Lack Of Bias Research Articles

Aragonite bias, and lack of bias, in the fossil record: lithological, environmental, and ecological controls

AbstractMacroevolutionary and macroecological studies must account for biases in the fossil record, especially when questions concern the relative abundance and diversity of taxa that differ in preservation and sampling potential. Using Cenozoic marine mollusks from a temperate setting (New Zealand), we find that much of the long-term temporal variation in gastropod versus bivalve occurrences is correlated with the stage-level sampling probabilities of aragonitic versus calcitic taxa. Average sampling probabilities are higher for calcitic species, but this contrast is time-varying in a predictable way, being concentrated in stages with widespread carbonate deposition.To understand these results fully, we link them with analyses at the level of individual point occurrences. Doing so reveals that aragonite bias is effectively absent in terrigenous clastic sediments. In limestones, by contrast, calcitic species have at least twice the odds of sampling as aragonitic species. This result is most pronounced during times of widespread carbonate deposition, where the difference in the per-collection odds of sampling species is a factor of eight. During carbonate-rich intervals, calcitic taxa also have higher odds of sampling in clastics. At first glance this result may suggest simple preservational bias against aragonite. However, comparing relative odds of aragonitic versus calcitic sampling with absolute sampling rates shows that the positive calcite bias during carbonate-rich times reflects higher than average occurrence rates for calcitic taxa (rather than lower rates for aragonitic taxa) and that the negative aragonite bias in limestones reflects lower than average occurrence rates for aragonitic taxa (rather than higher rates for calcitic taxa).Our results therefore indicate a time-varying interplay of two main factors: (1) taphonomic loss of aragonitic species in carbonate sediments, with no substantial bias in terrigenous clastics; and (2) an ecological preference of calcitic taxa for environments characteristic of periods with pervasive carbonate deposition, irrespective of lithology per se.

Intonation and its interfaces in Sardinian polar questions

In this paper we investigate the interplay between lexicon, syntax, intonation and pragmatics in Sardinian polar questions. To this end, a production study was designed to elicit polar questions with different bias and polarity conditions by means of the Discourse Completion Task Methodology. The resulting data were then prosodically and syntactically annotated using Praat. The results can be summarized as follows. Regarding lexico-syntactic markers, the particle a functions as a mitigator or politeness marker, whereas constituent fronting and negation correspond to positive and negative polarity respectively. In addition, two main intonational patterns can be distinguished: the iH+L* L% pattern, which expresses “lack of bias”, and the iH*+L L- pattern, which conveys the speaker bias towards the proposition.

Uneasy Ryder: the Ryder Cup, anti-Americanism and the ‘Yoo-rop’ phenomenon

Originally pitting Great Britain against the US in 1927, and for decades a largely one-sided rivalry, the former's request for European help in 1979 changed the complexion of the Ryder Cup as a sporting phenomenon. Unseen in any other major sporting arena, the growing undercurrent of European-ness (the mateship between Scot and Swede, the green-side chants of “Yoo-rop! Yoo-rop!”) is ripe for further investigation. The lines were drawn long ago: internationalist GB v exceptionalist US. Born of a uniquely competitive newspaper market as well as a region more accustomed than any other to supporting national sporting teams, British journalists are renowned/notorious for their lack of bias and, indeed, fondness for ridicule; beyond the Olympics, for which the US media cheerleading is seldom less than one-eyed, their counterparts rarely have an opportunity to report the exploits of a representative side. And when they do, as at the World Baseball Classic, their editors, on the whole, don't send them. Focusing primarily on newspapers, this paper will analyse whether these accepted wisdoms persist while addressing whether anti-Americanism trumps the “Yoo-rop” factor.

Eye movement responses to emotional faces among individuals with major depressive disorder

Identification of reliable targets for therapeutic interventions is essential for developing evidence-based therapies. Attention biases toward negative-valenced information and lack of protective positive bias toward positive-valenced stimuli have been implicated in depression. However, extant research has typically used tasks with narrow stimuli arrays and unknown or poor psychometric properties. Here, we recorded eye-tracking data of depressed and non-depressed participants during a free viewing task to address these limitations.Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 20) and undergraduate students with high (n = 23) and low (n = 20) levels of depression freely viewed 60 different face-based matrices for six seconds each. Each matrix included eight sad and eight happy facial expressions. Gaze patterns on sad and happy areas of interest (AOIs) were explored. Internal consistency for the entire sample and one-week test-retest reliability in the student sub-sample were assessed.Compared to undergraduates with low levels of depression, patients with MDD and students with high levels of depression dwelled significantly longer on sad faces. Results also showed a significantly longer dwell time on the happy AOI relative to the sad AOI only in the low depression group. The two depressed groups dwelled equally on the two AOIs. The task demonstrated high internal consistency and acceptable one-week test-retest reliability.Only sad and happy facial expressions were used. Relative small sample size.Relative to non-depressed participants, depressed participants showed prolonged dwelling on sad faces and lack of bias toward happy faces. These biases present viable targets for gaze-contingent attention bias modification therapy.

Probing the gas content of radio galaxies through H I absorption stacking

Using the WSRT, we carried out shallow HI absorption observations of a flux-selected (S > 50 mJy) sample of 93 radio AGN with available SDSS redshifts between 0.02 < z < 0.23. We study the gas properties of radio AGN down to fluxes not systematically explored before using, for the first time, stacking of extragalactic HI absorption. Despite the shallow observations, we obtained a direct detection rate of ~29%, comparable with deeper studies. Detections are found at every flux level, showing that HI absorption detections are not biased toward brighter sources. The stacks of detections and non-detections reveal a clear dichotomy in the presence of HI, with the 27 detections showing an average peak {\tau} = 0.02, while the 66 non-detections remain undetected with an upper limit {\tau} < 0.002. Separating the sample into compact and extended AGN increases the detection rate, {\tau}, and FWHM for the compact sample. The dichotomy for the stacked profiles of detections and non-detections still holds between these two groups. We argue that orientation effects connected to a disk-like distribution of HI can be partly responsible for the dichotomy, however some of our galaxies must be genuinely depleted of cold gas. A fraction of the compact sources are confirmed by previous studies as likely young radio sources. These show an even higher detection rate of 55%. Along with their high integrated optical depth and wider profile, this reinforces the idea that young radio AGN are particularly rich in atomic gas. Part of our motivation is to probe for the presence of HI outflows. However, the stacked profiles do not reveal any significant blueshifted wing. Our results are particularly relevant for future surveys. The lack of bias toward bright sources is encouraging for the search of HI at lower radio fluxes. The results also represent a reference point for search for HI absorption at higher redshifts.

Explaining Differences in Crash and Injury Crash Outcomes in Red Light Camera Studies.

Evaluations of red light camera (RLC) traffic safety programs have produced mixed results. Some conclude RLCs were associated with significant increases in motor vehicle crashes and injury crashes, whereas other research reports safety benefits. To understand the difference in findings, the present analysis assessed whether standards required for internal validity in quasi-experimental public health program evaluations were adhered to in frequently cited RLC analyses. Four evaluation standards were identified and used to assess the RLC analyses: lack of bias in the selection of both (a) treated sites and (b) comparison sites, (c) integration of relevant control variables in the analysis, and (d) full disclosure of results of the statistical analysis. Six leading RLC studies were then critiqued. Only two of the six studies adhered to the four standards and both concluded RLCs were associated with significant increases in crashes and injury or possible injury crashes. A third study reported an increase in fatal/injury crashes but did not test for statistical significance. Three studies reported equivocal findings; however, each failed to adhere to most standards. Differences in findings were attributed to the evaluation methods used. If implementing an RLC program, communities should use sound public health evaluation methods to assess effectiveness.

Case-Control Studies to Assess the Effectiveness of Vaccines.

Before a vaccine is approved for general use, its protective efficacy must be demonstrated, usually in a double-blind, randomized clinical trial, the gold standard for scientific validity [1]. Randomization assures lack of bias in allocation of the exposure (vaccine), whereas blinding assures lack of bias in ascertainment of the outcome (infection). Nevertheless, there are a number of disadvantages, both practical and scientific, to randomized clinical trials to assess the efficacy of vaccines [2]. Because large samples and relatively prolonged follow-up may be necessary for adequate statistical power, these studies are extremely expensive. To limit costs, they often are conducted in select populations with an unusually high incidence of the infection of interest. These and other factors, such as the carefully controlled conditions of an experimental study, may lead to questions about the generalizability of the results of such trials to target populations that differ from that in which the trial was conducted. In addition, because clinical trials of experimental vaccines usually are conducted for only a relatively short period, the efficacy of the vaccine over time rarely is assessed. Case-control studies, a type of nonexperimental study that may be subject to a number of potential biases, nonetheless may be very useful to answer questions about the efficacy of a vaccine in actual practice (also termed “effectiveness”) once it has been approved, including the vaccine’s effectiveness in subgroups of patients and its effectiveness over time [2, 3]. I will demonstrate that it is possible to incorporate strategies to minimize bias and to assess the potential effects of bias to help to assure the validityof case-control studies ofthe effectiveness of vaccines. Methods to minimize bias in case-control studies include prospective identification of a consecutive series of potential case subjects, random selection of controls from a list of potential controls, matching of controls to cases on potential confounders such as age and socioeconomic status, and use of statistical techniques, such as stratification or logistic regression, to adjust for differences in potential confounders between cases and controls. However, even with the use of such techniques, one cannot be sure that bias has not affected the results. Although it is not possible to allocate subjects randomly in observational studies (leading to uncertainty about the effects of unrecognized confounders), use of “sham” outcomes (which should not be affected by the exposure of interest) and of “sham” exposures (which should not affect the outcome of interest) provide an opportunity to assess whether bias might have affected the results of the study [6]. In a case-control study of the effectiveness of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23), we showed that the vaccine was effective against infections caused by serotypes included in the vaccine; however, using identical methods to identify cases with invasive pneumococcal infections and matched controls without pneumococcal infections, the vaccine was not effective against infections caused by serotypes not in the vaccine (a sham outcome) [7]. If the difference between cases with infections due to serotypes in the vaccine and their matched controls in the odds of having received PPV23 were due to bias, one might expect to see a similar (erroneous) difference between cases infected by serotypes not in the vaccine and their matched controls. We also assessed the odds of having received influenza vaccine (a sham exposure), a vaccine that was also indicated for all subjects. Unlike for PPV23, there was no statistically significant difference in the odds of having received influenza vaccine between cases and matched controls, additional evidence that the apparent effectiveness of PPV23 was not a result of bias [7]. W e also conducted a case-control study to assess the effectiveness of varicella vaccine over time [8,9]. The efficacy

Spontaneous discrimination of food quantities in the jungle crow, Corvus macrorhynchos

Despite considerable research on numeric judgements in animals, uncertainty remains about both the underlying mechanisms and the role of training. To address these issues, we study quantity discrimination in jungle crows that have previously been shown to select the larger of two quantities following training. In the current study, we examined whether jungle crows are able to discriminate between different quantities of food items without prior training. Using a simultaneous two-alternative test, we studied whether their performance reveals the underlying mechanism being used for discrimination of small and large quantities in other animals. First, jungle crows were tested with a choice between two discrete homogeneous quantities; one smaller and one larger, with ratios of 0.5 (1 versus 2, 2 versus 4 and 4 versus 8), 0.67 (2 versus 3, 4 versus 6 and 8 versus 12) and 0.75 (3 versus 4, 6 versus 8 and 12 versus 16). Then, we conducted a test using a non-numerical cue where the volume of comparison stimuli was equalized. Jungle crows selected the larger of the two quantities in all comparisons, except those when both quantities were large (6 versus 8, 8 versus 12 and 12 versus 16). Furthermore, accuracy of selection of the larger quantity declined with increasing numerical magnitude. These results suggest that in a spontaneous discrimination task, jungle crows use an object-file mechanism to compare quantities, even when the number of items in one of the arrays exceeds four. The crows showed no preference for the smaller or the larger quantity when the volume cue was removed. This lack of bias may suggest an ecological role of selection for a patch with higher amounts of food and not necessarily the exact number of food items for optimal foraging in jungle crows.

Assessing oral bioaccessibility of trace elements in soils under worst-case scenarios by automated in-line dynamic extraction as a front end to inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

A novel biomimetic extraction procedure that allows for the in-line handing of ≥400mg solid substrates is herein proposed for automatic ascertainment of trace element (TE) bioaccessibility in soils under worst-case conditions as per recommendations of ISO norms. A unified bioaccessibility/BARGE method (UBM)-like physiological-based extraction test is evaluated for the first time in a dynamic format for accurate assessment of in-vitro bioaccessibility of Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn in forest and residential-garden soils by on-line coupling of a hybrid flow set-up to inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Three biologically relevant operational extraction modes mimicking: (i) gastric juice extraction alone; (ii) saliva and gastric juice composite in unidirectional flow extraction format and (iii) saliva and gastric juice composite in a recirculation mode were thoroughly investigated. The extraction profiles of the three configurations using digestive fluids were proven to fit a first order reaction kinetic model for estimating the maximum TE bioaccessibility, that is, the actual worst-case scenario in human risk assessment protocols. A full factorial design, in which the sample amount (400–800mg), the extractant flow rate (0.5–1.5mLmin−1) and the extraction temperature (27–37°C) were selected as variables for the multivariate optimization studies in order to obtain the maximum TE extractability. Two soils of varied physicochemical properties were analysed and no significant differences were found at the 0.05 significance level between the summation of leached concentrations of TE in gastric juice plus the residual fraction and the total concentration of the overall assayed metals determined by microwave digestion. These results showed the reliability and lack of bias (trueness) of the automatic biomimetic extraction approach using digestive juices.

Prediction of energy expenditure and physical activity in preschoolers.

Accurate, nonintrusive, and feasible methods are needed to predict energy expenditure (EE) and physical activity (PA) levels in preschoolers. Herein, we validated cross-sectional time series (CSTS) and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) models based on accelerometry and heart rate (HR) for the prediction of EE using room calorimetry and doubly labeled water (DLW) and established accelerometry cut points for PA levels. Fifty preschoolers, mean ± SD age of 4.5 ± 0.8 yr, participated in room calorimetry for minute-by-minute measurements of EE, accelerometer counts (AC) (Actiheart and ActiGraph GT3X+), and HR (Actiheart). Free-living 105 children, ages 4.6 ± 0.9 yr, completed the 7-d DLW procedure while wearing the devices. AC cut points for PA levels were established using smoothing splines and receiver operating characteristic curves. On the basis of calorimetry, mean percent errors for EE were -2.9% ± 10.8% and -1.1% ± 7.4% for CSTS models and -1.9% ± 9.6% and 1.3% ± 8.1% for MARS models using the Actiheart and ActiGraph+HR devices, respectively. On the basis of DLW, mean percent errors were -0.5% ± 9.7% and 4.1% ± 8.5% for CSTS models and 3.2% ± 10.1% and 7.5% ± 10.0% for MARS models using the Actiheart and ActiGraph+HR devices, respectively. Applying activity EE thresholds, final accelerometer cut points were determined: 41, 449, and 1297 cpm for Actiheart x-axis; 820, 3908, and 6112 cpm for ActiGraph vector magnitude; and 240, 2120, and 4450 cpm for ActiGraph x-axis for sedentary/light, light/moderate, and moderate/vigorous PA (MVPA), respectively. On the basis of confusion matrices, correctly classified rates were 81%-83% for sedentary PA, 58%-64% for light PA, and 62%-73% for MVPA. The lack of bias and acceptable limits of agreement affirms the validity of the CSTS and MARS models for the prediction of EE in preschool-aged children. Accelerometer cut points are satisfactory for the classification of sedentary, light, and moderate/vigorous levels of PA in preschoolers.

Design and Testing of Tools for Shared Decision Making

Shared decision making (SDM) is grounded in a compelling theoretical framework that ideally helps patients make decisions that are informed and concordant with their goals and values.1,2 Yet operationalizing SDM within routine clinical care remains an important challenge. Several approaches have been studied to improve SDM; such strategies include educating clinicians on communication techniques, using a multidisciplinary medical team, incorporating trained decision coaches, and using tools to support patients in their decision making. These tools, commonly referred to as patient decision aids (PtDAs), have garnered the most interest in operationalizing SDM.3 Accordingly, this article will focus specifically on the development and testing of PtDAs highlighting some important key points (see Box). ### Key Points of the Article on Decision Tool Development 1. PtDAs should be used in conjunction with a conversation with a clinician. 2. Helping patients consider and clarify their values around a decision is what makes a PtDA different from an information pamphlet. 3. Development is iterative, and the key tasks are to make sure the information is understandable, accurate, and unbiased and that the tool fits the needs and workflow of the end-users. 4. Trials designed to test the effectiveness of a decision aid need to consider both the patient’s and the clinician’s experience with the tool. 5. Decision aids should be living documents that will require updating when new information arises. Extensive work has been undertaken by the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) collaboration to provide guidance in this arena. Founded in 2003, IPDAS aims to “enhance the quality and effectiveness of PtDAs by establishing an evidence-informed framework for improving their content, development, implementation, and evaluation.”4,5 This article will draw on the extensive work of the IPDAS collaboration to describe a 4-step development process for those interested in developing PtDAs, which includes, step 1: understanding the decision; step 2: drafting the first …

NgsCAT: a tool to assess the efficiency of targeted enrichment sequencing

Targeted enrichment sequencing by next-generation sequencing is a common approach to interrogate specific loci or the whole exome in the human genome. The efficiency and the lack of bias in the enrichment process need to be assessed as a quality control step before performing downstream analysis of the sequence data. Tools that can report on the sensitivity, specificity, uniformity and other enrichment-specific features are needed. We have implemented the next-generation sequencing data Capture Assessment Tool (ngsCAT), a tool that takes the information of the mapped reads and the coordinates of the targeted regions as input files, and generates a report with metrics and figures that allows the evaluation of the efficiency of the enrichment process. The tool can also take as input the information of two samples allowing the comparison of two different experiments. Documentation and downloads for ngsCAT can be found at http://www.bioinfomgp.org/ngscat.

The American Suntanning Association

The American Suntanning Association

Inferring Animal Densities from Tracking Data Using Markov Chains

The distributions and relative densities of species are keys to ecology. Large amounts of tracking data are being collected on a wide variety of animal species using several methods, especially electronic tags that record location. These tracking data are effectively used for many purposes, but generally provide biased measures of distribution, because the starts of the tracks are not randomly distributed among the locations used by the animals. We introduce a simple Markov-chain method that produces unbiased measures of relative density from tracking data. The density estimates can be over a geographical grid, and/or relative to environmental measures. The method assumes that the tracked animals are a random subset of the population in respect to how they move through the habitat cells, and that the movements of the animals among the habitat cells form a time-homogenous Markov chain. We illustrate the method using simulated data as well as real data on the movements of sperm whales. The simulations illustrate the bias introduced when the initial tracking locations are not randomly distributed, as well as the lack of bias when the Markov method is used. We believe that this method will be important in giving unbiased estimates of density from the growing corpus of animal tracking data.

The objectivity of national research foundation peer review in South Africa assessed against bibliometric indexes

This paper examines the strength of association between the outcomes of National Research Foundation (NRF) peer review based rating mechanisms, and a range of objective measures of performance of researchers. The analysis is conducted on 1932 scholars that have received an NRF rating or an NRF research chair. We find that on average scholars with higher NRF ratings record higher performance against research output and impact metrics. However, we also record anomalies in the probabilities of different NRF ratings when assessed against bibliometric performance measures, and record a disproportionately large incidence of scholars with high peer-review based ratings with low levels of recorded research output and impact. Moreover, we find strong cross-disciplinary differences in terms of the impact that objective levels of performance have on the probability of achieving different NRF ratings. Finally, we report evidence that NRF peer review is less likely to reward multi-authored research output than single-authored output. Claims of a lack of bias in NRF peer review are thus difficult to sustain.

Molecular analysis of point mutations in a barley genome exposed to MNU and gamma rays

We present studies aimed at determining the types and frequencies of mutations induced in the barley genome after treatment with chemical (N-methyl-N-nitrosourea, MNU) and physical (gamma rays) mutagens. We created M2 populations of a doubled haploid line and used them for the analysis of mutations in targeted DNA sequences and over an entire barley genome using TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes) and AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) technique, respectively. Based on the TILLING analysis of the total DNA sequence of 4,537,117bp in the MNU population, the average mutation density was estimated as 1/504kb. Only one nucleotide change was found after an analysis of 3,207,444bp derived from the highest dose of gamma rays applied. MNU was clearly a more efficient mutagen than gamma rays in inducing point mutations in barley. The majority (63.6%) of the MNU-induced nucleotide changes were transitions, with a similar number of G>A and C>T substitutions. The similar share of G>A and C>T transitions indicates a lack of bias in the repair of O6-methylguanine lesions between DNA strands. There was, however, a strong specificity of the nucleotide surrounding the O6-meG at the −1 position. Purines formed 81% of nucleotides observed at the −1 site. Scanning the barley genome with AFLP markers revealed ca. a three times higher level of AFLP polymorphism in MNU-treated as compared to the gamma-irradiated population. In order to check whether AFLP markers can really scan the whole barley genome for mutagen-induced polymorphism, 114 different AFLP products, were cloned and sequenced. 94% of bands were heterogenic, with some bands containing up to 8 different amplicons. The polymorphic AFLP products were characterised in terms of their similarity to the records deposited in a GenBank database. The types of sequences present in the polymorphic bands reflected the organisation of the barley genome.

Distinct AGO1 and AGO2 associated miRNA profiles in human cells and blood plasma

Studies of miRNA association with Argonaute (AGO) proteins in mammalian cells have indicated lack of bias toward particular AGO. However, to our knowledge, the use of quantitative methods for studying miRNA association with different AGOs has not been reported so far. In this work we compared the total miRNA content in AGO1 and AGO2 immunoprecipitates obtained from MCF7 adenocarcinoma cells using TaqMan Low Density miRNA Arrays and successfully verified selected miRNAs with qPCR. For most of the miRNA species AGO1 and AGO2 profiles were well correlated, however, some miRNAs demonstrated consistent biases toward one of the Argonautes. Furthermore, miRNAs which were predominantly AGO2-associated derived mostly from sense strands of the corresponding pre-miRNAs while the majority of AGO1 biased miRNAs originated from antisense strands of the pre-miRNAs. Additionally, we show that circulating miRNA in human blood plasma can be immunoprecipitated with both AGO1 and AGO2 antibody. However, unlike in cell lysates, AGO1 and AGO2 associated miRNA profiles in plasma did not correlate, indicating that many cell types contribute to circulating miRNA (given that expression of AGO proteins is tissue specific). Furthermore, AGO-specific miRNA profiles in blood cells differed significantly from miRNAs profiles in plasma indicating that most circulating miRNAs are likely to derive from non-blood cells. Since circulating miRNAs hold great promise as biomarkers for numerous cancers and other diseases, we hypothesize that AGO-specific miRNA profiles might add an additional dimension to circulating miRNA-based diagnostics.

Bias and Equivalence in Cross-Cultural Research

Bias and equivalence are key concepts in the methodology of cross-cultural studies. Bias is a generic term for any challenge of the comparability of cross-cultural data; bias leads to invalid conclusions. The demonstration of equivalence (lack of bias) is a prerequisite for any cross-cultural comparison. we first describe considerations that are relevant when choosing instruments in a cross-cultural study, notably the question of whether an existing or new instrument is to be preferred.We then describe the definition, manifestation, and sources of three types of bias (construct, method, and item bias), and three levels of equivalence (construct, measurement unit, and full score equivalence). We provide strategies to minimize bias and achieve equivalence that apply either to the design, implementation, or statistical analysis phase of a study. The need to integrate these strategies in cross-cultural studies is emphasized so as to increase the validity of conclusions regarding cross-cultural similarities and differences and rule out alternative explanations of cross-cultural differences.

Automatic dynamic chemical fractionation method with detection by plasma spectrometry for advanced characterization of solid biofuels

A flow-through dynamic leaching test capitalizing on sequential injection (SI) stirred-flow chamber (SFC) extraction is proposed as a front end to inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) for automatic and expedient evaluation of potentially mobilisable pools of ash-forming elements (viz., K, Na, Ca, Mg) in troublesome solid biofuels (namely, pine twigs) and ascertainment of the kinetics of metal release. A three-step sequential extraction scheme exploiting increasingly aggressive solvents and encompassing distilled water, 1.0 mol L−1 ammonium acetate and 1.0 mol L−1 hydrochloric acid is herein selected for partitioning of targeted elements in the water-soluble, the exchangeable and the acid-soluble nominal fractions, respectively. The relative amounts of elements in the first two steps are regarded as valuable measures of the release of reactive inorganic species into the flue gases in the course of combustion in boilers and furnaces with the subsequent associated fireside problems. The SI-SFC-based setup coupled to ICP-OES features high tolerance to flow rates (≤2.5 mL min−1) without pressure drop and affords more accurate evaluation of accessible pools of ash-forming matter compared to equilibrium-based methods as a consequence of the exhaustive extraction nature of dynamic fractionation, the solid to liquid equilibria shift, the absence of metal redistribution effects and the release of metals under the nominal pH of the extractant. No significant differences were found at the 0.05 significance level between summation of leached concentrations in each step plus residual fraction and total concentration of ash-forming elements in twigs as determined by microwave digestion, thus revealing the reliability and lack of bias (trueness) of the automatic method. The overall extractable pools of ash-forming elements were quantified in merely 3 h versus 7 days in batchwise leaching tests. The automatic hyphenated technique is thus suitable for expeditious advanced characterization of woody biofuels so as to assist in deciding whether firing biomass fuels leads to potential corrosion risks in combustion devices.

A Teoria na Prática: Reflexões acerca dos Pilares e Perspectivas Modernas dos Estudos Organizacionais

In recent decades, business organizations have collected a host of features that generate competitive advantage. A higher level of competition combined with a consumer market increasingly demanding lead companies to seek alternative management to improve organizational performance and increase their level of competitive advantage over competitors. Having as basis the various elements of theoretical approaches from administrative, current organizational strategies continue to strongly reflect some of its main aspects. Thus, it is clear that, even if not more strongly highlighted in the business sphere, such aspects of management theories originated show still present in the organizational strategic action, deserving analysis that permits evaluation of their presence and influence involved. Thus, this essay aims to analyze, by reflection which brings together insights from various administrative theorists, the presence of evidence provided by management theories in organizational practices today. The intention is to recover some of its key concepts, reassessing its importance and influence in recent business strategies. Finally, we find that theory and practice are different constructs and often conflicting when approached in a relationship. Within the organizational sciences, have such a relationship as a central issue and difficult to resolve because, among other things, to common sense as it builds a barrier between them, not allowing the pilot to approval corresponds to theoretical and vice versa. It is evident, therefore, a lack of bias regarding the role of each party in the construction of knowledge and society..