Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of A Practice Change To Improve Screening, Identification, And Management Of Patients With Prediabetes, Murrita C. Bolinger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background: The prevalence rate of type 2 diabetes among adults in West Virginia (WV) is 10.85, which ranks fourth in the United States in 2007. Furthermore, WV ranks as second highest state for diabetes related deaths in the nation. Prediabetes increases the risks for development of type 2 diabetes. Studies have supported lifestyle modification education for prediabetic adults in an effort to reduce progression to type 2 diabetes.;Objective: To evaluate the use of an EMR reminder to improve the screening, identifying, and documentation of treatment plans for patient at risk for prediabetes.;Methods: A provider focused education session was offered to …

Becoming Artifacts: Medieval Seals, Passports And The Future Of Digital Identity, Mawaki Chango

School of Information Studies - Dissertations

What does a digital identity token have to do with medieval seals? Is the history of passports of any use for enabling the discovery of Internet users' identity when crossing virtual domain boundaries during their digital browsing and transactions? The agility of the Internet architecture and its simplicity of use have been the engines of its growth and success with the users worldwide. As it turns out, there lies also its crux. In effect, Internet industry participants have argued that the critical problem business is faced with on the Internet is the absence of an identity layer from the core …

Patterns In Environmental Drivers Of Wetland Functioning And Species Composition In A Complex Peatland, Jeremy A. Graham

Theses

The boreal peatlands that cover much of western Canada are immense reservoirs of organic carbon and nitrogen, serving as sinks for atmospheric carbon, as well as providing habitat for flora and fauna, and nutrient cycling. These ecosystems are generally believed to be nitrogen limited. Due to regional increases in industrial activities associated in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR), atmospheric deposition of nitrogen is projected to increase, with unknown effects on peatland functioning. The results of this study provide baseline data for a nitrogen fertilization experiment with an accurate site description of the entire peatland complex to provide reference for …

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 …

Developing Leadership Talent In Family Businesses: Embracing Risk Or Playing It Safe, Stephen P. Miller

Student Scholarship

On-the-job experiences are emphasized as powerful developers of leadership talent in leadership and family business literature. Our qualitative study of 37 family business leaders from mid-market privately held family firms found that it is not just having experiences but the nature of those experiences that determines whether or not authentic leadership talent is actually developed, particularly in next-generation family enterprise leaders. The "family effect," the extent to which actors in a family firm embrace risk in the development of nextgeneration leaders, is identified as central to the development of leadership competencies. We propose a conceptual framework with four factors that …

2012 December, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for December of 2012.

An Ethnographic Case Study Of A Deaf Workforce Collective, Peter Shane Butler

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic study seeks to increase our understanding of the individual and shared experiences of five members of a Deaf United States Postal Service (USPS) collective employment cohort in regards to their early learning experiences, how these experiences led to collective employment, and how the collective employment opportunity led them to establish a new Strong Deaf Community in Houston. The data collected through semi structured interviews will be used to increase our understanding about how Strong Deaf Communities form, and what purpose they serve for grassroots members.

This study also seeks to shed light on why it is critical for …

The Relationship Of Peer Acceptance, Age, Gender, Ethnicity, And Appearance Among Preschoolers, Kora Klaire Stuffelbeam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine preschool children's acceptance of peers. The term peer acceptance is defined as "the degree a child is Socially accepted or rejected by his or her peer group." Johnson et al. (2002) found children between the ages of three and five were able to develop friendships and Social skills that would impact their acceptance among peers. The study determined if children based their choice of peers according to a child's age, gender, ethnicity, appearance, and/or Social skills. The subjects of this study were 31 children whose ages were three-, four-, and five-years-old who …

The Academic Effects Of Learning Styles On Esl (English As A Second Language) Students In Intensive English Language Centers, Baderaddin Mahmood Yassin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the learning styles of ESL students (students who learn English as a second language). The focus in this study was on the ESL Arab Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates) students who study English as a second language in Intensive English Language Centers (IELCs) in the United States. The study explored the ESL Arab Gulf students' learning style preference and how they are affected by different variables such as cultural background, gender, and language level in IELCs. ESL Arab Gulf students were administered the VARK Learning Styles questionnaire. It measures several sensory types of …

Inquiry-Based Instruction In The Social Studies: Successes And Challenges, Crystal Maree Beshears

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions, understanding, and use of inquiry-based instruction in the Social studies, to assess the impact of inquiry-based units on instruction, to detail implementation successes and challenges reported by teachers when implementing inquiry-based instruction, and to provide recommendations for future efforts. Teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning, particularly their beliefs about inquiry-based instruction, changed during the study. Throughout the study, teachers' perceptions and beliefs about teaching Social studies had an impact on how they planned, implemented and reflected on inquiry-based instruction. Many of the teachers changed their perceptions and began regularly teaching …

Social And Adversarial Varieties Of Democracy: Which Produces Fewer Criminals?, Devin K. Joshi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article explores the relationship between two prominent varieties of democracy and the size of a country’s prison population. Theoretically, it proposes that social democracies increase social and economic equality which reduces both the “demand for crime” and the number of criminals. Adversarial democracies, on the other hand, generate higher levels of inequality and insecurity that lead to higher levels of crime. Utilizing a structured, focused comparison of Nordic social democracies and Anglo-American adversarial democracies complemented by cross-sectional multiple regression analysis of twenty industrialized democracies, I find empirical support for both of these conjectures. A major implication of this study …

Differential Impact Of Directors’ Social And Financial Capital On Corporate Interlock Formation, Nicholas Harrigan, Matthew Bond

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Exponential random graph models (ERGMs) are increasingly applied to observed network data and are central to understanding social structure and network processes. The chapters in this edited volume provide a self-contained, exhaustive account of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of ERGMs, including models for univariate, multivariate, bipartite, longitudinal and social-influence type ERGMs. Each method is applied in individual case studies illustrating how social science theories may be examined empirically using ERGMs. The authors supply the reader with sufficient detail to specify ERGMs, fit them to data with any of the available software packages and interpret the results.

Aesthetic Constructions Of Korea Nationalism: Spectacle, Politics And History, Yooil Bae

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Midwest Or Lesbian? Gender, Rurality, And Sexuality, Emily Kazyak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research suggests a gendered dimension to the geography of sexual minorities, as gay couples are more likely to live in cities than are lesbian couples. Using data from 60 interviews with rural gays and lesbians, this article employs an intersectional analysis of the mutually constitutive relationships among place, gender, and sexuality in order to assess how acceptance of gays and lesbians in small towns is gendered. Findings indicate that femininity aligns with gay sexuality but not rurality. In contrast, masculinity underpins both the categories “rural” and “lesbian.” Furthermore, both lesbian women and gay men gain acceptance in rural areas by …

Women's Pathways To The University Presidency: A Qualitative Inquiry Into University Women Leaders' Career Paths And Presidential Aspirations, Celeste Andria Wheat

Dissertations

Although from 2006 to 2011 the percentage of women college and university presidents increased from 23% to 26%, the critical problem remains that women continue to be disproportionately under-represented at the highest levels of university leadership, especially the presidency. Also problematical to women’s advancement, women are less likely to hold the key-line administrative positions (e.g., academic dean, vice president, chief academic officer/provost) that serve as pathways to the presidency.

In response to the dearth of empirical data on the career paths of university women leaders, the purpose of this research, grounded in a postmodern feminist theoretical framework, was to qualitatively …

Unnecessary Evil: An Examination Of Abu Ghraib Torture Photographs As Postcolonial Resistance Rhetoric, Patrick Gerhardt Richey

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the rhetorical nature of visual artifacts in a postcolonial context. In order to examine the nature of visual artifacts as a form of resistance against static ideologies and prevailing power structures, the author uses both media and cultural artifacts created in response to photographs taken of abused prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Correctional Facility. The dissertation adds to scholarly knowledge of communication by addressing the intersections of iconographic visual communication and postcolonial resistance rhetoric. The dissertation provides a scholarly review of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, as well as of literature explicating …

Examining The Relationship Between Social Capital And Career Success Among Welfare To Work Participants In Louisiana, Dionne Marie Davis-Green

Dissertations

The study examined the relationship between social capital and career success among welfare to work participants in a Louisiana program from 2007 to 2009. Based on the high percentage who do not complete the Louisiana STEP program, outcomes from 2007 to 2009 suggest current STEP work activities may not prepare participants for career success and may neglect the development of social capital (e.g. networking skills). The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between social capital and the ability to produce social resources and social network benefits for the attainment of career success as perceived by welfare to …

Uplift And Blame: Minority Parents In The Discourse Of Professional Educators, Katie Mitchell

Master's Theses - Sociology and Anthropology

This historical document analysis explores the professional discourse on minority parents in education during the Progressive (1900-1914), Post-Civil Rights/ESEA (1960-1974), and NCLB/Accountability Eras (1995-2009). Grounded theory was used to code and analyze 430 articles mentioning parents and/or home life from two peer-reviewed journals of education. Research questions asked which minority parents are of interest to educators in each era, how minority parenting roles are portrayed in the educational discourse, and why minority parents concern educators. Findings include a focus on immigrant parents in the Progressive Era and on African American and Hispanic parents in the Post-Civil Rights/ESEA and NCLB/Accountability Eras. …

Developing A Water Management Plan: Exploring Water Conservation Strategies On The Illinois Wesleyan Campus, Tim Griffin '13

Outstanding Senior Seminar Papers

The primary purpose of this research was to collect the information necessary to one day develop an environmentally sound and economically feasible water conservation management plan for the Illinois Wesleyan University campus. Freshwater resources are steadily being depleted due to pollution and climate change, while demand for potable water continues to rise alongside an exponentially growing global population. Due to this reason, water conservation is becoming an ever-important practice for municipalities, institutions, and even individuals in pursuit of maintaining a sustainable freshwater supply. Reducing demand upon the water supply of a community remains the best practice for maintaining sustainable freshwater …

Toward A Lockean Moral Justification Of Legal Protection Of Intellectual Property, Kenneth Einar Himma

San Diego Law Review

This Article attempts to provide the beginnings of a viable moral justification for recognizing and providing legal protection of intellectual property. The argument follows a line of arguments that is fairly characterized as “inspired” by John Locke’s attempt to justify legal protection of what he took to be a natural, objective, moral right to material property. That is to say, it is Lockean in spirit in the following sense: Locke grounds his argument for original acquisition in the idea that a person is justified in acquiring something from the commons in virtue of an investment he makes of something that …

Persamaan, Perbedaan, Dan Feminisme: Studi Kasus Konflik Sampang-Madura, Haryo Ksatrio Utomo

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

feminism, pluralistic society, politics of difference, politics of presence

Peran Mediasi Persepsi Kohesi Sosial Dalam Hubungan Prediktif Persepsi Pemanfaatan Ruang Terbuka Publik Terhadap Kesehatan Jiwa, Afifatun Nisa, Juneman Juneman

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Various phenomena involving university students such as suicide and gang fights indicate that students mental health conditions of need to be worried about. Some studies had linked the public space utilization with social interaction facilitation and social cohesion, as well as social cohesion with mental health. The original contribution of this research is that it employed perceived social cohesion as the mediating variable of the predictive relationship between public open space utilization with mental health. The design of this research is non-experimental, predictive correlational. As many as 375 university students in Jakarta participated in this research (Mage = 20.8 years …

Peran Mediasi Persepsi Kohesi Sosial Dalam Hubungan Prediktif Persepsi Pemanfaatan Ruang Terbuka Publik Terhadap Kesehatan Jiwa, Afifatun Nisa, Juneman Juneman

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Various phenomena involving university students such as suicide and gang fights indicate that students mental health conditions of need to be worried about. Some studies had linked the public space utilization with social interaction facilitation and social cohesion, as well as social cohesion with mental health. The original contribution of this research is that it employed perceived social cohesion as the mediating variable of the predictive relationship between public open space utilization with mental health. The design of this research is non-experimental, predictive correlational. As many as 375 university students in Jakarta participated in this research (Mage = 20.8 years …

An Overview Of The Schwartz Theory Of Basic Values, Shalom H. Schwartz

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

This article presents an overview of the Schwartz theory of basic human values. It discusses the nature of values and spells out the features that are common to all values and what distinguishes one value from another. The theory identifies ten basic personal values that are recognized across cultures and explains where they come from. At the heart of the theory is the idea that values form a circular structure that reflects the motivations each value expresses. This circular structure, that captures the conflicts and compatibility among the ten values is apparently culturally universal. The article elucidates the psychological principles …

The Challenges Of Promoting Reading Culture In Nigerian Children Through Story Hour, Book Talks And Exhibition: A Case Study Of Selected Secondary Schools In Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria., Oyemike Victor Ossai-Onah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

It has been observed that reading culture among Nigerian children is tragically deficient when compared to the Western world. In this era of high level technological development, it is disheartening to note that reading culture is missing as the younger ones are now embracing watching of home video and accessing the Internet. The paper focused on the challenges of promoting reading culture in Nigerian children through study hour, book talks and exhibition. The study was carried out in some secondary schools in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. Ten (10) secondary schools were used and the findings reveals the challenges militating against …

The Expressive Cost Of Corporate Immunity, Gregory M. Gilchrist

UC Law Journal

Is it possible to justify imposing criminal liability on corporations? Two basic aspects of criminal law have no application to corporations: Corporations cannot be jailed and they cannot form mental states. Moreover, there is reason to think that much of the deterrent effect generated by corporate criminal liability could be generated more efficiently by civil liability. Still, the demand for criminal prosecution of corporations remains high. This Article seeks to understand why we have corporate criminal liability, and it concludes that expressivism is necessary to justify the practice. Expressivism justifies punishment by reference to the benefits of a statement of …

The Expressive Cost Of Corporate Immunity, Gregory M. Gilchrist

UC Law Journal

Is it possible to justify imposing criminal liability on corporations? Two basic aspects of criminal law have no application to corporations: Corporations cannot be jailed and they cannot form mental states. Moreover, there is reason to think that much of the deterrent effect generated by corporate criminal liability could be generated more efficiently by civil liability. Still, the demand for criminal prosecution of corporations remains high. This Article seeks to understand why we have corporate criminal liability, and it concludes that expressivism is necessary to justify the practice. Expressivism justifies punishment by reference to the benefits of a statement of …

The Development Of Attentional Skill In A Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task: Effects Of Extended Practice On The ‘Attentional Blink’, Greg Simmons

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of African American Male Community College Students' Experiences Concerning Their Successful Postsecondary Enrollment, Robin Dabney

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite increased numbers of African American male students in higher education, their academic achievement levels continue to be at disproportionate numbers compared to other ethnic groups and genders (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore lived experiences of African American male community college students concerning factors hindering their academic progress and to understand perceptions of factors that influence their academic achievement in higher education. The current study identifies pertinent factors that will assist African American males to become successful in their postsecondary experiences. Findings from this study provide insights into predictors that may lead …

The Associations Of The Level Of School Wellness Policy Implementation And School Nurse Activities To Weight Status Of School Children In Massachusetts, Mary Jane F. O'Brien

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The increase in prevalence of childhood obesity has prompted child health authorities to propose mandates focusing on population health efforts that may be implemented in public schools. In 2010, the federal government passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, reinforcing the 2004 regulations to guide school districts in development and implementation of school wellness policies.

The purpose of this secondary data analysis was an examination of the association between implementation of the school wellness policy and school nurse activities to the absolute change in percent of students with body mass index in the obese weight category between the school years 2005-2006 …