2,946 research outputs found
Moral Distress in Critical Care Nursing: The State of the Science
Background:
Moral distress is a complex phenomenon frequently experienced by critical care nurses. Ethical conflicts in this practice area are related to technological advancement, high intensity work environments, and end-of-life decisions.
Objectives:
An exploration of contemporary moral distress literature was undertaken to determine measurement, contributing factors, impact, and interventions.
Review Methods:
This state of the science review focused on moral distress research in critical care nursing from 2009 to 2015, and included 12 qualitative, 24 quantitative, and 6 mixed methods studies.
Results:
Synthesis of the scientific literature revealed inconsistencies in measurement, conflicting findings of moral distress and nurse demographics, problems with the professional practice environment, difficulties with communication during end-of-life decisions, compromised nursing care as a consequence of moral distress, and few effective interventions.
Conclusion:
Providing compassionate care is a professional nursing value and an inability to meet this goal due to moral distress may have devastating effects on care quality. Further study of patient and family outcomes related to nurse moral distress is recommended
Ultraviolet (UV) B effects on growth and yield of three contrasting sweet potato cultivars
Ground-level UV-B will stay at a high level in the next several decades and influence sweet potato growth and yield because of the remaining chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere. The study explored three UV-B (none, ambient, and elevated/projected) levels on three contrasting sweet potato cultivars (Beauregard, Hatteras, and Louisiana 1188) using sunlit plant growth chambers at Mississippi State University. The results showed that UV-B influenced three cultivars differently. Growth, photosynthetic rate, epidermal and leaf structure of Beauregard were negatively influenced under ambient and elevated UV-B. On the contrary, Hatteras was positively influenced, and Louisiana 1188 was influenced by elevated UV-B positively on leaf thickness and waxes content, but negatively on the vine length, dry mass, and leaf area. In summary, Beauregard, Louisiana 1188, and Hatteras were UV-B sensitive, moderately sensitive, and tolerant, respectively. Developing UV-B tolerant cultivars will benefit under both current and projected UV-B exposures
LOFAR early-time search for coherent radio emission from GRB 180706A
© 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.The nature of the central engines of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the composition of their relativistic jets are still under debate. If the jets are Poynting flux dominated rather than baryon dominated, a coherent radio flare from magnetic re-connection events might be expected with the prompt gamma-ray emission. There are two competing models for the central engines of GRBs; a black hole or a newly formed milli-second magnetar. If the central engine is a magnetar it is predicted to produce coherent radio emission as persistent or flaring activity. In this paper, we present the deepest limits to date for this emission following LOFAR rapid response observations of GRB 180706A. No emission is detected to a 3 limit of 1.7 mJy beam at 144 MHz in a two-hour LOFAR observation starting 4.5 minutes after the gamma-ray trigger. A forced source extraction at the position of GRB 180706A provides a marginally positive (1 sigma) peak flux density of mJy. The data were time-sliced into different sets of snapshot durations to search for FRB like emission. No short duration emission was detected at the location of the GRB. We compare these results to theoretical models and discuss the implications of a non-detection.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
RICE Limits on the Diffuse Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Flux
We present new limits on ultra-high energy neutrino fluxes above 100 PeV
based on data collected by the Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment (RICE) at the
South Pole from 1999-2005. We discuss estimation of backgrounds, calibration
and data analysis algorithms (both on-line and off-line), procedures used for
the dedicated neutrino search, and refinements in our Monte Carlo (MC)
simulation, including recent in situ measurements of the complex ice dielectric
constant. An enlarged data set and a more detailed study of hadronic showers
results in a sensitivity improvement of more than one order of magnitude
compared to our previously published results. Examination of the full RICE data
set yields zero acceptable neutrino candidates, resulting in 95%
confidence-level model dependent limits on the flux
(E_\nu)^2(d\phi/dE_\nu)<10^{-6} GeV/(cm^2s~sr}) in the energy range 10^{17}<
E_\nu< 10^{20} eV. The new RICE results rule out the most intense flux model
projections at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to Astropart. Phy
HUWE1 cooperates with RAS activation to control leukemia cell proliferation and human hematopoietic stem cells differentiation fate
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a poor prognosis hematopoietic malignance characterized by abnormal proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Although advances in treatment have greatly improved survival rates in young patients, in the elderly population, ~70% of patients present poor prognosis. A pan-cancer analysis on the TCGA cohort showed that AML has the second higher HUWE1 expression in tumor samples among all cancer types. In addition, pathway enrichment analysis pointed to RAS signaling cascade as one of the most important pathways associated to HUWE1 expression in this particular AML cohort. In silico analysis for biological processes enrichment also revealed that HUWE1 expression is correlated with 13 genes involved in myeloid differentiation. Therefore, to understand the role of HUWE1 in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) we constitutively expressed KRASG12V oncogene concomitantly to HUWE1 knockdown in stromal co-cultures. The results showed that, in the context of KRASG12V, HUWE1 significantly reduces cell cumulative growth and changes myeloid differentiation profile of HSPCs. Overall, these observations suggest that HUWE1 might contribute to leukemic cell proliferation and impact myeloid differentiation of human HSCs, thus providing new venues for RAS-driven leukemia targeted therapy approach
The Aversion to Tampering with Nature (ATN) Scale: Individual Differences in (Dis)comfort with Altering the Natural World
People differ in their comfort with tampering with the natural world. Although some see altering nature as a sign of human progress, others see it as dangerous or hubristic. Across four studies, we investigate discomfort with tampering with the natural world. To do so, we develop the Aversion to Tampering with Nature (ATN) Scale, a short scale that is the first to directly measure this discomfort. We identify six activities that people believe tamper with nature (geoengineering, genetically modified organisms, pesticides, cloning, gene therapy, and nanoparticles) and show that ATN scores are associated with opposition to these activities. Furthermore, the ATN Scale predicts actual behavior: donations to an antiâ tampering cause. We demonstrate that ATN is related to previously identified constructs including trust in technology, naturalness bias, purity values, disgust sensitivity, aversion to playing God, and environmental beliefs and values. By illuminating who is concerned about tampering with nature and what predicts these beliefs, the ATN Scale provides opportunities to better understand public opposition to technological innovations, consumer preferences for â naturalâ products, and strategies for science communication.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154364/1/risa13414_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154364/2/risa13414.pd
Probing the angular and polarization reconstruction of the ARIANNA detector at the South Pole
The sources of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays, which can have energies
up to 10^20 eV, remain a mystery. UHE neutrinos may provide important clues to
understanding the nature of cosmic-ray sources. ARIANNA aims to detect UHE
neutrinos via radio (Askaryan) emission from particle showers when a neutrino
interacts with ice, which is an efficient method for neutrinos with energies
between 10^16 eV and 10^20 eV. The ARIANNA radio detectors are located in
Antarctic ice just beneath the surface. Neutrino observation requires that
radio pulses propagate to the antennas at the surface with minimum distortion
by the ice and firn medium. Using the residual hole from the South Pole Ice
Core Project, radio pulses were emitted from a transmitter located up to 1.7 km
below the snow surface. By measuring these signals with an ARIANNA surface
station, the angular and polarization reconstruction abilities are quantified,
which are required to measure the direction of the neutrino. After deconvolving
the raw signals for the detector response and attenuation from propagation
through the ice, the signal pulses show no significant distortion and agree
with a reference measurement of the emitter made in an anechoic chamber.
Furthermore, the signal pulses reveal no significant birefringence for our
tested geometry of mostly vertical ice propagation. The origin of the
transmitted radio pulse was measured with an angular resolution of 0.37 degrees
indicating that the neutrino direction can be determined with good precision if
the polarization of the radio-pulse can be well determined. In the present
study we obtained a resolution of the polarization vector of 2.7 degrees.
Neither measurement show a significant offset relative to expectation
Spatial Guilds in the Serengeti Food Web Revealed by a Bayesian Group Model
Food webs, networks of feeding relationships among organisms, provide
fundamental insights into mechanisms that determine ecosystem stability and
persistence. Despite long-standing interest in the compartmental structure of
food webs, past network analyses of food webs have been constrained by a
standard definition of compartments, or modules, that requires many links
within compartments and few links between them. Empirical analyses have been
further limited by low-resolution data for primary producers. In this paper, we
present a Bayesian computational method for identifying group structure in food
webs using a flexible definition of a group that can describe both functional
roles and standard compartments. The Serengeti ecosystem provides an
opportunity to examine structure in a newly compiled food web that includes
species-level resolution among plants, allowing us to address whether groups in
the food web correspond to tightly-connected compartments or functional groups,
and whether network structure reflects spatial or trophic organization, or a
combination of the two. We have compiled the major mammalian and plant
components of the Serengeti food web from published literature, and we infer
its group structure using our method. We find that network structure
corresponds to spatially distinct plant groups coupled at higher trophic levels
by groups of herbivores, which are in turn coupled by carnivore groups. Thus
the group structure of the Serengeti web represents a mixture of trophic guild
structure and spatial patterns, in contrast to the standard compartments
typically identified in ecological networks. From data consisting only of nodes
and links, the group structure that emerges supports recent ideas on spatial
coupling and energy channels in ecosystems that have been proposed as important
for persistence.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures (+ 3 supporting), 2 tables (+ 4 supporting
A new method for short duration transient detection in radio images: Searching for transient sources in MeerKAT data of NGC 5068
Transient surveys are a vital tool in exploring the dynamic universe, with
radio transients acting as beacons for explosive and highly energetic
astrophysical phenomena. However, performing commensal transient surveys using
radio imaging can require a significant amount of computing power, data storage
and time. With the instrumentation available to us, and with new and exciting
radio interferometers in development, it is essential that we develop efficient
methods to probe the radio transient sky. In this paper, we present results
from an commensal short duration transient survey, on time scales of 8 seconds,
128 seconds and 1 hour, using data from the MeerKAT radio telescope. The
dataset used was obtained as part of a galaxy observing campaign, and we focus
on the field of NGC 5068. We present a quick, wide field imaging strategy to
enable fast imaging of large datasets, and develop methods to efficiently
filter detected transient candidates. No transient candidates were identified
on the time scales of 8 seconds, 128 seconds and 1 hour, leading to competitive
limits on the transient surface densities of deg,
deg, and deg at
sensitivities of 56.4 mJy, 19.2 mJy, and 3.9 mJy for the respective time
scales. We find one possible candidate that could be associated with a stellar
flare, that was rejected due to strict image quality control. Further short
time-scale radio observations of this candidate could give definite results to
its origin.Comment: 11 pages (9 main, 2 appendix), 8 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to
MNRA
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