Service user involvement in practitioner education: movement politics and transformative change

This paper will attempt to both celebrate key developments and best practice involving the users of health and social care services in programmes of practitioner education in a UK context, and offer a critical appraisal of the extent to which such initiatives meet some of the more transformative objectives sought by service users activists for change. The approach is largely that of a discussion paper but we illustrate some of the themes relating to movement activism with selected data. These data relate to earlier research and two specially convened focus groups within the Comensus initiative at the University of Central Lancashire; itself constituted as piece of participatory action research. We conclude that universities represent paradoxical sites for the facilitation of debate and learning relevant to key issues of social justice and change. As such, they are places that can impede or support movement aims. Particular strategic responses might be more likely to engender progressive outcomes. These ought to include the presence of critically engaged academic staff operating within a scholarly culture that fosters forms of deliberative democratic decision making

Mutual Development through Authentic Relationships: Adventures, Journeys and Appreciative Stories of Service User Engagement in Student Nurse Education

Current educational guidelines require clear evidence of the involvement of service users across the nursing curriculum, but give no real direction as to how to achieve this, or clarity about what would constitute successful engagement. There is a limited body of literature that specifically addresses service user engagement in the classroom and this literature is largely evaluative in nature, small scale, single site, often atheoretical and many do not include service user perspectives. The studies present evidence of the value of service user engagement, albeit not in great breadth or depth, but fail to critically examine the actual processes and practices that contribute to the perceived success of service user engagement in the classroom. This study seeks to develop and strengthen the current understanding of service user involvement in nurse education and the way in which it is enacted in the classroom setting. In this study, the term ‘service user’ encompasses people, carers and families with experience of healthcare who are involved in teaching sessions with pre-registration nursing students for the purposes of sharing their life experiences. A participatory, Appreciative Inquiry approach was taken, using a series of appreciative workshops (n=8), observations of teaching (n=5) and interviews (n=3). These approaches ensured that there were opportunities for the participants to generate and share their stories and experiences of service user engagement. This participatory appreciative approach also ensured that all voices within the study were respected and that ethical considerations were attended to with high levels of sensitivity. These approaches also facilitated the critical consideration of the interactions, dialogues and relationships that occur between pre-registration nursing students, service users and lecturers. Data were analysed using a thematic narrative approach drawing on the principles of socio-narratology and considering three key components: setting, character and plot. Three themes were identified: the first ‘real world as opposed to what?’ focuses on setting; the second ‘students, service users, lecturers - there is a togetherness about it all’ addresses the characters within the classroom; and the third ‘involving service users has helped me grow as a student nurse’ considers issues related to plot. The overarching meta-theme, ‘mutual development through authentic relationships’, encompasses the idea that service user engagement is more than merely an action carried out by service users (sharing life experiences) for the benefit of students in their development as compassionate nurses. Instead, service user engagement is a complex and mutual set of interactions and relationships between service users, students and lecturers. These interactions and relationships occur within a distinct setting, are grounded in authenticity (where authenticity is interpreted as something which is real, genuine or true), and influence the development of shared narratives of service user oriented practice. The core contribution to knowledge from this study is summarised within a model of best practice for service user engagement that is built from the findings and based within contemporary theoretical thinking on service user engagement. The model presents a map of the journeys of students, service users and lecturers and the ideal classroom conditions for successful service user engagement. It also reveals the processes and practices that occur in classrooms and the profound, positive impact of service user engagement, such as nourishing the emotional lives of student nurses in a way that consolidates compassion. Recommendations for practice, policy and research are presented

Comparative analysis of long DNA sequences by per element information content using different contexts

BACKGROUND: Features of a DNA sequence can be found by compressing the sequence under a suitable model; good compression implies low information content. Good DNA compression models consider repetition, differences between repeats, and base distributions. From a linear DNA sequence, a compression model can produce a linear information sequence. Linear space complexity is important when exploring long DNA sequences of the order of millions of bases. Compressing a sequence in isolation will include information on self-repetition. Whereas compressing a sequence Y in the context of another X can find what new information X gives about Y. This paper presents a methodology for performing comparative analysis to find features exposed by such models. RESULTS: We apply such a model to find features across chromosomes of Cyanidioschyzon merolae. We present a tool that provides useful linear transformations to investigate and save new sequences. Various examples illustrate the methodology, finding features for sequences alone and in different contexts. We also show how to highlight all sets of self-repetition features, in this case within Plasmodium falciparum chromosome 2. CONCLUSION: The methodology finds features that are significant and that biologists confirm. The exploration of long information sequences in linear time and space is fast and the saved results are self documenting.

Application of a Mathematical Model to Describe the Effects of Chlorpyrifos on Caenorhabditis elegans Development

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is being assessed as an alternative model organism as part of an interagency effort to develop better means to test potentially toxic substances. As part of this effort, assays that use the COPAS Biosort flow sorting technology to record optical measurements (time of flight (TOF) and extinction (EXT)) of individual nematodes under various chemical exposure conditions are being developed. A mathematical model has been created that uses Biosort data to quantitatively and qualitatively describe C. elegans growth, and link changes in growth rates to biological events. Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide known to cause developmental delays and malformations in mammals, was used as a model toxicant to test the applicability of the growth model for in vivo toxicological testing.L1 larval nematodes were exposed to a range of sub-lethal chlorpyrifos concentrations (0-75 microM) and measured every 12 h. In the absence of toxicant, C. elegans matured from L1s to gravid adults by 60 h. A mathematical model was used to estimate nematode size distributions at various times. Mathematical modeling of the distributions allowed the number of measured nematodes and log(EXT) and log(TOF) growth rates to be estimated. The model revealed three distinct growth phases. The points at which estimated growth rates changed (change points) were constant across the ten chlorpyrifos concentrations. Concentration response curves with respect to several model-estimated quantities (numbers of measured nematodes, mean log(TOF) and log(EXT), growth rates, and time to reach change points) showed a significant decrease in C. elegans growth with increasing chlorpyrifos concentration.Effects of chlorpyrifos on C. elegans growth and development were mathematically modeled. Statistical tests confirmed a significant concentration effect on several model endpoints. This confirmed that chlorpyrifos affects C. elegans development in a concentration dependent manner. The most noticeable effect on growth occurred during early larval stages: L2 and L3. This study supports the utility of the C. elegans growth assay and mathematical modeling in determining the effects of potentially toxic substances in an alternative model organism using high-throughput technologies

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2 and reports on five research projects.National Institutes of Health Contract 2 R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Contract 1 R01 DC02032National Institutes of Health Contract 2 P01 DC00361National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC22402National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC001001National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00270National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant R29-DC00625U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1454U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division Contract N61339-94-C-0087U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training System Division Contract N61339-93-C-0055U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-93-1-1198National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Ames Research Center Grant NCC 2-77

Stratospheric Injection of Brominated Very Short‐Lived Substances: Aircraft Observations in the Western Pacific and Representation in Global Models

We quantify the stratospheric injection of brominated very short‐lived substances (VSLS) based on aircraft observations acquired in winter 2014 above the Tropical Western Pacific during the CONvective TRansport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) and the Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX) campaigns. The overall contribution of VSLS to stratospheric bromine was determined to be 5.0 ± 2.1 ppt, in agreement with the 5 ± 3 ppt estimate provided in the 2014 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Ozone Assessment report (WMO 2014), but with lower uncertainty. Measurements of organic bromine compounds, including VSLS, were analyzed using CFC‐11 as a reference stratospheric tracer. From this analysis, 2.9 ± 0.6 ppt of bromine enters the stratosphere via organic source gas injection of VSLS. This value is two times the mean bromine content of VSLS measured at the tropical tropopause, for regions outside of the Tropical Western Pacific, summarized in WMO 2014. A photochemical box model, constrained to CONTRAST observations, was used to estimate inorganic bromine from measurements of BrO collected by two instruments. The analysis indicates that 2.1 ± 2.1 ppt of bromine enters the stratosphere via inorganic product gas injection. We also examine the representation of brominated VSLS within 14 global models that participated in the Chemistry‐Climate Model Initiative. The representation of stratospheric bromine in these models generally lies within the range of our empirical estimate. Models that include explicit representations of VSLS compare better with bromine observations in the lower stratosphere than models that utilize longer‐lived chemicals as a surrogate for VSLS

ABSTRACT Long-Term Interaction: Learning the 4 Rs

In long-term interaction (over minutes, hours, or days) the tight cycle of action and feedback is broken. People have to remember that they have to do things, that other people should do things and why things happen when they do. This paper describes some results of a study into long-term processes associated with the running of the HCI’95 conference. The focus is on the events which trigger the occurrence of activities. However, during the study we also discovered a recurrent pattern of activities and triggers we have called the 4Rs. For a longer report see [2]

Interaction in the large

Most work in HCI focuses on interaction in the small: where tasks take a few minutes or hours and individual actions receive feedback within seconds. In contrast, many collaborative activities occur over weeks or months and the turnaround of individual messages may take hours, days or even weeks. This slow pace of interaction brings its own problems, especially when expected responses do not occur. This paper analyses these problems, focusing on the triggers which initiate activities and the way processes recover when triggers are missed or misinterpreted. Furthermore, we are able to consider processes which cross organisational boundaries. We draw on theoretical analysis, an exploratory case study of conference organisation and recent application of the techniques to a student placement office. During the studies, a pattern of recurrent activities was discovered, the 4Rs (request, receipt, response and release), which we believe to be generic to this class of collaborative process