Digital Commons Network^™

Utilizing Self-Determination Theory To Assist In Understanding College Students' Motivation For Physical Activity, Tyler Coe Mcdaniel

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Obesity has become a national epidemic, (CDC, 2006; Desai, Miller, Staples, & Bravender, 2008), while causing life-threatening health conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other functional issues (Schoenborn & Strommel, 2011). It has been estimated that less than half of populations in industrialized countries are sufficiently physically active to prevent health issues (Sapkota, Bowles, Ham, & Kohl, 2005). The current study utilized the Self-Determination theory (SDT) by Deci and Ryan (1985, 2002) to help understand motivation, but more specifically exercise motivations. This study targeted basic psychological need (PNSE) and motivation regulations (BREQ-2) of a general population of …

Compensation Theory: Can Club Soccer Players Appropriately Balance Energy Intake And Output In And Out Of Season?, Marco Ruggiero

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic affecting both adults and children. Obesity and overweight prevalence is increasing, with a corresponding decline in physical fitness and general physical activity level (McHugh, 2010). The college setting presents an important opportunity for health promotion during a critical developmental stage for weight gain (Nelson et al., 2007). While exercising and a balanced diet are the basis of most obesity-prevention campaigns, little research has been done on how physical exercise may increase food consumption. The purpose of this study was to examine whether college club soccer players can appropriately balance energy intake and output in and …

Learning From Mentoring Relationships Within And Between Higher Education Institute Staff, Sinead Mccann

Staff Articles and Research Papers

As part of the PERARES project, staff on the Programme for Students Learning with Communities (SLWC) in DIT have been formally mentored by staff at Queen’s University Belfast, with over 20 years experience fostering community-based research (CBR) projects. This paper shares both experiences of the invaluable support, insight and practical guidance emerging from this mentoring relationship, and considers early outcomes from a pilot of informal mentoring relationships in DIT between academic staff experienced in CBR and staff starting CBR projects with students for the first time.

The Effects Of Single-Gender Classes On Students' Physical Fitness Test Performances And Attitudes, Zachary Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this pretest-posttest control group study was to test the Social Cognitive Theory by comparing the effects of class type, coeducational or single-gender, on physical fitness test performance and attitudes, controlling for previous fitness levels, among sixth-grade male and female physical education students at a Northwest Georgia Middle School. A total of 277 students participated in the newly state-mandated FitnessGram physical fitness test as part of their regular physical education class. The groups then participated in standard physical education lessons for four weeks. Then, in each of the two sixth-grade physical education periods, students were divided among the …

Ministry Of Memories: Keys To Pastoral Care Of Non-Cognitive Persons, Reginald Corfield

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This work is intended to examine and study the theological and moral reasons to provide pastoral care to persons who have limited or no cognition. Dementia, Alzheimer's, certain other medical conditions and the aging process cause a loss of brain function that affects memory, thinking, behavior and judgment. Most Clergy wrestle with the fact as to whether there is any purpose in ministering to such persons especially when there is no verbal or non-verbal response. This paper involves surveys, research, collection of historical and biblical data and medical science to evaluate the disease process and explore ways in which to …

School Change: Adolescents Transitioning From Conventional Schooling To Home-Based Online Education, Harvey Klamm

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This hermeneutic phenomenological research explored the lived experiences of six recently graduated adolescents to extrapolate the valued essence of their transitional encounters in changing from conventional school to home-based online schooling. The homeschool research shifted the emphasis from the outcome-based academic achievement studies prevalent during the past 20 years to a focus on internal and external factors impacting student learning within this technological instructional process. Findings produced from analysis and interpretation of reflective adolescent lived experiences revealed rich truth regarding the internal emotions, environmental adaptations, academic ramifications, and social adaptations encountered when changing from conventional schooling to home-based online school. …

Host Plant Use By Competing Acacia-Ants: Mutualists Monopolize While Parasites Share Hosts, Stefanie Kautz, Daniel J. Ballhorn, Johannes Kroiss, Steffen U. Pauls, Corrie S. Moreau, Sascha Eilmus, Erhard Strohm, Martin Heil

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Protective ant-plant mutualisms that are exploited by non-defending parasitic ants represent prominent model systems for ecology and evolutionary biology. The mutualist Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus is an obligate plant-ant and fully depends on acacias for nesting space and food. The parasite Pseudomyrmex gracilis facultatively nests on acacias and uses host-derived food rewards but also external food sources. Integrative analyses of genetic microsatellite data, cuticular hydrocarbons and behavioral assays showed that an individual acacia might be inhabited by the workers of several P. gracilis queens, whereas one P. ferrugineus colony monopolizes one or more host trees. Despite these differences in social organization, neither …

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: Autism diagnoses are rising at an alarming rate, but help is out there; a new collection in the PSU Library chronicles a Portland couple’s commitment to civil rights; the University’s Social Innovation Incubator is guiding businesses that want to save the world; and more.

Redeveloping Regional Economies For Present And Future Generations: Prosperity For People Within Ecological Limits, Langdon Marsh, Craig W. Shinn

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Many scientists and scholars believe the world is headed toward multiple ecological and social crises during the lifetime of much of the world's population. If they are correct, a shift in how economies work will be necessary. We will no longer be able to rely on the ever expanding use of natural resources with the attendant pollution from their extraction, processing, transport, disposal, and social costs including civil disruptions and wars associated with greater scarcity. A number of proposals have been made that offer either comprehensive or partial solutions to the regional and global dimensions of these impending crises. One …

Maintaining Physical Activity Levels Of Teachers In A Summer Intervention, Meghan A. Phillips

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Schools are in a premier position to promote physical activity programs with students, faculty and staff, and the surrounding community. Since individuals of working age spend a significant portion of their lives in their work environment the workplace potentially represents a convenient, efficient, and effective access point to the individual (McGillivray, 2005). One recent suggestion in the literature discusses the need for physical education teacher education programs to help make physical educators Sport, Physical Activity, and Fitness Education Specialists (Bulger & Housner, 2009). This new role would place physical educators as potential leaders in schools for the promotion of a …

Coyote Diets In West Virginia, Geriann Albers

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Coyotes were not present in the mid-Atlantic region until the 1950s and little is known regarding their ecology in this region. My objective was to examine the diets of coyotes in West Virginia and to compare diets among regions and seasons as well as between age and sex. I also analyzed the occurrence of livestock in coyote diets and used logistic regression and Akaike's Information Criterion to analyze potential factors influencing livestock consumption by coyotes. In cooperation with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services, and hunters and trappers, I collected coyote scat and stomachs throughout …

Bisphenol A Alters The Function And Expression Of Bk Channels In Vascular Smooth Muscle Through Membrane And Nuclear Signals, Shinichi Asano

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure has recently become a public health concern, and the safety of the utilization of BPA has attracted the attention of the scientific community, politicians, and the general population. Although BPA is banned from baby products in a few countries because infants and young children are particularly susceptible to endocrine disruption, recent studies have consistently indicated the association between urinary BPA concentration and cardiovascular diseases in adults. Therefore, adult exposure to this xenoestrogen is becoming a healthcare issue that cannot be ignored. We selected large conductance Ca2+/voltage sensitive potassium (BK) channels as one of the target proteins …

Symptoms, Causes, And Coping Strategies For Performance Anxiety In Singers: A Synthesis Of Research, Kristina Driskill

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A multitude of studies exists concerning performance anxiety, yet the number specifically focused upon singers is lacking in the literature. This study, intended as a reference guide for singers and singing instructors, discusses the symptoms, possible causes, and currently accepted coping strategies for music performance anxiety (MPA). An analysis of the published scholarship and correspondence from singers and professionals are included, as well as an appendix listing self-help sources and an extensive bibliography for further research. The study serves as an aid to singers and singing instructors seeking concise information on the topic. Specific steps within each coping method are …

Identifying Potential Sources Of Variation In Residual Feed Intake In Beef Cattle, Kevin S. Shaffer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Residual feed intake (RFI) class differences in gut function and grazing intake were evaluated using 14 crossbred steer progeny of first parity dams with known RFI phenotypes and a commercially available Angus sire. Steers were housed in a drylot facility and fed a forage based complete feed ad libitum, a forage diet at maintenance (1.5% BW as fed), and a concentrate diet at maintenance in Exp. 1, 4, and 5 respectively. Voluntary DMI and solid and liquid passage rate were evaluated while grazing (Exp. 2 and 3, respectively). Plasma concentrations of albumin (ALB), urea nitrogen (UN), cholesterol (CHOL), glucose (GLU), …

Development Of Value-Added Food Products From Isoelectrically Recovered Proteins, Reza Tahergorabi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The amount of fish by-products is huge and there is a large potential for making more value-added products from this raw material. On the other hand, dark chicken meat has been considered as a major underutilized commodity due to the increasing demand for further processed breast meat products. If proper meat recovery technology is successfully applied, the recovered meat can result in added revenue for a processor as well as reduce environmental pollution associated with disposal of the processing by-products. The overall objective of this study was to recover functional proteins from whole gutted fish and dark chicken meat by …

Modifications Of Pre And Postnatal Development Due To Placental Efficiency And Maternal Exercise During Gestation In Swine, Tiffany Ann Wilmoth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In pigs, litter size and developmental competence are crucial for successful production of the meat product. However, the ability of the placenta to produce a developmentally competent pig is vital in the production of meat animals. Placental efficiency (fetal weight divided by placental weight) has been studied as a measure of placental function and litter size. Selection for increased placental efficiency has been shown to increase placental efficiency as well as litter size. Furthermore, formative muscle development occurs entirely during gestation, so that the number of muscle fibers the pig is born with is reflective of the number of fibers …

Characterization Of Terrelysin, A Potential Biomarker For Aspergillus Terreus, Ajay Padmaj Nayak

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Exposure to fungi can lead to diverse conditions from allergy to colonization to invasive and disseminated infection, depending on the status of the host immune system. Recent data suggests that fungal infections and especially Aspergillus species has been on the rise. Though mostly affecting immunocompromised individuals, more recent reports have identified infections in immunocompetent populations as well. Aspergillus terreus is of particular interest, since it causes rapid disseminating infections with high mortality rates, owing to its natural resistance to antifungal drugs and production of vegetative aleurioconidia during infection. These attributes coupled with poor current diagnostics and increasing costs involved with …

Interactive Random Forests Plots, Anna T. Quach

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Random Forests is a useful data mining tool that is quite popular in finding variable importance. However, many people don’t make use of the Random Forests results in interactive graphs. Partly, this is because software packages that can do interactive graphs can’t handle large data sets and those that use Random Forests have large data sets or many variables. A new software package in R, known as iPlots eXtreme, that is still in development makes it simple to explore large data sets interactively. I have created a function, called irfplot (interactive random forests plot) that specifically uses Random Forests to …

Preschool Nutrition Education And Influences On Food Neophobia, Kelsey Eller

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Food neophobia, the fear of new foods, has been identified as a significant barrier to the intake of healthy foods, including fruits and vegetables in young children. Food neophobia can hinder dietary quality as well as dietary variety by limiting the development of food preferences. It has also been suggested that neophobia is linked to the development of childhood obesity, and due to the escalating epidemic of childhood obesity that is known to be associated with serious health complications, interventions that target food neophobia in preschool aged children may be successful in improving healthy eating habits and potentially reversing the …

Ethnic Disparities In Prenatal Care Utilization In Vietnam, Ha Ngoc Trinh

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Prenatal care is credited with reducing neonatal, perinatal, and maternal mortality and morbidity. The main purpose of the thesis is to examine the ethnic disparities between majority and ethnic minority women in prenatal care usage. The thesis also analyzes the effects of age, education attainment, female employment, and region on prenatal care utilization in Vietnam. I employ the Demographic and Health Survey 2002 in Vietnam. Descriptive statistic and logistic regression are the two statistical tests employed in this research. Results exhibit evidence of ethnic disparities in type of prenatal care utilization. Although ethnic minority women are likely to enter prenatal …

The Effectiveness Of An Adapted Snap-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education) Curriculum For Adults With Intellectual Or Developmental Disabilities, Amanda Panting

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Rates of overweight and obese adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities in the United States are high and associated with increased risk of chronic diseases. Many of these adults are trying to become more independent in the community and live in group homes where care is managed by a paid employee. Group home managers assist clients with daily living such as shopping and meal preparation and play an important role in their care. Nutrition and healthy behavior choices are important to help keep this population independent and decrease risks of excess weight and related diseases. Many group home managers and …

Where's The Justice? A Review Of The Local Food Movement Through A Reflexive Lens, Colyn Kilmer

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

As the local food movement has gained momentum over the past several years, so too has it garnered critiques from academic scholars. This literature review identified academic critiques of the local food movement. These critiques were organized into four general categories. A fifth category, reflexivity, was identified, which functioned as both a critique and a way to address the other four categories of critique. This review paired the four categories of academic critique with ways in which several academic scholars suggested reflexivity could be used to resolve these critiques. This review was designed to give scholars, practitioners, and consumers associated …

The Capability Of The Functional Movement Screen To Predict Injury In Division I Male And Female Track And Field Athletes, Brent Matthew Appel

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Track and field, formally know as athletics, formed part of the first Olympics in 776 BC and was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 (Quercetany, 2000). Ever since the creation of this sport, sport related injury has followed. The inevitability of musculoskeletal injury associated with sports in general is well known amongst its participants, and the people who research it. According to the NCAA Injury Surveillance System, a sixteen year sampling period (1988 through 2004), recorded 182,000 injuries (Hootman, Dick, & Agel, 2007). Despite the risk for injury, people continue to participate in track and field. During …

Development Of Nutrition Education Modules For Dietetic Undergraduate Students To Increase Counseling Skills, Jenna Tulane Stephens

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Objectives:
(1) To research effective methods for creating computer-assisted instruction for development of counseling skills
(2) Incorporate acquired knowledge into nutrition counseling modules for undergraduate dietetic students to provide increased practice working with real life situations

Intervention: Five modules were created for undergraduate students to better develop their nutrition counseling skills. The modules give students a way to practice counseling theories, methods, and techniques while working with virtual patients in a controlled environment. Research was conducted to assist development of the modules both technically and with content.

Implementation: Modules will be implemented into courses at Utah State University and students …

Differences In Quality Environmental Rating Subscales Between Family Child Care Homes And Facilities In West Virginia, Kaitlin J. Buchanan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Quality of family child care homes and facilities in the state of West Virginia was investigated for differences in quality and provider education and training. Data was collected through the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources grant titled, "Quality Rating and Improvement for West Virginia Child Care." Quality was measured using the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale (FCCERS), which has 38 items across 7 subscales including aspects specific to the family child care setting. Twenty-nine family child care facilities and 55 family child care homes participated in the study. Family child care homes scored lower than facilities …

Growth Of Chlorella Vulgaris And Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii For Biodiesel Production And Carbon Dioxide Capture, Mariana T. Farcas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The growth of two strains of green microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris (UTEX 2714) and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (UTEX 90) was tested in three types of media; Tris Acetate Phosphate (TAP), Bushnell Haas Broth (BHB), and Wright's Cryptophytes (WC buffered with either glycylglycine or Tris-base). Also, initial medium pH is ranging from 4 to 10, light intensity ranging from 100 to 600 micromol photons/m 2s, and CO2 concentrations ranging from 0.038% (ambient) to 12%, were tested. WC medium at pH 8 buffered with glycylglycine sustained the highest yield and best buffering capacity for growth of both C. vulgaris and C. reinhardtii. A light …

Feeding Female Growing Rats Different Sources Of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Affects Lung Fatty Acid Composition And Gene Expression, Maria L. Dalzot

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Justification: The lungs are constantly exposed to oxidative stress and inflammation which increase the risk of lung damage. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), found in different dietary sources, regulate the expression of various genes involved in eicosanoid production and oxidative stability.;Objective: to determine whether providing different sources of n-3 PUFAs will affect the fatty acid composition, inflammation and oxidation in the lungs of growing rats.;Methods: Growing (age 28 d) Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned (n=10/group) to diets consisting of either corn oil (CO) or n-3 PUFA rich flaxseed (FO), krill (KO), salmon (SO) or tuna (TO) oil for 8 …

Alternative Orchard Floor Management Strategies, Brent Black, Grant Cardon, Marc Rowley

All Current Publications

No abstract provided.

The Size And Scope Of Agriculture In Box Elder County, Lyle Holmgren, Mike Pace

All Current Publications

Box Elder County is located in the northwest corner of Utah and is bordered by the states of Idaho and Nevada.

Why Livestock Die From Eating Poisonous Plants, Beth Burritt

All Current Publications

If animals can learn to discriminate between safe and harmful plants, then why do they eat poisonous plants and die?