Using Grounded Theory as a Method of Inquiry: Advantages and Disadvantages

There are many challenges and criticisms attached to the conduct of research, none the least of which is a notion that much of the research undertaken in professional disciplines such as nursing may not have clinical and/or practical relevance. While there are a plethora of qualitative research methods that individuals must consider when designing research studies, one method stands out - Grounded Theory (GT). Grounded theory was developed in the early 1960’s by Glaser and Strauss. With its theoretical orientation based in sociology, GT strives to understand and explain human behavior through inductive reasoning processes (Elliott & Lazenbatt, 2005). Because of its emphasis on the utilization of a variety of data sources that are grounded in particular contexts, GT provides a natural theoretical fit when designing nursing research studies. In this article, the authors provide an overview of GT and then describe the appropriateness, advantages, and disadvantages of applying it as part of the research design process. Additionally, the authors highlight the importance of taking a reflexive position to stay engaged while interacting with the data, and explore how to apply GT theory to particular research questions and studies. Finally, the strengths and limitations of this method of inquiry as applied to nursing research using a brief case study approach is presented

Spitzer Warm Mission Transition and Operations

Following the successful dynamic planning and implementation of IRAC Warm Instrument Characterization activities, transition to Spitzer Warm Mission operations has gone smoothly. Operation teams procedures and processes required minimal adaptation and the overall composition of the Mission Operation System retained the same functionality it had during the Cryogenic Mission. While the warm mission scheduling has been simplified because all observations are now being made with a single instrument, several other differences have increased the complexity. The bulk of the observations executed to date have been from ten large Exploration Science programs that, combined, have more complex constraints, more observing requests, and more exo-planet observations with durations of up to 145 hours. Communication with the observatory is also becoming more challenging as the Spitzer DSN antenna allocations have been reduced from two tracking passes per day to a single pass impacting both uplink and downlink activities. While IRAC is now operating with only two channels, the data collection rate is roughly 60% of the four-channel rate leaving a somewhat higher average volume collected between the less frequent passes. Also, the maximum downlink data rate is decreasing as the distance to Spitzer increases requiring longer passes. Nevertheless, with well over 90% of the time spent on science observations, efficiency has equaled or exceeded that achieved during the cryogenic mission

An Assessment of Surface Properties and Moisture Uptake of Nonwoven Fabrics from Ginning By-products

Greige (raw) cotton by-products resulting from cotton ginning and mill processes have long been bleached for use in absorbent nonwoven products. The potential to use greige cotton by-products as an economical source for absorbent nonwoven blends is explored. The nonwoven hydroentanglement of greige cotton lint with cotton gin motes and comber noils blends was analyzed for fiber surface polarity, swelling, and absorbance to assess properties with potential usefulness in absorbent nonwovens. The electrokinetic analysis of the fabric surface gives a composite picture of the relative hydrophilic/hydrophobic polarity absorbency and swelling properties. Nonwoven fabrics made with cleaned greige cotton lint separately blended with comber noils and ginning motes at 40:60 and 60:40 blend ratios demonstrated charge, swell, and percent moisture uptake profiles that are characteristic of the fabrics’ crystalline/amorphous cellulosic content with some variance in swelling properties. However, cellulose crystallite size varied. X-ray diffraction patterns of the three different cotton constituents displayed similar crystalline cellulose compositions. An electrochemical double-layer analysis of charge based on a pH titration (ζplateau) was employed to measure the relative fiber and fabric surface polarity which varied slightly between -21 and -29 mV. A relationship of fiber swelling (∆ζ) and percent moisture content is apparent when greige cotton lint and other fibers are blended. The blended nonwoven materials possess absorbent properties characterized by similar moisture uptake (7.1-9.5 %) and fiber polarity, but some variation in swelling is based on the by-product additive and its percent content. The crystallinity, electrokinetic, and water binding properties of the nonwoven by-product materials are discussed in the context of the molecular features water, cellulose, and greige cotton components that enhance potential uses as absorbent nonwoven end-use products

The Grizzly, November 14, 1986

Alumnae Jean Garton Returns to Present Controversial Abortion Lecture • Fall Board Meeting Convenes With Retirement Plan and $1000 Tuition Increase • Women Finish 2nd in MAC Cross-Country • Letters: Still the Same After All These Years; Butting; Self-Discipline • Floodgates Should Fly Open for Greaseband Experiment • Renowned Organist to Give Concert • ProTheatre Stages Three More Gems • Profile: Annette Lucas • Red & Gold Days Reflect Well on Ursinus Life • Men\u27s Cross-Country Runs Through Muddy Course to Place 4th in MAC\u27s • Breathing Life Into a Long Sleeping Lady Hoop Program • Brown Hangs Head Now, But Young Passing Attack Sparkles • Dickinson Drowns Ursinus Swimmers in Opener • Dean, AD Discuss Drugs • New Coach Key to Gymnastics\u27 Perfect 10 • Women\u27s Studieshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1175/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, November 7, 1986

New Chair and Pipe Organ Ensure Thriving Ursinus Music Program • Experts Forecast Stormy Future for NCAA Drug Testing • Letter: The Temple has a Sibling in Allentown • The Cultivated Mind: An Age-Old Pursuit • Patterns for the Future Starts New Year • IR Club Broadens its Scope Past Luxembourg • Octoberfest at Musser • Leskusky Determined to Prove Himself • Brown Disgusted with Grizzlies\u27 Lack of Concentration • Lady Bears end Another Winning Season on Good Note • Optimistic Forecast For Men\u27s Basketball • Grizzly Bear Scoreboard • Harriers Soon to Return to Cross-Country Elite • Athlete of the Week: Jill Johnsonhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1174/thumbnail.jp

Regulation of caspase-3 processing by cIAP2 controls the switch between pro-inflammatory activation and cell death in microglia.

Cell Death and Disease is an open-access journal published by Nature Publishing Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons licence, users will need to obtain permission from the licence holder to reproduce the material.The activation of microglia, resident immune cells of the central nervous system, and inflammation-mediated neurotoxicity are typical features of neurodegenerative diseases, for example, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. An unexpected role of caspase-3, commonly known to have executioner role for apoptosis, was uncovered in the microglia activation process. A central question emerging from this finding is what prevents caspase-3 during the microglia activation from killing those cells? Caspase-3 activation occurs as a two-step process, where the zymogen is first cleaved by upstream caspases, such as caspase-8, to form intermediate, yet still active, p19/p12 complex; thereafter, autocatalytic processing generates the fully mature p17/p12 form of the enzyme. Here, we show that the induction of cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein 2 (cIAP2) expression upon microglia activation prevents the conversion of caspase-3 p19 subunit to p17 subunit and is responsible for restraining caspase-3 in terms of activity and subcellular localization. We demonstrate that counteracting the repressive effect of cIAP2 on caspase-3 activation, using small interfering RNA targeting cIAP2 or a SMAC mimetic such as the BV6 compound, reduced the pro-inflammatory activation of microglia cells and promoted their death. We propose that the different caspase-3 functions in microglia, and potentially other cell types, reside in the active caspase-3 complexes formed. These results also could indicate cIAP2 as a possible therapeutic target to modulate microglia pro-inflammatory activation and associated neurotoxicity observed in neurodegenerative disorders

FINAL REPORT -- Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Program: Fish Community Monitoring and Habitat Assessment of Off-channel Mitigation Sites

The Missouri River has been developed for flood control, commercial navigation, irrigation, fish and wildlife conservation, municipal water supply, water quality control and hydropower production through a series of congressional acts. However, prior to development, the lower Missouri River was characterized by a highly sinuous to braided channel with abundant log jams, sand bars, secondary channels and cut-off channels. Construction of the Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project (BSNP) converted the lower Missouri River into a narrow, self scouring channel. The active channel downstream of Sioux City, Iowa was as wide as 1.8 km before river modification, but is now confined to a 91.4 m channel. Total river and floodplain habitat altered or destroyed by the BSNP is estimated at 211,246 hectares. The Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Project (Mitigation Project) was established to restore fish and wildlife habitat lost by the construction, operation and maintenance of the BSNP. The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 authorized the United States Army Corps of Engineers (COE) to acquire and develop habitat on 12,100 hectares of non public lands and the development of 7,365 hectares of habitat on existing public lands to mitigate habitat losses. The Water Resources Development Act of 1999 authorized an additional 48,016 hectares to the program. The Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the expanded Mitigation Project was issued in March of 2003, and it included a preferred alternative proposing the creation of additional shallow water habitat (defined as areas less than 1.5 m deep with a current velocity of less than 0.76 m/s). The preferred action in the FSEIS for the expanded Mitigation Project included creation of 2,833 to 8,094 hectares of shallow water habitat (SWH). In 2005, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC), Missouri Department of Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbia Fisheries Resource Office (renamed to Columbia National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office) were contracted by the COE to monitor and evaluate fish communities of select off-channel aquatic habitat sites that were constructed through the Mitigation Project. Additionally, the NGPC was contracted to collect physical habitat information from the secondary channels that were selected for biological monitoring in the upper channelized section above Kansas City. Sixteen sites selected for monitoring covered a range of aquatic habitats including backwaters and secondary channels with varying levels of engineering and development. Sites from upstream to downstream included Tieville-Decatur Bend (two backwaters), Louisville Bend (backwater), Tyson Island (backwater), California Bend (chute on the Nebraska bank and a chute with connected backwater on the Iowa bank), Tobacco Island (chute), Upper and Lower Hamburg Bends (one chute each), Kansas Bend (two small chutes, treated as one), Deroin Bend (chute), Lisbon Bottom (natural chute), North Overton Bottoms (chute), Tadpole Island (chute) and Tate Island (chute). The study was designed to include three field sampling seasons, but due to delays implementing contracts in 2005 another complete year of sampling was added. Thus, fish community monitoring and habitat assessment of offchannel mitigation sites began in April, 2006 and concluded in October, 2008. The objective of this project was to determine biological performance and functionality of chutes and backwaters and to compare chutes and backwaters in an effort to identify designs most beneficial to native Missouri River fish species. Additionally, this project was designed to help determine if additional modifications are needed at existing mitigation sites, if existing designs are providing a range of habitats, if these habitats are of value to the biological diversity of the Missouri River and if these habitats are of specific value to species of concern or importance, such as pallid sturgeon

The Grizzly, March 6, 1987

The Bermans: From Pennsburg to Vatican in Search of Beauty • Letters: I\u27ve Been Teaching Creative Writing for Thirty-Five Years, says Dolman; Ashman After Fire Dies Down; Forum Committee Clears Confusion; $10,000 Plus Without Copy Machines; Swimming\u27s Sieracki Steps Out • Pro Theatre to Present Our Town • Sue Ashman Says so Long • Bears Take Third at MAC Championships Best Finish in 38 Years • Women\u27s B-Ball Team Holds Heads High • Men\u27s Indoor Track Goes to Maine • Men Hoopsters Suffer Tough Loss to Washington to End \u2786-\u2787 • Runner Mike Griffin Rises Early to Set Records • Danville\u27s Donahoe Takes Bid to Nationals and Athlete of the Week • McDevitt Leads Swimmers with Performance and Dedication • Athletics and Academics: Far From the Odd Couple at U.C. • Rabble-Rousing Remembrances • College Work Study Vacancies • Ursinus Alumnus Publishes Cat Guide • Montco Science Research Competition at U.C.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1184/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, September 12, 1986

Patterns Passes Midpoint • Future of Dorms Fuzzy • Rutgers Rough For Lady Bears • Bomberger Organizes Itself • Pottstown Reich Cracks Down on Cruising • Ursinus\u27 Colors: A Long Tradition • Letter: Maples: The Place Just Ain\u27t the Same • Clean up Cans • The Private Eye • Infirmary Info • AXE: Fraternity With a Difference • Bodolus Bounces Back • Men\u27s and Women\u27s X-Country Off and Running • U.C. Does Dorneyhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1167/thumbnail.jp