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2006

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The Determinants Of Hospital Adoption And Expansion Of Bariatric Procedures: A Resource Dependence Perspective, Wenquiang Tian Jan 2006

The Determinants Of Hospital Adoption And Expansion Of Bariatric Procedures: A Resource Dependence Perspective, Wenquiang Tian

Theses and Dissertations

New medical technologies have been viewed as the primary cause of rising health are expenditures by health policy researchers in the United States. Since the mid 1990s, with the prevalence of obesity among Americans, the utilization of bariatric surgery, a medical innovation, has increased rapidly among U.S. hospitals. Generally, current literature only states that the volume of bariatric procedures is increasing dramatically.Very limited studies have been conducted to investigate the growth of bariatric procedures.The objective of this study is (1) to provide a detailed description about the adoption and utilization of bariatric procedure in hospitals in 11 states, and (2) …

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Parent And Therapist Perceptions Of Sensory Based Strategies Used By Occupational Therapists In Family-Centered Early Intervention Practice, Juliet Bertaut Copeland Jan 2006

Parent And Therapist Perceptions Of Sensory Based Strategies Used By Occupational Therapists In Family-Centered Early Intervention Practice, Juliet Bertaut Copeland

Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative approach was used to explore the perceptions of parents and therapists in early intervention regarding sensory diets and their efficacy, particularly their goodness of fit within family routines and occupations. Open-ended interviews were conducted with therapist and parent participants and analysis of the data resulted in a model depicting how sensory diets became a "way of life" for families. The Sensory Diet "Way of Life" Model revealed seven themes that illustrated how occupational therapists in early intervention enter the homes of the families they serve and establish a "partnership" with parents to address a child's needs. Once this …

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Spin Polarized Transport In Nanoscale Devices, Sandipan Pramanik Jan 2006

Spin Polarized Transport In Nanoscale Devices, Sandipan Pramanik

Theses and Dissertations

The ultimate goal in the rapidly burgeoning field of spintronics is to realize semiconductor-based devices that utilize the spin degree of freedom of a single charge carrier (electron or hole) or an ensemble of such carriers to achieve novel and/or enhanced device functionalities such as spin based light emitting devices, spin transistors and femto-Tesla magnetic field sensors. These devices share a common feature: they all rely on controlled transport of spins in semiconductors. A prototypical spintronic device has a transistor-like configuration in which a semiconducting channel is sandwiched between two contacts (source and drain) with a gate electrode sitting on …

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Information Technology Outsourcing In U.S. Hospital Systems, Mark L. Diana Jan 2006

Information Technology Outsourcing In U.S. Hospital Systems, Mark L. Diana

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors associated with outsourcing of information systems (IS), and if there is a difference in IS sourcing based on the strategic value of the outsourced functions. The theoretical framework is based upon a synthesis of strategic management theory (SMT) and transaction cost economics (TCE) as they apply to vertical integration in the health care sector; therefore, IS sourcing behavior was conceptualized as a case of vertical integration. The conceptual model proposed that sourcing behavior would be determined by asset specificity, uncertainty, the interaction of asset specificity and uncertainty, bargaining power, corporate …

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Politics And Personal Life In The Era Of Revolution: The Treatment And Reintigration Of Elite Loyalists In Post-Revolutionary Virginia, Gregory Harkcom Stoner Jan 2006

Politics And Personal Life In The Era Of Revolution: The Treatment And Reintigration Of Elite Loyalists In Post-Revolutionary Virginia, Gregory Harkcom Stoner

Theses and Dissertations

Historians of loyalism in Virginia during the American Revolution typically characterize supporters of the Crown as a small and unorganized group that had little bearing on the outcome of the war. However, these historians greatly underestimate the extent and nature of Virginia loyalists. Patriots throughout the state feared and loathed outright demonstrations of loyalty to the Crown, sought to identify and remove Tories in their communities, and worked to prevent the reentry of these Loyalists into postwar Virginia. Those loyalists who attempted to return to Virginia realized that continual attention was required to shape and present an image that would …

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A Comparison For Longitudinal Data Missing Due To Truncation, Rong Liu Jan 2006

A Comparison For Longitudinal Data Missing Due To Truncation, Rong Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Many longitudinal clinical studies suffer from patient dropout. Often the dropout is nonignorable and the missing mechanism needs to be incorporated in the analysis. The methods handling missing data make various assumptions about the missing mechanism, and their utility in practice depends on whether these assumptions apply in a specific application. Ramakrishnan and Wang (2005) proposed a method (MDT) to handle nonignorable missing data, where missing is due to the observations exceeding an unobserved threshold. Assuming that the observations arise from a truncated normal distribution, they suggested an EM algorithm to simplify the estimation.In this dissertation the EM algorithm is …

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Cultural Identity, Laura J. Faulcon Jan 2006

Cultural Identity, Laura J. Faulcon

Theses and Dissertations

Living and thriving in a diverse culture has allowed me to appreciate all that people have to offer, regardless of where they come from. It is my intention to portray an individual cultural sensitivity, while celebrating the qualities that unite all people. The four elements that are common in my work are scenes of livelihood, religion, entertainment, and family. Though some people may strongly identify with one particular culture, I have had the privilege of being assimilated and accepted in to many. I intend to show my affection and appreciation for them all, through detailed drawings, bold use of color, …

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David Gilmour Blythe's Street Urchins And American Nativism, Corey S. Piper Jan 2006

David Gilmour Blythe's Street Urchins And American Nativism, Corey S. Piper

Theses and Dissertations

David Gilmour Blythe's street urchin paintings created during the 1850s are disturbing and often grotesque. The image of childhood that he created was quite different from that of his American contemporaries who adapted the romantic notion of the child from eighteenth-century English painters. Previous scholars have noted the contrast between Blythe's vision of America's street children and the optimistic view offered by other American painters but have not offered a sufficient explanation as to why they differed so radically. This thesis will examine several of Blythe's urchin scenes, as well as his poetry and writings to reveal the clear presence …

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Design And Validation Of A Full Contact Gait Simulator For The Cadaveric Lower Extremity, Joseph Michael Iaquinto Jan 2006

Design And Validation Of A Full Contact Gait Simulator For The Cadaveric Lower Extremity, Joseph Michael Iaquinto

Theses and Dissertations

The projects goal was to create a device to simulate full contact gait in the cadaveric lower extremity. The Contact Gait Simulation System loads specific muscles to recreate anatomical dorsi and plantar flexion of the ankle under axial loading. A system of pneumatic load generation was connected a LabVIEW virtual instrument (VI), which controlled the application of these loads. The loads were roughly based off literature cited EMG data, and further modified from feedback. In addition to controlling the load system, the VI also coordinates external sensor timing. Along with this simulator, software was developed specifically for analyzing pressure data …

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Public: An Exploration Of Community, Environment, And Technology, Christopher John Malven Jan 2006

Public: An Exploration Of Community, Environment, And Technology, Christopher John Malven

Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the potential of computer technology to enhance navigation within, and incorporate information-sharing into, the public urban environment.

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Cooking With Paint, Jody Lynn Schwab Jan 2006

Cooking With Paint, Jody Lynn Schwab

Theses and Dissertations

Graduate school has been a time of travel through experimentation. The journey has almost always been a search for materials and sources that match my need for working with the self-referential narrative within the framework of a process. Repeatedly, I would venture out and turn back, only to venture out again, packed with new materials and image sources, in search of a complete process. In retrospect, there have been no dead ends, only quenched curiosities that sometimes cleanly, often clumsily, lead one to the other. What is left is a series of explorations from which I can pluck similarities, clues …

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The Influence Of A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism In The Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 Promoter On Glioma Biology, Jessica Mccready Jan 2006

The Influence Of A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism In The Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 Promoter On Glioma Biology, Jessica Mccready

Theses and Dissertations

Glioblastomas are an incurable type of brain tumor with a mean survival time of 9-12 months following diagnosis. One of the reasons for this poor prognosis is the ability of tumor cells to invade the surrounding normal brain tissue. Enzymes responsible for this invasive nature include the matrix metalloproteinase family. MMP-1 is a member of this family which has been well studied in many types of invasive tumors, with gliomas being an exception. We studied a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the MMP-1 promoter that may influence glioma biology. This SNP consists of the presence (2G) or absence (1G) of …

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Perceived Deprivation In Active Duty Military Nurse Anesthetists, Julie Ann Pearson Jan 2006

Perceived Deprivation In Active Duty Military Nurse Anesthetists, Julie Ann Pearson

Theses and Dissertations

Problem: There is a shortage of military certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs). The exodus from military service to civilian careers could be a result of relative deprivation (the discrepancy that one perceives between what one has and what one could or should have). Relative deprivation is a perception of unfairness dependent on feelings (subjective data) as well as facts (objective data). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure relative deprivation in active duty military nurse anesthetists, to explore variables which correlate with relative deprivation, and to validate or refute the theory of relative deprivation in active duty military …

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Using Visual Culture To Address Gender Expectations In Middle School Art Education: Visual Art Curriculum Design Based On The Manga Ranma1/2, Ting-Yu Chen Jan 2006

Using Visual Culture To Address Gender Expectations In Middle School Art Education: Visual Art Curriculum Design Based On The Manga Ranma1/2, Ting-Yu Chen

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I identify and explore approaches to middle school art curricula that address the cultural expectations of gender in visual culture media. I use images from the Japanese comic Manga: Ranma1/2 to develop units of instruction with goals of engaging students in relating the study of art to their visual culture outside the classroom. The unit has three lessons that deal with cultural expectations of gender to help students become aware of understand gender differences in contemporary society. In the lessons, students examine how the Manga characters are depicted differently according to the character's gender. Also, the teacher …

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Growth, Peter Fitzgerald Jan 2006

Growth, Peter Fitzgerald

Theses and Dissertations

In nature we see a wide variety of bold colors and unique shapes. Trees personify these characteristics with their curved branches creating distinctive lines and shapes. Leaves and blossoms enhance their structures with an array of colors. Trees possess awe inspiring energy. Each tree is a living thing, its growth shaped by its environment.Similarly, my work is a response to the environment. I employ a spontaneous and bold technique in an attempt to capture the energy I perceive in nature. The use of vigorous lines and high keyed contrasting colors with varied textures conveys that trees are living, growing entities, …

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Perceptions Of Academic And Social Self-Efficacy Among Adolescents Diagnosed With Cancer And Their Relations With Dispositional Optimism, Perceived Vulnerability, And Treatment Modality, Rebecca Hope Foster Jan 2006

Perceptions Of Academic And Social Self-Efficacy Among Adolescents Diagnosed With Cancer And Their Relations With Dispositional Optimism, Perceived Vulnerability, And Treatment Modality, Rebecca Hope Foster

Theses and Dissertations

For adolescents with cancer, a population notably neglected in the literature, maintaining and strengthening academic and social self-efficacy is especially salient in terms of promoting positive adaptation on key developmental indices. Based on prior research citing their potential roles among adolescents adapting to cancer, treatment modality, dispositional optimism, and perceived vulnerability were chosen as variables likely related to social and academic self-efficacy. Forty-two adolescents diagnosed with cancer and at least six months post-treatment completed questionnaire packets. Analyses indicated that although treatment modality did not relate to academic or social self-efficacy, prognosis should be considered as a covariate. Hierarchical regression analyses …

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Action Of Tyrosyl Dna Phosphodiesterase On 3'-Phosphoglycolate Terminated Dna Strand Breaks, Haritha Tatavarthi Jan 2006

Action Of Tyrosyl Dna Phosphodiesterase On 3'-Phosphoglycolate Terminated Dna Strand Breaks, Haritha Tatavarthi

Theses and Dissertations

Free radical-mediated DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) are induced either directly by ionizing radiation or by certain chemicals like bleomycin. These breaks are terminated by 3'-PG (PO4CH2COOˉ) or 3'-phosphate groups formed as a result of fragmentation of deoxyribose. To study the nature of repair of these 3'-blocked breaks, we constructed substrates mimicking free-radical induced DSBs. Human and yeast tyrosyl DNA-phosphodiesterase (Tdpl) efficiently processed substrates with 3'-PGs, in either the presence or absence of magnesium, to give a 3'-phosphate. Gel filtration chromatography and western blotting codmed that the putative enzyme in human extracts that efficiently processed PG was indeed tyrosyl DNA-phosphodiesterase. …

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A Determination Of The Association Of Competition And Regulation With Hospital Strategic Orientation, Kathleen B. Heatwole Jan 2006

A Determination Of The Association Of Competition And Regulation With Hospital Strategic Orientation, Kathleen B. Heatwole

Theses and Dissertations

This research study examines the influence of two major forces, competition and regulation, on the strategic orientation of hospitals. This is a particularly relevant subject, as the effectiveness of competition versus the effectiveness of regulation in the health care market has been called one of the Bellwether issues in health care policy, and the most controversial and far reaching philosophical battle facing the health care industry. Even after three decades of research and debate, there is still no consensus on how the hospital industry responds to either a competitive environment or a regulated environment. There continues to be significant variation …

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Facts Of The Imagination (From The Inside Out), Janelle Ann Iglesias Jan 2006

Facts Of The Imagination (From The Inside Out), Janelle Ann Iglesias

Theses and Dissertations

Growing up in a bicultural household, navigating the F train as well as mountain creeks, studying culture and then participating in its production, these are some of the idiosyncrasies that I bring to my work. My investigations are rooted in combining a rediscovery of the sensuousness of the natural world and an investigation of the poetics of everyday life. Choosing materials and situations within the realm of the everyday, I'm interested in a transformation that suggests the infinite potential and worth in all things. The resulting objects have identities as complex as my own. They are ridiculous and serious, normal …

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A Study Of The Relationship Between School Climate And Student Performance On The Virginia Standards Of Learning Tests In Elementary Schools, Victoria Lee Thomasson Jan 2006

A Study Of The Relationship Between School Climate And Student Performance On The Virginia Standards Of Learning Tests In Elementary Schools, Victoria Lee Thomasson

Theses and Dissertations

Educators are examining many aspects of schools as they find ways to help students improve their performance on standardized tests in order to meet both federal and state standards. This study examined the relationship between organizational climate and student achievement on the Virginia Standards of Learning tests. A total of 1,061 teachers in 47 schools across the Commonwealth of Virginia responded to the climate survey. The survey instrument was the Organizational Health Inventory for Elementary Schools (OHI-E). This brief survey instrument examined five aspects of school climate. They were Teacher Affiliation, Collegial Leadership, Resource Influence, Institutional Integrity, and Academic Emphasis. …

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Managing The Acm Programming Contest, Navin Bhaskar Jan 2006

Managing The Acm Programming Contest, Navin Bhaskar

Theses

The Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) conducts an international collegiate programming contest held on an annual basis. Teams compete to solve multiple questions within the allotted six hour duration of the contest. A panel of judges grades the solutions online. The team that answers the maximum questions correctly wins the contest. This application will assist in the process of selection of winners of the programming contest. It will make the process of submission of solutions, and grading of the answers convenient. The ACM application is a Java based and web-enabled application and therefore platform independent.

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Tuple Board: A New Distributed Computing Paradigm For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Chaithanya Bondada Jan 2006

Tuple Board: A New Distributed Computing Paradigm For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Chaithanya Bondada

Theses

In this project, we introduce a new distributed computing paradigm called "tuple board" which is based on the tuple space abstraction originated by Gelernter and the blackboard architecture popular in distributed artificial intelligence. Most prominent implementations of tuple space systems including JavaSpaces and T-Spaces follow a centralized architecture where the space itself resides on a server, akin to a database server. Recently, researchers have attempted to develop decentralized architectures for tuple space systems. Some work includes LIME and PeerSpaces. In our opinion, the traditional implementation of tuple spaces is not well suited for ad hoc networks where devices frequently lose …

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R(W5 , K5) = 27, Joshua Stinehour Jan 2006

R(W5 , K5) = 27, Joshua Stinehour

Theses

The two-color Ramsey number R(G , H) is defined to be the smallest integer n such that any graph F on n vertices contains either a subgraph isomorphic to G or the complement of F contains a subgraph isomorphic to H. Ramsey numbers serve to quantify many of the existing theorems of Ramsey theory, which looks at large combinatorial objects for certain given smaller combinatorial objects that must be present. In 1989 George R. T. Hendry presented a table of two-color Ramsey numbers R(G , H) for all pairs of graphs G and H having at most five vertices. This …

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Development Of The Postsecondary Student Survey Of Disability-Related Stigma (Ssdrs), John K. Trammell Jan 2006

Development Of The Postsecondary Student Survey Of Disability-Related Stigma (Ssdrs), John K. Trammell

Theses and Dissertations

Qualitative interviews of college students with disabilities indicated that students were reporting significant discrimination and disability stigma effects. Until recently, however, no formal instruments had been developed specifically to measure disability stigma in college students. The purpose of this study was to develop the Postsecondary Student Survey of Disability-Related Stigma (SSDRS), a Likert-type scale that measured amount of perceived stigma in college students with disabilities. The SSDRS was patterned after similar instruments developed to measure race-related stigma and other forms of perceived social discrimination, and was designed to be administered through disability support service offices. The SSDRS consisted of five …

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Drawing Through A Linear Temperament, Jorge Miguel Benitez Jan 2006

Drawing Through A Linear Temperament, Jorge Miguel Benitez

Theses and Dissertations

I am a draftsman, painter and printmaker. This first person statement is a written extension of the art that constitutes my thesis. It discusses the links between my work and the Enlightenment, Humanism, Catholicism, ethics and the Western canon as well as my use of perspective and other classical techniques in relation to history, language, high art, popular culture, propaganda, contemporary upheavals, Christian and Islamic Fundamentalism, globalization and the digital revolution. Furthermore, the main arguments draw upon my Cuban origin and European ancestry, the Cuban Revolution, my Belgian early education and eventual American hybrid identity. The overriding theme, however, concerns …

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Reflecting The Past And Shaping The Future: A Study Of Adolescent Schemas And Exposure To Community Violence, Monique Vulin Reynolds Jan 2006

Reflecting The Past And Shaping The Future: A Study Of Adolescent Schemas And Exposure To Community Violence, Monique Vulin Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to community violence is a pervasive problem among urban youth and has been associated with both internalizing and externalizing disorders. The mechanisms through which exposure to community violence impacts adolescent adjustment are unclear. A change in adolescent schemas has been proposed as a mechanism through which the impact occurs. The goals of this study were to develop a measure of relevant adolescent schemas and examine their relation to exposure to community violence. A sample of 320 5th and 8th graders were assessed and confirmatory factor analyses of the measure supported a three factor model, including self-schemas, world schemas and …

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Impact Of Terrorism On Migration Patterns In Turkey, Yilmaz Simsek Jan 2006

Impact Of Terrorism On Migration Patterns In Turkey, Yilmaz Simsek

Theses and Dissertations

This study is among the first studies that evaluate the social impacts of terrorism in a specific country for a 10 year period. It tests the effects of terrorism on domestic net-migration in Turkey, especially in the terror infected provinces of the Eastern and South Eastern regions of the country between the years 1992 and 2001. Terrorism has impacted people not only physically, but also psychologically. When faced with "future uncertainty" or the "fear of terrorism," it is natural for people to leave their home towns, and to migrate to somewhere else where they feel safe. In order to explore …

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Social Change, Gender And Education: Exceptional Swedish Immigrant Women At North Park College, 1900-1920, Sofia A.T. Hiort Wright Jan 2006

Social Change, Gender And Education: Exceptional Swedish Immigrant Women At North Park College, 1900-1920, Sofia A.T. Hiort Wright

Theses and Dissertations

The present study focused on the educational and career experiences of four selected Swedish immigrant women at North Park College in Chicago from 1900-1920. There is a gap in the extant literature with regard to the Swedish immigrant women experiences, and this study attempted to shed some light on this fascinating topic.The study examined the lives of three selected Swedish immigrant women students at the College and their lives afterwards as missionaries in China. It also examined the life of Lena Sahlstrom, a faculty member at North Park College during the same period. The four women were exceptional individuals, each …

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Choice And Chance: Thoughts On My Journey, Leann Sasamoto Jan 2006

Choice And Chance: Thoughts On My Journey, Leann Sasamoto

Theses and Dissertations

My love of learning, teaching, and providing creative spaces for people to connect informs my work and my life. For me, art is like life: messy, physical, and, if done with intent, beautiful. It is more about the process than the result; it is about recognizing that although we make choices, there are many things we cannot control; it is about being so present in the moment that everything else fades away. How I live, what I do, what I believe, and my art are all the same.

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Foliage And Fabrication, Carrie Rosicky Garvey Jan 2006

Foliage And Fabrication, Carrie Rosicky Garvey

Theses and Dissertations

In my photographic work, I contrast natural and man-made objects abstracted by manipulation of scale. Details of the objects are blown up to proportions larger than life. By distorting the scale, I aim to allow the audience to view the image out of context, enabling the viewer to see it for its aesthetic value rather than the object's functional purpose.

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