2,862 research outputs found
Determination of variables which predict success on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-PN).
Nursing is one of the most frequently chosen programs by those entering postsecondary institutions in preparation for a career. This is in part due to the job opportunities available, interest in healthcare, and a pending shortage of nurses in healthcare. One strategy for meeting this shortage is the career pathway which encompasses the concept of lifelong learning and provides a mechanism for advancement of nurses along a continuum. Regardless of the level that a student enters the nursing education continuum, failure on the national licensure exam becomes a burden to both graduates and faculty in time and resources expended. Whereas many empirical research studies have been conducted related to the registered nurse, few studies have been done related to the practical nurse. Therefore, this research study addresses the issue of background and curricular variables which predict success on the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN). Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and logistic regression were used to determine the predictive value of the demographic (age, gender, race) and admission requirements (math, reading); curriculum variables (pre-requisite, foundation, specialty, and advanced nursing courses); and Exit Comprehensive Exam on NCLEX-PN status. The sample consisted of 411 students from 14 practical nursing programs within ten Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges. Independent Sample t Tests, Chi-square, and Correlation suggested statistically significant relationships/differences for all variables with the exception of gender, the mathematics admission exam, and number of attempts on the exit examination. The results of the logistic regression model indicated that age (p = .002) and the Exit Comprehensive Exam (p = .035) made a significant contribution to prediction of success on the NCLEX-PN on the first attempt. The demographic (gender, race); admission (math, reading); curricular, (pre-requisite, foundation, specialty, and advanced nursing courses); and mediating (number of attempts on the Exit Comprehensive Exam) variables were not significant predictors in the logistic model. These results may be used as an advisement tool for at-risk students to direct them toward interventions and resources to increase success on the NCLEX-PN
Molecular and cellular aspects of re-entrant arrhythmias
In recent years it has become evident that myocardial tissue undergoes remodeling in diseased states such as myocardial infarction and hypertrophy which affects membrane channels, cell-to-cell coupling as well as the connective tissue matrix. Although the detailed mechanisms of ventricular arrhythmias in ventricular hypertrophy are not known, studies carried, out by computer simulations or high resolution mapping of electrical activity have suggested a complex interaction between changing ionic currents at the level of the cell membranes, altered cell-to-cell coupling and altered macroscopic structure. The present report summarises these recent developments and their potential relevance for arrhythmogenesi
On the Localized superluminal Solutions to the Maxwell Equations
In the first part of this article the various experimental sectors of physics
in which Superluminal motions seem to appear are briefly mentioned, after a
sketchy theoretical introduction. In particular, a panoramic view is presented
of the experiments with evanescent waves (and/or tunneling photons), and with
the "Localized superluminal Solutions" (SLS) to the wave equation, like the
so-called X-shaped waves. In the second part of this paper we present a series
of new SLSs to the Maxwell equations, suitable for arbitrary frequencies and
arbitrary bandwidths: some of them being endowed with finite total energy.
Among the others, we set forth an infinite family of generalizations of the
classic X-shaped wave; and show how to deal with the case of a dispersive
medium. Results of this kind may find application in other fields in which an
essential role is played by a wave-equation (like acoustics, seismology,
geophysics, gravitation, elementary particle physics, etc.). This e-print, in
large part a review, was prepared for the special issue on "Nontraditional
Forms of Light" of the IEEE JSTQE (2003); and a preliminary version of it
appeared as Report NSF-ITP-02-93 (KITP, UCSB; 2002). Further material can be
found in the recent e-prints arXiv:0708.1655v2 [physics.gen-ph] and
arXiv:0708.1209v1 [physics.gen-ph]. The case of the very interesting (and more
orthodox, in a sense) subluminal Localized Waves, solutions to the wave
equations, will be dealt with in a coming paper. [Keywords: Wave equation; Wave
propagation; Localized solutions to Maxwell equations; Superluminal waves;
Bessel beams; Limited-dispersion beams; Electromagnetic wavelets; X-shaped
waves; Finite-energy beams; Optics; Electromagnetism; Microwaves; Special
relativity]Comment: LaTeX paper of 37 pages, with 20 Figures in jpg [to be processed by
PDFlatex
Bilinear identities on Schur symmetric functions
A series of bilinear identities on the Schur symmetric functions is obtained
with the use of Pluecker relations.Comment: Accepted to Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics. A reference to
a connected result is adde
Lorentz-violating effects in the Bose-Einstein condensation of an ideal bosonic gas
We have studied the effects of Lorentz-violation in the Bose-Einstein
condensation (BEC) of an ideal boson gas, by assessing both the nonrelativistic
and ultrarelativistic limits. Our model describes a massive complex scalar
field coupled to a CPT-even and Lorentz-violating background. We irst analyze
the nonrelativistic case, at this level by using experimental data, we obtain
upper-bounds for some LIV parameters. In the sequel, we have constructed the
partition function for the relativistic ideal boson gas which to be able of a
consistent description requires the imposition of severe restrictions on some
LIV coefficients. In both cases, we have demonstrated that the LIV
contributions are contained in an overall factor, which multiplies almost all
thermodynamical properties. An exception is the fraction of the condensed
particles.Comment: 7 pages Latex2e. To be published in Modern Physics Letters
Quantum matter wave dynamics with moving mirrors
When a stationary reflecting wall acting as a perfect mirror for an atomic
beam with well defined incident velocity is suddenly removed, the density
profile develops during the time evolution an oscillatory pattern known as
diffraction in time. The interference fringes are suppressed or their
visibility is diminished by several effects such as averaging over a
distribution of incident velocities, apodization of the aperture function,
atom-atom interactions, imperfect reflection or environmental noise. However,
when the mirror moves with finite velocity along the direction of propagation
of the beam, the visibility of the fringes is enhanced. For mirror velocities
below beam velocity, as used for slowing down the beam, the matter wave splits
into three regions separated by space-time points with classical analogues. For
mirror velocities above beam velocity a visibility enhancement occurs without a
classical counterpart. When the velocity of the beam approaches that of the
mirror the density oscillations rise by a factor 1.8 over the stationary value.Comment: 5.2 pages, 6 figure
Gravitational magnetic monopoles and Majumdar-Papapetrou stars
A large amount of work has been dedicated to studying general relativity
coupled to non-Abelian Yang-Mills type theories. It has been shown that the
magnetic monopole, a solution of the Yang-Mills-Higgs equations can be coupled
to gravitation. For a low Higgs mass there are regular solutions, and for a
sufficiently massive monopole the system develops an extremal magnetic
Reissner-Nordstrom quasi-horizon. These solutions, called quasi-black holes,
although non-singular, are arbitrarily close to having a horizon. However, at
the critical value the quasi-black hole turns into a degenerate spacetime. On
the other hand, for a high Higgs mass, a sufficiently massive monopole develops
also a quasi-black hole, but it turns into an extremal true horizon, with
matter fields outside. One can also put a small Schwarzschild black hole inside
the magnetic monopole, an example of a non-Abelian black hole. Surprisingly,
Majumdar-Papapetrou systems, Abelian systems constructed from extremal dust,
also show a resembling behavior. Previously, we have reported that one can find
Majumdar-Papapetrou solutions which can be arbitrarily close of being a black
hole, displaying quasi-black hole behavior. With the aim of better
understanding the similarities between gravitational monopoles and
Majumdar-Papapetrou systems, we study a system composed of two extremal
electrically charged spherical shells (or stars, generically) in the
Einstein--Maxwell--Majumdar-Papapetrou theory. We review the gravitational
properties of the monopoles, and compare with the properties of the double
extremal electric shell system. These quasi-black holes can help in the
understanding of true black holes, and can give insight into the nature of the
entropy of black holes in the form of entanglement.Comment: 38 pages,9 Figures, minor change
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