Optical properties of tensile-strained barrier GaAsP/GaAs intermixed quantum well structure

The tensile-strained barrier GaAsP/GaAs quantum well (QW) structures fabricated on GaAs substrate has a remarkable potential for novel properties of laser structures. In this structure, the GaAs QW layer is embedded with tensile-strained GaAsP barriers grown on GaAs substrates. Recent research has reported that the threshold current densities with tensilestrained barrier QW laser are comparable with GaAsP/A1GaAs tensile-strained well QWs. In the case of tensile-strained barrier GaAsP/GaAs QW, a small amount of light-hole (LH) and heavy-hole (RH) splitting is attainable within a large range of well width and P compositions. By a suitable choice of material and structure parameters, it is possible to cause the coincidence of energy levels of HH and LII resulting in polarization-independent operation devices. In order to shift the HR and LH energy levels, the concept of band-gap engineering is a useful tool to accept the particular devices operation. Basically, intermixing process is one of easy ways to achieve the modification of bandstructure. During the process the asgrown square-QW compositional profile is modified to a graded profile thereby altering the confinement profile and subband structure in the QW. In this paper, the optical properties of intermixed GaAs QW with tensile-strained GaAsP barriers are reported.published_or_final_versio

El Arte, un espectador de la Guerra. Del dolor de los cuerpos femeninos a la profanación del Ser

El arte en algunas de sus obras más importantes, ha sido observador declarante de la historia y la continuidad de un cierto proceso de “naturalización” por la que el cuerpo femenino ha sido botín de guerra. Las autorías que ilustran a través del tiempo “el rapto”, y en alguna medida la justificación de robo, sometimiento y sacrificio de mujeres a causa de su belleza como recompensa de guerra, revelan un problema vigente y crítico sobre nuestra contemporaneidad, el secuestro del cuerpo por sobre la anulación del ser femenino. Importantes obras de arte que registran de forma bella y acrítica, sucesos de la mitología tales como el rapto de Europa, el secuestro de Perséfone, las Sabinas, el sacrificio de Ifigenia, por mencionar algunas, fundamentan las bases de una maquillada “justificación” de la violencia sexual y la esclavitud femenina, que en la historia del mundo, casos como el de Boc Dong Kim y las “mujeres de solaz” o “mujeres de confort” de Corea, China, Filipinas, Malayas, entre otras (Segunda Guerra Mundial), y el caso de las mujeres de Sepur Zarco en Guatemala (1980-1983), son ejemplos de un doble crimen de guerra. Se anula al Sujeto femenino por la instrumentalización de su corporalidad. La belleza como mandato social y asignación de género es un enemigo profanador de la constitución ontológica del ser femenino. La mujer como cuerpo y el cuerpo que le es despojado. En tanto, el arte ha sido un testigo pasivo y quizá, en su indolencia, legitimador.In some of its most important works, Art has been an outspoken observer of history and of the continuity of a certain process of “naturalization” by which the female body has become spoils of war. The artists that throughout history illustrate the “rapture,” and, to some extent, the justification of the theft, subjugation, and sacrifice of women as spoils of war because of their beauty, reveal a prevailing and critical problem of our times: the kidnapping of the body through the abolition of the female Self. Important works of art register, both beautifully and uncritically, mythological events such as the abduction of Europe, the kidnapping of Persephone, the rape of the Sabine women, the sacrifice of Iphigenia, to mention a few examples. Thus, they become the foundation of an embellished “justification” of sexual violence and female slavery –as in world history cases like Bok-dong Kim and the comfort women in Korea during World War II, or that of Guatemala’s Sepur Zarco women (1980-1983) – which are examples of a double war crime. The female Self if obliterated through the instrumentalization of her corporality. Beauty as socially-demanded and gender-assigned is a defiling enemy of the ontological act of being female, and it creates the image of woman as body and as the body that is taken away. Meanwhile, art has been a passive and, in its indolence, maybe even a legitimizing witness of this process.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Artes y Letras::Instituto de Investigaciones en Arte (IIArte

Adjunctive mood stabilizer treatment for hospitalized schizophrenia patients: Asia psychotropic prescripton study (2001-2008)

Recent studies indicate relatively high international rates of adjunctive psychotropic medication, including mood stabilizers, for patients with schizophrenia. Since such treatments are little studied in Asia, we examined the frequency of mood-stabilizer use and its clinical correlates among hospitalized Asian patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2001-2008. We evaluated usage rates of mood stabilizers with antipsychotic drugs, and associated factors, for in-patients diagnosed with DSM-IV schizophrenia in 2001, 2004 and 2008 in nine Asian regions: China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore. Overall, mood stabilizers were given to 20.4% (n=1377/6761) of hospitalized schizophrenia patients, with increased usage over time. Mood-stabilizer use was significantly and independently associated in multivariate logistic modeling with: aggressive behaviour, disorganized speech, year sampled (2008 vs. earlier), multiple hospitalizations, less negative symptoms, younger age, with regional variation (Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore>Taiwan or China). Co-prescription of adjunctive mood stabilizers with antipsychotics for hospitalized Asian schizophrenia patients increased over the past decade, and was associated with specific clinical characteristics. This practice parallels findings in other countries and illustrates ongoing tension between evidence-based practice vs. individualized, empirical treatment of psychotic disorders.published_or_final_versio

Do trialists endorse clinical trial registration? Survey of a Pubmed sample

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Despite intense interest in trial registration, there is a wide gap between theoretical postulates on trial registration and its implementation worldwide.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>We aimed to evaluate trialists views about current international guidelines on trial registration, including the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) policies and the Ottawa Statement, as well as their intention to register any future clinical trials they conduct.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We identified all 40,158 PUBMED-indexed clinical trials published from May 2005 to May 2006 using an advanced search strategy. From a random sample of 500 confirmed clinical trials, corresponding authors with e-mail contact addresses were surveyed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 275 (60%) questionnaires from 45 countries were completed. 31% of the respondents had received only nonindustry funding during the past ten years, while 5% and 61% had received only industry or mixed funding respectively. Approximately two third of participants supported registration of all 20 WHO Data Set items, and endorsed the Ottawa Statement part 1 and part 2. Delayed public disclosure of some essential data in instances where they may be considered sensitive for competitive commercial reasons was supported by 30% of the participants, whereas immediate disclosure was supported by 53%. Only 21% of participants had registered all of their ongoing trials since 2005, while 47% stated that they would provide the 20 WHO Data Set items to a publicly accessible register for all their future clinical trials; a significantly higher proportion of participants who received only nonindustry funding (62%) was found among those who would always provide the 20 WHO items for future trials, compared to 42% of participants who received mixed or only industry funding. Among those who were undecided about endorsing registration. One third of participants expressed a lack of sufficient knowledge as the primary reason.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although disagreement was apparent on certain issues, our findings illustrate that trial registration is gradually becoming part of the current research paradigm internationally. Our results also suggest that researchers require more knowledge to inform their decision to comply with the International standards at this early stage of voluntary trial registration.</p

Examining intra-rater and inter-rater response agreement: A medical chart abstraction study of a community-based asthma care program

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To assess the intra- and inter-rater agreement of chart abstractors from multiple sites involved in the evaluation of an Asthma Care Program (ACP).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>For intra-rater agreement, 110 charts randomly selected from 1,433 patients enrolled in the ACP across eight Ontario communities were re-abstracted by 10 abstractors. For inter-rater agreement, data abstractors reviewed a set of eight fictitious charts. Data abstraction involved information pertaining to six categories: physical assessment, asthma control, spirometry, asthma education, referral visits, and medication side effects. Percentage agreement and the kappa statistic (κ) were used to measure agreement. Sensitivity and specificity estimates were calculated comparing results from all raters against the gold standard.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Intra-rater re-abstraction yielded an overall kappa of 0.81. Kappa values for the chart abstraction categories were: physical assessment (κ 0.84), asthma control (κ 0.83), spirometry (κ 0.84), asthma education (κ 0.72), referral visits (κ 0.59) and medication side effects (κ 0.51). Inter-rater abstraction of the fictitious charts produced an overall kappa of 0.75, sensitivity of 0.91 and specificity of 0.89. Abstractors demonstrated agreement for physical assessment (κ 0.88, sensitivity and specificity 0.95), asthma control (κ 0.68, sensitivity 0.89, specificity 0.85), referral visits (κ 0.77, sensitivity 0.88, specificity 0.95), and asthma education (κ 0.49, sensitivity 0.87, specificity 0.77).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Though collected by multiple abstractors, the results show high sensitivity and specificity and substantial to excellent inter- and intra-rater agreement, assuring confidence in the use of chart abstraction for evaluating the ACP.</p

Fostering implementation of health services research findings into practice: a consolidated framework for advancing implementation science

Abstract Background Many interventions found to be effective in health services research studies fail to translate into meaningful patient care outcomes across multiple contexts. Health services researchers recognize the need to evaluate not only summative outcomes but also formative outcomes to assess the extent to which implementation is effective in a specific setting, prolongs sustainability, and promotes dissemination into other settings. Many implementation theories have been published to help promote effective implementation. However, they overlap considerably in the constructs included in individual theories, and a comparison of theories reveals that each is missing important constructs included in other theories. In addition, terminology and definitions are not consistent across theories. We describe the Consolidated Framework For Implementation Research (CFIR) that offers an overarching typology to promote implementation theory development and verification about what works where and why across multiple contexts. Methods We used a snowball sampling approach to identify published theories that were evaluated to identify constructs based on strength of conceptual or empirical support for influence on implementation, consistency in definitions, alignment with our own findings, and potential for measurement. We combined constructs across published theories that had different labels but were redundant or overlapping in definition, and we parsed apart constructs that conflated underlying concepts. Results The CFIR is composed of five major domains: intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, characteristics of the individuals involved, and the process of implementation. Eight constructs were identified related to the intervention (e.g., evidence strength and quality), four constructs were identified related to outer setting (e.g., patient needs and resources), 12 constructs were identified related to inner setting (e.g., culture, leadership engagement), five constructs were identified related to individual characteristics, and eight constructs were identified related to process (e.g., plan, evaluate, and reflect). We present explicit definitions for each construct. Conclusion The CFIR provides a pragmatic structure for approaching complex, interacting, multi-level, and transient states of constructs in the real world by embracing, consolidating, and unifying key constructs from published implementation theories. It can be used to guide formative evaluations and build the implementation knowledge base across multiple studies and settings.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/1/1748-5908-4-50.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/2/1748-5908-4-50-S1.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/3/1748-5908-4-50-S3.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/4/1748-5908-4-50-S4.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/5/1748-5908-4-50.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/6/1748-5908-4-50-S2.PDFPeer Reviewe

Assessing risk of breast cancer in an ethnically South-East Asia population (results of a multiple ethnic groups study)

10.1186/1471-2407-12-529BMC Cancer12-BCMA

Co-producing across organizational boundaries: promoting asylum seeker integration in Scotland

This paper questions whether asylum seeker integration is promoted through inter-organisational relationships between non-profit and voluntary organisations (NPVOs) and government agencies. It focuses particularly on the role of NPVOs in service delivery (co-management) and in the delivery and planning of public services (co-governance). It presents a research study on the public services provided to asylum seekers in Glasgow and asks the following questions: What role do NPVOs play in the planning and delivery of public services? When planning and delivering public services, to what extent do NPVOs work across organisational boundaries and what kind of relationships exist? And in practice, what makes inter-organisational relationships work? This paper offers new empirical evidence and also contributes to the theoretical debate around the integration of asylum seekers

Reliability of an injury scoring system for horses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The risk of injuries is of major concern when keeping horses in groups and there is a need for a system to record external injuries in a standardised and simple way. The objective of this study, therefore, was to develop and validate a system for injury recording in horses and to test its reliability and feasibility under field conditions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Injuries were classified into five categories according to severity. The scoring system was tested for intra- and inter-observer agreement as well as agreement with a 'golden standard' (diagnosis established by a veterinarian). The scoring was done by 43 agricultural students who classified 40 photographs presented to them twice in a random order, 10 days apart. Attribute agreement analysis was performed using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (Kendall's <it>W</it>), Kendall's correlation coefficient (Kendall's τ) and Fleiss' kappa. The system was also tested on a sample of 100 horses kept in groups where injury location was recorded as well.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Intra-observer agreement showed Kendall's <it>W </it>ranging from 0.94 to 0.99 and 86% of observers had kappa values above 0.66 (substantial agreement). Inter-observer agreement had an overall Kendall's <it>W </it>of 0.91 and the mean kappa value was 0.59 (moderate). Agreement for all observers versus the 'golden standard' had Kendall's τ of 0.88 and the mean kappa value was 0.66 (substantial). The system was easy to use for trained persons under field conditions. Injuries of the more serious categories were not found in the field trial.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proposed injury scoring system is easy to learn and use also for people without a veterinary education, it shows high reliability, and it is clinically useful. The injury scoring system could be a valuable tool in future clinical and epidemiological studies.</p

Barriers to implementation of a computerized decision support system for depression: an observational report on lessons learned in "real world" clinical settings

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite wide promotion, clinical practice guidelines have had limited effect in changing physician behavior. Effective implementation strategies to date have included: multifaceted interventions involving audit and feedback, local consensus processes, marketing; reminder systems, either manual or computerized; and interactive educational meetings. In addition, there is now growing evidence that contextual factors affecting implementation must be addressed such as organizational support (leadership procedures and resources) for the change and strategies to implement and maintain new systems.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To examine the feasibility and effectiveness of implementation of a computerized decision support system for depression (CDSS-D) in routine public mental health care in Texas, fifteen study clinicians (thirteen physicians and two advanced nurse practitioners) participated across five sites, accruing over 300 outpatient visits on 168 patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Issues regarding computer literacy and hardware/software requirements were identified as initial barriers. Clinicians also reported concerns about negative impact on workflow and the potential need for duplication during the transition from paper to electronic systems of medical record keeping.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The following narrative report based on observations obtained during the initial testing and use of a CDSS-D in clinical settings further emphasizes the importance of taking into account organizational factors when planning implementation of evidence-based guidelines or decision support within a system.</p