Virtual Standardized Patient

Background: Higher education nursing programs include a physical/health assessment course that prepares graduates to provide excellent care based on data collected through assessment. Finding a teaching strategy that engages students as well as educates them in health assessment techniques is a challenge that all nurse educators share. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the level of engagement and learning that occurred with undergraduate and graduate students who participated in a health assessment course that included the use of an online virtual standardized patient (VSP). Design: Quantitative, descriptive survey research was utilized to determine student nurses’ perception of the use of VSP in a physical assessment course.  Setting/Participants: Students in a traditional on-campus BSN program and students in an online RN to BSN and MSN program were included in this study. Methods: After receiving IRB approval, course leaders provided students a standardized questionnaire of two (2) multiple choice and six (6) Likert-style questions. The questions evaluated the participants’ ease of use, comparison of interaction between online virtual and live human patients, ability to perform an exam on a virtual patient, and ability to communicate with a virtual patient.  Questionnaires were administered to volunteers in the three identified health assessment courses (BSN, RN-BSN, and MSN).  Also evaluated was the participant’s perception of their ability to transfer knowledge from the VSP to the live patient.  All students participated in the VSP with completion of the questionnaire optional. Results: Findings in this study generally supported the educational value of using a virtual standardized patient in teaching both undergraduate and graduate students’ health assessment. Variations between the groups were found. Conclusion: Use of a virtual standardized patient is a positive teaching strategy for teaching health assessment in both undergraduate and graduate nursing programs

Iraq: Map Sources

This report identifies selected Web sites for maps of Iraq. Selected government, library, and organizational Web site addresses are provided. Maps of the Middle East, Iraq, the No-Fly Zone, and Facilities Used by U.S. Forces in the Gulf are also provided

Iraq: Map Sources

This report identifies selected Web sites for maps of Iraq. Selected government, library, and organizational Web site addresses are provided. Maps of the Middle East, Iraq, and the No-Fly Zone are also provided

Polygonal Possibilities

In my previous work I utilized geometrically tessellated patterns to energize a large field, using grid systems as a vehicle for color or to distribute a number system. In a composition where all elements share equally in the construction of a repeated system, figure-ground relationships are suppressed and the field becomes in effect infinite. The non hierarchical relationships of units can be enforced by maintaining a consistent surface quality. I chose an impersonal surface, rejecting the accidental and auto-biographical, to focus on the system and technical discipline. This systemic approach led me to research the historical origins of the role of geometry and mathematical concepts in the structural make-up of the physical world.&nbsp; My relation to nature and interest in field pattern perception extends to the finding of and using four-leaf clovers as a surface on which, and a boundary within which, to explore geometric, mathematic and cultural relationships. Since childhood I have found and collected multi-leaved clovers (four through eight leaves), a perceptual problem of identifying an irregularity within the patterned field. The process of picking, counting, ordering and labeling the found clovers reflects my interest in number systems and the systematic distribution of shape within my work. Four-leaf clovers are a freak deviation from the normal three-lobed leaf and are highly prized as lucky charms. History and legend are filled with allusions to their benign powers, the oldest of which dates to the Druids. Whoever found a four-leaf clover was believed to have supernatural sight and be able to see evil beings not visible to ordinary persons. Being able to avoid evildoers was considered good luck. My thesis work has involved a study of art history and theory enabling me to analyze my present role as an artist. It has involved technical explorations facilitating the translation of ideas to the visual realm. I have begun to integrate the intellect with emotional response. The two artists I quoted in this paper, Mondrian and Matisse, represent these contrasting interests. Although different in approach, they possess overlapping qualities (the importance of nature and universe, the purity of means, concern of line, shape, and color relationships, the necessity for discipline, the applied intelligence) inherent in their shared goal of the representation of harmony and universal beauty. Throughout history art has meant a gradual change in this expression. Similarly, my personal means of expression has evolved toward a synthesis of conceptual and perceptual concerns. &nbsp;</p

Prediction of world records in athletics and swimming by a time-series analysis

In an age of a flourishing emphasis on sports and a high frequency of individual record breaking, a detailed description of performance trends would provide a better understanding of what might happen in the future. In this study, world records in swimming and athletics were analyzed to relate the time of occurrence to their magnitude in order to predict future record performances. Records were considered from 1945, or the earliest date after 1945, to 1977 and subjected to a time-series analysis (Box-Jenkins method) to determine predicted values for 1978 through 1984. Predictions and their confidence limits were developed for all events. A 5% error rate was considered as the widest acceptable degree of error. Only some track events fell within this criterion range and therefore, contained adequate predictions. Swimming and field events were mainly unacceptable in light of the predictions which were made. Several variables affecting predictions were discussed. Otherwise the prediction of world record performance trends in swimming, track, and field was found to be unsatisfactory when world records served as source data

Iraq: Map Sources

This report identifies selected Web sites for maps of Iraq. Selected government, library, and organizational Web site addresses are provided. Maps of the Middle East, Iraq, the No-Fly Zone, and Facilities Used by U.S. Forces in the Gulf are also provided

Iraq: Map Sources

This report identifies selected Web sites for maps of Iraq. Selected government, library, and organizational Web site addresses are provided. Maps of the Middle East, Iraq, Facilities Used by U.S. Forces in the Gulf, and USG Humanitarian Assistance and Reconstruction Activities in Iraq are also provided

In re Silicon Graphics Inc.: Shareholder Wealth Effects Resulting from the Interpretation of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act\u27s Pleading Standard

This Article presents an empirical study of changes in shareholder wealth resulting from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in In re Silicon Graphics Inc. Securities Litigation, which interpreted the pleading provision established in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the Reform Act ). Congress passed the Reform Act as part of an ongoing effort to protect corporations from abusive suits alleging fraud by hindsight. In such suits, plaintiffs claimed that a sudden drop in a company\u27s stock price was evidence that the issuer and its management covered up the bad news that led to the price drop. The Reform Act discourages such suits by requiring complaints alleging fraud to state with particularity facts giving rise to a strong inference that the defendant acted with the required state of mind. Courts have interpreted the Reform Act\u27s pleading standard in diverse ways. The Ninth Circuit\u27s interpretation in Silicon Graphics is the most stringent, requiring plaintiffs to allege facts that would show the defendants were deliberately reckless in making the misrepresentation that gave rise to the fraud claim. This pleading standard allows courts to dismiss fraud suits at an early stage if the court deems they lack merit, but it also increases the risk courts will dismiss meritorious suits as well

In re Silicon Graphics Inc.: Shareholder Wealth Effects Resulting from the Interpretation of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act\u27s Pleading Standard

This Article presents an empirical study of changes in shareholder wealth resulting from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in In re Silicon Graphics Inc. Securities Litigation, which interpreted the pleading provision established in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the Reform Act ). Congress passed the Reform Act as part of an ongoing effort to protect corporations from abusive suits alleging fraud by hindsight. In such suits, plaintiffs claimed that a sudden drop in a company\u27s stock price was evidence that the issuer and its management covered up the bad news that led to the price drop. The Reform Act discourages such suits by requiring complaints alleging fraud to state with particularity facts giving rise to a strong inference that the defendant acted with the required state of mind. Courts have interpreted the Reform Act\u27s pleading standard in diverse ways. The Ninth Circuit\u27s interpretation in Silicon Graphics is the most stringent, requiring plaintiffs to allege facts that would show the defendants were deliberately reckless in making the misrepresentation that gave rise to the fraud claim. This pleading standard allows courts to dismiss fraud suits at an early stage if the court deems they lack merit, but it also increases the risk courts will dismiss meritorious suits as well

Genomic Microsatellites as Evolutionary Chronometers: A Test in Wild Cats

Nuclear microsatellite loci (2- to 5-bp tandem repeats) would seem to be ideal markers for population genetic monitoring because of their abundant polymorphism, wide dispersal in vertebrate genomes, near selective neutrality, and ease of assessment; however, questions about their mode of generation, mutation rates and ascertainment bias have limited interpretation considerably. We have assessed the patterns of genomic diversity for ninety feline microsatellite loci among previously characterized populations of cheetahs, lions and pumas in recapitulating demographic history. The results imply that the microsatellite diversity measures (heterozygosity, allele reconstitution and microsatellite allele variance) offer proportionate indicators, albeit with large variance, of historic population bottlenecks and founder effects. The observed rate of reconstruction of new alleles plus the growth in the breadth of microsatellite allele size (variance) was used here to develop genomic estimates of time intervals following historic founder events in cheetahs (12,000 yr ago), in North American pumas (10,000–17,000 yr ago), and in Asiatic lions of the Gir Forest (1000–4000 yr ago)