Digital Commons Network^™

Feminine Identity Confined: The Archaeology Of Japanese Women At Amache, A Wwii Internment Camp, Dana Ogo Shew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1942, approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were evacuated from the West Coast to ten different internment camps in the interior of the United States. One of these camps was the Granada Relocation Center, otherwise known as Amache, located in southeastern Colorado. Through the analysis of archaeological material, archival documents, and oral histories, this thesis explores the experiences of Japanese American women interned at Amache. Feminine identity was greatly changed and redefined during confinement. These changes in feminine identity are examined in the public and private arenas of daily life within confinement. The construction of new and altered individual …

Dopamine D2 Receptor Priming Enhances Dopaminergic Response To Amphetamine In The Nucleus Accumbens: Role Of The D1 And D2 Receptors., Kimberly Norris Huggins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In past work, we have shown neonatal quinpirole (dopamine D₂/D₃ agonist) treatment produces a significant increase in dopamine D₂ receptor sensitivity, a phenomenon known as D₂ receptor priming. Dopamine D₂ receptor priming is common in psychosis. Male and female rats were administered quinpirole (1mg/kg) or saline from postnatal days 1-11 and raised to adulthood (P60). As adults, rats were administered d-amphetamine sulfate (1mg/kg) or saline every other day for 14 days. Approximately 10 min before each amphetamine or saline injection, animals were administered the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 (0.1 mg/kg), the D2 antagonist eticlopride …

Perceptions Of Interprofessional Communication: Causes And Effects On Patient Care, Occupational Stress, And Job Satisfaction., Stacey Quillen Deshkulkarni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Poor interprofessional communication has been linked to decreased quality of patient care and increased numbers of medical errors. Increased occupational stress due to lack of effective interprofessional communication can lead to poor job satisfaction and burnout. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to interprofessional communication as perceived by radiologic technologists. In particular, how did demographic data influence these perceptions? The research was conducted during June of 2009. The population for this survey consisted of registered radiologic technologists employed at hospitals in Northeast Tennessee. A survey questionnaire covering the subject of interprofessional communication was distributed to a cluster …

Comparison Of Ammonia And Particulate Matter Air Sample Concentrations At Task-Locations Within Swine Confinement Buildings., Earl Dan Bembry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: A task-associated analysis of ammonia and particulate matter concentrations was conducted on swine farms in breeding and gestation barns. The purpose of this study was to determine if specific tasks performed by workers increase concentrations of ammonia and particulate matter exposure.

Methods: An exploratory, descriptive design was used to determine if swine confinement workers have increased ammonia and particulate matter exposure when performing assigned tasks in breeding and gestation barns. A convenience sample of 8 workers volunteered from among all breeding and gestation workers (n=24). Data collection occurred in the morning at each of the 8 farms …

Initial Development Of The Sex Offender Attitude Scale., Brandon Coy Bogle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As long as the public maintains staunch and unwarranted negative attitudes toward sex offenders, little hope remains for released sex offenders to successfully reintegrate into society. Therefore, it is in the interest of society that we understand the nature of views of sex offenders so that attempts can be made to promote maximal reintegration and preventing recidivism. To date no valid psychometric instrument exists that measures attitudes toward sex offenders. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to develop such an instrument that will accurately measure stigma associated with sex offenders. Unrotated Prinicipal Components Factor Analysis revealed a single interpretable …

Psychosocial Concerns And Childhood Overweight In Pediatric Primary Care Clinics Serving Rural Appalachia., Suzanne Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To examine the prevalence of psychosocial concerns presenting in 3 pediatric primary care clinics serving rural Appalachia. The association between pediatric weight status and psychosocial concerns was examined. Methods: Caregivers of children presenting in one of 3 pediatric primary care facilities completed a demographic questionnaire and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist. Results: Approximately 21.4% of children were identified as having a clinically significant behavioral health concern. Among children with available weight status data, ~53% of the children were identified as overweight. Children identified having significant behavioral concerns were more likely to have a lower weight status than those with nonsignificant …

Positive Psychological And Religious Characteristics As Moderators Of Negative Life Events And Depressive Symptoms: A Multiethnic Comparison., Preston Lee Visser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hope, optimism, and several markers of religiosity and spirituality were examined as potential moderators of the association between negative life events and depressive symptoms in a secondary data analysis of an ethnically diverse sample. Participants (267 female, 119 male) were college students enrolled at an urban Northeastern university. It was hypothesized that negative life events would be associated with increased depressive symptoms and that higher levels of hope, optimism, and religious and spiritual variables would attenuate this relationship. Ethnically-stratified moderation analyses were conducted to assess for differences in moderation between Blacks, Hispanics, Whites, and Asians. Hypotheses were generally supported, with …

Evaluating The School Performance Of Elementary And Middle School Children Of Incarcerated Parents., Melissa F. Neal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children of incarcerated parents are at significantly increased risk of negative long-term outcomes. With about 1% of the adult population incarcerated, the United States has millions of children at risk for these negative outcomes. Research on this population is increasing; however, it is still unclear whether children of incarcerated parents are at an increased risk for poor school performance as a specific result of parental incarceration above that associated with their social and economic status. Because parental incarceration may result in a variety of outcomes that can negatively impact school performance including school mobility, prolonged exposure to stress, and insufficient …

Investigating Nectar Rhythms In Squash (Cucurbita Pepo): Effects On Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) Foraging Behavior., Samuel David Boyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Experiments were performed to investigate the influence of water availability on the diel patterns of nectar secretion (volume, concentration, sugar production) in male squash flowers as well as to discover what physical component of nectar honey bees use to trigger their time-memory. Squash plants were grown in the greenhouse and in the field under both constant and variable watering regimes. Throughout anthesis, nectar volume and sugar concentration were recorded. In the field, the temporal distribution of arrivals to squash was observed with and without blossoms present. In the greenhouse and in the field, squash flowers exhibit a consistent diel pattern …

Predicting Flavonoid Ugt Regioselectivity With Graphical Residue Models And Machine Learning., Arthur Rhydon Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning is applied to a challenging and biologically significant protein classification problem: the prediction of flavonoid UGT acceptor regioselectivity from primary protein sequence. Novel indices characterizing graphical models of protein residues are introduced. The indices are compared with existing amino acid indices and found to cluster residues appropriately. A variety of models employing the indices are then investigated by examining their performance when analyzed using nearest neighbor, support vector machine, and Bayesian neural network classifiers. Improvements over nearest neighbor classifications relying on standard alignment similarity scores are reported.

Polynomial Approximation Method For Stochastic Programming., Dongxue Ma 1986-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two stage stochastic programming is an important part in the whole area of stochastic programming, and is widely spread in multiple disciplines, such as financial management, risk management, and logistics. The two stage stochastic programming is a natural extension of linear programming by incorporating uncertainty into the model. This thesis solves the two stage stochastic programming using a novel approach. For most two stage stochastic programming model instances, both the objective function and constraints are convex but non-differentiable, e.g. piecewise-linear, and thereby solved by the first gradient-type methods. When encountering large scale problems, the performance of known methods, such as …

The Role Of O-Glcnac Signaling In Acute Myocardial Ischemia., Gladys Afor Ngoh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

O -linked ß-N-acetylglucosamine ( O -GlcNAc) is an inducible, dynamically cycling, and reversible post-translational modification of serine/threonine amino acid residues of nucleocytoplasmic and mitochondrial proteins. O -GlcNAc transferase (OGT) adds, while O -GlcNAcase (GCA) removes O -GlcNAc from proteins. Albeit being a recruitable stress-induced signal in other tissues, the role of O -GlcNAc in the heart is unknown. Therefore, we hypothesized that O -GlcNAc is recruited in the heart during acute stress, and enhanced O-GlcNAc is cardioprotective. Subjecting neonatal rat cardiac myocytes (NRCMs) to hypoxia, or mice to myocardial ischemia reduced O-GlcNAc signaling. Augmented O-GlcNAc signaling attenuated, while diminished O-GlcNAc …

A Ferrari Engine With Bicycle Brakes : Mothers' Perceptions Of Family Communication Patterns When Having An Adhd Child., Anita Hoag 1967-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how mothers with an ADHD child living in the household perceive and manage family communication. In-depth interviews were conducted amongst nine married mothers who have an ADHD child. Three themes emerged from the interview data: relational management, time management, and internal and external support. Mothers communicate with their ADHD child differently than their non-ADHD children and must also manage communication about the ADHD diagnosis. Mothers are not always open about their child's ADHD with non-family members as they are afraid of the stigma that is attached to the condition. Mothers recognize that …

Anticipatory Grief In The Context Of Dementia Caregiving., Caitlin Holley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated the nature of anticipatory grief in a sample of dementia caregivers, and examined the relationship between anticipatory grief and caregiver burden. Anticipatory grief can be described as one's reaction to the impending death of a loved one, in addition to responses to other previously endured, ongoing, and anticipated losses. Interest in anticipatory grief has been inconsistent, and has typically focused on terminal diseases such as cancer. However, the issues involved in anticipatory grief are unique in the context of dementia due to the progressive deterioration of both cognitive and physical abilities. A total of 80 informal …

Comparative Study Of Freshmen College Student Beliefs And Values Between Representative Private And Public Institutions Of Higher Education In Kentucky., Brian S. Combs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students entering college for the first time are embarking on a life-changing journey like none they have experienced. The potential impact the college experience will have on their lives is extreme. Students will be engaged in class and co-curricular settings in ways that will challenge them to produce developmental growth that will carry them through emerging adulthood into adulthood. (Barry & Nelson, 2005) The importance of this time points to the necessity of colleges and universities ensuring that they are providing the best and most holistic educational experience possible. This study was a comparison of the level of student interest …

Religiosity, Beliefs About Mental Illness, And Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Among Protestant Christians., Juan Michael Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have long been interested in the relationship among the separate fields of psychology and religion. This dissertation seeks to explore the differences in the way protestant Christians with various religious orientations view mental illness and how these views relate to their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. A total of 540 individuals from church congregations representing ten different denominations completed measures of religiosity, beliefs about mental illness, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Scores on these measures were analyzed to observe group differences between religious orientations and correlations among the orientations and dependent variables of belief about mental …

Analysis Of Patient Throughput Time At Kosair Children's Hospital Emergency Room., Elizabeth Gentry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kosair Children’s Hospital Emergency Department in Louisville, KY has been reporting low patient satisfaction, which could result in a decrease in revenue and patients for the hospital. Patient throughput times in Kosair’s emergency room have a significant effect on patient satisfaction. This thesis will evaluate the emergency room at Kosair Children’s Hospital through a time study. The time study analyzes value added time and non-value added time in the emergency room. The majority of the patient throughput time is non-value added time and needs to be minimized. Solutions to minimize the nonvalue added time and future studies to continuously improve …

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

Electronic Theses and 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 …

Exploring The First Year Of Teaching Through Focus Group Discussions, Ethno-Mimesis, A/R/Tography, And Performance Ethnography, Marilyn F. Cullen-Reavill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States is focusing on the important and worthy goal of no child being left behind and in order to accomplish this goal, we must ensure that no teacher, including the first-year teacher, is left behind. This study explores the experiences of three first-year teachers on a monthly basis and uncovers the successes, challenges, supports, and needs that they encounter.

Five research questions guided this study: 1. What are the experiences of a group of first-year teachers and in what ways were these experiences challenging, supportive, or detrimental? 2. What are the benefits for the first-year teachers in meeting …

Gaming The Network Poetic: Networking And Code In Art Games, Joshua A. Fishburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Videogames have historically used networking either to connect players for competition or cooperation or to provide an ephemeral connection to allow the upload, comparison, or assessment of single-player achievement data. The majority of videogames take place on a screen and on established platforms each of which have physical, technical, and sociocultural constraints that dictate how a player will interact. Recent art games, such as those by Jason Rohrer and the Atari VCS games of Ian Bogost highlight experiments in a more focused use of the medium from concept to interaction, both between the player and the software but also foregrounding …

An Examination Of Love And Marital Satisfaction In Long-Term Marriages, Rebeca Isabel Estrada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been little marital research that focuses on contributing factors to successful long-term marriage and even less focus on the role that love plays in long-term marriage. As a means of furthering this research, the purpose of the current study was to examine levels of satisfaction in couples in long-term marriages and to identify contributing factors to an enduring marriage. This study also examined the significance of love and changes in love after 35+ years of marriage. Through the use of qualitative methodology five couples who were self-identified as "happy" in their marriage and who had been married at …

Uncertain Identity: Medical Practitioners In Doctor Thorne And Middlemarch, Denis Illige-Saucier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The medical practitioners who play leading roles in the novels Middlemarch by George Eliot and Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope are examples of a new breed of professional medical men that emerged during the middle of the nineteenth century in England. The new class of general practitioners held licenses from the old hierarchical system of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, but they were the driving force in favor of reform and professionalization in medicine. The 1858 Medical Act was an important step on the path toward a new conception of the medical practitioner, and the development of that new medical identity …

Mapping The Dorsal Skin Pigmentation Patterns Of Two Sympatric Populations Of Ambystomatid Salamanders, Ambystoma Opacum And A. Maculatum From Northeast Tennessee., Lok Raj Pokhrel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because of growing concern of habitat fragmentation and its adverse effects on salamander communities in Appalachian region, sympatric populations of ambystomatid salamanders A. opacum and A. maculatum were studied in Northeast Tennessee to address a number of questions: i) the extent of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in both species, ii) what traits influence the dorsal skin pigmentation and how, iii) whether gender differences in developmental stability occur, and iv) the extent of phenotypic variation within each species. The findings of this study revealed SSD in both species of salamanders. The most parsimonious statistical model was developed that explained the influence …

Comparison Of Artificial Flavors In Commercial Products And Actual Natural Flavor Via Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy Data., Randi Jasmine Sluss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research project, real natural strawberries bought from different local sources were profiled by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GCMS). These profiles were then used as a reference to compare GCMS profiles of commercial artificial strawberry flavor products such as strawberry flavored Cool Splashers™, Gatorade®, and Aquacal® flavored water. The chromatograms obtained were patterned using simple visual observations, scatter plot designs, Mann-Whitney U Test, and correlation coefficients. The artificially flavored commercial products tend to have simpler chromatograms. The Burger King® milkshake, Gatorade®, and Hi-C® are the most similar to that of the natural strawberry flavor. Their correlation coefficients are 0.972, 0.870, …

Environmental Determinism: Broken Paradigm Or Viable Perspective?., Gerald L. Hardin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research was to examine the issue of environmental determinism. It was an ideology that was prevalent throughout the early decades of the 20^th century that held that the natural environment was responsible for virtually all human development. It helped bring the study of geography into the venue of postsecondary education, where it was viewed as a tool for study of human activities. It was a new science inspired by Darwinism that viewed human adaptation to the natural environment as critical to socialization.

Relying on historical sources, the purpose of the study was to reveal how environmental determinism became …

Burnout Potential Among Certified Athletic Trainers In Southwest Virginia And Northeast Tennessee As Measured By A Modified Version Of The Maslach Burnout Inventory., Dennis Cobler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the burnout potential of certified athletic trainers (ATCs) working in the regions of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. To determine burnout potential, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey was used. Permission to modify the inventory was obtained from CPP, Inc. Participants for the research study were identified by searching the NATA membership directory, state athletic training websites and state licensure websites. Sixty-seven ATCs were emailed invitations to participate. Fifty surveys were completed. Of these 50, five were eliminated from statistical analysis. Therefore, 45 surveys were satisfactorily completed producing a usable return rate …

Improving Teacher Morale With Team Building., Nanci Autumne Edmonds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to build a conceptual framework to explain the influence of team building among elementary school teachers to improve teacher morale. This framework is intended as the foundation for a team building model to provide principals and teachers with a guide for implementing sound team-building activities into inservice training and throughout the school year. What are the best practices for implementing team building and how can these practices encourage teachers to have a more positive outlook on their profession? The variables include school environment, school climate, different principals, principal changes, years of teaching experience, teaching …

Replacing The Priest: Tradition, Politics, And Religion In Early Modern Irish Drama., Leslie Ann Valley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Ireland's identity was continually pulled between its loyalties to Catholicism and British imperialism. In response to this conflict of identity, W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory argued the need for an Irish theatre that was demonstrative of the Irish people, returning to the literary traditions to the Celtic heritage. What resulted was a questioning of religion and politics in Ireland, specifically the Catholic Church and its priests. Yeat's own drama removed the priests from the stage and replaced them with characters demonstrative of those literary traditions, establishing what he called a "new …

Roosevelt, Churchill, And The Words Of War: Their Speeches And Correspondence, November 1940-March 1941., Leslie A. Mattingly Bean

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt inspired the Allies with memorable speeches in their fight against the Axis Powers during World War II.

These speeches resulted from their personalities, preparation, and correspondence; and the speeches directed Allied conduct and challenged Axis aggression. The speeches examined here pertain to Lend-Lease in November, 1940-March, 1941.

The author consulted the collections of Churchill's and Roosevelt's speeches and correspondence and drew from memoirs and newspapers. The first two chapters examine Churchill and Roosevelt's rhetorical abilities; the third chapter looks at how their correspondence shaped their speeches; and the fourth chapter looks at …

Why Was I Rejected? How The Attributed Reason For Social Rejection Impacts Subsequent Behavior., Brian Curtis Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is proposed that differences in rejection attribution could yield variations in subsequent prosocial behavior. To test the attribution hypothesis, 109 participants were randomly assigned to a performance based rejection, a personally based rejection, or a control condition and then worked with an ostensible partner via the Internet to develop uses for a common household item. Prosocial behavior was measured by the number of uses a participant generated (working harder for the team). When generating creative uses, participants in the rejection conditions performed significantly worse than nonrejected participants (F(2,74) = 4.576, p<.05, r²=.11). However, in contradiction …