DISTANCE ED HELPS REDUCE MEDICAL TRAINING COSTS
Recently, physicians at the College of Medicine instituted a crisis resource management training program using a human patient simulator. Now they have also introduced a way to improve the efficiency of the simulation program through distance education. "Using a full human patient simulator to train medical students and residents is becoming a more widespread practice. Normally, however, group size is limited to a few participants," explains W. Bosseau Murray, professor of anesthesia. In a paper presented at the American Society of Anesthesiology this week -- "Distance Education with a Full Human Simulator — A Novel Method to Involve Remote Participants" -- Murray and his team described using a life-like, computer-driven human simulator that imitates the body’s breathing, pulse and oxygenation to teach participants the principles of crisis management, including the roles of leaders and followers, communication, calling for help, utilizing all resources and avoiding fixation errors. For this study Murray and his team developed five consecutive obstetric crises. Two anesthesia residents were in the simulation lab while 20 others watched via a live video feed from a remote location. The simulation was stopped at five predetermined points. The remote participants were then required to provide a diagnosis and treatment, which were thereafter used by those in the simulation lab. "Ninety percent of the residents surveyed from the remote group felt very involved in the process and obviously gained significant benefit from the program," explains Murray. " For more on this story, go to http://www.hmc.psu.edu/news/pr/oct/101600.htm
PENNSYLVANIA JOB GROWTH HITS RECORD HIGH
Job growth in Pennsylvania reached its highest point in a decade during June 1998-99, while the state's unemployment rate reached a new June low for the 1990s, matching the national rate of 4.5 percent, according to a new report by Penn State and Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. Sparked by sharp upswings in construction and retail trade, more than 100,000 new jobs were created for the second year in a row as the rate of job gain edged up for the third straight year, the report says. "Forecasts by the Verizon Economics Group suggest some slowing down of growth in gross state product (value of output) and job growth in the next two years, but indicate no real downturn in the state's economy," says Dr. Theodore E. Fuller. He is a Penn State economist and co-author of "Road to 2001: An Update on Pennsylvania." However, the report also indicates a possible "downside" for Pennsylvania in the 1990s. The state's population increased only an estimated 0.9 percent over the decade versus 9.7 percent in the United States and is projected to grow only 1.4 percent during 2000-10, compared to 8.4 percent in the country at large. This may affect an adequate supply of trained labor to maintain economic growth, say researchers. For the complete story, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2000/pajobgrowth.html
RESEARCH ON IPOS LOOKS AT SELLING WHEN LOCKUPS EXPIRE
In their paper, "The Expiration of IPO Share Lockups," Laura Casares Field and Gordon Hanka examined 1,948 share lockup agreements that prevent insiders from selling their shares in the period immediately after the IPO (typically 180 days). While lockups are in effect, there is little selling by insiders. When lockups expire, the associate professors of finance in the Smeal College of Business Administration found a permanent 40 percent increase in average trading volume, and a statistically prominent three-day abnormal return of -1.5 percent. The abnormal return and volume are much larger when the firm is financed by venture capital, and they found that venture capitalists sell more aggressively than executives and other shareholders. The paper will appear in the April issue of the Journal of Finance and it is available online at http://www.afajof.org/april_01.shtml
HIGH TUNNELS MAY EXTEND GROWING SEASON
Buying fresh local tomatoes in June or July and cultivating spinach and other leafy greens year-round could become a reality if farmers adopt a low-cost, low-tech, high-quality, high-yield plastic technology called high tunnels, according to a team of researchers the College of Agricultural Sciences. "High tunnels can be used as a side enterprise to a larger farm operation, or could be used to start a large operation with four to six commercial-size high tunnels," says William Lamont, associate professor of vegetable crops. "They can be used for gourmet or specialty crops, organic farming and even for growing small fruit trees inside the structures." High tunnels are single-car garage-size structures covered with clear plastic sheeting to manipulate soil and air temperatures using the energy of the sun. Michael Orzolek, professor of vegetable crops, and Lamont plan to conduct a series of growth trials over the next few years using 24 high tunnels -- 36 feet long, 17 feet wide and 9 feet high. The structures are built by stretching plastic sheeting over a tubular frame. For more on this story, go to http://www.aginfo.psu.edu/News/october00/tunnel.html
e-SCHOLARS RETREAT IDENTIFIES AREAS OF COLLABORATION
More than 65 faculty members participated in the University’s first e-Scholars Retreat last week. "This was an important milestone in building a community of practice in e-business research at the University,," says Nirmal Pal, executive Director of the eBusiness Research Center, a joint effort of the Smeal College of Business Administration and the School of Information Sciences and Technology. The retreat helped faculty from several disciplines identify areas for collaboration and develop ideas for a University-wide research portal that will give searchable access to all e-initiatives. The portal will link competencies and capacities of Penn State e-Scholars in addressing e-business issues, training needs, possible collaborations and support request from Pennsylvania businesses. For more information, go to http://www.ebrc.psu.edu.
GRADUATE CLASS IN CREATIVITY PROMOTES FRESH THINKING
Students in engineering, management and education at the Great Valley campus graduate school are getting lessons in creativity to help them break away from the limitations of traditional thoughts and help them solve multi-layered problems. In a classroom with Mozart in the background and crackers on the tables, students in Kathryn Jablokow's Creativity, Innovation and Change class, concentrate on a work-related, social or economic problem in their lives or in the world of work. They write their problem in a "passport," and pass them around for feedback from peers on how to resolve it. They also keep a daily journal to document what they think they can do to solve their problem. Jablokow, a professor of mechanical engineering, says journal-keeping is key to keeping the creative juices flowing. For more on this story, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2000/creativityclass.html
WEB FAIR TO RECOGNIZE STUDENT WEB SITES
Nominations are now being sought for entries to the University’s first Undergraduate Web Fair that will celebrate innovative ways students and instructors are using the Web. Sponsored by the Center for Academic Computing, the Office of Undergraduate Education, and the Teaching and Learning Consortium, the competition is open to any undergraduate student, or team of students, who created a Web site as part of an academic course taken in the fall 2000 semester. Nominations are being sought from faculty and teaching assistants from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15. Winning designers will be awarded laptop computers and other prizes donated by some of Penn State’s leading technology vendors. For more information, go to http://www.psu.edu/webfair.