Factors that Contribute to Resident Teaching Effectiveness

Background One of the key components of residency training is to become an educator. Resident physicians teach students, advanced practice providers, nurses, and even faculty on a daily basis. Objective The goal of this study was to identify the objective characteristics of residents, which correlate with perceived overall teaching effectiveness. Methods We conducted a one-year, retrospective study to identify factors that were associated with higher resident teaching evaluations. Senior emergency medicine (EM) teaching residents are evaluated by medical students following clinical teaching shifts. Eighteen factors pertaining to resident teaching effectiveness were chosen. Two items from the medical students' evaluations were analyzed against each factor: teaching effectiveness was measured on a five-point Likert scale and an overall teaching score (1-75). Results A total of 46 EM residents and 843 medical student evaluations were analyzed. The ACGME milestones for systems-based practice (p = 0.02) and accountability (p = 0.05) showed a statistically significant association with a rating of "five" on the Likert scale for teaching effectiveness. Three other ACGME milestones, systems-based practice (p = 0.01), task switching (p = 0.04), and team management (p = 0.03) also showed a statically significant association of receiving a score of 70 or greater on the overall teaching score. Conclusion Residents with higher performance associated with system management and accountability were perceived as highly effective teachers. USMLE and in-service exams were not predictive of higher teaching evaluations. Our data also suggest that effective teachers are working in both academic and community settings, providing a potential resource to academic departments and institutions

Quantifying the radiation belt seed population in the 17 March 2013 electron acceleration event

Abstract We present phase space density (PSD) observations using data from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer instrument on the Van Allen Probes for the 17 March 2013 electron acceleration event. We confirm previous results and quantify how PSD gradients depend on the first adiabatic invariant. We find a systematic difference between the lower-energy electrons (1-MeV with a source region within the radiation belts. Our observations show that the source process begins with enhancements to the 10s-100s-keV energy seed population, followed by enhancements to the \u3e1-MeV population and eventually leading to enhancements in the multi-MeV electron population these observations provide the clearest evidence to date of the timing and nature of the radial transport of a 100s keV electron seed population into the heart of the outer belt and subsequent local acceleration of those electrons to higher radiation belt energies. Key Points Quantification of phase space density gradients inside geostationary orbit Clear differences between the source of low energy and relativistic electrons Clear observations of how the acceleration process evolves in energy

The Town Lake Report, Volumes I and II

This report makes brief references to sediment and other trends seen in Waller Creek.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Town Lake’s importance as a natural resource is growing in tandem with Austin’s rapid population. The lake is a source of drinking water for the City, and its greenbelt and open waters are widely used for recreation and as a focal-point for public events. In 1992, under the Clean Lakes program, a comprehensive report entitled the “Town Lake Study” (COA 1992a; COA 1992b; COA 1992c) was prepared. It examined the condition of the lake (Volume I), water quality control alternatives (Volume II) and a feasibility study (Volume III). This report updates the diagnostic study, Volume I (COA 1992a), including the current status of water quality with data analyzed through the year 2000. It also includes a summary of measures taken to reduce pollution from urban runoff since 1990.Waller Creek Working Grou

System and Process for Upgrading Hydrocarbons

In one embodiment, a system for upgrading a hydrocarbon material may include a black wax upgrade subsystem and a molten salt gasification (MSG) subsystem. The black wax upgrade subsystem and the MSG subsystem may be located within a common pressure boundary, such as within a pressure vessel. Gaseous materials produced by the MSG subsystem may be used in the process carried out within the black wax upgrade subsystem. For example, hydrogen may pass through a gaseous transfer interface to interact with black wax feed material to hydrogenate such material during a cracking process. In one embodiment, the gaseous transfer interface may include one or more openings in a tube or conduit which is carrying the black wax material. A pressure differential may control the flow of hydrogen within the tube or conduit. Related methods are also disclosed

System and Process for Upgrading Hydrocarbons

In one embodiment, a system for upgrading a hydrocarbon material may include a black wax upgrade subsystem and a molten salt gasification (MSG) subsystem. The black wax upgrade subsystem and the MSG subsystem may be located within a common pressure boundary, such as within a pressure vessel. Gaseous materials produced by the MSG subsystem may be used in the process carried out within the black wax upgrade subsystem. For example, hydrogen may pass through a gaseous transfer interface to interact with black wax feed material to hydrogenate such material during a cracking process. In one embodiment, the gaseous transfer interface may include one or more openings in a tube or conduit which is carrying the black wax material. A pressure differential may control the flow of hydrogen within the tube or conduit. Related methods are also disclosed

Predicting performance of constant flow depth filtration using constant pressure filtration data

This paper describes a method of predicting constant flow filtration capacities using constant pressure datasets collected during the purification of several monoclonal antibodies through depth filtration. The method required characterisation of the fouling mechanism occurring in constant pressure filtration processes by evaluating the best fit of each of the classic and combined theoretical fouling models. The optimised coefficients of the various models were correlated with the corresponding capacities achieved during constant flow operation at the specific pressures performed during constant pressure operation for each centrate. Of the classic and combined fouling models investigated, the Cake-Adsorption fouling model was found to best describe the fouling mechanisms observed for each centrate at the various different pressures investigated. A linear regression model was generated with these coefficients and was shown to predict accurately the capacities at constant flow operation at each pressure. This model was subsequently validated using an additional centrate and accurately predicted the constant flow capacities at three different pressures (0.69, 1.03 and 1.38 bar). The model used the optimised Cake-Adsorption model coefficients that best described the flux decline during constant pressure operation. The proposed method of predicting depth filtration performance proved to be faster than the traditional approach whilst requiring significantly less material, making it particularly attractive for early process development activities

Fluorescent Imaging of Antigen Released by a Skin-Invading Helminth Reveals Differential Uptake and Activation Profiles by Antigen Presenting Cells

Infection of the mammalian host by the parasitic helminth Schistosoma mansoni is accompanied by the release of excretory/secretory molecules (ES) from cercariae which aid penetration of the skin. These ES molecules are potent stimulants of innate immune cells leading to activation of acquired immunity. At present however, it is not known which cells take up parasite antigen, nor its intracellular fate. Here, we develop a technique to label live infectious cercariae which permits the imaging of released antigens into macrophages (MΦ) and dendritic cells (DCs) both in vitro and in vivo. The amine reactive tracer CFDA-SE was used to efficiently label the acetabular gland contents of cercariae which are released upon skin penetration. These ES products, termed ‘0-3hRP’, were phagocytosed by MHC-II+ cells in a Ca+ and actin-dependent manner. Imaging of a labelled cercaria as it penetrates the host skin over 2 hours reveals the progressive release of ES material. Recovery of cells from the skin shows that CFDA-SE labelled ES was initially (3 hrs) taken up by Gr1+MHC-II− neutrophils, followed (24 hrs) by skin-derived F4/80+MHC-IIlo MΦ and CD11c+ MHC-IIhi DC. Subsequently (48 hrs), MΦ and DC positive for CFDA-SE were detected in the skin-draining lymph nodes reflecting the time taken for antigen-laden cells to reach sites of immune priming. Comparison of in vitro-derived MΦ and DC revealed that MΦ were slower to process 0-3hRP, released higher quantities of IL-10, and expressed a greater quantity of arginase-1 transcript. Combined, our observations on differential uptake of cercarial ES by MΦ and DC suggest the development of a dynamic but ultimately balanced response that can be potentially pushed towards immune priming (via DC) or immune regulation (via MΦ)

Spitzer observations of the Massive star forming complex S254-S258: structure and evolution

We present Spitzer-IRAC, NOAO 2.1meter-Flamingos, Keck-NIRC, and FCRAO-SEQUOIA observations of the massive star forming complex S254-S258, covering an area of 25x20 arc-minutes. Using a combination of the IRAC and NIR data, we identify and classify the young stellar objects (YSO) in the complex. We detect 510 sources with near or mid IR-excess, and we classify 87 Class I, and 165 Class II sources. The YSO are found in clusters surrounded by isolated YSO in a low-density distributed population. The ratio of clustered to total YSO is 0.8. We identify six new clusters in the complex. One of them, G192.63-00, is located around the ionizing star of the HII region S255. We hypothesize that the ionizing star of S255 was formed in this cluster. We also detect a southern component of the cluster in HII region S256. The cluster G192.54-0.15, located inside HII region S254 has a VLSR of 17 km/s with respect to the main cloud, and we conclude that it is located in the background of the complex. The structure of the molecular cloud is examined using 12CO and 13CO, as well as a near-IR extinction map. The main body of the molecular cloud has VLSR between 5 and 9 km/s. The arc-shaped structure of the molecular cloud, following the border of the HII regions, and the high column density in the border of the HII regions support the idea that the material has been swept up by the expansion of the HII regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Physiological Basis of the Radioisotope Renogram

A model elucidating the relationships between blood radioactivity, the renogram curve, and urine radioactivity, as a function of time, is derived. Estimation procedures have been devised which use the data from three curves at once to estimate parameters common to the three curves, and which also estimate parameters unique to the individual curves. A program has been written for the RPC 4000 computer to perform the estimation. It was found that some model in which six different exponential parameters could be justified instead of the two proposed by the model could provide a significantly better fit of the data (P \u3c .001), but that the fit under the hypothesis was still quite good