131 research outputs found
Counterparts: Clothing, value and the sites of otherness in Panapompom ethnographic encounters
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Anthropological Forum, 18(1), 17-35,
2008 [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00664670701858927.Panapompom people living in the western Louisiade Archipelago of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, see their clothes as indices of their perceived poverty. âDevelopmentâ as a valued form of social life appears as images that attach only loosely to the people employing them. They nevertheless hold Panapompom people to account as subjects to a voice and gaze that is located in the imagery they strive to present: their clothes. This predicament strains anthropological approaches to the study of Melanesia that subsist on strict alterity, because native selfâjudgments are located âat homeâ for the ethnographer. In this article, I develop the notion of the counterpart as a means to explore these forms of postcolonial oppression and their implications for the ethnographic encounter
An Economic Evaluation of a Streamlined Day-Case Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Protocol and Conventional Cryoballoon Ablation versus Antiarrhythmic Drugs in a UK Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Population
Background and Aims
Symptom control for atrial fibrillation can be achieved by catheter ablation or drug therapy. We assessed the cost effectiveness of a novel streamlined atrial fibrillation cryoballoon ablation protocol (AVATAR) compared with optimised antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy and a conventional catheter ablation protocol, from a UK National Health Service (NHS) perspective.
Methods
Data from the AVATAR study were assessed to determine the cost effectiveness of the three protocols in a two-step process. In the first stage, statistical analysis of clinical efficacy outcomes was conducted considering either a three-way comparison (AVATAR vs. conventional ablation vs. optimised AAD therapies) or a two-way comparison (pooled ablation protocol data vs. optimised AAD therapies). In the second stage, models assessed the cost effectiveness of the protocols. Costs and some of the clinical inputs in the models were derived from within-trial cost analysis and published literature. The remaining inputs were derived from clinical experts.
Results
No significant differences between the ablation protocols were found for any of the clinical outcomes used in the model. Results of a within-trial cost analysis show that AVATAR is cost-saving (ÂŁ1279 per patient) compared with the conventional ablation protocol. When compared with optimised AAD therapies, AVATAR (pooled conventional and AVATAR ablation protocols efficacy) was found to be more costly while offering improved clinical benefits. Over a lifetime time horizon, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of AVATAR was estimated as ÂŁ21,046 per quality-adjusted life-year gained (95% credible interval ÂŁ7086âÂŁ71,718).
Conclusions
The AVATAR streamlined protocol is likely to be a cost-effective option versus both conventional ablation and optimised AAD therapy in the UK NHS healthcare setting
Predicting Bioavailability of PAHs in Soils to Wheat Roots with Triolein-Embedded Cellulose Acetate Membranes and Comparison with Chemical Extraction
International multi-party projects: the importance of negotiating process in cross-border contractual relationships
Scaling Behavior of Human Locomotor Activity Amplitude: Association with Bipolar Disorder
Scale invariance is a feature of complex biological systems, and abnormality of multi-scale behaviour may serve as an indicator of pathology. The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a major node in central neural networks responsible for regulating multi-scale behaviour in measures of human locomotor activity. SCN also is implicated in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD) or manic-depressive illness, a severe, episodic disorder of mood, cognition and behaviour. Here, we investigated scaling behaviour in actigraphically recorded human motility data for potential indicators of BD, particularly its manic phase. A proposed index of scaling behaviour (Vulnerability Index [VI]) derived from such data distinguished between: [i] healthy subjects at high versus low risk of mood disorders; [ii] currently clinically stable BD patients versus matched controls; and [iii] among clinical states in BD patients
Efecto del glifosato sobre el crecimiento y acumulaciĂłn de azĂşcares libres en dos biotipos de lolium perenne de distinta sensibilidad al herbicida
Pesticides and birds: a report on the evidence for changes in farmland bird populations and the proposals for a pesticide tax (HGCA Research Review No. 46)
Product instructions in the digital age
We are nowadays surrounded and sometimes overwhelmed by
exciting and fast changing products. Designers and manufacturers are very enthusiastic about inventing and
redesigning them, but many are not very keen to create
good instructions and teach users how to use the products
correctly and safely.
Many product instructions like these are not as useful as
they should be. They are not effective or inclusive enough
and sometimes are out of reach. This research recognised
the problems with product instructions and aimed at finding
solutions to enhance their performance, especially in this
digital age. Related literature was reviewed, questionnaires
were sent out to gather opinions and experiments were
carried out to look for solutions.
A product was chosen according to criteria related to experimental requirements. The instructions which accompanied the product were very poorly designed. These
instructions were re-Ââdesigned in a traditional printed
format and then an interactive multimedia format. These
formats were tested using a group of Digital Natives
(those who have grown up with digital devices) and a group
of Digital immigrants (those who learnt to use digital devices as an adult). Conclusions are drawn in the end and
recommendations are given for instruction planners
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