Caring attributes and preparedness to care: effects of a pre-enrolled nursing certificate programme in Singapore

Background: Caring is a highly complex and abstract concept, and nurturing a caring attribute among individuals for a nursing career is believed to be best introduced at the start of student journey in preparatory courses specifically designed for nursing. However, because of the need to professionalise nursing, pre-enrolled nursing programmes have been discontinued and replaced by generic healthcare programmes in many parts of the world. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the impact of pre-enrolled certificate nursing education on students’ caring attributes and their preparedness to care. Methodology: A mixed methods approach using unstructured questions and the Caring Behaviour Inventory was employed to determine student caring attributes and their preparedness to care. The participants were final year pre-enrolled nursing students in Singapore. Findings: Students demonstrated attributes of caring based on an average CBI score of 4.55 (SD 0.32). Expressions of professional nurse caring were explicit in students’ entire learning journey and these took various forms of approach embedded in both curricular and extracurricular activites. The study also found that nurturing caring attributes was associated with a high expectation of student social behaviour and closely linked to the increasingly good reputation of nursing as a profession in that region. Conclusions: This study indicates the high potential value of pre-enrolled nursing education for developing the caring attributes of individuals. A nursing-oriented programme title and its high status associated with nursing were critical elements for nurturing the caring attributes. The implications for developments in nurse education and research are discussed

Predicate Abstraction with Indexed Predicates

Predicate abstraction provides a powerful tool for verifying properties of infinite-state systems using a combination of a decision procedure for a subset of first-order logic and symbolic methods originally developed for finite-state model checking. We consider models containing first-order state variables, where the system state includes mutable functions and predicates. Such a model can describe systems containing arbitrarily large memories, buffers, and arrays of identical processes. We describe a form of predicate abstraction that constructs a formula over a set of universally quantified variables to describe invariant properties of the first-order state variables. We provide a formal justification of the soundness of our approach and describe how it has been used to verify several hardware and software designs, including a directory-based cache coherence protocol.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, short version appeared in International Conference on Verification, Model Checking and Abstract Interpretation (VMCAI'04), LNCS 2937, pages = 267--28

Upgraded demonstration vehicle task report

Vehicle/battery performance capabilities and interface problems that occurred when upgraded developmental batteries were integrated with upgraded versions of comercially available electric vehicles were investigated. Developmental batteries used included nickel zinc batteries, a nickel iron battery, and an improved lead acid battery. Testing of the electric vehicles and upgraded batteries was performed in the complete vehicle system environment to characterize performance and identify problems unique to the vehicle/battery system. Constant speed tests and driving schedule range tests were performed on a chassis dynamometer. The results from these tests of the upgraded batteries and vehicles were compared to performance capabilities for the same vehicles equipped with standard batteries

Performance of a Functionalised Polymer-Coated Silica at Treating Uranium Contaminated Groundwater from a Hungarian Mine Site

The performance of an active material for treating uranium contaminated groundwater within a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) is reported. This material, called PANSIL, has a tailored ligand system that selectively removes the uranyl (UO22+) cation from solution. The active uranyl ligand in PANSIL is a polyacryloamidoxime resin derived from polyacrylonitrile, which is deposited from solution onto the surface of quartz sand to form a thin film coating. PANSIL is effective at sequestering cationic and neutral uranyl species when the solution pH is above 4, due to the stability of the polyacryloamidoxime-uranyl complex formed. However the rate of sequestration decreases rapidly when the pH exceeds about 8 where neutral uranyl species are present only at very low concentrations. It can preferentially sequester UO22+ in the presence of typical divalent groundwater cations. In mildly alkaline conditions the sequestration performance in groundwater is sensitive to the concentration of uranyl complexing ligands, such as bicarbonate. Such behaviour has important consequences for PRB design as it will determine the barrier thickness required to treat a particular groundwater flow rate

Obesity and cardiovascular risk factors: results of a unique approach to NHS health checks

The aim of the study was to evaluate health check data from an inner London borough. Haringey have taken a unique approach to NHS health checks, pairing up with the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation (THF) to offer the health checks outside of traditional GP surgeries. Between March 2014 and July 2015, 3000 health checks were carried out by the THF community health check practitioner at 25 locations in the east of the Borough. The whole group data (n=2254) were analysed, comprising of 23.4% females (50.2±8.0 years) and 76.6% males (49.4±8.0 years). Alcohol consumption in males was significantly greater in the underweight compared to all other BMI groups. The underweight/normal BMI groups had significantly lower total cholesterol levels than the overweight/obese. Blood glucose levels were significantly lower in the underweight compared to overweight/obese. QRISK2 score was significantly lower in normal and underweight compared to overweight/obese males. Blood glucose levels and QRISK2 were significantly greater in the inactive/moderately inactive groups compared to the active groups. Interventions must be sought to address diet and activity in the borough, particularly in the 40–60-year-old age group. Females and the underweight should not be forgotten. Keywords: NHS health check, Cardiovascular disease, Lifestyle risk, Obesit

A prior history of binge-drinking increases sensitivity to the motivational valence of methamphetamine in female C57BL/6J mice.

Methamphetamine (MA) and alcohol use disorders exhibit a high degree of co-morbidity and sequential alcohol-MA mixing increases risk for co-abuse. Recently, we reported greater MA-conditioned reward in male C57BL/6J mice with a prior history of binge alcohol-drinking (14 days of 2-hour access to 5, 10, 20 and 40% alcohol). As female mice tend to binge-drink more alcohol than males and females tend to be more sensitive than males to the psychomotor-activating properties of MA, we first characterized the effects of binge-drinking upon MA-induced place-conditioning (four pairings of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, or 4 mg/kg IP) in females and then incorporated our prior data to analyze for sex differences in MA-conditioned reward. Prior binge-drinking history did not significantly affect locomotor hyperactivity or its sensitization in female mice. However, the dose-response function for place-conditioning was shifted to the left of water-drinking controls, indicating an increase in sensitivity to MA-conditioned reward. The examination of sex differences revealed no sex differences in alcohol intake, although females exhibited greater MA-induced locomotor stimulation than males, irrespective of their prior drinking history. No statistically significant sex difference was apparent for the potentiation of MA-conditioned reward produced by prior binge-drinking history. If relevant to humans, these data argue that both males and females with a prior binge-drinking history are similarly vulnerable to MA abuse and it remains to be determined whether or not the neural substrates underpinning this increased vulnerability reflect common or sex-specific adaptations in reward-related brain regions

Hands of the Future, Inc; Junior Nature Club; Living Schoolyards

Programs to connect children to natur

High fidelity full sized human patient simulation manikins: Effects on decision making skills of nursing students

Background: The continued use of high fidelity full sized human patient simulation manikins (HF-HPSMs) for developing decision making skills of nursing students has led to growing research focusing its value on student learning and decision making skills. Methods: In October 2012, a cross-sectional survey using the 24-item Nurse Decision-Making Instrument was used to explore the decision making process of 232 pre-registration nursing students (age 22.0 + 5.4; 83.2% female) in Singapore. Results: The independent samples t-tests demonstrated three significant predictive indicators. These indicators include: prior experience in high fidelity simulation based on pre-enrolled nursing course (t = 70.6, p = .001), actual hands-on practice (t = 69.66, p < .005) and active participation in debrief (t = 70.11, p < .005). A complete experience based on role-playing followed by active discussion in debrief was a significant contributor to the decision making process (t = 73.6667, p < .005). However, the regression model indicated active participation in debrief as a significant variable which explained its development (t = 12.633, p < .005). Conclusions: This study demonstrated the usefulness of active participation in simulation learning for an analytic- intuitive approach to decision making, however active participation in debrief was a more important influencing element than role-playing. In situations where resources are limited for students to experience hands-on role-playing, peer reviewing and feedback on others’ experiences could benefit students, just as much. However, further study is warranted to determine the development of HF-HPSMs as a pedagogic tool for enhancing the decision making process of nursing students