Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2014

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 1771 - 1800 of 30861

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

The Voice Of Low-Income Adolescent Mothers On Infant Feeding, Mildred A. Horodynski, Kristen J. Mills Dec 2014

The Voice Of Low-Income Adolescent Mothers On Infant Feeding, Mildred A. Horodynski, Kristen J. Mills

Journal of Extension

Adolescent mothers' feeding practices impact infant weight gain. Infant obesity, especially in low-income families, is rapidly increasing. The aim of the exploratory study reported here was to identify factors affecting low-income African American and non-Hispanic White adolescent mothers' infant feeding practices and useful learning modalities. Two focus groups were conducted by a trained facilitator using a semi-structured topic guide. Three themes emerged: (1) feeding decisions related to introduction of solid foods; (2) feeding information/advice provided by others; and (3) useful learning strategies. These themes can be used by Extension professionals in designing nutrition education programs for adolescent mothers.

Go to article

Bio-Security Proficiencies Project For Beginning Producers In 4-H, Martin H. Smith, Cheryl L. Meehan, John A. Borba Dec 2014

Bio-Security Proficiencies Project For Beginning Producers In 4-H, Martin H. Smith, Cheryl L. Meehan, John A. Borba

Journal of Extension

Improving bio-security practices among 4-H members who raise and show project animals is important. Bio-security measures can reduce the risk of disease spread and mitigate potential health and economic risks of disease outbreaks involving animal and zoonotic pathogens. Survey data provided statistical evidence that the Bio-Security Proficiencies Project for Beginning Producers in 4-H advanced youth participants' knowledge and skills related to bio-security and financial risk management. Furthermore, the project provided youth with opportunities to apply their understanding and abilities to authentic settings and extend their learning to their communities.

Go to article

Using Survey Responses To Determine The Value-Added Features Of A Webinar Portal System For Adoption By Natural Resource Professionals, Laurie Gharis, Robert E. Bardon, William Hubbard, Eric Taylor, Grizel Gonzalez-Jeuck Dec 2014

Using Survey Responses To Determine The Value-Added Features Of A Webinar Portal System For Adoption By Natural Resource Professionals, Laurie Gharis, Robert E. Bardon, William Hubbard, Eric Taylor, Grizel Gonzalez-Jeuck

Journal of Extension

This article presents the findings of a recent survey of natural resource webinar providers. Respondents were asked a range of questions regarding their webinar services. Findings showed that respondents most commonly marketed their webinars through email or websites and targeted an audience of professionals. Respondents noted that the greatest challenge in offering webinars was the time commitment, whereas access to high-quality speakers added the most value to a webinar portal. Although the majority of responding webinar providers do not currently charge for their webinars, over one third noted that they would be willing to pay a fee per participant.

Go to article

Risk And Emergency Communications: How To Be Heard When The Message Counts Most, Heather N. Kolich Dec 2014

Risk And Emergency Communications: How To Be Heard When The Message Counts Most, Heather N. Kolich

Journal of Extension

To cope with disasters and emergencies, agricultural producers need specific information addressing livestock care, disease containment, secure storage of volatile chemicals, and other unique concerns. Effective risk and emergency communications result from a time- and resource-intensive process that begins well before emergencies occur. To influence our agricultural clients to engage in risk-mitigation and emergency-preparedness behaviors, Extension agents must build trust with the community, provide information through a variety of channels, and convey an image of professional emergency response competency.

Go to article

4-H And Aquatic Robotics, Brian Mcneill, Patrick Jirik, Bradley Rugg Dec 2014

4-H And Aquatic Robotics, Brian Mcneill, Patrick Jirik, Bradley Rugg

Journal of Extension

4-H is positioned to engage youth in the areas of environment and engineering. This article shares how Minnesota is engaging youth and adults to identify and solve community issues with the use of an aquatic remotely operated vehicle (ROV). After creating a new program design, the team has attracted new skilled volunteers and new youth to create youth-adult partnerships to take action in the community.

Go to article

Is Our Service In Vain? Relevant Roles Of An Extension Service As Perceived By County-Level Employees, Thelma C. Barnes Dec 2014

Is Our Service In Vain? Relevant Roles Of An Extension Service As Perceived By County-Level Employees, Thelma C. Barnes

Journal of Extension

Agriculture continues to be the primary focus of most Extension organizations, although farming operations decreased significantly between 1950 and 1997. Extension organizations have been encouraged to redirect program focuses to be inclusive of nontraditional audiences and to remain vital. These organizations should identify and adopt new roles to avoid an impending demise. This article summarizes research conducted to identify relevant organizational roles as perceived by county-level Extension employees working for an Extension service in the Southeastern United States. These roles can be used as a foundation for planning and implementing programs that are conducive to the needs of today's clientele.

Go to article

Delivering Extension To The Living Room Using Internet Tv, Grant “Treye” G. Rice Iii Dec 2014

Delivering Extension To The Living Room Using Internet Tv, Grant “Treye” G. Rice Iii

Journal of Extension

Television is a widely adopted source for viewing educational information. Unfortunately, producing a television show on network television can be costly and time consuming. Internet TV offers Extension video content producers the opportunity to create a niche topic channel quickly and at low cost. Internet TV offers viewers a low-cost and comfortable way to watch educational Extension programming on their home television. As of March 2014, there have been a total of 72,063 video views on the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service's sub-channel within the AgSmart Roku Channel.

Go to article

Extension Must Adopt Mobile-Friendly Websites, J Matthew Jones, David Doll, Owen Taylor Dec 2014

Extension Must Adopt Mobile-Friendly Websites, J Matthew Jones, David Doll, Owen Taylor

Journal of Extension

Mobile phones and tablets have become important tools for accessing information on the Web. We have found visitors to The Almond Doctor Extension blog and AgFax.com are increasingly using smart phones and tablets rather than desktop computers. However, only 40% of Extension websites have mobile-friendly layouts, and websites that are frustrating to use on mobile devices may be a deterrent to Web traffic and use of services. Therefore, it is critical for Extension websites to develop mobile-friendly designs to increase Extension's presence on the Internet and maintain its relevance to current and future clientele.

Go to article

The Case For Ehearsay, Jeffrey Bellin Dec 2014

The Case For Ehearsay, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Blogs, Books, & Breadcrumbs: A Case Study Of Transmedial Fairy Tales, Kristy Gilbert Stewart Dec 2014

Blogs, Books, & Breadcrumbs: A Case Study Of Transmedial Fairy Tales, Kristy Gilbert Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding transmedial storytelling is particularly important to fairy-tale studies. Monomedial views have long been unable to account for all of fairy tale tradition. Although the form originated in oral culture, it has long been a liminal, hybrid form that retains aspects of orality even while its principal mode of transference for some time has been something other than face-to-face communication. Transformations and adaptations across different media and contexts has resulted in a system of fairy-tale tradition that is massively intertextual and transmedial. No one medium can claim primary control over the fairy-tale tradition. Throughout time, oral tellings have inspired literary …

Go to article

A Lesson In Rhetoric: Finding God Through Language In “Batter My Heart”, Marc Daniel Giullian Dec 2014

A Lesson In Rhetoric: Finding God Through Language In “Batter My Heart”, Marc Daniel Giullian

Theses and Dissertations

A reexamination of John Donne's Holy Sonnet “Batter my heart,” especially one looking at the sonnet's relationship to Early Modern rhetoric, is long overdue. In this paper, I hope to show that a focus on Donne's relationship to Early Modern rhetoric yields several useful new insights. I argue specifically that Donne was probably exposed to Non-Ramist rhetorical methods and theory at many points in his education, from his childhood to his college years to his years at the Inns of Court. Furthermore, Non-Ramist rhetoric has moral implications, suggesting that aspects of an author's feelings, character, and desires can be analyzed …

Go to article

Microvascular Function In Metabolically Healthy Groups Differing In Bmi And Waist Circumference, Nathan R. Earl Dec 2014

Microvascular Function In Metabolically Healthy Groups Differing In Bmi And Waist Circumference, Nathan R. Earl

Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND: Microvascular dysfunction (MD: impaired performance of blood flow, tissue perfusion, blood pressure, etc.) is one of the earliest stages in the progression of various chronic diseases. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine if a difference in microvascular function existed between two metabolically healthy groups that differed in BMI and waist circumference. DESIGN: This study employed a causal comparative design, with two groups: I) normal weight (n =14, BMI 28 kg/m2). METHODS: Microvascular function was assessed by measuring skin blood flow (SkBF) using laser Doppler flowmetry during postocclusive reactive hyperemia (PORH). The area under the SkBF time …

Go to article

Lateral Resistance Of Piles Near Vertical Mse Abutment Walls, Cody Hatch Dec 2014

Lateral Resistance Of Piles Near Vertical Mse Abutment Walls, Cody Hatch

Theses and Dissertations

A full scale MSE wall was constructed and piles were driven at various distances behind the wall. Lateral load testing was conducted and the performance of the pile, wall, and reinforcement were measured. The piles were 12.75 inch pipe piles, and the wall was reinforced with welded wire grid reinforcement. The objective of the testing was to characterize the relationship between the lateral pile resistance and the distance of the pile behind the back face of the MSE wall. Load-displacement curves are presented for the piles located behind the wall at 66 inches (5.3 diameters), 55 inches (4.3 diameters), 41 …

Go to article

A Variable-Stiffness Compliant Mechanism For Stiffness-Controlled Haptic Interfaces, Jeffrey C. Hawks Dec 2014

A Variable-Stiffness Compliant Mechanism For Stiffness-Controlled Haptic Interfaces, Jeffrey C. Hawks

Theses and Dissertations

In this research a variable-stiffness compliant mechanism was developed to generate variable force-displacement profiles at the mechanisms coupler point. The mechanism is based on a compliant Roberts straight-line mechanism, and the stiffness is varied by changing the effective length of the compliant links with an actuated slider. The variable-stiffness mechanism was used in a one-degree-of-freedom haptic interface to demonstrate the effectiveness of varying the stiffness of a compliant mechanism. Unlike traditional haptic interfaces, in which the force is controlled using motors and rigid links, the haptic interface developed in this work displays haptic stiffness via the variable-stiffness compliant mechanism. The …

Go to article

Holding Hands And Drying Tears: Effectiveness Of Student Employees In Promoting A Successful Lms Implementation, Cary Ann Johnson Dec 2014

Holding Hands And Drying Tears: Effectiveness Of Student Employees In Promoting A Successful Lms Implementation, Cary Ann Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Two-thirds of higher education institutions are either currently involved in the process of or will soon begin to review their learning management system strategy (Green, 2012). Transitioning from one LMS to another is an endeavor that utilizes the entire institution and requires a great deal of strategic planning and cooperation. The literature described the involvement of instructional designers and technology support as key players in this transition process over a period of parallel time. When BYU transitioned from Blackboard to Learning Suite, a team of student employees managed the majority of the change. While there was very little time when …

Go to article

Analysis, Validation, And Improvement Of High-Resolution Wind Estimates From The Advanced Scatterometer (Ascat), Jeffrey Richard Blodgett Dec 2014

Analysis, Validation, And Improvement Of High-Resolution Wind Estimates From The Advanced Scatterometer (Ascat), Jeffrey Richard Blodgett

Theses and Dissertations

The standard L2B ocean wind product from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) is retrieved as a 25 km product on a 12.5 km grid. Ultra-high resolution (UHR) processing allows ASCAT wind retrieval on a high-resolution 1.25 km grid. Ideally, such a high-resolution sample grid provides wind information down to a 2.5 km scale, allowing better analysis of winds with high spatial variability such as those in near-coastal regions and storms. Though the wind field is sampled on a finer grid, the actual data resolution needs to be validated. This thesis provides an analysis and validation of ASCAT UHR wind estimates in …

Go to article

Magnetic Holding Of Synthetic Quartz For Precision Grinding, Saudin Basic Dec 2014

Magnetic Holding Of Synthetic Quartz For Precision Grinding, Saudin Basic

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research work is to investigate the practicality of magnetic workholding of non-magnetic synthetic quartz during high-speed grinding. This research work is sponsored by Quartzdyne and will be used as the starting point to applying single-piece rounding of its quartz. Hypotheses were created that would permit the authors to conclude that magnets are in fact worthwhile workholders for non-magnetic materials. Designs of Experiments were used to reject or fail to reject the null hypotheses. Experiments were carried out using a custom HAAS lathe, modified into a grinding center with an NSK live spindle, and neodymium-iron-boron magnets used …

Go to article

Studies Of Phou In Escherichia Coli: Metal Binding, Dimerization,Protein/Protein Interactions, And A Signaling Complex Model, Stewart G. Gardner Dec 2014

Studies Of Phou In Escherichia Coli: Metal Binding, Dimerization,Protein/Protein Interactions, And A Signaling Complex Model, Stewart G. Gardner

Theses and Dissertations

Phosphate is an essential nutrient for all forms of life. Escherichia coli has a PhoR/PhoB two component regulatory system that controls the expression of various genes whose products allow the cell to thrive in low phosphate environments. The signaling mechanism of the PhoR/PhoB system has been studied and the phosphorylation cascade that controls gene expression is well understood. What is still unknown is how PhoR senses the phosphate level of the environment. The PstS, PstC, PstA, PstB, and PhoU proteins play a role in this signal sensing. This work confirms the hypothesis that the PstSCAB complex senses the environmental phosphate …

Go to article

A Randomized Controlled Trial To Study The Effects Of Breakfast On Energy Intake, Physical Activity, And Body Fat In Women, Gabrielle Marie Lecheminant Dec 2014

A Randomized Controlled Trial To Study The Effects Of Breakfast On Energy Intake, Physical Activity, And Body Fat In Women, Gabrielle Marie Lecheminant

Theses and Dissertations

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of eating breakfast on energy intake, physical activity, body weight, and body fat in women who were nonhabitual breakfast eaters over a one-month period. METHODS: We tested 49 premenopausal, nonhabitual breakfast-eating women to compare the effects of eating breakfast versus not eating breakfast. Each participant was randomized to one of two conditions: breakfast or no breakfast. Breakfast eaters were required to eat within an hour and a half of awakening and had to be finished eating their breakfast meal by 8:30 A.M. Non-breakfast eaters were defined as not consuming …

Go to article

The Effectiveness Of Computer-Enhanced Shadowing And Tracking Pronunciation Exercises For Intermediate Level Foreign Language Learners, Veronique Willardson Dec 2014

The Effectiveness Of Computer-Enhanced Shadowing And Tracking Pronunciation Exercises For Intermediate Level Foreign Language Learners, Veronique Willardson

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effectiveness of on-line video-assisted pronunciation exercises in beginning level classes of foreign-language learning. A review of the current literature on pronunciation is presented, followed by a description of a study used to test the effectiveness of computer-based exercises in improving pronunciation. The participants were a group of high school students that were members of a fourth year French class. As part of their regular class time, the students participated in two types of exercises, in-class group work and computer-lab self-directed exercises, in which the students watched videos with subtitles while repeating what they heard. Satisfaction with …

Go to article

Cost Effectiveness Of Treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder In Adolescence: A Comparison By Provider Type And Therapy Modality, Kathryn Evelyn Reynolds Dec 2014

Cost Effectiveness Of Treating Generalized Anxiety Disorder In Adolescence: A Comparison By Provider Type And Therapy Modality, Kathryn Evelyn Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is frequently found in primary care settings and is highly prevalent among adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine the cost effectiveness by provider type and therapy modality in treating adolescents (ages 13-17) with a GAD diagnosis (DSM-IV 300.02). A national insurance company in the United States provided outpatient and unidentifiable data for adolescent GAD cases (n = 2,932). These cases were used to analyze the cost effectiveness, total cost, treatment length, dropout, and readmission rates for the treatment of adolescents with GAD. Descriptive statistics signify that the mean cost of treatment for GAD …

Go to article

B1 Mapping For Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Daniel Joseph Park Dec 2014

B1 Mapping For Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Daniel Joseph Park

Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-ionizing form of medical imaging which has practical uses in diagnosing, characterizing, and studying diseases in vivo. Current clinical practice utilizes a highly trained radiologist to view MR images and qualitatively diagnose, characterize, or study a disease. There is no easy way to compare qualitative data. That is why developing quantitative measures in MRI show promise. Quantitative measures of disease can be compared across a population, MRI sites, and over time. Osteoarthritis is one disease where those who have it may benefit from the development of quantitative MRI measures. Those benefits may include earlier …

Go to article

Variation In Resource Utilization And Cost Of Reproduction For Two Burying Beetle Species, Peter J. Meyers Dec 2014

Variation In Resource Utilization And Cost Of Reproduction For Two Burying Beetle Species, Peter J. Meyers

Theses and Dissertations

The cost of reproduction hypothesis suggests that allocation into current reproduction constrains future reproduction. How organisms accrue reproductive costs may differ between species and with varying levels of resource quality. Burying beetles are model organisms for testing for the cost of reproduction because of their unique natural history; beetles utilize small vertebrate carcasses for reproduction and they and their offspring feed exclusively on these discrete resources. Burying beetles also can utilize a large range of carcass sizes for reproduction. We tested for the cost of reproduction in two species of burying beetles, Nicrophorus marginatus and Nicrophorus guttula found in Central …

Go to article

Alcohol Modulation Of Dopamine Release, Nathan Dan Schilaty Dec 2014

Alcohol Modulation Of Dopamine Release, Nathan Dan Schilaty

Theses and Dissertations

The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system projects from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to structures associated with the limbic system, primarily the nucleus accumbens (NAc). This system has been implicated in the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse. Many drugs of abuse act in the VTA, the NAc, or both. Dopamine neurons in the VTA that project to the NAc, and the GABA neurons that inhibit DA neurons locally in the VTA or project to the NAc, play an important role in mediating addiction to various drugs of abuse, in particular alcohol. There is a growing body of evidence of co-dependence …

Go to article

Holographic-Based Leaky Wave Antennas And Phonon-Enhanced Waveguides For Infrared Applications, Franklin Muriuki Manene Dec 2014

Holographic-Based Leaky Wave Antennas And Phonon-Enhanced Waveguides For Infrared Applications, Franklin Muriuki Manene

Theses and Dissertations

This work contributes to critical requirements for antenna-coupled detection applications: 1) large capture cross section with design control of angular response and 2) long propagation lengths of complex signals. Antenna-coupled detectors for infrared applications provide appreciable capture cross sections while delivering signals to sub-wavelength-sized detectors. In this work, leaky-wave antennas are considered for the first time in the infrared spectrum. Design characterization of angular radiation patterns as well as polarization is presented. While leaky-wave antennas hold great promise for enhancing capture cross section, thus narrowing the field of view of the detector, there is a parallel need to preserve coherent …

Go to article

Nutrition Knowledge Of High School Senior Students In Northwest Arkansas, Grace Heymsfield Dec 2014

Nutrition Knowledge Of High School Senior Students In Northwest Arkansas, Grace Heymsfield

General Human Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Numerous changes in school environment regarding nutrition have been implemented in Arkansas, but there is no means in place of testing nutrition curriculum effectiveness in terms of nutrition knowledge of students. High school senior students completed a validated nutrition knowledge survey regarding the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010. Further testing with a larger sample size is recommended.

Go to article

Simulated Microgravity Induces Epigenetic Changes, Nkem Osarume Azu B.S Dec 2014

Simulated Microgravity Induces Epigenetic Changes, Nkem Osarume Azu B.S

Theses (Pre-2016)

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism involved in gene expression regulation. Astronauts are constantly being exposed to different stress factors, which include radiation, microgravity and confinement. These environmental stressors are understood to increase bone loss, decrease muscle mass and reduce immune function. Our objective is to investigate the hypothesis that modeled microgravity induces gene expression through epigenetic changes. Abnormal epigenetic events have been reported in human diseases like cancers and immunological disorders. The purpose of this study was to determine whether modeled microgravity induces these epigenetic changes by examining the expression of the proteins known to regulate gene expression specifically …

Go to article

Television Program Preferences Among Nigerian Residents In Houston Texas., Akeem Abimbola Dec 2014

Television Program Preferences Among Nigerian Residents In Houston Texas., Akeem Abimbola

Theses (Pre-2016)

The primary purpose of this study was three fold: to examine television program preferences of Nigerians living in Houston, Texas; to examine their perceptions towards the violence and sex appearing in American TV programs; and also to determine whether there are cultural differences impacting these Nigerians attitudes towards such programs. A total of 200 Nigerians adults living in Houston, Texas, participated in this survey using the convenience sampling technique. Roughly 56 percent of the participants were . females and 44 percent were males. Nearly half of the participants were lbo, 49 percent were Yoruba, and the rest were Hausa. The …

Go to article

The Interplay Of Gender Role Orientation And Type-D Personality As Predictors Of Body Dissatisfaction In Undergraduate Women, Andrew Robbins Dec 2014

The Interplay Of Gender Role Orientation And Type-D Personality As Predictors Of Body Dissatisfaction In Undergraduate Women, Andrew Robbins

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The importance of body image and its effects on psychological functioning and health behaviours has received much interest in recent decades; however its precursors are still unclear. The purpose of the present research was to focus attention on the associations between gender role orientation (agency-communion), Type-D personality and body image. Undergraduate women aged between 18 and 47 from Plymouth University School of Psychology (N = 120, n = 64 for non Type-D group, n = 56 for Type-D group) completed measures of gender role orientation (PAQ), Type-D personality classification (DS-14) and attitudes towards body image (MBRSQ). Results indicate that Type-D …

Go to article

Bathing Water Quality: Public Perception And Awareness, Jeffrey Shepherd Dec 2014

Bathing Water Quality: Public Perception And Awareness, Jeffrey Shepherd

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The public awareness of, and response to, information regarding bathing water quality was evaluated along the beaches of Poole, Dorset, during the peak summer months in 2013. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the form of an informal interview with participants at the beach. 61% of the sample rated coastal pollution of high importance to them and the participants correctly identified the negative impact that sewage, agriculture, litter and fuel have on bathing water quality. Bathing water quality was the second most important factor influencing the public decision to visit a particular beach. Furthermore there was statistically significant evidence to …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last