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Self-Perceived Stress Of Undergraduate Students Before And After Participation In A Breathing Meditation Intervention: A Mixed Methods Study, Cindy Oneida Sloan

Dissertations

This mixed methods study examined the effects of an eight-week breathing meditation intervention on the self-perceived stress of undergraduate students. Previous research suggests meditation is an effective strategy to alleviate stress and stress-related symptomatology (Baer, 2003; Conley, Travers, & Bryant, 2013; Shapiro, Brown & Astin, 2011). Forty-one undergraduate student volunteers participated in the study and were randomized into either an intervention group or control group. The intervention group met once per week for eight weeks and participated in a nine minute guided breathing meditation. At the conclusion of eight weeks participants, when compared with the control group, reported significantly lower …

The Fda And The Rise Of The Empowered Patient, Lewis Grossman

Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

Observation Of The Catfish Chaetostoma Microps Climbing In A Cave In Tena, Ecuador, Geoffrey Hoese, Aaron Addison, Theofilos Toulkeridis

KIP Articles

As part of a mapping and preliminary flora and fauna inventory of hypogean life in caves, developed in Cretaceous limestones in the sub-andean zone of Ecuador, we were able to observe a number of catfish climbing a steep flowstone waterfall in the dark zone of a cave. The waterfall was a minor infeeder to the small stream that flowed through the cave. On investigation the fish were determined to be Chaetostoma microps Günther, 1864 (Siluriformes Loricariidae), a detritivorous–herbivorous neotropical freshwater catfish, endemic to the upper reaches of the Amazon basin in Ecuador. We document the observation of this species exhibiting …

President’S Annual Report, Jean E. Bartels

Office of the President: Annual Report (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Northeastern Illinois University, 2015-2016, Northeastern Illinois University

Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Undestanding Stage Of Change Transitions Across Multiple Behaviors, Leslie Ann Daline Brick

Open Access Dissertations

Health behavior research reveals that individuals vary in their general readiness to change their behaviors, as well as their attitudes and beliefs about that change. Adolescents are an important population for health behavior change interventions because the choices and behaviors early in life can have long-term health impacts. A large (N=42158), school-based Transtheoretical Model (TTM) randomized trial evaluated two tailored, computer-delivered multiple behavior interventions designed to impact energy balance behaviors, including physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and TV viewing, or substance use, including smoking and alcohol. The study took place over a four-year period, with intervention points during grades …

Understanding The Barrier And Facilitators Of Lifestyle Intervention Programs For Preventing Diabetes In High Risk Hispanic Adults, Lisa Adorno Dimaria

Open Access Dissertations

Since the Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group (2002) concluded that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed in pre-diabetic individuals, translation of the study's intensive lifestyle intervention has been a research priority. Translational research conducted with the high risk Hispanic population is in its infancy. In general, the needs of this population have been neglected in the development and refinement of interventions to prevent T2D. This qualitative study explored intervention components and the perceived facilitators and barriers to making and sustaining dietary and physical activity behavior changes within the context of a lifestyle intervention program designed for a high …

Predicting Co-Relapse Among Nutrition And Exercise From Adolescence Through Young Adulthood, Kristina Monteiro

Open Access Dissertations

Despite significant public health efforts, obesity remains a stagnant outcome comprised of multiple health behaviors including fruit and vegetable intake (FV) and physical activity (PA). Existing research has provided correlates of FV and PA behaviors over development, with secular trends towards acquiring negative health behaviors (e.g., sedentary behaviors). This study examined demographic and dynamic predictors of FV and PA regression at one-year post-intervention within three samples including middle school, high school, and college. Regression is defined using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) as being in Action or Maintenance at baseline and regressing to a pre-Action stage at one-year follow-up. The novel …

Middle School Students’ Perceptions Of Enjoyment In Physical Education And Its Relationship To Participation In Physical Activity Outside The School, Shima Younes-Alhourani

Open Access Dissertations

For many years, the status of physical education (PE) in public schools in Palestine as well as other countries was jeopardized. However, the decline of engagement in PE and the reduction and/or elimination of PE programs in the US and other countries including Palestine, along with the increased obesity and sedentary behaviors among children, have motivated governments in countries like Canada, the United States and England to take action (Cairney et al., 2007; & Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, 2007). Students in the United States and other countries, including Palestine, tend to demonstrate negative attitudes toward physical education (PE) at …

Examining Health Professional Students’ Attitudes On Interprofessional Education, Suzanne Carr

Open Access Dissertations

There is a growing need for healthcare teams to effectively collaborate and communicate to improve patient outcomes. The need to improve patient care has been well established and cited by the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee on Quality Health Care in America landmark report, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System (IOM, 1999; Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 2000). Health educational programs are known to be a gateway to changing behaviors of health professionals to impact practice and direct patient care. Interprofessional Education (IPE) has been identified as a viable mechanism to increase the collaboration and communication of health …

The Center For Total Health: Healthcare Reform In Cook County, Illinois, James Leon Miles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 requires hospital systems in the United States to shift the culture of patient care from a focus on sick-care to a focus on prevention and wellness care. Little is known about how hospital systems will make this culture shift while retaining quality patient care. The purpose of this case study of a pioneering hospital-based PPACA-compliant initiative was to answer the research question of how Wallace's revitalization movement theory (RMT) "a rapid culture change model"could serve as a transferable evaluation framework for PPACA prevention and wellness care compliance in hospital-based programs. …

Southeastern United States' Parental Perspectives To Promote Adolescent Sleep Health, Steven Mark Tompa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many U.S. adolescents suffer from sleep disorders. Although poor sleep habits may contribute to health issues, less is known about how parental perspectives influence sleep health in adolescents. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to address a knowledge gap in understanding parental views to promote better sleep habits in adolescents. The blended theoretical framework included the theories of caring science, social learning, advocacy paradigm, and repair and restoration of sleep. Twenty parents in the Southeastern United States participated in open-ended interviews. Research questions were designed to elicit parental perspectives about recognizing unhealthy sleep habits, improving daily sleep health …

Screening And Intervention For Women With Hyperglycemia During Pregnancy, Ladonna Lynn Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Gestational diabetes mellitus occurs in up to 10% of pregnancies and often leads to labor and delivery complications for both the mother and the baby. Early identification of gestational diabetes and educational intervention are needed to improve the self-management and knowledge among pregnant women. The purpose of the project was to implement newly established national guidelines to ensure that women with gestational diabetes are identified during the first trimester of pregnancy and begin diabetes education early in gestation. Lewin's planned change theory was selected as the theoretical framework, and the six sigma approach was used to facilitate the change process. …

Emergency Medical Service Worker Knowledge Of And Compliance With Occupational Exposures To Infectious Diseases, Debra Ann Wrentz-Hudson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Firefighter Emergency Medical Service (EMS) responder personnel are at a high risk for occupational exposures to bloodborne and airborne infectious pathogens due to their unpredictable work duties in the pre-hospital environment. Not much is known about the compliance with Universal Precautions (UP) among firefighter EMS responders' personnel with regards to occupational exposures to infectious diseases. The purpose of this cross-sectional research study was to determine the relationship between compliance with UP, knowledge of UP, attitudes towards UP, occupational practices, and occupational exposures to bloodborne and airborne pathogens to prevent transmission of infectious disease among firefighter EMS responder personnel in the …

Barriers To Facilitating An Existing Certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom, Shelley L. Easler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In response to social trends whereby children are spending less time outside, school administrators have developed certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classrooms (NEOCs) intentionally designed to support whole-child learning within a natural environment. Despite the documented benefits of nature-based education, the literature and NEOC sites report challenges in facilitating this type of space. The purpose of this study was to investigate what prevents teachers in a certified NEOC from facilitating student/teacher engagement with the natural outdoor environment. Kolb's, Piaget's, and Vygotsky's theories of constructivism served as the study's framework to explore the problem from the teachers' perspectives. A qualitative case study …

Functional Local Renin-Angiotensin System In Human And Rat Periodontal Tissue, Carlos Ferreira Santos, Ana Carolina Morandini, Thiago José Dionísio, Flávio A. Faria, Marta C. Lima, Caio M. Figueiredo, Bella L. Colombini-Ishikiriama, Carla Renata Sipert, Rubens P. Maciel, Ana P. Akashi, Gabriela P. Souza, Gustavo P. Garlet, Camila O. Rodini, Sandra L. Amaral, Christiane Becari, Maria C. Salgado, Eduardo B. Oliveira, Isaac Matus, Daniela N. Didier, Andrew S. Greene

All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles

The initiation or progression of periodontitis might involve a local renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in periodontal tissue. The aim of this study was to further characterize the local RAS in human and rat periodontal tissues between healthy and periodontally-affected tissue. Components of the RAS were investigated using in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo experiments involving both human and Wistar rat periodontium. Although not upregulated when challenged with P. gingivalis-lipopolysaccharide, human gingival and periodontal ligament fibroblasts expressed RAS components. Likewise, healthy and inflamed human gingiva expressed RAS components, some of which were shown to be functional, yet no differences in expression …

The Increasing Weight Of Regulation: Countries Combat The Global Obesity Epidemic, Emily Whelan Parento, Allyn L. Taylor, Laura A. Schmidt

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

Obesity is a global epidemic, exacting an enormous human and economic toll. In the absence of a comprehensive global governance strategy, states have increasingly employed a wide array of legal strategies targeting the drivers of obesity. This Article identifies recent global trends in obesity-related legislation and makes the normative case for an updated global governance strategy. National governments have responded to the epidemic both by strengthening traditional interventions and by developing novel legislative strategies. This response consists of nine important trends: (1) strengthened and tailored tax measures; (2) broadened use of counter-advertising and health campaigns; (3) expanded food labeling; (4) …

What Is A “Good Teacher”? Does “Good” Resonate With The Edtpa?, Dia Gary

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This study is multi-faceted. The research evolves from the perspective of eight individuals involved in educational settings as either parents or educators. These individuals represent cultural diversity with educational backgrounds from seven different countries. Participants responded to two questions based on what constitutes “good” in “good teacher” and a third question focused on the components of teachercandidate training. Primarily, the study foci are on the identifying characteristics of an effective teacher. Second, it establishes the components necessary in training programs to produce the effective teacher. Third, an analysis is conducted on the components of the Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), to …

Na+/K+ Pump And Cl--Coupled Na+ And K+ Co-Transporters In Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts Lacking The Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Tsc1 And Tsc2 Genes., Jasser Ali S. Alzhrani

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The tuberous sclerosis complex 1 and 2 (TSC1 and TSC2) genes and their products hamartin and tuberin, respectively, are involved in several regulatory cellular mechanisms, including the mTOR pathway that is important for proliferation, cell migration, and protein synthesis. In addition, it has been suggested that this pathway plays a role in regulating Na+-K+-2Cl- and K+-Cl- cotransporters (NKCC and KCC, respectively) [41, 42, 43]. Therefore, the TSC1 and TSC2 genes are expected to play a significant role in regulating cell volume, and K+ and Cl- homeostasis. This study tests the hypothesis that the TSC1 and TSC2 genes, which control cell …

The Inconsistencies Of The Replaceability Argument, Caitlin M. Bauer

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I will argue against Peter Singer's replaceability argument. I start by showing how Singer's ethical theory of preference-utilitarianism leads to his assertion that everyone should be vegetarian, and later his conclusion that some animals are replaceable. To refute Singer, I argue that death deprives sentient beings of pleasure, and any other good they are capable of experiencing, so death is harmful to animals. Next, I discuss one last claim central to Singer's replaceability argument, that merely sentient animals are not the same individual between periods of consciousness because they have no memory or psychological connections. I refute …

Identification And Quantification Of The Collagen Type I, Iii And V In Rabbit Patellar Tendons, Mahesh Chandra Kodali

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Tendon injuries pose a great clinical challenge to orthopedic surgeons. Over 200,000 patients undergo tendon repair every year in the United States alone. The role of progression of a tendon injury is multifactorial as a lot of factors come into play during and after the injury at various phases of healing process. There is a still a vast requirement for thorough elucidation and understanding of the pathophysiology and the factors involved in the progression of tendon injury. Although the degenerative role of several MMPs and ADAMTs have been reported, yet there is very less information on the actual role and …

Assessment Of The Applicability Of Terahertz Spectroscopic Breath Sensing Towards Monitoring Type 1 Diabetic Mellitus, Jessica Rose Thomas

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Type 1 diabetes is a condition that cumulatively costs around $14.9 billion in medical expenses every year in the United States. Besides being costly, the monitoring of this disease is invasive, painful, and often embarrassing to the afflicted individual; blood and urine testing is currently the daily method of monitoring blood glucose and ketone levels in the body of type 1 diabetics. Though the use of these samples is standard, another avenue for possibly determining blood glucose has not been completely explored. With over 3000 chemicals reportedly found in exhaled human breath, biomarkers associated with this disorder and many of …

Profiling Fatty Acid Composition Of Brown Adipose Tissue, White Adipose Tissue And Bone Marrow Adipose Tissue Of Healthy And Diet-Induced Obese Mice, Urszula Osinska Warncke

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Bone marrow adipose tissue (MAT) contains a fat depot of unknown function. Characterization of this tissue in healthy and pathophysiological conditions may be an important step in order to understand MAT contribution to development of osteoporosis and perhaps to develop means to improve bone health by manipulation with a phenotype of MAT. Here we demonstrate that MAT, brown adipose tissue (BAT), and white adipose tissue (WAT) derived from healthy mice differ in fatty acid and phospholipid composition. The profile of MAT changed to resemble a less-metabolically active tissue upon metabolic impairment as seen in diet-induced obesity. Additionally, PPARγ activation alters …

A Qualitative Study Of Stress In Individuals Self-Employed In Solo Businesses, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Joseph J. Mazzola

Publications and Research

This qualitative study involved 54 individuals who were self-employed in a variety of solo businesses. All participants were administered a semistructured interview that inquired into various aspects of their work experience with the data subject to reliability and validity checks. The study identified stressful incidents, coping strategies, and emotional strains arising from those stressful incidents. Uncertainty about income was a common background stressor. Recent specific stressors included dramatic slowdowns in business, reputational threat, betrayal, unreasonable customers, and medical problems. Commonly occurring strains included apprehension/anxiety, frustration, anger, and sadness/depression. The self-employed used problem-focused coping much more often than emotion-focused coping. We …

Biogenic Carbon Fluxes From Global Agricultural Production And Consumption, Julie Wolf, Tristram O. West, Yannick Le Page, G. Page Kyle, Xuesong Zhang, G. James Collatz, Marc L. Imhoff

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications

Quantification of biogenic carbon fluxes from agricultural lands is needed to generate comprehensive bottom-up estimates of net carbon exchange for global and regional carbon monitoring. We estimated global agricultural carbon fluxes associated with annual crop net primary production (NPP), harvested biomass, and consumption of biomass by humans and livestock. These estimates were combined for a single estimate of net carbon exchange and spatially distributed to 0.05° resolution usingModerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite land cover data. Global crop NPP in 2011 was estimated at 5.25 ± 0.46 Pg C yr^-1, of which 2.05 ± 0.05 Pg C yr^{-1 …}

The Effectiveness Of "The Tunnel Of Oppression": An Exposure Approach To Increasing Awareness Of Oppression Among Freshman Students At Wright State University, Jennifer B. Stoyell

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While diversity-training programs have gained popularity in the US, limited research has been done to establish the effectiveness of these programs in increasing awareness of oppression. The present study explored the effectiveness of the Tunnel of Oppression in increasing awareness of oppression among freshman students at Wright State University. Participants (N= 1736) were given a survey before and after participating in the Tunnel where they rated their awareness of levels of oppression for nine different oppressed groups. Data for this survey was analyzed employing descriptive and non-parametric statistics to determine significance in change of scores (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum) …

The Predictive Power Of Non-Pathological Psychological Variables In Weight Loss Surgery, Tiffany Milligan

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According to the World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health, obesity is a global health problem. Worldwide, obesity is the fifth-leading cause of death. Weight loss surgeries such as gastric banding, sleeve gastrectomy, and gastric bypass surgery have become increasingly popular methods to manage intractable obesity in the United States. Such surgeries have inherent risks, both medical and psychosocial, and as a result, candidates for weight loss surgery routinely undergo pre-surgical evaluations to determine their suitability for weight loss procedures. The current study was done in partnership with Kettering Bariatrics in Kettering, Ohio, and is an analysis of the …

Differences In Fecal Metabolite Profiles From Geographically Distinct Populations Of Adolescents, Jessica Moncivaiz

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Microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract have a variety of functions within the human body. They participate in protection of the host from pathogens, aid in immune system development and regulation, and carry out a variety of metabolic functions. This study focuses on the ability of gut microbiota to create metabolites through the degradation of food products. Using 1H NMR on fecal water extracts, I compared the metabolite profiles of two geographically distinct cohorts: healthy adolescents from Egypt (n=28) and healthy adolescents from the United States (n=14). Multivariate statistical analyses of binned NMR data confirmed that samples separated into groups corresponding …

Algal Quality Controls The Distribution, Behavior And Growth Of Algivorous Cichlids In Lake Tanganyika, Renalda Nanziga Munubi

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The nutritional value of primary producer is dependent on the concentrations of C, N and P. These elements are the building blocks for protein, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biochemical compounds. The balance between the supply of dietary elements and the herbivore's demand is crucial for the growth of algivorous organisms, including fish. However, anthropogenic changes in primary producer quality due to sediments may alter the value and quantity of food in the littoral zone of Lake Tanganyika, which may affect both herbivorous near shore and pelagic fisheries. This dissertation focuses on the influence of algae food on herbivore …

Do Restorative Home Care Programs Increase Independence In Adls And Iadls In Older Adults Receiving Home Health Services?, Adrienne Angeles, Shanee Ben-Haim, Amy Smith-Schwartz, Kitsum Li

Occupational Therapy | Critically Appraised Papers Series

There has been a worldwide shift from viewing aging as a dependent stage of life to one that increasingly encourages independence and a more active lifestyle for older adults. In Australia, where this study was conducted, restorative care that embraces active aging was not yet considered an essential component of home health care on the national level. However, restorative home care has been gaining more recognition as increasing importance is placed on independence and self-management in older adults.

The researchers of this study explored whether older adults’ participation in restorative home care programs reduced the need for ongoing personal care. …