Educating Public Information Officers In Kentucky, Lori Kent

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This study researched the education and training of public information officers (PIO) within Kentucky. Even though training exists, the effectiveness of prior training and education of currently employed public information officers is unknown. As the formalization and importance of the role has evolved in recent years, it is more important to determine and possibly create proper training and post-secondary courses to prepare public information officers for their role. Interviews were conducted, utilizing standard questions with practicing public information officers throughout the state. Research found inconsistent experience and a lack of training by public information officers prior to obtaining their …

Attitudes Towards Self-Harm, Bradi Cislaghi

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research with a concentration on self-harm has begun to surface. Most of this research focuses on methods and functions of self-harm, mental health disorders associated with self-harm, and attitudes towards self-harm from the perspective of others. However, self-harm research that focuses on examining attitudes towards people who self-harm is lacking. More specifically, research is limited on those who self-harm and their attitudes toward someone else who self-harms. The current study sought to fill this gap by examining how the level of familiarity with self-harm affects a person’s attitudes towards self-harm and if there are differences between the …

The Impact Of Credible And Non-Credible Treatment Information On Depression Treatment Preferences In College Students, Sydney Hayden, Dr. Michael Bordieri, Phd

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of considering client treatment preference when providing treatment for depression. However, little research has focused on the impact of treatment information on client preference. This study investigated differences in treatment preference between potential clients that read credible treatment information and those that read non-credible treatment information. The study was conducted via an online survey that was administered to undergraduate students. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to either read credible treatment information or non-credible treatment information and treatment preferences was assessed via a free response item before and after information regarding treatments was given. Overall, …

The Effects Of Parent Teacher Interactions And The Influences That These Interactions Have On Family Engagement And Home Learning Activities, Kammie King

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

As component of the P-20 initiative, education at all levels is critical when moving forward with innovative ideas to increase the lifelong learning of an individual. The foundation for one’s entire educational career begins during a child’s earliest years of life. This time period, prior to kindergarten can have lasting impacts on educational achievement, by influencing the ways that families interact with their child’s school, as well as carries out home learning activities. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the role of family engagement in home learning activities and the role in which parent teacher involvement and …

Help-Seeking Behaviors And Coping Styles Related To Sexual Assault Labelling, Shahzor Hashim

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Sexual Assault is defined as non-consensual sexual activity that includes groping and rape. Based on previous research, a large number of people experience sexual assault, which results in trauma and post-traumatic stress. In order to mediate the stress, people try to cope and seek help to manage the distress and trauma stress. Following the assault, people adopt the identity of or are viewed as victim/survivor. This study investigated the difference between sexual assault label, victim or survivor, in terms of coping strategies, approach or avoidant, and help-seeking behaviors. The study was conducted by administering a survey via Amazon’s Mturk. A …

Cannabidiol In The Horse: Pharmacokinetics And Effects Of A Pelleted Supplement On Reactivity And Movement, Anna L. Draeger

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

A multitude of claims exist regarding therapeutic benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) in human and animal medicine. Though supportive evidence of CBD as a nutraceutical option exists, lack of regulation means that product safety, consistency, and efficacy cannot be guaranteed. Trials for specific conditions and species are needed. The objective of this study was to evaluate CBD safety and use effects on reactivity and movement in the horse. Project 1 examined the bioavailability of a single 50 mg dose of an oil and pelleted CBD product. One of 2 Quarter Horse geldings received the oil product. The second received the pelleted …

Effect Of Organic Soil Amendment On Hemp, Mounica Talasila

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The research study is about the impact of different levels of organic soil amendment on the levels of psychoactive compounds produced in industrial hemp. Inorganic or chemical pesticides or fertilizers are not as extensively used in hemp as in other crops. Apart from this, using an organic soil amendment would be an environmentally sustainable way. A randomized block design (RBD) model was used to study the impacts of the soil amendment. The soil amendment used is called “Rehab” a product of Organilock created from the remnants of animals like fish and chicken. This research design has 3 different soil amendment …

Factors To Teacher Retention In Leave:Secondary Agricultural Education, Keasha Floyd

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to provide qualitative inquiry into the attrition rates of high school agriculture teachers in Tennessee. The supply does not equal the demand for high school agriculture teachers. The study investigated why teachers left the profession, their personal experiences while in the classroom, their feelings on preparedness, and identifiable trends among the participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with former secondary agricultural educators taught in a high school agricultural classroom between 2014 and 2019. Objective one sought to describe the demographic characteristics of secondary agricultural teachers. Two themes were found: Teachers who enter the agricultural education profession right out …

2019-12-13, Board Of Regents, Murray State University

Board of Regents Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

What Regional Economic Factors Drive Feedstock Cost For Cannabinoid Hemp Processors In The United States?, Tanner Mccarty

Journal of Agricultural Hemp Research

This study measures the importance of various regional economic and agronomic factors on a grower’s decision to cultivate cannabinoid (CBD) hemp flower in the United States, and its subsequent effect on CBD processor feedstock cost. I use real options analysis to recover the price of hemp flower required to trigger land use change from commodity crop production to hemp flower production across various scenarios endemic to different hemp producing regions. Results suggest the most important factors in determining the price required to trigger CBD floral hemp production are the expected yield of floral hemp and CBD concentrations within it. CBD …

The Legacy Of Lynching: On Representation, Remembrance, And Reconciliation, Jackie Chesser

Liberal Arts Capstones

The Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial of Peace and Justice is a memorial rooted in recognizing and naming the victims of lynching and racial terror. This memorial is a safe space for people to connect with history and learn about the injustices faced by their ancestors, and, conversely, the injustices wrought upon others by their ancestors. This memorial doesn’t stop at recognizing the victims, it also explains the effects of racial terror beyond lynching, including the Jim Crow Era and mass incarceration.

The National Memorial of Peace and Justice is also focused on extending its impact though its Memorial Monument …

Professional Practices Portfolio, Sarah Cox

Professional Practices (ART 399)

As human beings, we want to look away from something that makes us uncomfortable, but we can be enthralled by it. I am currently creating work about the idea of restriction and confinement, specifically addressing body image. There is an underlying theme of the attraction-repulsion concept. Confronting audiences with less than desirable imagery creates a tension between my work and viewers. Creating that relationship fuels my work and allows me to cross uncomfortable boundaries and discuss our bodies in a contemporary way.

I use charcoal and graphite to create work, occasionally with a limited but vivid color palette with soft …

Knowledge Level And Attitudes Of University Faculty Regarding Assistance Animals Compared To The General Population, Anna R. Ledonne

Honors College Theses

Assistance animals are becoming a greater presence on college campuses. The purpose of the following study was to explore university faculty’s confidence in defining different types of assistance animals, their knowledge of legal mandates, and their attitudes regarding assistance animals. A survey was issued to university faculty utilizing an online program and included measures from a previous study done by Schoenfeld-Tacher, Hellyer, Cheung, and Kogan (2017), as well as added questions to more specifically address the research questions and sample. This study was used to compare faculty knowledge and the knowledge of the general population. 91 participant responses were analyzed. …

Hemp: Connecting Kentucky’S Past With Its Future, Ryan Quarles

Journal of Agricultural Hemp Research

The story of hemp is as much as a legal history as it is a story about cultivation. Hemp has been in the news frequently of late, especially since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which included The Hemp Farming Act of 2018. As one can imagine, legal issues abound when discussing the laws and regulations governing cannabis cultivation and marketing in the United States. Now that hemp surpasses a new legal milestone, much work is left to be done to truly commercialize this historic crop to 21^st century farming. Despite these many challenges that remain before …

Using Paleosols To Reconstruct Past Environments Before, During And After Periods Of Anatomically Human Migration At Gona, Ethiopia, Kevin Takashita-Bynum

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Environmental change is thought to have driven dispersals of Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) out of Africa, yet the precise landscape context of these migrations remains unclear. Furthermore, river-based archives of paleoenvironment during periods of dispersal are scarce. Gona, an area in northeastern Ethiopia with one of the most continuous records of East African Paleolithic and Neolithic archaeology, contains abundant Middle to Late Pleistocene river deposits interbedded with volcanic ash. This study examines the physical and chemical changes of 11 fossilized soils (paleosols) extracted from Gona’s paleoanthropological sites that range in age from the Middle to the Late Pleistocene (~380-11 ka). …

Keep The Faith Not The Guilt: Demonization Of Sex Workers, Jessica Hodges

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Previous research shows that religiosity and attitudes about sexual topics are strongly correlated and typically negative. That is, as religiosity increases, views toward sexual topics tend to become more conservative or generally more negative in valence. However, current research also suggests that one’s sexual guilt may be the mediating influence in the relationship between religiosity and negative sexual attitudes. The present study seeks to replicate and extend research that examined the extent to which an individual's religiosity and sexual guilt influence their perspective of pornography and sex workers (Study 1). To replicate this (Study 2), a survey containing relevant measures …

Finally., Jade Simpson

B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499)

I create graphic design pieces with the goal of inciting a feeling in the viewers. I have found through the years that creating a well developed color pallet is a major part of my process as an artist. This is because color can help enhance the specific emotion or idea that I am pushing for. I enjoy designing a variety of posters over subjects from music to commentary on social issues. The reason I choose the topics of mental health awareness, suicide awareness, gender roles, domestic violence, drug abuse, and other similar topics is because I want people to stop …

Finally. Ba/Bs Senior Exhibition, Emily Glowicki

B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499)

My most recent work delves into the relationship of sculptural form and ceramic tradition and how we perceive amorphous beings that exhibit resonance of the recognizable. I’m interested in where we draw the line between form and function in ceramics and how we can explore both possibilities through the creation of ambiguous three-dimensional representation of these ideas.

My work addresses these ideas through both sculptural vessels and nonobjective forms that leave the realm of the vessel completely. This exploration of form and fluidity started with single word: torpid. Torpid, according to the dictionary, is an adjective to describe slow, sluggish, …

Ergonomic Risk Factors Of Agricultural Jobs In Western Kentucky, Tyler Howell Gsp

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The prevalence of ergonomic injuries in the agriculture industry is magnified in jobs that are labor intensive. Tobacco is one of the primary agricultural products of Western Kentucky. As most tobacco is grown on small farms, harvesting tasks are typically performed by temporary manual labor. The purpose of the study was to assess the ergonomic risks of tobacco harvesters to other labor-intensive agricultural jobs such as reforestation and dairy farm work. Muscle activity of the left and right upper trapezius and middle deltoid of 10 subjects while cutting and spiking tobacco plants was measured using electromyography (EMG). Inertial measurement units …

Near Real-Time Determination Of The Prevalence Of Cannabinoids, Cathinones, And Synthetic Opioids, Catherine O'Rourke, Bikram Subedi

Scholars Week

Unregulated new psychoactive substances (NPS) in “pure” or “preparation” forms are designed to mimic the effects of controlled substances, and are introduced and reintroduced in the market as a cheap substitute of established regulated drugs in quick succession to loophole the law enforcement efforts on combating drugs. For example, carfentanil, a synthetic opioid activates the opioid receptors similar to morphine but it is astoundingly potent compared to a typical drug of abuse (100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more powerful than morphine). Based on the cost- and time-intensive forensic analysis, National Drug Early Warning System reported the …

Perceptions Of Academic Procrastination, Laziness, And Overcommitment In Undergraduate Students, Abby Tillotson

Scholars Week

Purpose: Academic success is linked to positive learning outcomes and increased opportunities for career success. Unfortunately, many undergraduate students experience difficulties with time management to include factors of procrastination, laziness and overcommitment, which can negatively affect academic performance and success. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess perceptions of academic procrastination, laziness and overcommitment in undergraduate students.

Methods: The researchers surveyed 75 students enrolled in an exercise science program. Students completed the University’s Institutional Review Board approved informed consent, followed by the survey.

Results: Forty percent of respondents reported not having a severe procrastination problem, while 32% agreed …

Student Perceptions Of Academic Effort In Applied Science Courses, Ragan Harris

Scholars Week

Student Perceptions of Academic Effort in Applied Science Courses: A Pilot Study

Ragan Harris

Dr. Priscilla Maghrabi

Dr. Brenda Reeves

Applied Health Sciences

Many applied science programs such as exercise science include prerequisite courses in the basic sciences to provide students with knowledge of foundational principles as well as provide transfer pathways from biology. However, when students begin exercise science coursework, their perceptions are that these courses should be easier, expecting lower effort and higher academic grades. These mismatched perceptions often lead to academic frustration. To determine the validity of the perceptions of high vs. low academic effort and academic …

Studying The Glacial Melt Of Mount Baker Using Remote Sensing (1999 - 2019), Cole Fletcher

Scholars Week

With rising temperatures glaciers around the globe are beginning to melt. Melting of large glaciers should be concerning as they can raise the present sea-level which could potentially put near sea-level urban areas underwater. We must observe the rate at which glaciers are retreating. Mountain glaciers are a good resource to observe as they do give a clear visual of how fast glaciers are retreating. This project hopes to give a good visual representation and quantitative measurement of how much glacial melt is occurring at Mt Baker in Washington, United States, in the last 20 years. This project will use …

Chlorophyll A And Primary Productivity Dynamics In Kentucky Lake Mainstem And Embayment Habitats., Morgan Franklin

Scholars Week

Chlorophyll α (Chl α) has been used as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, while primary productivity (PP), the rate at which carbon is fixed into phytoplankton cells, is an indicator of how quickly carbon is turned over within the phytoplankton community. The purpose of this research was to examine the spatial distribution of and the relationship between Chl α and PP seasonally in the main channel of Kentucky Lake reservoir and two embayments of contrasting land use. Correlation coefficients (r) for Chl α versus PP were 0.45 in Ledbetter embayment, 0.55 in Panther embayment, and 0.57 in the main …

The Effects Of Nurse-To-Patient Ratios On Patient Outcomes In A Variety Of Hospital Settings, Sydney Montgomery

Scholars Week

Nurse-to-patient ratios has been a topic of discussion that has gained momentum over the last several years. In the state of Kentucky, there is no policy mandating a maximum nurse to patient ratio. However, evidence-based practice suggests that lower nurse-to-patient ratios results in better patient outcomes and therefore, the majority of policies in place regarding nurse to patient ratios are not based on best evidence.

Stable Nanopalladium Hydride In Water For Sustainable And Selective Reductions, Jesse Klus, Sachin Handa

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The synthesis of air-stable ligand-free nanopalladium hydride (PdNHx) in water was achieved and applied to various organic transformations, including (1) reduction of heteroaromatics such as (iso)quinolines, phenanthrolines, benzotriazole, and naphthyridines, (2) regio- and chemoselective reduction of nitroarenes, (3) alkyne reductions, (4) chemoselective dehalogenation, and (5) base-free detriflation. Both the synthesis of PdNHx and the reductions were carried out under mild conditions in a micellar medium using our designer surfactant PS-750-M, which eliminates the need for toxic organic solvents and extremely high hydrogen pressure and temperature. Notably, PS-750-M is also a replacement of hazardous polar-aprotic solvents. This newer approach for selective …

Personal Standards But Not Maladaptive Evaluative Concerns Perfectionism Predict Exercise Dependency Over Time, Sarah E. Ernst, Irina A. Vanzhula, Cheri A. Levinson

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Exercise is generally thought to be beneficial for physical and mental health; however, when done in excess, exercise can lead to damaging physical, psychological, and social health consequences. This type of exercise is known as exercise dependency and is frequently associated with eating disorder pathology. Perfectionism (high or personal standards and maladaptive evaluative concerns) is a risk factor for eating disorders and is also associated with exercise dependency. However, no studies have examined longitudinal relationships between perfectionism and exercise dependency. The current study used a sample of adolescent females (N = 444) from a Southeastern United States high school, …

The Combination Of Valsartan And Sacubitril Does Not Improve Effectiveness Against Angii-Induced Aaas, Jenny (Ching Ling) Liang, Sean Thatcher

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is defined as permanent dilation of the abdominal aorta by more than 50% of its normal diameter. As AAAs grow progressively, the aorta can rupture and cause life-threatening bleeding. Preliminary data demonstrates that angiotensin II (AngII), which can induce AAA, plus testosterone were powerful stimulants for expression of neprilysin in abdominal aortic smooth muscle cells from male mice. Neprilysin is a metalloendopeptidase, which can cleave and inactivate AngII and natriuretic peptides. Because natriuretic peptides might be beneficial for reducing the growth of AAAs through decreasing blood pressure, inhibition of neprilysin along with blocking AngII receptor would …

Cyberbullying And Teenage Mental Health, Emma Renfro, Melony Shemberger

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Abstract Cyberbullying is something that is becoming prevalent in today’s digital society. It is something that impacts more than one age group, but the primary age group seems to be aged 13-18. As a society, it is recognized that cyberbullying happens. However, how often does one stop to think deeper? In this research, I will approach cyberbullying from a mental health standpoint. I will demonstrate things such as why certain demographics are more susceptible to the impact of cyberbullying, what mental illnesses are caused by cyberbullying, and present statistics that, hopefully, motivate people to begin to combat this issue. Over …

Determination Of Cannabinoids, Cathinones, And Synthetic Fentanyls Using Wastewater-Based Epidemiology, Catherine O'Rourke, Bikram Subedi

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Unregulated new psychoactive substances (NPS) in “pure” or “preparation” forms are designed to mimic the effects of controlled substances, and are introduced and reintroduced in the market as a cheap substitute for established regulated drugs in quick succession to loophole the law enforcement efforts on combating drugs. For example, carfentanil, a synthetic opioid activates the opioid receptors similar to morphine but it is astoundingly potent compared to a typical drug of abuse (100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more powerful than morphine). Based on the cost- and time-intensive forensic analysis, National Drug Early Warning System reported the …