Stroke Mimic: A Case of Unilateral Thyrotoxic Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis

Thyrotoxic hypokalemic periodic paralysis (THPP) is a condition that results in transient skeletal muscle paralysis secondary to intracellular potassium sequestration. Susceptible individuals often have an underlying channelopathy, which may be exacerbated by lifestyle factors or underlying medical comorbidities such as hyperthyroidism or diarrheal illness. Classically, THPP presents with paralysis of proximal extremity musculature. In this case, we present a rare case of unilateral THPP. Such a presentation is relevant to emergency physicians as it mimics a stroke or transient ischemic attack and should be considered on the differential for unilateral neurologic deficits

A Theoretical Framework and Practical Toolkit for Ethical Library Assessment

Praktiker:innen stehen bei der Bewertung bzw. Evaluation von Bibliotheken unter doppeltem Druck, den Wert der Bibliothek zu demonstrieren und gleichzeitig die Werte der bibliothekarischen Profession einzuhalten. Um eine Praxis der Bibliotheksevaluation zu unterstützen, die sowohl den Wert der Bibliothek als auch die bibliothekarische Werte anspricht, untersucht diese Dissertation die Praxis der Bibliotheksevaluation durch die Perspektive praktischer Ethik und angewandter Werte. Die Hauptforschungsfrage lautet: „Wie kann Bibliotheksbewertung ethisch durchgeführt werden?“ Ich folgte einem dreistufigen Forschungsdesign: eine Literaturrecherche, eine Umfrage und Interviews. Die Literaturrecherche konzentriert sich auf die Ethik, Werte, Dilemmata und Praktiken von Bewertungspraktiker:innen. Eine vignettenbasierte Umfrage untersuchte Werte und Ethik bei der Bewertung von Bibliotheken weiter. Die Umfragedaten wurden mittels der konstruktivistischen Grounded Theory analysiert und die daraus resultierenden Codes etablierten ein neues Rahmenwerk und ein neues Instrument für die ethische Bewertung von Bibliotheken. Schließlich wurde das Instrument mit dem Namen Values-Sensitive Library Assessment Toolkit durch Interviews mit Bewertungspraktiker:innen validiert. Die Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass Praktiker:innen der Bibliotheksbewertung eine ethische Praxis anstreben, aber durch eine komplexe und dezentralisierte Wertelandschaft herausgefordert werden, die viele konkurrierende Möglichkeiten zur Identifizierung und Umsetzung von Werten bietet. Das Toolkit dient dazu, einen Satz von Werten zu modellieren, den Praktiker:innen anwenden können, um eine ethische Bewertungspraxis zu unterstützen.Library assessment practitioners face dual pressures to demonstrate library value and adhere to library values. To support a practice of library assessment that addresses both library value and library values, this dissertation examines the practice of library assessment through the lens of practical ethics and applied values. The main research question asks, “How can library assessment be practiced ethically?” I followed a three-step research design: a literature review, a survey, and interviews. The literature review focuses on the ethics, values, dilemmas, and practices of library assessment practitioners. A vignette-based survey further investigated values and ethics in assessment. Survey data was analyzed through constructivist grounded theory, and the resulting set of codes established a new framework and toolkit for ethical library assessment. Finally, the toolkit—named the Values-Sensitive Library Assessment Toolkit—was validated through interviews with assessment practitioners. Research findings indicate that library assessment practitioners seek an ethical practice, but are challenged by a complex and decentralized values landscape that offers many competing choices for identifying and implementing values. The toolkit serves to model a value set that practitioners can apply to support an ethical assessment practice

Windfall Payment Decision-Making: A Case Study of Pennsylvania Counties Receiving Funds from the Natural Gas Impact Fee (Act 13)

Given the economic ‘boom’ and ‘bust’ cycle associated with natural resource extraction, the decision to spend or save the revenue generated by such activity (which is considered a financial windfall), has important policy implications. Two streams of literature exist which help to explain and predict the behaviors of those facing such payments. One of these streams contends that the size of a windfall payment is inversely related to consumption. More specifically, this stream posits that as the size of a windfall in proportion to an individual or household’s budget increases, consumption of the windfall decreases. This study attempted to test this contention in the public arena by examining three counties in Pennsylvania that received windfall payments from a newly established natural gas impact fee. Through interviews with public officials familiar with the payment decision-making process and an examination of archival materials from Clearfield, Greene, and Tioga Counties, this study found that windfall size is inversely related to consumption. Clearfield County, which received the smallest payment relative to the total budget of the county, intended to spend most of the windfall while Tioga County, which received the largest payment relative to the total budget, intended to save most of the payment. Greene County, which received a medium-sized payment, also intended to spend most of the windfall. Furthermore, the study revealed that officials in Clearfield County largely perceived the payment to be an insubstantial cash “bonus” with limited investment opportunities. Officials in Greene County considered the payment additional income and planned to use the payment to fund various projects. Only Tioga County considered the payment a substantial sum and insisted that the payment be saved. This study concludes that the stream of literature focused on windfall size proves applicable in the public arena. Furthermore, this study contends that given a better understanding of the perceptions of and attitudes toward the payment, policymakers in Clearfield and Greene Counties should alter current behaviors. In the future, jurisdictions facing windfall payments in Pennsylvania and elsewhere should be more prudent in the decision-making process in order to account for the long-term effects of resource extraction on the local economy as well as the impacts of the impending resource ‘bust’

Investigation of Potentially Hazardous Particulate Matter in Homes: Designing a Particle Filtration System

This research documents the process of designing a technique, materials, and method to filter particulate matter (PM) deposited on surfaces in homes. PM collected from homes in a known industrial corridor, Baton Rouge, was tested for key pollutants sorbed to their surface in an investigation of household air depositions. This research successfully designed a collection method for bulk samples and a filtration apparatus and method for collecting sized laboratory testable samples using porous membrane filtration technology. This research found relatively high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the presence of some metals. This research also found the presence of persistent, organic radicals in homes which may be environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs). EPFRs are formed in industrial processes and are an emerging pollutant of importance described by the Louisiana State University Superfund Research Center. The manner in which organics, metals, and EPFRs exist as particle-pollutant systems in real environmental conditions will require more study. Further research can also be undertaken to draw spatial relations between sources of particle pollution and particle abundance and chemical composition on surfaces in homes in Baton Rouge and other urban areas

Stiffness Parameter Identification of the Muscles of Mastication

Oral cancer survivors across the country live with a condition called trismus, or spasm of the jaw muscles, that restricts their ability to perform basic functions such as eating and talking. In order to relieve these patients of their symptoms, we propose a novel wearable device with the capability to adjust to the complete 6 degree of freedom movement of the jaw to perform therapeutic exercises and run real-time diagnostics. These diagnostic can identify certain stiffness parameters that define a patients capabilities of each portion of the 3 closing muscles pairs. Two approaches were implemented i) physician input trajectory and ii) physician input forcing function. For the input trajectory method, a linear least squares approach and a nonlinear least approach were attempted. An extended kalman filter approach was utilized for the force input method. The results concluded each method is feasible but both depend on the accuracy of the model and initial estimate. The degree of mouth opening dictated the amount of information regarding certain stiffness parameters and dictated the success of each approach. This lays the groundwork for an experimental approach to validate the relevance of certain stiffness parameters in the clinic

Indirect measurement of the electrocaloric effect

Theoretical chapter resolving long-term dispute in thermodynamics over electrical work, followed by experimental analyses and exposure of inherent problems of indirect measurement of the electrocaloric effect, including misconceptions in electrocaloric literature and previously unexamined assumptions.In August 2011 at the International Symposium on Integrated Functionalities in Cambridge, a whole session was devoted to the electrocaloric effect, which is undergoing a modest renaissance. Surprisingly, the various reports showed that the indirect method of measuring cooling (described in the following sections) did not usually agree with the direct method (actually measuring temperature change with a thermometer). However, there was no obvious systematic error: sometimes the indirect temperature change was larger and sometimes smaller. The discrepancies were beyond the experimental errors. The majority of the present thesis is dedicated to careful reexamination of some of the assumptions made in the indirect method, both during measurement and in the subsequent data analysis that leads to inferred temperature changes. Experimentally, I conclude that the most serious systematic error is likely to be the unwarranted assumption that polarization and field measurements, recorded in hysteresis loops that are traced within a millisecond or less, are all taken at the same temperature. In reality, the experience of the material during such loops is neither isothermal nor adiabatic. Other systematic errors relate to data analyses and are discussed in detail. In some ways, therefore, this thesis has a negative flavour. But it is not designed to criticise prior work. Rather, it is intended to discriminate between reliable experimental procedures and those less convincing. This is a line of research with important technology transfer possibilities, and hence the numerical values of electric cooling must be unusually reliable if we are to avoid unwise capital investment as a country

The religious factor in controversy

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit