Building Resilience in Graduate Nurses Through Online Virtual Simulation

Resilience has become a popular topic in nursing research. Nurses experience enormous stress throughout their training process that extends into their first employment as they transition into practice. Simulation training is a standard for training nurses and for continuing professional education within academia. Most simulation training for nurses is focused on building critical thinking skills. While critical thinking is an essential quality equipping nurses to meet professional demands, resilience is a crucial quality to overcome the stress of both training and practice. Resilience is believed to play an essential role in the retention of new graduate nurses and preventing burnout creating longevity in clinical practice and efficiently coping with adversities and traumatic exposure often seen in the clinical setting. While there are many factors that influence resilience, this study used reflective questions related to Bandura’s (2009) model of mindfulness and self-efficacy in concert with Swift River computer virtual clinical simulation. The resilience scores of nurses before and after completing virtual computer simulation with reflective questions were compared. Resilience was measured using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The resilience score of the graduate nurses was lower than the national average both in the beginning and after the simulation. While this comparative study showed no statistical evidence using a single simulation exercise, more longitudinal studies are needed, as the virtual simulation is here to stay, and resilience continues to be a concern

Torts-Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act-General Release of One Tortfeasor Releases All

Plaintiff, riding as a passenger with X, was injured in an accident involving the automobile driven by X and a truck owned by defendant. Several months later X paid plaintiff $1,518.87 and received a release. Plaintiff then brought an action in trespass against the defendant, charging negligence in causing the accident and claiming$10,000 damages. The defendant joined X as an additional defendant and X pleaded the release. Defendant\u27s amended answer claimed that the broad language of the release, any and all other persons, within the meaning of the Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act, provided a release for the defendant also. The lower court entered judgment on the pleadings against plaintiff, and in favor of both X and the defendant. On appeal, held, affirmed, two justices dissenting. The intent of plaintiff to release all of the tortfeasors was clearly evidenced, as required by statute, by the language of the release. Hasselrode v. Gnagey, 404 Pa. 549, 172 A.2d 764 (1961)

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Accrual of State Property Taxes Paid Under Protest

During the years 1946 to 1950 a local tax upon respondent\u27s real property was assessed at one hundred dollars. Respondent paid the full assessment to avoid interest penalties and seizure and sale of the property under tax liens, but contested the assessment in the state court, denying any liability greater than eighty-five dollars. In each of the preceding years, complying with a private ruling directed to it by the Commissioner, respondent had deducted the full one hundred dollars, and, when in 1951 the tax was fixed by the state court at ninety-five dollars, respondent included the five-dollar refund in its gross income. Respondent then instituted this action to recover an alleged overpayment of income tax in 1951, claiming that ten dollars of the one hundred-dollar deduction taken in each year should have been deferred until 1951, and that the five-dollar refund should be excluded from that year\u27s gross income. The district court disagreed with respondent\u27s contentions and accepted the view of the Commissioner that the whole amount of the assessed tax accrued, and thus was properly deducted, in the year in which it was paid and that the five-dollar refund represented income to the taxpayer in 1951. The Second Circuit reversed on both counts. On certiorari, held, affirmed. The remittance of the property tax, under protest, was not a type of payment which would serve to accrue the contested portion of the tax before respondent\u27s liability had been determined by the state court. United States v. Consolidated Edison Co., 366 U.S. 380 (1961)

When a Patent Claim is Broader Than the Disclosure: The Federal Circuit\u27s Game Has No Rules, 1 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 21 (2001)

The Federal Circuit has become much less willing to enforce a claim that is broader than the specific embodiments described in the patent. Unfortunately, its decisions provide no guidelines for identifying such situations. Nor is the court consistent in its attacks on the problem. Sometimes it simply construes the claim as limited to the specific embodiment and finds no infringement. Sometimes it invalidates the claim for want of an adequate written description or for insufficient scope of enablement. It is suggested that a careful use of the reverse doctrine of equivalents would create stability and predictability with respect to this very difficult issue

Insurance-Rate Regulation-Construction and Effect of Guaranty Bond Agreement

Plaintiff, an insurance agents\u27 association and several other insurance companies and associations, instituted an action attacking an order of the State Board of Insurance. The order approved a guaranty bond form, together with rates and rules, which had been submitted to ,the Board pursuant to statute by the defendant insurance company. The guaranty agreement was an arrangement whereby defendant guaranteed payment of losses under fire insurance policies of other insurers in the event the latter should be unable to pay. Although the bond form was not restricted to any specific original insurers, it was contemplated that defendant would use ,the guaranty arrangement in connection with the policies of its affiliate. Defendant was subject to regulated fire insurance rates, while its affiliate was not, even though both were under common management; thus, its affiliate was able to sell fire insurance at lower rates than those fixed by, the Board for defendant. Plaintiff objected to the guaranty agreement on the ground that it would, in effect, permit defendant to write fire insurance at unregulated rates. The lower court agreed and set aside the Board\u27s order. On appeal, held, reversed, one judge dissenting. The guaranty agreement was a true guaranty bond, not a fire insurance policy, and thus was not subject to regulated rates. International Serv. Ins. Co. v. Dallas Ass\u27n of Ins. Agents, 351 S.W.2d 297 (Tex. Civ. App. 1961)

KOI-1003: A new spotted, eclipsing RS CVn binary in the Kepler field

Using the high-precision photometry from the Kepler space telescope, thousands of stars with stellar and planetary companions have been observed. The characterization of stars with companions is not always straightforward and can be contaminated by systematic and stellar influences on the light curves. Here, through a detailed analysis of starspots and eclipses, we identify KOI-1003 as a new, active RS CVn star---the first identified with data from Kepler. The Kepler light curve of this close binary system exhibits the system's primary transit, secondary eclipse, and starspot evolution of two persistent active longitudes. The near equality of the system's orbital and rotation periods indicates the orbit and primary star's rotation are nearly synchronized ($P_\mathrm{orb} = 8.360613\pm0.000003$ days; $P_\mathrm{rot} \sim 8.23$ days). By assuming the secondary star is on the main sequence, we suggest the system consists of a $1.45^{+0.11}_{-0.19} \ M_\odot$ subgiant primary and a $0.59^{+0.03}_{-0.04} \ M_\odot$ main-sequence companion. Our work gives a distance of $4400 \pm 600$ pc and an age of $t = 3.0^{-0.5}_{+2.0}$ Gyr, parameters which are discrepant with previous studies that included the star as a member of the open cluster NGC 6791.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, accepted to Ap

Imaging starspot evolution on Kepler target KIC 5110407 using light curve inversion

The Kepler target KIC 5110407, a K-type star, shows strong quasi-periodic light curve fluctuations likely arising from the formation and decay of spots on the stellar surface rotating with a period of 3.4693 days. Using an established light-curve inversion algorithm, we study the evolution of the surface features based on Kepler space telescope light curves over a period of two years (with a gap of .25 years). At virtually all epochs, we detect at least one large spot group on the surface causing a 1-10% flux modulation in the Kepler passband. By identifying and tracking spot groups over a range of inferred latitudes, we measured the surface differential rotation to be much smaller than that found for the Sun. We also searched for a correlation between the seventeen stellar flares that occurred during our observations and the orientation of the dominant surface spot at the time of each flare. No statistically-significant correlation was found except perhaps for the very brightest flares, suggesting most flares are associated with regions devoid of spots or spots too small to be clearly discerned using our reconstruction technique. While we may see hints of long-term changes in the spot characteristics and flare statistics within our current dataset, a longer baseline of observation will be needed to detect the existence of a magnetic cycle in KIC 5110407.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures, accepted to Ap

Predicting U.S. Jet Fighter Aircraft Introductions from 1944 to 1982: A Dogfight Between Regression and TFDEA

Since its inception in 2001, technology forecasting using data envelopment analysis (TFDEA) has been used with a number of applications. This paper presents a formal comparison of TFDEA to a previously published application from Technological Forecasting and Social Change by Joseph Martino. Using the data and Martino’s multiple regression model, we compare results obtained from TFDEA to those previously published. Both techniques predict the first flights of fighter jets introduced between 1960 and 1982 by using the first flights of aircraft introduced between 1944 and 1960. TFDEA was found to better predict the first flight dates than the forecast using multiple regression. These results indicate that TFDEA may be a powerful new technique for predicting complex technological trends and time to market for new products

Improving Time to Market Forecasts: A Comparison of Two Technology Forecasting Techniques for Predicting U.S. Fighter Jet Introductions From 1944 to 1982

Since its origin in 2001, technology forecasting using data envelopment analysis (TFDEA) has been tested with a number of applications. This paper uses a previously published technology forecast comparison of U.S. fighter jets between the years 1944 and 1982 to compare TFDEA to basic regression. Both techniques use aircraft introduced between 1944 and 1960 to predict the first flights of those fighters introduced between 1960 and 1982. TFDEA was found to better predict the first flight dates than the forecast using regression. These results indicate that TFDEA may be a powerful new technique for predicting complex technological trends and time to market for new product

The homeologous Zea mays gigantea genes: characterization of expression and novel mutant alleles

The two homeologous Zea mays gigantea (gi) genes, gi1 and gi2, arose from the last genome duplication event in the maize lineage. Homologs of these genes in other species are required for correct circadian rhythms and proper regulation of growth and development. Here we characterized the expression of these two maize gi genes. Although gi1 and gi2 shared comparable 24-hour rhythmic expression profiles, gi1 levels were consistently higher than gi2. Furthermore, short day photoperiods repressed gi2 expression. The transcriptional unit for gi1 is established based on 5’-RACE analysis. Two independent mutant alleles for gi1 are described that are caused by transposons of the Mutator (Mu) class inserted into the 5’-end of the gene. The type of Mu element and position of the transposon in gi1 was different for each gi1 allele. Mutant plants had a marked reduction in gi1 expression and carried transcripts interrupted by the Mu element. Together, these results provide a deeper understanding of the gi genes in maize. In addition, the novel gi1 mutant alleles described here will be valuable tools to study gi1 function in maize, as well as the role of circadian clock regulation in maize metabolism, growth, and development