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Refractory Pain, Existential Suffering, And Palliative Care: Releasing An Unbearable Lightness Of Being, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

Since the beginning of the hospice movement in 1967, “total pain management” has been the declared goal of hospice care. Palliating the whole person’s physical, psycho-social, and spiritual states or conditions is central to managing the pain which induces suffering. At the end-stage of life, an inextricable component of the ethics of adjusted care requires recognition of a fundamental right to avoid cruel and unusual suffering from terminal illness. This Article urges wider consideration and use of terminal sedation, or sedation until death, as an efficacious palliative treatment and as a reasonable medical procedure in order to safeguard the “right” …

An Originalist Congress?, Joel Alicea

Scholarly Articles

Among the campaign promises Republicans made to voters this fall was a pledge that every piece of proposed legislation would cite the constitutional provision that authorizes it. Given lawmakers' reliance on the courts to determine the constitutionality of our laws, the new majority's promise could open some fascinating — and useful — debates. Chief among them: Just how should Congress interpret the Constitution?

Changes In Apparent Molar Water Volume And Dkp Solubility Yield Insights On The Hofmeister Effect, Daryl K. Eggers, A. Y. Payumo, R. M. Huijon, D. D. Mansfield, L. M. Belk, A. K. Bui, A. E. Knight

Faculty Publications, Chemistry

This study examines the properties of a 4 × 2 matrix of aqueous cations and anions at concentrations up to 8.0 M. The apparent molar water volume, as calculated by subtracting the mass and volume of the ions from the corresponding solution density, was found to exceed the molar volume of ice in many concentrated electrolyte solutions, underscoring the nonideal behavior of these systems. The solvent properties of water were also analyzed by measuring the solubility of diketopiperazine (DKP) in 2.000 M salt solutions prepared from the same ion combinations. Solution rankings for DKP solubility were found to parallel the …

Developing A Sustainability Plan At A Large U.S. College Of Education, Grinell Smith

Faculty Publications

Despite growing awareness of its importance, most sustainability education efforts in tertiary institutions do not significantly impact curricula. This paper details some of the activities and processes used to draft a sustainability strategic plan designed to address sustainability at the curricular level rather than merely the operational level within a large college of education at a large U.S. public university. The plan is also presented. Our goal was not to articulate a fixed policy but rather to produce a coherent plan that (1) fosters awareness and encourage people to join the effort and (2) readily accommodates input as more people …

A Phenomenological Approach To Understanding Early Adult Friendships Of Third Culture Kids, Kyoung Choi, Melissa Luke

Faculty Publications

A phenomenological qualitative approach was used to explore the experiences of six Third Culture Kid (TCK) participants regarding their early adult friendships at one midsize university in the United States. The term TCK refers to a person who has spent a significant amount of his or her childhood outside of his or her own country and culture of origin and who has assimilated these cultures into a third culture. TCK participants identified making friends as the most challenging issue in their adjustment to the United States. Four themes emerged from the participants’ narratives, with four illustrative metaphors drawn from the …

Distribution Of The Hermit Crabs Clibanarius Vittatus And Pagurus Maclaughlinae In The Northern Indian River Lagoon, Florida: A Reassessment After 30 Years, Christopher J. Kelly, Richard L. Turner

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The present distribution of two hermit crabs, Clibanarius vittatus and Pagurus maclaughlinae, was assessed for comparison with a study done more than 30 yr ago on decapods of the region. Clibanarius vittatus presently occurs in low or moderate density only at Sebastian Inlet. Retreat of C. vittatus from sites that it formerly occupied is attributed to intolerance of its larvae to low salinities recorded in the lagoon during recent reproductive seasons. Pagurus maclaughlinae remains the most abundant and widespread hermit crab in the lagoon. Its present distribution seems unchanged from the reference study despite prolonged periods, sometimes years, during which …

Human Rights And The Search For Common Ground: A Comparative Study Of Islamic And Christian Thought, Joseph Prud'homme

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism. By Paul Heck. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. 2009.

Tibetan Refugees' Rights And Services In India, Claudia Artiles

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Chinese invasion of Tibet, and the Dalai Lama’s subsequent decision to flee in 1959, resulted in the mass influx of Tibetan refugees into India that continues today. It has become clear to the Indian government, as well as to the Tibetan community in exile, that repatriation is unlikely in the near future. Consequently, an evaluation of India’s protection of, and assistance for Tibetan refugees is necessary to ensure their treatment is in accordance with international standards. Unfortunately, such an assessment shows that there is a lack of proper protections and services; this ought to be of particular concern to …

Untouchability Today: The Rise Of Dalit Activism, Christine Hart

Human Rights & Human Welfare

On July 19, 2010, the Hindustan Times reported that a Dalit (“untouchable”) woman was gang-raped and murdered in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The crime was an act of revenge perpetrated by members of the Sharma family, incensed over the recent elopement of their daughter with a man from the lower-caste Singh family. Seeking retributive justice for the disgrace of the marriage, men from the Sharma family targeted a Dalit woman who, with her husband, worked in the Singh family fields. Her death was the result of her sub-caste status; while the crime cost the Singh family a valuable …

Combating Discrimination Against The Roma In Europe: Why Current Strategies Aren’T Working And What Can Be Done, Erica Rosenfield

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the summer of 2010, the forced expulsion of many Roma from Western to Eastern Europe captured headlines and world attention, yet this practice simply represented the latest manifestation of anti-Roma sentiment in Europe. Indeed, the Roma—numbering over ten million across Europe, making them the continent’s largest minority—face discrimination in housing, education, healthcare, employment, and law enforcement; widespread prejudice against this group shows no evidence of receding. There is, however, certainly no shortage of national and supranational policies aiming to promote inclusion and equality for the Roma.

January Roundtable: The Haiti Earthquake, One Year Later, Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Haiti's Blame Game” by Poooja Bhatia. Foreign Policy. November 23 2010.

Bring Back Aristide, Louis Edgar Esparza

Human Rights & Human Welfare

My friend Annie recently had her trip to Haiti postponed because of the political instability surrounding the November elections. Annie totes modest sums of cash, medicine, and clothing collected from sympathetic friends and has a resolute willingness to help. Together with the partner organizations she is working with, she is hiring Haitians to build an orphanage. Another colleague of mine, Tonya, traveled to the country very soon after the earthquake. She described her experience in The Nation, lamenting that the major US airlines, which had agreed to waive baggage fees for relief aid to Haiti, did not do so for …

Building Meaningful Participation In (Re)Integration Among War-Affected Young Mothers In Liberia, Sierra Leone And Northern Uganda, S Mckay, A Veale, Miranda E. Worthen, M Wessells

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sex Trafficking Or Sex Work: Conceptions Of Trafficking Among Anti-Trafficking Organizations In Nepal, Miranda E. Worthen

Faculty Publications

Trafficking for sexual purposes is widely recognized as a violation of human rights. Trafficking of women and girls within Nepal and from Nepal to India’s red light districts is thought to be extremely common. There is sharp debate within the anti-trafficking community, both within Nepal and globally, about why trafficking occurs and how to prevent it. I argue that this disagreement is rooted in two distinct underlying frameworks employed by anti-trafficking advocates to understand trafficking, which I identify as the “Prostitution Framework” and the “Labour Exploitation Framework”. This article introduces these frameworks and investigates where the anti-trafficking community in Nepal …

The Relations Between Traumatic Exposures, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Anger In Male And Female Veterans, Miranda E. Worthen

Faculty Publications

Military personnel who have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom have experienced high rates of combat exposure, which is associated with posttraumatic stress disorder. Less is known about the relations between military sexual trauma (sexual harassment, assault, and rape while serving in the military) and posttraumatic stress disorder. Little is known about anger problems in this Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran population, which research from prior conflicts suggests may be a consequence of both traumas and posttraumatic stress disorder. Anger is an emotional state closely related to aggression, hostility, and violence. Veterans who have difficulty controlling …

Benchmarks For Transition: Do St. Louis High Schools Promote Graduates That Can Make The Transition To Higher Education?, Kevin Harrman

Master's Theses

Are St. Louis area high schools designed to create graduates that are prepared to enter schools of higher education, or are their graduation requirements structured such that graduates even qualify for entrance to higher education institutions? This study is geared towards answering this question and will do so by comparing two lines of inquiry. First this study will analyze four sets of three randomly picked area high schools (three sets designated by per capita income and one set of private catholic schools). Information will be gathered concerning graduation requirements and how many Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate courses are available. …

Freshman Orientation Sessions Can Teach Incoming Students About Healthful Lifestyles, Marjorie Freedman, Jennifer Waldrop

Faculty Publications

Currently, 32% of college students are overweight or obese (body mass index ≥ 25),which is likely because many adolescents enter college with an elevated body mass index. Further, the transition from high school to college is associated with weight gain.On their own for the first time, freshmen have greater independence in all aspects of their lives. Increased independence, in turn, often results in changes in types of food and beverages consumed, and in overall eating and exercise patterns—changes that often affect weight gain. Although the popular media continues to perpetuate the “Freshman 15” myth, a recent meta-analysis reported freshmen gain, …

Point-Of-Selection Nutrition Information Influences Choice Of Portion Size In An All-You-Can-Eat University Dining Hall, Marjorie Freedman

Faculty Publications

There is limited information about point-of-selection nutrition information on food choices in all-you-can-eat university dining halls, where food cost is controlled. This pilot study examined effects of point-of-selection nutrition information (pictures of different portion sizes with corresponding nutrition information) on students' choice of French fries and salad dressing and portion size of French fries. Point-of-selection nutrition information significantly decreased percentage consuming “large” portions of French fries (p < 0.05) but had a limited effect on salad dressing choice. Surveys indicated that >99% of respondents (n = 359) recalled point-of-selection nutrition information; more females used point-of-selection nutrition information to determine portion size. Additional studies are needed to support these promising results.

Effective Customer Relationship Management Of Health Care: A Study Of Hospitals In Thailand, Howard W. Combs, B. Laohasirichaikul, S. Chaipoopirutana

Faculty Publications

This article investigates the effects and the relative importance of the four perceived service quality dimensions on corporate image, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. To obtain results, factor analysis and multiple regression techniques are applied to data collected from 500 Thai outpatients of the five largest private hospitals in Bangkok. The findings indicate that the four dimensions significantly affect corporate image, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. More specifically, the doctor concern dimension is the most important factor affecting customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The tangibles dimension is the most important factor affecting corporate image.

Adaptive Appointment Systems With Patient Preferences, Wen-Ya Wang, D. Gupta

Faculty Publications

Patients' satisfaction with an appointment system when they attempt to book a nonurgent appointment is affected by their ability to book with a doctor of choice and to book an appointment at a convenient time of day. For medical conditions requiring urgent attention, patients want quick access to a familiar physician. For such instances, it is important for clinics to have open slots that allow same-day (urgent) access. A major challenge when designing outpatient appointment systems is the difficulty of matching randomly arriving patients' booking requests with physicians' available slots in a manner that maximizes patients' satisfaction as well as …

The Effect Of Vitamin E, Selenomethionine And Sodium Selenite Supplementation In Laying Hens, Alia Aljamal

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In trial 1, 3 levels of dl-α-tocopheryl acetate (0, 50, 100 IU/kg), and 3 levels of supplemental sodium selenite (SS) (0, 0.25, 0.50 ppm), were added to a corn-soybean meal basal diet to evaluate their effects on egg quality variables, and deposition in egg yolk.  Adding 50 IU/kg dl- α-tocopheryl acetate in the diet lowered aged yolk pH.  Alpha-tocopherol in yolks increased with increasing vitamin E.  As Se level increased in the diet, yolk Se content increased.  There was a vitamin E by Se interaction affecting yolk Se content, but the highest level of Se in the yolk achieved when …

The Color(S) Of Perfection: The Feminine Body, Beauty Ideals, And Identity In Postwar America, 1945-1970, Elizabeth M. Matelski

Dissertations

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a number of models have existed offering women a spectrum of ideal body types and varying opinions about the role of fitness and diet in achieving these forms. In the years following World War II, prescriptive literature, Hollywood, and popular culture in general created and perpetuated the postwar feminine ideal of "the Sweater girl" - a busty, curvaceous figure more sexual than maternal. Yet, this ideal gave way in little more than a decade. In the late 1960s, youth culture placed a cult-like status on Twiggy, a model with a 31-inch bust and 32-inch …

Depression In Freshmen College Students, Julie Marie Brandy

Dissertations

Adjustment to college life and attending a university for the first time can be a stressful experience for college students. Because of the challenges faced when adapting to these life changes, college students are at risk of developing depressive symptomology. The development of depressive symptoms can lead to negative life events in the lives of college students, the most significant of which is suicide. This study examined whether stress and other factors (social support and spirituality) predicted depressive symptoms and high risk behaviors in college freshmen students. In addition, the mediating role of coping on the relationship between stress and …

The Role Of Nogo-A In Memory And Neuronal Plasticity In The Aged Rodent Brain, Rebecca Lynn Gillani

Dissertations

The long-term effects of stroke often include cognitive impairments, but other than cognitive rehabilitation, which is often not fully successful, there is no intervention to treat cognitive impairments in stroke survivors. Our laboratory has previously shown that immunotherapy directed against the Nogo-A protein, which is enriched on oligodendrocytes, improves recovery of skilled forelimb sensorimotor function in adult and aged rats after an ischemic stroke lesion to the sensorimotor cortex. Furthermore, this recovery was correlated with axonal sprouting from intact pathways to denervated areas, as well as dendritic sprouting and increased dendritic spine density in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. In the …

Effects Of Neuronal Nogo-A On Properties Of Excitatory Synapses Of The Sensorimotor Cortex, Alicia Marie Case

Dissertations

Recovery after central nervous system (CNS) injury has long been a challenge for clinical investigators. Blockade of the oligodendrocyte-associated inhibitor Nogo-A has shown great promise in promoting neuronal regeneration, sprouting, and plasticity, as well as functional recovery in rodent and primate models of CNS injury. The high expression of Nogo-A in neurons of the postnatal CNS led us to look for potential roles of this protein in this stage of development. We hypothesized that postnatal, neuronal NogoA influences the density and morphology of dendritic spines in the developing CNS, in part, by regulating the maturation and stability of glutamatergic synaptic …

Being And Becoming A U.S. Iraq War Veteran: An Exploration Of The Social Construction Of An Emerging Identity, Anna Stachyra

Dissertations

Background: Traditional perspectives of veteran mental health are grounded in physiological and psychological principles of trauma response and recovery. An alternative perspective is needed for the provision of culturally relevant healthcare to our nation's newest veterans. Research Question: Based on the premise that each veteran cohort has a characteristically identifiable cultural form and process of cultural identification and negotiated development, the research question guiding this study was, "What is the culture of the Iraq War veteran?" Study Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe, from social constructivist perspective, Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF] veteran cultural identity development. Study Design …

Community Assessment Of Cardiovascular Health And Risk Among People Of Mexican Descent In Berwyn, Illinois, Karen Ann Larimer

Dissertations

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death in the United States and affects persons of all races and ethnicities. The number of persons of Mexican ethnicity has increased significantly in the United States, notably in the community of Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago, IL where according to the U.S. 2010 census 60% of the community is now of Mexican descent. The factors that contribute to CVD risk in persons of Mexican decent within this community must be understood before culturally appropriate risk reduction strategies are designed and implemented.

Purpose: The purpose of this community-based study is …

Study Of Stress, Housing Program Use, And Nursing Usage Among Homeless In Chicago, Henry Christian Cheung

Dissertations

Homelessness places people at risk of stressors that translate into stress and subsequently affect their health. Using Neuman Systems Model as a framework to identify modalities for nursing intervention among stressors and health problems of homeless people, this study compared stress levels among homeless people from three different homeless housing program types, investigated variables that predict the presence of stress among homeless, identified the degree of self-reported contact homeless people had with nurses, and measured to what extent nurses are preferred as health care providers by homeless people. This was accomplished through a cross-sectional, secondary data analysis of data from …

Spiritual Care In Advanced Practice Nursing, Barbara Baele Vincensi

Dissertations

Spiritual care has the potential to improve clients' health and quality of life. Since clients desire spiritual care from their health care providers as they age or as their health worsens, geriatric nurse practitioners (GNPs) were chosen to participate in this study. This cross-sectional, descriptive, survey design investigates the relationships and differences between practicing GNPs spiritual perspectives and their ability to assess clients' spiritual care needs (SCN) and provide specific spiritual care interventions (SCI). Differences and relationships were also investigated based on demographic variables of the GNPs. In addition, participants were asked to define spirituality in an open ended question. …

Restoring The Balance: Setting Aside Naturalism In Favor Of Personhood In Extreme Cases, Brian Joseph Buckley

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses a simple question: Is an anencephalic child a person? These children are born with only a brain stem, and, as such, cannot experience any type of consciousness. If personhood is understood as an articulable moral category, particularly distinct from DNA membership, reasonable evidence would be required to attribute any such moral category in these cases. That is, to claim that children who may never think or feel are persons carries a philosophical burden that extends beyond mere Homo Sapiens membership. This dissertation accepts that burden and answers that anencephalic children are persons. To do this, I first …