Patient Satisfaction Can Mean A Lot Of Different Things

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Farm Women\u27s Roles and their Experience of Role Strain and Role Enhancement

Studies exploring farm women roles were limited to data of the 1980s utilizing the scarcity approach to role theory. This study expands on research by exploring farm women\u27s roles today utilizing both the scarcity and expansion approaches. Random sampling of 81 farm women ages 26-78 were drawn from the Pipestone County Farm Service\u27s mail-listing. Data was analyzed using JMP Statistical Data Analysis. The study revealed that farm women continued to fulfill roles involved with family, farming, and off-farm employment at rates similar/greater (employment) to those in the \u2780s. Findings also suggested that farm women experience both strains and enhancements from their roles. Results also indicated that farm women may still seek employment partially out of financial necessity. As this study is exploratory, future research could expand on the data and correlations found. The data also serves as invaluable to the development/revision of social work services in rural areas

Slippery runs, shifty stops, backward steps and forward hops: -2, -1, +1, +2, +5 and +6 Ribosomal frameshifting

Journal ArticleFrameshift mutations frequently express residual levels of gene activity; that is, they are often leaky. This leakiness can be used as a tool to define the functional components that affect the reading frame during gene expression. Recent technological advances in the capability to efficiently build synthetic DNA sequences have facilitated the construction of small, defined "frameshift windows." These windows are regions where frameshift events can be detected and measured. The cloned synthetic window is fused onto th 5' coding region of an active B-galactosidase gene that provides a sensitive monitor for the frameshift events. Fusions onto the lac Z gene have the advantages of simple colorimetric assays for B-galactosidase activity and little or no effect of the fused sequence on the specific activity or stability of the enzyme. A frameshift event also leaves a clue to its character in the protein sequence translated from the window's m-RNA sequence. Recovery of the frameshift containing B-galactosidase in sufficient yield and purity for determining its amino-terminal sequence provides hard evidence for the occurrence of a frameshift, and this sequence may be used to infer the kind of event generating the loss of reading frame

Slower ship speed in the Bahamas due to COVID-19 produces a dramatic reduction in ocean sound levels

Funding for the purchase of SoundTrap hydrophones and associated field work came from Field School, Sabine and Reinhold Probst, M Rogers, The Devereux Ocean Foundation and The Bahamian Environment Protection Foundation.As underwater noise from ship traffic increases, profound effects on the marine environment highlight the need for improved mitigation measures. One measure, reduction in ship speed, has been shown to be one of the key drivers in reducing sound source levels of vessels. In 2017, a study began to assess the impacts of increasing commercial shipping traffic on sperm whales in Northwest Providence Channel, northern Bahamas, an international trade route that primarily serves the southeast US. Ship data were collected from an Automatic Identification System (AIS) station combined with recordings from an acoustic recorder to measure underwater sound levels and to detect the presence of sperm whales. Here we analyze a subset of these data to opportunistically investigate potential changes in ship traffic before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. These data span one calendar year from October 2019 to October 2020. A pre-COVID-19 dataset of 121 days, from a recorder approximately 2 km from the shipping route was compared to a 134-day dataset collected during COVID-19 from the same site, comprising 2900 and 3181 ten-minute recordings, respectively. A dramatic decrease in ocean noise levels concurrent with changes in shipping activity occurred during the pandemic. The mean pre-COVID-19 power density level in the 111–140 Hz 1/3-octave band was 88.81 dB re 1 μPa (range 81.38–100.90) and decreased to 84.27 dB re 1 μPa (range 78.60–99.51) during COVID-19, equating to a 41% reduction in sound pressure levels (SPL). After differences in seasonal changes in wind speed were accounted for, SPL decreased during the pandemic by 3.98 dB (37%). The most notable changes in ship activity were significantly reduced vessel speeds for all ship types and fewer ships using the area during the pandemic. Vessel speed was highly correlated to SPL and the only ship-based variable that predicted SPLs. Despite the opportunistic nature [i.e., not a standard before-after-control-impact (BACI) study], this study provides a unique opportunity to assess the effectiveness of ship traffic management strategies, such as slowing ships down, to mitigate impacts on marine life in the study area, including local sperm whale populations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Transforming Through Reflection: Use of Student-Led Reflections in the Development of Intercultural Competence during a Short-Term International Immersion Experience

ABSTRACT Purpose: Curricular integration designed to include cultural competence standards for health care professionals is paramount to preparing students to meet the needs of a growing diverse population in the U.S. The purpose of this research is to examine the cultural competency development of occupational therapy students, and to report on their reflections and perspectives during a two-week immersive and service-learning experience in Guatemala. Methods: As intercultural competence is a highly personal trait, the study used a descriptive qualitative research design gaining participants’ perspectives of the short-term international immersion experience through student-led reflective focus groups, using an open discussion format, during the immersion experience. Results: Data analysis yielded three themes: Do, Experience, Understand; Change Factor; and Future Action that represent the student perspective in a cultural immersion experience. The first theme: Do, Experience, Understand encompassed participants’ discussion of how fully engaging in a culture different than their own was necessary to understand differences and commonalities. The second theme: Change Factor included expressions of dissonance in level of physical, emotional, and mental comfort that prompted a transformation within the student. The final theme: Future Action, described a tangible outcome from the immersion experience. By engaging with a different culture, participants experienced a transformation, leading to sharing of their desire to continue their advocacy efforts on behalf of others. Conclusion: Reflection became a key element in the transformative nature of the learning experience. It became obvious that a safe environment in which to share dreams, doubts, cultural missteps and successful moments was necessary for coping with feelings of dissonance. The safe sharing environment added to the cohesiveness of the group, lowered anxiety and provided opportunities for learning. Participants’ verbalized descriptions of transformative learning necessary in the development of intercultural competency during an international cultural immersion experience. By participating in a cultural immersion experience integrated into their curricular program, students began to articulate cultural competencies required to consider multiples lenses, perspectives and backgrounds of their future clients

Vegetative Propagation of Chinese Pistache

Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis, Bunge.) is a commonly recommended ornamental shade tree in the nursery andl landscape industry. Currently, Chinese pistache trees are propagated commercially from seed, resulting in highly variable branch habit and fall color. Mature Chinese pistache, have proven difficult to root, graft, or bud successfully. This study was initiated to investigate the effect of various timing, auxin, bottom heat, and bud position treatments on root formation of cuttings. It also investigated the potential of mound layering and tissue culture as alternative vegetative propagation methods for producing genetically identical clones of superior mature Chinese pistache trees

Investigating local population dynamics of bottlenose dolphins in the northern Bahamas and the impact of hurricanes on survival

This study was made possible with financial support from Earthwatch Institute, Atlantis Blue Project Foundation, with permission to conduct research granted by the Bahamas Department of Marine Resources.Little Bahama Bank in the northern Bahamas supports several populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). We provide the first estimates of birth rate and age-class-specific apparent survival rates for the local South Abaco population using data from a long-term (1997–2014) photo-identification (photo-ID) study and use the estimated life history parameters in a population viability analysis (PVA) to predict future population trends. Hurricane events are predicted to become more intense due to climate change but knowledge of how hurricanes may impact cetacean populations is limited. Little Bahama Bank is subject to hurricane activity, so we also investigate the potential impact of hurricanes on calf, juvenile and adult survival. Photo-ID data confirmed the existence of a core adult population with relatively high site fidelity in South Abaco, but also evidence of transient animals. Estimated annual birth rate was 0.278 (95% CI: 0.241–0.337). We found strong support for a decline in apparent survival for all age-classes. Estimated survival declined by 9% in adults (0.941 in 1998, to 0.855 in 2013), 5% in juveniles (0.820 in 2000, to 0.767 in 2013) and 36% in calves (0.970 in 1997, to 0.606 in 2013). Evidence that survival was influenced by repeated hurricane activity leading to increased mortality and/or emigration was stronger for calves and juveniles than for adults. PVA simulations of an assumed isolated South Abaco population showed that declines would lead to extinction within decades, even under the most optimistic scenario. Future work should focus on establishing if South Abaco is part of natural source–sink metapopulation dynamics on Little Bahama Bank by assessing trends in abundance in local populations and establishing how they interact; this will be important for assessing their conservation status in a potentially increasingly changing environment.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Do Novice and Expert Users of Clinical Decision Support Tools Need Different Explanations?

A key requirement for the successful adoption of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) is their ability to provide users with reliable explanations for any given recommendation which can be challenging for some tasks such as wound management decisions. Despite the abundance of decision guidelines, wound non-expert (novice hereafter) clinicians who usually provide most of the treatments still have decision uncertainties. Our goal is to evaluate the use of a Wound CDSS smartphone App that provides explanations for recommendations it produces. The App utilizes wound images taken by the novice clinician using smartphone camera. This study experiments with two proposed variations of rule-tracing explanations called verbose-based and gist-based. Deriving upon theories of decision making, and unlike prior literature that says rule-tracing explanations are only preferred by novices, we hypothesize that, rule-tracing explanations are preferred by both clinicians but in different forms: novices prefer verbose-based rule-tracing and experts prefer gist-based rule tracing