Supporting public involvement in research design and grant development: a case study of a public involvement award scheme managed by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Design Service (RDS)

Background

It is good practice for the public to be involved in developing health research. Resources should be available for researchers to fund the involvement of the public in the development of their grants.

Objective

To describe a funding award scheme to support public involvement in grant development, managed by an NIHR Research Design Service (RDS). Case examples of how the award contributed to successful grant applications and findings from a recent evaluation of the scheme are presented.

Design

A case study of resource provision to support public involvement activities in one region of England.

Participants

University and NHS‐based researchers, and members of the public.

Findings

Between 2009 and 2012, the RDS approved 45 public involvement funding awards (totalling nearly £19 000). These awards contributed to 27 submitted applications at the time of writing, of which 11 were successful (totalling over £7.5 million). The evaluation revealed difficulties encountered by some researchers when involving the public in grant development, which led to suggestions about how the scheme could be improved.

Conclusion

This award scheme represents an efficient method of providing researchers with resources to involve the public in grant development and would appear to represent good value for money.     

民营职业卫生技术服务机构的发展现状

综述了我国职业卫生技术服务机构的市场构成情况,对民营职业卫生技术服务机构的发展前景进行了综合分析.通过对内蒙古地区、天津市及北京市职业卫生技术服务机构人员构成情况进行综述,指出了当前职业卫生技术服务机构的首要发展瓶颈为人力资源配置不足,对民营职业卫生技术服务机构提出了发挥体制优势、最大限度地利用社会资源和强化人力资源管理、积极抢占市场份额的发展建议.     

Acculturation and Stress in a Low-Income Puerto Rican Community

Abstract

In this study, the acculturative stress experienced by Puerto Rican migrants to the urban U.S. is examined. Acculturative stress is defined as length of residence in a novel cultural environment while lacking psychosocial resources to support adaptation to that environment. In a sample of 67 patients seen in a public health nursing agency, it was found that acculturative stress was associated with poorer health status, more behavioral problems, and higher levels of ethnomedical belief. The implications of these results for research on stress and adaptation are discussed.     

Highly Improved Thermal Properties of Hydroxyl‐Containing Polymers via Modification by Benzoxazine Groups

Isocyanate functional benzoxazine (NCO‐4HBA‐a) is used for coupling with hydroxyl‐group‐containing molecules. Glycerol is used in a model reaction to study the urethane bonds formed between the NCO‐4HBA‐a and the glycerol's hydroxyl groups. The model supports a reaction between NCO‐4HBA‐a and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), which leads to an improved char yield, determined by thermogravimetric analysis. Glycerol‐based benzoxazine is also an attractive benzoxazine synthesized from the products of biofuel production. Upon functionalization with benzoxazine and subsequent thermal treatment, the hydroxyl‐containing polymer gains thermal stability shown by improved char yield of polybenzoxazine cross‐linked PVA.

     

天目山自然保护区铁线莲属药用植物资源调查研究

目的 对天目山自然保护区铁线莲属植物的种类、地理分布、资源特点及药用价值等进行调查研究。方法 采用野外调查、资料收集与标本鉴定相结合的方法调查该保护区铁线莲属植物资源。结果 天目山自然保护区铁线莲属植物共有22种（含4变种）,可供药用20种,裂叶铁线莲为地理分布新记录种。结论 为合理开发和利用该保护区铁线莲属药用植物资源提供依据。     

The Commerce and Crossover of Resources: Resource Conservation in the Service of Resilience

Conservation of resources (COR) theory was originally introduced as a framework for understanding and predicting the consequences of major and traumatic stress, but following the work of Hobfoll and Shirom (1993), COR theory has been adopted to understanding and predicting work‐related stress and both the stress and resilience that occur within work settings and work culture. COR theory underscores the critical role of resource possession, lack, loss and gain and depicts personal, social and material resources co‐travelling in resource caravans, rather than piecemeal. We briefly review the principles of COR theory and integrate it in the crossover model, which provides a key mechanism for multi‐person exchange of emotions, experiences and resources. Understanding the impact of resource reservoirs, resource passageways and crossover provides a framework for research and intervention promoting resilience to employees as well as to organizations. It emphasizes that the creation and maintenance of resource caravan passageways promote resource gain climates through resource crossover processes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The National Cancer Informatics Program (NCIP) Annotation and Image Markup (AIM) Foundation Model

Knowledge contained within in vivo imaging annotated by human experts or computer programs is typically stored as unstructured text and separated from other associated information. The National Cancer Informatics Program (NCIP) Annotation and Image Markup (AIM) Foundation information model is an evolution of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Cancer Bioinformatics Grid (caBIG®) AIM model. The model applies to various image types created by various techniques and disciplines. It has evolved in response to the feedback and changing demands from the imaging community at NCI. The foundation model serves as a base for other imaging disciplines that want to extend the type of information the model collects. The model captures physical entities and their characteristics, imaging observation entities and their characteristics, markups (two- and three-dimensional), AIM statements, calculations, image source, inferences, annotation role, task context or workflow, audit trail, AIM creator details, equipment used to create AIM instances, subject demographics, and adjudication observations. An AIM instance can be stored as a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) structured reporting (SR) object or Extensible Markup Language (XML) document for further processing and analysis. An AIM instance consists of one or more annotations and associated markups of a single finding along with other ancillary information in the AIM model. An annotation describes information about the meaning of pixel data in an image. A markup is a graphical drawing placed on the image that depicts a region of interest. This paper describes fundamental AIM concepts and how to use and extend AIM for various imaging disciplines.