The lab management practices of “Research Exemplars” that foster research rigor and regulatory compliance: A qualitative study of successful principal investigators

IntroductionConducting rigorous scientific inquiry within the bounds of research regulation and acceptable practice requires a principal investigator to lead and manage research processes and personnel. This study explores the practices used by investigators nominated as exemplars of research excellence and integrity to produce rigorous, reproducible research and comply with research regulations.MethodsUsing a qualitative research design, we interviewed 52 principal investigators working in the United States at top research universities and the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program. We solicited nominations of researchers meeting two criteria: (1) they are federally-funded researchers doing high-quality, high-impact research, and (2) have reputations for professionalism and integrity. Each investigator received an initial nomination addressing both criteria and at least one additional endorsement corroborating criteria 2. A panel of researchers and our research team reviewed the nominations to select finalists who were invited to participate. The cohort of "Research Exemplars" includes highly accomplished researchers in diverse scientific disciplines. The semi-structured interview questions asked them to describe the routine practices they employ to foster rigor and regulatory compliance. We used inductive thematic analysis to identify common practices.ResultsThe exemplars identified a core set of 8 practices and provided strategies for employing them. The practices included holding regular team meetings, encouraging shared ownership, providing supervision, ensuring adequate training, fostering positive attitudes about compliance, scrutinizing data and findings, and following standard operating procedures. Above all, the use of these practices aim to create a psychologically safe work environment in which lab members openly collaborate to scrutinize their work and share in accountability for rigorous, compliant research.ConclusionsResearchers typically receive limited systematic training in how to lead and manage their research teams. Training and education for principal investigators should include essential leadership and management practices and strategies that support doing high-quality research with integrity

Aligning objectives and assessment in responsible conduct of research instruction

Efforts to advance research integrity in light of concerns about misbehavior in research rely heavily on education in the responsible conduct of research (RCR). However, there is limited evidence for the effectiveness of RCR instruction as a remedy. Assessment is essential in RCR education if the research community wishes to expend the effort of instructors, students, and trainees wisely. This article presents key considerations that instructors and course directors must consider in aligning learning objectives with instructional methods and assessment measures, and it provides illustrative examples. Above all, in order for RCR educators to assess outcomes more effectively, they must align assessment to their learning objectives and attend to the validity of the measures used

Professional decision-making in medicine: Development of a new measure and preliminary evidence of validity

INTRODUCTION: This study developed a new Professional Decision-Making in Medicine Measure that assesses the use of effective decision-making strategies: seek help, manage emotions, recognize consequences and rules, and test assumptions and motives. The aim was to develop a content valid measure and obtain initial evidence for construct validity so that the measure could be used in future research or educational assessment. METHODS: Clinical scenario-based items were developed based on a review of the literature and interviews with physicians. For each item, respondents are tasked with selecting two responses (out of six plausible options) that they would choose in that situation. Three of the six options reflect a decision-making strategy; these responses are scored as correct. Data were collected from a sample of 318 fourth-year medical students in the United States. They completed a 16-item version of the measure (Form A) and measures of social desirability, moral disengagement, and professionalism attitudes. Professionalism ratings from clerkships were also obtained. A sub-group (n = 63) completed a second 16-item measure (Form B) to pilot test the instrument, as two test forms are useful for pre-posttest designs. RESULTS: Scores on the new measure indicated that, on average, participants answered 75% of items correctly. Evidence for construct validity included the lack of correlation between scores on the measure and socially desirable responding, negative correlation with moral disengagement, and modest to low correlations with professionalism attitudes. A positive correlation was observed with a clerkship rating focused on professionalism in peer interactions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate modest proficiency in the use of decision-making strategies among fourth-year medical students. Additional research using the Professional Decision-Making Measure should explore scores among physicians in various career stages, and the causes and correlates of scores. Educators could utilize the measure to assess courses that teach decision-making strategies

Assessing clinical research coordinator knowledge of good clinical practice: An evaluation of the state of the art and a test validation study

This paper describes the development and validation of a new 32-item test of knowledge of good clinical practice (GCP) administered to 625 clinical research coordinators. GCP training is mandated by study sponsors including the US National Institutes of Health. The effectiveness of training is rarely assessed, and the lack of validated tests is an obstacle to assessment. The GCP knowledge test was developed following evaluation of two existing widely used GCP tests to ensure it accurately reflects the content of current training. The final GCP knowledge test demonstrated good reliability

Produktkennzeichnungen als Kommunikations- und Informationsmedium für Bodenschutz - eine Analyse von Zertifizierungssystemen auf dem deutschen Markt

Die Vermittlung von Informationen über die Notwendigkeit, unsere Böden und deren Funktionen zu schützen, stellt eine zentrale Voraussetzung für die Erhöhung des Bodenbewusstseins in der Bevölkerung dar. Als Kommunikations- und Informationsmedium verfügen Produktkennzeichnungen über ein vielversprechendes Potential, bodenschutzrelevante Informationen in Verbindung mit produktspezifischen Eigenschaften an die Verbraucher zu vermitteln. Derzeit existiert eine Vielzahl an Kennzeichnungen auf dem deutschen Markt, die Konsumenten über nicht sichtbare Produkteigenschaften informieren. Sie werden in Form von Logos, Symbolen und Texten direkt am Produkt oder auf der Verpackung angebracht und dienen u. a. der Kennzeichnung von Produkten, die klimafreundlich und ressourcensparend sind, zum Erhalt von Ökosystemen, Tier- und Pflanzenarten beitragen sowie den Schutz von Gewässern, Atmosphäre und Böden fördern. Verbraucher erhalten hierdurch Informationen zur Identifikation von umweltfreundlichen Produkten, die sowohl zum Umweltschutz als auch zur Reduktion negativer Umweltauswirkungen beitragen. Im Zuge einer umfassenden Analyse wurde der Fragestellung nachgegangen, in welchem Umfang bestehende Produktkennzeichnungen auf dem deutschen Markt den Schutz von Böden berücksichtigen und den Verbraucher hierüber informieren. Zu diesem Zweck wurden die Vergabekriterien, die Kommunikationswege und die dem Verbraucher zur Verfügung gestellten Informationen von über 550 Produktkennzeichnungen untersucht. Eine Analyse der mithilfe dieser Zertifizierungssysteme vermittelten bodenschutzbezogenen Informationen ist im Hinblick auf ihre inhaltliche Aufbereitung sowie grafische und textliche Gestaltung ebenfalls Gegenstand der durchgeführten Untersuchung gewesen. Als Ergebnis wurden rund 100 Produktkennzeichnungen identifiziert, die in ihren Vergabekriterien unterschiedliche Aspekte des Bodenschutzes berücksichtigen, wohingegen nur wenige diese Informationen auch an die Konsumenten weitergeben. Unter ihnen befinden sich hauptsächlich Kennzeichnungen für Produkte, die einen direkten Bezug zur Thematik aufweisen und zu Produktgruppen aus der Forst- und Landwirtschaft sowie dem Gartenbau und dem Baugewerbe gehören. Zudem wurde festgestellt, dass in Abhängigkeit von der betrachteten Produktgruppe die Aufbereitung der an die Verbraucher übermittelten bodenschutzbezogenen Informationen sowie deren textliche und grafische Gestaltung in erheblichem Maße voneinander variieren

Influence of two different solid-liquid separation processes on the settling characteristics of swine effluent.

ABSTRACT: Solid-liquid separation (SLS) in swine manure treatment is an important step due to a substantial amount of organic and inorganic solids that can be removed from liquid wastewater. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of two mechanical separation processes (screw press and rotary screen) followed by settling and to analyze the composition of liquid fractions. In this sense, total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), fixed solids (FS), total phosphorous (TP), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and total organic carbon (TOC) were analyzed. By combining mechanical separation with settling, the average of TS, VS and FS removal was 75%, 80% and 69%, respectively. Phosphorus removal reached 86%, and TKN achieved a reduction up to 45%. There was no statistical difference among the results obtained using SLS by screw press and rotary screen. It was possible to conclude that SLS process with mechanical devices, followed by settling, generates a suitable effluent to be used on nitrification and denitrification process, producing an effluent with a C/N ratio of 2.6, and the solid fraction is useful to anaerobic digestion

Transient wave propagation phenomena at visco-elastic half-spaces under distributed surface loadings

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)This article analyzes the transient wave propagation phenomena that take place at 2D viscoelastic half-spaces subjected to spatially distributed surface loadings and to distinct temporal excitations. It starts with a fairly detailed review of the existing strategies to describe transient analysis for elastic and viscoelastic continua by means of the Boundary Element Method (BEM). The review explores the possibilities and limitations of the existing transient BEM procedures to describe dynamic analysis of unbounded viscoelastic domains. It proceeds to explain the strategy used by the authors of this article to synthesize numerically fundamental solutions or auxiliary states that allow an accurate analysis of transient wave propagation phenomena at the surface of viscoelastic half-spaces. In particular, segments with spatially constant and linear stress distributions over a half-space surface are considered. The solution for the superposition of constant and discontinuous adjacent elements as well as linear and continuous stress distributions is addressed. The influence of the temporal excitation type and duration on the transient response is investigated. The present study is based on the numerical solution of stress boundary value problems of (visco) elastodynamics. In a first stage, the solution is obtained in the frequency domain. A numerical integration strategy allows the stationary solutions to be determined for very high frequencies. The transient solutions are obtained, in a second stage, by applying the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm to the previously synthesized frequency domain solutions. Viscoelastic effects are taken into account by means of the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle. By analyzing the transient solution of the stress boundary value problems, it is possible to show that from every surface stress discontinuity three wave fronts are generated. (continued on next page ... )94453473Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Exploring perceptions of healthcare technologies enabled by artificial intelligence: An online, scenario-based survey

BACKGROUND: Healthcare is expected to increasingly integrate technologies enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) into patient care. Understanding perceptions of these tools is essential to successful development and adoption. This exploratory study gauged participants\u27 level of openness, concern, and perceived benefit associated with AI-driven healthcare technologies. We also explored socio-demographic, health-related, and psychosocial correlates of these perceptions. METHODS: We developed a measure depicting six AI-driven technologies that either diagnose, predict, or suggest treatment. We administered the measure via an online survey to adults (N = 936) in the United States using MTurk, a crowdsourcing platform. Participants indicated their level of openness to using the AI technology in the healthcare scenario. Items reflecting potential concerns and benefits associated with each technology accompanied the scenarios. Participants rated the extent that the statements of concerns and benefits influenced their perception of favorability toward the technology. Participants completed measures of socio-demographics, health variables, and psychosocial variables such as trust in the healthcare system and trust in technology. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the concern and benefit items identified two factors representing overall level of concern and perceived benefit. Descriptive analyses examined levels of openness, concern, and perceived benefit. Correlational analyses explored associations of socio-demographic, health, and psychosocial variables with openness, concern, and benefit scores while multivariable regression models examined these relationships concurrently. RESULTS: Participants were moderately open to AI-driven healthcare technologies (M = 3.1/5.0 ± 0.9), but there was variation depending on the type of application, and the statements of concerns and benefits swayed views. Trust in the healthcare system and trust in technology were the strongest, most consistent correlates of openness, concern, and perceived benefit. Most other socio-demographic, health-related, and psychosocial variables were less strongly, or not, associated, but multivariable models indicated some personality characteristics (e.g., conscientiousness and agreeableness) and socio-demographics (e.g., full-time employment, age, sex, and race) were modestly related to perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Participants\u27 openness appears tenuous, suggesting early promotion strategies and experiences with novel AI technologies may strongly influence views, especially if implementation of AI technologies increases or undermines trust. The exploratory nature of these findings warrants additional research