Establishing a Hybrid Wound and Ostomy Continuing Education Program

Wound and ostomy nurses receive specialty training and certification to provide care in abdominal stomas, ostomies, wounds, fistulas, and pressure injuries. The eight existing nationwide programs in 2011 were inadequate to meet increasing patient population demands. We developed an innovative nondegree, postbaccalaureate continuing wound and ostomy education program using a hybrid design. The program integrated interactive online classes with intensive onsite classes and skills training. The program has been granted seven-year accreditation; student evaluations have been positive

Physiology and prevention of heel ulcers: The state of science

The prevalence of heel ulcers across settings is high and is increasing. Prevention of ulcers requires knowledge of their etiology and the scientific basis for preventive care. The interaction between external pressure and the heel vasculature is central to the prevention of heel ulcers. This article focuses on the prevention of heel pressure ulcers. The physiology of heel tissue perfusion, the effect of external pressure on heel perfusion, as well as what is known about strategies to reduce external pressure and approaches to improve heel skin blood flow will be discussed. It is only through understanding of the physiology of heel tissue perfusion and its relation to external pressure that effective preventive measures to reduce heel skin breakdown can be adapted in clinical practice

The Chinese in Mississippi: A Race In-Between

There is this shot in the opening scene of the movie, Mississippi Burning, where you see two water fountains. One is broken, and chipped, and water is dripping from it. The other is modern, and shining. A white guy goes up to the nice one, and the black kid goes up to the old one. I remember saying to myself If I was in the scene, where would I drink?” As a kid, I remember going to the theater and not knowing where I was supposed to sit. Blacks were segregated then. Colored people had to sit upstairs, and white people sat downstairs... I guess I was always considered marginal with whites and blacks

Skin blood flow response to 2-hour repositioning in the long-term care residents: A pilot study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this noninvasive pilot study was to examine the changes in transcutaneous oxygen (tcO2), skin temperature, and hyperemic response in the heels, sacrum, and trochanters in a 2-hour loading-unloading condition in nursing home residents who are positioned in supine and lateral positions. DESIGN: A 1-group, prospective, repeated-measures design was used. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: Nine subjects (5 males, 4 females) with a mean age of 85.3 ± 10.86 years (mean ± SD) who required help in turning and positioning at a skilled nursing facility participated in the study. METHODS: Oxygen and temperature sensors were placed on the heels, trochanters, and sacrum. The subject was (1) positioned lateral for 30 minutes (preload); (2) turned to the supine position with head of the bed at 30° for 2 hours (both sacrum and heels were on the bed surface) (loading); and (3) positioned lateral for 2 hours (unloading). Subjects were turned to either the right or the left side. RESULTS: Friedman test showed no statistical differences in tcO2 or skin temperature on the sacrum, heels, or trochanters during preload, supine, and lateral positioning (P \u3e .5). Individual data revealed that hyperemic response was seen in 6 of the 9 subjects when the position was changed from supine to lateral. Only one-third of the subjects attained a sacral tcO2 of 40 mm Hg or more at the end of the 2-hour lateral positioning. tcO2 on both heels decreased within the first 30 minutes of loading. CONCLUSION: Two hours of staying in the supine position lowered sacral oxygenation to less than 40 mm Hg, in some subjects, regardless of whether there was adequate tcO2 at preload. Repositioning to a lateral position after 2 hours of placement in a supine position did not cause the tcO2 to return to preload level. The efficacy of a 2-hour repositioning schedule requires further investigation. Since heel tcO2 was reduced after 30 minutes of loading, further work is needed to determine whether the heels should be offloaded with more frequent repositioning

Development of a Control System and User Interface for the Quanser Shake Table II

Shake tables are often used to simulate earthquakes to test the performance of structures under seismic loads. This project focuses on implementing the Quanser Shake Table II, which is a valuable tool for conducting small-scale experimental vibration tests. This research project focused on the development of a control system and user interface for the shake table. With the aim of making the shake table easier to control, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller and an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) were developed. MATLAB was used to simulate the control system, while the graphical programming environment NI LabVIEW was used to develop the GUI. In this presentation, an overview of a closed-loop control system, the designed GUI, and the implementation results are discussed.Ope

An Estimation of U.S. Industry-Level Capital-Labor Substitution

A key parameter that determines the distributional impacts of a policy shift in general equilibrium models is the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. Despite the importance of this parameter in applied modeling, its identification continues to pose a challenge. Given the structure of most growth models, we posit that the true relationship between capital and labor is likely to be close to Cobb- Douglas. Using a rich new data set from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, we estimate substitution elasticities for 28 industries, which cover the entire economy, and provide an indication of the long- and short-run estimates. We fail to reject the Cobb-Douglas specification in 20 of the 28 industries. These findings lend support to the Cobb-Douglas specification as a transparent starting point in simulation analysis.Econometric Methods; Time Series Models; Computable General Equilibrium Models

Searching for Economic Balance in Business Method Patents

Business method patents (BMPs) award exclusive rights to inventors for novel techniques that perform commercial functions not embodied in specific physical inventions. Perhaps because of the novel and intangible nature of business methods, BMPs commanded little attention from economists, even though legal scholars have covered selected economic issues implicated by BMPs in qualitative terms. In this Essay, we hope to shed some light on the issue by considering economic arguments for awarding patents for business concepts. Many of these arguments focus on the wisdom of broad and exclusive rights in sectors that are critical for economic growth, where innovation is dynamic and incremental, and where standards and network effects are significant. In our view, economic analysis cannot support the BMP system as it currently operates. This conclusion is buttressed by the limited empirical evidence available for BMPs. In brief, the patent system is imbalanced in favor of inventors to the detriment of the public good. Thus, Congress and the USPTO should significantly modify the standards and procedures for granting and enforcing business method patents

The role of adult input on the usage of Cantonese aspect markers in young Cantonese-speaking children

"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, June 30, 2009."Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2009.published_or_final_versionSpeech and Hearing SciencesBachelorBachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science