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The epidemic of opioid usage in West Virginia
Get PDFThe opioid epidemic in West Virginia is a complex interplay of factors, including poverty, low education, and high unemployment rates, which contribute to higher rates of substance use and opioid-related deaths. The number of people injecting drugs has risen from 36% in 2005 to 54% in 2015. WV recorded 871 overdose deaths from all drugs in 2019 with 76.8% involving at least one opioid. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to investigate and analyze the circumstances that contributed to West Virginia\u27s opioid epidemic to determine if sociocultural factors, such as lifestyle, education, and demographics, influenced the epidemic as well as outside factors like COVID-19. These strategies were evaluated through a systematic literature review and semi-structured interview that displayed a broad array of tactics used in West Virginia to keep up with the rate of related opioid overdoses. The methodological approach for the qualitative study included a literature review of various sources such as peer-reviewed articles, studies, articles, and other proposals related to the opioid epidemic. This research included 47 articles and ranged from 2010 through 2023. However, limitations were not neglected and included search strategy and database quantity. An interview with conducted with an expert to analyze the current state of the opioid epidemic in West Virginia and its future prevention. The working hypothesis was that poverty, limited access to education, low unemployment, and over-prescription of opioids contributed to the epidemic and that the epidemic increased with the presence of COVID-19. With this hypothesis in mind, West Virginia requires funding and program establishment to encourage the decline of opioid usage further. This paper provides a perspective on potential causes of the opioid epidemic to be addressed in future research to prevent opioid overdoses in the state of West Virginia and other surrounding areas that struggle with this issue
LLMs and Crisis Epistemology: The Business of Making Old Crises Seem New
Get PDFLarge Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have set in motion a series of crises. These include disruptions to the labor force, education, and democracy. Some people believe that rich technocratic ‘saviors’ should solve these crises. Naomi Klein, however, argues that this is a neoliberal fantasy. Tech CEOs will not solve AI-related crises because they have a vested interest in perpetuating disaster capitalism and the social inequalities that keep wages low. Who, then, can solve the AI crisis? I submit that the answer is: oppressed groups with experiential and intergenerational knowledge of crises. To oppressed folks, technological crises are not new, but merely an extension of hundreds of years of uninterrupted subjugation. The popular misconception that AI-related crises are ‘unprecedented’ is an example of what Kyle Whyte calls ‘crisis epistemology,’ a pretext of newness used to dismiss the intergenerational wisdom of oppressed groups. If AI-related crises are new, then what can we learn about them from Indigenous and disabled histories? Nothing. I argue that oppressed groups (rather than billionaire technocrats) should be at the forefront of AI discourse, research, and policymaking
The Impact of Big Data Utilization on Quality Improvement in Inpatient Facilities
Get PDFIntroduction: Poor quality in healthcare has resulted in avoidable patient complications, including readmission rates. Big data in healthcare can be analyzed and built into a tools, with machine learning, to aid in reduced readmission rates and overall positive patient outcomes.
Purpose of the Study: The intention of this study was to evaluate the ways that big data can be analyzed to improve healthcare, specifically readmissions, patient outcomes, and show cost savings. This study examined different ways that big data could be used in concordance with machine learning, including predictive analysis, to make these improvements.
Methodology: The hypothesis was the use of big data has improved quality categories in inpatient facilities led to improved patient outcomes, decreased readmission rates, and reduced costs. 27 publications were included and limited to the English language and were published between the year(s) of 2010 and 2023.
Results: The study displayed many solutions to different concerns within the scope of readmissions and patient outcomes through machine learning tools alongside big data. Examined were solutions for reducing readmission rates, and patient outcomes which further included addressing appointment no-shows, disease risks, and outcome outlook.
Discussion: The hypothesis of this study was partially conclusive, as improvement to readmission rates and patient outcomes were examined, but financial data was unavailable to confirm cost savings potential. The study limitations included the inability to obtain financial statistics and the potential for machine learning training data to not be clean. An interview with an expert in quality was also conducted and subject opinions were displayed alongside its corresponding subcategory.
Conclusion: The research provided descriptive and valuable data on the abilities of big data and machine learning techniques. Given the study limitations, there has been shown a need for research and data on the common use of these techniques within inpatient facilities
Elementary classroom ethics: the emergence of ethical literacy within the morning meeting
Get PDFRituals have proven effective in the elementary classroom. One ritualistic practice, the morning meeting, is rooted in social and emotional learning (SEL), an approach that integrates traditional academic pursuits with an understanding of emotional regulation, self-actualization and interpersonal relationships. Ethical literacy, a facility with ethical concepts empowering individuals to act as autonomous ethical beings, may be cultivated through SEL. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the morning meeting for evidence of foundational experiences leading to ethical literacy in student participants, along with an analysis of the effectiveness of these experiences. Data were collected through nonparticipant observation of a sample of primary grade classrooms from a single district, alongside semi-structured interviews with each participating teacher. Ritualistic practices within the morning meeting promote ethical literacy by allowing students to feel seen and see others. A unique classroom sociology is created by navigating relationships and practicing ethical acts as the teacher decodes students and helps regulate emotions. Leadership opportunities encourage growth, autonomy, and responsibility. Right and wrong are placed in context as unethical acts are recognized and confronted. Stories serve as pathways toward the emergence of ethical literacy, connecting narrative and illustration to experience. Kindness and empathy are often the first connections made in an emergent ethical literacy. Tools are supplied to dismantle the egocentric barrier including an age-appropriate vocabulary, semi-scripted SEL lessons, and student social interactions, including role play. The emergence of ethical literacy is evident within the practice of the morning meeting, but varies in the depth and richness of the student experience. The egocentric barrier must be dismantled to allow the realization of ethical literacy in primary aged students. Seeing and connecting with others, storytelling, and the power of ritual all serve this purpose. Students experience ethical absorption through constant exposure to ethical concepts and interactions, eventually developing a reflexive reaction to ethical dilemmas. A common, shared language would prove invaluable to the teaching of ethics to young children. Teachers are placed on a parental continuum, responsible for each student’s ethical development, regardless of home support or opposition
Assessing the unionid assemblage of the Robert C. Byrd Pool, Ohio River
Get PDFUnionid mussels are the most imperiled taxa in the United States and are vastly understudied. The entire Robert C. Byrd (RCB) pool of the Ohio River is the study area. I selected sites from the 2019 and 2013 ORSANCO RCB pool assessments that utilize random site selection across the pool. I used SCUBA to survey and collect data on unionid diversity, reproduction, and habitat. I collected 1,083 individuals over 19 species in RCB pool. I compared results from RCB pool survey to two similar surveys conducted in Greenup Pool. Both richness and abundance in the Upper Section of Greenup Pool dwarfed all other sections in Greenup and RCB. Patterns of species redundancy are determined utilizing Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling. RCB and Greenup Pool patterns are statistically similar. Data collected could serve as a baseline to site-specific surveys and have management implications for unionid assemblages in pools of large, navigable rivers
The voice of community: nurturing personal and professional communities on Voxer among AP Literature teachers during the pandemic
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic interrupted education around the world. During that time, teachers often turned to online communities to compensate for an inability to connect with in-person professional communities. This study aims to highlight a single, successful online community of AP Literature teachers who use the app Voxer to communicate. The purpose of this project was to provide insight into how this group creates personal and professional community, and how they specifically did so during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for this ethnography was collected from the group’s posts on the Voxer app from March 11, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with nine of the active members of the group between November 2022 and January 2023. Reasons for the success of the group as a personal community include a high level of voluntary self-disclosure, community ritual, and shared experiences. Reasons for the success of the group as a professional community include respect for the collective expertise of the members and their willingness to share resources and ideas freely. The group was successful navigating the pandemic because they already had an established community that was able to shift to supporting its members’ unique needs for resources but also emotional support during the crisis. For the professional community and the community as it dealt with the pandemic, the group’s geographical distance from each other was found to be an advantage. The findings of this study indicate a need for teachers to find and/or establish a strong community, preferably with an online component, before the next crisis hits
Preforming and Constructing Alone: Gender Performance and Identity in the Isolation of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
No full textIn Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble, she asserts that, “there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results.” (Butler, 25). She is essentially saying that our gender identity is a performance that we put on for others that is constituted by those very gendered expressions we perform for said others. The overarching goal of this study is to investigate whether gender performance and the construction of our gendered identities has changed or remained the same throughout the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, while also examining the factors that lead to change or the lack thereof. This project will be taking a closer look in how some have been given the opportunity to take a break from the constant performance of gender and have been given a chance to explore, discover, define, or redefine one’s gender identity in this break from performance. There are two types of data collection activities, semi structured in-depth interviews, and a survey. The information to be collected will consist of age, gender, current occupation, and educational attainment. Other interview questions will cover topics such as general information on gendered behaviors, physical presentation, gender identity and experiences with isolation. The same types of questions will also appear on the anonymous survey instrument
The Great Migration
Get PDF“I pick up my life and take it with me and I put it down in Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Scranton…I pick up my life and take it on the train to Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake, any place that is north and west- and not south.” - Langston Hughes “One-Way Ticket” [1]
The Great Migration was a gradual and silent transition of African Americans leaving the unfair treatment from the South to find better opportunities. They did this to be treated as citizens and not ex-slaves. The majority wanted to live in a Jim Crow-free state, and this took hope and courage. Three characters in the book, The Warmth of Other Suns, represented the millions who took a chance to leave the south to go north or west
Spatial Analysis of Multiple Sclerosis
No full textApproximately 750,000 people in the United States is living with Multiple Sclerosis. Women are twice as likely to develop MS than men. Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. The myelin sheath that covers nerves is attacked by the body’s own immune system leading to deterioration of the nerves sometimes resulting in permanent damage. Demographic factors like genetics and migration studies as well as socioeconomic factors such as vitamin D levels, home latitude and the Epstein-Barr Virus all play a role in developing Multiple Sclerosis and it’s skewed geographical pattern. Secondary data analysis was used to investigate the uneven spatial trends of Multiple Sclerosis in the United States. Most Multiple Sclerosis cases are in the Northern half of the United States. Vitamin D deficiency and the latitude where you were raised seem to have the largest impact on whether you will develop Multiple Sclerosis or not. There is a posterity in data of whether Vitamin D deficiency is linked to certain genetic makeups. Future studies should incorporate that because that would settle the debate between demographic and socioeconomic factors having the larger influence
