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Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

The Importance Of Course Offerings On The Topic Of Environmental Sustainability At The University Of Rhode Island, Sarah Kane

Senior Honors Projects

For my project, I created a survey for University of Rhode Island students’ exploring their experiences and interest in course offerings on sustainability.  I am distributing it to students through different mediums such as email, Facebook and in person. Through my analysis of the results, I am seeking some evidence about whether or not students at this institute feel that our school offers enough courses on this topic and whether or not students are interested in taking courses on this topic.

As a business major, I have taken several courses where we learned about surveying and analysis of the results. …

Effectiveness Of The Uri Senior Nutrition Awareness Project (Snap) Nutrition Education Programs With Older Rhode Islanders, Brittany L. Loriquet

Senior Honors Projects

SNAP is a federally-funded, free community nutrition program administered through the RI Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—Education (SNAP-Ed), housed in the URI Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. SNAP targets low-income older adults throughout Rhode Island, educating about 250 individuals each month. A monthly topic of current interest is addressed using an appropriate newsletter, recipe, and interactive component that are delivered at various senior centers and other venues.

As the SNAP undergraduate program assistant since September 2009, I have had the opportunity to create nutrition education materials and to assist in the delivery of community nutrition programming to low-income older adults. …

Cultural Competency: A Student's Examination Of Haiti, Heidi Dotson

Senior Honors Projects

Cultural Competency: A Student’s Examination of Haiti

Heidi Dotson

Faculty Sponsor: Gail Faris, Women’s Center

On January 12, 2010 the world watched as a 7.0 milliwatt earthquake brought Haiti to her knees. It did not take long before the international community had arrived to help Haiti rise from the rubble. On October 21, 2010 the Center for Disease Control confirmed a cholera epidemic in Haiti. One year after the earthquake, only five percent of the rubble had been cleared, and more than one million Haitians were living as refugees in “temporary” tents. Watching all of this from my “temporary” beach …

Associations Between Diet Quality And Perceived Quality Of Life In Overweight And Obese Older Adults, Klara Zolotnitskaya

Senior Honors Projects

Objective: To determine whether an association between health related quality of life (HRQOL) and dietary quality exists in overweight [body mass index (BMI) 25-29.9 kg/m²] and obese (BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m²) older adults.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Participants and Setting: One-hundred and nine overweight and obese older adults, 20 male and 89 female, ages 55-80 years from four Rhode Island senior centers. Participants were recruited from two urban senior centers, one in Warwick and one in Cranston, and two rural senior centers, one in North Kingstown and one in South Kingstown.

Measurements: Anthropometrics (height, weight, waist …

Monitoring And Prevalence Rates Of Metabolic Syndrome In Military Veterans With Serious Mental Illness, Sameed Ahmed M. Khatana, Kane, Tracey H. Taveira, Mark S. Bauer, Wen-Chih Wu

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Background:

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality among patients with serious mental illness (SMI) and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome—a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors—is significantly higher in these patients than in the general population. Metabolic monitoring among patients using second generation antipsychotics (SGAs)—a risk factor for metabolic syndrome—has been shown to be inadequate despite the release of several guidelines. However, patients with SMI have several factors independent of medication use that predispose them to a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Our study therefore examines monitoring and prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with SMI, including those …

Division Of Research And Economic Development Annual Report For Fy2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

Annual report for the Division of Research and Economic Development of the University of Rhode Island for the year 2010-2011.

Includes statistics of project proposals, expenditures, URI Foundation Awards, previous annual report summaries and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For February 2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For March 2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For January 2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For April-May 2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For December 2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For October-November 2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For July-September 2011, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

A Mass Balance Approach To Identify And Compare Differential Routing Of 13C-Labeled Carbohydrates, Lipids, And Proteins In Vivo, Marshall D. Mccue, Adam Smith, Richard Mckinney, Boris Rewald, Berry Pinshow, Scott R. Mcwilliams

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

All animals route assimilated nutrients to their tissues where they are used to support growth or are oxidized for energy. These nutrients are probably not allocated homogeneously among the various tissue and are more likely to be preferentially routed toward some tissues and away from others. Here we introduce an approach that allows researchers to identify and compare nutrient routing among different organs and tissues. We tested this approach by examining nutrient routing in birds. House sparrows Passer domesticus were fed a meal supplemented with one of seven ¹³C-labeled metabolic tracers representing three major classes of macronutrients, namely, carbohydrates, …

Maintaining Exercise And Healthful Eating In Older Adults: The Senior Project Ii: Study Design And Methodology, Phillip G. Clark, Bryan J. Blissmer, Geoffrey W. Greene, Faith D. Lees, Deborah A. Riebe, Karen E. Stamm

Nutrition Faculty Publications

The Study of Exercise and Nutrition in Older Rhode Islanders (SENIOR) Project II is an intervention study to promote the maintenance of both exercise and healthful eating in older adults. It is the second phase of an earlier study, SENIOR Project I, that originally recruited 1277 community-dwelling older adults to participate in behavior-specific interventions designed to increase exercise and/or fruit and vegetable consumption. The general theoretical framework for this research is the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of Health Behavior Change.

The current intervention occurs over a 48-month period, using a manual, newsletters, and phone coaching calls. Annual assessments collect standardized data …

Surfo Technical Report No. 11-01, Surfo

SURFO Technical Reports

The 2011 technical reports written by undergraduate students participating in the SURFO (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Oceanography) Program while at the University of Rhode Island.

Research & Innovation For 2010-2011, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The 2010-2011 issue of Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

Baseline Stage, Severity, And Effort Effects Differentiate Stable Smokers From Maintainers And Relapsers, Colleen A. Redding, James O. Prochaska, Andrea L. Paiva, Joseph S. Rossi, Wayne F. Velicer, Bryan J. Blissmer, Geoffrey W. Greene, Mark L. Robbins, Xiaowu Sun

Cancer Prevention Research Center Faculty Publications

This cross-sectional study (N = 4,144) compared three longitudinal dynatypes (Maintainers, Relapsers, and Stable Smokers) of smokers on baseline demographics, stage, addiction severity, and transtheoretical model effort effect variables. There were significant small-to-medium-sized differences between the Stable Smokers and the other two groups on stage, severity, and effort effect variables in both treatment and control groups. There were few significant, very small differences on baseline effort variables between Maintainers and Relapsers in the control, but not the treatment group. The ability to identify Stable Smokers at baseline could permit enhanced tailored treatments that could improve population cessation rates.

Anaerobic Respiration Of Escherichia Coli In The Mouse Intestine, Shari A. Jones, Terri Gibson, Rosalie C. Maltby, Fatema Z. Chowdhury, Valley Stewart, Paul S. Cohen, Tyrrell Conway

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

The intestine is inhabited by a large microbial community consisting primarily of anaerobes and, to a lesser extent, facultative anaerobes, such as Escherichia coli, which we have shown requires aerobic respiration to compete successfully in the mouse intestine (S. A. Jones et al., Infect. Immun. 75:4891-4899, 2007). If facultative anaerobes efficiently lower oxygen availability in the intestine, then their sustained growth must also depend on anaerobic metabolism. In support of this idea, mutants lacking nitrate reductase or fumarate reductase have extreme colonization defects. Here, we further explore the role of anaerobic respiration in colonization using the streptomycin-treated mouse model. We …

Genotype And Phenotypes Of An Intestine-Adapted Escherichia Coli K-12 Mutant Selected By Animal Passage For Superior Colonization, Andrew J. Fabich, Mary P. Leatham, Joe E. Grissom, Graham Wiley, Hongshing Lai, Fares Najar, Bruce A. Roe, Paul S. Cohen, Tyrrell Conway

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

We previously isolated a spontaneous mutant of Escherichia coli K-12, strain MG1655, following passage through the streptomycin-treated mouse intestine, that has colonization traits superior to the wild-type parent strain (M. P. Leatham et al., Infect. Immun. 73:8039–8049, 2005). This intestine-adapted strain (E. coli MG1655*) grew faster on several different carbon sources than the wild type and was nonmotile due to deletion of the flhD gene. We now report the results of several high-throughput genomic analysis approaches to further characterize E. coli MG1655*. Whole-genome pyrosequencing did not reveal any changes on its genome, aside from the deletion at the flhDC …

Impact Of An Interdisciplinary Practice Laboratory On Pharmacy And Nursing Students’ Perceptions Of Health Care Roles, Celia P. Macdonnell, Anita Jackson Derreza, Mary D. Lavin, Steven A. Cohen, Lisa Cohen

College of Nursing Faculty Publications

Objectives: To evaluate healthcare students' perceptions of an introductory interprofessional exercise and their team dynamics.

Design: A workshop was developed, combining second-year medical students, fourth-year nursing students, and third-year pharmacy students to work as an interdisciplinary team. The teams alternated between working together on patient cases focusing on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, and on the evaluation of standardized pneumonia patients. Teams were given the patients' health information and no other instructions. A faculty member and the standardized patient evaluated the students using a teamwork global rating scale.

Assessment: Student survey results showed a positive response …

The Use Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids In Mental Illness, Jessica L. Gören, T. Tewksbury

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Purpose: This article will summarize the current evidence on the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on prevention and treatment of mental illness. Background: Omega-3 fatty acids are involved in many physiologic processes. Since they cannot be made de novo in the body, they are considered essential nutrients. As the Western diet evolved, dietary intake of fatty acids has shifted to increased omega-6 fatty acids and decreased omega-3 fatty acids intake. These changes have been correlated with numerous differences in prevalence and course of mental illnesses. Methods: A MEDLINE search from 1966 to December 2010 was completed to …

Uri Undergraduate And Graduate Course Catalog 2011-2012, University Of Rhode Island

URI Course Catalogs Archive

This is a digitized, downloadable version of the University of Rhode Island course catalog.

Healthism And The Bodies Of Women: Pleasure And Discipline In The War Against Obesity, Talia L. Welsh

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This paper explores how the discipline required for good health influences female embodiment. It examines the justification in the United States for a war against obesity and the criticism of that war made by Health at Every Size (HAES) proponents. It finds that a "good-health imperative" operates within both the fight against obesity and the size-acceptance movement. I question how such an imperative curtails the range of possibilities for pleasure. The self-monitoring required in eating and exercising for health demands a constant reading of one's behavior as good/healthy or bad/unhealthy. In addition, attention to health achieved through behavior modification draws …

Validation Study Of A Behavioral Based Instrument For Dietary Fat Consumption, Hisanori Kobayashi

Open Access Master's Theses

This study aimed to validate the dietary behavior questionnaire (DBQ) developed by a group of researchers from several different fields including nutrition, nursing and psychology (Rossi et al, 2008) adapted from the work of Kristal and colleagues (Kristal et al, 1990). The new instrument was designed to measure the behavior of dietary fat intake and involved 22 items with 4 theoretical constructs: Substitute, Moderate fat intake, Modify cooking, and Increase healthful foods. This study utilized multiple psychometric techniques including PCA, CF A, factorial invariance comparison (multi-group CFA), MANOVA and ANOVA using data from Rhode Island parents of high school students. …

Variability In Biomass Decay Rates And Nutrient Loss In Bloom-Forming Macroalgal Species, Jessica Elizabeth Conover

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis is comprised of one manuscript. A summary of the manuscript follows: Decaying macroalgae release nitrogen and other nutrients into the surrounding marine environment, providing nutrients for future generations of primary producers, as well as fueling a complex web of decomposer microorganisms. There are relatively few studies that examine macroalgal decomposition rates in areas impacted by macroalgal blooms, although fast-growing macroalgal bloom species typically decay more quickly than slow-growing perennial species. We studied whole tissue, organic content, and nutrient decay rates for five macroalgal species in Narragansett Bay, RI in the summer of 2010 using an intertidal litterbag design; …

Eating Rate, Fasting Ghrelin Concentrations And Weight Status In Female College Students At The University Of Rhode Island, Stephanie E. Perruzza

Open Access Master's Theses

Obesity is a preventable cause of morbidity and mortality and affects over one-third of the American adult population. Eating rate and ghrelin concentrations are two variables that may play a role in obesity. An ancillary study of female college students examined the differences in eating rate (grams/second) and fasting plasma ghrelin concentrations (pg/mL) between weight status categories (normal weight body mass index (BMI) = 18.5-24.9 kg/m², overweight BMI = 25-29.9 kg/m² and obese BMI 30 kg/m²). Anthropometrics, clinical (blood pressure), and biochemical (glucose and ghrelin) data were assessed. Dietary information was obtained from three non-consecutive …

Effects Of A Resistance Training And Dietary Intervention On Body Composition In Overweight And Obese Community Dwelling Older Adults, Leah Dorfman

Open Access Master's Theses

Background: Community-based interventions that incorporate resistance training and dietary changes have not been extensively studied in overweight and obese older adults. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of a combined community-based resistance training and dietary intervention on body composition in overweight and obese older adults.

Methods: Ninety-five overweight and obese (BMI = 33.4 ± 4.0 kg/m²) older adults aged (69.2 ± 6.2) years completed an eight-week resistance training and dietary intervention at four Rhode Island senior centers. Participants performed resistance training twice per week using resistance tubing, dumbbells, and ankle weights. Participants …