National Library Legislative Day 2011

Here\u27s a reference question for you: What do the names Cannon, Dirksen, Hart, Longworth, Russell, and Rayburn have in common? If you answered names of the Congressional office buildings in Washington, DC, you get a gold star! We got to know these names well when we attended the National Library Legislative Day 2011 on May 9-10 as the WLA delegates representing Washington libraries

Undergraduate Nursing Students\u27 Perceptions of Preparedness as They Prepare to Graduate

Background: Nursing students in their final semester before graduation often have feelings of anxiety as they face unique challenges that come with the transition from a protective educational environment to the roles and responsibilities of a new graduate staff nurse. Factors such as increasing responsibility and clinical workload and the continuing development of clinical and time management skills may contribute to feelings of anxiety and insecurity. New graduate nurses are recognized as a valuable resource due to the chronic and increasing shortage of registered nurses as seasoned nurses approach retirement, baby boomers age, and the need for health care grows. The literature has reported that a large percentage of new graduates change jobs during their first year of work indicating their frustration with the realities of practice. new graduates with feelings of being well prepared and having confidence in their nursing skills allows for a smoother transition into the workforce. Although there is a vast amount of literature that addresses new graduates\u27 experiences and perceptions after beginning their first job, there is little assessment of the soon-to-be graduating students\u27 expectations and feelings of preparedness as they get ready to start their new career. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide student-centered perspectives of preparedness as they approach their transition to being a new graduate registered nurse. Research question: Are the soon-to-be graduating St. John Fisher College baccalaureate prepared nurses feeling prepared to begin their career as they near graduation? Methods: Senior nursing students (n=78) in their final semester of their baccalaureate degree program at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York were given an explanation of the study and invited to participate by completing a descriptive survey. The questionnaire, Perceptions of Educational Preparation for Practice as a Registered Nurse, consists of 21 questions which were scored in a Likert style format. Consent was obtained prior to student participation. Descriptive statistics were used to descriptive demographic data and perception responses. Implications: The research data is meant to provide insights into how the soon-to-be graduating nurses perceive their competency and their confidence in their ability to successfully transition into the workplace. A student centered perspective may lead to development of strategies to ease the stressful transition from being a student to becoming an RN, thereby assisting with future planning and policy directions of the undergraduate curricula

Biochemical and clinical response after umbilical cord blood transplant in a boy with early childhood-onset beta-mannosidosis.

BACKGROUND: Deficiency in the enzyme β-mannosidase was described over three decades ago. Although rare in occurrence, the presentation of childhood-onset β-mannosidase deficiency consists of hypotonia in the newborn period followed by global development delay, behavior problems, and intellectual disability. No effective pharmacologic treatments have been available. METHODS: We report 2-year outcomes following the first umbilical cord blood transplant in a 4-year-old boy with early childhood-onset disease. RESULTS: We show restoration of leukocyte β-mannosidase activity which remained normal at 2 years posttransplant, and a simultaneous increase in plasma β-mannosidase activity and dramatic decrease in urine-free oligosaccharides were also observed. MRI of the brain remained stable. Neurocognitive evaluation revealed test point gains, although the magnitude of improvement was less than expected for age, causing lower IQ scores that represent a wider developmental gap between the patient and unaffected peers. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that hematopoietic cell transplant can correct the biochemical defect in β-mannosidosis, although preservation of the neurocognitive trajectory may be a challenge

Assessing the Collaboration That Was “Collaborative Federalism” 1996-2006

From a vantage point fifteen to twenty years after a number of scholars labeled the intergovernmental climate of the mid/late 1990s as "collaborative federalism," this article re-assess the appropriateness of this label. Looking particularly at social policy, we consider the process of col- laboration itself, both in terms of the institutions and forums where the federal and provincial partners to the collabora- tion met (have initial attempts to grow the apparatus of intergovernmental negotiations had lasting effects), and in terms of the culture and relationships involved (have prov- inces and the federal government negotiated in ways that place the two orders of government on equal footing, or have they reverted to a hierarchical relationship). The article also considers whether provincial and federal governments pro- duced collaborative policy outcomes, given their pledges to do so, as elaborated in a series of intergovernmental agree- ments. We find that the “collaborative” of collaborative federalism comes to look quite thin, particularly compared to the definition of collaboration advanced by scholars a decade ago. We conclude with some brief reflections on what the lack of collaboration in collaborative federalism means for the broader taxonomic question of how we understand the intergovernmental relations of these years, and suggest that a more accurate descriptor might be the unraveling of competitive federalism

The Effect of Ash and Inorganic Pigment Fill on the Atomic Oxygen Erosion of Polymers and Paints (ISMSE-12)

Low atomic oxygen fluence (below 1x10(exp 20) atoms/sq cm) exposure of polymers and paints that have a small ash content and/or inorganic pigment fill does not cause a significant difference in erosion yield compared to unfilled (neat) polymers or paints. However, if the ash and/or inorganic pigment content is increased, the surface population of the inorganic content will begin to occupy a significant fraction of the surface area as the atomic oxygen exposure increases because the ash is not volatile and remains as a loosely attached surface layer. This results in a reduction of the flux of atomic oxygen reacting with the polymer and a reduction in the rate of erosion of the polymer remaining. This paper presents the results of ground laboratory and low Earth orbital (LEO) investigations to evaluate the fluence dependence of atomic oxygen erosion yields of polymers and paints having inorganic fill content

A Modeling Approach to Maintenance Decisions Using Statistical Quality Control and Optimization

Maintenance concerns impact systems in every industry and effective maintenance policies are important tools. We present a methodology for maintenance decision making for deteriorating systems under conditions of uncertainty that integrates statistical quality control (SQC) and partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs). We use simulation to develop realistic maintenance policies for real-world environments. Specifically, we use SQC techniques to sample and represent real-world systems. These techniques help define the observation distributions and structure for a POMDP. We propose a simulation methodology for integrating SQC and POMDPs in order to develop and valuate optimal maintenance policies as a function of process characteristics, system operating and maintenance costs. A two-state machine replacement problem is used as an example of how the method can be applied. A simulation program developed using Visual Basic for Excel yields results on the optimal probability threshold and on the accuracy of the decisions as a function of the initial belief about the condition of the machine. This work lays a foundation for future research that will help bring maintenance decision models into practice. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39203/1/616_ftp.pd

Addressing the Requirements of High‐Sensitivity Single‐Molecule Imaging of Low‐Copy‐Number Proteins in Bacteria

Single‐molecule fluorescence super‐resolution imaging and tracking provide nanometer‐scale information about subcellular protein positions and dynamics. These single‐molecule imaging experiments can be very powerful, but they are best suited to high‐copy number proteins where many measurements can be made sequentially in each cell. We describe artifacts associated with the challenge of imaging a protein expressed in only a few copies per cell. We image live Bacillus subtilis in a fluorescence microscope, and demonstrate that under standard single‐molecule imaging conditions, unlabeled B. subtilis cells display punctate red fluorescent spots indistinguishable from the few PAmCherry fluorescent protein single molecules under investigation. All Bacillus species investigated were strongly affected by this artifact, whereas we did not find a significant number of these background sources in two other species we investigated, Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli. With single‐molecule resolution, we characterize the number, spatial distribution, and intensities of these impurity spots.Bright spots: A single‐molecule‐like fluorescent background signal is reported in Bacillus subtilis cells, and the density and fluorescence intensity of these spots are quantified in several Bacillus species and other Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive organisms.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144710/1/cphc201600035_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144710/2/cphc201600035.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144710/3/cphc201600035-sup-0001-misc_information.pd

Polarized Radio Sources: A Study of Luminosity, Redshift and Infrared Colors

The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory Deep Field polarization study has been matched with the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic survey of the European Large Area Infrared Space Observatory Survey North 1 field. We have used VLA observations with a total intensity rms of 87 microJy beam^-1 to match SWIRE counterparts to the radio sources. Infrared color analysis of our radio sample shows that the majority of polarized sources are elliptical galaxies with an embedded active galactic nucleus. Using available redshift catalogs, we found 429 radio sources of which 69 are polarized with redshifts in the range of 0.04 < z <3.2. We find no correlation between redshift and percentage polarization for our sample. However, for polarized radio sources, we find a weak correlation between increasing percentage polarization and decreasing luminosity.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa