Digital Commons Network^™

Overactive Bladder: Shortcomings Of Current Diagnostic And Treatment Approaches And A New Etiological Paradigm, Nina L. Franzen

Master's Theses

Aims: To examine the effectiveness of the current diagnostic and treatment approach of overactive bladder (OAB) and the relative impact of cognition on what is currently a bladder-centric condition. Methods: A review of the literature on OAB from the population to organ/brain level was conducted. The impact of age-induced bladder dysfunction via cognitive changes to sensory integration and attention control are discussed. Results: OAB uses bladder-centric terminology to represent a collection of symptoms with inconsistent and often unknown pathology. Proposed etiologies and therapeutic models for overactive bladder focus on the bladder organ, but evidence suggests that age-related degradation to inhibitory …

Human Dimensions Of Roadside Vegetation Management Across The Connecticut Landscape, Daniel Connor Hale

Master's Theses

Context For the roadside forest, utility vegetation management is a driver of landscape change that involves tradeoffs between reliable electric power and preservation of trees. Little is known about public perceptions of vegetation management in the landscape context.

Objectives Our objective was to evaluate landscape characteristics and social factors associated with resident attitudes toward roadside utility vegetation management across Connecticut.

Methods We used a mail survey to collect social science data from residents in two study areas in Connecticut. We measured landscape characteristics associated with tree cover and development density at multiple scales around each respondent household. Random forest predictive …

The Effect Of Guilt Free Claims On Restrained And Non-Restrained Eaters' Purchase Intention, Perception Of Product Healthfulness, And Amount Willing To Pay For A Novel Product, Alexis Ludwig

Master's Theses

Products with health-related claims that are perceived to be tasty are more likely to be purchase by consumers than products without a claim. Restrained eaters rely more on external cues such as food packaging rather than internal cues such as hunger signals in a way to control their caloric intake.^1,2 Restrained eaters may be more susceptible to marketing and food claims compared to non-restrained eaters. We propose a guilt free message will affect perception of healthfulness. We also propose a guilt free message and eating restraint will affect purchasing decisions. Lastly, perception of healthfulness and valuing nutritious products mediates …

Perceived Chewing Ability In Adults With Or Without Dentures, Mara Cuberos Guevara

Master's Theses

Background: Masticatory impairment impacts both oral health as well as general health. Self-perceived chewing ability can be a tool to assess denture satisfaction, food choices and quality of life. Objective: To describe the perceived chewing ability with or without use of dentures in adults of different ages and implications in food choices. Methods: Administration of a 20- question survey to adult patients at the Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency clinic at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine. Results: Chewing ability and food choices were significantly impacted by denture status (p = 0.015). Denture status …

“Stop! In The Name Of Civility”: Testing The Effectiveness Of An Intervention To Reduce Workplace Incivility, Corey Grantham

Master's Theses

Workplace incivility is a common problem within organizations. Recent data estimates that 96% of the total workforce population in the United States has experienced incivility at one time or another. Individual targets of incivility face detrimental effects to their psychological and professional well-being. Workplace incivility also leads to poor outcomes for workgroups and for organizations as a whole. Results are mixed for the use of formal training programs to curb incivility in organizations. A workshop designed to train employees on behaving in a civil manner in the workplace, as well as how to respond to workplace incivility, was implemented across …

Risk Factors For Attrition From A Pediatric Weight Management Program, Richika Makol

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Who Receives Treatment For Opioid Use Disorder?, Daniel Madden

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

1-Norm Support Vector Machine On Single-Trial Eeg And Ecg Data To Identify Neural Oscillatory Features In The Ketamine Model For Schizophrenia, Xiao Yang

Master's Theses

Ketamine provides a useful model for studying the physiopathology of schizophrenia as it induces and exacerbates schizophrenic symptoms in healthy individuals and patients, respectively. However, it remains unclear how ketamine affects neural oscillations across frequency bands and the extent to which changes in cortical firing are independent from ketamine’s cardiovascular effects. The present study used 1-norm support vector machine (SVM) as a classification approach to determine sources of psychophysiological signal, considering both EEG and ECG, characterizing primary effects of ketamine administration. EEG and ECG recordings of 11 participants were collected before (saline) and after the ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) intravenous infusion …

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On Physical Literacy In Children, Emma Zuk

Master's Theses

Context: Physical literacy is a growing concept throughout the United States. In order to be physically active, children must develop physical literacy, which is the competency to control their body, and the confidence and motivation to be active. Socioeconomic status of children’s living communities may influence opportunities for physical activity and motor development, but this has not been examined in relation to physical literacy in the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate physical literacy competency between a low-resourced community and a high-resourced community. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to compare children between high-resourced (HIGH) …

More Than Just A Myth: How Shapeshifter Rhetoric Relates To Esl Students 2019, Amber Kent

Master's Theses

The academic analysis surrounding the shapeshifter, or shapeshifter mythologies has, so far, been related to modern issues of violence, militarization, feminism, gender studies, or studies simply focusing on the compilation of shapeshifter myths themselves. This essay will map out the current discussion surrounding shapeshifter mythology to illustrate that it has often fallen into two forms of analysis: that of an anthropological or sociological analysis, where shapeshifter myths were analyzed as a method for understanding different cultures and their development, and that of a poststructural analysis, where shapeshifter myths are analyzed as a means of deconstructing binaries such as good/bad and …

“Flowing Along The Wall”: Anarcha-Feminist Bioethics And Resistance In Octavia E. Butler’S Dawn 2019., Theresa Mendez

Master's Theses

Science fiction (sf) texts conversant with the temporal play between past, present, and future push readers to imagine the extremes of human and environmental existence, interaction, and potential. Simultaneously, despite the sf genre’s tendency to traffic in extremes, these texts provoke readers to consider the ways in which these imagined worlds are grounded in history as well as in the contemporary social moment. As Donna Haraway has argued, “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion” (306). This illusory boundary must continue to be traversed in order to consider how sf literatures, particularly those which imagine …

Posthuman And Alien Breeding: The Implications Of Cybersex In Octavia Butler’S Dawn 2019., Elizabeth Rutkowski

Master's Theses

Speculative science fiction affords new ways for authors to represent social problems of the modern day in an apocalyptic manner. Authors such as Octavia Butler use science fiction to analyze social injustices revolving around race, gender, and sexuality. Throughout her novel Dawn, Butler uses the posthuman to represent minority groups in the late twentieth century. The posthuman represents those who have moved from humanity towards a new opportunity that is mixed with the potential for struggle. 1 As demonstrated through Butler’s work posthumanism blurs the lines between binaries such as male / female, straight / gay, and consensual / nonconsensual …

Addressing Barriers To Preventative Health Care For Transgender Populations: A Systems Approach To Improving Access To Gynecological Care, Meghan N. Flynn

Master's Theses

The current study addresses the lack of research exploring the individual and systemic barriers to accessing gynecological care for transgender populations. An integrated mixed-methods needs assessment was designed to explore the individual and systemic barriers to gynecological health care for transgender and gender diverse populations. Participants of the study included established community providers known to serve the transgender community through advocacy or research efforts, as well as clinical psychologists and medical professionals working in gynecological settings. The study includes a brief quantitative survey, which measured “Perceptions of Inclusivity Importance” among key stakeholders. Following the survey, participants were invited to engage …

A Partial, Age-Graded Examination Of Agnew’S General Theory Of Crime And Delinquency, Jessie Slepicka

Master's Theses

Previous examinations of Agnew’s (2005) general theory of crime and delinquency have garnered mixed results for the theoretical construct. These previous investigations have concentrated on a singular stage of an individual’s life—with analyses focusing on either the adolescent (Muftić, Grubb, Bouffard, & Maljević, 2014; Ngo & Paternoster, 2014; Roh & Marshall, 2018; Zhang, Day, & Cao, 2012) or the adult (Cochran, 2017; Ngo, Paternoster, Cullen, & Mackenzie, 2011) time juncture—failing to empirically assess the variability hypothesis centrally proposed by Agnew. Using data from a nationally representative sample of participants—the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health [n = 20,745 …

The Impact Of Shod Versus Unshod Walking On Center Of Pressure Variability, Zachary Barrons

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the influence of footwear on walking stability. Twenty healthy women walked at 1.3 m/s on an instrumented treadmill. One hundred steps (50-right, 50-left) were analyzed from two walking conditions (shod, unshod). The variability of the center of pressure (COP) for each step was calculated for quadrants of the contact period. Significant differences in variability were seen between shod and unshod conditions in all quadrants as well as differences between left and right feet in quadrants one and four. Restricted foot motion while shod may explain the differences seen in COP variability. …

Exploring Language Construction And The Meaning Of “Success” In Addiction Recovery Settings, Ashleigh Pulling

Master's Theses

The number of drug overdose deaths has spiked in recent years, currently at a rate where 142 Americans die from opioid overdose every day (Goodnough 2017). This public health crisis has been framed as an epidemic, and this collective understanding may shape the way individuals and communities experience this tragedy. Few studies, however, have examined how the term success is defined in addiction recovery settings. To investigate language regarding what successful addiction recovery means, this research examined framing strategies in two recovery models, cognitive behavior therapy and shamanic therapeutic mechanisms, and connected them to the practices being employed by practitioners …

Organized Chaos: Daily Routines As A Potential Mechanism Linking Household Chaos And Child Behavior Problems, Kristy L. Larsen

Master's Theses

Children living in chaotic households exhibit more externalizing behaviors. Child externalizing behavior, exhibited as early as the toddler and preschool years, is a risk factor for later maladjustment. Understanding the mechanisms linking household chaos to early externalizing behaviors is important since those mechanisms could be targeted as a point of intervention. The primary aim of this study was to examine daily routines as a potential mediator of the relation between household chaos and both child externalizing behavior and bedtime resistant behavior. A secondary aim was to examine different levels of routines (family routines, general daily child routines, and specific bedtime …

Effects Of Exercise Training On The Blood Lactate Response To Acute Exercise In Cancer Survivors, Arjun Ramani

Master's Theses

Otto Warburg, a German physiologist, deduced that cancer cells exhibit a remarkably different metabolic profile in comparison to normal healthy cells characterized by increased rates of glycolysis and lactate fermentation, even in the presence of adequate oxygen content. Through the respective gain of function/loss of function of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, three major genes emerge as hallmarks of carcinogenic metabolic reconfiguration; HIF-1a, c-Myc oncogenes, and p53 tumor-suppressor genes. A result of their respective gain/loss of function are the upregulation of several glycolytic proteins and subsequent high rates of glucose influx into the tumor microenvironment, as well as lactate production, …

Exploring The Influence Of School-Based Sexuality Education Settings On Lgbtq+ Sexual Identity Development, Lauren Marie Guyer

Master's Theses

Previous research on sexual identity development demonstrates that there are five discernible, non-linear statuses in which individuals may pass through as they develop their sexual identity: compulsory heterosexuality, active exploration, diffusion, deepening and commitment, and synthesis (Dillon, Worthington, and Moradi 2011). Moreover, prior research on school-based sexuality education (SBSE) demonstrates that no matter its formal designation or political perspective, SBSE is exclusionary, inadequate, and habitually reproduces social inequalities (Bay-Cheng 2003; Elia and Eliason 2010b). SBSE programs within the United States are insufficient because they unvaryingly promote a heteronormative discourse and do not address the sexual health needs or experiences of …

Stephen Heller Composes Jean Paul: The Blumen-, Frucht-, Und Dornestücke, Op. 82, Nicholas R. Alexander

Master's Theses

Stephen Heller became a correspondent to the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in 1836, marking the beginning of a long and close friendship with its editor, Robert Schumann. Among the affinities shared by the two musicians was a devotion to the novels of Jean Paul [Richter]. They considered the poetic and novelistic qualities that saturated their solo piano works to have been inspired by him, relating both their music and daily lives to his work. Heller published his Blumen-, Frucht-, und Dornenstücke, Op. 82 in 1853, naming his collection of character pieces after Jean Paul’s novel of the same title (though …

The Relationship Between Remote Work And Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Roles Of Perceived Autonomy, Work-Family Conflict, And Telecommuting Intensity, Marie Antoinette Schall

Master's Theses

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between remote work and job satisfaction levels of employees in the workplace. Additionally, the variables perceived autonomy, work-family conflict, and telecommuting intensity were investigated as mediators. A total of 185 employees participated in the study, which utilized an online survey. Results showed that remote work had a positive relationship with job satisfaction. Perceived autonomy, work-family conflict, and telecommuting intensity each mediated the relationship between remote work and job satisfaction. An inverted u-shaped curvilinear relationship between the extent of working remotely (telecommuting intensity) and job satisfaction was not found and …

Exploring The Gamification Paradox: Why Does Improved Engagement Not Lead To Improved Performance?, Katarzyna Maria Sliwinska

Master's Theses

Gamification is the application of game elements to non-game environments (Deterding, 2012), and is often used to engage people and make their experiences more enjoyable in areas ranging from fitness and education to psychological research. Previous studies have shown that adding gamification to new environments can result in increased motivation (Hamari, Koivisto, & Sarsa, 2014). However, increased motivation from gamification does not seem to increase performance in terms of accuracy or response times (Hawkins et al., 2013). This research study examined this “gamification paradox” by testing the performance of 87 participants on a visual search task both with and without …

First Thirty Days Of Life: Examining Calf Behavioral Development In Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus Leucas) And Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhyncus Obliquidens) At One Zoological Facility, Kendal Smith

Master's Theses

Cetacean development is important for general comparative understanding and the implementation of informed husbandry policies. Due to the inaccessibility of many of these species in the wild, researchers can study managed care populations to better understand basic developmental patterns of cetaceans, as well as to improve husbandry policies for facility animals. However, no previous studies have attempted to observe the behavioral development of Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhyncus obliquidens). Eight beluga whale calves and four Pacific white-sided dolphin calves were observed for the first 30 days of life to determine the developmental trajectory of several typically monitored behaviors. The …

The Road To Recovery: Injured Athlete's Perspectives On Recovery Through Social Support, Brooke Kuhn

Master's Theses

Injured athletes’ perspectives on different aspect of their recovery process were analyzed using concepts such as social support, responsiveness, and self-disclosure based on three different sources: coaches, trainers, and teammates. 39 participants were used for this study. With an age range from 18-44 years old, the participants are both current college and former college athletes. Many of them ranged from the different types of sports played and at different divisional levels. 82.1% of participants were Caucasian, 12.8% were African American, and 5.1% selected other as their ethnicity. The results exemplify, through linear regression, that trainers are the most effective source …

A Comparison Of Social Learning In Domestic Canines, Beatrice Chenkin

Master's Theses

Domestic canines (Canis familiaris) provide a unique insight into the processes by which species can grow to cooperate efficiently with humans. Few studies have compared whether their behavior is more affected by humans or other canines. This study uses a two-action feeder (an apparatus that can be opened in one of two ways) to look into the methods of social learning they use and compares how they learn from humans vs. other canines. Sixty-four dogs from the Humane Society of varying backgrounds, ages, sexes, and reproductive statuses were tested on their ability to open the two-action feeder and the amount …

Posture Affects Affordance Perception Of Reachability In Virtual Reality, Hannah Masoner

Master's Theses

Tasks such as standing and reaching require differing levels of postural stability. Postural equilibrium is necessary to perceive the location of objects (Lee, Pacheco, & Newell, 2018). Visual perception of whether an object is within reach was investigated while standing upright. Participants viewed a 3D virtual reality (VR) environment with a stimulus object (red ball) placed at different egocentric distances. Participants made affordance judgements while in a standard stance condition as well as two separate active balance conditions (yoga tree pose, and toe-to-heel pose). Feedback on accuracy was not provided, and participants were not allowed to attempt to reach. Response …

Exploring The Moderating Effects Of Aggression On The Relationship Between Negative Urgency And Suicidal Desire, Rachel L. Martin

Master's Theses

Suicide is a health concern with 44,965 deaths in 2016. Typical assessment of risk factors relies on self-report, which can be susceptible to underreporting. As such, non-face valid measures and innovative assessment approaches such as implicit association tests may help identify risk factors by eliminating conscious underreporting. The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior is an empirically supported theory hypothesizing why individuals die by suicide. The theory comprises three elements: thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and capability for suicide. Thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness have been found to be non-face valid measures and less susceptible to conscious underreporting. Objective measures, such as …

Online Political Participation: Evaluation Of The Changing Effects Over Time, Gabriel Davis May

Master's Theses

The internet is a political participation medium that has been subject to constant changes. Just since 2008, there has been a significant increase in the amount of people who use the internet for political purposes. Building on the work of Brian Kruger and others I evaluate whether the internet brings new participants into the political process or if the internet only "reinforces" those who already participate. I utilize data from recent American National Election Studies to employ an ordinary least-squares regression model for recent presidential election years and assess whether the internet has brought new participants into the political fray …

Zika Message Analysis, Alexandria Phipps

Master's Theses

The following study employs the Extended Parallel Processing Model and Theory of Planned Behavior to understand how to create health messages with the greatest influence on individuals’ behavioral intent to adopt mosquito-borne virus protection behaviors. The study employs a 2 (susceptibility) x 2 (self-efficacy) factorial design, evenly distributing the participants between four messages (N=186). Although the selfefficacy manipulation was ultimately unsuccessful, the findings highlighted the significance of perceived susceptibility on one’s intent to adopt protective behaviors. The results exemplify the importance of the theoretical critical point of the EPPM, where danger control shifts to fear control, and the importance of …

Mapping Sex Offenders And Treatment Centers In Relation To Social Disorganization, Amber Amin

Master's Theses

Research shows that the clustering of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) is connected to social disorganization. Residential patterns disrupt the reintegration of the RSO population. Utilizing data from Queens and the Bronx, NYC, this study examines RSO clustering in the two boroughs and explores the proximity of community resources to RSO addresses that may assist reintegration. Using data from the New York Megan’s Law and census data for Queens and Bronx Counties, maps were created to study the residential patterns of RSOs. The results show clustering of RSOs in areas with variables pertaining to high social disorganization and a lack of …