A conceptual analytics model for an outcome-driven quality management framework as part of professional healthcare education

BACKGROUND: Preparing the future health care professional workforce in a changing world is a significant undertaking. Educators and other decision makers look to evidence-based knowledge to improve quality of education. Analytics, the use of data to generate insights and support decisions, have been applied successfully across numerous application domains. Health care professional education is one area where great potential is yet to be realized. Previous research of Academic and Learning analytics has mainly focused on technical issues. The focus of this study relates to its practical implementation in the setting of health care education. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to create a conceptual model for a deeper understanding of the synthesizing process, and transforming data into information to support educators’ decision making. METHODS: A deductive case study approach was applied to develop the conceptual model. RESULTS: The analytics loop works both in theory and in practice. The conceptual model encompasses the underlying data, the quality indicators, and decision support for educators. CONCLUSIONS: The model illustrates how a theory can be applied to a traditional data-driven analytics approach, and alongside the context- or need-driven analytics approach

The mass and radius of the M-dwarf in the short period eclipsing binary RR Caeli

We present new photometry and spectroscopy of the eclipsing white dwarf - M-dwarf binary star RR Cae. We use timings of the primary eclipse from white-light photo-electric photometry to derive a new ephemeris for the eclipses. We find no evidence for any period change greater than Pdot/P ~ 5E-12 over a timescale of 10 years. We have measured the effective temperature of the white dwarf, T_WD, from an analysis of two high resolution spectra of RR Cae and find T_WD = (7540 +- 175)K. We estimate a spectral type of M4 for the companion from the same spectra. We have combined new spectroscopic orbits for the white dwarf and M-dwarf with an analysis of the primary eclipse and cooling models for helium white dwarfs to measure the mass and radius of the M-dwarf. The mass of the M-dwarf is (0.182 - 0.183) +- 0.013 Msun and the radius is (0.203 - 0.215) +- 0.013 Rsun, where the ranges quoted for these values reflect the range of white dwarf models used. In contrast to previous studies, which lacked a spectroscopic orbit for the white dwarf, we find that the mass and radius of the M-dwarf are normal for an M4 dwarf. The mass of the white dwarf is (0.440 +-0.022) Msun. With these revised masses and radii we find that RR Cae will become a cataclysmic variable star when the orbital period is reduced from its current value of 7.3 hours to 121 minutes by magnetic braking in 9-20 Gyr. We note that there is night-to-night variability of a few seconds in the timing of primary eclipse caused by changes to the shape of the primary eclipse. We speculate as to the possible causes of this phenomenon. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. The paper contains 10 figures and 3 table

A review of periodical literature on merit rating.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Dairy Resource Management: A Comparison of Conventional and Pasture-Based Systems

Facing rapid and significant change in the sector, U.S. dairy production trends from 1993-2005 were tracked and performance measures (scale and technical efficiency and returns on assets) were estimated for conventional and pasture-based dairy farms using data from USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Comparisons of relative economic performance of dairy farms by size and type are made.dairy operations, pasture-based systems, technical efficiency, Livestock Production/Industries,

Morphometric and cladistic analyses of the phylogeny of Macropodinium (Ciliophora : Litostomatea : Macropodiniidae)

Phylogenetic studies of the genus Macropodinium were conducted using two methods; phenetics and cladistics. The phenetic study of morphometrics suggested that the genus could be divided into 3 groups attributable mostly to cell size and shape. The cladistic study also split the genus into 3 groups related to cell size but groups were further distinguished by patterns of ornamentation. Reconciliation of both approaches revealed considerable congruence, however, it also suggested the existence of convergences in the phenetic study and a lack of resolution in the cladistic study. The morphological diversity of Macropodinium is probably due to evolutionary trends such as increasing body size, allometry and polymerisation of structures. None of these trends, however, was uniformly directional and differential effects were observed in different regions of the phylogenetic tree. Comparison of the phylogeny of Macropodinium to a consensus phylogeny of the macropodids revealed limited incongruence between the 2 trees. The ciliate groups could be related to 2 host groups; the wallaby genera and the kangaroo and wallaroo subgenera. The association with these host groups may be the result of phyletic codescent, ecological resource tracking or a combination of both. Further studies of both host and ciliate phylogeny are necessary to resolve these effects

The quest for H3+_3^+ at Neptune: deep burn observations with NASA IRTF iSHELL

Emission from the molecular ion H$_3^+$ is a powerful diagnostic of the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, but it remains undetected at Neptune. In search of this emission, we present near-infrared spectral observations of Neptune between 3.93 and 4.00 $\mu$m taken with the newly commissioned iSHELL instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, obtained 17-20 August 2017. We spent 15.4 h integrating across the disk of the planet, yet were unable to unambiguously identify any H$_3^+$ line emissions. Assuming a temperature of 550 K, we derive an upper limit on the column integrated density of $1.0^{+1.2}_{-0.8}\times10^{13}$ m$^{-2}$, which is an improvement of 30\% on the best previous observational constraint. This result means that models are over-estimating the density by at least a factor of 5, highlighting the need for renewed modelling efforts. A potential solution is strong vertical mixing of polyatomic neutral species from Neptune's upper stratosphere to the thermosphere, reacting with H$_3^+$, thus greatly reducing the column integrated H$_3^+$ densities. This upper limit also provide constraints on future attempts at detecting H$_3^+$ using the James Webb Space Telescope.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Simultaneous X-ray/optical observations of GX 9+9 (4U 1728-16)

We report on the results of the first simultaneous X-ray (RXTE) and optical (SAAO) observations of the luminous low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) GX 9+9 in 1999 August. The high-speed optical photometry revealed an orbital period of 4.1958 hr and confirmed previous observations, but with greater precision. No X-ray modulation was found at the orbital period. On shorter timescales, a possible 1.4-hr variability was found in the optical light curves which might be related to the mHz quasi-periodic oscillations seen in other LMXBs. We do not find any significant X-ray/optical correlation in the light curves. In X-rays, the colour-colour diagram and hardness-intensity diagram indicate that the source shows characteristics of an atoll source in the upper banana state, with a correlation between intensity and spectral hardness. Time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy suggests that two-component spectral models give a reasonable fit to the X-ray emission. Such models consist of a blackbody component which can be interpreted as the emission from an optically thick accretion disc or an optically thick boundary layer, and a hard Comptonized component for an extended corona.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA

Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming

U.S. dairy production is consolidating into fewer but larger farms. This report uses data from several USDA surveys to detail that consolidation and to analyze the financial drivers of consolidation. Specifically, larger farms realize lower production costs. Although small dairy farms realize higher revenue per hundredweight of milk sold, the cost advantages of larger size allow large farms to be profitable, on average, even while most small farms are unable to earn enough to replace their capital. Further survey evidence, as well as the financial data, suggest that consolidation is likely to continue.Dairy farming, economies of scale, economies of size, dairy farm structure, milk costs, Farm Management, Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries,