Primary reading exercises for use with the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Ralph J. Perk, the “New ethnicity”, and the making of urban ethnic republicans

Historians seeking to explain the late twentieth century rightward shift of urban ethnic whites have tended to ignore the shifting meaning and content of white ethnic identity in this transition, and the utility of these changes to conservative political discourse. This article, focusing on the ethnic strategies of the Republican mayor of Cleveland, Ralph Perk, seeks to illustrate the importance of the “New Ethnicity” of the 1970s, and its reconceptualization of white ethnicity as a series of “values”, in the making of urban ethnic Republicans. In doing so it reorients our understanding of Perk – the “Ethnic Mayor” – and places ethnicity at the heart of the conservative insurgency reshaping urban and national politics during this period

Connecting the dots and merging meaning: using mixed methods to study primary care delivery transformation

pre-printObjective: To demonstrate the value of mixed methods in the study of practice transformation and illustrate procedures for connecting methods and for merging findings to enhance the meaning derived.. Data Source/Study Setting: An integrated network of university-owned, primary care practices at the University of Utah (Community Clinics or CCs). CC has adopted Care by Design™, its version of the Patient Centered Medical Home. Study Design: Mixed methods. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: Analysis of archival documents, internal operational reports, in-clinic observations, chart audits, surveys, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services database and the Utah All Payers Claims Database. Principal findings: Each data source enriched our understanding of the change process and understanding of reasons that certain changes were more difficult than others both in general and for particular clinics. Mixed methods enabled generation and testing of hypotheses about change and led to a comprehensive understanding of practice change. Conclusions: Mixed methods are useful in studying practice transformation. Challenges exist but can be overcome with careful planning and persistence

Organizational culture associated with provider satisfaction

pre-printBackground: Organizational culture is key to the successful implementation of major improvement strategies. Transformation to a patient-centered medical home (PCHM) is such an improvement strategy, requiring a shift from provider-centric care to team-based care. Because this shift may impact provider satisfaction, it is important to understand the relationship between provider satisfaction and organizational culture, specifically in the context of practices that have transformed to a PCMH model. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of surveys conducted in 2011 among providers and staff in 10 primary care clinics implementing their version of a PCMH: Care by Design. Measures included the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument and the American Medical Group Association provider satisfaction survey. Results: Providers were most satisfied with quality of care (mean, 4.14; scale of 1-5) and interactions with patients (mean, 4.12) and were least satisfied with time spent working (mean, 3.47), paperwork (mean, 3.45), and compensation (mean, 3.35). Culture profiles differed across clinics, with family/clan and hierarchical cultures the most common. Significant correlations (P < .05) between provider satisfaction and clinic culture archetypes included family/clan culture negatively correlated with administrative work; entrepreneurial culture positively correlated with the Time Spent Working dimension; market/rational culture positively correlated with how practices were facing economic and strategic challenges; and hierarchical culture negatively correlated with the Relationships with Staff and Resource dimensions. Conclusions: Provider satisfaction is an important metric for assessing experiences with features of a PCMH model. Identification of clinic-specific culture archetypes and archetype associations with provider satisfaction can help inform practice redesign. Attention to effective methods for changing organizational culture is recommended

Safety Consultation & Inspection: Reporting on a Manufacturing Facility

Safety Consultation & Inspection: Reporting on a Manufacturing Facility Holly Scammon, Nicholas Nieves, Lea Mahoney, Nelson Pusquin-Nieves, Alberto Carrillo Background: In October of 2021, a safety consultation and inspection were conducted within a manufacturing facility in the Daytona Beach area. The inspection was conducted by a group of students pursuing their Master of Science in Occupational Safety Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The inspection began via a conversation with the facility’s safety manager and a senior employee. The group initially discussed the current state of the workplace, the policies and procedures in place for the different operations, and a serious violation the company was in the process of abating. As the conversation progressed it became apparent there were minimal written policies and training provided to employees. Following the discussion, an inspection was conducted using a checklist derived from similar industries and a review of top violations in those industries in 2021. Approach: Investigations into similar industries were conducted prior to the inspection of the facility to help identify key areas of interest. Furthermore, company history was investigated to determine if there were any active or past OSHA violations or citations. The finalized inspection checklist highlighted key areas of interest including lockout-tagout procedures, respiratory protection, hazard communication, machine guarding, and powered industrial trucks. Results: The facility was found to be non-compliant with multiple OSHA regulations listed in the 1910 standard. Further recommendations were made to the management staff regarding the integration of a Safety Management System (SMS) for the safety and wellbeing of their workers. Conclusions: The group provided the facility’s management staff with recommendations pertaining to the correction of identified hazards around the workplace. The final report also included suggestions regarding the implementation of an SMS at the facility. The management team\u27s willingness to change and implement those recommendations was positive, with relatively strong responsiveness to the final report submitted. The inspection team recommended a follow-up inspection be completed within the year to assess changes made by the management staff based on the safety consultation and inspection

Analytical strategies in human growth research

Human growth research requires knowledge of longitudinal statistical methods that can be analytically challenging. Even the assessment of growth between two ages is not as simple as subtracting the first measurement from the second, for example. This article provides an overview of the key analytical strategies available to human biologists in increasing order of complexity, starting with a review on how to express cross-sectional measurements of size, before covering growth (conditional regression models, regression with conditional growth measures), growth curves (individual growth curves, mixed effects growth curves, latent growth curves), and patterns of growth (growth mixture modeling). The article is not a statistical treatise and has been written by a human biologist for human biologists; as such, it should be accessible to anyone with training in at least basic statistics. A summary table linking each analytical strategy to its applications is provided to help investigators match their hypotheses and measurement schedules to an analysis plan. In addition, worked examples using data on non-Hispanic white participants in the Fels Longitudinal Study are used to illustrate how the analytical strategies might be applied to gain novel insight into human growth and its determinants and consequences. All too often, serial measurements are treated as cross-sectional in analyses that do not harness the power of longitudinal data. The broad goal of this article is to encourage the rigorous application of longitudinal statistical methods to human growth research

1862-07-10 John L. Little requests a position in a new regiment

https://digitalmaine.com/cw_me_3rd_regiment_corr/1299/thumbnail.jp

Gruneisen-stress induced ablation of biological tissue

The objective of biomedical applications of lasers is frequently to remove tissue in a controlled manner. However, for ablation induced by thermal- or photo-decomposition, damage to surrounding tissue may be excessive in some instances. Tissue can also be ablated by a hydrodynamic process referred to as front surface spallation, in which a thin layer next to a free surface is heated to levels, below vaporization but, so rapidly that it cannot undergo thermal expansion during laser heating. This generates a stress pulse, which propagates away from the heated region, with an initial amplitude that can be calculated using the Grueneisen coefficient. As the pulse reflects from the free surface, a tensile tail can develop of sufficient amplitude, exceeding the material strength, that a layer will be spalled off, taking much of the laser-deposited energy with it. Because tissue is generally a low strength material, this process has the potential of producing controlled ablation with reduced damage to the remaining tissue. However, to achieve these conditions, the laser pulse length, absorption depth and fluence must be properly tailored. This paper presents hydrodynamic calculations and analytical modeling relating to both stress- and thermal-induced ablation as a function of laser and tissue properties to illustrate the potential benefits of stress induced ablation. Also, guidance is given for tailoring the exposure parameters to enhance front surface spallation. 8 refs., 6 figs