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WordClock
No full textMy WordClock project consists of two parts: hardware and software.
In the hardware part I design 4 PCB’s in easy EDA with MAX7219 LED driver and 25 LEDs on each pcb, where each LED represents a separate letter.
The software component of the project involves code written for Arduino or ESP32 microcontrollers. This code interfaces with the hardware, receiving information about the current time and determining which LEDs to illuminate accordingly. By synchronizing the LED activation with the time, the WordClock is able to dynamically display the current time in a visually appealing manner
Improving Provider Ordered Annual Breast Cancer Screening in Primary Care
Get PDFSignificance and Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women throughout the United States. Specifically, the state of Connecticut has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the country. Multiple evidence-based organizations have developed specific guidelines for screening in clinical practice. These guidelines specify when a woman should be screened and how frequently. A project was put in place at a FQHC in Connecticut to increase the number of breast cancer screenings ordered, based on clinical guidelines. Evidence supported the use of provider education to increase the number of mammograms ordered (Marks,2022).
Purpose: Increase the number of mammograms ordered by Internal Medicine and OBGYN providers across the health system. Deliver education to providers and nursing staff regarding breast cancer screening guidelines.
Methods: Plan-Do-Study-Act. Plan: Identify the stakeholders and people involved in the process, as well as identify the scope and scale of the project. Do: Educational sessions were conducted followed monthly check-ins with the organization. PowerPoint educational materials were disseminated to providers and nursing staff. Study: Data was gathered on the number of mammograms ordered by Internal Medicine and OBGYN providers as well as follow-up phone calls were placed to patients who were ordered mammograms. Act: Present data to organizational stakeholders.
Outcome: Over the twelve- week implementation period, there were a total of 663 mammograms ordered. 374 (56.4%) of them were ordered by OBGYN providers and 289 (43.6%) were ordered by Internal Medicine providers. This reflected an overall 18% decrease in mammograms ordered by primary care providers compared to those ordered by OBGYN providers. Of the seventy patients that received follow- up phone calls, because of lack of knowledge regarding their screening appointments, seventeen had already attended their mammogram screening. Twelve patients had their mammograms scheduled and the dates were upcoming. Six patients canceled original appointments because they wanted to reschedule in more convenient locations. Two patients never scheduled their mammograms due to financial situations. Two patients planned to attend their mammogram appointment later in the spring and one person missed their appointment due to being ill. The remaining thirty patients were unable to be contacted by the project leader.
Discussion: The implementation of a project to increase the number of screening mammograms ordered by Internal Medicine and OBGYN providers by educating providers and staff did not increase the number of mammograms ordered. Although educational sessions were geared towards the importance of screening guidelines and breast cancer rates, the project team leader speculated additional time allowed on provider and staff education would have resulted in additional mammogram screenings for this patient population
Enhancing Primary Care with Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Anxiety, Depression, and Acute Stress: A Quality Improvement Project
Get PDFIntroduction
Depression affects 1 in 5 individuals during their lifetime (Hidalgo et al., 2021), with 23 million Americans seeking mental health treatment annually (Parish et al., 2023). While guidelines from the AAFP and APA advocate comprehensive care approaches, medication prescriptions for anxiety and depression remain prevalent, particularly among children aged 6-18 (Lester et al., 2022). Direct observation identified a need to bridge gaps in adjunctive therapies between the primary care setting and counseling services for patients who presented with mild or mild to moderate anxiety or depression. Feedback analysis by staff in the setting identified a gap in knowledge and perceived comfort in instructing on adjunctive therapies. Additionally, 88% of clinical staff agreed that there is a barrier to patients accessing counseling services. Purpose
This quality improvement project aims to educate clinicians and empower them to promote the application of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) as an adjunctive therapy for anxiety, depression, and acute stress. The goals are to establish a simplified educational modality for clinicians, implement education into practice, and increase utilization of adjunctive therapies in initial visits.
Intervention and Setting
Clinical staff received individual education sessions and handouts on PMR techniques. Retrospective chart reviews assessed patient GAD7 and PHQ9 scores. Scores from patients prior to clinician education implementation, and reviews at the 6- and 12-week post implementation evaluate use of PMR. Additional EHR documentation notating PMR implementation and additional therapeutics prescribed.
The setting is a 12-person primary care practice in a Connecticut community of over 40,000. The practice services adult and geriatric patients who are both insured and uninsured, working, retired, and disabled.
Evaluation
Staff participation reached 73%, with a notable 75% improvement in reported comfort levels teaching PMR. Of eligible patients, 80% received PMR education. Post-implementation, GAD7 and PHQ9 scores showed overall reduction from initial evaluation. Project goals were met with these results. Discussion
The implementation of PMR education for clinical staff demonstrated promising utility as adjunctive therapy for anxiety and depression, evidenced by improved staff confidence and patient-reported reductions in symptom severity
“Articles of Immoral Use”: Prostitution & Erotic Literature in the Nineteenth Century North Atlantic Region and their Effects on Modern Culture
Get PDFEconomic Policy Uncertainty and the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity of Exchange Rate Determination
Get PDFI argue that the Uncovered Interest Rate Parity (UIRP) relationship depends on the Economic Policy Uncertainty zones (EPU). The UIRP-EPU relationship is state-dependent, non-linear, and asymmetric. Using the monthly data for the sample period January 1999 to December 2023, I test the relationship between changes in the U.S. Dollar in the Euro exchange rate and the spread between the yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note vs. the euro area 10-year convergence bond. The relationship is tested at three different zones or ‘levels’ of the EPU for the U.S. The low, intermediate, and high EPU zones are determined by employing the Self Exciting Threshold Autoregressive (SETAR 2,p) test. The UIRP-EPU relationship dynamics are further examined using the two-state Markov Switching Multifractal test. The key findings suggest a positive co-movement between the exchange rate and the bond spread in the high and low EPU zones and a negative co-movement in the intermediate uncertainty zone.
Highlights: The Uncovered Interest Parity condition based on the relationship between the USD in EUR Exchange Rate and the spread between the yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note and the euro area convergence bond is examined at three different Economic Policy Uncertainty zones. The empirical testing is based on monthly data for the January 1999-December 2023 sample period. The EPU for U.S. zones is identified by using the SETAR(2,p) test. The UIRP-EPU relationship is further examined with Multiple Breakpoint regression and Markov Switching Multifractal tests
Non-STEM Majors COVID-19 Vaccine Impressions Improve, and Misconceptions Resolve, After Podcast Assignment
No full textMisinformation regarding vaccine science decreased the receptiveness to COVID-19 vaccines, exacerbating the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society. To mitigate the negative societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, impactful and creative science communication was needed, yet little research has explored how to encourage COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and address misconceptions held by non-Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics majors (referred to as non-majors). We have previously demonstrated that including expert guest lectures in the vaccine module in the non-major introductory biology course helps combat students’ vaccine hesitancy. In the present study, we further address how learning about vaccines impacts student knowledge and impressions of the COVID-19 vaccines through a podcast assignment. As a part of this assignment, non-majors created podcasts to address COVID-19 vaccine misconceptions of their choice. We coded pre and post, open-ended essay reflections (n = 40) to assess non-majors’ knowledge and impressions of the COVID-19 vaccines. Non-majors’ impressions of the vaccines improved following the podcast assignment with more than three times as many students reporting a positive view of the assignment than negative views. Notably, eight of the nine interviewed students still ended the course with misconceptions about the COVID-19 vaccines, such as the vaccines being unnecessary or causing fertility issues. In a post semi-structured interview following this assignment, students (n = 7) discussed the impact of looking into the specific misconceptions related to COVID-19 vaccines themselves, including improved science communication skills and understanding of different perspectives. Thus, podcasts can provide opportunities for students to improve engagement in valuable societal topics like vaccine literacy in the non-majors classroom
The Ethical Student Scale: Development of A New Measure
Get PDFPurpose
The purpose of this study is to develop the “ethical student scale” to understand the underlying factors that lead to the decisions of cheating and plagiarism and where business students are developmentally from a moral perspective and to help academic institutions assess how best to develop ethical education throughout the curriculum. This three-dimensional nine-item scale based on Kohlberg’s moral development model is proposed to serve as a valuable tool for educators who are struggling with identifying the best approach to help their students make ethical choices both within and outside of the walls of their educational institutions and once they join the workforce.
Design/methodology/approach
Four survey design studies were conducted to determine what factors had previously been identified to both negatively and positively impact the propensity of a university student to engage in cheating and/or plagiarizing (Study 1, N = 179), to preliminarily validate the three dimension nine item scale that emerged from Study 1 (Study 2, N = 87); to test the construct validity of the three-dimensional nine-item scale (Study 3, N = 235); and to test the nine-item scale for convergent, divergent and predictive validity (Study 4, N = 201). The four surveys were administered to undergraduate students at two universities in the Northeast in the USA.
Findings
To shed light on the underlying factors that lead to the decisions of cheating and plagiarism, the authors propose three factors that are engaged when students make these types of ethical decisions: rules and enforcement as an external control, personal morality as an internal control and social influences as a social control (Kohlberg, 1976). Through four studies, this paper presents a three-dimensional nine-item scale based on Kohlberg’s moral development model to determine the factors that influence the propensity of a university student to engage in cheating and/or plagiarizing. The proposed scale showed strong reliability across the three dimensions.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the scale are that this research was restricted to an academic setting. The relationship between the academic environment, the resulting behaviors of students and the subsequent behavior of these students as managers also needs investigation to determine if business ethics education does have an impact on increasing ethical decision-making.
Practical implications
The ethical student scale attempts to measure the development stage of students in a university setting and has the potential utility to help higher education institutions better understand the moral development of their students and what drives their decisions to engage in an ethical manner. Being a short yet reliable tool, ethical student scale may help business schools develop programs beyond a single business ethics course to instill ethical decision-making in students.
Social implications
One of the goals as business educators is to produce ethical managers. The ethical student scale can help us develop a more integrated approach to business ethics education. As the students become managers and leaders in organizations, the social implications for more ethical decision-makers and organizations are widespread and vital to the community and the economy.
Originality/value
Ethical student scale is an attempt to quantify what types of controls (external, social, or personal) help develop ethical students and ethical managers. Based on Kohlberg’s moral development model, this three-dimensional nine-item scale which shows strong reliability will serve as a valuable tool for educators who are struggling with identifying the best approach to the issue of unethical decisions and behaviors as they try to create strategies to help their students make ethical choices both within and outside of the walls of their educational institutions and once they join the workforce