UNIVERSITY STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF MATH IN RELATION TO PERSONALITY, UPBRINGING, AND ONLINE LEARNING AND THE IMPACT OF THOSE PERCEPTIONS ON CAREER CHOICES

Students all over the world are developing negative perceptions of the subject of mathematics and shying away from careers in the field of math as a result. The purpose of this study was to determine how various factors, such as students’ personalities, upbringings, and experiences with online learning, affected their perceptions of math and resulting career choices. A survey asking participants about these factors in relation to their perceptions of math was sent out through email to Southeastern University (SEU) undergraduate students and math professors. The survey received 200 responses with 194 of them being Southeastern University undergraduate students and the other six being either SEU math professors or graduate students. Study data were analyzed in a preliminary, descriptive statistical manner, and descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to address the study’s research questions. The results of the study indicated that students were most likely to enjoy mathematics and pursue careers in this field when they had high math self-efficacy beliefs, low math anxiety, perfectionistic or analytical tendencies, effective math teachers whom they had positive relationships with, and supportive parents who expressed the importance of math to their children

Cluster synchronization of diffusively-coupled nonlinear systems: A contraction based approach

Finding the conditions that foster synchronization in networked oscillatory systems is critical to understanding a wide range of biological and mechanical systems. However, the conditions proved in the literature for synchronization in nonlinear systems with linear coupling, such as has been used to model neuronal networks, are in general not strict enough to accurately determine the system behavior. We leverage contraction theory to derive new sufficient conditions for cluster synchronization in terms of the network structure, for a network where the intrinsic nonlinear dynamics of each node may differ. Our result requires that network connections satisfy a cluster-input-equivalence condition, and we explore the influence of this requirement on network dynamics. For application to networks of nodes with neuronal spiking dynamics, we show that our new sufficient condition is tighter than those found in previous analyses which used nonsmooth Lyapunov functions. Improving the analytical conditions for when cluster synchronization will occur based on network configuration is a significant step toward facilitating understanding and control of complex oscillatory systems

Using interprofessional dementia learning opportunities to prepare the future healthcare workforce: Findings from a pilot study

Nearly 50 million people worldwide are living with dementia. Communication difficulties linked to this illness demand that all healthcare professionals are prepared to meet the needs of this group of service users. In response to this, the United Kingdom government is calling for professionals to acquire a basic (Tier 1) Dementia Awareness (DA) qualification. As healthcare students need to engage in interprofessional learning (IPL), this report describes the development, implementation and evaluation of an initiative to link the DA qualification to an existing IPL module delivered to first-year healthcare students (IPL1). A DA learning package was developed by a group of educators from a range of professions to ensure an interprofessional focus. It comprised of a set of practical exercises that students completed during and after IPL1. Sixty students evaluated the DA learning package by completing a post-intervention survey. 57 students rated it helpful or very helpful, in enhancing their knowledge of how to care for a person with dementia, while 3 students rated it as average. Two themes emerged from open-ended questions, which highlighted the importance of: i) learning to work together; and ii) blended learning. Students also suggested some changes for the full roll out, such as moving the Dementia Friends component into IPL1. This is an innovative approach that can be used to meet the challenges linked with the large-scale preparation of our future workforce and to ensure purposeful IPL

Genome sequence of canine herpesvirus

Canine herpesvirus is a widespread alphaherpesvirus that causes a fatal haemorrhagic disease of neonatal puppies. We have used high-throughput methods to determine the genome sequences of three viral strains (0194, V777 and V1154) isolated in the United Kingdom between 1985 and 2000. The sequences are very closely related to each other. The canine herpesvirus genome is estimated to be 125 kbp in size and consists of a unique long sequence (97.5 kbp) and a unique short sequence (7.7 kbp) that are each flanked by terminal and internal inverted repeats (38 bp and 10.0 kbp, respectively). The overall nucleotide composition is 31.6% G+C, which is the lowest among the completely sequenced alphaherpesviruses. The genome contains 76 open reading frames predicted to encode functional proteins, all of which have counterparts in other alphaherpesviruses. The availability of the sequences will facilitate future research on the diagnosis and treatment of canine herpesvirus-associated disease

Intraoperative Hypotension and Acute Kidney Injury in Non-Cardiac Surgery at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center

Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious postoperative complication that increases a patient’s risk for both long and short-term morbidity and mortality.1 Intraoperative hypotension (IOH) is an independent risk factor for AKI,2-5 which can be readily modified by anesthesia providers. This project aims to describe the risk factors and rates of AKI following IOH at various absolute mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) thresholds for specified durations of time among adults undergoing non-cardiac surgery at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (PSHMC). Methods PSHMC approved this retrospective, observational evidence-based project and deemed the project exempt by the Institutional Review Board from human subjects testing. Project inclusion criteria consisted of adults undergoing general anesthesia for non-cardiac surgery at PSHMC from 2015-2019 with pre- and postoperative serum creatinine lab results to evaluate for AKI via the KDIGO Criteria. Obstetrics, urology, dialysis history and records with missing serum creatinine values were excluded. The study group was further stratified by recorded MAP measurement intervals of ≤ 5 minutes to capture IOH. An a-priori power analysis revealed 2,181 records would power results (1-β=0.80, α=0.05, Df=1, W=0.06). PSHMC sponsor extracted, deidentified, encrypted and stored data in a HIPAA compliant REDCap database. Project team members performed univariate, bivariate and multivariable analyses using Microsoft Excel, MedCalc and G*Power platforms on PSHMC designated computers. Discussion Project findings revealed that 8.3% of patients had both pre- and postoperative serum creatinine results to evaluate for AKI. Of this study population (n=4,603), 8.9% experienced postoperative AKI. The literature reports rates of AKI to be 5- 7.5%. 5 Risk for AKI increased from 7.7% to 11.3% among patients exposed to MAPs less than 60mmHg for at least 10 minutes (RR 1.48, 95% CI [1.19-1.84], p\u3c0.001). According to the literature, AKI risk increases with the duration and severity of IOH exposure. 5 In a fully adjusted model, IOH, ASA 4 or greater, history of chronic kidney disease, baseline eGFR less than 60 ml/min/1.73m2 , and vascular surgery were identified as independent risk factors for AKI at PSHMC. Exploring AKI rates and risk factors at PSHMC helps identify potential areas of anesthesia practice improvement and informs further research surrounding AKI. As blood pressure is a modifiable risk factor for AKI, limiting IOH exposure may mitigate end organ damage and improve patient outcomes.https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/other_pubs/1103/thumbnail.jp

Amanita wadulawitu (Basidiomycota), a new species from Western Australia, and an expanded description of A. kalamundae

A new species of Amanita Pers. is documented from Western Australia. Amanita wadulawitu L.E.McGurk, E.M.Davison & E.L.J.Watkin is described from the Perth IBRA subregion. Amanita kalamundae O.K.Mill. is redescribed to include additional collections, drawing attention to the presence of clamp connections in the lamellae and at the base of basidia. A BLASTn search has shown that there are no exact matches of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of either species in GenBank

16 - Assessment of Efficacy and Effectiveness of Antiseptic Mouthwash Products against Oral Microbiota

Mouthwashes help prevent dental caries, gum disease (such as gingivitis), slow down the buildup of plaque (biofilms formed by buccal microbiota) and help fight bad breath (halitosis). These antibacterial products kill bacteria, or hinder their reproduction. Some antiseptic products inhibit growth and reproduction of many microorganisms, including bacteria, as well as fungi, protozoa, and viruses. Mouthwashes that kill or reduce bacterial load in the buccal cavity can reduce the production of sulfur compounds that can cause bad breath. Common ingredients in mouthwashes include cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), zinc chloride, alcohol and chlorhexidine which can neutralize sulfur compounds as well as kill bacteria. Our main objective in this project is to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of different mouthwash brands with a view to give scientifically sound advice people on the best products for use. Our goal for this research is to test commonly used mouthwash brands. Our methods involve culturing of mixed culture of known microbes (and at a later stage from our own mouths when we get IRB approval), streaking these out onto Petri agar plates to isolate pure cultures, characterizing the isolates and testing the efficacy of the mouthwashes against the isolates. Isolates from each subject are kept on slants of agar medium as pure stocks from which we can further characterize the isolates and how they are affected by the detergents. Spread plates inoculated with comparable microbial densities, based on optical density as measured by the spectrophotometer, will be used to assess the efficacy of individual mouthwash brands on the isolates. Efficacy will be determined based on the size of zone of growth inhibition around blank antibiotic discs soaked in the mouth wash brands under study. Mouthwash brands with the greatest diameters will be considered most efficacious. We will also characterize whether the mouth washes are simply bacteriostatic or bactericidal