Candidates in major political contests are commonly endorsed by other politicians, interest groups and celebrities. Prior to the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary, Barack Obama was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, a celebrity with a proven track record of influencing her fans’ commercial decisions. In this paper, we use geographic differences in subscriptions to O! – The Oprah Magazine and the sal...

BACKGROUND Patients can play an important role in improving patient safety by becoming actively involved in their health care. However, there is a paucity of empirical data on the extent to which patients take on such a role. In order to encourage patient participation in patient safety we first need to assess the full range of factors that may be implicated in such involvement. OBJECTIVE To ...

the purpose of this study is to evaluate financial participation of farmers to reduce the adverse environmental effects of contaminated water by using contingent valuation approach and tobit model by heckman's two stage. to achieve the desired goal, 100 questionnaires collected by a random sampling from farmers of kashaf- rood basin in mashhad city in 2014. results showed that variables of age,...

The enterprise track caught our attention, since the task is similar to a project we carried our for the BBC. Our motivation for participation has been twofold: On one hand, there is the usual challenge to design and test the quality of retrieval strategies. On the other hand, and for us very important, the TREC participation has been an opportunity to investigate the resource effort it require...

INTRODUCTION The Learning Health Care System (LHCS) model seeks to utilize sophisticated technologies and competencies to integrate clinical operations, research and patient participation in order to continuously generate knowledge, improve care, and deliver value. Transitioning from concept to practical application of an LHCS presents many challenges but can yield opportunities for continuous ...

INTRODUCTION There is a need for individualized discharge planning to support frail older persons at hospital discharge. In this context, active participation on their behalf cannot be taken for granted. The aim of this study was to elucidate patient participation in discharge planning conferences, with a focus on frail older persons, supported by the theory of positioning described by Harré & ...

Traditional e-learning uses information and communication technologies to facilitate participant connections, expand access, and provide learning opportunities not necessarily constrained by time or distance (e.g., Evans and Powell 2007). ee-Learning leverages e-learning technology with the philosophy and methodology of experiential education, promoting inquiring forms of community that engage ...

BACKGROUND The German National Disease Management Guideline (NDMG) on chronic heart failure (CHF) derived nine clinical quality indicators (QIs) to enable assessment of quality of health care in patients with CHF. These QIs epitomize an evidence-based and somatic point of view of guided treatment, but little is known about the experiences and views of patients with their guideline-based treatme...

BACKGROUND The Cancer Genetics Service for Wales (CGSW) was established in 1998 as an all-Wales service for individuals with concerns about their family history of cancer. CGSW offers a range of services such as risk assessment, genetic counseling, and genetic testing. Individuals referred to cancer genetics services often have unmet information and support needs, and they value access to pract...

The idea of public participation GIS involves the use of GIS tools to help laypcople understand the spatial consequences of proposed projects, evaluate alternatives, and create new solutions. The widening use of information networks creates opportunities for making GIS a widely accessible decision-making tool, bypassing the constraints of location and time. This paper presents a prototype softw...