Utilising the Healy and Jenkin’s Research Teaching and Curriculum Design Nexus to transform undergraduate nursing research communities of practice

In science, research is known to be a diligent systematic inquiry into nature and society or both. It assists in validating and refining existing knowledge and generating new knowledge. Lecturers and scholars have embraced the integration of evidence-based practice into the nursing education curriculum in numerous ways. Although the learning competencies necessary for research competencies amongst undergraduate nurses include an understanding of the basic concepts and processes of research methods, it does not adequately support student preparedness for the attainment of postgraduate research competencies. The design of this study adopted a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive course of enquiry that explored current pedagogical research practices amongst lecturers and supervisors. A case study approach utilising, specifically, a cross-case analysis helped provide a clear picture of institutional pedagogical practices related to the topic of inquiry and its implementation thereof. The cases from approved local, national and international higher education institutions formed the setting for the study. Lecturers facilitating and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate research studies comprised the target population of a purposive sampling selection. In this study, the authors utilised the Healey and Jenkins Teaching Nexus to show that the research engagement of students and nursing research communities of practice can be strengthened if embraced by sound pedagogical practices. The Nexus outlines four concepts that guide the pedagogical practice of the research module that promotes undergraduate students as researchers. The authors of this article concluded that it was necessary to engage students as producers and not merely as consumers of knowledge. In this study, the researchers also utilised the Nexus to show students’ engagement in fostering different teaching approaches to research knowledge acquisition

Online assessment in Moodle: A framework for supporting our students

With the increased intake of students at many higher education institutions, the teaching, learning and assessment of large groups is one of the biggest challenges facing educators. Appropriate online assessment may address some of the challenges faced in the teaching and learning setting. In this paper, the experiences of 392 mathematics students, undertaking their assessments via Moodle at a University in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, are described. Student experiences informed the design of a supportive-environmental framework for online assessment.The theoretical lens for this research study is framed by mastery learning, student experience and online assessment. The research reported on in this paper highlights one aspect of the project: the third phase of the action-research cycle, namely, to observe the implementation of online assessment.Examples from two blended-learning Moodle courses highlight some of the experienced difficulties and successes. The lessons learnt informed the online-assessment design and implementation to introduce supportive environments for online assessment. The knowledge gained from this study culminated in a 4-Pillar Supportive-Online Assessment Framework for Blended-Learning environments, which could contribute to an improvement in online-assessment practices.

An Aspect-Oriented Approach to Enhancing Multilevel Security with Usage Control: An Experience Report

The aim of this paper is to document experiences with augmenting multilevel security with usage control at the application level within the aspect-oriented paradigm. Multilevel access control is an access control policy that supports systems that process especially sensitive data. However, attribute-based access control is sometimes insufficient and needs to be combined with additional features in order to meet the demands of modern applications and systems. Usage control enables finer-grained control over the usage of digital objectsComputer Scienc

Oral Medicine Case Book 56: Oral Manifestations of aplastic anaemia

A 22-year old female patient was referred to the Oral Medicine Clinic from the Haematology Ward at Groote Schuur Hospital for evaluation of a painful oral ulcer, which had been present for three weeks. The patient reported that, six weeks ago, she had sought treatment from her own dentist for painful and bleeding gingivae. The dentist performed a scale and polish and prescribed a combination of amoxicillin and metronidazole, at normal adult doses, for seven days. The gingival bleeding had not resolved by the time she presented for her recall visit, two weeks later. The patient also reported the presence of 'small, purple spots' on her lower limbs and trunk.DHE

G402 The impact of a standardised transcranial doppler training programme in screening children with sickle cell disease: a european multi-centre perspective

n/

Unemployment, Education and Skills Constraints in Post-Apartheid South Africa

This paper investigates the relationship between education and unemployment in post-apartheid South Africa, and probes the argument that employment growth has been inhibited particularly by skills constraints. We use probit regression analysis to show that higher education protected against unemployment in both 1995 and 2003, and that overall, the relative benefits to tertiary education rose over the period

Smartphone-based remote monitoring in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: retrospective cohort study of secondary care use and costs

BACKGROUND: Despite effective therapies, the economic burden of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is driven by frequent hospitalizations. Treatment optimization and admission avoidance rely on frequent symptom reviews and monitoring of vital signs. Remote monitoring (RM) aims to prevent admissions by facilitating early intervention, but the impact of noninvasive, smartphone-based RM of vital signs on secondary health care use and costs in the months after a new diagnosis of HFrEF is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to conduct a secondary care health use and health-economic evaluation for patients with HFrEF using smartphone-based noninvasive RM and compare it with matched controls receiving usual care without RM. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 2 cohorts of newly diagnosed HFrEF patients, matched 1:1 for demographics, socioeconomic status, comorbidities, and HFrEF severity. They are (1) the RM group, with patients using the RM platform for >3 months and (2) the control group, with patients referred before RM was available who received usual heart failure care without RM. Emergency department (ED) attendance, hospital admissions, outpatient use, and the associated costs of this secondary care activity were extracted from the Discover data set for a 3-month period after diagnosis. Platform costs were added for the RM group. Secondary health care use and costs were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier event analysis and Cox proportional hazards modeling. RESULTS: A total of 146 patients (mean age 63 years; 42/146, 29% female) were included (73 in each group). The groups were well-matched for all baseline characteristics except hypertension (P=.03). RM was associated with a lower hazard of ED attendance (hazard ratio [HR] 0.43; P=.02) and unplanned admissions (HR 0.26; P=.02). There were no differences in elective admissions (HR 1.03, P=.96) or outpatient use (HR 1.40; P=.18) between the 2 groups. These differences were sustained by a univariate model controlling for hypertension. Over a 3-month period, secondary health care costs were approximately 4-fold lower in the RM group than the control group, despite the additional cost of RM itself (mean cost per patient GBP £465, US $581 vs GBP £1850, US$2313, respectively; P=.04). CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective cohort study shows that smartphone-based RM of vital signs is feasible for HFrEF. This type of RM was associated with an approximately 2-fold reduction in ED attendance and a 4-fold reduction in emergency admissions over just 3 months after a new diagnosis with HFrEF. Costs were significantly lower in the RM group without increasing outpatient demand. This type of RM could be adjunctive to standard care to reduce admissions, enabling other resources to help patients unable to use RM

Revival of the magnetar PSR J1622-4950: observations with MeerKAT, Parkes, XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR

New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100x larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800x larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111+/-19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.Comment: Published in ApJ (2018 April 5); 13 pages, 4 figure