Practice nurses' self-reported opportunistic smoking cessation advice in three contexts.

Little is known of the current smoking cessation activities of practice nurses and their attitudes toward giving smoking cessation advice. This study aimed to (a) compare practice nurses' reports of giving smoking cessation advice as part of cervical screening with their reports of giving such advice in cardiovascular disease screening and diabetes care, (b) compare their beliefs about providing such advice in these three contexts, and (c) determine the strongest predictors of their reports of giving smoking cessation advice. A survey was completed by 152 practice nurses in the United Kingdom. The frequency with which they reported giving smoking cessation advice and their beliefs about giving such advice in three contexts are reported. Nurses reported being more likely to give smoking cessation advice and had more positive beliefs about giving it in the more traditional contexts of cardiovascular screening and diabetes care compared with cervical screening. Beliefs about the appropriateness and practicality of giving such advice in the latter context were the strongest predictors of nurses' reports of doing so. This study provides guidance on the potential barriers that need to be overcome to increase the frequency with which nurses give smoking cessation advice in the context of cervical screening.     

Information technology and regulatory reformThe interorganisational effects of a technological innovation

This paper examines whether information technology can play a strategic role in supporting regulatory reforms aimed at achieving voluntary cooperation with government regulation. Analysis of the case of electronic tax return lodgment in Australia suggests that the effects of IT are contextual, and identifies positive effects of the new IT system on voluntary cooperation. However, in this case, divergence between private and public interests and uncertainty and lack of participation in regulatory decision-making appear to restrict the development of voluntary cooperation as a primary basis for government regulation.     

Phlebotomus papatasi sand fly salivary gland lysate down-regulates a Th1, but up-regulates a Th2, response in mice infected with Leishmania major

A vertebrate host becomes infected with Leishmania major when the sand fly vector injects parasites into skin along with saliva. Previous studies showed that salivary gland lysate of the New World sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis markedly enhanced L. major infection in CBA mice. However, L. major is an Old World parasite transmitted in nature by the Old World sand fly Phlebotomus papatasi. Here we examine the ability of P. papatasi salivary gland lysate to enhance infection (lesion size and parasite burden) by L. major. In addition, we examine the effects of salivary gland lysate on the immune response to L. major by monitoring the levels of cytokine mRNA from the lymph nodes draining cutaneous lesions. We found that P. papatasi salivary gland lysate dramatically exacerbated lesion development in disease-resistant CBA mice. This exacerbation of disease correlated with inhibition of the production of Thl cytokines and associated factors (IFN-gamma, IL-12, and inducible nitric oxide synthase), but with enhancement of the Th2 cytokine IL-4, whereas no changes in the levels of IL-10 and TGF-beta were noted. Importantly, salivary gland lysate directly up-regulated expression of IL-4 mRNA in mice in the absence of infection with L. major.     

Using argumentation to model agent decision making in economic experiments

In this paper we demonstrate how a qualitative framework for decision making can be used to model scenarios from experimental economic studies and we show how our approach explains the results that have been reported from such studies. Our framework is an argumentation-based one in which the social values promoted or demoted by alternative action options are explicitly represented. Our particular representation is used to model the Dictator Game and the Ultimatum Game, which are simple interactions in which it must be decided how a sum of money will be divided between the players in the games. Studies have been conducted into how humans act in such games and the results are not explained by a decision-model that assumes that the participants are purely self-interested utility-maximisers. Some studies further suggest that differences in choices made in different cultures may reflect their day to day behaviour, which can in turn be related to the values of the subjects, and how they order their values. In this paper we show how these interactions can be modelled in agent systems in a framework that makes explicit the reasons for the agents’ choices based upon their social values. Our framework is intended for use in situations where agents are required to be adaptable, for example, where agents may prefer different outcome states in transactions involving different types of counter-parties.     

Web evolution and Web Science

This paper examines the evolution of the World Wide Web as a network of networks and discusses the emergence of Web Science as an interdisciplinary area that can provide us with insights on how the Web developed, and how it has affected and is affected by society. Through its different stages of evolution, the Web has gradually changed from a technological network of documents to a network where documents, data, people and organisations are interlinked in various and often unexpected ways. It has developed from a technological artefact separate from people to an integral part of human activity that is having an increasingly significant impact on the world. This paper outlines the lessons from this retrospective examination of the evolution of the Web, presents the main outcomes of Web Science activities and discusses directions along which future developments could be anticipated.     

Texture and hydrodynamics of a thin slab of superfluid3He-A in a torsional oscillator. II. Experiment

Experiments on a torsional oscillator containing a slab of liquid³He of thickness 105 µm and diameter 8.38 mm are described. Normal phase experiments confirm the theory of the oscillator dynamics but an apparent descrase in the measured value of T ² at lowT casts doubt on the existing slip theory. Measurements for the uniform texture for the A phase give values of _s and ₄₄. The _s measurements suggest that the A-phase energy gap is enhanced by a factor 1.24 over the BCS value. Distortion of the uniform texture by a magnetic field perpendicular to the slab occurs at a threshold field slightly smaller than predicted. Measurements for fields at different angles to the slab enable accurate values to be deduced for the superfluid density anisotropy and two other viscosity coefficients. The remaining two viscosity coefficients are only poorly determined. Flow alignment of the orbital texture was achieved by increasing the oscillator amplitude. A different texture obtained on some occasions after warming from the B phase was investigated but is not understood.     

How high growth economies impact global information technology departments

By the very nature of information technology (IT), change and dynamism have always been significant drivers on its path to further development—and it has traditionally been the Western countries leading these. Now the picture is changing. The new high growth economies of the world (also known as BRIC countries) are increasingly pressing forward as active IT development drivers. Internal IT organizations of international companies are experiencing these global shifts firsthand and are facing changes in their traditional roles. This exploratory research is aimed at clarifying the context of the impact of high growth economies on such IT departments of Western-rooted enterprises. Forty-six interviews were conducted with IT managers, HR managers and expatriates emphasizing the importance of intercultural interaction, maturing IT economies, change in IT landscape and entrepreneurship.