Digital Commons Network^™

Work Stress, Meaning, And Values: A Study Of Intellectual Disability Support Staff, Jennifer Marie Ladner-Graham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Employees who work with individuals with intellectual disabilities report high levels of work-related stress. Staff stress is associated with a variety of negative outcomes, such as poor psychological health, job burnout, and high turnover rates. The current study investigated the relationship between staff stress and negative outcomes. Specifically, this study examined whether positive psychology concepts such as perceived meaning in life and values moderated the relationship between staff stress and poor psychological health, job search/intention to leave the job, and use of sick leave. Participants included staff members from an inpatient facility for people with intellectual disabilities located in North …

Toward A Conceptualization Of Emetophobia: Examining Intolerance Of Uncertainty As A Unique Predictor Of Symptoms, Mimi Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emetophobia, a poorly understood disorder, is a specific phobia characterized by an irrational and persistent fear of oneself vomiting or others vomiting. Though research on the disorder is sparse, previous investigations have reported interference in social, occupational, and health domains in the lives of individuals with emetophobia (Lipsitz et al., 2001; McFayden & Wyness, 1983; Veale & Lambrou, 2006). To this end, the current study examined whether individual differences in Anxiety Sensitivity (AS), Disgust Sensitivity (DS), and Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) are associated with symptoms of emetophobia, whether AS predicts symptoms of emetophobia above and beyond DS, IU, and expected …

I Am See-Through: Participatory Video Making As A Method For Social Change In The Mississippi Delta, Paige Prather

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis traces my application of critical participatory video scholarship to the development of a teen video documentary course that I facilitated during my graduate school tenure at the Tutwiler Community Education Center in the Mississippi Delta. Since at least the 1960s, documentarians have utilized participatory video methodologies as a way to tackle social issues through a ground-up approach in which community members play a vital role in the production of documentary projects. The development and application of participatory video varies greatly across disciplines including radical documentary filmmaking, visual studies, developmental studies, and emerging social media studies. Over the years, …

Can Student-Driven Changes Increase Salad Bar Usage In Schools?, Shannon Leeke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing student salad bar participation may increase students' consumption of fruits and vegetables while decreasing their risk of chronic disease. This study observed student perception, experience, and participation of the school salad bar in two northwest Mississippi high schools. The subjects were students' age 15-18 years old. One school served as the control variable and one served as the intervention variable. A three-week baseline of salad bar participation was collected before surveying students at the intervention school. Surveying student perception and experience of the salad bar provided data to implement changes to the salad bar. Student perception and experience was …

The Effects Of Carbonated Soft Drinks On Bone Mineral Density In College Age Women, Tina Irene Bankston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Osteoporosis is a fast growing, worldwide public health problem. Also called, 'the silent disease' or 'fragile bone disease', osteoporosis results from low bone mass (Gammage & Klentrou, 2011; NOF, 2013; Swann, 2012). Currently, 44 million Americans have osteoporosis; 80% of which are women (NOF, 2011). Few studies, most implemented in other countries, have been conducted examining the consumption of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) as a risk factor for low bone mineral density (BMD) (Ogur et al., 2007; Hostmark et al., 2011; McGartland et al., 2003). The global consumption of CSDs increased by four percent during 2009 to 2010. Within the …

Effect Of Incorporating The Fitbit Fitness Tracking Technology Into A Prescribed Exercise Intervention Program To Improve Long-Term Function In Obese Individuals One Year Following Total Knee Arthroplasty., Webb A. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Physical Activity Intervention Targeted At Middle-Aged Males: A Mixed Methods Research Study, Sheryl L. Chatfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Education On Elder Abuse, Kathleen M. Evanina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed examine the effect of education on prevention of abuse in a long term care center. Participants in this study included direct care worker staff at a nursing home and nursing home residents.

The New Endangered Species: Community-Anchoring Public Schools, Karen Ferrick-Roman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Often, school closures are seen as a "natural order" of events in communities with extreme economic struggles. My work challenges this premise.

In Pennsylvania, communities where schools selected for closure are often composed of rural, largely white or urban, largely minority, populations living at the margins amid the persistent yet growing economic divide. Within this milieu, communities and people at the margins are swept up in general educational trends, such as the risk of charter schools, siphoning students and funding from traditional, community-anchoring public schools and perpetuating systematic power and economic inequities, driven by political and philanthropic initiatives. The economic …

An Ethical Justification For Post-Trial Access To Anti-Retroviral Drugs For Participants And Host Populations In Developing Countries: A Global Justice Perspective, Evaristus Chiedu Obi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The pandemic nature of HIV/AIDS in developing countries engenders global health emergency which establishes the urgent need to address the issue of affordable access to anti-retroviral drugs in developing countries. The dissertation discusses an ethical justification for post-trial access to anti-retroviral drugs for participants and host populations in developing countries within the context of global justice, stressing the combination of national and global responsibilities in realizing this objective. Drawing on the strengths of Rawls's statist and Pogge's cosmopolitan theories and on the International Human Rights Law, the dissertation proposes a paradigm of Global Health Justice involving a sliding scale of …

A Retrospective Data Analysis In Veterans With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Using Wagner's Chronic Care Model To Explore Medication Adherence, Lori K. Rizzo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background

Medication adherence in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) ranges between 7-72% . Increased healthcare utilization has been associated with non-adherence in IBD. Wagner's Chronic Care Model (CCM) posits that care coordination between primary and gastroenterology (GI) specialty care could improve adherence and healthcare utilization.

Methods

Guided by the CCM, a retrospective analysis was conducted in veterans with IBD to: describe medication adherence rates; describe healthcare utilization measured by ER visits and inpatient admissions; and describe care coordination measured by primary care and GI specialty care use. A secondary study aim was to explore the relationships between those key outcome variables …

Tackling Urban Poverty In The Secondary Learning Environment, Nina Marie Sacco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem of practice examined in this dissertation in practice is that many urban schools that serve low socioeconomic communities fail to engage and, therefore, empower students to succeed. The purpose of this dissertation is to identify how urban poverty presents in secondary learning environments (i.e. high schools), to report findings on how urban poverty presents in one urban high school, and to report on an emerging model for engaging stakeholders across the boundaries of school, academy, and community to improve student success for those who attend such schools. Urban students of low socioeconomic status who attend secondary schools with …

The Search For Novel Antibiotic Compounds Through Molecular Modeling And Structure-Function Analysis Of Cspe In E. Coli K12, Andre Duane Samuel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Escherichia coli K12 has the capacity to express nine Csp (Cold shock-related protein) gene products (CspA-I). These proteins share between 29 and 83 percent identity in their amino acid sequences and only one, CspA, has a solved crystal structure. One of the Csps shown to be involved in chromosome condensation is a 6.3 kDa protein called CspE and deletion studies of its homologues in Bacillus subtilis show that at least one of the Csp proteins is required for cell viability. All of the Csp proteins studied to date bind to single stranded nucleic acids. Knowing that at least one of …

Being Better At Doing Good: Organizational Engagement And Foreign Management Practices In Dpr (North) Korea, Rajarshi Sen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Foreign organizations work in DPR Korea under multiple external and internal pressures, and these organizations try to respond to their working environment in their own ways. However, it is important that these foreign organizations are able to work effectively, in order for engagement with DPRK to be meaningful. In this research, utilizing the case study method, I explore the questions: How can foreign organizations effectively work in DPR Korea? What can they do to more easily achieve their outputs and outcomes? What are the dynamics of the mutual embeddedness process as foreign organizations become immersed in the context of DPRK? …

Factors Influencing Nurses' Intentions To Provide Weight Management Education To Hospitalized Obese Adults, Milissa Volino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a sensitive, global health problem that impacts individuals of all ages and places individuals at risk for various chronic health problems. Nurses caring for hospitalized obese clients are in a prime position to provide them with timely information on weight management. This study utilized an exploratory sequential mixed method design to examine medical-surgical nurses' intentions to provide weight management education to hospitalized obese adults and the factors that influence nurses' intentions.

In phase 1, a focus group interview guide and nurse demographic form (NDF) were developed. Focus groups were conducted and analysis resulted in the creation of 15 …

Comprehension Of Science Text By African American Fifth And Sixth Grade Students: The Effects Of A Metalinguistic Approach, Karen Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scientific literacy has been at the forefront of science education reform for the past 20 years, particularly for students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds (Lee et. al., 2005; Pearson, Moje & Greenleaf, 2010). The ability to extract meaning from text is an important skill. Yet many students struggle with effectively comprehending what they read, particularly in content areas of science, math and history. According to the National Assessment Educational Progress (NAEP, 2013) report, adolescents are not acquiring advanced literacy skills needed to succeed in the workplace and academic setting. Literacy experts have called for the use of disciplinary …

Childhood Growth In An Oneota Community: Examining Long Bone Growth Differences In The The Juveniles At Norris Farms 36, Whitney Broughton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oneota migration into the central Illinois River valley around ad 1300 resulted in a number of different interactions with Mississippian groups. Milner and colleagues (1991) identified significant numbers of perimortem injuries at the Norris farms 36 cemetery, along with biological markers for poor health, such as cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. They suggested that the threat of violence may have forced the Oneonta at Morton village to limit subsistence activities to circumscribed areas close to the settlement, thereby reducing the resource base and negatively impacting the health of the community. However, recent research (Bengtson et al. 2012; Bengtson and O'Gorman …

Is Marital Status A Determinant Of Self-Monitoring Of Blood Glucose?, Jasmine Evelyn Dixon Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Glycemic control is one of the most important aspects of diabetes management and is necessary for the prevention or delay of complications associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). Self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is a technique used achieve glycemic control by revealing day-to-day changes in blood glucose levels. Since marriage protective effects have been shown for mortality, especially for men, it is useful to determine whether a similar relationship is found between marriage and SMBG. The purpose of this study is to examine whether marital status is a determinant of SMBG, when controlling for other variables, and whether marital status determines …

'Til Death Do I Wait: Experiences Of Food Insecurity Among Elders On The Meals On Wheels Waiting List, Marie Gualtieri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Food insecurity is not a new phenomenon experienced by elderly persons living in the United States. In a recent report by Feeding America, approximately 4.8 million Americans over the age of 60 are food insecure, which has doubled since 2001, and is 50% higher than in 2007. Due to lack of funding to the program, Meals on Wheels by Seniors First is unable to give meals to seniors in the Central Florida area who are food insecure. Through structured face-to-face interviews, this study examines elders on the program's waiting list and explores how this population obtains food if they are …

Determination Of Critical Rest Interval Using Repeated Sprint Ability Testing, Michael La Monica

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The critical power (CP) concept has been used to determine the appropriate rest interval during intermittent exercise through the investigation of critical rest interval (CRI). Repeated sprint ability (RSA) testing has been developed to define the athlete’s ability to recover and maintain maximal effort during successive bouts. The CP model has been used to understand the physiological responses involved with intermittent exercise delineating between severe and heavy exercise intensity domains. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the CRI from the work-time relationship given by RSA testing using varying work to rest ratios. The secondary purpose was to …

Bioarchaeological Assessment Of Diet And Changes In Femoral And Humeral Stable Isotopic Values Among Subadults At Medieval Alytus, Lithuania., Katherine Page

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Establishing a chronology of variation in isotopic values can reveal frailty associated with biological and social age, as well as highlight individuals who vary from typical patterns. Although general dietary characteristics and infant feeding practices were previously unknown for subadults excavated from the cemetery at Alytus, Lithuania (14th-18th centuries), previous research concludes that Alytus' subadults experienced high rates of physiological, metabolic, non-specific stress, in addition to specific diseases like tuberculosis. To investigate nuanced relationships between diet and mortality, nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes from the femoral and humeral midshaft diaphyses of 70 subadults (32 weeks gestation to16 years) were analyzed. …

Effects Of Weaning Age On Body Composition And Growth Of Ex Situ California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Pups, Brandon Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pinnipeds exhibit a wide range of lactation strategies that vary from just a few days to nearly three years in duration. Phocids have a relatively short, intense nursing period culminating with weaning after just a few days or weeks, while dependent otariids generally take several months of consuming a combined milk and solid food diet before being completely independent. The transition to nutritional independence can be particularly challenging for newly weaned pups, which must adjust to behavioral, physiological and nutritional changes as a milk diet is replaced with solid food. An interruption in energy resources during this formative stage could …

Investigating Personal Fitness Trainers' Qualifications, Michael Akerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A threefold approach was utilized to analyze the problem of defining personal fitness trainers’ qualifications. First, the problem was explored nationally, internationally and locally. Within the local context, the history of the exercise science program, stakeholders and culture at the University of Central Florida and in the central Florida marketplace was examined. Next, a systematic literature review examined possible causes within the knowledge context, learning/motivational context and organizational/cultural context. Then, an original research study investigated the qualifications for Central Florida, Personal Fitness Trainers (PFTs) by examining the relationship(s) and/or differences between variables such as education, certification, years of experience and …

A Comparative Analysis Of Top Performing Countries In Eighth Grade Mathematics As Measured By 2011 Trends In International Mathematics And Science Study, Courtney Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research was to shed light on factors contributing to global international rankings in mathematics released by the 2011 administration of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. This study focused on factors contributing to the global ranking of international scores in mathematics. Although students in the United States performed below students in the other sample countries (Singapore, Japan, and the Republic of Korea), American students scored within one standard deviation of the top performer, the Republic of Korea. The study also revealed that although other countries had their brightest and most advantaged students participate in …

The Anti-Toxin Properties Of Grape Seed Phenolic Compounds, Patrick Cherubin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Ricinus communis, Shigella dysentariae, and Vibrio cholerae produce AB toxins which share the same basic structural characteristics: a catalytic A subunit attached to a cell-binding B subunit. All AB toxins have cytosolic targets despite an initial extracellular location. AB toxins use different methods to reach the cytosol and have different effects on the target cell. Broad-spectrum inhibitors against these toxins are therefore hard to develop because they use different surface receptors, entry mechanisms, enzyme activities, and cytosolic targets. We have found that grape seed extract provides resistance to five different AB toxins: diphtheria toxin (DT), P. …

Defining And Building Excellence: A Model For Professional Development At Arete Charter School, Shloe Kerness

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the U.S., there is increased awareness that what teachers know and are able to do play a significant role in the achievement of their students (Sanders & Rivers, 1996). Consequently, there is an unprecedented interest in improving instruction, a job that is normally assumed by the schools and school districts where teachers are employed. However, long-established professional development options provided by school districts usually fail to have any significant positive impact on teachers' instructional practices and often have the unintended consequence of making teachers feel more like workers on an assembly line than professionals doing emotionally complicated work (Borko …

Endocrine And Contralateral Muscle Responses To Short-Term Unilateral Resistance Training, Carleigh Boone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of short-term lower body unilateral resistance training on hormonal, muscle morphological, and performance measures in young men. METHODS: Seventeen healthy, untrained young men (Age: 22.8 ± 3.7 y; BMI: 26.5 ± 4.9 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to one of two groups (UT: 22.9 ± 4.6 y, 25.3 ± 4.2 kg/m2; CON: 24.0 ± 4.6 y, 27.7 ± 5.1 kg/m2). Resistance training consisted of 4 weeks of unilateral lower body and bilateral upper body exercises on 3 days per week. Each training session entailed unilateral countermovement jumps (3 × 8), …

The Effect Of Moderate Altitude On High Intensity Running Performance During A Game With Collegiate Female Soccer Players, Jonathan Bohner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Competition often requires teams that reside at sea level to compete against opponents whose residence is at a moderate altitude. This may pose a potential competitive disadvantage considering that moderate altitude may cause decrements in VO2max, distance covered, and time to exhaustion in endurance athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of altitude on game performance measures. Six NCAA Division I female soccer players (20.33 ± 1.21 y; 168 ± 6.45 cm; 62.5 ± 6.03 kg) were retrospectively examined. Comparisons were made between two competitions that were played at sea level (SL) within two weeks of …

Counterproductive Work Behaviors, Justice, And Affect: A Meta-Analysis, Megan Cochran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) are an expensive phenomenon for organizations, costing billions of dollars collectively each year. Recent research has focused on justice perceptions as predictors of CWBs, but little research has been conducted on the specific types of counterproductive work behaviors (i.e., sabotage, withdrawal, production deviance, abuse, and theft) that result from specific organizational justice perceptions (i.e., distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) and the mediating effect of state affect. The current paper meta-analyzed the relationships between justice, CWB, and state affect and found that justice was negatively related to dimensions of CWB and state positive/negative affect were negatively/positively related …

Are Community Food Assistance Programs Meeting The Needs Of Food-Insecure Households In Pittsburgh's North Side Neighborhoods?, Ryan M. Van Dinter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Semi-structured interviews with three householders and three community food program managers were conducted to explore if food assistance programs meet the needs of residents in Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhoods. Findings show that insufficient income is the main factor contributing to household food insecurity. North Side residents also have difficulty obtaining nutritious and affordable foods because fresh produce is often too expensive and supermarket food quality is considered low. Farm stands and other food access programs are well received, but only provide access to nutritious foods during the summer. Limited income and limited food access increase reliance on food pantries and …