Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present

Writing the Nation: A Concise Guide to American Literature 1865 to Present is a text that surveys key literary movements and the American authors associated with the movement. Topics include late romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, and modern literature. Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/english-textbooks/1004/thumbnail.jp

Writing The Nation

A concise introduction to American Literature from 1865 to present. The book is broken into chapters based on time period and writing style from Late Romanticism to recent post-modernism

American Literatures After 1865

This work was created as part of the University Libraries’ Open Educational Resources Initiative at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. A web version of this text can be found at https://umsystem.pressbooks.pub/ala1865/. This book is an anthology of American Literatures After 1865, a new revision of the open educational resource entitled Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present. It contains works that have been newly introduced to the public domain and provides direct links to reading materials that can be borrowed for free from Archive.org

Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present

Writing the Nation: A Concise Guide to American Literature 1865 to Present is a text that surveys key literary movements and the American authors associated with the movement. Topics include late romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, and modern literature. ENGL 202https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/textbooks/1006/thumbnail.jp

Long-Term Functionality of Rural Water Services in Developing Countries: A System Dynamics Approach to Understanding the Dynamic Interaction of Causal Factors

Research has shown that sustainability of rural water infrastructure in developing countries is largely affected by the dynamic and systemic interactions of technical, social, financial, institutional, and environmental factors that can lead to premature water system failure. This research employs systems dynamic modeling, which uses feedback mechanisms to understand how these factors interact dynamically to influence long-term rural water system functionality. To do this, the research first identified and aggregated key factors from literature, then asked water sector experts to indicate the polarity and strength between factors through Delphi and cross impact survey questionnaires, and finally used system dynamics modeling to identify and prioritize feedback mechanisms. The resulting model identified 101 feedback mechanisms that were dominated primarily by three and four-factor loops that contained some combination of the factors: Water System Functionality, Community, Financial, Government, Management, and Technology. These feedback mechanisms were then scored and prioritized, with the most dominant feedback mechanism identified as Water System Functionality – Community – Finance – Management. This research offers insight into the dynamic interaction of factors impacting sustainability of rural water infrastructure through the identification of these feedback mechanisms and makes a compelling case for future research to longitudinally investigate the interaction of these factors in various contexts

Climatic history of the northeastern United States during the past 3000 years

Many ecosystem processes that influence Earth system feedbacks – vegetation growth, water and nutrient cycling, disturbance regimes – are strongly influenced by multidecadal- to millennial-scale climate variations that cannot be directly observed. Paleoclimate records provide information about these variations, forming the basis of our understanding and modeling of them. Fossil pollen records are abundant in the NE US, but cannot simultaneously provide information about paleoclimate and past vegetation in a modeling context because this leads to circular logic. If pollen data are used to constrain past vegetation changes, then the remaining paleoclimate archives in the northeastern US (NE US) are quite limited. Nonetheless, a growing number of diverse reconstructions have been developed but have not yet been examined together. Here we conduct a systematic review, assessment, and comparison of paleotemperature and paleohydrological proxies from the NE US for the last 3000 years. Regional temperature reconstructions (primarily summer) show a long-term cooling trend (1000 BCE–1700 CE) consistent with hemispheric-scale reconstructions, while hydroclimate data show gradually wetter conditions through the present day. Multiple proxies suggest that a prolonged, widespread drought occurred between 550 and 750 CE. Dry conditions are also evident during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which was warmer and drier than the Little Ice Age and drier than today. There is some evidence for an acceleration of the longer-term wetting trend in the NE US during the past century; coupled with an abrupt shift from decreasing to increasing temperatures in the past century, these changes could have wide-ranging implications for species distributions, ecosystem dynamics, and extreme weather events. More work is needed to gather paleoclimate data in the NE US to make inter-proxy comparisons and to improve estimates of uncertainty in reconstructions

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

New ways to impact primary palliative care practices using online continuing education

Background: Healthcare professionals trained in palliative care (PC) improve satisfaction and decrease healthcare overutilization for patients with serious illness and their families. A continuing education (CE) series on primary PC aligned to the National Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality PC was developed by local, interdisciplinary experts for a target audience of rural, primary care healthcare professionals. The modules were accessed on an online learning management system platform. Objective: The study objectives were to assess differences in participants’ knowledge, competence, performance, and ability to improve patient care as well as commitment to change practice after taking each of the CE modules. Design and Methods: To achieve these objectives, a descriptive design was used with a convenience sample of healthcare professionals who registered for the CE series and completed at least one module. Participants completed demographic questions and an evaluation survey after completing each module. Results: So far, 158 healthcare professionals have registered for the series with the majority being nurses and social workers. Although the professionals reported having extensive healthcare experience, they did not report having the same level of PC experience. The professionals represent nine different states. All the CE modules increased teamwork skills for most participants. The CE modules on cultural aspects and self-care had the biggest influence on participants’ ability to improve patient outcomes. Cultural aspects, care of the actively dying, and advance care planning had the greatest impact on participants’ knowledge, competence, and performance. Conclusion: The primary PC education series improved self-reported skills in teamwork, practice habits, and meeting goals of healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines and settings. These enhanced primary PC skills will improve the incorporation of PC into a variety of practice settings, by multiple disciplines to enhance access to PC outside of, and potentially referrals to, specialty PC programs. Palliative care (PC) is an emerging field of healthcare aimed at positively affecting patients living with serious illness and their families. An important factor that influences a health professional’s successful delivery of PC may be their knowledge, experiences, and confidence. PC training provided to healthcare professionals improves patients’ and healthcare professionals’ satisfaction and reduces healthcare expenditures through cost savings and cost avoidance. 1,

Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present

Writing the Nation: A Concise Guide to American Literature 1865 to Present is a text that surveys key literary movements and the American authors associated with the movement. Topics include late romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, and modern literature. To buy a print version visit https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/english-textbooks/5/