68,871 research outputs found
Evaluating the application of research-based guidance to the design of an emergency preparedness leaflet.
Guidelines for the design of emergency communications were derived from primary research and interrogation of the literature. The guidelines were used to re-design a nuclear emergency preparedness leaflet routinely distributed to households in the local area. Pre-test measures of memory for, and self-reported understanding of, nuclear safety information were collected. The findings revealed high levels of non-receipt of the leaflet, and among those who did receive it, memory for safety advice was poor. Subjective evaluations of the trial leaflet suggested that it was preferred and judged easier to understand than the original. Objective measures of memory for the two leaflets were also recorded, once after the study period, and again one week or four weeks later. Memory for the advice was better, at all time periods, when participants studied the trial leaflet. The findings showcase evaluation of emergency preparedness literature and suggest that extant research findings can be applied to the design of communications to improve memory and understandability. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Studies are described that showcase the use of research-based guidelines to design emergency communications and provide both subjective and objective data to support designing emergency communications in this way. In addition, the research evaluates the effectiveness of emergency preparedness leaflets that are routinely distributed to households. This work is of relevance to academics interested in risk communication and to practitioners involved in civil protection and emergency preparedness
Seven Dimensions of Portability for Language Documentation and Description
The process of documenting and describing the world's languages is undergoing
radical transformation with the rapid uptake of new digital technologies for
capture, storage, annotation and dissemination. However, uncritical adoption of
new tools and technologies is leading to resources that are difficult to reuse
and which are less portable than the conventional printed resources they
replace. We begin by reviewing current uses of software tools and digital
technologies for language documentation and description. This sheds light on
how digital language documentation and description are created and managed,
leading to an analysis of seven portability problems under the following
headings: content, format, discovery, access, citation, preservation and
rights. After characterizing each problem we provide a series of value
statements, and this provides the framework for a broad range of best practice
recommendations.Comment: 8 page
Carbonates in space - The challenge of low temperature data
Carbonates have repeatedly been discussed as possible carriers of stardust
emission bands. However, the band assignments proposed so far were mainly based
on room temperature powder transmission spectra of the respective minerals.
Since very cold calcite grains have been claimed to be present in protostars
and in Planetary Nebulae such as NGC 6302, the changes of their dielectric
functions at low temperatures are relevant from an astronomical point of view.
We have derived the IR optical constants of calcite and dolomite from
reflectance spectra - measured at 300, 200, 100 and 10K - and calculated small
particle spectra for different grain shapes, with the following results: i) The
absorption efficiency factors both of calcite and dolomite are extremely
dependent on the particle shapes. This is due to the high peak values of the
optical constants of CaCO3 and CaMg[CO3]2. ii) The far infrared properties of
calcite and dolomite depend also very significantly on the temperature. Below
200K, a pronounced sharpening and increase in the band strengths of the FIR
resonances occurs. iii) In view of the intrinsic strength and sharpening of the
44 mum band of calcite at 200-100K, the absence of this band -- inferred from
Infrared Space Observatory data -- in PNe requires dust temperatures below 45K.
iv) Calcite grains at such low temperatures can account for the '92' mum band,
while our data rule out dolomite as the carrier of the 60-65 mum band. The
optical constants here presented are publicly available in the electronic
database http://www.astro.uni-jena.de/Laboratory/OCDBComment: 20 pages, 10 figures, accepted by ApJ, corrected typo
Robustness of journal rankings by network flows with different amounts of memory
As the number of scientific journals has multiplied, journal rankings have
become increasingly important for scientific decisions. From submissions and
subscriptions to grants and hirings, researchers, policy makers, and funding
agencies make important decisions with influence from journal rankings such as
the ISI journal impact factor. Typically, the rankings are derived from the
citation network between a selection of journals and unavoidably depend on this
selection. However, little is known about how robust rankings are to the
selection of included journals. Here we compare the robustness of three journal
rankings based on network flows induced on citation networks. They model
pathways of researchers navigating scholarly literature, stepping between
journals and remembering their previous steps to different degree: zero-step
memory as impact factor, one-step memory as Eigenfactor, and two-step memory,
corresponding to zero-, first-, and second-order Markov models of citation flow
between journals. We conclude that higher-order Markov models perform better
and are more robust to the selection of journals. Whereas our analysis
indicates that higher-order models perform better, the performance gain for the
second-order Markov model comes at the cost of requiring more citation data
over a longer time period.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
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The Histone Deacetylase SIRT6 Restrains Transcription Elongation via Promoter-Proximal Pausing.
Transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes occurs at promoter-proximal regions wherein transcriptionally engaged RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pauses before proceeding toward productive elongation. The role of chromatin in pausing remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the histone deacetylase SIRT6 binds to Pol II and prevents the release of the negative elongation factor (NELF), thus stabilizing Pol II promoter-proximal pausing. Genetic depletion of SIRT6 or its chromatin deficiency upon glucose deprivation causes intragenic enrichment of acetylated histone H3 at lysines 9 (H3K9ac) and 56 (H3K56ac), activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9)-that phosphorylates NELF and the carboxyl terminal domain of Pol II-and enrichment of the positive transcription elongation factors MYC, BRD4, PAF1, and the super elongation factors AFF4 and ELL2. These events lead to increased expression of genes involved in metabolism, protein synthesis, and embryonic development. Our results identified SIRT6 as a Pol II promoter-proximal pausing-dedicated histone deacetylase
Differences between computed tomoghaphy and surgical findings in acute complicated diverticulitis
Summary Background/Objective: A preoperative reliable classification system between
clinical and computed tomography (CT) findings to better plan surgery in acute complicated
diverticulitis (ACD) is lacking. We studied the inter-observer agreement of CT scan data and
their concordance with the preoperative clinical findings and the adherence with the intraoperative
status using a new classification of diverticular disease (CDD).
Methods: 152 patients operated on for acute complicated diverticulitis (ACD) were retrospectively
enrolled. All patients were studied with CT scan within 24 h before surgery and CT images
were blinded reanalyzed by 2 couples of radiologists (A/B). Kappa value evaluated the
inter-observer agreement between radiologists and the concordance between CDD, preoperative
clinical findings and findings at operation. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used
to evaluate the predicting values of CT classification and CDD stage at surgery on postoperative
outcomes.
Results: Overall inter-observer agreement for the CDD was high, with a kappa value of 0.905
(95% CI Z 0.850e0.960) for observers A and B, while the concordance between radiologica
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