Understanding of factors that influence Escherichia coli (EC) and enterococci (ENT) concentrations, pathogen occurrence, and microbial sources at Great Lakes beaches comes largely from individual ...beach studies. Using 12 representative beaches, we tested enrichment cultures from 273 beach water and 22 tributary samples for EC, ENT, and genes indicating the bacterial pathogens Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC), Shigella spp., Salmonella spp, Campylobacter jejuni/coli, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and 108–145 samples for Bacteroides human, ruminant, and gull source-marker genes. EC/ENT temporal patterns, general Bacteroides concentration, and pathogen types and occurrence were regionally consistent (up to 40 km), but beach catchment variables (drains/creeks, impervious surface, urban land cover) influenced exceedances of EC/ENT standards and detections of Salmonella and STEC. Pathogen detections were more numerous when the EC/ENT Beach Action Value (but not when the Geometric Mean and Statistical Threshold Value) was exceeded. EC, ENT, and pathogens were not necessarily influenced by the same variables. Multiple Bacteroides sources, varying by date, occurred at every beach. Study of multiple beaches in different geographic settings provided new insights on the contrasting influences of regional and local variables, and a broader-scale perspective, on significance of EC/ENT exceedances, bacterial sources, and pathogen occurrence.
The performance of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in the factor XII-deficient patient is challenging in that the normal method for monitoring anticoagulation is ineffective as a result of an impaired ...contact activation system. We report the case of a factor XII-deficient patient who underwent surgical revascularization on CPB. His factor XII level was replenished with fresh-frozen plasma immediately before surgery. This management strategy lowered the baseline activated clotting time (ACT) to near normal, providing a meaningful ACT value for CPB. Factor XII is also a key component in the fibrinolytic system and its deficiency is associated with increased thrombosis. Because the factor XII level quickly returns to baseline postoperatively, perioperative care must include strategies to avoid postoperative thromboembolic events.
The goals of this study are: (a) to share reflections from multiple stakeholders involved in a foundation‐funded community‐partnered evaluation project, (b) to share information that might be useful ...to researchers, practitioners, and funders considering the merits of researcher/practitioner evaluation projects, and (c) to make specific suggestions for funders and researcher/practitioner teams starting an evaluation project. Three stakeholders in a small‐scale research‐practice partnership (RPP) reflected on the evaluation project by responding to three prompts. A researcher, community organization leader, and funder at a small foundation share specific tips for those considering a small‐scale RPP. Engaging in a small‐scale RPPs can be a very meaningful experience for individual researchers and smaller organizations and funders. The benefits and challenges align and differ in many ways with those encountered in larger projects.
Background
African American (AA) caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related disorders can play a critical role in maintaining patient health. The Maya Angelou Center for Health ...Equity at Wake Forest University School of Medicine Caregiver College (MC2) aims to (1) improve informal caregivers’ knowledge of AD and related disorders, (2) enhance the quality of life for AD patients and caregiver’s by providing awareness of and access to resources that can help reduce caregiver burden, (3) provide strategies to effectively manage patient symptoms associated with AD, and (4) fill gaps in culturally relevant health education and awareness on AD, brain health, and dementia caregiving skills for AAs.
Method
The 40‐hour inaugural session of MC2 was conducted in‐person in October 2022. Educational sessions were facilitated by experts in various fields including AD, social work, nursing, aging, nutrition, and pharmacy. Topics covered over the course of the educational week included: Alzheimer’s Disease Overview, Health Disparities in AAs, Risk Factors for AD, End of Life Planning, and Caregiver Health. The 21‐item Dementia Knowledge Assessment Tool (DKAT), version 2 (Toye, et al. 2013) was used to track changes in AD knowledge and awareness. A DKAT pre‐test was administered before the educational sessions began on Day 1, and a post‐test assessment was administered at the end of the last educational session on Day 5.
Result
Attendees (N = 21) are African American (100%), primarily female (90.48%), with an average age of 66.8 years (range 42‐82 years, 1 missing value). DKAT assessments from the week‐long educational training, showed an 8% increase in knowledge about AD in this sample of dementia caregivers based on a 5.7 percentage point increase on the DKAT from an average of 71.4% correct pre‐training to an average of 77.1% correct post‐training.
Conclusion
Findings suggest that community‐based educational training is a useful strategy for improving AD knowledge and resource awareness for AA informal caregivers. Results will be used to expand this training to include community members who will be engaged through presentations by attendees of the MC2.
In extant literature, there are few tax return cases appearing in journals. We present a complex case using a realistic scenario that is designed to be an introductory tax return assignment used in ...an individual federal income taxation course. The case is designed to teach students how to manually prepare a federal income tax return using the actual forms and schedules prepared by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This case is timely for two reasons. 1) Often tax return assignments in textbooks involve concepts that a student has yet to learn. For example, a textbook assignment often includes itemized deductions and credits, even though these topics are typically taught towards the end of an individual tax course. 2) In addition, with the availability of information on the internet, students have greater access to solutions to textbook assignments. This case comprehensively examines concepts typically covered in the first three or four chapters of an individual tax text: various types of income, exclusions, personal and dependency exemptions, capital gains and losses, and the standard deduction.
To examine the leadership attributes and collaborative connections of local actors from the health sector and those outside the health sector in a major place-based health initiative.
We used survey ...data from 340 individuals in 4 Healthy Places North Carolina counties from 2014 to assess the leadership attributes (awareness, attitudes, and capacity) and network connections of local actors by their organizational sector.
Respondents' leadership attributes-scored on 5-point Likert scales-were similar across Healthy Places North Carolina counties. Although local actors reported high levels of awareness and collaboration around community health improvement, we found lower levels of capacity for connecting diversity, identifying barriers, and using resources in new ways to improve community health. Actors outside the health sector had generally lower levels of capacity than actors in the health sector. Those in the health sector exhibited the majority of network ties in their community; however, they were also the most segregated from actors in other sectors.
More capacity building around strategic action-particularly in nonhealth sectors-is needed to support efforts in making widespread changes to community health.
Previous research documents variation among auditors in terms of their cognitive style. Auditors have been classified as possessing an intuitive, analytic, or hybrid cognitive style. However, the ...potential implications of cognitive style upon auditor task performance have received little attention. Building upon the work of Chan (1996), this paper examines the role of “cognitive misfit” on auditor task performance. Cognitive misfit is a lack of fit between a person's cognitive style and task characteristics. Participating auditors were required to perform two judgment tasks and complete a cognitive style questionnaire. Tests for an interactive task performance effect between task type and auditor cognitive characteristics were performed. As expected, auditor cognitive style significantly interacts with the task type. Analytic auditors performed better on the analytic task than the intuitive task. Likewise, intuitive auditors performed better on the intuitive task than on the analytic task. Limitations and implications of the research are discussed.
· This article describes the priority grid an analytic tool to assess grant proposals and how it has fundamentally changed and improved the work of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.
· ...Developed by the Trust, the priority grid focuses staff attention on key strategic elements: alignment with focus areas, depth of impact, and scope of impact. It has also served as an agent to develop, disseminate, and implement a foundations grantmaking strategy, helping program officers understand how specific projects serve the larger goal and cultivate projects and applications that align with the foundations long-term mission.
· With use of the priority grid, applications have increased in quality and alignment with foundation strategy, and staff recommendations to approve or decline applications have fallen more in line with the grid.
Abstract
Purpose
This exercise provides comprehensive coverage of audit materiality, assessing inherent risk, and allocating tolerable misstatement appropriate for an undergraduate auditing course. ...The Delphi method could be an appropriate tool in any accounting setting where the learning goals involve judgment, consensus, or learning through group interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
This chapter describes a classroom exercise that required students to establish planning materiality, assess inherent risk associated with balance sheet accounts, and allocate tolerable misstatement using a modified application of the Delphi method. Additionally, the exercise calls attention to group processing skills and the role played by professional judgment in planning an audit. We assigned students to five-person audit teams and through a series of Delphi rounds asked them to establish planning materiality and assess the inherent risk associated with each balance sheet account for a fictitious company. Students prepared a matrix, both individually and as a team, that compared each statement account to every other account to determine which account in each pairing they viewed as having higher inherent risk. As a final step, they allocated tolerable misstatement mathematically for each account based on pairing results.
Findings
The result was a consensus of opinion and an early attempt at forming professional judgment. The students’ responses to a debriefing questionnaire and the results of a pre-/post-test suggest that the learning objectives of the exercise were met.
Originality/value
The specific learning objectives of the exercise were to help students understand the concepts of tolerable misstatement and planning materiality, the elements of inherent risk, the Delphi method for reaching group consensus, the need to work as a team, and the importance professional judgment plays in the audit process. The result was a consensus of opinion and an early attempt at forming professional judgment. The students’ responses to a debriefing questionnaire and the results of a pre-/post-test suggest that the learning objectives of the exercise were met.
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