A Case Study in Program Evaluation

The three core functions of public health are assessment, policy development, and assurance, and program evaluation falls under the latter category. A program is incomplete without an in-depth understanding of how well it works and what steps can be taken to make sure there is continuous progress and improvement. In this case study, I developed an evaluation plan for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department’s (LFCHD) infectious disease outbreak education program. The need for such a program was realized after a MRSA outbreak among a Kentucky high school football team. This case study employed the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s six-step framework for program evaluation

The Effects of Locus of Control and Death Education on Death Attitudes

The relationship of locus of control and death education on death attitudes was examined across a population of college students. Students beginning a death education course, students finishing a death education course, and mortuary science students, completed Rotter\u27s I-E scale, Hardt\u27s Death Attitude Scale, and questions on personal beliefs. No significant difference of death attitude was found between the three groups, although internality was found to be significantly correlated to favorable death attitude. Statistical analysis did not support the hypothesis that death education positively affects death attitudes, however, the data do reveal that those individuals with an internal locus of control and who also received some type of death education, exhibited the most favorable attitudes toward death. No significant differences were found for sex, amount of religion, or experience of recent death. Further study is necessary

Shovel Test Pit Paperwork of Transect 5 from Quarterman (8BR223)

This document contains the field notes taken during phase 1 survey for transect 4

Shovel Test Pit Paperwork of Transect 6 from Quarterman (8BR223)

This document contains the field notes taken during phase 1 survey for transect 6

Social Work and Public Librarianship: Partnering to Support Patrons in Crisis

Public libraries grapple with supporting patrons experiencing crises on a daily basis. Patron crises related to mental health (Torrey, Esposito and Geller, 2009; Wahler et al., 2019), and substance use (Whaler et al., 2019) have increased over several decades with changes in policies related to deinstitutionalization, and recently, the U.S. opioid crisis. These changes have resulted in additional workplace challenges for librarians, turning some libraries into social service delivery hubs (Real and Bogel, 2019; Wahler et al., 2019). Our study explores the results of workshops on mental health, boundary management, and resilience building for public library staff. The authors completed training events with a series of participants via 3 different workshops at a large, urban public library system in the United States. Participants received pre-tests to determine their knowledge and comfort with the topics, received the training, and then completed post-tests. These assessments allowed participants to reflect on the training and the extent to which they felt more comfortable addressing mental health crises and issues related to boundaries and resilience after completing the workshops. The major implications of conducting these workshops relate to: • Developing professional development training for public library staff on supporting patrons in crisis while also practicing resilience and health boundary management; • Understanding how social work and library science can partner together effectively to improve education for library school students; • Identifying ways in which public libraries can successfully implement simple practices to support the well-being of their staf

Dissecting the Mechanisms of Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri boliviensis) Social Learning

Although the social learning abilities of monkeys have been well documented, this research has only focused on a few species. Furthermore, of those that also incorporated dissections of social learning mechanisms, the majority studied either capuchins (Cebus apella) or marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). To gain a broader understanding of how monkeys gain new skills, we tested squirrel monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis) which have never been studied in tests of social learning mechanisms. To determine whether S. boliviensis can socially learn, we ran “open diffusion” tests with monkeys housed in two social groups (N = 23). Over the course of 10 20-min sessions, the monkeys in each group observed a trained group member retrieving a mealworm from a bidirectional task (the “Slide-box”). Two thirds (67%) of these monkeys both learned how to operate the Slide-box and they also moved the door significantly more times in the direction modeled by the trained demonstrator than the alternative direction. To tease apart the underlying social learning mechanisms we ran a series of three control conditions with 35 squirrel monkeys that had no previous experience with the Slide-box. The first replicated the experimental open diffusion sessions but without the inclusion of a trained model, the second was a no-information control with dyads of monkeys, and the third was a ‘ghost’ display shown to individual monkeys. The first two controls tested for the importance of social support (mere presence effect) and the ghost display showed the affordances of the task to the monkeys. The monkeys showed a certain level of success in the group control (54% of subjects solved the task on one or more occasions) and paired controls (28% were successful) but none were successful in the ghost control.We propose that the squirrel monkeys’ learning, observed in the experimental open diffusion tests, can be best described by a combination of social learning mechanisms in concert; in this case, those mechanisms are most likely object movement reenactment and social facilitation. We discuss the interplay of these mechanisms and how they related to learning shown by other primate species

2018-2019 Philharmonia No. 3

Concert Date & Time: November 10, 2018 at 7:30 PM and November 11, 2018 at 4:00 PM 2018 Concerto Competition Winners Program Concerto for Viola and Orchestra / Béla Bartók Kayla Williams, viola Violin Concerto / Alban Berg Melanie Riordan, violin Flute Concerto No. 1 / André Jolivet Lydia Roth, flute Piano Concerto in F / George Gershwin Bailey-Michelle Collins, pianohttps://spiral.lynn.edu/conservatory_philharmonia/1133/thumbnail.jp

Identification of the metallurgical parameters explaining the corrosion susceptibility in a 2050 aluminium alloy

The corrosion behaviour of a 2050 aluminium alloy was studied in a NaCl solution. The structure ofprecipitation did not fully explain the susceptibility to intergranular (in the -T34 state) and intragran-ular corrosion for the aged state (the -T8 state). A relationship between the nature of interfaces, thegrains characteristics (size, internal misorientation and orientation according to the plane exposed tothe electrolyte) on one hand and the corrosion susceptibility of the alloy on the other hand was clearlyestablished. Galvanic coupling between grains with different internal misorientations helped to explainthe intergranular corrosion susceptibility of the -T34 state

Enhanced bacterial cancer therapy delivering therapeutic RNA interference of c-Myc

BackgroundBacterial cancer therapy was first trialled in patients at the end of the nineteenth century. More recently, tumour-targeting bacteria have been harnessed to deliver plasmid-expressed therapeutic interfering RNA to a range of solid tumours. A major limitation to clinical translation of this is the short-term nature of RNA interference in vivo due to plasmid instability. To overcome this, we sought to develop tumour-targeting attenuated bacteria that stably express shRNA by virtue of integration of an expression cassette within the bacterial chromosome and demonstrate therapeutic efficacy in vitro and in vivo.ResultsThe attenuated tumour targeting Salmonella typhimurium SL7207 strain was modified to carry chromosomally integrated shRNA expression cassettes at the xylA locus. The colorectal cancer cell lines SW480, HCT116 and breast cancer cell line MCF7 were used to demonstrate the ability of these modified strains to perform intracellular infection and deliver effective RNA and protein knockdown of the target gene c-Myc. In vivo therapeutic efficacy was demonstrated using the Lgr5creERT2Apcflx/flx and BlgCreBrca2flx/flp53flx/flx orthotopic immunocompetent mouse models of colorectal and breast cancer, respectively. In vitro co-cultures of breast and colorectal cancer cell lines with modified SL7207 demonstrated a significant 50–95% (P < 0.01) reduction in RNA and protein expression with SL7207/c-Myc targeted strains. In vivo, following establishment of tumour tissue, a single intra-peritoneal administration of 1 × 106 CFU of SL7207/c-Myc was sufficient to permit tumour colonisation and significantly extend survival with no overt toxicity in control animals.ConclusionsIn summary we have demonstrated that tumour tropic bacteria can be modified to safely deliver therapeutic levels of gene knockdown. This technology has the potential to specifically target primary and secondary solid tumours with personalised therapeutic payloads, providing new multi-cancer detection and treatment options with minimal off-target effects. Further understanding of the tropism mechanisms and impact on host immunity and microbiome is required to progress to clinical translation

Turbulent drag on a low-frequency vibrating grid in superfluid He-4 at very low temperatures

We present measurements of the dissipative turbulent drag on a vibrating grid in superfluid He-4 over a wide range of (low) frequencies. At high velocities, the dissipative drag is independent of frequency and is approximately the same as that measured in normal liquid He-4. We present measurements on a similar grid in superfluid He-3-B at low temperatures which shows an almost identical turbulent drag coefficient at low frequencies. However, the turbulent drag in He-3-B is substantially higher at higher frequencies. We also present measurements of the inertial drag coefficient for grid turbulence in He-4. The inertial drag coefficient is significantly reduced by turbulence in both superfluid and normal liquid He-4