concern of antibiotic resistance as well as of the severity of the staphylococcal and MRSA epidemic. Variations in knowledge and perception concerning basic principles associated with S. aureus infections as well as characteristics of the evolving S. aureus and MRSA epidemic were observed among various occupations (advance clinical practitioners, nurses, public health professionals, athletic trainers, and non-medical workers) as well as work locations (hospital, community, and non-clinical community). Overall, health care and related workers in community settings demonstrated disparities in knowledge regarding S. aureus and MRSA infections. They were also more likely to misperceive this growing threat. These findings provide support for focused educational interventions targeting community health care and related workers to improve awareness of staphylococcal infections in order to successfully address and combat this evolving epidemic. PMID:24069572

Interconnected growing self-organizing maps for auditory and semantic acquisition modeling.

PubMed

Cao, Mengxue; Li, Aijun; Fang, Qiang; Kaufmann, Emily; Kröger, Bernd J

2014-01-01

Based on the incremental nature of knowledge acquisition, in this study we propose a growing self-organizing neural network approach for modeling the acquisition of auditory and semantic categories. We introduce an Interconnected Growing Self-Organizing Maps (I-GSOM) algorithm, which takes associations between auditory information and semantic information into consideration, in this paper. Direct phonetic-semantic association is simulated in order to model the language acquisition in early phases, such as the babbling and imitation stages, in which no phonological representations exist. Based on the I-GSOM algorithm, we conducted experiments using paired acoustic and semantic training data. We use a cyclical reinforcing and reviewing training procedure to model the teaching and learning process between children and their communication partners. A reinforcing-by-link training procedure and a link-forgetting procedure are introduced to model the acquisition of associative relations between auditory and semantic information. Experimental results indicate that (1) I-GSOM has good ability to learn auditory and semantic categories presented within the training data; (2) clear auditory and semantic boundaries can be found in the network representation; (3) cyclical reinforcing and reviewing training leads to a detailed categorization as well as to a detailed clustering, while keeping the clusters that have already been learned and the network structure that has already been developed stable; and (4) reinforcing-by-link training leads to well-perceived auditory-semantic associations. Our I-GSOM model suggests that it is important to associate auditory information with semantic information during language acquisition. Despite its high level of abstraction, our I-GSOM approach can be interpreted as a biologically-inspired neurocomputational model.

Autonomous magnetic float zone microgravity crystal growth application to TiC and GaAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Tony Y.-T.; Choi, Sang-Keun

1992-10-01

The floating zone process is ideal for high temperature (greater than 3000 K) growth of titanium carbide because it is containerless. However, float zoning requires small melt volumes in order to maintain a stable melt configuration. The short melt columns make it difficult to achieve a controlled thermal profile, a necessity for producing crystals of high quality. Thus, an automated control strategy based upon continuous monitoring of the growth process with processing parameters adjusted to values based upon the physical transport processes of the growth process is very desirable for maintaining stability and reproducibility of the process. The present work developed a Float-zone Acquisition and Control Technology (FACT) system which uses relations derived by combining empirical relations with a knowledge data base deduced from detailed numerical analysis of fluid mechanics and thermal transport of the growth process. The FACT system was assembled, tested and employed to grow two TiC ingots. One of the ingots was characterized by x-ray diffraction at different axial locations. The x-ray rocking curves showed consistent characteristics of a manually grown ingot. It was also found that with the FACT system, the process conditions can be operated closer to the stability limits, due to fast response time and repetitive amounts of adjustment from the FACT system. The FACT system shows a major potential in growing quality TiC crystals in a cost-effective manner.

Free and open source enabling technologies for patient-centric, guideline-based clinical decision support: a survey.

PubMed

Leong, T Y; Kaiser, K; Miksch, S

2007-01-01

Guideline-based clinical decision support is an emerging paradigm to help reduce error, lower cost, and improve quality in evidence-based medicine. The free and open source (FOS) approach is a promising alternative for delivering cost-effective information technology (IT) solutions in health care. In this paper, we survey the current FOS enabling technologies for patient-centric, guideline-based care, and discuss the current trends and future directions of their role in clinical decision support. We searched PubMed, major biomedical informatics websites, and the web in general for papers and links related to FOS health care IT systems. We also relied on our background and knowledge for specific subtopics. We focused on the functionalities of guideline modeling tools, and briefly examined the supporting technologies for terminology, data exchange and electronic health record (EHR) standards. To effectively support patient-centric, guideline-based care, the computerized guidelines and protocols need to be integrated with existing clinical information systems or EHRs. Technologies that enable such integration should be accessible, interoperable, and scalable. A plethora of FOS tools and techniques for supporting different knowledge management and quality assurance tasks involved are available. Many challenges, however, remain in their implementation. There are active and growing trends of deploying FOS enabling technologies for integrating clinical guidelines, protocols, and pathways into the main care processes. The continuing development and maturation of such technologies are likely to make increasingly significant contributions to patient-centric, guideline-based clinical decision support.

[Platonic conception of a man as an element of the universe on the base of dialogue "Timajos"].

PubMed

Ziaja, Jacek

2002-01-01

Dialogue "Timajos" states Plato's lecture on a nature of the universe with special regard for position of a man. Presented in it ideas are based in a considerable degree on the knowledge of earlier thinkers, first of all Phytagoreans. They concern problems of primeval matter properties and world creation based on the rules of geometry. Afterwords the question of soul bestowal on the world and creation of living beings, connected directly with a problem of metempsychosis, are discussed. In the final part of the dialogue Plato focuses his attention on a corporal dimension of human structure. On the basis of triangle theory he describes creation of internal organs, skeleton, blood vessels and organs of senses, their function and the processes of growing old and death of the body. In the whole lecture an attention is brought to disclosure the effect of mind in the universe and purposefulness of creator activity.

An Ontology-based Architecture for Integration of Clinical Trials Management Applications

PubMed Central

Shankar, Ravi D.; Martins, Susana B.; O’Connor, Martin; Parrish, David B.; Das, Amar K.

2007-01-01

Management of complex clinical trials involves coordinated-use of a myriad of software applications by trial personnel. The applications typically use distinct knowledge representations and generate enormous amount of information during the course of a trial. It becomes vital that the applications exchange trial semantics in order for efficient management of the trials and subsequent analysis of clinical trial data. Existing model-based frameworks do not address the requirements of semantic integration of heterogeneous applications. We have built an ontology-based architecture to support interoperation of clinical trial software applications. Central to our approach is a suite of clinical trial ontologies, which we call Epoch, that define the vocabulary and semantics necessary to represent information on clinical trials. We are continuing to demonstrate and validate our approach with different clinical trials management applications and with growing number of clinical trials. PMID:18693919

Case Studies of Ecological Integrative Information Systems: The Luquillo and Sevilleta Information Management Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

San Gil, Inigo; White, Marshall; Melendez, Eda; Vanderbilt, Kristin

The thirty-year-old United States Long Term Ecological Research Network has developed extensive metadata to document their scientific data. Standard and interoperable metadata is a core component of the data-driven analytical solutions developed by this research network Content management systems offer an affordable solution for rapid deployment of metadata centered information management systems. We developed a customized integrative metadata management system based on the Drupal content management system technology. Building on knowledge and experience with the Sevilleta and Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research sites, we successfully deployed the first two medium-scale customized prototypes. In this paper, we describe the vision behind our Drupal based information management instances, and list the features offered through these Drupal based systems. We also outline the plans to expand the information services offered through these metadata centered management systems. We will conclude with the growing list of participants deploying similar instances.

Linked Registries: Connecting Rare Diseases Patient Registries through a Semantic Web Layer

PubMed Central

González-Castro, Lorena; Carta, Claudio; van der Horst, Eelke; Lopes, Pedro; Kaliyaperumal, Rajaram; Thompson, Mark; Thompson, Rachel; Queralt-Rosinach, Núria; Lopez, Estrella; Wood, Libby; Robertson, Agata; Lamanna, Claudia; Gilling, Mette; Orth, Michael; Merino-Martinez, Roxana; Taruscio, Domenica; Lochmüller, Hanns

2017-01-01

Patient registries are an essential tool to increase current knowledge regarding rare diseases. Understanding these data is a vital step to improve patient treatments and to create the most adequate tools for personalized medicine. However, the growing number of disease-specific patient registries brings also new technical challenges. Usually, these systems are developed as closed data silos, with independent formats and models, lacking comprehensive mechanisms to enable data sharing. To tackle these challenges, we developed a Semantic Web based solution that allows connecting distributed and heterogeneous registries, enabling the federation of knowledge between multiple independent environments. This semantic layer creates a holistic view over a set of anonymised registries, supporting semantic data representation, integrated access, and querying. The implemented system gave us the opportunity to answer challenging questions across disperse rare disease patient registries. The interconnection between those registries using Semantic Web technologies benefits our final solution in a way that we can query single or multiple instances according to our needs. The outcome is a unique semantic layer, connecting miscellaneous registries and delivering a lightweight holistic perspective over the wealth of knowledge stemming from linked rare disease patient registries. PMID:29214177

Rural outreach in Maine: A research-driven professional development teacher community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wittmann, Michael

2016-03-01

In the Maine Physical Sciences Partnership (MainePSP), researchers at the University of Maine have joined together with the state's Department of Education, non-profits, and teachers in multiple school districts to create a dynamic and growing community dedicated to improving K12 education of the physical sciences. Through ongoing efforts to introduce and adapt instructional materials, guided by education research and research-guided professional development, we have built a community responsive to student and teacher needs. This work has fed back into the university setting, where teachers are playing a role in graduate courses taken by our Master of Science in Teaching students. In this talk, I will focus on the role of education research in the partnership, showing how we use research in professional development, the development of assessments, and the analysis of the resulting data. I will describe two projects, one to understand how teachers' content knowledge affects the development of items assessing knowledge of acceleration, the other to see how teachers use their content knowledge of systems and energy to make pedagogical choices based on students' incorrect ideas about conservation of energy. Sponsored in part by NSF Grants MSP-0962805, DRL-1222580, and DUE-1340033.

A growing need - HIV education in long-term care.

PubMed

Siou, Kaitlin; Mahan, Maureen; Cartagena, Rod; Chan Carusone, Soo

As people living with HIV (PLHIV) age, knowledge of HIV and the associated care of those aging with HIV will become an increasingly important component of education for long-term care (LTC) providers. This descriptive study piloted two different approaches to distribute narrative-based HIV educational videos. Four LTC facilities were assigned to receive the videos to implement 'as usual' or to receive the videos in addition to blended learning sessions where the videos were shown with facilitated discussion with a nurse educator and a PLHIV. In LTC facilities where external educators were provided, a larger proportion of staff watched the videos. However, increases in staff comfort level providing care to PLHIV were comparable between both groups. Narratives of PLHIV, administrator engagement and coordination of online education were identified as facilitators to improving HIV knowledge and compassion in LTC, while fear of HIV transmission and limited time for education, especially when not mandated or identified as immediately applicable, were identified as barriers. From our findings, HIV-related stigma still exists in LTC and these videos may be a strategy for disseminating basic knowledge about HIV transmission and sensitizing staff to the experience of living with HIV. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Synergy for patient safety and quality: academic and service partnerships to promote effective nurse education and clinical practice.

PubMed

Debourgh, Gregory A

2012-01-01

Responding to the growing concern about medical error and patient harm, nurse educators are seeking innovative strategies to ensure that nursing students develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable them to safely and effectively manage patient care. A nursing school and hospital affiliate engaged in a partnership to increase opportunities for students to acquire these competencies. The Synergy Partnership Model aligns agency safety and quality initiatives with the school's student outcome competencies. The partnership model establishes participant commitment, clarifies professional actions and accountabilities, and structures the integration of student learning with the clinical practice of agency nurses and physicians. A collection of evidence-based, best-practices resources provides students, faculties, and staff the tools to implement the partnership paradigm. A descriptive pilot study design with a convenience sample of students (N = 24) enrolled in a third-semester, prelicensure clinical nursing course measured students' safety and quality knowledge and the students' perceptions of team behaviors and communication effectiveness. Survey data reveal moderate to large effect sizes in gains for safety and quality knowledge and for students' increased confidence in their impact on patient care outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Linked Registries: Connecting Rare Diseases Patient Registries through a Semantic Web Layer.

PubMed

Sernadela, Pedro; González-Castro, Lorena; Carta, Claudio; van der Horst, Eelke; Lopes, Pedro; Kaliyaperumal, Rajaram; Thompson, Mark; Thompson, Rachel; Queralt-Rosinach, Núria; Lopez, Estrella; Wood, Libby; Robertson, Agata; Lamanna, Claudia; Gilling, Mette; Orth, Michael; Merino-Martinez, Roxana; Posada, Manuel; Taruscio, Domenica; Lochmüller, Hanns; Robinson, Peter; Roos, Marco; Oliveira, José Luís

2017-01-01

Patient registries are an essential tool to increase current knowledge regarding rare diseases. Understanding these data is a vital step to improve patient treatments and to create the most adequate tools for personalized medicine. However, the growing number of disease-specific patient registries brings also new technical challenges. Usually, these systems are developed as closed data silos, with independent formats and models, lacking comprehensive mechanisms to enable data sharing. To tackle these challenges, we developed a Semantic Web based solution that allows connecting distributed and heterogeneous registries, enabling the federation of knowledge between multiple independent environments. This semantic layer creates a holistic view over a set of anonymised registries, supporting semantic data representation, integrated access, and querying. The implemented system gave us the opportunity to answer challenging questions across disperse rare disease patient registries. The interconnection between those registries using Semantic Web technologies benefits our final solution in a way that we can query single or multiple instances according to our needs. The outcome is a unique semantic layer, connecting miscellaneous registries and delivering a lightweight holistic perspective over the wealth of knowledge stemming from linked rare disease patient registries.

Factors influencing local ecological knowledge of forage resources: Ethnobotanical evidence from West Africa's savannas.

PubMed

Naah, John-Baptist S N; Guuroh, Reginald T

2017-03-01

Recording local ecological knowledge (LEK) is a useful approach to understanding interactions of the complex social-ecological systems. In spite of the recent growing interest in LEK studies on the effects of climate and land use changes, livestock mobility decisions and other aspects of agro-pastoral systems, LEK on forage plants has still been vastly under-documented in the West African savannas. Using a study area ranging from northern Ghana to central Burkina Faso, we thus aimed at exploring how aridity and socio-demographic factors drive the distributional patterns of forage-related LEK among its holders. With stratified random sampling, we elicited LEK among 450 informants in 15 villages (seven in Ghana and eight in Burkina Faso) via free list tasks coupled with ethnobotanical walks and direct field observations. We performed generalized linear mixed-effects models (aridity- and ethnicity-based models) and robust model selection procedures. Our findings revealed that LEK for woody and herbaceous forage plants was strongly influenced by the ethnicity-based model, while aridity-based model performed better for LEK on overall forage resources and crop-related forage plants. We also found that climatic aridity had negative effect on the forage-related LEK across gender and age groups, while agro- and floristic diversity had positive effect on the body of LEK. About 135 species belonging to 95 genera and 52 families were cited. Our findings shed more light on how ethnicity and environmental harshness can markedly shape the body of LEK in the face of global climate change. Better understanding of such a place-based knowledge system is relevant for sustainable forage plants utilization and livestock production. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Artificial-intelligence-based hospital-acquired infection control.

PubMed

Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter; Blacky, Alexander; Koller, Walter

2009-01-01

Nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections (NIs) are a frequent complication in hospitalized patients. The growing availability of computerized patient records in hospitals permits automated identification and extended monitoring for signs of NIs. A fuzzy- and knowledge-based system to identify and monitor NIs at intensive care units (ICUs) according to the European Surveillance System HELICS (NI definitions derived from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria) was developed and put into operation at the Vienna General Hospital. This system, named Moni, for monitoring of nosocomial infections contains medical knowledge packages (MKPs) to identify and monitor various infections of the bloodstream, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and central venous catheter-associated infections. The MKPs consist of medical logic modules (MLMs) in Arden syntax, a medical knowledge representation scheme, whose definition is part of the HL7 standards. These MLM packages together with the Arden software are well suited to be incorporated in medical information systems such as hospital information or intensive-care patient data management systems, or in web-based applications. In terms of method, Moni contains an extended data-to-symbol conversion with several layers of abstraction, until the top level defining NIs according to HELICS is reached. All included medical concepts such as "normal", "increased", "decreased", or similar ones are formally modeled by fuzzy sets, and fuzzy logic is used to process the interpretations of the clinically observed and measured patient data through an inference network. The currently implemented cockpit surveillance connects 96 ICU beds with Moni and offers the hospital's infection control department a hitherto unparalleled NI infection survey.

EHR based Genetic Testing Knowledge Base (iGTKB) Development

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background The gap between a large growing number of genetic tests and a suboptimal clinical workflow of incorporating these tests into regular clinical practice poses barriers to effective reliance on advanced genetic technologies to improve quality of healthcare. A promising solution to fill this gap is to develop an intelligent genetic test recommendation system that not only can provide a comprehensive view of genetic tests as education resources, but also can recommend the most appropriate genetic tests to patients based on clinical evidence. In this study, we developed an EHR based Genetic Testing Knowledge Base for Individualized Medicine (iGTKB). Methods We extracted genetic testing information and patient medical records from EHR systems at Mayo Clinic. Clinical features have been semi-automatically annotated from the clinical notes by applying a Natural Language Processing (NLP) tool, MedTagger suite. To prioritize clinical features for each genetic test, we compared odds ratio across four population groups. Genetic tests, genetic disorders and clinical features with their odds ratios have been applied to establish iGTKB, which is to be integrated into the Genetic Testing Ontology (GTO). Results Overall, there are five genetic tests operated with sample size greater than 100 in 2013 at Mayo Clinic. A total of 1,450 patients who was tested by one of the five genetic tests have been selected. We assembled 243 clinical features from the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) for these five genetic tests. There are 60 clinical features with at least one mention in clinical notes of patients taking the test. Twenty-eight clinical features with high odds ratio (greater than 1) have been selected as dominant features and deposited into iGTKB with their associated information about genetic tests and genetic disorders. Conclusions In this study, we developed an EHR based genetic testing knowledge base, iGTKB. iGTKB will be integrated into the GTO by providing relevant clinical evidence, and ultimately to support development of genetic testing recommendation system, iGenetics. PMID:26606281

EHR based Genetic Testing Knowledge Base (iGTKB) Development.

PubMed

Zhu, Qian; Liu, Hongfang; Chute, Christopher G; Ferber, Matthew

2015-01-01

The gap between a large growing number of genetic tests and a suboptimal clinical workflow of incorporating these tests into regular clinical practice poses barriers to effective reliance on advanced genetic technologies to improve quality of healthcare. A promising solution to fill this gap is to develop an intelligent genetic test recommendation system that not only can provide a comprehensive view of genetic tests as education resources, but also can recommend the most appropriate genetic tests to patients based on clinical evidence. In this study, we developed an EHR based Genetic Testing Knowledge Base for Individualized Medicine (iGTKB). We extracted genetic testing information and patient medical records from EHR systems at Mayo Clinic. Clinical features have been semi-automatically annotated from the clinical notes by applying a Natural Language Processing (NLP) tool, MedTagger suite. To prioritize clinical features for each genetic test, we compared odds ratio across four population groups. Genetic tests, genetic disorders and clinical features with their odds ratios have been applied to establish iGTKB, which is to be integrated into the Genetic Testing Ontology (GTO). Overall, there are five genetic tests operated with sample size greater than 100 in 2013 at Mayo Clinic. A total of 1,450 patients who was tested by one of the five genetic tests have been selected. We assembled 243 clinical features from the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) for these five genetic tests. There are 60 clinical features with at least one mention in clinical notes of patients taking the test. Twenty-eight clinical features with high odds ratio (greater than 1) have been selected as dominant features and deposited into iGTKB with their associated information about genetic tests and genetic disorders. In this study, we developed an EHR based genetic testing knowledge base, iGTKB. iGTKB will be integrated into the GTO by providing relevant clinical evidence, and ultimately to support development of genetic testing recommendation system, iGenetics.

Children's knowledge of the earth: a new methodological and statistical approach.

PubMed

Straatemeier, Marthe; van der Maas, Han L J; Jansen, Brenda R J

2008-08-01

In the field of children's knowledge of the earth, much debate has concerned the question of whether children's naive knowledge-that is, their knowledge before they acquire the standard scientific theory-is coherent (i.e., theory-like) or fragmented. We conducted two studies with large samples (N=328 and N=381) using a new paper-and-pencil test, denoted the EARTH (EArth Representation Test for cHildren), to discriminate between these two alternatives. We performed latent class analyses on the responses to the EARTH to test mental models associated with these alternatives. The naive mental models, as formulated by Vosniadou and Brewer, were not supported by the results. The results indicated that children's knowledge of the earth becomes more consistent as children grow older. These findings support the view that children's naive knowledge is fragmented.

Work-based Assessment and Co-production in Postgraduate Medical Training

PubMed Central

Holmboe, Eric S.

2017-01-01

Assessment has always been an essential component of postgraduate medical education and for many years focused predominantly on various types of examinations. While examinations of medical knowledge and more recently of clinical skills with standardized patients can assess learner capability in controlled settings and provide a level of assurance for the public, persistent and growing concerns regarding quality of care and patient safety worldwide has raised the importance and need for better work-based assessments. Work-based assessments, when done effectively, can more authentically capture the abilities of learners to actually provide safe, effective, patient-centered care. Furthermore, we have entered the era of interprofessional care where effective teamwork among multiple health care professionals is now paramount. Work-based assessment methods are now essential in an interprofessional healthcare world. To better prepare learners for these newer competencies and the ever-growing complexity of healthcare, many post-graduate medical education systems across the globe have turned to outcomes-based models of education, codified through competency frameworks. This commentary provides a brief overview on key methods of work-based assessment such as direct observation, multisource feedback, patient experience surveys and performance measures that are needed in a competency-based world that places a premium on educational and clinical outcomes. However, the full potential of work-based assessments will only be realized if post-graduate learners play an active role in their own assessment program. This will require a substantial culture change, and culture change only occurs through actions and changed behaviors. Co-production offers a practical and philosophical approach to engaging postgraduate learners to be active, intrinsically motivated agents for their own professional development, help to change learning culture and contribute to improving programmatic assessment in post-graduate training. PMID:29226226

Work-based Assessment and Co-production in Postgraduate Medical Training.

PubMed

Holmboe, Eric S

2017-01-01

Assessment has always been an essential component of postgraduate medical education and for many years focused predominantly on various types of examinations. While examinations of medical knowledge and more recently of clinical skills with standardized patients can assess learner capability in controlled settings and provide a level of assurance for the public, persistent and growing concerns regarding quality of care and patient safety worldwide has raised the importance and need for better work-based assessments. Work-based assessments, when done effectively, can more authentically capture the abilities of learners to actually provide safe, effective, patient-centered care. Furthermore, we have entered the era of interprofessional care where effective teamwork among multiple health care professionals is now paramount. Work-based assessment methods are now essential in an interprofessional healthcare world. To better prepare learners for these newer competencies and the ever-growing complexity of healthcare, many post-graduate medical education systems across the globe have turned to outcomes-based models of education, codified through competency frameworks. This commentary provides a brief overview on key methods of work-based assessment such as direct observation, multisource feedback, patient experience surveys and performance measures that are needed in a competency-based world that places a premium on educational and clinical outcomes. However, the full potential of work-based assessments will only be realized if post-graduate learners play an active role in their own assessment program. This will require a substantial culture change, and culture change only occurs through actions and changed behaviors. Co-production offers a practical and philosophical approach to engaging postgraduate learners to be active, intrinsically motivated agents for their own professional development, help to change learning culture and contribute to improving programmatic assessment in post-graduate training.

The experiences of science teachers' particpation in an inquiry-based professional development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Emily A.

Once a leader in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, the United States (U.S.) is now far behind many countries. There is growing concern that the U.S. is not preparing a sufficient number of students in the areas of STEM. Despite advancement of inquiry learning in science, the extent to which inquiry learning has been implemented on a classroom level falls short. The purpose of this study was to learn about the experiences of science teachers' participation in an inquiry-based professional development. A mixed method research design was used for this study to collect data from ten Project MISE participants. The qualitative data was collected using semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews, focus group interviews, observations, and document analysis of teacher portfolios and analyzed using constant comparative method. The quantitative data were collected through administration of a pretest and posttest instrument that measures the content knowledge of the science teachers and analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired t-test. The participants of this mixed methods study provided compelling evidence that Project MISE has a profound impact on their instructional practice, networking abilities, opportunities for reflection, and content knowledge.

Safety of treatments for inflammatory bowel disease: Clinical practice guidelines of the Italian Group for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IG-IBD).

PubMed

Biancone, Livia; Annese, Vito; Ardizzone, Sandro; Armuzzi, Alessandro; Calabrese, Emma; Caprioli, Flavio; Castiglione, Fabiana; Comberlato, Michele; Cottone, Mario; Danese, Silvio; Daperno, Marco; D'Incà, Renata; Frieri, Giuseppe; Fries, Walter; Gionchetti, Paolo; Kohn, Anna; Latella, Giovanni; Milla, Monica; Orlando, Ambrogio; Papi, Claudio; Petruzziello, Carmelina; Riegler, Gabriele; Rizzello, Fernando; Saibeni, Simone; Scribano, Maria Lia; Vecchi, Maurizio; Vernia, Piero; Meucci, Gianmichele

2017-04-01

Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic conditions of unknown etiology, showing a growing incidence and prevalence in several countries, including Italy. Although the etiology of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis is unknown, due to the current knowledge regarding their pathogenesis, effective treatment strategies have been developed. Several guidelines are available regarding the efficacy and safety of available drug treatments for inflammatory bowel diseases. Nevertheless, national guidelines provide additional information adapted to local feasibility, costs and legal issues related to the use of the same drugs. These observations prompted the Italian Group for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IG-IBD) to establish Italian guidelines on the safety of currently available treatments for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. These guidelines discuss the use of aminosalicylates, systemic and low bioavailability corticosteroids, antibiotics (metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, rifaximin), thiopurines, methotrexate, cyclosporine A, TNFα antagonists, vedolizumab, and combination therapies. These guidelines are based on current knowledge derived from evidence-based medicine coupled with clinical experience of a national working group. Copyright © 2017 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Whole grains and health: from theory to practice--highlights of The Grains for Health Foundation's Whole Grains Summit 2012.

PubMed

McKeown, Nicola M; Jacques, Paul F; Seal, Chris J; de Vries, Jan; Jonnalagadda, Satya S; Clemens, Roger; Webb, Densie; Murphy, Lee Anne; van Klinken, Jan-Willem; Topping, David; Murray, Robyn; Degeneffe, Dennis; Marquart, Leonard F

2013-05-01

The Grains for Health Foundation's Whole Grains Summit, held May 19-22, 2012 in Minneapolis, was the first meeting of its kind to convene >300 scientists, educators, food technologists, grain breeders, food manufacturers, marketers, health professionals, and regulators from around the world. Its goals were to identify potential avenues for collaborative efforts and formulate new approaches to whole-grains research and health communications that support global public health and business. This paper summarizes some of the challenges and opportunities that researchers and nutrition educators face in expanding the knowledge base on whole grains and health and in translating and disseminating that knowledge to consumers. The consensus of the summit was that effective, long-term, public-private partnerships are needed to reach across the globe and galvanize the whole-grains community to collaborate effectively in translating whole-grains science into strategies that increase the availability and affordability of more healthful, grain-based food products. A prerequisite of that is the need to build trust among diverse multidisciplinary professionals involved in the growing, producing, marketing, and regulating of whole-grain products and between the grain and public health communities.

Molecular Pathways: Extracting Medical Knowledge from High Throughput Genomic Data

PubMed Central

Goldstein, Theodore; Paull, Evan O.; Ellis, Matthew J.; Stuart, Joshua M.

2013-01-01

High-throughput genomic data that measures RNA expression, DNA copy number, mutation status and protein levels provide us with insights into the molecular pathway structure of cancer. Genomic lesions (amplifications, deletions, mutations) and epigenetic modifications disrupt biochemical cellular pathways. While the number of possible lesions is vast, different genomic alterations may result in concordant expression and pathway activities, producing common tumor subtypes that share similar phenotypic outcomes. How can these data be translated into medical knowledge that provides prognostic and predictive information? First generation mRNA expression signatures such as Genomic Health's Oncotype DX already provide prognostic information, but do not provide therapeutic guidance beyond the current standard of care – which is often inadequate in high-risk patients. Rather than building molecular signatures based on gene expression levels, evidence is growing that signatures based on higher-level quantities such as from genetic pathways may provide important prognostic and diagnostic cues. We provide examples of how activities for molecular entities can be predicted from pathway analysis and how the composite of all such activities, referred to here as the “activitome,” help connect genomic events to clinical factors in order to predict the drivers of poor outcome. PMID:23430023

Advanced Parkinson's or "complex phase" Parkinson's disease? Re-evaluation is needed.

PubMed

Titova, Nataliya; Martinez-Martin, Pablo; Katunina, Elena; Chaudhuri, K Ray

2017-12-01

Holistic management of Parkinson's disease, now recognised as a combined motor and nonmotor disorder, remains a key unmet need. Such management needs relatively accurate definition of the various stages of Parkinson's from early untreated to late palliative as each stage calls for personalised therapies. Management also needs to have a robust knowledge of the progression pattern and clinical heterogeneity of the presentation of Parkinson's which may manifest in a motor dominant or nonmotor dominant manner. The "advanced" stages of Parkinson's disease qualify for advanced treatments such as with continuous infusion or stereotactic surgery yet the concept of "advanced Parkinson's disease" (APD) remains controversial in spite of growing knowledge of the natural history of the motor syndrome of PD. Advanced PD is currently largely defined on the basis of consensus opinion and thus with several caveats. Nonmotor aspects of PD may also reflect advancing course of the disorder, so far not reflected in usual scale based assessments which are largely focussed on motor symptoms. In this paper, we discuss the problems with current definitions of "advanced" PD and also propose the term "complex phase" Parkinson's disease as an alternative which takes into account a multimodal symptoms and biomarker based approach in addition to patient preference.

Working More Productively: Tools for Administrative Data

PubMed Central

Roos, Leslie L; Soodeen, Ruth-Ann; Bond, Ruth; Burchill, Charles

2003-01-01

Objective This paper describes a web-based resource () that contains a series of tools for working with administrative data. This work in knowledge management represents an effort to document, find, and transfer concepts and techniques, both within the local research group and to a more broadly defined user community. Concepts and associated computer programs are made as “modular” as possible to facilitate easy transfer from one project to another. Study Setting/Data Sources Tools to work with a registry, longitudinal administrative data, and special files (survey and clinical) from the Province of Manitoba, Canada in the 1990–2003 period. Data Collection Literature review and analyses of web site utilization were used to generate the findings. Principal Findings The Internet-based Concept Dictionary and SAS macros developed in Manitoba are being used in a growing number of research centers. Nearly 32,000 hits from more than 10,200 hosts in a recent month demonstrate broad interest in the Concept Dictionary. Conclusions The tools, taken together, make up a knowledge repository and research production system that aid local work and have great potential internationally. Modular software provides considerable efficiency. The merging of documentation and researcher-to-researcher dissemination keeps costs manageable. PMID:14596394

Statistical segmentation of multidimensional brain datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desco, Manuel; Gispert, Juan D.; Reig, Santiago; Santos, Andres; Pascau, Javier; Malpica, Norberto; Garcia-Barreno, Pedro

2001-07-01

This paper presents an automatic segmentation procedure for MRI neuroimages that overcomes part of the problems involved in multidimensional clustering techniques like partial volume effects (PVE), processing speed and difficulty of incorporating a priori knowledge. The method is a three-stage procedure: 1) Exclusion of background and skull voxels using threshold-based region growing techniques with fully automated seed selection. 2) Expectation Maximization algorithms are used to estimate the probability density function (PDF) of the remaining pixels, which are assumed to be mixtures of gaussians. These pixels can then be classified into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), white matter and grey matter. Using this procedure, our method takes advantage of using the full covariance matrix (instead of the diagonal) for the joint PDF estimation. On the other hand, logistic discrimination techniques are more robust against violation of multi-gaussian assumptions. 3) A priori knowledge is added using Markov Random Field techniques. The algorithm has been tested with a dataset of 30 brain MRI studies (co-registered T1 and T2 MRI). Our method was compared with clustering techniques and with template-based statistical segmentation, using manual segmentation as a gold-standard. Our results were more robust and closer to the gold-standard.

Bridging the poverty gap in dental education: how can people living in poverty help us?

PubMed

Lévesque, Martine C; Dupéré, Sophie; Loignon, Christine; Levine, Alissa; Laurin, Isabelle; Charbonneau, Anne; Bedos, Christophe

2009-09-01

Dental education on specific knowledge and intervention approaches for working with people living on welfare is crucial to the therapeutic success of the relationships dental professionals establish with this clientele. Despite growing attention to the importance of cultural competence and communication skills training in dentistry, very few initiatives have been documented in relation to serving low-income populations. Following discussions at a 2006 Montreal-based colloquium on access to dental care, academics, dental association administrators, and public health agency and antipoverty coalition representatives began collaborating to develop innovative pedagogy designed to increase providers' competence in interacting with their underprivileged patients. The group's first round of workshops (November 2006-October 2007) resulted in the creation of an original video-based tool containing testimonies from six individuals living currently or formerly on welfare. The videotaped interview data represent their perceptions and experiences regarding their oral health, dental care service provision, and poverty in general. This article describes the participative methods, the content of the resulting DVD, and the implications of the "Listening to Each Other" program, a collaborative knowledge translation approach for improving interaction between underprivileged people and dental care providers.

An Experiential Community Orientation to Improve Knowledge and Assess Resident Attitudes Toward Poor Patients

PubMed Central

Wallace, Erik A.; Miller-Cribbs, Julie E.; Duffy, F. Daniel

2013-01-01

Background Future physicians may not be prepared for the challenges of caring for the growing population of poor patients in this country. Given the potential for a socioeconomic “gulf” between physicians and patients and the lack of curricula that address the specific needs of poor patients, resident knowledge about caring for this underserved population is low. Intervention We created a 2-day Resident Academy orientation, before the start of residency training, to improve community knowledge and address resident attitudes toward poor patients through team-based experiential activities. We collected demographic and satisfaction data through anonymous presurvey and postsurvey t tests, and descriptive analysis of the quantitative data were conducted. Qualitative comments from open-ended questions were reviewed, coded, and divided into themes. We also offer information on the cost and replicability of the Academy. Results Residents rated most components of the Academy as “very good” or “excellent.” Satisfaction scores were higher among residents in primary care training programs than among residents in nonprimary care programs for most Academy elements. Qualitative data demonstrated an overall positive effect on resident knowledge and attitudes about community resource availability for underserved patients, and the challenges of poor patients to access high-quality health care. Conclusions The Resident Academy orientation improved knowledge and attitudes of new residents before the start of residency, and residents were satisfied with the experience. The commitment of institutional leaders is essential for success. PMID:24404238

Brain Knowledge and the Prevalence of Neuromyths among Prospective Teachers in Greece

PubMed Central

Papadatou-Pastou, Marietta; Haliou, Eleni; Vlachos, Filippos

2017-01-01

Although very often teachers show a great interest in introducing findings from the field of neuroscience in their classrooms, there is growing concern about the lack of academic instruction on neuroscience on teachers' curricula because this has led to a proliferation of neuromyths. We surveyed 479 undergraduate (mean age = 19.60 years, SD = 2.29) and 94 postgraduate students (mean age = 28.52 years, SD = 7.16) enrolled in Departments of Education at the University of Thessaly and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. We used a 70-item questionnaire aiming to explore general knowledge on the brain, neuromyths, the participants' attitude toward neuroeducation as well as their reading habits. Prospective teachers were found to believe that neuroscience knowledge is useful for teachers (90.3% agreement), to be somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to the brain (47.33% of the assertions were answered correctly), but to be less well informed when it comes to neuroscientific issues related to special education (36.86% correct responses). Findings further indicate that general knowledge about the brain was found to be the best safeguard against believing in neuromyths. Based on our results we suggest that prospective teachers can benefit from academic instruction on neuroscience. We propose that such instruction takes place in undergraduate courses of Departments of Education and that emphasis is given in debunking neuromyths, enhancing critical reading skills, and dealing with topics relevant to special education. PMID:28611700

Emergency Contraception in Mexico: Trends in Knowledge and Ever-Use 2006-2014.

PubMed

Han, Leo; Saavedra-Avendano, Biani; Lambert, William; Fu, Rongwei; Rodriguez, Maria I; Edelman, Alison; Darney, Blair

2017-11-01

Objectives A package of interventions to introduce emergency contraception (EC) to Mexico was implemented, resulting in the addition of EC to the national family planning guidelines in 2004. We describe EC knowledge and use among women in Mexico over time. Methods We used the 2006, 2009, and 2014 of waves of a nationally representative demographic survey (ENADID). We assessed EC knowledge and usage in women ages 15-29 who are not using permanent methods and tested whether EC knowledge and use is changing over time after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics using logistic regression. Results Our sample included n = 99,223 (population N = 40,234,355) women ages 15-29. Overall, knowledge of EC increased over time: 62% in 2006 to 79% in 2009 to 83% in 2014 (p < 0.001). Among young women who have used contraception (n = 42,883; N = 16,816,701), the proportion that reported EC use increased from 3 to 11% to 29% (p < 0.001). Compared to non-users, women who had ever used EC were more likely to be using no method of contraception (44 vs. 35%) or barrier method (22 vs. 17%). Demographic factors including lower wealth, lower education, indigenous status and rural living are significantly associated with less EC knowledge and use. Stratified multivariate analysis found that demographic disadvantages magnify lower EC use among rural residents compared to non-rural residents. Conclusions for Practice Knowledge and use of EC are growing rapidly in Mexico, but disparities persist in demographically disadvantaged women, particularly those living in rural areas. Women who use EC appear to be at higher risk of unintended pregnancy based on current contraceptive use.

Pressure ulcer prevention knowledge among Jordanian nurses: a cross- sectional study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Pressure ulcer remains a significant problem in the healthcare system. In addition to the suffering it causes patients, it bears a growing financial burden. Although pressure ulcer prevention and care have improved in recent years, pressure ulcer still exists and occurs in both hospital and community settings. In Jordan, there are a handful of studies on pressure ulcer. This study aims to explore levels of knowledge and knowledge sources about pressure ulcer prevention, as well as barriers to implementing pressure ulcer prevention guidelines among Jordanian nurses. Methods Using a cross-sectional study design and a self-administered questionnaire, data was collected from 194 baccalaureate and master’s level staff nurses working in eight Jordanian hospitals. From September to October of 2011, their knowledge levels about pressure ulcer prevention and the sources of this knowledge were assessed, along with the barriers which reduce successful pressure ulcer care and prevention. ANOVA and t-test analysis were used to test the differences in nurses’ knowledge according to participants’ characteristics. Means, standard deviation, and frequencies were used to describe nurses’ knowledge levels, knowledge sources, and barriers to pressure ulcer prevention. Results The majority (73%, n = 141) of nurses had inadequate knowledge about pressure ulcer prevention. The mean scores of the test for all participants was 10.84 out of 26 (SD = 2.3, range = 5–17), with the lowest score in themes related to PU etiology, preventive measures to reduce amount of pressure/shear, and risk assessment. In-service training was the second source of education on pressure ulcer, coming after university training. Shortage of staff and lack of time were the most frequently cited barriers to carrying out pressure ulcer risk assessment, documentation, and prevention. Conclusions This study highlights concerns about Jordanian nurses’ knowledge of pressure ulcer prevention. The results of the current study showed inadequate knowledge among Jordanian nurses about pressure ulcer prevention based on National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel guidelines. Also, the low level of nurses’ pressure ulcer knowledge suggests poor dissemination of pressure ulcer knowledge in Jordan, a suggestion supported by the lack of relationship between years of experience and pressure ulcer knowledge. PMID:24565372

A review of severe thunderstorms in Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, John T.; Allen, Edwina R.

2016-09-01

Severe thunderstorms are a common occurrence in Australia and have been documented since the first European settlement in 1788. These events are characterized by large damaging hail in excess of 2 cm, convective wind gusts greater than 90 km h- 1 and tornadoes, and contribute a quarter of all natural hazard-related losses in the country. This impact has lead to a growing body of research and insight into these events. In this article, the state of knowledge regarding their incidence, distribution, and the resulting hail, tornado, convective wind, and lightning risk will be reviewed. Applying this assessment of knowledge, the implications for forecasting, the warning process, and how these events may respond to climate change and variability will also be discussed. Based on this review, ongoing work in the field is outlined, and several potential avenues for future research and exploration are suggested. Most notably, the need for improved observational or proxy climatologies, the forecasting guidelines for tornadoes, and the need for a greater understanding of how severe thunderstorms respond to climate variability are highlighted.

HT/HP x-tree and downhole fiber optic connectors and their use on subsea intelligent wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, Perry; Barlow, Stewart

2004-12-01

Offshore Oil and Gas R&D has been committed to improved reservoir performance through production monitoring. Technology improvements in these areas offer the greatest potential returns through increased knowledge of the reservoir, and the improvements in real-time production control that the technology and knowledge base can provide. One area of technology that supports this development is the growing application of fiber optic sensors for reservoir and production monitoring. These sensors cannot function in isolation, and need support in the form of fiber optic connection systems for x-tree penetrations. ODI have been developing products for fiber optic tree penetrations and down-hole wet connections for the last 4 years, working with Intelligent Wells Group at BP America Production Company in Houston. This paper discusses the application and reliability of fiber optic connectors, and reviews the development of the ODI I-CONN connection system and its application for vertical and horizontal x-trees, work-over systems and running tools, and down-hole systems.

Dealing with an information overload of health science data: structured utilisation of libraries, distributed knowledge in databases and Web content.

PubMed

Hoelzer, Simon; Schweiger, Ralf K; Rieger, Joerg; Meyer, Michael

2006-01-01

The organizational structures of web contents and electronic information resources must adapt to the demands of a growing volume of information and user requirements. Otherwise the information society will be threatened by disinformation. The biomedical sciences are especially vulnerable in this regard, since they are strongly oriented toward text-based knowledge sources. Here sustainable improvement can only be achieved by using a comprehensive, integrated approach that not only includes data management but also specifically incorporates the editorial processes, including structuring information sources and publication. The technical resources needed to effectively master these tasks are already available in the form of the data standards and tools of the Semantic Web. They include Rich Site Summaries (RSS), which have become an established means of distributing and syndicating conventional news messages and blogs. They can also provide access to the contents of the previously mentioned information sources, which are conventionally classified as 'deep web' content.

The medicinal Agaricus mushroom cultivated in Brazil: biology, cultivation and non-medicinal valorisation.

PubMed

Largeteau, Michèle L; Llarena-Hernández, Régulo Carlos; Regnault-Roger, Catherine; Savoie, Jean-Michel

2011-12-01

Sun mushroom is a cultivated mushroom extensively studied for its medicinal properties for several years and literature abounds on the topic. Besides, agronomical aspects were investigated in Brazil, the country the mushroom comes from, and some studies focus on the biology of the fungus. This review aimed to present an overview of the non-medicinal knowledge on the mushroom. Areas of commercial production and marketing trends are presented. Its specific fragrance, taste, nutritional value and potential use of extracts as food additives are compared to those of the most cultivated fungi and laboratory models. The interest of the mushroom for lignocellulosic enzyme production and source of biomolecules for the control of plant pathogens are shown. Investigation of genetic variability among cultivars is reported. Growing and storage of mycelium, as well as cultivation conditions (substrate and casing generally based on local products; indoor and outdoor cultivation; diseases and disorders) are described and compared to knowledge on Agaricus bisporus.

Finding knowledge translation articles in CINAHL.

PubMed

Lokker, Cynthia; McKibbon, K Ann; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Haynes, R Brian; Ciliska, Donna; Dobbins, Maureen; Davis, David A; Straus, Sharon E

2010-01-01

The process of moving research into practice has a number of names including knowledge translation (KT). Researchers and decision makers need to be able to readily access the literature on KT for the field to grow and to evaluate the existing evidence. To develop and validate search filters for finding KT articles in the database Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL). A gold standard database was constructed by hand searching and classifying articles from 12 journals as KT Content, KT Applications and KT Theory. Sensitivity, specificity, precision, and accuracy of the search filters. Optimized search filters had fairly low sensitivity and specificity for KT Content (58.4% and 64.9% respectively), while sensitivity and specificity increased for retrieving KT Application (67.5% and 70.2%) and KT Theory articles (70.4% and 77.8%). Search filter performance was suboptimal marking the broad base of disciplines and vocabularies used by KT researchers. Such diversity makes retrieval of KT studies in CINAHL difficult.

Progress and Prospects for Stem Cell Engineering

PubMed Central

Ashton, Randolph S.; Keung, Albert J.; Peltier, Joseph; Schaffer, David V.

2018-01-01

Stem cells offer tremendous biomedical potential owing to their abilities to self-renew and differentiate into cell types of multiple adult tissues. Researchers and engineers have increasingly developed novel discovery technologies, theoretical approaches, and cell culture systems to investigate microenvironmental cues and cellular signaling events that control stem cell fate. Many of these technologies facilitate high-throughput investigation of microenvironmental signals and the intracellular signaling networks and machinery processing those signals into cell fate decisions. As our aggregate empirical knowledge of stem cell regulation grows, theoretical modeling with systems and computational biology methods has and will continue to be important for developing our ability to analyze and extract important conceptual features of stem cell regulation from complex data. Based on this body of knowledge, stem cell engineers will continue to develop technologies that predictably control stem cell fate with the ultimate goal of being able to accurately and economically scale up these systems for clinical-grade production of stem cell therapeutics. PMID:22432628

eGender-from e-Learning to e-Research: a web-based interactive knowledge-sharing platform for sex- and gender-specific medical education.

PubMed

Seeland, Ute; Nauman, Ahmad T; Cornelis, Alissa; Ludwig, Sabine; Dunkel, Mathias; Kararigas, Georgios; Regitz-Zagrosek, Vera

2016-01-01

Sex and Gender Medicine is a novel discipline that provides equitable medical care for society and improves outcomes for both male and female patients. The integration of sex- and gender-specific knowledge into medical curricula is limited due to adequate learning material, systematic teacher training and an innovative communication strategy. We aimed at initiating an e-learning and knowledge-sharing platform for Sex and Gender Medicine, the eGender platform (http://egender.charite.de), to ensure that future doctors and health professionals will have adequate knowledge and communication skills on sex and gender differences in order to make informed decisions for their patients. The web-based eGender knowledge-sharing platform was designed to support the blended learning pedagogical teaching concept and follows the didactic concept of constructivism. Learning materials developed by Sex and Gender Medicine experts of seven universities have been used as the basis for the new learning tools . The content of these tools is patient-centered and provides add-on information on gender-sensitive aspects of diseases. The structural part of eGender was designed and developed using the open source e-learning platform Moodle. The eGender platform comprises an English and a German version of e-learning modules: one focusing on basic knowledge and seven on specific medical disciplines. Each module consists of several courses corresponding to a disease or symptom complex. Self-organized learning has to be managed by using different learning tools, e.g., texts and audiovisual material, tools for online communication and collaborative work. More than 90 users from Europe registered for the eGender Medicine learning modules. The most frequently accessed module was "Gender Medicine-Basics" and the users favored discussion forums. These e-learning modules fulfill the quality criteria for higher education and are used within the elective Master Module "Gender Medicine-Basics" implemented into the accredited Master of Public Health at Charité-Berlin. The eGender platform is a flexible and user-friendly electronical knowledge-sharing platform providing evidence-based high-quality learning material used by a growing number of registered users. The eGender Medicine learning modules could be key in the reform of medical curricula to integrate Sex and Gender Medicine into the education of health professionals.

Addressing adolescents’ risk and protective factors related to risky behaviours: Findings from a school-based peer-education evaluation in the Western Cape

PubMed Central

Timol, Furzana; Vawda, Mohammed Yacoob; Bhana, Arvin; Moolman, Benita; Makoae, Mokhantso; Swartz, Sharlene

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Peer-education programmes aim to bring about attitudinal and behavioural changes in their target audience. In the South African educational context, peer education is a favoured approach in dealing with issues such as HIV and AIDS, sexual decision-making and substance misuse. Given the reliance on peer-education programmes in the educational system, it is important to establish how well they are working. This study aims to assess the effect of an extensive, structured, time-limited, curriculum-based, peer-led educational programme on first-year high school learners in public schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Method: The curriculum called ‘Listen Up’ addresses issues such as supporting peers, sexual decision-making, healthy relationships, HIV risk, alcohol misuse and unwanted pregnancy in seven structured sessions. The programme targeted adolescents in Grade 8 growing up in what are considered to be risky environments in public schools in the Western Cape during 2012 and 2013. The intervention was evaluated based on 10 scales sourced from published literature related to the outcome indicators of future orientation, sensation-seeking, self-efficacy in sexual relations, HIV transmission knowledge, HIV prevention knowledge, HIV attitudes, sexual attitudes, decision-making, healthy relationships and social support. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse demographic and community characteristics and analyses of variance were used to detect differences between groups. The surveys were administered to a total of 7709 learners across three waves of the study in 27 peer intervention schools and eight control schools. Results: Immediately post intervention, statistically significant differences were noted for the intervention schools when compared to their baseline levels on measures of future orientation, self-efficacy in sexual relations, knowledge regarding HIV transmission, knowledge regarding HIV prevention and knowledge in terms of healthy relationships. Comparing baseline values with results collected between five and seven months post intervention, statistically significant results were noted for self-efficacy in sexual relations and knowledge regarding HIV transmission. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that peer-education can improve adolescents’ self-efficacy in sexual relations as well as knowledge regarding the transmission of HIV and therefore can contribute to the prevention of HIV transmission among adolescents. PMID:27892820

Addressing adolescents' risk and protective factors related to risky behaviours: Findings from a school-based peer-education evaluation in the Western Cape.

PubMed

Timol, Furzana; Vawda, Mohammed Yacoob; Bhana, Arvin; Moolman, Benita; Makoae, Mokhantso; Swartz, Sharlene

2016-12-01

Peer-education programmes aim to bring about attitudinal and behavioural changes in their target audience. In the South African educational context, peer education is a favoured approach in dealing with issues such as HIV and AIDS, sexual decision-making and substance misuse. Given the reliance on peer-education programmes in the educational system, it is important to establish how well they are working. This study aims to assess the effect of an extensive, structured, time-limited, curriculum-based, peer-led educational programme on first-year high school learners in public schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The curriculum called 'Listen Up' addresses issues such as supporting peers, sexual decision-making, healthy relationships, HIV risk, alcohol misuse and unwanted pregnancy in seven structured sessions. The programme targeted adolescents in Grade 8 growing up in what are considered to be risky environments in public schools in the Western Cape during 2012 and 2013. The intervention was evaluated based on 10 scales sourced from published literature related to the outcome indicators of future orientation, sensation-seeking, self-efficacy in sexual relations, HIV transmission knowledge, HIV prevention knowledge, HIV attitudes, sexual attitudes, decision-making, healthy relationships and social support. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse demographic and community characteristics and analyses of variance were used to detect differences between groups. The surveys were administered to a total of 7709 learners across three waves of the study in 27 peer intervention schools and eight control schools. Immediately post intervention, statistically significant differences were noted for the intervention schools when compared to their baseline levels on measures of future orientation, self-efficacy in sexual relations, knowledge regarding HIV transmission, knowledge regarding HIV prevention and knowledge in terms of healthy relationships. Comparing baseline values with results collected between five and seven months post intervention, statistically significant results were noted for self-efficacy in sexual relations and knowledge regarding HIV transmission. The findings of this study suggest that peer-education can improve adolescents' self-efficacy in sexual relations as well as knowledge regarding the transmission of HIV and therefore can contribute to the prevention of HIV transmission among adolescents.

Advances in developing rapid, reliable and portable detection systems for alcohol.

PubMed

Thungon, Phurpa Dema; Kakoti, Ankana; Ngashangva, Lightson; Goswami, Pranab

2017-11-15

Development of portable, reliable, sensitive, simple, and inexpensive detection system for alcohol has been an instinctive demand not only in traditional brewing, pharmaceutical, food and clinical industries but also in rapidly growing alcohol based fuel industries. Highly sensitive, selective, and reliable alcohol detections are currently amenable typically through the sophisticated instrument based analyses confined mostly to the state-of-art analytical laboratory facilities. With the growing demand of rapid and reliable alcohol detection systems, an all-round attempt has been made over the past decade encompassing various disciplines from basic and engineering sciences. Of late, the research for developing small-scale portable alcohol detection system has been accelerated with the advent of emerging miniaturization techniques, advanced materials and sensing platforms such as lab-on-chip, lab-on-CD, lab-on-paper etc. With these new inter-disciplinary approaches along with the support from the parallel knowledge growth on rapid detection systems being pursued for various targets, the progress on translating the proof-of-concepts to commercially viable and environment friendly portable alcohol detection systems is gaining pace. Here, we summarize the progress made over the years on the alcohol detection systems, with a focus on recent advancement towards developing portable, simple and efficient alcohol sensors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

School Leadership Teaming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West, Cathie E.

2011-01-01

To improve student achievement schools need the leadership of knowledgeable, highly skilled, and visionary principals and superintendents. Exemplary school leadership doesn't develop in isolation, however. Strong leadership grows from dynamic, collaborative, and intentional interactions between superintendents and their principals. These savvy…

Reproductive hazards in the workplace: what the practitioner needs to know about chemical exposures.

PubMed

Paul, M; Himmelstein, J

1988-06-01

A growing body of scientific evidence implicates occupational chemical exposures in the etiology of human adverse reproductive outcomes. Most reproductive toxins that have been investigated in sufficient detail have been shown to exert multiple effects on and through both men and women. In the face of growing public awareness, it is essential that clinicians develop a knowledgeable and effective approach to patient concerns about reproductive hazards in the workplace. Of vital importance is the accurate characterization of exposure at the worksite. Intervention strategies for worrisome situations include amelioration of worksite exposure or, as a last resort, temporary, compensated job modification or transfer. The clinician can obtain assistance in addressing the problem from several resources, including local regulatory agencies and occupational health clinics. Widespread involvement of knowledgeable health professionals can have a dramatic impact on improving this important contemporary public health problem.

Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koper, Rob

In 2003 we started a new research programme at the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (CELSTEC) that was aiming to help people to further develop their professional competences by using the innovative powers of new media, mobile devices, and modern Internet services. The idea behind the programme was to contribute to one of the bigger challenges in our society: how to deal with the growing complexity, the growing quantity and the permanent changes in knowledge and technologies. For companies this question relates to the core of their business: how to become innovative and stay competitive. For the employees, the ‘professionals’, this question relates directly to their jobs: how to become and stay employable. In this book we will concentrate on the last group, the professionals and their question how to stay employable, how to keep up-to-date and how to develop professional competence during their careers. The professionals represent the human capital, the knowledge, the innovative power in our economy.

Profile-IQ: Web-based data query system for local health department infrastructure and activities.

PubMed

Shah, Gulzar H; Leep, Carolyn J; Alexander, Dayna

2014-01-01

To demonstrate the use of National Association of County & City Health Officials' Profile-IQ, a Web-based data query system, and how policy makers, researchers, the general public, and public health professionals can use the system to generate descriptive statistics on local health departments. This article is a descriptive account of an important health informatics tool based on information from the project charter for Profile-IQ and the authors' experience and knowledge in design and use of this query system. Profile-IQ is a Web-based data query system that is based on open-source software: MySQL 5.5, Google Web Toolkit 2.2.0, Apache Commons Math library, Google Chart API, and Tomcat 6.0 Web server deployed on an Amazon EC2 server. It supports dynamic queries of National Profile of Local Health Departments data on local health department finances, workforce, and activities. Profile-IQ's customizable queries provide a variety of statistics not available in published reports and support the growing information needs of users who do not wish to work directly with data files for lack of staff skills or time, or to avoid a data use agreement. Profile-IQ also meets the growing demand of public health practitioners and policy makers for data to support quality improvement, community health assessment, and other processes associated with voluntary public health accreditation. It represents a step forward in the recent health informatics movement of data liberation and use of open source information technology solutions to promote public health.

Communities of Practice Transition Online - Lessons learned from NASA's EPO Online Workspace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davey, B.

2012-12-01

The Earth Forum Education and Public Outreach (EP/O) community has long interacted to better their practice as a community as well as individually. Working together to share knowledge and grow, they function as a community of practice. In 2009, NASA designed and implemented an online workspace in hopes of promoting the communities continued interactions. This study examines the role of an online workspace component of a community in the work of a community of practice. Much has been studied revealing the importance of communities of practice to organizations, project success, and knowledge management and some of these same successes hold true for virtual communities of practice. Study participants were 75 Education and Public Outreach community members of NASA's Science Mission Directorate Earth Forum. In this mixed methods study, online workspace metrics were used to track participation and a survey completed by 21 members was used to quantify participation. For a more detailed analysis, 15 community members (five highly active users, five average users, and five infrequent users) selected based on survey responses, were interviewed. Finally, survey data was gathered from seven online facilitators to understand their role in the community. Data collected from these 21 community members and five facilitating members suggest that highly active users (logging into the workspace daily), were more likely to have transformative experiences, co-create knowledge, feel ownership of community knowledge, have extended opportunities for community exchange, and find new forms of evaluation. Average users shared some similar characteristics with both the highly active members and infrequent users, representing a group in transition as they become more engaged and active in the online workspace. Inactive users viewed the workspace as having little value, being difficult to navigate, being mainly for gaining basic information about events and community news, and as another demand on their time. Results show the online workspace component of the Earth Science Education and Outreach Forum is playing an important and emerging role for this community by supporting knowledge building and knowledge sharing, and growing in value for those that utilizing it more frequently. The evidence suggests that with increased participation or "usage" comes increased value to the participant and the organization. This research illustrates the possible change in mindset held by participating community members when it comes to the nature of co-location. Additionally, it may be of particular importance in exploring changes in the community members' feelings of connection and belonging.

What children think about their rights and their well-being: A cross-national comparison.

PubMed

Kosher, Hanita; Ben-Arieh, Asher

2017-01-01

Recent years have brought a growing social and public commitment to the promotion of children's rights and children's well-being around the world, and these have become important goals of all those striving to improve children's lives. In spite of the intimate ideological connection between the concepts of children's rights and children's well-being, they have evolved separately both theoretically and empirically. In the current article, we present a study exploring the empirical association between these 2 concepts based on data from the International Survey on Children's Well-Being. This unique survey explores children's own perspectives on their well-being (subjective well-being), their perceptions and knowledge of their rights, and their reports on their right to participation. It includes data from more than 54,000 children aged 8-12 from 16 countries around the world. Our results showed clear cross-national differences between children's knowledge and perceptions of their rights and their reports on participation. Also, children's participation in different contexts in their lives showed an association with their subjective well-being; a weaker association was found between children's knowledge and perceptions of their rights. These results indicate that children's right to participation and, to some degree, their knowledge and thinking about their rights is an indicator of their well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

EarthCube: Advancing Partnerships, Collaborative Platforms and Knowledge Networks in the Ocean Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephen, Diggs; Lee, Allison

2014-05-01

The National Science Foundation's EarthCube initiative aims to create a community-driven data and knowledge management system that will allow for unprecedented data sharing across the geosciences. More than 2,500 participants through forums, work groups, EarthCube events, and virtual and in-person meetings have participated. The individuals that have engaged represent the core earth-system sciences of solid Earth, Atmosphere, Oceans, and Polar Sciences. EarthCube is a cornerstone of NSF's Cyberinfrastructure for the 21st Century (CIF21) initiative, whose chief objective is to develop a U.S. nationwide, sustainable, and community-based cyberinfrastructure for researchers and educators. Increasingly effective community-driven cyberinfrastructure allows global data discovery and knowledge management and achieves interoperability and data integration across scientific disciplines. There is growing convergence across scientific and technical communities on creating a networked, knowledge management system and scientific data cyberinfrastructure that integrates Earth system and human dimensions data in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner. EarthCube does not intend to replicate these efforts, but build upon them. An agile development process is underway for the development and governance of EarthCube. The agile approach was deliberately selected due to its iterative and incremental nature while promoting adaptive planning and rapid and flexible response. Such iterative deployment across a variety of EarthCube stakeholders encourages transparency, consensus, accountability, and inclusiveness.

Could gestational diabetes mellitus be managed through dietary bioactive compounds? Current knowledge and future perspectives.

PubMed

Santangelo, Carmela; Zicari, Alessandra; Mandosi, Elisabetta; Scazzocchio, Beatrice; Mari, Emanuela; Morano, Susanna; Masella, Roberta

2016-04-14

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a serious problem growing worldwide that needs to be addressed with urgency in consideration of the resulting severe complications for both mother and fetus. Growing evidence indicates that a healthy diet rich in fruit, vegetables, nuts, extra-virgin olive oil and fish has beneficial effects in both the prevention and management of several human diseases and metabolic disorders. In this review, we discuss the latest data concerning the effects of dietary bioactive compounds such as polyphenols and PUFA on the molecular mechanisms regulating glucose homoeostasis. Several studies, mostly based on in vitro and animal models, indicate that dietary polyphenols, mainly flavonoids, positively modulate the insulin signalling pathway by attenuating hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance, reducing inflammatory adipokines, and modifying microRNA (miRNA) profiles. Very few data about the influence of dietary exposure on GDM outcomes are available, although this approach deserves careful consideration. Further investigation, which includes exploring the 'omics' world, is needed to better understand the complex interaction between dietary compounds and GDM.

Integrated groundwater data management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fitch, Peter; Brodaric, Boyan; Stenson, Matt; Booth, Nathaniel; Jakeman, Anthony J.; Barreteau, Olivier; Hunt, Randall J.; Rinaudo, Jean-Daniel; Ross, Andrew

2016-01-01

The goal of a data manager is to ensure that data is safely stored, adequately described, discoverable and easily accessible. However, to keep pace with the evolution of groundwater studies in the last decade, the associated data and data management requirements have changed significantly. In particular, there is a growing recognition that management questions cannot be adequately answered by single discipline studies. This has led a push towards the paradigm of integrated modeling, where diverse parts of the hydrological cycle and its human connections are included. This chapter describes groundwater data management practices, and reviews the current state of the art with enterprise groundwater database management systems. It also includes discussion on commonly used data management models, detailing typical data management lifecycles. We discuss the growing use of web services and open standards such as GWML and WaterML2.0 to exchange groundwater information and knowledge, and the need for national data networks. We also discuss cross-jurisdictional interoperability issues, based on our experience sharing groundwater data across the US/Canadian border. Lastly, we present some future trends relating to groundwater data management.

Accumulation of silicon in cacti native to the United States: characterization of silica bodies and cyclic oligosiloxanes in Stenocereus thurberi, Opuntia littoralis, Opuntia ficus-indica, and Opuntia stricta.

PubMed

Wright, Cynthia R; Waddell, Emanuel A; Setzer, William N

2014-06-01

Four different cactus species growing in the United States, Stenocereus thurberi growing in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona, Opuntia littoralis and Opuntia ficus-indica, growing on Santa Catalina Island, California, and Opuntia stricta, growing in northern Alabama, were examined for the presence of silica bodies (opaline phytoliths). Silica bodies were found in all four of these cactus species, parallelepiped-shaped crystals in S. thurberi, and starburst-shaped crystalline structures in the three Opuntia species. In addition, the essential oils of the four cactus species were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. To our surprise, S. thurberi, O. littoralis, and O. ficus-indica (but not O. stricta) essential oils contained cyclic oligosiloxanes. To our knowledge, cyclic oligosiloxanes have not been previously found as essential oil components.

Precision Medicine in Head and Neck Cancer: Myth or Reality?

PubMed

Malone, Eoghan; Siu, Lillian L

2018-01-01

Standard treatment in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is limited currently with decisions being made primarily based on tumor location, histology, and stage. The role of the human papillomavirus in risk stratification is actively under clinical trial evaluations. The molecular complexity and intratumoral heterogeneity of the disease are not actively integrated into management decisions of HNSCC, despite a growing body of knowledge in these areas. The advent of the genomic era has delivered vast amounts of information regarding different cancer subtypes and is providing new therapeutic targets, which can potentially be elucidated using next-generation sequencing and other modern technologies. The task ahead is to expand beyond the existent armamentarium by exploiting beyond the genome and perform integrative analysis using innovative systems biology methods, with the goal to deliver effective precision medicine-based theragnostic options in HNSCC.

Current knowledge and potential applications of cavitation technologies for the petroleum industry.

PubMed

Avvaru, Balasubrahmanyam; Venkateswaran, Natarajan; Uppara, Parasuveera; Iyengar, Suresh B; Katti, Sanjeev S

2018-04-01

Technologies based on cavitation, produced by either ultrasound or hydrodynamic means, are part of growing literature for individual refinery unit processes. In this review, we have explained the mechanism through which these cavitation technologies intensify individual unit processes such as enhanced oil recovery, demulsification of water in oil emulsions during desalting stage, crude oil viscosity reduction, oxidative desulphurisation/demetallization, and crude oil upgrading. Apart from these refinery processes, applications of this technology are also mentioned for other potential crude oil sources such as oil shale and oil sand extraction. The relative advantages and current situation of each application/process at commercial scale is explained. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Safety aspects of the production of foods and food ingredients from insects.

PubMed

Schlüter, Oliver; Rumpold, Birgit; Holzhauser, Thomas; Roth, Angelika; Vogel, Rudi F; Quasigroch, Walter; Vogel, Stephanie; Heinz, Volker; Jäger, Henry; Bandick, Nils; Kulling, Sabine; Knorr, Dietrich; Steinberg, Pablo; Engel, Karl-Heinz

2017-06-01

At present, insects are rarely used by the European food industry, but they are a subject of growing interest as an alternative source of raw materials. The risks associated with the use of insects in the production of foods and food ingredients have not been sufficiently investigated. There is a lack of scientifically based knowledge of insect processing to ensure food safety, especially when these processes are carried out on an industrial scale. This review focuses on the safety aspects that need to be considered regarding the fractionation of insects for the production of foods and food ingredients. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.