From Inspiration to Reality- Starting a Business Today

In today’s age of large corporations and superstores consuming the marketplace, small businesses must fight to stay afloat. In order to compete with these market giants, understanding the industry and establishing goals for the future are increasingly important. These ideals are especially essential for a small business initially entering the marketplace. This is the essence of my senior honors project. During my career at URI, I combined my passion for pool and my business administration major to create a New England 9 Ball Tour. For the past three years, I have operated, managed, and promoted this successful tour which draws players from around the New England area to tournaments. Despite the fact that it has grown into a well-known entity in the New England pool world, I was unsure of my potential future goals, strategies in the market, and my internal competitive advantages. Through my honors project I have created a business plan and strategic analysis of the “Rack ‘EM Up” New England 9 Ball Tour. The business plan breaks down the tour into the various stages of a company, describing the management practices, mission statement, and competitors. The strategic analysis examines the external market including growth rate of industry, direct competitors, substitutes, and changes in the environment. These concepts are then compared to the internal development and goals of the “Rack ‘EM Up” New England 9 Ball Tour in order to determine a strategic plan for future years. My honors project incorporates the various aspects of understanding and running a business into an actual written document. This business proposal and strategic analysis are based on a real life example in order to put these concepts and practices to use. It will become the blueprint for my venture and its future success

The Use of Audience Response Systems in Nursing Education: Best Practice Guidelines

The use of Audience Response Systems (ARS) or \u27clickers\u27 as an active learning strategy in nursing education has been steadily on the rise. ARS technology allows the dynamic engagement of students in the classroom by providing immediate two-way communication between faculty and students. ARS can be used to explore knowledge and common misconceptions, act as a springboard for classroom discussions, and can be used for testing or evaluation. The aim of this paper is to present best practice guidelines for both novice and experienced ARS technology users. A summary of the state of the research in this area will be presented. Practical application techniques and pedagological strategies relating to ARS use are discussed, including question construction. ARS technology can enliven teaching practice and allow students to become invested and engaged in the learning process

Structural and mechanistic studies of mammalian mitochondrial RNAs

The mammalian mitochondrial genome encodes 13 proteins, which are synthesized at the direction of 9 monocistronic and two dicistronic mRNAs. These mRNAs lack both 5 prime and 3 prime untranslated regions. The mechanism by which the specialized mitochondrial translational apparatus locates start codons and initiates translation of these leaderless mRNAs is currently unknown. To better understand this mechanism, the secondary structures near the start codons of all 13 open reading frames have been analyzed using RNA SHAPE chemistry. The extent of structure in these mRNAs as assessed experimentally is distinctly lower than would be predicted by current algorithms based on free energy minimization alone. We find that the 5 prime ends of all mitochondrial mRNAs are highly unstructured. The first 35 nucleotides for all mitochondrial mRNAs form structures with free energies less favorable than -3 kcal/mol, equal to or less than a single typical base pair. The start codons, which lie at the very 5 prime ends of these mRNAs, are accessible within single stranded motifs in all cases, making them potentially poised for ribosome binding. These data are consistent with a model in which the specialized mitochondrial ribosome preferentially allows passage of unstructured 5 prime sequences into the mRNA entrance site to participate in translation initiation. The mitochondrial tRNA genes are hot spots for mutations that lead to human disease. A single point mutation (T4409C) in the gene for human mitochondrial tRNAMet (hmtRNAMet) has been found to cause mitochondrial myopathy. This mutation results in the replacement of U8 in hmtRNAMet with a C8. Here we show that the single U8C mutation leads to a failure of the tRNA to respond conformationally to Mg2+. This mutation results in a drastic disruption in the structure of the hmtRNAMet, which significantly reduces its aminoacylation. We have used structural probing and molecular reconstitution experiments to examine the structures formed by the normal and mutated tRNAs. In the presence of Mg2+ the normal tRNA displays the structural features expected of a tRNA. However, even in the presence of Mg2+, the mutated tRNA does not form the cloverleaf structure typical of tRNAs. Thus, we believe that this mutation has disrupted a critical Mg2+ binding site on the tRNA required for formation of the biologically active structure. This work establishes a foundation for understanding the physiological consequences of the numerous mitochondrial tRNA mutations that result in disease in humans

The effects of ethanolamine and magnesium on cardiac and neurological function in isoprenaline-induced myocardial infarction and cardiac hypertrophy models in adult Wistar rats Christie Nicole Garson.

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographilcal references.Myocardial infarction (MI) is a principal cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that is associated with other systemic complications. In the heart, MI can result in pump dysfunction, inducing cardiac hypertrophy which may become maladaptive leading to heart failure (HF). In the brain, MI is associated with psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. Many pharmacological agents have been identified to modulate MI and hypertrophy development

Implementation of Standardized Handoff Report in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit

BACKGROUND: Handoff communication is a critical event as it involves the transfer of patient details, authority, and responsibility from one clinician to another. The variations in handoff can lead to increased opportunities for clinician error due to the distinct possibility of the anesthesia providers omitting critical patient information. LOCAL PROBLEM: The site for this quality improvement project is an academic medical center in the Southeastern region. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement a standardized anesthesia handoff tool for anesthesia providers. The aim of this project was after one month of implementation, the mean anesthesia handoff time will decrease from 70 seconds to 55 seconds and anesthesia handoff will be 65% complete using the WHAT tool. METHODS: The Johns Hopkins’s Evidence-Based Practice model was used as the framework for this project. Education was provided to all anesthesia providers regarding the project design and description of the tool. The outcome measures for data collection included mean handoff time and completeness of the handoff tool pre- and post-implementation. INTERVENTIONS: The SRNA project team members observed and recorded the handoff that occurred between the anesthesia providers pre- and post-implementation. The completeness of the WHAT tool and handoff time data was compiled and analyzed. RESULTS: The average recorded time it took to complete hand off decreased from 67.9 seconds to 48.9 seconds post implementation, which met our aim. When looking at completed tools turned in over the entire course of the project, the completeness of the tool rose from 3.8/8 (or 47.5%) to 6.4/8 (or 80%), which also surpassed our aim. CONCLUSIONS: The results produced from the project showed that the implementation of a standardized handoff tool has positive impacts on the handoff process. When considering the improved efficiency and the low economic impact of the handoff tool, the tool can feasibly be integrated into the standard of care

Global Cue Inconsistency Diminishes Learning of Cue Validity

We present a novel two-stage probabilistic learning task that examines the participants’ ability to learn and utilize valid cues across several levels of probabilistic feedback. In the first stage, participants sample from one of three cues that gives predictive information about the outcome of the second stage. Participants are rewarded for correct prediction of the outcome in stage two. Only one of the three cues gives valid predictive information and thus participants can maximise their reward by learning to sample from the valid cue. The validity of this predictive information, however, is reinforced across several levels of probabilistic feedback. A second manipulation involved changing the consistency of the predictive information in stage one and the outcome in stage two. The results show that participants, with higher probabilistic feedback, learned to utilise the valid cue. In inconsistent task conditions, however, participants were significantly less successful in utilising higher validity cues. We interpret this result as implying that learning in probabilistic categorization is based on developing a representation of the task that allows for goal-directed action

Open Learning Designs and Participatory Pedagogies for Graduate Student Online Publishing

Our open educational resource initiative amplifies co-design as a key element of open educational practice that supports graduate student learning in an online master’s program. We designed learning activities that helped students explore the ubiquitous influence and complexities of technology within a participatory pedagogical culture. Students investigated many ethical and technological issues that confront learning communities and developed, and published, chapters in a peer-reviewed open access textbook. Interview and survey data collected from students were analyzed, along with instructor reflections, course design, and learning artifacts. Our research provides useful themes and insights on the practices and impact of participatory pedagogical approaches to open and online learning designs for diverse graduate students’ co-design of open educational resources in higher education. Inviting graduate students into co-design relationships empowers and engages diverse learners as active agents in knowledge building, instead of reducing them to passive recipients of information

Feature-tracking myocardial strain in healthy adults- a magnetic resonance study at 3.0 tesla

We analyzed feature-tracking derived circumferential and longitudinal strain in healthy volunteers who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) at 3.0 T. 88 healthy adults (44.6 ± 18.0 years old, 49% male), without prior cardiovascular disease, underwent CMR at 3.0 T including cine, and late gadolinium enhancement in subjects >45 years. LV functional analysis and feature-tracking strain analyses were carried out. Global strain had better reproducibility than segmental strain. There was a sex specific difference global longitudinal strain (mean ± SD, −18.48 ± 3.65% (male), −21.91 ± 3.01% (female), p < 0.001), but not global circumferential strain (mean ± SD, −25.41 ± 4.50% (male), −27.94 ± 3.48% (female), p = 0.643). There was no association of strain with ageing after accounting for sex for both global longitudinal and circumferential strain. Feature-tracking strain analysis is feasible at 3.0 T. Healthy female volunteers demonstrated higher magnitudes of global longitudinal strain when compared to male counterparts. Whilst global cine-strain has good reproducibility, segmental strain does not

The school food environment and adolescent obesity: qualitative insights from high school principals and food service personnel

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>To examine high school personnel's perceptions of the school environment, its impact on obesity, and the potential impact of legislation regulating schools' food/beverage offerings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the principal (n = 8) and dietitian/food service manager (n = 7) at 8 schools (4 rural, 4 suburban) participating in a larger study examining the relationship between the school environment and adolescent health behavior patterns.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Principal themes included: 1) Obesity is a problem in general, but not at their school, 2) Schools have been unfairly targeted above more salient factors (e.g., community and home environment), 3) Attempts at change should start before high school, 4) Student health is one priority area among multiple competing demands; academic achievement is the top priority, 5) Legislation should be informed by educators and better incorporate the school's perspective. Food service themes included: 1) Obesity is not a problem at their school; school food service is not the cause, 2) Food offerings are based largely on the importance of preparing students for the real world by providing choice and the need to maintain high participation rates; both healthy and unhealthy options are available, 3) A la carte keeps lunch participation high and prices low but should be used as a supplement, not a replacement, to the main meal, 4) Vending provides school's additional revenue; vending is <b>not </b>part of food service and is appropriate if it does not interfere with the lunch program.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Discrepancies exist between government/public health officials and school personnel that may inhibit collaborative efforts to address obesity through modifications to the school environment. Future policy initiatives may be enhanced by seeking the input of school personnel, providing recommendations firmly grounded in evidence-based practice, framing initiatives in terms of their potential impact on the issues of most concern to schools (e.g., academic achievement, finances/revenue), and minimizing barriers by providing schools adequate resources to carry out and evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts.</p