Digital Commons Network^™

The Relevance Of The Natural Environment To Social Work : A Comparison Of Fields That Consider The Natural Environment In Social Problems : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, John D. Ritchie

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Given the natural environment's importance to humans, this study was undertaken to understand how social work has considered the natural environment in approaching social problems compared to other fields that consider the natural environment. In addition, comparing literature from several fields, the author sought to evaluate the adequacy of social work's attention to the natural environment as the field analyzes and conceives solutions to social problems and carries out its mission. The study examined the gaps in social work literature regarding the natural environment. The author compared published literature from social work, psychology, environmental health and medicine, and environmentalism to …

Winnicottian Object Relations And Behavioral Theory Conceptualizations Of Difficult-To-Treat Binge-Type Eating Disorders : Proposal For A Synthesized Treatment Approach Through Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Christy Erin O'Brien

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Psychopathy and sociopathy are two personality disorders that are similar in action though different in origin. Whereas the psychopathic individual is a product of nature in that the origin of the social disorder originates in the mind, the sociopathic individual is a product of upbringing as sociopathy is more so a result of a learned/defensive behavior. Although the number is uncertain, there could be as many as ten million psychopathic and sociopathic people living in the United States today. This paper focuses on the etiology of both psychopathy and sociopathy. It also looks at how psychopathy and sociopathy are recognized …

Eating Disorder Prevention For The College-Age Female Population : Past, Present, And Future : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Colleen Louise Roos

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The focus of this theoretical study is to examine, classify, and compare different eating disorder prevention/intervention programs used thus far for college-age females using two different theoretical frameworks: the Cognitive Behavioral model and the Sociocultural model. The prevalence and effects of eating disorder behaviors will be addressed. Strengths and weaknesses of each of the already developed programs will be addressed using these two theoretical models. Additionally, different factors/variables will be analyzed that have been found to be associated with eating disorder behaviors within this population. Using the information provided, a prevention program will be proposed that collaborates the strengths discussed …

Daddy's Little Girl Lost : Daughters Reflect On The Effects Of Father-Daughter Cut-Off : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Jana Michelle Rosenbaum

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was undertaken to better understand the dynamics occurring in the father-daughter relationship and consequently the effects on daughters when there is a cut-off between this dyad post-divorce. Much of the current research and literature available on the topics of father loss and divorce have been on father-child cut-off without a specific focus on the father-daughter relationship. Therefore, this study was designed to specifically focus on the effects of cut-off experienced by daughters. An in-depth qualitative interview was conducted with twelve adult daughters who identified having experienced a cut-off from their father post their parents divorce. These interviews contained …

Clinicians' Understanding And Perception Of Coping Behaviors And Cultural Differences In Families Dealing With A Childhood Cancer Diagnosis : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Kara J. Rule

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This research provides insight into social workers' understanding and perceptions of coping behaviors in families faced with a pediatric cancer diagnosis. The three research questions that guided this study were: (1) Do clinicians observe/perceive cultural distinctions in coping behaviors among families dealing with a pediatric cancer diagnosis? (2) How does a clinician's own culture impact his or her assessments of a family's coping abilities? and (3) How can clinicians gain better cultural sensitivity and cultural competence in working with diverse populations? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 social workers who were working in pediatric oncology centers across the United States. …

The Relationship Between Pretend Play And Cognitive, Linguistic, And Social Skills Development In Early Childhood : A Project Based Upon Secondary Analysis Of Developmental Screening Data From An Elementary School In Plainfield, Connecticut, Lauren Ann Sebastianelli

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

There is substantial research to support the positive correlation between pretend play and cognitive, language and social skills development in early childhood. Most of this research has explored bivariate relationships. We know little about how these variables might co-vary in the same sample. This exploratory study was based on secondary analysis of developmental screening data for a preschool program in Connecticut. The sample was comprised of 79 three and four year-olds. Proxies for pretend play and cognitive, language and social skills development were operationalized from a standardized instrument, Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL) and a Social Skills …

The Use Of Dialectical Behavior Therapy For Treating Juvenile Delinquents : How Mindfulness Mediates Trauma Symptomatology And Reduces Anti-Social Behavior, Ashley Emma Sitkin

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Youth within the U.S. juvenile justice system are among the most traumatized. There is a need for trauma sensitive treatment in order to address the mental health needs of traumatized, delinquent youth and prevent re-traumatization within the juvenile justice system. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a promising treatment for juvenile delinquents with trauma histories. This thesis posits that DBT for delinquent youth supports rehabilitation through the mechanism of mindfulness by targeting posttraumatic stress reactions, which in turn may reduce anti-social behaviors. A review of the literature appears to support the hypothesis that through decreased experiential avoidance and enhanced emotional regulation …

The End Of The End : A Qualitative Exploration Of Barriers That Impact Social Workers' Capacity To Practice End-Of-Life Care To Inmates : A Project Based Upon Independent Investigation, Michael Ronald Smith

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory study was to identify and examine barriers that impact social workers' capacity to provide end-of-life care to biopsychosocially, spiritually vulnerable inmates. The study was guided by the research question, What barriers impact social workers' capacity to provide end-of-life care to inmates? A sample of 12 master's-level social workers was recruited and interviewed. The sample consisted of ten women, two men, and one person of color. Participants in the sample worked in seven correctional institutions, in seven states, at the federal, state and county level. The study's findings indicate that at each of these levels, …

Not Playing House The Way Mom And Dad Do : Same-Sex Commitment Without Marriage : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Amanda Gail Sommers

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This exploratory study reveals the narratives of long-term, committed same-sex couples living in the Bay area of California, who decided not to marry in 2008 when it was temporarily legal. Thirteen participants were interviewed and their responses were transcribed and analyzed. They were asked to explain personal, social, and political influences on their perspectives on marriage. They were also asked to define commitment and the commitment markers used in their relationships. Lastly, they were questioned about their relationship with the current marriage equality movement. Findings revealed that participants refrained from marrying due to negative associations they have developed toward the …

The Role Of Neglect And Disordered Attachment In The Childhood Of Adolescent Male Sex Offenders : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Melissa Ann. Tell

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Sexual abuse by adolescent males continues to be a serious problem that receives little recognition and attention in research. While a majority of sexual offenses are committed by adults, roughly 20% are committed by adolescents (Barbaree, 2006). Over 45% of adolescent males in residential treatment begin sexually deviant behaviors before the age of 12 (Burton, 2000). Similarly, while maltreatment and attachment is mentioned in research on adolescent sexual offenders, few researchers have studied the role of emotional and physical neglect on the lives of adolescent sexual offenders. In this sample physical abuse and poverty were both significant predicting the number …

Anxiety And Depression : Exploring Associations With Suicidality : A Thesis Based Upon An Investigation In The Burlingame Center For Psychiatric Research And Education At The Institute Of Living (Hartford, Ct) In Collaboration With Dr. Stephen Woolley, Monica Marie Tronsky

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine if anxiety diagnoses were associated with increased risk for suicidality and to examine if comorbid anxiety and depression diagnoses have a synergistic effect on suicidality. In a sub-analysis, we assessed associations between anxiety and/or depression symptoms (versus diagnoses) with suicidality in order to inform a future study. Completed at the Burlingame Center for Psychiatric Research and Education at the Institute of Living (IOL) in Hartford, CT, this quantitative, cross-sectional study involved 20,823 adult inpatients admitted for psychiatric care from 2000-2009. Estimates of effects calculated were odds ratios (ORs) qualified at 95% confidence …

Transitions In Parenting Among Somali Refugee And Immigrant Families : Acculturation In The U.S. And The Preservation Of Traditional Culture And Values : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Judith Louise Wolf

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explores the changing experience of family life, acculturation, and preservation of traditional collectivist culture among Somali refugee and immigrant parents raising children in the United States. Resettlement in the U.S. forced many Somali refugees to transition to a new individualistic culture of family values markedly different from their own. Nine Somali refugee and immigrant mothers and fathers residing in Connecticut and western Massachusetts participated in the research. They answered open-ended interview questions focusing on the following topics: 1) Somali parenting styles and values, 2) the preservation of Somali language, identity, and Islam, 3) changes in family systems, …

Correlating Pharmaceutical Data With A National Health Survey As A Proxy For Estimating Rural Population Health, Ronald E. Cossman, Jeralynn S. Cossman, Wesley L. James, Troy Blanchard, Richard Thomas, Louis G. Pol, Arthur G. Cosby

Faculty Publications

Background: Chronic disease accounts for nearly three-quarters of US deaths, yet prevalence rates are not consistently reported at the state level and are not available at the sub-state level. This makes it difficult to assess trends in prevalence and impossible to measure sub-state differences. Such county-level differences could inform and direct the delivery of health services to those with the greatest need.Methods: We used a database of prescription drugs filled in the US as a proxy for nationwide, county-level prevalence of three top causes of death: heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. We tested whether prescription data are statistically valid proxy …

Florida Sentinel Bulletin, September 14, 2010, Gwen Hayes

Florida Sentinel Bulletin Collection

The September 14, 2010, issue of the Florida Sentinel Bulletin. Included are articles on the death of Rev. Abraham Robert Brown and an act of Quran burning.

Development And Alcohol Use In College Age Women : An Exploratory Study : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Megan Burke Willey

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study explores the role of alcohol in college age women along specific developmental transitions. Alcohol use and abuse is rampant on college campuses nationwide yet most students discontinue such use with the onset of adulthood. Given this high period of use in young adults, this research attempts to clarify which areas of development that alcohol may effect and how. Thirteen women who graduated from a four year college or university within the past 5 years were interviewed regarding their alcohol use and experiences amid specific developmental processes. A structured alcohol use questionnaire assessed participants' typical consumption during college years …

Healing Each Other : A Qualitative Study Of Therapist Perspectives At An Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy Program In Boulder, Colorado : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Samantha Shalen Pugh

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This project utilized qualitative interviews to examine therapist perspectives at an Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) program in Boulder, Colorado. The program, called the HopeFoal Project, pairs rescue foals with high-risk teen girls; a reciprocal healing model is employed in which teen and foal are engaged in a parallel process of trust-building and healing from traumatic early experiences. The program is unique in its use of unpredictable or difficult horses in treatment, as well as in its use of a reciprocal healing model. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with three program therapists to gain a better understanding of the program. Findings revealed …

A Different World : First Generation Latinas And Family Role Change : A Project Based On An Independent Investigation, Emely D. Velez

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explored the subjective experiences of the transition to college among first generation Latinas as well as their caregiver's subjective understanding of the student's family role and the changes that occurred in the family once the student entered college. This study explored how Latino cultural values influence the Latina students' understanding of their family role and the influence of cultural phenomena on the transition to college. Data for this research were gathered from 12 individual interviews; 6 interviews conducted with alumnae from Mount Holyoke College and 6 selected caregivers. Alumnae participants in this study were self-identified first-generation Latinas …

Marker Free Transgenic Plants: Engineering The Chloroplast Genome Without The Use Of Antibiotic Selection, Henry Daniell

UCF Patents

The present invention provides for a method to circumvent the problem of using antibiotic resistant selectable markers. In particular, target plants are transformed using a plastid vector which contains heterologous DNA sequences coding for a phytotoxin detoxifying enzyme or protein. The selection process involves converting a antibiotic-free phytotoxic agent by the expressed phytotoxin detoxifying enzyme or protein to yield a nontoxic compound. The invention provides for various methods to use antibiotic-free selection in chloroplast transformation.

Economic Commentary: Compensation And Risk Incentives In Banking And Finance, Jian Cai, Kent Cherny, Todd Milbourn

Documents

No abstract provided.

Research Priorities In Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Report Of A Working Group Of The National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute., Thomas Force, Robert O Bonow, Steven R Houser, R John Solaro, Ray E Hershberger, Bishow Adhikari, Mark E Anderson, Robin Boineau, Barry J Byrne, Thomas P Cappola, Raghu Kalluri, Martin M Lewinter, Martin S Maron, Jeffery D Molkentin, Steve R Ommen, Michael Regnier, W H Wilson Tang, Rong Tian, Marvin A Konstam, Barry J Maron, Christine E Seidman

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a myocardial disorder characterized by left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy without dilatation and without apparent cause (ie, it occurs in the absence of severe hypertension, aortic stenosis, or other cardiac or systemic diseases that might cause LV hypertrophy). Numerous excellent reviews and consensus documents provide a wealth of additional background.1–8 HCM is the leading cause of sudden death in young people and leads to significant disability in survivors. It is caused by mutations in genes that encode components of the sarcomere. Cardiomyocyte and cardiac hypertrophy, myocyte disarray, interstitial and replacement fibrosis, and dysplastic intramyocardial arterioles characterize the …

Deficits And Disaster, Ron Haskins

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The nation’s deficit path is unsustainable. The public debt is likely to increase by $1 trillion per year until 2020, and then increase at an ever increasing rate after that. Far from helping the nation address its exploding deficit, the last two administrations and every congress since 2000 have taken actions that have intensified the problem. It is time for Americans to face the high probability that due most fundamentally to their continuing demand for high spending and low taxes, sometime in the next decade or so one or more catastrophes will strike America. This presentation will lay out the …

The Current Volume 21 : Issue 5, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Spartan Daily September 14, 2010, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 135, Issue 8

September 14, 2010, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

The George-Anne, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne

• Virtual Food Court Comes to the Boro
• News
• Views
• Campus Recreation & Intramurals
• Features
• Classifieds
• Sports

September 14, 2010 Aasu Graduate Affairs Committee Minutes, Armstrong Atlantic State University

Armstrong Office of the Registrar: Graduate Affairs Committee Minutes (Archived)

September 14, 2010 AASU Graduate Affairs Committee Minutes

A Web-Based, Searchable Database Of Orthodontic Case Files For Patient Care, Education, And Research, Philip J. Kroth, Heather J.H. Edgar, Edward F. Harris, Summers Kalishman

Posters and Presentations

In 2005, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology accepted a donation of 5650 unique orthodontic patient records (treatment records, dental X-rays, dental casts, intra-oral and full facial photographs) from an orthodontists practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 1972 through 1999. This collection includes large samples of Hispanic and Native American populations, two groups not often encountered in orthodontic training in the United States or elsewhere. While investigators can use the collection on site at the Museum for approved research, a Web-based, de-identified version of the collection is being developed with input from orthodontics students and faculty from multiple institutions, so the …

Negative Effects Of Paternal Age On Children's Neurocognitive Outcomes Can Be Explained By Maternal Education And Number Of Siblings, Ryan D. Edwards, Jennifer Roff

Publications and Research

Background Recent findings suggest advanced paternal age may be associated with impaired child outcomes, in particular, neurocognitive skills. Such patterns are worrisome given relatively universal trends in advanced countries toward delayed nuptiality and fertility. But nature and nurture are both important for child outcomes, and it is important to control for both when drawing inferences about either pathway.

Methods and Findings We examined cross-sectional patterns in six developmental outcome measures among children in the U.S. Collaborative Perinatal Project (n=31,346). Many of these outcomes at 8 mo, 4 y, and 7 y of age (Bayley scales, Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale, Graham-Ernhart …

Mustang Daily, September 13, 2010

Cal Poly Student Newspaper

Student newspaper of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Federal And State Grants Boost Winthrop Public Service Outreach, Winthrop University

Winthrop News 2010

• During fiscal year 2009-10, Winthrop brought in $16.6 million in grants.
• So far this academic year, another $9.5 million in grants has been received.