Simulation on sensory impairment in older adults:nursing education

Sensory impairments are identified as the most common chronic and disabling conditions of later life impacting significantly on the quality of life and safety of older adults. Hospitals and care environments can present significant challenges to older adults with sensory impairments to negotiate. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness on sensory and cognitive impairments with all healthcare professionals and nurses in particular, both to help develop an empathetic awareness on the impact of impairment and to minimize risk of adverse events. This article reports on a pedagogical innovation on the development and use of a simulation resource primarily on sensory impairments in older adults with first year nursing students within an undergraduate nursing programme in a Scottish university. The article also reports on students' reflections on their experience of participating in this simulation

Assessing the Cell Phone Challenge to Survey Research in 2010

Updates an analysis of the complexity of including cell phone samples in surveys and issues of non-coverage bias. Examines weighted estimates from landline, cell, and combined samples; demographic and other characteristics of each group; and implications

How Memory Affects Sense of Self: Stories of Traumatic Brain Injury

(2010 Undergraduate Prize Winner.) How does memory affect sense of self? For traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors, memory has a large impact on sense of self. Some cannot remember who they were before the injury and have to rely on others’ memories or photographs to reinvent their sense of self. Others can remember who they were before the accident, but feel they are vastly different than their old self. How do TBI survivors negotiate reconstructing identities and sense of self when memories play a disconnecting role? Through this process, storytelling can help survivors recreate a sense of self that is more continuous and also empower them in educating others about their experience and decreasing stigma

Empowered Minds and Sterilized Bodies: The Decisions and Lived Experiences of Surgically Sterilized Women in Santo Antonio de Jesus

During the last several decades, Brazil has experienced a rapid fertility decline from 6 births per woman in 1965 to 1.8 births per woman in 2006. Though Brazil lacks a significant and organized family planning program, this fertility decline has been caused in large part by an extremely high rate of female sterilization. Of the 81 percent of women living in union who use birth control, 29 percent are surgically sterilized, placing Brazil at the third highest rate of female sterilization in the world. This research analyzes the sterilization narratives of 10 women from the city of Santo Antonio de Jesus in the northeastern state of Bahia in order to understand their motivations for becoming sterilized and to place their choices in the context of economic class and social relations. In addition, two doctors and one nurse were interviewed in order to understand the influence of medicalization on the choices and experiences of the women. The research found that there is a distinction between the choice that women make to become sterilized and the lived experience of the sterilization procedure. The choice that women make to become sterilized is an empowered and determined decision to create a better life in the face of precarious economic conditions. However, when women enter the medical sphere to realize the surgical procedure, the knowledge asymmetry between doctor and patient leave women alienated from their bodies, especially as they continue to live in fear of becoming pregnant again. The research concludes that the disparity between the choice to become sterilized and the experience of sterilization leave women in a conflicted position in which they have taken control of their lives at the cost of losing control of their bodies

Single Molecule DNA Looping Assay

Proper three-dimensional organization of the genome is required for cells to coordinate and control gene activity. Supercoiling is a critical process in compacting DNA into tightly wound structures to organize the genome. Formation of DNA mini circles via looping is an important, early step in this process. Here, we are working to develop a single-molecule fluorescent assay to monitor DNA loop formation in real-time. We are using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to generate dye-labeled constructs of different sequences. High and low levels of NaCl are used to induce looped and unlooped formations of the DNA that give distinct high and low FRET signals, respectively. Non-helical regions associated with genetic disorders, such as spinocerebellar ataxia and ALS, disrupt genomic organization. With this assay, we aim to track looping activity in real time and study how defects within the helical domain associated with such genetic disorders affect the looping process and how it can lead to genomic disorganization

A Woman on Fire: A Character Study of Hedda Gabler

In this thesis I will be discussing my process in preparing and performing my thesis role of Hedda Gabler, and how it is relevant to modern struggles of women surrounding pregnancy, motherhood, and body autonomy. This is paralleled with the topic of my one-person show, titled 6 Weeks. I will include the events of both plays, the script of 6 Weeks, my character analysis of Hedda, the rehearsal process, production photos, resume, headshot, program, and a link to my website

The Impact of Amateur Hockey Leagues on NHL Performance

One of the main ways a National Hockey League (NHL) team can acquire players is through the Entry Level Draft, in which players between the ages of 18 and 20 are selected by teams based on what they have accomplished in junior hockey. Over 200 players are drafted each year over the course of seven rounds. However, the chances of draftees making it in the NHL is low. Only 51% of players drafted from 2007-2015 have played in the NHL. And only 33% have played in at least 82 games. Since the success rate is so low it is important to understand what amateur leagues can tell us about a player and how they might contribute to their NHL team. We used several models to find the relationship between amateur hockey leagues and success in the NHL and attempted to make connections between “types” of players developed and amateur leagues across different countries