Dynamical Triangulations, a Gateway to Quantum Gravity ?

We show how it is possible to formulate Euclidean two-dimensional quantum gravity as the scaling limit of an ordinary statistical system by means of dynamical triangulations, which can be viewed as a discretization in the space of equivalence classes of metrics. Scaling relations exist and the critical exponents have simple geometric interpretations. Hartle-Hawkings wave functionals as well as reparametrization invariant correlation functions which depend on the geodesic distance can be calculated. The discretized approach makes sense even in higher dimensional space-time. Although analytic solutions are still missing in the higher dimensional case, numerical studies reveal an interesting structure and allow the identification of a fixed point where we can hope to define a genuine non-perturbative theory of four-dimensional quantum gravity.Comment: Review, 44 pages, tar compressed uuencoded ps-file (after removing header, type csh filename.uu

A Qualitative Evaluation of the Interprofessional Student Hotspotting Learning Collaborative: Perceptions of Student and Faculty Advisor Participants

Introduction: Student participation in interprofessional education has proven beneficial in regards to students’ understanding of professional roles, team situational awareness1,and appreciating the need for collaboration2. The interprofessional student hotspotting learning collaborative enables students to work in teams to help serve patients categorized as health-system “super-users”, defined as those who overuse inpatient and/or emergency hospital services, over a period of six months’ time. This model will allow students to have real patient encounters and to begin utilizing their own roles within interdisciplinary teams. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the impact of the interprofessional student hotspotting learning collaborative on student participants. Methods: Our study analyzes the impact of participation in the hotspotting curriculum on the change in students’ knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors, and identifies which change impacts the largest number of students. Students represent various healthcare specialties including but not limited to nursing, pharmacy, and medicine. Students will be given surveys and will participate in focus groups, and this data will be compiled and analyzed for statistical significance and quantitative analysis for patterns and trends. Results: The results of this study demonstrate that students have improved understanding of their roles on an interprofessional team as well as changes in attitudes towards being a member of an interprofessional team. They also suggest improvements for the program and suggestions for faculty advisors. Conclusions: Using these results, we can further develop the hotspotting program to initiate changes in the behavior of the members of interprofessional teams. Changes in interprofessional behaviors during education can lead to changes in behavior during their careers

Community Nursing: Health Care Behind Closed Doors

Focus of nursing education in the 21st century is to teach students how to work with individuals & families within a community setting & to develop skills in providing nursing care that stresses community as the client. The expectation of the APHA is that BSN students will be educationally prepared to work with & improve the health of individuals, families, & diverse populations within the community.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursingposters/1008/thumbnail.jp

Interview with Marianne Marcus

An oral history with Marianne Marcus, Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at Houston School of Nursing. Before she retired and assumed the title of Professor Emerita in 2104, Dr. Marcus chaired the UT Nursing School’s Department of Nursing Systems, directed its Master’s of Nursing Education degree track and directed its Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Education and Research. While at UT, she was elected to its Academy of Health Science Education and named as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She was appointed the John P. McGovern Distinguished Professor of Addiction Nursing at UT Health Science Center

Accelerating Curriculum Design: A Love It, Don\u27t Leave It Approach to Creative Process and Idealized Design

Purpose and Background: The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report (2010) on the “Future of Nursing” emphasized the need for nurses to lead health care change. One of the key messages in this report is a call to action for nursing schools to re-envision nursing education that focuses on a population-based perspective and emerging roles for nurses across the care continuum. With an evolving focus on primary and community-based care rather than acute care, and recognition of the importance of coordinating care and managing transitions across providers and settings of care, registered nurses now and in the future will need to be prepared with a breadth of knowledge, skills, and competencies. In response, the Jefferson College of Nursing (JCN) embarked on the ambitious task of designing a new 21st century baccalaureate nursing curriculum over a 13-month period. Nursing curriculum design varies widely and can span the course of two to five years. To reduce the lengthy process and ensure faculty commitment, JCN leadership selected a core team of nine faculty members to navigate the full faculty through the design of the curriculum. Each team member was assigned three teaching credits for curriculum development and design. Although a 13-month turnaround time for curriculum design is unprecedented, what is most unique about JCN’s initiative is that it began with a charge of developing an idealized curriculum from a blank slate. To ensure that the curriculum reflected multiple perspectives, the team recruited six stakeholders including a nurse practice partner, health care consumer, community leader, alumnus, current student, and adjunct clinical faculty. Poster presented at: NLN Education Summit, 2015:Bridging Practice and Education, Las Vegas, Nevada, September 30, 2015-October 2, 2015.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursingposters/1009/thumbnail.jp

Hedging and invoicing strategies to reduce exchange rate exposure - a euro-area perspective

Domestic-currency invoicing and hedging allow internationally active firms to reduce their exposure to exchange rate variations. This paper argues that domestic-currency invoicing and hedging with exchange rate derivatives allow a fairly straightforward management of transaction and translation risk. Broader economic risk (which takes into account the impact of the exchange rate on competitiveness) is by its very nature harder to manage, but the paper argues that natural hedging provides possibilities for doing so. A novelty of this paper is a survey of actual hedging strategies and techniques of large euro-area corporations. The paper finds that euro-area exporters make ample use of instruments to limit the adverse impact of euro appreciation.Exchange rate risk, invoicing, hedging, derivatives, Hedging and invoicing strategies to reduce exchange rate exposure - a euro-area perspective, Economic Paper, D�hring