Do academics doubt their own research?

When do experts doubt or question their own previously published research and why? An online survey was designed and distributed across academic staff and postgraduate research students at different universities in Great Britain. Respondents (n = 202 - 244) identified the likelihoods of six different (quasi) hypothetical occurrences causing them to doubt or question work they have published in peer reviewed journals. They are: two objective and two semi-objective citation based metrics, plus two semi-objective metrics based on verbalised reactions. Only limited support is found from this study to suggest that the authors of primary research would agree with any judgements made by others about their research based on these metrics. The occurrence most likely to cause respondents to doubt or question their previously published research was where the majority of citing studies suggested mistakes in their work. In a multivariate context, only age and nationality are significant determinants of doubt beyond average likelihoods. Understanding and acknowledging what makes authors of primary research doubt their own research could increase the validity of those who pass judgement

Education and Training for Clients and Caregivers Related to Assistive Technology

Education and training are extremely important element when prescribing assistive technology of any kind. Often, clients and caregivers return home with unanswered questions related to said devices. For the client to return home and be successful appropriate and adequate education and training is required for both the client and caregiver. The goal of this project was to ensure that clients returning home experienced increased independence and decreased assistive technology abandonment. This poster presentation outlines the benefits of increased education and training prior to discharge throughout an occupational therapy capstone program.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonessummer2023/1014/thumbnail.jp

Dual Fan Separator within the Universal Waste Management System

Since NASA's new spacecraft in development for both LEO and Deep Space capability have considerable crew volume reduction in comparison to the Space Shuttle, the need became apparent for a smaller commode. In response the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) was designed, resulting in an 80% volume reduction from the last US commode, while enhancing performance. The ISS WMS and previous shuttle commodes have a fan supplying air flow to capture feces and a separator to capture urine and separate air from the captured air/urine mixture. The UWMS combined both rotating equipment components into a single unit, referred to at the Dual Fan Separator (DFS). The combination of these components resulted in considerable packaging efficiency and weight reduction, removing inter-component plumbing, individual mounting configurations and required only a single motor and motor controller, in some of the intended UWMS platform applications the urine is pumped to the ISS Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) system. It requires the DFS to include less than 2.00% air inclusion, by volume, in the delivered urine. The rotational speed needs to be kept as low as possible in centrifugal urine separators to reduce air inclusion in the pumped fluid, while fans depend on rotational speed to develop delivered head. To satisfy these conflicting requirements, a gear reducer was included, allowing the fans to rotate at a much higher speed than the separator. This paper outlines the studies and analysis performed to develop the DFS configuration. The studies included a configuration trade study, dynamic stability analysis of the rotating bodies and a performance analysis of included labyrinth seals. NASA is considering a program to fly the UWMS aboard the ISS as a flight experiment. The goal of this activity is to advance the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of the DFS and determine if the concept is ready to be included as part of the flight experiment deliverable

Dual Fan Separator within the Universal Waste Management System

Since NASA's new spacecraft in development for both LEO and Deep Space capability have considerable crew volume reduction in comparison to the Space Shuttle, it is clear that NASA requires a smaller and less expensive commode. The UTAS Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) was designed to address these new constraints, resulting in an 80% volume reduction in the cabin while enhancing performance. Whereas all of the current space commodes use air flow to capture both urine and feces and separate air from the captured air/urine mixture, the UWMS commode and urine fans and the urine separator were combined into a single unit. This unit enables use of a single motor and motor controller, which provides considerable packaging and weight efficiency. In some of the intended platform applications for the UWMS, the urine is pumped to a water reclamation system. The ISS Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) system requires delivered urine to include less than 0.25% air inclusion. Air inclusion in centrifugal urine separators is greatly dependent on its rotational speed. To satisfy this requirement, a gear reducer was included, allowing the fans to rotate at a much higher speed than the separator. This new design, the Dual Fan Separator (DFS) has been designed, prototyped and tested. This paper will outline the studies and analysis performed to develop the design configuration for testing. The studies included a configuration trade study, dynamic stability analysis of the rotating bodies and a performance analysis of included labyrinth seals. NASA is considereing a program to fly the UWMS aboard the ISS as a flight experiment. The goal of the design activity is to elevate the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of the Dual Fan Separator and determine if the concept is ready to be included in flight experiment deliverable

Review of approaches to establish reference levels to interpret indicators

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

'Facing the wrong way': Exploring the Occipito Posterior position/back pain discourse from women's and midwives perspectives

Objective: to explore back pain in labour from the perspectives of women and midwives. Design: a qualitative study, which generated data through individual semi-structured interviews with postnatal women and focus groups with midwives. Data were analysed thematically. Setting: two metropolitan maternity units in Queensland, Australia. Participants: nine postnatal women and 11 midwives, all of whom had participated in a randomized controlled trial investigating the use of sterile water injections for back pain in labour. Findings: two major themes were identified, including back pain in labour: accounts, rationalisations and coping strategies, and fetal position: destabilising the Occipito Posterior-back pain discourse. Key conclusions: back pain may be severe in labour, may impact negatively upon women's labour and birth experiences, and interfere with their ability to cope as planned. The assumed relationship between fetal position and back pain in labour is a dominant discourse, albeit one which is lacking in empirical credibility. Nonetheless, the information provided to women by maternity professionals tended to reiterate customary practices and beliefs rather than factual knowledge. Increasingly, women refer to other sources, which may challenge the information provided by health professionals. Implications for practice: Back pain in labour is an under-researched area and the lack of solid evidence underpinning the advice provided to women has implications for labour management, and possibly for maternal and fetal outcomes. Care providers might usefully consider back pain as multifactorial, not always associated with OP position, and continue to seek evidence-based management strategies which address women's needs

‘Tough love’: the experiences of midwives giving women sterile water injections for the relief of back pain in labour

To explore midwives' experiences of administering sterile water injections (SWI) to labouring women as analgesia for back pain in labour.A qualitative study, which generated data through semi-structured focus group interviews with midwives. Data were analysed thematically.Two metropolitan maternity units in Queensland, Australia.Eleven midwives who had administered SWI for back pain in labour in a randomised controlled trial.Three major themes were identified including: i. SWI, is it an intervention?; ii. Tough love, causing pain to relieve pain; iii. The analgesic effect of SWI and impact on midwifery practice.Whilst acknowledging the potential benefits of SWI as an analgesic the midwives in this study described a dilemma between inflicting pain to relieve pain and the challenges encountered in their discussions with women when offering SWI. Midwives also faced conflict when women requested SWI in the face of institutional resistance to its use.The procedural pain associated with SWI may discourage some midwives from offering women the procedure, providing women with accurate information regarding the intensity and the brevity of the injection pain and the expected degree of analgesic would assist in discussion about SWI with women

UK national ecosystem assessment follow-on: cultural ecosystem services and indicators

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An Unexpected Means of Embedding Ethics in Organizations:Preliminary Findings from Values-Based Evaluations

Ethical principles constitute a crucial area of debate and discussion in the global conversation around transitions to sustainability, and of particular relevance to the contribution of businesses and other organizations. Scholars in business ethics have recently identified several challenges in this area, such as problems of measurement, rigor, and meaningfulness to practitioners; corporate social responsibility; and institutionalization of ethics in businesses. In this paper, the impacts of a pragmatic values-based evaluation approach originally developed in another field—education for sustainable development—are shown to strongly contribute to many of these challenges. Impacts found across eight organizations include (i) deep values conceptualization; (ii) increased esteem (iii) building capacity for assessment of values-based achievements; (iv) values mainstreaming; and (v) effective external values communications. It seems that the in-situ development and use of values-based indicators helped to conceptualize locally shared values that underpin decisions, thus embedding the application of (local) ethics. Although this study is exploratory, it is clear that the values-based approach shows promise for meeting key challenges in business ethics and wider sustainability, and for new directions for future cross-disciplinary research

Regulation, sensory domains and roles of two Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC27774 Crp family transcription factors, HcpR1 and HcpR2, in response to nitrosative stress

In silico analyses identified a Crp/Fnr family transcription factor (HcpR) in sulfate-reducing bacteria that controls expression of the hcp gene, which encodes the hybrid cluster protein and contributes to nitrosative stress responses. There is only one hcpR gene in the model sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough, but two copies in D. desulfuricans 27774, which can use nitrate as an alternative electron acceptor to sulfate. Structures of the D. desulfuricans hcpR1, hcpR2 and hcp operons are reported. We present evidence that hcp expression is regulated by HcpR2, not by HcpR1, and that these two regulators differ in both their DNA-binding site specificity and their sensory domains. HcpR1 is predicted to be a b-type cytochrome. HcpR1 binds upstream of the hcpR1 operon and its synthesis is regulated coordinately with hcp in response to NO. In contrast, hcpR2 expression was not induced by nitrate, nitrite or NO. HcpR2 is an iron-sulfur protein that reacts with NO and O2 . We propose that HcpR1 and HcpR2 use different sensory mechanisms to regulate subsets of genes required for defense against NO-induced nitrosative stress, and that diversification of signal perception and DNA recognition by these two proteins is a product of D. desulfuricans adaptation to its particular environmental niche. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved