Nurses Alumni Association Bulletin, Fall 2008

Meetings and Annual Luncheon Table of Contents Officers for 2008-2009 President\u27s Message Treasurer\u27s Financial Report Alumni Scholarship Funds and Endowment Fund Resume of Minutes Alumni Office News Committee Reports Annual Giving Contributors Janet C. Hindson Award Award Qualifications Janet C. Hindson Recipient and Nominees Recipient\u27s Acceptance Speech Ode to Sally Sally\u27s Appreciation News About and From Our Graduates Happy Birthday Interview with a Nurse Memories Fiftieth Anniversary Class 2008 Luncheon Attendees Luncheon Photos In Memoriam Class News~ 2008 Additional Information Application For Nurses Scholarship Fund Application Application For Certification Application For Relief Fund Benefits Hotels Campus Map Note

Nurses Alumni Association Bulletin, Fall 2005

2005 - 2006 Meeting Date Calendar 2006 Annual Luncheon & Meeting Notice Officers, Committee Chairs, Satellite and Volunteers Bulletin Publication Committee The President\u27s Message Treasurer\u27s Report Resume of Minutes Office News Committee Reports Relief Trust Fund Satellite - Harrisburg Satellite Area Bulletin Scholarship Nominating Social Development Annual Giving Janet C. Hindson Award Recipients and Nominees Janet C. Hindson Award Qualifications Quotes from Janet C. Hindson\u27s Recipients Letters Quotes from Letters on Nursing at Jefferson Biography of Lenora Schwartz, \u2766 News About Graduates Memories Odds & Ends How I got my Education U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Normandy Nightingales Weathered War\u27s Worst Happy Birthday, To Be 80 or more 50th Anniversary Class Center page Luncheon Attendees Class News In Memoriam, Names of Deceased Graduates Additional Information, Pins, Transcript & Address Info Constitution and By-Laws Scholarship Fund Application Certification Reimbursement Application Relief Fund Application List of Hotels Campus Ma

Building a robust dialogue system with limited data

We describe robustness techniques used in the CommandTalk system at the recognition level, the parsing level, and th dia6ue level, and how these were influenced by the lack of domain data. We used interviews with subject matter experts (SME's) to develop a single grammar for recognition, understanding, and generation, thus eliminating the need for a robust parser. We broadened the coverage of the recognition grammar by allowing word insertions and deletions, and we implemented clarification and correction subdialogues to increase robustness at tte dialogue level. We discuss the applicability of these techniques to other domains

Searching for Star Formation Beyond Reionization

The goal of searching back in cosmic time to find star formation during the epoch of reionization will soon be within reach. We assess the detectability of high-redshift galaxies by combining cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation, stellar evolution models appropriate for the first generations of stars, and estimates of the efficiency for Lyman alpha to escape from forming galaxies into the intergalactic medium. Our simulated observations show that Lyman alpha emission at z ~ 8 may be observable in the near-infrared with 8-meter class telescopes and present-day technology. Not only is the detection of early star-forming objects vital to understanding the underlying cause of the reionization of the universe, but the timely discovery of a z > 7 star-forming population -- or even an interesting upper limit on the emergent flux from these objects -- will have implications for the design of the next generation of ground- and space-based facilities.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to ApJ Letter

New proof-of-concept in viral inactivation: virucidal efficacy of 405 nm light against feline calicivirus as a model for norovirus decontamination

The requirement for novel decontamination technologies for use in hospitals is ever present. One such system uses 405 nm visible light to inactivate microorganisms via ROS-generated oxidative damage. Although effective for bacterial and fungal inactivation, little is known about the virucidal effects of 405 nm light. Norovirus (NoV) gastroenteritis outbreaks often occur in the clinical setting, and this study was designed to investigate potential inactivation effects of 405 nm light on the NoV surrogate, feline calicivirus (FCV). FCV was exposed to 405 nm light whilst suspended in minimal and organically-rich media to establish the virucidal efficacy and the effect biologically-relevant material may play in viral susceptibility. Antiviral activity was successfully demonstrated with a 4 Log10 (99.99%) reduction in infectivity when suspended in minimal media evident after a dose of 2.8 kJ cm−2. FCV exposed in artificial faeces, artificial saliva, blood plasma and other organically rich media exhibited an equivalent level of inactivation using between 50–85% less dose of the light, indicating enhanced inactivation when the virus is present in organically-rich biologically-relevant media. Further research in this area could aid in the development of 405 nm light technology for effective NoV decontamination within the hospital environment

Right! From the Start: Improving Maternal-Child Health in the Mississippi Delta

Right! From the Start (R!FTS) was created nearly ten years ago as a collaborative effort between Women and Children Health Initiatives, Inc. and the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF). The immediate goal of the initiative was to raise breastfeeding rates for mothers and babies in vulnerable families, especially those with preterm and low weight births. A long-term goal was improvement of maternal and child health outcomes in a region plagued by socioeconomic and racial disparities, the Mississippi Delta. R!FTS has gone through three distinct phases of development, which are detailed in this article

Notes from the Editorial Office (Volume 35, Issue 2)

As the year 2020 draws to a close, we are pleased to share this collection of articles in Volume 35, issue 2 of the Journal of Rural Social Sciences (JRSS). Addressing topics including energy, sustainable agriculture, well-being among aging populations, and survey methods, they showcase the scholarly rural-focused work important for shaping the future

The fractional integrated bi- parameter smooth transition autoregressive model

This paper introduces the fractionally integrated Bi-parameter smooth transition autoregressive model (FI-BSTAR model) as an extension of BSTAR model proposed by Siliverstovs (2005) and the fractionally integrated STAR model (FI-STAR model) proposed by van Dijk et al. (2002). Our FI-BSTAR model is able to simultaneously describe persistence and asymmetric smooth structural change in time series. An empirical application using monthly growth rates of the American producer price index is provided.Long Memory, Nonlinearity, Asymmetry, STAR models.