The Pictor Technique: Exploring Collaborative Working in Nursing

Pictor is a graphical visual technique with its origins in personal construct psychology and phenomenology. It was developed to explore experiences of collaborative working in health and social care contexts, but may be used in any setting where people with different backgrounds or perspectives need to interact around a specific task or goal. In this case study, we outline the principles behind the method and describe how it is used to collect data, and how such data may be analysed. We present a case example from a recent study of collaborative working among nurses and other professionals in relation to the care of people with cancer and long-term conditions. We conclude by reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of the technique

Nutrient Losses in Agriculture: the Role of Biochar and Fungal Associations

This contains the front matter from the Spring, 2011 issue of the Journal of Undergraduate Research: the title page, copyright page, a welcome from Dr. Michael S. Vitevitch, editors' welcome and table of contents

Multifunctional agriculture: Root and nitrogen dynamics in two alternative systems

The Corn Belt of the Midwestern United States is among the most productive grain-producing regions of the world. Yet the development of the Corn Belt has been accompanied by a suite of environmental concerns. Alternative systems have been proposed that remediate environmental quality while relying on fewer external inputs (e.g., synthetic nitrogen fertilizer) than dominate cropping systems of corn and soybean. Two examples of such alternative systems are diversified crop rotations and perennial bioenergy systems. In diverse and less diverse crop rotations, the supply of nitrogen (N) to crops is mediated by the N flux from external inputs as well as internal soil cycling, although evidence suggests that in diverse rotations internal soil N cycling plays a more prominent role. Chapter 2 explores belowground N cycling and provides evidence that diversifying crop rotations increases organic soil N pools and rates of N release from soil organic matter into labile organic forms. Chapter 3 contrasts perennial and annual bioenergy systems by their standing root biomasses and rates of root decomposition as they vary across landscape positions. Results suggest that root biomass is best predicted by choice of annual or perennial crop, but that within cropping systems root biomass is sensitive to landscape position. In contrast to root biomass, rates of root decay for each crop were constant across landscape positions

MECHANISMS AND CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS OF NQO1-DIRECTED LAVENDAMYCIN DERIVATIVES AND MITOCHONDRIA-TARGETED ANTHRACENYL ISOXAZOLE AMIDES AS NOVEL ANTITUMOR AGENTS

Cancer is a common, complex, and oftentimes fatal disease. Despite extensive research in the field of cancer drug discovery, there are still improvements to be made in the design of effective anticancer agents. This project involved three separate but related studies that fall under the category of anticancer drug discovery as a whole. The overall goal of this project was to design and investigate the mechanisms of action of new antitumor agents to be used against solid tumors. First, we developed a series of anthracenyl isoxazole amides (AIMs) designed to bind to G-quadruplex DNA and inhibit telomerase. Results from this study demonstrated an alternative mitochondrial mechanism of action of the AIMs not yet fully described in the literature. Investigation of lead compound AIM 1 showed localization of the AIM in mitochondria with resulting induction of apoptosis, generation of mitochondrial superoxide, disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, and activation of caspase-9. The second goal of this project was to assay a series of 4-isoxazolyl-1,4-dihydropyridines (IDHPs) that function as P-gp inhibitors to determine their contribution to enhanced cytotoxicity of the AIMs when co-dosed together in vitro. Because so many anticancer agents are substrates for P-gp and are therefore limited in their ability to reach intended targets, the development of P-gp inhibitors is an important area of research. Results from this study indicate that IDHPs are a viable class of P-gp inhibitors that can be co-dosed with P-gp substrates to increase substrate cytotoxicity. The third goal of this study was to determine the NQO1 substrate potential of a series of lavendamycin derivative quinolinequinones and assess their corresponding antitumor potential. Surprisingly, few of the quinolinequinones tested showed preferential specificity for NQO1-expressing cells compared to NQO1-null cells. However, in our series of aryl-substituted quinolinequinones, the active molecules appear to be the quinone derivatives and not derivatives of hydroquinones or semiquinones. These data suggest a mode of action that differs from that of previously studied lavendamycin analogues that are activated by NQO1 reduction. While this project focused on the general targeting of solid tumors, the type of tumor explicitly studied varied from brain cancer to breast cancer and encompassed multiple drug targets. Collectively the results of this study are expansive and offer much to the field of anticancer drug discovery

Constitutionality of Cyberbullying Laws: Keeping the Online Playground Safe for Both Teens and Free Speech

The Internet is a blessing and a curse. Along with the manifold benefits the Internet provides-electronic research, instantaneous news, social networking, online shopping, to name a few-comes a host of dangers: online harassment and cyberbullying, hacking, voyeurism, identity theft, phishing, and perhaps still more perils that have yet to appear. The Internet creates a virtual world that can result in very real consequences for people\u27s lives. This creates a challenge for parents, schools, and policymakers attempting to keep pace with rapidly developing technologies and to provide adequate protections for children. The even greater challenge, however, is to balance these vital protections with the equally compelling freedoms of speech, expression, and thought. The heart-wrenching suicide of Missouri teenager Megan Meir in 2006 directed national attention to the devastating effects of online harassment and cyberbullying. Megan was a thirteen-year-old middle-school student who engaged in an online relationship with a purported fellow teen, Josh Evans, through the popular social- networking website MySpace. What began as a friendly and flirtatious exchange of messages escalated into a barrage of cruel and insulting attacks that drove Megan, who suffered from clinical depression, to take her own life. Megan\u27s mother found her hanging in her closet by her neck from a belt the day of Josh\u27s final posting: The world would be a better place without you. In a tragic twist of events following Megan\u27s death, her parents discovered that Josh Evans never existed. Instead they found that Lori Drew, an adult neighbor and mother of one of Megan\u27s female friends, created the profile in order to learn Megan\u27s opinion of her daughter. Sadly, the hoax escalated far beyond that initial intent. Megan\u27s story is not unusual; sadly, cyberbullying occurs in many forms and contexts throughout the country. The problem primarily impacts youth, arguably the subset of our population most deserving of legislative protection.10 According to the National Crime Prevention Counsel, 43 percent of teens have been victims of cyberbullying, but many are too ashamed or embarrassed to report the incidents to their parents or other authorities. The breadth and severity of cyberbullying demands a response from communities, parents, schools, and legislatures. However, regulation of online speech treads on delicate constitutional territory

Diagnostic imaging of the tympanic bulla and temporomandibular joint in the dog, cat and rabbit.

The area of the skull incorporating the tympanic bulla (TB) and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is significant clinically in the dog, cat, and more recently the rabbit. Diagnostic imaging is important in the assessment of disease of these structures but there is a relative lack of comparative anatomical information relating to the normal that may be used to understand the abnormal features encountered when using currently available diagnostic imaging modalities. A review of conventional radiography demonstrated that views for imaging the canine and feline TB could be extrapolated for use in the rabbit but the same did not apply to the TMJ. Plastinated multiplanar anatomical sections proved useful for the identification of anatomical features on corresponding tomographic images. Ultrasound imaging of this region has not been widely reported but allowed evaluation of the TB in all three species, although the information obtained regarding the TMJ was limited. Directly acquired computed tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance (MR) images were of better quality than previous publications due to technological advances in the equipment available. Directly acquired images were still better than reconstructed ones and reduced image acquisition times are likely to make this viable in clincal cases. CT produced optimal imaging of the TB but only allowed assessment of the bony elements of the TMJ. Little information was obtained regarding the normal TB using MR imaging due to the indistinguishable signal voids produced by the bone wall and gas lumen. However, T1 weighted sequences allowed identification of intra-articular TMJ soft tissue structures in the dog and rabbit. While opening the mouth altered the areas of the TMJ examined using each modality, it did not improve visualisation of the intra-articular structures. The introduction of fluid into the middle ear cavity of dog, cat and rabbit cadavers aided identification of the TB and acted as a model of one of the major features of acute otitis media, or inflammation of the middle ear cavity. CT was most accurate at identifying middle ear material in cadavers and clinical cases, while ultrasound produced better results than radiography in cadavers but not clinical cases. These imaging modalities also proved useful in the characterisation of the unexpected anatomical anomalies that were encountered during the study. The results of this study indicate that the optimal imaging technique will vary with the species and area being examined, and that extrapolation between species is not always appropriate. Continual improvements in technology and image quality make studies such as this necessary to allow selection of the most appropriate single or combination of imaging techniques and to obtain the maximum amount of information from the resulting images

A Mixed Methods Investigation of Caregiver Coaching in an Early Intervention Model: Differences in Providers for Children with Hearing Loss

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between early intervention providers’ backgrounds, and their perceptions of caregiver coaching and auditory skill development, to develop professional development programs. An explanatory sequential design was used with participants of varying backgrounds and experience. In the first phase of the study, participants responded to a survey regarding their educational background, and their comfort with caregiver coaching and auditory skill development. Survey results were analyzed using Spearman’s Ranked Correlational Coefficient (Spearman’s rs) to form groups of participants from extreme cases. The second phase of the study consisted of participant interviews from each of the groups. Interviews were coded to identify themes present within and between groups. The information from both phases were analyzed to generate how professional preparation and certifications influence service delivery. Results were subsequently analyzed to determine potential improvements in the EI system, professional development, and policy

Choice of Prizes Allocated by Multiple Lotteries with Endogenously Determined Probabilities

We study a class of interactive decision making situations in which each agent must choose to participate in one of several lotteries with commonly known prizes. In contrast to the widely studied paradigm of choice between gambles in individual decision making under risk, the probability of winning a prize in each of the lotteries in our study is endogenously determined. In particular, for each lottery, it is known to decrease in the number of agents choosing to play that lottery. We construct the Nash equilibrium solution to this game and then test it experimentally in the special case where each lottery yields only a single prize. The results show a remarkable degree of tacit coordination that supports the equilibrium solution under the assumption of common risk-aversion. However, this coordination is not achieved via individual level randomization. Rather, the entry decisions of most of the subjects can be characterized by local adjustments to the outcome of the previous iteration of the same game along the lines suggested by anticipatory learning models.Coordination, Endogenously Determined Probabilities

A Cognitive Structural Approach To Uncertainty Orientation In Terms Of Individual Differences In Construct Accessibility

This dissertation examined the view that certainty- and uncertainty-oriented individuals are individuals for whom certainty and uncertainty, respectively, are cognitively relevant (Sorrentino, Short, & Raynor, in press). Study 1 examined whether certainty-related behavioral descriptions about another were better remembered by certainty-oriented subjects than uncertainty-oriented subjects, as a construct accessibility model of differences in the relative accessibility of certainty- and uncertainty-related constructs would predict (e.g., Higgins & King, 1981). Distortions of evaluatively ambiguous and evaluatively unambiguous descriptions were also examined. The data supported a cognitive structural view of individual differences in uncertainty orientation in terms of knowledge structures based on past experience (or schemata) which contain both certainty- and uncertainty-related information that is both differentially accessible and differentially evaluated by certainty- and uncertainty-oriented individuals. For example, uncertainty-oriented subjects are seen as having knowledge structures composed of a large amount of positively-tagged, uncertainty-related information and a smaller amount of certainty-related information that is negatively-tagged or viewed in a negative manner. A bipolar model of schemata in the uncertainty-certainty domain therefore was proposed to account for the results of Study 1.;A second study examined the relative utility of two cognitive structural views of differences in uncertainty orientation: one in terms of differences in integrative complexity (Schroder, Driver, & Streufert, 1967) and the other in terms of differences in self-schemata (Markus, 1977). Compared to low need for uncertainty individuals, high scorers in need for uncertainty tended to have more highly differentiated cognitive structures and to display better overall memory for information about another. Uncertainty-oriented individuals had better relative memory than certainty-oriented individuals for accessible versus inaccessible behavioral descriptions about another over time, but the reverse was found on an immediate recall measure. A general processing model incorporating both the integrative complexity and self-schemata approaches was proposed to account for the observed relations between uncertainty orientation, need for uncertainty, degree of cognitive structure in the interpersonal domain, and the processing of interpersonal information. In summary, both studies supported a cognitive structural view of differences in uncertainty orientation and revealed that this variable has important effects on the processing and remembrance of information about others