When to Use Transdisciplinary Approaches for Environmental Research

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) can help generate solutions to environmental challenges and enhance the uptake of research outputs, thus contributing to advance sustainability in social-ecological systems. Our aim is to support investment decisions in TDR; more specifically, to help funders, researchers, and research users to decide when and why it is most likely to be worth investing in TDR approaches. To achieve our aim, we: 1) define TDR and use a decision tree comparing it with alternative modes of research (i.e., basic, applied, disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, and interdisciplinary research) to help researchers and funders distinguish TDR from other research modes; 2) identify features of the research problem and context (complexity, diverse knowledge systems, contestation, power imbalance, and disagreement on the need for transformative change) where a TDR approach could be more appropriate than the alternative research modes; and 3) explore the idea that the intensity of the contextual features in (2), together with the problem at hand, will help determine where a research project stands in a continuum from low- to high-TDR. We present five studies exemplifying lower- to higher-TDR approaches that are distinguished by: 1) the number and variety of research participants engaged; 2) the strength of involvement of non-academic actors; and 3) the number and variety of disciplines and knowledge systems involved in the research

Comparison of standard and enhanced pulse oximeter auditory displays of oxygen saturation: a laboratory study with clinician and nonclinician participants

BACKGROUND: When engaged in visually demanding tasks, anesthesiologists depend on the auditory display of the pulse oximeter (PO) to provide information about patients' oxygen saturation (Spo(2)). Current auditory displays are not always effective at providing Spo(2) information. In this laboratory study, clinician and nonclinician participants identified Spo(2) parameters using either a standard auditory display or an auditory display enhanced with additional acoustic properties while performing distractor tasks and in the presence of background noise. METHODS: In a counterbalanced crossover design, specialist or trainee anesthesiologists (n = 25) and nonclinician participants (n = 28) identified Spo(2) parameters using standard and enhanced PO auditory displays. Participants performed 2 distractor tasks: (1) arithmetic verification and (2) keyword detection. Simulated background operating room noise played throughout the experiment. Primary outcomes were accuracies to (1) detect transitions to and from an Spo(2) target range and (2) identify Spo(2) range (target, low, or critical). Secondary outcomes included participants' latency to detect target transitions, accuracy to identify absolute Spo(2) values, accuracy and latency of distractor tasks, and subjective judgments about tasks. RESULTS: Participants were more accurate at detecting target transitions using the enhanced display (87%) than the standard display (57%; odds ratio, 7.3 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 4.4-12.3]; P < .001). Participants were also more accurate at identifying Spo(2) range using the enhanced display (86%) than the standard display (76%; odds ratio, 2.7 [95% CI, 1.6-4.6]; P < .001). Secondary outcome analyses indicated that there were no differences in performance between clinicians and nonclinicians for target transition detection accuracy and latency, Spo(2) range identification accuracy, or absolute Spo(2) value identification. CONCLUSIONS: The enhanced auditory display supports more accurate detection of target transitions and identification of Spo(2) range for both clinicians and nonclinicians. Despite their previous experience using PO auditory displays, clinicians in this laboratory study were no more accurate in any Spo(2) outcomes than nonclinician participants

Halogenated Terpenoids. XXIX The 1-Bromo 1-Bromomethyl Cyclohexyl System

Bromination of methylene groups exocyclic to cyclohexyl systems normally affords two isomeric products; the axial 1-bromo equatorial 1-bromomethyl compound and the axial 1-bromomethyl equatorial 1-bromo derivative. Free energy differences between these two isomers, and the conformations adopted by the axial 1-bromomethyl group, have been explored by n.m.r. spectroscopy, by X-ray crystallography and by MM3 calculations. Evidence is presented to show that the ax-bromomethyl group exists primarily as those rotamers which site the bromine atom synclinal to the vicinal bromine. The A value for a bromomethyl group in this system is then similar to that of an unsubstituted methyl group

Synthesis and absolute stereochemistry of Hagen's-Gland lactones in some parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Efficient syntheses and enantioselective gas chromatography have confirmed the structures and established the absolute stereochemistry of some novel bicyclic lactones (tetrahydrofurofuranones) in species of parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera:Braconidae). The co-occurring γ-lactones, octan-4-olide and dodecan-4-olide, have the (R)-configuration. Novel bicyclic lactones from parasitic wasps

Synthesis and absolute stereochemistry of Hagen's-Gland lactones in some parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera:Braconidae)

Efficient syntheses and enantioselective gas chromatography have confirmed the structures and established the absolute stcreochemistry of some novel bicyclic lactones (tetrahydrofurofuranones) in species of parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera:Braconidae). The co-occurring γ-lactones, octan-4-olide and dodecan-4-olide, have the (R)-configuation

New non-contiguous polypropiontes from marine mollusks: A comment on their natural product status

The structure of the rearranged polypropionate ester siserrone A (8), isolated from Siphonaria serrata, was investigated by standard spectroscopic methods and the relative stereochemistry determined by ROESY spectroscopy and chemical degradation studies. Base-catalysed rearrangement of denticulatin A (13) yields the polypropionate ester (16) while careful work-up of S. baconi yields the siphonarins, but not the baconipyrones, as earlier reported. The natural product status of polypropionate ester metabolites is discussed