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Does the Nurse-Led Case Management Benefit Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients in Reducing Distressing Symptoms and C-Reactive Protein: a 2-Year Follow-Up Study in Taiwan
Get PDFBackground: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease and may worsen over time. Today, nurse-led case management (NLCM) has been recommended to improve clinical outcomes for chronic disease patients, yet little is known regarding its impact on pain, fatigue, and C-reactive protein (CRP) among RA patients. We aimed to explore this issue among such groups via a two-group pre- and post-test approach.
Methods: All subjects were recruited from one hospital in Taiwan from January 2017 to June 2018 and assigned to either a 6-month NLCM program in addition to usual care or to a control group that received usual care only. All of them were followed for 2 years. Outcomes of interests were compared at four time points: baseline, the third day after NLCM completion, and at 6 and 24 months after NLCM. Effects between them were tested using the generalized estimating equations (GEE) model after adjusting for differences at baseline.ResultsA total of 50 patients in the NLCM group and 46 in the control group were recruited for data analysis. Results from the GEE model indicated that integrating NLCM into conventional care benefited patients in decreasing levels of pain and fatigue, as well as CRP value. These improvements were still observed for 2 years after NLCM.ConclusionNLCM was shown to be helpful in lowering pain, fatigue, and CRP, which implies that NLCM may be a reference in the provision of tailored care for those affected by rheumatism
Spectrometer As a Quantitative Sensor for Predicting the Weld Depth in Laser Welding
No full textSpectrometers have been used for quality assessment or as auxiliary sensors in multisensor systems to record emissions at different wavelengths. This study developed a single-spectrometer sensor to quantitatively predict the laser penetration depth in Cu/Al overlap and dual-phase (DP) steel bead-on-plate welding joints. The spectrometer signals were sampled at 100 Hz, and an optical coherence tomography (OCT) sensor was used to estimate the in situ penetration depth. A one-dimensional (1D) convolution neural network (CNN) model was developed using the current step of the spectrometer signal. Furthermore, a two-dimensional (2D) CNN model was developed using 10 recent steps of the spectrometer signals. Consequently, 1732 and 3000 data points for DP steel and Al/Cu overlap welding were used for the penetration-depth modeling. Through model training, mean absolute errors of 22.67 and 52.96 µm were achieved for the Al/Cu overlap and DP steel welding, respectively, corresponding to approximately 1.5 % of the substrate thickness. The 2D-CNN models outperformed the 1D-CNN models for both material combinations. However, a slight delay was observed in the response of the models when confronted with abrupt output changes. This study confirmed that spectroscopy can serve as the sole quantitative sensing method for laser welding monitoring and control
Wasted Space: Using Parking Lots & Vacant Land to Improve Neighborhood Completeness
Get PDFThis study conducts a spatial analysis of Portland, Oregon, focusing on leveraging underutilized areas like parking lots and vacant land—termed wasted space —to improve the city\u27s completeness. Central to this investigation is the concept of a complete neighborhood, characterized by access to daily necessities within convenient active transportation trip. This comprehensive idea encompasses walkability, equitable access to services, and sustainability.
This paper aims to redefine the concept of a complete neighborhood with precision and delve into its implications. The research looks at five regional, town, and neighborhood centers as defined by the city of Portland. These centers act as pivotal hubs for complete neighborhoods, housing diverse amenities like retail outlets, civic facilities, residences, healthcare centers, workplaces, and public spaces.
Through these case studies, the paper explores how repurposing wasted space can contribute to the development of complete, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. To aid in visualizing the potential transformations proposed, architectural imagery is employed, providing insights into the potential impact on Portland neighborhoods and urban areas across the United States
Why People Pee in Public: Is a Lack of Public Restrooms Keeping Portland Too Weird?
Get PDFVarious factors, including gender, housing status, socioeconomic status, and disability, impact access to public restrooms in Portland, Oregon. A pilot program involving the implementation of public restrooms has caused a significant reduction in public defecation in San Francisco. This research demonstrates the efficacy of this existing working model, which could be similarly implemented in Portland with some adjustments. Portland has the Portland Loos, which are single-stall, outdoor public restrooms. Still, many are not open 24 hours. An analysis of publicly available Google reviews indicates consistent poor cleanliness and Portland Loos being locked at times when they are advertised to be open, especially in downtown locations. While Portland has many public restrooms, like Portland Loos, the fact that some are ill-maintained or closed when they shouldn’t be indicates that they are not making enough positive change. In addition, many restrooms in facilities like restaurants require purchasing products when they previously did not or no longer allow restroom access, even with a purchase. The next step in this research is to implement survey distribution and analysis surrounding the intersectionality of public restroom access, uncovering potential inequities and assessing the specific requirements needed to augment the existing model successfully to fit the city
The Association Between Acculturation & C-reactive Protein in U.S. Immigrants: A Cross-sectional Study
Get PDFPurpose: Immigrants undergo acculturation as they assimilate to a different culture, potentially leading to immense stress. Our objective was to examine the association between acculturation and C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of stress-induced inflammation. We hypothesized that U.S. foreign-born adults 20 years and older with higher degrees of acculturation would have higher CRP levels compared to those with lower acculturation.
Method: We used 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1526 participants to conduct a cross-sectional analysis. We measured acculturation as language spoken at home (categorized as low, moderate, and high) and examined its association with CRP using multivariable regression. We assessed effect measure modification by race/ethnicity in a subgroup of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asian participants.
Results: In our main analysis, higher acculturation was not significantly associated with higher CRP levels after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, education level, citizenship status, and gender. The percent difference in CRP among those with higher acculturation was 5.3% higher compared to those with lower acculturation (95% CI: -7.3, 19.6). When we assessed differences by race/ethnicity within a subgroup of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asian participants, we found that among those who were Hispanic, the percent difference in CRP among those with moderate acculturation was 17.7% lower compared to those with low acculturation (95%CI: -29.6, -3.8).
Conclusion: We observed lower CRP levels among Hispanic participants with moderate acculturation compared to those with low acculturation. Our results indicate that the acculturation process is complex and may vary between different cultural and ethnic groups
The Relation Between the Atomic Mass Ratio and Quartic Anharmonicity in Alkali Metal Hydrides
No full textPhonons play a crucial role in understanding various aspects of solid-state physics, including thermal expansion, phase transition, interfacial thermal resistance, and lattice thermal conductivity (κL). Usually, the three-phonon (3ph) scattering processes have been considered the dominant mechanism governing thermal transport in solids. However, recent studies have revealed that quartic anharmonicity can fill the gap between theoretical calculations based on 3ph interactions and experimental values in a range of materials, such as BAs, perovskite CsPbBr3, and thermoelectric PbTe. Typically, the vibration frequency of phonons is proportional to the inverse square root of the atomic mass. Some semiconductors with heavy atoms have a big mass ratio which leads to a gap between acoustic and optical phonon modes. This phenomenon concurrently suppresses 3ph scattering. The influence of 4ph scattering on κL becomes more important. We investigate the relation between the atomic mass ratio and quartic anharmonicity using rocksalt alkali metal hydrides XH (X = Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs). Our finding reveals a positive correlation between the atomic mass ratio and quartic anharmonicity
Tuning Particle Settling in Fluids with Magnetic Fields
No full textA magnetic field is generated to modify the effective gravity acting on settling particles in a laboratory experiment. When applied to a magnetized spherical particle settling in water-glycerol mixtures, the magnetic field produces a vertical force that counteracts the gravitational field, hence allowing for the magnetic tuning of the settling properties of the particle. While doing so, the spin of the particle around the direction perpendicular to the applied magnetic field is blocked, thus allowing spin solely around the direction of the magnetic field. This method of magnetic modification of the effective gravity is tested on the settling of spherical magnets in quiescent fluids over Galileo numbers in the range [100, 300] and a fixed particle density of 8200 kg/m . The results obtained by varying the Galileo number via the magnetic modification of effective gravity are compared to those obtained with non-magnetic spheres when the Galileo number is modified by varying the fluid’s viscosity. We show that the same taxonomy of settling regimes with nearly identical geometrical properties (in terms of planarity and obliqueness) of the trajectories is recovered. In addition to proving that it is possible to magnetically tame the settling of particles in fluids preserving the features of the non-magnetic case, this also reveals that blocking the spin of the particles does not produce any significant effect on its settling properties in a quiescent fluid. This novel experimental methodology opens new possibilities to experimentally explore many other subtle aspects of the coupling between settling particles and fluids (for instance, to disentangle the effects of rotation, inertia, and/or anisotropy of the particles) in more complex situations including the case of turbulent flows
The Power of Solidarity: The Effects of Professor–Librarian Collaboration on Students’ Self-Awareness of Skill Acquisition
Get PDFThe ACRL Framework for Information Literacy
revolutionized information literacy instruction. It asks librarians to instill in students the higher-level skills to navigate the information landscape. Literature establishes the value of shared faculty ownership of information literacy threshold concepts, but it also documents the potential pitfalls of faculty involvement (Franklin, 2013; Julien & Given, 2002; Lechtenberg & Donovan, 2022; Perez-Stable et al., 2020). This article explores one successful partnership, concluding that instructor—librarian collaboration forged around shared histories and structured by codeveloped objectives positively influences students’ receptivity to information literacy concepts. As demonstrated by surveys of those enrolled in the course, students’ self-awareness of their own mastery increased as they applied threshold skills learned in class. Although data do not allow us to correlate academic achievement to students’ survey responses, aggregate results in both academic work and survey responses suggest that these insights led to greater independence for many students.
Independent Long COVID Journalism as a Lens for Critical Information Literacy: Conversations with The Sick Times Founders Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles W. Griffis
Get PDFBoth the COVID-19 pandemic and the acceleration of climate change illuminate how difficult it can be to make sense of information about wicked problems—that is, issues that are highly complex and have no simple or complete solutions (Rittel & Webber, 1973). One approach to grappling with wicked problems is to consider the information practices that different people, communities, or professions use to make sense of those issues. In this Perspectives piece, I explore possible ways to practice and teach about critical information literacy by looking to the views, experiences, and professional practices of two independent journalists who report on an urgent but still under-reported wicked problem: Long COVID. Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles W. Griffis are the co-founders of the website The Sick Times, which is dedicated to reporting on Long COVID and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Following highlights from their interviews with me about their work, I consider potential implications of these journalists’ experiences for practicing and teaching critical information literacy
Identity in Question: Middle Eastern Americans in Dearborn, Michigan
Get PDFIn the 2020 United States Census, fifty-four percent of the population of Dearborn, Michigan, identified as being of Middle Eastern or North African descent. The story of how a small Detroit suburb became the American city with the largest proportion of Middle Eastern citizens is one of transnational relations between the U.S., its ally Israel, and the Middle East. The city’s Arab American community grew out of continuous wars that pushed people out of their homelands throughout the second half of the twentieth century, as well as the rise of the American auto industry. What makes Dearborn unique is that its established Arab American community acts as a centripetal force, both because living in a place with many people of similar ethnic heritage softens the dislocation of immigration, and because strong ties between Dearborn and the Middle East help new immigrants find jobs and settle into their new lives. These extended kin networks existing within Dearborn and between Dearborn and the Middle East have created a feeling that all the Arab communities in Dearborn—primarily Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi, and Yemeni—are a single transnational pan-Arab people under attack by the U.S. and Israel, in their host country and homeland. The strong cultural heritage present in Dearborn has influenced the way its Middle Eastern residents choose to assimilate into the dominant white Christian culture—often in an attempt to avoid Islamophobic discrimination—or to assert their cultural and religious heritage and celebrate differences.
Keywords: Arab American; Dearborn, Michigan; Immigrants; Iraq; Islamophobia; Israel; Lebanese Civil War; Lebanon; Middle East; Middle Eastern American; Palestine; United States government; Yemen
Part of the Panel: Violent Intolerance and Modern Memory Moderator: Professor Patricia Schechte