Predicting change for individual psychotherapy clients on the basis of their nearest neighbors.

This study extended client-focused research by using the nearest neighbor (NN) approach, a client-specific sampling and prediction strategy derived from research on alpine avalanches. Psychotherapy clients (N = 203) seen in routine practice settings in the United Kingdom completed a battery of intake measures and then completed symptom intensity ratings before each session. Forecasts of each client's rate of change and session-by-session variability were computed on the basis of that client's NNs (n = 10-50 in different comparisons). Alternative forecasts used linear or log-linear slopes and were compared with an alternative prediction strategy. Results showed that the NN approach was superior to the alternative model in predicting rate of change, though the advantage was less clear for predicting variability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

National and international university departmental Web site interlinking

Although many link patterns have been identified at the university level, departmental interlinking has been relatively ignored. Universities are multidisciplinary by nature and various disciplines may employ the Web differently, thus patterns identified at the university level may hide subject differences. Departments are typically subject-oriented, and departmental interlinking may therefore illustrate interesting disciplinary linking patterns, perhaps relating to informal scholarly communication. The aim of this paper is to identify whether and how link patterns differ along country and disciplinary lines between similar disciplines and similar countries. Physics, Chemistry and Biology departments in Australia, Canada and the UK have been chosen. In order to get a holistic picture of departments' Web use profiles and link patterns, five different perspectives are identified and compared for each set of departments. Differences in link patterns are identified along both national and disciplinary lines, and are found to reflect offline phenomena. Along national lines, a likely explanation for the difference is that countries with better research performances make more general use of the Web; and, with respect to international peer interlinking, countries that share more scholarly communication tend to interlink more with each other. Along disciplinary lines, it seems that departments from disciplines which are more willing to distribute their research outputs tend to make more general use of the Web, and also interlink more with their national and international peers.     

GigaMatrix: an ultra high-throughput tool for accessing biodiversity

Recombinant approaches for tapping into the biodiversity present in nature for the discovery of novel enzymes and biosynthetic pathways can result in large gene libraries. Likewise, laboratory evolution techniques can result in large but potentially valuable libraries. Thorough screening of these libraries requires ultra high-throughput methods. The GigaMatrix^™ screening platform addresses this opportunity using reusable high-density plates with 100,000 to 1,000,000 through-hole wells in a microplate footprint. In addition to throughputs of over 10⁷ wells per day, the platform offers a significant reduction in reagent use and waste, has fully integrated automated “cherry picking,” and uses no complicated dispensing equipment. Wells containing putative hits from targeted fluorescent liquid phase assays are revealed by a fluorescent imaging system. Vision-guided robotics are utilized to recover hits by accessing individual 200 μm and smaller wells with a disposable sterile needle. The GigaMatrix platform has proven to be an effective and efficient tool for screening gene libraries for both discovery and evolution applications.     

Die Relevanz einer institutionalisierten Ethik für eine professionelle Zahnmedizin

Definition of the problem

The concept of “ethics” has recently been incorporated into both the 2014 Model Professional Code for Dentists and the current version of the “National Competence-Based Catalog of Learning Objectives in Dental Medicine” (NKLZ, Nationaler Kompetenzbasierter Lernzielkatalog Zahnmedizin). The study presented here addresses the question which relevance this has for the relevance of the new concept accomplished for the dental profession and society.

Arguments

To this end, the societal processes that are related to the autonomous freedom of action of the dental profession are discussed. Therefore the sociological fields of discourse such as profession (and the effect of its constitutive antinomies), trust, education, expertise, practice of treatments and sanction are reviewed for their potential of having connections to each other and serving as a structural frame concerning an ethically reflected acting of the professional. The basis of the professional freedom of action is the trust of society and the individual patient in the professionally acting dentist.

Conclusion

The study arrives at the conclusion that it was a serious omission for many decades not to make young dentists aware of the ethical foundations of dental activity on an institutionally established basis and thus failing to encourage them to constantly reflect their professional expertise in relation to the problems to be solved. This deficit has now been identified. It is absolutely essential to implement an institutionalized structure dealing with ethical questions within the scope of dental medicine.

     

No evidence of citation bias as a determinant of STEM gender disparities in US biochemistry,genetics and molecular biology research

Scientometrics - The lack of females in many Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in the USA is an ongoing concern, with many initiatives attempting to redress this...     

Wheels,skills and thrills: A social marketing trial to reduce aggressive driving from young men in deprived areas

Young men from poorer backgrounds are associated with high road traffic collision levels. However, solving this problem has proven very difficult. Hence this paper summarises the findings of a UK government funded two-year trial of a cross-discipline intervention to reduce aggressive driving amongst this group.     

Is medical research informing professional practice more highly cited? Evidence from AHFS DI Essentials in drugs.com

Scientometrics - Citation-based indicators are often used to help evaluate the impact of published medical studies, even though the research has the ultimate goal of improving human wellbeing. One...     

Designing in between Local Government and the Public – Using Institutional Analysis in Interventions on Civic Infrastructures

Adapting and changing the systems and technologies involved in civic engagement with local government is among the key challenges of collaborative technologies for political participation. In such contexts, both existing sets of technologies and ingrained, often formalised practices, the ‘rules of the game’, constrain any opportunity for intervention. Additionally, ‘civic’ and expert groups with conflicting agendas and divergent demands on public choices assert their influence in these transformation programmes. The article argues that established methods in collaborative systems design have thus far overlooked the role of recurring actions involved in public participation as well as the formal rules and ingrained practices that construct them. Yet, such patterns present a valuable resource for design interventions. Thus, based on an institutional approach, the article outlines a methodology for requirement gathering by mapping the relations of actors, software and their use along identifiable action situations. The method called for a dialogue between socio-technical-spatial contexts of public service and specific actions taking place within it. Drawing on a case of organising civic engagement in urban planning, the article discusses how to find and trace existing practices across social settings, information technologies and material contexts where engagements take place. The approach underscores the existing institutional contexts in inspiring, opening and constraining the opportunities to support ‘civics’.