Moyal Nahm Equations

Various aspects of the Nahm equations in 3 and 7 dimensions are investigated. The residues of the variables at simple poles in the 7-dimensional case form an algebra. A large class of matrix representations of this algebra is constructed. The large $N$ limit of these equations is taken by replacing the commutators by Moyal Brackets, and a set of non trivial solutions in a generalised form of Wigner distribution functions is obtained.Comment: 15 pages, latex, no figure

PERSPECTIVES ON THE ILLINOIS HEALTHCARE DELIVERY SYSTEM CHALLENGES, STRUCTURAL ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR REFORM

As fourth year students in the program, students at SIU School of Medicine have enrolled in classes at the Institute and have spent a rotation studying public policy choices that impact the delivery of health care services and the profession itself. The choices made by these public entities will have ramifications for physicians, nurses, administrative support staff and most importantly, for patients and their families. Students have studied state healthcare policy formation up-close and have learned a great deal about the forces and factors that shape their fields of study. Common to all students’ findings and much of the literature generally is a need to bring about a greater alignment of public policy and actual practice in medicine. After observing the healthcare policy formation process, these students have all written about their experiences, pointing out issues of concern, and offering suggestions for improvement. In lieu of a single paper prepared on one topic, I am including three reports to share with the reader each of the students’ observations on the intersection of health care and public policy. Isaac Tan makes an interesting proposal to assist physicians with the costs of providing indigent care. He offers a plan to allow physicians to receive a tax credit for indigent care provided during the course of a year, which would offset a significant share of the overall cost. Clare Zimmerman assesses deficiencies in nutrition among children in Illinois’ foster care program. Her assessment led her to suggest incorporating nutritional education and a monitoring system into the overall foster care regime. Rustin Meister assesses the ongoing challenges to childhood immunization regulations and proposes removing or reducing the number of available exemptions. Each of the papers was developed with the idea of proposing systemic reforms in Illinois healthcare service delivery, designed to address problems that the students witnessed firsthand

Principal Selection and the Stories Superintendents Tell.

In addition to licensure and certification, there are particular qualities and personal characteristics superintendents look for when hiring a principal. With fewer principal applicants and increased projected needs for principals, it was important to explore the superintendent\u27s reasoning when hiring a principal. A qualitative research method employing elite interviews was used to explore the criteria that superintendents employ in their process of selecting a principal. When talking about the hiring of principals, superintendents invariably began with the selection process. Teachers, community members, parents, former employers, and college professors gave input in formal or informal ways. Superintendents looked for experience both as a school administrator and as a teacher at the level of the school where the vacancy existed. Communication skills, decision-making, a sense of justice and fair play, a focus on community, and instructional leadership were qualities they considered important. Direct reference was not made to the Interstate School Leaders Licensing Consortium (ISLLC) Standards during interviews, however 48 of 182 indicators were touched upon during superintendent interviews. Themes of communication, communities, and ethics emerged. Superintendents expressed concern because candidate pools had lessened and projected needs increased. They spoke of the factors that deter teachers from seeking principalships as being geographic location, principal responsibilities, accountability, and compensation. There was not a one-size-principal-fits-all-schools attitude on the part of the superintendents. They looked for someone with administrative experience, an instructional focus, communication skills, and finely tuned decision-making skills. Principals needed to be able to relate to a diverse group of people, and have a sense of justice and fair play in dealings with all people. ISLLC Standards did not appear to have a profound influence on superintendents as they searched for individuals to serve as school leaders. This study adds to development of a comprehensive knowledge base of information regarding qualities of individuals selected for principalships. It provides another framework for professional educators to enhance understanding of school leadership expectations. It may aid superintendents in decisions made regarding recruitment and selection of principals. It may aid researchers when evaluating use of ISLLC Standards in the selection of principals

Implications of a Reverse Inclusion Program for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities

Reverse Inclusion is an intermediary step to full inclusion. Reverse Inclusion is a program of scheduled interaction with typically developing students from the general education population working with students with moderate to severe disabilities in a self-contained special education classroom. This action research study reviews the potential benefits of a Reverse Inclusion Program to general education or typically developing third grade students. Reverse Inclusion is designed to foster positive peer interaction and positive peer support along with modeling desirable school appropriate behaviors among the participating students. Key findings of this study include: 1) regularly scheduled, structured contact between typically developing peers and their special education peers fosters positive relationships that extend from the classroom to the playground and beyond; 2) Reverse Inclusion provides a positive environment to allow for modeling of age appropriate behaviors; and 3) education provided to typically developing peers concerning disabilities, develops understanding of differences. Reflecting on my own teaching practice, the study findings indicate that collaboration with a general education teacher provides increased understanding between classroom environments and fosters an increased sense of community

Importance and Fulfillment of Family Needs in the ICU

The family is a major source of support for the intensive care patient. To provide optimal support to the patient the family’s needs must be met. A convenience sample of thirty family members of intensive care patients were interviewed. The continuing importance of primary needs established in previous studies was demonstrated. None of the needs were universally perceived as being fulfilled. The nurse was most often cited as the best person to meet needs. Many respondents couldn’t choose a single best person emphasizing the need for a multi disciplinary approach to meeting needs. Seven additional needs were identified (a) to know their right to question patient care, (b) to have a secure place to store belongings, (c) to have a place to sleep, (d) to have a member of the clergy available, (d) to be assured the patient is comfortable (e) to have a place for emotional outlets, and (f) to be assured patient confidentiality is maintained

Group-Based Interventions Using a Low-Fat Diabetes Diet to Improve Self-Efficacy and HBA1C Levels in African American Type 2 Diabetics

Background and Problem Type two diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic medical condition of impaired glucose metabolism that has significantly impacted the health of Americans. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), T2DM is the seventh leading cause of death making up over 270,000 deaths in 2017 (CDC, 2020a). There are noted disparities among African Americans who are disproportionately affected by T2DM more than Caucasians. African Americans account for 13% of the population in the United States of which 11.7% are diagnosed with T2DM as compared to Caucasians who make up 76.3% of the population of which 7.5% have T2DM (United States Census Bureau, 2021; Haw et al., 2021). Minorities such as African Americans are least likely to achieve glycemic control and are greater than 50% more likely to suffer from the complications of T2DM than their Caucasian counterpart (Canedo et al., 2018; Cunningham et al., 2018). It is projected that without strategic interventions T2DM diabetes will affect one out of six Americans and one out of four African Americans by 2060 (Lin et al. 2020). Traditional diabetes education programs have not been effective in lowering hemoglobin A1C levels in African Americans (Lynch et al., 2019; Cunningham et al., 2018). Barriers include poor food choices, poor self-efficacy in making dietary changes, culture, and the social rewards attached to food. It is the burden of healthcare providers to develop creative ways to confront these barriers to improve dietary practices and build selfefficacy for better glycemic control. Purpose Statement The purpose of this project was to improve dietary self-management efficacy and blood glucose levels through the implementation of group-based lunch-and-learn educational sessions that emphasize a low-saturated fat diabetes diet consisting of whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. Method A convenience sample of African Americans with T2DM visiting the Benton Harbor Health Center participated in a quantitative, quasi-experimental pilot study that utilized a weekly 45-minute lunch-and-learn educational session emphasizing a low-fat, low carbohydrate diet for six weeks. Pre- and post-intervention self-efficacy and hemoglobin A1c values were measured. Results A paired t-test was used to evaluate whether the pre-intervention mean self efficacy for healthy diet scores and HbA1c levels improved post-intervention. The results demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in self-efficacy scores (p =.002). However, the HbA1c levels showed no improvement, but an increase post-intervention (p= 0.306). Significance With the increasing prevalence of T2DM and the disease burden from its complications in African Americans, practitioners must use a different approach to traditional diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) that place emphasis on increasing dietary self-efficacy which is a predictor of behavioral change. The data from this project supports the lunch-and-learn format is an experiential method that helps the T2D to translate diabetes knowledge into real-life application through improved self-efficacy which can ultimately improve glycemic control. Achieving glycemic control leads to improved morbidity and mortality rates, lower healthcare costs and improved quality of life

The Government\u27s Role in Health Care Delivery

As Secretary of Illinois\u27 largest agency, the Department of Human Services, Secretary Baker provides a thorough overview of the role her agency plays in the ongoing health and welfare of the citizens of Illinois. Her contention that government should play a critical role in health care delivery is buttressed by the DHS\u27 role as a funding agent, its contributions of staff and systems, and the direct role it plays in the pursuit of truly public health care. Secretary Baker effectively demonstrates the complexities and disparities that still exist in health care by discussing an inter-generational study of one poor family documented in Chicago. She concludes, however, that while such disparities and injustices in health care delivery do exist, they can be overcome by the effective use and cooperation of state governmental agencies that are committed to that goal

Relationship between School Success and Physical and Familial Factors of Kindergarteners

Teachers in elementary schools often assert that they could teach more successfully if no child under six years of age was admitted to first grade. While teaching kindergarten this writer also found many parents of kindergarten age children quite concerned about the best age for their child to enter kindergarten. Besides age there seemed to be concern in other areas such as physical size, coordination, and emotional maturity. However, most school districts in Washington set chronological age as the major requirement for school admission. The problem to be investigated in this study was to determine the relationship, if any, between physical and familial factors and the child\u27s success in kindergarten. In order to accomplish this one must (1) measure success and then (2) compute the relationship of other factors to success. On the basis of these relationships, if they exist, one can better group children, provide more comprehensive curriculum, and staff classrooms to compensate for both high and low success factors. The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first phase was to determine success and the second to determine the relationship between success and other factors. Educators and other researchers, as well as teachers and parents, have been concerned with the need to determine success and then compute the relationship between success and other factors. For the purpose of this study a presentation of research has been limited to success, chronological age, height, weight, sex, birth order, and parents\u27 education as each of these areas relate to the kindergartener

The companion equations and the moyal-nahm equations

The first part of this thesis is concerned with the companion equations. These are equations of motion for the companion Lagrangian which is proposed to be the Lagrangian for a field theory associated with strings and branes, similar to the Klein-Gordon field description for particles. The form of this Lagrangian can be related to the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism for strings and branes. Some solutions to the companion equations are found and their integrability is discussed. There is an equivalence between the equations of motion for different companion Lagrangians when some constraints are applied. Under these constraints, the companion equations for a Lagrangian without a square root are equivalent to the companion equations for a Lagrangian with a square root but in one dimension less. The appearance of Universal Field Equations, generalised Bateman equations, in the companion equations leads to the study of an iterative procedure for Lagrangians which are homogeneous of weight one in the first derivatives in the fields the theory describes. The Universal Field equations appear after several iterations. Also, it is shown how Lagrangians for a large family of field theories are a divergence or vanish on the space of solutions of the equations of motion. Such theories could be called 'pseudo-topological'.The second part of this thesis is concerned with finding solutions to the Moyal-Nahm equations in four and eight dimensions. These equations are the Nahm equations, which give a set of solutions to self-dual Yang-Mills, but with the commutators replaced with Moyal brackets. Solutions are found in terms of generalised Wigner functions. Also, matrix representations of the algebra generated by the equivalent Nahm equations in eight dimensions are obtained. Solutions to the Nahm equations in eight dimensions are also given

From Parent to Child: The Effects of a Home Learning Program on Attitudes and Achievements

Literacy is shared value in our culture, yet many adults are unable or unwilling to read. Research indicates that the beginnings of literacy occur long before formal education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the Preschool Reading Experience Program on the attitudes and pre-reading skills of four- and five-year-old children. The subjects were 96 children enrolled in four San Diego preschools, and their parents. The methodology was quasi-experimental with a treatment and a control group. Interactions of sex, age, and type of preschool were also considered. Results of the quantitative data indicated that children who participated in PREP increased their skills in the areas of letter and word recognition. Attitude measures indicated no significant effect. Results of the qualitative data indicated positive changes in attitudes as well as pre-reading skills. The interactions of sex, age and type of school were all non-significant. An investigation of the home literary environments of the participants suggested three factors that may affect and encourage early reading: onset age of reading aloud, frequency of library use and the education level of the parents. Parents in the treatment group expressed an eagerness to participate in their children\u27s early reading experiences. Progress in the program, however, was consistently reported to be child and not parent directed