Coming to understand the professional artistry of nursing practice and facilitating its development: A critical creative collaborative inquiry

This thesis explores the concept of professional artistry in nursing practice. In particular, as it was uncovered and understood by nursing professionals working in hospital, primary care and long term care settings in the Netherlands. Despite the many pressures and challenges within the healthcare system some nurses do manage to practise with beauty and graceful skill while nursing in person-centred and evidence-based ways. These nurses demonstrate that effective, beautiful, perhaps even transformative practice is possible. Practice of this kind has been called professional artistry. A collaborative, critical and creative methodology was developed specifically for this study to enable groups of nurses to inquire together using methods that would take account of the embodied, embedded and creative nature of professional practice. This research has demonstrated that professional artistry in nursing can be understood as a set of ontological and praxiological assumptions which are expressed in five patterns of engagement and result in an enlargement of the space for becoming. The patterns of engagement are described as the creation of a sheltered, shared space; being committed to the ideal; working with the parts and the whole; working with the now and the not yet, and, taking or enabling transformative action. This research has furthermore demonstrated that it is possible within busy, real life nursing environments for nurses to engage in an iterative and systematic process of embodied learning through which they can develop shared understandings of their professional artistry, involve their colleagues, patients and other stakeholders in co-creation of these understandings, and experience both perspective transformations and further development of their professional artistry. Iterative inquiry into professional artistry via a critical, creative and collaborative process not only supports the embodied understanding of professional artistry in one’s own practice, but creates the conditions in which it can be further developed

Literacy and numeracy support in vocational education: Perceptions from engineering apprentices in victoria

This research explored how engineering apprentices at an Australian TAFE institution perceive their supported acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills. Using a mixed methods approach, 56 apprentices completed questionnaires with nine participating in subsequent interviews. The study identified apprentices’ perceived ability levels in reading, writing and numeracy, learning strategies they employed, and literacy and numeracy support they found most helpful. Findings provide insight into apprentices’ approaches to learning, many of whom struggled to articulate how they acquired the literacy and numeracy skills for their studies and employment. Participants primarily focused on navigation of coursework and reading demands while reporting similar learning strategies. Literacy and numeracy support (LNS) teachers were considered helpful for others, with clear distinctions between the trade teacher/trainer and LNS teacher. Agitation with the self-paced nature of the classroom and a mismatch between study and workplace was also highlighted. This research suggests greater awareness of how apprentices learn would support literacy and numeracy skills development without reinforcing a deficit discourse. New approaches to develop apprentices’ learning strategies within the wider dialogue of literacy and numeracy acquisition is recommended. © 2021, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc.. All rights reserved

Lived experience of a traditional female Ojibway elder

This qualitative study examined the lived experience of a traditional female Ojibway Elder and her perspectives of leadership. An emergent framework of traditional female Ojibway leadership resulted from the data, and was supported by the review of the related literature. Implicit components of the emergent framework of traditional female Ojibway leadership included culture, a belief in the Creator, community, and wisdom. Two predominant themes emerged from the data. These themes were: culture and wisdom. Culture was divided into three sub-themes. These sub-themes were: believing in the Creator, Taryn's teaching in her birth and community. Culture was considered with attention to spirituality because in traditional Ojibway culture the two complement each other in their meaning. Wisdom was discussed in terms of the importance of passing on traditional and spiritual teachings to others in her community and culture. Culture and spirituality provided the foundation on which the research participant understood her role in the world and the meaning of her life. Wisdom implied knowledge of individual roles which focused on the common good of the community. As such role specification was evident and necessary for forming parts of a whole in her community. In that process equality among community members emerged as a virtue. The emergent framework of traditional female Ojibway leadership) is presented as holistic in nature. The framework is derived from the participant’s world view and illustrates her intense personal integrity

Collaborative Course Design in Scientific Writing: Experimentation and Productive Failure

English 3820: Scientific Writing, a writing-intensive (WI) course offered by the Department of English at East Carolina University (ECU), serves primarily science majors. According to the course catalog, it provides students with “practice in assimilation and written presentation of scientific information.� The course asks students to consider the situated nature of scientific writing and also to produce scientific writing for various audiences. Throughout the course, students examine theories, methodologies, and ideologies that undergird scientific writing with an eye to perfecting both critique and imitation of scientific styles

Analysis of three genes that contribute to fibrosis in South African systemic sclerosis patients

MSc (Med), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the WitwatersrandIntroduction: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease characterised by autoantibody release, leading to microvascular injury, fibroblast activation and increased production of collagen. The genetics of SSc is complex with many genes implicated in the development and maintenance of the extracellular matrix (ECM). The main aim of this study was to test for differential expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP1) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in SSc patients compared to healthy control individuals and to assess whether the differential expression of these genes could have an impact on clinical features of the disease. Methods: Two skin biopsies were analysed for each of 16 black SSc patients, one from clinically involved skin (lateral forearm) and one from clinically uninvolved skin (back). One skin sample was obtained from 15 ethnically matched control individuals. The differential expression of MMP1, TIMP1 and HGF in the clinically involved and uninvolved patient samples would be compared to control individuals using relative quantification polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The gene expression profiles were then compared to specific clinical features to deduce whether any of the gene expression profiles is correlated with the manifestation of specific clinical features. Results: MMP1 gene expression was significantly decreased in SSc patients for both involved (p=0.0004) and uninvolved skin (p=0.0004) compared to controls. Conversely, TIMP1 gene expression was significantly increased in SSc patients at both sites compared to controls (p=<0.00001 for both comparisons). A trend of significance was observed for the difference in TIMP1 expression between the involved an uninvolved skin within the patients (p=0.05) with a greater increase in involved skin. HGF had increased gene expression in the patients compared to controls for involved and uninvolved skin (p=0.002 and 0.004, respectively). The difference in gene expression between the involved and uninvolved biopsies was not significant for either MMP1 or HGF (p=0.87 and 0.83, respectively). The only correlates that may have a biological significance are HGF in involved skin correlated with disease activity (r=0.60; p=0.013) and HGF in uninvolved skin vi correlated with skin score (MRSS) with r=0.50 and p=0.048. With regards to the categorical data, two marginally significant observations were found, once again with HGF, which was found to be associated with gender in involved skin (p=0.037) and renal disease in uninvolved skin (0.031). Conclusion: The relative under expression of MMP1 and over expression of TIMP1 reflect the pro-fibrotic state of scleroderma skin. The over expression of HGF suggests that HGF may play a compensatory anti-fibrotic role, although this is not sufficient to overcome the pro-fibrotic state of the skin. This study provides supporting evidence to debunk the myth of uninvolved skin in SSc patients. The altered expression of MMP1, TIMP1 and HGF in the clinically uninvolved skin of SSc patients suggests that all subcutaneous tissue is affected, although to a greater extent in the clinically involved skin of the patients

Faculty and student perceptions of post-exam attendance

This project investigated differences between faculty and student perceptions of student attendance in courses for the class period after an exam, including factors thought to influence student attendance. Participants from a single university completed a mixed-methods on-line questionnaire. Quantitative analyses revealed significant differences between faculty and student perceptions on all but one project variable. Qualitative analyses reinforced those findings and suggested that faculty misunderstand what factors actually influence student attendance. Taken together, the results suggest a substantial disconnect between faculty and student perceptions of the importance of class attendance and highlight areas for faculty to influence student attendance

Press Reports of Animal Hoarding

This article explores how the press reports nonhuman animal hoarding and hoarders. It discusses how 100 articles from 1995 to the present were content analyzed. Analysis revealed five emotional themes that include drama, revulsion, sympathy, indignation, and humor. While these themes draw readers\u27 attention and make disparate facts behind cases understandable by packaging them in familiar formats, they also present an inconsistent picture of animal hoarding that can confuse readers about the nature and significance of this behavior as well as animal abuse, more generally

Evaluating the suitability of close-kin mark-recapture as a demographic modelling tool for a critically endangered elasmobranch population

Estimating the demographic parameters of contemporary populations is essential to the success of elasmobranch conservation programmes, and to understanding their recent evolutionary history. For benthic elasmobranchs such as skates, traditional fisheries-independent approaches are often unsuitable as the data may be subject to various sources of bias, whilst low recapture rates can render mark-recapture programmes ineffectual. Close-kin mark-recapture (CKMR), a novel demographic modelling approach based on the genetic identification of close relatives within a sample, represents a promising alternative approach as it does not require physical recaptures. We evaluated the suitability of CKMR as a demographic modelling tool for the critically endangered blue skate (Dipturus batis) in the Celtic Sea using samples collected during fisheries-dependent trammel-net surveys that ran from 2011 to 2017. We identified three full-sibling and 16 half-sibling pairs among 662 skates, which were genotyped across 6291 genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms, 15 of which were cross-cohort half-sibling pairs that were included in a CKMR model. Despite limitations owing to a lack of validated life-history trait parameters for the species, we produced the first estimates of adult breeding abundance, population growth rate, and annual adult survival rate for D. batis in the Celtic Sea. The results were compared to estimates of genetic diversity, effective population size (Ne), and to catch per unit effort estimates from the trammel-net survey. Although each method was characterized by wide uncertainty bounds, together they suggested a stable population size across the time-series. Recommendations for the implementation of CKMR as a conservation tool for data-limited elasmobranchs are discussed. In addition, the spatio-temporal distribution of the 19 sibling pairs revealed a pattern of site fidelity in D. batis, and supported field observations suggesting an area of critical habitat that could qualify for protection might occur near the Isles of Scilly.publishedVersio

Development of a new branded UK food composition database for an online dietary assessment tool

The current UK food composition tables are limited, containing ~3300 mostly generic food and drink items. To reflect the wide range of food products available to British consumers and to potentially improve accuracy of dietary assessment, a large UK specific electronic food composition database (FCDB) has been developed. A mapping exercise has been conducted that matched micronutrient data from generic food codes to “Back of Pack” data from branded food products using a semi-automated process. After cleaning and processing, version 1.0 of the new FCDB contains 40,274 generic and branded items with associated 120 macronutrient and micronutrient data and 5669 items with portion images. Over 50% of food and drink items were individually mapped to within 10% agreement with the generic food item for energy. Several quality checking procedures were applied after mapping including; identifying foods above and below the expected range for a particular nutrient within that food group and cross-checking the mapping of items such as concentrated and raw/dried products. The new electronic FCDB has substantially increased the size of the current, publically available, UK food tables. The FCDB has been incorporated into myfood24, a new fully automated online dietary assessment tool and, a smartphone application for weight loss