Salve Regina Arboretum Ten Year Plan to Reach Level III Accreditation

The Salve Regina University Arboretum, located in Newport, Rhode Island is currently registered as a Level II arboretum and is intertwined with the city of Newport Arboretum. The university now has intentions to reach Level III status, as part of a ten-year plan. This plan was developed by the students of the Spring 2018 BIO 255: Conservation Biology course, instructed by Dr. Jameson Chace, Associate Professor of biology at Salve Regina University. As part of a curriculum geared towards civic engagement, the class focused on creating and optimizing strategies that can be applied to the ten-year plan. These strategies were applied to the plan categorically: a team to inventory the current tree collection; a team to develop formal educational programming; a team for informal educational programming; a team to establish goals for conservation initiative related to the arboretum; a team dedicated to research related to arboreta; and a team to develop a list of species of special interest to add to the arboretum in the coming years. In the following document, each team’s strategies for the ten-year plan are outlined. Each of the components of this plan incorporate means to fulfill the conditions to meet Level III arboretum status so that the arboretum can apply for official registration. The aforementioned teams were tasked with designing a foundation on which to work up from. This includes formal educational programming to be applied to classroom settings and informal educational programming which can be applied to community outreach-based settings. The teams that worked to strengthen the arboretum’s mission of conservation focused on researching trees that can fit into the current landscape while providing some sort of benefit to the surrounding flora/fauna. Further, many of the species of interest, such as the chestnut, hold historical value to the greater Rhode Island region. In all, the Salve Regina Arboretum must achieve a total of 500 unique species of trees and woody plants as part of its efforts to apply for Level III status. In addition to the programming and research performed so far by the student teams, the arboretum must also hire a curator to manage the programming and to oversee the arboretum as a whole. Additionally, the arboretum must continue to actively collaborate with other arboreta and should encourage scientific research. It is important to recognize that the Salve Regina University Arboretum has already been utilized in the field of microbiology and has gained some attention at the university as a resource for further research and investigation. This ten year plan, along with resources within in it, is designed to provide a list of potential guidelines and ideas that can be applied for the arboretum’s benefit and growth. The Salve Regina University arboretum is a continually growing and developing part of the greater Newport, Rhode Island community, and will continue to strengthen its mission and that of the university which oversees its success.https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/bio255_arboretum/1000/thumbnail.jp

Retrospective evaluation of a computerized physician order entry adaptation to prevent prescribing errors in a pediatric emergency department

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to determine the impact on medication prescribing errors of adding a pediatric medication list (quicklist) to a computerized physician order entry system in a pediatric emergency department. METHODS: The quicklist is a drug dosing support tool that targets the most common medications in our clinical setting. We performed a retrospective comparison of orders from 420 randomly selected visits before and after quicklist introduction. Error rates were analyzed with respect to urgency level, physician training level, and patient age. The quicklist was examined for frequency of use and error rates. RESULTS: The 840 patient visits (420 before intervention and 420 after intervention) generated 724 medication orders, which contained 156 medication prescribing errors (21%). The groups did not differ with respect to urgency level, physician training level, or patient age. There were significant decreases in the rate of errors per 100 visits, from 24 to 13 errors per 100 visits, and in the rate of errors per 100 orders, from 31 to 14 errors per 100 orders. The decrease in the error rates did not vary according to urgency score, age group, or physician training level. The quicklist was used in 30% of the orders in the postintervention group. In this group, the error rate was 1.9 errors per 100 orders when the quicklist was used, compared with 18.3 errors per 100 orders when the list was not used. Errors of wrong formulation, allergy, drug-drug interaction, and rule violations were eliminated. CONCLUSION: The introduction of the quicklist was followed by a significant reduction in medication prescribing errors. A list with dosing support for commonly used pediatric medications may help adapt computerized physician order entry systems designed for adults to serve pediatric populations more effectively

Shear wave velocities in the Pampean flat-slab region from Rayleigh wave tomography: Implications for slab and upper mantle hydration

The Pampean flat-slab region, located in central Argentina and Chile between 29° and 34°S, is considered a modern analog for Laramide flat-slab subduction within western North America. Regionally, flat-slab subduction is characterized by the Nazca slab descending to ∼100 km depth, flattening out for ∼300 km laterally before resuming a more “normal” angle of subduction. Flat-slab subduction correlates spatially with the track of the Juan Fernandez Ridge, and is associated with the inboard migration of deformation and the cessation of volcanism within the region. To better understand flat-slab subduction we combine ambient-noise tomography and earthquake-generated surface wave measurements to calculate a regional 3D shear velocity model for the region. Shear wave velocity variations largely relate to changes in lithology within the crust, with basins and bedrock exposures clearly defined as low- and high-velocity regions, respectively. We argue that subduction-related hydration plays a significant role in controlling shear wave velocities within the upper mantle. In the southern part of the study area, where normal-angle subduction is occurring, the slab is visible as a high-velocity body with a low-velocity mantle wedge above it, extending eastward from the active arc. Where flat-slab subduction is occurring, slab velocities increase to the east while velocities in the overlying lithosphere decrease, consistent with the slab dewatering and gradually hydrating the overlying mantle. The hydration of the slab may be contributing to the excess buoyancy of the subducting oceanic lithosphere, helping to drive flat-slab subduction