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At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

Benchmarking reference services: an introduction.

Benchmarking is based on the common sense idea that someone else, either inside or outside of libraries, has found a better way of doing certain things and that your own library's performance can be improved by finding out how others do things and adopting the best practices you find. Benchmarking is one of the tools used for achieving continuous improvement in Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. Although benchmarking can be done on an informal basis, TQM puts considerable emphasis on formal data collection and performance measurement. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to evaluate process performance. This article introduces the general concept of benchmarking, linking it whenever possible to reference services in health sciences libraries. Data collection instruments that have potential application in benchmarking studies are discussed and the need to develop common measurement tools to facilitate benchmarking is emphasized.

Efficiency, Organizational↗

Lick sensors as tools in behavioral and neuroscience research.

Lick sensors can be valuable tools in behavioral and neuroscience research on licking and drinking behavior. The focus of this discussion is the recording of licking in the rat. However, comments on the application of these sensors to the measuring of fluid intake are included as well. Lick sensors should be used with adequate precautions. Some constraint on the access of the animal to the drinking tube is necessary for the adequate recording of each single lick. Published drawbacks to the use of electrically operated lick sensors are discussed, and reduced to realistic proportions. With these latter sensors one can obtain behavioral and electrophysiological data that are directly related to the time of making and breaking contact of the tongue with the fluid that is drunk.

Animals↗

Applying ecological risk principles to watershed assessment and management.

Considerable progress in addressing point source (end of pipe) pollution problems has been made, but it is now recognized that further substantial environmental improvements depend on controlling nonpoint source pollution. A watershed approach is being used more frequently to address these problems because traditional regulatory approaches do not focus on nonpoint sources. The watershed approach is organized around the guiding principles of partnerships, geographic focus, and management based on sound science and data. This helps to focus efforts on the highest priority problems within hydrologically-defined geographic areas. Ecological risk assessment is a process to collect, organize, analyze, and present scientific information to improve decision making. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sponsored three watershed assessments and found that integrating the watershed approach with ecological risk assessment increases the use of environmental monitoring and assessment data in decision making. This paper describes the basics of the watershed approach, the ecological risk assessment process, and how these two frameworks can be integrated. The three major principles of watershed ecological risk assessment found to be most useful for increasing the use of science in decision making are (1) using assessment endpoints and conceptual models, (2) holding regular interactions between scientists and managers, and (3) developing a focus for multiple stressor analysis. Examples are provided illustrating how these principles were implemented in these assessments.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗

The fundamental constants and theory.

The Committee on Data for Science and Technology has recently recommended a new self-consistent set of values of basic constants and conversion factors of physics and chemistry. These values are based on a least-squares analysis that takes into account all of the latest relevant experimental and theoretical information in a consistent framework. Theory plays a role, because the experimental data are compared to the corresponding theoretical predictions which are functions of the fundamental constants. The best values of the constants are taken to be those that give the best agreement between the data and these predictions, in the least-squares sense. An overview of the calculations that influence the recommended values of the constants will be given.

Algorithms↗

Chinese emigration to Europe: combining European and Chinese sources.

"Research into the history of Chinese immigration to Europe has so far basically been conducted on a country-by-country basis and normally restricted to national sources. In order to comprehend early Chinese immigration to Europe, however, a wider approach is necessary with the inclusion of Chinese sources and closer co-operation between Western and Chinese scholars.... This article contains a translation of a chapter in the Qingtian County Gazetteer as an example of the information on immigration that can be found in this kind of Chinese local sources. Finally, the information is discussed and, despite some problems concerning the origin and reliability of the Chinese sources, they are still found to provide European researchers with valuable historical information on the Qingtian phenomenon in European immigration history." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA AND CHI)

Asia↗

Spectral mapping tools from the earth sciences applied to spectral microscopy data.

BACKGROUND: Spectral imaging, originating from the field of earth remote sensing, is a powerful tool that is being increasingly used in a wide variety of applications for material identification. Several workers have used techniques like linear spectral unmixing (LSU) to discriminate materials in images derived from spectral microscopy. However, many spectral analysis algorithms rely on assumptions that are often violated in microscopy applications. This study explores algorithms originally developed as improvements on early earth imaging techniques that can be easily translated for use with spectral microscopy. METHODS: To best demonstrate the application of earth remote sensing spectral analysis tools to spectral microscopy data, earth imaging software was used to analyze data acquired with a Leica confocal microscope with mechanical spectral scanning. For this study, spectral training signatures (often referred to as endmembers) were selected with the ENVI (ITT Visual Information Solutions, Boulder, CO) "spectral hourglass" processing flow, a series of tools that use the spectrally over-determined nature of hyperspectral data to find the most spectrally pure (or spectrally unique) pixels within the data set. This set of endmember signatures was then used in the full range of mapping algorithms available in ENVI to determine locations, and in some cases subpixel abundances of endmembers. RESULTS: Mapping and abundance images showed a broad agreement between the spectral analysis algorithms, supported through visual assessment of output classification images and through statistical analysis of the distribution of pixels within each endmember class. CONCLUSIONS: The powerful spectral analysis algorithms available in COTS software, the result of decades of research in earth imaging, are easily translated to new sources of spectral data. Although the scale between earth imagery and spectral microscopy is radically different, the problem is the same: mapping material locations and abundances based on unique spectral signatures.

Algorithms↗

Oxygen transport in adult respiratory distress syndrome and other acute circulatory problems: relationship of oxygen delivery and oxygen consumption.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the evidence that oxygen consumption (VO2) is pathologically dependent on oxygen delivery (DO2). DATA SOURCES: Studies published since 1972 with their relevant bibliographies and computerized search of MEDLINE. STUDY SELECTION: All clinical papers reporting the relationship of: VO2 to DO2 in the adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), sepsis, other critically ill patients, and normal individuals; cardiac output determined by measured VO2 to calculated VO2 from the arterial-mixed venous oxygen difference; blood lactate to DO2; and selected basic science studies. DATA EXTRACTION: Study quality was assessed and all pertinent data were summarized. RESULTS OF DATA EXTRACTION: Normal individuals display physiologic dependence of VO2 at very low levels of DO2 (330 mL/min.m2). Pathologic dependence of VO2 on DO2 entails two concepts: a) VO2 varies directly with DO2 over a wide range of DO2 and b) of particular import, tissue oxygen extraction is compromised. This pathologic supply dependence was initially identified in patients with ARDS; subsequently, it has been demonstrated in patients with sepsis and in a variety of other critically ill individuals. There are substantial, but not uniform, data documenting this dependence of VO2 on DO2 in ARDS. In some studies, this relationship correlates best with increased lactate concentrations. However, increased blood lactate concentrations do not accurately track other evidence of tissue hypoxia. Some researchers have attributed the finding of this supply dependency to artifact, when VO2 is determined by the arterial-mixed venous oxygen difference. However, when these methods are compared, the correlation is excellent. Others have raised the concern that appreciable changes in VO2, even over short periods of time, may result in physiologic increases in DO2. However, when "control" groups have been contemporaneously compared with patients with ARDS using the same methodology, they have not shown supply dependency. Interwoven throughout the studies reviewed is overwhelming and uniform evidence that both mixed venous oxygen tension (PVO2) and mixed venous oxygen content (CVO2) correlate poorly with cardiac output, DO2, or VO2. The inconsistencies in identifying pathologic DO2 dependency may well reflect the unknown variables that exist in patients with ARDS, perhaps better labeled, multiple organ system failure. CONCLUSIONS: Pathologic dependence of VO2 on DO2, especially the inability to increase tissue oxygen extraction, is present in most patients with ARDS and many other critically ill individuals. PVO2 and CVO2 are both unreliable indicators of cardiac output, DO2, or VO2.

Biological Transport↗

[dl-Camphor Reference Standard (Control 961) of National Institute of Health Sciences].

The raw material of dl-camphor was examined for the preparation of the "dl-Camphor Reference Standard (Control 961)" of National Institute of Health Sciences. Analytical data obtained are as follows: UV spectrum, lambda max = 290 nm; IR spectrum, the same as that of the present JP Camphor Reference Standard (Control 953); melting point, 179.1 degrees C; purity test by gas-chromatography (GC), three kinds of impurities were detected; assay by GC, 99.8%. Based on the above results, the candidate raw material was authorized as the dl-Camphor Reference standard (Control 961) National Institute of Health Sciences (Japanese Pharmacopoeia).

Camphor↗

A need for a 'whole-istic functional genomics' approach in complex human diseases: arthritis.

'Genomic tools', such as gene/protein chips, single nucleotide polymorphism and haplotype analyses, are empowering us to generate staggering amounts of correlative data, from human/animal genetics and from normal and disease-affected tissues obtained from complex diseases such as arthritis. These tools are transforming molecular biology into a 'data rich' science, with subjects with an '-omic' suffix. These disciplines have to converge and integrate at a systemic level to examine the structure and dynamics of cellular and organismal function ('functionomics') simultaneously, using a multidimensional approach for cells, tissues, organs, rodents and Zebra fish models, which intertwines various approaches and readouts to study the development and homeostasis of a system. In summary, the postgenomic era of functionomics will facilitate narrowing the bridge between correlative data and causative data, thus integrating 'intercoms' of interacting and interdependent disciplines and forming a unified whole.

Arthritis↗

[Epinephrine Bitartrate Reference Standard (Control 951) of National Institute of Health Sciences].

The raw material for epinephrine bitartrate was tested for preparation of the "Epinephrine Bitartrate Reference Standard (Control 951)" of National Institute of Health Sciences. Analytical data obtained were as follows: melting point, 148.6 degrees C (decomposition); UV spectrum, lambda max = 279 nm; IR spectrum, the same as that of JP Epinephrine Bitartrate Reference Standard (Control 792); optical rotation, [alpha]20D = -52.8 degrees; thin-layer chromatography, one impurity was detected; high-performance liquid chromatography, no impurity was detected; loss on drying, 0.01%; assay, 99.6% by potentiometric titration, 100.3% by spectrophotometry. Based on the above results, the raw material was authorized as the Epinephrine Bitartrate Reference Standard (Control 951) of National Institute of Health Sciences (Japanese Pharmacopoeia).

Epinephrine↗

[Chlormadinone Acetate Reference Standard (Control 961) of National Institute of Health Sciences].

The raw material for chlormadinone acetate was tested for preparation of the "Chlormadinone Acetate Reference Standard (Control 961)" of National Institute of Health Sciences. Analytical data obtained were as follows: melting point, 215. 3 degrees C; UV spectrum, lambda max = 283.5 nm; IR spectrum, the same as that of JP Chlormadinone Acetate Reference Standard (Control 885); optical rotation, [alpha]20D = -13.0 degrees; thin-layer chromatography, one impurity was detected; high-performance liquid chromatography, two impurities were detected; loss on drying, 0.01%; assay, 99.4% by spectrophotometry and 99.5% by HPLC. Based on the above results, the raw material was authorized as the Chlormadinone Acetate Reference Standard (Control 961) of National Institute of Health Sciences (Japanese Pharmacopoeia).

Chlormadinone Acetate↗

Hidden patterns of play interaction in soccer using SOF-CODER.

Traditional methods for quantifying sport performances are limited in their capacity to describe the complex interactions of events that occur within a performance over time. The following article outlines a new approach to the study of actions between players in team sports--mainly, soccer. Since the observational design is nomothetic, point, and multidimensional, an observational and data-collecting instrument has been developed. The instrument is mixed and combines a field format with a category system for game events, as well as an ad hoc instrument that considers the game actions of one or both teams, each recorded according to the same criteria. The article also outlines a new approach to the analysis of time-based event records--in this case, sports performance--known as T-pattern detection. The relevant elements of the T-pattern detection process are explained, and exemplar data from analyses of soccer matches are presented to highlight the potential of this form of data analysis. The results suggest that it is possible to identify new kinds of profiles for both individuals and teams on the basis of observational criteria and a further analysis of temporal behavioral patterns detected within the performances.

Behavioral Sciences↗

[Riboflavin Reference Standard (Control 951) of National Institute of Health Sciences].

The raw material for riboflavin was tested for preparation of the "Riboflavin Reference Standard (Control 951)" of National Institute of Health Sciences. Analytical data obtained were as follows: melting point, 284.6 degrees C (decomposition): specific absorbance, E1cm1% = 857 (267 nm), 277 (373 nm), 326 (445 nm); IR spectrum, the same as that of JP Riboflavin Reference Standard (Control 921); optical rotation, [alpha]20D = -135.6 degrees; thin-layer chromatography, three impurities were detected; high-performance liquid chromatography, a small amount of 10 impurities were detected: loss on drying, 0.10%; assay, 100.4% by spectrophotometry. Based on the above results, the raw material was authorized as the Riboflavin Reference Standard (Control 951) of National Institute of Health Sciences (Japanese Pharmacopoeia).

Japan↗

The use of the psychological laboratory to study sensitive survey topics.

Maximizing the tendency of the survey respondent to answer truthfully when sensitive questions are presented is critical issue in survey methodology. A recent development devoted generally to the reduction of response error in survey data is the use of cognitive laboratory techniques during the survey development phase. The chapter categorizes and describes the various cognitive techniques that have been applied, by Federal agencies and other researchers, to the study of sensitive questions. Based on this analysis and review, a number of recommendations are made concerning specific aspects of survey design, when sensitive questions are administered.

Cognitive Science↗

"A system biology" approach to bioinformatics and functional genomics in complex human diseases: arthritis.

Human and other annotated genome sequences have facilitated generation of vast amounts of correlative data, from human/animal genetics, normal and disease-affected tissues from complex diseases such as arthritis using gene/protein chips and SNP analysis. These data sets include genes/proteins whose functions are partially known at the cellular level or may be completely unknown (e.g. ESTs). Thus, genomic research has transformed molecular biology from "data poor" to "data rich" science, allowing further division into subpopulations of subcellular fractions, which are often given an "-omic" suffix. These disciplines have to converge at a systemic level to examine the structure and dynamics of cellular and organismal function. The challenge of characterizing ESTs linked to complex diseases is like interpreting sharp images on a blurred background and therefore requires a multidimensional screen for functional genomics ("functionomics") in tissues, mice and zebra fish model, which intertwines various approaches and readouts to study development and homeostasis of a system. In summary, the post-genomic era of functionomics will facilitate to narrow the bridge between correlative data and causative data by quaint hypothesis-driven research using a system approach integrating "intercoms" of interacting and interdependent disciplines forming a unified whole as described in this review for Arthritis.

Animals↗

Clinical laboratory radioimmunoassay usage.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the extent of radioimmunoassay utilization in clinical laboratories in the state of Texas; to ascertain what methods have replaced it as an analytical tool; to identify trends and elicit comments regarding attitudes toward radioimmunoassay; and to ascertain the extent of instruction of radioimmunoassay principles required in clinical laboratory science curricula. DESIGN: Mailed, written survey designed by the authors. PARTICIPANTS: Laboratory managers or directors of 203 clinical pathology laboratories in Texas. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Responses to seven forced-choice items, prompting information regarding laboratory type and size, extent of radioimmunoassay use, benefits or radioimmunoassay, and replacement technologies; a single item that elicited responses and opinions regarding general attitudes about radioimmunoassay and its place in clinical laboratory science curriculum. DATA SOURCE: Clinical laboratory managers or directors in the state of Texas. RESULTS: A total of 203 surveys were mailed within 127 respondents, yielding a response rate of 63%. The majority (77%) of clinical laboratories surveyed no longer use radioimmunoassay as a diagnostic tool with the predominant reason being the availability and affordability of automated enzyme immunoassays. Time-consuming recordkeeping was another common reason for abandoning the technique. Enzyme immunoassays were by far the most common method replacing radioimmunoassay. Comments reflected the general attitude that radioimmunoassay is a technique of the past in the clinical laboratory. A variety of views were elicited regarding the education of the principles of RIA to clinical laboratory science students. CONCLUSION: Radioimmunoassay, although a viable assay in some situations, has been abandoned as an analytical tool in most clinical laboratories in Texas. Current users are unhappy with the amount of paperwork that accompanies use of the technology, while non-users consider non-isotopic assays equivalent in sensitivity to RIA. In regard to information presented to clinical laboratory science students, the advent of molecular diagnostic techniques requires continued instruction in the principles of radioactivity, although not radioimmunoassay.

Clinical Laboratory Techniques↗