A Strategy to Identify Critical Appraisal Criteria for Primary Mixed-Method Studies

The practice of mixed-methods research has increased considerably over the last 10 years. While these studies have been criticized for violating quantitative and qualitative paradigmatic assumptions, the methodological quality of mixed-method studies has not been addressed. The purpose of this paper is to identify criteria to critically appraise the quality of mixed-method studies in the health literature. Criteria for critically appraising quantitative and qualitative studies were generated from a review of the literature. These criteria were organized according to a cross-paradigm framework. We recommend that these criteria be applied to a sample of mixed-method studies which are judged to be exemplary. With the consultation of critical appraisal experts and experienced qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method researchers, further efforts are required to revise and prioritize the criteria according to importance.     

Universities and Fundamental Research: Reflections on the Growth of University-Industry Partnerships

The recent rise in university–industry partnerships hasstimulated an important public-policy debate regarding how theserelationships affect fundamental research. In this paper, weexamine the antecedents and consequences of policies to promoteuniversity–industry alliances. Although the preliminaryevidence appears to suggest that these partnerships have nothad a deleterious effect on the quantity and quality of basicresearch, some legitimate concerns have been raised about theseactivities that require additional analysis. We conclude thatadditional research is needed to provide a more accurate assessmentof the optimal level of commercialization.     

Computerizing audit studies

This paper briefly discusses the history, benefits, and shortcomings of traditional audit field experiments to study market discrimination. Specifically it identifies template bias and experimenter bias as major concerns in the traditional audit method and demonstrates through an empirical example that computerization of a resume or correspondence audit can efficiently increase sample size and greatly mitigate these concerns. Finally, it presents a useful meta-tool that future researchers can use to create their own resume audits.     

Supporting Healthier Food Choices in Remote Indigenous Communities: Developing a Food Choice App

This article posits the development of a healthier food choice app as a means of contributing to facilitating nutritionally superior food selection among indigenous Australians living in remote communities. A significant health gap exists between indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia. Further, indigenous Australians living in remote communities carry a significant and disproportionate share of this gap. One contributor to poor health is poor nutrition: current food consumption in remote communities is a diet dominated by highly processed foods and characterized by high levels of sugar, refined cereals, and low intake of fruit and vegetables coupled with excessive sodium intake and deficiency in a number of micronutrients. Employing two marketing-based concepts, the dual processing model of nutritional labeling and habit, as the basis for the development of a healthier food app, we contend that a food choice app has the potential to disrupt habitual behavior and generate new learning about healthier food choices in remote indigenous communities. The app would be based on the George Institute’s FoodSwitch app, which enables users to scan barcodes of food products at the point of purchase and determines if the food item is a healthy choice and otherwise suggests healthier alternatives. The proposed app would utilize existing imagery used by the Jimmy Little Foundation, a not-for-profit organization working in remote indigenous communities promoting healthier food and lifestyle practices, and would provide information in a culturally appropriate and clearly communicated form.     

Thermal Eco‐cities: Green Building and Urban Thermal Metabolism

Eco‐city projects are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the globe and are often marketed as ‘new’ urban environments focused on achieving sustainable urban living while promoting environmental–economic transitions towards a low‐carbon technological and industrial base. The article argues for the need to consider the thermal aspects of urban metabolism, while at the same time focusing on the link between individual buildings and eco‐city master plans and wider economic development strategies at a state level. In so doing, the article encourages critical analysis of eco‐city design and planning, while keeping a focus on the role of specific building structures within eco‐cities as examples of the intermeshing of what can be termed a ‘political ecology of scale’ which stretches from specific buildings' climatic characteristics, to the metabolic master plan for eco‐cities, to provincial, regional and state‐level plans for the integration of eco‐cities within wider economic and political development trajectories. The article focuses on Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, an eco‐city under construction at the time of writing.     

Systematic review and analysis of efficacy of recombinant factor IX products for prophylactic treatment of hemophilia B in comparison with rIX-FP

Abstract

Aims: Prophylaxis with standard-acting recombinant factor IX (rFIX) in hemophilia B patients requires frequent injections. Extended half-life (EHL) products allow for prolonged dosing intervals, and so reduce this treatment burden. Three technologies are employed to extend the half-life of FIX; glycopegylation, Fc-fusion, and albumin fusion. rIX-FP is a novel albumin fusion protein, which allows for a prolonged dosing interval of up to 14?days. A systematic review and indirect statistical comparison was performed to evaluate the efficacy of both EHL and standard-acting rFIX products compared with rIX-FP in Phase III trials for prophylaxis in adult hemophilia B patients.

Materials and methods: A systematic search was conducted in both EMBASE and PubMed to identify Phase III trials of prophylactic rFIX treatment in previously treated hemophilia B patients aged ≥12?years (FIX ≤2%). Annualized bleeding rate (ABR), spontaneous ABR (AsBR), and joint ABR (AjBR) data were extracted from each study. A z-test was performed using the mean of each parameter, and the mean difference in outcome between studies was calculated.

Results: Seven articles investigating six rFIX products were identified. Median ABR, AsBR, and AjBR ranged from 0–3.0, 0–1.0, and 0–1.1 (means = 0.8–4.26, 0.13–2.6, and 0.34–2.85), respectively. rIX-FP achieved the lowest median and mean values in all three parameters. Z-tests showed that mean ABR was significantly lower for rIX-FP 7-day prophylaxis compared with the majority of standard-acting and other EHL rFIX products.

Limitations: The low number of appropriate trials available for comparison limits the quantity of data available for comparison, and restricts the use of methods of adjustment for variance in study design or patient characteristics. However, these limitations are shared with similar analyses published in this field.

Conclusion: This indirect comparison of Phase III trials indicates that rIX-FP efficacy compares favorably vs other rFIX products for prophylaxis in hemophilia B.     

Environmental and Spiritual Leadership: Tracing the Synergies from an Organizational Perspective

This article presents some synergies that appear to exist in the conceptualization of environmental and spiritual leadership. After some discussion of the contexts in which environmental and spiritual leadership have arisen, the author identifies some commonalities in the underpinning values and associated discourse adopted in the literature to describe these two concepts. Common values include notions of the common and social good, stewardship, sustainability, servanthood, calling, meaning, and connectedness. The article also draws attention to the way that historical and cultural factors have contributed to some overlapping in the conceptual development of spirit and environment. Finally, avenues for demonstrating and embedding both spiritual and environmental leadership into organizations are explored.     

The status of biotehnology-based innovation

This paper contributes to the debate surrounding the question of whether biotechnology, particularly its applications in agricultural and food-related industries, should be regarded as revolutionary or evolutionary (with some reservations about the vaildity of teh question). The potential to create a revolutionary techno-economic paradigm shift does exist but it is currently systems. It is also important to consider the motivations underlying statements about the revolutionary/ evolutionary nature of biotechnology, as some such statements are intended to influence events rather than to reflect them. The impact of small firms on the direction and place of revolutionary change in these industries is likely to be marginal, unlike the situation in the early phases of teh electronics/IT revolution. At present the lack of integration of policy initiatives by national governments and the EC is a major factor discouraging the rapid implementation of change.     

MINIMUM WAGE HIKES AND THE WAGE GROWTH OF LOW‐WAGE WORKERS

This paper presents difference‐in‐differences estimates of the impact of the British minimum wage on the wage growth of low‐wage employees. Estimates of the probability of low‐wage employees receiving positive wage growth have been significantly increased by the minimum wage upratings or hikes. However, whether the actual wage growth of these workers has been significantly raised or not depends crucially on the magnitude of the minimum wage hike considered. Findings are consistent with employers complying with the legally binding minimum wage but holding down or offsetting the wage growth that they might have awarded in periods of relatively low minimum wage hikes.     

Latent factor structures affecting the occupational profile construct of the training needs analysis scale

This study evaluates the latent factor structure of the occupational profile construct of the training needs analysis (TNA) scale proposed by Hicks, Hennessy and Barwell (1996). Data were collected from 72 Australian nurses. Principal component analysis and multi-dimensional scaling methods were employed to delineate a five-factor model. This study demonstrates a good fit of data as opposed to asymmetrical disposition of factor structures as promulgated by previous studies. This research confirms the original latent factor structures; however, validation using a confirmatory framework to analyse the TNA scale is required in future. This study suggests some practical implications for human resource managers.