Engaging Nursing Staff in Research: The Clinical Nurse Specialist Role in an Academic-Clinical Partnership

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the processes of exploring and implementing an academic-clinical study, engaging nursing staff in research, and maintaining their enthusiasm within the context of an academic-clinical research partnership. Description: The core competencies of the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) role address evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and research. Studies and exemplars of the CNS role in the literature illustrate expert practitioner and facilitator of evidence-based practice, but less attention is given to methods used by the CNS to engage staff in clinical research. Outcome: The CNS was successful in obtaining staff engagement in the research project from exploration through sustainment. Conclusion: Collaborative research between academic and clinical partners enhances the educational and professional environment for students and clinicians, promotes evidence-based practice, and from this project may promote Veteran and family-centered care. The CNS played a key role in engaging and sustaining staff commitment, which contributed to the success of this study

Concentration Gradient, Diffusion, and Flow Through Open Porous Medium Near Percolation Threshold via Computer Simulations

The interacting lattice gas model is used to simulate fluid flow through an open percolating porous medium with the fluid entering at the source-end and leaving from the opposite end. The shape of the steady-state concentration profile and therefore the gradient field depends on the is found to scale with the porosity according to porosity p. The root mean square (rms) displacements of fluid and its constituents (tracers) show a drift power-law behavior, in the asymptotic regime. The flux current density is found to scale with the porosity according to an exponent near 1.7.Comment: 8 figure

Preparing Family Caregivers to Recognize Delirium Symptoms in Older Adults After Elective Hip or Knee Arthroplasty

Objectives To test the feasibility of a telephone-based intervention that prepares family caregivers to recognize delirium symptoms and how to communicate their observations to healthcare providers. Design Mixed-method, pre–post quasi-experimental design. Setting A Midwest Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a nonprofit health system. Participants Forty-one family caregiver-older adult dyads provided consent; 34 completed the intervention. Intervention Four telephone-based education modules using vignettes were completed during the 3 weeks before the older adult\u27s hospital admission for elective hip or knee replacement. Each module required 20 to 30 minutes. Measurements Interviews were conducted before the intervention and 2 weeks and 2 months after the older adult\u27s hospitalization. A researcher completed the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and a family caregiver completed the Family Version of the Confusion Assessment Method (FAM-CAM) 2 days after surgery to assess the older adults for delirium symptoms. Results Family caregivers’ knowledge of delirium symptoms improved significantly from before the intervention to 2 weeks after the intervention and was maintained after the older adult\u27s hospitalization. They also were able to recognize the presence and absence of delirium symptoms in the vignettes included in the intervention and in the older adult after surgery. In 94% of the cases, the family caregiver rating on the FAM-CAM approximately 2 days after the older adult\u27s surgery agreed with the researcher rating on the CAM. Family caregivers expressed satisfaction with the intervention and stated that the information was helpful. Conclusion Delivery of a telephone-based intervention appears feasible. All family caregivers who began the program completed the four education modules. Future studies evaluating the effectiveness of the educational program should include a control group

UV Degradation of the Optical Properties of Acrylic for Neutrino and Dark Matter Experiments

UV-transmitting (UVT) acrylic is a commonly used light-propagating material in neutrino and dark matter detectors as it has low intrinsic radioactivity and exhibits low absorption in the detectors' light producing regions, from 350 nm to 500 nm. Degradation of optical transmittance in this region lowers light yields in the detector, which can affect energy reconstruction, resolution, and experimental sensitivities. We examine transmittance loss as a result of short- and long-term UV exposure for a variety of UVT acrylic samples from a number of acrylic manufacturers. Significant degradation peaking at 343 nm was observed in some UVT acrylics with as little as three hours of direct sunlight, while others exhibited softer degradation peaking at 310 nm over many days of exposure to sunlight. Based on their measured degradation results, safe time limits for indoor and outdoor UV exposure of UVT acrylic are formulated.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables; To be submitted to Journal of Instrumentatio

Gas and gas hydrate distribution around seafloor seeps in Mississippi Canyon, Northern Gulf of Mexico, using multi-resolution seismic imagery

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Marine and Petroleum Geology 25 (2008): 952-959, doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.015.To determine the impact of seeps and focused flow on the occurrence of shallow gas hydrates, several seafloor mounds in the Atwater Valley lease area of the Gulf of Mexico were surveyed with a wide range of seismic frequencies. Seismic data were acquired with a deep-towed, Helmholz resonator source (220–820 Hz); a high-resolution, Generator-Injector air-gun (30–300 Hz); and an industrial air-gun array (10–130 Hz). Each showed a significantly different response in this weakly reflective, highly faulted area. Seismic modeling and observations of reversed-polarity reflections and small scale diffractions are consistent with a model of methane transport dominated regionally by diffusion but punctuated by intense upward advection responsible for the bathymetric mounds, as well as likely advection along pervasive filamentous fractures away from the mounds.This work was funded through ONR program element 61153N, and U.S. Department of Energy Grant DE-A126-97FT3423

Time variation in igneous volume flux of the Hawaii-Emperor hot spot seamount chain

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 109 (2004): B11401, doi:10.1029/2003JB002949.Satellite gravity, ship track bathymetry, sediment thickness, and crustal magnetic age data were combined to calculate the residual bathymetry and residual mantle Bouguer gravity anomaly (RMBA) for the northwest Pacific Ocean. The Hawaii-Emperor hot spot track appears on the RMBA map as a chain of negative anomalies, implying thickened crust or less dense mantle. The hot spot swell is clearly visible in a broad band of half-width ∼500 km for about 2000 km downstream from the current hot spot location, corresponding to hot spot ages of 0–25 Ma. A much narrower expression of the hot spot is visible for the rest of the chain at hot spot ages of 25–80 Ma. Comparison of the observed RMBA with various compensation models reveals that the relatively narrow features of the Hawaii-Emperor seamounts are best explained as being supported by plate flexure, while the Shatsky Rise, Hess Rise, and Mid-Pacific Mountains oceanic plateaus are best fit by Airy isostasy with a thickened crustal root. Amplitude comparisons between the RMBA predictions of various compensation models and the observed RMBA for the Hawaiian swell are ambiguous. However, on the basis of the shape of the predicted anomalies, we favor a model of flexure in response to a buried load at 120 km depth. We further calculate igneous (i.e., crustal) volume flux along the axis of the Hawaii-Emperor hot spot by integrating cross-sectional areas of gravity-derived excess crustal thickness and seafloor elevation, respectively, with respect to the normal oceanic crust. The highest values of the calculated igneous volume flux along the Hawaiian and Emperor ridges (∼8 m3/s) occur at present and at about 20 Ma. The flux was reduced to only 50% of this maximum (∼4 m3/s) at 10 Ma. The calculated igneous volume flux is systematically smaller (maximum values of ∼4 m3/s) along the Emperor ridge. Overall, the Hawaiian and Emperor ridges appear to have experienced quasi-periodic variations in fluxes on timescales of 6–30 Ma. Furthermore, during the low-flux periods at 25–48, 57, and 75 Ma the height and size of individual hot spot seamounts appear to be noticeably less than those of the high-flux periods. We hypothesize that the variations in the fluxes of the Hawaiian ridge might be controlled by the thickness of the overlying lithosphere at the time of hot spot emplacement, while the variations along the Emperor ridge may be influenced by the dynamics of the slow absolute motion of the hot spot at the time.E. Van Ark was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and J. Lin was supported by NSF grant OCE-0129741 and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Endowed Fund for Innovative Research at WHOI

Rupture process of large earthquakes in the northern Mexico subduction zone

The Cocos plate subducts beneath North America at the Mexico trench. The northernmost segment of this trench, between the Orozco and Rivera fracture zones, has ruptured in a sequence of five large earthquakes from 1973 to 1985; the Jan. 30, 1973 Colima event ( M s 7.5) at the northern end of the segment near Rivera fracture zone; the Mar. 14, 1979 Petatlan event ( M s 7.6) at the southern end of the segment on the Orozco fracture zone; the Oct. 25, 1981 Playa Azul event ( M s 7.3) in the middle of the Michoacan “gap”; the Sept. 19, 1985 Michoacan mainshock ( M s 8.1); and the Sept. 21, 1985 Michoacan aftershock ( M s 7.6) that reruptured part of the Petatlan zone. Body wave inversion for the rupture process of these earthquakes finds the best: earthquake depth; focal mechanism; overall source time function; and seismic moment, for each earthquake. In addition, we have determined spatial concentrations of seismic moment release for the Colima earthquake, and the Michoacan mainshock and aftershock. These spatial concentrations of slip are interpreted as asperities; and the resultant asperity distribution for Mexico is compared to other subduction zones. The body wave inversion technique also determines the Moment Tensor Rate Functions ; but there is no evidence for statistically significant changes in the moment tensor during rupture for any of the five earthquakes. An appendix describes the Moment Tensor Rate Functions methodology in detail.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43169/1/24_2004_Article_BF00875970.pd