Perspectives of university teaching in Costa Rica in times of digital media

Perspectives of university teaching in Costa Rica in times of digital media examines an educational approach to understand the space of learning that takes place in higher education. For that, a selection of viewpoints of digital media and university teaching are discussed in the light of a tradition: the Journeyman Years. The key research question is: what is a space of learning in higher education from the students and professor's perspectives at the Universidad de Costa Rica? Pertinent to this topic, other sub-questions are: what kind of spaces of learning are being ofered at the Universidad de Costa Rica? How to reconsider the space of learning at a university? Chapter Two introduces the Wanderjahre (Journeyman Years) story, a leading metaphor for this manuscript where an approach to learning in terms of space is presented. Chapter Three examines two diferent knowledge approaches: frst, mechanistic thinking is highlighted in relation to digital media. Humans learn of natural phenomena through rational means, seeking to demystify and unveil a true world. Second, romantic thinking is featured in relation to higher education. Individuals learn about the world by engaging in practice while being social, experiencing directly the world in continuous change. Chapter Four presents an interpretation of the previous theoretical perspectives. After a selection of reviewed concepts, Learning by Wandering is proposed, a structure to analyze the construction of the space of learning in higher education. Chapter Five describes an ethnographic case study of the space of learning at the Universidad de Costa Rica, where 150 students and eight university teachers throughout diferent contexts are studied. Chapter Six features the major relevant fndings in my thesis to analyze university teaching in terms of space. In this chapter, a list of recommendations for the Universidad de Costa Rica is ofered, in order to foster higher education in terms of space

A simulation model for evaluating national patient record networks in South Africa.

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This study has shown that modelling and simulation is a feasible approach for evaluating NPR solutions in the developing context. The model can represent different network models, patient types and performance metrics to aid in the evaluation of NPR solutions. Using the current model, more case studies can be investigated for various public health issues - such as the impact of disease or regional services planning

Modelling based framework for the management of emergency departments.

In the twenty-first century, the healthcare industry faces ever-changing economic, social, political and technology challenges. Costs are rising, funding is diminishing, human and fiscal resources are becoming scarcer, customer-expectations are rising, the complexity of disease is increasing and technology is becoming more complex. These trends have a massive impact on every aspect of hospital operations and the Emergency Department is no exception. Overcrowding in the Emergency Department (ED) in hospitals has become a growing problem in many developed countries around the world. ED overcrowding has a direct effect on patient-care, including compromised patient-safety, increased length-of-stay, increased mortality and morbidity-rates and increased costs. Healthcare policy-makers and hospital and ED administrators are being forced to search for ways to improve the capacity of EDs by better utilisation of existing resources and creating more efficient systems to overcome this problem.Throughout the past few decades, there has been an increasing trend of using numerous systems-analysis tools and techniques which have come from manufacturing and other service industries to address the various issues in healthcare and EDs. Among those tools Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) is a powerful tool to improve the efficiency and capacity in dynamic and complex systems. Use of these tools to address the overcrowding problem in EDs has been patchy; specific aspects of issues have been studied but no attempt has been made to deploy DES or any other systems-analysis tool in a strategic and holistic manner.The aim of this research is to develop a modelling-based framework to manage the overcrowding problem in EDs. The research identified the causes of overcrowding in EDs and developed a decisions-framework with the long-term, medium-term and short-tem decisions in EDs that related to the overcrowding problem. Finally, it identified the best possible systems-analysis tools to support those decisions to overcome the overcrowding problem in EDs. This research could help the healthcare policy-makers, managers, systems-engineers as well as the researchers and consultants who are interesting in the Emergency Department operational management

Simulation and Optimization Models for Scheduling Multi-step Sequential Procedures in Nuclear Medicine

The rise in demand for specialized medical services in the U.S has been recognized as one of the contributors to increased health care costs. Nuclear medicine is a specialized service that uses relatively new technologies and radiopharmaceuticals with a short half-life for diagnosis and treatment of patients. Nuclear medicine procedures are multi-step and have to be performed under restrictive time constraints. Consequently, managing patients in nuclear medicine clinics is a challenging problem with little research attention. In this work we present simulation and optimization models for improving patient and resource scheduling in health care specialty clinics such as nuclear medicine departments. We rst derive a discrete event system speci cation (DEVS) simulation model for nuclear medicine patient service management that considers both patient and management perspectives. DEVS is a formal modeling and simulation framework based on dynamical systems theory and provides well de ned concepts for coupling components, hierarchical and modular model construction, and an object-oriented substrate supporting repository reuse. Secondly, we derive algorithms for scheduling nuclear medicine patients and resources and validate our algorithms using the simulation model. We obtain computational results that provide useful insights into patient service management in nuclear medicine. For example, the number of patients seen at the clinic during a year increases when a group of stations are reserved to serve procedures with higher demand. Finally, we derive a stochastic online scheduling (SOS) algorithm for patient and resource management in nuclear medicine clinics. The algorithm performs scheduling decisions by taking into account stochastic information about patient future arrivals. We compare the results obtained using the SOS algorithm with the algorithms that do not take into consideration stochastic information. The SOS algorithm provides a balanced utilization of resources and a 10% improvement in the number of patients served

Annual report procurement organization Sandia National Laboratories fiscal year 1996

This report summarizes the purchasing and transportation activities of the Procurement Organization for Fiscal Year 1996, Activities for both the New Mexico and California locations are included

Critical Thinking Skills Profile of High School Students In Learning Science-Physics

This study aims to describe Critical Thinking Skills high school students in the city of Makassar. To achieve this goal, the researchers conducted an analysis of student test results of 200 people scattered in six schools in the city of Makassar. The results of the quantitative descriptive analysis of the data found that the average value of students doing the interpretation, analysis, and inference in a row by 1.53, 1.15, and 1.52. This value is still very low when compared with the maximum value that may be obtained by students, that is equal to 10.00. This shows that the critical thinking skills of high school students are still very low. One fact Competency Standards science subjects-Physics is demonstrating the ability to think logically, critically, and creatively with the guidance of teachers and demonstrate the ability to solve simple problems in daily life. In fact, according to Michael Scriven stated that the main task of education is to train students and or students to think critically because of the demands of work in the global economy, the survival of a democratic and personal decisions and decisions in an increasingly complex society needs people who can think well and make judgments good. Therefore, the need for teachers in the learning device scenario such as: driving question or problem, authentic Investigation: Science Processes

The Whitworthian 1978-1979

The Whitworthian student newspaper, September 1978-May 1979.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/whitworthian/1062/thumbnail.jp

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF MATERNAL CONTINUUM OF CARE IN MOROGORO, TANZANIA

Background: Each year, an estimated 289,000 women and 3 million newborns in low and middle-income countries die of largely preventable causes. In response, a ‘continuum of care’ framework has been adopted to describe the provision of lifesaving interventions to mothers and newborns in an effective and efficient manner. This research aims to explore the dropout of women from the care continuum and the association between the continuum approach and the adoption of family planning in the postnatal period. Methods: This study used data from a household survey, of 1968 women, who had delivered in the preceding 2-14 months, that was part of a broader evaluation and collected information on health behaviors and care seeking practices during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period. The survey was of a multi stage sampling design conducted in 4 districts of Morogoro Region in Tanzania. The study (1) examines the dropout of women from the continuum of care in Morogoro region (Chapter 4) (2) seeks to understand the characteristics of the individuals who use postnatal care (PNC) and the content of PNC (Chapter 5) and (3) assesses receipt of receiving FP counseling at different points of contact in the care continuum (Chapter 6). Results: Only 10 % (198/1931) of women accessed the recommended set of services offered through the entire continuum (4 ANC visits, facility delivery and 1 postnatal visit) and 1% (18/1931) reported not having a care contact at any stage. The largest dropout occurred at the stage of postnatal care with less than one in four women receiving early or late PNC. The services received during PNC care varied by type of facility – health centers and hospitals performed better than dispensaries in the delivery of key counseling messages. Women receiving counseling at all 3 stages (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.11-3.61) were more likely to use Long Acting Permanent methods (LAPM) than those counseled at fewer stages. Conclusion: There are clear utilization gaps in the maternal health continuum in Tanzania, in general, and postnatal care, in particular

The early diagnosis of sepsis in the acutely ill cancer patient.

The sepsis syndrome is the systemic response of the body to infection. It develops from the earliest stage, Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome sepsis, to severe sepsis, septic shock and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome. The incidence of sepsis is growing and globally accounts for one in ten admissions to Intensive Care Units. The mortality rate for severe sepsis ranges from 25% to 67%. People with cancer are ten times more likely to develop sepsis and having developed it have a higher mortality rate. Early recognition and treatment of sepsis has been demonstrated to improve outcomes. This study sought to improve early recognition of sepsis in cancer patients receiving acute treatment. Nurses and patient assessment were the focus of this study. The design was a prospective multi-method observational study with two interventions: a teaching session for 177 nurses; the introduction of a bedside test - Procalcitonin (PCT-Q), an immunological marker of sepsis. PCT has been shown to be a reliable marker of sepsis. The PCT-Q, has been used since the late 1990s but never by ward nurses. Methods used were: qualitative interviews of ten nurses and a questionnaire survey of 177 nurses pre and post intervention; and a patient database with the PCT-Q test being used 416 times in 320 patients to diagnose sepsis. The study showed that nurses and patients recognise the early changes of deterioration before their observations change. Nurses recognise these changes because they know their patients well. Nurses' knowledge improved in several areas during the study and they used PCT-Q appropriately, diagnosing sepsis at an early stage in 66% of cases. Ordinal multi-regression analysis demonstrated that PCT was more reliable than CRP and, used together with a low WBC and high lactate, accurately predicts sepsis