A Retrospective Chart Review Pilot Study of Fall Prevention through a New and Innovative Care Model

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), falls are the leading cause of injury-related mortality in the geriatric population, and they are the most common cause of brain injury and hip fracture. The prevalence for falls is 30% in patients over 65 in the United States who experience a fall annually, and the prevalence in dementia patients can be up to 80% annually; the consequences of falls can include injury, reduction in mobility, depression and decreased socialization with peers (CDC, 2015). The purpose of this retrospective chart review pilot study is to examine the number of falls before and after patients come on service with Vivacitas Healthcare. Vivacitas Healthcare is a primary care service delivered in Brookdale Senior Communities, giving access to care for residents where they live. An extensive literature search was performed. The conceptual framework for this pilot study is the Chronic Care Model. This pilot study will examine whether Vivacitas primary care services to geriatric patients through a specific set of interventions have any effect on the number of patient falls. Falls will be assessed six months after joining Vivacitas primary care service and compared with the number of falls from the previous six months with their last primary care provider

The Impacts of Intervention on Emotional Awareness & Self-Regulation on Students with Disabilities

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impacts an intervention has on the emotional awareness and self-regulation skills of students with disabilities. Previous research has examined one or more of the components of emotional awareness, self0regulation,social emotional learning (SEL) programs, and students with disabilities; but none have examined all four of the components in conjunction with each other. This research was able to inspect all of these components through a mixed-methods study which implemented an intervention for eight weeks. The intervention consisted of instructing the student on recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotions, as well as learning new regulation tools and strategies. Data was collected before and after the intervention took place through the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale - Child (LEAS-c), a questionnaire, and an emotional identification activity. Results showed after the intervention, the students\u27 emotional awareness, emotional range, and self-regulation skills increased. This study shows the significance an intervention can have on students with disabilities and how their emotional awareness and self-regulation can improve, which contributes to their overall well-being

The Relationship Among Mathematics Anxiety, Mathematical Self-Efficacy, Mathematical Teaching Self-Efficacy, and the Instructional Practices of Elementary School Teachers

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to explore the relationships among the variables of mathematics anxiety, mathematical self-efficacy, mathematical teaching self-efficacy, and the instructional practice of elementary school teachers. The study included 320 practicing elementary teachers who teach mathematics to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. These teachers completed the Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Scale, the Mathematics Teaching and Mathematics Self-Efficacy survey, and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey. Quantitative data analysis methods included descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between mathematical teaching self-efficacy (efficacy) and mastery approaches to instruction, as well as a significant relationship between mathematical teaching self-efficacy (content) and performance-based instruction. The contradiction found within the data suggested an inconsistency among teachers regarding how their mathematical teaching self-efficacy influences their instructional practices. Additionally, results indicated that when teaching mathematics as it relates to mathematics content, teachers are confident in their abilities to provide performance-based instruction. This study offers findings to mathematics teacher educators and elementary mathematics teachers about the importance of identifying and resolving the internal conflict found within the subscales of mathematical teaching self-efficacy because of its relationship to elementary teachers\u27 instructional practices

USING QUANTITATIVE FLUORESCENT MICROSCOPY TO CHARACTERIZE CENTROMERIC EPIGENETIC REGULATION IN THE DEVELOPING EMBRYO OF CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS.

Despite being a canonical feature of all eukaryotic mitotic cell divisions, there is a surprising amount of variability between species for many specific characteristics of centromeres. Using many of the workhorses of biomedical research to study all aspects of centromere composition, organization, and regulation, research has uncovered several key canonical features of centromeres shared between species. In recent years, technology has facilitated higher quality quantitative imaging of experimental systems that previously have been difficult to quantify. In particular, we are interested in filling a deficit in centromeric research by utilizing modern microscopy and post-acquisition analysis techniques to expand our understanding of centromeric regulation into developing embryos. We have chosen C. elegans as our embryonic system as they have a strong track record as an embryonic model system and have tools in place for experimental and molecular manipulation. We first developed a quantitative post-acquisition analysis pathway to create a model of protein levels in an “average” early embryo. For understanding centromeres, we chose to focus on the most upstream epigenetic mark of centromeres in eukaryotes, the histone 3 variant, CENtromeric Protein A (CENP-A). Using our custom analysis, we were able to explore what canonical features of centromeres, specially CENP-A behavior and regulation, were conserved in embryonic systems. We found that the regulatory mechanisms involving licensing, loading, and maintaining of CENP-A throughout the early embryo are conserved. We also found that stability of CENP-A within chromatin throughout subsequent cell cycles is conserved as is a divorced loading from canonical histones. Interestingly, we found that despite the stability of CENP-A within chromatin during each cell cycle, overall levels of CENP-A within the genome drop every cell cycle and when cells exit the cell cycle, the once stably incorporated CENP-A is promptly removed from chromatin. We find that many of the characteristics of CENP-A considered canonical are conserved in the context of developing embryos, however, there are several that are unique in a developmental context. This work expands our understanding of the even larger diversity of centromeric regulation across eukaryotes and advances the use of quantitative microscopy into more complex systems.Doctor of Philosoph

The Dimensions of Customer Satisfaction in the Jamaican Financial Service Industry

Bank leaders spend an average of $727 to acquire a new customer and$287 to retain current customers. Grounded in customer relationship management and adaptation level theories, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between service quality and customers\u27 intention to switch banking service. An online survey was administered to 203 Jamaican banking customers. The target population was selected to identify if the Jamaican banks\u27 customer service adhered to the customer satisfaction principles developed by Parasuraman. The independent variables were the 10 dimensions of service quality. Competence, courtesy, credibility, and access were removed because of multicollinearity issues. The dependent variable was the customers\u27 intention. The results indicated a statistically significant relationship, F(6, 196) = 15.074, p \u3c .001, between service quality and customer intent to switch banking services. The six predictors: tangibles (r = -.303, p \u3c .005), reliability (r = -.253, p \u3c .008), responsiveness (r = .35, p \u3c .001), safety (r = -.433, p \u3c .001), communication (r = -.184, p \u3c .028), and empathy (r = -.357, p \u3c .001), accounted the largest variance for (β = -.316) of the customers\u27 intention of the Jamaican banking service. The implications for positive social change include the potential for bank leaders to develop customer-focused banking policy, increase customer satisfaction, and decrease costs related to losing customers, thus increasing profitability

Applying Downscaled Global Climate Model Data to a Hydrodynamic Surface-Water and Groundwater Model

Precipitation data from Global Climate Models have been downscaled to smaller regions. Adapting this downscaled precipitation data to a coupled hydrodynamic surface-water/groundwater model of southern Florida allows an examination of future conditions and their effect on groundwater levels, inundation patterns, surface-water stage and flows, and salinity. The downscaled rainfall data include the 1996-2001 time series from the European Center for MediumRange Weather Forecasting ERA-40 simulation and both the 1996-1999 and 2038-2057 time series from two global climate models: the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamic Laboratory (GFDL). Synthesized surface-water inflow datasets were developed for the 2038-2057 simulations. The resulting hydrologic simulations, with and without a 30-cm sea-level rise, were compared with each other and field data to analyze a range of projected conditions. Simulations predicted generally higher future stage and groundwater levels and surface-water flows, with sea-level rise inducing higher coastal salinities. A coincident rise in sea level, precipitation and surface-water flows resulted in a narrower inland saline/fresh transition zone. The inland areas were affected more by the rainfall difference than the sea-level rise, and the rainfall differences make little difference in coastal inundation, but a larger difference in coastal salinities

Influential Article Review - Business and Parents

This paper examines entrepreneurship. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: The present study investigates the relationship between the number of children in the household and mothers and fathers’ propensity to become and remain owners of limited liability businesses. We started by identifying all full-time employed taxpayers in Norway in 2004 between 25 and 50 years of age. In this study, we look at the relationship between the number of children in the household and the propensity of these non-entrepreneurs to become and remain business owners from 2005 to 2016. For both sexes, the results show a positive and linear relationship between the number of children at home and business ownership and a U-shaped relationship between the size of the household brood and exit from business ownership. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German