Digital Commons Network^™

Ua85 Wku Women, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by WKU Women also known as the Faculty Wives Club. Includes meeting minutes, correspondence, committee files, newsletters and publications.

Ua5/3 University Attorney - Committee File, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Unprocessed committee files created by the University Attorney. Committees include the Council on Higher Education Special Committee on Minority Affairs, Administrative Council and Teacher Admissions, Certification, and Student Teaching Committee. This record group is unprocessed and must be reviewed for potential restricted materials before access is granted. Please contact the University Archivist prior to your visit.

Ua36/4 Faculty Senate Publications, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Committee reports, self-studies and newsletters created by the Faculty Senate (1976-2000) and University Senate (2000-present). Committees represented include:

• Academic Affairs
• Ad Hoc Committees
• Bylaw, Amendments & Elections
• Committee on Committees
• Communications
• Executive Committee
• Faculty Status & Welfare
• Fiscal Affairs
• General Education
• Institutional Goals & Planning
• Political Activities
• Post Tenure Review
• Professional Responsibilities & Concerns
• Self-Studies
• University Emeritus Faculty Relations

Know Your Audience: Designing A Nutrition Education Game For Middle School Kids, Vinod Srinivasan, Lars Doucet, Christine Shimek, Cynthia A. Warren, Carol J. Spaulding, Kimberly Paulhill, Catherine J. Mcneal, John David Coppin

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Purpose: In recent years video games have emerged as potential tools to tackle obesity. Games that use motion-sensing controllers and interfaces are often used to promote physical activity. Games are also used to impart education about diet, nutrition and health. Our goal in this project is to address childhood obesity through the design, development and implementation of a video game to teach nutrition concepts to middle-school-aged children.

Method: Our target audience is middle-school students in a low-income neighborhood in Dallas. To guide us in the game design, we collected data about students’ gaming preferences through surveys, focus groups and student …

Relationship Between Dyslipidemia And Obesity In Children, Elias Humberto Avila-Rodriguez, Armando Avila-Rodriguez, Jesús Maria Araujo-Contreras, Abelardo Camacho-Luis, Alfredo Tellez-Valencia, Nelda Mier, Luis Joel Rodríguez-Ortega, Efren Rivas-Avila

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Purpose: Dyslipidemia is a general term that refers to abnormal levels of lipids. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship among the nutritional state and the percentage of body fat with the levels of lipids in 10 to 13 year old children living in the city of Durango, Mexico. Method: The study was carried out with 823 elementary school children. The selection was done at random. The biochemical studies were done in a subpopulation of 425 children. Each child underwent the following studies: sociodemographic, anthropometric and corporal composition. After fasting overnight, a venous blood sample was obtained. …

Magnitude And Predictors Of Weight Loss In A Free Ad Libitum Online Weight Loss Program, Amber W. Trickey, Weiwei Wang, Kevin O. Hwang

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

To evaluate the magnitude and predictors of weight loss among members of a free ad libitum online weight loss program. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a systematic random sample of members who joined SparkPeople.com between February-April 2008, and included follow-up data until May 2010. The main outcome was net weight change, calculated from self-reported weight entries. We conducted simple linear regression for associations between weight change and demographics (age, gender, referral source, geographic location, baseline body mass index [BMI]) and between weight change and website usage metrics (number of log-ins, weight entries, SparkPoints [website usage incentives], SparkFriends [friends in the SparkPeople …

Gender, Weight Loss Efforts, And Fast Food Locations: Evidence Of Differential Effect On Bmi?, Maria C. Chang, Vincent Chen, Courtney P. Winston, Luisa Franzini, Deanna M. Hoelscher

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Purpose: Research on the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and proximity of fast food restaurants surrounding schools, proxy measures for fast food access, have produced mixed results. We evaluated whether gender and self-report of weight loss behaviors modified the relationship between BMI and proportion of fast food restaurants (FFRp). Method: We obtained weight and height information for 6,456 11th graders from 108 schools that participated in the 2004-2005 Texas School Physical Activity and Nutrition surveillance. Internet searches were used to determine FFRp within 0.25 and 0.50 miles from schools. FFRp was determined by dividing the number of FFR by …

Relationship Between Leptin And Obesity In Mexican Chidren, Armando Avila-Rodríguez, E.Humberto Avila-Rodríguez, Jesus M. Araujo-Contreras, Abelardo Camacho-Luis, Alfredo Tellez-Valencia, L. Joel Rodríguez-Ortega, Efrén Rivas-Avila

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Purpose: The expression and secretion of the leptin are thoroughly related with the regulation of food intake, energy balance and body fat. Obesity is defined as excess of body fat. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship among the nutritional state and the percentage of body fat with the levels of leptin in 10 to 13 year old children living in the city of Durango, Mexico. Method: The study was carried out with 823 elementary school children. The selection was done at random. The biochemical studies were done in a subpopulation of 425 children. Each child underwent …

Health Behaviors Among Students With Different Weight Change Outcomes, Katrina Serrano, Chanam Lee, Peter S. Murano, Xuemei Zhu

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Studies have identified various behavioral and environmental factors associated with physical inactivity and unhealthy diet among children and adults. While the lifestyles of college students may be risk factors to the development of an unhealthy body weight, they have not been sufficiently studied in previous research. Utilizing the dataset collected from a larger project, Campus Environment, Diet and Activity (CEDA), this study examines physical activity (PA), dietary behaviors, and perceptions of environmental barriers among those who have lost, maintained, or gained weight after living on a campus environment for one year. Method: The pretest data (focusing on past behaviors before …

Insulin Resistance And Obesity In Mexican Youth, Jesus M. Araujo-Contreras, E. Humberto Avila-Rodriguez, Nohe Vargas-Chavez, Efren Rivas-Avila, Armando Avila-Rodriguez, Abelardo Camacho-Luis, Luis A. Sepulveda-Chapa, Nelda Mier, Alfredo Tellez-Valencia

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Purpose: Although research shows that prevalence rates of insulin resistance (IR) is increasing in children, little is known about the impact of obesity in IR in Mexican youth. This study investigated the association between overweight, obesity, and insulin resistance in Mexican adolescents. Methods: Data were collected from 448 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years from a random sample of a high school student population in Durango, Mexico. After fasting overnight, blood samples were obtained from participants. Glucose, insulin, lipid profile, leptin, insulin growth factor, growth hormone, cortisol, TNF-alpha, and C-reactive protein were determined in serum. Body Mass Index (BMI) was …

An Obesity Management Intervention For Hispanic Children In A Pediatric Clinic, Laura A. Rubalcava, Dorothy A. Long Parma, Deborah Parra- Medina, Cynthia M. Mojica

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Title: AN OBESITY MANAGEMENT INTERVENTION FOR HISPANIC CHILDREN IN A PEDIATRIC CLINIC: STUDY DESIGN AND BASELINE CHARACTERISTICS Authors: Laura A. Rubalcava, MA, Dorothy A. Long Parma, MD, Deborah Parra-Medina, MPH, PhD, Cynthia M. Mojica, PhD, MPH Affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion Research, Dept of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Purpose: This study describes a pediatric obesity management intervention trial in a rural Hispanic clinic. Methods: Hispanic children aged 5-14 (goal N=200) who are overweight (body mass index [BMI] 85th-94th percentile for age and gender) or obese (BMI ≥ 95th percentile) and a parent …

Hispanic Parent Attitudes And Preschool Children's Time With Activity-Promoting Media, Carol J. Spaulding, Alexandra Loukas

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Purpose: Home media that promote physical activity offer potential benefits in obesity prevention efforts for children, to the extent that they may represent “screen time” that is not sedentary. This study examined the relationships of home media density and parent media attitudes to preschool children’s time with TV, DVDs, and videogames, and children’s time with activity-promoting genres.

Methods: Hispanic mothers (N=237) of children aged six to 60 months reported on their preschool-aged children’s time with television, DVD players, and videogames, and time spent using activity-promoting programs or genres. Surveys in Spanish and English assessed the number of screen media channels …

Ua3/4/1 President's Office-Downing Subject/Correspondence File, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Subject file regarding the Dero Downing administration.

Ua3/1/7/1 President's Office-Cherry Family Papers, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Personal papers of Henry Cherry which includes correspondence with his mother, wife, children, brothers, nieces and nephews.

Management Training: An Assessment Of Undergraduate Education Programs In Preparing Teachers For Classroom Management, Matthew Jenkins

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

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The current study was designed to determine the most effective and/or preferable methods in which middle level pre-service teachers learn classroom management skills. Literature review points to no method being anymore effective and/or preferable. This is due to the many different methods of teaching classroom management skills. In this study 42 middle level pre-service teachers were surveyed. These pre-service teachers …

Ua12/2/10 Kappa Delta, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Kappa Delta at Western Kentucky University.

Ua12/2/8 Student Affairs Alpha Gamma Delta, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Alpha Gamma Delta at Western Kentucky University.

Ua12/2/9 Student Affairs Phi Mu, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the Delta Tau chapter of Phi Mu at Western Kentucky University.

The Future Of The Gender Wage Gap In The American Workforce, Molly K. Merrick

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis aims to accomplish four goals. First, to establish the extent to which a gender wage gap exists in the American workforce and why it matters. Second, it seeks to explore the various factors that scholars have advanced as potential explanations for this gap with the aim of identifying a more concrete and all-encompassing root cause of the gender wage gap as it exists today. Third, this thesis will individually evaluate a succession of equal pay legislation which has been enacted to date in order to discern the effectiveness of previous attempts to address this root cause, as well …

Davis, Nathan William (Fa 534), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 534. Folklore material classified by genre. Information collected by Nathan William Davis related to folklore genres for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Integrating Counselor Teambuilding And Leadership Training Into The Annual Honors Freshman Orientation Retreat, Alexandria L. Kerns

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Teamwork and appropriate leadership skills are essential to anyone aspiring to be an effective leader. For my Capstone Experience/Thesis project, I set out to analyze three defined problems that plague the counselor group of the Honors Freshman Orientation Retreat, and to create and implement a solution for the three problems as a whole. After analyzing each problem, I concluded that the source of the three problems relates specifically to the lack of training. Therefore, the desired situation or goal in approaching these problems was to create a solution that will encourage the counselors to overcome their prescribed ideals about the …

Staying Out Of Court: Leadership Factors For Consideration As Higher Education Administrators, Steven R. Briggs

Parameters of Law in Student Affairs and Higher Education (CNS 670)

Higher education leaders have a tremendous responsibility as it relates to legal concerns. This guidebook is intended to assist leaders in higher education by providing factors for which administrators serving in a student affairs or higher education leadership role should consider. This guidebook is designed to offer five recommendations for best practices. The guidebook will also review the 2007 rape and murder of a Eastern Michigan University student in demonstrating how leaders at this institution failed to follow these five factors of best practice and thus providing examples of negligence or tort liability, which has best been defined as civil …

Impact Of Stress Management On Learning In A Classroom Setting, Pankaj Mandale

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Stress is an important feature of the lives of college students and can impact negatively on learning. The effectiveness of an in-class stress management intervention for improving course content retention was tested with a cross-over design in two introductory graduate biostatistics classes. Each class met one day per week for the duration of the semester, and was taught by the same instructor, following the same syllabus. A pretest duplicating items on the midterm and final exam was administered to all students at the first class meeting. Identical midterm and final exams were administered in both classes. During the first half …

Differentiating Anxiety And Depression Using The Clinical Assessment Of Depression, Zane K. Dempsey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Anxiety and depression are two disorders frequently diagnosed in adults. Given serious adverse affects such as physical health problems, interpersonal relationship difficulties, and suicide, differentiation in treatment of these often comorbid disorders is a necessity in providing appropriate care. The tripartite model of anxiety and depression (Clark & Watson, 1991) proposes that these disorders are linked by a common trait (Negative Affect) and differentiated by a trait common to depression (lack of Positive Affect) and a trait common to anxiety (Physiological Hyperarousal). The Clinical Assessment of Depression (CAD; Bracken & Howell, 2004), a recently published selfreport narrow-band measure of depression, …

Essences And Transformations In Objects, Animals, And Humans, Alicia Brooke Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research as to how humans group natural kinds, such as animals, is essential to understanding categorization processes. However, it lacks conventional application and generalization to everyday life. Humans are social beings that encounter a wide array of individuals on a daily basis. In these situations, we are required to consider various properties that make up these people. As Keller (2005) suggests, the way we categorize is shaped by our theories about the world. Therefore, when we determine the rationale behind people’s social categorization processes, we are better able to understand people’s perceptions of their social environment. Moreover, when we conduct …

Farmers' Markets In Kentucky: A Geospatial, Statistical, And Cultural Analysis, Elizabeth Ann Schmitz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To assess what factors are driving the exponential growth of farmers’ markets in Kentucky, geospatial and statistical analysis of a database of 121 farmers’ markets was conducted. A statewide survey of market leaders and a case study of a single farmers’ market both identified reasons for growing support of farmers’ markets in Kentucky.

Market distribution, vendor levels, and gross sales were mapped against a backdrop of county urban classification, median household income, and education levels. Kruskal-Wallace analysis was used to identify if Kentucky’s rural, micropolitan, and metropolitan markets differ significantly in terms of their age, number of vendors, and market …

Learned Attention In Younger And Older Adults, Jared M. Holder

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A relatively new phenomenon in learning research called highlighting occurs when participants show a seemingly irrational preference to attribute a stronger cue-outcome association to a later presented perfect predictor when it is paired with an imperfect predictor than that of an earlier presented perfect predictor paired with the same imperfect predictor (Kruschke, 1996). Current research suggests that the highlighting effect depends on the ability to learn to shift attention away from an irrelevant cue toward a more relevant cue in order to reduce errors in causal judgment and preserve an earlier formed association (Kruschke, 2003). Much research has suggested that …

Socio-Cultural Adjustment Of International Students As Expatriates In America, Li Zhao

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the relationships between international students’ ethnic identity, self-efficacy, uncertainty avoidance, and their socio-cultural adjustment. A total of 65 international students (aged 18 to 33 years) from seven countries completed the online questionnaire. As hypothesized, path analyses demonstrated a positive relationship between students’ self-efficacy and their socio-cultural adjustment. International students’ uncertainty avoidance had a negative relationship with their self-efficacy, but a positive relationship with ethnic identity. The hypotheses that international students’ ethnic identity and uncertainty avoidance are negatively correlated to their socio-cultural adjustment were not supported in the present study.

Gritting Teeth: A Memoir Of Unhealthy Love, Samantha L. Day

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Originally intended to be modeled after Eula Biss’s creative nonfiction essay “The Balloonists”—which tackles the subject of marriage via fragmented prose poems— “Gritting Teeth: A Memoir of Unhealthy Love” is a piece that has taken on a subject and form of its own. A memoirist like Vivian Gornick might not claim the writer’s piece, as it hesitates to offer a “story” in places. A memoirist like Sue William Silverman might not claim the piece, as it hesitates to be courageous at times. But this collage of song lyrics, research snippets, and even Craigslist postings works in conjunction with fragments from …

Caffeine Supplementation And Moderate Intensity Exercise Modulates The Cytotoxic Lymphocyte Subset (Cd+8) In Naive And Tolerant Individuals, Elizabeth Ann Fedor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of caffeine supplementation on caffeine tolerant and caffeine naïve individual’s lymphocyte counts, apoptosis and migration levels. In addition, effects of exercise on post-caffeine ingestion lymphocyte counts, apoptosis and migration levels were determined. It was hypothesized that caffeine would alter the immune system cell counts, but that exercise would be able to restore the immune system to homeostasis. Seventeen Western Kentucky University students were tested (males n=7, females n=10; n=7: caffeine tolerant= 200mg or more per day group, n=9: caffeine naïve= 50mg or less per day group). In this double-blind investigation, …