Child Access Prevention Laws: Keeping Guns Out of Our Children\u27s Hands

This Note explores the Child Access Prevention ( CAP ) law and laws which are generally intended to limit children\u27s access to guns at home. The author proposes a model CAP law that should be enacted in the United States. This Note discusses the evolution of CAP laws and presents for arguments for and against such laws. It delves into the National Rifle Association\u27s ( NRA ) powerful influence that improperly prevents CAP laws from being enacted by the federal government. Additionally, it is argued that unless the federal government enacts a CAP law, innocent children will continue to be injure and lose their lives as a result of unintentional shootings in their own homes

Student understanding of time in special relativity: simultaneity and reference frames

This article reports on an investigation of student understanding of the concept of time in special relativity. A series of research tasks are discussed that illustrate, step-by-step, how student reasoning of fundamental concepts of relativity was probed. The results indicate that after standard instruction students at all academic levels have serious difficulties with the relativity of simultaneity and with the role of observers in inertial reference frames. Evidence is presented that suggests many students construct a conceptual framework in which the ideas of absolute simultaneity and the relativity of simultaneity harmoniously co-exist.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

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Studying The Low-Lying Structure of 9B via The 10B(3He,a)9B Reaction

The unstable nature of 9B makes it a challenging isotope to study. The first-excited state of 9B has been particularly difficult to characterize. Since the first experimental observation of this state in 1955, many experimental and theoretical nuclear structure studies have sought to classify it, but with large discrepancies in the energy and width values from these results, the properties of the state remain inconclusive. An experiment using the 10B(3He,α)9B reaction was performed at the John D. Fox Superconducting Linear Accelerator Laboratory at Florida State University in an effort to populate and characterize this elusive state in 9B. A 7.5-MeV 3He beam was incident on an enriched 10B target at the entrance of the Super-Enge Split-Pole Spectrograph (SE-SPS). The SE-SPS focal plane detector has particle identification capabilities that were used to isolate the reaction of interest. This experiment utilized the large solid-angle coverage of the Silicon Array for Branching Ratio Experiments (SABRE) at backward laboratory angles in order to detect multiple decay particles from 9B in coincidence with the alphas from the (3He,α) reaction detected at the focal plane of the SE-SPS. These features, as well as the digital electronics used for data acquisition, set this experiment apart from previous 10B(3He,α)9B studies by providing gated 9B spectra with high-resolution peaks and low-background statistics. Data was also taken on a LiF target to utilize the well-studied 7Li(3He,α)6Li reaction and 6Li low-lying structure for calibration. The decay particles from 6Li and 9B are detected in SABRE and the Invariant Mass Method is used to reconstruct the original, unstable states. These reconstructed spectra are then characterized with multi-breakup Monte Carlo simulations. The 10B(3He,α)9B experiment, 7Li(3He,α)6Li calibrations, analysis methods and results will be presented in this work

Teaching Awareness of Ambiguity in Data

The widespread and growing use of analytics has highlighted the need for more data savvy students. One recently identified aspect of data literacy is the awareness of the ambiguity. This paper outlines a method and initial results for raising awareness of data ambiguity in a short, one lesson, active learning format suitable for business or computer science courses. The paper also includes a summary prior research on ambiguity, data literacy taxonomies, implications, and suggestions for further research

The Epidemiology of College Alcohol and Gambling Policies

Background: This article reports the first national assessment of patterns of drinking and gambling-related rulemaking on college campuses (e.g., punitive versus recovery oriented). Analyses relating school policies to known school rates of drinking or gambling identified potentially influential policies. These results can inform and encourage the development of guidelines, or "best practices," upon which schools can base future policy. Methods: The college policy information was collected from handbooks, Web sites and supplemental materials of 119 scientifically selected colleges included in the fourth (2001) Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS). A coding instrument of 40 items measured the scope and focus of school alcohol and gambling policies. This instrument included items to measure the presence of specific policies and establish whether the policies were punitive or rehabilitative. A total of 11 coders followed a process of information extraction, coding and arbitration used successfully in other published studies to codify policy information. Results: Although all schools had a student alcohol use policy, only 26 schools (22%) had a gambling policy. Punitive and restrictive alcohol policies were most prevalent; recovery-oriented policies were present at fewer than 30% of schools. Certain alcohol and gambling policies had significant relationships with student binge drinking rates. Conclusions: The relative lack of college recovery-oriented policies suggests that schools might be overlooking the value of rehabilitative measures in reducing addictive behaviors among students. Since there are few college gambling-related policies, schools might be missing an opportunity to inform students about the dangers of excessive gambling

Topical Review: Building Competency: Professional Skills for Pediatric Psychologists in Integrated Primary Care Settings

Objectives In the midst of large-scale changes across our nation’s health care system, including the Affordable Care Act and Patient-Centered Medical Home initiatives, integrated primary care models afford important opportunities for those in the field of pediatric psychology. Despite the extensive and growing attention, this subspecialty has received in recent years, a comprehensive set of core professional competencies has not been established. Methods A subset of an Integrated Primary Care Special Interest Group used two well-established sets of core competencies in integrated primary care and pediatric psychology as a basis to develop a set of integrated pediatric primary care-specific behavioral anchors. Conclusions The current manuscript describes these behavioral anchors and their development in the context of professional training as well as with regard to Triple Aim goals and securing psychology’s role in integrated pediatric primary care settings

Accelerating design and transforming baccalaureate nursing education to foster a culture of health

Healthcare reform and changing population health demographics call for a radical transformation in healthcare delivery and the education of healthcare providers. Nurses comprise the largest proportion of healthcare providers making it necessary to ensure that they are prepared to address the challenges that arise from the evolving healthcare delivery system. A key message of the Institute of Medicine’s The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, is that nurses must lead healthcare change. To accomplish this, nurses must recognize their role in educating the new nursing workforce about creating a culture of health. Specifically, nurse educators must act as stewards for promoting health and wellness, and reducing health disparities and inequities. They must also recognize their role in forming partnerships with community organizations to improve primary care and population health by addressing social determinants of health. The purpose of this paper is to describe the structure for developing an innovative baccalaureate nursing curriculum and lessons learned that can inform the efforts of others interested in accelerating design of new curriculum

Accelerating Curriculum Design: A Love It, Don\u27t Leave It Approach to Creative Process and Idealized Design

Purpose and Background: The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report (2010) on the “Future of Nursing” emphasized the need for nurses to lead health care change. One of the key messages in this report is a call to action for nursing schools to re-envision nursing education that focuses on a population-based perspective and emerging roles for nurses across the care continuum. With an evolving focus on primary and community-based care rather than acute care, and recognition of the importance of coordinating care and managing transitions across providers and settings of care, registered nurses now and in the future will need to be prepared with a breadth of knowledge, skills, and competencies. In response, the Jefferson College of Nursing (JCN) embarked on the ambitious task of designing a new 21st century baccalaureate nursing curriculum over a 13-month period. Nursing curriculum design varies widely and can span the course of two to five years. To reduce the lengthy process and ensure faculty commitment, JCN leadership selected a core team of nine faculty members to navigate the full faculty through the design of the curriculum. Each team member was assigned three teaching credits for curriculum development and design. Although a 13-month turnaround time for curriculum design is unprecedented, what is most unique about JCN’s initiative is that it began with a charge of developing an idealized curriculum from a blank slate. To ensure that the curriculum reflected multiple perspectives, the team recruited six stakeholders including a nurse practice partner, health care consumer, community leader, alumnus, current student, and adjunct clinical faculty. Poster presented at: NLN Education Summit, 2015:Bridging Practice and Education, Las Vegas, Nevada, September 30, 2015-October 2, 2015.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursingposters/1009/thumbnail.jp

The challenge of changing deeply-held student beliefs about the relativity of simultaneity

Previous research indicates that after standard instruction students at all academic levels often construct a conceptual framework in which the ideas of absolute simultaneity and the relativity of simultaneity co-exist. This article describes the development and assessment of instructional materials intended to improve student understanding of the concept of time in special relativity, the relativity of simultaneity, and the role of observers in inertial reference frames. Results from pretests and post-tests are presented to demonstrate the effect of the curriculum in helping students deepen their understanding of these topics. Excerpts from taped interviews and classroom interactions help illustrate the intense cognitive conflict that students encounter as they are led to confront the incompatibility of their deeply-held beliefs about simultaneity with the results of special relativity.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, 27 references; Accepted for publication in Physics Education Research Section, American Journal of Physics (2001