Online reflective diaries - using technology to strengthen the learning experience

Internet based technologies have benefits for students and staff in terms of time and information sharing. Students at the University of Glasgow were required to engage in reflective writing, with tutor support, as part of their course assessment. We examine the benefits of this approach in fostering a deep, holistic approach to learning, student contribution to course development through this reflection, and the issues in support of these activities

Toll Bridge Regulation: A Method of Mass Transit Financing and Air Quality Control

With regard to bridges, Congress moved at a slightly different pace, although a free bridge policy eventually prevailed. Both before and after the General Bridge Act of 1906 public and private bridges were permitted to charge tolls, limited only by the requirement that the charge remain reasonable and just. Later, in granting approval for the construction of each new bridge, Congress added the restriction that tolls could not exceed an amount necessary to repay the cost of construction. The General Bridge Act of 1946 limited this no-profit restriction to publicly-owned bridges, while privately-owned structures remained subject only to the reasonable and just standard

Exploring eight-armed intelligence through film

Mather (2019) provides a rich overview of the elements underlying octopus cognition and behavioral flexibility. Recently, two remarkable natural history films, My Octopus Teacher and The Octopus in My House have explored intimate human-octopus relationships with a wild (Octopus vulgaris) and a captive octopus (Octopus cyanea) respectively. Both films show rare behaviors that offer observations to test new hypotheses as well as a novel perspective on our own human relationships and place within the natural world. An interview with filmmaker Craig Foster from My Octopus Teacher reveals the profound and transformative power of forming a trusting relationship with such a cognitively capable yet evolutionarily distant group of animals

The Economic Impacts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative on Ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States

Assesses outcomes of the first U.S. market-based program to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants, including impact on electricity markets, power companies' costs, and consumer prices; use of auction proceeds; and states' economic benefits

Motion of the Zinc Ions in Catalysis by a Dizinc Metallo-β-Lactamase

We report rapid-freeze-quench X-ray absorption spectroscopy of a dizinc metallo-β-lactamase (MβL) reaction intermediate. The Zn(II) ions in the dinuclear active site of the S. maltophilia Class B3 MβL move away from each other, by ∼0.3 Å after 10 ms of reaction with nitrocefin, from 3.4 to 3.7 Å. Together with our previous characterization of the resting enzyme and its nitrocefin product complex, where the Zn(II) ion separation relaxes to 3.6 Å, these data indicate a scissoring motion of the active site that accompanies the ring-opening step. The average Zn(II) coordination number of 4.5 in the resting enzyme appears to be maintained throughout the reaction with nitrocefin. This is the first direct structural information available on early stage dizinc metallo-β-lactamase catalysis

Giving patients granular control of personal health information: Using an ethics ‘Points to Consider’ to inform informatics system designers

Objective: There are benefits and risks of giving patients more granular control of their personal health information in electronic health record (EHR) systems. When designing EHR systems and policies, informaticists and system developers must balance these benefits and risks. Ethical considerations should be an explicit part of this balancing. Our objective was to develop a structured ethics framework to accomplish this. Methods: We reviewed existing literature on the ethical and policy issues, developed an ethics framework called a “Points to Consider” (P2C) document, and convened a national expert panel to review and critique the P2C. Results: We developed the P2C to aid informaticists designing an advanced query tool for an electronic health record (EHR) system in Indianapolis. The P2C consists of six questions (“Points”) that frame important ethical issues, apply accepted principles of bioethics and Fair Information Practices, comment on how questions might be answered, and address implications for patient care. Discussion: The P2C is intended to clarify whatis at stake when designers try to accommodate potentially competing ethical commitments and logistical realities. The P2C was developed to guide informaticists who were designing a query tool in an existing EHR that would permit patient granular control. While consideration of ethical issues is coming to the forefront of medical informatics design and development practices, more reflection is needed to facilitate optimal collaboration between designers and ethicists. This report contributes to that discussion

The chances of retrieval of viable microorganisms deposited on the moon by unmanned lunar probes

Terrestrial microorganisms deposited on moon by unmanned lunar probe

Electronic Health Records: Delivering the Right Information to the Right Health Care Providers at the Right Time

In 1993 I wrote "Communication and information management consume as much as 40 percent of all inpatient costs, yet errors still occur at an unacceptable rate. The Institute of medicine has suggested that electronic medical records (EMRs) will help lower health care costs, maintain quality of care, and provide physicians with better information" (Tierney et al. 1993, 379). Nearly 20 years later I'm here to tell you how far we've come toward implementing EHRs nationwide, and what we've learned from our experience at the Regenstrief Institute in Indiana University. Most of us consider health care to be a service business, because we think in terms of a patient who goes to the doctor to get some thing: advice, medication, devices, surgery, or physical therapy. I'm going to argue that what patients really get, and health care practitioners really provide, is information. Ninety-eight percent of what we who practice medicine do is not the end result, the end service, but the overall process of getting there.electronic medical records, EMRs, EHRs