Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Affecting Treatment Program Development In A Mental Health Facility Serving Prisoners, Ruby Miranda Meriweather

Dissertations

There is a paucity of literature on how treatment programs for mentally ill prisoners are developed. Federal mandates require that services to mentally ill prisoners be comparable to what is offered in the community. Planners, therefore, must find ways to provide treatment programs that produce that outcome.

This research identified the most important factors that affect treatment program development and implementation to aid planners in designing treatment programs for mentally ill prisoners. This qualitative study, based on grounded theory, used a structured interview with 61 mental health staff (psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and activity therapists) across three categories (Administrative, …

Changes In Glial Cell Line Derived Neurotrophic Factor And Nerve Growth Factor Expression With Development, Age, Exercise And Hypertension, Bertha C. Rebimbas-Cohen

Dissertations

Neurotrophic factors are important for neuronal growth, survival, and maintenance of cell phenotype. Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) affects sensory, autonomic and somatic motor neurons and nerve growth factor (NGF) affects sensory and sympathetic neurons. NGF and GDNF are produced by cardiac muscle and have potent effects on sensory and autonomic neuronal innervation of blood vessels. Neural innervation plays a key role in blood vessel function. Since neural innervation of blood vessels may be regulated by growth factors, we wanted to determine what changes would occur to NGF and GDNF levels with maturity, exercise and hypertension.

Changes in GDNF …

Reconciling Temporalities: A Substantive Explanation Of The Origins Of Difficulty In The Nurse Patient Encounter, Marilyn Theresa Macdonald Phd

Dissertations

Nurses describe patients as difficult on a regular basis. Nursing research to date has assumed the existence of this phenomenon. Most studies have listed descriptors of the difficult patient and offered interventions for nurses to use to alter patient behavior. Locating of difficulty within the individual and failure to consider the context of the nurse patient encounter is problematic. The practice of locating difficulty in the individual absolves organizations and society of responsibility to work to change factors that contribute to the construction of difficulty. The purpose of this research was to move beyond a focus on the patient as …

Impact Of Standards On Physical Education Teacher Education: Curriculum, Collaboration, And Learning Outcomes, Xiangren Yi

Dissertations

Standards are sweeping across the physical education teacher education field. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether national standards had influenced a change of curriculum, and whether curriculum changes were related to standards, individual or institutional variables. The analysis will also identify whether there are any individual and institutional characteristics that are significant predictors for determining curriculum. This study's targeted participants are a random sample of 110 program directors working in institutions that have a Physical Education Teacher Education program.

Differences were found to exist in directors' perceptions regarding curriculum. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA analysis demonstrated the impact …

Think First For Kids (Tffk): A Longitudinal Analysis Of A School-Based Injury Prevention Curriculum, Dorothy L. Zirkle Phd

Dissertations

Despite years of legislative and public health efforts, unintentional injury continues to be a serious public health problem and is identified as a major priority on the national health care agenda. The high incidence of unintentional injury in the middle childhood age group is of particular interest due to immaturity of the cognitive, psychosocial, and neurophysical dimensions of the child. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a school-based curriculum on improving knowledge and self-reported safety behaviors over time among ethnically and socioeconomically diverse elementary school aged children. The social, cultural, cognitive, and behavioral learning theory …

Collaboration Through Partnerships: A Review Of Six Michigan Communities, Cheryl Kay Sibilsky-Soule

Dissertations

The federal government supports the use of collaborative service planning for many federally funded programs. While there are anecdotal studies supporting community collaboration, its use has not been adequately evaluated. This study provides exploratory information regarding the relationship between successful collaboration and outcomes for children and families.

Data were collected from six Michigan communities using a survey tool sent to all members of the six community Family Coordinating Councils. The tool was designed to measure eight factors seen in successful collaboration. The respondents evaluated their own collaborative council on these eight factors.

Three of the communities were thought to be …

The Glucose And Insulin Responsiveness Of The Rat Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Promoter, Daryl Arkwright-Keeler

Dissertations

The regulation of expression of some enzymes involved in glucose homeostasis and fat metabolism requires both insulin and glucose to elicit an effect, while the regulation of others requires only one. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), an important enzyme involved in glucose homeostasis, has been shown to be transcriptionally regulated by carbohydrate feeding in rat liver, a diet regime that increases the levels of both glucose and insulin. Our lab had previously shown that insulin induces expression of G6PDH, thus we wanted to determine if glucose also induced G6PDH expression and if so, are the glucose and insulin responses mediated through identical …

Negotiation Of Software Requirements In An Asynchronous Collaborative Environment, Catherine Lowry Campbell

Dissertations

The effect of task structure and negotiation sequence on collaborative software requirements negotiation is investigated. This work began with an extensive literature review that focused on current research in collaborative software engineering and, in particular, on the negotiation of software requirements and the requisite collaboration for the development of such requirements. A formal detailed experiment was then conducted to evaluate the effects of negotiation sequence and task structure in an asynchronous group meeting environment. The experiment tested the impact of these structures on groups negotiating the requirements for an emergency response information system. The results reported here show that these …

Development And Application Of Fractionation Procedure For Drinking Water Organic Matters, Yong Pu

Dissertations

USEPA mandates a control of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in finished drinking water and recommends reduction of natural organic matters (NOM), DBP precursors, to achieve this regulatory goal. Studies relating NOM with DBP include fractionation of water samples, characterization of collected organic fractions, fractions' formation potential tests, and jar or similar tests to remove NOM. This study discussed a current resin fractionation procedure on principle, procedure, and its efficiency when applied to water samples of low NOM (< 5mgIL). The primary objective of this research is to develop a fractionation procedure intended for water of low NOM by carefully applying mass balance concept through each fraction's fractionation and a selection of stable ion exchange resins. A new protocol was presented with triple columns of XAD-8 adsorption resin, one column of AG-MP-50 cationic resin, and another column of WA 10 weak anionic resin in sequence. This protocol was experimented and confirmed for its efficiency (±10% loss of mass) with samples from Canal Road (CR) and Raritan Millstone (RM) surface water treatment plants (WTPs) in central New Jersey. The second objective of this study is to develop a statistical model with a potential of online delineation of organic fractions of NOM. The resulting model based on samples of Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC) WTP in northern New Jersey was applied to predict organic fractions of samples from CR and RM plants. Paired T-test (paired t ratio 1.15 < t critical 2.02) indicated a good correlation between the predicted and actual fraction concentration. Finally, samples of Middlesex Water Company (MWC) were fractionated and Trihalomethane formation potential tests (THMFP) on collected fraction showed hydrophilic matters possessed a higher potential to produce TTHM in finished water than hydrophobic matter. Jar tests indicated while coagulation was effective in removing hydrophobic matter, it may not be optimum for removal of hydrophilic matter.

This study developed an accurate fractionation procedure for low NOM waters. It provided a better understanding of organic matter transformation at different treatment …

Narratives Of Adolescent Students: The Integration Of Health And Learning Through Application Of Nursing Theory, Marjean Huber

Dissertations

Problem. There are few resources to show educators how to help students improve learning by improving health and mental well-being. There is a lack of integration in the literature in terms of how practitioners can reach these students in order to help them learn effectively and develop into successful, productive adults with meaningful lives. This study has three major sections. First, I examine my experiences within education to determine what values, truths, and principles mold my practice. Second, I identify my teaching practice in relationship to nursing theory integrating it with learning theory, thus highlighting the relationship between the health …

Demographic Characteristics And Academic Measures As Predictors Of Success On The American Society For Clinical Pathology (Ascp) Medical Technologist Certification Examination, Marcia Ann Kilsby

Dissertations

Purpose. This study was undertaken to address the utility of demographic characteristics and academic measures as predictors of success for the American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Registry Medical Technologist Certification Examination (Certification Examination) Total Score and six Subscores and to find predictive models with relevance to an ethnically and racially-diverse student population.

Method. The research population was the graduates of the Andrews University Program for Clinical Laboratory Sciences. The 233 subjects were from 53 different birth countries. The relationships between Certification Examination scores and both demographic characteristics and academic measures were analyzed by chi square, analysis o f …

Intuitive Decision Making And Leadership Style Among Healthcare Executives In The United States, Cherie Whiting

Dissertations

The purpose of this two-phased, sequential, exploratory, mixed-methods study was to survey a sample of Fellows in the American College of Healthcare Executives in the United States and then interview selected individuals who scored in the highly intuitive category on the intuition survey to explore how they made intuitive decisions. In the first phase, quantitative research questions addressed the relationship between leadership style and the potential to make intuitive decisions, as well as the relationship and interaction between the potential to make intuitive decisions and age, gender, and size of company. In the second phase, qualitative interviews were used to …

Reactions To The Seventh-Day Adventist Evangelical Conferences And Questions On Doctrine 1955-1971, Juhyeok Nam

Dissertations

Topic

The Seventh-day Adventist Evangelical Conferences of 1955-1956 resulted in the publication of articles favorable to Adventists in Eternity and Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine, both of which evoked a variety of reactions among evangelicals and Adventists.

Purpose

This study identifies and analyzes various evangelical and Adventist responses to the Seventh-day Adventist Evangelical Conferences and Questions on Doctrine. In particular, this investigation examines the interaction between the major theological camps that emerged within and outside the Adventist church.

Sources

This research is a documentary/analytical study of materials produced between 1955 and 1971 in reaction to the Seventh-day Adventist …

Perceptions Of Physical Therapy Faculty On The Inclusion Of Spirituality In Physical Therapy Education, Janice C. Pitts

Dissertations

Problem

The physical therapy profession currently does not require the integration of spirituality in patient care in the physical therapy curriculum, and it is unclear how physical therapy faculty and practitioners view its inclusion. There is limited research literature on the integration of spirituality in the field of physical therapy or within its academic environment.

Method

The study utilized standard survey research methodology to gather data relating to spirituality and its inclusion in a physical therapy curriculum. Five participants from each of 101 sampled programs received a survey instrument along with instructions and consent form disseminated through electronic mailing. Data …

Suicide Attempt And Characteristics Of Religiously Affiliated Puerto Rican Adolescents And Young Adults, Saúl Rivera

Dissertations

Problem. Recent research has identified several risk factors associated with attempted suicide among the general population. Puerto Ricans, in general, and Puerto Rican Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs), in particular, may face unique challenges that are related to their familial, social, and religious environment that may affect the suicidal attempts among this group. Therefore, this study examined family-related factors, history of being abused, religiosity factors, sexuality factors, gender, substance abuse, age, and socioeconomic status factors among a sample of religiously affiliated Puerto Ricans (73.2% SDAs) living on the island.

Methodology. The data for the study came from the Avance PR study. Avance …

Aims Of Education In The Writings Of Ellen White, Erling Bernhard Snorrason

Dissertations

Problem. Ellen White’s educational philosophy and its application to the aims of education have not been systematically or thoroughly addressed within the parameters and demands of a graduate thesis. The present dissertation explores the aims of education, especially the ultimate aims of education, in the writings of Ellen G. White, one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and could be of value in assessing the present Seventh-day Adventist educational enterprise.

Method. This dissertation is a description and an analysis of Ellen White’s concept of education as revealed by her understanding of the aims of education. It is a …

Wendell Berry's Sociological Imagination: Agrarian Values And Good Leadership In A Postmodern Culture, Paul Alan Kaak

Dissertations

Problem. The question guiding my dissertation research was: In what ways do the writings of Wendell Berry, reflecting his sociological imagination, address and advance leadership theory with specific regard for the issue of agrarian values?

Method. I used the writings of Wendell Berry as a modified case study for my inductive, theoretical, exploratory research in a qualitative vein. As I reviewed his writings, I identified his moral ideology and extracted his value-set. Along the way, I observed Berry's use of a method promoted by C. Wright Mills in his book The Sociological Imagination (1959). Since sociological imagination finds …

The Nature, Function, And Purpose Of The Term Sheol In The Torah, Prophets, And Writings, Eriks Galenieks

Dissertations

The fact that scholars depict Sheol either as the underworld where the dead continue their existence or simply the grave has resulted in contradictory conclusions, fierce polemic, and unremitting disputes. This lack of consensus makes it imperative to justify another approach, which is more comprehensive in its entirety in comparison with the earlier attempts that sought to determine the meaning of the term Sheol mainly by exploring its etymology and various nonbiblical sources.

Unlike the previous studies, this exegetical research systematically examines all the sixty-six references to the term Sheol in the Hebrew Bible by almost exclusively focusing on its …

Proclamation In Cross-Cultural Context: Missiological Implications Of The Book Of Daniel, Sung Ik Kim

Dissertations

This study attempts to explore the biblical foundation ofsalvific mission as revealed in God's purposes for the nations (missio Dei ) in the book of Daniel and to investigate the means that Daniel employed in his ministry as an overt missionary who was sent to witness to God's salvific purpose in the cross-cultural context of heathen kingdoms.

The main objective of this research is to validate the book of Daniel as a missionary document and show that its missiological implications are still relevant to present-day missions. Chapter 2 explores the salvific purpose of missio Dei in the book of …

Perceptions And Attitudes Of Selected Adventist And Non-Adventist Parents Of School-Age Children Toward Adventist Schools In Canada, Mike Mile Lekic

Dissertations

Purpose of the Study. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions and attitudes toward Adventist schools in Canada of Adventist parents with children in Adventist schools, of Adventist parents without children in Adventist schools, and of non-Adventist parents who at the time of this study had children in Adventist schools, and to look for reasons why these parents send or do not send their children to Adventist schools in Canada.

Method. The Adventist Education in Canada Parents' Attitude Survey was developed and used to gather information about spiritual focus, academic excellence, school accessibility, administrators and teachers, …

Spiritual Well-Being And Quality Of Life As Correlates Of Job Stress Among Academic Chairpersons In Selected Seventh-Day Adventist Tertiary Institutions, Russell Mark Aldridge

Dissertations

Problem . Stress, like pain, begins at birth and remains common to the human condition throughout life, and it is a factor in the experience of every human being who ever lived. It is not merely universal but it is also endemic and omnipresent. Chairpersons, due to the bi-directional demands of administration and students are in a stressful environment. This study was undertaken to identify whether quality of life and spiritual well-being play an important role in occupational stress levels in chairpersons of Seventh-day Adventist Tertiary Institutions.

Method. Three questionnaires were used to get responses from 137 chairpersons in …

Job Satisfaction And Its Relationship To Organizational And Religious Commitment Among Workers At Northern Caribbean University, Donna Brown

Dissertations

Problem. Recruiting teachers and motivating them to stay in their jobs present a challenge to educational institutions in Jamaica. Given the importance of workers' satisfaction to the health of an organization and the link between job satisfactionand turnover rate, then an examination of job satisfaction at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) is a priority. Based on this background, the primary focus of this study was to investigate job satisfaction and its relationship to organizational and religious commitment among workers at NCU.

Method. This study utilized a quantitative, descriptive research design. A survey questionnaire was sent to all full-time administrators …

A Study Of The Expectations Of Treasurers As Chief Financial Officers In Local Conferences In The North American Division Of Seventh-Day Adventists: Perceptions Of Roles, Responsibilities, And Relationships, Theodore Brown

Dissertations

Problem. The chief financial officer's position has changed in the business community. However, it is not clear whether the expectations of the treasurer in the Seventh-day Adventist Church are changing. They do not seem to be clearly defined or communicated. There appears to be a tacit knowledge about how treasurers should do their work. The purpose of this study was to describe the perceived roles, responsibilities, and relationships of the treasurer from the perceptions of presidents, treasurers, and board members in the local conferences in the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.

Method. This study used a mixed method, sequential …

Factors Influencing Enrollment Trends In Seventh-Day Adventist Boarding Schools On North America, Jeanette Wright Bryson

Dissertations

Problem. Enrollment is declining in the majority of Seventh-day Adventist boardingacademies in North America, while it is increasing in a few. This study seeks to identify the more important factors related to increasing and declining enrollment trends.

Method. A basic causal-comparative study was conducted involving two groups of Seventh-day Adventist boarding academies, one with an increasing and one with a declining enrollment trend. A survey questionnaire was designed for educators, students, and parents/guardians affiliated with these academies to assess satisfaction and relevant perceptions and to rank the perceived importance of factors influencing enrollment trends, including Academics, Climate, Cost, Facilities, Leadership, …

Seeking Life Balance: The Perceptions Of Health Of Cambodian Women In Resettlement, Olivia Catolico Phd, Msn

Dissertations

This grounded theory study was an inquiry into the perceptions of health of Cambodian women in resettlement and the conditions that influenced their perceptions. Few studies of Cambodian women who escaped political conflict exist. Cambodian women were among the waves of Southeast Asian refugees who have resettled in the United States. The sequelae of significant life trauma upon the health of Cambodian women in resettlement have received little attention in the nursing literature. There is less information about their perceptions of health in resettlement as their beliefs about health and illness causation contrast with those of Western health care providers. …

A Descriptive Examination Of Protective Factors: Analysis Of Male Completers Of An Alternative Educational Program, Rona Dominique Roberts

Dissertations

A growing number of students, primarily at the high school level, are being assigned to alternative education programs for behavior management. These students, who engage in risky behaviors, may also come from high-risk environments, suggesting a possible correlation between these two factors that may increase the likelihood of unsuccessful life outcomes. Very little research has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of these programs after completion; however, because of the increasing prevalence of alternative education programs across the nation, questions have emerged as to whether or not students assigned to these programs will continue to engage in at-risk behaviors after …

Effects Of Nicotine And Anatoxin-A Exposures On The Operant Performance Of Rats, Kimberly Ann Jarema

Dissertations

Tolerance has previously been shown to develop to nicotine's effects on operant behavior. This experiment explored whether tolerance would still develop when nicotine administrations were separated by three weeks. Anatoxin-a, a nicotinic-receptor agonist, was also tested and the results were compared to nicotine. Male Long Evans rats performed under a multiple VR30 VI30-sec food-reinforcement schedule. Phase I rats were divided into 6 groups of 8 that received four weekly subcutaneous injections of nicotine (0.0-1.8 mg/kg) and anatoxin-a (0-250 mcg/kg) prior to testing sessions. An ED50 was derived, for each compound, from the VR dose-response curve. Phase II rats were divided …

Representation Of The Elderly In Counselor Education Textbooks, Alicia V. Fahr

Dissertations

The counseling profession requires multicultural competence in meeting the needs of diverse groups. The responsibility for training counseling students to work effectively with the elderly falls upon counselor educators. Textbooks convey cultural values and contribute to what is learned by students. Specifically,textbooks may contribute to how counseling students think about older adults and aging issues. This study was designed to determine how older adults and aging issues are represented in counselor education texts.

The textbooks used most frequently by 11 randomly selected master's degree programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001) were identified …

Management Style, Organizational Climate, And Organizational Performance In A Public Mental Health Agency: An Integral Model, Pamela Sue Meserve Erbisch

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Determinants Of Aggregate R&D, Role Of Fiscal Policy, And The Effects Of Government R&D On Economic Growth, Ashraf Galal Mohamed Eid

Dissertations

This dissertation contains three essays on research and development (R&D): determinants, the role of fiscal policy, and the effects of government R&D on economic growth. The first essay is an attempt to study the determinants of aggregate R&D expenditure in both emerging and developed countries with special attention to patent rights protection and technology transfer. The main findings are: (1) patent protection helps R&D but overly burdensome protection can limit access to new innovations and thus slow down the rate of research and development, and (2) technology transfer, through imports and FDI, has a positive and significant effect only if …