A design research approach

The significance of the design process in determining the success or failure of a product in the market place is becoming increasingly more articulated. Consequently companies are implementing and developing new techniques and tools to support design more effectively. Design research is directed at gaining a greater understanding of design, ultimately to better support it through the development of improved techniques, methods or tools

Neural correlates of performance monitoring in daily and intermittent smokers

OBJECTIVES: Despite efforts that have increased smoking regulation, cigarette taxation, and social stigma, cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, and a significant personal and public economic burden. In the U.S., intermittent smokers comprise approximately 22% of all smokers and represent a stable, non-dependent group that may possess protective factors that prevent the transition to dependence. One possibility is that intermittent smokers have intact CNS frontal regulatory and control mechanisms that enable resistance to nicotine-induced changes. METHODS: The present study measured inhibitory control using a flanker task and a go-nogo continuous performance tasks in daily dependent smokers, intermittent non-dependent smokers, and nonsmokers. Event-related potential (ERP) measures of were concurrently recorded to measure performance monitoring via Event-Related Negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) components during error trials for each task. RESULTS: In both tasks, behavioral and ERN measures did not differ between groups; however, amplitude of the Pe component was largest among intermittent smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, intermittent smokers differed from both daily smokers and nonsmokers on error processing, potentially revealing neuroprotective cognitive processes in nicotine dependence. SIGNIFICANCE: A better understanding of factors that mediate behavioral regulation may provide novel treatment approaches that help individuals achieve controlled smoking or cessation

Motor deficits in schizophrenia quantified by nonlinear analysis of postural sway.

Motor dysfunction is a consistently reported but understudied aspect of schizophrenia. Postural sway area was examined in individuals with schizophrenia under four conditions with different amounts of visual and proprioceptive feedback: eyes open or closed and feet together or shoulder width apart. The nonlinear complexity of postural sway was assessed by detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The schizophrenia group (n = 27) exhibited greater sway area compared to controls (n = 37). Participants with schizophrenia showed increased sway area following the removal of visual input, while this pattern was absent in controls. Examination of DFA revealed decreased complexity of postural sway and abnormal changes in complexity upon removal of visual input in individuals with schizophrenia. Additionally, less complex postural sway was associated with increased symptom severity in participants with schizophrenia. Given the critical involvement of the cerebellum and related circuits in postural stability and sensorimotor integration, these results are consistent with growing evidence of motor, cerebellar, and sensory integration dysfunction in the disorder, and with theoretical models that implicate cerebellar deficits and more general disconnection of function in schizophrenia

Examination of the Resonance Contributions to Dileptonic Rare B-Decays

We analyse the long-distance contribution to $B\to X_s\ell^+\ell^-$ differential decay rate when the momentum dependence of $\psi$ and $\psi'$-$\gamma$ conversion strength is taken into account. The results indicate that the resonance to nonresonance interference in the dilepton invariant mass distribution is substantially reduced.Comment: 10 pages, Latex, one figure (included

MAP stability, design, and analysis

The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) is a follow-on to the Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) instrument on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft. The design and analysis of the MAP attitude control system (ACS) have been refined since work previously reported. The full spacecraft and instrument flexible model was developed in NASTRAN, and the resulting flexible modes were plotted and reduced with the Modal Significance Analysis Package (MSAP). The reduced-order model was used to perform the linear stability analysis for each control mode, the results of which are presented in this paper. Although MAP is going to a relatively disturbance-free Lissajous orbit around the Earth-Sun L(2) Lagrange point, a detailed disturbance-torque analysis is required because there are only a small number of opportunities for momentum unloading each year. Environmental torques, including solar pressure at L(2), aerodynamic and gravity gradient during phasing-loop orbits, were calculated and simulated. Thruster plume impingement torques that could affect the performance of the thruster modes were estimated and simulated, and a simple model of fuel slosh was derived to model its effect on the motion of the spacecraft. In addition, a thruster mode linear impulse controller was developed to meet the accuracy requirements of the phasing loop burns. A dynamic attitude error limiter was added to improve the performance of the ACS during large attitude slews. The result of this analysis is a stable ACS subsystem that meets all of the mission's requirements

Spin measurements for 147Sm+n resonances: Further evidence for non-statistical effects

We have determined the spins J of resonances in the 147Sm(n,gamma) reaction by measuring multiplicities of gamma-ray cascades following neutron capture. Using this technique, we were able to determine J values for all but 14 of the 140 known resonances below En = 1 keV, including 41 firm J assignments for resonances whose spins previously were either unknown or tentative. These new spin assignments, together with previously determined resonance parameters, allowed us to extract separate level spacings and neutron strength functions for J = 3 and 4 resonances. Furthermore, several statistical test of the data indicate that very few resonances of either spin have been missed below En = 700eV. Because a non-statistical effect recently was reported near En = 350 eV from an analysis of 147Sm(n,alpha) data, we divided the data into two regions; 0 < En < 350 eV and 350 < En < 700 eV. Using neutron widths from a previous measurement and published techniques for correcting for missed resonances and for testing whether data are consistent with a Porter-Thomas distribution, we found that the reduced-neutron-width distribution for resonances below 350 eV is consistent with the expected Porter-Thomas distribution. On the other hand, we found that reduced-neutron-width data in the 350 < En < 700 eV region are inconsistent with a Porter-Thomas distribution, but in good agreement with a chi-squared distribution having two or more degrees of freedom. We discuss possible explanations for these observed non-statistical effects and their possible relation to similar effects previously observed in other nuclides.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

The development and validation of the Person-centred Practice Inventory-Student instrument: A Modified Delphi Study

From PubMed via Jisc Publications RouterBackground Global health care policy and regulatory requirements indicate that nursing students must be prepared for person-centred practice. Despite this, there is no evidence of a theoretically derived instrument to measure students' perceptions of person-centred practice.Objectives To adapt the Person-centred Practice Inventory-Staff instrument for use with healthcare students and to test the adapted instrument.Design This study involved a two-phased, modified Delphi Technique. In Phase 1 students' views about items in the Person-centred Practice Inventory-Staff were explored to gain consensus about items for inclusion in an adapted student version. In Phase 2, the psychometric properties of the adapted instrument were tested.Setting A UK university.Participants Pre-registration nursing students.Methods Phase 1 involved an iterative process including three focus groups (n = 13) followed by Delphi surveys (Round 1: n = 382; Round 2: n = 144). Thematic analysis was used to analyse students' comments and consensus percentages were calculated after each Delphi round. Phase 2 involved a survey using the adapted instrument (n = 532). The measurement model was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis.Results The results indicated stability in the measurement model with this sample. Item correlation scores were between 0.22 and 0.74 with no evidence of collinearity and factor loadings ranged from 0.44–0.86. Fit indices indicated goodness of fit between the observed data and the respective domains in the Person-centred Practice Framework (chi-squared to degrees of freedom ratio of <3, root mean square estimations of approximation 0.06 for all domains and between 0.05 and 0.07 at 90% confidence interval. Comparative fit index estimates ranged from 0.90–0.97).Conclusion This study provides initial validation of the Person-centred Practice Inventory-Student instrument which is offered as a measure of students' perceptions of their person-centred practice. The instrument has utility in assessing the efficacy of curricula in preparing students as person-centred practitioners.100pu

Adiposity, Cardiometabolic Risk, and Vitamin D Status: The Framingham Heart Study

OBJECTIVE: Because vitamin D deficiency is associated with a variety of chronic diseases, understanding the characteristics that promote vitamin D deficiency in otherwise healthy adults could have important clinical implications. Few studies relating vitamin D deficiency to obesity have included direct measures of adiposity. Furthermore, the degree to which vitamin D is associated with metabolic traits after adjusting for adiposity measures is unclear. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We investigated the relations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations with indexes of cardiometabolic risk in 3,890 nondiabetic individuals; 1,882 had subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volumes measured by multidetector computed tomography (CT). RESULTS: In multivariable-adjusted regression models, 25(OH)D was inversely associated with winter season, waist circumference, and serum insulin (P < 0.005 for all). In models further adjusted for CT measures, 25(OH)D was inversely related to SAT (−1.1 ng/ml per SD increment in SAT, P = 0.016) and VAT (−2.3 ng/ml per SD, P < 0.0001). The association of 25(OH)D with insulin resistance measures became nonsignificant after adjustment for VAT. Higher adiposity volumes were correlated with lower 25(OH)D across different categories of BMI, including in lean individuals (BMI <25 kg/m2). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (25[OH]D <20 ng/ml) was threefold higher in those with high SAT and high VAT than in those with low SAT and low VAT (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D status is strongly associated with variation in subcutaneous and especially visceral adiposity. The mechanisms by which adiposity promotes vitamin D deficiency warrant further study.National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (N01-HC-25195, R01-DK-80739): American Heart Associatio

Research shapes policy: but the dynamics are subtle

Major policy initiatives such as the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in the national contract for UK general practitioners might variably be informed by evidence at their inception, implementation and subsequent evolution. But what evidence gets admitted into these policy debates—and what is left out? Using QOF as an example, this article demonstrates what an analysis of the relationship between policy and the associated research can tell us about the underlying policy assumptions and about the role of evidence in policy debates