11,736 research outputs found
Education programs for Indigenous Australians about sexually transmitted infections and bloodborne viruses
As a group, Indigenous Australians experience poorer health outcomes than other Australians, including in the area of sexual health. Indigenous Australians have substantially higher rates of STIs, BBVs and teen pregnancy than non-Indigenous Australians, particularly for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, infectious syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Efforts to reduce these high rates are compounded by the historical and social context of Indigenous Australians. Although many Australians may experience elements of shame and embarrassment when they access health services for STIs and BBVs, for many Indigenous Australians there also exists a mistrust of ‘mainstream’ (non-Indigenous specific) health services as a result of past injustices and racially differentiated treatment (Arabena 2006). Historically, Indigenous Australians diagnosed with an STI were segregated and placed into privately run hospitals (‘lock hospitals’) that were in poor condition (Hunter 1998)
Unbound Star-forming Molecular Clouds
We explore whether observed molecular clouds could include a substantial
population of unbound clouds. Using simulations which include only turbulence
and gravity, we are able to match observed relations and naturally reproduce
the observed scatter in the cloud size-linewidth coefficient, at fixed surface
density. We identify the source of this scatter as a spread in the intrinsic
virial parameter. Thus these observational trends do not require that clouds
exist in a state of dynamical equilibrium. We demonstrate that cloud virial
parameters can be accurately determined observationally with an appropriate
size estimator. All our simulated clouds eventually form collapsing cores,
regardless of whether the cloud is bound overall. This supports the idea that
molecular clouds do not have to be bound to form stars or to have observed
properties like those of nearby low-mass clouds.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication by MNRA
The effect of a structured internship on the clinical performance of novice nurses?
Objective: The study examined the clinical performance differences of novices before and after a critical care internship and compare their performance attributes to a reference group comprised of experienced critical care nurses. The extant research regarding clinical internship programs has focused on retention in practice, workforce issues and competence. While studies have shown a pattern of improved retention in practice settings, they have failed to objectively measure actual clinical performance.
Methods: The study design was based on pre-post comparisons of novice nurses and a reference group comprised of experienced nurses who served as a benchmark. The novice group was required to respond to patient needs in high-fidelity clinical scenarios before and after an internship. The experienced nurses attended a single testing session.
Results: Findings revealed statistically significant improvement in the performance of the novice group; however, they failed to perform at the level of the experienced nurses.
Conclusions: The study is the first to detail the degree to which a structured internship can facilitate changes in selected aspects of clinical performance. The study establishes the effect associated with engagement in a structured internship. While novices improve significantly, they fail to achieve the level of clinical performance seen in experienced nurses. The paper will present background information related to the established effects of internship programs, and will then present the data related to the current study. The paper will then present similarities and differences between the results of the current study, and the literatur
Evolving Molecular Cloud Structure and the Column Density Probability Distribution Function
The structure of molecular clouds can be characterized with the probability
distribution function (PDF) of the mass surface density. In particular, the
properties of the distribution can reveal the nature of the turbulence and star
formation present inside the molecular cloud. In this paper, we explore how
these structural characteristics evolve with time and also how they relate to
various cloud properties as measured from a sample of synthetic column density
maps of molecular clouds. We find that, as a cloud evolves, the peak of its
column density PDF will shift to surface densities below the observational
threshold for detection, resulting in an underlying lognormal distribution
which has been effectively lost at late times. Our results explain why certain
observations of actively star-forming, dynamically older clouds, such as the
Orion molecular cloud, do not appear to have any evidence of a lognormal
distribution in their column density PDFs. We also study the evolution of the
slope and deviation point of the power-law tails for our sample of simulated
clouds and show that both properties trend towards constant values, thus
linking the column density structure of the molecular cloud to the surface
density threshold for star formation.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication by MNRA
Incidence of Gunshot Wounds: Before and After Implementation of a Shall Issue Conceal Carry Law
Introduction. This study examined the incidence of gunshot wounds before and after enacting a conceal carry (CC) law in a predominately rural state.
Methods. A retrospective review was conducted of all patients who were admitted with a gunshot injury to a Level I trauma center. Patient data collected included demographics, injury details, hospital course, and discharge destination.
Results. Among the 238 patients included, 44.6% (n = 107) were admitted during the pre-CC period and 55.4% (n = 131) in the post-CC period. No demographic differences were noted between the two periods except for an increase in uninsured patients from 43.0% vs 61.1% (p = 0.020). Compared to pre-CC patients, post-CC patients experienced a trend toward increased abdominal injury (11.2% vs 20.6%, p = 0.051) and increased vascular injuries (11.2% vs 22.1%, p = 0.026) while lower extremity injuries decreased significantly (38.3% vs 26.0%, p = 0.041). Positive focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) exams (2.2% vs 16.8, p < 0.001), intensive care unit admission (26.2% vs 42.0%, p = 0.011) and need for ventilator support (11.2% vs 22.1%, p = 0.026) all increased during the post-CC period. In-hospital mortality more than doubled (8.4% vs 18.3%, p = 0.028) across the pre- and post-CC time periods.
Conclusion. Implementation of a CC law was not associated with a decrease in the overall number of penetrating injuries or a decrease in mortality
Preliminary design of an intermittent smoke flow visualization system
A prototype intermittent flow visualization system that was designed to study vortex flow field dynamics has been constructed and tested through its ground test phase. It produces discrete pulses of dense white smoke consisting of particles of terephthalic acid by the pulsing action of a fast-acting three-way valve. The trajectories of the smoke pulses can be tracked by a video imaging system without intruding in the flow around in flight. Two methods of pulsing the smoke were examined. The simplest and safest approach is to simply divert the smoke between the two outlet ports on the valve; this approach should be particularly effective if it were desired to inject smoke at two locations during the same test event. The second approach involves closing off one of the outlet ports to momentarily block the flow. The second approach requires careful control of valve dwell times to avoid excessive pressure buildup within the cartridge container. This method also increases the velocity of the smoke injected into the flow. The flow of the smoke has been blocked for periods ranging from 30 to 80 milliseconds, depending on the system volume and the length of time the valve is allowed to remain open between valve closings
The effect of mixed-enzyme addition in anaerobic digestion on methane yield of dairy cattle manure
This study investigates the effect of applying a mixture of enzymes (ME) to dairy cattle manure (DCM) as substrate in
anaerobic digestion (AD). The aims of this study were to evaluate different methods of ME application to DCM at different
temperatures and to investigate the effect of adding ME during the pre-treatment of the solid fractions of dairy cattle manure
(SFDCM). The results showed that there was no positive effect of direct ME addition to substrate at either mesophilic (35
C)
or thermophilic (50
◦
C) process temperatures, but there was a significant 4.44% increase in methane yield when DCM, which
had been incubated with ME addition at 50
◦
C for three days, was fed to a digester when compared to a control digester
operating at the same retention time. Methane production was detected during the pre-treatment incubation, and the total sum
methane yield during pre-treatment and digestion was found to be 8.33% higher than in the control. The addition of ME to
the SFDCM in a pre-incubation stage of 20 h at 35
◦
C gave a significant increase in methane yield by 4.15% in a digester
treating a mixed substrate (30% liquid fractions DCM and 70% enzyme-treated SFDCM) when compared with the control
digester treating a similar mixed substrate with inactivated enzyme addition. The results indicate that direct physical contact
of enzyme molecules and organic material in DCM prior to AD, without the intervention of extracellular enzymes from the
indigenous microorganism population, was needed in order to increase methane yields.
Keywords: biogas; mixed enzymes; pre-treatment; incubation; manur
ASSET FIXITY, ASSET SPECIFICITY AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC CHANGE: HYPOTHESIS AND IMPLICATIONS
That asset specificity and asset fixity are impediments to economic adjustment is well understood in the literatures of industrial organization and agricultural economics. In this paper, we show that spatial factors can plausible be expected to be arguments in functions that define asset fixity and specificity and, hence, asset fixity may be systematically related to space. The implications with regard to differences across space in rates of adjustment to market signals suggest that the short run is longer in remote than in less remote places, which may prove useful in explaining the behavior of a spatial economic system during times of rapid technological change.Industrial Organization,
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