Digital Commons Network^™

Why Am I Here? Examining The Relationship Between Purpose And Career Advancement Of First-Generation Doctoral Students, Lily Jenkins

Dissertations

Approximately 24% of the college population is comprised on first-generation students, yet they continue to deal with significant challenges when completing their degrees. Research has been done on first-generation student characteristics, challenges, and existing support programs; however, their personal evolution and success in academic achievement and career development once support mechanisms are in place has not been adequately studied. This qualitative study utilized a transcendental phenomenological research design to explore the influence of purpose on degree completion and career advancement of first-generation doctoral students. The study examined the experiences of 14 first-generation doctoral students to find qualities that led to …

Minority Students In Stem Careers In The U.S. – The Role Of Ap Calculus, Kendall Coleman

Dissertations

“The number of native-born S&E [science and engineering] graduates entering the workforce is likely to decline unless the nation intervenes to improve success in educating S&E students from all demographic groups, especially those that have been underrepresented in S&E careers” (National Science Board [NSB], 2003, p. 13). More than a decade ago, the National Science Board (NSB) sounded an alarm regarding the projected decline in native-born science and engineering graduates with the aim of driving strategic fundamental changes. There is limited evidence that the NSB’s prognostication is actively being addressed. Approximately 81% percent of all full-time graduate students in U.S. …

Developmental And Sex Modulated Neurological Alterations In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Azeezat Azeez

Dissertations

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was first described in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kranner in a case study published in The Nervous Child. It is a neurodevelopment disorder, with a range of clinical symptoms. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), used by clinicians to diagnose mental disorders, a child needs to have persistent social deficits, language impairments, and repetitive behaviors, that cannot be explained by neurological damage or intellectual disability. It is known that children diagnosed with ASD are often are developmentally delayed therefore alterations in the typical developmental trajectory should be a major factor in …

Modulation Of Corticospinal Excitability Induced By Paired Associative Stimulation Combined With Movement, Ahmad O. Alokaily

Dissertations

An essential feature of the brain is its capacity to undergo long-lasting morphological or functional changes in response to experiences or trauma. Advances in noninvasive brain stimulation techniques have led to increased interest in understanding neural mechanisms of neuroplasticity at the network level. Paired associative stimulation (PAS) is one of the most commonly used applications for noninvasive brain stimulation because of its clinical potential as an adjuvant rehabilitative intervention. However, the optimal method for incorporating PAS into rehabilitative activities remains unknown. This dissertation explores different approaches to combining PAS with movement and investigates the enhancement of the specificity of conventional …

Modelling In Vitro Dissolution And Release Of Sumatriptan Succinate From Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Based Microneedles Aided By Iontophoresis, James Paul Ronnander

Dissertations

A novel dissolving microneedle array system is developed to investigate permeation of a sumatriptan succinate formulations through the skin aided by iontophoresis. Three formulations consisting of hydrophilic, positively charged drug molecules encapsulated in a water-soluble biologically suitable polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), have been accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The microneedle systems are fabricated with 600 pyramid-shaped needles, each 500 µm tall, on a 0.785-cm² circular array. In vitro transdermal studies with minipig skin and vertical Franz diffusion cells show > 68% permeation of sumatriptan over a 24-hour period. A combination of microneedle and electrical current density ranging …

Effects Of Electro-Osmotic Consolidation Of Clays And Its Improvement Using Ion Exchange Membranes, Lucas Martin

Dissertations

Electro-osmosis is an established method of expediting consolidation of soft, saturated clayey soils compared to commonly used methods, such as preloading with wick drains. In electro-osmotic consolidation a direct current (DC) is applied via inserted electrodes. This causes hydrated ions in the interstitial fluid to migrate to oppositely charged electrodes. Because the clay particles have a negative surface charge, the majority of ions in the interstitial fluid are positively charged. Therefore, the net flow will be towards the negatively charged electrode (cathode), where the water can be removed and thus consolidation is achieved. Certain problems, such as pH changes in …

Engineering Of Escherichia Coli 2-Oxoglutarate Dehydrogenase Complex With Mechanistic And Synthetic Goals, Joydeep Chakraborty

Dissertations

The Escherichia coli 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (OGDHc) compromises multiple copies of three enzymes - 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (E1o), dihydrolipoyl succinyltransferase (E2o), and dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase (E3). OGDHc is found in the Krebs cycle and catalyzes the formation of the all-important succinyl-Coenzyme A (succinyl-CoA). OGDHc was engineered to understand the catalytic mechanism and optimized for chemical synthetic goals.

Succinyl-CoA formation takes place within the catalytic domain of E2o via a transesterification reaction. The succinyl group from the thiol ester of S8-succinyldihydrolipoyl-E2o is transferred to the thiol group of CoA. Mechanistic studies were designed to investigate enzymatic transthioesterification. His375 and Asp374 was shown to …

Improving Boron For Combustion Applications, Kerri-Lee Annique Chintersingh

Dissertations

Boron has received much attention as a potential additive to explosives and propellants due to its high theoretical gravimetric and volumetric heating values. The challenge, however, is that boron particles tend to agglomerate, have lengthy ignition delays and very low combustion rates. Prior research indicates that boron’s long ignition delays are due to its inhibiting naturally occurring oxide layer, impeding the diffusion of reactants for oxidation. For combustion, current studies report that boron particles have two consecutive stages, but the actual reaction mechanism is poorly understood. Despite many years of relevant research, quantitative combustion data on micron-sized boron particles are …

Analyzing Evolution Of Rare Events Through Social Media Data, Xiaoyu Lu

Dissertations

Recently, some researchers have attempted to find a relationship between the evolution of rare events and temporal-spatial patterns of social media activities. Their studies verify that the relationship exists in both time and spatial domains. However, few of those studies can accurately deduce a time point when social media activities are most highly affected by a rare event because producing an accurate temporal pattern of social media during the evolution of a rare event is very difficult. This work expands the current studies along three directions. Firstly, we focus on the intensity of information volume and propose an innovative clustering …

Optimal Sampling Paths For Autonomous Vehicles In Uncertain Ocean Flows, Andrew J. De Stefan

Dissertations

Despite an extensive history of oceanic observation, researchers have only begun to build a complete picture of oceanic currents. Sparsity of instrumentation has created the need to maximize the information extracted from every source of data in building this picture. Within the last few decades, autonomous vehicles, or AVs, have been employed as tools to aid in this research initiative. Unmanned and self-propelled, AVs are capable of spending weeks, if not months, exploring and monitoring the oceans. However, the quality of data acquired by these vehicles is highly dependent on the paths along which they collect their observational data. The …

Roles Of Surfactant And Binary Polymers On Dissolution Enhancement Of Bcs Ii Drugs From Nanocomposites And Amorphous Solid Dispersions, Md Mahbubur Rahman

Dissertations

Drug nanocomposites and amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are two major formulation platforms used for the bioavailability enhancement of BCS Class II drugs. The major drawback of nanocomposites is their inability to attain high drug supersaturation during in vitro (<50% relative supersaturation) and in vivo dissolution. On the other hand, formulating an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) with high drug loading (>20%) that releases drug rapidly, while generating and maintaining high supersaturation over at least three hours is challenging. The goal of this thesis is to develop a fundamental understanding of the impact of anionic surfactants–polymers on in vitro drug release from nanocomposites and ASDs, while addressing the above challenges. To achieve this goal, the following objectives are set: (1) compare griseofulvin …

Applied Deep Learning In Intelligent Transportation Systems And Embedding Exploration, Xiaoyuan Liang

Dissertations

Deep learning techniques have achieved tremendous success in many real applications in recent years and show their great potential in many areas including transportation. Even though transportation becomes increasingly indispensable in people’s daily life, its related problems, such as traffic congestion and energy waste, have not been completely solved, yet some problems have become even more critical. This dissertation focuses on solving the following fundamental problems: (1) passenger demand prediction, (2) transportation mode detection, (3) traffic light control, in the transportation field using deep learning. The dissertation also extends the application of deep learning to an embedding system for visualization …

Data Multiplexing In Vector Acoustic Communication: System Design And Experiments, Erjian Zhang

Dissertations

Acoustic particle velocity channels, which are vector components of the acoustic field, have been recently explored to achieve communication purposes underwater. Vector sensors and transducers that can utilize acoustic particle velocity channels have compact multichannel designs, which are perfect for compact size underwater platforms. In this dissertation, an underwater acoustic multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system featuring orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and frequency shift keying (FSK) modulation is discussed. By transmitting multiple independent data streams simultaneously over several channels within the same bandwidth, the proposed MIMO system increases the transmission rate. A variety of components of the system such as …

Graphene Channels Interfaced With Distributed Quantum Dots, Xin Miao

Dissertations

Previous research has elucidated the remarkable electrical and optical characteristics of graphene and pointed to the various applications of graphene-based devices. One of such applications is electro-optical graphene-based elements. In this work, the optoelectronic properties of field-effect transistors are explored. These are composed of surface graphene guides, which are interfaced with an array of individual semiconductor quantum dots. The graphene guide also serves as a channel for the field-effect transistor (FET) while the dots provide for fluorescence markers. They may be placed either within the capacitor formed between the graphene and the gate electrode, or on top of the graphene. …

Enzymatic Biofuel Cells In A Sandwich Geometry With Compressed Carbon Nanotubes/Enzyme Electrodes & Hybrid Patch Applications, Biao Leng

Dissertations

Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) convert the chemical energy of biofuels, such as glucose and methanol, into electrical energy by employing enzymes as catalysts. In contrast to conventional fuel cells, EBFCs have a simple membrane-free fuel cell design due to the high catalytic specificity of the enzymes, but the power densities obtained are lower. Although the primary goal of research on EBFCs has been to develop a sustainable power source that can be directly implanted in the human body to power bio-devices, other applications such as the use of a flexible film or fuel cell patch as a wearable power source …

Measurement Of Stresses And Their Effect On Transport In Thin Film Battery Electrodes, Subhajit Rakshit

Dissertations

At the moment, there is a significant push towards environmentally friendly energy production and gasoline-free transportation technologies. As a result, there is a renewed interest in energy storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries which will play a key role in providing energy storage capability for these applications. However, the current battery technology is reaching its limits and may not meet future energy storage demands. The increased demand and the limited lithium reserves in geographically remote areas of the earth will lead to higher cost of Li. The alternative battery technologies, such as sodium-ion batteries, are promising due to their low …

Reproductive Decisions In Carriers Of Genetic Disease: A Survey Of Parents Of Children With Inborn Errors Of Metabolism, Catherine Yetter Read

Dissertations

This study explained reproductive decisions among parents who have already given birth to a child with an inborn error of metabolism (IEM). Two hundred thirty parents (65% response rate) completed a telephone survey which addressed biologic, psychological and sociocultural variables relative to five reproductive decision making outcomes (receptivity to prenatal diagnosis, likelihood of pregnancy termination, impact on future reproductive plans, measures taken to prevent future pregnancies, and birth of subsequent children). Using a combination of logistic and multiple regression, five models, derived from the Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior (IMCHB), were constructed to explain both the direct and indirect …

Physiologic And Behavioral Responses To Acute Myocardial Ischemic Pain In Mexican Male Patients, Marilyn Kuhel Douglas

Dissertations

The verbal, non-verbal and physiologic responses of Mexican male patients to the pain of acute myocardial ischemia were studied as a basis for subsequent comparison with other cultural groups. A sample of 57 patients was studied in the Emergency Department (ED) of a federal, tertiary health care facility in urban central Mexico. Inclusion criteria were: chief complaint of non-traumatic chest pain and subsequent admission to the Coronary Care Unit with a suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI); Mexican birth and residence; male gender; 35 years or older; and, 12 or less years education. At the time of ED admission, a 12-Lead …

Impact Of The Bar Code Medication Administration (Bcma) System On Medication Administration Errors, Mary P. Davis

Dissertations

Medication errors are the second most frequent cause of injury among all types of medical errors (Leape, et al., 1991). Of concern to nursing practice, medication administration errors (MAE) are second only to ordering errors (Bates, Cullen, et al., 1995). The introduction of information technology designed to promote safe medication practice, such as the Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) system, offers new opportunities for reducing MAE. BCMA was developed to improve patient safety, improve documentation of medication administration, decrease medication errors, and capture medication accountability data. The overall goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of BCMA on …

Describing Nursing Effectiveness Through Standardized Nursing Languages And Computerized Clinical Data, Cindy Ann Scherb

Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive exploratory study was to analyze patient data from a computerized clinical documentation system using the standardized languages of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association, the Nursing Interventions Classification, and the Nursing Outcomes Classification. This study investigated the relationships between nursing diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes for the patient populations of Pneumonia, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), and Total Joint Replacement (TJR).

Development And Testing Of A Text Messaging Educational Intervention For Pregnant Adolescents, Rhonda R. Martin

Dissertations

This study developed a literature based educational text messaging intervention, utilizing professional and adolescent subject matter experts (SMEs) to assess the content validity of the intervention, and pilot test the intervention for effect on pregnant adolescents' knowledge of nutrition and physical activity. Pregnant adolescents tend to utilize prenatal care inconsistently and have problems with weight gain during pregnancy. Questions have arisen regarding whether pregnant women are receiving education needed to eat healthy and be active during pregnancy. Several studies identified that women know to eat healthy and exercise but not specifically what to eat, what kind of activity to perform, …

What Is The Bsn Student's Perception Of Why A Nursing Course Was Failed?, Amy M. Owen

Dissertations

Nursing student success is important to students, faculty, institutions of higher education, and the healthcare needs in Texas. Despite recent research showing that cognitive indicators can predict student success, the use of these factors has not significantly decreased the number of courses failed in nursing school. The purpose of this study was to explore the Bachelor of Science (BSN) nursing student perception of why a nursing course was failed.

The Relationship Between Recurrent Placental Pathology And Recurrent Poor Pregnancy Outcome, Cara Krulewitch

Dissertations

Poor pregnancy outcome (PPO) is a top agenda item in health and political arenas. Most prominent PPOs are low birth weight (LBW) and preterm delivery (PTD). Effective interventions to maximize pregnancy outcome will diminish their negative impact. The placenta is a diary of the infant's prenatal experiences. Changes in the placenta provide clues to the uterine environment during the pregnancy. Each placental pathology represents a different insult, including severity, duration and type. The Collaborative Perinatal Project of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke was a longitudinal study of obstetric outcomes in women. The study was conducted …

Using The Revised Wilson And Cleary Model To Explore Factors Affecting Quality Of Life In Persons On Hemodialysis, Daria L. Kring

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the quality of life in persons with end stage renal disease and examine factors that may affect quality of life. A revised version of Wilson and Cleary's model for health-related quality of life was used to guide the study. Biological factors (serum albumin and serum hemoglobin), symptoms (dialysis symptoms, anxiety, depression, and fatigue), functional status, general health perception, characteristics of the individual (age, gender, race/ethnicity), and characteristics of the environment (time on dialysis, marital status, and socioeconomic status) were examined to determine their potential impact on overall quality of life. A cross-sectional, …

Effects Of Anxiety Reducing Interventions On Performance Anxiety In Graduate Nurses, Georgita L. Tolbert Washington

Dissertations

Every new nursing graduate is challenged to successfully transition from student to professional nurse. The stress involved in that transition can manifest itself as performance anxiety, a type of anxiety occurring when someone is the focus of attention and is fearful of interactions or of being humiliated or embarrassed. It occurs only in specific situations. The new graduate's performance is the focus of attention and evaluation. Further, the need to interact with other professionals, patients, and families can create anxiety about performance. No studies have examined performance anxiety in graduate nurses. Use of cognitive behavioral therapy, progressive muscle relaxation, and …

A Teacher’S Perspective: Valued Leadership Behaviors As Related To Preferences In School Culture And Professional Motivation, Jeremy R. Philips

Dissertations

Schools need effective leaders to embrace the many challenges of today’s school systems and to adequately prepare students for the 21st century (Bayar, 2016; Coggins & Diffenbaugh, 2013). Bartoletti and Connelly (2013) asserted, “Great schools do not exist apart from great leaders” (p. 1). The last few years have provided volumes of highquality research confirming leadership matters (Bartoletti & Connelly, 2013). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among the following variables: teachers’ perceptions of what they value in leadership behaviors (consideration and initiating structure), what they value in a school’s culture, and what they find professionally …

Gender Effects On Psychiatric Profiles Of Substance Abusing Persons, Linda S. Cook

Dissertations

The effects of gender on specific psychiatric variables of substance abusing persons was investigated with the goal of designing gender-appropriate programs for the treatment of addiction. A population of 120 male and 88 female substance abusers were drawn from two urban outpatient drug treatment centers and one HIV outpatient counseling center. Participants were given paper and pencil questionnaires; a number of participants were interviewed and a three generation family genogram was constructed to evaluate family function based on Bowen Systems Theory. Variables measured in the questionnaires were trait anxiety, depression, coping style, adaption in relationship, and level of differentiation of …

Differences In The Frequency Of Use Of Breast Cancer Control Methods In Black And White Women: An Application Of The Health Belief Model, Merrian E. Douglass

Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to describe differences in the frequency of use of breast cancer control methods (mammogram (MAM), clinical breast examination (CBE), and breast self-examination (BSE)) and health beliefs about breast cancer and breast cancer control methods, and to assess the usefulness of health beliefs about breast cancer and breast cancer control methods in predicting use of breast cancer control methods among black and white women.

The Effect Of A Theory Course In Nursing Administration And A Subsequent Field Experience On The Profile Of Leadership Style Of Students In A Master's Program In Nursing Administration, Patricia M. Haynor

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that a nursing administration theory course and a subsequent field experience of 150 hours had on the profile of leadership style of students enrolled in a master's program in nursing administration.

Perceptions Of Patients' Post Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Surgery Related To Health Related Quality Of Life And Satisfaction When Nurse Practitioners Are Active Participants In Care, Patricia D. Sweeney

Dissertations

The issue of quality health care has a renewed focus since the Institute of Medicine's 2000 report and has become a primary concern for patients, providers, and payors. Quality needs to be addressed from the perspective of the patient, incorporating patient-centered preferences in all areas where care is received; with special attention for high frequency, high cost, high-risk populations that evaluates all types of providers. The primary aim of this study is to describe patient perceptions of health related quality of life (HRQOL) and satisfaction for patients hospitalized for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery when Nurse Practitioners (NP) are …