Putting in your time : Faculty Experiences in the Process of Promotion to Professor

The rank of professor or “full” professor represents the highest status possible for faculty members, and it is generally gained by attaining professional expertise and a national or international reputation. Beyond this, however, little is known about these individuals or the promotion process at this level. In this qualitative study of 10 faculty members at one research university in the United States, we sought to understand the experiences of individuals who had sought promotion to full professor. Through a socialization lens, we found that issues of time, a lack of clarity, and gender disparity were concerns for these faculty members

Faculty Agency in Applying for Promotion to Professor

Aim/Purpose: In the United States, faculty who wish to pursue promotion to the rank of professor do so without clear guidance or structure. Even the timing of such a process is nebulous. As such, an individual engages in magentic action to pursue the rank. Background: This study examined the experiences of faculty members who chose to pursue the application process to be promoted to professor but were rejected or dissuaded. Methodology: Utilizing a case study of one institutional setting, we conducted 10 in-depth qualitative interviews. Contribution: Very little is known about the process of promotion to full professor in the U.S. and even less empirical research exists. This study advances knowledge of the process and the experiences of those undertaking it. Findings: We learned that cues from the social context greatly influenced these faculty members’ sense of agency. Keywords: promotion, faculty rank, agenc

Analysis of morbid events and risk factors for death after cardiac transplantation

AbstractRisk factors for death after cardiac transplantation performed at the University of Alabana at Birmingham from January 1981 to July 1985 included (by multivariate analysis) higher calculated preoperative pulmonary vascular resistance (early and constant phases), murphology of cardiomyopathy (versus ischemic heart disease) (constant phase only) and black race (constant phase). overall actuarial survival was 71% at 1 year and 48% at 3 years (including azalhioprine and cyclosporine eras). The hazard function for death was highest immediately after operation and declined rapidly thereafter, merging with a constant phase of risk at about 3 months.The most favorable group for long-term survival was the group of white patients with ischemic heart disease and low pulmonary vascular resistance. When such patients had a pulmonary vascular resistance < 3 units m2, the 3 year survival rate exceeded 85%; The most common causes of death were acute rejection (24%) and infection (17%) The risk of infection remained highest during the first several months after any period of augmented immunosuppression

Geriatric Hip Fracture Quality Initiative

Introduction: Multiple studies demonstrate increased morbidity, mortality, and loss of independence after hip fractures in geriatric patients. The 1-year mortality rate after a hip fracture has been estimated at anywhere from 14% to 58%. Hip fractures are one of the most common injuries evaluated by the UNM Orthopedic department. Geriatric hip fracture protocols have shown improved outcomes at many other centers with regard to improved functionality and decreased morbidity. The goal of this initiative is to improve outcomes with regard to length of hospital stay, functionality after surgery, and as a result, decreased morbidity and mortality. Materials/methods: All deaths in the orthopedic department were reviewed and analyzed from June 2009 to July 2019. Deaths were identified from morbidity and mortality submissions and NSQIP data. The geriatric hip fracture protocol was developed and implemented in Fall 2019, with non-critical care patients being primarily admitted to orthopedics, with hospitalist co-management. Specific post-operative and pain order sets were developed for efficiency and improved standard of care. Results: Early results of the newly developed geriatric hip fracture protocol demonstrate decreased length of stay in the hospital and earlier time to surgical intervention. It is too early to determine if morbidity and mortality has seen any decrease, however this can be anticipated with earlier time to surgery and decreased time in the hospital. Conclusions: We identified a need and successfully developed an initiative to improve care for geriatric patients with hip fractures. Implementation of this protocol decreased length of hospital stay as well as time to surgery. The analysis of the effect of this protocol on overall morbidity and mortality is ongoing

Does right thoracotomy increase the risk of mitral valve reoperation?

ObjectiveThe study objective was to determine whether a right thoracotomy approach increases the risk of mitral valve reoperation.MethodsBetween January of 1993 and January of 2004, 2469 patients with mitral valve disease underwent 2570 reoperations (1508 replacements, 1062 repairs). The approach was median sternotomy in 2444 patients, right thoracotomy in 80 patients, and other in 46 patients. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with median sternotomy versus right thoracotomy, mitral valve repair versus replacement, hospital death, and stroke. Factors favoring median sternotomy (P < .03) included coronary artery bypass grafting (30% vs 2%), aortic valve replacement (39% vs 2%), tricuspid valve repair (27% vs 13%), fewer previous cardiac operations, more recent reoperation, and no prior left internal thoracic artery graft. These factors were used to construct a propensity score for risk-adjusting outcomes.ResultsHospital mortality was 6.7% (163/2444) for the median sternotomy approach and 6.3% (5/80) for the thoracotomy approach (P = .9). Risk factors (P < .04) included earlier surgery date, higher New York Heart Association class, emergency operation, multiple reoperations, and mitral valve replacement. Stroke occurred in 66 patients (2.7%) who underwent a median sternotomy and in 6 patients (7.5%) who underwent a thoracotomy (P = .006). Mitral valve replacement (vs repair) was more common in those receiving a thoracotomy (P < .04).ConclusionsCompared with median sternotomy, right thoracotomy is associated with a higher occurrence of stroke and less frequent mitral valve repair. Specific strategies for conducting the operation should be used to reduce the risk of stroke when right thoracotomy is used for mitral valve reoperation. In most instances, repeat median sternotomy, with its better exposure and greater latitude for concomitant procedures, is preferred

Increased spatiotemporal resolution reveals highly dynamic dense tubular matrices in the peripheral ER

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an expansive, membrane-enclosed organelle that plays crucial roles in numerous cellular functions. We used emerging superresolution imaging technologies to clarify the morphology and dynamics of the peripheral ER, which contacts and modulates most other intracellular organelles. Peripheral components of the ER have classically been described as comprising both tubules and flat sheets. We show that this system consists almost exclusively of tubules at varying densities, including structures that we term ER matrices. Conventional optical imaging technologies had led to misidentification of these structures as sheets because of the dense clustering of tubular junctions and a previously uncharacterized rapid form of ER motion. The existence of ER matrices explains previous confounding evidence that had indicated the occurrence of ER "sheet" proliferation after overexpression of tubular junction-forming proteins

Effect of transannular patching on outcome after repair of tetralogy of Fallot.

Among 814 patients undergoing repair of tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary stenosis between 1967 and May 1986, transannular patching in the current era was a weak risk factor for death early postoperatively (predicted 30-day mortality, 4\% with a transannular patch and 1.4\% without) and is not a risk factor for instantaneous risk of death late postoperatively (predicted 20-year survival including early death, 94\% with a transannular patch and 96.5\% without). Ninety-six percent of surviving patients were in New York Heart Association functional class I at last follow-up, and the slight decline in this percentage as the interval between operation and last follow-up lengthened could have been due to chance alone (p = 0.24) and was no different in patients with a transannular patch. Transannular patching was a risk factor for reoperation for pulmonary regurgitation late postoperatively, but only a 7\% incidence within 20 years is predicted when mild residual stenoses are beyond the patch: the incidence rises to about 20\% with important distal stenoses. Inferences from the study are relevant to the indications for transannular patching and insertion of allograft semilunar valves at the time of repair

An improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling

Copyright @ Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009This paper presents an improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network for job-shop scheduling problems. The neural network is constructed based on the constraint conditions of a job-shop scheduling problem. Its structure and neuron connections can change adaptively according to the real-time constraint satisfaction situations that arise during the solving process. Several heuristics are also integrated within the neural network to enhance its convergence, accelerate its convergence, and improve the quality of the solutions produced. An experimental study based on a set of benchmark job-shop scheduling problems shows that the improved constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network outperforms the original constraint satisfaction adaptive neural network in terms of computational time and the quality of schedules it produces. The neural network approach is also experimentally validated to outperform three classical heuristic algorithms that are widely used as the basis of many state-of-the-art scheduling systems. Hence, it may also be used to construct advanced job-shop scheduling systems.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/01 and in part by the National Nature Science Fundation of China under Grant 60821063 and National Basic Research Program of China under Grant 2009CB320601

17 ways to say yes:Toward nuanced tone of voice in AAC and speech technology

People with complex communication needs who use speech-generating devices have very little expressive control over their tone of voice. Despite its importance in human interaction, the issue of tone of voice remains all but absent from AAC research and development however. In this paper, we describe three interdisciplinary projects, past, present and future: The critical design collection Six Speaking Chairs has provoked deeper discussion and inspired a social model of tone of voice; the speculative concept Speech Hedge illustrates challenges and opportunities in designing more expressive user interfaces; the pilot project Tonetable could enable participatory research and seed a research network around tone of voice. We speculate that more radical interactions might expand frontiers of AAC and disrupt speech technology as a whole

Designing comparative effectiveness trials of surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation: Experience of the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network

ObjectiveSince the introduction of the cut-and-sew Cox maze procedure for atrial fibrillation, there has been substantial innovation in techniques for ablation. Use of alternative energy sources for ablation simplified the procedure and has resulted in dramatic increase in the number of patients with atrial fibrillation treated by surgical ablation. Despite its increasingly widespread adoption, there is lack of rigorous clinical evidence to establish this procedure as an effective clinical therapy.MethodsThis article describes a comparative effectiveness randomized trial, supported by the Cardiothoracic Surgical Clinical Trials Network, of surgical ablation with left atrial appendage closure versus left atrial appendage closure alone in patients with persistent and long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation undergoing mitral valve surgery. Nested within this trial is a further randomized comparison of 2 different lesions sets: pulmonary vein isolation and the full maze lesion set.ResultsThis article addresses trial design challenges, including how best to characterize the target population, operationalize freedom from atrial fibrillation as a primary end point, account for the impact of antiarrhythmic drugs, and measure and analyze secondary end points, such as postoperative atrial fibrillation load.ConclusionsThis article concludes by discussing how insights that emerge from this trial may affect surgical practice and guide future research in this area