Free Speech and National Security Bootstraps

It is troubling that courts treat administrative designations—specifically, both FTO determinations and information classification—as bootstraps by which to yank speech restrictions from the clutches of probing judicial scrutiny. This Article builds on existing scholarly critiques to identify and examine the common thread of national security bootstrapping that runs through both sets of cases. The hope is that in so doing, some greater light may be shed both on the cases themselves and, more broadly, on the costs and benefits of judicial deference to executive national security claims where civil rights and civil liberties are at stake

Heidi Asbjornsen Associate Professor of Natural Resources, COLSA, travels to Costa Rica

Experiential Student Learning and Collaborative Research: Understanding Tropical Ecosystem Response to Climate Change from Leaves to Landscapes. During January 2012, I traveled to Costa Rica to visit potential field sites for a future UNH J-term course in Tropical Ecology and to collect preliminary data for a new research project linked to the course. Both of these initiatives are in collaboration with Dr. Michael Palace, a research scientist at UNH’s Earth Systems Research Center. Together, we visited three sites in Costa Rica, each having very different climates and vegetation: Curu Wildlife Refuge, a tropical dry deciduous forest receiving only about 1,500mm rain annually; La Selva Biological Station, a lowland tropical rainforest that receives over 4,000 m of rain annually, and Monteverde Reserve, a tropical montane cloud forest that is immersed in fog for much of the year

Contributing to a “culture of safety” by increasing usage of the drug library on smart infusion pumps: A Quality Improvement Project

Background: Computerized infusion devices called smart infusion pumps or smart pumps are clinical tools capable of decreasing IV medication infusion calculation errors through the use of embedded drug libraries. These devices are now important tools contributing to a “culture of safety” defined by the Joint Commission. Reports from April 2015 indicated a 22% occurrence rate in which the devices were not correctly programmed before infusion. AIM Statement: The global aim of this quality improvement project was to improve usage of the IV pump drug library by ensuring medication is correctly labeled before infusion. The specific aim was to increase the IV pump drug library usage from 78% to 90% by July 24, 2015. Method: Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory was used as the theoretical framework to guide the project and usage of the IV pump drug library on a 30 bed surgical unit. A pre- intervention Likert style survey was conducted to identify barriers to library usage, determine level of confidence with the library, and understand nurses’ ability to find a medication in the library. Meetings with the Unit Practice Council (UPC) and educational huddles were conducted to discuss correct usage of the drug library. Based on pharmacy reports, the menu of drugs displayed in the pump was changed to reflect the top ten most frequently used medications. Post-intervention pharmacy reports were compared to baseline. Results: Data from the pre-intervention survey and staff meetings indicated a knowledge deficit in correct usage of the IV pump drug library and perceptions of time constraints and inability to find medication as barriers to its usage. Data post “pump push” indicated the usage of the drug library was 84.2%. Conclusions: Implementation of educational huddles and a “pump push” was anticipated to increase the percentage of IV pump drug library usage. Implications for the role of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) are explored and discussed

The Creation of Education by Hispanic Women

This paper examines the experience of Hispanic females in the public school in relation to how alternative learning, which takes place outside of classroom activities and discussions, generates a distinct method by which to gain an education. Four major frameworks utilized in discussing minority participation in education are presented and a focus on gender differences in education is submitted. This is followed by information obtained through an in-depth interview process. Analysis of the information shows the failure to account for differentiation between male and female Hispanics presents an assimilationist posturing of research. By placing race/ethnicity, class, and gender on equal footing in research, the institution of education may learn to adapt itself to the unique process of becoming educated which has been developed by Hispanas

Understanding the ethical concerns that have shaped European regulation of human embryonic stem cell research

Human embryonic stem cell research has generated much hope, but also fear and repulsion. National legislators, as well as the European Parliament, the European Patent Office and the European Court of Justice have had to make decisions relating to what is or is not allowed in the field of hESC research and patenting, and their decisions are often difficult to reconcile. In order to understand this divergence and the specific restrictions that different regulators impose, insight is needed into the different opinions regarding the moral status of the pre-implantation embryo (blastocyst), into the moral distinction between using IVF embryos donated for research versus creating embryos for research purposes, and into the moral distinction between producing and using hESC lines for non-commercial research and allowing such production and research in a commercial or industrial setting. While one need not agree that all of these perceived differences are in fact morally relevant, knowing that many people perceive them as being relevant is in itself valuable for understanding the debate and the decisions that different regulators make