Metropolitan Contexts for Community Initiatives: Contrasts in a Turbulent Decade

Analyzes demographic, social, and poverty data and 2000-10 changes in the economies and housing markets of fourteen metropolitan areas to inform Casey's strategies for reinvesting in initiatives including rehabilitation and minimizing vacancies

Not Enough Progress: Texas Still Leading in Health Uninsurance Rates

Despite large improvements, Texas still leads the nation in health uninsurance rates. This issue of The Takeaway explores how health insurance coverage still remains a persistent public policy issue in Texas, how changes in federal policy may effect Texas, and why high uninsurance rates matter.The author was supported in this work by a research fellowship from The Texas Lyceum

Availability and Nursing Implementation of Measurement Tools in the Co-Occurrence of Depression and Chronic Pain: An Integrative Literature Review

Availability and Nursing Implementation of Measurement Tools in the Co-Occurrence of Depression and Chronic Pain: An Integrative Literature Review Ashley Thomas Faculty Sponsor: Barbara Harris Background: There is high correlation between chronic pain and depression. They are seen throughout the literature to interact and feedback symptoms upon each other. However, there is not a comprehensive screening tool that assess both symptoms and not a clear indication of nursing responsibility in assessment of the co-occurrence. Objectives: The purpose of this literature review is to create a comprehensive review of current research concerning the availability of screening tools that measure the co-occurrence of chronic pain and depression and how nurses implement the results of those screening tests. Method: An integrative literature review was completed on twelve research studies. They were found using the databases: PsychInfo, Cumuative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) complete, and Pubmed. The search terms used were: screening, intervention or treatment, co-occurrence or comorbidity alongside the phrase chronic pain AND depression and clinical setting OR clinical, nursing role, or nursing alongside the further specification AND chronic pain AND depression. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. Results: There were no comprehensive screening tools tested on any population that assessed both chronic pain and depression in one tool. The most common methodology found across the studies was to screening for depression in chronic pain populations and to screen using separate tools. All the tools that were tested were verified through various statistical data to be reliable screening options. Some notable screening tools for depression screening were the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and PHQ-9, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Some notable chronic pain measurement tools were the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the Pain Disability Index (PDI), the Profile of Chronic Pain: Screen (PCP:S) and the Profile of Chronic Pain: Extended Assessment (PCP:EA). Some tools that did not directly measure chronic pain and depression but rather focused on critical factors affected by the pain-depression dyad like quality of life and control belief were the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) and Quality of Life Scale (QOLS). To answer the second research question of nursing implementation of screening tool results, empathy, education, promotion of self-efficacy, assessment, and focus on strengthening and stretching exercises; evoke the mind-body approach including: yoga, medication, hypnosis, and progressive relaxation; mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy were encouraged Conclusion: Although there are many reliable screening tools in the clinical setting there needs to be a comprehensive model that focused on the consequences of pain and depression on the mind, body, spirit, and interactions. The role of nurses is assessing changes in pain and depression need to be expanded as well to improve patient outcomes. The theory of unpleasant symptoms is a good reference for a new comprehensive model of screening because it focuses on physiological, psychological and situation factors that influence symptoms and performance. The notable screening tools reviewed were synthesized according to the theory to highlight good line of questioning. Keywords: chronic pain, depression, screening tools, nursing role, co-occurrence, theory of unpleasant symptom

HPLC Analysis of Amino Acids in Algae

Undergraduate Basi

Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy is a new treatment that is being introduced into the veterinary community. Photodynamic therapy is the use of light activated chemotherapy to kill cancer cells (Dougherty, 1998). It has already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to be used as a form of cancer treatment in humans, but has not been carried over to the veterinary community. That is until now. Photodynamic therapy is now being tested in the veterinary community in hopes to find the same results that the human medical community has when dealing with certain types of cancer. They also hope to permanently adopt the new procedure into facilities as an alternative form of cancer treatment. The purpose of this study is to determine what laser works the best with what concentration of drug and what amount of exposure time will yield the highest kill percentage

The Combined Effects of Discrimination and Holding Multiple Intersecting Marginalized Identities on Substance Use Among Adolescents

Individuals with multiple intersecting marginalized identities may be at greater risk for negative outcomes and exposure to discrimination during development. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of discrimination and having multiple marginalized identities on substance use among Minnesota youth. Using data gathered from the 2019 administration of the Minnesota Student Survey, a large statewide survey of 80,456 9th and 11th grade students, this study aimed to identify how holding multiple intersecting identities related to experiences of discrimination and substance use in Minnesota youth. Findings revealed that participants with more marginalized identity statuses experienced higher rates of discrimination and engaged in more frequent substance use than those with fewer marginalized identities. The relationship between holding multiple intersecting oppressed identity statuses and greater substance use was fully mediated by greater perceived discrimination among students with more marginalized identity statuses. In fact, once discrimination was included in the model, the relationship between multiple intersecting oppressed identities and substance use was statistically significant and negative. This suggests that exposure to discrimination may explain the increased risk of substance use among students with more marginalized identities, and that in the absence of discrimination, having multiple marginalized identities may have a protective effect against substance use. This study contributes to the growing research in intersectionality in adolescence and begins the conversation on managing the impact of discrimination and its associated stress

Creating a low-cost, low-particulate emissions corn cob charcoal grinder for use in Peru

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 35).Indoor air pollution is a serious health risk in developing countries, and is the leading cause of death for children under five. By replacing traditional cooking fuels with charcoal, one can significantly reduce a user's exposure to the particulate matter responsible for the detrimental health effects. The MIT D-Lab has have developed a method of creating charcoal using agriculture wastes such as bagasse and corncobs. However, it has been found that corncob charcoal produces dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide and as a result is unable to be burned directly and must be briquetted. In conjunction with this, an organization in Lima, Peru called Enlace Solidario makes coal briquettes in a configuration that optimizes the burning performance. They have entered in a partnership with the nearby orphanage of Segrada Familia to produce cooking fuel at no cost. However, Segrada Familia must supply their own ground charcoal to be briquetted. Thus, there is a clear need for a charcoal grinding machine. This thesis developed a successful grinding mechanism based on a peanut sheller design developed by the Full Belly Project. Though it needs to be scaled up to achieve the required throughput, this mechanism successfully limits the user's exposure to charcoal dust created during the grinding process and provides a means to produce corn cob powder necessary to briquette charcoal.by Ashely Elizabeth Thomas.S.B

Heliostat field cleaning scheduling for Solar Power Tower plants: a heuristic approach

Soiling of heliostat surfaces due to local climate has a direct impact on their optical efficiency and therefore a direct impact on the productivity of the Solar Power Tower plant. Cleaning techniques applied are dependent on plant construction and current schedules are normally developed considering heliostat layout patterns, providing sub-optimal results. In this paper, a method to optimise cleaning schedules is developed, with the objective of maximising energy generated by the plant. First, an algorithm finds a cleaning schedule by solving an integer program, which is then used as a starting solution in an exchange heuristic. Since the optimisation problems are of large size, a p-median type heuristic is performed to reduce the problem dimensionality by clustering heliostats into groups to be cleaned in the same period.Ministerio de Economía y Competitivida

Reacting to literature : role playing through The crucible

Mark Carnes’ Reacting to the Past series of games have been the leading pioneer in bringing role immersion to a college humanities classroom. Rather than passively reading a textbook or copying down bullet points from a lecture, students are given roles of historical figures to actively role-play. Asked to give speeches and form alliances in these roles, they are making their own way through the historical events, forced to make what feel like real-life decisions and study primary documents to convince other students to join their side. The consequences of failure seem real, and the details of the actual events become vital. Having played through many of the games myself, I found that my recall and understanding of the historical events were far improved on my previous history lectures, as well as touched with personal interest and nostalgia. As a future secondary English/Language Arts teacher, I attempt to bring these same feelings and experiences to a high school English classroom by creating a new version of Reacting to the Past, using Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible in my own version that I have chosen to call Reacting to Literature.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg