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This case study seeks to understand workplace wellness activities in organizations in Southern Indiana and Greater Louisville. Utilizing the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Workplace Wellness Health Scorecard, a 125-question survey that covers a diverse set of workplace wellness initiatives, twenty-four organizations participated in the study, with one to four participants from each organization. This study looks at the question of context and how an organization’s supports impacts the health of their workforce. The results found that leveraging the knowledge of experts, implementing a variety of wellness programs, removing obstacles to wellness, and having a caring attitude toward employees lead to a higher score regarding organizational supports on the CDC Health Scorecard.

Research indicates the multilingual aspects of organizations can create power divisions and rules that drive workplace practices. From an international human resources development perspective, language management is strategic and planned through the headquarters of the organization. Yet the rational ideas of organizational members are what are truly valued in multilingual workplaces. These rational ideas create power struggles and biases that are formed against individuals who possess certain linguistic capabilities, regardless of the individual’s other traits or accomplishments. These biases have been labeled the phenomenon of misrecognition. This literature review explores the presence of misrecognition in multilingual organizations. A need to determine how the phenomenon of misrecognition exists in multilingual organizations was discovered.

Plant endosymbionts (endophytes) influence host plant health and express genotype-dependent ecological relationships with plant hosts. A fungal species intended to confer host plant resistance to a forest pathogen was used as inoculum to test for effects of inoculation on disease resistance, microbiomes, and phytochemistry of a threatened pine species planted in a restoration setting. Correlations of inoculation presence/absence, phytochemistry, spatial location of seedlings, maternal seed sources, and fungal endophytic communities in the foliage of six-year-old whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) seedlings were assessed five years after an experimental inoculation of seedlings with foliar endophytic fungi cultured from whitebark pine trees at Crater Lake National Park, including Paramyrothecium roridum. We hypothesized that P. roridum would modify host microbiomes in a manner that combats white pine blister rust disease. Our assessment of seedlings in the field five years after inoculation allowed us to consider whether inoculation stimulated long-lasting changes in microbiome communities and whether effects varied by seedling genetic family. Tests for effects of endophyte inoculation on disease resistance were inconclusive due to current low levels of rust infection observed at the field site. Foliar fungal endophyte richness and Shannon diversity varied with maternal seed sources. Isotopic stoichiometry and phytochemistry did not vary with seedling spatial proximity, inoculation treatment, or maternal seed family. However, endophyte community composition varied with both seedling spatial proximity and maternal seed sources. Endophytic communities did not vary with the inoculation treatment, and the hypothesized biocontrol was not detected in inoculated seedlings. We draw three conclusions from this work: (1) fungal microbiomes of whitebark pine seedlings across our study site did not vary with host phytochemical signatures of ecophysiological status, (2) the inoculation of P. albicaulis seedlings with a mixture of fungal endophytes did not lead to persistent systemic changes in seedling foliar microbiomes, and (3) in correspondence with other studies, our data suggest that maternal seed source and spatial patterns influence fungal endophyte community composition.

Digital technologies continue to increase in their popularity and use throughout all forms of education. In recent times windows devices with keyboards have been most popular in many schools but there may now be a shift towards using tablet devices. Therefore, it is important to ask what is the impact upon student engagement and attainment within computing of using iPads? In a selective girls grammar school, where all students in Years 7 to 9 had access to a netbook previously, this investigation looked at the implications of the move away from netbooks to iPads instead. It considered how the use of iPads could alter students’ engagement with regards to their learning and whether there are any benefits to attainment within computing lessons where they already have access to more traditional digital technologies. The investigation was carried out via an online survey which was completed by those students in Year 7 with access to an iPad. Once the survey had been completed 2 small focus groups were then selected and interviewed so as to further investigate the findings from the survey responses. Using computing as a case study, this investigation also considered the implications the use of iPads had on attainment. During this investigation is was discovered that the use of iPads did increase student engagement. There were a number of different reasons why students felt that the inclusion and use of iPads in their lessons increased their attainment. These included more competitiveness, increased independence speed and ease of use. The results found indicated that there were some benefits to student attainment in computing due to the use of iPads. These benefits were seen with regards to the value added results of the students in the study.

The surge of interest in pain from many types of physicians over the past few decades has resulted in a specialty with unique challenges. In response to the growth in pain medicine, pain fellowships have emerged to appropriately diagnose and to treat a wide variety of pain conditions. Despite improvements and standardization among pain fellowships, education in the basics of billing and coding is typically limited. Though courses on proper billing practices exist within the specialty of pain medicine, many new practitioners are challenged by clinical responsibilities with limited training with regards to billing and coding of pain services. Inaccurate billing and coding can result in financial issues and legal ramifications. ICD-10, which is expected later this year, will present additional challenges to effective billing and coding. In summary, there are frequent changes to the rules and regulations governing pain management that can significantly impact practice management. Strong consideration should be made by stakeholders in any pain practitioner to attend regular educational meetings and take steps necessary for continued compliance, efficiency, quality, and profitability. A basic primer on concepts related to billing and code terminology, therefore, is presented for clinicians.

Medication errors represent one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Anesthesia has specific medication-related risks; providers must administer many potent intravenous medications quickly, often with minimal to no supervision. Well-described reasons for medication administration errors in anesthesia include medication ampoules with similar appearance and packaging, clinician inattention, ineffective communication, fatigue, and haste. Technologies that are used widely in other parts of the hospital, such as barcoding, are a challenge to implement in anesthesia, and systemic approaches, including color-coding of syringe labels and barcoding technology of syringes, have been evaluated with mixed results. Emphasis should be placed on implementing forcing functions when possible, utilizing technology, standardization, and education about the need for awareness in specific situations. More studies need to be done to define the epidemiology of medication errors in anesthesia, and more importantly, to assess interventions for preventing them.

In vivo strain measurements can facilitate the study of the bone remodeling response to loading and load changes. Calcium phosphate ceramic (CPC) coatings have been used to attach strain gauges to bone for extended periods of time, but require up to 12 weeks for adequate CPC-to-bone bonding. Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1), an osteoinductive growth factor, was used as a surface enhancement to accelerate bone growth and bonding to CPC particles. The aim of this study was to find an optimal dosage of TGF-β1 to accelerate the attachment process. CPC-coated strain gauges were enhanced with doses of 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 μg of TGF-β1 per gauge. Gauges were placed on the femora of dogs, which were exercised daily and fed ad libitum. After 3, 6, and 12 weeks, gauge attachment was quantitatively assessed using mechanical testing and histomorphometry. Gauge attachment was also qualitatively assessed using back scatter electron microscopy. Agreement of the mechanical test results with both the back scatter electron microscopy images and histomorphometry results showed that the 1.0 μg per gauge dose of TGF-β1 is an optimal dose to accelerate bone formation and attachment to CPC-coated strain gauges. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 68A: 537–543, 2004

Extraordinary rays in a hyperbolic metamaterial behave as particle world lines in a three-dimensional (2 + 1) Minkowski spacetime. We analyze electromagnetic field behavior at the boundaries of this effective spacetime depending on the boundary orientation. If the boundary is perpendicular to the spacelike direction in the metamaterial, an effective Rindler horizon may be observed, which produces Hawking radiation. On the other hand, if the boundary is perpendicular to the timelike direction, the system undergoes a phase transition to a state with a different nature of the spacetime, with nonintegrable field divergence at the transformation point. Experimental observations of the transition using plasmonic metamaterials confirm this conclusion.

Measurements of NOx emission indices, flame radiant fractions, and visible flame length were made for turbulent, nonpremixed, jet flames for which various amounts of inert diluent or air were mixed with the fuel. The objective of the study was to explore further the role of flame radiation in NOx production in jet flames. Vertical free jet flames were stabilized on a 4.12 mm diameter straight-tube burner. Four fuels, CH4, C2H4, C3H8, and a 95% CO5% H2 mixture (by mass); three inert diluents, N2, Ar, and CO2; and air premixing were employed in parametric tests. Complementary dilution experiments were run with laminar jet flames using the three hydrocarbon fuels and N2. For the turbulent flames, the results showed that the effects of dilution and premixing were strongly dependent on fuel type. Flame temperatures and NOx emissions increased when the more sooting fuels (C3H8 and C2H4) were diluted or partially premixed, resulting in increased NOx emissions. The opposite trend was observed for the nonluminous COH2 flames. Using the results reported here and from Part I [1] of this study, the effects of residence time, flame temperature, and departure from equilibrium on NOx emissions, regardless of what parameter affected the change, were well characterized by regressing characteristic NOx production rates as a function of nonadiabatic characteristic flame temperatures and global residence times. Separate regressions for the hydrocarbon and COH2 flames showed a weaker dependence of NOx on temperature for the hydrocarbons, suggesting that the prompt NO mechanism is quite active in these flames. The laminar flame experiments demonstrated the importance of the relative locations of NOx-producing regions and soot-containing (strongly radiating) regions of the flame.

Currently available human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA quantification assays can detect most viruses of the group M subtypes, but a substantial number are missed or not quantified reliably. Viruses of HIV-1 group O cannot be detected by any commercially available assay. We developed and evaluated a quantitative assay based on nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) technology, with primers and probes located in the conserved long terminal repeat (LTR) region of the HIV-1 genome. In 68 of 72 serum samples from individuals infected with HIV-1 subtypes A to H of group M, viruses could be detected and quantified. In serum samples from two patients infected with HIV-1 group O viruses, these viruses as well could be detected and quantified. In contrast, the currently used gag-based assay underestimated the presence of subtype A viruses and could not detect subtype G and group O viruses. The discrepancy between the results of the two assays may be explained by the number of mismatches found within and among the probe and primer regions of the subtype isolates. These data indicate that LTR-based assays, including the NASBA format chosen here, are better suited to monitoring HIV-1 therapy than are gag-based assays in an era in which multiple HIV-1 subtypes and groups are spreading worldwide