1854 research outputs found
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Dispatches From Student Quarantine, episode 000
No full textSeries of 21 episodes created by COM220. Includes contributions by students Tea Ceresini, Kaitlyn Chambers, Jessica Freels, Sarah Hasenauer, Emily Kuhn, Rachel Little, Olivia Moyer, Patrick Osborn, Rebecca Parsons, Chad Rosenberger, Cameron Scandle, Samantha Seely, William Snyder, Christopher Tongel, and Kevin Wenger
Nest - Deconstruction II.
No full textNest - Deconstruction II.
Photos taken as part of my Nest Series. This nest was recently destroyed. The remains are very interesting - some to be recycled and some for the landfill.
Black and white photograph
The Question of National Self-Determination in Catalonia
Get PDFNational self-determination movements are ubiquitous social attempts of one regional or ethnic community to gain independence from a larger nation-state. These movements, although founded on democratic ideals, have the potential to disrupt the democratic process and drastically change international order. In the following paper, I first examine national self-determination movements, as a whole, from a theoretical perspective. In order to more critically analyze them, I take the case of Catalonia and its relationship with the Spanish national government, closely following the movement’s economic, cultural, and political claims to independence. Finally, I conclude my study by explaining Catalonia’s movement in the context of similar movements around the world in order to identify the most significant obstacles that said movements face, as well as what actions or conditions may be necessary in order to achieve internationally recognized sovereignty
Exploring the Role of Occupational Therapy in Supporting Caregivers of Children with Cerebral Palsy
Get PDFCaregiving for one’s child is a complex occupation with a wide-reaching impact on an individual’s life (Dieleman, Vlaenderen, Prinzie, & Pauw, 2019). Guardians have unique emotional needs consequent to their caregiving role but receive inconsistent treatment from healthcare professionals (Porfíro Santos Pinto, Duarte Coutinho, & Collet, 2016). This study aimed to understand the perceived psychosocial needs of caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP), identify support services for these caregivers and evaluate their effectiveness, and determine how occupational therapists (OTs) can most effectively address these needs. Caregivers of children with CP engaged in semi-structured interviews to explore their perceived needs as well as facilitators and barriers to occupational performance in meaningful life roles. Responses were coded and analyzed for themes and trends and organized through the lens of the Person-Environment-Occupation Model. Participant data showed a sense of obligation to care for their child, pressure to maintain a sense of emotional strength, generational coping differences, and disinclination to utilize support groups. OTs must individualize caregiver interventions to cooperatively address each caregiver’s unique mental health experience
Factors Influencing Occupational Therapists’ Choice in Work Settings
Get PDFThere are a multitude of settings for newly graduated occupational therapists (OTs) to work. According to The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), the majority of OTs work in direct client intervention instead of indirect or administration, consultation, or research roles (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2019). The top work settings for direct client interventions in occupational therapy (OT) are currently long-term care and skilled nursing facilities, freestanding outpatient centers, hospitals with acute and inpatient care, and school settings, with 74%, 70.4%, 70%, and 60.8% of the OTs working in those settings working, respectively (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2019).
In addition, work setting trends for OTs from 2000 to 2014 show that of the occupational therapists surveyed, two thirds of them primarily work in three settings – hospitals, schools, and long-term or skilled nursing facilities (LTC/SNF), showing that those were the most common settings in which OTs work (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2019). The least common setting for OTs was in the community. While there are statistics telling which direct client intervention settings are the most and least popular, there is little research regarding the reasons as to why OTs choose the settings they work in, whether it be personal or relating to the job and setting itself. There is also little research on why the top work settings are at the top. There is however some research focusing on the factors contributing to job satisfaction which may help to inform the potential reasoning behind choosing and staying in a specific OT workplace setting
Answering Mermin’s challenge with conservation per no preferred reference frame
No full textIn 1981, Mermin published a now famous paper titled, “Bringing home the atomic world: Quantum mysteries for anybody” that Feynman called, “One of the most beautiful papers in physics that I know.” Therein, he presented the “Mermin device” that illustrates the conundrum of quantum entanglement per the Bell spin states for the “general reader.” He then challenged the “physicist reader” to explain the way the device works “in terms meaningful to a general reader struggling with the dilemma raised by the device.” Herein, we show how “conservation per no preferred reference frame (NPRF)” answers that challenge. In short, the explicit conservation that obtains for Alice and Bob’s Stern-Gerlach spin measurement outcomes in the same reference frame holds only on average in different reference frames, not on a trial-by-trial basis. This conservation is SO(3) invariant in the relevant symmetry plane in real space per the SU(2) invariance of its corresponding Bell spin state in Hilbert space. Since NPRF is also responsible for the postulates of special relativity, and therefore its counterintuitive aspects of time dilation and length contraction, we see that the symmetry group relating non-relativistic quantum mechanics and special relativity via their “mysteries” is the restricted Lorentz group
Genetic counselor and proxy patient perceptions of genetic counselor responses to prenatal patient self-disclosure requests: Skillfulness is in the eye of the beholder
No full textResearch demonstrates some genetic counselors self-disclose while others do not when patients’ request self-disclosure. Limited psychotherapy research suggests skillfulness matters more than type of counselor response. This survey research assessed perceived skillfulness of genetic counselor self-disclosures and non-disclosures. Genetic counselors (n = 147) and proxy patients, women from the public (n = 201), read a hypothetical prenatal genetic counseling scenario and different counselor responses to the patient\u27s question, What would you do if you were me? Participants were randomized either to a self-disclosure study (Study 1) or non-disclosure study (Study 2) and, respectively, rated the skillfulness of five personal disclosures and five professional disclosures or five decline to disclose and five redirecting non-disclosures. Counselor responses in both studies varied by intention (corrective, guiding, interpretive, literal, or reassuring). Participants also described what they thought made a response skillful. A three-way mixed ANOVA in both studies analyzed skillfulness ratings as a function of sample (proxy patient, genetic counselor), response type (personal, professional self-disclosure, or redirecting, declining non-disclosure), and response intention. Both studies found a significant three-way interaction and strong main effect for response intention. Responses rated highest in skillfulness by both genetic counselors and proxy patients in Study 1 were a guiding personal self-disclosure and a personal reassuring self-disclosure. The response rated highest in skillfulness by both samples in Study 2 was a redirecting non-disclosure with a reassuring intention. Proxy patients in both studies rated all literal responses as more skillful than genetic counselors. Participants’ commonly described a skillful response as offering guidance and/or reassurance. Counselor intentions and response type appear to influence perceptions, and counselors and patients may not always agree in their perceptions. Consistent with models of practice (e.g., Reciprocal-Engagement Model), genetic counselors generally should aim to convey support and guidance in their responses to prenatal patient self-disclosure requests
Inexpensive and Portable System for Dexterous High-Density Myoelectric Control of Multiarticulate Prostheses
No full textMultiarticulate bionic arms are now capable of mimicking the endogenous movements of the human hand. 3D-printing has reduced the cost of prosthetic hands themselves, but there is currently no low-cost alternative to dexterous electromyographic (EMG) control systems. To address this need, we developed an inexpensive (~675) and portable EMG control system by integrating low-cost microcontrollers with a six-channel surface EMG (sEMG) acquisition device. Using this low-cost control system, we quantify, in a pilot study, the performance of a common EMG-based control algorithm-the modified Kalman filter (MKF)-when computational resources and electrode count are limited. We also demonstrate the ability to provide proportional and independent control of various six-degree-of-freedom prosthetic hands in real-time using the MKF. We found no significant differences in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the low-cost control system and that of a high-end research-grade system (paired t-tests). We also found no significant difference in the Root Mean Squared Errors (RMSEs) of predicted hand movements for the low-cost control system and that of the research-grade system when using only six sEMG electrodes. We then demonstrate that the SNR of the low-cost control system is statistically no worse than 44% of the SNR of the research-grade system (equivalence tests). Likewise, we demonstrate that RMSEs were typically a few percent better than, and statistically not more than 6% worse than, RMSEs of a research-grade system. This held true even when controlling up to six degrees of freedom on a prosthetic hand. Despite minimal computational resources and only six sEMG electrodes, the system performs satisfactorily and highlights the practicality and efficiency of the modified Kalman filter for dexterous EMG-based control. Successful deployment of this low-cost control system constitutes an important step towards the commercialization and wide-spread availability of dexterous bionic hands
News Stories on the Facebook Platform: Millennials’ Perceived Credibility of Online News Sponsored by News and Non-News Companies
No full textThis experimental study examined whether stories presented on Facebook that appeared to be from a news organization were rated as higher in perceived credibility than stories that appeared to be from a non-news organization. One-hundred-and-seven participants took part in the online study. One group saw stories that appeared to be from a news organization and another group saw the same stories that appeared to be from a non-news organization. Both groups rated the stories the same in terms of perceived credibility. The study also found that the higher the participants rated the stories in terms of perceived credibility, the higher they rated the organization’s perceived credibility. These findings point to potential implications for traditional journalistic outlets regarding their ability to be seen as credible, reliable online news sources—particularly through a social media platform like Facebook
Serum Progesterone and Reproductive Ultrasounds Provide Further Insight on Ursus Americanus (American Black Bear) Pregnancy Timelines
Get PDFAmerican black bears (ABBs), Ursus americanus, are the product of exceptional gestational adaptations. After mating in the summer, fertilized ABB embryos experience obligate delayed implantation for over 100 days. Thereafter, in the late fall, embryos resume their developmental activity to complete an active gestational with parturition during hibernation. However, exact timing of implantation and embryo reactivation are unknown in ABBs. Our objective is to determine embryonic implantation time in ABBs through transabdominal ultrasound analysis and changes in serum progesterone concentrations. This study included transabdominal ultrasound images and serum progesterone from 17 pregnant ABBs. We collected samples in 10-day intervals from November until birth in January-February (years 2001-2016). We scanned and measured fetal structures from ultrasounds using ImageJ open software. We measured progesterone using commercially available radioimmunoassay kits (ImmuChemTM, MP Biomedicals, LLC. Orangeburg, NY). Our preliminary findings show that embryonic structures are first visualized about 33 days before parturition and 13 days following the progesterone peak. We also observed that it takes about 28 days from the initial rise in progesterone to reach its peak concentrations. Other carnivore species, such as domestic cats and dogs, experience embryo implantation simultaneously with the peak of progesterone. Therefore, we suggest that the actual active gestational phase in ABBs is around 46 days. Thus, we propose that embryonic reactivation starts with the rise in progesterone in the fall, implantation occurs about 28 days later and cubs are born about 46 days post implantation. Our results indicate that the active gestational phase in ABBs is shorter than the 60-day suggested by previous studies. The gestational growth of the embryos is best represented through a logistic growth model in fetal length and height which both have an average growth rate of 0.1 cm/day. The lower asymptote, which represents the embryo size at reactivation, has the dimensions of 0.45 cm and 0.23 cm. The upper asymptote is 9.33 for length and 3.83 cm for height. Regarding absolute growth rate, the fetus grows at a much faster rate length wise and reaches its peak of around 0.23 cm/day later in gestation compared to the 0.12 cm/day peak observed in fetal height. There is no strong relationship between fetal heart rate and gestational age