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AACSB accreditation is a much sought designation by business schools in the United States, and increasingly, around the world. Beginning in 2003, AACSB changed its focus on the business curriculum from an assessment of inputs to an assessment of outputs. This change has greatly increased the demands on faculty because programs must now demonstrate learning outcomes, not just what students are taught. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient and effective method to assess learning outcomes in an IS core (required) course in the undergraduate program, by seeing how an accredited mid-western state university developed and implemented a course to meet the new AACSB requirements. We describe the process used to assess learning outcomes and how the results of the assessment are used to improve learning outcomes. We also describe how the IS course assessment ties in to learning assessment of the undergraduate program as a whole. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 7 endnotes.)

Background: Many law enforcement agencies across the United States equip their officers with the life-saving drug naloxone to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Although officers can be effectively trained to administer naloxone, and hundreds of law enforcement agencies carry naloxone to reverse overdoses, little is known about what happens on scene during an overdose call for service from an officer's perspective, including what officers perceive their duties and responsibilities to be as the incident evolves. Methods: The qualitative study examined officers' experiences with overdose response, their perceived roles, and what happens on scene before, during, and after an overdose incident. In-person interviews were conducted with 17 officers in four diverse law enforcement agencies in the United States between January and May 2020. Results: Following an overdose, the officers described that overdose victims are required to go to a hospital or they are taken to jail. Officers also described their duties on scene during and after naloxone administration, including searching the belongings of the person who overdosed and seizing any drug paraphernalia. Conclusion: These findings point to a pressing need for rethinking standard operating procedures for law enforcement in these situations so that the intentions of Good Samaritan Laws are upheld and people get the assistance they need without being deterred from asking for future help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The All About Blueberries Community of Practice (CoP) is being built to guide blueberry producers in the southeastern region of the United States in methods to maximize productivity, decrease production costs, and increase the marketability of their crops. A CoP is defined as blueberry producers—both backyard and commercial—distributors and consumers, both adult and youth. The CoP is incorporating the best existing extension publications and developing new research-based extension recommendations related to blueberry production and consumption. The primary goal is to increase blueberry production and consumption of blueberries. The general public is inundated with information via the World-Wide Web. According to a survey by www.netcraft.com, 132,469 websites were added each day in 2009. The number of active websites increased by more than 300% between 2005 and 2009. For this project, Google alerts are being used to notify the CoP of blueberry information as it is posted online. The information is then summarized and posted to a WordPress blog. Postings on the blog are automatically posted to the Facebook fan page and then to a Twitter feed. All of these resources are free to use and free to access. The consumer audience prefers to receive information via a variety of channels, and this allows for optimizing the reach of the project. After the launch of the All About Blueberries site on the www.extension.org website, the CoP will transition to sharing the websites posted online as the primary resource of information. The CoP's goal is to build credibility as expert sources of information via these social networking tools and increase traffic to the extension.org website when it is published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As distributed work begins to shift the nature of practice for technical communication professionals in the workplace, faculty need new frameworks to help prepare students for roles that involve negotiating, supporting, and facilitating virtual global collaboration. This paper identifies key areas of metaknowledge appropriate to these new frameworks by synthesizing a review of current scholarship on such collaborations and a case study of students participating in a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural team project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major shift has occurred since the 1970s in the way newspapers do business, largely due to the impact of marketing research on newsroom decisions. Research used to identify and meet the needs of the newspaper-reading public has become a way of doing business in an increasingly competitive media climate. This national survey of executive and managing editors randomly selected from the Editor and Publisher Yearbook tracks the trend in the USA of creating special sections to meet readers' interests as identified through marketing and focus group research. It also found that the newsroom staff was responsible for the production of these sections. Previous research has focused on the evolution of marketing practices in newsrooms. This research statistically documented these practices as a national trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although toxicologists, medical professionals, and service providers have determined that the risk of overdose from fentanyl exposure is extremely low for law enforcement and other first responders, hundreds of media and social media accounts contradict these facts, making these civil servants unnecessarily concerned about such occupational hazards.Methods: We conducted a qualitative study to explore knowledge and fear of fentanyl exposure by interviewing 23 law enforcement leaders and officers in five diverse law enforcement agencies in the United States.Results: Nearly all leaders and officers interviewed wrongly believed that dermal exposure to fentanyl was deadly and expressed fear about such exposure on scene. Officers had a lack of education about fentanyl exposure and faulty or dubious sources of information about it.Conclusion: There is a substantial, pressing need for dissemination of research about the lack of overdose risk associated with dermal fentanyl exposure through channels that law enforcement trust, including through basic academy, in-service training, and law enforcement bulletins and newsletters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current energy crisis and the resulting national goal of energy independence call for rapid development of national energy resources. Regional energy resource and energy user location lead to a need for analysis and solution of these problems in a regional context. This creates unique challenges and opportunities for regional scientists during the decade of the eighties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a note from the president of the Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA) on their recommitment to the southern states in the U.S.

The overdose epidemic in the United States has intensified following the introduction of illicitly manufactured fentanyl to drug markets with recent estimates indicating 110,000 deaths in 2022 and longer-term trends adversely impacting national life expectancy. A period of incarceration has been identified as a critical touchpoint for overdose prevention given its strong association with risk of overdose. In this paper we describe efforts funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) grant to design and implement naloxone vending machines that provide free naloxone within county jails to returning citizens and those visiting county jail facilities. This study utilized three sources of data. First, we describe the results of a pre-implementation survey administered by technical assistance providers to 18 jails across the state of Michigan. Second, among the 6 jail facilities that accepted a naloxone vending machine we examine administrative data from Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on naloxone orders to look at changes 6-months before and after implementation. Third and lastly, we conducted semi-structured interviews (N = 6) with jail administrators (i.e., County Sheriffs) on the barriers and facilitators to implementing a naloxone vending machine. Six facilities indicated they would accept a vending machine to distribute free naloxone. Overall, the total number of naloxone box orders that were distributed across all jail sites increased by 63.5 % from 4104 boxes pre-naloxone vending machine to 6708 boxes post-naloxone vending machine implementation. Qualitative interviews revealed that prior naloxone distribution efforts and foundational knowledge about opioids, overdose, and naloxone emerged as facilitators for vending machine implementation. This study illustrates the utility of policy-driven funding strategies aimed at mitigating accidental overdose deaths among a high-risk population while building community naloxone saturation efforts. • Overdose Data to Action funding can support naloxone distribution efforts in jails. • Jail naloxone vending machines showed promise in improving distribution efforts. • The greatest increase in naloxone distribution was among larger jail facilities. • Prior overdose prevention efforts facilitated the implementation of a vending machine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Efforts to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) have the potential to reduce the morbidity and mortality related to asthma in children. We analyze the associations of pediatric hospital admission rates for asthma with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) NO 2  parameters at the patient zip code level., Methods: We identified zip codes that had EPA monitors which monitored NO 2  levels located in states with high asthma burden. We used the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) State Inpatient Database (SID) to identify patients who were <17 years of age with diagnosis codes for asthma. We compared NO 2  levels at the zip code level with the number of patients hospitalized for asthma from the HCUP SID database., Results: Data from zip codes in Buffalo, Detroit, Phoenix, and Tucson from 2009 to 2011 demonstrated that the monthly mean NO 2  levels predicted pediatric asthma hospital admission rates in six monitored zip codes in these four cities with time series modeling (Buffalo zip code 14206, p = 0.0089; Detroit zip code 48205, p = 0.0179; Phoenix zip code 85006, p = 0.0433; Phoenix zip code 85009, p = 0.0007; Phoenix zip code 85015, p = 0.0036; Tucson zip code 85711, p = 0.0004)., Conclusion: Pediatric admissions to the hospital for asthma exacerbations mirror the cyclic and seasonal pattern of NO 2  levels in the cities of Detroit, Buffalo, Phoenix, and Tucson. While traffic density may be higher in cities with periodicity of NO 2  and asthma exacerbations, other factors could be contributing to high NO 2  levels., (© 2022 The Authors. Pediatric Pulmonology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objectives: Skeletal muscle loss or sarcopenia is a frequent complication in heart failure (HF) and contributes to adverse clinical outcomes. We evaluated if age (primary) and chronic disease (secondary) related sarcopenia, that we refer to as compound sarcopenia, impacts clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with HF., Design: Cross-sectional study using hospitalized patient data., Setting: Data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality through the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)., Participants: Hospitalized adult patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of HF (n = 64,476) and a concurrent random 2% sample of general medical population (GMP; n = 322,217) stratified by age (<50 years of age [y], 51-65y, >65y) from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database (years 2010-2014)., Measurements: In-hospital mortality, length of stay (LoS), cost of hospitalization per admission (CoH), comorbidities and discharge disposition, with and without muscle loss phenotype, were analyzed. Muscle loss phenotype was defined using a comprehensive code set from international classification of diseases-9 (ICD-9)., Results: Muscle loss phenotype was observed in 8673 (13.5%) patients with HF compared to 5213 (1.6%) GMP across all age strata. In patients with HF, muscle loss phenotype was associated with higher mortality, LoS, and CoH. Patients with HF (>65y) and muscle loss phenotype had higher mortality (adjusted OR: 1.81; 95% CI 1.56-2.10), CoH (adjusted OR 1.48; 95% CI 1.44-1.1.52), and LoS (adjusted OR 1.40; 95% CI 1.37-1.43) compared to >65y GMP with muscle loss phenotype., Conclusion: Muscle loss phenotype is more commonly associated with increasing age in hospitalized patients with HF. Clinical outcomes were significantly worse in patients with HF aged >65y compared to younger patients with HF and all age strata in GMP with and without a muscle loss phenotype., (© 2021 The American Geriatrics Society.)

Background & Aims: There are very limited data on the healthcare burden of muscle loss, the most frequent complication in hospitalized cirrhotics. We determined the healthcare impact of a muscle loss phenotype in hospitalized cirrhotics., Methods: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database (years 2010-2014) was analyzed. Search terms included cirrhosis and its complications, and an expanded definition of a muscle loss phenotype that included all conditions associated with muscle loss. In-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), post-discharge disposition, co-morbidities and cost during admission were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify associations between a muscle loss phenotype and outcomes. Impact of muscle loss in cirrhotics was compared to that in a random sample (2%) of general medical inpatients., Results: A total of 162,694 hospitalizations for cirrhosis were reported, of which 18,261 (11.2%) included secondary diagnosis codes for a muscle loss phenotype. A diagnosis of muscle loss was associated with a significantly (p < 0.001 for all) higher mortality (19.3% vs 8.2%), LOS (14.2 ± 15.8 vs. 4.6 ± 6.9 days), and median hospital charge per admission ($21,400 vs. $8573) and a lower likelihood of discharge to home (30.1% vs. 60.2%). All evaluated outcomes were more severe in cirrhotics than general medical patients (n = 534,687). Multivariate regression analysis showed that a diagnosis of muscle loss independently increased mortality by 130%, LOS by 80% and direct cost of care by 119% (p < 0.001 for all). Alcohol use, female gender, malignancies and other organ dysfunction were independently associated with muscle loss., Conclusions: Muscle loss contributed to higher mortality, LOS, and direct healthcare costs in hospitalized cirrhotics., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors have no other conflicts (financial or potential personal) to declare other than the unrestricted funding to the authors listed above., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.)

Rationale: Survival in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is improving over time. Traditionally, there has been concern about high mortality in individuals with CF requiring invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) for respiratory failure. Objectives: We hypothesized that mortality has decreased over time in this population because of improvements in disease-specific therapies. Methods: The U.S. Nationwide Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project database was used to identify adult patients with CF undergoing IMV between 2002 and 2014. Patients with nonurgent/nonemergent admissions, pregnancy, and encounters related to lung transplantation were excluded. Demographic, geographic, and comorbidities were analyzed. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to examine trends in mortality over time. Multivariate mixed effects logistic regression was used to account for possible differences in hospital mortality patterns. Results: We identified 58,799 CF admissions from 2002 to 2014, with 3,727 (6.3%) undergoing IMV. After exclusions, 1,711 admissions remained. In 762 (44.5%) of adult hospitalizations, the patient died. Annual mortality per hospitalization ranged from 29.9 to 55.3%. The Cochran-Armitage trend test suggested an increased probability of survival over time. Factors significantly associated with mortality in multivariate analysis included female sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-2.09), acute renal failure (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.32-3.01), and malnutrition (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.01-2.06). IMV greater than 96 hours was associated with increased mortality in univariate analysis (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.14-1.98); however, after adjustment for potential confounders, the association was no longer statistically significant (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.77-1.43). Conclusions: Mortality per hospitalization in adults with CF who are not bridging to lung transplant and require emergent IMV is 44.5%, suggesting IMV is not futile. Furthermore, mortality decreased over the study period. These finding may help providers, families, and patients with CF weigh the risks and benefits of IMV for respiratory failure.