Reimagining the Teaching of Land Law

In September 2017, 45 land law enthusiasts (both teachers and practitioners) attended a workshop at the University of Birmingham to discuss current and emerging approaches to teaching this core area within the law degree. This report is a summary of the presentations and discussions that resulted from the day

Stress and Burnout Among Undergraduate Music Education Majors: An Examination of Trends, Influences, and Coping Mechanisms

Previous research points to an increase in undergraduate music education major stress. A stress questionnaire was sent to three Midwest collegiate institutions: one was a mid-sized liberal arts school, another was a conservatory, and the last was a large state institution. Findings confirm concerning elevated levels of stress among undergraduate music education majors. The levels of stress appear to be a universal issue in this particular degree program, implying there is a need for change to better student wellness

The dynamical system of iterated Cevian Tribbles

Ceva\u27s Theorem gives a necessary and sufficient condition for three lines through the vertices of a triangle to intersect at a single point. We investigate what happens when that condition is not met, which means the three lines form a triangle inside the original (called a Tribble), and the process is iterated. By Cantor\u27s Intersection Theorem, we know that the Tribbles will converge to a point within the initial triangle as long as the side lengths of the Tribbles go to zero. We consider different ways to iterate this process. We establish an nth term test for convergence when the Cevian ratios are deterministic sequences. We prove that when the Cevian ratios used to iterate are chosen at random, the Tribbles always converge. We initiate study on the distribution of limit points. With the aid of a simulation in MATLAB that produces graphical plots for the numerical estimations of Tribble limit points, we begin to visualize and describe the distribution of limit points

House Republican Budget Plan: State-by-State Impact of Changes in Medicaid Financing

Estimates how the April 2011 Budget Plan passed by the House of Representatives would affect federal Medicaid funding for states between 2012 and 2021 and how in turn this would affect Medicaid spending and enrollment and hospitals under three scenarios

Considerations for small libraries in adopting virtual reality technology for medical education

Objective: Describe considerations for small libraries considering the adoption of virtual reality technology as a resource for health sciences education. Methods: A small academic medical library obtained grant funding to implement a virtual reality pilot project to support anatomy coursework. Results: Observations were made related to the technology selection and purchasing process, space and safety requirements for implementing VR, student patterns of use, supplementary VR programs of interest to medical students (including gaming and meditation programs for stress relief), and staffing/scheduling/maintenance of the system. Conclusions: Virtual reality technology is compelling for medical education; implementation resulted in increasing the library’s engagement with teaching faculty, students, alumni relations, and the curriculum. However, implementation requires careful consideration related to staffing, technology choices, use cases, safety, and other matters. Small medical libraries should be aware of various limitations and considerations prior to making large investments of money, space, or personnel time. Examples will be provided of concrete considerations for libraries

Tourism Planning in the Northern Bahamas

The Abaco region of the northern Bahamas is developing its niche as a nature-based tourism destination with a wealth of natural and cultural attractions such as beaches, snorkel and dive sites, blue holes, cultural features, vibrant history, and colorful towns and artistry. Part of this effort is the development of the Abaco Trail, which will highlight regional attractions and link them together for visitors to follow on their own, fulfilling their own interests as their visit allows. In this study, the Tourism Opportunity Spectrum (TOS) was used to gather information to aid in the process of assembling tourism site conditions and function to assist this trail effort. TOS data was collected on ten sites in the Abacos and results show individual condition scores for each attribute on the TOS scale as well as estimated scores for each individual condition based on what changes may occur based on proposed changes at one site. Overall, results indicate that the site conditions in the Abacos fall into the more Primitive end of the spectrum, however proposed changes as one site would move site conditions well into the Urban end of the TOS

Comparison of Risk of Recrudescent Fever in Children With Kawasaki Disease Treated With Intravenous Immunoglobulin and Low-Dose vs High-Dose Aspirin

Importance: Timely initiation of intravenous immunoglobulin plus aspirin is necessary for decreasing the risk of recrudescent fever and coronary artery abnormalities in children with Kawasaki disease (KD). The optimal dose of aspirin, however, remains unclear. Objective: To evaluate whether initial treatment with low-dose compared with high-dose aspirin in children with KD is associated with an increase in fever recrudescence. Design, Setting, and Participants: A retrospective cohort study of 260 children with KD at Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana, between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2018, was conducted. Children aged 0 to 18 years with a first episode of KD, identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision diagnosis codes treated within 10 days of symptom onset with high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin plus aspirin were eligible. Patients who received an alternative diagnosis, experienced a second episode of KD, did not receive intravenous immunoglobulin plus aspirin for initial treatment, were not treated within 10 days of symptoms, or had incomplete records were excluded. Exposures: High-dose (≥10 mg/kg/d) or low-dose (<10 mg/kg/d) aspirin therapy. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was recrudescent fever necessitating retreatment of KD. The secondary outcomes were coronary artery abnormalities and hospital length of stay. Results: Among the 260 patients included, the median (interquartile range) age was 2.5 (1.6-4.3) years, 103 (39.6%) were girls, 166 (63.8%) were non-Hispanic white, 57 (21.9%) were African American, 22 (8.5%) were Asian, 11 (4.2%) were Hispanic, and 4 (1.5%) were of unknown race/ethnicity. One hundred-forty-two patients (54.6%) were treated with low-dose aspirin. There was no association between recrudescent fever and aspirin dose, with 39 children (27.5%) having recrudescent fever in the low-dose group compared with 26 children (22.0%) in the high-dose group (odds ratio [OR], 1.34; 95% CI, 0.76-2.37; P = .31), with similar results after adjusting for potential confounding variables (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 0.89-2.97; P = .11). In a subset analysis of 167 children with complete KD, however, there was nearly a 2-fold difference in the odds of recrudescent fever with low-dose aspirin (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 0.82-4.23; P = .14), although this difference did not reach statistical significance. In addition, no association was identified between treatment group and coronary artery abnormalities (low-dose, 7.4% vs high-dose, 9.4%; OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.48-1.55; P = .62) or median (interquartile range) length of stay (3 [3-5] days for both groups; P = .27). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, low-dose aspirin for the initial treatment of children with KD was not associated with fever recrudescence or coronary artery abnormalities. Given the potential benefits, further study of low-dose aspirin to detect potentially clinically relevant outcome differences is warranted to inform treatment decisions and guideline development

The Ecology of New World Rodent Borne Hemorrhagic Fevers

Few, if any, human settlements are free of peridomestic rodent populations. The threat of rodent borne zoonotic diseases has been widely recognized since the bubonic plague outbreaks of the Middle Ages. In the last decades, outbreaks of human disease caused by the rodent borne hemorrhagic fever viruses, the arenaviruses (family Arenaviridae), and the hantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) have again generated interest in the general public and scientific community regarding the biology of these types of diseases. Recent studies have identified more than 30 new members of these two groups of viruses. Most are associated with rodents in the family Muridae and many are known to be pathogenic. Ongoing studies are investigating aspects of the ecology and systematics of these viruses and their reservoirs. Ecological studies are currently examining modes of transmission between members of the host species, and environmental factors associated with increased frequency of infection. Systematic research is identifying patterns of co-evolution between the viruses and their hosts. The overall goal of these research efforts is develop predictive models that will identify times and places of increased risk and therefore provide an opportunity for risk reduction in these areas. The information resulting from these efforts will benefit individuals who live or work in close proximity to known wild rodent reservoirs and are at risk of contracting rodent borne diseases