Grant-funded Research Research Articles

Early Medieval silver pearl from Lumbe's garden cemetery at Prague Castle: Composition, manufacture, deterioration, and conservation

As part of our grant-funded research into the metallic artefacts excavated in Lumbe's garden cemetery at Prague Castle (a site where the members of the nobility were buried during the early Medieval period), a silver pearl (grave 100, object 27) dating from the ninth century and found in a grave of one of the wealthiest individuals was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, metallographic examination, and the manufacture of a replica enabled us to identify the process of the pearl's manufacture, the material which was used for its fabrication, and the extent of the pearl's deterioration. The pearl is a masterpiece of filigree and granulation work. Analyses have shown the nature of the soldering technique and the types of materials used by early Medieval craftsmen to manufacture it. The analyses also highlighted the nature of the pearl's deterioration, involving intergranular corrosion resulting in the embrittlement of the silver, as well as indications of an aggressive restoration treatment which had been performed on the pearl.

Reflection: Research by design: Design-based research and the higher degree research student

One of my first thoughts upon being asked to revisit this article (Kennedy-Clark, 2013) was to reflect upon how much research has been done on design-based research as a methodology. So, in this response, I will draw upon some of the main ideas that are coming from recent studies and consider this in the context of Higher Degree Research (HDR). When I was first introduced to design-based research, it was the methodological approach being used in a grant-funded research project at the Centre for Computer Supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo Lab) at the University of Sydney, Australia, where we were building an educational virtual world that was based on Harvard’s River City . At the time, most of the literature on design-based research was grounded firmly in the learning sciences and came from leading researchers in the field, such as Barab and Squire’s (2004) seminal text and from research groups such as the Design-Based Research Collective (2003).

Clinical Social Work, Science, and Doctoral Education: Schisms or Synergy?

Recent trends in social work have widened the schism between science and clinical social work. Ph.D. programs have become ever more oriented to grant-funded research and to preparing graduates for research-dominated careers. Academics have been developing a definition of a “science of social work” so the profession can claim its scientific base. The evidence-based practice movement and funders’ mandates to use evidence-supported practice techniques have created dilemmas for practitioners, whose views of these developments, positive and negative, are described. Some now argue for “practice-based research,” a model promoting practitioner involvement in research. Finally, rather than moving toward enhanced research and practice synergy in doctoral education, “practice doctorates” in social work are now being developed. Suggestions for enhancing connections between science and clinical social work are offered.

Development of the CoMac Adherence Descriptor™: a linguistically-based survey for segmenting patients on their worldviews

Nonadherence to prescribed medication and healthy behaviors is a pressing health care issue. Much research has been conducted in this area under a variety of labels, such as compliance, disease management and, most recently, adherence. However, the complex factors related to predicting and, more importantly, understanding and explaining adherence, have nevertheless remained elusive. However, through an in-depth linguistic analysis of patient talk, the International Center for Intercultural Communication (ICIC) at Indiana University has produced a psycholinguistic coding system that uses patients’ own language to cluster them into distinct groups based on their worldviews. ICIC’s studies have shown, for example, that patients reveal their fundamental perceptions about themselves and their environment in their life narratives; clustering of individual patients based on these different perceptions is possible via the use of differential language in survey questions, and differential language can be used to tailor messages for individual patients in a manner that these individuals prefer over generically worded communication. In grant-funded research, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the ICIC reviewed the literature and identified three basic psychosocial tenets related to adherence: control orientation, based on locus of control research; agency, based on self-efficacy; and affect or attitude and emotion. These three constructs were selected because, in the published literature, they have been consistently found to be connected to patient adherence. Based on this research, a survey, the CoMac Descriptor™ was developed. This report shows that The Descriptor™ questions and responses are valid and reliable in segmenting patients across psychosocial constructs, which will have positive implications for health care providers and patients.

Negotiating a Text Mining License for Faculty Researchers

<p>This case study examines strategies used to leverage the library’s existing journal licenses to obtain a large collection of full-text journal articles in extensible markup language (XML) format; the right to text mine the collection; and the right to use the collection and the data mined from it for grant-funded research to develop biomedical natural language processing (BNLP) tools. Researchers attempted to obtain content directly from PubMed Central (PMC). This attempt failed due to limits on use of content in PMC. Next researchers and their library liaison attempted to obtain content from contacts in the technical divisions of the publishing industry. This resulted in an incomplete research data set. Then researchers, the library liaison, and the acquisitions librarian collaborated with the sales and technical staff of a major science, technology, engineering, and medical (STEM) publisher to successfully create a method for obtaining XML content as an extension of the library’s typical acquisition process for electronic resources. Our experience led us to realize that text mining rights of full-text articles in XML format should routinely be included in the negotiation of the library’s licenses.</p>

The British Society of Echocardiography - a legacy of leadership.

Echo Research and Practice continues the 23-year evolution of the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE). Founded in the summer of 1990, the society has led the development of echocardiography to the point where it is one of the foundation stones of modern cardiovascular practice in the UK (www.bsecho.org/the-society/society-info/). For over 15 years, the society has run a programme of individual accreditation, which is recognised all over the world as a benchmark of competence; for 10 years the society has been accrediting departments against rigorous quality standards, and most recently, has extended accreditation out of the echo department and into the wider hospital, with accreditation in intensive care echo. Throughout this period, the society has run a portfolio of highly successful learning opportunities and an in-house publication, ECHO, which is regularly read by our 3000 society members. Much that the BSE has achieved has been influential on the international stage, as have many senior members of the society. Drawing on its history, the society has chosen this moment to launch a new educational/intellectual venture, Echo Research and Practice, an inclusive broad-ranging journal aimed at those who use echocardiography in their every day practice. As the world of echo is changing so fast and in so many ways, there needs to be a significant volume of high-quality research to underpin the evolving practice. Technological developments have already placed an echo machine in the palm of the examiner's hand. Miniaturisation will simply increase the unstoppable trend towards ultrasound of the heart being used at the point of care. Already, evidence has shown that novice ultrasonographers can be rapidly trained to the level where they can correctly interpret scans with an acceptable frequency, but more importantly they can come to a more accurate clinical diagnosis rather than using clinical skills alone (1). A high-quality protocol-led practice in handheld ultrasound could have a major impact on the accuracy and timeliness of patient care. But this practice cannot occur without significant evaluation of technologies, of models of practice and of the ultimate clinical outcome. Similarly, new indications are continually developing that the whole science of cardio-oncology, virtually unheard of before the widespread use of trastuzumab, is critically dependent on echocardiography and, increasingly, the new technological innovations such as the two-dimensional strain (2). The use of echocardiography during cardiac anaesthesia is very well established, but increasingly it is a vital tool for both diagnosis and monitoring therapy on the intensive care unit. The BSE wishes submissions to this journal not to be confined to the usual avenues of the academic cardiology department (although these will, of course, be most welcome), but from all areas, and all disciplines, where echo is being used in routine practice. One of the great strengths of UK echocardiography is the role of dedicated cardiac physiologists, who undertake and independently report most of the scans in the country. The BSE is a genuine joint venture between the medical and the scientific professional groups. Recent career development for cardiac physiologists has seen the emergence of the role of a registered clinical scientist. This is a vital process and involves a much greater requirement for trainees to become involved in primary research as part of the academic credentialing system. Much of the valuable output from this process will go unrecognised unless there are sufficient opportunities for publication. While the system known as Modernising Scientific Careers is UK-based (3), the requirement for trainees, scientific, medical or otherwise, to publish primary research is increasing worldwide. It is vital that there is sufficient opportunity in the world literature to receive these data. There is a relative shortage of international echocardiography literature, and many journals have now broadened to encompass multimodality imaging. While there are many advantages in a joined-up approach between modalities, inevitably those articles that are of primary interest to echocardiographers, as opposed to imaging clinicians, are published in smaller numbers in these journals. Echo Research and Practice has been set up on an open access basis, because the BSE feels passionately that knowledge, freely available, will act as a catalyst to the development of more echo research and, by this, a virtuous circle of ever-increasing knowledge and innovation. This view is in line with the recommendations of the Finch report (4), which stated that a direction of travel towards open access or hybrid journals should be set, particularly when research is publicly funded. Many funding organisations (for instance the British Heart Foundation) insist upon grant-funded research being published in an open access manner (5). The BSE is rightly proud of its history and this journal is the next chapter. It is the society's gift to its members, to the world of echo research, but mostly to the patients who encounter this most important technology with an increasing frequency.

It has been said that, “There are three degrees of falsehoods: Lies, damn lies, and statistics”

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) researchers have historically eschewed population-based, inferential statistics, preferring to conduct and analyze repeated observations of each participant's responding under carefully controlled and manipulated experimental conditions using single-case designs (SCDs). In addition, early attempts to adapt traditional statistical procedures for use with SCDs often involved trade-offs between experimental and statistical control that most ABA researchers have found undesirable. The statistical methods recommended for use with SCDs in the current special issue represent a welcome departure from such prior suggestions in that the current authors are proposing that SCD researchers add statistical methods to their current practices in ways that do not alter traditional SCD practices. Further refinement and use of such methods would (a) facilitate the inclusion of research using SCDs in meta-analyses and (b) aid in the development and planning of grant-funded research using SCD methods. Collaboration between SCD researchers and statisticians, particularly on research that demonstrates the benefit of these methods, may help promote their acceptance and use in ABA.

Designing and evaluating a STEM teacher learning opportunity in the research university

This study examines the design and evaluation strategies for a year-long teacher learning and development experience, including their effectiveness, efficiency and recommendations for strategic redesign. Design characteristics include programmatic features and outcomes: cognitive, affective and motivational processes; interpersonal and social development; and performance activities. Program participants were secondary math and science teachers, partnered with engineering faculty mentors, in a research university-based education and support program. Data from multiple sources demonstrated strengths and weaknesses in design of the program's learning environment, including: face-to-face and via digital tools; on-site and distance community interactions; and strategic evaluation tools and systems. Implications are considered for the strategic design and evaluation of similar grant-funded research experiences intended to support teacher learning, development and transfer.

PCOR, CER, and CBPR: Alphabet Soup or Complementary Fields of Health Research?

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) and community- based participatory research (CBPR) are two fields of research that do not have a history of strong collaboration. However, CER and CBPR researchers could benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration to design and implement relevant, timely, action-oriented research. This commentary explores field-specific definitions of stakeholders and then outlines various roles stakeholders might play within grant-funded research. Questions such as "What stakeholders should be involved?" and "How are stakeholders involved?" are addressed. The goal of this commentary is to highlight how the expertise and experiences of CBPR investigators can enhance the field of CER and to describe strategies for encouraging stakeholder involvement in CER research through the lens of CBPR. It is recommended that a team-based approach to conducting stakeholder-engaged CER encourages multiple stakeholders and "end users" to contribute their diverse expertise to the research process and contributes to the development of research with an increased likelihood of improving patient health and healthcare.

Integrating Grant‐funded Research into the Undergraduate Biology Curriculum Using IMG‐ACT

It has become clear in current scientific pedagogy that the emersion of students in the scientific process in terms of designing, implementing, and analyzing experiments is imperative for their education; as such, it has been our goal to model this active learning process in the classroom and laboratory in the context of a genuine scientific question. Toward this objective, the National Science Foundation funded a collaborative research grant between a primarily undergraduate institution and a research-intensive institution to study the chemotactic responses of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida F1. As part of the project, a new Bioinformatics course was developed in which undergraduates annotate relevant regions of the P. putida F1 genome using Integrated Microbial Genomes Annotation Collaboration Toolkit, a bioinformatics interface specifically developed for undergraduate programs by the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. Based on annotations of putative chemotaxis genes in P. putida F1 and comparative genomics studies, undergraduate students from both institutions developed functional genomics research projects that evolved from the annotations. The purpose of this study is to describe the nature of the NSF grant, the development of the Bioinformatics lecture and wet laboratory course, and how undergraduate student involvement in the project that was initiated in the classroom has served as a springboard for independent undergraduate research projects.

Practicality and Philosophy of Journal Publication

A year ago November, I was transitioning to the Journal of Geoscience Education (JGE) Editor-in-Chief position, and JGE was transitioning to a new publishing company, Allen Press. While I had been involved with JGE for many years, that was the first time I needed to start thinking about the production side of publishing an academic society journal. Within months, it became strikingly clear that practical considerations can sometimes clash with philosophical views on the right way to share research and ideas on teaching and learning and with our community. For example, there is a strong movement in the U.S. and Britain for full open access to all articles derived from grant-funded research (see p. 17, The Economist, April 14, 2012). This is a philosophical perspective that I agree with, but the practical side is that for a society (vs. for-profit) academic publication, we also need to take into account perspectives on member benefits and limited budgets. In this first year as journal Editor, it also became clear that the geosciences education community that JGE directly serves looks like a Venn diagram, with National Association of Geosciences Teachers (NAGT) members comprising one community group and JGE authors comprising a second community group. I was quite surprised to learn that the intersection of these groups is actually quite small. NAGT had an average of 1,289 members in 2010-2011(NAGT Annual Reports, 2010 [http://www.nagt.org/files/nagt/organization/ 2010_annual_report.pdf] and 2011 [http://nagt.org/files/nagt/ private/manduca_report.pdf]). During the same time frame, 187 authors published in JGE (most as coauthored papers), yet only 31 of the authors were also NAGT members. I suspect there is a third group that JGE serves, but one that is difficult to quantify: those individuals who turn to JGE as a resource for improving their teaching and student learning of the geosciences by reading the archived open access articles, but who are not members or authors themselves. What are the implications of these data? At a philosophical level, it is rewarding to see that the journal serves a community that extends well beyond the society of its origin. It is clearly valued by this broader community because authors are choosing to publish their intellectual ideas and research in it, which benefits NAGT members and nonmembers alike. But it is also disquieting because the data suggest that most authors do not see a compelling reason to join NAGT, and most NAGT members are not choosing to publish in JGE. To be sustainable, practical, and a more robust community, this situation needs to change. It is obvious that both groups highly value geosciences education. NAGT has as its mission the goals of fostering improvement in the teaching of the Earth sciences at all levels, emphasizing the societal significance of the Earth sciences to the public, and disseminating knowledge in this field (http:// www.nagt.org/index.html). JGE authors are doing just that - disseminating what they have learned, and thereby improving teaching and learning in the geosciences. …

The Value of Clinical Needs Assessments for Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Most entrepreneurial ventures fail long before the core technology can be brought to the marketplace because of disconnects in performance and usability measures such as accuracy, cost, complexity, assay stability, and time requirements between technology developers' specifications and needs of the end-users. By going through a clinical needs assessment (CNA) process, developers will gain vital information and a clear focus that will help minimize the risks associated with the development of new technologies available for use within the health care system. This article summarizes best practices of the principal investigators of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering point-of-care (POC) centers within the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering POC Technologies Research Network. Clinical needs assessments are particularly important for product development areas that do not sufficiently benefit from traditional market research, such as grant-funded research and development, new product lines using cutting-edge technologies developed in start-up companies, and products developed through product development partnerships for low-resource settings. The objectives of this article were to (1) highlight the importance of CNAs for development of POC devices, (2) discuss methods applied by POC Technologies Research Network for assessing clinical needs, and (3) provide a road map for future CNAs.

How to Keep Your Integrity When Performing Sponsored (Imaging) Trials

The broadening of imaging capabilities and the increasing capacity of imaging to quantitate biologic processes has increased industry interest in using imaging methods in new drug development. Investigators participating in industry-sponsored trials should be aware of how such trials differ from investigator-initiated, grant-funded research. In particular, investigators should be cognizant of possible ethical conflicts in the care of patients, the development and analysis of data, and issues related to the dissemination of results.

Interview with Aimee McRae-Clark, Pharm.D., BCPP

Dr. Aimee McRae-Clark is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. Her clinical and research expertise is in substance use disorders, pharmacotherapy, and dual diagnoses. Aside from educating students, Dr. McRae-Clark is involved in grant-funded research as well as producing numerous publications. The following interview provides insight into Dr. McRae-Clark's practice, as well as advice on research, to help pharmacists generate ideas on how substance abuse and dependence might be integrated into their practice.As a Pharm.D. student, I had the opportunity to do a rotation on an inpatient substance use unit. By specializing in substance use disorders, I felt that my pharmacy background would be ideal not only in developing a better understanding of the effects of illicit drugs, but also for developing potential treatments in this area.I received my BS in pharmacy from the University of Georgia and completed my post-baccalaureate Pharm.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). I continued at MUSC to complete a residency in psychopharmacy practice and a two-year National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) research fellowship. I was fortunate to then be awarded a K23 Mentored Career Development Award from NIDA, which provided support and resources for five additional years of focused training in drug abuse research.I spend most of my time overseeing ongoing research projects, writing manuscripts, and developing new grant submissions. I am also actively involved in teaching and mentoring junior faculty.Pharmacists can play a variety of roles in research. I have served as Prinicipal Investigator (PI) on several NIH-funded grants. I have also participated as a co-investigator on multiple additional projects, providing guidance on medication dosage, drug interactions, and regulatory requirements (such as obtaining INDs from the FDA). I work with a multidisciplinary team with complementary areas of expertise. For example, my co-investigators typically include addiction psychiatrists, a physician assistant, clinical psychologists, and statisticians.I am currently PI of an R01 from NIDA evaluating the efficacy of buspirone in conjunction with contingency management and motivational enhancement therapy for the treatment of marijuana dependence. I am also co-PI of a component of a large center grant focused on women's health; our component is utilizing a pharmacological stressor to explore gender differences in cocaine craving. I am also involved in a multisite medication treatment trial for cocaine dependence, as well as several other clinical laboratory studies.My current R01 is by far my favorite project to date. The project includes pharmacogenetic analyses to determine if treatment outcome can be predicted, and also incorporates a novel assay for medication compliance. I feel that my expertise as a clinical pharmacist was instrumental in developing the methodology, and was also a major factor in my receiving the grant.The NIH website is a great place to start to find funding opportunities. Also, the CPNP research committee is actively working to compile information on research training opportunities to help members interested in getting involved in research.Good resources include the National Institute on Drug Abuse website (www.nih.nida.gov) for information on new research findings and upcoming conferences, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website (http://www.samhsa.gov/treatment/) for statistics, treatment options, and reports.I find it best to have several manuscripts in different “stages” of development. For example, at the moment, I have a manuscript that is being reviewed by a journal, another that I am completing writing the discussion, and a third for which the analysis is currently in progress. I try to “block” one morning or afternoon a week to devote to writing, although my schedule does not always cooperate.When I have a new idea for a project, I will often discuss it with my previous collaborators, and ask for advice on other individuals who may have the expertise needed for that particular project. I also find attending annual meetings, and particularly attending poster sessions, are great opportunities to meet and talk with researchers with similar interests and potentially start new collaborations.

A Normal Psychology of Pain

Christopher Eccleston is the Director of the Centre for Pain Research at The University of Bath, which is a wholly grant-funded research center focussed on innovation in behavioral science and pain. He is also Coordinating Editor of the Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Cochrane Review Group.

Where Have All the Teachers Gone? The Selling Out of Social Work Education

This article addresses a significant challenge in social work education: the move to emphasize research and the downgrading of teaching and practice. We argue that this is a disturbing trend that has the potential to diminish the education of social work students. Grant-funded research has become the end all of social work education. We propose that the profession needs to endorse the scholar-teacher-practitioner that will be able to combine scholarship, teaching, and practice so that students will benefit from teachers who bring their scholarship and practice into the classroom. Further, we argue that teaching requires a great deal of investment and the focus on grant-funded research ignores the investment needed for teaching.

Culture Counts—Sustainable Inpatient Computerized Surveillance Across Duke University Health System

The authors report on the managerial and logistical details of deploying a computerized adverse drug event surveillance system that was at first a grant-funded research project and ultimately was changed to a sustained safety-monitoring application serving 3 different hospitals. Surveillance was deployed in 3 phases to 2 community-based hospitals and an academic medical center. A logic-based rules engine surveyed electronic records for laboratory, medication, and demographic information indicative of safety concerns. Potential adverse events triggered manual chart review by pharmacists to verify patient harm. During Phase 1, the research team created trigger rules for each hospital. In Phase 2, the trigger review was transitioned to hospital personnel and rule sets were reshaped for specific hospital needs. In Phase 3, surveillance was integrated into daily work flows and organizational balanced scorecards where it was accepted as a quantitative measure of medication safety performance. Computerized surveillance helps detect potentially harmful events regardless of hospital size. Active leadership, change-tolerant culture, and hospital pharmacy practice models significantly impact successful adoption. Entrenched cultural issues impeded sustainability at the academic center but not at the 2 community hospitals. Tailoring surveillance to the needs of different inpatient settings is crucial to developing a sustainable model.

RSS Feeds from STM Databases: Innovative Possibilities.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds have been used in academic libraries to follow new information posted on blogs, wikis and web sites. Science, Technology and Medicine (STM) databases also offer RSS feeds which can be used by science librarians to track research being conducted in their subject areas. The knowledge gained from these constantly updated sources can help in collection development activities. RSS feeds can also be used to highlight grant-funded research and monitor trends in Open Access publishing. This article documents some unique ways of using RSS feeds from STM databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using action research to challenge stereotypes

Action research has a long history of focus on social justice. This article examines such a project, a grant-funded action research project in Australia designed for a group of 14 teachers to study boys’ writing and their attitudes about writing. I argue that action research was a crucial methodology to help the participating teachers frame boys’ education issues as nuanced and complex from the beginning, and they were thus able to look past overgeneralizations and stereotypes that circulate in the media and popular books about boys. I list some of these stereotypes and then compare them to the teachers’ action research findings. Finally, I explore implications for action research educators and project directors.

Characteristics and impact of grant-funded research: a case study of the library and information science field

This paper reports on a bibliometric study of the characteristics and impact of research in the library and information science (LIS) field which was funded through research grant programs, and compares it with research that received no extra funding. Seven core LIS journals were examined to identify articles published in 1998 that acknowledge research grant funding. The distribution of these articles by various criteria (e.g., topic, affiliation, funding agency) was determined. Their impact as indicated by citation counts during 1998–2008 was evaluated against that of articles without acknowledging extra funding and published in the same journals in the same year using citation data collected from Scopus’ Citation Tracker. The impact of grant-funded research as measured by citation counts was substantially higher than that of other research, both overall and in each journal individually. Scholars from outside LIS core institutions contributed heavily to grant-funded research. The two highest-impact publications by far reported non-grant-based research, and grant-based funding of research reported in core LIS journals was biased towards the information retrieval (IR) area, particularly towards research on IR systems. The percentage of articles reporting grant-funded research was substantially higher in information-oriented journals than in library-focused ones.