What makes health impact assessments successful? Factors contributing to effectiveness in Australia and New Zealand

Background: While many guidelines explain how to conduct Health Impact Assessments (HIAs), less is known about the factors that determine the extent to which HIAs affect health considerations in the decision making process. We investigated which factors are associated with increased or reduced effectiveness of HIAs in changing decisions and in the implementation of policies, programs or projects. This study builds on and tests the Harris and Harris-Roxas' conceptual framework for evaluating HIA effectiveness, which emphasises context, process and output as key domains. Methods: We reviewed 55 HIA reports in Australia and New Zealand from 2005 to 2009 and conducted surveys and interviews for 48 of these HIAs. Eleven detailed case studies were undertaken using document review and stakeholder interviews. Case study participants were selected through purposeful and snowball sampling. The data were analysed by thematic content analysis. Findings were synthesised and mapped against the conceptual framework. A stakeholder forum was utilised to test face validity and practical adequacy of the findings. Results: We found that some features of HIA are essential, such as the stepwise but flexible process, and evidence based approach. Non-essential features that can enhance the impact of HIAs include capacity and experience; 'right person right level'; involvement of decision-makers and communities; and relationships and partnerships. There are contextual factors outside of HIA such as fit with planning and decision making context, broader global context and unanticipated events, and shared values and goals that may influence a HIA. Crosscutting factors include proactive positioning, and time and timeliness. These all operate within complex open systems, involving multiple decision-makers, levels of decision-making, and points of influence. The Harris and Harris-Roxas framework was generally supported. Conclusion: We have confirmed previously identified factors influencing effectiveness of HIA and identified new factors such as proactive positioning. Our findings challenge some presumptions about 'right' timing for HIA and the rationality and linearity of decision-making processes. The influence of right timing on decision making needs to be seen within the context of other factors such as proactive positioning. This research can help HIA practitioners and researchers understand and identify what can be enhanced within the HIA process. Practitioners can adapt the flexible HIA process to accommodate the external contextual factors identified in this report

NAFTA Students'Whistle-blowing Perceptions: A Case of Sexual Harassment (La percepción advertidora de Ios alumnos en TLC: un caso de acoso sexual

Abstract, Whistle-blowing mechanisms in the U.S. have gained more prominence as an element of legal compliance and antifraud programs. Sexual harassment is asignificant business risk in terms of financial costs and the loss of reputation. lt is important for corporations to develop sexual harassment policies and to provide mechanisms for employees toreport sexual harassment behaviors to upper level management. This paper reports on business students' responses to a possible Sexual Harassment scenario from Arthur Andersen's Business Ethics Program and the actions that the characters in the video should take in terms of whistle-blowing. l fall 2004,78 students from two U.S. universities and one Mexican and one Canadian university participated in the project as part of the NAFIA Challenges of Accounting and Busrness Sysfems Granf funded by the United States Department of Education Fund for the lmprovement of PostSecondary Education (FIPSE), Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). Students from the three NAFTA countries were shown the vignette and asked to respond to a pre-questionnaire concerning the characters' behaviors and possible actions. The students were then asked to discuss the situation and write a report from the ooints of view of the three characters in the vignette and also to find a copy of an organizations' sexual harassment policy from the Internet. At the end of the project the students responded to a postquestionnaire. The students were asked to consider whether the characters should report the possible harasser iotheir supervisor, end thus engage in whistle-blowing behavior. Hypoiheses are formulated for the three NAFTA countries based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions and comparisons are made based on overall responses to the pre-and posfquestionnaire. There were significant differences, but in some cases not in the direction expected. Gender differences are also explored, but there were few significant differences. The authors are working under the NAFTA Challenges of Accounting and Busrness Sysfems Grant from the United States Depaftment of Education Fund for the lmprovement of PosfSecondary Education (FIPSE), Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and Mexico's Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). Resúmen. Los llamados "mecanismos de silbato de alerta" en los Estados Unidos han ganado más prominencia como elemento de la conformidad legal y de los programas antifraude. El hostigamiento sexual es un riesgo significativo del negocio en términos de costos financieros y la pérdida de reputación. Esimportante que las corporaciones desarrollen políticas para prevenir y sancionar el hostigamiento sexual en los centros de trabajo y proporcionen los mecanismos para los empleados sobre los comportamientos de hostigamiento sexual y ofrezcan información al respecto a la gerencia. Esta investigaciónnternacional por medio de sus resultadosfrece las respuestas de los estudiantes de las escuelas de negocios de México, Canadá y Estados Unidos sobre un panorama de posible hostigamiento sexual, y forma parte del programa del ética de negocio de promover en las Universidades la firma internacional de consultoría Arturo Andersen y de las acciones que se observaron elos caracteresn un vídeo realizado para este propósito, y que acciones deben tomar en términos de la utilización del "silbato de altera". En otoño del 2004, 78 estudiantes de dos universidades EEUU, una universidad mexicana y una canadiense participaron en el proyecto como parte de los Retos de NAFTA de los sistemas Grant de contabilidad y negocios financiados por el departamento de Educación delos Estados Unidos Secretaría Poste-Secundario de Educación Pública (SEPT) de la educación (FIPSE), del desarrollo de recursos humanos en Canadá (HRDC), y de México. Mediante uso de video y escenificación que fue enviado y posteriormente fueron recibidas las respuestas de los estudiantes delos tres países de NAFTA además de responder a un cuestionario referente a los comportamientos y a las acciones posibles de los caracteres del video. Posteriormente y mediante el uso de Internet, los estudiantes pudieron discutir lasituación y escribir un informe de los puntos de la vista de los tres caracteres en el video y elaborar una propuesta de una política sobre hostigamiento sexual de las organizaciones. Al final del proyecto los estudiantes respondieron a un cuestionario. Pidieron considerar si los caracteres deben divulgar el hostigamiento posible a su supervisor, y como los estudiantes se comprometían a utilizar el mecanismo de silbato de alerta. Las hipótesis se formulan para los tres países del NAFTA basados en las dimensiones culturales de Hofstede y se hacen las comparaciones baado en respuestas totales a los cuestionarios. Se encontraron diferencias significativas, pero en algunos casos no en la dirección esperada. Las diferencias del género también se exploran, pero había pocas diferencias significativas. Los autor autores están trabajando bajo desafíos de NAFTA de los sistemas Grant de la contabilidad y del negocio del departamento de Estados Unidos del fondo de la educación para la mejora de Secretaría Poste-Secundario de Educación Pública (SEPT) de lp educación (FIPSE), del desarrollo de recursos humanos Canadá (HRDC), y de México

Process and impact evaluation of the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy Health Impact Assessment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>despite health impact assessment (HIA) being increasingly widely used internationally, fundamental questions about its impact on decision-making, implementation and practices remain. In 2005 a collaboration between public health and local government authorities performed an HIA on the Christchurch Urban Development Strategy Options paper in New Zealand. The findings of this were incorporated into the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy;</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>using multiple qualitative methodologies including key informant interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, this study performs process and impact evaluations of the Christchurch HIA including evaluation of costs and resource use;</p> <p>Results</p> <p>the evaluation found that the HIA had demonstrable direct impacts on planning and implementation of the final Urban Development Strategy as well as indirect impacts on understandings and ways of working within and between organisations. It also points out future directions and ways of working in this successful collaboration between public health and local government authorities. It summarises the modest resource use and discusses the important role HIA can play in urban planning with intersectoral collaboration and enhanced relationships as both catalysts and outcomes of the HIA process;</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>as one of the few evaluations of HIA that have been published to date, this paper makes a substantial contribution to the literature on the impact, utility and effectiveness of HIA.</p

Glutathione Transferase from Trichoderma virens Enhances Cadmium Tolerance without Enhancing Its Accumulation in Transgenic Nicotiana tabacum

BACKGROUND: Cadmium (Cd) is a major heavy metal pollutant which is highly toxic to plants and animals. Vast agricultural areas worldwide are contaminated with Cd. Plants take up Cd and through the food chain it reaches humans and causes toxicity. It is ideal to develop plants tolerant to Cd, without enhanced accumulation in the edible parts for human consumption. Glutathione transferases (GST) are a family of multifunctional enzymes known to have important roles in combating oxidative stresses induced by various heavy metals including Cd. Some GSTs are also known to function as glutathione peroxidases. Overexpression/heterologous expression of GSTs is expected to result in plants tolerant to heavy metals such as Cd. RESULTS: Here, we report cloning of a glutathione transferase gene from Trichoderma virens, a biocontrol fungus and introducing it into Nicotiana tabacum plants by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer. Transgenic nature of the plants was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization and expression by reverse transcription PCR. Transgene (TvGST) showed single gene Mendelian inheritance. When transgenic plants expressing TvGST gene were exposed to different concentrations of Cd, they were found to be more tolerant compared to wild type plants, with transgenic plants showing lower levels of lipid peroxidation. Levels of different antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione transferase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, guiacol peroxidase and catalase showed enhanced levels in transgenic plants expressing TvGST compared to control plants, when exposed to Cd. Cadmium accumulation in the plant biomass in transgenic plants were similar or lower than wild-type plants. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study suggest that transgenic tobacco plants expressing a Trichoderma virens GST are more tolerant to Cd, without enhancing its accumulation in the plant biomass. It should be possible to extend the present results to crop plants for developing Cd tolerance and in limiting Cd availability in the food chain

Current challenges in software solutions for mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics

This work was in part supported by the PRIME-XS project, grant agreement number 262067, funded by the European Union seventh Framework Programme; The Netherlands Proteomics Centre, embedded in The Netherlands Genomics Initiative; The Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre; and the Centre for Biomedical Genetics (to S.C., B.B. and A.J.R.H); by NIH grants NCRR RR001614 and RR019934 (to the UCSF Mass Spectrometry Facility, director: A.L. Burlingame, P.B.); and by grants from the MRC, CR-UK, BBSRC and Barts and the London Charity (to P.C.

Analyzing and Modeling Real-World Phenomena with Complex Networks: A Survey of Applications

The success of new scientific areas can be assessed by their potential for contributing to new theoretical approaches and in applications to real-world problems. Complex networks have fared extremely well in both of these aspects, with their sound theoretical basis developed over the years and with a variety of applications. In this survey, we analyze the applications of complex networks to real-world problems and data, with emphasis in representation, analysis and modeling, after an introduction to the main concepts and models. A diversity of phenomena are surveyed, which may be classified into no less than 22 areas, providing a clear indication of the impact of the field of complex networks.Comment: 103 pages, 3 figures and 7 tables. A working manuscript, suggestions are welcome

Charged and Hydrophobic Surfaces on the A Chain of Shiga-Like Toxin 1 Recognize the C-Terminal Domain of Ribosomal Stalk Proteins

Shiga-like toxins are ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIP) produced by pathogenic E. coli strains that are responsible for hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. The catalytic A1 chain of Shiga-like toxin 1 (SLT-1), a representative RIP, first docks onto a conserved peptide SD[D/E]DMGFGLFD located at the C-terminus of all three eukaryotic ribosomal stalk proteins and halts protein synthesis through the depurination of an adenine base in the sarcin-ricin loop of 28S rRNA. Here, we report that the A1 chain of SLT-1 rapidly binds to and dissociates from the C-terminal peptide with a monomeric dissociation constant of 13 µM. An alanine scan performed on the conserved peptide revealed that the SLT-1 A1 chain interacts with the anionic tripeptide DDD and the hydrophobic tetrapeptide motif FGLF within its sequence. Based on these 2 peptide motifs, SLT-1 A1 variants were generated that displayed decreased affinities for the stalk protein C-terminus and also correlated with reduced ribosome-inactivating activities in relation to the wild-type A1 chain. The toxin-peptide interaction and subsequent toxicity were shown to be mediated by cationic and hydrophobic docking surfaces on the SLT-1 catalytic domain. These docking surfaces are located on the opposite face of the catalytic cleft and suggest that the docking of the A1 chain to SDDDMGFGLFD may reorient its catalytic domain to face its RNA substrate. More importantly, both the delineated A1 chain ribosomal docking surfaces and the ribosomal peptide itself represent a target and a scaffold, respectively, for the design of generic inhibitors to block the action of RIPs

Supply chain sustainability performance measurement of small and medium sized enterprises using structural equation modeling

Sustainability of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is significant as SMEs contribute to GDP substantially in every economy. This research develops an innovative sustainable supply chain performance measurement model for SMEs. Prior researches predominantly use balanced score card (BSC) approach that presume causal relationship of criteria and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which derive efficiency of units from a few input and output criteria. While DEA is effective for policymakers, BSC is more suitable for individual SME. The proposed method that uses structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to derive the relationship of criteria and criteria weights formulates regression-type models for a specific region as well as for specific SME. The SEM-based supply chain sustainability performance measurement model is beneficial to policymakers as they can determine means for improvement at a regional level. The proposed method could also facilitate managers/owners of individual SMEs with measures for improving their supply chain sustainability performance. The method has been applied to three varied geographical locations in the UK, France and India in order to demonstrate its effectiveness