scholarly journals Quantitative Methods for the Prioritization of Foods Implicated in the Transmission of Hepatititis E to Humans in Italy

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Ornella Moro ◽  
Elisabetta Suffredini ◽  
Marco Isopi ◽  
Maria Elena Tosti ◽  
Pietro Schembri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Raw Milk ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Hepatitis E ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Leafy Vegetables ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Pork Products ◽  
Consumption Data

Hepatitis E is considered an emerging foodborne disease in Europe. Several types of foods are implicated in the transmission of the hepatitis E virus (HEV) to humans, in particular, pork and wild boar products. We developed a parametric stochastic model to estimate the risk of foodborne exposure to HEV in the Italian population and to rank the relevance of pork products with and without liver (PL and PNL, respectively), leafy vegetables, shellfish and raw milk in HEV transmission. Original data on HEV prevalence in different foods were obtained from a recent sampling study conducted in Italy at the retail level. Other data were obtained by publicly available sources and published literature. The model output indicated that the consumption of PNL was associated with the highest number of HEV infections in the population. However, the sensitivity analysis showed that slight variations in the consumption of PL led to an increase in the number of HEV infections much higher than PNL, suggesting that PL at an individual level are the top risky food. Uncertainty analysis underlined that further characterization of the pork products preparation and better assessment of consumption data at a regional level is critical information for fine-tuning the most risky implicated food items in Italy.

scholarly journals Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of the Hepatitis E Virus in Retail Pork Products Marketed in Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Mykytczuk ◽  
Jennifer Harlow ◽  
Sabah Bidawid ◽  
Nathalie Corneau ◽  
Neda Nasheri
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Characterization ◽  
Hepatitis E Virus ◽  
Hepatitis E ◽  
Pork Products

Hepatitis E Virus in Surface Water, Sediments, and Pork Products Marketed in Southern Brazil

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. H. Heldt ◽  
R. Staggmeier ◽  
J. S. Gularte ◽  
M. Demoliner ◽  
A. Henzel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Hepatitis E Virus ◽  
Hepatitis E ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Pork Products

Forging Foreign Policy: Organizational Identity and Knowledge Production

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 771-799
Author(s):  
Hana Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Intellectual Production

AbstractThe ideas and knowledge central to foreign policy are often produced within the context of organizations. How do organizations vet people and ideas for knowledge production? I use original data drawn from archives of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an organization that brought together elites with an interest in foreign policy, to examine the production of post–World War II US foreign policy knowledge. Drawing on literature about how organizations evaluate people and ideas, I assess how the CFR staff selected different foreign policy topics for their Program on Studies from 1955 to 1972. Case studies and multinomial logistic regression provide two forms of evidence: The justifications used by the CFR Program on Studies staff to select ideas and the relationship between recommendations of proposers and idea selection. I compare the effect of positive recommendations from different sources to distinguish between prioritizing quality and prestige and organizational identity on the other. Staff used the identity of the organization as a group of elites with particular expertise as a basis for making everyday decisions regarding which foreign policy knowledge would be codified in the program. In this way, the organization occupied a central position in the production of knowledge. This suggests that scholars of evaluation should attend to organization-level features in addition to individual-level characteristics. I discuss the implications for organizations and intellectual production.

scholarly journals Harmonizing Dietary Datasets Around the World for Global Diet Monitoring: Methods from the Global Dietary Database and the Global Individual Food Consumption Data Tool (OR06-06-19)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra Karageorgou ◽  
Laura Lara-Castor ◽  
Catherine Leclercq ◽  
Victoria Padula de Quadros ◽  
Sofia Ioannidou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Dietary Intakes ◽  
Food Groups ◽  
Monitoring Methods ◽  
Food Record ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Consumption Data ◽  
Food Consumption Data ◽  
The World ◽  
Dietary Data

Abstract Objectives To systematically identify, compile, and harmonize national and sub-national individual-level dietary data around the world using a common food classification and description system (FCDS); promote collaboration with data owners worldwide; and publicly disseminate methods and datasets to the global nutrition community. Methods The Global Dietary Database (GDD) and the FAO/WHO Global Individual Food consumption data Tool (FAO/WHO GIFT) initiative, in collaboration with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), developed a framework to standardize the characterization of 24-hour recall and food record survey data at their finest level, using FoodEx2 (Figure). FoodEx2 is a comprehensive FCDS developed by EFSA, adapted for international high-quality food characterization and methodologically superior to prior international FCDS. Single food items are characterized through a classification system (hierarchical nested food groups) and 32 description elements (facets), such as cooking process. Standardized criteria, procedures, and templates were developed to: (1) identify and (2) prioritize eligible surveys for FoodEx2 mapping; (3) efficiently contact data owners and obtain approval for public dissemination; (4) allocate financial assistance as appropriate; (5) obtain survey information and assess survey and diet tool quality; (6) train data owners on dataset preparation and FoodEx2 mapping; (7) collect harmonized microdata, including structure, sociodemographics, diet metrics, units of measure, and food characterization; and (8) publicly disseminate methods and datasets via the GDD and FAO/WHO GIFT platforms. Results A total of 151 surveys have been identified as high priority. Harmonization has been completed for 24 European surveys by EFSA, which will be incorporated in the GDD and FAO/WHO GIFT platforms upon approval of data owners; 8 surveys by FAO/WHO GIFT; and is ongoing for another 4. Thus far, the data owners of 53 surveys from 41 countries, including Brazil, India, and Iran, confirmed interest in joining; all surveys either used none or a local FCDS. Conclusions These new methods developed will provide the most comprehensive and standardized databases of dietary intakes worldwide. Such global dietary data harmonization is imperative for global diet monitoring and informed priority setting. Funding Sources Gates Foundation. Supporting Tables, Images and/or Graphs

Aligning theory and measurement in behavioral models of water conservation

Water Policy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 762-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley S. Jorgensen ◽  
John F. Martin ◽  
Meryl W. Pearce ◽  
Eileen M. Willis
Keyword(s):  
Water Consumption ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Habit Strength ◽  
Behavioral Models ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Consumption Data ◽  
Household Water

Discussion in the water literature has called for research on the role of behavioral intentions in explanations of both water demand and water conservation. But previous research has suggested that individual-level motivations are not good predictors of metered household water consumption. Two possible reasons for the lack of association between intentions and actual water conservation are that: (i) conservation behaviors are habitual and (ii) conservation behaviors and intention are measured at different levels of analysis. These explanations were tested in a sample of 415 residential households who provided permission to access their water consumption billing records. The effects of intentions, habit strength, and their interaction were examined in single-person households where the alignment of theory and measurement were the same. While behavioral intentions were associated with self-reports of past water conservation and habit strength, none of these variables were good predictors of water conservation. The implications of these results for the development of attitude theory using metered consumption data are discussed.

Potential Approaches to Assess the Infectivity of Hepatitis E Virus in Pork Products: A Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Cook ◽  
Martin D’Agostino ◽  
Reimar Johne
Keyword(s):  
Hepatitis E Virus ◽  
Hepatitis E ◽  
Pork Products

Digging Deeper into the Gender Gap: Gender Salience as a Moderating Factor in Political Attitudes

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 559-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Bittner ◽  
Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWe know how sex (rather than gender) structures political preferences, but researchers rarely take into account the salience or importance of gender identity at the individual level. The only similar variable for which salience is commonly taken seriously is partisanship, for which direction and importance or strength are both considered imperative for measurement and analysis. While some scholars have begun to look at factors that may influence intragroup differences, such as feminism (Conover, 1988), most existing research implicitly assumes gender salience is homogenous in the population. We argue that both the content of gender identity (that is, what specifically is gender identity, as opposed to sex) as well its salience should be incorporated into analyses of how gender structures political behaviour. For some, gender simply does not motivate behaviour, and the fact that salience moderates the impact of gender on behaviour requires researchers to model accordingly. Using original data from six provincial election studies, we examine a measure of gender identity salience and find that it clarifies our understanding of gender's impact on political attitudes.

scholarly journals Increased Participation Among Cleaners as a Strategy to Improve Quality and Occupational Health

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Öhrling
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Sick Leave ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Work Motivation ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Methods ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Individual

Like many other industries, today the cleaning industry is affected more than ever by competition and pressure toward low prices, which leads to a nonadvantageous situation for cleaners. These days many Swedish municipalities choose to outsource cleaning service in order to save money, although the situation for the cleaners appears to be worsening. The aim of this paper is to evaluate an alternative organizational structure within a Swedish public cleaning division to investigate how good work environment for cleaners can be combined with economical savings for a municipality. Like many other cleaning organizations, both national and international, the present cleaning division has been struggling for a long time with high levels of sick leave and early retirements. After years of unsuccessful attempts to improve the situation by reducing the physical load, cleaning managers made a decision to broaden their strategy by changing the structure of their organization. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied to identify and understand the effects of the organizational change, both on an individual level and on an organizational level. The results show that the organizational change, which leads to increased participation and autonomy for the cleaners, in combination with a high degree of social support, had a positive effect on job satisfaction, work motivation, and pride among the cleaners. Sick leave within the division has decreased, and both the quality and efficiency of the cleaning service have increased. It can be concluded that there are other alternative organizational structures that could be applied within the public sector and prove advantageous, both for the individual cleaners and for the municipality. Further research of similar organizational structures within the private cleaning sector is recommended.

scholarly journals Hepatitis E in Bangladesh: Insights from a National Serosurvey

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Azman ◽  
Kishor Kumar Paul ◽  
Taufiqur Rahman Bhuiyan ◽  
Aybuke Koyuncu ◽  
Henrik Salje ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Hepatitis E ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Geostatistical Models

Background Hepatitis E virus, typically genotypes 1 and 2, is a major cause of avoidable morbidity and mortality in South Asia. Although case fatality risk among pregnant women can reach as high as 25%, a lack of population-level disease burden data has been cited as a primary factor in key global policy recommendations against the routine use of licensed hepatitis E vaccines, one of the only effective tools available for preventing disease and death. Methods We tested serum from a nationally-representative serosurvey in Bangladesh for anti-HEV IgG. We estimated the proportion of the population with evidence of historical HEV infection and used Bayesian geostatistical models to generate high resolution national maps of seropositivity. We examined variability in seropositivity by individual-level, household-level, and community-level risk factors using spatial logistic regression. Results We tested serum samples from 2924 individuals from 70 communities representing all divisions of Bangladesh and estimated a national seroprevalence of hepatitis E of 20% (95% CI 17-24%). Seropositivity increased with age and male sex (OR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.8-2.8). Community-level seroprevalence ranged from 0-78% with the seroprevalence in urban areas being higher, including Dhaka, the capital, with 3-fold (95%CrI 2.3-3.7) higher seroprevalence than the rest of the country. Conclusion Hepatitis E infections are common throughout Bangladesh, though 90% of women reach reproductive age without any evidence of previous exposure to the virus, thus likely susceptible to infection and disease. Strengthening clinical surveillance for hepatitis E, especially in urban areas may help generate additional evidence needed to appropriately target interventions like vaccines to the populations most likely to benefit.

French Quantitative History: Problems and Promises

1984 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrice Bourdelais
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Single Voice ◽  
International Comparative ◽  
New Research ◽  
Sciences Sociales ◽  
Data Banks

Due to the central position it assigns to thelongue durée, theAnnalesschool—impetus for and crossroads of historical debate—used quantitative methods from the beginning and granted them their patents of nobility. For some decades now, it has been inconceivable for good historical research in France not to devote an important part of its efforts to the measuring of phenomena. True, theAnnalesschool has never spoken with a single voice; the changes that have occurred in its membership and in neighboring disciplines, as well as new historical sensibilities, have modified its original characteristics. The study directed by A Burguière of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales will soon report on the content and evolution of the themes, the network of contributors, and the intellectual climate that shaped the first generation of theAnnales. Therefore this article limits itself to a rapid survey of publications, followed by an examination of the distinctive traits of the quantitative dimension of French historical work, the directions for and reasons behind new research. The picture must remain somewhat general because it focuses on only three major points: the preeminence of serial history over quantitative history; the underrepresentation of international comparative works, despite the example of F. Braudel; and the development of individual-level data banks, an important source for social and serial history.

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