A Conceptual Model for Integrative Studies of Epiphytes: Nitrogen Utilisation, a Case Study

1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Bergstrom ◽  
C. E. Tweedie

A conceptual, hierarchical model for the study of epiphytes in complex rainforest ecosystems is illustrated. The model incorporates an integrative, multidisciplinary approach with ecological parameters compartmentalised into relevant spatial, temporal and organisational scales. The model can be applied to other spatially complex ecosystems such as coral reefs. An example showing the use of the model is presented. The natural abundance of 15N in three species of epiphyte growing on one tree is examined. In this pilot study, interpretation of a complex data set has been aided by the use of a hierarchical approach. A high degree of spatial heterogeneity in the nitrogen pool within the tree was found, with epiphytes accessing at least three sources of nitrogen: an atmospheric source, a nitrogen fixed source and the phorophyte itself through decomposed litter.

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1477-1501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Goode ◽  
Nancy Crego ◽  
Michael P. Cary ◽  
Deirdre Thornlow ◽  
Elizabeth Merwin

Researchers need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of data sets to choose a secondary data set to use for a health care study. This research method review informs the reader of the major issues necessary for investigators to consider while incorporating secondary data into their repertoire of potential research designs and shows the range of approaches the investigators may take to answer nursing research questions in a variety of context areas. The researcher requires expertise in locating and judging data sets and in the development of complex data management skills for managing large numbers of records. There are important considerations such as firm knowledge of the research question supported by the conceptual framework and the selection of appropriate databases, which guide the researcher in delineating the unit of analysis. Other more complex issues for researchers to consider when conducting secondary data research methods include data access, management and security, and complex variable construction.


Author(s):  
Elena Errico ◽  
Elisa Ballestrazzi

This article analyzes an interpreter-mediated speech event from Spanish into Italian. In the case study, the interactional dominance of the main speaker and his communicative style repeatedly challenge the participatory status and the face of the interpreter, who is constantly coping with the speaker’s attempts to involve her in the interaction as an entertainment resource. Although the communicative setting — a book presentation — is typical of conference interpreting events, this encounter was structured unconventionally as an informal story-telling session interspersed with several ad-libs and impromptu conversation exchanges with other participants, all interpreted in the short consecutive mode. The high degree of interactivity that emerged among the participants suggested the adoption of a qualitative multidisciplinary approach which, in addition to conference interpreting research, also draws on dialogue and media interpreting, as well as sister disciplines such as social psychology and conversation analysis in intercultural settings.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Kümmel ◽  
Paul Selzer ◽  
Martin Beibel ◽  
Hanspeter Gubler ◽  
Christian N. Parker ◽  
...  

High-content screening (HCS) is increasingly used in biomedical research generating multivariate, single-cell data sets. Before scoring a treatment, the complex data sets are processed (e.g., normalized, reduced to a lower dimensionality) to help extract valuable information. However, there has been no published comparison of the performance of these methods. This study comparatively evaluates unbiased approaches to reduce dimensionality as well as to summarize cell populations. To evaluate these different data-processing strategies, the prediction accuracies and the Z′ factors of control compounds of a HCS cell cycle data set were monitored. As expected, dimension reduction led to a lower degree of discrimination between control samples. A high degree of classification accuracy was achieved when the cell population was summarized on well level using percentile values. As a conclusion, the generic data analysis pipeline described here enables a systematic review of alternative strategies to analyze multiparametric results from biological systems.


Author(s):  
Miriam Bernard ◽  
David Amigoni ◽  
Ruth Basten ◽  
Lucy Munro ◽  
Michael Murray ◽  
...  

Despite increasing evidence that continued engagement in creative activities is beneficial as we navigate later life, we still know comparatively little about what participation in theatre, and specifically in theatre-making, means to participants. This chapter presents selected findings from a detailed interdisciplinary case study of one particular theatre - the Victoria/New Victoria Theatre in North Staffordshire - in the lives of older people. The chapter describes how the project took shape; how each of its three strands (archival, interview and performative) developed; and how its rich and complex data set has been used: with a focus on articulating the place of the theatre in people’s lives, and on their understandings of its role in relation to ageing and later life.


1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Skiffington ◽  
Ephrem Fernandez ◽  
Ken McFarland

This study extends previous attempts to assess emotion with single adjective descriptors, by examining semantic as well as cognitive, motivational, and intensity features of emotions. The focus was on seven negative emotions common to several emotion typologies: anger, fear, sadness, shame, pity, jealousy, and contempt. For each of these emotions, seven items were generated corresponding to cognitive appraisal about the self, cognitive appraisal about the environment, action tendency, action fantasy, synonym, antonym, and intensity range of the emotion, respectively. A pilot study established that 48 of the 49 items were linked predominantly to the specific emotions as predicted. The main data set comprising 700 subjects' ratings of relatedness between items and emotions was subjected to a series of factor analyses, which revealed that 44 of the 49 items loaded on the emotion constructs as predicted. A final factor analysis of these items uncovered seven factors accounting for 39% of the variance. These emergent factors corresponded to the hypothesized emotion constructs, with the exception of anger and fear, which were somewhat confounded. These findings lay the groundwork for the construction of an instrument to assess emotions multicomponentially.


Author(s):  
Christiane Gresse Von Wangenheim ◽  
Nathalia Cruz Alves ◽  
Pedro Eurico Rodrigues ◽  
Jean Carlo Hauck

In order to be well-educated citizens in the 21st century, children need to learn computing in school. However, implementing computing education in schools faces several practical problems, such as lack of computing teachers and time in an already overloaded curriculum. A solution can be a multidisciplinary approach, integrating computing education within other subjects in the curriculum. The present study proposes an instructional unit for computing education in social studies classes, with students learning basic computing concepts by programming history related games using Scratch. The instructional unit is developed following an instructional design approach and is applied and evaluated through a case study in four classes (5th and 7th grade) with a total of 105 students at a school in (omitted for submission). Results provide a first indication that the instructional unit enables the learning of basic computing concepts (specifically programming) in an efficient, effective and entertaining way increasing also the interest and motivation of students to learn computing.


Author(s):  
Michael W. Pratt ◽  
M. Kyle Matsuba

Chapter 7 begins with an overview of Erikson’s ideas about intimacy and its place in the life cycle, followed by a summary of Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment theory framework and its relation to family development. The authors review existing longitudinal research on the development of family relationships in adolescence and emerging adulthood, focusing on evidence with regard to links to McAdams and Pals’ personality model. They discuss the evidence, both questionnaire and narrative, from the Futures Study data set on family relationships, including emerging adults’ relations with parents and, separately, with grandparents, as well as their anticipations of their own parenthood. As a way of illustrating the key personality concepts from this family chapter, the authors end with a case study of Jane Fonda in youth and her father, Henry Fonda, to illustrate these issues through the lives of a 20th-century Hollywood dynasty of actors.


Author(s):  
Michael W. Pratt ◽  
M. Kyle Matsuba

Chapter 6 reviews research on the topic of vocational/occupational development in relation to the McAdams and Pals tripartite personality framework of traits, goals, and life stories. Distinctions between types of motivations for the work role (as a job, career, or calling) are particularly highlighted. The authors then turn to research from the Futures Study on work motivations and their links to personality traits, identity, generativity, and the life story, drawing on analyses and quotes from the data set. To illustrate the key concepts from this vocation chapter, the authors end with a case study on Charles Darwin’s pivotal turning point, his round-the-world voyage as naturalist for the HMS Beagle. Darwin was an emerging adult in his 20s at the time, and we highlight the role of this journey as a turning point in his adult vocational development.


2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (05) ◽  
pp. 564-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Schumacher ◽  
E. Graf ◽  
T. Gerds

Summary Objectives: A lack of generally applicable tools for the assessment of predictions for survival data has to be recognized. Prediction error curves based on the Brier score that have been suggested as a sensible approach are illustrated by means of a case study. Methods: The concept of predictions made in terms of conditional survival probabilities given the patient’s covariates is introduced. Such predictions are derived from various statistical models for survival data including artificial neural networks. The idea of how the prediction error of a prognostic classification scheme can be followed over time is illustrated with the data of two studies on the prognosis of node positive breast cancer patients, one of them serving as an independent test data set. Results and Conclusions: The Brier score as a function of time is shown to be a valuable tool for assessing the predictive performance of prognostic classification schemes for survival data incorporating censored observations. Comparison with the prediction based on the pooled Kaplan Meier estimator yields a benchmark value for any classification scheme incorporating patient’s covariate measurements. The problem of an overoptimistic assessment of prediction error caused by data-driven modelling as it is, for example, done with artificial neural nets can be circumvented by an assessment in an independent test data set.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-198
Author(s):  
Karen Van den Bussche ◽  
Sofie Verhaeghe ◽  
Ann Van Hecke ◽  
Dimitri Beeckman

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