128 research outputs found
New Nurse Residency - An Evidence Based Approach
Nurse educators believe that their graduates are well-prepared for entry level positions in nursing. In the acute healthcare setting, new graduates are placed on virtually every type of nursing unit, including critical care. Employers have developed formal orientations to familiarize new graduate nurses new with the institution and its policies and procedures and to teach the things employers believe new RNs need to know but do not, either because they were never taught the material or they have not retained it.
The purposes of this project were to (a) examine the evidence relative to a disconnect between nursing education and nursing practice, (b) design a formal residency program for new graduates based on the evidence, and (c) implement and evaluate the residency program. Based on the evidence, a 16-week new nurse residency was developed in which Residents were each assigned both a Preceptor and Mentor to assist their progress. Weekly educational offerings were targeted at specific competency deficits identified by Residents, Preceptors and Mentors at the beginning of the residency program.
Seven out of the original 10 Residents completed the Residency. Pre-residency, the Residents were very confident of their clinical skills and abilities and this was unchanged post-residency. The Preceptors and Mentors were much less confident of the clinical skills and abilities of the Residents pre-residency. Post-residency, the confidence level of the Preceptors and Mentors was improved, but significantly so only for the Mentors.
It is imperative that nursing administrators be aware of the discrepancy between the confidence new nurses have in their own skills and the perceptions of the nurses who work side by side with them on a daily basis. Residencies for new graduate nurses are costly. Nursing administrators must make the determination if the benefits outweigh the costs. They may find the results of not having a residency are far more costly
Thermal shock resistance of ceramic matrix composites
The experimental and analytical investigation of the thermal shock phenomena in ceramic matrix composites is detailed. The composite systems examined were oxide-based, consisting of an aluminosilicate matrix with either polycrystalline aluminosilicate or single crystal alumina fiber reinforcement. The program was divided into three technical tasks; baseline mechanical properties, thermal shock modeling, and thermal shock testing. The analytical investigation focused on the development of simple expressions for transient thermal stresses induced during thermal shock. The effect of various material parameters, including thermal conductivity, elastic modulus, and thermal expansion, were examined analytically for their effect on thermal shock performance. Using a simple maximum stress criteria for each constituent, it was observed that fiber fracture would occur only at the most extreme thermal shock conditions and that matrix fracture, splitting parallel to the reinforcing fiber, was to be expected for most practical cases. Thermal shock resistance for the two material systems was determined experimentally by subjecting plates to sudden changes in temperature on one surface while maintaining the opposite surface at a constant temperature. This temperature change was varied in severity (magnitude) and in number of shocks applied to a given sample. The results showed that for the most severe conditions examined that only surface matrix fracture was present with no observable fiber fracture. The impact of this damage on material performance was limited to the matrix dominated properties only. Specifically, compression strength was observed to decrease by as much as 50 percent from the measured baseline
Dead Sea evaporation by eddy covariance measurements vs. aerodynamic, energy budget, Priestley–Taylor, and Penman estimates
The Dead Sea is a terminal lake, located in an arid environment.
Evaporation is the key component of the Dead Sea water budget and
accounts for the main loss of water. So far, lake evaporation has
been determined by indirect methods only and not measured
directly. Consequently, the governing factors of evaporation are
unknown. For the first time, long-term eddy covariance measurements
were performed at the western Dead Sea shore for a period of
1 year by implementing a new concept for onshore lake evaporation
measurements. To account for lake evaporation during offshore wind
conditions, a robust and reliable multiple regression model was
developed using the identified governing factors wind velocity and
water vapour pressure deficit. An overall regression coefficient of
0.8 is achieved. The measurements show that the diurnal evaporation
cycle is governed by three local wind systems: a lake breeze during
daytime, strong downslope winds in the evening, and strong northerly
along-valley flows during the night. After sunset, the strong winds
cause half-hourly evaporation rates which are up to 100 %
higher than during daytime. The median daily evaporation is
4.3 mm d−1 in July and 1.1 mm d−1 in
December. The annual evaporation of the water surface at the
measurement location was 994±88 mm a−1 from March
2014 until March 2015. Furthermore, the performance of indirect
evaporation approaches was tested and compared to the measurements.
The aerodynamic approach is applicable for sub-daily and multi-day
calculations and attains correlation coefficients between 0.85 and
0.99. For the application of the Bowen ratio energy budget method
and the Priestley–Taylor method, measurements of the heat storage
term are inevitable on timescales up to 1Â month. Otherwise
strong seasonal biases occur. The Penman equation was adapted to
calculate realistic evaporation, by using an empirically gained
linear function for the heat storage term, achieving correlation
coefficients between 0.92 and 0.97. In summary, this study
introduces a new approach to measure lake evaporation with a station
located at the shoreline, which is also transferable to other lakes. It
provides the first directly measured Dead Sea evaporation rates as
well as applicable methods for evaporation calculation. The first
one enables us to further close the Dead Sea water budget, and the
latter one enables us to facilitate water management in the region
Establishing a proactive safety and health risk management system in the fire service
BACKGROUND: Formalized risk management (RM) is an internationally accepted process for reducing hazards in the workplace, with defined steps including hazard scoping, risk assessment, and implementation of controls, all within an iterative process. While required for all industry in the European Union and widely used elsewhere, the United States maintains a compliance-based regulatory structure, rather than one based on systematic, risk-based methodologies. Firefighting is a hazardous profession, with high injury, illness, and fatality rates compared with other occupations, and implementation of RM programs has the potential to greatly improve firefighter safety and health; however, no descriptions of RM implementation are in the peer-reviewed literature for the North American fire service. METHODS: In this paper we describe the steps used to design and implement the RM process in a moderately-sized fire department, with particular focus on prioritizing and managing injury hazards during patient transport, fireground, and physical exercise procedures. Hazard scoping and formalized risk assessments are described, in addition to the identification of participatory-led injury control strategies. Process evaluation methods were conducted to primarily assess the feasibility of voluntarily instituting the RM approach within the fire service setting. RESULTS: The RM process was well accepted by the fire department and led to development of 45 hazard specific-interventions. Qualitative data documenting the implementation of the RM process revealed that participants emphasized the: value of the RM process, especially the participatory bottom-up approach; usefulness of the RM process for breaking down tasks to identify potential risks; and potential of RM for reducing firefighter injury. CONCLUSIONS: As implemented, this risk-based approach used to identify and manage occupational hazards and risks was successful and is deemed feasible for U.S. (and other) fire services. While several barriers and challenges do exist in the implementation of any intervention such as this, recommendations for adopting the process are provided. Additional work will be performed to determine the effectiveness of select controls strategies that were implemented; however participants throughout the organizational structure perceived the RM process to be of high utility while researchers also found the process improved the awareness and engagement in actively enhancing worker safety and health.This item is part of the UA Faculty Publications collection. For more information this item or other items in the UA Campus Repository, contact the University of Arizona Libraries at [email protected]
emerging perspectives for flood risk assessment and management
Flood estimation and flood management have traditionally been the domain of
hydrologists, water resources engineers and statisticians, and disciplinary
approaches abound. Dominant views have been shaped; one example is the
catchment perspective: floods are formed and influenced by the interaction of
local, catchment-specific characteristics, such as meteorology, topography and
geology. These traditional views have been beneficial, but they have a narrow
framing. In this paper we contrast traditional views with broader perspectives
that are emerging from an improved understanding of the climatic context of
floods. We come to the following conclusions: (1) extending the traditional
system boundaries (local catchment, recent decades, hydrological/hydraulic
processes) opens up exciting possibilities for better understanding and
improved tools for flood risk assessment and management. (2) Statistical
approaches in flood estimation need to be complemented by the search for the
causal mechanisms and dominant processes in the atmosphere, catchment and
river system that leave their fingerprints on flood characteristics. (3)
Natural climate variability leads to time-varying flood characteristics, and
this variation may be partially quantifiable and predictable, with the
perspective of dynamic, climate-informed flood risk management. (4) Efforts
are needed to fully account for factors that contribute to changes in all
three risk components (hazard, exposure, vulnerability) and to better
understand the interactions between society and floods. (5) Given the global
scale and societal importance, we call for the organization of an
international multidisciplinary collaboration and data-sharing initiative to
further understand the links between climate and flooding and to advance flood
research
Floods and climate: emerging perspectives for flood risk assessment and management
Flood estimation and flood management have traditionally been the domain of
hydrologists, water resources engineers and statisticians, and disciplinary
approaches abound. Dominant views have been shaped; one example is the
catchment perspective: floods are formed and influenced by the interaction
of local, catchment-specific characteristics, such as meteorology,
topography and geology. These traditional views have been beneficial, but
they have a narrow framing. In this paper we contrast traditional views with
broader perspectives that are emerging from an improved understanding of the
climatic context of floods. We come to the following conclusions: (1) extending the traditional
system boundaries (local catchment, recent decades, hydrological/hydraulic
processes) opens up exciting possibilities for better understanding and
improved tools for flood risk assessment and management. (2) Statistical
approaches in flood estimation need to be complemented by the search for the
causal mechanisms and dominant processes in the atmosphere, catchment and
river system that leave their fingerprints on flood characteristics.
(3) Natural climate variability leads to time-varying flood characteristics, and
this variation may be partially quantifiable and predictable, with the
perspective of dynamic, climate-informed flood risk management.
(4) Efforts are needed to fully account for factors that contribute to changes
in all three risk components (hazard, exposure, vulnerability) and to
better understand the interactions between society and floods. (5) Given the
global scale and societal importance, we call for the organization of an
international multidisciplinary collaboration and data-sharing initiative to
further understand the links between climate and flooding and to advance
flood research
A new kaonic helium measurement in gas by SIDDHARTINO at the DAFNE collider*
The SIDDHARTINO experiment at the DA{\Phi}NE Collider of INFN-LNF, the pilot
run for the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment which aims to perform the measurement of
kaonic deuterium transitions to the fundamental level, has successfully been
concluded. The paper reports the main results of this run, including the
optimization of various components of the apparatus, among which the degrader
needed to maximize the fraction of kaons stopped inside the target, through
measurements of kaonic helium transitions to the 2p level. The obtained shift
and width values are {\epsilon}_2p = E_exp-E_e.m = 0.2 {\pm} 2.5(stat) {\pm}
2(syst) eV and {\Gamma}_2p = 8 {\pm} 10 eV (stat), respectively. This new
measurement of the shift, in particular, represents the most precise one for a
gaseous target and is expected to contribute to a better understanding of the
kaon-nuclei interaction at low energy
Abortamento de estruturas reprodutivas de plantas de canola em função da desfolha.
As folhas exercem papel fundamental nas plantas, pois através delas é possÃvel que a energia solar seja convertida em energia quÃmica por meio do processo de fotossÃntese. Os fotoassimilados resultantes deste processo são utilizados para manutenção da planta e também para formação de novas estruturas, dentre elas, as estruturas reprodutivas. Para cultura da canola, trabalhos tem mostrado que além das folhas e dos ramos, as sÃliquas também contribuem na produção de fotoassimilados durante sua fase reprodutiva, em que as sÃliquas mais desenvolvidas servem como fonte e as sÃliquas em inÃcio de desenvolvimento apresentam-se como drenos. Portanto, o objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a importância das folhas a partir do inÃcio da floração e o efeito da desfolha total das plantas no abortamento de estruturas reprodutivas de canola
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