741 research outputs found
85% of health research is wasted: how to do great research, get it published, and improve health outcomes
No full textTrish Groves reflects on the scandal of waste, error, and misconduct in clinical and public health research and describes a new effort to tackle research and publication integrity from both ends. This challenge matters everywhere, but it’s specially urgent in low and middle income countries. The University of California, San Francisco and BMJ have teamed up to develop an eLearning programme for clinical and public health researchers called Research to Publication
Adoption and diffusion of no tillage practices in Southern Spain olive groves
No full textThis paper analyses the process of adoption of no tillage in South-eastern Spain’s olive groves. Olive tree groves in South-eastern Spain’s mountainous areas are subject to a high risk of soil erosion, which is the main environmental problem for this crop, and have to incur in high costs of soil conservation. This results in a greater difficulty to comply with the practices required to benefit from both the single payment and agri-environmental schemes. In many high-steeped areas, farmers have opted for non-tillage practices as an alternative to other conservation practices. Using our own data from a survey carried out in 2006 among 215 olive tree farmers from the Granada Province in Southern Spain regarding the adoption of soil conservation and management practices, we model the diffusion process of no tillage practices using several specifications (logistic, Gompertz and exponential). We also estimate an ordered probit model to analyse which socio-economic and institutional factors determine the adoption of no tillage. Our results show that 90% of farmers in the area of study perform no tillage with either localized (21%) or no localized (69%) application of weedicides. The diffusion process of no tillage has been very intense since the middle nineties, and has been based on the interactions among farmers in the area of study rather than in external factors such as EU policies or extension services. Among other relevant factors that positively affect the adoption of no tillage practices in general, such as farm size and irrigation, the probability of a farmer adopting no tillage with non-localized application of weedicides increases when there is a relative that will continue with the farming activity, what causes the farmer to incorporate long term effects in his farming decisions, when the farmer is only a manager or when he bought the farm rather than inherited it (i.e. on more professionalized farms), and with his educational level. These results confirm some findings from previous studies in other nearby areas.Spanish olive groves, soil erosion, no tillage, Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use,
Three-dimensional spectral measurements of paint samples using optical coherence tomography
No full textIn this study, we describe a method for measuring the spectral reflectance of a paint layer at both the surface and in the volume of the paint layers. We first present a fringes model which illustrates the possibilities for spectral reconstruction using a Short-Time-Fourier-Transform algorithm. We investigate the remaing percentage errors and identified that there is a strong fluctuation along the wavelength range of the spectrometer. Then, we demonstrate the validity of our approach experimentally by measuring the spectral reflectance of a paint layer using a custom-made visible light optical coherence tomography system. There, we reconstruct the spectral reflectance of a paint layer by probing the surface and a depth range below the surface. Finally, we show the importance to include a wavelength sensitive correction in the reconstruction for taking into account the spectral shape of the light in the reference path of the interferometer. This work is part of the Down To The Ground project, in which the results of the OCT inspection will be used directly by a consortium of technical art historians and conservators.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Structural Integrity & Composite
Training through drama for work
No full textIl testo in inglese propone l’analisi di quattro personaggi - la Figliastra da Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore di Luigi Pirandello, Callimaco da La Mandragola di Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Becket da Assassinio nella cattedrale di T.S. Eliot e Portia da Il mercante di Venezia di William Shakespeare - per rispondere alla domanda chiave: “Quali spunti possiamo trarre da questi quattro personaggi per applicarli in ambito lavorativo?”
Prendendo spunto da un’ampia gamma di idee, da concetti di training e coaching, il testo propone una prospettiva innovativa sui temi dello sviluppo professionale e personale applicabili nel mondo del lavoro dove la performance - a volte comica, persino tragica - costituisce il fondamento di gran parte delle iniziative.
Le opere scelte appartenendo al canone teatrale europeo sono state già ampiamente analizzate. Eppure, rimangono una straordinaria fonte d’ispirazione e apprendimento. Le idee presentate nel testo costituiscono un punto di vista personale, quindi ogni altra interpretazione è egualmente possibile. Il testo va pertanto considerato come un “passo lungo il cammino” anziché una conclusione allo studio dei testi.
Il volume è corredato da una bibliografia selezionata e da un ampio glossario inglese-italiano, che copre la terminologia dei campi relativi: teatro, management e leadership, sviluppo professionale e personale.This book in English puts forward an analysis of four characters -The Stepdaughter from Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello, Callimaco from The Mandragola by Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Becket from Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot, and Portia from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare - in answer to the key question ‘What input can these four mavericks offer us as training for the workplace?’
Drawing on a rich pool of ideas, training and coaching concepts, it furnishes an innovative perspective on professional and personal development themes applicable to work where performance - sometimes comic, even tragic - forms the bedrock of most endeavours.
As part of the canon of European drama, the selected pieces have already undergone much inspection and yet remain splendid sources of insight and learning. The ideas expressed here represent a personal viewpoint and different interpretations are equally possible. Accordingly, this book should be considered as a ‘step along the way’ rather than a conclusion to the studies of the texts.
The offering contains a select bibliography and an extensive English-Italian glossary covering the fields of drama, management and leadership, and professional and personal development
Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech on College Campuses
No full textJoin us in welcoming Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN America, the leading human rights and free expression organization. Nossel is a leading voice on free expression issues in the United States and globally, writing and being interviewed frequently for national and international media outlets. She is author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All, which will be available for raffle at this year's Book Raffle event.
For this keynote, Nossel will be in conversation with Robert Groves, Georgetown Provost, who will help to provide the Georgetown context for these issues
Application of shearography with thermal loading for structural inspection of Rembrandt’s Night Watch
No full textThe assessment of the structural condition of cultural heritage objects is important for conservation interventions and their long-term preservation. This investigation concerns The Night Watch (1642), a large-format 17th-century canvas painting by Rembrandt van Rijn that is on display in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. This painting, which has a complex treatment history, has various damaged areas and has undergone three wax-resin relinings. In 1975 the canvas was slashed twelve times with a serrated dinner knife, including several long slashes in the area of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq’s breeches. In 2021, prior to a proposed new structural intervention involving retensioning of the canvas, it was important to evaluate the structural condition of the repaired slashes and of another repair, specifically an old canvas insert in the drum. For this, an in-situ inspection was carried out in the Rijksmuseum as a part of Operation Nightwatch. 3D shearography instrument with thermal loading was used to inspect these two areas of interest on the reverse of The Night Watch. The results showed that the out-of-plane strain in the breeches does not show any large deviations, which alleviated conservators’ concerns about the adhesion of the lining canvas and stability of previous repairs in this region. The patch in the drum showed higher out-of-plane strain variations. This was explained by the lower quality of the patched canvas compared to the repaired slashes in the breeches of Banninck Cocq. Overall, 3D shearography provided valuable inspection results for assurances regarding the structural integrity of the 1975 repairs and the wax-resin lining in The Night Watch, reducing the risks and providing the confidence to proceed with the planned retensioning of the canvas.Structural Integrity & Composite
Application of shearography and the percussion method for the structural inspection of wall paintings: A case study of St. Christopher in Maria Church, Nisse
No full textStructural delamination in mural paintings is a complex phenomenon and is considered among the most frequent types of damage. In conservation practice, the most common technique to identify structural detachments is the percussion method. Full-field optical techniques based on interferometry, such as shearography, can provide a more scientifically substantiated evaluation of the condition of heterogeneous structures of wall paintings. The empirical nature of the percussion method was observed during the condition assessment of two medieval wall paintings in Maria Church, Nisse, the Netherlands. It can be argued that, to allow the formulation of specific treatment needs for structural delamination in wall paintings, accurate defect mapping and characterisation is needed. The application of shearography was believed to provide a holistic representation of the condition of the structure of the wall painting depicting St. Christopher in Maria Church. Preliminary comparison of the methods involved revealed a degree of matching between results obtained. Discrepancies, i.e. areas deemed extremely vulnerable during percussion testing that were not detected by shearography, are debatably caused by the misinterpretation of the acoustic response during percussion testing or the inability of shearography to detect in depth structural defects. Further research regarding shearography should focus on providing more information about the depth of structurally delaminated areas within the heterogeneous layered structure of wall paintings.Structural Integrity & Composite
A Comparative Analysis of Soil Loss Tolerance and Productivity of the Olive Groves in the Protected Designation of Origin(PDO) Areas Norte Alentejano (Portugal) and Estepa (Andalusia, Spain)
No full textOlive groves are Mediterranean systems that occupy more than 2.5 M ha in Spain and 0.352 M ha in Portugal. Assuming the differences between both countries in terms of olive grove regulation and considering their multifunctionality, it is useful to implement agronomic indices to estimate their sustainability. The Soil Loss Tolerance Index (SLTI) and the Soil Productivity Index (SPI) are two such indices. We calculated both indices in the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Norte Alentejano (Portugal). The SLTI index was adapted considering specific variables of the analysed olive groves (i.e., SLTIog). The values obtained were compared with those previously estimated for PDO Estepa (Spain). The negative impacts of erosion and the underlying agricultural practices on the sustainability of olive groves became evident, resulting in decreased soil productivity at the regional level. The SLTIog index showed higher values for crops, being a more realistic tool to analyse sustainability. A higher soil loss tolerance was detected for integrated groves in the PDO Norte Alentejano than for PDO Estepa due to the shorter age of olive cultivation in Portugal, with incipient soil impacts. These indices provide information on the degree of soil erosion, allowing farmers and decision-makers to apply practices to maximise the sustainability of olive groves.To the University Complutense of Madrid, for awarding the lead author a short-term fellowship through which this research could be carried out. To MED-Universidade de Évora (Portugal), for providing to the main author with the opportunity to jointly perform field work and analytical tasks in Portugal. The time devoted by J.M.-R. and T.P.-C. to retrieve and treat the data and to write and revise the article has received partial funding from the following sources: (a) FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal) under the Project UIDB/05183/2020; (b) SUSTAINOLIVE research project (https://sustainolive.eu/?lang=en [accessed on: 29 March 2021]), funded by the PRIMA EU program. Lastly, we thank María Aurora Rodríguez Sousa for her support and advice
René Géronimo Favaloro : pioneer of Cardiac Surgery
No full textDr. René G. Favaloro moved to the Cleveland Clinic in 1962 and proceeded to reshape the face of cardiac surgery as we knew it. Together with his colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic, Drs. Effler, Sones, Proudfit, Groves, Sheldon and countless others, he contributed to the double internal mammary arterymyocardial implantation by the Vineberg method, and by May 1967, he reconstructed the right coronary artery by the saphenous vein graft interposition. These landmark procedures paved the way for the aorto-coronary saphenous vein bypass graft in October 1967. Many similar breakthroughs ensued, with the application of the bypass technique to the left coronary artery, the combination of coronary artery bypass graft with left ventricular reconstruction and valve repair/replacement and finally, by December, a double bypass to the right coronary artery and anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery. In June, 1971, Dr. Favaloro decided to leave the Cleveland Clinic and return to Argentina where he created a medical centre, a teaching unit, a research department and finally an Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery. This was his greatest personal ambition. Over and above his brilliant mind and craft, Dr. Favaloro was a man of integrity, courage, honesty and humility, whose name will never cease to reverberate throughout the history of medicine.peer-reviewe
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