Preparing Nurses in Management Positions for Bedside Care During Times of Crisis

Background The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase perceived self-efficacy in performing bedside skills among nurse leaders. As the demand for nurses increased, these leaders anticipated a direct role in providing patient care in the event of a patient surge due to COVID-19. Problem Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Delta variant, hospital nursing leaders were and still are concerned with the challenge of providing enough competent nurses to deliver care. The DNP project prepared nurses who work in leadership roles to take or assist in taking a patient assignment. Methods Nurse leaders attended a skills lab and procedure class. Participants completed a pre-and post-survey measuring their perceived level of self-efficacy. The project used a modified domain-specific self-efficacy scale and compared pre-and post-training mean scores. Intervention The DNP project aimed to implement a skills and procedures training course for nurses who work in management roles to improve their perception of self-efficacy from their current perception to a statistically significant improved level of perceived self-efficacy as measured by a pre-and post-survey. Results There was a statistically significant improvement (p = \u3c 0.05) for seven out of the nine tasks and an increase in the post-mean scores compared to the pre-mean scores in all nine areas. Seven out of nine domain-specific tasks demonstrated significant change except for KPHC resources (p \u3c 0.190) and glucometer (p \u3c 0.127). Conclusions Participation in the training increased nurse leaders\u27 (n=64) perceptions of self-efficacy to perform specific tasks required for patient care safely. Training that includes a skills lab and procedure course is an effective and cost-effective way to prepare nurse leaders to provide safe bedside care during a crisis

The functional perspective of financial innovation and real estate

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 31-33).Two broad schools of thought dominate theories regarding financial innovation. One seeks to explain the process of security design in terms of relatively static organizations creating and promoting their wares and services competitively, generally in response to shifts in technology, taxes or regulation. The other approach stems from an understanding of the basic universal functions the financial system is called upon to deliver. I argue that the latter perspective is a more robust and adaptable framework for explaining the process of innovation. Furthermore, this functional perspective explains why cyclical shifts in certain sectors such as real estate stimulate the need for new and innovative financial products.by Trevor T. Murray.S.M

Age Related Changes in Cerebrovascular Reactivity and Its Relationship to Global Brain Structure

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) and the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, University of Aberdeen. GDW, ADM and CS are part of the SINASPE collaboration (Scottish Imaging Network - A Platform for Scientific Excellence www.SINAPSE.ac.uk). The authors thank Gordon Buchan, Baljit Jagpal, Nichola Crouch, Beverly Maclennan and Katrina Klaasen for their help with running the experiment and Dawn Younie and Teresa Morris for their help with recruitment and scheduling. We also thank the residents of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and further afield, for their generous participation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The choreography of learning walks in the Australian jack jumper ant Myrmecia croslandi

We provide a detailed analysis of the learning walks performed by Myrmecia croslandi ants at the nest during which they acquire visual information on its location. Most learning walks of 12 individually marked naïve ants took place in the morning with a narrow time window separating the first two learning walks, which most often occurred on the same day. Naïve ants performed between 2 to 7 walks over up to 4 consecutive days before heading out to forage. On subsequent walks naïve ants tend to explore the area around the nest in new compass directions. During learning walks ants move along arcs around the nest while performing oscillating scanning movements. In a regular temporal sequence, the ants’ gaze oscillates between the nest direction and the direction pointing away from the nest. Ants thus experience a sequence of views roughly across the nest and away from the nest from systematically spaced vantage points around the nest. We show further that ants leaving the nest for a foraging trip often walk in an arc around the nest on the opposite side to the intended foraging direction, performing a scanning routine indistinguishable from that of a learning walk. These partial learning walks are triggered by disturbance around the nest and may help returning ants with reorienting when overshooting the nest, which they frequently do. We discuss what is known about learning walks in different ant species and their adaptive significance for acquiring robust navigational memories

Compost Application Affects Metal Uptake in Plants Grown in Urban Garden Soils and Potential Human Health Risk

Purpose This study explores the effect of varying organic matter content on the potential human health risk of consuming vegetables grown in urban garden soils. Materials and methods Metal accumulation among edible tissues of green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and carrot (Daucus carota L.) was determined for plants grown in five urban garden soils amended with 0, 9, or 25% (v/v) compost. Potential risk to human health was assessed by calculating a bioconcentration factor and a hazard quotient. Results and discussion Overall, the consumption of lettuce and green bean pods grown in some urban gardens posed a potential human health risk due to unacceptably high concentrations of cadmium or lead. In many cases, compost amendment increased the accumulation of metals in the vegetables. Even in soils considered uncontaminated by current guidelines, some hazard quotients exceeded the threshold value of 1. The compost used in this study had a high fulvic acid to humic acid ratio, which may explain increased concentrations of metals in plants grown in compost-amended soils. Conclusions These results indicate a need to include soil characteristics, specifically organic matter quality, when setting threshold criteria for metal content of urban garden soils

Control of Fugitive Methane Emissions Through Combustion of Compressor Vent and Engine Crankcase Emissions

At compressor stations, fugitive methane emissions from compressor piston rod packing and engine crankcases are vented directly into the atmosphere. In an effort to reduce compression station carbon footprint, this study evaluates the feasibility of combusting the methane emissions into carbon dioxide and thus reduce the global warming potential. This study focuses on running simulations to determine the methane reduction from rebreathing engine crankcase and compressor vent gases into the air intake of a large bore, natural gas, 2-stroke engine. The methane reduction percentage is observed over a range of rebreathed gas mass flow rates, and rebreathed gas composition. It is extremely difficult to determine the composition of the engine blow-by gases in the crankcase, since the composition depends on a large variety of parameters. For this study, the emissions from the compressor was modeled as methane, and the emissions from the engine crankcase was modeled as products of combustion with a varying amount of methane concentrations. A sensitivity analysis was performed, and the observed pressure traces show that the engine performance is not affected by the addition of rebreathed gases. This insensitivity mainly results from the very small rebreathed flow rates compared to the air intake, and the adjustments made on engine parameters, boost pressure and fuel injection rate, to keep TER and the energy delivery rate the same. The simulations also showed that the net methane reduction percentage was approximately 52%, no matter the study test conditions. It was discovered that the methane reduction depends on the trapping ratio of the engine; since these engines generally have trapping ratios around 50%, the actual methane reduction tends to be small. A 52% reduction rate is not desirable; the hope is to increase the reduction rate closer to 100%. More importantly to note, a substantial amount of complexity would need to be added to a typical compressor station just to reduce methane emissions by 1 kg/hr. Thus, at present, the idea of rebreathing compressor and engine crank case gases for methane emission reduction is not feasible. Future studies should focus on routing the emissions to a 4-stroke engine, a waste heat recovery system, or other combustion devices with higher trapping ratios

From flapping to fear: the production and function of the nonvocal acoustic alarm of the crested pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes

While the study of nonvocal acoustic signals–or sonations–is enjoying a resurgence, very little research has united the production and the function of these signals. This thesis examines both the mechanisms of production and function of the flight sonations produced by crested pigeons, Ocyphaps lophotes. Studying both mechanism and function is important because a signal’s function can be affected by its mode of production. I show that, as previously suggested, the crested pigeon’s nonvocal acoustic alarm is an inherently reliable “index” signal of flight performance that reliably signals escape from danger. This information about danger is used by conspecifics, and also by heterospecifics, although to a lesser extent. After a brief introductory chapter, the thesis contains four data chapters, formatted as research papers, and a concluding chapter that summarises general conclusions and suggestions for future research. CHAPTER 2: The crested pigeon produces a whistle-like sound during any flapping flight, but most notably when taking off from the ground. Previous research showed that the sounds produced during routine take-offs varied predicably from those produced when fleeing, with the alarmed sounds having both a high amplitude and fast tempo. Using high-speed video recording, I showed that the production of each acoustic element of the alarm sonation is tied to a particular wing motion, with the upstroke producing the low note and the downstroke producing the high note. Furthermore, I used 3D-reconstruction of flight paths to show that the increased wing beat rate of escape flights produces both the rapid tempo of alarm sonations and the increased speed of escape. If these birds use fast tempo to distinguish alarms from routine wing sounds, this means that this alarm sonation is an inherently reliable signal of flight performance that acts as an index signal of danger. CHAPTER 3: All birds produce at least some sound during flapping flight, so I addressed the issue of whether the crested pigeon’s wing sound is indeed a signal rather than merely a non-selected cue of danger. Previous work showed that the 8th primary feather of the crested pigeon is unusually narrow, implying adaptation to produce the notes of their wing sound. I therefore used a feather-removal experiment to show that, unexpectedly, the 8th primary feather produces the high note but not the low note. Instead, the 9th primary feather produces the majority of the low note. I then used a playback experiment to show that the fleeing response of conspecifics to alarm sonations is dependent on the signaller’s possession of their 8th primary and its high note, but not the 9th primary and its low note. The 8th primary feather appears therefore to have been structurally modified to signal about danger. CHAPTER 4: Crested pigeons produce wing sonations during all flapping flight, which raises the question of how these sounds could be used to signal alarm. Previous work found that sonations produced in alarmed flight were louder than routine flight. This high amplitude is necessary to prompt flight by listeners, but a playback experiment showed that amplified routine flight sounds did not prompt flight by listeners, so that amplitude itself was not sufficient alone to signal alarm. Given that the tempo of a crested pigeon wing sound is a reliable indicator of danger, I therefore used a playback experiment to test its role in warning conspecifics to flee. I found that, similarly to amplitude differences, although a fast overall tempo is necessary to prompt conspecifics to flee, it is not alone sufficient. This finding means that additional fine scale features are also required and I identify the duration of the low note and the amplitude of individual notes as potential candidates. CHAPTER 5: Although alarm calls are primarily used to warn kin or flock mates of danger, heterospecifics often use the information conveyed in these signals, whether the signaller intends it or not. I tested whether sympatric heterospecifics were able to eavesdrop on this alarm and whether they used the same acoustic features to identify alarms as conspecifics. I found that magpie larks, Grallina cyanoleuca, and Australian magpies, Cracticus tibicen, responded to the majority of alarms by either fleeing or increasing their vigilance. However, unlike crested pigeons, both species responded to high amplitude routine wing sounds as if they were alarmed sonations. These heterospecifics did use the information on danger in pigeon sonations, but used less a reliable feature than the pigeons themselves. As a whole this thesis advances our understanding of this newly discovered type of alarm signal. It establishes that it is indeed produced non-vocally and that it is constrained to be reliable. It also suggests this signal has evolved specifically for communication: the 8th primary feather shows evidence of adaptation, and is necessary for both signal production and function. This work confirms that heterospecifics, without non-vocal signals of their own, are able to utilise the sonations of other species, while also showing that they may attend to different features than conspecifics. Overall, this thesis lays the ground-work for future studies on this and similar systems, such as the consequences of a reliable alarm and the evolutionary origins of non-vocal alarm signalling

Investigation of the inter- and intra-scanner reproducibility and repeatability of radiomics features in T1-weighted brain MRI

Open Access via the Wiley Agreement Acknowledgments This work was supported by the Industrial Centre for AI Research in digital Diagnostics (iCAIRD) which was funded by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) (project number: 104690) and the Roland Sutton Academic Trust (RSAT).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Structural brain complexity and cognitive decline in late life : A longitudinal study in the Aberdeen 1936 Birth Cohort

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewedPostprin

Quantifying navigational information: The catchment volumes of panoramic snapshots in outdoor scenes

Panoramic views of natural environments provide visually navigating animals with two kinds of information: they define locations because image differences increase smoothly with distance from a reference location and they provide compass information, because image differences increase smoothly with rotation away from a reference orientation. The range over which a given reference image can provide navigational guidance (its ‘catchment area’) has to date been quantified from the perspective of walking animals by determining how image differences develop across the ground plane of natural habitats. However, to understand the information available to flying animals there is a need to characterize the ‘catchment volumes’ within which panoramic snapshots can provide navigational guidance. We used recently developed camera-based methods for constructing 3D models of natural environments and rendered panoramic views at defined locations within these models with the aim of mapping navigational information in three dimensions. We find that in relatively open woodland habitats, catchment volumes are surprisingly large extending for metres depending on the sensitivity of the viewer to image differences. The size and the shape of catchment volumes depend on the distance of visual features in the environment. Catchment volumes are smaller for reference images close to the ground and become larger for reference images at some distance from the ground and in more open environments. Interestingly, catchment volumes become smaller when only above horizon views are used and also when views include a 1 km distant panorama. We discuss the current limitations of mapping navigational information in natural environments and the relevance of our findings for our understanding of visual navigation in animals and autonomous robots.The work was supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grants DP150101172 and DP150102699 to Jochen Zeil