The Use of Probiotics to Control the Microbial Load Present in Commercial Broiler Chicken Hatch Cabinets as an Alternative to Formaldehyde Fumigation

Formaldehyde has been used for decades as a disinfectant in the poultry hatchery. Hatch cabinets are treated with formaldehyde to control the microbial bloom that occurs inside of the hatch cabinet as the hatch progresses. Even with formaldehyde being a known human carcinogen and the detriment that it has on living creatures millions of chicks are exposed to formaldehyde in the hatch cabinet. In these experiments we tested a lyophilized probiotic spray inside of the hatch cabinets from day nineteen to day twenty one to control the microbial bloom that occurs. Hatch cabinet environments were sampled in six experiments. Media used allowed for the recovery of Gram-negative bacteria, non-selective bacteria, and presumptive lactic acid bacteria. Intestinal samples were taken on day of hatch in three experiments. The probiotic mixture consisted of Lactobacilli and Bacillus subtilis isolates. In these trials the probiotic treatment was shown to colonize the gastrointestinal tract of the newly hatched chicks. The probiotic treatment was also able to suppress the early Gram-negative microbial bloom that occurs inside of a hatch cabinet. Later on in the hatch period the probiotic treatment was not able to match formaldehyde for Gram-negative suppression. While the probiotic treatment could not suppress the Gram-negative microbial bloom as well as formaldehyde it did alter the gut microflora on day of hatch. In three separate experiments the probiotic treated chicks had significantly lower levels of Gram-negative bacteria recovered from intestinal samples than the formaldehyde treated chicks. In the third experiment this significant reduction in Gram-negative bacterial recovery by the probiotic continued out to twenty four hours post-hatch as well. When intestinal samples were pasteurized and plated on Tryptic soy agar plates in experiments two and three the only growth was that of the Bacillus subtilis. Probiotic hatch cabinet treatment did not have a significant impact on presumptive lactic acid bacteria except for in experiment two where the formaldehyde treated cabinet had significantly higher levels of presumptive lactic acid bacteria recovered

An analysis of the effects of certified electronic health records on organizations and patients.

The growing technological advancement of electronic health records can become an issue with quality and electronic patient information exchange if hospitals do not adhere to federal guidelines. It is recommended that hospitals utilize certified electronic health records (EHRs) to receive financial incentives. This certification is supposedly also associated with the quality of the EHR itself. The certification process is criticized for allowing EHR vendors to meet a set of limited functions known in advance. EHRs can affect healthcare quality and electronic health information exchange. This dissertation explored what is known about the effects of certified EHRs on length of stay (LOS) and patient generated health data (PGHD), the relationship between hospital utilization of certified EHRs and LOS, and the relationship between hospital utilization of certified EHRs with hospital capability of allowing the function of PGHD. The first analysis was a scoping review guided by the PRISMA protocol to explore what is known of the effects of certified EHRs on LOS and PGHD. The second analysis used datasets from the American Hospital Association Survey and Information Technology Supplement and Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Health Policy from 2015 to 2019 to understand the relationship between hospital utilization of certified EHRs and LOS through a fixed effects regression model. The final paper analysis used datasets from the American Hospital Association Survey and Information Technology Supplement from 2016 to 2020 to understand the relationship between hospital utilization of certified EHRs and the function of enabling PGHD through a binary logistic regression. There is support amongst researchers on EHRs improving quality, such as, LOS and the function of PGHD improving technology efficiency and others supporting EHRs with more customization and open architecture. There is less known about whether an EHR, certified or non-certified, are different from one another with providing advantages for hospitals. Hospitals with certified EHRs have a longer LOS compared to hospitals with non-certified EHRs. Most hospitals experienced barriers with receiving, sending, or other electronic information exchange. Most hospitals with certified EHRs were more likely to not enable the function for PGHD compared to hospitals with non-certified EHRs. EHRs can be problematic while hospitals are providing hospital care. Although most hospitals possess certified EHRs, most do not enable the function of PGHD. Secondary sources from the survey were completed by the Chief Technology Officer or Chief Information Officer. Further research could be continued with understanding different groups’ health effects with health information technology. Hospitals may be satisfied with their EHRs but not as abreast on how functional the EHR is and how the EHR can benefit patients

A Program for the Improvement of Public Relations in the Elderville District Schools Longview, Texas

For the last thirty years the writer has been connected with the Ned E. Williams Industrial School. He has served in the school as teacher, Principal and is now the Superintendent of the Elderville District in which the Ned E. Williams School is located. Because of those experiences the writer has a vantage point that gives him a prospective that is very much unlike that of most others. It is to be noted that the writer is not attempting, in this treatise to crystallize a problem per se. His contact with the school district during the last thirty-two years, either as teacher, principal or superintendent, has gained for him an insight into the motives and actions of the people. This insight has helped to refine the problem that surrounds the school with reference to the community. The writer will propose answers to the different facets of the problem that he knows to be fundamental in the community. The writer shall attempt to analyze the problem on the basis of two fundamental assumptions. First, we assume that the public relations program of Elderville District is inadequate. Second, we assume that there is a need for a more practical public relations program, adapted to the needs of the pupils in the school and the philosophy of the schools in the Elderville District. In the light of these assumptions this study proposes to answer the following general questions: 1. What are some indisputable evidences that the public relations program in Elderville District is inadequate or impractical? 2. What type of public relations program is best suited for the schools in the Elderville District? The purpose of this study is to accomplish the following: 1. Point out the aims and functions of a public relations program. 2. Provide a plan for the use of that part of the general public relations program that may be used in a school situation that is comparable to what is found in the Elderville School District. 3. Stimulate further study in the field of public relations at the rural district level. 4. Provide a comprehensive guide for evaluating the public relations program in a rural district. The study will include a public relations program for the Elderville School District and other school districts of similar size, organization and composition

Pedestrian Evacuation: Vulnerable Group Member Influence on the Group Leaders’ Decision-Making and the Impact on Evacuation Time

As pedestrian evacuations of buildings, outdoor venues, and special events occur, dynamic interactions between pedestrians and vehicles during egress are possible. To model pedestrian and vehicle evacuations, simulation models have evolved to incorporate more realistic crowd characteristics and behaviors to provide improved results. Past studies using modeling and simulation, specifically agent-based modeling, have explored pedestrian behaviors such as decision-making, navigation within a virtual environment, group formations, intra-group interactions, inter-group dynamics, crowd behaviors such as queuing and herding, and pedestrianvehicle interactions. These studies have led to relevant insights helpful to improving the accuracy of evacuation times for normal and emergency egress for preparedness and management purposes. As evacuating crowds are composed of individual pedestrians and social or familial groups, this project contributes to the study of pedestrian evacuation by exploring the incorporation of a subgroup not often considered in this area. Vulnerable individuals, such as the physically disabled, elderly, and children, can change the decision-making dynamic of a group leader while evacuating to safety. Current agent-based simulation models explore the intra- and inter- action and the effects on evacuation times; however, the vulnerable group members\u27 influence is neglected. This project presents enhancements to pedestrian evacuations with vehicle interaction using an agent-based simulation model that includes the presence of vulnerable group members and their impact on decision-making and evacuation times. This project explores how changing behaviors due to the presence of vulnerable group members can collectively cause delays and increase evacuation times. Utilizing verification and validation methods, the credibility and reliability of the simulation model and its results are increased. The results show that the group leaders\u27 decision-making differs when leading a vulnerable group versus a non-vulnerable group. Also, evacuation times increase with increased percentages of vulnerable groups within an evacuating crowd. A simulation tool can be utilized by end-users to explore specific evacuation scenarios in preparation for upcoming events and glean insight into how evacuation times may vary with differing crowd population sizes and compositions. Including vulnerable pedestrians in simulation models for evacuations would improve output accuracy and ultimately improve event training and preparation for future evacuations

Protein Requirements of Dairy Calves

Dair

The Use of Artificial Intelligence to Detect Students Sentiments and Emotions in Gross Anatomy Reflections

Students\u27 reflective writings in gross anatomy provide a rich source of complex emotions experienced by learners. However, qualitative approaches to evaluating student writings are resource heavy and timely. To overcome this, natural language processing, a nascent field of artificial intelligence that uses computational techniques for the analysis and synthesis of text, was used to compare health professional students\u27 reflections on the importance of various regions of the body to their own lives and those of the anatomical donor dissected. A total of 1365 anonymous writings (677 about a donor, 688 about self) were collected from 132 students. Binary and trinary sentiment analysis was performed, as well as emotion detection using the National Research Council Emotion Lexicon which classified text into eight emotions: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. The most commonly written about body regions were the hands, heart, and brain. The reflections had an overwhelming positive sentiment with major contributing words “love” and “loved.” Predominant words such as “pain” contributed to the negative sentiments and reflected various ailments experienced by students and revealed through dissections of the donors. The top three emotions were trust, joy, and anticipation. Each body region evoked a unique combination of emotions. Similarities between student self-reflections and reflections about their donor were evident suggesting a shared view of humanization and person centeredness. Given the pervasiveness of reflections in anatomy, adopting a natural language processing approach to analysis could provide a rich source of new information related to students\u27 previously undiscovered experiences and competencies

Topological Symmetry Groups of the Petersen graphs

The {\em topological symmetry group} of an embedding $\Gamma$ of an abstract graph $\gamma$ in $S^3$ is the group of automorphisms of $\gamma$ which can be realized by homeomorphisms of the pair $(S^3, \Gamma)$. These groups are motivated by questions about the symmetries of molecules in space. The Petersen family of graphs is an important family of graphs for many problems in low dimensional topology, so it is desirable to understand the possible groups of symmetries of their embeddings in space. In this paper, we find all the groups which can be realized as topological symmetry groups for each of the graphs in the Petersen Family. Along the way, we also complete the classification of the realizable topological symmetry groups for $K_{3,3}$.Comment: 20 pages, many figure

A Hybridized Approach to Validation: The Role of Sociological Research Methods in Pedestrian Modeling

AbstractPedestrian and crowd-movement models are difficult to validate using traditional empirical methods because of data-related issues such as generalizability, collection ethics, and costs. Commonly used validation methods make strong assumptions about emergence and the importance of crowd structure, leaving a gap in validation literature. The paper reviews the most common methods of validating pedestrian models and proposes a hybridized qualitative approach to validating models that covers more complex group dynamics and possible situations of panic

A Hybridized Approach to Validation: The Role of Sociological Research Methods in Pedestrian Modeling

Pedestrian and crowd-movement models are difficult to validate using traditional empirical methods because of data-related issues such as generalizability, collection ethics, and costs. Commonly used validation methods make strong assumptions about emergence and the importance of crowd structure, leaving a gap in validation literature. The paper reviews the most common methods of validating pedestrian models and proposes a hybridized qualitative approach to validating models that covers more complex group dynamics and possible situations of panic

A Study of Some of the Factors Influencing the Achievment of Elementary School Children in Denton County

"There are many factors that influence the achievement of school children; however it is rather difficult to determine the effect of each because of the close relationship and probable overlapping of the various factors. The problem in this study is to determine what effect the size of the school, training and qualifications of the teachers, and sex have upon the achievement of elementary school children in Denton County. A few of the main factors involved in this study will be examined and statistically presented, so as to show their relation to the achievement of the rural children in Denton County, as revealed through the Harlow achievement tests."-- leaf 1