Digital Commons Network^™

Consumer Response To Foundations And Firms When Firms Own Or Sponsor A Foundation, Amanda Swift

Scholars Week

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a norm in the business world as consumers call for businesses to be more involved in improving the world. CSR takes many forms ranging from corporate philanthropy to a focus on sustainability. Corporate foundations have been an increasingly popular practice of CSR to enhance public image, although alliances with non-profit organizations and foundations are still quite prevalent. Current research examines how corporate philanthropy can be effective in building trust and perceived impact on the cause being supported. Because there is a plethora of corporate philanthropy practices, businesses must decide on the best possible avenue …

Lifting Teams In The Acute Care Settings, Mary Makalyn Smith

Scholars Week

Research studies have analyzed the importance of lifting teams in the acute care settings of the hospital. Lifting teams provide nurses with the trained assistance they need to refrain from reoccurring musculoskeletal injuries. These lift team members are scheduled and trained staff members who are able to focus on patients’ needs and modes of transportation. The focus of these lift teams would be to add efficiency to the healthcare system and increase patient skin integrity and satisfaction rates. In my first study it examined the effectiveness of a multifaceted minimal-lifting environment on nursing areas. The study was focused on musculoskeletal …

Integrating Autism-Specific Care Plans For Pediatrics: Increasing Satisfaction, Madison S. Vandiver

Scholars Week

Abstract

Recent studies have explored the importance on integrating Autism-Specific Care Plans (ACP) into practice. These care plans provide patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or their caregivers the opportunity to identify individualized needs that are imperative for healthcare providers to provide personalized care and accommodations. These ACPs identify baseline characteristics, behavior patterns, communication techniques and management strategies for the patient with ASD during hospitalization. The focus of the ACP is to recognize patient needs and make those available to those providing care. Understanding the patient’s normal behavior variations can alert providers to a problems or stressors of the patient …

An Ergonomic Analysis Of Ingredient Batching In A Dairy Bottling Facility, Hayden Johnson, Laila Elhidmi

Scholars Week

Dairy production facilities rely on batching operators to unload palletized ingredients and mix them to meet ingredient specifications. Batching operators in the dairy industry are frequently required to work for prolonged periods of time in awkward postures while performing repetitive and forceful exertions. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) typically impact workers’ performance and increase job discomfort. Such incidents are generally costly to employers as they often result in workers compensation claims and increased insurance premiums. The purpose of this study was to characterize the ergonomic risk factors associated with commonly performed batching processes and evaluate possible solutions to reduce exposure to …

An Ergonomic Assessment Of Healthcare Rehabilitation Workers, William Shepherd, Laramie Locke, Katherine Archibong

Scholars Week

Patient handling is a common task within the healthcare industry. Rehabilitation Therapists (RTs) and Rehabilitation Therapist Assistants (RTAs) report a significantly high incidence rate of low-back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The purpose of this study was to characterize the ergonomic risks associated with patient transfers and assisted gait therapy. Exposure to ergonomic risk factors were assessed using the Strain Index (SI), Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), and 3-Dimensional Static Strength Prediction Program (3DSSPP). Subjects included three RTs and one RTA at a local assisted living and rehabilitation healthcare facility. Preliminary results indicate a high risk of developing MSDs …

Willingness To Protest Over Resource Extraction In Latin America, Moises Arce, Marc S. Polizzi, Bryce Reeder

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

Protests over resource extraction have increased in Latin America in recent years. However, significant variation exists in the region in terms of citizen’s willingness to protest against resource extraction. We argue that this variation is based on the interaction of factors at both the individual and state levels. Individual-level characteristics, such as social engagement, influence the likelihood of protest activity. State-level characteristics, such as the quality of governance, also present opportunities for engaged individuals to challenge resource extraction. Following political mediation theory, we argue that collective action strategies are likely to be more productive in some political contexts than in …

A Literature Review Examining The Effects Of Bilingualism In Individuals Who Stutter, Cheyenne Hofmann

Honors College Theses

This thesis will analyze the current research involving the impact of bilingualism in individuals who stutter through a literature review. There is currently no known etiology of stuttering, however, there are multiple theories regarding the onset of stutter. This thesis will explore the Cerebral Dominance theory of stuttering and its applicability to neuroimaging and bilingualism. Furthermore, this thesis will determine the presence and extent of the impact of bilingualism on people who stutter. The cultural, gender, language and neurological influences on stuttering for those who are bilingual will also be examined. Through this analysis, the positive and negative impact of …

Value-Aligned Behavior & Psychological Flexibility: Exploring Relationships Between Seeking Mental Health Services And Core Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Processes, Morgan Brewington

Scholars Week

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on acceptance, cognitive defusion, being present, the sense of self as context, committed action, and values (Hayes et al., 2006). Valued living, or acting in line with personal values, includes behaviors that are personally meaningful and intrinsically engaging (Smout, et al., 2014). Behavior aligning with values has been related to lower levels of anxiety and depression, as well as lower impairment for individuals experiencing posttraumatic stress symptoms, pain, or other psychological stressors (Fox et al., 2019). Psychological flexibility, particularly low experiential avoidance, aids in valued living (Fox et al., 2019). Approaches such as ACT …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Edgar Allan Poe's Use Of Concealment, Alyssa Hubbard

Scholars Week

In his short stories “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe uses the act and outcomes of concealment as a way to deal with guilt and introduce consequence. By examining each of these examples, we can see that how and where Poe's narrators hide the bodies of their victims directly impacts their mental health and how quickly their crimes are discovered.

Weight Loss And Healthiness: How Advertisements Target This Phenomenon, Madelyn Coleman

Scholars Week

With advertisements being all around us in the media and in magazines, messages flood into our everyday lives that can impact us both negatively and positively. Research prior to this involved how media has portrayed women and their weight loss as well as how they are looking at “skinniness” and body type. This as well as overall effects of the media in the food world were among many that have been studied. For my research, I wanted to look at the overall targeting of weight loss and health within magazines not as much as the idea of weight loss as …

Highlighting Recipes For Recognition And Social Reform In Soul Food Cookbooks., Jake Hicks

Scholars Week

This research explores the writings of African American chefs Edna Lewis and Todd Richards along with Nutritional activists Fabiola Demps Gaines and Roniece Weaver, who have used their published soul food cookbooks to challenge racial stereotypes while redefining America’s perceptions of the southern cuisine known as soul food. Existing scholarship has found that southern cuisine is branching out into more than just a regional food and has shifted into a social movement. This project offers a progressive view on how this social movement of southern cuisine is aiming to reshape the public’s understandings of what constitutes Soul food. Through in-depth …

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Initial Education, Allison Vititoe

Scholars Week

Abstract

Pulmonary rehabilitation has been proven successful among those with chronic pulmonary diseases. However, there is a low rate of involvement and a lower rate of completion for these patients.

One of the major underlying factors contributing to this problem is patients’ lack of motivation. If the patients can be given information on the benefits of this program that align with what they hold as important there will be increased level of motivation and subsequently completion of pulmonary rehabilitation.

The Evolution Of Mcdonald’S: As Seen On Tv., Jay Gibson

Scholars Week

When thinking of fast food, McDonald’s is often one of the first that comes to mind. However, we rarely think about how this industry giant has changed over the years. From this point the question is asked, how has McDonald’s advertisements changed to suit their ever-growing audience? What, if anything, has caused these changes? Many might simply say the changes come with the times, but research reveals that there could potentially be much more serious reasons, such as the anti-obesity movement and battles in the legal field. By analyzing numerous television advertisements from the 90s and recent years, I find …

Sitcom Tv Food Messages: Who Makes And What Are We Eating?, Elizabeth Gagnon

Scholars Week

I dive into the family sitcom Fuller House and observe how it represents people who cook and what we eat. As a modern-day family sitcom, representation is current to our standards within today’s diets and kitchen routines. With both men and women cooking in the kitchen, healthy food choices are displayed everywhere, depicting nutritional awareness. I consider the food being served and discuss whether they may fit into gender tropes, such as a male protagonist taking pride in his special burgers. I focus on what food is represented, whether from shopping, ordering through an app, or in the kitchen, when …

Tasteful Cookie Lingo, Sheldon Baringer

Scholars Week

In stores today, several brands of cookies use selective word choices directed towards the consumer, for example, by using the words organic or natural. Prior research has analyzed in a similar fashion, but to my knowledge has not used this specific test group. In this research, I show how packaging for cookies affect buyer’s choice, as well as, price in comparison to health. Importantly, as claims on package towards a healthier product increase, so does price. I further examine how cost changes the focus of the product from healthy to delicious, or bulk size, in order to demonstrate how consumers …

Using Non-Pharmacological Interventions To Promote Sleep In The Intensive Care Unit, Regan Kull

Scholars Week

When patients are in critical condition in the ICU, sleep is not prioritized among all of the patients’ other issues. The lack of sleep may result in a decreased immune system and neurocognitive changes producing delirium, potentially increasing the length of stay, and increasing morbidity, especially in older adults and those who have been in the ICU for a long period of time. The purpose of this review of literature is to examine evidence which studied the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions on sleep quality of patients in the ICU. Among the evidence for this project, it was found that the …

Choosing A Vaginal Birth After A Cesarean Rather Than A Repeat Elective Cesarean Delivery, Sydney Carter

Scholars Week

The VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) rate has been increasing over the recent years. However, it is still a much lower rate as compared to 1996. During this time uterine rupture instances and maternal mortality rates were found to have increased. As a result, facilities over corrected and stopped offering VBACs as an option. Current research shows they are actually safer than a cesarean but most facilities do not offer this option. The purpose of this policy change is to increase the rate of VBACs by providing good education to expectant mothers through their nurses.

Proper Indwelling And External Catheter Use To Reduce Cauti's, Taylor Stephens

Scholars Week

Evidence based practice and research shows that the risk for CAUTI’s increases each day of catheterization. Research also showed that the rate of inappropriate catheterizations was very high. The conclusion made from the research recommended that catheters be removed as soon as possible in order to decrease the risk of CAUTI’s. Interventions to decrease CAUTI and inappropriate catheterization rates includes requiring a new doctors order for the continuation of an indwelling catheter every day and requiring more frequent assessment of the need for a PureWick. This method forces both the doctor and the nurse to assess the patient for the …

Utilization Of Music Therapy In The Icu Setting, Danielle York

Scholars Week

This topic was selected in the hopes of bringing awareness to music therapy and the positive benefits it can have on patients and their pain in a high stress environment. The evidence shows that music therapy can have a positive effect on patient outcomes and is a cost-effective measure that hospitals can easily implement. The education needed to implement this intervention would be geared toward patients that nurses could present to them upon pain report. The evidence proves that this is an efficient way to control patient pain and allow for a more relaxing environment.

KEYWORDS: Music, therapy, pain, education, …

Chlorhexidine: The Fight To End Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia, Jeremy Gaspari

Scholars Week

There is a major problem that affects patient outcomes in the hospital setting. This problem is ventilator-associated pneumonia. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is the second most nosocomial infection in critical care patients. A new policy is needed to ensure that interventions are being done to decrease the risk of patients getting ventilator-associated pneumonia. Ventilator-associated pneumonia also has a high risk of mortality. If interventions are being done, the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia and mortality will decrease. Prophylactic oral care with chlorhexidine solution is show through evidence to decrease the risk of both ventilator-associated pneumonia and mortality rates. The use of ventilator bundles …

Delayed Newborn Bathing, Trisha Freudenberg

Scholars Week

Abstract:

The title of this paper is Delayed Newborn Bathing. The purpose of this project was to research the evidence and literature that supports the need for a delayed newborn bath. The project discusses the benefits of a delayed bath and what affect it has on the infant’s temperature, blood sugar/blood glucose, and exclusive breast feeding rates. Three evidence-based research studies have been presented within this project (“Impact on delayed newborn bathing one exclusive breastfeeding rates, glucose, and temperature stability, and weight loss”, “Initiative to improve exclusive breastfeeding by delaying the newborn bath”, and “Effects of delayed newborn bathing on …

2020-02-28, Board Of Regents, Murray State University

Board of Regents Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Prevalence Of Illicit And Prescribed Neuropsychiatric Drugs In Three Communities In Kentucky Using Wastewater-Based Epidemiology And Monte Carlo Simulation For The Estimation Of Associated Uncertainties, Tara Croft, Rhiannon Huffines, Manoj Pathak, Bikram Subedi

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

A cost-effective alternative approach capable of determining the prevalence of substance use in communities can complement the existing efforts of combating drug abuse and addiction. In this study, the prevalence of 10 illicit and 19 prescribed psychoactive drugs of potential abuse was determined utilizing wastewater-based epidemiology, and compared in two adjoined urban communities and a rural community. This is the first application of the Monte Carlo simulation method to account multiple uncertainties and propagation of errors associated with the individual parameter of wastewater based epidemiological estimations in the U.S. A significantly higher prevalence of cocaine [3830 (mean difference, MD: 2960) …

Visa Trial Of International Trade: Evidence From Support Vector Machines And Neural Networks, Engin Akman, Abdullah Karaman, Cemil Kuzey

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

International trade depends on networking, interaction and in-person meetings which stimulate cross-border travels. The countries are seeking policies to encourage inbound mobility to support bilateral trade, tourism, and foreign direct investments. Some nations have been implementing liberal visa regimes as an important part of facilitating policies in view of security concerns. Turkey has been among the nations introducing liberal visa policies to support trade in the last decade and recorded significant increases in the volumes of exports. In this paper, we employed machine learning methodologies, Support vector machines (SVM) and Neural networks (NN), to investigate the facilitating impact of liberal …

The Effects Of An Agricultural Migratory Lifestyle On Children, Deborah Bourland

Integrated Studies

The purpose of this paper to explore medical research journals and interviews with migratory farm workers and their families to explore the effect a migratory lifestyle has on the development of a child as they constantly move from place to place as they, or their parents, seek work following crop timelines in the United States. The articles and interviews used will inform the reader of factors these children face, such as social exclusion, poverty and food insecurities, and how these obstacles affect not only the development of their physical health and growth milestones, but also how they affect the child’s …

A Brief History Of The African Slave Trade In The United States South, Kacey Tubbs

Integrated Studies

The African slave trade in the Antebellum South will be the focus of this paper. First the Colonial time period and the shift from indentured servitude to slavery will be discussed. Next the slave trade practices, including where these people came from, what people were targeted when they were taking them to become slaves, what the journey from Africa to the United States was like, and what the slave sales were like will be examined. There will be information on the various jobs slaves did and what daily life was like as a slave. The paternalistic view on slavery will …

Life In Prison, Patsy Waldridge, Patsy Ann Waldridge

Integrated Studies

For my research topic, the focus will be life in prisons. it will look into not only the prisoner’s way of life, but also the guards or anyone who works within a prison and look at how it effects their lives. It will be broken up into 13 categories/ sub-topics, which are: Incarceration rates, Recidivism, Prisoner abuse, Rehabilitation, Prison conditions, Jailhouse lawyers/ legal help, Prison rebellions, Healthcare, Mental Health, Guards and staff, Education, Psychological effects, And Families.

the research topic was broken down like this because talking about prisons and life there is much more complicated than the average American …

How Sugar Affects The Body From Head To Toe, Amy Crosier

Integrated Studies

How Sugar Affects the Body from Head to Toe

The overall health of Americans has drastically changed over the past two decades. Americans over the past decades have been faced with more healthcare related issues such as heart conditions, obesity, diabetes and dental caries. These conditions are a huge weight on the insurance companies and also the Americans that are affect by the medical conditions. We have now entered into a new era of convenience and instant gratification which has led to a world of health related problems. Sugar and processed foods are among the top leaders of health related …

An Analysis Of Hr Leadership Within The Public And Private Sectors, Stephanie Oakley

Integrated Studies

Abstract

Human Resource leadership has always been a very important role in any organized business. The services offered by HR are embedded within organizational structure, employee recruitment, employee development/training, compensation/benefits, employee performance/disciplinary management among many others. These essential functions of HR provide a foundation for any organization that wants to be successful.

Although HR leadership in public and private sectors have similar regulations, their needs and functions can look very different. This project will look into the differences between the management of human resources between the public and private sectors of business within the United States. HR policy and procedure …

Lean Management For Small Business, Jason Acree

Integrated Studies

Lean management can be utilized to grow small business by focusing on continuous improvement. Lean management and the tools associated with it will improve the efficiency of any business and that will lead to improved sales and overall growth. This innovative idea has become a significant form of performing every action as efficiently as possible in order to increase production and reduce waste throughout the world in many different types of industries. Lean management is synonymous with continuous improvement. This is the idea that no process can ever be entirely perfected so there is always room for improvement. By focusing …