Digital Commons Network^™

Dynamic Fiduciary Duties, Andrew S. Gold

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

Multiple-Project Financing With Informed Trading, Salvatore Cantale, Dmitry Lukin

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

The paper presents an adverse selection-based explanation of the fact that some entrepreneurs choose to finance multiple projects together by issuing a single security and other entrepreneurs decide to finance each project separately. We consider the financing problem of an entrepreneur who has access to two investment projects and needs to raise external financing to undertake these projects in the presence of asymmetric information. The entrepreneur has private information about the quality of the projects and can choose either to finance the projects together by issuing a single security, or to finance the projects separately by issuing two securities, each …

Measuring The Effect Of Bankruptcy Laws On Entrepreneurship Across Countries, Douglas J. Cumming

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Two recent papers examine the impact of corporate bankruptcy laws on new business start-ups in 29 countries over 1990 - 2008 (Peng et al., 2010; Lee et al., 2010). In this commentary, I briefly point out two significant issues which future researchers might want to consider. First, several countries in the data examined had changed their personal and corporate bankruptcy laws over the years studied. It is statistically inappropriate and inaccurate to treat bankruptcy laws as time invariant, as in Peng et al. (2010) and Lee et al. (2010), particularly in view of the dramatic changes in bankruptcy laws over …

The Debt Structure Of Smes: An Optimization Model, Andrea Moro, Mike R. Lucas, Uwe G. Grimm

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

The existing finance literature is inadequate with respect to its coverage of the debt structure of small and medi-um sized enterprises (SMEs). In addition, the role of trust in accessing finance for such enterprises is under-investigated. This paper presents a mathematical model for optimizing the debt structure of SMEs that, since SMEs are often equity constrained, focuses on optimizing debt structure by minimizing its cost. The model is then extended by incorporating the level of trust that suppliers and bank managers have in the enterprise. The extended model, suggests that the higher the level of trust that bank managers and …

Alumni Journal - Volume 83, Number 4, Loma Linda University School Of Medicine

Alumni Journal, School of Medicine

Features:
12 | Practicing in Malawi
18 | Treating Sickle Cell Disease
20 | Law and Medicine
22 | Department Spotlight

News:
8 | School of Medicine News
22 | Department Spotlight

Regulars:
4 | Editorial
10 | From the Dean
30 | Alumni in the News
31 | In Memoriam
36 | Placement Ads

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 …

I Laughed Until I Cried: The Tragicomedy Of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming , Kesha Garner

All Theses

There appears to be a disconnect between the actual events of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming and the scholarly work devoted to the play--while each of the main characters are morally problematic, it is only the play's sole female character, Ruth, whose morality is questioned. This schism in which Ruth is questioned but others are not stems primarily from the time in which most of this criticism occurred: before post-structuralist understandings of gender undermined our presuppositions about the sexes. The Homecoming was written on the cusp of second-wave feminism, the movement focusing mainly on the legal and social equality of women, …

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 …

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 …

Multi-Color Observations Of Short Grb Afterglows: 20 Events Observed Between 2007 And 2010, A. Nicuesa Guelbenzu, S. Klose, J. Greiner, D. A. Kann, T. Krühler, A. Rossi, S. Schulze, P. M. J. Afonso, J. Elliott, R Filgas, Dieter H. Hartmann, A Kupcu Yoldas, S Mcbreen, M Nardini, F Olivares E., A Rau, S Schmidl, P Schady, V Sudilovsky, A C. Updike, A Yoldas

Publications

We report on follow-up observations of 20 short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs; T90 <2 >s) performed in g'r'i'z' JHKs with the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Near-Infrared Detector (GROND) between mid-2007 and the end of 2010. This is one of the most compre-hensive data sets on GRB afterglow observations of short bursts published so far. In three cases, GROND was on target within less than 10 min after the trigger, leading to the discovery of the afterglow of GRB 081226A and its faint underlying host galaxy. In addition, GROND was able to image the optical afterglow and follow the light curve evolution in five …

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 …

Prestress Losses In Lightweight Self-Consolidating Concrete, Jared Bymaster

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While much research has been performed on lightweight concrete and self-consolidating concrete (SCC), the knowledge of prestress losses in lightweight self-consolidating concrete (LWSCC) is still limited. LWSCC has the benefits of increased flowability, reduced placement labor, and decreased shipping cost compared to conventional concrete. This research program included the study of 14 SCC beams cast with expanded clay, expanded shale, and limestone aggregates. Strains in the beams were measured with vibrating-wire strain gages, and the measured prestress losses were compared with current AASHTO methods for calculating prestress losses. The AASHTO approximate method better predicted actual losses than did the AASHTO …

Silica Nanoparticle-Based Coatings With Superhydrophilic And Superhydrophobic Properties, Robert Andrew Fleming

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces have potential for implementation into a variety of fields, including self-cleaning surfaces, anti-fogging transparent materials, and biomedical applications. In this study, sandblasting, oxygen plasma treatments, silica nanoparticle films, and a low surface energy fluorocarbon film were employed to change the natural surface wettability of titanium, glass, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates, with an aim to produce superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic behavior. The effects of these surface modifications are characterized by water contact angles (WCAs), surface wetting stability, surface morphology and roughness, surface elemental composition, and optical transmittance measurements. The results show that stable superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces …

Design, Fabrication, Testing Of Cnt Based Isfet And Characterization Of Nano/Bio Materials Using Afm, Zhuxin Dong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A combination of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) and Ion Selective Field Effect Transistor (ISFET) is designed and experimentally verified in order to develop the next generation ion concentration sensing system. Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) fabrication techniques, such as photolithography, diffusion, evaporation, lift-off, packaging, etc., are required in the fabrication of the CNT-ISFET structure on p-type silicon wafers. In addition, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) based surface nanomachining is investigated and used for creating nanochannels on silicon surfaces. Since AFM based nanomanipulation and nanomachining is highly controllable, nanochannels are precisely scratched in the area between the source and drain of the FET where …

Comprehensive Drainage Study Of The Upper Reach Of College Branch In Fayetteville, Arkansas, Kathryn Lea Mccoy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

College Branch is a stream with headwaters located on the University of Arkansas campus. The stream flows through much of the west side of campus, gaining discharge and enlarging its channel as it meanders to the south. College Branch has experienced erosion and flooding issues in recent years due to increased urbanization of its watershed and increased runoff volume.

The purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive drainage study of College Branch on the University of Arkansas campus. Storm runoff and flood flow patterns were evaluated in order to understand the hydraulics and hydrology of the watershed and …

Search-Based Refactoring: Towards Semantics Preservation, Ali Ouni, Marouane Kessentini, Houari Sahraoui, Mohamed Salah Hamdi

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Refactoring restructures a program to improve its structure without altering its behavior. However, it is challenging to preserve the domain semantics of a program when refactoring is decided/implemented automatically. Indeed, a program could be syntactically correct, have the right behavior, but model incorrectly the domain semantics. in this paper, we propose a multi-objective optimization approach to find the best sequence of refactorings that maximizes quality improvements (program structure) and minimizes semantic errors. to this end, we use the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) to find the best compromise between these two conflicting objectives. We report the results of our experiments …

Reassessing The Practical And Theoretical Influence Of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, Richard A. Hunt, Bret Fund

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This paper presents a long overdue reassessment of entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA). Traditionally considered simply a niche occurrence of small company leveraged buyouts (LBO), ETA is actually a meaningful contributor to a nation’s entrepreneurial capacity and business revitalization. Scholarly understanding of ETA has been severely limited by three factors: the paucity of data related to entrepreneurial acquisitions, the tendency to equate entrepreneurship primarily with new venture creation, and the reliance upon explanatory models for buyouts that are grounded in narrowly conceived notions of 1980s-era, large-scale, hyper-leveraged LBOs. Prior efforts to conceptualize all buyouts based on the large LBO model and …

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.

The Shortest Distance: Direct Filing And Choice Of Law In Multidistrict Litigation, Andrew D. Bradt

Notre Dame Law Review

The article focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court's approach in two cases Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co. and Van Dusen v. Barrack, regarding direct filing, aggregation litigation and choice of law in multidistrict litigation (MDL). It mentions that MDL is very high in federal courts specifically in places of mass wrongdoings or product liability. It explores that the traditional MDL framework is more appropriate with the policies underlying in these cases than the class action.

Profiles, Syndromes, And The Rule 405 Problem: Addressing A Form Of Disguised Character Under The Federal Rules Of Evidence, Michael D. Claus

Notre Dame Law Review

The article focuses on concerns related to scientific and predictive profiling of criminals under the Rule 405 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. It reflects on the Rule 405 in which scientists, doctors and criminologists explain the characteristics of a "convicted murderer profile" and discusses how this profiling can be used by lawyers as evidence against defendants. It mentions that people, who are aggressive, use weapons and living with abusive parents, are more likely to turn murderers.

In Defense Of Rayburn House: Why The Supreme Court Should Recognize An Evidentiary Privilege Of Non-Disclosure In Its Speech Or Debate Clause Jurisprudence, Christopher M. Kieser

Notre Dame Law Review

The article presents concerns regarding privilege of non disclosure in a defendant's speech. It suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court should resolve concerns related to the separation of powers and the independence of the legislative, with reference to the case United States v. Rayburn House Office Building. It also discusses another court case United States v. Renzi, wherein the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court allegedly failed to protect legislative independence and separation of powers.

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 …

Predicting Risk For Adverse Outcomes Following Distal Radius Fracture, Saurabh Mehta Phd

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Some individuals remain at risk for adverse outcomes such as chronic wrist/hand pain, falls, and fall-related osteoporotic fractures after distal radius fracture (DRF) remain. This thesis includes five studies that were conducted to establish prediction rules or assessing the risk of these adverse outcomes following DRF.

The first manuscript outlines a theoretical framework (RACE - Reducing pain, Activating, Cognitive reshaping, Empowering) for managing the risk of adverse outcomes, mainly chronic pain, in individuals with DRF. The RACE is one of the first frameworks to suggest a risk-based management approach for individuals with DRF.

The Patient-Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) is a …

How Crucial Are Multi-Cultural Texts To Social Awareness And Acceptance In The Universal Pre-Kindergarten Setting?: A Study On Views On Family Structure, Elisabeth Addyman

Education Masters

This study examined the impact that multi-cultural picture books have on students’ views on different family structures in the Universal Pre-Kindergarten setting. Research was conducted in a Universal Pre-Kindergarten classroom in a whole and small group setting. Data was collected through informal observations, student work, and pre and post interviews. The findings showed that the students could benefit greatly from multi-cultural picture books when coupled with meaningful discussions and/or extending activities. In order to determine the full potential of using multi-cultural picture books within the classroom to impact students’ views on different family structures, more research needs to be conducted.

The Impact Of Student Interest And Instructor Effectiveness On Student Performance, Kate Sauer

Education Masters

This research project began by asking if and how student interest and instructor effectiveness impacted student performance. Research was conducted with two middle school students. The data was gathered by administering questionnaires, collecting student work, and recording observations. Findings revealed that students’ interest and their relationship with the instructor were contributing factors in successful academic performance. Therefore, the data implied that teachers need consider student interest and develop a relationship with them in order to foster student growth and success.

Using Technology As A Teacher Differentiation Tool To Increase Students' High Frequency Word Recognition, Shannon Mclaughlin

Education Masters

This research asked, “how does technology, as a teacher assistive differentiation tool, increase students high frequency word recognition?” Research was conducted in Greenville, New York with a group of nine first grade students all classified with a disability. Students were placed in either an iPad or flash card group. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected through questionnaires/interviews, student observations, and assessment. Findings revealed that both the groups increased their word recognition; however, the iPad group revealed a greater percentage increase when compared to the flash card group. The data implies there is a correlation among students with disabilities and using …