Digital Commons Network^™

Social Media In The Church, Derick Ray Mckinney

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project examines the effectiveness of social media in the church. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube have the potential to shape the way the world communicates. Many churches have even begun utilizing social media in their ministry efforts. They publicize, pray, encourage, and promote events, all using social media. This paper argues that Bible believing churches can effectively use social media to communicate to their members by announcing upcoming events, sharing audience specific information, and knowing the best time to post on these sites. This project shows a social media strategy implemented into New Heights Church in …

Metal Assisted Nanowire Growth For Silicon Nanowire/Amorphous Silicon Composite Solar Cell, Asmaa Ali Sadoon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Solar cells are photovoltaic devices that convert the energy of light to electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Crystalline silicon-based solar cells are the most dominant solar cells in the market today due to the high efficiency and relatively low cost. However, the cost of such solar cell is still high due to the large amount of material that is consumed in fabricating such a device. Polycrystalline/amorphous thin films and nanomaterial technologies have emerged to reduce the high cost of c-Si based solar cells and increase the efficiency. In this research, we combined these two technologies to propose and fabricate silicon …

Development Of A Novel Device For The Perfusion Driven Decellularization Of Skeletal Muscle, Benjamin Kasukonis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Decellularization of skeletal muscle is a process that removes cellular components of skeletal muscle tissue while leaving behind the intact extracellular matrix (ECM). Skeletal muscle ECM is currently being studied as a biologic scaffold for repairing volumetric muscle loss (VML) because the removal of cells greatly reduces the antigenicity of the donor tissue. Decellularization usually relies on passive diffusion of detergents, surfactants and/or osmotic solutions to strip cells from the ECM. However, passive diffusion alone is usually not sufficient for complete removal of cells from the interior of large pieces of skeletal muscle using detergents, such as sodium dodecyl sulfate …

Recreational Risk Assessment Using Geospatial Analyses On Beaver Lake, Arkansas, Laura Ahrens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accidents and deaths occur regularly on lakes and waterways due to natural phenomena as well as human error and recreation. People use lakes and waterways as sources of recreation, but do not always act responsibly on the water. During summer 2013 and winter 2014, over 100 surveys were administered in Beaver Lake, Arkansas to local and federal agencies regarding their knowledge and perception on accident locations and causes. These surveys were conducted in English and approved by the university after being tested on peers. The surveys included demographic data sex, income, education, as well as Likert-scaled responses. Research was also …

The Nutrient Intake Of Homeless Women Of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Emily D. Popma-Metsaars

Masters Theses

Background Homeless individuals comprise about 1% of the American population with 1/3 of this particular population being women. And despite the potential for hunger, the homeless population has a similar prevalence of overweight/obese as other Americans. The Heartside neighborhood of Grand Rapids is a very low-income area of the city, inhabited by the poor and homeless. The Food Access in Michigan Project is studying the relationship between food insecurity and food environments in Michigan.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of the diet of homeless women in Heartside. This study examined the level of food …

Effects Of Fatty Acid Structure On Endothelial Cell Expression Of Connexin43, Albert E. Sowers Iii

Masters Theses

The epidemic of obesity-related metabolic and cardiovascular diseases is linked to elevated fatty acids (FA). Epidemiological data argue that trans FA contribute to the development and progression of these disease processes. Previous work suggests the similarity in structure between saturated and trans FA may stimulate inflammation through trans FA interactions with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). To evaluate the impact of trans FA on cardiovascular health, the response of endothelial cells to trans FA was evaluated. Specifically, responses to the 18-carbon trans FA elaidic acid (EA) were compared to the same length cis FA oleic acid (OA). Endothelial cells were exposed …

Knowledge, Practice, And Barriers Toward Cervical Cancer Screening In Elmina, Southern Ghana, Nancy Innocentia Ebu, Sylvia C. Mupepi, Mate Peter Siakwa, Carolyn M. Sampselle

Peer Reviewed Articles

Aims: The aims of this study were: 1) to assess the level of knowledge of women about Pap smear tests, 2) to determine the practices of women regarding Pap smear tests, and 3) to determine the barriers to Pap smear tests in Elmina, Ghana.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 392 randomly selected sexually active females aged 10–74 years using structured interview questions. The Institutional Review Board of the University of Cape Coast gave ethical approval for the study and informed consent was obtained from participants. Data were analyzed with SPSS software (v19.0) using frequencies, chi-square test, and exploratory …

Companies' Responses To Negative Online Reviews, Claudia L. Ramos

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Past research has revealed that very little research had examined services recovery strategies in the online context. The study investigated different types of companies’ responses to negative online reviews as a service recovery strategy after a service failure. The current research centers on the relationship between one service recovery strategy and three online customer behavioral reactions: post-purchase cognitive dissonance, post-recovery satisfaction and re-purchase intentions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions and were asked to complete a questionnaire that measured cognitive dissonance, post-recovery satisfaction and re-purchase intention scores, as well as demographic items. Results showed that the apology …

Exploration Of Teacher Resource Center Support Towards Professional Growth Of Primary School Teachers In The Teaching Of Mathematics: A Case Of A Trc In Southern Tanzania., Chrysostom Bonus Matenga

Master of Education

A number of primary school teachers have academic and professional shortcomings which can be traced to their education background before they got into the teaching profession. However, to replace these qualitatively weak teachers with the quality ones is not possible as they are many in numbers and also due to contractual obligations. The only viable existing solution therefore is to up-grade teachers by means of in-service teacher professional development programmes. This study therefore, explored TRC support towards professional growth of primary school teachers in the teaching of mathematics. The study applied a qualitative research approach and a single case study …

An Investigation On The Utilization Of The Public Library By The Community: A Case Study Of A Public Library In Mombasa County, Kenya, Lydia Ethel Odhiambo

Master of Education

Public libraries are known to play a major role in fostering knowledge and information to the community. They have continued to exist in the society for many generations meeting the various needs of the people by availing print and non-print materials. For many generations people have used libraries to gather information and generate new knowledge though in the recent times there has been a paradigm shift due to technological advancements. Public libraries are government run institutions and they purpose to serve the communities in the regions where they are established. The study was conducted a public library in Mombasa county, …

Critical Literacy Development In Early Childhood Education, Blandina Francis Duwe

Master of Education

Developing critical literacy using action research entails reading African stories to children and asking questions to direct children’s thinking. The idea of critical literacy development arises from the need to empower young children to be engaged in discussion about different issues that are directly or indirectly connected to their lives. This study employed the use of qualitative approach and action research design to explore how critical literacy could be developed in young children. Results found indicated that children can engage in exploring complex issues as long as they are exposed to activities that stimulate thinking to development of critical literacy. …

Considering Why We Lost, Tami Davis Biddle

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost: Wandering And Wondering In The Solution-Focused World. An Interview With Frank N. Thomas, Frank Thomas, Michael Durrant

Journal of Solution Focused Practices

Dr. Frank Thomas is Professor of Counseling and Counselor Education at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth (Texas, US). He is also official Archivist for the Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Association. Frank and i have been friends and colleagues for nearly 25 years, co-presented at international conferences and writ­ ten book chapters and professional articles together. I endorsed his latest book, Solution-Focused Supervision: A resource-oriented approach to developing clinical expertise Springer), describing it as "THE most significant Solution-Focused book of the past 10 years." Frank is also an Associate Editor of JSFBT.

Testing A Risky Sex Behavior Intervention Pilot Website For Adolescents, Randall Starling, Don Helme, Jessica A. Nodulman, Angela D. Bryan, David B. Buller, Robert Lewis Donohew, W. Gill Woodall

Communication Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Each year, teenagers account for about one-fifth of all unintended pregnancies in the United States. As such, delivering sexual risk reduction educational materials to teens in a timely fashion is of critical importance. Web-based delivery of these materials shows promise for reaching and persuading teens away from risky sexual and substance abuse behaviors. The purpose of this study was to pilot test a web-based program aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior and related outcomes among adolescents in a high school setting.

METHODS: A beta-test of the website was conducted in three public schools in New Mexico, USA …

Encryption And Incrimination: The Evolving States Of Encrypted Drives, Shannon M. Oltmann

Information Science Faculty Publications

Individuals use encryption to safeguard many valid and legal applications but also to hide illegal activity. Several legal cases have drawn the limits of self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment regarding providing passwords to access illegal information content,such as child pornography. The cases illustrate that certain knowledge of evidence amounts to a compelling need for access and that a subpoena for hard drive contents is more likely to succeed than requiring a witness to provide a password. Since known documents are not legally protected and biometric data can be compelled as evidence, there is no reason that known digital documents, biometric …

Deliberative Democracy And The American Civil Jury, Valerie P. Hans, John Gastil, Traci Feller

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Civil jury service should be a potent form of deliberative democracy, creating greater civic engagement. However, a 2010 seven-state study of jury service and voting records found no overall boost in civic engagement following service on civil juries, whereas jurors who served on criminal cases did show increased civic engagement following their jury service. This article reports a project that augments the civil jury data set with information about jury decision rule, jury size, defendant identity, and case type and examines whether specific types of civil jury service influence postservice voting. Taking into account preservice voting records, jurors who serve …

Biochemical Characterization Of Sbip-470 And Its Role In Sa-Mediated Signaling In Plants, Danda P. Chapagai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Salicylic acid binding protein 2 (SABP2) is known to play a key role in Salicylic acid mediated defense pathway. SBIP-470 is SABP2 interacting protein that might be putatively involved in transfer of lipids. SBIP-470 was cloned without the signal peptide and expressed in E. coli. In vitro lipid binding assay using recombinant SBIP-470 failed to detect lipid binding. In vitro lipid transfer assay showed recombinant SBIP-470 does not transfer phospholipid. Study has shown that SBIP-470 is highly inducible upon infection with viral as well as bacterial pathogens. Induction of SBIP-470 expression upon the TMV infection most likely depends upon …

Combating The Motivational Interference Potential Of Technological Distractions During Academic Tasks: The Role Of Academic Delay Of Gratification, Abraham E. Flanigan

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The presence of technological distractions during homework and study diminishes students’ ability to self-regulate effectively, a phenomenon known as motivational interference. To date, no studies have explored the relationship between college students’ delay of gratification tendencies and motivational interference. Do students with greater delay of gratification tendencies experience less motivational interference from a potential distraction? The present study explored this question by comparing students’ academic delay of gratification tendencies with their experiences of motivational interference. Participants self-reported their delay of gratification tendencies then completed an academic task while confronted with a computer distractor. Afterward, participants self-reported their motivational interference scores. …

Influences On Student Attitudes About U.S. Involvement In Nation-Building, Tobin C. Beck

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

How do college students form opinions about a complex foreign policy issue such as U.S. involvement in nation-building? My study shows that in 2012, students identifying as conservative tended to support nation-building in proportion to their perception of the strength of their own and their parents' conservatism. The association between perception of conservatism and support for nation-building was statistically significant in 2012, although there was no statistically significant overall association between student political ideology and support for U.S. involvement in nation-building. However, a relationship between conservative student perception of ideology and support for nation-building was not detected in 2011 data. …

The Crebh In Hepatic Lipid And Lipoprotein Metabolism: Implication For The Pathogenesis Of Hyperlipidemia And Metainflammation, Miaoyun Zhao

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Hyperlipidemia is reemerging as an important cardiovascular disease risk factor and other metabolic disorders, such as obesity, insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes. Hepatic de novo lipogenesis is controlled by a family of the b-zip transcription factors, the sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs), which targets downstream genes involved in free fatty acids, triglycerides and cholesterol synthesis. Regulation of SREBPs signaling is controlled by a cluster of the ER membrane-bound proteins, the insulin induced gene-1(Insig-1) and gene-2 (Insig-2) and the SCAP protein. The cAMP responsive element binding protein H (CREBH) is a recently identified member of this family. CREBH is selectively and …

Interpretative Ingredients: Formulating Art And Natural History In Early Modern Brazil, Amy Buono

Art Faculty Articles and Research

"In this article I look at two early modern texts that pertain to the natural history of Brazil and its usage for medicinal purposes. These texts present an informative contrast in terms of information density and organization, raising important methodological considerations about the ways that inventories and catalogues become sources for colonial scholarship in general and art history in particular."

“Danger Is My Business”: The Right To Manufacture Unsafe Products, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

While no one would dispute that safety is a desirable objective, it may not always be an absolute priority. Rather, in some cases, other societal interests such as personal autonomy, consumer choice, product cost, and performance may trump legitimate safety goals. This is reflected in some of the doctrines and defenses that have evolved to protect the producers of unsafe products against tort liability. Some of these doctrines, such as those determining liability for the producers of optional safety equipment, inherently dangerous products, products with obvious hazards, and prescription drugs and medical devices, are part of the law of products …

The Impact Of The Gradual Release Of Responsibility On Graduate Teacher Education Candidates’ Self-Efficacy With Ipads, Wendy L. Loewenstein

Student Work

Keeping up with technological innovations is a challenge for educational intuitions as they strive to prepare students to be competitive in a future workforce. This is an overwhelming task for educational leaders that extends beyond which technological device to purchase. This study examines the barriers to iPad integration in education and how the gradual release of responsibility method of instruction can be used to increase participants’ self-efficacy with iPads. The participants (N = 41) were teacher education graduate candidates enrolled in a Children’s Literature course in which they were provided access to iPads. Survey results revealed that candidates’ efficacy prior …

Hamilton Harty: Musical Polymath, By Jeremy Dibble (Review), Julian Onderdonk

Music Theory, History & Composition Faculty Publications & Performances

No abstract provided.

Media Sensationalism And Its Implications On The Public Understanding Of Science, Christopher Barsoum

HIM 1990-2015

Myths, misinformation, and sensationalism. These are common enemies that directly inhibit the public understanding of science. In particular, the media is often responsible for mishandling or otherwise misrepresenting scientific information, historically and presently speaking. Many sources can combat the public understanding of science through pseudoscientific means. This includes but is not limited to religion, the media, politics, or just simple hearsay. For example, Young Earth creationism is deeply rooted in Christian theology, but the beliefs hold no scientific basis. Yet, almost half of Americans still believe in Young Earth creationism. Another such example is anti-vaccination campaigns due to fears of …

Text Complexity And Close Reading: Teachers' Perceptions Of The Language Arts Florida Standards And Curriculum Implementation, Clare Diaz-Davila

HIM 1990-2015

The Florida Department of Education revised the Common Core State Standards into what are now known as the Florida Standards in February 2014, approving 99 revisions to the original standards that were accepted in 2010 (Dunkelberger, 2014). The purpose of this research was to identify current teachers# attitudes towards the new Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS), specifically regarding teachers# perceptions of text complexity and close reading as enacted in the reading curriculum. Additionally, this study will attempt to identify how teachers# attitudes impact their implementation of the new standards. This research used a self-administered survey to collect the teacher perceptions …

Predicting Science Literacy And Science Appreciation, Robert Hellmuth

HIM 1990-2015

Research has shown that the benefits of having a populace literate in science are great. Even if citizens are not literate in basic science, it is important that citizens still appreciate science and those with expertise in the field for many reasons. Recent research suggests that the United States (U.S.) has lower levels of science literacy than it should. Evidence may also suggest that many U.S. citizens are not appreciative of science. Overall, little research has been conducted on what may predict science literacy and science appreciation which is the aim of this research. Specifically, I have examined socio-personal variables, …

Exploring A Relationship Between Social Anxiety Disorder And Bilingualism, Nicholas James

HIM 1990-2015

This study investigated the possible relationship between bilingualism and social anxiety disorder. Past research has indicated developmental delays in language as increasing risk for other psychological difficulties. With the pressure to learn two languages, possibly in the drastically different environments of home, school, and/or work, individuals may be vulnerable to becoming socially anxious in conjunction with language use. This study examined a series of factors surrounding linguistic development and reports of social anxiety. Participants were divided into 4 groups: Socially Anxious (SA; n = 43) monolinguals, Non-Socially Anxious (Non-SA; n = 81) monolinguals, SA bilinguals (n = 30), and Non-SA …

Using The Yeast Two-Hybrid System To Determine The Function Of Parkin E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, Vanessa Nguyen

HIM 1990-2015

Parkin is a cytosolic E3 ubiquitin ligase that is recruited to the mitochondria during cellular stress and has been suggested to be involved in a variety of biological processes such as mitophagy. The recruitment of Parkin (PARK2) to the mitochondria is dependent upon the kinase activity and the accumulation of PINK1 on damaged mitochondria. Mutations in either PINK1 or Parkin genes disrupt this protective pathway and lead to the accumulation of damaged mitochondria. From a clinical standpoint, mutations in the PARK2 gene have been associated with the progression and onset of autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism. Without the presence of a …

Madama Butterfly: The Mythology; Or How Imperialism And The Patriarchy Crushed Butterfly's Wings, Adriana Nieves

HIM 1990-2015

As a popular historic work with constant and worldwide performances, the sexist and racist narratives disseminated by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly causes harmful social and political ramifications. Many scholars point to this opera specifically when discussing the fetishization of Asian females, and mention the title character as the quintessential example of damaging stereotypes. Thus, I conduct a postcolonial and feminist reading of Madama Butterfly, through analysis of the opera's libretto, the libretto sources, and the opera's score. I unravel the Orientalist assumptions that make up the foundation of the Butterfly narrative, and trace them as they make their way …