Digital Commons Network^™

Self-Management Interventions To Improve Skin Care For Pressure Ulcer Prevention In People With Spinal Cord Injuries: A Systematic Review Protocol, J Baron, J Swaine, J Presseau, A Aspinall, S Jaglal, B White, D Wolfe, J Grimshaw

Health Sciences Papers and Journal Articles

Background: Pressure ulcers are a serious, common, lifelong, and costly secondary complication of spinal cord injury (SCI). Community-dwelling people with a SCI can prevent them with appropriate skin care (i.e. pressure relieving activities, skin checks). Adherence to skin care remains suboptimal however, and self-management interventions that focus on improving this have been designed. Little is known on their content, effectiveness, or theoretical basis. The aim of the proposed systematic review is to synthesize the literature on self-management interventions to improve skin care in people with a SCI. Specific objectives are to describe these interventions in relation to their content, effectiveness, …

Investigating Community Perspectives On Falls Prevention Information Seeking And Delivery: Older Person Perceptions Regarding Preferences For Falls Prevention Education Using A World Cafe Approach, C Bulsara, L Khong, A Hill, K Hill

Health Sciences Papers and Journal Articles

Falls among older people are a significant global socioeconomic problem, and older adults have low levels of self-perceived risk and a lack of willingness to take up existing falls prevention strategies. We believe that given the challenges of delivering falls prevention information, meaningful engagement of community members would create solutions based on an understanding of what would work best for that community. A World Cafe community forum sought the opinions of 70 community-dwelling older people about their preferences on how they would best receive and seek falls prevention information that could prevent falls within their age group. Participants evaluated the …

Male Or Nurse What Comes First? Challenges Men Face On Their Journey To Nurse Registration, D Juliff, K Russell, C Bulsara

Health Sciences Papers and Journal Articles

Objective: This paper aims to provide an account of the first phase of a qualitative longitudinal study that explored the initial challenges men in nursing face to become registered. What is known is that men, a minority group within nursing, face the usual challenges of all new nurses in their quest to register as nurses. In addition, they have added pressures that hinder their quest due to being male.

Primary Argument: An Australian nursing shortage is looming due to nurses retiring from this female-dominate profession. Hence, the retention of men in nursing is an area requiring attention in order to …

Ssvep Based Bci Wheelchair Control System, Ce Zhou

Faculty Research & Creative Works

A brain computer interface (BCI) is a system which allows a person to communicate or control the surroundings without depending on the brain’s normal output pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles. A lot of successful applications have arisen utilizing the advantages of BCI to assist disabled people so called assistive technology. Considering using BCI has less limitation and huge potential, this project has been proposed to control the movement of an electronic wheelchair via brain signals. The goal of doing this project is to help the disabled people, especially paralyzed people suffering from motor disabilities, to improve their life qualities. …

At A Glance, Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern at a Glance (2011-2016)

No abstract provided.

Graduate Catalog, Georgia Southern University

Graduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Phase Field Modeling Of Electrodeposition Process In Lithium Metal Batteries, Nihal Acharya

Masters Theses

"One of the main weaknesses in long term performance of conventional lithium batteries is the growth of lithium microstructures on the electrode surface due to an electrochemical process, which can eventually lead to failure of these batteries. Suppressing this microstructure growth is a key in developing new generations of lithium metal batteries (LMBs). In this study, a two-dimensional (2D) phase field model is constructed to understand and determine the parameters controlling formation and evolution of microstructures in LMBs. A Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional, which is a function of concentration of Li⁺ and applied voltage, and a system consisting of …

The Metropolitan Revolution Comes To Greater Las Vegas, Robert E. Lang

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

No abstract provided.

“You Can't Ever Find A Place That's Nice And Peaceful”: The Adolescent Identity In J. D. Salinger’S The Catcher In The Rye, Whitney Thacker

Masters Theses

Many consider The Catcher in the Rye the most poignant and popular story of adolescence in American literature, challenged only perhaps by Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Reading reviews, examining the public reception, and uncovering depths of research would evidence this well. However, the value of the novel rests not in its popularity—a simple sign of its inherent value—but in its ability to resonate truth. More than merely telling a story, Salinger creates a life, or at the very least a glimpse of a life, through the actions and attitude of his ornery adolescent character Holden Caulfield. This …

Facilitating A Change Of Mind About Father God Through Mentoring Of The Fatherless, Stephen Madosky

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The consensus of published research has proven beyond question that fatherlessness is a crisis in America. Textbooks and autobiographies have covered and reported the statistical effects of fatherlessness; nonetheless, there is far less literature dealing with the solution of fatherlessness and even less literature from Church scholars on how the Church may participate in its correction. This thesis presents an understanding of fatherlessness and proposes a resolution to act on behalf of fatherless children. The resolution will be comprised in preparing Church leaders to equip Church laity to understand and to minister to the fatherless in their affliction effectively.

Using One-To-One Computing For Differentiated Instruction In Iowa: An Investigation Of The Impact Of Teachers' Perceptions Of Teaching And Learning, Jodi A. Bermel

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The 1983 seminal work entitled A Nation at Risk recommended that all high school graduates be proficient in the Five New Basics: English, mathematics, science, social studies, and computer science. To address the No Child Left Behind mandates, educators and administrators are evaluating the theory and practice of Differentiated Instruction (DI). One-to-one computer initiatives became an element of DI strategy due to the well-documented advantages in the use of technology to address individual learning needs. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine administrators’ and teachers’ perceptions of using one-to-one computing to differentiate instruction and to identify potential …

The Thomism Of Bartolomé De Las Casas And The Indians Of The New World, Thomas Francis Xavier Varacalli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines Bartolomé de Las Casas as a Thomistic political philosopher. It argues that Las Casas intentionally drew upon the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas in order to provide a robust philosophical anthropology that was able to defend Amerindian rationality and self-rule. He uses Thomas and the Classical tradition to disprove the notion that the Amerindians are natural slaves, to uphold the inherent goodness of politics, to protect Amerindian kingdoms from imperial claims and the direct power of the papacy, and to condemn the unjust wars of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Las Casas’ Thomism is particularly important because …

Idling Women: The Domestic Bildungsroman And The American City, 1830-1900, Jordan L. Von Cannon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In Idling Women: The Domestic Bildungsroman and the American City, 1830-1900, I explore urban narratives of female non-development. In city novels featuring female protagonists, there are two normative arcs of development: either women find new opportunities for marriage, work, and, in some cases, independence in the city, or they fall prey to threats of seduction, poverty, and even death. However, these two plotlines fail to accommodate stories of women who wait to develop, fail at it, or otherwise resist what might be considered character growth. By problematizing distinctions between idleness and the American “work ethic” often tied to the industrialized …

Violent Conventions: An Analysis Of The Unintended Aesthetics Of On-Stage Accidents, Jeremy Matthew Reynolds

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In theatre scholarship, the event of the on-stage accident is a fairly neglected area of research. Aside from brief archival detailing of some of the more tragic events, scholars have not approached the accidents from a theoretical or historiographical position. Many, I surmise, find little of interest in an on-stage accident due to its lack of aesthetic purpose or intentionality. In this project, I focus on those neglected accidents and, more specifically, accidents that take place due to a violent failure of theatrical convention. I discuss three specific moments where a theatre convention – established to concretize the world of …

Going Public: How The Government Assumed The Authority To Prosecute In The Southern United States, Jason Twede

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores factors that may have influenced the transition from private prosecution to public prosecution in Georgia during the late-eighteenth century—a transition that eventually happened in every jurisdiction in the United States. There are numerous people, both inside and outside academia, who are calling for a change to the current system of prosecution in the United States. One possible change that is being advocated is a return to a system of private prosecution. Understanding the reasons the system changed from a system of private prosecution in the first instance is important when determining whether such a return is appropriate. …

Measuring The Effect Of Vocabulary Instruction On Reading Comprehension: A Comparison Of Academic And Tier Ii Words, Eiley C. Berg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was (a) to determine if 4th grade students could learn academic vocabulary words or tier II general words using a vocabulary intervention program referred to as the lexicon enhancement program (LeEP), and b) to determine if the category of vocabulary words (tier II general vs. academic) impacts the number of vocabulary words learned, general vocabulary abilities, and reading comprehension. A total of 111 fourth graders participated in this study. Six classrooms were randomly assigned as either the academic group, tier II group, or control group. Pre- and posttest scores of the Zero-One-Two (ZOT; Robinson, 2013) …

Graphic Design Students’ Perceptions Of Using Apple Ipads To Create Sketches And Promote Idea Generation, Elizabeth Becker

Theses and Dissertations

Artists and designers typically utilize sketching during the early stages of the design process because it provides them with an opportunity to transfer ideas from their head onto paper, computer, or mobile device. Sketching is regarded by researchers in the field of design to be an essential part of the design process.

The existing research in this field is focused on comparing paper and pencil sketches with sketches completed on computers. There is a void in the literature examining sketching completed on mobile devices like the Apple iPad. Therefore, this study aimed to fill that void.

The purpose of this …

Examining Identity Of Novice Teacher Educators: A Self-Study, Laura Brudvik

Theses and Dissertations

Novice teacher educators can provide valuable insight into the question of professional identity and how it informs practice. Collaboration through interviews using self-study highlight how the experiences of their novice teacher educator years contribute to their identities. The self-study method provides an integrative approach, bridging research and practice, with the goal of ultimately improving practice. This self-study identifies specific qualities possessed by teacher educators who are former classroom teachers, and analyzes those qualities to determine possible benefits to teacher education. A corollary study is a self-study of my personal construction of professional identity as a novice teacher educator. The self-study …

Measuring The Effect Of Vocabulary Instruction On Reading Comprehension: Comparing Students Of Lower And Higher Socioeconomic Status, Michelle Burns Burns

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of a lexicon enhancement program on students categorized as lower SES, determined by whether or not they qualified for the federal free or reduced lunch program. Specifically, the performance of lower SES students on measures of vocabulary learning and reading ability were compared to classmates who did not qualify for the federal program (higher SES). Forty-six 4th grade students from the Grand Forks Public School district participated in the study. Students from the lower SES and higher SES group were randomly assigned by classroom to be either in the intervention or the control group, with …

Burnout, Autonomy, And Job Satisfaction In Full-Time Public Community College Faculty Members: A Regional Survey And Analysis, Justin W. Berry

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived levels of burnout, autonomy, and job satisfaction in full-time public community college faculty members; it was also of interest to determine potential relationships between burnout, autonomy, job satisfaction, and demographic factors. Participants in this study were 146 full time faculty members from twelve public community colleges within Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Measures in this study assessed perceived levels of burnout, autonomy, and job satisfaction. Independent samples t-tests and Pearson correlations were utilized to analyze data.

Results indicated that full-time public community college faculty members have moderate levels of …

Teachers' Of Students With Visual Impairments Perceptions And Experiences Of Teaching The Expanded Core Curriculum, Renae T. Bjorg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the qualitative research study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of teachers of students with visual impairments (TSVIs) in the state of North Dakota regarding the expanded core curriculum (ECC). This study included transcribed interviews from six TSVIs who taught in grades K-12.

The National Agenda for the Education of Children and Youths with Visual Impairments, Including Those with Multiple Disabilities was used to frame this study. Phenomenological methods were used to analyze the interviews into codes, categories, themes, and an assertion. Following were the seven themes supported by the data collected:

1. Teachers of students …

The Relationship Of Substance Use, Biological Sex, And Age To Defender Behaviors In Middle And High School Students In Rural Schools, Amanda D'Ottavio

Theses and Dissertations

While there are many studies looking at the characteristic of defenders in bullying situations, the literature regarding defender behaviors and substance use is lacking. In a sample of rural adolescents, the current study aims to examine the relationship between defender behaviors, substance use, biological sex and age. Rural middle and high school youth from six Northern Plains schools in the Midwest (N = 264) completed a self-report survey. Surveys were created to examine defender behaviors and substance use, and a demographic questionnaire collected biological sex and grade level. Grade level was used in place of age. A relationship between defender …

School Experiences Of Middle School Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Shannon D. Grave

Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the school experiences of adolescents with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in sixth through eighth grade. Two research questions guided this study: what were the participants’ day to day experiences and what were their perceptions of those experiences? The results of the study yielded three conclusions. First, school can be a confusing and unpredictable source of stress. This stress can be ameliorated through increased predictability in the classroom and through adaptations to materials based on individualized needs and preferences. Specific classroom based strategies were identified and discussed, with clear shared preferences emergent. Participants indicated preferences …

Old Tales, New Renditions: The Foundations And Development Of Anti-Semitic Ritual Murder Libels With Emphasis On A Shift In Centrality From Crucifixion To Blood Motifs In Late Medieval And Early Modern German Contexts, Evan John Halbach

Theses and Dissertations

The terms “ritual murder libel” and “blood libel” both refer primarily to medieval and early modern anti-Semitic allegations that Jews murdered Christian children on religious holidays, either to abuse or profane Christ and Christians, or to acquire Christian blood for use in Jewish ritual, sorcery, or as a medicine to treat stereotypical racial infirmities. Scholars to this point have generally treated the two libels as either synonymous, or have considered distinctions to be relatively insignificant. Insufficient treatment has been given to an inversion of primary and secondary motivations attributed to the libels’ constructed villains. In “ritual murder libels,” contempt for …

The Impact Of Trauma On Children’S Functioning And The Utility Of The Cbcl Ptsd Profile, Nicola Ashton Herting

Theses and Dissertations

The high rates of trauma exposure among children and adolescents is a major public health concern due to the many ways trauma can adversely impact cognitive, emotional, and social development and functioning. The high rates of comorbidity between posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and other mental health disorders translate to complex diagnostic pictures. When conducting psychological, educational, or neuropsychological evaluations it is therefore imperative that clinicians assess for trauma to accurately diagnose, but ultimately to ensure appropriate recommendations for treatment and interventions are made. Several challenges to screening and assessing PTSS among children and adolescents have prompted the identification of efficient …

Ecocomposition As Writing Curriculum: An Ecological Approach For Writing Program Administrators And Composition Instructors, Erin Renee Lord Kunz

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation forwards an argument for an ecologically-based composition and rhetoric curriculum that also emphasizes the best practices established by the Council of Writing Program Administration, particularly the writing process. I concentrate on how a writing program administrator can utilize ecological literacy to navigate her own experience in a new place and also how themes of ecological literacy can be applied to the writing program itself. Based on personal experiences as well as literature that establishes the need for best practices in composition and rhetoric curriculum, I argue that ecological composition, or ecocomposition, can assist in implementing an ecological writing …

Impact Of Seasonality On Agricultural Productivity In Bangladesh, Mohammad Gulam Mostofa

Theses and Dissertations

This paper studies the impact of seasonality on agricultural productivity in Bangladesh for the period of 1980-2013 for 7 regions. This study exploits regional fixed effect to estimate the impact of both observed and unobserved effects on agricultural productivity in order to control for regional differences. I used a panel dataset for the fixed and random effect regression model to control omitted variables bias and endogeneity. Findings from this study expressed that the effects of all the climate variables are not significant to rice, wheat, and pulse yield. Maximum temperature and minimum temperature wet for rice, minimum temperature dry and …

Britain's First War With Kandy: Landscape, Violence, And Conquest In Colonial Sri Lanka, Elizabeth Anne Mjelde

Theses and Dissertations

Accounts of travel to Sri Lanka published during the period of British conquest (1796 through 1818) reveal a consistent yet problematic tendency: despite ongoing military conflict, visual artists constructed representations of the island as a peaceful and orderly place. The contradiction is heightened when travelers’ uniformly tranquil images of Sri Lanka are juxtaposed with documented acts of destruction to land and property, undertaken by troops during Britain’s first war with the inland kingdom of Kandy, a conflict which eventually led to the island’s complete colonization. The present study reconciles this contradiction through analysis of publications by each of five artists …

Parent Understanding Of K-6 Student Mathematics Performance Using Standards-Based Compared To Traditional Report Cards, Jill Ann Olson

Theses and Dissertations

More and more elementary schools are adopting standards-based report cards to report student achievement in an effort to communicate to parents their child’s mastery of standards at each grade level. The effect this has on parent understanding of their child’s achievement is still uncertain. A survey methodology was used in this quantitative study to examine parents’ understanding of their K-6 child’s mathematics performance when reported using standards-based compared to traditional report cards. The researcher sought to determine the effect understanding has on parents’ probability of providing at-home skill building activities in the areas in which the child is not performing …

Can You Really Predict Markets With Twitter?, Christopher Plenzick

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I attempt to apply an emotional proxy derived by applying

the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) to messages posted to the

Twitter social networking service in order to forecast the movement two stock

market indices: the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the CBOE

Volatility Index (VIX). In contrast to previous works, I have compared the

results of various forecast models employing different sentiment variables, as

well as comparing the neural network approach to more standard logistic re-

gression. Additionally, several of the models used employ an as-yet unique

sentiment proxy, focusing on the average of …