Policy and practice impacts of applied research: a case study analysis of the New South Wales Health Promotion Demonstration Research Grants Scheme 2000-2006

BackgroundIntervention research provides important information regarding feasible and effective interventions for health policy makers, but few empirical studies have explored the mechanisms by which these studies influence policy and practice. This study provides an exploratory case series analysis of the policy, practice and other related impacts of the 15 research projects funded through the New South Wales Health Promotion Demonstration Research Grants Scheme during the period 2000 to 2006, and explored the factors mediating impacts.MethodsData collection included semi-structured interviews with the chief investigators (n = 17) and end-users (n = 29) of each of the 15 projects to explore if, how and under what circumstances the findings had been used, as well as bibliometric analysis and verification using documentary evidence. Data analysis involved thematic coding of interview data and triangulation with other data sources to produce case summaries of impacts for each project. Case summaries were then individually assessed against four impact criteria and discussed at a verification panel meeting where final group assessments of the impact of research projects were made and key influences of research impact identified.ResultsFunded projects had variable impacts on policy and practice. Project findings were used for agenda setting (raising awareness of issues), identifying areas and target groups for interventions, informing new policies, and supporting and justifying existing policies and programs across sectors. Reported factors influencing the use of findings were: i) nature of the intervention; ii) leadership and champions; iii) research quality; iv) effective partnerships; v) dissemination strategies used; and, vi) contextual factors.ConclusionsThe case series analysis provides new insights into how and under what circumstances intervention research is used to influence real world policy and practice. The findings highlight that intervention research projects can achieve the greatest policy and practice impacts if they address proximal needs of the policy context by engaging end-users from the inception of projects and utilizing existing policy networks and structures, and using a range of strategies to disseminate findings that go beond traditional peer review publications.<br /

Effect of salt stress on growth and accumulation of proline and soluble sugars on plantlets of Pistacia atlantica Desf. subsp. atlantica used as rootstocks

The effect of salt stress on several physiological and biochemical parameters of plantlets Pistacia atlantica Desf. subsp. atlantica was studied under controlled conditions in a climatic room. The plants were grown in pots and irrigated with a Hoagland nutrient solution during 120 days. Then, the plantlets were treated for 10 days with 100, 200, and 400 meq·l-1 NaCl + CaCl2, added to the Hoagland nutrient solution. The applied salts caused stress on the young Pistacia plantlets by reducing the growth of roots and shoots. The amount of free proline in leaves increased significantly with salinity under all treatments, to reach a maximum rate at the highest salinity concentration (400 meq·l-1) for all the plantlets. On the other hand, a significant difference in relative water content (RWC) was noted under the effect of 400 meq·l-1 of NaCl + CaCl2. The plantlets stressed at 100 meq·l-1 did not exhibit any influence of the salt on RWC, but their accumulation of sugars was much higher than at 200 meq·l-1. At 400 meq·l-1 the plantlets also accumulated a high content of soluble sugars, and after seven days of stress, their accumulation rose with the increasing salt concentration. The content of proline and soluble sugars in P. atlantica subsp. atlantica rootstock was very high, indicating that P. atlantica subsp. atlantica can be used as rootstock for Pistacia vera as it is more tolerant to salinity

Improved Transmission Waveguide Bends in Photonic Crystal

A major drawback of conventional dielectric waveguides is that their bending radii are limited to several millimeters due to the degradation of total internal reflection. Since the guiding of light in a PhC defect waveguides is not given through total internal reflection but the photonic bandgap (PBG) effect they can provide bending within the subwavelength range. Hence, PhC waveguides offer a promising scheme for low loss and ultra-dense optical integration. In this paper we have investigated and optimized 60° and 90° waveguides bends that are implemented in a planar photonic crystal (PhC) with triangular and square lattice symmetry. The in-plane guiding within the planar PhC structure is based on a W1 defect waveguide (a single line defect acting as a light channel in the Γ-K-direction) whereas for the vertical light confinement we rely in a slab waveguide formed by the low index contrast material system InGaAsP/InP. To achieve a reasonable band-gap around 1.55 μm the PhC consists of a lattice of holes with a filling factor of 39%. Key optical design parameters are characterized using 2D Finite difference time domain (FDTD) solution of the full-Wave Maxwell's equations. We show a significant improvement in both the transmission efficiency (up to 97%) and the transmission bandwidth by performing an optimization based on a sensitivity analysis