The application of NASREM to remote robot control

The implementation of a remote robot controller, wherein the distance to the remote robot causes significant communication time delays is described. The NASREM telrobot control architecture is used as a basis for the implementation of the system. Levels 1 through 4 of the hierarchy were implemented. The solution to the problems encounterd during the implementation and those which are unique to remote robot control are described

An approach to safety analysis of clinical workflows

A clinical workflow considers the information and processes that are involved in providing a clinical service. They are safety critical since even minor faults have the potential to propagate and consequently cause harm to a patient, or even for a patient's life to be lost. Experiencing these kinds of failures has a destructive impact on all the involved parties. Due to the large number of processes and tasks included in the delivery of a clinical service, it can be difficult to determine the individuals or the processes that are responsible for adverse events, since such an analysis is typically complex and slow to do manually. Using automated tools to carry out an analysis can help in determining the root causes of potential adverse events and consequently help in avoiding preventable errors through either the alteration of existing workflows, or the design of a new workflow. This paper describes a technical approach to safety analysis of clinical workflows, utilising a safety analysis tool (Hierarchically-Performed Hazard Origin and Propagation Studies (HiP-HOPS)) that is already in use in the field of mechanical systems. The paper then demonstrates the applicability of the approach to clinical workflows by applying it to analyse the workflow in a radiology department. We conclude that the approach is applicable to this area of healthcare and provides a mechanism both for the systematic identification of adverse events and for the introduction of possible safeguards in clinical workflows

A safety analysis approach to clinical workflows : application and evaluation

Clinical workflows are safety critical workflows as they have the potential to cause harm or death to patients. Their safety needs to be considered as early as possible in the development process. Effective safety analysis methods are required to ensure the safety of these high-risk workflows, because errors that may happen through routine workflow could propagate within the workflow to result in harmful failures of the system’s output. This paper shows how to apply an approach for safety analysis of clinic al workflows to analyse the safety of the workflow within a radiology department and evaluates the approach in terms of usability and benefits. The outcomes of using this approach include identification of the root causes of hazardous workflow failures that may put patients’ lives at risk. We show that the approach is applicable to this area of healthcare and is able to present added value through the detailed information on possible failures, of both their causes and effects; therefore, it has the potential to improve the safety of radiology and other clinical workflows

Service Learning Through the High School Pyramid Model: A Case Study

The intellectual and philosophical roots of service learning have been attributed to the conceptualizations of democratic society put forth by Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s and John Dewey in the early twentieth century (Kenny eta!, 2002). Dewey believed that students would learn more effectively and eventually become better citizens if they engaged in activities that linked service to the community and the curriculum. This idea of linking service to curriculum has been further embraced by advocates of service learning today

A remotely accessible plant-based culinary intervention for Latina/o/x adults at risk for diabetes: lessons learned

Introduction: Little research has examined how community-engaged and -participatory dietary interventions adapted to remotely-accessible settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: To identify lessons learned in design, implementation, and evaluation of a remotely-accessible, community-based, nurse-led approach of a culturally-tailored whole food plant-based culinary intervention for Latina/o/x adults to reduce type 2 diabetes risk, delivered during a pandemic. Methods: A mixed methods quasi-experimental design consisting of a pre-post evaluation comprised of questionnaires, culinary classes, biometrics, and focus groups. Lessons learned: Community partnerships are essential for successful recruitment/retention. To optimally deliver a remotely-accessible intervention, community leadership and study volunteers should be included in every decision (e.g., timeframes, goals). Recommendations include managing recruitment and supply chain disruption of intervention supplies. Conclusion: Future research should focus on increasing accessibility and engagement in minoritized and/or underserved communities, supply chain including quality assurance and delivery of services/goods, study design for sustainable, remotely-accessible interventions, and health promotion

A Synergistic Approach for Evaluating Climate Model Output for Ecological Applications

Increasing concern about the impacts of climate change on ecosystems is prompting ecologists and ecosystem managers to seek reliable projections of physical drivers of change. The use of global climate models in ecology is growing, although drawing ecologically meaningful conclusions can be problematic. The expertise required to access and interpret output from climate and earth system models is hampering progress in utilizing them most effectively to determine the wider implications of climate change. To address this issue, we present a joint approach between climate scientists and ecologists that explores key challenges and opportunities for progress. As an exemplar, our focus is the Southern Ocean, notable for significant change with global implications, and on sea ice, given its crucial role in this dynamic ecosystem. We combined perspectives to evaluate the representation of sea ice in global climate models. With an emphasis on ecologically-relevant criteria (sea ice extent and seasonality) we selected a subset of eight models that reliably reproduce extant sea ice distributions. While the model subset shows a similar mean change to the full ensemble in sea ice extent (approximately 50% decline in winter and 30% decline in summer), there is a marked reduction in the range. This improved the precision of projected future sea ice distributions by approximately one third, and means they are more amenable to ecological interpretation. We conclude that careful multidisciplinary evaluation of climate models, in conjunction with ongoing modeling advances, should form an integral part of utilizing model output

Identifying Dietary and Migratory Patterns of Illinois Woolly Mammoth Populations Using Isotope Analysis of Carbon, Oxygen, and Strontium

The extinct woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) ranged from Alaska to the Northeastern Seaboard throughout the Late Pleistocene (100-10 Ka). Although it is recognized that woolly mammoths coincided with and lived in a region heavily influenced by glacial ice sheets, little is known about their dietary or migratory behavior. This study classifies and provides insight into the diet and mobility of Midwestern mammoths by analyzing stable isotopes of carbon, oxygen, and strontium preserved in the tooth enamel of these extinct elephantids. A woolly mammoth tooth from Moline, IL, was bulk-sampled and micromilled to extract the aforementioned isotopes from the base of the enamel. Dated to 16,410 ±110 BP (20,085-19,530 calBP), measured 13C (-12.6‰ to -11.1‰, PDB) values indicate that the terminal LGM landscape of western Illinois was dominated by C3 vegetation, which is typical of a cooler climate. This cooler climate during the LGM is also reflected by the resulting high 18O values (-10.8‰ to -8.1‰, PDB). The ratios of 87Sr/86Sr isotopes retained in the tooth enamel were mapped using GIS onto a regional isoscape to determine the mobility of one mammoth across its lifetime. The mobility patterns were compared to seasonal and annual dietary shifts to better understand the underlying cause for migrations. Preliminary analyses of the 87Sr/86Sr values (0.7907 – 0.7156) suggest that there were regional population movements around the northern Mississippi River Valley. The data reveals the climate and landscape during the terminal Pleistocene in western Illinois and how woolly mammoths responded to it