Interdisciplinary Information Research Articles

Reviews of Environmental Health, 2004

Reviews of Environmental Health, 2004

Interdisciplinary information input and output of a nano-technology project

The input and output information of a national project of Japan for nano-technology will be analysed. In 1996 Japanese government stipulated a guideline to evaluate national technology projects on economic criteria as well as technological ones. In addition to the criteria intrinsic to economy but extrinsic to technology and unfriendly to technologists, however, another view more intrinsic to technology may be useful as well. This study will attempt to complement the governmentally stipulated evaluation method with a bibliometric one. Considering the interdisciplinary approach as a merit of national projects, this study will analyse how interdisciplinary information was used as input and was published as output by the project. Focussing on the publication behaviours of the project, information flow from technology to science or a development pattern of science pulled by technology will be discussed. Finally, the matching of the evaluation criteria to technology development and the friendliness of evaluation methods to technologists will be discussed.

Border Crossing in a Research University

As researchers continue to probe across disciplinary boundaries in their work, it is essential for research libraries to support their need to consult, learn, and analyze information resources that are far afield. This support is increasingly difficult to provide during fiscally tight periods yet today's stretched economic climate may help libraries facilitate cooperative ventures where they might occur. Our exploratory study reports on a university-wide collection monograph approval profiling project undertaken in a research library and focuses on the results with its Geography Department. Analysis of the approval profile for books to be purchased by Geography for its faculty and students can provide guide-posts to actively nurture interdisciplinary information environments within and across disciplinary boundaries.

Black Studies Scholarly Communication

Because there is a rift among Black Studies thinkers concerning whether the field should both embrace scholarship and activism, the present work considers whether information transfer between the different intellectual camps exists. Using citation analysis and ideas such as “boundary crossing” and “borrowing” to describe relations relevant to interdisciplinary information transfer, it is argued that there are reciprocal patterns of communication between the two intellectual camps. However, because writings of an activist nature by Black Studies thinkers in traditional disciplines are repressed, these elements of their writings are forced to resurface outside the academic mainstream.

Introduction to special section on sensitivity analysis and summary of NCSU/USDA workshop on sensitivity analysis.

This guest editorial is a summary of the NCSU/USDA Workshop on Sensitivity Analysis held June 11-12, 2001 at North Carolina State University and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Risk Assessment and Cost Benefit Analysis. The objective of the workshop was to learn across disciplines in identifying, evaluating, and recommending sensitivity analysis methods and practices for application to food-safety process risk models. The workshop included presentations regarding the Hazard Assessment and Critical Control Points (HACCP) framework used in food-safety risk assessment, a survey of sensitivity analysis methods, invited white papers on sensitivity analysis, and invited case studies regarding risk assessment of microbial pathogens in food. Based on the sharing of interdisciplinary information represented by the presentations, the workshop participants, divided into breakout sessions, responded to three trigger questions: What are the key criteria for sensitivity analysis methods applied to food-safety risk assessment? What sensitivity analysis methods are most promising for application to food safety and risk assessment? and What are the key needs for implementation and demonstration of such methods? The workshop produced agreement regarding key criteria for sensitivity analysis methods and the need to use two or more methods to try to obtain robust insights. Recommendations were made regarding a guideline document to assist practitioners in selecting, applying, interpreting, and reporting the results of sensitivity analysis.

Quality management and experiences with the "cancer center"

The goal of quality management in oncology is to achieve the best possible therapeutic outcome. Improved diagnostic methods, more sophisticated therapies in various fields of specialisation and the increased implementation of multimodal therapies have led to considerable advances in the treatment of certain tumors in recent years. However, these advances depend on an interdisciplinary approach necessitating an increased division of labour. These in turn, because of the more complex organizational requirements within hospitals, make greater demands on quality management. In October 1999 first steps were taken in the Klinikum rechts der Isar der TU München to organisationally integrate the various institutions involved in the treatment of patients with gastro-intestinal tumors. All the oncologic competence available was bundled in a Cancer Center thus creating the structural prerequisites for interdisciplinary quality management. A daily multidisciplinary Tumor Board, a computer-supported interdisciplinary information and communications system, an interdisciplinary Disease Management Team, an outpatients department and a study centre were all called into life. By the time the outpatients department went into service in November 2001 all the other structural innovations underlying interdisciplinary quality management had already been implemented. Since October 1999 2438 patients had been presented to the Tumor Board, 74% of them with primarily curative intent. The disease-oriented structure of the Cancer Center has proved worthwhile. The impact of the structure on the quality of processes and results, however, has yet to be evaluated.

The Information Work of Interdisciplinary Humanities Scholars: Exploration and Translation

Interdisciplinary inquiry has become more pervasive in recent decades, yet we still know little about the conduct of this type of research or the information problems associated with it. Through a qualitative study of the work practices of interdisciplinary humanities scholars, we examined the activities and resources involved in scholarship that crosses disciplinary boundaries. The results highlight fundamental features of work in the humanities in relation to the interdisciplinary processes scholars use to extend their knowledge base and craft texts for new audiences. Relying heavily on informal collaborative relationships, scholars manage their interdisciplinary information work by developing strategies for exploring and translating information from unfamiliar domains. The networks of activities and resources built by interdisciplinary humanities scholars offer a working framework for developing digital research libraries to support complex and integrative scholarly work.

Resignification and Cultural Re/Production in Japanese Television Commercials

Resignification and Cultural Re/Production in Japanese Television Commercials

Library Instruction in an Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program: Challenges, Opportunities, and Reflections

Teaching library and information skills to students in interdisciplinary areas presents a unique set of challenges for a variety of reasons. Focusing on the experience of delivering multiple, progressive library instruction sessions to undergraduates in the interdisciplinary Environmental Program at the University of Vermont, this article discusses both challenges and opportunities involved in teaching interdisciplinary students library and information skills in the context of our current electronic information environment.

Parchments of Gender: Deciphering the Bodies of Antiquity

Parchments of Gender builds up an important source of inter-disciplinary information for the study of gender and the body in ancient history. The central and unifying theme is the body's relation to gender. With essays covering the ancient communities of Greece, Rome, and Judaea, the volume argues that the body is culturally constructed and not a sign of what is natural. Ancient bodies are parchments of gender: textual skins on which gender is inscribed and on which can be traced other interconnecting matrices of knowledge and power that give these bodies their seemingly legible contours. The volume also demonstrates the central role of antiquity in the developing cultural formation of the gendered body as a concept, a practice and an experience in modern societies.

The impact of interdisciplinary research in the environmental sciences: a forestry case study

Interdisciplinary research has been identified as a critical means of addressing some of our planet's most urgent environmental problems. Yet relatively little is known about the processes and impacts of interdisciplinary approaches to environmental sciences. This study used citation analysis and ordinary least squares regression to investigate the relationship between an article's citation rate and its degree of interdisciplinarity in one area of environmental science; viz., forestry. Three types of interdisciplinarity were recognized—authorship, subject matter, and cited literature—and each was quantified using Brillouin's diversity index. Data consisted of more than 750 articles published in the journal Forest Science during the 10-year period 1985–1994. The results indicate that borrowing was the most influential method of interdisciplinary information transfer. Articles that drew information from a diverse set of journals were cited with greater frequency than articles having smaller or more narrowly focused bibliographies. This finding provides empirical evidence that interdisciplinary methods have made a measurable and positive impact on the forestry literature.

The impact of interdisciplinary research in the environmental sciences: a forestry case study

Interdisciplinary research has been identified as a critical means of addressing some of our planet's most urgent environmental problems. Yet relatively little is known about the processes and impacts of interdisciplinary approaches to environmental sciences. This study used citation analysis and ordinary least squares regression to investigate the relationship between an article's citation rate and its degree of interdisciplinarity in one area of environmental science; viz., forestry. Three types of interdisciplinarity were recognized: authorship, subject matter, and cited literature, and each was quantified using Brillouin's diversity index. Data consisted of more than 750 articles published in the journal Forest Science during the 10-year period 1985-1994. The results indicate that borrowing was the most influential method of interdisciplinary information transfer. Articles that drew information from a diverse set of journals were cited with greater frequency than articles having smaller or more narrowly focused bibliographies. This finding provides empirical evidence that interdisciplinary methods have made a measurable and positive impact on the forestry literature.

"And Now for the Main (Dis)course..."

"And Now for the Main (Dis)course..."

The Evolution of Desire in Advertising

The Evolution of Desire in Advertising

Boundary crossing in research literatures as a means of interdisciplinary information transfer

Contemporary models of interdisciplinary information transfer treat disciplines as such sharply bounded groups that boundary-crossing publication (contributions to disciplinary literatures authored by researchers from other disciplines) should be very difficult, if not impossible. Yet boundary-crossing authors can be identified in many disciplinary literatures. A study of four core journals in political science and sociology identified 199 articles with first authors from other disciplines published between 1971 and 1990. Two-thirds of these articles had single authors, and only one in six had coauthors from the discipline of the journal in which they were published. Readership and use of these articles, as measured by citation rates, was only slightly below normal. The articles were judged successful in interdisciplinary information transfer in that they received more citations from the disciplines in which they were published than from the disciplines with which their first authors were affiliated, and more citations from other disciplines than from either the discipline of publication or the first author's discipline. Results suggest that disciplinary boundaries are less restrictive than the literature suggests, and that boundary-crossing publications are involved in complex patterns of interdisciplinary information transfer.

Boundary crossing in research literatures as a means of interdisciplinary information transfer

Contemporary models of interdisciplinary information transfer treat disciplines as such sharply bounded groups that boundary-crossing publication (contributions to disciplinary literatures authored by researchers from other disciplines) should be very difficult, if not impossible. Yet boundary-crossing authors can be identified in many disciplinary literatures. A study of four core journals in political science and sociology identified 199 articles with first authors from other disciplines published between 1971 and 1990. Two-thirds of these articles had single authors, and only one in six had coauthors from the discipline of the journal in which they were published. Readership and use of these articles, as measured by citation rates, was only slightly below normal. The articles were judged successful in interdisciplinary information transfer in that they received more citations from the disciplines in which they were published than from the disciplines with which their first authors were affiliated, and more citations from other disciplines than from either the discipline of publication or the first author's discipline. Results suggest that disciplinary boundaries are less restrictive than the literature suggests, and that boundary-crossing publications are involved in complex patterns of interdisciplinary information transfer.

Adopting an ecosystem approach: Local variability in remedial action planning

Through the 1970s and 1980s Great Lakes scientists advocated adoption of an “ecosystem approach”; as a framework for water quality policy, including development of remedial action plans (RAPs) for the 43 areas of concern in the Great Lakes basin. RAPs are developed by state and provincial environmental or resource agencies, often in consultation with local stakeholder or citizen advisory committees. The International Joint Commission's guidelines for adopting an ecosystem‐based approach describe the need for more integrative conceptual frameworks, interdisciplinary information, and flexible institutional arrangements. This article describes adoption of an ecosystem approach by lead agencies in two RAPs, where adoption was shaped by a constellation of organizational differences and contextual variables. In both, a community‐based RAP committee played an important role.

"Academic drug-detailing": from project to practice in a Swedish urban area.

To develop and test the long-term feasibility of an interdisciplinary independent drug information service providing both written and oral drug information to physicians in an urban area of Sweden (> 400,000 inhabitants). A drug information service was developed encouraging a cooperative approach between a department of clinical pharmacology, general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists, and Drug and Therapeutic Committees. Scientifically-based drug information was condensed and interpreted by a team and presented in both written and oral form. In one part of the area, both oral and written information was provided, while in another part of the area, only written information was distributed. Questionnaires and one prescription survey were performed to elucidate the knowledge and attitudes of the GPs regarding drug treatment of one condition (urinary tract infection, UTI, and norfloxacin were used as examples), as well as their opinion of our services. Over a period of 10 years, 75 issues of a drug bulletin (2000 copies) were distributed. Oral producer-independent drug information, provided jointly by a GP and a pharmacist, was given on 16 occasions in each of 30 health centres (150 GPs). Around 80% of the GPs participated in the meetings. Of these GPs, 75% found the service important for their daily work. A majority of the GPs had prescribed the test drug, norfloxacin, not a first-line drug according to local recommendations, 1 year after approval. A significantly lower proportion of prescribers were observed in the area where the GPs had been provided with both written and oral information regarding recommended treatment (including first-line drugs) for uncomplicated cystitis. The approximate cost for this service in 1995 was SEK 0.685 million (USD 0.1 million); the prescribing costs of the 150 GPs were estimated at SEK 255 million per year. This means that the cost of the service per GP is only around 0.3% of normal prescribing costs. Over a period of 10 years the information/education method described here has proven sustainable and feasible in terms of providing the information, regarding participation of the target group GPs in the oral sessions, and regarding integration of the service into the existing health care system.

Strategies for Quality Management in Clinical Microbiology

Quality assessment and performance improvement are important management functions that add value to information and services produced by the clinical microbiology laboratory. Analytical quality control procedures are well standardized, and in many cases regulated. Whereas preanalytical and postanalytical factors have considerable impact on quality, performance assessment and improvement in this area have received less consideration. This article describes an approach to quality management of the total testing process in clinical microbiology, including interdisciplinary participation, specimen quality, test use, result use, turnaround time, information quality, user perceptions, and benchmarking.

Civic Education and Social Diversity

How can civic education in a liberal democracy give social diversity its due? Two complementary concerns have informed a lot of liberal thinking on this subject. Liberals like John Stuart Mill worry that "the plea of liberty" by parents not block "the fulfillment by the State of its duties" to children. They also worry that civic education not be conceived or conducted in such a way as to stifle "diversity in opinions and modes of conduct."' Some prominent contemporary theorists add a new and interesting twist to these common--concerns. They criticize liberals like Mill and Kant for contributing to one of the central problems, the stifling of social diversity, that they are trying to resolve.2 The comprehensive liberal aim of educating children not only for citizenship but also for individuality or autonomy, these political liberals argue, does not leave enough room for social diversity. Would a civic educational program consistent with political liberalism accommodate significantly more social diversity than one guided by comprehensive liberalism?3 Political liberals claim that it would, and some recommend political liberalism to us largely on this basis. This article shows that political liberalism need not, and often does not, accommodate more social diversity through its civic educational program than comprehensive liberalism. Section I examines the defining difference between political and comprehensive liberalism and suggests why we might expect to find a significant difference in the accommodation of social diversity by political and comprehensive liberalism through civic education.