Digital Commons Network^™

A Quality Improvement Initiative To Improve Nurse Reassessment And Documentation Of Administered Prn Pain Medication, Stacy L. Brady

DNP Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: Effective pain management remains a critical challenge both globally and with the United States, where more than 51 million adults suffer from pain. Veterans are particularly vulnerable due to the lasting impact of service-related injuries. “Pro re nata” (PRN or “as needed”) pain medications are frequently used to manage pain, but timely reassessment and documentation following a PRN pain medication administered is often missed or delayed. Reassessing and documenting the results after the administration of the PRN pain medication is required by The Joint Commission and the Veterans Affairs Providence Healthcare System’s (VAPHS) standard operating procedure (SOP) states reassessment …

Skills Evaluation Of Adjunct Nursing Faculty: A Quality Improvement Project, Ada Dimino Luong

DNP Scholarly Projects

Abstract

BACKGROUND: With rising student enrollment, colleges and universities are relying more on adjunct clinical nursing faculty as Clinical Nurse Educators (CNEs). Recruiting and retaining qualified CNEs is essential to high-quality clinical education. Although clinically proficient, CNEs may face challenges with teaching methods, instructional strategies, and formative feedback. This quality improvement (QI) project evaluated CNE’s competencies and developed a sustainable multimedia educational tool to enhance feedback skills in clinical education.

METHODS: The Academic Clinical Nurse Educator Skill Acquisition Tool (ACNESAT), a validated 40-item Likert-scale instrument created by Shellenbarger and Sebach, was used to assess CNE competencies. Pre and post intervention …

Development Of An Educational Toolkit For Washington State Nursing Professionals Regarding Climate-Related Impacts On Health, Margaret "Maggie" Pinson

DNP Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: Most healthcare professionals (HCPs) know that climate change poses a serious threat to human health, but few physicians and nurses actually discuss climate-related impacts on health with their patients. This knowledge-practice gap poses a risk to patient safety.

PROBLEM: Patients who are unaware of environmental threats to health may develop new illnesses, experience unnecessary exacerbations of underlying health problems and may die.

METHODS: A quality improvement intervention that addressed the educational needs of HCPs as described in the literature was developed and hosted on an online survey platform.

INTERVENTION: Preintervention survey questions captured baseline attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge. The …

Microstructural Changes, Damage Evolution And Failure Of Hcp Metals Titanium And Magnesium, Nicholas Mark Pitkin

Master's Theses and Capstones

This work presents three experimental investigations analyzing the microstructural evolution, void nucleation and growth, and failure in titanium and magnesium. The first study compares the void nucleation and growth of Grade 2 and Grade 4 commercially pure titanium during monotonic tensile testing and cyclic-bending-under-tension. Voids were characterized by X-ray computed tomography (XCT). It was shown that CBT (cyclic bending under tension) did not suppress the growth in void volume but allowed for further plastic deformation despite it. The second study investigates the relationship between microstructural evolution and void accumulation in high-purity titanium during interrupted tensile testing. The initial microstructure of …

A Care Expansion Initiative: Providing Awareness And Access To Resources For Patients With Celiac Disease: A Quality Improvement Project, Jennifer Kumin

DNP Scholarly Projects

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is projected to be the most common genetic autoimmune disease in the world with 1% or 3 million people effected in the United States. It is estimated that as many as 70% of those effected are not aware. Diagnosis routinely takes 10-12 years from the initial onset of symptoms, exposing patients and the healthcare system to significant cost and stress through excess testing and misdiagnosis. One area that is often referenced in barriers around celiac disease is the lack of awareness and education specifically with patients, healthcare providers, and the community at large.

Methods: In this …

Design And Implementation Of A Nursing Peer Practice Case Review Program In An Academic Surgical/Trauma Icu, Natalie Tredway

DNP Scholarly Projects

Background: Peer review has been in use in healthcare for many years, primary by physicians. Recently, however, nursing has adopted a framework for peer review within the profession. According to the American Nurses Association (admin, 2011), organizations are required to maintain a systematic peer review process aimed at evaluating nursing care and nursing care providers to obtain/maintain Magnet designation. According to Foster (2015) nursing peer review (NPR) is “process by which practicing registered nurses systematically assess, monitor, and make judgments about the quality of nursing care provided by peers as measured against professional standards of practice”. The focus is on …

The Forms Of Representation: How To Be A Kantian Realist, Willem A. Devries

Faculty Publications

Sellars argued that Kant did not make certain distinctions concerning space and time, and because of this adopted his transcendental idealism. Once these distinctions are made, the path to realism remains open. Sellars' argument is not entirely clear. This essay attempts to clarify the argument, showing why Sellars believed he could remain a scientific realist while also adopting a Kantian style epistemology.

Good Forestry In The Granite State: Glossary, Cooperative Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

2025-26 Nh 4-H Ambassador Application, Kristen Lyons

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Directing Patient Hand Hygiene Before Meals In The Icu: A Quality Improvement Project To Enhance Patient Safety, Nicholas Davini

Master's Theses and Capstones

BACKGROUND:

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a major problem in healthcare, increasing patient morbidity, mortality, and costs. While staff hand hygiene is a well-established infection control measure, less attention is paid to patient hand hygiene (PHH) despite CDC recommendations.

LOCAL PROBLEM:

An intensive care unit (ICU) in northeastern Massachusetts had no formal policy for patient hand hygiene, and hospital leadership expressed support for enhancing infection control practices.

METHODS:

Using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model, a quality improvement project was implemented to encourage PHH before meals. Baseline PHH rates were collected through observation. The intervention involved registered nurses (RNs) directing patients to use hand …

Phosphodiesterases (Pdes) As Potential Targets For Disrupting The Life Cycle Of Nematodes Using Molecular And Chemical Agents, Kranti Galande

Doctoral Dissertations

There are nearly 4,100 species of plant-parasitic nematodes that pose a serious threat toglobal food security, and it is estimated that about $100 billion of crops are damaged annually due to these plant parasitic nematodes. Also, animal-parasitic nematodes pose a major global health challenge, impacting approximately 3.5 billion individuals annually, particularly in tropical and developing areas. PDEs are significant determinants of cellular levels of cyclic nucleotides because the process of lowering active intracellular cyclic nucleotide second messengers (cAMP and cGMP) in cells is mediated through PDEs. Nematode behavior and lifecycle depend on cyclic nucleotide signaling. However, at present, there is …

Hit Me, Baby, One More Time: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Celebrity Gossip Magazine Shaming Of Britney Spears, Anna Drabik

Comm-entary

Britney Spears is an American pop star who rose to fame in the late 1990s at the age of 17 with her music, performances, and fashion. Spears was a prominent figure.

in celebrity gossip magazines, a genre which grew to prominence alongside and, in many ways, because of Spears. The distinct aesthetic and style of celebrity gossip magazines involved stories, blurbs, and images which wielded praise and shame—directly and indirectly—as tools to enforce norms and expectations for both female celebrities and female readers. Through a critical discourse analysis of 378 People and Us articles throughout the first ten years of …

The Pussyhat And Performative Activism: What Happens When Protest Becomes Fashionable?, Layla Hanissian

Comm-entary

No abstract provided.

Organic Alkalinity Distributions, Characteristics, And Application To Carbonate System Calculations In Estuarine And Coastal Systems, Christopher W. Hunt, Joseph Salisbury, Xuewu Liu, Robert H. Byrne

Faculty Publications

The capacity of aquatic systems to buffer acidification depends on the sum contributions of various chemical species to total alkalinity (TA). Major TA contributors are inorganic, with carbonate and bicarbonate considered the most important. However, growing evidence shows that many rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters contain dissolved organic molecules with charge sites that create organic alkalinity (OrgAlk). This study describes the first comparison of (1) OrgAlk distributions and (2) acid–base properties in contrasting estuary-plume systems: the Pleasant (Maine, USA) and the St. John (New Brunswick, CA). The substantial concentrations of OrgAlk in each estuary were sometimes not conservative with salinity …

Denmark’S Depth Model Version 2.0 – Improved Compilation Of Bathymetric Data Within The Danish Waters, Giuseppe Masetti, Philip Sigaard Granding, Kasper Langdahl, Lasse M. Schwenger, Kristian V. Kristmar

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Denmark’s Depth Model version 2.0 (DDM v2.0) is the latest iteration of a Digital Bathymetric Model (DBM) for Danish waters, offering a grid resolution of 50 meters. The compilation integrates hundreds of survey datasets, including both modern and historical sources, as well as satellite-derived and crowdsourced bathymetric data. The model is referenced to Mean Sea Level (MSL) datum and – due to the adopted compilation process – is not designed for safety of navigation. DDM v2.0 is accessible through the Danish Geodata Agency's website and constitutes a significant contribution to the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) Bathymetry initiative.

Supplemental Security Income (Ssi) Receipt And Access To Homeownership For People With Disabilities, Megan Henly

Institute on Disability

People with disabilities disproportionately face barriers to homeownership, many of which are associated with costs. One related, but unexplored barrier to homeownership in the United States (U.S.) is the role of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) policy. SSI is a means-tested federal program in the U.S. that provides monthly income to those who are blind or disabled. Recipients may not own assets totaling more than USD 2000 (or 3000 per married couple). While homes are excluded from this assessment, the strict cap on savings generally means that SSI recipients who do not already own a home when they begin to receive …

The Nature Of Students' Justifications In Geometry: The Impact Of Using Dynamic Geometry Software, Anek Janjaroon

Doctoral Dissertations

Mathematical justification is a process that reflects how students demonstrate and accept the truth of mathematical statements. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of students’ justifications when allowed to use dynamic geometry software in the justification process. The justifications of 18 preservice teachers in response to two geometric conjectures were analyzed to identify characteristics of justifications based on Harel and Sowder’s (1998) framework of proof schemes. The results inform us of the impact of the dynamic software in students’ justifications and the overall nature of students’ work when they use the software to learn geometric ideas. …

12-Year Full Solar Cycle Maps Of Interstellar Neutral Atoms By Ibex-Lo And The Observation Of Elastic Scattering Of Primary Helium By Solar Wind Particles, Hafijul Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is playing a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of the interaction between the very local interstellar medium (VLISM) and the heliosphere. By sampling interstellar neutral (ISN) atoms and energetic neutral atoms (ENA), IBEX has provided over 15 years of continuous data over a range of energy from 15 eV to 6 keV, offering an invaluable opportunity to study these interactions across various phases of solar activity. The IBEX-Lo instrument, which detects lower-energy ISNs, has been particularly useful in exploring the properties of hydrogen and helium in the interstellar medium, as well as their …

A Physics-Based Material Model Incorporating Strain Gradient Plasticity Formulations In A Mean-Field Framework To Predict Spatial Fluctuation Of Material Properties, Zhangxi Feng

Doctoral Dissertations

With the market expansions and increasing number of scientific explorations, the demands for manufacturing metallic parts to satisfy specific requirements continue to increase. A slight improvement in the manufacturing process can result in great cost savings in time and energy. The research and development time to identify these areas of improvements can be greatly reduced using numerical models. One such model is the mean-field elastoplastic self-consistent (EPSC) framework studied extensively and advanced in this dissertation. In the past two decades, many material behavior formulations were implemented in EPSC, and the model has shown versatility and accuracy in predicting a wide …

Artificial Intelligence Driven Magnetic Materials Discovery: From Data Extraction To Property Prediction, Yibo Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents an integrated artificial intelligence framework aimed at accelerating magnetic materials discovery by addressing key challenges in materials science: improving experimental characterization techniques, efficiently extracting structured data from scientific literature, developing comprehensive materials databases, and creating reliable predictive models.

We first develop a UNet-enhanced vector field electron tomography (VFET) approach for three-dimensional magnetic structure reconstruction. This method addresses the missing wedge problem in experimental data collection while maintaining computational efficiency, providing reliable experimental data crucial for materials research.

We introduce GPTArticleExtractor, a novel workflow leveraging large language models to automatically extract key information from scientific literature. Applied to …

Plasticity Characterization Of Sheet Metals Using Torsional In-Plane Shear Testing, Matthew Eaton

Master's Theses and Capstones

In the field of sheet metal forming, it is important to accurately model the plastic stress-strain behavior of materials for use in simulations. Various tests are performed to characterize the plastic behavior, such as plastic anisotropy and strain hardening, which is used to identify material parameters of constitutive models. Shear testing in particular is an area of increasing interest in metal forming applications due to significantly larger strain level compared to uniaxial tension. This thesis aims to design a torsional in-plane shear testing fixture, to characterize the strain hardening and plastic anisotropy in shear for DDQ and DP980 steel sheets, …

Synthesis And Testing Of Peptide Iron Probes In Cell Studies, Fran Gomez

Master's Theses and Capstones

The study of iron within cells has advanced significantly since the Fenton reaction was proposed as a mechanism for ferroptosis. Various chemical probes have been developed for examining iron and reactive oxygen species (ROS), both of which are involved in the Fenton reaction. Iron, the most abundant transition metal in the human body, primarily exists as Fe(II) and Fe(III) in the cellular environment. The labile iron pool (LIP) is suspected to predominantly exist as Fe(II) due to endogenous reductants. Under ferroptotic conditions, Fe(III) produced in the Fenton reaction can be reduced back to Fe(II), even when chelated, re-inducing hydroxyl radical …

The Suppression Of Ocean Waves By Biogenic Slicks, Nathan J. M. Laxague, Christopher Zappa, Shantanu Soumya, Oliver Wurl

Faculty Publications

Surface waves are significantly damped by biogenic surfactants which accumulate at the ocean's surface from the high latitudes to the tropics. The growth, development, and breaking of short wind-driven surface waves is a key mediator of the air-sea exchange of momentum, heat, and trace gases consequently, the effect of surfactant compounds in the uppermost millimeters of the ocean in damping short surface waves bears on earth's climatic processes. The mechanisms through which surfactants suppress waves have been studied in great detail through careful laboratory experimentation in quasi one-dimensional wave tanks. However, the spatial scales over which this damping occurs in …

From "Open Ocean" To "Exposed Aquaculture": Why And How We Are Changing The Standard Terminology Describing "Offshore Aquaculture", Tyler Sclodnick, Michael Chambers, Barry Antonio Costa-Pierce, Tobias Dewhurst, Nils Goseberg, Kevin Gerald Heasman, Wolf Isbert, Gesche Krause, Daniel Wieczorek, Till Markus, Bela H. Buck

Faculty Publications

The term “offshore” with regards to aquaculture has hitherto encompassed various perspectives, including technology, geographic location, legal jurisdiction, and more. To resolve the ambiguity in this term and understand its implications for current and future aquaculture development, “offshore” should be resolved into two separate metrics: distance from shore and energy exposure. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) distinguishes between internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the high seas, but currently has no precise definition for “offshore” in its provisions, and therefore no applicable laws pertaining to “offshore” aquaculture. Regulating a …

From "Open Ocean" To "Exposed Aquaculture": Why And How We Are Changing The Standard Terminology Describing "Offshore Aquaculture", Tyler Sclodnick, Michael Chambers, Barry Antonio Costa-Pierce, Tobias Dewhurst, Nils Goseberg, Kevin Gerald Heasman, Wolf Isbert, Gesche Krause, Daniel Wieczorek, Till Markus, Bela H. Buck

Faculty Publications

The term “offshore” with regards to aquaculture has hitherto encompassed various perspectives, including technology, geographic location, legal jurisdiction, and more. To resolve the ambiguity in this term and understand its implications for current and future aquaculture development, “offshore” should be resolved into two separate metrics: distance from shore and energy exposure. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) distinguishes between internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the high seas, but currently has no precise definition for “offshore” in its provisions, and therefore no applicable laws pertaining to “offshore” aquaculture. Regulating a …

Master Narratives Surrounding Rural Emerging Adult Migration: Resources For Postsecondary Decision-Making In Rural Communities, Cindy Hartman, Jayson Seaman, Andrew D. Coppens, Erin H. Sharp, Sarah Jusseaume

Faculty Publications

This study examined the cultural messages informing postsecondary decision-making processes surrounding emerging adult migration from/to a predominately rural state in the northeastern U.S. Utilizing an ecological approach to sampling, this study used 27 interviews and 5 focus groups of stakeholders working in educational, employment, and quality of life sectors. Narrative analysis yielded evidence of a predominant master narrative of migration as a developmental requirement during emerging adulthood. Stakeholders spoke of normative and prescriptive expectations that emerging adults particularly in rural areas orient their plans and decision-making around, including leaving their home communities for developmental reasons. Implications for emerging adult development …

Office Of Research, Economic Engagement And Outreach Update, November 6, 2024, Office Of Research, Economic Engagement And Outreach

Office of Research, Economic Engagement and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Ayotte Holds Small Lead Over Craig In Nh Governor Race; Pappas & Goodlander Lead Races For Congress 11/3/2024, Unh Survey Center

All UNH Survey Center Polls

Republican Kelly Ayotte holds a slight lead over Democrat Joyce Craig in the race for governor of New Hampshire. Ayotte has consolidated support within her party and holds a twenty percentage point lead among Independents. In New Hampshire's Second Congressional District, Democrat Maggie Goodlander leads Republican Lily Tang Williams in the race to succeed outgoing Representative Ann Kuster, while Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas leads Republican Russell Prescott in his bid for a fourth term. Likely voters have only modest familiarity with a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot raising the required judicial retirement age in the state and more than …

Whitehouse Leads Morgan In Rhode Island Senate Race; Voters Likely To Reject Constitutional Convention 11/3/2024, Unh Survey Center

All UNH Survey Center Polls

Democratic incumbent Sheldon Whitehouse leads his Republican opponent, Patricia Morgan, by double-digits in the race for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island. Whitehouse holds a very large lead among women in the state while Morgan holds a smaller lead among men. Three-quarters of likely voters expect Whitehouse to win the contest. Rhode Islanders appear ready to reject their latest decennial opportunity to hold a constitutional convention, as momentum has swung against it in the past month. Democrats generally oppose such a convention while Independents and Republicans are divided on the issue.

Oyster Grower Perspectives On Green Crab (Carcinus Maenas) Interactions: Using Applied Social Science To Inform Research And Engagement, Kelsey Meyer-Rust, Lindsey Williams, Krystin Ward, Bonnie Brown

Faculty Publications

Research that informs the New Hampshire Aquaculture industry, which has grown significantly over the past few years, and helps the overall associated watershed community to keep Great Bay Estuary healthy is vital. Specific study of green crabs, Carcinus maenas, and their potential effects on oysters, Crassostrea virginica, is important to gain a better understanding of the impact invasive species may have on these ecologically and economically important bivalves. The aim of this study was to document and understand New Hampshire (NH) oyster growers’ perspectives on the issue of green crab predation of oysters. Through a survey, this study documented a …