Report of Working Group set up by the Tanaiste in March 2006 to examine the nature and extent of Haemochromatosis in Ireland and to advise her on the action necessary to address the problems caused by Haemochromatosis

It was agreed at a meeting on 15th February, 2006, between Ms Mary Harney, TD, Tanaiste and Minister for Health and Children and Dr Maurice Manning that a Working Group would be set up to examine all of the issues relating to haemochromatosis in Ireland and to advise her on the actions necessary to address these issues. Read the Report (PDF, 709kb)  

Detection of replication-defective hepatitis A virus based on the correlation between real-time polymerase chain reaction and ELISA in situ results

ELISA in situ can be used to titrate hepatitis A virus (HAV) particles and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been shown to be a fast method to quantify the HAV genome. Precise quantification of viral concentration is necessary to distinguish between infectious and non-infectious particles. The purpose of this study was to compare cell culture and RT-PCR quantification results and determine whether HAV genome quantification can be correlated with infectivity. For this purpose, three stocks of undiluted, five-fold diluted and 10-fold diluted HAV were prepared to inoculate cells in a 96-well plate. Monolayers were then incubated for seven, 10 and 14 days and the correlation between the ELISA in situ and RT-PCR results was evaluated. At 10 days post-incubation, the highest viral load was observed in all stocks of HAV via RT-PCR (10(5) copies/mL) (p = 0.0002), while ELISA revealed the highest quantity of particles after 14 days (optical density = 0.24, p < 0.001). At seven days post-infection, there was a significant statistical correlation between the results of the two methods, indicating equivalents titres of particles and HAV genome during this period of infection. The results reported here indicate that the duration of growth of HAV in cell culture must be taken into account to correlate genome quantification with infectivity.

MEDICAL STUDENT IN THE FAMILY HEALTH STRATEGY ON THE FIRST YEARS OF COLLEGE: PERCEPTION OF GRADUATES

There is a lack of knowledge about the effective value of the experience gained by medical students who participate in the Family Health Strategy (Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF)) during the early stages of their medical training. This teaching strategy is based on learning by experiencing the problems that exist in real life. This study proposed to understand the value of this teaching strategy from the viewpoint of the students who had participated, after their graduation. The method adopted was a qualitative study conducted through interviews with students who graduated in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. The data analysis used the hermeneutic dialectic technique as its model. The graduates considered that this experience enabled them to understand the organization and functioning of the health service and the context of the daily life of the users. This experience facilitated the doctor patient relationship, the development of clinical reasoning and the bond with the user. However the students emphasized that a lack of maturity prevented them gaining a higher level of benefit from the experience. Therefore, although the structure of the course is permeated by advances and challenges, it was concluded that this experience contributed to the student's learning of certain essential elements of medical training.

Further evidence on the statistical properties of real GNP

The well-known lack of power of unit root tests has often been attributed to the shortlength of macroeconomic variables and also to DGP s that depart from the I(1)-I(0)alternatives. This paper shows that by using long spans of annual real GNP and GNPper capita (133 years) high power can be achieved, leading to the rejection of both theunit root and the trend-stationary hypothesis. This suggests that possibly neither modelprovides a good characterization of these data. Next, more flexible representations areconsidered, namely, processes containing structural breaks (SB) and fractional ordersof integration (FI). Economic justification for the presence of these features in GNP isprovided. It is shown that the latter models (FI and SB) are in general preferred to theARIMA (I(1) or I(0)) ones. As a novelty in this literature, new techniques are appliedto discriminate between FI and SB models. It turns out that the FI specification ispreferred, implying that GNP and GNP per capita are non-stationary, highly persistentbut mean-reverting series. Finally, it is shown that the results are robust when breaksin the deterministic component are allowed for in the FI model. Some macroeconomicimplications of these findings are also discussed.

A donde vamos ahora? : (where are we going now) : a report on the problems of the Spanish surnamed and migrant population in Iowa,1970.

This is an overview of the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the duties of the Iowa State Advisory Committee. It contains a report concerning problems of the Spanish surnamed and migrant population in Iowa.

Quasi real-time Raman studies on the growth of Cu-In-S thin films

In this work annealing and growth of CuInS2 thin films is investigated with quasireal-time in situ Raman spectroscopy. During the annealing a shift of the Raman A1 mode towards lower wave numbers with increasing temperature is observed. A linear temperature dependence of the phonon branch of ¿2 cm¿1/100 K is evaluated. The investigation of the growth process (sulfurization of metallic precursors) with high surface sensitivity reveals the occurrence of phases which are not detected with bulk sensitive methods. This allows a detailed insight in the formation of the CuInS2 phases. Independent from stoichiometry and doping of the starting precursors the CuAu ordering of CuInS2 initially forms as the dominating ordering. The transformation of the CuAu ordering into the chalcopyrite one is, in contrast, strongly dependent on the precursor composition and requires high temperatures.

R&D Performance Analysis: Case Studies on the Challenges and Promotion of the Evaluation and Measurement of R&D

Due to the intense international competition, demanding, and sophisticated customers, and diverse transforming technological change, organizations need to renew their products and services by allocating resources on research and development (R&D). Managing R&D is complex, but vital for many organizations to survive in the dynamic, turbulent environment. Thus, the increased interest among decision-makers towards finding the right performance measures for R&D is understandable. The measures or evaluation methods of R&D performance can be utilized for multiple purposes; for strategic control, for justifying the existence of R&D, for providing information and improving activities, as well as for the purposes of motivating and benchmarking. The earlier research in the field of R&D performance analysis has generally focused on either the activities and considerable factors and dimensions - e.g. strategic perspectives, purposes of measurement, levels of analysis, types of R&D or phases of R&D process - prior to the selection of R&Dperformance measures, or on proposed principles or actual implementation of theselection or design processes of R&D performance measures or measurement systems. This study aims at integrating the consideration of essential factors anddimensions of R&D performance analysis to developed selection processes of R&D measures, which have been applied in real-world organizations. The earlier models for corporate performance measurement that can be found in the literature, are to some extent adaptable also to the development of measurement systemsand selecting the measures in R&D activities. However, it is necessary to emphasize the special aspects related to the measurement of R&D performance in a way that make the development of new approaches for especially R&D performance measure selection necessary: First, the special characteristics of R&D - such as the long time lag between the inputs and outcomes, as well as the overall complexity and difficult coordination of activities - influence the R&D performance analysis problems, such as the need for more systematic, objective, balanced and multi-dimensional approaches for R&D measure selection, as well as the incompatibility of R&D measurement systems to other corporate measurement systems and vice versa. Secondly, the above-mentioned characteristics and challenges bring forth the significance of the influencing factors and dimensions that need to be recognized in order to derive the selection criteria for measures and choose the right R&D metrics, which is the most crucial step in the measurement system development process. The main purpose of this study is to support the management and control of the research and development activities of organizations by increasing the understanding of R&D performance analysis, clarifying the main factors related to the selection of R&D measures and by providing novel types of approaches and methods for systematizing the whole strategy- and business-based selection and development process of R&D indicators.The final aim of the research is to support the management in their decision making of R&D with suitable, systematically chosen measures or evaluation methods of R&D performance. Thus, the emphasis in most sub-areas of the present research has been on the promotion of the selection and development process of R&D indicators with the help of the different tools and decision support systems, i.e. the research has normative features through providing guidelines by novel types of approaches. The gathering of data and conducting case studies in metal and electronic industry companies, in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, and in non-profit organizations helped us to formulate a comprehensive picture of the main challenges of R&D performance analysis in different organizations, which is essential, as recognition of the most importantproblem areas is a very crucial element in the constructive research approach utilized in this study. Multiple practical benefits regarding the defined problemareas could be found in the various constructed approaches presented in this dissertation: 1) the selection of R&D measures became more systematic when compared to the empirical analysis, as it was common that there were no systematic approaches utilized in the studied organizations earlier; 2) the evaluation methods or measures of R&D chosen with the help of the developed approaches can be more directly utilized in the decision-making, because of the thorough consideration of the purpose of measurement, as well as other dimensions of measurement; 3) more balance to the set of R&D measures was desired and gained throughthe holistic approaches to the selection processes; and 4) more objectivity wasgained through organizing the selection processes, as the earlier systems were considered subjective in many organizations. Scientifically, this dissertation aims to make a contribution to the present body of knowledge of R&D performance analysis by facilitating dealing with the versatility and challenges of R&D performance analysis, as well as the factors and dimensions influencing the selection of R&D performance measures, and by integrating these aspects to the developed novel types of approaches, methods and tools in the selection processes of R&D measures, applied in real-world organizations. In the whole research, facilitation of dealing with the versatility and challenges in R&D performance analysis, as well as the factors and dimensions influencing the R&D performance measure selection are strongly integrated with the constructed approaches. Thus, the research meets the above-mentioned purposes and objectives of the dissertation from the scientific as well as from the practical point of view.

Passport to a profession in the degree of pharmacy: how to integrate university students into the real world of work: "Passport to a profession in Pharmacy"

The incorporation of the Spanish university system into the European Higher Education Areahas brought about a series of adaptations. Among the recommendations is the inclusion ofan external training period in a company, which has resulted in significant changes in thedegree syllabus in order to balance the theoretical and practical education required by thestudents. This new framework has been legally confirmed by the Spanish Government and, inthe case of the University of Barcelona, by the publication of internal guidelines. Takingadvantage of this new opportunity to adapt the Pharmacy degree to real-world problems inindustry, the Dean’s team of the Faculty of Pharmacy, with the support of the Facultyadministrative staff and the Students Advisory Service, have assumed the challenge ofincluding a new subject in the syllabus entitled Training in Companies.In parallel, a new activity has been set up to ensure that the students choose the mostsuitable company department/job for them and to help them pass the company interview.Under the name of Passport to a Profession, a series of ten explanatory talks has beenscheduled every academic year. These talks deal with a broad range of topics aimed atproviding the students with the basic tools they will need to make the most of a companytraining period and to make headway in the professional world when they finish theirdegree. In addition, three Faculty of Pharmacy-Pharmaceutical company workshops and tworound-table conferences have been held in the last two years in order to bring the universityand industry together. Notably, the project to provide students with company training isexpanding on an international level, with two to three undergraduate students contractedevery year by a United Kingdom-based multinational pharmaceutical company.The statistical data of the whole process has been analysed for a more in-depthunderstanding of the activity and to improve the programme.

On the interplay between Q^2 and t dependence in exclusive diffractive production of real photons and vector mesons in ep collisions

We show how the familiar phenomenological way of combining the Q2 (photon virtuality) and t (squared momentum transfer) dependences of the scattering amplitude in Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) [1, 2] and Vector Meson Production (VMP) [2] processes can be understood in an off-mass-shell generalization of dual amplitudes with Mandelstam analyticity [3]. By comparing different approaches, we managed also to constrain the numerical values of the free parameters.

On the Application of Beam on Elastic Foundation Theory to the Analysis of Stiffened Plate Strips

The main objective of this thesis is to show that plate strips subjected to transverse line loads can be analysed by using the beam on elastic foundation (BEF) approach. It is shown that the elastic behaviour of both the centre line section of a semi infinite plate supported along two edges, and the free edge of a cantilever plate strip can be accurately predicted by calculations based on the two parameter BEF theory. The transverse bending stiffness of the plate strip forms the foundation. The foundation modulus is shown, mathematically and physically, to be the zero order term of the fourth order differential equation governing the behaviour of BEF, whereas the torsion rigidity of the plate acts like pre tension in the second order term. Direct equivalence is obtained for harmonic line loading by comparing the differential equations of Levy's method (a simply supported plate) with the BEF method. By equating the second and zero order terms of the semi infinite BEF model for each harmonic component, two parameters are obtained for a simply supported plate of width B: the characteristic length, 1/ λ, and the normalized sum, n, being the effect of axial loading and stiffening resulting from the torsion stiffness, nlin. This procedure gives the following result for the first mode when a uniaxial stress field was assumed (ν = 0): 1/λ = √2B/π and nlin = 1. For constant line loading, which is the superimposition of harmonic components, slightly differing foundation parameters are obtained when the maximum deflection and bending moment values of the theoretical plate, with v = 0, and BEF analysis solutions are equated: 1 /λ= 1.47B/π and nlin. = 0.59 for a simply supported plate; and 1/λ = 0.99B/π and nlin = 0.25 for a fixed plate. The BEF parameters of the plate strip with a free edge are determined based solely on finite element analysis (FEA) results: 1/λ = 1.29B/π and nlin. = 0.65, where B is the double width of the cantilever plate strip. The stress biaxial, v > 0, is shown not to affect the values of the BEF parameters significantly the result of the geometric nonlinearity caused by in plane, axial and biaxial loading is studied theoretically by comparing the differential equations of Levy's method with the BEF approach. The BEF model is generalised to take into account the elastic rotation stiffness of the longitudinal edges. Finally, formulae are presented that take into account the effect of Poisson's ratio, and geometric non linearity, on bending behaviour resulting from axial and transverse inplane loading. It is also shown that the BEF parameters of the semi infinite model are valid for linear elastic analysis of a plate strip of finite length. The BEF model was verified by applying it to the analysis of bending stresses caused by misalignments in a laboratory test panel. In summary, it can be concluded that the advantages of the BEF theory are that it is a simple tool, and that it is accurate enough for specific stress analysis of semi infinite and finite plate bending problems.