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2015

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How Partnered Gay Men Do Relationships: Negotiating The Tensions Between Hetero- And Homonormativity, Ashley Ann Walsdorf Jan 2015

How Partnered Gay Men Do Relationships: Negotiating The Tensions Between Hetero- And Homonormativity, Ashley Ann Walsdorf

Human Development and Family Science

This study explored partnered gay men’s experiences of negotiating heteronormativity and homonormativity in their relationships. Twenty-six men involved in a current or past, gay intimate partner relationships participated in individual or focus group interviews. Findings suggest that gay men are constantly negotiating comparisons to and expectations of heteronormative standards, while also encountering expectations within the gay community and queering their relationships. Emergent themes embodied participants’ experiences of navigating heteronormative stereotypes, pursuing legitimacy through language and/or ceremony, constructing their own relationship ideals and rituals, and participants’ acknowledgement that the personal is political. Relationship therapists are encouraged to explore their heteronormative assumptions …

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Nurturing Parenting Program: A Study Of Engagement And Activities During The Parent And Child Activity Time, Melissa Anne Dau Jan 2015

Nurturing Parenting Program: A Study Of Engagement And Activities During The Parent And Child Activity Time, Melissa Anne Dau

Human Development and Family Science

The Nurturing Parent Program (NPP) aims to build protective factors in families such as: nurturing, attachment, social connections, parental resilience and knowledge of child development. This qualitative study looked specifically at the activities and engagement between parents and children during the parent and child activity time. First, 13 trained children’s facilitators of the NPP from 10 different sites across North Dakota participated in a focus group during the annual statewide conference. Next, adult NPP participants (n = 11) were interviewed on NPP and parent-child activity time. Most facilitators felt the curriculum was outdated and could list activities that produced high …

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Graduate Counseling Students' Interest In Gerocounseling A Quantitative Study, Twyla Ann Nielsen Jan 2015

Graduate Counseling Students' Interest In Gerocounseling A Quantitative Study, Twyla Ann Nielsen

Human Development and Family Science

A growing population of older persons in the United States will require not only additional counselors but counselors who are trained to work with an aging adult population. Recent trends indicate that counselor education programs have moved away from gerocounseling as an academic track as well as eliminating units on aging from courses currently offered to counselors-in-training. Some graduate counselor education programs offer individual courses in aspects of gerontological counseling. If the counseling profession is to meet the rapidly increasing needs of a growing older population, more attention must be given to training counselors to meet the needs of this …

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Caregiver Stress : First Person Accounts Of The Perception And Utilization Of Support Services, Debra Ann Shapiro Jan 2015

Caregiver Stress : First Person Accounts Of The Perception And Utilization Of Support Services, Debra Ann Shapiro

Human Development and Family Science

The majority of care for older adults is provided in the home. Many studies show that the daily demands placed on informal care providers produce high degrees of strain and stress. In an effort to reduce the over-arching impact care provider burnout can have on the entire family system, a number of community organizations offer resources to informal caregivers in the form of support groups, respite care and skills-training. More research is needed regarding the extent to which informal caregivers utilize these services. The objective of this paper is to assimilate more information about how care providers learn about available …

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Identification Of A Critical Gene In The Dihydroergot Alkaloid Pathway, Yulia Bilovol Jan 2015

Identification Of A Critical Gene In The Dihydroergot Alkaloid Pathway, Yulia Bilovol

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ergot alkaloids, bioactive compounds produced by some species of fungi, have had significant impacts on agriculture and medicine. Claviceps purpurea and Epichloe spp. are ergot alkaloid producers associated with agricultural commodities and negatively affect humans and grazing animals, respectively. Another ergot alkaloid-producing fungus called Aspergillus fumigatus is ubiquitous in the environment; infections arising after inhaling the spores may kill immunocompromised persons. Ergot alkaloids and their derivatives are utilized by the pharmaceutical industry for the development of drugs. Some of these drugs are derived from lysergic acid, whereas others are derived from dihydrolysergic acid. Lysergic acid derivatives have vasoconstrictive properties and …

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Parishioner Labor In The Late Medieval Parish Of Ashburton, Lacey Bonar Jan 2015

Parishioner Labor In The Late Medieval Parish Of Ashburton, Lacey Bonar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Parishioners in the late medieval parish of Ashburton used physical labor to create, maintain, and repair their parish church itself and its contents. Of the fourteen men featured in this study some worked on the church's seating, book collection, and organs while others labored on two extensive projects concerning the repair of the church's spire and the construction of the roodloft. The parish's extensive set of churchwardens' accounts provides record of the labor that these men completed and their compensation, allowing for a detailed analysis of their contributions. With most parish studies focusing on parishioner participation through fundraising efforts, monetary …

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Variable Data Collection Rate System For A Wildlife Behavior Monitor, Sheldon Blackshire Jan 2015

Variable Data Collection Rate System For A Wildlife Behavior Monitor, Sheldon Blackshire

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Behavior monitors typically collect data, and consequently spend energy, at fixed intervals. For devices that utilize energy harvesting, a fixed data collection interval may result in inefficient battery usage due to variability in available solar radiation. Work was performed for a system capable of adjusting a data collection rate, proportional to changes in battery charge, such that data obtained was maximized without sacrificing battery energy sustainability. Energy consumption, of an actual behavior monitor, was modeled to aid in design and evaluation of a changeable data collection rate system. Model validation was performed by comparing simulated to empirical data for battery …

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Emotion Socialization And Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role Of Disability Severity And Parental Attributions In Predicting Parents' Emotional Responses, Hilary R. Bougher Jan 2015

Emotion Socialization And Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role Of Disability Severity And Parental Attributions In Predicting Parents' Emotional Responses, Hilary R. Bougher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The importance of parents in emotion socialization is highly established among children who are typically developing (Sheffield Morris, Silk, Steinberg, Myers, & Robinson, 2007). Child characteristics, such as child temperament and emotional reactivity, have been found to influence parenting (Bell & Chapman, 1986; Belsky, 1984). However, little is known about the emotion socialization practices of parents of children with special needs and how disability severity may influence these practices. Participants included 68 parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (ages 3-11). Parents reported on three dimensions, using three questionnaires: disability severity via the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 2nd edition …

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A Qualitative Study Of Medical Student Perceptions Of The West Virginia University School Of Medicine's Competency-Based Electronic Portfolio System's Design And Implementation, Carrie A. Calloway Jan 2015

A Qualitative Study Of Medical Student Perceptions Of The West Virginia University School Of Medicine's Competency-Based Electronic Portfolio System's Design And Implementation, Carrie A. Calloway

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The West Virginia University School of Medicine (WVU SoM) created and implemented medical student electronic portfolios in the 2012-2013 academic year as a means to stimulate self-reflection and life-long learning, document competency attainment using both formative and summative assessments of performance and facilitate career counseling and advising. Though existing research explores the benefits and challenges of electronic portfolios in medical education, few studies investigate them from the medical student perspective. This phenomenological qualitative research study examined medical student perceptions---through their stories of the electronic portfolio system as a tool for documenting and reflecting on performance---in order to better understand how …

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Path Planning And Control Of An Autonomous Quadrotor Testbed In A Cluttered Environment, Trevor W. Caplinger Jan 2015

Path Planning And Control Of An Autonomous Quadrotor Testbed In A Cluttered Environment, Trevor W. Caplinger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A classical problem for robotic navigation is how to efficiently navigate from one point to another and what to do if obstacles are encountered along the way. Many map based path planning algorithms attempt to solve this problem, all with varying levels of optimality and complexity. This work shows a review of selected algorithms, and two of these are selected for simulation and testing using a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a dynamic indoor environment which requires replanning capabilities. The Dynamic A* algorithm, or simply D*, and the Probabilistic Roadmap method (PRM) are used in a scenario designed to …

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The Impact Of Model-Lead-Test Coaching On Parents' Implementation Of Reinforcement, Prompting, And Fading With Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Liyu Chen Jan 2015

The Impact Of Model-Lead-Test Coaching On Parents' Implementation Of Reinforcement, Prompting, And Fading With Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Liyu Chen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Parents play an essential role in furthering the development of their children with special needs. They are being trained to be co-therapists for their own children. The goal is to improve the ways they interact with their children in order to create improvements in their children's everyday functioning. If the proper teaching strategies are consistently applied, a learner can significantly improve his/her performance of various life skills, including communication, self-care, social skills, along with other skill sets. Because adults' learning processes differ substantially from children's, it will be critical to utilize the "coaching" method that employs a Model-Lead-Test (MLT) approach …

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A Parallel Programmer For Non-Volatile Analog Memory Arrays, Spencer L. Clites Jan 2015

A Parallel Programmer For Non-Volatile Analog Memory Arrays, Spencer L. Clites

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Since their introduction in 1967, floating-gate transistors have enjoyed widespread success as non-volatile digital memory elements in EEPROM and flash memory. In recent decades, however, a renewed interest in floating-gate transistors has focused on their viability as non-volatile analog memory, as well as programmable voltage and current sources. They have been used extensively in this capacity to solve traditional problems associated with analog circuit design, such as to correct for fabrication mismatch, to reduce comparator offset, and for amplifier auto-zeroing. They have also been used to implement adaptive circuits, learning systems, and reconfigurable systems. Despite these applications, their proliferation has …

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Development Of A Cell Morphological Analysis Tool To Evaluate The Ultrasound Vibrational Effects On Cell Adhesion, Joseph M. Smith Jan 2015

Development Of A Cell Morphological Analysis Tool To Evaluate The Ultrasound Vibrational Effects On Cell Adhesion, Joseph M. Smith

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Fibroblast encapsulation is a stage of the wound healing process in which the implanted device is separated from the biological environment due to the formation of fibrotic tissue. Uncontrolled adhesion of fibroblasts, called fibrosis, has the ability to inhibit an implanted device’s functionality over its lifetime. Over time, fibroblasts have been shown to cause loosening and failure of bone-anchor implants which could include the possibility of harming the patient. The encapsulating process could also hinder the sensitivity of implanted biosensors operating in the body for continuous monitoring. Unfortunately, the antifouling surfaces which are commonly used on implanted devices to control …

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Parent And Child Perceptions Of Parenting Practices: Do Differences Matter For Child Outcomes?, Ali Nila Jan 2015

Parent And Child Perceptions Of Parenting Practices: Do Differences Matter For Child Outcomes?, Ali Nila

Human Development and Family Science

The aim of the current study was to examine whether differences in perceptions of parenting have an effect on child outcomes. Data were taken from an Early Risers study, which incorporated the Early Risers evidence-based competence enhancement program, offering skills training and support to children with adjustment problems and parents. The sample of 110 consisted of well-adjusted children and children with adjustment problems. Parenting practices were measured by child and parent reports, and child outcomes were reported by the child’s teacher. Child and parent reports did not correspond, and results indicated the parent report of spanking predicted child’s aggression. Results …

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Mothers And Fathers, Churches And Schools: Formal And Informal Sources Of Sexual Information As They Relate To Emerging Adult Women’S Safe Sex Practices And Sexual-Esteem, Elizabeth Anne Schwartz Jan 2015

Mothers And Fathers, Churches And Schools: Formal And Informal Sources Of Sexual Information As They Relate To Emerging Adult Women’S Safe Sex Practices And Sexual-Esteem, Elizabeth Anne Schwartz

Human Development and Family Science

This study sought to explore which individuals and institutions 455 emerging adult women recalled as having provided them with sexual information. Independent-samples t tests were run to explore how these sources of information related to the emerging adult women’s safe sex practices and sexual-esteem. Most common sources of sexual information included mothers, peers, and high school courses, with approximately 28% of participants reporting no individual sources, and approximately 32% of participants reporting no institutional sources. Receiving sexual information from a sibling was related to more frequent safe sex practices, and receiving sexual information from a middle school course was related …

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Transgender Couples' Beliefs And Experiences Of Couple And Family Therapy, Kalene Ann Sharstrom Jan 2015

Transgender Couples' Beliefs And Experiences Of Couple And Family Therapy, Kalene Ann Sharstrom

Human Development and Family Science

The purpose of this study was to explore transgender couples’ beliefs and experiences of couple and family therapy. This study utilized a secondary data set of interviews from seven transgender participants and three partners. A queer feminist framework guided this study. The results of this project indicate that participants believe couple and family therapy to be relevant to their lives and therapeutic needs of transgender couples and their families. However, participants expressed unfamiliarity with the field and uncertainty that couple and family therapists are equipped to provide affirmative care.

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Connections Between Parental Eating Behaviors And Adolescents’ Disordered Eating Attitudes And Behaviors Optimal Parenting Style As A Mediator, Sara Raap Jan 2015

Connections Between Parental Eating Behaviors And Adolescents’ Disordered Eating Attitudes And Behaviors Optimal Parenting Style As A Mediator, Sara Raap

Human Development and Family Science

An optimal parenting style consists of high warmth and low overprotection, and can influence the development of adolescents’ eating attitudes and behaviors. Evidence suggests that parental eating behaviors influence their children’s eating attitudes and behaviors. In the current study, the link between parental eating behaviors and disordered eating attitudes and behaviors was assessed among 224 adolescent boys and girls in middle and high school via bivariate linear regression. Additionally, optimal parenting style as a mediator between parental eating behaviors and adolescents’ disordered eating attitudes and behaviors was assessed with a mediation model that used bivariate and multiple linear regression. I …

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Niche Construction And The Evolution Of Leadership, B. R. Spisak, Michael J. O'Brien, N. Nicholson, M. Van Vugt Jan 2015

Niche Construction And The Evolution Of Leadership, B. R. Spisak, Michael J. O'Brien, N. Nicholson, M. Van Vugt

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

We use the concept of niche construction - the process whereby individuals, through their activities, interactions, and choices, modify their own and each other's environments - as an example of how biological evolution and cultural evolution interacted to form an integrative foundation of modern organizational leadership. Resulting adaptations are formal structures that facilitate coordination of large, postagrarian organizational networks. We provide three propositions explaining how leadership processes evolve over time within and between organizations in order to solve specific coordination problems. We highlight the balancing act between self-interests and group interests in organizations and show how leadership must regulate this …

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Challenges Of Change: Technology Ease Or Technology Upset?, Cherie Noteboom, Julee Hafner Jan 2015

Challenges Of Change: Technology Ease Or Technology Upset?, Cherie Noteboom, Julee Hafner

Research & Publications

New knowledge learning that involves errorless task performance has become a key objective for healthcare organizations [Rushmer & Davies, 2004]. As knowledge changes to incorporate the use of computer systems, service delivery using the Electronic Health Record (EHR) has created unforeseen challenges for service providers and the organizations they serve. This challenge appears mainly to involve a change in actions, behaviors and mental models by providers using the EHR [Senge, 2006]. This is necessary for healthcare organizations if they want to remain competitive, improve the quality of care, and reduce costs. The challenge is to develop and implement this new …

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Clustering And Classification Of Email Contents, Izzat M. Alsmadi, I. Alhami Jan 2015

Clustering And Classification Of Email Contents, Izzat M. Alsmadi, I. Alhami

Computer Science Faculty Publications (Archived)

Information users depend heavily on emails' system as one of the major sources of communication. Its importance and usage are continuously growing despite the evolution of mobile applications, social networks, etc. Emails are used on both the personal and professional levels. They can be considered as official documents in communication among users. Emails' data mining and analysis can be conducted for several purposes such as: Spam detection and classification, subject classification, etc. In this paper, a large set of personal emails is used for the purpose of folder and subject classifications. Algorithms are developed to perform clustering and classification for …

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Teamwork During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitations At A Rural Minnesota Hospital, Kayla Dale Dascher Jan 2015

Teamwork During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitations At A Rural Minnesota Hospital, Kayla Dale Dascher

Nursing

Cardiac arrest is a major public health problem affecting thousands of individuals each year in both out-of-hospital and in-hospital settings (Sutton, Nadkarni, & Abella, 2012). In 2012 nearly 383,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occurred and approximately 209,000 cardiac arrests occurred within a hospital (American Heart Association, 2012). Survival rates from cardiac arrest are improving, however overall rates of survival are still low (American Heart Association, 2012). The purpose of this project was to enhance the teamwork, knowledge, and technical skills of all individuals involved in cardiopulmonary resuscitations at the project site. Expectations of the project were to (1) enhance cardiopulmonary …

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New Graduate Nurse Residency Program Development, Allison Kathleen Danzl Jan 2015

New Graduate Nurse Residency Program Development, Allison Kathleen Danzl

Nursing

This Project reports perceptions of how a new nurse residency addresses essential nursing competencies and transition stress. This Project involved development of content for a new graduate nurse residency program. Part of the Project evaluation was answering the questions: Does knowledge level of the Quality, Safety and Education for Nurses’ competencies at a Midwest critical access hospital increase for program evaluators after review of the content in the developed new graduate residency program? Is the content presented in the five modules relevant to new graduate nurse needs at the Midwest critical access hospital in order to decrease transition stress in …

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The Fruit And Vegetable Consumption Problem, Natalie Marie Aughinbaugh Jan 2015

The Fruit And Vegetable Consumption Problem, Natalie Marie Aughinbaugh

Nursing

Fruit and vegetable consumption is an essential component of a healthy diet and one of the most modifiable risk factors for chronic disease. Only a small percentage of the world’s population consumes the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables (Litt et al., 2011). In addition, young adults experience significant lifestyle changes as a result of independence, often establishing life-long dietary habits affecting future health and the health of their future families. The purpose of this project was to improve provider practice by using a food frequencyscreening tool and education within the clinical setting to facilitate increased knowledge, awareness, and fruit …

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The Practice Of Self-Care Among Counseling Students, Mary Mayorga, Sabina De Vries, Elizabeth Ann Wardle Jan 2015

The Practice Of Self-Care Among Counseling Students, Mary Mayorga, Sabina De Vries, Elizabeth Ann Wardle

Counseling and Guidance Faculty Publications (Archived)

Self-care behavior is recognized as an important component for the helping professional who practices in the field of counseling or who is training to become a helping professional. Occupational stress and burnout in the field of counseling is of great concern. This study examined the practice of self-care among master level counseling students to determine their present level of self-care behavior and its impact on their level of stress. A survey was conducted and the results indicated that lower levels of self-care increased levels of stress among master level counseling students.

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A Compendium Of Historiography: Change In The 1930s Hughes Supreme Court’S Constitutional Jurisprudence; The Decision To Drop The Atom Bomb On Japan; And The Brezhnev Doctrine And The Polish Crisis Of 1980-1981, Daniel Victor Wakefield Jan 2015

A Compendium Of Historiography: Change In The 1930s Hughes Supreme Court’S Constitutional Jurisprudence; The Decision To Drop The Atom Bomb On Japan; And The Brezhnev Doctrine And The Polish Crisis Of 1980-1981, Daniel Victor Wakefield

History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies

This study is a compendium of historiography. The papers focus on transformative twentieth-century events: The first considers the Supreme Court’s shift from New Deal opponent to facilitator. Internal explanations of evolving judicial philosophy causing change countered external ones stressing political pressure. Debate became more complex when scholars argued both internal and external pressures altered the Court’s jurisprudence. The second reviews the atomic bombing of Japan. Post-World War II Consensus historians justified the United States attacks as saving lives by shortening the war. In the 1960s, New Left revisionists pointed to atomic diplomacy. Since the 1990s, Post-revisionism has gained acceptance, integrating …

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Demographic Analysis Of Student Evaluations, Lucas James Huebner Jan 2015

Demographic Analysis Of Student Evaluations, Lucas James Huebner

Statistics

Data was collected from North Dakota State University’s student rating of instructor’s forms during the fall of 2013 and the spring of 2014. This thesis investigates differences between male and female instructor’s ratings, as well as attempts to describe outcomes using other demographics. T-tests were performed comparing the means of class averages for male and female instructors for each question on the student evaluation. There was not a difference for the mean class averages between male and female instructors when the whole university was considered and when only looking at the College of Science and Math. The analysis conducted also …

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"It's More How Other People Perceive You": Social Identity Formation Through Study Abroad, Callie Dominique Karlsson Speer Jan 2015

"It's More How Other People Perceive You": Social Identity Formation Through Study Abroad, Callie Dominique Karlsson Speer

Sociology and Anthropology

This research investigated how study abroad affected students’ sense of identity and how interactions between study abroad students and other people shaped their understanding of their identity. While abroad, students taking part in a five-week study abroad program started to recognize having an American self and used behavior and clothing to negotiate their association with this role. The relationships between students and the program leader, other students, friends, and family members were instrumental in the recognition and development of their identity. Students also started creating a study abroad self before departure and used points of discomfort as an opportunity to …

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Cyberbullying In World Of Warcraft’S Looking For Raid Function, Heather Rebecca Brinkman Jan 2015

Cyberbullying In World Of Warcraft’S Looking For Raid Function, Heather Rebecca Brinkman

Sociology and Anthropology

This thesis focuses on the effects that othering or cyberbullying within the Looking for Raid (LFR) function is having on the World of Warcraft (WoW) community in terms of their identity creation. I will look at the three separate classes that I have identified (elite raider, casual raider, and casual gamer) in the community and to see how each of these groups has been affected by the creation of the LFR function and the conflict that it has created. I will explore the hegemonic process that led to the creation of the LFR function and the coopting of the vital …

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Agency And Empowerment In The Childbirth Process: The Effect Of Medicalization On Women's Decision Making, Alicia Jane Kauffman Jan 2015

Agency And Empowerment In The Childbirth Process: The Effect Of Medicalization On Women's Decision Making, Alicia Jane Kauffman

Sociology and Anthropology

Over the past decade, rates of caesarean section births and other interventions in childbirth have increased substantially. With increased medicalization of childbirth, it is often viewed as an illness requiring treatment rather than a natural process that women are equipped to handle with little intervention in most cases. A qualitative study was completed that included interviews with nine women participants who had previously given birth to at least one child. The findings elaborate on how women navigated the medical structures of childbirth in order to assert themselves as decision makers in the process, how they related to their bodies during …

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Tykes And Tenure: Navigating The University From The Standpoint Of Faculty Mothers, Jennifer Cathline Pruett Jan 2015

Tykes And Tenure: Navigating The University From The Standpoint Of Faculty Mothers, Jennifer Cathline Pruett

Sociology and Anthropology

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the unique challenges faculty mothers face while navigating North Dakota State University (NDSU), and the implications their experiences have intra/interpersonally. Fifteen interviews were conducted and textual documents were referenced to answer the study’s research questions, which included (1) How do women faculty with children engage with university structures? and (2) How do women faculty with children negotiate between their experiences as mothers and faculty members? The women’s experiences unveiled levels of vulnerability, anxiety, and judgment with formal policy and practice, as well as spillover and tension between their work and family/home …

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