Experts In Different Fields Research Articles

Diagnostic pitfalls in Parkinson's disease: case report

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by resting tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia. In 80% of cases, the disorder begins with upper limb resting tremor. However, there are some presenting atypical features that make the diagnosis even more difficult and intriguing. The disorder can have its onset below 40 years old, characterizing early-onset parkinsonism, which differential diagnosis possibilities are varied. Atypical presentations include a pure akinetic-rigid syndrome, the initial manifestations occurring in the lower limbs, and pain as the most important or sole manifestation. These atypical features are unusual, but can be seen in clinical practice. We present a 37 years old woman with early-onset parkinsonism beginning with an akinetic-rigid syndrome in the lower limbs whose first symptom was left leg pain, which diagnosis was made after 4 years of onset and after 16 referrals to several experts in different fields. We discuss these atypical features and the diagnostic pitfalls in PD.

Betalains – emerging prospects for food scientists

Betalains have witnessed swayings of scientific interest in the past 40 years, but only during the past decade research activities in many disciplines dealing with breeding, phytochemical, technological and nutritional aspects have broadened the hitherto narrow view on betalains. The challenge of bringing together the knowledge from all these different fields of expertise is considered to be most fruitful. In the present review, the focus will be on the technologically related analytical issues.

Art History and the Digital World

On June 8–9, 2006, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles hosted a workshop, “Art History and the Digital World,” cosponsored by the GRI and the College Art Association. The workshop, organized by Murtha Baca, head of the Getty Vocabulary Program and Digital Resource Management at the GRI, and William Tronzo of the CAA Board of Directors, assembled a group of over a dozen speakers and panelists to consider a wide range of questions at the intersection of the practice of art history and the rapidly evolving digital environment. The territory thus defined was large, and one of the virtues of the workshop was that, in negotiating relevant issues, it did not follow exclusively a single track. Rather it brought together participants with different fields of expertise and points of view in order to create a dynamic and thought-provoking conversation that crossed boundaries.

Do You Love a Great Bargain? APA Membership Fits the Bill

Do You Love a Great Bargain? APA Membership Fits the Bill

Project management of an eradication campaign1

Applying project management to a task helps to define objectives, resources, timescales, risks and governance arrangements. It can secure commitment of effort and expertise from other organisations, and from other parts of a large organisation, and ensure effective co‐ordination. The UK plant health services are increasingly using project management disciplines and terminology. To direct eradication and containment action against Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae, a programme board has been established on which three government departments and several different fields of expertise are represented. The board has in turn set up subgroups, accountable to it for specific areas of activity. These comprise a science subgroup; a press and publicity subgroup; a field implementation subgroup; and two geographically based subgroups for the areas with Phytophthora kernoviae outbreaks – Cornwall and South Wales. There is also an industry liaison group comprising representatives from trade associations and providing a regular channel of communication with the nurserymen, retailers and woodland and garden owners most directly affected by measures against these pathogens.

Learning the Hard Way

Learning the Hard Way

Team Management and Mutual Funds

In recent years, team management has become increasingly popular in the mutual fund industry. In this paper, we analyze team management along three broad dimensions. First, we examine potential determinants explaining a fund's management structure. Second, we analyze potential effects of fund management structure on managerial behavior. Third, we address the consequences of team management on fund performance, performance persistence, and fund inflows. Findings show that the management choice is a strategic decision, made usually uniformly for all funds at the fund family level. In particular the extent and complexity of the tasks fund managers face determine management structure, with more teams in segments that require expertise in different fields. Regarding the effects of team management, we find that the management behavior of teams and individual managers differ systematically. Funds managed by teams exhibit significantly lower (unsystematic) risk than single manager funds and adjust their risk to a lesser extent as response to prior performance. In their investment style teams are less extreme and more consistent over time. Looking at fund performance, we find some, albeit only weak, evidence that team management has a negative impact on fund performance. However, team-managed funds are more persistent in their performance over time. Fund investors seem to care about fund management structure. Our findings show that team-managed funds experience significantly higher inflows.

Mut (Mersin) Kentsel Kültür Varlıkları Envanteri 2004

Located in Goksu Valley, Mut is a district of Mersin province and is bounded by Karaman in the north, Ermenek in the west, Gulnar in the south and Silifke on the southeast. Be­cause Central Anatolia and the Mediterrane­an region are connected via Mut and the Sertavul Pass, many civilizations have settled he­re ever since prehistoric times. Examples of buildings that belong to the Seljukid, Karama­nogullari and Ottoman periods and remains from the ancient period in the center of the district protected Mut, was built on top of Claudiopolis, a Roman period settlement. The city of Mut began developing from the central point created by Mut Fortress (inner fortress) the nucleus of the settlement and whose earliest construction is said to date back to the Hittite, period, the La'al Pasa Complex from the Karamanogullari period and Tas Han, On the south side of the center, the commercial tissue in the vicinity of Tas Han, an Ottoman building spreads out and is made up of one-story shops. Mut's traditional houses arise in the neigh­borhood from the basic plan type known as eyes, one space, This main type of plan is made up of two rooms, one on each side of a separate area that can be termed the sofa. In time new plan designs generated from this basic form. The outer walls of the structures, built using Stone in massive masonry construction tech­nique, were kept quite thick in order to give protection from excessive heat because of climatic conditions. The top of the buildings have a roof of flat earth. While a number of changes were made without spoiling the fun­damental main lines up to the 1950's using the same construction techniques, the plan design shows that traditional Mut homes we­re still being built. After the 1950's, when the region started growing rather sapidly in an unplanned manner as happened generally in most Anatolian cities, one sees that the tradi­tional structures were affected and surrende­red their place to multi-story concrete buil­dings. A six-member team carried out a study bet­ween (Oct 18th-28th, 2004) in Mut district, inventory records created for 276 buildings, and forty-four building blocks the settlement in the Kale, Doganci and Meydan districts and photographic documentation created for the above, comprising 1952 digital photos, The remains of the ancient city of Claudiopolis merged with the traditional fabric of the city of Mut, which was built on top of it Because it is the subject of research in a different field of expertise, it was registered under a sepa­rate title of study that will probably be carried out later. This study has taken place within the frame­work of the Turkish Academy of Sciences -Turkey's Cultural Sector (TUBA-TUKSEK) Cultural Inventory Project of Turkey and has been supported by the Mut municipality and Yildiz Technical University, Faculty of Archi­tecture, Restoration Department.

Technikfolgen-Abschätzung: Entscheidungshilfe in einer komplexen Welt

Inhalt:HAIDINGER, ALOIS, Datieren mittelalterlicher Handschriften mittels ihrer Wasserzeichen; HEROLD, HAJNALKA; ULREICH, HERMANN, Dünnschliffuntersuchungen prähistorischer Keramik von Hoyas del Castello, Pajaroncillo (Cuenca), Spanien; MARTINEZ, MARIA ANTONIA NEGRETE; ULREICH, HERMANN, Verzierte Keramik der Mittleren und Späten Bronzezeit in Hoyas del Castello, Pajaroncillo (Cuenca), Spanien; KISLINGER, EWALD; METAXAS, SUSANNE; OTT, IRIS, Conventazzo (Torrenova/ME): Archäologie und Geschichte (FWF-Projekt P 14997). Bericht über die Aktivitäten 2001–2003; DE BERNARDO STEMPEL, PATRIZIA, Nehalen(n)ia, das Salz und das Meer; ÜNAL, RAHIM HÜSEYIN, Arbeitsbericht zum Münzschatz von Beçin; KOWAR, HELMUT, Feldforschung einmal anders: Musikautomaten entdecken und dokumentieren; TICHY, GUNTHER, Technikfolgen-Abschätzung: Entscheidungshilfe in einer komplexen Welt

Stakeholder participation as a tool for sustainable development in the Em River Basin

The Em river watershed in south‐east Sweden is an example of involving local organizations and people in river basin management that implements practically integrated water resources management and the philosophy underlying the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/Swedish International Hydrological Programme (IHP) Hydrology, Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) programme. The Em River Stakeholder Association has applied a bottom‐up perspective. Stakeholders have been participating in several river basin projects over several years. Stakeholder participation was of special importance when working with issues of local importance, such as water economizing, fish migration, storm‐water characterization and nutrient reduction. Eight task groups have carried out projects within different fields of expertise. The river basin cooperation started as a project in 1992. In 2004, the permanent Em River Union will be formed to work towards sustainable development integrated water management, good ecological conditions and economic growth in the Em River basin.

Technology Assessment: Decision Support in a Complex World (Technikfolgen-Abschatzung: Entscheidungshilfe in einer komplexen Welt)

The public and even scientists consider prevention and promotion of technologies as technology assessments' primary task. This view is incompatible with democracy and devoid of any scientific foundation. Evaluating the cost and benefits of a technology affords value judgements, and the disputing parties lack common risk concepts, world views and visions. Insofar TA cannot substitute a decision by elected politicians, but it can improve the policy decision by assessing likely consequences. Support of this type is needed as cumulating knowledge made our world increasingly complex. General specialisation and, in particular, specialisation of scientists was the unavoidable consequence. It enabled the impressive technical progress but hinders holistic assessments as they afford general interdisciplinary knowledge. TAs' task is to fill this gap and prepare decisions in all those cases where a problem presents itself differently to experts of different fields. The paper discusses for which questions and in which fields TA can offer such assistance, by discussing several studies of the Austrian Institute for Technology Assessment.

원자력발전소 1차 계통 주요기기에 대한 웹기반 피로수명평가 시스템 개발

A nuclear power plant is composed of a number of primary components. Maintaining the integrity of these components is one of the most critical issues in nuclear industry. In order to maintain the integrity of these primary components, a complicated procedure is required including regular in-service inspection, failure assessment, fracture mechanics analysis, etc. Also, experts in different fields have to co-operate to resolve the<br/> integrity issues on the basis of inspection results. This integrity evaluation process usually takes long, and thus,<br/> is detrimental for the plant productivity. Therefore, an effective safety evaluation system is essential to manage the integrity issues on a nuclear power plant. In this paper, a web-based fatigue life evaluation system for primary components in nuclear power plant is proposed. This system provides engineering knowledge-information and concurrent and collaborative working environment through internet, and thus, is expected to raise the efficiency of integrity evaluation procednres on primary components of a nuclear power plant.<br/>

Various uses of a spelling checker project: practical experiences, teaching, and learning

In this article we give an overview of various aspects of a project developing a spelling checker for Afrikaans. We discuss two of the main aims of the project, viz. for researchers to obtain practical experience, and to enhance learning of both researchers and students. This article, therefore, consists of two relatively independent parts that each describes aspects related to these two aims. The first part describes the actual spelling checker. The existing spelling checker is evaluated and, based on the results, improvements are introduced and implemented. Remaining problems are discussed and possible solutions are proposed. We illustrate how practical experience was obtained during the evolution of the project. The second part discusses the underlying teaching and learning benefits of the project. This includes improving our knowledge of computational linguistics applied to Afrikaans, improving programming skills for linguists, and communication between experts in different fields. We also give an overview of how the project is used for problem-oriented and projectorganised educational purposes, and how it solves certain problems related to a shortage of computational linguistic tools and resources for Afrikaans.

An audit of medicolegal conferencing.

In the English civil justice system, experts involved in a case are now commonly required to confer before the hearing and identify the areas of agreement and disagreement. A prospective study of 50 consecutive medicolegal conferences of experts was undertaken, with a view to defining their benefits, weaknesses and the optimum conference format. A record was kept of the dates of first instruction, court deadlines, and date, time and duration of conferences, together with related calls and correspondence. The manner of preparation of the statement was noted, the level of agreement/disagreement, any compromise, any later modifications of the draft, and the author's fees. Subsequently the instructing solicitors were asked to comment on the suitability of the joint statement and its contribution to settlement. Medicolegal conferencing is time-consuming and expensive. It may be of limited value where there is little or no difference of opinion, either between experts in a single field or between experts in different fields. The instructing solicitors must ensure that the participants receive, in advance of the conference, copies of all relevant documents including medical reports and medical records. An agenda is helpful in ensuring that matters of importance are not overlooked. Conferences are more effective when held in person than when conducted by telephone. The joint statement is best dictated in the presence of all participants during or after the conference. To ensure the most efficient and economical use of consultant time a formal combined audit of conferencing should be undertaken by the medical and legal professions.

An audit of medicolegal conferencing

In the English civil justice system, experts involved in a case are now commonly required to confer before the hearing and identify the areas of agreement and disagreement. A prospective study of 50 consecutive medicolegal conferences of experts was undertaken, with a view to defining their benefits, weaknesses and the optimum conference format. A record was kept of the dates of first instruction, court deadlines, and date, time and duration of conferences, together with related calls and correspondence. The manner of preparation of the statement was noted, the level of agreement/disagreement, any compromise, any later modifications of the draft, and the author's fees. Subsequently the instructing solicitors were asked to comment on the suitability of the joint statement and its contribution to settlement. Medicolegal conferencing is time-consuming and expensive. It may be of limited value where there is little or no difference of opinion, either between experts in a single field or between experts in different fields. The instructing solicitors must ensure that the participants receive, in advance of the conference, copies of all relevant documents including medical reports and medical records. An agenda is helpful in ensuring that matters of importance are not overlooked. Conferences are more effective when held in person than when conducted by telephone. The joint statement is best dictated in the presence of all participants during or after the conference. To ensure the most efficient and economical use of consultant time a formal combined audit of conferencing should be undertaken by the medical and legal professions.

The Reality of Experts and the Imagined Lay Person

This article examines the role of lay persons in the thinking and working of experts in different fields at the borders of academic knowledge production. The status of lay persons has been studied in the Public Understanding of Science (PUS) research, which has shed light on the implicit assumptions of the deficit model that experts usually apply to lay persons. This deficit model has been consistently criticized for its inadequacy. The purpose of this article is not to contribute to this critique but to focus on the conceptions of the expertise of lay persons as a necessary prerequisite of science-based recommendations in the context of application. We call such conceptions `imagined lay persons' (ILP). We argue that such conceptions fulfil a functional purpose in the interaction between different fields in knowledge societies, and that such conceptions should not be checked against some alleged essential features of lay persons. Based on four different case studies of science centres, environmental science and consultations, as well as state regulations of genetically modified organisms, the authors examine the image of these imagined lay persons and what role they play in expertise.

Making agents secure on the semantic Web

Agents were designed to collaborate and share information. While highly desirable for interoperability, this feature is scary from the security perspective. Illegal inferences, supported by semantic Web technology and ontologies, might enable users to access unauthorized information. In addition to semantic associations and replicated data with different sensitivity, malicious agents could also exploit statistical inferences. Although each agent in a system might behave in a desired and secure way, their combined knowledge could be used to disclose sensitive data. The research community must therefore develop and implement techniques that allow control over released data. To answer the questions related to information availability (scalability), data correctness (integrity), and access control in the presence of illegal inferences and undesired collaborations (confidentiality), researchers in semantic Web technologies (XML, RDF, DAML, and multiagent systems) and information system security need to collaborate. Indeed, given the Web's openness, dynamic nature, and diverse user population, developing secure Web services will require the collaboration of experts in different fields from both industry and academia. In turn, the intelligent Web of the future will facilitate unheard of support for collaborations and information management.

Crossing Borders: Toward a trans-disciplinary scientific identity

For several decades, researchers have addressed the topic of disciplines: how they come into existence, how they are institutionalized, and how they change over time. These discussions have focused on new disciplines and shifting paradigms in the natural and the social sciences, as well as in the humanities. Many of the shifts seem to require increasing reliance on what has been called interdisciplinary research--research carried out in teams whose members are experts in different fields. This article examines how a disciplinary shift was brought about in a single individual. The impetus for the shift is social and organizational, the process is undergone in a bureaucratic context, and the outcome is a kind of scientific identity that has not been explored specifically, that of a transdisciplinary identity in which competencies in the social and the life sciences are interwoven in daily practices.

Building the Chronology of Early Chinese History

The generally accepted chronology of Chinese history begins in 841 B.C. , seventy years before the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In Shiji , Sima Qian (c. 145–89 B.C. ) compiled a chronological table of twelve contemporary states starting with 841 B.C. Over the past two thousand years, scholars have tried to extend the dates farther back, but without agreement. The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project was recently commissioned by the Chinese Government to systematically reconstruct a reliable chronology of early Chinese history starting with the Xia Dynasty. After almost five years and the efforts of some 200 experts in different fields of study, a new chronological table of early China was disseminated in November 2000. It was anticipated that all future discussions on the absolute dates of early China would have to be based on the project's results. This paper discusses the main debates stimulated by the project and critically evaluates the methodology it employed. As a well-informed observer of the project, the author becomes aware of a number of intriguing issues regarding the study of the past in China, such as politics and the reconstruction of the past, the relationship between the archaeological record and the documentary record, and the compatibility of archaeological dates and historical dates. A discussion of these issues has broad implications for archaeology in other parts of the world.

Collaborative Design among Different Fields in Mobile-Agent Environments

Today's product design problems are increasingly large-scaled due to the diversification of engineering technologies as well as consumer needs. Designers must meet these needs rapidly, evaluate wide-ranging engineering requirements at the product design stage, and develop designs that distinguish their product from others in the marketplace. This type of work often involves multi disciplinary large-scaled optimization problems. When more than one discipline is involved in product design decision making, technical experts in different fields or divisions can benefit from sharing specific knowledge as they cooperatively and concurrently work to solve such problems. In this study, methodologies are constructed that feature mobile-agent systems capable of supporting collaborative product design activities.