The Fate of Heavy Metals in Highway Stormwater Runoff: The Characterization of a Bioretention Basin in the Midwest

The usual wear of automobiles and road surfaces deposits numerous environmental pollutants on roadways and parking lots, including heavy metals such as copper, zinc, lead, nickel and cadmium. During rainfall and snow events, these metals are washed from the paved surface in stormwater runoff or plowed onto shoulders where they are trapped in snow and ice. The metal contaminants carried in the stormwater runoff and eventual snowmelt often enter nearby surface waters and contribute to their degradation as well as threaten the survival of aquatic organisms at all levels of the food chain. This pathway of heavy metal contamination has become a significant concern due to increased urbanization and roadway construction. Bioretention is a best management practice used to remove heavy metals and other pollutants from stormwater runoff and snowmelt that utilizes the inherent physical and chemical properties of soil compounds. As runoff passes through a bioretention basin, heavy metals are deposited in mulch and soil layers through processes including sedimentation and filtration as well as adsorption and complexation to soil compounds such as organic matter, clay and metal oxides. Numerous factors affect the retention of these metals, including the use of deicing salts. Deicing salts in highway runoff are thought to hinder heavy metal removal by interfering in the chemical attraction between metals and soil compounds. Investigations, including a pilot column study and field experiments at an existing bioretention basin in Johnson County, Kansas, documented the effectiveness of bioretention in removing elevated levels of heavy metals, particularly copper, from highway stormwater runoff in the Great Plains region. Total suspended solids (TSS) and dissolved and total metal concentrations were analyzed in influent and effluent runoff samples from the field bioretention basin. The column study included tracer and retention tests that investigated water and dissolved copper retention, respectively, in two columns. Removal rates of particulate-associated metals (based on concentration) from runoff samples were 90 percent or greater for lead, nickel, copper, cadmium and zinc. From March to November 2007, the bioretention basin removed an average of 33 percent of total copper and 47 percent of dissolved copper from runoff samples. The TSS removal rate was 80 percent. Short-term dissolved copper retention was achieved in the laboratory column study. The two columns retained 91 and 94 percent of dissolved copper from the influent solution during the final tests

Writing Through the Lower Frequencies: Interpreting the Unnaming and Naming Process Within Richard Wright\u27s Native Son and Ralph Ellison\u27s Invisible Man

The search for identity within Richard Wright’s Native Son and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man has long been analyzed, yet the fact that each protagonist’s search for self is brought to a point of crisis during an intimate interaction with a white woman has often been neglected. Here, I analyze each author’s strategic use of a nameless narrator by utilizing the work of W.E.B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon, arguing that the act of “literary unnaming” is used to critique the development of black American identity during the time of Jim Crow. The use of a nameless narrator is explored through “the unnaming and naming process,” which I situate as symbolic of the historical unnaming of the African people, who were subjected to naming and cultural stripping during the time of slavery. Each narrator’s scene with a white woman (Mary in Native Son and Sybil in Invisible Man) is critiqued in order to highlight the most intimate unnaming and naming process, and is identified as the narrator’s catalyst that begins the re-claiming of his unnamed state, identified here as the “re-naming” proces

Public Engagement through Burial Landscapes: Cupids and Ferryland, Newfoundland

British occupation of Newfoundland dates to the early 1600s with the founding of settlements such as Cupids and Ferryland. While records of deaths exist at both colonies, their seventeenth-century burial grounds have not been located. Historic burial grounds in Newfoundland come with certain characteristic features: surviving gravestones in a rocky landscape, views of the ocean, and often a large cross on top of a hill. Though not visible at the sites in question, these ‘lost’ burial landscapes can be employed as an engagement tool by archaeologists. By exploring a ‘lost’ burial landscape with visitors, a dialogue is opened to speculate where the settlers were buried and why. While indirect, discussing these themes with visitors provokes thought on historic vs. modern burial practices and acknowledges the seventeenth-century dead within the context of the modern landscape. This article aims to explore the use of burial landscapes to engage visitors in a conversation about early colonial history, but also about mortality in both historic and modern contexts

Use of a Needs Assessment to Develop a Curriculum for an Internal Medicine Boot Camp for Graduating Medical Students

Transitioning between medical school and internship is stressful with newly increased responsibilities. One way to prepare fourth year medical students for residency is through a boot camp course. Boot camps are more frequently cited in the surgical literature as a way to increase the confidence of students entering surgical internship, but may offer similar benefits to students entering an internal medicine internship. With a 5-point Likert -cale survey, we conducted a needs assessment of fourth-year students entering internal medicine internship, interns, and hospitalist attendings. We asked students about their current comfort level in 23 topics encountered in internal medicine. For interns, we asked them to reflect on their comfort level with each topic at entrance into internship. For attendings, we asked them to rate the importance of each topic. Our results showed that over half of current interns indicated feelings of discomfort with a greater number of topics than did students (16 vs. 6). Interestingly, inpatient and outpatient procedures showed very high levels of discomfort by students and interns though were rated as being unimportant by hospitalist faculty. Using data from our needs assessment, we sought to create a curriculum for graduating medical students entering an internal medicine internship that would address their verbalized needs as well as inferred needs defined by faculty responses. Findings that our fourth-year students reported higher comfort level with topics than internal medicine interns reflecting back on their comfort level may be a result of different medical school preparations, response bias, or recall bias

Mock Paging Program in Internal Medicine Boot Camp

Purpose: To provide practice in common mock paging scenarios in internal medicine (IM) with formative feedback. Abstract: Transitioning to residency is a stressful time with increased expectations. One expected skill is answering and triaging pages, by utilizing clinical knowledge, behaviors and attitudes to provide the best care possible. To increase experience, comfort level and critical thinking skills, we created 14 unique IM cases for mock paging through the Southern Illinois University mock paging program. The 14 IM cases encompass common scenarios found on the wards. A panel of invited experts reviewed each case for appropriate responses, including assessments, investigations, management, and communication which aided in creating a rubric of what students should and should not do in each case. During the boot camp course, nurse educators called the students and introduced a case, where the student was expected to ask questions and communicate a plan. Immediate feedback offered by the educators after case completion was followed with weekly compiled feedback to the group. At the end of the boot camp course, a retrospective pre-post survey was given. Results: Our retrospective pre-post survey for our inaugural cohort (2019) showed that prior to our boot camp course students felt low comfort level in answering pages and after the mock paging program, they felt increased comfort level in answering pages. We surveyed them again 4 months into their residency; all surveyed reported increased comfort level during the beginning of residency after participation in our mock paging program. Conclusion: We demonstrated increased comfort level with mock paging and acknowledge retrospective pre-post surveys can be influenced by recall bias. We had a limited sample size given our small inaugural class. Overall, our study supports that students perceive benefit from a mock paging program. Our work would be strengthened by tying this perception to on the job skills

Are Advanced Practice Registered Nurses In Mississippi Participating In Practices That Advocate The Nursing Profession

Previous research studies have focused on patient outcomes related to healthcare interventions, but there is little research available regarding nurses’ involvement in activities that would advance the profession. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses’ (APRN) contributions to the healthcare system lead to direct improvement of patient outcomes through research, mentoring new professionals, and participating in professional organizations. The theoretical motivation behind the study is Ray’s Theory of Bureaucratic Caring that proposed healthcare personnel consider incorporation of the business aspects of healthcare to propel nursing into the future. Ray dared nurses to become leaders in the field, understand the corporate aspects of health care, evolve bedside nursing through research activity, and build future nurse leaders with political and mentorship works. The study considers characteristics Ray demanded nurses take to control the future of the profession and advance the nurse’s role in healthcare. The study will assess current level of involvement of APRNs in three activities that directly advance the profession. Survey questions will address demographic information and the degree of participation in the three specific activities. The study will use a quantitative approach through randomized surveys distributed through face-to-face encounters, Survey Monkey, social media, and email. Inclusion criteria is limited to practicing APRNs within any specialty with a master’s level education or higher

Producing for the Future: A Collaboration between Low Income Youth, Congregations, and Researchers - Youth Impact Evaluation

Producing for the Future is an Oregon State University research project where youth, adult partners, and OSU researchers work together to design and plant a community garden and develop a microenterprise venture to market the produce grown. Using the CBPR process, everyone on the project collects and analyze data evaluating the project and provide training and outreach to other communities interested in similar collaborations. This project is funded by the National Institutes of Health to explore health benefits of community-based garden programs for low-income youth and to teach gardening, cooking, marketing and research skills. The gardens are located at two local churches in Corvallis and Sweet Home, Oregon. The goal of our research project was to compare the knowledge and attitudes of Producing for the Future participants about local food resources, gardening, eating organically, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle before their participation in the project, with attitudes and knowledge of the topic after they had been a participant. We used this data to analyze what types of changes took place among our participants pre and post experience

Producing for the Future: A Collaboration between Low-Income Youth, Congregations, and Researchers - Youth Impact Evaluation

The goal of our research project was to compare the knowledge and attitudes of Producing for the Future participants about local food resources, gardening, eating organically, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle before their participation in the project, with attitudes and knowledge of the topic after they had been a participant. We used this data to analyze what types of changes took place among our participants pre and post experience.Youth Impact Evaluation is one aspect of the larger research project. Producing for the Future is an Oregon State University research project where youth, adult partners, and OSU researchers work together to design and plant a community garden and develop a microenterprise venture to market the produce grown. Using the CBPR process, everyone on the project collects and analyzes data evaluating the project, which also provides training and outreach to other communities interested in similar collaborations. This project is funded by the National Institutes of Health to explore health benefits of community-based garden programs for low-income youth and to teach gardening, cooking, marketing and research skills. The gardens are located at two local churches in Corvallis and Sweet Home, Oregon