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Determining Spatial Scale Size of EMIC Waves
No full textEarth’s atmosphere becomes increasingly thin with increasing altitude. Above 100 miles charged particles such as electrons and charged atoms called ions begin to fill the atmosphere. The atmosphere gradually transitions into the thin plasmas that make up the ionosphere, the magnetosphere, and finally interplanetary space. Plasmas are notoriously unstable, and can generate more than a dozen different kinds of waves, many of them not well understood yet. I studied one particular class of plasma waves called electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves using data from one of NASA’s most recent scientific satellite missions, Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS). The frequency range of EMIC waves is 0.1 – 5 Hz. The MMS mission consists of four closely spaced (down to ≈7 km) spacecraft in a highly elliptical orbit with their apogee from 12 to 25 Earth radii. Magnetic field measurements are provided by the MMS Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM). My research centered around determining the scale size of EMIC waves, which has never been done accurately before as it is hard to estimate the size of these EMIC waves using only one satellite. What is unique about the MMS mission is that there are four satellites flown in close proximity to each other. Having only one spacecraft flying next to an EMIC wave event provides only one dimension, compared to multiple spacecraft which provide measurements in more than one dimension. Using two methods I concluded that the spatial scale size of EMIC waves is on the order of a few gyroradii of the protons that generated them.https://idun.augsburg.edu/zyzzogeton/1021/thumbnail.jp
Years Spent in Secondary Physical Education and Levels of Physical Activity in College Students and Adults
Get PDFPhysical education requirements in the United States vary and are often left to local districts in each state to decide. Considering the relationship between physical activity and obesity and physical fitness with mortality, requirements relating to national recommendations appear important. Long term implications of participation in physical education are contradictory at best with the limited studies performed concluding conflicting results.
Purpose: To examine the relationship between years of participation in physical education at a high school level and levels of physical activity and fitness in college students and adults.
Methods: Forty-one participants ranging in age from 18-65 (mean age 33.6) were recruited utilizing an inter-collegiate mailing system. Participants completed a self-administered IPAQ long-form questionnaire as well as additional physical education related questions. Participants also completed a YMCA Step Test.
Results: When comparing participant results to national recommendations for physical activity 6 of 41 met vigorous physical activity guidelines (14.6%), and 0 met guidelines for moderate physical activity. When adding in vigorous outdoor housework those meeting vigorous guidelines went up to 11 of 41 participants (26.8%), and when adding in moderate outdoor and indoor housework those meeting moderate guidelines went up to 4 of 41 (9.7%). Mean score of 4.5 on the YMCA Step Test for all participants was between below average and poor with a standard deviation of nearly two scoring levels.
No significant relationships were found when comparing time spent in physical education classes (required or total) to recalled moderate physical activity and fitness levels in college students and adults, while a significant relationship was seen when comparing the time spent in physical education classes (required and total) to recalled vigorous physical activity and fitness levels in college students and adults (p=0.02).
Conclusion: Further study to examine the relationship between physical education and long-term physical activity is needed with particular attention being paid to physical education requirements and their variances.https://idun.augsburg.edu/zyzzogeton/1018/thumbnail.jp
Monitoring Patient and Caregiver Adherence to Treatment in Management of Vascular Ulcers
Get PDFChronic diseases have increased the incidence of vascular ulcer development. These ulcers require long-term wound management and other interventions from different health care specialists to achieve healing and decrease further complications. Following acute hospital and clinic vascular ulcer care interventions, patients are discharged home or to other facilities in the communities with vascular ulcer care instructions. Often, these patients come back to the vascular clinic or get readmitted into the hospital with deterioration of their wounds. This project used questionnaires to determine what barriers vascular ulcer patients and their caregivers have in the management of these wounds in the community. Dorothy Orem`s self-care theory was used to describe the self-care deficit of patients with vascular ulcers, and the nursing systems designed by the vascular clinic nurses to educate patients and their caregivers on appropriate wound care and vascular ulcer interventions. Adherence to treatment was monitored through return demonstrations at the vascular clinic during appointments, as well as a review of video-recordings of ulcer management at home by patients and their caregivers. The identified barriers to treatment adherence include knowledge deficit, lack of motivation, inability to apply compression socks, and difficulty obtaining wound care supplies due to lack of cost coverage by their health insurance. The results indicate the need to individualize care plan, and for appropriate coordination of care for vascular ulcer patients in the community to improve wound healing and prevent hospital readmissions
Kissing Frogs: The Challenges Of Becoming A Successful Entrepreneur
Get PDF“Kissing Frogs: The challenges of becoming a successful entrepreneur” explores the difficulties of creating, sustaining and succeeding as a business owner. This research is supplemented with data from a national survey to entrepreneurs (355) through Qualtrics, a global research organization. The respondents represented 42 states from a diverse group of self-identified entrepreneurs from a variety of industries.
To summarize, the paper will analyze the following topics in detail: The importance of the mission and vision for the organization The motivation for starting the business The inspiration for the business idea The importance of perseveranc
New Treatment Options for Concussions Using Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Get PDFBackground: Millions of Americans experience concussions every year. With new attention from the media looking into the long-term sequela of concussions, more research and studies are initiated to find an effective treatment. Concussions happen after an impact to the head or body that causes a pathologic disruption in normal brain function. Symptoms most commonly associated with the trauma are headaches, emotional distress, vestibular disturbances and sensitivity to light. Historically, treatment has been physical and cognitive rest.
Methods: A systematic search of PubMed was performed to identify articles pertaining to the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in concussions and traumatic brain injuries in all settings including; adults and children, sports related, civilian and service members. Clinical trials, review articles and animal studies were included, and research was synthesized to review the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on concussions.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Treatment employs increased atmospheric pressures and 100% oxygen to diffuse pure oxygen into hemoglobin and plasma, increasing oxygen saturation in hypoxic environments by as much as 700%. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is not a new treatment but has not been approved for many neurological diseases. Use of this therapy has been found to be quite safe and research has proven it to be effective.
Conclusion: More studies on the use of hyperbaric oxygen for concussion therapy is needed to support evidence-based medical decision making. Optimistic civilian and military patients worldwide hope that research will continue, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy will become a mainstay treatment for all scopes of severity in traumatic brain injuries
Vitamin C as an Adjunct Therapy in Sepsis Management
Get PDFIn the United States, sepsis afflicts nearly one in three ICU patients, is associated with monumental healthcare costs, and is among the leading causes of death. The burden of sepsis is felt globally, and efforts are underway to discover an effective adjunctive therapy. Vitamin C is a novel treatment showing promising early evidence. Additionally, vitamin C\u27s use in combination therapy with hydrocortisone and thiamine has been postulated. These components are thought to work congruently to attenuate the pathophysiologic process of sepsis.
To answer whether vitamin C improves septic patient outcomes, a variety of methods were used to obtain information. Primarily, the electronic database PubMed was utilized to perform a literature search. Most sources had full-text versions available and those that did not were obtained through Augsburg University\u27s interlibrary loan system. Finally, expert interviews were conducted with practicing physicians and physician assistants that have experience managing sepsis.
Standard care protocols, definitions and recommendations implemented by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign and the Sepsis-3 Task Force have improved septic patient outcomes substantially, however, sepsis continues to burden patients and health systems globally. Offering affordability and accessibility, vitamin C may be the adjunct sepsis treatment the medical community has been searching for. Overall, the available evidence suggests vitamin C is safe, improves mortality and reduces hospital resource consumption, among other various measured outcomes. Many clinical trials are currently in progress or awaiting publishing. Results from these studies will further define the efficacy of vitamin C alone and in combination with hydrocortisone and thiamine
Does an ACL autograft, allograft or synthetic graft lead to improved long term knee stability?
Get PDFCurrent literature surrounding anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction outlines four primary classes of grafts used to replace the existing ACL. These classes include bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) autografts, hamstring tendon (HT) autographs, allografts and synthetic grafts. Research has been conducted on each of these primary ACL reconstruction strategies and through this research we are looking to answer the question on which of these classes of ACL grafts in turn leads to the most improved long-term knee stability. In addition to analyzing these classes of grafts we will also inspect options along the non-surgical route to ACL repair, a more conservative approach, and its impact on knee stability in the long-term. Many studies have been conducted with a short-term follow up in their design. It is our goal to determine which ACL reconstruction graft option leads to the best long-term outcome for patients, as well as outlining pros and cons to each graft choice to help guide patients to the choice of the best ACL graft for them
Would The Use of Early Albuminuria Screening In Underserved Populations Lead To More Ac- curate Predictions of Chronic Kidney Disease?
No full textBackground: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a gradual decline in renal function, characterized by a decrease in an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and the presence of albumin in urine excretion. Data from the National Health and Nutrition and Examination Survey (NHANES) estimated that in the US, 30 million Americans suffer from CKD.1 The precise num- ber of patients may be higher since the condition is underdiagnosed. The increase in the number of CKD perhaps can be attributed to the lack of early diagnostic practices. Moreover, CKD disproportionately affects minorities such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians of disadvan- taged socially economic backgrounds; the scope of this paper focuses on these patient popula- tions. After careful observation and analysis of CKD detection, this thesis asks whether the use of early albuminuria screening and prevention in underserved populations leads to the development of CKD. To do this, it proposes that catching the progression of renal deterioration at any stage of the pathologic process can impede CKD advancement.
Methods: This thesis examines and cross references peer-reviewed literature from PubMed and UpToDate.
Conclusion: Through the proposed method, I conclude that prompt albuminuria screening can detect early CKD for high-risk population, especially for low income African Americans, His- panics, and Asians living with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity
Assessment of bias in police lineups.
Get PDFMaterials from five extant field studies were analyzed to determine the level of structural bias in police lineups. Depending on the jurisdiction, between 33% and 68% of lineups sampled from 1,548 real police lineups scored as suspect-biased using mock-witness proportion score. The suspect did not draw a fair portion of mock-witness picks in 20% of field lineups (reverse-biased lineups). Lineup fairness measures revealed that a point estimate (mean) for a set of lineups can mask significant problems in lineup construction and that any single lineup should not be assumed to be fair based on an aggregate score. A sample of 190 lineups from the field data of Wells, Steblay, and Dysart (2015) was used to conduct four new studies that examined the relationship between lineup structure and real eyewitness decisions. Our primary hypothesis—that real eyewitness decisions could be predicted by lineup bias measures—was partially supported. Suspect identifications from simultaneous (but not sequential) lineups were disproportionately linked to suspect-biased lineups. Suspect identifications from suspect-biased lineups were almost twice as frequent for simultaneous than for sequential lineups. Additional experimental tests of these field lineups using mock-witness measures demonstrated that detailed descriptions produced higher lineup bias scores than did brief descriptions, indicating that brief descriptions can hide substantial lineup bias. Mock-witnesses were able to find the suspect in some lineups via cues not readily apparent in the description alone. The data support the idea of using a framework of descriptors to improve the fairness of lineups. Study outcomes demonstrate the realities and nuances of field lineup structure that necessitate updated consideration of the use of mock-witness measures and a blended approach to lineup construction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved
Determining Variables That Explain Share of GDP Spent on Healthcare in Advanced Economies
Get PDFHealthcare expenditure has been increasing in the United States alone since at least 1997 but economists have been trying to determine the factors that affect spending levels long before then. The most widely researched factors include: income, population, technology and wellness. There is a lack of agreement on which variable best describes the changes and levels of healthcare spending. The purpose of this research is to use SPSS software to run an OLS regression and analyze the impact of the four most commonly researched variables of healthcare spending to determine which affects expenditure the most. Insight into this topic could provide policy makers with a new angle on how to tackle rising health costs and redirect government funds into areas that would have a more significant impact on the country\u27s economic and physical health. This research finds that wellness of the country, in terms of infant mortality rate, to have the highest significance on healthcare expenditure. As this impact is determined to be positive, meaning that a higher infant mortality rate leads to a higher level of healthcare spending, this potentially indicates that countries should focus on bringing their health standards up in order to cut expenses in the healthcare sector