Instances Of Use Research Articles

Do policy-makers find commissioned rapid reviews useful?

BackgroundRapid reviews are increasingly used by policy agencies to access relevant research in short timeframes. Despite the growing number of programmes, little is known about how rapid reviews are used by health policy agencies. This study examined whether and how rapid reviews commissioned using a knowledge brokering programme were used by Australian policy-makers.MethodsThis study used interview data to examine the use of 139 rapid reviews by health policy agencies that were commissioned between 2006 and 2015. Transcripts were coded to identify how rapid reviews were used, the type of policy processes in which they were used, what evidence of use was provided and what reasons were given when rapid reviews were not used. Fisher’s exact test was used to assess variation between types of agencies.ResultsOverall, 89% of commissioned rapid reviews were used by the commissioning agencies and 338 separate instances of use were identified, namely, on average, three uses per review. Policy-makers used reviews primarily to determine the details of a policy or programme, identify priorities for future action or investment, negotiate interjurisdictional decisions, evaluate alternative solutions for a policy problem, and communicate information to stakeholders. Some variation in use was observed across agencies. Reasons for non-use were related to changes in organisational structures, resources or key personnel in the commissioning agencies, or changes in the broader political environment.ConclusionsThis study found that almost all rapid reviews had been used by the agencies who commissioned them, primarily in policy and programme development, agenda-setting, and to communicate information to stakeholders. Reviews were used mostly in instrumental and conceptual ways and there was little evidence of symbolic use. Variations in use were identified across agencies. The findings suggest that commissioned rapid reviews are an effective means of providing timely relevant research for use in policy processes and that review findings may be applied in a variety of ways.

Nighthawk: Making Night Float Education and Patient Safety Soar.

Some residency programs responded to duty hour restrictions by implementing night rotations. Night supervision models can vary, resulting in potential patient safety issues and educational voids for residents. We evaluated the impact of multiple evidence-based interventions on resident satisfaction with supervision, perception of the education value of night rotations, and residents' use of online educational materials. The night team was augmented with an intern to assist with admissions and a senior resident (the "nighthawk") to supervise inpatient care and deliver a night medicine curriculum. We instituted a "must-call" list, with specific clinical events requiring mandatory attending notification, and reduced conflict in the role of the night float team. We studied patient contact, online curriculum use, residents' perceptions of nighthawk involvement, exposure to educational materials, and satisfaction with supervision. During the first half of academic year 2016-2017, 51% (64 of 126) of trainees were on the night medicine rotation. The nighthawk reviewed 1007 intern plans (15 per night; range, 6-36) and supervised 215 hands-on evaluations, including codes and rapid responses (3 per night; range, 0-12). The number of users of the online education materials increased by 85% (13 to 24), and instances of use increased 35% (85 to 115). The majority of residents (79%, 27 of 34) favored the new system. A nighthawk rotation, a must-call list, and reducing conflict in night team members' roles improved resident satisfaction with supervision and the night medicine rotation, resulting in increased communication.

An Agenda for Comparing Local Governance and Institutional Collective Action in Canada and the United States

As neighboring federal systems, Canada and the United States provide an opportunity to compare institutional collective action (ICA) by proximate local governments. After explaining the importance of understanding local governance in Canada and the United States in comparative context, the ICA framework is used to highlight propositions along two paths of inquiry. First, the ICA framework can be used to compare responses to ICA dilemmas in two distinct systems of local governance, focusing on the comparative instance of use and performance of ICA mechanisms. Second, the ICA framework can be used to analyze collaboration and paradiplomacy across the international border. Deploying the ICA framework for comparative research can improve our understanding of local governance and local government reform in both countries.

Revisiting nineteenth-century U.S. interventionism in Central America: capitalism, intrigue, and the obliteration of Greytown

ABSTRACTIn October 2016 the Congressional Research Service published its latest version of “Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad.” One of the “instances” occurred in 1854, and the entry reads in its entirety: “Naval forces bombarded and burned San Juan del Norte (Greytown) to avenge an insult to the American Minister to Nicaragua.”1 The following article posits that Greytown was not destroyed to avenge an insult to an American diplomat. Rather, two groups of prominent American businessmen used this and related events and their antecedents as pretexts to enlist the federal government in destroying Greytown. One group, representing a U.S.-owned isthmian steamboat company, sought to seize the port of Greytown as a private fiefdom; the other wanted it as the prospective capital of a new colony based on a huge, dubious land grant they owned.

Travailleur(euse) du sexe : de l’oscillation pragmatique d’un euphémisme

It is well-known that some themes more than others tend to produce euphemistic language in order to disguise realities that may otherwise be offensive. Prostitution stands out as a special example since it both evokes the taboo subject of sex and makes a commodity out of the body, which is considered demeaning in Western culture.The social discourse on prostitution is three-dimensional. First, it is shaped by such institutions as health service and justice system. Second, it is also shaped by prostitutes themselves who line up to participate in social debates and discussions on matters that concern their activities and their social status. Third, it is moulded by the media in such a way that it both reflects and influences public opinion. The term travailleur/travailleuse du sexe (along with travail du sexe, commerce du sexe, etc.), as used in these three types of discourse, has been present in French for a relatively short period of time. Euphemistic in all the above-mentioned instances of use, it nevertheless seems not to have the same pragmatic value in each particular communicative situation. Based on the French press corpus, we trace the evolution of the term in the French press as it has occurred in the last twenty years and demonstrate that its axiological weight is not unalterable but depends on its context and co-text.

Disclaiming epistemic access with ‘know’ and ‘remember’ in Finnish

This article describes the denial of epistemic access through the use of the verbs tietää ‘to know’ and muistaa ‘to remember’ in Finnish conversation. The authors show that both verbs tend to occur in the first person negative form. Each verb is likely to occur in certain formulaic syntactic formats that are in turn associated with particular sequential and interactional contexts, in which they perform certain functions beyond simple denial of knowing and remembering, such as hedging and rejecting a compliment. We show that the negative-initial format for both verbs is likely to occur in responsive position and to occur without any complements, while the pronoun-initial format is less likely to occur in responsive position and more likely to be followed by complements. Both these tendencies are stronger for the verb tietää ‘to know’ than the verb muistaa ‘to remember’. The verb tietää functions as an epistemic marker and as a projective fragment in our data. The clearest tendency for the verb muistaa emerging from our data is that it often occurs in contexts of reminiscing, involving several instances of use of the verb by different participants in close succession. The formats also manifest different degrees of phonetic reduction, at least partly due to differences in frequency of use. We suggest that the use of these verbs in Finnish conversation manifests the emergent and sequentially sensitive nature of grammar, as its design is motivated by its use in human interaction.

Novas estratégias ao telejornalismo como consequência da onipresença de câmeras: a narrativa em primeira pessoa

In this article, we intend to reflect about the journalistic use of contents generated by devices that visually register the world (such as surveillance cameras, amateurs cameras, cell phones, tablets and computers) in order to verify how the ubiquity of these technical devices has operated reconfigurations in television journalism. In search of a more precise approach, we investigate a news story generated by an amateur camera with narrative focus in first person. Therefore, we intend to observe the narrative strategies employed by the journalistic instance for use of this material - in order to investigate how it explores an aesthetic of flagrant (Bruno, 2013) and how this aesthetic is implemented in the news story from the appropriation of that Jost (2007) conceptualizes as violent images, based on the achievement of a perceptive shock to the viewer.

Antonymy in language use: From core members to ad hoc couplings

AbstractThis paper analyzes instances of use of conventionalized antonyms in sentences in which they generate a related contrast pair or enhance its contrast potential, e.g.

Are leaf-litter anurans with aquatic reproduction affected by distance to forest edge and presence of predators?

Both habitat fragmentation and predator abundance are known to affect habitat use. The current study analyzed the use of ponds by leaf-litter anurans in relation to distance to the forest edge and presence of aquatic predators in a forest fragment in Eastern Amazon. We selected three trails perpendicular to the forest edge, and in each trail we positioned nine plastic basins on the forest floor at different distances from the forest edge. From November 2011 to July 2012, each basin was surveyed monthly for presence of evidence of anuran breeding activity and aquatic predators. We recorded 112 instances of use of basins by four anuran species. While we did not observe any influence of distance to the forest edge on use of basins by Rhinella gr. margaritifera and Ameerega trivittata, there was differential use of basins by both species in relation to the presence of aquatic predators. In both cases, species used basins more often when aquatic predators were absent, suggesting that these species adopt strategies that reduce effects of predation and ensures the survival of some tadpoles, either by carrying tadpoles to ponds without predators or producing larger clutches.

“It’s Valid and Reliable” Is Not Enough

This review systematically appraises the quality of reporting of measures used in trials to evaluate the effectiveness of patient decision aids (PtDAs) and presents recommendations for minimum reporting standards. We reviewed measures of decision quality and decision process in 86 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from the 2011 Cochrane Collaboration systematic review of PtDAs. Data on development of the measures, reliability, validity, responsiveness, precision, interpretability, feasibility, and acceptability were independently abstracted by 2 reviewers. Information from 178 instances of use of measures was abstracted. Very few studies reported data on the performance of measures, with reliability (21%) and validity (16%) being the most common. Studies using new measures were less likely to include information about their psychometric performance. The review was limited to reporting of measures in studies included in the Cochrane review and did not consult prior publications. Very little is reported about the development or performance of measures used to evaluate the effectiveness of PtDAs in published trials. Minimum reporting standards are proposed to enable authors to prepare study reports, editors and reviewers to evaluate submitted papers, and readers to appraise published studies.

A statistical finite element model of the knee accounting for shape and alignment variability

By characterizing anatomical differences in size and shape between subjects, statistical shape models enable population-based evaluations in biomechanics. Statistical models have largely focused on individual bones with application to implant sizing, bone fracture and osteoarthritis; however, in joint mechanics applications, the statistical models must consider the geometry of multiple structures of a joint and their relative position. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to develop a statistical shape and alignment modeling (SSAM) approach to characterize the intersubject variability in bone morphology and alignment for the structures of the knee, to demonstrate the statistical model's ability to describe variability in a training set and to generate realistic instances for use in finite element evaluation of joint mechanics. The statistical model included representations of the bone and cartilage for the femur, tibia and patella from magnetic resonance images and relative alignment of the structures at a known, loaded position in an experimental knee simulator for a training set of 20 specimens. The statistical model described relationships or modes of variation in shape and relative alignment of the knee structures. By generating new ‘virtual subjects’ with physiologically realistic knee anatomy, the modeling approach can efficiently perform investigations into joint mechanics and implant design which benefit from population-based considerations.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine by self- or non-institutional therapists in South Korea: a community-based survey

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and utilization pattern of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) administered by oneself or by non-institutional practitioners in a general population in South Korea. MethodsNationwide, face-to-face surveys were conducted from September 1, 2011 to October 5, 2011. We conveniently selected the participants by using a proportional allocation method according to age, gender, and region. The use of CAM in the last year, the patterns of use, sources of information, and counseling objects were investigated in addition to respondents’ demographic characteristics. ResultsAmong the 1284 people approached, 915 respondents (71.3%) reported having had at least one CAM therapy during the past 12 months. Natural products were used the most frequently (58.8%). Unexpectedly, 82.6% out of 1740 therapies reported were self-administered CAM. Healthcare professionals were the source of information on CAM in only 5.6% of all instances of use, and only 17.7% of participants had consulted with doctors regarding CAM use. ConclusionsOwing to the widespread use of CAM in South Korea, researchers should focus on the safety and potential effectiveness of CAM therapy when self-administered by users or by unauthorized CAM practitioners.

Reassessing the All-Volunteer Force

When America ended the military draft in 1973 and transitioned to the All-Volunteer Force (AVF), the success of this ambitious enterprise was not guaranteed. Yet by the early 1990s, decisive victor...

Rapid Vaccination Using an Acetalated Dextran Microparticulate Subunit Vaccine Confers Protection Against Triplicate Challenge by Bacillus Anthracis

A rapid immune response is required to prevent death from Anthrax, caused by Bacillus anthracis. We formulated a vaccine carrier comprised of acetalated dextran microparticles encapsulating recombinant protective antigen (rPA) and resiquimod (a toll-like receptor 7/8 agonist). We were able to protect against triplicate lethal challenge by vaccinating twice (Days 0, 7) and then aggressively challenging on Days 14, 21, 28. A significantly higher level of antibodies was generated by day 14 with the encapsulated group compared to the conventional rPA and alum group. Antibodies produced by the co-encapsulated group were only weakly-neutralizing in toxin neutralization; however, survival was not dependent on toxin neutralization, as all vaccine formulations survived all challenges except control groups. Post-mortem culture swabs taken from the hearts of vaccinated groups that did not produce significant neutralizing titers failed to grow B. anthracis. Results indicate that protective antibodies are not required for rapid protection; indeed, cytokine results indicate that T cell protection may play a role in protection from anthrax. We report the first instance of use of a particulate carrier to generate a rapid protective immunity against anthrax.

FABIO PERINI SPA v LPC GROUP PLC

H1 Patents—Inquiry as to damages—Paper converting machinery—Scope of inquiry—Whether issue of supply or offer to supply could be revisited following disclosure on the inquiry—Res judicata—Abuse of process—Whether supply in the UK—Whether claimant could recover for instance of use of patented process not specifically pleaded in the action and not ruled upon at trial—Burden of proof on inquiry—Causation—“What would have been”—Remoteness—Whether claimant could only recover royalty-based damages—Loss of a chance—Assessment of loss of chance—Whether chance lost was supply of machine or entire converting line—Quantification of loss of chance

The family resemblance of technologically mediated work practices

Practice-based perspectives in information systems have established how, in every instance of use (i.e., work practices), the user exercises considerable discretion in their appropriation of the technology with local workarounds and situated improvisations. We analyse the relationship between technologically mediated work practices separated in time and space. Specifically, we analyse how similarity in work practices is achieved. Achieving absolutely similar (or ‘best’) practices is unattainable. Drawing on a longitudinal (2007–2011) case of ambulatory maintenance work in the oil and gas sector, we identify and discuss three constituting strategies (differentiation, assembling and punctuation) through which a family resemblance of – similar but not the same – work practices is crafted. We discuss how, in the absence of an essentialist criterion, similarity is subject to pragmatic but also political negotiations.

The Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): Approach, status, function and use

The Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is rapidly becoming a powerful instrument for shaping language education policies in Europe and beyond. The task of relating language policies, language curricula, teacher education and training, textbook and course design and content, examinations and certification systems to the CEFR is currently being undertaken by a growing number of public and private stakeholders in all European states. Most of these stakeholders recognise the real reference value of the document and apply the principles on which it was based most appropriately. There are instances of use, however, that indicate that reference may be made to the CEFR as a Council of Europe document merely for the purpose of recognition on “the educational market” without real application of its basic values and concepts. In some other cases the CEFR may be referred to in an attempt to introduce one normative curriculum for uniform language education in Europe – contrary to the intention of the authoring team and to Council of Europe principles, and indeed to the very nature and content of the CEFR itself.

Knowing how to stop: ceasing prescribing when the medicine is no longer required.

Stopping prescriptions for medicines that patients no longer need is an important part of good prescribing practice. Yet, unlike the volumes of scientific evidence on starting medications, research to guide best practice prescribing cessation is rare. This would not be a concern if we could be confident that prescribing is routinely ceased when this is appropriate. There are reasons to believe that this is not the case. The concept of prescribing inertia provides a framework for understanding why prescribing might continue when it should not. Classic examples of short-term prescribing that should suffice include use of benzodiazepines, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, including cyclooxygenase [COX]-2 inhibitors), clopidogrel after stent insertion, and many instances of use of gastrointestinal medications such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Pharmacoepidemiological evidence, growing problems with polypharmacy, and analyses of prescriber behavior also suggest that prescribing may often not stop when it should. There is little evidence to indicate whether prescribers perceive failure to cease prescribing to be a problem for prescribing practice. However, relevant indirect evidence suggests that the lack of research on how best to stop prescribing may be contributing to this problem.

Trans-scleral dye injection during vitreous surgery to identify clinically undetectable retinal breaks causing retinal detachment

Finding all retinal breaks is a critical step in rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery in order to prevent persistent/recurrent retinal detachment (RD). We describe a technique of trans-scleral dye injection into the subretinal fluid under the detached retina in the context of recurrent/persistent RD in vitrectomized eyes, in order to determine the location of clinically unidentified (occult) retinal breaks causing RD. Retrospective consecutive single-surgeon case-series analysis of patients presenting with a repeat RRD after having been treated with pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) as the method of primary RRD repair. Trans-scleral injection of subretinal vision blue (TSVB) was used to help identify retinal breaks during repeat vitrectomy. successful detection of a break; location of breaks; persistent retinal attachment; final visual acuity (VA); complications. There were 395 cases of RRD during the 3-year period reviewed. TSVB was used for eight instances in seven eyes. All eight instances were repeat RRD. TSVB facilitated occult break detection in 7/8 instances of use. Breaks were at or adjacent to the previous cryo site in three instances. Persistent retinal attachment was achieved in 5/7 cases. Final VA increased in 5/7 cases. There was no evidence of complications as a result of TSVB injection. TSVB coupled with indentation to vent a plume of dye through an occult break during vitreous surgery is a relatively simple technique that may facilitate the identification of occult retinal breaks and help achieve anatomical success and functional success.

Constructions and language change (review)

Reviewed by: Constructions and language change Graeme Trousdale Constructions and language change. Ed. by Alexander Bergs and Gabriele Diewald. (Trends in linguistics, studies and monographs 194.) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2008. Pp. 271. ISBN 9783110198669. $137 (Hb). This book is a collection of articles that are concerned with the role that grammatical constructions play in determining or shaping ways in which language changes. It arose from a workshop on the topic at the seventeenth International Conference on Historical Linguistics in 2005, held in Madison, Wisconsin. Rather than providing individuated accounts of the component parts of the book, in this review I outline some of the themes and major issues that cut across the individual contributions. Unequal space devoted to the contributions in the volume should not be viewed as a reflection on the quality of individual articles; I believe each contribution to have significantly furthered our knowledge about various aspects of the mechanisms of, and motivations for, constructional change. As a whole, the book presents a catholic approach to the nature of the construction and its role in change: certainly no one variant of construction grammar is privileged in the book. Since many of the papers are particularly concerned with the relationship between constructional change and grammaticalization, this will be the point of departure for the review. Adopting a radical construction grammar (Croft 2001) approach, Elizabeth Closs Traugott ('The grammaticalization of NP of NP patterns') analyzes the development of English quantifiers and degree modifiers (such as Modern English a bit or not a jot) that originate in binominal expressions (NP of NP) where the first noun is, for example, Old English bita 'bite' or Middle English schrede 'a portion cut or broken from something'. She stresses that constructions have always been important in grammaticalization research, but that the notion of construction in earlier work is not the same as that used by practitioners of the different variants of construction grammar. In much of the earlier work on grammaticalization, the term 'construction' was used for the syntagmatic string in which grammaticalizing morphemes were contextualized, an issue that the editors of the volume raise in their introduction. Traugott's article discusses important issues regarding the nature of constructional knowledge and of constructional taxonomies, matters that are further addressed by Mirjam Fried in her article on the development of Old Czech participial adjectives, 'Constructions and constructs: Mapping a shift between predication and attribution'. Like Traugott, Fried observes that language change does not originate in constructions (abstractions) but in constructs (understood as particular instances of use). Particularly, she claims that 'constructions are understood as "blueprints" (generalizations over constructs) and as such presuppose variation and change as an inherent part of grammar' (74). Similarly, in 'Constructional idioms as products of linguistic change: The aan het + infinitive construction in Dutch', Geert Booij focuses on the notion of this particular microconstruction as forming part of a hierarchy. This further refines the theme of constructional taxonomies, their nature, and their role in a synchronic grammar as a product of particular diachronic processes, a theme that runs through the volume. Booij's discussion includes an analysis of the important notion of constructional layering, which may be linked to the three-way division proposed by Traugott of constructional types as micro-, meso-, and macroconstructions. His presentation of aan het + infinitive as part of a constructional inheritance tree (98) can be fruitfully compared to the position taken by Malcolm Ross's article, 'Negative verbal clause constructions in Puyuma: Exploring constructional disharmony'. Ross suggests a network approach to constructional organization. Although Booij's article is not concerned specifically with diachrony, but rather with the role played by constructional idioms in the synchronic grammar, the contribution is nonetheless of great value to those working on language change, since the development of constructional idioms is a characteristic of diachronic lexicalization and grammaticalization (see further Brinton & Traugott 2005). Idiomaticization and its relationship with grammaticalization and lexicalization is a process also addressed by Wallace Chafe's short but sweet article, 'Syntax [End Page 390] as a repository of historical relics', on the (quasi)functionality of elements in syntactic structure. Chafe's example (that's gonna...