A practice-based culminating experience: Writing a HRSA grant application with Texas Organ Sharing Alliance for public education efforts to increase solid organ donation

In November 2010, nearly 110,000 people in the United States were waiting for organs for transplantation. Despite the fact that the organ donor registration rate has doubled in the last year, Texas has the lowest registration rate in the nation. Due to the need for improved registration rates in Texas, this practice-based culminating experience was to write an application for federal funding for the central Texas organ procurement organization, Texas Organ Sharing Alliance. The culminating experience has two levels of significance for public health – (1) to engage in an activity to promote organ donation registration, and (2) to provide professional experience in grant writing. ^ The process began with a literature review. The review was to identify successful intervention activities in motivating organ donation registration that could be used in intervention design for the grant application. Conclusions derived from the literature review included (1) the need to specifically encourage family discussions, (2) religious and community leaders can be leveraged to facilitate organ donation conversations in families, (3) communication content must be culturally sensitive and (4) ethnic disparities in transplantation must be acknowledged and discussed.^ Post the literature review; the experience followed a five step process of developing the grant application. The steps included securing permission to proceed, assembling a project team, creation of a project plan and timeline, writing each element of the grant application including the design of proposed intervention activities, and completion of the federal grant application. ^ After the grant application was written, an evaluation of the grant writing process was conducted. Opportunities for improvement were identified. The first opportunity was the need for better timeline management to allow for review of the application by an independent party, iterative development of the budget proposal, and development of collaborative partnerships. Another improvement opportunity was the management of conflict regarding the design of the intervention that stemmed from marketing versus evidence-based approaches. The most important improvement opportunity was the need to develop a more exhaustive evaluation plan.^ Eight supplementary files are attached to appendices: Feasibility Discussion in Appendix 1, Grant Guidance and Workshop Notes in Appendix 2, Presentation to Texas Organ Sharing Alliance in Appendix 3, Team Recruitment Presentation in Appendix 5, Grant Project Narrative in Appendix 7, Federal Application Form in Appendix 8, and Budget Workbook with Budget Narrative in Appendix 9.^

Microbe Hunters Revisited – Paul de Kruif and the Beginning of Popular Science Writing

Paul de Kruif is credited with being one of the first popular science writers for the general public. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1916 and worked at the Rockefeller Institute under Simon Flexner. After being fired in 1922 for publishing a scathing article on medical research, de Kruif caught the attention of Sinclair Lewis, who used his scientific background to write his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Arrowsmith. In 1926, de Kruif published Microbe Hunters which recounted the exploits and discoveries of 14 renowned microbiologists from von Leeuwenhoek to Pasteur, Ross, Paul Ehrlich and Walter Reed. Microbe Hunters became a best seller, was translated into 18 languages, and formed the basis of two Hollywood movies, "Yellow Jack" and "The Magic Bullet." Generations of young readers were captivated by the vivid protrayal of these men and their discoveries.

Translating knowledge into action: Information needs of decision-makers in healthcare

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the healthcare information needs of decision-makers in a local US healthcare setting in efforts to promote the translation of knowledge into action. The focus was on the perceptions and preferences of decision-makers regarding usable information in making decisions as to identify strategies to maximize the contribution of healthcare findings to policy and practice. Methods: This study utilized a qualitative data collection and analysis strategy. Data was collected via open-ended key-informant interviews from a sample of 37 public and private-sector healthcare decision-makers in the Houston/Harris County safety net. The sample was comprised of high-level decision-makers, including legislators, executive managers, service providers, and healthcare funders. Decision-makers were asked to identify the types of information, the level of collaboration with outside agencies, useful attributes of information, and the sources, formats/styles, and modes of information preferred in making important decisions and the basis for their preferences. Results: Decision-makers report acquiring information, categorizing information as usable knowledge, and selecting information for use based on the application of four cross-cutting thought processes or cognitive frameworks. In order of apparent preference, these are time orientation, followed by information seeking directionality, selection of validation processes, and centrality of credibility/reliability. In applying the frameworks, decision-makers are influenced by numerous factors associated with their perceptions of the utility of information and the importance of collaboration with outside agencies in making decisions as well as professional and organizational characteristics. Conclusion: An approach based on the elucidated cognitive framework may be valuable in identifying the reported contextual determinants of information use by decision-makers in US healthcare settings. Such an approach can facilitate active producer/user collaborations and promote the production of mutually valued, comprehensible, and usable findings leading to sustainable knowledge translation efforts long-term.^

Self, writing and feminine transactions in Virginia Woolf's Orlando and Clarice Lispector’s The stream of life

Este artículo realiza un acercamiento a Orlando, de Virginia Woolf, y a Agua viva, de Clarice Lispector, como obras que logran escribir la multiplicidad, la fluidez y la contingencia del ser. Jugando con las convenciones de la biografía y la autobiografía respectivamente, estas obras encuentran los medios para presentar un sujeto multidimensional y para mostrar, en particular, cómo la dimensión relacional, forjada por un orden simbólico patriarcal, ha hecho de la mujer el “otro" del hombre; un “otro" que debe ser dominado. Se exploran en este artículo los conceptos de “economía masculina" y “economía femenina" teorizados por Hélène Cixous y se propone al lenguaje poético como un medio capaz de eludir los dictados del falocentrismo. Lo poético, que no puede ser nunca agotado por uno o varios sistemas de significación, brinda la posibilidad de ir más allá de las categorizaciones y de explorar la multiplicidad. Tanto Orlando como Agua viva muestran las estrategias y las esperanzas de personajes y escritoras que ven en el lenguaje poético, en la “escritura femenina" como la entiende Cixous, el potencial de desarticular la “economía masculina" y abrir un nuevo espacio para sujetos diversos, múltiples y complejos.

Fabrication of luminescent nanostructures by electron-beam direct writing of PMMA resist

We report on the conversion of non-luminescent conventional poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA)-based electron-beam resists into luminescent materials when used as negative-tone resists, that is, when exposed to high electron irradiation doses. Raman spectroscopy reveals the chemical transformation induced by electron irradiation which is responsible for the observed luminescence in the visible (blue) region. The emission intensity from exposed PMMA-based patterns can be controlled by the electron irradiation dose employed to create them.

Microfabrication processes for microfluidic devices on a single laser Workstation: direct writing lithography on SU-8, laser ablation on polymers and mask manufacturing

We demonstrate the capability of a laser micromachining workstation for cost-effective manufacturing of a variety of microfluidic devices, including SU-8 microchannels on silicon wafers and 3D complex structures made on polyimide Kapton® or poly carbonate (PC). The workstation combines a KrF excimer laser at 248 nm and a Nd3+:YVO4 DPSS with a frequency tripled at 355 nm with a lens magnification 10X, both lasers working at a pulsed regime with nanoseconds (ns) pulse duration. Workstation also includes a high-resolution motorized XYZ-tilt axis (~ 1 um / axis) and a Through The Lens (TTL) imaging system for a high accurate positioning over a 120 x 120 mm working area. We have surveyed different fabrication techniques: direct writing lithography,mask manufacturing for contact lithography and polymer laser ablation for complex 3D devices, achieving width channels down to 13μ m on 50μ m SU-8 thickness using direct writing lithography, and width channels of 40 μm for polyimide on SiO2 plate. Finally, we have tested the use of some devices for capillary chips measuring the flow speed for liquids with different viscosities. As a result, we have characterized the presence of liquid in the channel by interferometric microscopy.

Teaching writing through reading: a text-centred approach

Se comparan y contrastan las destrezas requeridas para la comprensión lectora con aquellas que se necesitan para la producción de escritos correctos, en inglés, coherentes y bien cohesionados. Se comentan las actividades didácticas relacionadas con ello.The aim of this article is to establish the relevance of teaching reading and writing skills to students at Madrid Polytechnic University, and to show the relationship and interdependence of these activities in EAP courses. The skills involved in reading and writing processes for academic purposes for L2 students are compared and commented on from a rhetorical point of view. Learning tasks based on text-type analysis are recommended as adequate activities to build schemata for writing and represent a synthesis of the teaching objectives proposed for reading and writing English courses.

Translating bus information into sign language for deaf people

This paper describes the application of language translation technologies for generating bus information in Spanish Sign Language (LSE: Lengua de Signos Española). In this work, two main systems have been developed: the first for translating text messages from information panels and the second for translating spoken Spanish into natural conversations at the information point of the bus company. Both systems are made up of a natural language translator (for converting a word sentence into a sequence of LSE signs), and a 3D avatar animation module (for playing back the signs). For the natural language translator, two technological approaches have been analyzed and integrated: an example-based strategy and a statistical translator. When translating spoken utterances, it is also necessary to incorporate a speech recognizer for decoding the spoken utterance into a word sequence, prior to the language translation module. This paper includes a detailed description of the field evaluation carried out in this domain. This evaluation has been carried out at the customer information office in Madrid involving both real bus company employees and deaf people. The evaluation includes objective measurements from the system and information from questionnaires. In the field evaluation, the whole translation presents an SER (Sign Error Rate) of less than 10% and a BLEU greater than 90%.

Writers Write! University Creative - Writing Workshop with Author

Admission: LU Students, Faculty and Staff interested in reserving a seat to participate must sign up by November 1, 2015 here: http://goo.gl/forms/WDqM7RXlic

HERSTORIES Library Short Creative Writing Course

Course Title: HERSTORIES – Women Writers of Missouri Course Instructor: kYmberly Keeton, M.L.S. Course Focus: Introduce students and community members to women writers in the state of Missouri. Dates for Course: March 22nd, April 12th, April 26th, and May 3rd Meeting Times: 11:00 AM -12:30 PM Course Info: All materials are provided by the library. Course Website: www.herstories365.wordpress.com

Guidelines for Forensic Report Writing: Helping Trainees Understand Common Pitfalls to Improve Reports

A forensic report is the primary work product of a forensic psychologist. The aim of a forensic report is to inform and influence the court. Unlike a clinical report, a forensic report influences the outcome of a legal conflict. This means that greater care must be taken in writing the report. The following errors (Grisso, 2010) were used to discuss best practices in forensic report writing: failure to answer the referral question, organization problems, language problems, mixed data and interpretation, inclusion of irrelevant data, over-reliance on a single source of data, improper psychological test use, failure to consider alternative hypotheses, and opinions without sufficient explanation. The purpose of this paper is to provide in one place all the information needed to improve forensic report writing, and to help the reader apply the literature using specific examples. Redacted report samples were collected from psychologists, graduate psychology trainees, teaching assistant experience, and clinical work. Identified errors in these samples were then corrected using the recommendations in the literature. Geared toward graduate psychology trainees, each section should serve both as a tutorial and as a brief checklist to help the reader avoid common pitfalls and assist in promoting better forensic report writing.

Guide to Writing a Programmatic Resource Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement for the Bureau of Land Management

This guide is written for Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) employees assigned to the Public Lands team who may have some National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) knowledge, possibly have experience with writing Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), and with little or no experience writing programmatic EIS documents. The guide contains information encompassing the preparation of a complete Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (RMP/EIS) for the Bureau of Land Management. The RMP/EIS is a programmatic NEPA document which has many differences and nuances distinct from a typical project type EIS. This guide provides the information necessary for a BAH Public Lands team member to understand the project process and the RMP/EIS document to successfully maneuver through the entire project from beginning to end.

Translating and Subtitling Humor Through Theory and Practice

This project assesses translating and subtitling humor in Italian and Spanish language films subtitled into English. Humor in film is problematic to translate when subtitling: visual humor may need no assistance to be delivered to a target audience, but verbal humor requires thorough analysis to be constructed effectively in the target language. To keep humor alive in target language translations, translators must understand the structure and function of humor. This project researches humor theory, translation and subtitling. It analyzes humor function through humor theory and applies this knowledge to translating audiovisual mediums. An understanding of joke structure and humor function can serve as a guide for translators to recognize, devise and evaluate equivalent translations of humor in film.

How Peripheral Is the Periphery? Translating Portugal Back and Forth. Essays in Honour of João Ferreira Duarte

This volume is a result of the need to reflect upon Portugal’s position from the viewpoint of the literary assets imported and exported through translation. It brings together a number of scholars working in the field of Translation Studies directly concerned with the Portuguese cultural system in order to analyse this question from various theoretical perspectives and from case studies of translation flows and movements in Portuguese culture. By Translating Portugal Back and Forth, the articles discuss issues such as: how can one draw the borderline between a peripheral and a semi-peripheral system? Is this borderline useful or necessary? How peripheral is the Portuguese cultural system as far as translation transfers are concerned? How stable or pacific has this positioning been? Does the economic and historical perception of Portugal as peripheral entail that, from the viewpoint of translation, it would behave similarly? By addressing some of these questions, and as shown by the (second) subtitle – Essays in Honour of João Ferreira Duarte –, the volume pays homage to one of the most prominent Translation Studies scholars in Portugal, who has extensively reflected on the binary discourse on translation, its metaphors and images.