Digital Commons Network^™

Object Oriented Implementation Of The Parallel Toolkit Library, Sandhya Vinnakota

Computer Science Graduate Projects and Theses

With manufacturing efficiencies and technological innovation the computing power of commodity machines has been increasing accompanied by decreasing costs. With the very favorable price/performance ratio the computing community has shifted from monolithic machines to networked machines.

This has created the need for software to manage the parallelism of the network. One such work has been the Parallel Toolkit Library. The Parallel Toolkit Library provides support for common design functionalities used throughout parallel programs.

This work extends the PTK C library for C++ parallel programs. The motivation for the current project stems from the need to let parallel programs reap the …

December 2012, Issue 5, James Madison University Uhc Marketing Team

Potty Mouth

No abstract provided.

Voices Raised, Issue 38, University Of Dayton. Women's Center

Women’s Center Newsletter

Included in this issue: Consciousness Rising 2013; “low T”; The Experience of a Lifetime; WGS Program; Coaching by the Hoop, We Are in the Loop; What Does Venus Smell Like?; Short Story by Stacie Covington; We are all teachers and learners.

Continuing Professional Development Program On Second-Generation Antipsychotics For Psychiatric-Mental Health Staff Nurses, Brenda Lee Phillips

Doctoral Projects

The lack of continuous professional development education regarding second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) at a regional state acute care psychiatric hospital limits the ability of psychiatric-mental health (PMH) staff nurses to provide care for patients with or at risk for metabolic syndrome and other medical problems. The goals of the evidence-based program were to (1) examine PMH staff nurses’ knowledge of treatment guidelines for schizophrenia and SGAs; (2) provide education on schizophrenia, SGAs, and metabolic syndrome; and (3) provide continuous professional development training modules on schizophrenia and SGAs electronically for PMH staff nurses in an acute care mental health hospital. The effectiveness …

Identification And Prevention Of Secondary Traumatic Stress In Mental Health Professionals Who Work With Child Sexual Abuse Victims, Abby Duckworth Mcneil

Doctoral Projects

Secondary traumatic stress (STS) is an issue that may be experienced by mental health professionals who are exposed to clients' trauma materials and become and become at risk of becoming traumatized themselves. Mental health professionals working with sexually abused children are more vulnerable to STS due to their empathic engagement and level of exposure to trauma. The impact of STS can result in poor productivity, increase in illness, and turnover rates for mental health professionals. Cumulative effects of STS make awareness and early intervention imperative. Research has shown that members of the helping profession suffer emotional and physical illness more …

Value Based Purchasing: Positioning A Healthcare Organization For The Future, James Dale Heard

Doctoral Projects

In 2005, the Deficit Reduction Act introduced Value Based Purchasing (VBP) into the healthcare system as a means of hospital reimbursement for acute care hospitals receiving reimbursements from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). The purpose of this Capstone Project was to increase the knowledge of healthcare executives concerning Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) and VBP and the effect it will place on the organization though the utilization of a consultant program. The role of the consultant in this project is to provide expert advice to healthcare executives about the impacts of HCAHPS and provide …

Exploration Of Self-Care Following Distribution Of Acute Management Tool For Elder Heart Failure Patients In Clinic Setting, Sharon Elaine Vincent

Doctoral Projects

The aim of this study was to develop a broad understanding of heart failure patients’ perceptions about their lived experiences. An acute symptom management tool, Red Flags I Need to Know: Heart Failure Action Plan (Health Net Federal Services, 2011), was distributed to the patients prior to initiation of the project.

The problem of heart failure rehospitalization is significant. Cost of treatment for heart disease in the United States exceeds all other conditions. The national excessive 30-day readmission rate in elders post-discharge is 24.8%. Pay-for-performance initiatives will reduce reimbursement for excessive readmissions beginning FY 2013.

The project was a mixed …

Impact Of Social Marketing On Nurse Practitioners' Acceptance Of Clinical Video Telehealth For Elderly Patients In Rural Mississippi, Teresa Lynn Langley

Doctoral Projects

Elderly patients 65 years and older who have chronic illness and disabilities living in rural Mississippi have increased difficulty in obtaining timely cost-effective healthcare services from nurse practitioners. The purpose of the capstone project was to utilize social marketing strategies for promoting nurse practitioners’ acceptance of clinical video telehealth (CVT) in improving healthcare access for rural elderly patients in Mississippi. Clinical video telehealth is an innovative way to provide healthcare services to populations in need by reducing barriers to healthcare, such as distances, time, and transportation, and financial resources. However, providing healthcare through the use of technology has not always …

Nobody's Boy, Linda Maria Mobley

Dissertations

"Village literature," literature that is written for and about the tribe, or community, has been a long standing tradition among African American writers such as Toni Morrison. These stories follow that tradition in that they are largely reflective of the African American Experience particularly South Alabama during the sixties. The decade that was marked by such violence and bloodshed is reflected here through the stories of a family experiencing it firsthand, yet who are not fully aware that they are living in a historically significant period of history. It is only through the retrospective lens of a child in that …

Religious Leaders In Crisis: An Analysis Of Image Restoration Strategies And Content Variables, Melody Teracita Fisher

Dissertations

The following study employs content analysis to examine the crisis communication responses and audience reception of religious leaders involved in scandal. Benoit’s Image Repair Strategies and the Contingency Theory are used to determine the strategies, stances and contingent variables of mega-church leaders: Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, Eddie Long, Henry Lyons and Jimmy Swaggart; and the Boston Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. News framing theory determined media and audience reception of the religious leaders’ crisis communication responses.

The study concludes that there is little difference in mega-church leaders and the Boston Diocese’s crisis communication responses. Religious leaders’ dominant strategies were …

"If It Ain't Broke, Break It": How Corporate Journalism Killed The "Arkansas Gazette", Donna Lampkin Stephens

Dissertations

Ownership is an increasingly critical issue for newspapers as they face the latest threats to the industry’s survival. Local, engaged, enlightened ownership is preferable to that of a distant corporation, but economic realities have decreed that corporate ownership has become the norm. The Arkansas Gazette was one of the most honored newspapers of twentieth-century American journalism under independent local family ownership, having provided brave leadership during the Little Rock Central Crisis, but its wounds from one of the country’s final fierce newspaper wars — against another local owner, Walter Hussman and his Arkansas Democrat — in the 1980s, combined with …

Financial Communication In Romantic Relationships, Joy Nichole Smithson

Dissertations

Previous research indicates that financial disagreements are common among romantic couples. However, little theoretical development has been offered to explain such disagreements. This study integrates several areas of research pertinent to financial conflict, and proposes two typologies to explain couples’ recurrent arguments over finances. The first typology concerns financial attitudes that work together to create a financial style. The second typology concerns financial power in the relationship, which is comprised of contribution to household funds, dominance in financial decision-making, and keeping money separate from one’s partner.

Dyadic data was collected from 80 couples to test the typologies. Analyses revealed that …

Employee Racial Discrimination Complaints: Exploring Power Through Co-Cultural Theory, Leslie Yvette Rodriguez

Dissertations

The primary purpose of this case study was to examine the influence of power on an employee’s decision to file a formal racial discrimination complaint against their employer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Additionally, this case study explored the communicative strategies that lead up to and follow the filing of such a complaint. This study used both Orbe’s (1998) co-cultural theory and French and Raven’s theory on power bases (1968) as both theoretical foundations and lenses to analyze this occurrence.

Four minority women from Central Texas participated in this qualitative case study. Specifically, in depth interviews were conducted …

Quantifying Vulnerability After The Storm: Hurricane Katrina Case Study, Jennifer Lori Bonin

Dissertations

We can predict social and physical vulnerability with relatively accurate modeling. There are, however, very few consistent models to predict economic vulnerability outside of loss estimation models designed by economists. The index in this dissertation predicts which areas are most economically vulnerable in terms of job loss. Communities rely on their ability to work and contribute to the tax base. Without that base, a community will take longer to recover after a disaster. Which industries, professions, and environmental factors most influence a community’s economic vulnerability in the wake of a disaster? This dissertation presents an index for measuring economic vulnerability …

Peaks Island Star : December 2012, Vol. 32, Issue 12, Service Agencies Of The Island

Peaks Island Star, 2012

The Peaks Island Star is the newsletter of the island's service agencies and other community news.

Stevenson Center Compass, Vol. 6, Iss. 1, December 1, 2012, Illinois State University, Stevenson Center For Community And Economic Development

Stevenson Center Compass

Newsletter for the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development

The R Journal (December 2012) 4(2): Complete Issue, The R Foundation

The R Journal

Contributing Articles

What's in a Name? Paul Murrell

It's Not What You Draw, It's What You Don't Draw, Paul Murrell

Debugging grid Graphics, Paul Murrell and Velvet Ly

frailtyHL: A Package for Fitting Frailty Models with H-likelihood, Il Do Ha, Maengseok Noh, and Youngjo Lee

influence.ME: Tools for Detecting Influential Data in Mixed Effects Models, Rense Nieuwenhuis, Manfred te Grotenhuis and Ben Pelzer

The crs Package: Nonparametric Regression Splines for Continuous and Categorical Predictors, Zhenghua Nie and Jeffrey S. Racine

Rfit: Rank-based Estimation for Linear Models, John D. Kloke and Joseph W. McKean

Graphical Markov Models with Mixed Graphs in …

Cultural Intelligence In Foreign Language Classes, Daniela Báez

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Behaviors And Perceptions Concerning Online Nutrition Information Among Young Adult Midwest University Students, Brenda Moeckly

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Satisfaction Survey Results And Lessons Learned: Maine's Aging & Disability Resource Center (Adrc) Project, Julie T. Fralich Mba, Louise Olsen, Mark Richards Bs, Jennifer Pratt, Taryn Bowe

Disability & Aging

The primary goal of Maine’s Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) Project was to empower consumers to make informed decisions about long-term services and supports and to streamline access to existing services and supports through an integrated system. With funding from the Administration on Aging to strengthen and expand the number of Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) in the state, all five of the Area Agencies on Aging were committed to becoming and/or strengthening their capacity to be fully functioning ADRCs.

This report provides a summary of the results of consumer satisfaction surveys that were conducted for three years …

Whole-School Inclusive Reform: "It's What's Best For Kids”, Nicole M. Declouette

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigates a school and university inclusive reform project, called the All Means All Project, and how it is understood and experienced by teachers and administrators at Kennedy School, a K-8 school in the northeast United States. The All Means All Project began when two university professors called into question the practice of placing students with disabilities in segregated special classrooms. Their goal was to create a collaborative, multi-dimensional approach to providing all students with access to rigorous academic instruction and promoting a sense of belonging through students' full-time membership in general education classrooms. This reform was …

Unopa Notes, Volume 51, Issue 4, December 2012

UNOPA: Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Dental Safety Net In Montgomery County: A Status Report, Sequoia Y. Butcher

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Background: Adult oral health has been identified as a major public health problem by the United States Surgeon General. A substantial number of adults between the ages of 20 and 64 have untreated tooth decay. There are limited treatment options for adults without dental insurance. Low-income adults must turn to free/low cost clinics, or private dentists that accept Medicaid to receive dental care. However, these resources are often limited. When the resources are not available these adults are left to deal with untreated tooth decay which can lead to worsening conditions and other health issues.

Methods: Eleven key-informant interviews were …

Flight Physician - December, 2012, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

A sixteen page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Winona Currents Magazine, University Advancement - Winona State University

Winona Currents

This magazine published by Winona State University’s University Advancement was intended to inform WSU Alumni, students, faculty, staff and the greater community about Alumni and the university. The cover theme is: Putting their Degrees to Work: Winona State's Young Alumni.

The Malleability Of Collective Litigation, Shay Lavie

Notre Dame Law Review

The article focuses on two manifestations pertaining to collective litigation procedures including first, class actions can be avoided by defendants through "individualizing" the prospective class and second, they can selectively contract with victims to reduce their capacity to litigate. It discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, in which Wal-Mart Stores Inc. avoided collective litigation because the decision for employment was made by local supervisors.

Three-Dimensional Indoor Rfid Localization System, Jiaqing Wu

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an information exchange technology based on radio waves communication. It is also a possible solution to indoor localization. Due to multipath propagation and anisotropic interference in the indoor environment, theoretical propagation models are generally not sufficient for RFID-based localization. In fact, the radio frequency (RF) signal distribution may not even be monotonic and this makes range-based localization algorithms less accurate. On the other hand, range free localization algorithms, such as k Nearest-Neighbor (kNN), require reference tags to be spread throughout the whole three-dimensional (3D) space which is simply not practical. In this work, a hybrid …

Conductive Concrete For Electromagnetic Shielding – Methods For Development And Evaluation, Aaron P. Krause

Department of Computer Electronics and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This research investigates the development and evaluation innovative methods for the use of conductive concrete as an electromagnetic shield. New testing methods are developed to determine the best conductive components to use in the design of a concrete mixture for shielding that shows the best promise. The conductive concrete mixture has the potential to provide electromagnetic shielding that is cost-effective in terms of construction, operation, and maintenance compared to conventional approaches. Two testing methods, Small Sample Testing and Large Slab Testing, are developed based on standardized testing methods that have been modified for the testing of conductive concrete mixtures. As …

Protein Nano-Object Integrator (Pronoi) For Generating Atomic Style Objects For Molecular Modeling, Nicholas Smith, Brandon Campbell, Lin Li, Chuan Li, Emil Alexov

Publications

Background

With the progress of nanotechnology, one frequently has to model biological macromolecules simultaneously with nano-objects. However, the atomic structures of the nano objects are typically not available or they are solid state entities. Because of that, the researchers have to investigate such nano systems by generating models of the nano objects in a manner that the existing software be able to carry the simulations. In addition, it should allow generating composite objects with complex shape by combining basic geometrical figures and embedding biological macromolecules within the system.

Results

Here we report the Protein Nano-Object Integrator (ProNOI) which allows for …

Family And Marital Satisfaction And The Use Of Social Network Technologies, Iryna Sharaievska

Publications

The popularity of social network sites (SNS) is increasing among all age groups. Since shared leisure is considered to be one of the key factors that contribute to the stability and quality of marriage and family and life satisfaction, the interplay between the use of SNS by family members, their leisure and their marital and family satisfaction should be examined. The objectives of this study were to: (1) Explore how the use of SNSs by family members influences and is influenced by family leisure and family satisfaction; (2) Examine how the use of SNSs by couples influences and is influenced …