Exploring knowledge exchange: a useful framework for practice and policy

Knowledge translation is underpinned by a dynamic and social knowledge exchange process but there are few descriptions of how this unfolds in practice settings. This has hampered attempts to produce realistic and useful models to help policymakers and researchers understand how knowledge exchange works. This paper reports the results of research which investigated the nature of knowledge exchange. We aimed to understand whether dynamic and fluid definitions of knowledge exchange are valid and to produce a realistic, descriptive framework of knowledge exchange. Our research was informed by a realist approach. We embedded a knowledge broker within three service delivery teams across a large mental health organisation, each of whom was grappling with specific challenges. The knowledge broker participated in the team's problem-solving process and collected observational fieldnotes. We also interviewed the team members. Observational and interview data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively in order to determine and describe the nature of the knowledge exchange process in more detail. This enabled us to refine our conceptual framework of knowledge exchange. We found that knowledge exchange can be understood as a dynamic and fluid process which incorporates distinct forms of knowledge from multiple sources. Quantitative analysis illustrated that five broadly-defined components of knowledge exchange (problem, context, knowledge, activities, use) can all be in play at any one time and do not occur in a set order. Qualitative analysis revealed a number of distinct themes which better described the nature of knowledge exchange. By shedding light on the nature of knowledge exchange, our findings problematise some of the linear, technicist approaches to knowledge translation. The revised model of knowledge exchange which we propose here could therefore help to reorient thinking about knowledge exchange and act as a starting point for further exploration and evaluation of the knowledge exchange process

Reasoning with comparative moral judgements: an argument for Moral Bayesianism

The paper discusses the notion of reasoning with comparative moral judgements (i.e judgements of the form “act a is morally superior to act b”) from the point of view of several meta-ethical positions. Using a simple formal result, it is argued that only a version of moral cognitivism that is committed to the claim that moral beliefs come in degrees can give a normatively plausible account of such reasoning. Some implications of accepting such a version of moral cognitivism are discussed

Learning the Designer's Preferences to Drive Evolution

This paper presents the Designer Preference Model, a data-driven solution that pursues to learn from user generated data in a Quality-Diversity Mixed-Initiative Co-Creativity (QD MI-CC) tool, with the aims of modelling the user's design style to better assess the tool's procedurally generated content with respect to that user's preferences. Through this approach, we aim for increasing the user's agency over the generated content in a way that neither stalls the user-tool reciprocal stimuli loop nor fatigues the user with periodical suggestion handpicking. We describe the details of this novel solution, as well as its implementation in the MI-CC tool the Evolutionary Dungeon Designer. We present and discuss our findings out of the initial tests carried out, spotting the open challenges for this combined line of research that integrates MI-CC with Procedural Content Generation through Machine Learning.Comment: 16 pages, Accepted and to appear in proceedings of the 23rd European Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary and bio-inspired Computation, EvoApplications 202

Formation and removal of alkylthiolate self-assembled monolayers on gold in aqueous solutions

We report the development of novel reagents and approaches for generating recyclable biosensors. The use of aqueous media for the formation of protein binding alkylthiolate monolayers on Au surfaces results in accelerated alkylthiolate monolayer formation and improvement in monolayer integrity as visualized by fluorescence microscopy and CV techniques. We have also developed an electrocleaning protocol that is compatible with microfluidics devices, and this technique serves as an on-chip method for cleaning Au substrates both before and after monolayer formation. The techniques for the formation and dissociation of biotinylated SAMs from aqueous solvents reported here may be applied towards the development of Au-based sensor devices and microfluidics chips in the future. A potential use of these devices includes the specific capture and triggered release of target cells, proteins, or small molecules from liquid samples

Properties of Globular Clusters in Galaxy Clusters: Sensitivity from the Formation and Evolution of Globular Clusters

We investigate the properties of globular clusters in a galaxy cluster, using the particle tagging method with a semi-analytical approach in a cosmological context. We assume globular clusters form from dark matter halo mergers and their metallicity is assigned based on the stellar mass of the host dark matter halos and the formation redshift of GCs. Dynamical evolution and disruption of globular clusters are considered using semi-analytical approaches, controlled by several free parameters. In this paper, we investigate how our results are changed by the choice of free parameters. We compare our fiducial results with representative observations, including the mass ratio between the globular cluster system and its host galaxy, the globular cluster occupancy, the number fraction of blue globular clusters, and the metallicity gradient with the globular cluster mass. Because we can know the positions of globular clusters with time, comparison with additional observations is possible, e.g., the median radii of the globular cluster system in individual galaxies, the mean projected density profiles of intracluster globular clusters, and metallicity and age gradients of globular clusters with a clustercentric radius. We also find that the specific mass of the globular cluster system in each galaxy is different with a clustercentric radius.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, accepted in Ap

Comparative Analysis Of Antibiotic Resistance And R-Plasmids Of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates From Human And Dog Samples

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics constitutes a major cause of failure in the treatment of bacterial infections. The genetic exchange of plasmids containing antibiotic resistant determinants between bacteria is believed to play a critical role in the evolution of antibiotics resistant bacteria and this has been shown in S. aureus. This study was therefore carried out to investigate the nature of plasmids that determine antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus isolates from man and animal. Thirty multiply drug resistant S. aureus isolates from a total of 147 apparently healthy humans and dogs, as well as from clinical cases were determined by antibiotic susceptibility test using the standard disc agar diffusion method. Plasmid isolation was carried out by the alkaline lysis method of Birnboim and Dolly. Electrophoresis as well as the transformation experiment was done.The result showed that no particular sensitivity pattern or plasmid profile  can be ascribed to either human or animal sources of isolates. Two isolates from a domestic dog and its owner (human) were observed to have identical plasmid profile and almost the same antibiogram. 23.130 kbp and 25.119 kbp plasmids that were responsible for amoxycilin resistance were transferred. In conclusion, the genetic basis of antibiotic resistance by S. aureus in our locality was found to be partly plasmid mediated. Plasmid analysis, in conjunction with the antibiogram is valuable in differentiating multiple resistant S. aureus.Furthermore, domestic pet animals were found to be reservoirs and potential risk factors in the transfer of multiply antibiotic resistant S. aureus and their R-plasmids to antibiotic susceptible S. aureus and other bacteria

Bayesian network analysis incorporating genetic anchors complements conventional Mendelian randomization approaches for exploratory analysis of causal relationships in complex data

Mendelian randomization (MR) implemented through instrumental variables analysis is an increasingly popular causal inference tool used in genetic epidemiology. But it can have limitations for evaluating simultaneous causal relationships in complex data sets that include, for example, multiple genetic predictors and multiple potential risk factors associated with the same genetic variant. Here we use real and simulated data to investigate Bayesian network analysis (BN) with the incorporation of directed arcs, representing genetic anchors, as an alternative approach. A Bayesian network describes the conditional dependencies/independencies of variables using a graphical model (a directed acyclic graph) with an accompanying joint probability. In real data, we found BN could be used to infer simultaneous causal relationships that confirmed the individual causal relationships suggested by bi-directional MR, while allowing for the existence of potential horizontal pleiotropy (that would violate MR assumptions). In simulated data, BN with two directional anchors (mimicking genetic instruments) had greater power for a fixed type 1 error than bi-directional MR, while BN with a single directional anchor performed better than or as well as bi-directional MR. Both BN and MR could be adversely affected by violations of their underlying assumptions (such as genetic confounding due to unmeasured horizontal pleiotropy). BN with no directional anchor generated inference that was no better than by chance, emphasizing the importance of directional anchors in BN (as in MR). Under highly pleiotropic simulated scenarios, BN outperformed both MR (and its recent extensions) and two recently-proposed alternative approaches: a multi-SNP mediation intersection-union test (SMUT) and a latent causal variable (LCV) test. We conclude that BN incorporating genetic anchors is a useful complementary method to conventional MR for exploring causal relationships in complex data sets such as those generated from modern "omics" technologies

An "extension" of the carbohydrate binding specificity of concanavalin A

Evidence based on the quantitative precipitin method and hapten inhibition technique demonstrates that concanavalin A may interact with internal 2-O-linked [alpha]--mannopyranosyl residues as may occur in glycoproteins and polysaccharides.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33828/1/0000085.pd

Alcohol intake and cardiovascular risk factors:A Mendelian randomisation study

Mendelian randomisation studies from Asia suggest detrimental influences of alcohol on cardiovascular risk factors, but such associations are observed mainly in men. The absence of associations of genetic variants (e.g. rs671 in ALDH2) with such risk factors in women – who drank little in these populations – provides evidence that the observations are not due to genetic pleiotropy. Here, we present a Mendelian randomisation study in a South Korean population (3,365 men and 3,787 women) that 1) provides robust evidence that alcohol consumption adversely affects several cardiovascular disease risk factors, including blood pressure, waist to hip ratio, fasting blood glucose and triglyceride levels. Alcohol also increases HDL cholesterol and lowers LDL cholesterol. Our study also 2) replicates sex differences in associations which suggests pleiotropy does not underlie the associations, 3) provides further evidence that association is not due to pleiotropy by showing null effects in male non-drinkers, and 4) illustrates a way to measure population-level association where alcohol intake is stratified by sex. In conclusion, population-level instrumental variable estimation (utilizing interaction of rs671 in ALDH2 and sex as an instrument) strengthens causal inference regarding the largely adverse influence of alcohol intake on cardiovascular health in an Asian population