The Impact of CIWA-Ar Tool on Healthcare Professionals

Alcohol is one of the most abused substances worldwide. The regular consumption of alcohol can lead to dependency which depresses the central nervous system. Consequently, when a heavy drinker is no longer consuming alcohol, the central nervous system is no longer suppressed and may go into a hyperexcitable state known as alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS). Symptoms can vary from mild to life threatening. Patients who experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms often have a more complicated hospitalization, an extended length of stay, and increased utilization of intensive care and medical services. The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol Scale-revised (CIWA-Ar) is a tool that can be used to objectively assess patients for the development of AWS. By using the CIWA-Ar to assess patients, nurses can quantify the potential for the development of AWS and therefore initiate treatment for patients who require therapy. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact that CIWA-Ar has on care provided by healthcare professionals

A Causal Comparative Analysis of Mathematics Self-Efficacy of Face-to-Face and Online Quantitative Literacy Students

Mathematics self-efficacy has been shown to be a strong predictor of mathematics performance and mixed results have been found when examining the mathematics self-efficacy of face-to-face students based on gender and age. However, there is a lack of research studies that examine if differences exist in the mathematics self-efficacy of face-to-face and online students. The purpose of this ex-post facto causal comparative quantitative study was to determine if differences existed in the mathematics self-efficacy of Quantitative Literacy students, as measured by the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale, based on their choice of delivery method (face-to-face or online). Participants for this research study were comprised of select face-to-face and online Quantitative Literacy students at seven North Carolina community colleges. Data were examined using a one-way multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) and a statistically significant difference was found in the mathematics task self-efficacy and math-related school subjects’ self-efficacy of students who enrolled in a face-to-face or online Quantitative Literacy course. Online Quantitative Literacy students possessed both a higher mathematics task self-efficacy and math-related school subjects’ self-efficacy. Additional data analyses revealed no statistically significant differences in the mathematics self-efficacy of Quantitative Literacy students based on gender and method of placement (high school multiple measures, placement test scores, and developmental mathematics course completion)

A study of selected non-pending, Supreme Court cases held between 1965-2000 on K-12 public, intradistrict, race-based, dual systems of education

The purpose of this study was to examine the Supreme Court\u27s rulings between 1965 and 2000 focusing on the legality of intradistrict, race-based, dual systems of education. The study applied the theory of Equal Protection as a rationale for the actions and determinations of the Court made in the kindergarten-twelfth grade public school segregation cases during this period. This theory was chosen because the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was used to prohibit the operation of segregated systems (Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas, 1954) which were held to be detrimental to minority students. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 furthered efforts to dismantle racial segregation in schools by refusing federal funds to systems that practiced racial discrimination. From an analysis of the fifty-eight cases, two cases emerged for further study, Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman, 443 U.S. 526 (1979) and Columbus Board of Education v. Penick, 443 U.S. 449 (1979). Data from these cases were used to answer the research questions: 1) In making its decisions, what judicial guidelines did the Supreme Court establish, if any, for determining whether a dual system of education existed? 2) What judicial guidelines, if any, were established to distinguish between illegal and legal dual systems? 3) If judicial guidelines were established to delineate between illegal and legal dual systems, were the differences related to the system practicing de jure or de facto segregation?, and 4) What has the Supreme Court decided about the legality of two schools, with racially diverse dominant populations existing within the same district in the public school system? The study\u27s findings suggested that no guidelines were established for use in future rulings, a) to determine whether a dual system existed; b) establish a definition of illegal vs. legal dual systems; or c) to assert a connection between de jure and de facto segregation as each relates to dual systems. Yet in the two cases studied, the Supreme Court, decided that dual systems existed and that the systems were illegal. These rulings support the existence of dual systems after 1965 in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, as might have been expected, they did not establish guidelines or precedents for future cases, particularly those involving intradistrict, race-based, dual systems in kindergarten through twelfth grade education. The lack of these guidelines also has implications for future litigation involving intradistrict segregation. Moreover, the lack of guidelines suggests a need for future studies on the impact of, for example, district transfers and school voucher programs on efforts to end the practice of de jure and de facto segregation in public school systems

Toward a Progressive African Americanism: Africanism and Intraracial Class Conflict in Twentieth- and Early Twenty-First-Century African American Literature

In this work, I explore how African American authors and texts have contributed to or confronted what Toni Morrison calls “Africanism” in Playing in the Dark. I argue that the construction of blackness by non-black people and its consequent racial stigma, imbuing skin color with mental and physical inferiority, functions in an intraracial context to obscure the solidarity of all African Americans irrespective of their socioeconomic status. My work spans the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries, investigating representations of the middle class who seek to deny or ignore the impact that a Eurocentric value system has on their lives and the lives of the black majority. These texts also illustrate the struggle to reconcile social mobility and economic progress with the persistence of the cultural trauma of slavery and racial stigma, as well as the struggle between exclusionary claims of African American authenticity and more complicated middle-class and black majority constructions of African American identity. I correct claims that the tension between African American authenticity and educational and economic progress is a new phenomenon, demonstrating that this tension extends back to the beginning of the twentieth century and arguably even to the period of Reconstruction. My dissertation also reveals the mythical nature of the postracial ideal, suggesting that contemporary African American investment in postracial ideology is the product of a desire to reflect and obtain an elusive “Americanism” that has never been unreservedly available to African Americans

Occupational Therapy Adjunct Faculty Self-Perceptions of Readiness to Teach

To meet the demands of a growing profession, occupational therapy (OT) education programs rely on adjunct faculty to augment their faculty pool. Clinicians transitioning into faculty roles frequently do not have formal training in teaching and learning practices. This problem is compounded with adjunct faculty, as they are not using best teaching practices in OT education programs and do not have easy access to university resources. A qualitative study was conducted to describe the perceptions of new OT adjunct faculty on their degree of preparedness to teach, the supports needed to be successful in transitioning from clinician to academician, and their familiarity with and use of evidence-based teaching strategies. New OT adjunct faculty perceived they were prepared to teach, provided they have supports in place and command of the subject. New OT adjunct faculty make limited use of EBTP and use occupational therapy skills to aid in classroom teaching. New OT adjunct faculty feel ready to teach in terms of content knowledge but not in terms of pedagogical knowledge. They do not fully understand their academic role and have limited access to pedagogical content provided by their academic institutions

Occupational Therapy Assistant Students’ Perspectives About the Development of Clinical Reasoning

A mandatory component of the training of occupational therapy assistant (OTA) students is the development of their clinical reasoning skills. As the demand for OTAs continues to increase in response to the growing need for occupational therapy services, the number of academic programs to prepare these future therapists has expanded. Unfortunately, there is no empirical literature addressing the preparation of OTA students, specifically the development of their clinical reasoning skills. Artifact analysis, focus groups, and questionnaires were used to explore OTA students’ perceptions of what Level II fieldwork learning experiences facilitated the development of their clinical reasoning skills. The results suggest OTA students develop clinical reasoning skills during Level II fieldwork by engaging in a variety of learning experiences with support from fieldwork educators who are welcoming and approachable. Learning experiences that students perceived as most helpful to the development of clinical reasoning included hands-on learning, opportunities to witness best practice, receipt of clear expectations and regular feedback, gradual responsibility for caseload management, and opportunities for collaboration. This study adds to the profession’s body of knowledge and has implications for OTA educators, fieldwork educators, OTA students, and future consumers of occupational therapy services

The Influence of Omniscient Technology on Algorithms

Unified game-theoretic theory have led to many unfortunate advances, including the lookaside buffer and redundancy. Given the trends in knowledge-based communication, physicists famously note the improvement of the Ethernet, which embodies the private principles of machine learning. We use mobile communication to confirm that the famous stochastic algorithm for the construction of kernels by Stephen Simmons et al. runs in Ω(log√log n) time

Effects of periadolescent fluoxetine and paroxetine on elevated plus-maze, acoustic startle, and swimming immobility in rats while on and off-drug

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Rationale</p> <p>Whether selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) exposure during adolescent brain development causes lasting effects remains unresolved.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>Assess the effects of fluoxetine and paroxetine 60 days after adolescent exposure compared with when on-drug.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Male Sprague-Dawley littermates (41 litters) were gavaged on postnatal days 33-53 with fluoxetine (3 or 10 mg/kg/day), paroxetine (3, 10 or, 17 mg/kg/day), or water; half were tested while on-drug (21 litters) and half after 60 days off-drug (20 litters).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The highest dose of the drugs reduced body weight gain during treatment that rebounded 1 week post-treatment. On-drug, no significant group differences were found on elevated plus maze time-in-open, zone entries, or latency to first open entry; however, the high dose of paroxetine significantly reduced head-dips (N = 20/group). No significant effects were found on-drug for acoustic startle response/prepulse inhibition (ASR/PPI) although a trend (p < 0.10) was seen, which after combining dose levels, showed a significant increase in ASR amplitude for both fluoxetine and paroxetine (N = 20-21/group). No differences on immobility time were seen in the Porsolt forced swim test or in plasma corticosterone at the end of forced swim (N-19-21/group). Off-drug, no effects were seen in the elevated plus maze (N = 16/group), ASR/PPI (N = 20/group), forced swim (N = 19-20/group), or plasma corticosterone (N = 19/group). At the doses tested, fluoxetine and paroxetine induced minor effects with drug on-board but no residual, long-term adverse effects in rats 60 days after drug discontinuation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The data provide no evidence that fluoxetine or paroxetine have long-term adverse effects on the behaviors measured here after adolescent to young adult exposure.</p