Digital Commons Network^™

College Students’ Perceptions Of The Desert Canyons Of The Colorado Plateau, Jeremy Roger Deem

Dissertations

This study investigates eight college students’ perceptions of their experiences during an accredited outdoor education course entitled Technical Canyoneering. The course took place in four separate desert canyons of the Colorado Plateau, two in Arches National Park, and two on nearby Bureau of Land Management public space. Utilizing the data collection process of photo-elicitation, the participants’ time spent in the canyon settings was described in order to gain an understanding of their experiences, with particular attention paid to analyzing what perceptions those students ascribed to those experiences. The intent was threefold. First, the study makes understanding at how college students …

Animal-Assisted Interventions In Supervision: A Collective Case Study, Connie Elizabeth Couch

Dissertations

Animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) have been discussed in recent conceptual literature as having potential for positive implications when applied in supervision (Chandler, 2017; Jackson, 2020; Owenby, 2017; Stewart et al., 2015). However, there was limited empirical foundation or guidance for the integration of two distinct specializations (AAIs and supervision). The purpose of this qualitative collective case study (Stake, 2006) was to explore and understand the experiences of supervisors who have been implementing AAIs within the context of supervision. Specifically, this study addressed the following overarching research question and two sub-questions were addressed: Q1 Why are supervisors integrating AAIs into supervision? Q1a …

Investigating Novice Nurses’ Perceptions Of Academic Dishonesty During Nursing Education, Christy Gough

Capstones & Scholarly Projects

Academic dishonesty in nursing education has been an ongoing concern to the nursing profession for many decades. There is a concern that students who engage in academic dishonesty in the classroom setting might also engage in dishonest behaviors in the professional setting. Many studies in the literature explored nursing students’ perceptions of academic dishonesty during nursing education; however, there was limited literature on novice nurses’ perceptions of academic dishonesty and its impact on the nursing profession. Novice nurses provided the voice of recent nursing students as well as the voice of a professional nurse. The purpose of this qualitative study …

Improving Healthcare For Adult Patients With Dual Diagnoses Of Chronic Pain And Opioid Use Disorder, Erin Lee Christiansen

Capstones & Scholarly Projects

Christiansen, Erin Lee. Improving healthcare for adult patients with dual diagnoses of chronic pain and opioid use disorder. Unpublished Doctor of Nursing Practice scholarly project, University of Northern Colorado, 2022. Up to 50 million Americans experience chronic pain. Of those who are prescribed opioids, 21% to 29% misuse their prescriptions and 8% to 12% will develop an opioid use disorder. In Colorado alone, the opioid analgesic death rate rose substantially from 102 deaths in 2018 to 540 deaths in 2020. In 2017, the U.S. government declared the sudden rise in prescription opioid overdose-related deaths a nationwide public health emergency. Chronic …

Development Of A Palliative Care Module For Integration Within An Existing Heart Failure Clinic, Elizabeth Keenan Mcquagge

Capstones & Scholarly Projects

Heart failure affects 6.2 million of the American population. This number is expected to grow to a staggering 3% of the entire U.S. population over the next 10 years. Heart failure is characterized by a variety of physical and emotional symptoms including shortness of breath, rapid weight gain, fatigue, depression, and anorexia. These symptoms greatly challenge the patient’s quality of life and day-to-day activities. Unfortunately, 50% of patients with heart failure die within five years of being diagnosed. Palliative care is a service dedicated to improving the lives of patients with chronic, life-threatening illnesses. Although providing palliative care to patients …

Development Of A Pilot Educational Seminar For The Integrative Medical Management Of Adults With Anxiety, Jessica Lynn Fynboh

Capstones & Scholarly Projects

Anxiety is a global disease that continues to rise. The COVID 19 global pandemic, natural disasters due to climate change, war, and personal stressors continue to cause the steady rise in anxiety worldwide. As many as 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety. A review of standard anxiety treatments including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac, benzodiazepines such as Xanax, and cognitive behavioral therapy revealed they only provided relief for approximately half of the patients treated. Over the past two years, provider colleagues and their clients in an outpatient private practice where this educational seminar took place had been increasingly …

Conducting A Needs Assessment To Inform The Development Of A Burnout Mitigation Program For Critical Care Nurses, Leighann Marie Brock

Capstones & Scholarly Projects

Burnout among nurses is at monumental levels, contributing to high levels of job dissatisfaction and turnover. Some interventions existed in the literature to support burnout reduction programming among nurses; however, the literature failed to identify effective burnout reduction interventions based upon the specific needs of critical care nurses who face unique stressors related to high patient acuity and other environmental considerations. This project aimed to explore critical care nurses' needs and strategies designed to mitigate burnout in the clinical setting. Outcomes from this assessment would inform future interventions for the early identification and prevention of burnout among critical care nurses. …

Exploring Formative Versus Summative Assessment Models On Creative Mindset Development, Dylan Patrick James Kriescher

Dissertations

The purpose of the current research was to explore how the repeated presentation of process-oriented feedback from multiple task attempts can help develop students’ growth mindset. A standard model of assessment practices often involves a one-time summative assessment at the end of a learning period. An alternative model involves the use of formative assessments as intermittent process-oriented feedback throughout a learning period. The use of formative assessment feedback may demonstrate growth to students, while this opportunity is not offered by the summative assessment model. Using elements of formative assessment and guided by Dweck’s (2006) conceptualization of growth mindset, this study …

Soil Metabolite Succession In Vertebrate Decomposition Impacted Soils, Jennifer Kate Baer

Masters Theses

Vertebrate decomposition results in a pulse of critical nutrients such as nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus into the environment creating a ‘hotspot’ immediately surrounding the carcass. While many decomposition studies have investigated vertebrate decomposition focused on the carcass itself, fewer studies have focused on the impacts of decomposition products on soils. Gaining a greater understanding of soil processes during decomposition could not only aid in better understanding soil biological activities but could also lead to new insights in nutrient cycling in the environment. The assemblage of soil metabolites, also known as the soil metabolome, exposes not only the breakdown products of …

Microplastic Accumulation In Terrestrial Gastropods And Soils, Gregory B. Bonilla

Masters Theses

Microplastics (MPs) have become an emerging threat to ecosystems across the world. Transport, impacts, and fates are grossly understudied, especially in terrestrial environments. Current research on MP bioaccumulation has focused mainly on aquatic organisms with little study of terrestrial organisms, including snails where data are nearly nonexistent. To address this, we collected and examined land snails and their surrounding soil for MP content in shell and tissue. From September 11, 2020, to October 25, 2021, cover boards were placed (n=30) along relatively undisturbed sites in hardwood, forested areas, and tall grasses in a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Oak Ridge …

Component Monitoring Strategies For Ipwr Plant Systems During Operational Transients, Matthew S. Scott

Masters Theses

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are currently at the forefront of the nuclear industry as potential next stage in nuclear energy production. Implementing a new reactor technology in a commercial setting contains many challenges in terms of maintaining safety and regulatory standards since all of the regulatory framework is based on the traditional PWR design. One benefit of the SMR design is the increased ability to load-follow to meet the constant changes in grid demand. This type of operational strategy introduces changes into the system that impacts the operational lifespan of system components due to increased degradation. Since there are no …

Performance Evaluation Of Sediment Basin Designs For Highway Construction Sites In Tennessee, Jeffery Cole Emmett Jr

Masters Theses

Performance of three sediment basin designs were tested; they were: 1) the TDEC standard design with a forebay, 2) the TDOT design with an inlet check dam, and 3) the TDOT standard design that does not include an inlet check dam. An 1/17 of an acre scaled physical model sediment basin, was constructed next to an elevated outdoor open flume used to mix known water volumes and sediment mass routed by gravity-flow into the basin. The measurement for performance was simply the percent sediment mass retained in the basin from the total input per experimental run (percent sediment removal). Three …

Effectiveness Of Virtual And Technology-Based Learning Among Health Professional Students During Covid-19: An Evidence-Based Practice Project, Abigail Cheng, Melanie Dinca, Taylor Hoeft, Summer Jack, Iida Lehto, Jo Nguyen, Valerie Parker, Julie D. Bass

Graduate Occupational Therapy Research and Projects

No abstract provided.

Optogenetic Heart Pacing And Heart Arrest In Drosophila Melanogaster Using Integrated Ocm Imaging And Light Stimulation System, Yuxuan Wang

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Optogenetics has been widely applied to cardiovascular research using different models. Among them, Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) outstands for its similarity of human genes for disease modeling and short life cycle for rapid screening to analyze genetic mechanisms of heart disease. However, most of the current models only allow either activation or inhibition of the heartbeat, which is not sufficient to model complex arrhythmia. Our lab developed a novel Drosophila transgenic model based on a double transgenic line containing two light-sensitive genes, Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) and Halorhodopsin2.0 (NpHR2.0), that enable dual-directional control of the heartbeat rhythm. Real-time optical control of the …

Telehealth Characteristics, Effectiveness, And Satisfaction During Covid-19: An Evidence-Based Practice Project, Mariah Byl, Anna Ciliske, Claire Rau, Selena Som, Nikki Staffen, Amanda Stolle, Grace Tienter, Madeline Youngman, Amy Yule, Julie D. Bass

Graduate Occupational Therapy Research and Projects

No abstract provided.

Nonprofits For Nonprofits: Three Essays On Nonprofit Infrastructure Organizations, Qiaozhen Liu

AYSPS Dissertations

Nonprofit infrastructure organizations (NIOs) are critical for the sustainability of the nonprofit sector. They support the sector by providing training and consultation, facilitating network building, developing performance measures to ensure accountability, and advocating on behalf of the sector. Despite their prominence, they are among the least researched nonprofits. Most existing studies are qualitative, leaving important facts about NIOs unknown. This three-article dissertation aims to accomplish three tasks: Identify NIOs and report descriptive statistics, examine factors that influence their advocacy effectiveness, and explore ways NIOs can finance themselves more successfully.

The first part of the first study attempts to overcome the …

Essays On Urban Disinvestment & Neighborhood Displacement, Austin Harrison

AYSPS Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to expand the scholarly conversation on neighborhood change and neighborhood displacement to include how the processes of disinvestment and decline are associated with neighborhood displacement. This three-essay dissertation intends to add necessary nuance to the neighborhood change discussion by further conceptualizing “disinvestment-induced-displacement” (DID), determining the specific processes that lead to DID, and mapping the extent to which DID occurred during the housing market's recovery from the subprime mortgage crisis.

In the first essay, I conduct a critical systematic review of recent neighborhood displacement research to better quantify the trajectory of what we know about how and why …

Long Covid: An Evidence-Based Practice Project, Sydney Beard, Haley Bender, Aubrey Lemon, Valerie Josephson, Lauren Mccaughtry, Grace Palubicki, Jordyn Tuchtenhagen, Taylor Wolff, Julie D. Bass

Graduate Occupational Therapy Research and Projects

No abstract provided.

Monterey County Health Department Health Equity Plan, Zahara Ahmed

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Monterey County Health Department (MCHD) is working to create a health equity strategy that would effectively integrate equity practices and establish a roadmap for the department's long-term sustainability of health equity initiatives. Despite decades of acknowledgement of health inequalities and legislative demands to remove them, racial/ethnic minority, rural, and low-income people in the United States continue to have inadequate access to and quality of health care. Many health-care efforts intended to achieve health equity fall short due to knowledge and translation barriers. This project analyzes these inadequacies and emphasizes novel strategies that can help fill them, and also provide …

The Role Of Female Offenders In Sex Trafficking Rings, Caroline Johnson

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the role of female offenders in sex trafficking rings. Using the Human Trafficking Study database, I found 502 cases that had clear information coded about convictions, sentences, and genders. It was hypothesized that women typically receive a lower sentence than men do. Bivariate analysis revealed that to be true. In addition, I compared conviction rates between the two genders, finding that women are more likely to plead guilty in comparison to men.

Using a smaller sample with additional information, I also isolated the roles that women play in a sex trafficking ring. I found that 48% were …

Trust-Based Social Behaviour In Role-Playing Games, Morgan Cartwright

Computer Science Honors Theses

Although previous artificial intelligence research has done much to advance video games, not as much has been done to integrate that research into commercially viable titles. In this study, the game Barrel Smasher was developed, demonstrating a socially aware model of Non-Player Characters based on internal trust scores of other characters. The game allows the player to interact with these characters through dialogue, and it provides elements of Role-Playing Games like quests, items, and combat. The result is a game that combines social interactions and other forms of gameplay into a single, connected system. In doing so, the game creates …

Is It Undervalued? A Qualitative And Quantitative Review Of The Work Values-Job Performance Relationship, Sherif Al-Qallawi

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have been calling for greater exploration of the relationship between work values and job performance for about five decades (Goodale, 1973; J.-I. C. Hansen & Wiernik, 2017). The current study integrates research on the relationship between work values and job performance over the course of those five decades to better understand this connection. First, a thorough review of work values is presented, including a discussion of their nature, antecedences, construct clarification (how they differ from other individual differences), construct specification (how they differ from other value-based constructs), operationalization, taxonomy, measurement, group differences, stability, and outcomes. This review also includes …

The Interactive Effects Of Cross-Cultural Competence, Political Skill, And Cultural Distance On Trust And Cohesion, Allyson Clubb

Theses and Dissertations

Culturally diverse teams are increasingly common in the modern workforce, yet an inadequate understanding of the unique needs for culturally diverse teams has continued to lead to either sub-optimal or even failed team performance. The current study sought to examine the relationships between cultural distance, team emergent states (trust and cohesion), team composition (cross-cultural competence, 3C; and political skill, PS), and team performance. The research design utilized archival, longitudinal data which included a final sample of 49 teams. It was hypothesized that team-level 3C and PS benefit performance indirectly through their impact on trust and cohesion. Further, it was thought …

Examining The Integrative Impacts Of Trust And Distrust Sub-Dimensions On Employee Discretionary Behavior, Alexandra Silverman

Theses and Dissertations

While trust and distrust in subordinate-supervisor relationships have been studied and linked to numerous positive and negative discretionary workplace outcomes, research has largely overlooked the impact of their sub-dimensions, competence and intent, in these relationships. Furthermore, although there has been research noting the impact of emotional exhaustion on discretionary behaviors such as OCB and CWB, limited research has examined its impact on the relationship between trust/distrust in supervisors and the discretionary behaviors, as well as those pertaining to the sub-dimensions of trust and distrust and the behavioral outcomes. The current study analyzed a sample of 301 employees in the United …

Franchising: A Microfoundational View Of Personality Relationships Towards Franchisee Financial Performance, Christopher Heath Rehkop

Theses and Dissertations

The franchisor-franchisee relationship is unique; it provides a blend of entrepreneurial spirit with the structure of an established corporation. Franchisees operate with a degree of independence, taking certain risks and managing the details of day-to-day business, yet are also obligated to follow prescribed systems and processes of the franchisor. Both parties have a vested interest in the success of this relationship. While many macro-level factors (economy, technology, and demographics) come into play for a franchise’s success, one micro-level variable that may be identified early during recruitment is the personality characteristic of the franchisee candidate. A micro-level or “microfoundations” approach addresses …

Stress-Based Topology Optimization Of Pi Preform-Bonded Composite Laminate Structure, Iwan Broodryk

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to explore the stress-based topology optimization of structure that utilizes laminated composites and 3D woven Pi preform joints. Simple geometry, loading, and boundary conditions are considered. At a finite element level, an aggregate stress ratio is developed for Pi joint and acreage laminate elements. A basic descent method of moving asymptotes (BDMMA) algorithm is created to solve all optimization problems. Topology results for two different stress-based formulations and a compliance minimization problem are compared, followed by an in-depth analysis at a Pi joint and laminate level.

An Integrated Electronic-Skin Patch For Real-Time And Continuous Monitoring Of A Panel Of Biomarkers Combined With Drug Delivery, Tanzila Noushin

Electrical Engineering Theses

Inflammatory biomarkers present in the human body play a vital role in medical field by guiding the clinician in decision-making for many diseases. The levels of these inflammatory biomarkers are associated with the severity and progress of several diseases. Researchers have found that increasing severity of many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, after surgery infection, and adverse clinical outcomes due to infectious diseases, results in the elevation of the level of inflammatory biomarkers in human sweat. Furthermore, the inflammatory cytokines indicate the pathophysiology and prognosis of critically ill SARS‑CoV‑2 patients. In this thesis work, different sensors have been developed for …

Intersections Of Gender And Age: Identification And Attributional Processes On Leadership Effectiveness, Kayla Lynne Bigerton

Theses and Dissertations

As more women enter leadership roles and the ages of leaders becomes more diverse, there is a need for more intersectional research. An intersectional approach was used to assess the impact of leader gender and age on leadership effectiveness through identification and attributional processes. In doing so, different age conceptualizations were also examined. Gender did not have an impact on identification and attributional processes and age had mixed results. Age similarity was not significantly related to leader identification, but perceived leader age had a negative relationship with idiosyncratic fit. Further, social age was examined with different age ranges representing "young”, …

The Effect Of Video Model Dosage And Self-Monitoring On Parent's Use Of Language-Promoting Behavior, Kacie Marie Mcgarry

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found a disparity between the language trajectories of children within a high, medium, or low-economic-status family. A relationship is reliably found between the language trajectory of toddlers and success throughout school. This study will evaluate a training package to teach parents to engage in behaviors that promote language and assess the training's short-term effect on the trajectories of children (i.e., growing language) within low-socioeconomic backgrounds. Specifically, experimenters will evaluate the impact of the dosage of video modeling, self-evaluation, and self-monitoring on the acquisition of the targeted skills. Data may suggest that the more accurate the individual is …

Accelerated Aging Of Adhesively Bonded Composite Joints For Use In Material Screening And Selection During Development: A Review And Case Study, Marie Danielle Flanigan

Theses and Dissertations

Adhesively bonded structures are used in many high-tech industries such as aerospace, automotive, and defense. The application of these joints using composite adherends has increased in recent years because of improved strength-to-weight ratio, design flexibility, and lower concern for corrosion. Quality acceptance of these structures largely depends on reliability and durability which includes influence of environmental service conditions on long-term behavior. Characterization of long-term behavior presents a difficult challenge to those involved in material selection and design due to the long service life of the joint compared to the development time available and complexity of the degradation mechanisms. Therefore, different …