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Characterizing Emergency Department Use and Misuse at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital
No full textEmergency department (ED) misuse at Veterans’ Affairs (VA) hospitals is a subject that is not well understood. Characterizing ED use and misuse in the veteran population can reveal systems-level successes/shortcomings that can inform future health policies regarding patient management. This study aimed to characterize the patient profiles of veterans seeking care at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital (JAHVH) ED and their respective spatiotemporal relationships to primary care centers during the 2022 fiscal year. The Emergency Severity Index (ESI)–an algorithm used to quantify the acuity and resources needed by a patient–helped define the term “misuse” as an ED visit ranked as ESI 4 or 5 with no record of a performed procedure during the encounter. Visits that did not include any procedure conducted by the ED are likely concerns that could be manageable by the patient’s primary care provider (PCP). Mapping the complex spatiotemporal relationships between PCP and patient via ArcGIS Pro can identify barriers to the ideal flow of care. Encounters at the JAHVH ED were collected using the VA’s Data Access Service. The visits were then classified as “appropriate use”, or “misuse” based on the previous definition. Analysis of the two cohorts identified the clinical and demographic characteristics of both groups including the age, gender, the time of the visit, the patient’s address, ICD-10 code associated with the visit, mode of arrival, Differential cost at ED/PCP, and spatiotemporal PCP-Patient relationships. This characterization can inform future policies that further investigate and remedy ED misuse at VA hospitals
Humor: A Practical Teaching Tool to Enhance Student’s Learning
No full textInstructional humor is vital in students’ learning, knowledge retention, active participation, motivation, and stress reduction. Integrated humor in the classroom aids the retention of information, student engagement, and performance while decreasing stress-induced anxiety [1-2]. Humor indirectly promotes a conducive learning environment that helps keep students interested and motivated in various subjects. When humor is combined with laughter, a relaxed learning atmosphere is fostered. This study reviews the impact of humor on learning in the college classroom. It is hypothesized that humor is an effective pedagogical tool to promote student engagement and learning. A literature review was conducted across various databases (Pubmed, EBSCO, APA PsychInfo, Scopus, Web of Science) primarily through keyword searches like humor, pedagogy, teaching, laughter, and learning. Four hundred and six (406) scholarly articles were compiled and reviewed using Rayyan. Different exclusion [not specific to a hypothesis, wrong study design, or outcome] and inclusion criteria were applied. The reviewed research articles (n=144) indicate an improvement in the learning environment for students exposed to humor compared to control groups. When exposed to integrated humor, a significant increase in student success was achieved in multiple dependent variables (mathematics, memory, linguistic aptitude). Specifically, the studies defined humor through jokes, laughter, anecdotes, and other forms of interaction that create a more comfortable environment for students. The strategic implementation of humor in the classroom is a highly effective pedagogy tool that aids comprehension of different subject matter. Students can understand concepts and retain information better when humor is integrated, thus enhancing students’ learning
Trauma Incarcerated: Investigating the Link Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Criminal Offending Behaviors
No full textDifferent forms of childhood trauma have often been associated with a variety of psychological difficulties and problematic behaviors that continue into and throughout adulthood. Many studies have also found childhood trauma to be highly prevalent in incarcerated populations. However, literature varies widely on the definition of childhood trauma, and the connections to criminal behavior tend to remain very broad. Therefore, the current study seeks to investigate a more refined objective by examining the relationship between childhood trauma—using a more defined, inclusive spectrum—and frequency of adult criminal offending behaviors through self-reported data. Among a sample of 1,000 incarcerated individuals at a local county jail, having more traumatic experiences as a child was significantly correlated with having a higher frequency of violent, and total offenses in the 12 months prior to interview, as well as a higher frequency of lifetime arrests. Further research in childhood trauma and criminal behavior is needed to better implement trauma-informed prevention and intervention strategies
Pillage as the Political Economy of the Kurdish Anfal Genocide
No full textScholars are critical of how economists overlook “the questions of genocide,” and of how legislatures have not paid adequate attention to the subject of looting, except in the case of the Armenian genocide. This article, informed by interdisciplinary perspectives, uses government documents, data, and semi-structured interviews to discuss the overlooked triangle of looting, economics, and the Anfal genocide of the Kurds in Iraq. The study refuses to limit itself only to the eight stages of the Anfal genocide that started in 1988, and instead offers data on its preliminary phases which occurred earlier in the 1980s. It then discusses the multidimensional political economy of the Anfal genocide and argues that (a) the legalized plundering of spoils of war by the Ba’ath regime served as a political economic strategy to justify the Anfal genocide; (b) Saddam Hussein utilized economic prospect theory—putting a higher emphasis on imagined gains than on losses—by maximizing revenue and minimizing the cost of the genocide; and (c) Saddam’s use of symbolic religious names and Qur’an verses did not demonstrate his religious commitment, but rather aimed to foster and restore the cultural legacy of looting among ordinary people. The article focuses on rewards, in the form of economic capital earned from looting and confiscations, as goals that aided the effective execution of the Anfal genocide and promoted divisions within urban Kurdish society but that failed to deracinate Kurdish resistance culture
A Longitudinal Analysis of Involuntary Job Loss and Communication Resilience Processes during the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThis longitudinal study explored associations between communication resilience processes, job-search self-efficacy, and well-being for a sample of US adults who involuntarily lost their jobs during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the communication theory of resilience (CTR), we tested four possible models regarding how the enactment of resilience processes would be associated with job-search self-efficacy and well-being over time. Participants (N = 595) described their job loss story and completed measures of communication resilience processes, job-search self-efficacy, and well-being (perceived stress, mental health, and life satisfaction) in February 2021, then completed measures again 2 and 4 months later. Findings from random intercept cross-lagged panel analyses suggested that after accounting for between-person associations, resilience enactment shared significant within-person reciprocal relationships with job-search self-efficacy, perceived stress, and mental health over time. Theoretical implications for CTR, future directions for communication research, and practical implications for supporting diverse job seekers are discussed
The Information Age: Transnational Organized Crime, Networks, and Illicit Markets
No full textIn his landmark trilogy, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, sociologist Manuel Castells argued that networks, information technology, and global economic flows were altering the nature of politics, power, and states. This article examines the network dynamics Castells wrote about in relation to transnational crime and illicit economic markets. The article further explores Castells’s influence on the study of transnational organized crime, illicit networks, and the global illicit economy
