Science-based Methods Research Articles

PMA1: METHODOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN CLINICAL TRIALS

Pharmaceutical science has moved away from focusing exclusively on the impact of medications on physiological parameters to a focus that includes the subject's quality of life (QoL). To date, QoL assessment has relied exclusively on global summaries that ask subjects to recall, summarize, and evaluate their subjective QoL. New science-based methods using handheld technology to gather QoL data can lead to more valid, reliable, and timely QoL data. Many of the components of QoL, from subjective well-being to objective functioning, derive from an interest in understanding a subject's daily and momentary experiences. Rather than relying on broad summaries of experience, a ‘bottoms-up’ approach to QoL assessment directly measures subjects' momentary QoL in real-time, in the real-world. Until recently, researchers did not have an efficient way to collect valid momentary QoL data from subjects in their natural environment. Recent methodological advances in the science of patient experience, termed Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), make it possible to collect real-time QoL data from subjects using electronic patient experience diaries. This ‘bottoms-up’ approach using EMA methods extends existing QoL measures by providing a unique perspective on the extent to which subjects' evaluations of various moments in their lives reflect QoL changes over time. Recent empirical evidence suggests that this ‘bottoms-up’ approach may enhance the sensitivity of QoL assessment in clinical trials. The new perspective EMA provides on momentary patient experience represents a promising methodological advancement in the study of QoL. In combination with standard written assessments of QoL, EMA data can provide a new perspective on the relationship between medication effects and QoL.

Public relations and evaluation: does the reality match the rhetoric?

Over recent years there have been a number of initiatives for improving the quantity and quality of evaluation in public relations programmes. This has been partly because public relations practitioners wish to demonstrate their contribution, but also because, as expenditure on public relations grows ( 3 billion worldwide by the end of 1999), clients and organizations are demanding to know that their money is being well-spent. To aid evaluation, a number of models have been developed. This paper critically analyses the most well-known and proposes a new context/objectives-driven model which combines aspects of previous models while refining and adding to them. Within this context, 25 UK award-winning public relations programmes were analysed in order to examine the types of evaluations they used. It was found that only 12 out of 103 evaluations used social science-based research methods for verifying their results. Fifty-one of the 103 evaluations measured programme impact with the other evaluations concentrated on programme outputs. The author found there were issues surrounding the framing of objectives which offered a partial explanation. A number of recommendations are made to programme specifiers and award competition organizers in order to help improve the quality of evaluations in the future.

Corrosion/Corrosion Fatigue and Life-Cycle Management

Corrosion and corrosion fatigue are well recognized as principal causes for the aging of engineered systems and the attendant reduction in their reliability and safety. To meet the challenges of designing for a modern, competitive global market and for the life-cycle management of aging systems, it is essential to develop science-based methods for predicting the evolution of damage through corrosion and corrosion fatigue, and other time-dependent mechanisms, and incorporating them into a new paradigm for design. To this end, the use of a mechanistically based probability (versus statistically based parametric) approach is presented, and illustrated through considerations of corrosion and corrosion fatigue in airframe aluminum alloys. Its efficacy in predicting damage evolution and distribution is demonstrated through a comparison with long-term service data from an aircraft that had been in commercial service for 24 years.

Control of the Dehydration Process in Production of Intermediate-Moisture Meat Products: A Review

IM meat products are produced by lowering the aw to 0.90 to 0.60. Such products are stable at ambient temperature and humidity and are produced in nearly every country in the world, especially in developing areas where refrigeration is limited or unavailable. Traditionally IM meats use low cost sources of energy for drying, such as sun drying, addition of salt, or fermentation. Products produced by different processes are of interest since they do not require refrigeration during distribution and storage. Many different IM meat products can be produced by utilizing modern processing equipment and methods. Production can be achieved in a relatively short period of time and their advantages during marketing and distribution can be utilized. Nevertheless, a better understanding of the principles involved in heat transfer and efficiency of production are still needed to increase efficiency of processing. A basic understanding of the influence of water vapor pressure and sorption phenomena on water activity can materially improve the efficiency of drying of IM meats. Predrying treatments, such as fermentation and humidity control, can also be taken advantage of during the dehydration process. Such information can lead to process optimization and reduction of energy costs during production of IM meats. The development of sound science-based methods to assure the production of high-quality and nutritious IM meats is needed. Finally, such products also must be free of pathogenic microorganisms to assure their success in production and marketing.

Verfahrenstechnik (Chemical Engineering) - Its Development, Present State and Structure

Application-oriented scientific disciplines have not, to date, been of much interest to those studying scientific development. However, their investigation seems attractive, since such disciplines demonstrate the close interaction of 'external' social factors and 'innerscientific' dynamics. Verfahrenstechnik, as a new application-oriented scientific discipline, was initiated from industry, in response to its needs for science-based production methods. It succeeded in the formulation of theories, and in explaining complex technical phenomena m such a way as to make significant progress in the understanding of natural laws. These theories were accepted as a 'paradigm', governing, to a great extent, the dynamics of the discipline: they were, in part, uncoupled from external needs, thus establishing for Verfahrenstechnik an innerscientific research front of its own.