Frank and Gala

Through the gossip and rumors in a small town in Minnesota, the townspeople discuss and react to the Levison family\u27s claimed perfection

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions about the Effectiveness of the TOON Comic Books in Their Guided Reading Instruction

Recently, education and literacy researchers have acknowledged educational merit in guided reading that incorporates interactive and authentic reading texts, such as graphic novels, which meet the needs of today’s predominantly multimodal learners (Jennings, Rule, & Zanden, 2014; Kist & Pytash, 2015). This qualitative study explores through interviews and a questionnaire the perceptions of pre-service teachers about the effectiveness of the comic book series known as TOON comics in guided reading with struggling readers and writers, from kindergarten through fifth grade. Pre-service teachers have expressed positive views concerning the use of these comic books in guided reading instruction with their struggling readers and writers. They plan to use this comic book series in the classroom in the future and they offer suggestions for addressing the challenges this genre may bring to their students

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives on How the Use of TOON Comic Books during Guided Reading Influenced Learning by Struggling Readers

The study presented in this article examines the use of comic books, specifically the TOON comic books during guided reading instruction. The instruction was provided to struggling readers by the Literacy Center at a comprehensive university in southeastern United States. What most pre-service teachers in this study agreed upon was that comic books served as an effective tool for getting their students interested in reading. Reading comic books with tutors as partners in conversation with the struggling readers in this study was also a powerful medium for facilitating students’ literacy skills development, particularly in the areas of reading fluency and reading comprehension. Contrary to common misconceptions that reading visual literacy, including comic books and graphic novels, is a simple process (Mortimore, 2009), the pre-service teachers found out firsthand that it actually is a complex process. Nonetheless, the challenges they encountered with incorporating comic books in the classroom did not prevent these pre-service teachers from appreciating their educational merit

Routine resite of peripheral intravenous devices every 3 days did not reduce complications compared with clinically indicated resite: a randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Peripheral intravenous device (IVD) complications were traditionally thought to be reduced by limiting dwell time. Current recommendations are to resite IVDs by 96 hours with the exception of children and patients with poor veins. Recent evidence suggests routine resite is unnecessary, at least if devices are inserted by a specialised IV team. The aim of this study was to compare the impact of peripheral IVD 'routine resite' with 'removal on clinical indication' on IVD complications in a general hospital without an IV team.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A randomised, controlled trial was conducted in a regional teaching hospital. After ethics approval, 362 patients (603 IVDs) were randomised to have IVDs replaced on clinical indication (185 patients) or routine change every 3 days (177 patients). IVDs were inserted and managed by the general hospital medical and nursing staff; there was no IV team. The primary endpoint was a composite of IVD complications: phlebitis, infiltration, occlusion, accidental removal, local infection, and device-related bloodstream infection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>IVD complication rates were 68 per 1,000 IVD days (clinically indicated) and 66 per 1,000 IVD days (routine replacement) (<it>P </it>= 0.86; HR 1.03; 95% CI, 0.74-1.43). Time to first complication per patient did not differ between groups (KM with log rank, <it>P </it>= 0.53). There were no local infections or IVD-related bloodstream infections in either group. IV therapy duration did not differ between groups (<it>P </it>= 0.22), but more (<it>P </it>= 0.004) IVDs were placed per patient in the routine replacement (mean, 1.8) than the clinical indication group (mean, 1.5), with significantly higher hospital costs per patient (<it>P </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Resite on clinical indication would allow one in two patients to have a single cannula per course of IV treatment, as opposed to one in five patients managed with routine resite; overall complication rates appear similar. Clinically indicated resite would achieve savings in equipment, staff time and patient discomfort. There is growing evidence to support the extended use of peripheral IVDs with removal only on clinical indication.</p> <p>Registration number</p> <p>Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) Number ACTRN12608000421336.</p

Subsurface Transport Over Reactive Multiphases (STORM): A General, Coupled, Nonisothermal Multiphase Flow, Reactive Transport, and Porous Medium Alteration Simulator, Version 2, User's Guide

The Hanford Site, in southeastern Washington State, has been used extensively to produce nuclear materials for the US strategic defense arsenal by the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors, the US Atomic Energy Commission and the US Energy Research and Development Administration. A large inventory of radioactive and mixed waste has accumulated in 177 buried single- and double shell tanks. Liquid waste recovered from the tanks will be pretreated to separate the low-activity fraction from the high-level and transuranic wastes. Vitrification is the leading option for immobilization of these wastes, expected to produce approximately 550,000 metric tons of Low Activity Waste (LAW) glass. This total tonnage, based on nominal Na{sub 2}O oxide loading of 20% by weight, is destined for disposal in a near-surface facility. Before disposal of the immobilized waste can proceed, the DOE must approve a performance assessment, a document that described the impacts, if any, of the disposal facility on public health and environmental resources. Studies have shown that release rates of radionuclides from the glass waste form by reaction with water determine the impacts of the disposal action more than any other independent parameter. This report describes the latest accomplishments in the development of a computational tool, Subsurface Transport Over Reactive Multiphases (STORM), Version 2, a general, coupled non-isothermal multiphase flow and reactive transport simulator. The underlying mathematics in STORM describe the rate of change of the solute concentrations of pore water in a variably saturated, non-isothermal porous medium, and the alteration of waste forms, packaging materials, backfill, and host rocks