Occupational Therapist Role in Post-Secondary Education Transition Program: Emphasis on Self-Advocacy Skills

It is becoming increasingly important for individuals to obtain post-secondary education in order to gain employment (Alverson et al., 2019; Chandroo et al., 2018). This increased importance to attend post-secondary education makes it imperative for students who are graduating from high school to be fully prepared for the transition to post-secondary education (Rothman et al., 2008). The transition from high school to post-secondary education is difficult for any individual. However, it is even more difficult for students with learning differences, as they tend to have problems in the areas of social skills, communication, problem solving, self-advocacy, and executive functioning (Alverson et al., 2019). These are critical skills required for successful post-secondary transition planning. This indicates a necessary role for OTs to contribute to students’ transition planning as OTs are fully equipped to support the development of skills such as self-advocacy and self-determination (Angell et al., 2019; Spencer et al., 2017). However, currently, there is a limited number of OTs working in transition planning for postsecondary education (Dirette, 2019). The purpose of this capstone project is to develop an occupational therapy-based transition program from high school to post-secondary education. The program will focus on social, self-advocacy, and self-determination skills to help the students transition from high school to post-secondary education as smoothly as possible

Stochastic Reinforcement Learning

In reinforcement learning episodes, the rewards and punishments are often non-deterministic, and there are invariably stochastic elements governing the underlying situation. Such stochastic elements are often numerous and cannot be known in advance, and they have a tendency to obscure the underlying rewards and punishments patterns. Indeed, if stochastic elements were absent, the same outcome would occur every time and the learning problems involved could be greatly simplified. In addition, in most practical situations, the cost of an observation to receive either a reward or punishment can be significant, and one would wish to arrive at the correct learning conclusion by incurring minimum cost. In this paper, we present a stochastic approach to reinforcement learning which explicitly models the variability present in the learning environment and the cost of observation. Criteria and rules for learning success are quantitatively analyzed, and probabilities of exceeding the observation cost bounds are also obtained.Comment: AIKE 201

One-pot radioiodination of aryl amines via stable diazonium salts: preparation of 125I-imaging agents

An operationally simple, one-pot, two-step tandem procedure that allows the incorporation of radioactive iodine into aryl amines via stable diazonium salts is described. The mild conditions are tolerant of various functional groups and substitution patterns, allowing late-stage, rapid access to a wide range of 125I-labelled aryl compounds and SPECT radiotracers

Instructional Scaffolding in Internships: Supporting future professionals in Family Science

Internships are known for being a valuable, albeit time consuming, opportunity for students, supervisors, and faculty in many fields. As undergraduate programs consider their current and future internship programs, we suggest the processes an intern takes to secure and complete an internship are key to furthering their learning and increasing their career marketability. In this article, we use scaffolding and self-efficacy theories as the foundation to developing an intentional internship program in the family science field. We share the steps faculty take to prepare students for the internship, use graduated guidance to support student learning, and to assess learning during the internship. This hybrid approach combines quality online learning with on-site application and readily lends itself to replication in other disciplines

Structural Changes to Supported Water Nanoislands Induced by Kosmotropic Ions

Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society. We report the influence of lithium ions on binding and structure of water nanoislands on Au(111) by temperature-programmed desorption and variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Water coverages between a fraction and full bilayer and two lithium coverages (<0.15% ML) are explored. Lithium enhances selectively the binding of some of the water molecules on precovered Au(111) as compared to water on pristine Au(111), which is revealed by an increase of the water desorption temperature by approx. 10 K. Surprisingly, the effect of lithium on the structure of water is much more extended than expected from these desorption experiments. A small amount of lithium changes the structure of water nanoislands drastically compared to those on pristine Au(111). On pristine Au(111), water ice grows in the form of crystalline islands that are two or three bilayers high. On Li precovered Au(111), the islands are more corrugated, at a 5 times broader apparent height distribution and much smaller, at a 4 times smaller area distribution. These changes reflect the influence of lithium as a structure maker, or kosmotrope, on water. Our study provides unprecedented real-space information of the influence of a kosmotrope on the water structure at the nanoscale. We utilize its kosmotropic behavior to provide real-space images of desorption.

Using the March of Dimes "Becoming a Mom" Prenatal Program to Improve Maternal Attitudes and Knowledge

BACKGROUND: Premature birth, low birth weight, birth defects, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome were identified as issues contributing to infant mortality in Kansas by the state’s Blue Ribbon Panel. The March of Dimes Becoming a Mom (BAM) prenatal program was implemented in four counties identified with high infant mortality rates and significant birth numbers (Geary, Saline, Sedgwick, and Shawnee) by the Kansas Blue Ribbon Panel. The purpose of this study was to identify the changes in prenatal attitudes, knowledge, and health outcomes among BAM program participants. METHODS: A collaborative community-based model incorporating multidisciplinary teams was created to address the health disparity gap in birth outcomes. Patients participated in multiple prenatal education sessions using a curriculum developed by the March of Dimes. A pre-/post-test design was implemented for the prenatal sessions. Changes in attitudes were assessed using descriptive statistics. Paired t-tests were used to assess the difference in knowledge questions from pre- and post-tests. Health outcomes were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Participants were 69% White, 87% spoke English, 64% were under age 26, 41% were employed full time, 45% had some high school or had a diploma, 39% had Medicaid, and 49% were enrolled in WIC (N=114). Participants demonstrated a statistically significant increase in knowledge among 14 out of 32 questions including: identifying signs of preterm labor, what to do during preterm labor, postpartum symptoms, and baby sleep position. There were also changes in prenatal attitudes including: need for prenatal care as soon as possible, continuing prenatal care when feeling healthy and not smoking during pregnancy. Relative frequencies were tabulated for week of delivery, infant birth weight, type of delivery, and presence of maternal and infant medical conditions. CONCLUSION: The March of Dimes BAM program participants reported improvements in prenatal knowledge. The BAM program can improve maternal knowledge through a community-based collaborative model of care. The combined prenatal education program with quality prenatal care can result in better maternal and child health outcomes