Digital Commons Network^™

Sophic Box And Mantic Vista: A Review Of Deconstructing Mormonism, Kevin Christensen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Riskas’s Desconstructing Mormonism claims that believers are trapped in a box for which the instructions for how to get out are written on the outside of the box. He challenges believers to submit to an outsider test for faith. But how well does Riskas describe the insider test? And is his outsider test, which turns out to be positivism, just a different box with the instructions for how to get out written on its outside? Ian Barbour’s Myths Models and Paradigms provides instructions on how to get out of the positivistic box that Riskas offers, and at the same time …

Gastrophilanthropy: Utopian Aspiration And Aspirational Consumption As Political Retreat, Patricia Mooney Nickel, Angela M. Eikenberry

Public Administration Faculty Publications

In this paper we inquire into the practice of gastrophilanthropy—the individualized consumption of food products under the aegis of philanthropic action. In particular, we examine the case of the philanthropic cupcake. By positioning gastrophilanthropy within the complex of consumption and social relations of power we attempt to shed light on why it has become so well accepted in society today and how the impulse to consume and the impulse to be philanthropic relate to each other and to the contemporary political moment. We question the transformative impact of gastrophilanthropy on those who practice it and on those for whom it …

Servant-Leadership And Psychological Hardiness, Jeffrey L. Mcclellan

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

The multitude of changes occurring in society increasingly call upon leaders to engage in more participative, servant-oriented approaches to leadership. At the same time, these changes are likely increasing the stress and strain that leaders face on a daily basis. Thus, those who would answer the call to serve and lead face the challenge of withstanding the pressures of the day. This research study explores this challenge by testing the relationship between self-perceived psychological hardiness and servant-leadership within the context of a public institution of higher education. If a strong positive relationship exists between these variables, then this may further …

Religious Commitment And Servant-Leadership: The Development Of An Exploratory Conceptual Model, Gary E. Roberts, Diane Hess-Hernandez

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

Irrespective of one's personal religious beliefs, no objective observer can deny that religion exerts a major influence on society and human resources management. The influence of religious beliefs and spirituality on the jobrelated attitudes, behaviors, and performance of employees is an often neglected and underresearched topic across the major organizational sectors (Garcia Zamor 2003; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003; King 2007; Exline and Bright 2011; Byrne, Morton, and Dahling 2011 ). This article strives to develop a conceptual framework for the influence of religious commitment on servant-leader and human resource management work-related outcomes. It will include the main dependent and independent …

University Of New Hampshire Graduate School Catalog, 2013-2014, University Of New Hampshire

Graduate Catalog

No abstract provided.

Comparative Metabolic Profiling Of Haberlea Rhodopensis, Thellungiella Halophyla, And Arabidopsis Thaliana Exposed To Low Temperature, Maria Benina, Toshihiro Obata, Nikolay Mehterov, Ivan Ivanov, Veselin Petrov, Valentina Toneva, Alisdair R. Fernie, Tsanko S. Gechev

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Haberlea rhodopensis is a resurrection species with extreme resistance to drought stress and desiccation but also with ability to withstand low temperatures and freezing stress. In order to identify biochemical strategies which contribute to Haberlea's remarkable stress tolerance, the metabolic reconfiguration of H. rhodopensis during low temperature (4^◦C) and subsequent return to optimal temperatures (21^◦C) was investigated and compared with that of the stress tolerant Thellungiella halophyla and the stress sensitive Arabidopsis thaliana. Metabolic analysis by GC-MS revealed intrinsic differences in the metabolite levels of the three species even at 21^◦C. H. rhodopensis …

Low-Income Adults Food Management Practices And Nutrition Behaviors And The Association With Diet, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Food insecurity and diet quality are concerns in low-income populations, contributing to high rates of obesity. Food management skills may enable low-income populations to obtain a healthy food supply rather than relying on less expensive and less nutritious foods to fill their diets. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between food management practices and diet quality in SNAP-ED/EFNEP participants. This study examines the association between food management behaviors and dietary outcomes (Healthy Eating Index totals, total calories, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and servings of fruits, vegetables, milk, and meats/beans) as measured by the Behavior Checklist …

A Review Of Type 3 Copper Active Sites, The Proteins They Inhabit, Their Functions, And Their Biomimetic Ligands, Janardana Hayton

Theses & ETDs

Class 3 copper proteins contain a dinuclear copper active site coordinated by three histidines apiece. These active sites bind dioxygen in a characteristic μ-η2:η2 configuration that results in a strongly antiferromagnetically coupled EPR silent dicopper-peroxo core. This active site functions as a respiratory oxygen carrier in arthropods and mollusks and it catalyzes the oxidation of monophenols and ortho-diphenols which results in a plethora of products that cause pigmentation, protect from pathogens, or act as pathogens through various biosynthetic pathways. These proteins are ubiquitous throughout life signifying their importance. This review aims to describe the function of class 3 protein active …

Place And Space In J.R.R. Tolkien's And Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings, Chelsea Corarito

Theses & ETDs

My thesis argues that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings develops "space" and "place" through character while Peter Jackson's adaptations of the novels craft character through landscapes. I use Michel de Certeau's philosophies on "space" and "place" to discuss the transitory nature of liminal landscapes by comparing the different notions of place created by the Fellowship with those by the supernatural entities. The quest structure and the relationship between character and landscape can be seen in both medieval literature and Tolkien's work. This demonstrates how Tolkien is progressing and advancing the genre of fantasy literature through medieval literary practices. …

Formation Of Small Unilamellar Vesicles And Applications To Targeted Drug Delivery, Sonali Gupta

Theses & ETDs

Liposomes, or membranous vesicles, with a radius less than 100 nm are called Small Unilamellar Vesicles (SULVs). The formation of stable SULVs is problematic since tension in the membrane due to its high curvature destabilizes the particles. In this study the spontaneous formation of SULVs was observed through two separate pathways, both involving structural precursors. SULVs formed through the bicellar phase have disk-like precursors whose morphology is dictated by the molar ratio of long and short chain phospholipids in solution. Here DMPC and DHPC were used in a 3.2:1 ratio to create SULVs of 34.3 +/- 0.24 nm at a …

Exploring Changes In Surface Structure And Potential Roles For Reactive Oxygen Species Signaling During Postgenital Carpel Fusion In Catharanthus Roseus, Helena Benedict

Theses & ETDs

During normal development, the carpels of the Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus L. arise as two distinct organs but later make contact and fuse to form a single gynoecium. Significantly, approximately 400 epidermal cells along the site of fusion change their plane of division and eventually redifferentiate into less specialized parenchyma tissue. Understanding the mechanisms by which neighboring cells communicate and orchestrate developmental processes is important to the study of plant development, making this a potentially useful model system. Previously documented increases in carpel cuticle permeability as fusion progresses, together with literature reporting altered cuticle properties in Arabidopsis mutants expressing abnormal …

Partial Synthesis Of A Novel Tetra-Amido Macrocyclic Ligand For Potential Use As A Green Oxidation Catalyst, Adam Flowerday

Theses & ETDs

In recent years, advancements in environmentalism, such as the development of electric-powered cars and the increased practices of recycling, have been made in an effort to reduce the negative side-effects of technology uses. Research in alternative sources of energy, as well as cleaner methods of production for every day goods, has significantly advanced over the past fifty years. One of the scientific areas that has contributed greatly to this advancement is green chemistry, which focuses on developing chemicals and syntheses of chemicals that are more environmentally benign. Within this area of chemistry, an area of interest is the development of …

Department Of Family And Consumer Sciences Newsletter, Spring 2013, Illinois State University, Department Of Family And Consumer Sciences

Department of Family and Consumer Sciences Newsletter

Newsletter of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Exploring The Impact Of Elevated Depressive Symptoms On The Ability Of A Tailored Asthma Intervention To Improve Medication Adherence Among Urban Adolescents With Asthma, Lokesh Guglani, Suzanne L. Havstad, Dennis R. Ownby, Jacquelyn Saltzgaber, Dayna A. Johnson, Christine C. Johnson, Christine Lm Joseph

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

In patients with asthma, medication adherence is a voluntary behavior that can be affected by numerous factors. Depression is an important co-morbidity in adolescents with asthma that may significantly impact their controller medication adherence and other asthma-related outcomes. The modifying effect of depressive symptoms on an asthma intervention’s ability to improve asthma controller medication adherence among urban adolescents with asthma has not yet been reported.

Objective

To assess self-reported symptoms of depression as an effect modifier of the relationship between randomization group and controller medication adherence at 6-month follow-up.

Methods

These analyses use data from a randomized controlled …

Challenging The Media-Incarceration Complex Through Media Education, Bill Yousman

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Focusing on prime-time dramatic television as the most prevalent source of fictional images of violence, crime, and incarceration, in this chapter I address the distorted narratives and images that saturate popular television dramas. I also draw upon interviews I conducted with ex-prisoners to show how media representations of imprisonment, though inaccurate and misleading, shape the perceptions even of those who have themselves been incarcerated.

Student Characteristics And Targeted Based Cognitive Tier Ii Interventions, Patrick M. Billups

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Tier II student characteristics and outcomes on a standardized reading assessment. Ninety students who scored in the lowest third on a Virginia standardized reading test were placed into one of three instructional groups: 1) a control group consistent with instruction from previous years, 2) a “teacher selected” treatment group in which teachers determined students’ cognitive processing deficits and administered a chosen intervention, and 3) a “tested” treatment group in which students were administered the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III) and assigned interventions based on the results. …

Accounting For Product Substitution In The Analysis Of Food Taxes Targeting Obesity, Zhen Miao, John C. Beghin, Helen H. Jensen

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

We extend the existing literature on food taxes targeting obesity. We systematically incorporate the implicit substitution between added sugars and solid fats into a comprehensive food demand system and evaluate the effect of taxes on sugars and fats. The approach conditions how food and obesity taxes affect total calorie intake. The proposed methodology accounts for the ability of consumers to substitute leaner low-fat and low-sugar items for rich food items within the same food group. This substitution is integrated into a calibrated demand system in addition to the substitution among food groups, using recent food intake data and existing demand …

Is Obesity Still Increasing Among Pregnant Women? Prepregnancy Obesity Trends In 20 States, 2003–2009, S.C. Fisher, S.Y. Kim, A.J. Sharma, R. Rochat, B. Morrow

United States Public Health Resources

Objective. To estimate trends in prepregnancy obesity prevalence among women who delivered live births in the US during 2003–2009, by state, age, and race–ethnicity.

Methods. We used Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data from2003, 2006, and 2009 to measure prepregnancy obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m²) trends in 20 states. Trend analysis included 90,774 records from 20 US states with data for all 3 study years. We used a chi-square test for trend to determine the significance of actual and standardized trends, standardized to the age and race–ethnicity distribution of the 2003 sample.

Results. Prepregnancy …

Oxidative Damage And Myofiber Degeneration In The Gastrocnemius Of Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease, Dustin J. Weiss, George P. Casale, Panagiotis Koutakis, Aikaterini A. Nella, Stanley A. Swanson, Zhen Zhu, Dimitrios Miserlis, Jason M. Johanning, Iraklis I. Pipinos

United States Public Health Resources

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis that produces blockages in arteries supplying the legs, affects an estimated 27 million people in Europe and North America. Increased production of reactive oxygen species by dysfunctional mitochondria in leg muscles of PAD patients is viewed as a key mechanism of initiation and progression of the disease. Previous studies demonstrated increased oxidative damage in homogenates of biopsy specimens from PAD gastrocnemius compared to controls, but did not address myofiber-specific damage. In this study, we investigated oxidative damage to myofibers as a possible cause of the myopathy of PAD. To achieve this, …

A 7-Plex Microbead-Based Immunoassay For Serotyping Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia Coli, Laurie M. Clotilde, Clay Bernard Iv, Alexandra Salvador, Andrew Lin, Carol R. Lauzon, Mark Muldoon, Yichun Xu, Klaus Lindpaintner, J. Mark Carter

United States Public Health Resources

Serotyping of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) has been contingent upon the availability of antisera. Here we describe a 7-plexmicrobead-based immunoassay to simultaneously serotype seven STECs (i.e., belonging to serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, O145, and O157) by the Luminex xMAP® technology. This technology presents many advantages: Its multiplexed format (up to 100 analytes) saves time, reagents, and test sample, and many regulatory agencies currently utilize this platform for other assays. In this study, a total of seventy-nine STEC strains belonging to the 7 different serogroups of interest were tested. These strains had been previously serotyped and their serogroup …

We Can! Eatplaygrow: Creative Activities For A Healthy Start (Curriculum)

United States Natonal Institutes of Health: Materials

The EatPlayGrow curriculum combines the latest science and research from the NIH with CMOM's creative educational approach to teach kids and their parents.

Weight Bias: Promoting Nurses' Awareness, Beverly A. Kaehler

Theses and Graduate Projects

Obesity is an epidemic in the United States. Health care providers, including nursing staff who specialize in obesity treatment are not immune to the prevalent negative perceptions of obesity in society. Literature has demonstrated how nurses' bias can affect the care they give the obese population. Education can help develop self-awareness and increased self-awareness can develop caring attitudes. An educational program, that used cognitive and affective domains, to increase nurses' sensitivity and caring attinrdes was developed and presented to the nurses on a general surgery nursing unit that specializes in bariatric surgery. The nurses found the education very helpful, but …

Strategies To Enable Young Adults To Be Financially Literate, Stephanie Ruckel

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify factors that parent(s) both intentionally and unintentionally impart on their children that enable young adults to be more financially literate. I administered a three question financial literacy test to 344 students at a private, not-for-profit liberal arts institution in a Midwestern city. Each result, a score of zero to three was compared to each student's socio-demographic characteristics, family characteristics, and parental education techniques to determine potential correlation and causation for financial literacy scores. I determined factors to be studied through relevant literature and personal experience.

Kenyan Immigrant Elders' Attitudes Toward Disabilities, Josephat Makori Nyangau

Theses and Graduate Projects

Kenyan immigrant elders' attitudes toward disabilities can best be explained in two ways: before and after emigrating. The purpose of this research study was to investigate Kenyan immigrant elders' attitude toward disabilities. Using qualitative research methods, three participants were selected to be interviewed one-on-one using specific guiding questions. Five themes emerged from the data: family attitudes toward disabilities, consideration of disabilities as diseases, views on disability categories, causes of disabilities, and the care of individuals with disabilities. Findings from this research study have the potential to enable educators to develop a better cross-cultural perspective when dealing with immigrant elders in …

Quiet Please: Our Patients Are Healing!, Evie Pochardt

Theses and Graduate Projects

Patients are under a significant amount of stress during their hospitalization. Noise is an environmental stressor which is found at increasing levels in hospitals and is a primary annoyance for patients. This environmental pollutant can impair a patient's rest, sleep, and ultimately affect healing. Unwanted noise has been shown to cause sleep disturbance, impair wound healing, trigger hormones affecting the cardiovascular system, immune system, and metabolism as well as perception of pain. Intermittent noises such as those from infusion pumps, monitor alarms, and pagers are the most disturbing. Nightingale believed that unnecessary noise was harmful to the patient's healing; it …

The Impact Of Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder Medication On Academic Achievement, Diana Carter

Theses and Graduate Projects

This purpose of this study was to determine if the use of stimulant medication has an effect on academic success at the elementary school age. Participants in the study included 4th and 5ft grade children who have been diagnosis with Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Groups 1 consisted of three children diagnosed with ADHD and were taking a stimulant medication. Group 2 consisted of three children diagnosed with ADHD and did not take any medication of any kind. Information was gathered from the teachers and students during one-on-one interviews; data was compiled and analyzed to identify common themes. Two themes …

Breast Milk For Preterm Infants: A Nursing Education Program, Lynn Root

Theses and Graduate Projects

The incidence and duration of breast milk feedings for preterm infants, via gavage, bottle and/or breast, is less than that of full-term infants despite scientific-based benefits of breast milk for preterm infants. Maternal-neonatal nurses play a critical role in supporting mothers of preterm infants and promoting breast milk for this population. However, when caring for the mother-preterm dyad, the maternal-neonatal nurse may encounter several barriers in the promotion of breast milk. It has been identified that one of the major barriers to the initiation and maintenance of lactation in mothers of preterm infants is the inconsistent information and lack of …

Community Gardening And The Somali Immigrant Community, Sarah Sanford

Theses and Graduate Projects

Obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are all common diagnoses within the Somali immigrant community in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There is an opportunity for collaboration between graduate nursing sfudents at Augsburg College, which is a small inner-city college, the Health Commons, which is a drop-in health center staffed by nurses, and community members in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood to address improvement in health, food choices, and socialization opporfunities for Somali immigrants. The purpose of this project is to develop relationships with Somali immigrant community members in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, Augsburg College graduate nursing students, University of Minnesota Extension Office dieticians and master gardeners, and …

Communication Metaphor Of Patient Prognosis In The Spirit Of Hope, Dory Hanks

Theses and Graduate Projects

Prognosis for terminally ill patients is intended to serve the purpose of educating patients on the expected clinical outcome of their illness. This information is generally communicated to a patient by their primary physician when options for fufiher treattnent or "cure" are limited. Learning a prognosis may be helpful to some patients, while burdensome to others. A review of the literature reveals many barriers to effective communication of prognosis. The purpose of this project is to develop a metaphor for enhanced communication of prognosis to be used by hospice nurses that incorporates a caring perspective on living with hope during …

Support Of The Informal Kinship Care Family, Emily J. Hansen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Most children cannot imagine living without their parents; for some though, because of social instability, substance abuse, or parental neglect, life apart from their parents is the reality. When these children are cared for by a relative or a close family friend without the involvement of a child welfare agency, the family that is created is known as an informal kinship care family. Because of the fluid nature of these families, little is known about them, leaving this group disadvantaged and neglected by the health care community. After a review of the existing literature, observation of informal kinship care families, …