Digital Commons Network^™

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Of High Risk Infants, Lisa E. Miklush Phd, Msn, Rnc, Cns

Dissertations

Background: Infant developmental research has revealed amazing physical, cognitive, and social capacities of the human infant. Along with this knowledge is a growing appreciation of numerous factors that have the potential to impact the individual infant's developmental trajectory, either enhancing or compromising the eventual outcome. Enhanced understanding of those factors that shape infant developmental trajectories will provide an evidence base for the establishment of a supportive environment for the youngest members of society. Purpose: To determine the relationship between neurodevelopmental outcome and gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores, NICU admission, infant gender, maternal depression, home environment, and parent-child interaction. Methodology: …

An Empirical Look At The Relationship Between Personality Type And The Challenges Of Telecommuting, Jacquelyn E. Brown Phd

Dissertations

The concept of telecommuting dates to the early 1970s when Dr. Jack Nilles, who coined the phrase telecommuting, realized that many of the commuters contributing to rush-hour traffic congestion simply went to an office, sat at a desk and used a phone to conduct their business. Since then, telecommuting has become a viable alternative work arrangement for approximately 45 million individuals in the United States. Despite the popularity of this arrangement, there has been little empirical work done to investigate the advantages and challenges associated with telecommuters; to address this issue this dissertation used two survey instruments to electronically gather …

Quality Of Life, Hope, Social Support, And Self-Care In Heart Failure Patients, Karen A. Mcgurk Phd, Mn, Rn

Dissertations

Heart failure is a significant, chronic health problem. Much is known about physiological factors related to this condition. Less is known about the psychosocial aspects that influence disease risk, progression, and treatment. The purpose of this study was to describe the relationships between quality of life, hope, social support, and self-care. A descriptive, correlational study was conducted. The participants were 65 heart failure patients who attended 2 military-based heart failure clinics. Quality of Life was measured using the Left Ventricular Dysfunction Questionnaire (LVD-36), Hope was measured using the Herth Hope Index (HUI), Social Support was measured using the Medical Outcomes …

Evaluation Of 6 + 1 Trait Writing And The Professional Development Training Used To Implement The Program, Bruce E. Werkmeister

Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing program on student achievement and to explore the teacher perceived effectiveness of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing program on student achievement. This study concentrated on student achievement, as determined by the Missouri Assessment Program test, and the teachers’ perception of the impact 6 + 1 Trait Writing had on the curriculum. The study also focused on the perceived effectiveness of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing professional development opportunities provided to teachers as determined by surveys and roundtable discussions. The 2007, …

Improving Services For Students With Disabilities At Community Colleges, Michael William Duggan

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover ways in which community college faculty and administrators can better facilitate learning for students with disabilities. Semi-structured interviews, preinterview questionnaires, and a review of relevant documents were used to gain an understanding of how community college faculty perceive the challenges of teaching students with disabilities. Additional research goals included an exploration of strategies community college faculty have found effective in assisting students with disabilities to be successful, actions community college administrators have taken that effectively address issues related to success for students with disabilities, and approaches community college administrators use …

Quality Of Life, Religious/Spiritual Coping, Demoralization And Depression In Heart Failure Patients, Terry Larsen Phd, Rn, Cns

Dissertations

Background: Research suggests that the heart failure (HF) population is particularly vulnerable to depression. Other factors may also affect quality of life such as religious/spiritual coping, and demoralization. Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine factors that predict health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults with heart failure. Specific Aims: (1) to examine level of religious/spiritual coping, spiritual distress, demoralization, depression and HRQoL among adults with heart failure; (2) to examine the relationships of religious/spiritual coping, spiritual distress demoralization, depression and selected demographic variables (age, gender, race/ethnicity and length of living with HF) with HRQoL. Methods: …

Tuberculosis Awareness And Public Opinion On Expanding Health Insurance Coverage, Belal A. Saadeh Phd, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

This quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study examined the effect of TB awareness and demographic variables on the level of support for expanding health insurance coverage for all residents, including undocumented immigrants. A modified 13-item tool developed by Morisky et al. (1990) was used to measure TB awareness; a single item created by the researcher assessed personal opinion regarding expansion of health insurance coverage; and a demographic questionnaire was used to collect data from 281 registered voters in San Diego County. The majority of San Diego County voters participating in the study supported at least some expansion of health insurance coverage. ANOVA …

Investigating The Self-Assessment Of Adult Literacy Learners With Dyslexia Across Several Cognitive Domains, Kelli Sandman-Hurley Edd

Dissertations

The dissertation evaluated the ability of adult literacy learners with dyslexia to assess their cognitive abilities in two separate domains: reading and memory. This study also evaluated the effect that one-on-one tutoring had on the learner's ability to accurately self-assess these cognitive abilities. Twenty adult literacy learners (n = 20) with dyslexia were tested in both domains. This study also included a control group of 10 good readers (n = 10) who were administered the same three standardized tests. This data was collected by administering three standardized assessments. This was a quantitative study that used analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated …

Investigating A Summer Reading Program For Title I Students, Stephanie M. Mountain

Dissertations

Constant changes in legislation regarding monitoring student achievement levels have led schools to redevelop usage of instructional time in several core subjects. Legislation such as Missouri Senate Bill 319 specifically mandates that the school must intervene if a student is not reading at the appropriate level by grade four. Alternative measures to improve reading achievement levels, such as extending the school year into the summer, are being implemented within schools. The purpose of this action research study was to determine the effectiveness of the ABC School District’s Summer Reading Program in raising Title I students’ reading comprehension, fluency and vocabulary …

Direct Instruction In Reading In Special Education: Evaluation Of An Innovation, Sherry D. Jackson

Dissertations

All children can learn. Each child learns in numerous ways and at a different pace. When children are given opportunity, appropriate foundation, support, and precise instruction, learning is enhanced and encouraged. This study investigated an instructional approach for teaching reading to elementary students who were determined to have a learning disability and had an active Individualized Education Plan in the area of reading. Direct Instruction is a curriculum specifically intended to provide an exclusive structured and systematic method to teaching English language reading. The Direct Instruction program begins every student with a concrete review of phonemic awareness and letter sound …

Safe Haven Infant Protection : Incidence Of Use And Characteristics Of Surrendered Infants And Relinquishing Users, Sallie Anne Porter

Dissertations

Background: Safe Haven Infant Protection (SHIP) laws are variously-titled state-level laws that permit infants to be surrendered to designated persons and/or places in a generally anonymous fashion with prescribed limits on prosecution.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the number of infants surrendered under SHIP laws in the United States, detail the characteristics of surrendered Safe Haven (SH) infants and relinquishing users, and directly compare the SH infant/relinquishing user population and the discarded infant/discarding mother populations.

Methods: Non-profit reports and communications, government documents and communications, and media reports provided the basis of the national SH estimate. Data …

End-Of-Life Analysis Of Nanotechnology Products, Sun Olapiriyakul

Dissertations

Previous research has shown that thermodynamic properties including melting point and specific heat capacity of nanomaterials may be higher than that of their corresponding bulk materials. The melting point elevation and specific heat capacity enhancement of nanomaterials may result in increased energy consumption and waste gases emission at the end-of-life (EOL) stage where the products containing nanomaterials are recycled by high temperature metal recovery (HTMR) process.

In this dissertation, the effect of physical characteristics of nanomaterials, referred to as physicochemical parameters, on their melting temperature and specific heat capacity was investigated. In addition, physical, chemical, and thermodynamic properties of nanomaterials …

Institutional Controls And Brownfield Redevelopment, Ronnachai Tiyarattanachai

Dissertations

Institutional controls (ICs) are used to reduce risks to human health and environment from exposure to contaminants at Brownfield sites. Regulators approve use of ICs in Brownfield redevelopment with the expectation that ICs will remain effective over the long-term under proper oversight mechanisms. However, a recent review of compliance statuses of Brownfield sites with ICs implemented in Massachusetts and New Jersey indicated a significant percentage of the sites are out of compliance status.

Implementation of ICs depends on compliance efforts by humans. Thus, consistency of implementation over the long-term is questionable because there are several potential problems due to human …

Booklet Of Selected Theses From The Ma In Criminology, Ma In Law, And Ma In Child, Family And Community Studies 2007- 2009., Kevin Lalor, Claire Hamilton, Fergus Ryan, Brian Mccarthy

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Where The Rocks Are In The Pond : Using Critical Race Theory To Gain Access To More Equitable Educational Opportunities For African Americans, Thomasina F. Hassler

Dissertations

“Where the rocks are in the pond” is a metaphor for the concept of empowerment so that those who have traditionally been marginalized and isolated, typically people of color and the poor, can learn the normative strategies that the dominant culture accesses to success. Developmentally, members of marginalized populations are harmed by the lack of access to quality resources for social, economic, political and educational growth. I have chosen autoethnography as the vehicle to carry critical events that illuminate the deleterious effects of racialization in U. S. society. The study used critical race theory as the theoretical lens to analyze …

The Nursing Clinical Instructor's Rationale, Preparation, And Meaning For The Post-Clinical Conference, Joseph Michael Mucha

Dissertations

Purpose

Nursing education is a complex combination of classroom and clinical instruction. The clinical portion is usually divided into the pre-clinical conference, direct care, and the post-clinical conference. Many goals are listed in the literature as learning outcomes for the post-clinical conference. The purpose of this study was to describe the most important goals, meaning, rationale, and preparation for the post-clinical conference by clinical nursing instructors in associate degree and baccalaureate degree programs.

Method

This study used a survey design with an instrument developed to identify clinical nursing instructors’ meaning, rationale, and preparation for the post-clinical conference. Two open-ended questions …

Forced-Exercise Alleviates Neuropathic Pain In Experimental Diabetes: Effects On Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels, Sahadev A. Shankarappa

Dissertations

Exercise is now established as an integral adjunct to the management of diabetes. Diabetic polyneuropathy, a painful complication of diabetes, remains untreatable, emphasizing a critical need for improved therapeutic strategies. Recent evidence suggests that exercise may facilitate recovery of peripheral nerve function in diabetes. However, the mechanism by which exercise protects against diabetes-induced nerve dysfunction is unknown. In this dissertation we hypothesized that forced-exercise protects against experimental DPN by preventing glucose-associated alterations of voltage-gated calcium currents (VGCC) in small diameter dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Using behavioral, nerve-electrophysiology and patch-clamp methodology we examined the functional consequences of forced-exercise (treadmill, 5.4 …

Moral Distress And Avoidance Behavior In Nurses Working In Critical Care And Non-Critical Care Units, Mary Jo De Villers

Dissertations

Significance: Nurses facing impediments to what they perceive as moral practice may experience inner turmoil, frustration, and moral distress. These scenarios may culminate in resignation from employment at the individual level, increased attrition at the systems level, and poor patient outcomes, including increased morbidity and mortality.

Purpose: To explore the relationships between moral distress and avoidance thoughts and behavior between nurses currently practicing in critical care and non-critical care settings.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional comparative design was used. The sample was comprised of a randomized subset of 370 critical care nurses, a convenience sample of 87 nurses from a nursing …

Agape And Personal Knowledge, Peter Eric Bergeron

Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to explore the connection between love and personal knowledge and what Jesus' life and teaching reveal about the relationship between these. I want to distinguish that form of love or caring that makes relationships personal from those forms, like benevolence or compassion, where the concern is impersonal. It is commonly thought in contemporary Western culture that the autonomy necessary for mature moral agency or for the realization of one's unique personal identity is diminished by the influence of other persons. In contrast, I argue that the relational image of love, or agape, in the …

Components Of Religious Beliefs, Religious Maturity, And Religious History As Predictors Of Proscribed And Non-Proscribed Explicit And Implicit Prejudices, Luke Fiedorowicz

Dissertations

Many theorists propose a link between religiosity and prejudice; however, many studies show contradictory results. Recently, there has also been a growing interest in the differences between implicit and explicit prejudices. Current literature suggests that explicit and implicit attitudes are linked and one can influence the other. However, it is possible there are different sets of predictors of each attitude type. African-Americans have historically been the most openly targeted minority in America. Recently, gay men and lesbians have also faced increased prejudice. The purpose of this project was to examine several aspects of religiosity (involvement, intrinsic/extrinsic, fundamentalism, quest, history, and …

Internalizing Mental Health Disorders: Examining The Connection Between Children's Symptoms And Parent Involvement And Autonomy Support., Anne Walsh

Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the connection between parent involvement and autonomy support, as well as the combined construct of autonomy supportive parent involvement, with internalized mental health symptoms. A secondary purpose of this study is to determine how certain parent demographics relate to attitudes and behaviors towards both parent involvement and autonomy support. Similarly, this study seeks to examine how certain how student demographics relate to internalized mental health symptoms.

The participants in this study were parents with one or more children in grades K-8 at three different schools in the suburbs of a large …

I Love You (But I Can't Look You In The Eyes): Explicit And Implicit Self-Esteem Predict Verbal And Nonverbal Response To Relationship Threat, Julie Longua Peterson

Dissertations

Research has revealed the value of studying communication patterns, both verbal and nonverbal, in couple conflict discussions (Gottman & Levenson, 2000; Noller, Feeney, Bonnell, & Callan, 1994). In fact, the study of behavioral reactions to relationship conflict has been central to predicting important relationship outcomes, such as relationship satisfaction and breakup (e.g. see Gottman, 1998 for a review). The goal of the current dissertation was to explore how explicit (i.e., conscious, deliberate) and implicit (i.e., unconscious, automatic) self-esteem correspond to people's self-reported approach and avoidance verbal and nonverbal behaviors following a relationship threat manipulation (Study 1) and people's observer-rated approach …

The Absence Of Presence: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Indicated Interventions To Increase Student Attendance, Brandy R. Maynard

Dissertations

The present study utilized systematic review methods and meta-analysis to quantitatively synthesize research and systematically examine the effects of indicated intervention programs on school attendance behaviors of elementary and secondary school students. A comprehensive search strategy resulted in the identification 11 randomized studies, 9 quasi-experimental studies and 13 single group pre-post test studies that met inclusion criteria. Effect sizes data and study, participant, and intervention characteristics were coded and analyzed. Analyses of the randomized and quasi-experimental studies were performed separately from the single group pre-post test studies.

The meta-analytic findings showed overall positive and moderate effects of indicated attendance interventions …

How Counseling Helps: An In-Depth Look At Domestic Violence Counseling, Sonya V. Crabtree-Nelson

Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is currently described by trauma researchers as a social epidemic (Briere & Jordan, 2004) . The array of domestic violence services we currently have in the United States were started 30 years ago by women victims assisting other women. Currently, the services we have for victims of IPV are largely unchanged and the literature lacks information on what is helpful to victims of IPV in a domestic violence counseling setting. The research points to the fact that women seeking domestic violence counseling experience an array of physical and mental health sequelae as a result of the …

Pedagogy And Primary Sources: Outcomes Of The Library Of Congress' Professional Development Program, Teaching With Primary Sources At Loyola, Michelle Fry

Dissertations

Until recently, few K-12 teachers outside of social studies have integrated primary sources in classroom instruction. Integrating primary sources in educational practice does require an uncommon pedagogical understanding. Addressing this K-12 educator need is the Library of Congress. Recently, the Library implemented a national educator professional development program, Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS).

The TPS program operates at multiple universities and colleges, including Loyola University Chicago. This program aims to educate K-12 educators of all subject-areas to integrate online, digitized primary sources into classroom practices. This study addressed questions related to the outcomes of teacher participants' classroom practices after completing …

Notch Signaling Is Important In The Survival, Proliferation, And Self-Renewal Of The Putative Breast Cancer Stem Cell Population, Peter Grudzien

Dissertations

Numerous studies have identified stem-like cells, termed cancer stem cells (CSCs), in breast tumors and established cell lines. It has been hypothesized that CSCs are responsible for breast cancer formation, progression and recurrence; therefore, a deeper understanding of the signaling pathways regulating CSC survival will benefit development of novel therapeutic strategies. Notch signaling, which is dysregulated in breast cancer and has been implicated in mammary stem cell self-renewal, and can be effectively blocked by gamma-secretase inhibitors (GSIs). While GSIs are currently in clinical trials for breast cancer, it is not fully understood how these compounds will affect CSCs or if …

Immigrant Stories: Generation 1.5 Mexican American Students And English Language Learning In An Illinois Community College, Thomas Lloyd Hansen

Dissertations

The number of recent immigrants to the United States has increased dramatically in the last few years, and more of these immigrants are members of a group often designated as "Generation 1.5" students. These immigrant students were born in another country, came to the United States at the age of 13 or older, and graduated from high school in this country. This qualitative research study occurs within two Illinois community colleges that require some students to enroll in courses below regular English Composition I as indicated by one or more placement tests. These courses are English as a Second Language …

The Role Of Institutional Relations With Alumni Major Donors In Evangelical Higher Education, Brian Gardner

Dissertations

American higher education has never been more expensive. Its continued excellence and accessibility depends even more today on charitable subsidy. As previous beneficiaries of that charitable subsidy, alumni are the most logical benefactor of its sustenance. The relatively few alumni who can give most generously make the difference in the success of any fund raising effort. Understanding the motivation of alumni major gift prospects to give such gifts is therefore critical to securing them.

This study seeks to understand 1) the strategies and processes institutions employ in engaging alumni major donors, 2) the motivations of these donors to give or …

Depressive Symptoms In Women Being Screened For Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Suzanne Marie Savoy

Dissertations

Background: Depressive symptomology is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Over 15% of persons with cardiovascular disease have depressive symptoms, and women are twice as likely to experience these symptoms as men. Depressive symptoms in women “ at risk ” for cardiovascular disease has not been well studied.

Purpose: This study investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms, health-promoting lifestyle behaviors, heart disease risk awareness, cardiac risk, and quality of life in women at risk for cardiovascular disease. Whether the effect of depressive symptoms on quality of life was mediated by cardiac risk and/or health-promoting lifestyle behaviors was also examined. …

Indicators Of Community-Land Grant University Readiness For Engagement From The Community Perspective., Cheryl Lemay Lloyd

Dissertations

This research examines community partner perceptions regarding levels of readiness for engagement in partnerships with universities. Since its inception the American land grant university has been a cornerstone in preparation of people for the role of university partner and engaged citizen. Theories of collaborative and integrative leadership suggests that readiness for engagement on the part of the community partner is important to the success of sustainable partnerships with universities, and for civic engagement in the twenty-first century. This study seeks to understand the community partners‟ perspective by exploring common indicators of community readiness for engagement with universities, and community leader‟s …