Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Student Perceptions of Occupational Balance in Graduate School: A Qualitative Study

The objective of this study was to explore occupational therapy (OT) students’ occupational balance and to examine how OT students\u27 experiences in a graduate program promoted or inhibited occupational balance. Grounded theory methodology was used to develop a theory of the occupational balance of entry-level OT students. Twenty-six students were recruited using convenience and maximum variation sampling. Data analysis through constant comparison of transcripts, field notes, and memos consisted of open, axial, process, and selective coding. A storyline narrative with diagrams displayed relationships among concepts and supporting evidence for inductively derived theoretical propositional statements. Students in OT programs progressed through three phases of occupational balance during graduate school. The presented Theory of Occupational Balance indicated students developed a meaning of occupational balance based on past experiences and personal values. Occupational balance is influenced by different contexts and situations. This study revealed several strategies OT students implemented, including adapting methods to effectively and efficiently learn, using support systems, participating in multiple occupational roles, making time for self-care, and knowing when to seek professional assistance. This article presented a new Theory of Occupational Balance for OT Students. Results can inform administrators and faculty about the implications of curriculum design for the occupational balance of OT students. Understanding student occupational balance and circumstances that can cause disruptions may help prevent disruptions from creating unmanageable stress. Understanding strategies students can implement to return to occupational balance may help faculty suggest options for students who cannot self-manage an occupational balance disruption

Information-theoretic assessment of on-board near-lossless compression of hyperspectral data

A rate-distortion model to measure the impact of near-lossless compression of raw data, that is, compression with user-defined maximum absolute error, on the information avail- able once the compressed data have been received and decompressed is proposed. Such a model requires the original uncompressed raw data and their measured noise variances. Advanced near- lossless methods are exploited only to measure the entropy of the datasets but are not required for on-board compression. In substance, the acquired raw data are regarded as a noisy realization of a noise-free spectral information source. The useful spectral information at the decoder is the mutual information between the unknown ideal source and the decoded source, which is affected by both instrument noise and compression-induced distortion. Experiments on simulated noisy images, in which the noise-free source and the noise realization are exactly known, show the trend of spectral information versus compression distortion, which in turn is related to the coded bit rate or equivalently to the compression ratio through the rate-distortion characteristic of the encoder used on satellite. Preliminary experiments on airborne visible infrared imaging spec- trometer (AVIRIS) 2006 Yellowstone sequences match the trends of the simulations. The main conclusion that can be drawn is that the noisier the dataset, the lower the CR that can be tolerated, in order to save a prefixed amount of spectral information. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. (DOI: 10.1117/1.JRS.

Patient Perceptions of Acute Phases of Rehabilitation Following Shoulder Arthroplasty

Background: Shoulder arthroplasty is a common procedure, but a lack of research regarding recovery and rehabilitation limits occupational therapists from providing appropriate education and support. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the patient’s experiences in the acute recovery phase following shoulder arthroplasty. Method: Twelve participants completed three semi-structured interviews in the first 6 weeks following surgery. A basic-interpretive approach was used before coding interview transcriptions into categories. Results: The participants initially reported increased reliance on assistance and/or modifications in ADLs routines, such as dressing, bathing, and sleep. Interruption in sleep was reported because of pain and/or positioning restrictions, and frustration because of a lack of sleep and need for assistance was noteworthy. As sling usage decreased, the participants reported returning to ADLs with a coinciding reduction in frustration. Finally, the participants noted improvement in ADLs and IADLs and a return to tasks such as driving, cooking and meal preparation, and returning to social engagements. Overarching themes included presurgical expectations, advice, pain reduction, and general improvement in quality of life. Discussion: Changes to patient education, including ADLs and IADLs assistance needs, may improve patient recovery. Occupational therapists specifically may improve recovery by using their understanding of arthroplasty, environment, routines, and other factors that affect sleep

Toward An Identity for the Field of Doctoral Education in Health Sciences

The Association of Doctoral Programs in Health Sciences (ADPHS) was informally established in November 2019, officially incorporated in August 2021, and is currently a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization comprised of the directors of member doctoral programs of health sciences. The ADPHS grew from informal discussions among program directors who agreed that a major problem in the field of doctoral education in health sciences was the lack of a clearly defined and easily articulable identity. The discussions led to the drafting of an informal and nonscientific survey used to help clarify the current health sciences education environment, relevant emerging trends, and the educational philosophies adopted by the directors of health sciences doctoral programs nationally. The results of the survey and follow-up discussions revealed a strong consensus among program directors that the field of doctorate education in health sciences is uniformly characterized by its interdisciplinary nature. In this position paper, we provide the rationale for the formal position of the ADPHS that the identity of the field of doctoral education in health sciences is based on its interdisciplinary approach to education

Automated conduction velocity estimation based on isochronal activation of heart chambers

Background Spatial differences in conduction velocity (CV) are critical for cardiac arrhythmias induction. We propose a method for an automated CV calculation to identify areas of slower conduction during cardiac arrhythmias and sinus rhythm.Methods Color-coded representations of the isochronal activation map using data coming from the RHYTHMIA (TM) Mapping System were reproduced by applying a temporal isochronal window at 20 ms. Geodesic distances of the 3D mesh were calculated using an algorithm selecting the minimum distance pathway (MDP). The CV estimation was performed considering points on the boundary of two spatially and temporally adjacent isochrones. For each of the boundary points of a given isochrone, the nearest boundary point of the consecutive isochrone was chosen, the MDP was evaluated, and a map of CV was created. The proposed method has been applied to a population of 29 patients.Results In all cases of perimitral atrial flutter (16 pts out of 29 (55%)), areas with significantly low CV (< 30 cm/s) were found. Half of the cases present regions with low CV located in the anterior wall. No case with low CV at the so-called LA isthmus was observed. Right atrial maps during common atrial flutters showed low CV areas mainly located in the inferior inter-atrial septum. No areas of low CV were observed in subjects without a history of atrial arrhythmia while pts affected by paroxysmal AF showed areas with a limited extension of low CV.Conclusions The proposed software for automated CV estimation allows the identification of low CV areas, potentially helping electrophysiologists to plan the ablation strategy

Technical Note: Measurement of the tropical UTLS composition in presence of clouds using millimetre-wave heterodyne spectroscopy

The MARSCHALS (Millimetre-wave Airborne Receiver for Spectroscopic CHaracterisation of Atmospheric Limb-Sounding) project has the general objectives of demonstrating the measurement capabilities of a limb viewing instrument working in the millimetre and sub-millimetre spectral regions (from 294 to 349 GHz) for the study of the Upper Troposphere – Lower Stratosphere (UTLS). MARSCHALS has flown on board the M-55 stratospheric aircraft (Geophysica) in two measurements campaigns. Here we report the results of the analysis of MARSCHALS measurements during the SCOUT-O3 campaign held in Darwin (Australia) in December 2005 obtained with MARC (Millimetre-wave Atmospheric-Retrieval Code). MARSCHALS measured vertical distributions of temperature, water vapour, ozone and nitric acid in the altitude range from 10 to 20 km in presence of clouds that obscure measurements in the middle infrared spectroscopic region. The minimum altitude at which the retrieval has been possible is determined by the high water concentration typical of the tropical region rather than the extensive cloud coverage experienced during the flight. Water has been measured from 10 km to flight altitude (~18 km) with a 10% accuracy, ozone from 14 km to flight altitude with accuracy ranging from 10% to 60%, while the retrieval of nitric acid has been possible with an accuracy not better than 40% only from 16 km to flight altitude due to the low signal to noise ratio of its emission in the analysed spectral region. The results have been validated using measurement made in a less cloudy region by MIPAS-STR, an infrared limb-viewing instrument on board the M-55, during the same flight