Digital Commons Network^™

Development And Validation Of Sunlight Exposure Measurement Questionnaire (Sem-Q) For Use In Adult Population Residing In Pakistan, Quratulain Humayun, Romaina Iqbal, Iqbal Azam, Aysha Habib Khan, Amna Rehana Siddiqui, Naila Baig Ansari

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background: Vitamin D deficiency has been identified as a major public health problem worldwide. Sunlight is the main source of vitamin D and its measurement using dosimeters is expensive and difficult for use in population-based studies. Hence, the aim of this study was to develop and validate questionnaires to assess sunlight exposure in healthy individuals residing in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods: Two questionnaires with seven important items for sunlight exposure assessment were developed. Fifty four healthy adults were enrolled based on their reported sunlight exposure (high = 17, moderate = 18, low = 19) from Aga Khan University, Karachi. Over four …

Histologic Findings In Biopsies/Resection Specimens From The Small Intestine With Special Emphasis On Celiac Disease: Experience From A Developing Country In South Asia, Huma Arshad, Zubair Ahmad

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Biopsies from the small intestine especially the duodenum are now being performed much more frequently than in the past. The most frequent reason for performing duodenal biopsies is to evaluate for malabsorption. In the last few years, increased awareness has resulted in more biopsies sent for evaluation of malabsorption, especially celiac disease (CD). In the duodenum, features of malabsorption (increased intraepithelial lymphocytes, villous shortening, and atrophy) were the most common histologic finding seen in 63.4% of cases. Serum tTG levels were available for correlation in 52.8% of cases. In patients with confirmed CD, 53.4% were MARSH IIIb, and 29.5% were …

Farmers' Perceptions Of Cotton Pests And Their Management In Western Kenya, Charles A.O. Midega, Isaac M. Nyang'au, Jimmy Pittchar, Michael A. Birkett, John A. Pickett, Miguel Borges, Zeyaur R. Khan

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production in western Kenya is severely affected by insect pests, resulting in poor yields in spite of the growing demand for the commodity. One of the key constraints to establishing effective pest management approaches for smallholder farmers is the lack of adequate information about farmers' knowledge, perceptions and practices in pest management. This study was therefore conducted to (1) evaluate farmers' knowledge and perceptions of cotton pests; (2) examine farmers' current practices in managing cotton pests; (3) identify pest management challenges and intervention opportunities in order to develop efficient integrated pest management (IPM) approaches. A total …

Assessment Of The Impact Of Integrated Simulation On Critical Thinking And Clinical Judgment In Nursing Instruction, Rita Allen Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of using simulation and didactic instruction on critical thinking and clinical judgment with student nurses enrolled in a fall semester medical-surgical class. Specifically, it was of interest to compare the performance of these fall semester nursing students with the performance of nursing students enrolled in a spring semester class who received only didactic instruction.

The study consisted of 18 participants who were nursing students enrolled in the senior level Adult Medical-Surgical 111, the third medical-surgical class in the curriculum. There were two non-randomized groups. The experimental group received the intervention, …

Exploring Healthcare Simulation As A Platform For Interprofessional Education, Janice Christine Palaganas

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Interprofessional education (IPE) is gradually recognized as essential to patient safety and implemented as a standard for healthcare education through professional organization recommendations and accrediting bodies. Given the increasing adoption of experiential and team-based learning, healthcare simulation (HCS) has become a preferred vehicle for IPE. As healthcare professional educators explore simulation as a platform for IPE, a need to better understand the state of the science has become apparent. This descriptive comparative study examines how the most commonly used simulation modalities and IPE teaching methods (low-technology versus high-technology; multiprofessional versus collaborative team-based activities; observational versus active methods; standardized patients versus …

Assessment Of Appropriate L-Cysteine Concentration For Boar Semen Cryopreservation By Using Flow Cytometry, Paisan Tienthai, Panida Chanapiwat, Sukanya Manee-In, Dulyatad Gronsang, Kampon Kaeoket

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

The present study aims to investigate a suitable L-cysteine level to be added the lactose-egg yolk (LEY) extender to improve the quality of boar semen after freezing-thawing using Annexin-V and propidium iodide (PI) assay detected with flow cytometer. Ejaculates from twelve boars were processed in the LEY extender and added with 0, 5, 10 and 15 mM of L-cysteine. Semen suspensions were cryopreserved with a controlled-rate freezer and thawed for examination. The surface of sperm plasma membrane was explored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) while sperm membrane integrity was performed by Annexin-V/PI assay. Of all treatments, the damaged spermatozoa in …

Can Telemedicine Improve Stroke Outcomes?, Quratulain Shaikh, Ayeesha Kamran Kamal

Department of Medicine

No abstract provided.

A Paradigm For Surviving Severe Macro Economic Disruption: The Promethean Life Engagement Practices Framework, Larry G. Straub

Student Scholarship

Unemployment is rapidly becoming an American epidemic of social, political and economic crisis, even more so for “at risk” groups such as older workers. This study focuses on issues and factors surrounding chronic under-employment, unemployment and even un- employability of our older workforce in America. As the American “social contract” i.e. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are under enormous strain; much will be at stake as America deals with how social, societal, political, educational, legal and economic institutions handle this very complicated and multi-facetted issue... answering the question... “Will Americans over 50 be our next lost generation?” This study analyzed …

A Chart And Map Book Of Population And Selected Economic Indicators For The U.S. And States, Vol. I, No. 3, Bureau Of Business And Economic Research

BBER Publications

A series of color graphics -- tables, charts, and maps -- illustrating population growth, nonagricultural employment, unemployment rates, personal income, wages and salaries, and real gross domestic product, by state. Includes a glossary of terms.

The Role Of Loneliness And Life Events: Comparing Avoidant And Borderline Personality Features And Their Relation To Depression, Janine Galione

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Personality disorders are theoretically and empirically linked to experiencing high negative affect, such as depression, and individuals with features from some personality disorders, such as borderline: BDL) and avoidant: AVD), are hyper-responsive to rejection. Loneliness has also been established as a vulnerability to the onset of depressive episodes and as an outcome to rejection sensitivity, however the relationship between personality pathology and loneliness is still unclear. The purpose of this study is to compare whether AVD and BDL features might be differentially associated with depression scores by analyzing the interaction with life events and loneliness. We studied a representative, community-based …

Development & Testing Of Novel Atmospheric Chemistry Technologies, Peter Johnson Mellott

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Atmospheric aerosols play an important role in global atmospheric chemistry and climate and have a detrimental impact on human health. Advancements in measurement technologies allow for better monitoring of atmospheric composition and dynamics, creating better predictive models and understanding of atmospheric chemistry and physics. Gas and particle atmospheric oxidation is poorly understood. In order to create a better understanding of atmospheric oxidation, the following equipment was developed: 1) a Potential Aerosol Mass: PAM) flow reaction chamber was developed to create reproducible steady-state oxidation of organic species in a controlled laboratory setting, 2) a custom combustion chamber for introduction of realistic …

The Effect Of Emotional Intelligence Competences And Transformational Leadership On Organizational Performance An Investigation Study At Al-Rafidain Bank, Ghani Dahham Alzubaidi, Bilal Kamel Awda

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The research deal with three variables of exceptional importance to organization business firms. These variables are emotional intelligence, transformational leadership, and organizational performance. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership on organizational performance at the banking sector, which is represented by Al-Rafidain Bank. The problem of the research is expressed by many questions related with the nature of the interrelationships and effects among research’s variables. The researcher has depended upon the descriptions - analytical approach. on a random sample of (80 ) managers working at more than sixteen branches of Al-Rafidain …

Interpreting Regulations, Kevin M. Stack

Michigan Law Review

The age of statutes has given way to an era of regulations, but our jurisprudence has fallen behind. Despite the centrality of regulations to law, courts have no intelligible approach to regulatory interpretation. The neglect of regulatory interpretation is not only a shortcoming in interpretive theory but also a practical problem for administrative law. Canonical doctrines of administrative law - Chevron, Seminole Rock/Auer, and Accardi - involve interpreting regulations, and yet courts lack a consistent approach. This Article develops a method for interpreting regulations and, more generally, situates regulatory interpretation within debates over legal interpretation. It argues that a purposive …

The Basel Iii Liquidity Coverage Ratio And Financial Stability, Andrew W. Hartlage

Michigan Law Review

Banks and other financial institutions may increase the amount of credit available in the financial system by borrowing for short terms and lending for long terms. Though this "maturity transformation" is a useful and productive function of banks, it gives rise to the possibility that even prudently managed banks could fail due to a lack of liquid assets. The financial crisis of 2007-2008 revealed the extent to which the U.S. financial system is exposed to the risk of a system-wide failure from insufficient liquidity. Financial regulators from economies around the world have responded to the crisis by proposing new, internationally …

Common Ownership And Equality Of Autonomy, Anna Di Robilant

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, common ownership has enjoyed unprecedented favour among policy-makers and citizens in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Conservation land trusts, affordable-housing co-operatives, community gardens, and neighborhood-managed parks are spreading throughout major cities. Normatively, these common-ownership regimes are seen as yielding a variety of benefits, such as a communitarian ethos in the efficient use of scarce resources, or greater freedom to interact and create in new ways. The design of common-ownership regimes, however, requires difficult trade-offs. Most importantly, successful achievement of the goals of common-ownership regimes requires the limitation of individual co-owners’ ability to freely use the common …

Cross Practitioner Inter-Rater Variability: Grading Of Adverse Skin Reactions After Radiation Therapy, Carleen A. Evans

Education Doctoral

This study estimated the inter-rater variability for adverse event grades for skin reactions related to radiation therapy among nurses and physicians. Currently, there appears to be a gap in literature on the reliability of severity grades across grading systems. Physicians and nurses conducted a retrospective review of photographs of skin reactions of patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer who received cancer therapy. Rater participants rated the condition(s) seen in each photograph on a scale of Grade 0 to Grade 5. This inter-rater reliability study used quantitative methods to estimate initer-rater agreement and inter-rater reliability of severity grades by comparing …

Hopeful Measures: Characteristics Of Hope At A Community College, Thomas C. Priester

Education Doctoral

Snyder’s Hope Theory defines the construct of hope as the “sum of perceived capabilities to produce routes to desired goals, along with the perceived motivation to use those routes” (Snyder, 2000, p. 8). Hope is a tenant of positive psychology that can be used to measure personal as well as academic potential (Seligman, 2002). In fact, Lopez (2009) claims that “hope predicts GPA and retention in college, and hope scores are more robust than high school GPA, SAT, and ACT scores.” Researchers have measured the relationship between hope and academic performance in college students at four-year, baccalaureate degree granting institutions …

Self-Perceptions Of Senior African Americans Who Participate In Formal Volunteering, Monique C. Adams

Education Doctoral

An ever-growing resource in America today is our aging population. One out of every five adults will be age 65 or older by 2030. Indeed, Americans are living longer now than at any other time in history, and they have better health, education and a lifetime of experience to offer when volunteering. This study used the Integrated Theory of Volunteer Work as a theoretical framework. The Integrated Theory of Volunteer Work includes three types of resources: human capital, social capital and cultural capital. Although a large body of literature has documented that those factors are present in the general population, …

Strategies And Actions Used By Stem Degree Seeking Adult, Full-Time, Undergraduates: A Grounded Theory Study, Adwoa Boateng

Education Doctoral

Higher education research focuses on traditional undergraduates under the age of 25 years. The focus of the researcher’s study was on the academic experiences of adult, full-time, STEM undergraduates 25 years of age and older. The purpose of the study was to identify strategies and actions adult students use towards their academic success while enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. The Grounded Theory Method was utilized as the qualitative approach to iteratively generate a theory based on the experiences of adult, full-time undergraduates in STEM programs. The significance of the proposed study was an opportunity to provide …

Cyberloafing At The Workplace: Gain Or Drain On Work?, Vivien K. G. Lim, Don Jiaqing Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examined the impact of cyberloafing on employees' emotion and work. We also examined gender differences in employees' perception towards cyberloafing. In general, respondents felt that some form of cyberloafing at work was acceptable. Men were also more likely to report that cyberloafing has a positive impact on work compared to women. As well, our findings suggest that browsing activities have a positive impact on employees' emotion while emailing activities have a negative impact. Results of our study provide useful insights for researchers and managers in understanding employees' attitudes towards cyberloafing, and how cyberloafing can result in gain or …

Validity Evidence For The Situational Judgment Test Paradigm In Emotional Intelligence Measurement, Nele Libbrecht, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

To date, various measurement approaches have been proposed to assess emotional intelligence (EI). Recently, two new EI tests have been developed based on the situational judgment test (SJT) paradigm: the Situational Test of Emotional Understanding (STEU) and the Situational Test of Emotion Management (STEM). Initial attempts have been made to examine the construct-related validity of these new tests; we extend these findings by placing the tests in a broad nomological network. To this end, 850 undergraduate students completed a personality inventory, a cognitive ability test, a self-report EI test, a performance-based EI measure, the STEU, and the STEM. The SJT-based …

Designing Selection Systems For Medicine: The Importance Of Balancing Predictive And Political Validity In High-Stakes Selection Contexts, Fiona Patterson, Filip Lievens, Máire Kerrin, Lara Zibarras, Bernd Carette

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Selection into medical education and training is a high-stakes process. A key unanswered issue is the effectiveness of measuring noncognitive predictors via both low-fidelity and high-fidelity selection approaches in this high-stakes context. We review studies investigating the effectiveness of multiple selection instruments in terms of predictive validity, incremental validity, and applicant reactions in both entry-level and advanced-level medical selection. Our results show that the situational judgment test (SJT) is the best single predictor of performance, operationalized in multiple ways. In addition, the low-fidelity SJT has incremental predictive power over cognitively oriented tests, and high-fidelity assessment center (AC) exercises add incremental …

Children With Developmental Disabilities At A Pediatric Hospital: Staff Education To Prevent And Manage Challenging Behaviors, Norah L. Johnson, Joel Lashley, Alice V. Stoneck, Annette Bonjour

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Children with developmental disabilities may get frustrated in unpredictable hospital environments. Frustration may escalate to challenging behaviors, which are a safety concern and may contribute to staff and patient injuries, use of restraints, and procedure delay or cancelations. The purpose of this article was to describe a pilot staff education program on preventing and managing challenging behaviors of children with developmental disabilities at a pediatric hospital. The 2-hour-long education (1 hour on-line and 1 hour instructor led) content focused on family-centered care and communication skills, including verbal judo™ modified for use in the health care setting. Participants in the instructor-led …

Iron Deprivation In Synechocystis : Inference Of Pathways, Non-Coding Rnas, And Regulatory Elements From Comprehensive Expression Profiling, Ma Hernández-Prieto, V Schön, J Georg, L Barreira, Et Al

School of Biomedical Sciences

Iron is an essential cofactor in many metabolic reactions. Mechanisms controlling iron homeostasis need to respond rapidly to changes in extracellular conditions, but they must also keep the concentration of intracellular iron under strict control to avoid the generation of damaging reactive oxygen species. Due to its role as a redox carrier in photosynthesis, the iron quota in cyanobacteria is about 10 times higher than in model enterobacteria. The molecular details of how such a high quota is regulated are obscure. Here we present experiments that shed light on the iron regulatory system in cyanobacteria. We measured time-resolved changes in …

Psychosocial Concerns In Pediatric Obstetric Brachial Plexus Injury Patients, Janelle M. Mentrikoski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Obstetric brachial plexus injuries (OBPI) occur during childbirth when the child's shoulder blade gets stuck on the mother's pubic bone, resulting in damage to nerves in the child's shoulder. Due to the possible visible nature (e.g., injured arm may be shorter than the non-injured arm) and mobility limitations (e.g., difficulties in raising the injured arm to brush one's teeth) associated with these injuries, youth with OBPI may experience psychosocial difficulties. However, little research has examined the psychosocial functioning in this population. The current study sought to investigate possible predictors of social functioning and self-concept in youth with OBPI. This study …

Sexual Sensation Seeking, Drug Use And Risky Sex Among Detained Youth, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

Sexual sensation seeking has been correlated with drug use and risky sex in a number of populations. However, these relationships have had limited examination among adolescents, and to date, have not been explored among detained youth, a group with some of the highest rates of illicit drug use and STIs. To better understand these relationships we utilized A-CASI to collect data on sociodemographics, sexual sensation seeking, drug use and risky sexual behaviors among a sample of 550 detained youth. A series of multivariable regression models controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and risky peer networks indicated that sexual sensation …

Resilience Among Adolescent Girls In India: Role Of Home And School Protective Factors, Sayed A. Azam

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

Resilience of school going adolescent girls has always been influenced by healthy and nurturing family and school life. Research studies reveal how extrinsic protective factors at home and school become pivotal in healthy development of adolescent girls who are known to be sensitive to the social support system they live in. The present study was therefore conducted with the purpose to examine the role of home and school environment of school going adolescent girls in a semi-urban town of India. The study more specifically explores and identifies which protective factors are responsible for higher levels of resilience in this population. …

Type A Behavior, Emotional Intelligence And Social Self-Efficacy As Predictors Of Work Motivation Among Faculty Members At The Hashemite University, Ghaleb Al-Baddareen, Souad Ghaith, Mutasem Akour, Suhaila Banat

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

This study examined the association between type A behavior, emotional intelligence, social self-efficacy, and work motivation among faculty members at the Hashemite University in Jordan. Seventy seven faculty members responded to four measures: Type A behavior scale, emotional intelligence scale, perceived social self-efficacy scale, and work motivation scale. The results of this study revealed that emotional intelligence was positively and significantly related to work motivation. Moreover, this study confirmed the value of emotional intelligence as a significant predictor of work motivation. However, social-self-efficacy and Type A behavior proved to be non significant predictors of work motivation

Accessing Justice Ii: A Model For Providing Counsel To New York Immigrants In Removal Proceedings, Stacy Caplow, Peter L. Markowitz, Claudia Slovinsky, Jojo Annobil, Peter Cobb, Amy L. Kenepaske, Nancy Morawetz, Lindsay Nash, Raluca Oncioiu, Oren Root, Maribel Hernández Rivera, Jane Stern, Isaac Wheeler, Marianne Yang

Online Publications

The New York Immigrant Representation Study (“NYIR Study”) is a two-year project of the Study Group on Immigrant Representation to analyze and ameliorate the immigrant representation crisis—the acute shortage of qualified attorneys willing and able to represent indigent immigrants facing deportation. The crisis has reached epic proportions in New York and shows no signs of abating.

In its year-one report (issued in the fall of 2011), the NYIR Study analyzed the empirical evidence regarding the nature and scope of the immigrant representation crisis. In that report, we documented how many New Yorkers—27 percent of those not detained and 60 percent …

Investigating Intelligent Agents In A 3d Virtual World, Yilin Kang, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Web 3.0 involves "intelligent" web applications that utilize natural language processing, machine-based learning and reasoning, and intelligent techniques to analyze and understand user behavior. In this research, we empirically assess a specific form of Web 3.0 application in the form of intelligent agents that offer assistance to users in the virtual world. Using media naturalness theory, we hypothesize that the use of intelligent agents in the virtual world can enhance user experience by offering a more natural way of communication and assistance to users. We are interested to test if media naturalness theory holds in the context of intelligent agents …