bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Point-of-Care Testing: An Introduction
Authors: Gutierres Sheryl L , Welty Timothy E 
Published: December 2003

OBJECTIVE: To review available literature and provide perspective on point-of-care testing, focusing on the impact it has on treatment outcomes in patient care, the impact it has on the costs of patient care, and the role it has in the delivery of pharmaceutical care. DATA SOURCES: Information was retrieved from MEDLINE English literature searches using PubMed (1965–August 2003) and included search terms of point-of-care testing, near patient testing, pharmaceutical care, pharmacists, outcomes, and economics. Additionally, references from retrieved articles were reviewed to identify literature not detected by literature searches. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: Comparative studies, demonstration project reports, and systematic reviews were selected. Other related resources, such as government documents, relevant legislation, and government regulations, were included. Emphasis was placed on comparative studies and demonstration project reports. In the absence of these data, other resources were included. DATA SYNTHESIS: Point-of-care testing devices and technology are increasingly used in the delivery of care and therapeutic decision making. No studies have evaluated the impact of point-of-care testing, by itself, on patient care and outcomes. All studies have incorporated point-of-care testing with changes in the way patient care is delivered and have shown significant improvements when this approach is taken. The cost of point-of-care testing is greater than traditional laboratory testing, but the increased cost may be offset by improvements in the management of patient care, improvements in patient outcomes, and decreased utilization of the healthcare system. Point-of-care testing has been used successfully by pharmacists in disease management programs. Various government regulations and legislation impact the use of point-of-care testing. CONCLUSIONS: Limited data indicate that point-of-care testing, when combined with changes in healthcare delivery systems, may improve patient outcomes and decrease the overall cost of health care. Pharmacists have used point-of-care testing in programs designed to improve patient care but must carefully consider regulations and laws that govern the use of these devices. There is a great need for additional investigation into the use of point-of-care testing in patient care.
Venous Thromboembolic Prophylaxis in Hospitalized Medical Patients
Authors: Stark Jennifer E , Kilzer Wanda J 
Published: December 2003

BACKGROUND: The risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in medical patients is similar to that in moderate-risk surgery patients. Pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis is recommended for certain medical patients, but its use in clinical practice is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether medically ill patients with established risk factors receive pharmacologic VTE prophylaxis and determine whether prescribed regimens are consistent with current evidence and published recommendations. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 100 patients admitted to a hospital medicine service was conducted. Patients who were >40 years of age and admitted for congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or respiratory infection were considered appropriate candidates for VTE prophylaxis if they had no documented bleeding risk factors. Patients considered at increased risk of bleeding included those with documented uncontrolled hypertension, thrombocytopenia, coagulopathy, or recent gastrointestinal bleeding. Prescribed regimens were evaluated to determine whether they were consistent with regimens proven in clinical trials to be effective and safe. RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of the patients with established VTE risk factors and no documented risk factors for bleeding were prescribed pharmacologic VTE prophylaxis. An established regimen was prescribed in only 19% of those receiving prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: There is significant underutilization of VTE prophylaxis in this patient population. Patients are not adequately assessed for bleeding risk factors, and a portion of prescribed regimens are not those that have been established in the literature. Expert consensus statements recommend that hospitals develop strategies to prevent VTE events in their patients. Strategies to improve patient screening and physicians' prescribing habits are needed.
The effects of metacognitive training versus worked‐out examples on students' mathematical reasoning
Authors: Mevarech Zemira R. , Kramarski Bracha 
Published: December 2003

Background: The present study is rooted in a cognitive‐metacognitive approach. The study examines two ways to structure group interaction: one is based on worked‐out examples (WE) and the other on metacognitive training (MT). Both methods were implemented in cooperative settings, and both guided students to focus on the problem's essential parts and on appropriate problem‐solving strategies.Aims: The aim of the present study is twofold: (a) to investigate the effects of metacognitive training versus worked‐out examples on students' mathematical reasoning and mathematical communication; and (b) to compare the long‐term effects of the two methods on students' mathematical achievement.Sample: The study was conducted in two academic years. Participants for the first year of the study were 122 eighth‐grade Israeli students who studied algebra in five heterogeneous classrooms with no tracking. In addition, problem‐solving behaviours of eight groups (N = 32) were videotaped and analysed. A year later, when these participants were ninth graders, they were re‐examined using the same test as the one administered in eighth grade.Method: Three measures were used to assess students' mathematical achievement: a pretest, an immediate post‐test, and a delayed post‐test. ANOVA was carried out on the post‐test scores with respect to the following criteria: verbal explanations, algebraic representations and algebraic solution. In addition, chi‐square and Mann‐Whitney procedures were used to analyse cooperative, cognitive, and metacognitive behaviours.Results: Within cooperative settings, students who were exposed to metacognitive training outperformed students who were exposed to worked‐out examples on both the immediate and delayed post‐tests. In particular, the differences between the two conditions were observed on students' ability to explain their mathematical reasoning during the discourse and in writing. Lower achievers gained more under the MT than under WE condition.Conclusions: The findings indicate that the kind of task and the way group interaction is structured are two important variables in implementing cooperative learning, each of which is likely to have different effects on mathematical communication and achievement outcomes.
Evaluating change in attitude towards mathematics using the ‘then‐now’ procedure in a cooperative learning programme
Authors: Townsend Michael , Wilton Keri 
Published: December 2003

Background: Tertiary students' attitudes to mathematics are frequently negative and resistant to change, reflecting low self‐efficacy. Some educators believe that greater use should be made of small group, collaborative teaching. However, the results of such interventions should be subject to assessments of bias caused by a shift in the frame of reference used by students in reporting their attitudes.Aims: This study was designed to assess whether traditional pretest‐post‐test procedures would indicate positive changes in mathematics attitude during a programme of cooperative learning, and whether an examination of any attitudinal change using the ‘then‐now’ procedure would indicate bias in the results due to a shift in the internal standards for expressing attitude.Sample: Participants were 141 undergraduate students enrolled in a 12‐week statistics and research design component of a course in educational psychology.Method: Using multivariate procedures, pretest, post‐test, and then‐test measures of mathematics self‐concept and anxiety were examined in conjunction with a cooperative learning approach to teaching.Results: Significant positive changes between pretest and post‐test were found for both mathematics self‐concept and mathematics anxiety. There were no significant differences between the actual pretest and retrospective pretest measures of attitude. The results were not moderated by prior level of mathematics study.Conclusion: Conclusions about the apparent effectiveness of a cooperative learning programme were strengthened by the use of the retrospective pretest procedure.
The efficiency of multimedia learning into old age
Authors: Van Gerven Pascal W.M. , Paas Fred , Van Merriënboer Jeroen J.G. , Hendriks Maaike , Schmidt Henk G. 
Published: December 2003

Background: On the basis of a multimodal model of working memory, cognitive load theory predicts that a multimedia‐based instructional format leads to a better acquisition of complex subject matter than a purely visual instructional format.Aims: This study investigated the extent to which age and instructional format had an impact on training efficiency among both young and old adults. It was hypothesised that studying worked examples that are presented as a narrated animation (multimedia condition) is a more efficient means of complex skill training than studying visually presented worked examples (unimodal condition) and solving conventional problems. Furthermore, it was hypothesised that multimedia‐based worked examples are especially helpful for elderly learners, who have to deal with a general decline of working‐memory resources, because they address both mode‐specific working‐memory stores.Sample: The sample consisted of 60 young (mean age = 15.98 years) and 60 old adults (mean age = 64.48 years).Methods: Participants of both age groups were trained in either a conventional, a unimodal, or a multimedia condition. Subsequently, they had to solve a series of test problems. Dependent variables were perceived cognitive load during the training, performance on the test, and efficiency in terms of the ratio between these two variables.Results: Results showed that for both age groups multimedia‐based worked examples were more efficient than the other training formats in that less cognitive load led to at least an equal performance level.Conclusion: Although no difference in the beneficial effect of multimedia learning was found between the age groups, multimedia‐based instructions seem promising for the elderly.
Approaches to learning, need for cognition, and strategic flexibility among university students
Authors: Evans Christina J. , Kirby John R. , Fabrigar Leandre R. 
Published: December 2003

Background: Considerable research has described students' deep and surface approaches to learning. Other research has described individuals' self‐regulated learning and need for cognition. There is a need for research examining the relationships among these constructs.Aims: This study explored relationships among approaches to learning (deep, surface), need for cognition, and three types of control of learning (adaptive, inflexible, irresolute). Theory suggested similarities among the deep approach, need for cognition, and adaptive control (aspects of self‐regulated learning); and among surface, inflexible, and irresolute control (aspects of an ineffective approach to learning). One‐factor and two‐factor models were proposed.Sample: Participants were 226 Canadian military college students.Method: Participants completed the following questionnaires: the Study Process Questionnaire (Biggs, 1978), the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982), and the Strategic Flexibility Questionnaire (Cantwell & Moore, 1996).Results: Confirmatory factor analysis supported the identification of the six scale factors. Second order confirmatory factor analysis indicated three factors representing constructs underlying these factors.Conclusions: Neither the one‐ nor two‐factor models accounted adequately for the data. Self‐regulated learning was defined by measures of the deep approach to learning, need for cognition, and adaptive control of learning. The second factor divided into one factor consisting of irresolute control, the surface approach, and negative need for cognition; and another consisting of inflexible and negative adaptive control. Substantial relationships among scales support the need for further theory development.
The trichotomous model and investment in learning to prepare for a sport test: A mediational analysis
Authors: Cury F. , Da Fonséca D. , Rufo M. , Peres C. , Sarrazin P. 
Published: December 2003

Background: Contemporary views on motivation suggest that the approach‐avoidance achievement goals conceptualisation — namely the trichotomous model — can shed light on the important issue of student motivation.Aims: To test the predictive value of the trichotomous model on the investment in learning a sport task for test preparation, and to validate a model which included a set of psychological processes (i.e., state anxiety and competence valuation) which mediate the relationship between the three goals (i.e., performance‐approach, performance‐avoidance, and mastery goals) and test preparation. The study was designed to investigate the direct and mediational effects of three experimental goal conditions on the time in which pupils prepared for a sport test.Sample: French male school pupils (N = 75). Pupils were aged 13‐15 years and attended schools in southern France.Method: Pupils prepared themselves for a sport task with a 5‐minute period of training, and performed in one of three experimental conditions to which they were randomly assigned: a performance goal with a positive outcome focus (performance‐approach), a performance goal with a negative outcome focus (performance‐avoidance), or a mastery goal.Results: Pupils in the performance‐avoidance group reported higher state anxiety and lower competence valuation than those in the performance‐approach and mastery groups, and this psychological state was associated with less time taken to prepare for the test.Conclusion: School pupils placed in an examination preparation context that elicits a performance goal with a negative outcome focus (performance‐avoidance) show motivational deficits which manifest themselves in less time spent practising. The trichotomous model appears to be valid for the study of motivational processes in school physical education.
Intervention in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: The role of parents and teachers
Authors: Sugden David A. , Chambers Mary E. 
Published: December 2003

Background: Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are a heterogeneous group who have a marked impairment in the performance of functional skills. Provision for these children is usually made via a paediatrician through occupational or physiotherapy though, with a prevalence rate of 5%, regular provision is not possible due to limited professional resources.Aims: The study aimed to determine the extent to which parents and teachers, with guidance, can assist in the management of children with DCD; whether children with DCD are helped in this way and how this may contribute to our understanding of the condition.Sample: Thirty‐one children with DCD aged 7 to 9 years participated in the study.Methods: Following assessment, individual profiles were developed and each week teachers and parents were given guidelines for working with the children and each child had three to four sessions a week lasting approximately for 20 minutes. In Phase 1, one group of children worked with teachers and the other group worked with parents. In Phase 2, the two groups of children swapped over. The children were assessed regularly throughout the project using the Movement ABC, together with diaries and comments from teachers and parents.Results: At the end of the 40‐week study, 27 children showed significant improvement in their motor skills.Conclusions: Both teachers and parents were able to provide effective intervention for the majority of the children. It is possible that the children who did not improve have difficulties that are of a more complex type which require more specialist therapy to meet their need.
Academic attainments of children with Down's syndrome: A longitudinal study
Authors: Turner Stephen , Alborz Alison 
Published: December 2003

Background: Studies of the academic progress of schoolchildren with Down's syndrome have given only limited indication of attainments at different ages. Such normative data, it is argued, could guide professionals and parents in respect to reasonable expectations and typical achievement.Aims: The aim of the paper is to provide a descriptive account of levels and range of academic attainments reached by a representative sample of children with Down's syndrome over time.Sample: Data relate to 106 children from three studies with the same cohort of families. Mean age was 9.1 years at the first study (1986), 13.7 at the second (1991), and 21.1 at the third (2000). Mean IQ was 40.29.Methods: The Academic Attainments Index (AAI) covers reading, writing and numeracy, and was designed for teacher completion. In order to compare attainments to wider norms, scores were compiled by age group, and related to age‐specific National Curriculum attainment levels, which are similar to US school grades.Results: AAI scores were obtained for 102 individuals in 1986, 101 in 1991 and 79 in 2000. Comparisons across age groups indicate that higher scores were achieved by each successive age group up to age 20, and that this pattern held for both more and less able children. Once adjusted for differences in IQ scores between age groups, however, there was some evidence of a levelling off towards the end of the school career. By school‐leaving age, the more able children reached at least some National Curriculum Key Stage 2 targets in reading and writing, and some Key Stage 3 targets in number work.Conclusion: Results provide a detailed picture of attainments across ability and age
Children's early reading vocabulary: Description and word frequency lists
Authors: Stuart Morag , Dixon Maureen , Masterson Jackie , Gray Bob 
Published: December 2003

Background: When constructing stimuli for experimental investigations of cognitive processes in early reading development, researchers have to rely on adult or American children's word frequency counts, as no such counts exist for English children.Aim: The present paper introduces a database of children's early reading vocabulary, for use by researchers and teachers.Sample: Texts from 685 books from reading schemes and story books read by 5‐7 year‐old children were used in the construction of the database.Method: All words from the 685 books were typed or scanned into an Oracle database.Results: The resulting up‐to‐date word frequency list of early print exposure in the UK is available in two forms from a website address given in this paper. This allows access to one list of the words ordered alphabetically and one list of the words ordered by frequency. We also briefly address some fundamental issues underlying early reading vocabulary (e.g., that it is heavily skewed towards low frequencies). Other characteristics of the vocabulary are then discussed.Conclusions: We hope the word frequency lists will be of use to researchers seeking to control word frequency, and to teachers interested in the vocabulary to which young children are exposed in their reading material.
Infrastrukturen für Forschung und Lehre: von nationalen Initiativen zu weltweiten Entwicklungen (Infrastructures for Education and Research: from National Initiatives to Worldwide Development)
Authors: Courtois Bernard 
Published: December 2003

Summary
Infrastructures to provide access to custom integrated hardware manufacturing facilities are important because they allow students and researchers to access professional facilities at a reasonable cost and they allow companies to access small volume production, otherwise difficult to obtain directly from manufacturers. In the late 70s and early 80s, pioneering integrated circuits multi-chip projects and multi-project wafers initiatives have been launched in Europe, Asia, and North America. Some of these initiatives work together and today a worldwide cooperation has been established by the most experienced. The paper will review these initiatives and the motivations for a global cooperation scheme.
Preparation of 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol functionalized benzophenone/naphthalene and their uses in solid phase extractive preconcentration/separation of uranium(VI)
Authors: Preetha C. R. , Prasada Rao T. 
Published: December 2003

Summary
The preparation of solid reagent 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol functionalized benzophenone/naphthalene for preconcentration/separation of uranium (VI) is described. These reagents enriches uranium(VI) quantitatively from dilute aqueous solutions in the pH range 10.5-11.0. The solid mixture consisting of the enriched metal ion along with solid phase extractant were dissolved in 2ml of acetone and uranium(VI) content was established spectrophotometrically by using Arsenazo III procedure. Calibration graphs were rectilinear over the uranium(VI) concentration in the range 0.002-0.1μg cm-3. Five replicate determinations of 40μg of uranium present in 1dm3 of sample solution gave a mean absorbance of 0.185 with a relative standard deviation of 1.4. The detection limit (corresponding to 3 times the standard deviation of the blank) and the enrichment factor were found to be 2μg dm-3 and 500 respectively. Further the possible separation of uranium(VI) from several bivalent, trivalent and tetravalent elements was also established. In addition to validating the developed method by successfully analysing marine sediment reference material (MESS-3), uranium content was established in soil, river and marine sediment samples by the developed method and compared with standard inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) values.
Solubility of crystalline thorium dioxide
Authors: Neck V. , Altmaier M. , Müller R. , Bauer A. , Fanghänel Th. , Kim Jae-Il 
Published: December 2003

SummaryThe solubility of thorium oxides of different crystallinity is investigated at 25°C by different experimental approaches. The dissolution of bulk crystalline ThO2(cr) is a very slow process and the Th(IV) concentrations measured after one year at pH 1-3 in 0.1 and 0.5M HCl-NaCl solutions do not represent equilibrium data. Coulometric titration of thorium nitrate solutions in the low pH range of 1.5-2.5 leads to the formation of microcrystalline ThO2·xH2O(mcr) particles which subsequently agglomerate to a precipitate. The solubility of this solid, in equilibrium with Th4+(aq), is measured from the oversaturation direction. The solubility product is determined to be logK´sp=-49.9±0.4 in 0.5M NaCl corresponding to logK°sp=-53.2±0.4 (converted toI=0 with the SIT). It is close to the thermochemical value for ThO2(cr) and about 6 orders of magnitude lower than that of X-ray amorphous Th(IV) hydroxide or hydrous oxide. The differences in the solubility products are discussed with regard to the particle size and compared with analogous data for U(IV), Np(IV) and Pu(IV).Above the threshold of hydrolysis of Th4+at pH>2.5, the dissolution of microcrystalline ThO2·xH2O(mcr) is found to be irreversible. In near-neutral to alkaline solutions, the measured thorium concentrations approach those of amorphous Th(OH)4(am). Similar results are obtained with crystalline ThO2(cr) in 0.5M NaCl-NaOH solutions. The solubility is not controlled by the bulk crystalline solid but by amorphous fractions on the surface.