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Science-policy integration is one of the many complex challenges that scientific and policy-making communities are facing. It involves knowledge sharing and exchanges among a wide range of disciplines and actors. In many instances, the lack of proper communication and of a coordination mechanism leads to research outputs not being used or simply known by policy-makers, and to policy research needs not being communicated to the scientific communities in a timely fashion. This paper discusses the integration of scientific and technological progress into the policy-making and implementation process, with emphasis on water policies. It highlights the need and complexity of developing a knowledge-based approach which would enable to lead to an operational science-policy interface linked to WISE (Water Information System for Europe), including the newly developed WISE-RTD webportal (http://www.wise-rtd.info/).

In light of the recent movement toward evidence-based practice (EBP) in mental health services, practitioner adoption of EBPs in clinical settings has emerged as an important area for study. This paper reports on the results of a national online survey of mental health practitioners in an attempt to identify correlates of self-reported EBP use in practice. The survey consisted of 214 mental health practitioners from 15 states drawn from a diverse set of clinical settings and representing a variety of theoretical orientations. The results indicated that practitioner training (i.e., taking a class in EBPs), the perceived openness of the clinical setting toward EBPs, and the practitioner's attitudes toward treatment research were significant predictors of self-reported EBP use. The relationship between clinical setting and EBP use was partially mediated by attitudes toward treatment research. Negative attitudes toward treatment research partially mediated the relationship between practitioner training and self-reported EBP use. The findings are presented within the context of efforts to increase EBP use in clinical settings and implications for clinical training, treatment research, and EBP dissemination efforts are discussed.

While increasing numbers of researchers are targeting ethnic minorities in order to address their health disparities, the unique health needs of Korean Americans are not well known to the mainstream community, and only relatively few systematic research studies have been conducted in this "hard-to reach" population. The purpose of this paper is to describe the barriers to recruiting participants for health promotion research and to identify facilitators in the community that can contribute to this effort. We have analyzed data pertaining to the 14 studies we have conducted since 1998, which included a total sample of about 2,400 Korean Americans. We describe in detail the unique recruitment challenges that we have faced in regard to the culture, language, sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, such as gender and age, and other community level barriers. Multiple strategies at different levels (individual and community) to address these issues are discussed.

In cancer research, well characterized small animal models of human cancer, such as transgenic mice, have greatly accelerated the pace of development of cancer treatments. The goal of the Small Animal Radiation Research Platform (SARRP) is to make those same models available for the development and evaluation of novel radiation therapies. In combination with advanced imaging methods, small animal research allows detailed study of biological processes, disease progression, and response to therapy, with the potential to provide a natural bridge to the clinical environment. The SARRP will realistically model human radiation treatment methods in standard animal models. In this paper, we describe the mechanical and control structure of the system. This system requires accurate calibration of the x-ray beam for both imaging and radiation treatment, which is presented in detail in the paper.

Investigations on photosynthesis in Bulgaria started in 1941 with the doctoral thesis of Kyrill Popov (University of Münster, Germany). In 1965, at the Institute of Plant Physiology, in Sofia, Kyrill Popov guided the establishment of a special group of researchers on the biochemistry, biophysics and physiology of photosynthesis. In this paper, a brief description of research in photosynthesis in Bulgaria is presented.

The expansion of women in the military is reshaping the veteran population, with women now constituting the fastest growing segment of eligible VA health care users. In recognition of the changing demographics and special health care needs of women, the VA Office of Research & Development recently sponsored the first national VA Women's Health Research Agenda-setting conference to map research priorities to the needs of women veterans and position VA as a national leader in Women's Health Research. This paper summarizes the process and outcomes of this effort, outlining VA's research priorities for biomedical, clinical, rehabilitation, and health services research.

We developed an image-guided robot system to achieve highly accurate placement of thin needles and probes into in-vivo rodent tumor tissue in a predefined pattern that is specified on a preoperative image. This system can be used for many experimental procedures where the goal is to correlate a set of physical measurements with a corresponding set of image intensities or, more generally, to perform a physical action at a set of anatomic points identified on a preoperative image. This paper focuses on the design and validation of the robot system, where the first application is to insert oxygen measurement probes in a three-dimensional (3D) grid pattern defined with respect to a PET scan of a tumor. The design is compatible with CT and MRI, which we plan to use to identify targets for biopsy and for the injection of adenoviral sequences for gene therapy. The validation is performed using a phantom and includes a new method for estimating the Fiducial Localization Error (FLE) based on the measured Fiducial Distance Error (FDE).

Background and Aims: The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and diagnostic procedures of the multicenter community-based prospective Italian Project on the Epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease (I.PR.E.A.). The study is aimed at estimating the prevalence and incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the preclinical phase, examining the natural history of cognitive decline without dementia (mainly AD) in the Italian population, and identifying risk factors or health determinants related or associated with various health outcomes., Methods: Both cross-sectional and longitudinal phases will be performed in 4800 elderly subjects aged 65-84 years. The sample will be selected from the registries of 12 Italian rural and urban municipalities, with an interval of one year between examinations. The study population will undergo several screening examinations, including personal and informant interviews by means of a structured ad hoc questionnaire, physical and neurological examination, laboratory tests, genetic markers and a neuropsychological battery. Neuroimaging screening will also be carried out in a subgroup of subjects positive for cognitive impairment without dementia. The longitudinal phase will include all subjects who, during the cross-sectional survey, are identified as affected by cognitive impairment without dementia, and will aim at assessing the incidence and natural history of cognitive impairment without dementia and the degree of disease progression from the earliest stage. This is the first systematic prospective study on the preclinical phase of AD in Italy.

There are many challenges to transporting evidence-based treatments from laboratories into real-world settings. However, if we hope to make our evidence-based treatments accessible and available to children and usable by community professionals, effectiveness research is imperative. We argue that schools represent an ideal real world setting in which to conduct such research. The goals of this paper are to present the advantages of conducting effectiveness research in the school setting and to encourage clinical researchers to engage in effectiveness research in this "location," as there are benefits to children, pre-service professionals, communities, and researchers. We attempt to further advance the literature by discussing the challenges associated with this work and by providing a case example (The Youth Experiencing Success in School [Y.E.S.S.] Program) that demonstrates real world application of our recommendations.

The papers in this special issue of Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review provided an overview of what is known about children's exposure to domestic violence, and include indications of gaps in extant research. These gaps and research needs are summarized in this conclusion. Specifically, there is need for further research in several broad areas: definition and measurement of children's exposure to domestic violence; development of research methods and statistical designs that provide detailed information and provide for evidence of intervention effectiveness; impact of domestic violence on parenting and family functioning; the role of child factors and exposure to violence factors in predicting developmental risk and resilience; medical and health consequences of exposure to violence; and the nature of child-system interaction in response to domestic violence. Research needs in these areas are discussed in greater detail, and specific questions are raised for further development.

Objective: Little is known about the impact of fellowship training in primary care on subsequent research productivity. Our goal was to identify characteristics of research fellows and their training associated with subsequent publications and research funding., Design: Mail survey in 1998., Setting and Participants: 1988-1997 graduates of 25 National Research Service Award primary care research fellowships in the United States., Outcome Measures: 1) Publishing 1 or more papers per year since the beginning of fellowship, or 2) serving as principal investigator (PI) on a federal or non-federal grant., Results: One hundred forty-six of two hundred fifteen program graduates (68%) completed the survey. The median age was 38 years, and 51% were male. Thirty-two percent had published 1 or more papers per year, and 44% were PIs. Male gender (odds ratio [OR], 3.6; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.4 to 9.2), self-reported allocation of 40% or more of fellowship time to research (OR, 4.4; 95% CI, 1.8 to 11.2), and having an influential mentor during fellowship (OR, 5.0; 95% CI, 1.5 to 17.2) were independently associated with publishing 1 or more papers per year. Fellows with funding as a PI were also more likely to have an influential mentor (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.3 to 7.2)., Conclusion: Primary care fellows who had influential mentors were more productive in research early after fellowship. Awareness of the indicators of early research success can inform the policies of agencies that fund research training and the curricula of training programs themselves.

Formal statistical methods for analyzing clinical trial data are widely accepted by the medical community. Unfortunately, the interpretation and reporting of trial results from the perspective of clinical importance has not received similar emphasis. This imbalance promotes the historical tendency to consider clinical trial results that are statistically significant as also clinically important, and conversely, those with statistically insignificant results as being clinically unimportant. In this paper, we review the present state of knowledge in the determination of the clinical importance of study results. This work also provides a simple, systematic method for determining the clinical importance of study results. It uses the relationship between the point estimate of the treatment effect (with its associated confidence interval) and the estimate of the smallest treatment effect that would lead to a change in a patient's management. The possible benefits of this approach include enabling clinicians to more easily interpret the results of clinical trials from a clinical perspective, and promoting a more rational approach to the design of prospective clinical trials.

La Vaque and Rossiter made a strong, supported argument that it is unethical to use a "no treatment" control group in a research study if a known, effective treatment is available. Their argument is based on the supposition that the Declaration of Helsinki is the ethical world standard for research with humans. Their argument appears to be straightforward, but is not simple to apply. The issues are very complex, include issues not discussed in their argument, and can lead to a different conclusion as pointed out in this paper. The World Medical Association developed the Declaration of Helsinki as one of their official policies. The Declaration of Helsinki, however, is not accepted as the world ethical standard, as demonstrated by its lack of adoption by many professional associations or even by the United States Federal Government. Perhaps it is not mentioned because its ethical provisions are aspirational rather than mandatory as implied by La Vaque and Rossiter. Researchers and clinicians should also be aware of other ethical issues not directly discussed in the La Vaque and Rossiter paper. The Belmont Report is the basis for the ethical protection of human research subjects for at least 17 federal agencies and does not mention the Declaration of Helsinki. The Belmont Report mentions several ethical principles that form the basis for informed consent, risk/benefit assessment, confidentiality of data, subject selection, Institutional Review Boards, and other protections needed when doing research with human subjects. At least 2 of these core principles have direct implications to the discussion related to the use of placebo controls. The ethical principle of fidelity is also important in guiding research activities with human subjects. Researchers should be familiar with the La Vaque and Rossiter argument, the Belmont Report, and the federal policies developed to implement the provisions of that report, for example, Regulation 45 CFR 46.

Medical ethicists have questioned the use of no-treatment (placebo and sham procedure) controlled studies of new therapies when safe and effective standard therapies are available for use as an active or "equivalence" control. Current ethical principles of conduct for biomedical research specifically prohibit designs that withhold or deny "the best proven diagnostic and therapeutic" treatment to any participant in a clinical study, including those individuals who consent to randomization into a control group. Studies of psychophysiological therapies are often criticized on the grounds they lack a placebo or sham treatment control group. This paper briefly reviews the history of the problem and discusses the ethical standards that govern human research as derived from the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki. An examination of the problem with regard to research involving EEG biofeedback therapy for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, and depression serves to highlight the issues. It is concluded that the active treatment control (treatment equivalence) design is most appropriate for those clinical studies examining disorders for which there is a known, effective treatment. Sham- or placebo-controlled studies are ethically acceptable for those disorders for which no effective treatment is available.

It is widely acknowledged that, to date, the forms of treatment enjoying the broadest empirical validation for effectiveness with individuals with autism are those treatments based upon a behavioral model and that such treatments are best implemented intensively and early in the child's development. This paper describes several features important in the success of this model and presents remaining issues to be addressed for improving treatment effectiveness. While it is appreciated that there is no "one size fits all" treatment for children with autism, there is as yet no established protocol for relating specific child, family, target behavior, and treatment variables to individualized treatment regimens. Future research needs to include well-conceived and methodologically rigorous investigations allowing for the determination of these important variables.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a causal approach to interdependent systems based on two empirical investigations. These examples demonstrate 1) the study of two highly interdependent processes: entry into first marriage as the dependent process and the process of first birth/first pregnancy as the explaining one; 2) an interdependence occurring mainly in a very specific phase of individuals' lives (i.e., during the period of first family formation); 3) the involvement of time lags between cause and its effect (e.g., time until detection of conception); and 4) the highly dynamic character of an unfolding effect over time (i.e., the effect of first pregnancy/first birth on first marriage strongly depends on the progress of pregnancy and the time since the birth has taken place).

"The present article joins two generally separate streams of research, gerontologic and immigration research in the United States. The paper considers data from several studies of seniors in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1990s; the 'Black and White Caregivers' and the 'Use of Services of Black and White Elderly'. These are considered not in terms of their original research goals, but rather in terms of a reflective examination of assumptions regarding the identity of the elders and caregivers that framed the two studies." The authors conclude that identifying elderly people by race tends to conceal rather than clarify ethnic and cultural differences among this population., (excerpt)

The present paper reviews issues of treatment efficacy (i.e., potency) and effectiveness (i.e., clinical utility) in applied clinical child research. Threats to treatment evaluation are reviewed in the context of these two dimensions. It is proposed that treatment outcome research faces new challenges stemming from the ever increasing emphasis on generalization of gains and dissemination of interventions outside of clinical research settings. Issues and approaches proposed as warranting further development and attention include development, flexibility, acceptability, and disseminability of psychosocial assessment and treatment methods. A research emphasis is promoted that balances experimental control with the need for treatment generalization and delivery outside of the research setting, in order to maximize the utility of clinical research.

Cultural and ethnic issues are not examined in traditional health care professional education. Our experience in providing care for terminally ill cancer patients in their homes in a multicultural metropolitan area has demonstrated repeatedly the importance of these issues. They can help us to understand how illness is perceived, who provides care, how it is provided, and how health care professionals are accepted. In order to sensitize health professionals to important health/cultural values, a multicultural resource center in our city invites lecturers to speak on health related issues, ranging from nutritional attitudes to religious taboos. Workshops geared toward specific disciplines are available at another resource center. Inservice education on palliative care, offered one hour a week, is one method of highlighting cultural issues for the staff. General nursing rounds, presented once a month for the hospital, is another, as is the hospital nursing journal, which has a column for multicultural contributions. A complete cultural assessment is anthropologically oriented, but a shortened version, dealing with the family hierarchy of power, a cultural/medical assessment, and an awareness of general behavioural differences can help bridge the cultural gap. This paper will present a practical model of cultural assessment that can be used by health professionals. It will suggest simple interventions that can be incorporated in a health care plan.

Society today is inundated by a multitude of messages regarding the risks and dangers that affect youngsters, with media constantly talking about 'cotton wool' kids (see Furedi, 1997, 2001, 2006) and an 'obesity epidemic' (see Wright and Harwood, 2009). A social panic has been created by the media, which ignores the positive outcomes of risk-taking, sensationalises risks, and focuses on the dangers of the world. In popular discourse contradictions are in evidence, on the one hand adults are concerned about the safety of young children; on the other hand many argue that society wraps children in 'cotton wool' such that they are denied opportunities to play outdoors for fear of accidents. Research has shown that negotiating risks and relating them to individual capacities is essential for the development of young children and their ability to learn from their mistakes and become aware of their personal health and safety (Fenech, Sumsion, & Goodfellow, 2006). This paper is based on a pilot study that explores young children and their significant others' perceptions and experiences of risk and safety, looking particularly at the ways in which experiences of outdoor learning may affect the well-being of children. Using an ethnographic approach the research examines how parents and teachers define well-being, and how being in the outdoors is seen to affect pupils' well-being. This paper, a work in progress, asks if and how outdoor activities, through outdoor learning, contribute to the physical and emotional well-being of young children, briefly touching on theories of power and control., Introduction This paper draws upon preliminary findings of the Well-being and Outdoor Pedagogies project (1) which examines various notions of well-being and is concerned to develop the concept of outdoor [...]

This paper examines the risk communication strategies currently being employed by seven outdoor education co-ordinators in Government schools in Victoria, Australia. Of particular interest are the beliefs and assumptions held by these co-ordinators in relation to communicating risk with parents. Current policy stipulates that parents must be sufficiently informed in order to provide consent for their child to participate in an outdoor education program, however it does not specify a specific model or approach to be followed. Coronial reports, recommendations and litigation following several fatal outdoor education incidents both in Australia and other countries, suggest that parents were not appropriately informed of the risks involved, or were given insuficient information on which to base their consent. These types of incidents, coupled with the assertion that we are now living in an increasingly litigious and 'blamist' society, serve to highlight the need for communications where parents are viewed as integral stakeholders. A qualitative research methodology was used and the seven co-ordinators provided examples of their risk communication and participated in a semi-standardised interview. Co-ordinators' current methods for communicating risk were analysed within the context of current theoretical thinking in risk communication and the interview findings solicited the associated beliefs and assumptions behind these strategies. Overall, the 'deficit' model of risk communication was being employed by the co-ordinators. This model does not consciously allow for the perceptions and worldviews of the parents. It is essentially 'one-way.' Finally, I suggest strategies for developing a holistic model of risk communication, within the context of current theoretical thinking, where parents are invited to be more involved in decisions about risk involving their child., Introduction The aim of this paper is to explore the risk communication strategies currently being employed in a number of Victorian Government schools to enable parents to make an 'informed' [...]

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between long-run growth and business cycles in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The model in the paper specifically assumes that the [...]

Abstract This paper analyzes whether international monetary policy coordination is the best response to economic interdependence. The paper develops a macroeconomic model in which countries show different preferences regarding objectives [...]

Developments in computational methods and equipment have produced a new type of research chemist, who prefers to calculate properties as well as measure them, either to gain a better understanding of microscopic molecular behaviour per se, or to guide a broader scientific study using a so-called 'rational' approach. While there is good reason to believe that significant results can be obtained this way, it is clear that only some of the 'tools of the trade' are sufficiently robust to present to those who are not experts in the field. This paper discusses the underlying basis for molecular modelling techniques, describing their history, state of maturity and prospects for future development. The intention is to outline the scope that these play in an industrial research environment, and to examine how they can successfully be incorporated as routine research tools. Computer-based molecular modelling is not a unique discipline. Some comparisons are drawn between it and other computer-based techniques that have reached a greater degree of maturity, in order to highlight the points made.

Author(s): Mandy Morrill [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.267748.8, 000000010617355X, Valparaiso University, , 207 Dickmeyer Hall, 46383, Valparaiso, IN, USA The feminist movement in the 1970's served as a major catalyst [...], Great advances have been made regarding the study of child sexual assault since the 1970's. In spite of these advances, the gravity of sibling sexual abuse has largely been overlooked in sexual abuse literature. This paper uses peer reviewed research to highlight some of the major issues and unique long-term consequences associated with sibling sexual abuse. Specifically, an altered version of the Conflict Tactics Scale Straus (Journal of Marriage and the Family 41:75-88, 1979 (See CR54)) and The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Rosenberg (1965 (See CR45)) were used to explore the long-term impact on self-esteem for those having experience with sibling sexual abuse as a child. In addition, clinical considerations for working with survivors, offenders, and families are provided.