The excess burden of cancer in men in the UK

In general men are at significantly greater risk than women from nearly all of the common cancers that occur in both sexes (with the exception of breast cancer) (White 2009, Wilkins 2006, DH 2007). This report will consider the current overall burden of cancer among men in the UK, estimated from the latest statistics, and outline the extent of the differences between the sexes. All figures and calculations reported here are based on data extracted from the Cancer Research UK CancerStats web pages extracted in June 2009 (Cancer Research UK, 2009)

Collecting, Rearing, Shipping, and Monitoring \u3ci\u3eOlesicampe Benefactor\u3c/i\u3e (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), a Parasite of the Larch Sawfly, \u3ci\u3ePristiphora Erichsonii\u3c/i\u3e (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae)

Procedures are described for collecting, rearing, shipping, and monitoring the intro- duced ichneumonid, Olesicampe benefactor, a valuable parasite of the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii

The accessibility of research-based knowledge for nurses in United Kingdom acute care settings

Background. The successful dissemination of the results of the National Health Service (NHS) research and development strategy and the development of evidence based approaches to health care rely on clinicians having access to the best available evidence; evidence fit for the purpose of reducing the uncertainties associated with clinical decisions. Aim. To reveal the accessibility of those sources of information actually used by nurses, as well as those which they say they use. Design. Mixed method case site, using interview, observational, Q sort and documentary audit data in medical, surgical and coronary care units (CCUs) in three acute hospitals. Results. Three perspectives on accessibility were identified: (a) the humanist-in which human sources of information were the most accessible; (b) local information for local needs-in which locally produced resources were seen as the most accessible and (c) moving towards technology-in which information technology begins to be seen as accessible. Nurses' experience in a clinical specialty is positively associated with a perception that human sources such clinical nurse specialists, link nurses, doctors and experienced clinical colleagues are more accessible than text based sources. Clinical specialization is associated with different approaches to accessing research knowledge. Coronary care unit nurses were more likely perceive local guidelines, protocols and on-line databases as more accessible than their counterparts in general medical and surgical wards. Only a third of text-based resources available to nurses oil the wards had any explicit research base. These, and the remainder were Out of date (mean age of textbooks 11 years), and authorship hard to ascertain. Conclusion. A strategy to increase the use of research evidence by nurses should harness the influence of clinical nurse specialists, link nurses and those engaged in practice development. These roles Could act as 'conduits' through which research-based messages for practice, and information for clinical decision making, could flow. This role should be explored and enhanced

Acute care nurses' perceptions of barriers to using research information in clinical decision-making

Aim. To examine the barriers that nurses feel prevent them from using research in the decisions they make. Background. A sizeable research literature focusing on research utilization in nursing has developed over the past 20 years. However, this literature is characterized by a number of weaknesses: self-reported utilization behaviour; poor response rates and small, nonrandom sampling strategies. Design. Cross-case analysis involving anonymised qualitative interviews, observation, documentary audit and Q methodological modelling of shared subjectivities amongst nurses. The case sites were three large acute hospitals in the north of England. One hundred and eight nurses were interviewed, 61 of whom were also observed for a total of 180 h, and 122 nurses were involved in the Q modelling exercise (response rate of 64%). Results. Four perspectives were isolated that encompassed the characteristics associated with barriers to research use. These related to the individual, organization, nature of research information itself and environment. Nurses clustered around four main perspectives on the barriers to research use: (1) Problems in interpreting and using research products, which were seen as too complex, 'academic' and overly statistical; (2) Nurses who felt confident with research-based information perceived a lack of organizational support as a significant block; (3) Many nurses felt that researchers and research products lack clinical credibility and that they fail to offer the desired level of clinical direction; (4) Some nurses lacked the skills and, to a lesser degree, the motivation to use research themselves. These individuals liked research messages passed on to them by a third party and sought to foster others' involvement in research-based practice, rather than becoming directly involved themselves. Conclusions. Rejection of research knowledge is not a barrier to its application. Rather, the presentation and management of research knowledge in the workplace represent significant challenges for clinicians, policy-makers and the research community

Development of reliability methodology for systems engineering. Volume I - Methodology - Analysis techniques and procedures Final report

Reliability analyses for equipment in design stag

A Personalized System for Conversational Recommendations

Searching for and making decisions about information is becoming increasingly difficult as the amount of information and number of choices increases. Recommendation systems help users find items of interest of a particular type, such as movies or restaurants, but are still somewhat awkward to use. Our solution is to take advantage of the complementary strengths of personalized recommendation systems and dialogue systems, creating personalized aides. We present a system -- the Adaptive Place Advisor -- that treats item selection as an interactive, conversational process, with the program inquiring about item attributes and the user responding. Individual, long-term user preferences are unobtrusively obtained in the course of normal recommendation dialogues and used to direct future conversations with the same user. We present a novel user model that influences both item search and the questions asked during a conversation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system in significantly reducing the time and number of interactions required to find a satisfactory item, as compared to a control group of users interacting with a non-adaptive version of the system