Types Of Research Projects Research Articles

Monitoring of pear psylla for pest management decisions and research

Pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola (Foerster) (Homoptera: Psyllidae), is one of the key insect pests in North American pear production. In some growing areas, more than 50% of dollars spent to control arthropod pests in commercial pear are directed specifically at controlling this species. Control measures require accurate and timely information about dispersal, onset of egg-laying in spring, densities in the orchard, and age composition of the population. To meet these ends, a number of sampling methods have been developed to monitor pear psylla, the most common being (for pest management purposes) visual inspection of spurs and foliage for nymphs and eggs, and use of beat trays to monitor adults. Action thresholds have been developed for counts obtained with either method. However, threshold estimates are fairly narrowly defined, referring to a somewhat limited group of pear cultivars, type of injury to be prevented, and pest management program being used. Further refinement has been difficult because of an incomplete understanding of psylla's spatial distribution, seasonal changes in spatial distribution, and unknown or seasonally changing action thresholds. Beat trays and visual inspection of foliage have also been used to monitor pear psylla in various types of research projects, including studies of dispersal and biological control. Other sampling tools used in research include sticky traps, suction traps, and water pan traps. Density estimates obtained by these different sampling methods tend be positively correlated, albeit with high levels of unexplained variation. For counts obtained by sticky traps, much of the unexplained variation can be attributed to flight activity of the insect, which is known to depend (at a minimum) on sex, morphotype, reproductive status, time of year, time of day, leaf fall, and weather. Thus, if sticky traps are to be used in a pest management program for pear psylla, it must be recognized that counts on traps will include both density and (potentially large) behavioral components. I conclude this review with suggestions about the type of research that would improve monitoring techniques for this pest and assist eventually in developing a more effective control program.

The organization of construction research in British universities

The paper provides details of the size and scope of construction research carried out in a number of architecture, civil engineering and building related departments in British universities. After considering the level of funding, the type of research projects undertaken and the resulting outputs, especially how these benefit industry, the paper focuses on the careers of academics and researchers and the way in which research is organized at university, departmental and team levels. Finally, the paper suggests that whilst the construction research community in universities has many strengths, there is a danger that in responding to recent opportunities it may overreach itself. The end result may be disappointing for all parties involved. Some of the factors which would contribute to an effective approach to the development of links between universities and industry are discussed.

The Influence of the Graduate Student Research Project on Practice Research

This article reports on an empirical investigation regarding the influence of the MSW research project on subsequent practice research. The study sought to determine if the type or method of the required MSW research project influenced the conduct of research by social workers after graduation. The major independent variables were the types of research and methods of data gathering used in the MSW project. The outcome measures were the number and types of research projects that subjects had conducted since graduation. The study group comprised 98 recent MSW graduates of the University of South Florida School of Social Work. The survey instrument was a closed-ended one designed specifically for this study. The analysis of data showed that 38% had conducted some type of research project since graduation. Of these studies, 76% were program evaluations, and 24% were single-subject evaluations. The findings are discussed in terms of the research-practice gap in social work.

Structural Problems of Traditional Ergonomic Research

The application of scientific insights becomes questionable in the light of the experimental abstraction from the complexity of life. Ergonomics suffers from this disparity between reality and research. Sometimes this even leads to the user - whose situation was to be improved - being the one suffering from these "insights". The discussion of symptomatic examples from the fields of the physical environment and biomechanics illustrates that a priori assumtions are often questionable. This is contrasted with the results of some studies done with Musicians, and underlines the vital necessity of creating a new type of scientific research which integrates potential users of ergonomic services more adequately.

Assessing basic research: Some partial indicators of scientific progress in radio astronomy

As the costs of certain types of scientific research have escalated and as growth rates in overall national science budgets have declined, so the need for an explicit science policy has grown more urgent. In order to establish priorities between research groups competing for scarce funds, one of the most important pieces of information needed by science policy-makers is an assessment of those groups' recent scientific performance. This paper suggests a method for evaluating that performance. After reviewing the literature on scientific assessment, we argue that, while there are no simple measures of the contributions to scientific knowledge made by scientists, there are a number of ‘partial indicators’ — that is, variables determined partly by the magnitude of the particular contributions, and partly by ‘other factors’. If the partial indicators are to yield reliable results, then the influence of these ‘other factors’ must be minimised. This is the aim of the method of ‘converging partial indicators’ proposed in this paper. We argue that the method overcomes many of the problems encountered in previous work on scientific assessment by incorporating the following elements: (1) the indicators are applied to research groups rather than individual scientists; (2) the indicators based on citations are seen as reflecting the impact, rather than the quality or importance, of the research work; (3) a range of indicators are employed, each of which focusses on different aspects of a group's performance; (4) the indicators are applied to matched groups, comparing ‘like’ with ‘like’ as far as possible; (5) because of the imperfect or partial nature of the indicators, only in those cases where they yield convergent results can it be assumed that the influence of the ‘other factors’ has been kept relatively small (i.e. the matching of the groups has been largely successful), and that the indicators therefore provide a reasonably reliable estimate of the contribution to scientific progress made by different research groups. In an empirical study of four radio astronomy observatories, the method of converging partial indicators is tested, and several of the indicators (publications per researcher, citations per paper, numbers of highly cited papers, and peer evaluation) are found to give fairly consistent results. The results are of relevance to two questions: (a) can basic research be assessed? (b) more specifically, can significant differences in the research performance of radio astronomy centres be identified? We would maintain that the evidence presented in this paper is sufficient to justify a positive answer to both these questions, and hence to show that the method of converging partial indicators can yield information useful to science policy-makers.

Two types of scientific research

On the basis of an analysis of different types of research, two main kinds may be distinguished: research with a general intention and research with an individual intention.

Methodological Aspects of Some Inner Ear Vascular Techniques

Modifications of preparation technique assessing cochlear vasculature together with suggestions regarding their applicability to various types of research projects are presented. Detailed information is given regarding the 'soft-surface' dissection and preparation technique along with selected parameters for evaluating the cochlear vasculature. Some basic requirements for any histological technique studying the inner ear blood supply are suggested.