An investigation into the impact of approaches to learning on final-year student nurses’ clinical decision-making

This research aimed to investigate whether a correlation exists between students’ approach to learning and clinical decision-making and to determine whether an educational learning intervention would impact on clinical decision-making outcomes. Tait, Entwistle and McCune’s Approaches to Study Skills for Students (ASSIST) and Jenkins’ Clinical Decision Making Nursing Scale (CDMNS) was administered to a convenience sample of adult nursing students (n = 78) at a university in central London, UK, at the beginning of the final year of their nursing course and, following the learning intervention, again at the end of the year. Pre-intervention, 38% of participants predisposed to the surface approach to learning; post-intervention, less than 8%. Clinical decision-making scores were statistically significantly higher for students adopting the strategic approach at the pre-intervention point and significantly higher for those adopting the deep approach at the post-intervention point. At both pre- and postintervention data collection points there was a negative correlation between the surface approach and clinical decision-making scores. Findings indicate a statistically significant relationship exists between participants’ approach to learning and their clinical decision-making. Changing from the surface to either the strategic or deep approach to learning is shown to impact positively on clinical decision-making outcomes

To cope with California’s drought, policymakers must gobeyond water conservation and rationing

Two thirds of the state of California is experiencing extreme to exceptional drought conditions after four dry years. B. Lynn Ingram writes that to cope with the drought, those in the Golden State need to plan for the long-term to increase resilience to extended water scarcity. She argues that policymakers must now think more collaboratively about reducing the ‘water footprint’ of Californians and the products they produce

California needs to begin a serious and comprehensive plan to adapt to what may be a very long drought

California is currently in the midst of one of the worst droughts in the state’s history. Despite the crisis, the Golden State’s taps continue to run, with water use now far exceeding supply. B. Lynn Ingram writes that the current drought is just one of many very dry periods California has experienced regularly over the last 5,000 years or so. Taking the hardship of indigenous populations in previous droughts as a warning, she writes that the state’s rapid population growth is placing huge pressure on local water reserves. A comprehensive plan which takes advantage of new technologies such as wastewater recycling and ocean desalinization is now needed to adapt to the growing scarcity of water

Weight changes following lower limb arthroplasty : a prospective observational study

The aim of this study was to assess patterns of weight loss/gain following total hip or knee joint replacement. Four hundred and fifty primary lower limb arthroplasty patients, where the current surgery was the last limiting factor to improved mobility, were selected. Over a one year period 212 gained weight (mean 5.03kg), 92 remained static, and 146 lost weight. The median change was a weight gain of 0.50Kg (p=0.002). All patients had a significant improvement in Oxford outcome scores. Hip arthroplasty patients were statistically more likely to gain weight than knee arthroplasty patients. A successful arthroplasty, restoring a patient's mobility, does not necessarily lead to subsequent weight loss. The majority of patients put on weight with an overall net weight gain. No adverse effect on functional outcome was noted

Discrimination of duration differences of typically developing children and children with suspected childhood apraxia of speech

The speech sound disorder, childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), has perplexed clinicians and researchers for many years. The perplexity has stemmed, in part, from questions about identifying characteristics that distinguish it from other childhood speech disorders. Given the reported vowel duration deficits cited in the speech production of children with sCAS, the research for this population is deficient in assessing the ability of these children to discriminate vowel duration differences. The present study represents an initial attempt to address duration discrimination in a systematized experimental design for a group of school-age TD children (n = 21) and a smaller group of school-age children diagnosed with sCAS (n = 11). All children were asked to judge whether pairs of non-word single syllable tokens (digital recordings of single syllable /ba/ varying in vowel duration only) were the same or different. Using an AX paradigm, children in the current study compared a stimulus (X), which varied across trials, with a constant standard (A). The standard A interval was the stimulus with the shortest vowel duration (208 ms) and the X interval was the comparison stimuli (i.e., vowel duration = 208 ms, 248 ms, 288 ms, 328 ms, 368 ms, 408 ms, 448 ms, or 488 ms). Fundamental frequency and amplitude measures were controlled to remain uniform. Assessing the ability of the TD population to detect duration differences in a specific experimental paradigm was prerequisite to addressing the ability of children with sCAS to detect duration differences in the same experimental task. The results of this preliminary investigation of discrimination of vowel duration in children with sCAS suggest that further research on duration discrimination skills is warranted in this population. As a group, children with sCAS displayed poorer performance on the vowel duration discrimination experimental task, compared to a similarly-aged TD group

The Use of E-books, Computers, and Tablets To Enhance Reading Skills

The purpose of the study was to identify teacher’s opinions of technology and its usage with reading instruction. The study explored teachers’ use of e-books, computers (reading programs), and tablets to enhance reading skills. Specifically, the researcher wanted to investigate elementary teachers’ beliefs regarding the use of e-books (electronic books), computers (reading programs), and tablets for enhancing reading skills with students who struggle with reading. To determine the impact of e-books, computers, and tablets on reading practices, data were collected from four urban elementary teachers in a southeastern school district. The research was conducted using surveys, interviews, and observations

The Possibility of Mutual Benefit from Exchange between the Philosophy of Language and Second Language Acquisition Research and Pedagogy

This dissertation has three parts. The first part is an ESL textbook that is based on a grammar which I call term and predicate grammar. This name reflects the view that all simple and complex sentences of English consist of one predicate and one or more terms, or are simple transforms of such sentences. There are four predicate types and seven term types, all of which can be specified precisely. The term and predicate grammar itself is based on the syntactic component of a semiotic system I developed, which standardly includes as well a semantic component and a pragmatic component. The second part of the dissertation establishes a connection between the philosophy of language and second language acquisition research and pedagogy by presenting two cases in which an analysis of a feature of English in the one discipline is juxtaposed with an analysis of the same feature in the other discipline. On the basis of these two cases, it is proposed that a merger of interests and lines of work between the two disciplines would be mutually beneficial, and that an ESL text book that is based in the philosophy of language should foster such a merger. The third and final part of the dissertation has a general aspect and a specific aspect. On its general aspect, it is a philosophical examination of the relationship between the implicit knowledge of language vs. explicit knowledge of language distinction in second language acquisition research and pedagogy and the knowing-how vs. knowing-that distinction in the philosophy of language. The two distinctions are found to align and it is claimed on this basis that the second language acquisition distinction has an antecedent in the earlier philosophical distinction. On its specific aspect, the third part of the dissertation is an analysis of what is called the interface issue in second language acquisition research. This issue addresses the question of how implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge contribute to the acquisition of a second language. Three positions have been taken on the issue, viz. the strong position, the no position and the weak position. On the strong position the explicit knowledge of language developed by instruction and practice plays a major role in acquisition, on the no position such knowledge plays no role in acquisition while on the weak position such knowledge plays a facilitating role in acquisition. But there is a consensus in the second language acquisition research community that the strong position should be rejected and yet it is this position that accords with the views of traditional language pedagogists, and with thoughtful common sense generally. This poses a dilemma that I claim can be resolved by making a philosophical interpretation of ideas and information that can be found in recent second language acquisition theory and research

Hands-on Gravitational Wave Astronomy: Extracting astrophysical information from simulated signals

In this paper we introduce a hands-on activity in which introductory astronomy students act as gravitational wave astronomers by extracting information from simulated gravitational wave signals. The process mimics the way true gravitational wave analysis will be handled by using plots of a pure gravitational wave signal. The students directly measure the properties of the simulated signal, and use these measurements to evaluate standard formulae for astrophysical source parameters. An exercise based on the discussion in this paper has been written and made publicly available online for use in introductory laboratory courses.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; submitted to Am. J. Phy

Mice Infected with Low-virulence Strains of Toxoplasma gondii Lose their Innate Aversion to Cat Urine, Even after Extensive Parasite Clearance

Toxoplasma gondii chronic infection in rodent secondary hosts has been reported to lead to a loss of innate, hard-wired fear toward cats, its primary host. However the generality of this response across T. gondii strains and the underlying mechanism for this pathogen mediated behavioral change remain unknown. To begin exploring these questions, we evaluated the effects of infection with two previously uninvestigated isolates from the three major North American clonal lineages of T. gondii, Type III and an attenuated strain of Type I. Using an hour-long open field activity assay optimized for this purpose, we measured mouse aversion toward predator and non-predator urines. We show that loss of innate aversion of cat urine is a general trait caused by infection with any of the three major clonal lineages of parasite. Surprisingly, we found that infection with the attenuated Type I parasite results in sustained loss of aversion at times post infection when neither parasite nor ongoing brain inflammation were detectable. This suggests that T. gondii-mediated interruption of mouse innate aversion toward cat urine may occur during early acute infection in a permanent manner, not requiring persistence of parasitecysts or continuing brain inflammation.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure