Digital Commons Network^™

Transport Of Nordic Seas Overflow Water Into And Within The Irminger Sea: An Eddy-Resolving Simulation And Observations, Xiaobiao Xu, W.J. Schmitz Jr., Harley E. Hulbert, Patrick J. Hogan, Eric P. Chassignet, H.M. Van Aken

Faculty Publications

Results from a climatologically forced, eddy-resolving (1/12 degrees) Atlantic simulation using the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model help clarify some presently unresolved connections between volume transports of Nordic Seas overflow water at key locations in the northernmost North Atlantic Ocean. The model results demonstrate that, in addition to the known westward flow through the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ), some Iceland Scotland overflow water (ISOW) flows westward through gaps in the Reykjanes Ridge north of the CGFZ into the Irminger Sea, and some flows southward along the eastern flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge into the West European Basin. These results provide …

Less Talk; More Action: Sbar As An Interactive Approach For Ethical Decision- Making, Francine Mancuso Parker Edd, Rn, Cne, Libba Reed Mcmillan Phd, Rn

Journal of Health Ethics

Oftentimes as educators, instructors approach ethics education as if students have all the time in the world to pontificate. This article provides an alternative teaching strategy where there is less ‘talk’, and more action as the SBAR model is utilized in the ethical decision making process. A case study depicting a difficult patient care situation provides the backdrop for a discussion of ethical decision making as a skill which can be developed when sound reasoning and principles are applied by the nursing student or novice nurse. By assuring that students have a working understanding of the concept of advocacy from …

Informed Consent: Elective Abortion, Kaye Wilson-Anderson Dsn, Msn

Journal of Health Ethics

This article presents an overview of the history of informed consent, identifies the necessary elements of informed consent and provides a discussion of the controversy surrounding informed consent for an elective abortion. The most current scientific reports of risk and benefits of elective abortions are examined and essential information for informed consent for an elective abortion is identified.

A Study On Legal And Ethical Issues Surrounding Health Practitioner Pro Bono Services, Lori Khan Ms, Clt, Dpt

Journal of Health Ethics

The purpose of this paper is to explore the legal and ethical implications of pro bono health care services in the United States and abroad. The research regarding volunteer or pro bono health services has focused mainly on physician involvement in volunteer medical services, or pro bono health services, with research showing only 39% of physicians, compared to 30% of general public, taking part in volunteer services to patients and the community (Grande, D, and Armstrong, K, 2007). Historically, pro bono services were derived from the Canons of Professional Ethics in 1908 and evolved into the Model Code of Professional …

Dachau—Remembering The Unforgettable, Jennie Gunn Ph.D., Fnp, Carroll Gunn M.A.

Journal of Health Ethics

Ethical research provides great benefit to the public, but ethical research is not guaranteed. Research can go terribly wrong when research subjects are not protected. Egos of scientists and others in power can cause disastrous results, and that is what happened at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. Because of incidents such as this, medical research at universities is now reviewed by Institutional Review Boards to protect subjects. But not so long ago, in the Dachau concentration camp, researchers were free to impose pain and death upon prisoners in the name of research. Prisoners were mistreated to glean knowledge; many …

Domestic Violence: Not My Job, Not My Problem, John Chapin, Grace Coleman, Erin Varner

Journal of Health Ethics

The study examines incidences of domestic violence in several communities, police statistics and attitudes of medical professionals. Findings suggest a fundamental ethical dilemma in services for victims of domestic violence: medical professionals view domestic violence as a law enforcement issue, while police view it as a health issue. Victims are confronted by multiple systems each with opposing beliefs and attitudes about their respective roles.

Organ Donation Ethics: Are Donors Autonomous Within Collective Networks?, Michele Battle-Fisher Mph, Ma

Journal of Health Ethics

Can and will a person become an organ donor? Before such an altruistic act will occur, there is the ethic behind the action. There is an internalization of an ethic that the person agrees or disagrees with organ donation, no matter the variant. There is a large sense of agency and responsibility over the integrity of one’s body. We do care what our “network” thinks about our personally held norms of living donation and sanctity of the body. I present the position that understanding of the norms of living organ donation requires an examination of the personal social “network” surrounding …

Unfair Contribution And Consumption In Medicare: Results From The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey In 2006, Yi-Sheng Chao M.D., M.P.H.

Journal of Health Ethics

The imbalance of Medicare financing and cost sharing consumption is rooted in the Medicare tax collection and its main purpose to serve the aged population. The unfairness of Medicare tax collection includes its regressivity for all income levels and the incomplete tax collection among income groups. Those suffering from premature death, especially black males, lose the chance to enjoy longevity and the coverage of Medicare. The solution to the unfair redistribution posited is: alteration of Medicare enrollment age for different races and sexes, differential Medicare tax based on the population characteristics, and progressive taxation on all individuals to raise Medicare …

Preventing Preventative Health, Clare Stride Bsc

Journal of Health Ethics

With the Earth’s human population estimated to exceed 10 billion by 2050, the now globalised community has some serious discussions involving the upcoming, necessary transition to sustainable habitation and preventative healthcare. This paper examines the social and economic structures preventing this transition at individual, national and multinational levels and their responsibilities to public health. Greater responsibility for ones individual health and consumption is essential and should be supported and encouraged by national governance that in turn has a responsibility to provide the environment in which healthy sustainable lifestyles are achievable and affordable. Multi-national corporations must also accept their responsibilities to …

Standard Protocols For The 3 Mst Markers Evaluated, Microbial Source Tracking

EPA Study

This protocol outlines the procedure developed for the EPA Gulf of Mexico grant to Harwood, Lepo and Wang to process environmental water samples via DNA extraction from membrane filters. DNA is then used in PCR-based microbial source tracking assays for human-associated Bacteroides (HBac), M. smithii (Msmithii) and human polyomavirus BK and JC (HPyVs) targets.

Faculty Senate Minutes - December 3, 2010, Usm Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes - December 3, 2010, Usm Gulf Coast Faculty Council

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

December 2010 Minutes, Usm Council Of Chairs

Council of Chairs

Minutes of the December 2010 meeting of the USM Council of Chairs.

Presenting Jamaican Folk Songs On The Art Music Stage: Social History And Artistic Decisions, Byron Gordon Johnson

Dissertations

Jamaican folk songs have become a definitive characteristic of Jamaican culture. They are exemplars of a culture whose music reflects the lifestyle of most of its citizens. In modern times, their beauty has been show cased in local and foreign performances which exposes an element of the country to the world. Additionally, the arrangements of these songs by Jamaican composers like Noel Dexter and Peter Ashbourne have aided in their renaissance in modern times. This also attests to their high entertaining quality which most audiences have come to appreciate. To this end, this research analyzed the arrangements by Noel Dexter …

Discrete Diffusion Models To Study The Effects Of Mg2+ Concentration On The Phopq Signal Transduction System, Preetam Ghosh, Samik Ghosh, Kalyan Basu, Sajal K. Das, Chaoyang Zhang

Faculty Publications

Background: The challenge today is to develop a modeling and simulation paradigm that integrates structural, molecular and genetic data for a quantitative understanding of physiology and behavior of biological processes at multiple scales. This modeling method requires techniques that maintain a reasonable accuracy of the biological process and also reduces the computational overhead. This objective motivates the use of new methods that can transform the problem from energy and affinity based modeling to information theory based modeling. To achieve this, we transform all dynamics within the cell into a random event time, which is specified through an information domain …

Shock Rhetoric, David Robert Nelson

Dissertations

Social movements create a public perception of themselves through rhetorical messages and demonstrations. In order to gain the public's attention, some radical groups use any rhetorical means necessary, including offensive remarks and conduct. Groups, such as the Westboro Baptist Church and Bash Back!, rhetorically challenge the boundaries of prudence. The purpose of this study is to identify, depict, and provide insight regarding shock rhetoric. This study will compare protest methods, visual imagery, and language choices used by Bash Back! and the Westboro Baptist Church. This dissertation helps illuminate why and how groups or individuals use shock rhetoric.

Examining The Effect Of A Year Of Service In Americorps On Members' Attitudes Toward Attending College, Jessica Lucky Roberts

Dissertations

This study had two purposes. First, this study sought to determine how a year of service in the America Reads-Mississippi (ARM) AmeriCorps program impacted members’ perceptions and attitudes toward the non-monetary value of earning a college degree, the importance of earning a college degree in obtaining employment, and the influence of service in the ARM AmeriCorps program on members’ motivation to attend college. Second, this study sought to determine if a year of service in the ARM AmeriCorps program impacted members’ decisions to use the Segal Education Award they earn upon the successful completion of their year of service. Through …

Adaptation Of Balanced Scorecard And Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Methodologies To Measure Nation-State Power, Gregg Eric Lassen

Dissertations

The objective of this research was to develop a model for nation-state power. People interested in international relations, including scholars, diplomats, and analysts, need to understand relative power among nation-states, but the unit of comparison, power, remains an elusive concept. This research utilized a Balanced Scorecard approach from business and organizational behavior literature to develop a more comprehensive model of nation-state power based on international relations literature. The model was then further developed into a ranking tool which utilized multiple criteria decision-making theory. The combination of these approaches provided a tool that was used to measure nation-state power based on …

Administrators' And Teachers' Perceptions Of In-School Suspension, Amelia Shondra Jackson

Dissertations

Providing a safe and orderly school environment for students to learn is of paramount importance to school administrators, teachers, students, and the general public; however, the learning process should not be compromised while trying to maintain such an environment. There are many alternative approaches that can be utilized that would rectify the problem we as educators face in providing a safe and orderly environment. At-risk students are usually the ones who have the most serious infractions. These students exhibit a cyclical pattern of recalcitrant behavior. It is imperative that these at-risk students be identified as early as possible, and intervention …

"Their Past In My Blood": Paule Marshall, Gayl Jones, And Octavia Butler's Response To The Black Aesthetic, Williamenia Miranda Walker Freeman

Dissertations

Paule Marshall’s The Chosen Place, The Timeless People (1969), Gayl Jones’ Corregidora (1975), and Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979) enhance our conceptualization of black aestheticism and black nationalism as cultural and political movements. The writers use the novel as genre to question the ideological paradigm of a black nationalist aesthetic by providing alternative definitions of community, black women’s sexuality, and race relations. Because of the ways in which these writers respond to black aestheticism and black nationalism, they transform our understanding of movements often perceived as sexist, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic. An examination of their works reveals the need for additional …

Explaining The Variability Of Free-Living And Attached Bacterioplankton Abundances In The Bay Of St. Louis, Mississippi, Allison K. Mojzis

Master's Theses

The Bay of St. Louis (BSL) is a shallow and vertically well-mixed estuary on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and supports the recreational and commercial activities of the surrounding towns of Bay St. Louis, Diamondhead, DeLisle, and Pass Christian. In addition to residential communities, various industrial and commercial sites inhabit the watershed and coastline. The Hollywood casino, DuPont titanium dioxide plant, and multiple sew_age treatment plants, as well as nonpoint sources of pollution, contribute to poor water quality. To evaluate spatial and temporal changes in BSL water quality, freeliving and attached bacterioplankton concentrations were enumerated by epifluorescence microscopy. Nine stations …

Regulation Of Biofilm And Antibiotic-Resistance By The Modulator Of Sara (Msa) In Staphylococcus Aureus, Antony Schwartz

Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen that is the causative agent of life-threatening diseases such as endocarditis and osteomyelitis. The ability of S. aureus to thrive as a successful pathogen can be partially attributed to its ability to form biofilm. Biofilm is an extracellular polysaccharide, protein, and DNA-based slime layer that protects the bacterial community. The global regulator sarA is essential for biofilm formation. Since the modulator of sarA (msa) gene regulates several virulence factors and is required for the full expression of sarA, the capacity of the msa mutant to form a biofilm was examined. The mutation of …

The Secret Identity Of Race: Exploring Ethnic And Racial Portrayals In Superhero Comic Books, Lowery Anderson Woodall Iii

Dissertations

Does race exist in comics? And if so, what do those characters tell us about how one of the largest fiction producing industries in the country has explained minority relationships to its millions of readers? This study took a close look at three of the most successful comic book characters of all time (Batman, Superman, and The Black Panther) and examines how each exemplifies a position that the comic book industry has taken on race over the years. Using a counter-narrative analysis informed by the strategies of Critical Race Theory and post-modernist thought, the racial messages lying beneath the surface …

Folate Receptor-Targeted Delivery Of Small Interfering Rna To Cancer Cells, Yilin Zhang

Dissertations

The vitamin folic acid (folate, FA) has been extensively explored as a targeting ligand to deliver a variety of diagnostic/prognostic/therapeutic agents into various tumors through the assistance of its receptor – the folate receptor (FR). FR is over-expressed in many types of human cancer and can mediate internalization of FA-conjugates through an endocytic pathway. The discovery of small interfering RNA (siRNA), which is cable of inducing potent gene silencing in a sequence-specific manner, provides an excellent molecular tool to suppress aberrant gene expression in malignancies, and therefore siRNA has the potential to revolutionize cancer therapeutics. Towards the goal of developing …

An Open Management And Administration Platform For Ieee 802.11 Networks, Biju Raja Bajracharya

Master's Theses

The deployment of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) has greatly increased in past years. Due to the large deployment of the WLAN, the immediate need of management platforms has been recognized, which has a significant impact on the performance of a WLAN. Although there are various vendor-specific and proprietary solutions available in the market to cope with the management of wireless LAN, they have problems in interoperability and compatibility. To address this issues, IETF has come up with the interoperability standard of management of WLANs devices, Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol, which is still in the …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Dropout Prevention Practices And Their Implications For Intervention With Public School Students, Louisa Pollack

Dissertations

Schools face the dilemma of transforming both the trend of students dropping out of school and the associated negative socioeconomic outcomes into a positive path of persistence and school completion. Despite ongoing efforts of the federal and state government, as well as those of the local school districts, this problem continues to burden the educational system and society as a whole. The opinions of those with the experience of dropping out and returning to school are pertinent sources of information on educative practices that can help stem the dropout rate.

A survey was conducted to gather the opinions of students …

The Impact Of Self-Efficacy And Motivation Characteristics On The Academic Achievement Of Upward Bound Participants, Brenda Leigh Brown

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of self-efficacy and motivation characteristics on the achievement of at-risk students. Seventy-nine Upward Bound program participants completed self-efficacy, motivation, and demographic questionnaires. The relationship between GPA and self-efficacy was significant, negative, and low in strength. High GPA was associated with high self-efficacy (as shown by lower numbers on the survey). Gender, length of time in the Upward Bound (UB) program, length of participation in the UB summer program, college sponsor (community or four-year college), self-efficacy characteristics, and motivation characteristics significantly predicted academic achievement as measured by GPA. The relationship between …

Emotional Maturity Of Adolescents And Adults In Ged Programs, Billy Joe Riffle

Dissertations

When discussing issues relating to students in General Educational Development (GED) Option and pre-GED programs with educators, the contention exists that it is possible to make reasonably accurate predictions on the success or failure of a student by observing a number of items. Looking at their cumulative records shows their academic and attendance history. Insight is gained by looking at their family dynamics and how they relate to adults. Much can be learned about them from their discipline reports and the nature of any infractions. One of the most intriguing aspects gained through experience and observation is the perception of …

Older Adults And A Writing Workshop: A Phenomenological Study, Jennifer Lynn Alex

Dissertations

This study examines how older adults experience the phenomenon of participating in a writing workshop and how older adults interpret their experiences, understandings, and realities of writing. Ten older adults, ranging in age from 62 to 83 with varying degrees of experiences in writing, participated in this study. Through a semi-structured interview, each participant related his or her experience first as a writer and then as a member of a writing workshop offered through a Community Literacy Center in a mid-sized Appalachian city.

A phenomenological analysis method was used to identify and analyze themes of meaning that emerged in the …

The Effect Of A Math Emporium Course Redesign In Developmental And Introductory Mathematics Courses On Student Achievement And Students' Attitudes Toward Mathematics At A Two-Year College, Amy Renée Bishop

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of computer-based instruction on student mathematics achievement and students' attitudes toward mathematics in developmental and introductory mathematics courses, namely Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, and College Algebra, at a community college. The researcher also examined the relationship between attitudes and achievement. The sample consisted of 112 students, and the study was conducted during the Spring 2010 semester at a community college in south Mississippi. The participants were enrolled in one of six classes taught by the researcher. The control group consisted of three classes (one Intermediate and two College Algebra sections) …