The Implications of Self-Driving Cars on Insurance

Self-driving cars, also known as autonomous vehicles, are being researched and tested by automakers, technology industry leaders, and other institutions. Lawmakers and politicians are discussing the legislation that will affect the fate of such technology. Primary benefits include safety, mobility, free time, less traffic, and green effects. However, there are also obstacles to the implementation of self-driving vehicles including consumer acceptance, legal liability, and cost. With the potential shift in responsibility from driver to automaker, rating factors for insurance may change, weighing more heavily on the model of the car as a factor. The fate of auto insurance is in the demand for autonomous vehicles by consumers, as business leaders react on data, not ideas. This project measures demand for self-driving cars and applies the results to how auto insurance will change. A survey was distributed in order to determine students’ experience with car insurance and their attitudes on self-driving technology. The survey group is divided between general students and those with some insurance knowledge. By using the demand findings from the survey as well as existing data for older driver populations, we are better able to predict the demand and liability of self-driving cars and how auto insurance will be priced

The Impact of Digital Storytelling on Fourth Grade Students’ Motivation to Write

Educators often have difficulty motivating upper elementary and adolescent students to write, while still being held accountable for producing high academic achievement to the rigorous standards of today’s society. Educators today are also striving to prepare students for the ever-changing and advancing 21st century world. Although teachers recognize that writing at the fourth grade level has become more rigorous and student motivation towards writing has decreased, they are unaware of the role digital storytelling has on both motivation and writing performance. Using a qualitative research design and case study approach, the current study examined the impact of digital literacy, in the form of digital storytelling, on the motivation levels and writing performance of fourth grade students. Results suggest that digital storytelling has the power to not only improve student motivation towards writing, but also improve student self-perception, creativity, and overall writing performance on a four point grading rubric

Welchen Einfluss hat ein tiefer mütterlicher Hämoglobinwert während der Schwangerschaft auf Mutter und Kind?

Darstellung: Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen eines tiefen mütterlichen Hämoglobinwertes in der Schwangerschaft bezüglich des Outcomes von Mutter und Kind. Über die maternalen und fetalen Risiken eines tiefen Hämoglobinwertes liefert die aktuelle Forschung widersprüchliche Ergebnisse. In der Literatur werden aufgrund fehlender Evidenzen unterschiedliche Richtlinien und Empfehlungen für die Handhabung in der Praxis beschrieben. Ziel: Das Ziel ist, mögliche Auswirkungen und Folgen eines tiefen mütterlichen Hämoglobinwertes in der Schwangerschaft auf Mutter und Kind aufzuzeigen. Daraus sollen Hebammen Informationen zur Beratung von schwangeren Frauen ableiten können. Methode: Zur Beantwortung der Fragestellung wurde mit festgelegten Keywords auf medizinischen Datenbanken nach themenrelevanter Literatur gesucht. Vier Studien wurden anhand von Ein- und Ausschlusskriterien selektioniert, ausgewertet und in Ergänzung mit Fachliteratur diskutiert. Ergebnisse: Das mütterliche und kindliche Outcome wird untersucht, indem Vergleichsgruppen mit unterschiedlichen Hämoglobinwerten bezüglich Geburtsgewicht, Frühgeburtlichkeit, Apgar-Score, Geburtsmodus, postpartaler Infektionen und postpartaler Hämorrhagie verglichen werden. Die selektionierten Studien zeigen unterschiedliche und teilweise kontroverse Ergebnisse. Eine klare Tendenz für oder gegen ein schlechteres Outcome bei einem tiefen Hämoglobinwert kann nicht abgeleitet werden. Schlussfolgerung: Anhand der Ergebnisse kann keine abschliessende Aussage über den Einfluss eines tiefen Hämoglobinwertes auf Mutter und Kind gemacht werden. Weitere Forschung zur Thematik ist notwendig

Quaterpyridine Ligands for Panchromatic Ru(II) Dye Sensitizers

A new general synthetic access to carboxylated quaterpyridines (qpy), of interest as ligands for panchromatic dyesensitized solar cell organometallic sensitizers, is presented. The strategic step is a Suzuki−Miyaura cross-coupling reaction, which has allowed the preparation of a number of representative unsubstituted and alkyl and (hetero)aromatic substituted qpys. To bypass the poor inherent stability of 2-pyridylboronic acid derivatives, we successfully applied N-methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA) boronates as key reagents, obtaining the qpy ligands in good yields up to (quasi)gram quantities. The structural, spectroscopic (NMR and UV−vis), electrochemical, and electronic characteristics of the qpy have been experimentally and computationally (DFT) investigated. The easy access to the bis-thiocyanato Ru(II) complex of the parent species of the qpy series, through an efficient route which bypasses the use of Sephadex column chromatography, is shown. The bis-thiocyanato Ru(II) complex has been spectroscopically (NMR and UV−vis), electrochemically, and computationally investigated, relating its properties to those of previously reported Ru(II)−qpy complexes.“This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in [The Journal of Organic Chemistry], copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher

Al son de las palabras

La Dirección de Educación Primaria y la Coordinación de Materiales Educativos lanzaron la Colección Piedra Libre, conformada por 30 fascículos. El objetivo de esta colección es favorecer el aprendizaje en las áreas de Matemáticas, Lengua, Ciencias Sociales y Ciencias Naturales. Los materiales fueron ilustrados por artistas de primer nivel como Rep, Istvansch, Isol, Claudia Legnazzi, Bianki y Bernasconi

Entanglements of Teenage Motherhood Identities: A Critical Ethnography within a Community-Based Organization

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2017. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Bic Ngo. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 239 pages.The social construction of adolescence as a distinct developmental stage is based on a hierarchy of age, race, social class, and gender that affords some individuals with the privileges of full participation in the United States yet positions others as subordinate within the progress of the nation (Lesko, 2012). The organization of school as an institution relies on the assumption that development occurs in linear stages where grade levels and labels such as elementary, middle, and high school predict certain characteristics found within each context. Oftentimes, teenage mothers are positioned as those subordinate or deficit within these formal systems of education as they do not “fit” into these traditional labeling practices. Negative labels such as “stupid slut”, “teen rebel, teen mom”, “the girl nobody loved” and “dropouts” show evidence of this deficit mindset (Kelly, 2000). The impact of such labels manifests themselves in perceptions of disengagement within formal school settings (Kalil, 2002; Kalil & Ziol-Guest, 2008) and the policing of aged, racial, social classed, and gendered bodies (Jones, 2007). The purpose of this critical, ethnographic study is to deeply explore the experiences of teenage mothers participating in a community-based organization (CBO) as potential opportunities to take up issues of age, race, gender, sexuality, motherhood, and social class within their ongoing identity construction and schooling experiences. This study takes a critical perspective on the social construction of adolescence in order to contribute to scholarly work that attends to how teenage mothers are socially, politically, and educationally positioned within Western schooling and society. By focusing on hybridity and the intersectionality of identities this research pays attention to the ways in which educational practices have been both disrupted and maintained discriminatory when conceptualizing what it means to educate and involve teenage mothers and their children within existing systems. Findings show that the chronological passing of time as well as the physical representation of the pregnant female figure is reflected within women’s stories as one form of oppression and/or agentic negotiation. Additionally, mixed perceptions around if and how local and alternative high schools provide space for the hybridity and intersectionality of teenage mothering identities was engaged by participants within embodied “fitting in” or “pushed out” discourses. These perceptions seek to complicate traditional practices and identities of student, athlete, and parent within formalized educational spaces. Also, Real Moms both provides opportunity for authentic senses of caring (Noddings, 2005) as well as has limitations in “protecting” participants from the risks of being vulnerable within relationship and storytelling. This study will extend the literature by looking at the ways in which teenage mothers are both disrupting and reinscribing discourses of chronological developmental stage theories (Lesko, 2002; Lesko, 2012) by attending to the multitude of social factors that influence the cultural construction of adolescence and adolescents (Vagle, 2012). Additionally, this work looks at how schools are sites for the perpetuation of social contracts that implicitly exclude or push out specific student identities, such as race, social class, and teenage motherhood that do not adhere or assimilate to existing normalized practices (Milner, 2015; Noguera, 2003). For example, the quarantining of teenage mothers into all-female alternative schools or limited participation within local schools attempts to de-sexualize female students against discourses of desire (Fine, 1993). In thinking about authentic, caring relationships (Noddings, 2005), this study also complicates the notion of creative, narrative expression as an automatic form of empowerment as opportunities for vulnerable storytelling stir up both damaging stereotypes (Edell, 2013) and self-interpretations of empowerment (Kelly, 1997). By contextualizing the lived experiences of the female teenage mothers and mentors within this community-based organization, this study thoughtfully and reflexively attends to the existing discourses of teenage motherhood

Color-Coded US Politics: Media Frames Found in US Newspaper Articles from 2004 to 2012

During the 2000 US Presidential election, the terms “blue states” and “red states” emerged as a way to describe the political landscape of the United States. While these terms have become common heuristics used to organize how people think about politics, there is no singular agreed upon interpretation of what these terms tell us about America politics. This paper reviews the literature on framing and then discusses the identification of six media frames constructed around these terms between 2004 and 2012. Then, using a sample of 607 US newspaper articles, quantitative analysis indicates that the prevalence of particular frames changes during Presidential election years and by types of author. Overall, we find that frames vary in frequency depending on when the publication date and type of author, while also exploring how writers have used increasingly applied these terms towards seemingly apolitical realms of everyday life

Emergent Endotracheal Intubation and Mortality in Traumatic Brain Injury

Objective: To determine the relationship between emergent intubation (emergency department and field intubation cases combined) and mortality in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) while controlling for injury severity.Methods: Retrospective observational study of 981 (35.2% intubated, 64.8% not intubated) patients with TBI evaluating the association between intubation status and mortality. Logistic regression was used to analyze the data. Injury severity measures included Head/Neck Abbreviated Injury Scale (H-AIS), systolic blood pressure, type of head injury (blunt vs. penetrating), and a propensity score combining the effects of several other potential confounding variables. Age was also included in the model.Results: The simple association of emergent endotracheal intubation with death had an odds ratio (OR) of 14.3 (95% CI = 9.4 – 21.9). The logistic regression model including relevant covariates and a propensity score that adjusted for injury severity and age yielded an OR of 5.9 (95% CI = 3.2 – 10.9).Conclusions: This study indicates that emergent intubation is associated with increased risk of death after controlling for a number of injury severity indicators. We discuss the need for optimal paramedic training, and an understanding of the factors that guide patient selection and the decision to intubate in the field. [WestJEM.2008;9:184-189

Primary mucosal melanoma presenting with a unilateral nasal obstruction of the left inferior turbinate

We report the case of a primitive nasal melanoma in an 82-year-old patient, showing how this rare malignancy, with non-specific signs and symptoms, can represent a challenging diagnosis for the physician. A 82-year-old Caucasian patient presented for unilateral nasal obstruction and occasional epistaxis. Computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the facial massif revealed turbinate hypertrophy and a polypoid phlogistic tissue isointense in T1 with an intermediate signal in T2 and Short-TI Inversion Recovery (STIR)-T2, occupying the middle meatus and the anterior upper and lower left meatus with partial obliteration of the ostium and the infundibulum of the maxillary sinus. The Positron emission tomography (PET) exam was negative for metastases. Conservatory surgery in the left anterior video rhinoscopy was performed, allowing a radical 4-cm tumor excision. Histology reported epithelioid cell melanoma, PanK−, CD45−, and PanMelanoma+. Adjuvant radiotherapy was suggested, even considering a complete resection as the result of surgery. No local or systemic relapse was noticed at the 2-month follow-up visit. Although mucosal melanoma is a rare and aggressive malignancy characterized by a poor prognosis, early diagnosis allows a more conservative approach, with little surgical difficulty and no aesthetic effect. Our case raises awareness of the importance of early intervention even in those cases where the clinic symptoms and diagnostic images show uncertain severity