The Relationship of Self-Efficacy and Clinical Reasoning of Undergraduate Nursing Students

Aim. This investigation aimed to discover if a there is a correlation between a student’s clinical reasoning self-efficacy and a student’s actual clinical reasoning ability. Also, this research sought to discover the connection between an undergraduate nurse’s self-efficacy of clinical reasoning and the locus of control of that student. Finally, this investigation sought to discover if perceived self-efficacy of clinical reasoning changed over time. Background. The ability to successfully navigate the process of clinical reasoning is critical to providing safe, effective care for patients. For nurses, this process begins to develop in nursing school. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that newly graduated nurses struggle to navigate this process successfully, placing patients’ safety in jeopardy. While much research has been dedicated to a student’s clinical reasoning development, little is understood about the variables that impact clinical reasoning development in the student population. Method. Partial correlation was utilized to discover the connection between students’ perceived self-efficacy of clinical reasoning and the students’ actual clinical reasoning ability. Also, a one-way ANOVA, to assess changes over time and reliability assessment of the Nurses’ Clinical Reasoning Scale, was completed. Results. Fifty-two undergraduate nursing students from across 35 states in the United States were included in the sample for this study. Neither a significant relationship between the students’ self-efficacy of clinical reasoning and the students’ actual clinical reasoning ability, nor a significant change over time in perceived self-efficacy scores was detected. Conclusion. By understanding the impact certain factors have on the formation of clinical reasoning ability in students, educators are better equipped to identify those students that might struggle to develop clinical reasoning and intervene in the early stages of development. Additional studies need to be initiated to completely understand the influence these variables have on the development of clinical reasoning

Ergodic Transport Theory, periodic maximizing probabilities and the twist condition

The present paper is a follow up of another one by A. O. Lopes, E. Oliveira and P. Thieullen which analyze ergodic transport problems. Our main focus will a more precise analysis of case where the maximizing probability is unique and is also a periodic orbit. Consider the shift T acting on the Bernoulli space \Sigma={1, 2, 3,.., d}^\mathbb{N} $and$A:\Sigma \to \mathbb{R} a Holder potential. Denote m(A)=max_{\nu is an invariant probability for T} \int A(x) \; d\nu(x) and, \mu_{\infty,A}, any probability which attains the maximum value. We assume this probability is unique (a generic property). We denote \T the bilateral shift. For a given potential Holder A:\Sigma \to \mathbb{R}, we say that a Holder continuous function W: \hat{\Sigma} \to \mathbb{R} is a involution kernel for A, if there is a Holder function A^*:\Sigma \to \mathbb{R}, such that, A^*(w)= A\circ \T^{-1}(w,x)+ W \circ \T^{-1}(w,x) - W(w,x). We say that A^* is a dual potential of A. It is true that m(A)=m(A^*). We denote by V the calibrated subaction for A, and, V^* the one for A^*. We denote by I^* the deviation function for the family of Gibbs states for \beta A, when \beta \to \infty. For each x we get one (more than one) w_x such attains the supremum above. That is, solutions of V(x) = W(w_x,x) - V^* (w_x)- I^*(w_x). A pair of the form (x,w_x) is called an optimal pair. If \T is the shift acting on (x,w) \in {1, 2, 3,.., d}^\mathbb{Z}, then, the image by \T^{-1} of an optimal pair is also an optimal pair. Theorem - Generically, in the set of Holder potentials A that satisfy (i) the twist condition, (ii) uniqueness of maximizing probability which is supported in a periodic orbit, the set of possible optimal w_x, when x covers the all range of possible elements x in \in \Sigma, is finite

Polarimetric Calibration and Characterization of the Telops Field Portable Polarimetric-Hyperspectral Imager

The Telops polarimetric-hyperspectral imager combines polarimetric and hyperspectral technologies to enable enhanced scene characterization. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency funded research at AFIT to leverage this capability to provide more accurate scene information to radiation transport models that will allow for more effective location of radiation sources within a region of interest. To support the objectives of the DTRA effort, there is a requirement for highly accurate radiometric, polarimetric, and spectral data on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The complex nature of the Telops instrument combined with working in the thermal IR waveband makes achieving this accuracy a challenge. This thesis develops a calibration methodology that enables high data accuracy in all three domains. In the process, a mathematical calibration framework was developed that links standard Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) calibration with standard polarimetric calibration in a straightforward manner. This provided a framework for understanding the influence of various instrument parameters (both ideal and non-ideal) on ultimate calibration performance. The framework developed is utilized to quantify the non-idealities of the system and to characterize the performance of the spectro-polarimetric calibration. Additionally, fundamental performance limits are characterized including the noise equivalent spectral radiance and noise equivalent degree of linear polarization of the system

Toxoplasma gondii profilin does not stimulate an innate immune response through bovine or human TLR5

Toxoplasma gondii is responsible for one of the most prevalent infections in people. T. gondii profilin (TgPr) is a protein integral to parasite movement and cellular invasion. Murine TLR has been described to bind TgPr. Furthermore, more recently, human TLR5 has been described to recognise recombinant TgPr, as well as bacterial flagellin. In addition to infections in humans, T. gondii infects farm animals, but little information is available about its innate recognition. We aimed to investigate whether, similarly to their human orthologue, bovine and porcine TLR5 could also be stimulated by TgPr by using a combination of reporter cell lines expressing full length TLR5 from each species as well as primary cells. Although human and bovine TLR5-transfected cells responded to flagellin, no response was detected upon stimulation with profilin. Furthermore, TgPr failed to elicit IL-6 secretion in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD14þ monocytes. In contrast, exposure of RAW cells, known to express TLR11 to TgPr, slightly increased the IL-6 response. Our data cast doubts on the possibility that profilin is a specific ligand for human TLR5 and bovine TLR5. This leaves the immunogenic properties of this potential target antigen uncharacterised outside of the murine system

CMB Lensing Power Spectrum Biases from Galaxies and Clusters using High-angular Resolution Temperature Maps

The lensing power spectrum from cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps will be measured with unprecedented precision with upcoming experiments, including upgrades to ACT and SPT. Achieving significant improvements in cosmological parameter constraints, such as percent level errors on sigma_8 and an uncertainty on the total neutrino mass of approximately 50 meV, requires percent level measurements of the CMB lensing power. This necessitates tight control of systematic biases. We study several types of biases to the temperature-based lensing reconstruction signal from foreground sources such as radio and infrared galaxies and the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect from galaxy clusters. These foregrounds bias the CMB lensing signal due to their non-Gaussian nature. Using simulations as well as some analytical models we find that these sources can substantially impact the measured signal if left untreated. However, these biases can be brought to the percent level if one masks galaxies with fluxes at 150 GHz above 1 mJy and galaxy clusters with masses above M_vir = 10^14 M_sun. To achieve such percent level bias, we find that only modes up to a maximum multipole of l_max ~ 2500 should be included in the lensing reconstruction. We also discuss ways to minimize additional bias induced by such aggressive foreground masking by, for example, exploring a two-step masking and in-painting algorithm.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, to be submitted to Ap