Verifying Corn Growing Degree Day CFS Forecasts

The Climate Forecast System (CFS) issues long term forecasts that can help make important decisions in regards to planting, applying herbicides, and harvesting. We hypothesized that the CFS forecasts thermal times are lower than observations because of a warming climate in Iowa. Observed maximum and minimum temperature data was obtained from NWS COOP stations. Thermal time was calculated for both the CFS forecasts and observations, and them were compared. For the three year period looked in this study, the statewide average for the CFS was 390 GDD, 15% less than observations. On average for August, the CFS was within 1% of observations. However, the CFS forecasted 115 GDD plus for the months of April and September. Studies have suggested that the climate in the Midwest region have been warming during the spring and autumn months, but remaining the same during the summer months; and this would agree with the results in this study

Using Infographics to Improve Completion Rates of the Sepsis Protocol Bundle

Hospitals have sepsis protocols that must be implemented when a patient shows positive signs and symptoms of a septic infection. Nurses learn about sepsis in nursing school and rarely further their education beyond this basic understanding of the disease. So, when nurses fail to comply with organizational instructions outlined within a defined sepsis protocol bundle, this often leads to a progression of severe sepsis in a patient and, most likely, increased cost for the healthcare facility. Multiple sepsis protocol bundle failures negatively impact organizational ratings established by The Joint Commission for patient care and are highly associated with increased sepsis mortality. Sepsis is one of the leading causes of 30-day readmission rates for many hospitals. Four factors have been shown to affect the success rate of sepsis protocol bundle compliance: a lack of effective communication between nurses and nursing units, a lack of continuing education about current evidence-based practices of sepsis prevention and care, cumbersome tasks and mental loads that nurses endure in using electronic health care systems, and high acuity patient loads and responsibilities. Nurses need a set of tools and education methods that will increase their ability to remain 100% compliant with sepsis protocol bundles with minimal distractions

Translating the Values of Clinical Pedagogy Across Generations

Clinical teaching is a Baby Boomer. After an extended infancy, it came of age in the 1960s. It challenged the entrenched isolation and aloofness of law school by questioning the very methods by which law is taught. Channeling the Boomers\u27 cultural tenets of dismantling hierarchy, fostering collaboration, and advocating for social change, it shook off legal academia\u27s suit and tie and rolled up its sleeves, bringing the community into the classroom and putting the university to work. These Boomer-era values are reflected in clinical teaching\u27s enduring core principles of non-directive teaching, reflective practice, close and immediate supervision, learning from experience, and a commitment to social justice. In clinical education\u27s formative years, teachers, students, and pedagogy were sympathetically aligned. All came from the same generational neighborhood and brought similar perspectives on the purposes of education, work, and advocacy to the clinic. Today, generational diversity is the norm. Baby Boomers mentor Generation X colleagues in the teaching of Millennial students. Generational variety brings a multitude of differing approaches to clinical pedagogy. There is no longer a presumptive unity between social and pedagogical perspectives. Clinical teachers and students must now mind the generational gap

Prisoners and Pleading

Last year, prisoners filed nearly 27,000 civil rights actions in federal court. More than 92 percent of those actions were filed pro se. Pro se prisoners frequently use—and in many districts are required to use— standardized complaint forms provided by the federal judiciary. These standard forms were created in the 1970s at the recommendation of a committee of federal judges seeking to more effectively manage prisoner litigation and reduce its burdens on the federal courts. Although complaint forms have been in use for nearly forty years and are now commonplace in almost every federal district, no one, until now, has recognized the extent to which these forms may diverge from or misrepresent the law. In this paper, we collect and analyze every form complaint used by the federal district courts. Our results indicate that, while form complaints can be helpful to pro se prisoners and the courts, many impose requirements that are inconsistent with governing law. First, many complaints direct prisoners to plead facts that the law does not require them to plead. Second, many complaints prohibit or discourage prisoners from pleading facts necessary to survive a motion to dismiss. Third, some complaints require plaintiffs to plead legal conclusions, using language that may confuse unsophisticated prisoners and cause them to make inadvertent but significant legal errors. These flaws can impose serious unintended consequences on prisoners, including unwarranted dismissal of their complaints. They can also impose additional work on judges and court staff who must reconcile discrepancies between the court-provided forms and governing law. To address the concerns raised by our study, we provide a model form complaint that accurately reflects governing law and helps courts more efficiently review pro se prisoner complaints and recognize potentially meritorious claims

Bers-ERK Schwann Cells Coordinate Nerve Regeneration

In this issue of Neuron, Napoli et al. (2012) demonstrate that elevated ERK/MAPK signaling in Schwann cells is a crucial trigger for Schwann cell dedifferentiation in vivo. Moreover, the authors show that dedifferentiated Schwann cells have the potential to coordinate much of the peripheral nerve response to injury

Taking Off the SOCS: Cytokine Signaling Spurs Regeneration

Strategies to improve function after CNS injuries must contend with the failure of axons to regrow after transection in adult mammals. In this issue of Neuron, Smith et al. provide an important advance by demonstrating that SOCS3 acts as a key negative regulator of adult optic nerve regeneration

Chronicles of Oklahoma

Article describes the life and work of Fred L. Wenner, a reporter who came to Oklahoma Territory for the 1889 land run. Mary E. Newbern discusses the events Wenner covered and the development he observed in Oklahoma's early years

Nrg1/ErbB signaling networks in Schwann cell development and myelination

Neuregulin-1 (Nrg1) provides a key axonal signal that regulates Schwann cell proliferation, migration and myelination through binding to ErbB2/3 receptors. The analysis of a number of genetic models has unmasked fundamental mechanisms underlying the specificity of the Nrg1/ErbB signaling axis. Differential expression of Nrg1 isoforms, Nrg1 processing, and ErbB receptor localization and trafficking represent important regulatory themes in the control of Nrg1/ErbB function. Nrg1 binding to ErbB2/3 receptors results in the activation of intracellular signal transduction pathways that initiate changes in Schwann cell behavior. Here, we review data that has defined the role of key Nrg1/ErbB signaling components like Shp2, ERK1/2, FAK, Rac1/Cdc42 and calcineurin in development of the Schwann cell lineage in vivo. Many of these regulators receive converging signals from other cues that are provided by Notch, integrin or G-protein coupled receptors. Signaling by multiple extracellular factors may act as key modifiers and allow Schwann cells at different developmental stages to respond in distinct manners to the Nrg1/ErbB signal

Communication systems for water-quality data aquisition

A survey of federal and state agencies was conducted to determine the future need for water-quality data. This survey was used as the basis for constructing a water-quality data aquisition system applicable to any river basin. This study outlines the major components of an automatic water-quality monitoring system. Seventy-one sites in the Willamette River basin of Oregon were selected as monitoring sites for a model monitoring system. VHF radio and telephone telemetry systems were designed to service the model monitoring system. Economic models of the telemetry systems were constructed and compared. The results of this study show that: 1. Enough interest in water-quality monitoring exists to justify the construction of an automated monitoring system. 2. The model monitoring system developed in this study may be adapted to any river basin. 3. A combination of VHF radio and telephone will require the lowest operating cost per year