The Give and Take of Tutoring on Location

Curriculum- or classroom-based writing tutoring (CBT) programs are wellestablished writing across the curriculum components in some of the most prestigious colleges across the country. The 2005 collection On Location: Theory and Practice in Classroom-Based Writing Tutoring highlights various theoretical and practical issues involved in CBT, and Margot Soven’s 2006 What the Writing Tutor Needs to Know is the first book to combine information on training tutors for work in either writing centers or CBT programs. But just as all writing centers are not alike, CBT programs differ from institution to institution. There is much flexibility in and between models. This flexibility is due to the various needs and desires of the students, tutors, instructors, and program administrators: some programs do not ask tutors to comment on student papers; some programs make visits to tutors optional, while others make them mandatory; and some programs offer hybrids of both approaches. Behind all these methodological and practical choices also lie complex theoretical issues of power/authority, collaborative control/flexibility, and process/product. For example, Jean Marie Lutes argues that “the [writing fellows] program complicates the peer relationship between fellows and students; when fellows comment on drafts, they inevitably write not only for their immediate audience (the student writers), but also for their future audience (the professor)” (239). Issues like these and others brought up in CBT research and practice led me to begin investigating some of the differences between various models.University Writing Cente

From Grammatical to Global: The WAC/Writing Center Connection

In a 1999 essay reporting a synoptic history of writing center theory and practice, Elizabeth Boquet honestly laments her feelings of boredom with writing center scholarship up to that time. Since, it seems, everything has been said and done, she asks the pointed question: “What is being left out of our discussions on teaching writing by our failure to account for the work of the writing center in a critically intellectual manner?” (479). She goes on to suggest that newer, fresher stories wait to be told: “Other stories can be brought to light, stories which write the developments of the contemporary writing center in theoretically sophisticated ways, stories that consider the critical capacities of networking, of linking writing centers with WAC programs, of placing peer tutors in classrooms” (479). If we look to scholarship (stories) on the WAC/writing center connection we will find that strong interdisciplinary connections between writing centers, writing classrooms, and the university at large already exist. In order for these more theoretically sophisticated stories to be told to their fullest dramatic potential, however, WAC/writing center connections need to continue to be investigated, researched, and reported on.University Writing Cente

Distal humeral plating of an intramedullary nail periprosthetic fracture using a miss-a-nail technique: a case report

The treatment of distal humeral periprosthetic fractures is not widely described in the literature. We present a difficult clinical scenario of a 72-year-old man who sustained a displaced distal humeral periprosthetic fracture about a Polarus Plus intramedullary nail. In this case, stable fixation was achieved using bicondylar Acumed Mayo congruent Plates using a miss-a-nail technique. Four months following the post operative period, the patient regained satisfactory range of movement with full function and no further complications up to 18 months post fixation. Treatment of such complex periprosthetic fractures is technically achievable and with potentially good results

Professionalisation of Operating Department Practice: An evolutionary perspective,

The health care professionals staffing the operating theatres of UK hospitals are pursuing a professionalisation agenda based around increasing the academic level of the credential required for entry to their professional register. This paper explores the impact of this on registered Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs) and Theatre Nurses by proposing a theory of professionalisation based on the work of evolutionary biologist Leigh van Valen (1973). Selected findings from a wider study of human capital development in the operating theatre are presented which demonstrate an inter- and intra-professional evolutionary process which resonates with van Valen’s Red Queen’s Hypothesis. The findings show how registered professionals carry out a benchmarking exercise to determine the most suitable route of professional development. The ODPs and nurses who decide to participate in credentialised continuing professional development do so to remain competitive with the new breed of graduates entering the profession. However, their continued study only serves to bring them to the level of the new breed professionals; they are running fast to stand still. We explore and comment on the ripple of behaviours the rise in academic credential produces

Ethnic differences in medicinal plant use among University students: a cross-sectional survey of self-reported medicinal plant use at two Midwest Universities

Background: Numerous surveys of medicinal plant use among college students abound, but none compare use between students enrolled in two different Universities with significantly different ethnic compositions. The objective of this study is to compare medicinal plant use between two different ethnic college populations and explore differences between student medicinal plant users and non-users for comparison with previous research. Methods: Students (n = 721) at a large research university (n = 498) and a Pan-Tribal University for Native Americans (n = 233) completed surveys in October 2011 to assess past year medicinal plant use. The Mann-Whitney U test, Chi Square test, and General Linear Model were used to compare demographics and self-reported use of medicinal plants among students at both Universities and between past year users and non-users. Results: Over 23 % of university students surveyed reported past year medicinal plant use. Users were more likely to use commercial tobacco products and to report poorer health than non-users. While Native American student medicinal plant users reported significantly higher rates of commercial tobacco use, lower self-assessment of health, and less use of prescription medicine than non-Native users, no significant differences in prevalence of medicinal plant use were found between University student populations. Conclusions: Results are consistent with preexisting data showing higher rates of medicinal plant use among college students compared to the larger US population of adults and demonstrate previously documented health disparities in Native American populations compared to non-Native Americans

Minimal Informationally Complete Measurements for Pure States

We consider measurements, described by a positive-operator-valued measure (POVM), whose outcome probabilities determine an arbitrary pure state of a D-dimensional quantum system. We call such a measurement a pure-state informationally complete (PSI-complete) POVM. We show that a measurement with 2D-1 outcomes cannot be PSI-complete, and then we construct a POVM with 2D outcomes that suffices, thus showing that a minimal PSI-complete POVM has 2D outcomes. We also consider PSI-complete POVMs that have only rank-one POVM elements and construct an example with 3D-2 outcomes, which is a generalization of the tetrahedral measurement for a qubit. The question of the minimal number of elements in a rank-one PSI-complete POVM is left open.Comment: 2 figures, submitted for the Asher Peres festschrif

All Hands on Deck: A Team Approach to System Migration

Purpose: To determine if a team approach to a complex integrated library system (ILS) migration would result in a timely and successful outcome. Brief Description: Changing needs and an aging integrated library system server platform prompted Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library to migrate to a new ILS. After considering several options, Himmelfarb decided to join with the George Washington University\u27s Jacob Burns Law Library in their move to a hosted instance of Innovative Interface\u27s Sierra ILS and Encore OPAC. Though some separation of data and functionality could be achieved, there were several functions that would be shared between the two libraries\u27 systems. A successful transition would depend upon both libraries\u27: detailed knowledge of the system data determining essential functionality to preserve willingness to change and accommodate Because the Law Library\u27s Sierra migration was delayed until mid-December 2012 and Himmelfarb\u27s pre-paid server maintenance was ending in March 2013, the window to accomplish migration was a short 12 weeks, prompting the decision to team-manage the migration. Conclusion: Teams and organizational tools, including weekly meetings to discuss problems, ensured the timely completion of key assignments that were critical to meeting the Go Live date goal. The team approach allowed the work and decision-making to be distributed among a large percentage of the staff, creating a broader sense of ownership. Distribution of tasks allowed a high level of attention to detail necessary for an optimal outcome

Agreed definitions and a shared vision for new standards in stroke recovery research: The Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable taskforce.

The first Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable established a game changing set of new standards for stroke recovery research. Common language and definitions were required to develop an agreed framework spanning the four working groups: translation of basic science, biomarkers of stroke recovery, measurement in clinical trials and intervention development and reporting. This paper outlines the working definitions established by our group and an agreed vision for accelerating progress in stroke recovery research