Jasper Skulls and Memento Mori

The jasper skulls in this Curiosity Cabinet sit on the scale atop the touch-ables table. Jasper, a type of impure silica usually a reddish color, is commonly carved for small sculptures, as we see in the skulls. The reddish tones of both skulls match the overall tone of the cabinet nicely, as well as complimenting the rich medium blue of the walls. Thematically, skulls perfectly align with other objects in the cabinet. A ubiquitous theme of curiosity cabinets in the 16th and 17th century is the inevitability of death. Symbols of this notion in art work are known as Memento mori or vanitas. Memento mori is derived from Latin, and roughly translates to, “remember you will die.” Vanitas is a related term with similar meaning: all Earthly pursuits are feeble because they are temporary. (excerpt

19th Century Miniature Landscape and Seascape

As a gift to Gettysburg College, known as Pennsylvania College at the time, Johann Heinrich Wilbrand Stuckenberg willed his vast estate including an extensive 17th-19th century map collection after his death in London in 1903. J.H.W. Stuckenberg, and his wife Mary, were fond of the college for its progressive curriculum and support of his philosophical endeavors in publication, sociology, religion, and his native politics and culture.Two items that were bequeathed to the college are a pair of small paintings, one a landscape, the other a seascape. [excerpt

Compliance with Hygiene Recommendations for Human-animal Contact at Petting Zoos

Background: Most children at petting zoos are at least somewhat naïve with respect to animal contact, which is probably why they are being taken to a petting zoo. Unfortunately, their immune systems may be equally naïve, thereby putting these children at high risk of contracting one of several enteric zoonotic diseases. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine public and organizational compliance with current recommendations for hygiene and public safety for human-animal contact at permanent and temporary petting zoos. Methods: A single investigator visited 17 petting zoos across Michigan to evaluate both facilityrelated and visitor-related risk factors for zoonotic enteric disease transmission. We observed 246 children at 6 permanent Michigan petting zoos and 11 temporary Michigan petting zoos associated with agricultural fairs. No contact was made with any petting zoo visitors, and factors such as age and gender were subjectively accessed by visual observation. Results: Permanent zoos were more likely to have signs regarding hand hygiene and sanitizing facilities than did temporary or “traveling” petting zoos. Zoo personnel reminded 1.2% of visitors to wash their hands, and less than a third of all children were observed to have washed their hands following animal contact. Of the 246 children observed, about 50% (122) touched their own face, eyes, nose or mouth and 42% (104) touched the animals’ mouth. In addition, one child was seen ingesting goat feces, three were seen drinking out of the animals’ water trough, and one child was seen sucking on a fence rail; all in the presence of exhibit personnel who did not intervene. No association was observed between rates of hand washing and the degree of parental supervision. Conclusions: We concluded that the current CDC hygiene recommendations for visits to petting zoos are generally not being followed by visitors or by exhibitors. Most parental and exhibitor supervision appeared to be focused on preventing physical trauma to the animals and to the children. Further educational outreach and/or regulation may be indicated to prevent enteric disease transmission from animal contact at petting zoos. However, it may be difficult for young children to understand that animal contact is safe and desirable only if proper hygiene practices are followed

Revisiting and revitalizing political ecology in the American West

Political ecology, initially conceived to better understand the power relations implicit in management and distribution of natural resources in the developing world, came “home” to the American West in the 1990s and 2000s. This groundswell of research did much to problematize socio-environmental conflicts in the region, long typified by tensions over land and resources, identity and belonging, autonomy and authority. Since first touching down in the West, however, the “big tent” of political ecology has only grown bigger, incorporating new perspectives, epistemologies, and ontologies. At the same time, the nexus of environment and society is perhaps even more salient today, amid a regional conjuncture of populist revolt, climate change, and rapid political economic transformation. Here we reflect on three longstanding regional concerns – energy development, wolf reintroduction, and participatory governance – leveraging the pluralism of contemporary political ecology to better understand their contemporary incarnations. In so doing, we highlight the need to bring together insights from both “traditional” approaches and newer directions to better understand and engage contemporary challenges, with their heightened stakes and complexity. Such an approach demonstrates what we might learn about global processes in this place, as well as what insights regional praxis (often woefully provincial) might gain from elsewhere – new ways of seeing and doing political ecology. Our goal is to generate discussion among and between political ecologists and regional critical scholars, initiating new collaborative engagements that might serve the next wave of political ecology in the 21st century American West

The Makings of an Evidence-Based Local Health Department: Identifying Administrative and Management Practices

There is a gap in knowledge about how to best organize and administer practice in local health departments to implement sustained evidence-based policies, programs, and interventions. This report identifies administrative and management evidence-based practices to inform ongoing initiatives in local public health system quality improvement, accreditation processes, and performance. The article presents administrative elements in workforce development, leadership, organizational climate and culture, relationships and partnerships, and financial processes that local health departments can address at modest cost within a few years or less. Local public health systems can further identify, implement and evaluate evidence-based administrative practices

Implementing administrative evidence based practices: Lessons from the field in six local health departments across the United States

BACKGROUND: Administrative evidence based practices (A-EBPs) are agency level structures and activities positively associated with performance measures (e.g., achieving core public health functions, carrying out evidence-based interventions). The objectives of this study were to examine the contextual conditions and explore differences in local health department (LHD) characteristics that influence the implementation of A-EBPs. METHODS: Qualitative case studies were conducted based on data from 35 practitioners in six LHDs across the United States. The sample was chosen using an A-EBP score from our 2012 national survey and was linked to secondary data from the National Public Health Performance Standards Program. Three LHDs that scored high and three LHDs that scored low on both measures were selected as case study sites. The 37-question interview guide explored LHD use of an evidence based decision making process, including A-EBPs and evidence-based programs and policies. Each interview took 30–60 min. Standard qualitative methodology was used for data coding and analysis using NVivo software. RESULTS: As might be expected, high-capacity LHDs were more likely to have strong leadership, partnerships, financial flexibility, workforce development activities, and an organizational culture supportive of evidence based decision making and implementation of A-EBPs. They were also more likely to describe having strong or important relationships with universities and other educational resources, increasing their access to resources and allowing them to more easily share knowledge and expertise. CONCLUSIONS: Differences between high- and low-capacity LHDs in A-EBP domains highlight the importance of investments in these areas and the potential those investments have to contribute to overall efficiency and performance. Further research may identify avenues to enhance resources in these domains to create an organizational culture supportive of A-EBPs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-015-0891-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Developing a Tool to Assess Administrative Evidence-Based Practices in Local Health Departments

There is need for assessing the practices undertaken by local health departments in order to improve the implementation of evidence-based actions. This paper describes the development and testing of a survey instrument for assessing Administrative Evidence-Based Practices (A-EBPs) in Local Health Departments. A-EBPs identified through a review of the literature were used to develop a survey composed of nine sections and tested in a sample of local health department practitioners. The resulting tool showed adequate test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Practitioners and researchers may apply this tool in practice-based and evaluation research

Improving timeliness for acute asthma care for paediatric ED patients using a nurse driven intervention: an interrupted time series analysis.

Asthma is the most common chronic paediatric disease treated in the emergency department (ED). Rapid corticosteroid administration is associated with improved outcomes, but our busy ED setting has made it challenging to achieve this goal. Our primary aim was to decrease the time to corticosteroid administration in a large, academic paediatric ED. We conducted an interrupted time series analysis for moderate to severe asthma exacerbations of one to 18 year old patients. A multidisciplinary team designed the intervention of a bedside nurse initiated administration of oral dexamethasone, to replace the prior system of a physician initiated order for oral prednisone. Our baseline and intervention periods were 12 month intervals. Our primary process measure was the time to corticosteroid administration. Other process measures included ED length of stay, admission rate, and rate of emesis. The balance measures included rate of return visits to the ED or clinic within five days, as well as the proportion of discharged patients who were admitted within five days. No special cause variation occurred in the baseline period. The mean time to corticosteroid administration decreased significantly, from 98 minutes in the baseline period to 59 minutes in the intervention period (p \u3c 0.01), and showed special cause variation improvement within two months after the intervention using statistical process control methodology. We sustained the improvement and demonstrated a stable process. The intervention period had a significantly lower admission rate (p\u3c0.01) and emesis rate (p\u3c0.01), with no unforeseen harm to patients found with any of our balance measures. In summary, the introduction of a nurse initiated, standardized protocol for corticosteroid therapy for asthma exacerbations in a paediatric ED was associated with decreased time to corticosteroid administration, admission rates, and post-corticosteroid emesi