University of York

About: University of York is a education organization based out in York, York, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 22089 authors who have published 56925 publications receiving 2458285 citations. The organization is also known as: York University & Ebor..

Occurrence and Fate of Human Pharmaceuticals in the Environment

Abstract: Pharmaceuticals from a wide spectrum of therapeutic classes are used in human medicine worldwide. Pharmaceutically active compounds are defined as substances used for prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a disease and for restoring, correcting or modifying organic functions (Daughton and Ternes 1999). Pharmaceuticals include more than 4000 molecules with different physico-chemical and biological properties and distinct modes of biochemical action (Beausse 2004). Most medical substances are administrated orally. After administration, some drugs are metabolised, while others remain intact before being excreted. Therefore, a mixture of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites will enter municipal sewage and sewage treatment plants (STP; Kummerer 2004).

Understanding and Evaluating Qualitative Research.

Abstract: During the past 6 years (1989-1994), the Journal of Marriage and the Family has published 527 articles. Only 10 or 1.9% were qualitative, either entirely (4) or partly (1), or in a combination of qualitative and quantitative data (5). Four other articles were based on qualitative data, but the results were entirely quantified. These four articles would raise the total of qualitative papers to 15 or 2.8%. These statistics are rather startling, especially when considering that there is a large theoretical literature pertaining to qualitative research, numerous articles and texts on its methods, a rapidly growing body of empirical research with the family field as one of its major beneficiaries (Gilgun, Daly, & Handel, 1992; Rosenblatt & Fischer, 1993), and a well-organized network on qualitative family research, with a newsletter of the same name. JMF, however, is not unique in terms of rarely publishing qualitative articles (see LaRossa & Wolf, 1985; Nye, 1988, on family research). Editorial boards of high-profile journals in family studies, psychology, and sociology are composed of well-published scholars, only a minority of whom are experienced qualitative researchers. The result is that a majority of the qualitative articles submitted have to be evaluated by scholars who have little expertise in qualitative research, or by qualitative researchers who have no expertise in the substantive area of a submitted article or who subscribe to a different epistemology. In contrast, quantitative papers can generally be matched with reviewers who not only understand the methods, but are also knowledgeable in the substantive area covered. It thus becomes important to discuss some of the problems inherent in evaluating qualitative research. Consequently, the focus of this article is practical and not theoretical. We address naturalistic qualitative research in terms of methods. In addition, because qualitative research has become extremely varied, we have limited the purview of this article to epistemologies that involve the observation, interview, or written participation of family members, rather than the analysis or deconstruction of texts, for instance. The statistics presented earlier clearly indicate that JMF is a quantitative journal, with a readership primarily composed of quantitative researchers. We have, therefore, written this article for scholars who are quantitatively oriented: Our vocabulary and material covered reflect this focus. Because several qualitative approaches are included within the vast umbrella of naturalistic fieldwork, we also hope to reach qualitative researchers who are very specialized within one particular epistemology or qualitative approach. In order to retain a certain practical focus, we could not discuss postmodernist approaches. Moreover, because most of us are sociologically trained, the bulk of the literature reviewed falls within this discipline. We use a quantitative/qualitative dichotomy only for heuristic purposes. At a historical juncture where traditional, theoretical, and empirical alignments should at least cohabit and new configurations are appearing (Alexander & Colomy, 1990, p. 56), one can only hope for an improved understanding between advocates of both sets of approaches and a decrease in the either/or dichotomous thinking that devalues the efforts of any one approach to knowledge generation. This hope also extends to adherents of the several distinct qualitative epistemologies. In a first section, we present general information on qualitative research in terms of its goals and procedures. This is followed by a discussion of linkages between epistemologies and methods in qualitative research; our own diverse orientations are outlined at the end of this discussion. In a third section, we broach more specific aspects of the evaluation process. Then we examine frequently encountered problems in the evaluation process, focusing on problems unwittingly created both by reviewers and authors. …

A practical approach to measuring user engagement with the refined user engagement scale (UES) and new UES short form

Abstract: User engagement (UE) and its measurement have been of increasing interest in human-computer interaction (HCI). The User Engagement Scale (UES) is one tool developed to measure UE, and has been used in a variety of digital domains. The original UES consisted of 31-items and purported to measure six dimensions of engagement: aesthetic appeal, focused attention, novelty, perceived usability, felt involvement, and endurability. A recent synthesis of the literature questioned the original six-factors. Further, the ways in which the UES has been implemented in studies suggests there may be a need for a briefer version of the questionnaire and more effective documentation to guide its use and analysis. This research investigated and verified a four-factor structure of the UES and proposed a Short Form (SF). We employed contemporary statistical tools that were unavailable during the UES’ development to re-analyze the original data, consisting of 427 and 779 valid responses across two studies, and examined new data (N=344) gathered as part of a three-year digital library project. In this paper we detail our analyses, present a revised long and short form (SF) version of the UES, and offer guidance for researchers interested in adopting the UES and UES-SF in their own studies.

Future perspectives for spintronic devices

Abstract: Spintronics is one of the emerging research fields in nanotechnology and has been growing very rapidly. Studies of spintronics were started after the discovery of giant magnetoresistance in 1988, which utilized spin-polarized electron transport across a non-magnetic metallic layer. Within 10 years, this discovery had been implemented into hard disk drives, the most common storage media, followed by recognition through the award of the Nobel Prize for Physics 19 years later. We have never experienced such fast development in any scientific field. Spintronics research is now moving into second-generation spin dynamics and beyond. In this review, we first examine the historical advances in spintronics together with the background physics, and then describe major device applications.