Defining and evaluating transdisciplinary research: implications for aging and technology.

Purpose: Transdisciplinary research has the potential to enhance the real-world impact of the field of aging and technology. This is a context-driven and problem-focused approach to knowledge production that involves collaboration across scientific disciplines and academic and nonacademic sectors. To sustain broader implementation of this approach, a scoping review was conducted on the impact of this approach on research processes, outcomes and uptake. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was conducted of aging, health/medicine, and technology literatures indexed in three electronic data bases (Medline/OVID, EBSCO, ProQuest) from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2015. Search terms included three themes: (1) transdisciplinarity; (2) research outcomes and (3) social change. Results: Twenty articles met the inclusion criteria. We found that a transdisciplinary approach to research enhances integration of diverse knowledge, scientific and extra-scientific outcomes, capacity to engage in translational research and the uptake of research knowledge. We also identified a number of facilitators and barriers to successful implementation of this approach. No articles evaluating transdisciplinary research specifically in the context of aging and technology were found. Conclusions: Adoption of transdisciplinary research in aging and technology may foster greater uptake of technological innovation in the real-world by supporting integration of diverse knowledge and enhancing engagement of experiential and nonacademic stakeholders in the research and development process. However, supporting successful implementation of this approach requires investment of personal and structural resources. More research is needed to better understand the evidence base on the adoption of this approach in aging and technology projects. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Transdisciplinary research is context-driven and problem-focused and involves collaboration between academic and non-academic sectors. A transdisciplinary approach can enhance knowledge integration, scientific productivity and capacity and public involvement in research. Future research is needed to determine the effectiveness of transdisciplinarity for optimizing the development and uptake of assistive technologies.

A qualitative exploration of work-related head injury: vulnerability at the intersection of workers' decision making and organizational values.

BACKGROUND: Work-related head injury is a critical public health issue due to its rising prevalence; the association with profound disruption of workers' lives; and significant economic burdens in terms of medical costs and lost wages. Efforts to understand and prevent these types of injuries have largely been dominated by epidemiological research and safety science, which has focused on identifying risk at the level of the individual worker, population group, or organizational sector. Limited research has focused on the perspectives of the workers, a key stakeholder group for informing understanding of vulnerability to work-related head injury. This study explored workers' perspectives to better understand their decision-making and how and why their injuries occurred. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with thirty-two adult workers who had sustained a work-related head injury. Workers were recruited from an urban clinic in central Ontario, Canada. Labour Process Theory informed the thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three hazardous work conditions were identified: insufficient training; inadequate staffing; and inattention to the physical environment. In addition, professional and organizational norms were implicated in vulnerability to head injury including putting the client before the worker and the pressure to work unsafely. The findings also highlight a complex interrelationship between workers' decision-making and professional and organizational norms that produces vulnerability to head injury, a vulnerability which oftentimes is reproduced by workers' decisions to work despite hazardous conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that, beyond the need to redress the inattention to hazards in the physical environment, there is a need to address norms that influence worker decision-making to improve the safety of workers. Using Labour Process Theory highlights an important social dynamic within workplace sectors that could inform future development and implementation of multi-level and integrated public health strategies to reduce work-related head injury.

Fluorescent dye N,N'-dioctadecylrhodamine as a new interfacial acid-base indicator.

This paper reports the spectral properties and protolytic behavior of the fluorescent dye N,N'-dioctadecylrhodamine on the micelle/water and microdroplet/water interfaces as well as in Langmuir-Blodgett films soaked into aqueous media. Long hydrocarbon chains provide similar orientation of its cation and zwitterion, with the dissociating group (COOH-->COO(-)) directed toward the bulk (aqueous) phase. Both absorption and fluorescence of the dye can be used for monitoring electrical surface potentials and for determination of bulk pH.

[Structural and functional changes in various cells following radiation exposure]. / Strukturno-funktsional'nye izmeneniia v kletkakh razlichnykh tipov posle radiatsionnogo vozdeistviia.

Structural and functional changes in thymocytes, splenocytes and hepatocytes, taking place under gamma-irradiation of cellular suspensions were investigated. It was found that splenocytes begin to lose their functional activity and structural features at a dose of 2 Gy. Increasing the irradiation dose leads to the acceleration of these processes. Thymocytes lose rapidly their functional activity at 2 Gy, but they maintain their structure and membrane parameters even after irradiation with a dose of 10 Gy. In comparison with other cell types, hepatocytes exhibit the greatest stability under the influence of gamma-radiation.

[Study of thymocytes resistance to ionising irradiation in vitro]. / Izuchenie ustoichivosti timotsitov k ioniziruiushchemu izlucheniiu v usloviiakh in vitro.

The influence of ionising irradiation with doses of 0.5, 1, 2 Gy upon the suspension of mice thymocytes was studied. The state of the system of lipid peroxidation-antioxidation activity and structural and functional state of cell membrane was studied. It was found that, 15 minutes' after irradiation POL processes are within the norm. But the content of vitamins A and E decreases (the former after 0.5 Gy, the latter after 1 Gy). Changes in structural and functional state of thymocyte membranes can be observed by using fluorescent probes. Particularly, it turned out that after irradiation accessibility of incorporated proteins increases, the polarity of lipids increases and the lipophility of membrane lipids decreases. These changes can lead to short-time increase in specific functional activity of cells, but they can cause rapid death of cells as well.