Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Forgiveness On Sustaining Sobriety In 12 Step Group Attendees, Rebecca Cornelius

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

There has been an increase of research in the area of forgiveness, particularly since the early 1980’s; however, there has been far less research done in the field of addiction and how forgiveness or the lack of forgiveness impact’s a person’s recovery. The profession of social work has a wide array of fields and services, and it is not uncommon for a social worker to work with a person abusing substances at some point in his or her career. While there are many aspects of treating and assisting client’s in their recovery, one topic that may not be discussed with …

Empowerment In Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (Pcit), Marlena M. Hernandez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore empowerment in Parent‑Child Interaction therapy (PCIT). Research has shown that attachment issues and child maltreatment are serious social problems that may lead to risks of child abuse and children developing mental illnesses. Interventions, like PCIT have shown to decrease these risks by improving the parent‑child interactions by enhancing parent skill levels and by decreasing parent stress levels and child behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine whether enhancing parent skills and decreasing parent stress levels would therefore increase parent empowerment. This study utilized a quantitative method to examine potential growth …

Challenges Of Social Workers Giving Mental Health Services To Juveniles Who Have Been Incarcerated For Drug Use, Nathalie Marie Jones

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research examined challenges social workers face when delivering mental health services to juveniles who have been incarcerated due to drug use. Through the use of a web-based survey program a total of ten research questions were examined statistically. The research questions discussed what challenges social workers face when trying to administer services to juveniles who have been incarcerated for drug use and also what services are available to juveniles with or without a mental health problem who have been incarcerated for drug use. Questionnaires were sent out electronically, with a response rate of twenty-seven participants. SurveyMonkey® was used to …

Mental Health Practitioner Stigma, Attitude, And Belief: A Multidimensional Study On Marriage And Family Therapists, Clinical Social Workers, And Clinical Psychologists, Jessica Ann De La Rosa, Ruxandra Elena Tanase

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Existing stigma in the form of negative attitudes towards individuals with severe mental illness by mental health practitioners, has the potential to set barriers towards recovery. A survey of 72 mental health practitioners from three disciplines were surveyed, in an attempt to measure mental health practitioner attitudes towards individuals with severe mental illness, and how their attitudes impact their belief in client recovery. This was a quantitative study, based on two Likert Scale surveys and distributed both in paper form and using Survey Monkey. Participants were gathered through a snowball effect, and consisted of 42 social workers, 18 marriage and …

Impact Of Assembly Bill 12 On Emancipated Foster Youth, Amber E. King

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Assembly Bill 12 was passed into law for the purpose of preparing foster youth for the transition into adulthood and provided extended support services and transitional support up to the age of 21. This qualitative study focuses on the experiences and outcome of foster youth who are participating in extended care services. Key findings were identified in the areas of education, social and emotional support, and living arrangements. These key findings provide the social workers with a better understanding of the difficulties associated with the complexity involving the transition to young adulthood. The implications of key findings have resulted in …

Music Therapy Among The Elderly: What Social Workers Need To Know, Adriana Navarrete-Campos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of music therapy among the elderly. This qualitative study utilized interviews as a means to extract themes from the experiences of music therapists who have provided music therapy to the elderly. Results were transcribed to written form. Qualitative analysis procedures were followed to identify themes and subthemes. Areas of particular interest to the social work profession were the emotional, social, physical, and mental benefits and challenges of music therapy among the elderly. Through the guidance of systems theory and the concept of holism, spiritual benefits and challenges were also …

Thinking Poker Through Game Theory, Damian Palafox

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Poker is a complex game to analyze. In this project we will use the mathematics of game theory to solve some simplified variations of the game. Probability is the building block behind game theory. We must understand a few concepts from probability such as distributions, expected value, variance, and enumeration methods to aid us in studying game theory. We will solve and analyze games through game theory by using different decision methods, decision trees, and the process of domination and simplification. Poker models, with and without cards, will be provided to illustrate optimal strategies. Extensions to those models will be …

Wild Embrace, Timothy Hatch

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

WILD EMBRACE is a collection of poetry that explores the themes of abuse, survival, and fragility. The speaker of these poems, older and distanced from the abuse, asks what it means to be a survivor, and explores our obligation of compassion that, as human beings, we owe one another.

While much of the work in this collection is rooted in personal experience, it is not intended to be read as memoir or autobiography. Many of these poems may have begun as lived experience, but between memory, the transcription of memory, and their final form on the printed page, they have …

A Meditation On I, We, And Consciousness In "Only We Can Pull", Allyson Elizabeth Jeffredo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In a society focused on the individual, how is community formed? As individuals predisposed to the built-in barrier of our body, our skin, how do we mediate between the self and the external? During this mediation on the barriers between our body, ourselves, and the outside world, how is consciousness simultaneously conflicted and built upon? What does it mean to be alive, to be a complex individual surrounded by a multitude of complex individuals? Can we, as a society, learn to focus balance the community and the individual? ONLY WE CAN PULL attempts to answer these questions through a series …

Analysis Of Drought Associated Impacts On The City Of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department’S Wastewater Flow Rates And Constituent Concentrations, Anthony Nicholas Budicin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of drought on the City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department’s (SBMWD’s) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) wastewater flow rates and constituent concentrations. The study utilized data obtained from the SBMWD’s monthly discharge monitoring reports (DMRs), dating from 2007 to 2015. For each report the SBMWD Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) and Rapid Infiltration and Extraction (RIX) facility influent and effluent flow rates, along with concentrations of ammonia, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), and total dissolved solids (TDS) were examined. Even though influent and effluent flow rates were examined for …

Kinship Support Group: Addressing Grandparent Caregiver Challenges, Danya Brenda Cervantes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Grandparent caregivers to their grandchild(ren) is a growing population that is not completely understood. This study explored the challenges faced by grandparent caregivers to their grandchild(ren) and how being part of a kinship support group can help in addressing the challenges. A qualitative research design was used for the purpose of gathering first account narratives from the participants in the study. California Family Life Center, a kinship support agency was contacted and allowed the researcher to reach out to grandparents who were interested in taking part of the study. Seven participants took part in this study. This study concluded that …

Examining Perceived Outcomes Of Foster Youth, Lakenya Cerraine Jones, Sneshia Mekeda Stribling

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study explored the perceptions of former foster youth as a means to analyze the factors that contribute to the positive and negative outcomes of foster youth once aging out of the foster care system. Ten former foster youth were identified for the purposes of understanding how prepared foster youth feel towards aging out and transitioning into adulthood. The study utilized qualitative interviewing for data collection in efforts to gather the information about the experiences of each foster youth. Participants were recruited through San Bernardino County Children and Family Services Extended Foster Care (EFC) unit, as well as the local …

Beliefs About Religion And Spirituality Among Helping Professionals In A Group Home, Dominic Williams

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study will examine how religion impacts adolescents in a group home setting, and how they perceive its importance in their lives. The data was gathered using a qualitative method, and included interviews with a sample of staff members (all adults) who work with adolescents in a group home setting.The helping professionals were interviewed and asked 15 questions pertaining to their knowledge regarding the ways in which their subject residents embraced religion and spirituality. This included their observations as to frequency of prayer or meditation, reading or studying of sacred texts, meetings such as prayer meetings or other ritual activities, …

Priming Cardiovascular Stem Cells For Transplantation Using Short-Term Hypoxia, Ivan Hernandez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Conventional medical treatments fail to address the underlying problems associated with the damage inflicted by a coronary event. Thus, the long-term prognosis of patients admitted for heart failure is disheartening, with reported survival rates of 25 percent. Recent advances in stem cell research highlight the potential benefits of autologous stem cell transplantation for stimulating repair in heart tissue. However, a majority of those suffering from cardiovascular diseases are older adults whose autologous cells no longer possess optimum functional capacity. Additional work is needed to identify the optimal cell types or conditions that will promote cardiovascular regeneration across all age groups. …

Influencing Pathways That Cause Metastasis And Stemness In Epithelial Ovarian Cancer, Alyse Lynn Huisken-Hill

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 35 and 74. With 22 thousand new cases and 15 thousand deaths annually ovarian cancer is among the most deadly cancers with a death to incidence ratio of 68%. With 70% of cases High Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma (HGSOC) is the most common type of ovarian cancer and causes 90% of ovarian cancer deaths. 80% of patients have reoccurrence within five years and only 15-30% of patients with recurrent metastatic ovarian cancer respond to current therapies, chemotherapy and surgery. One reason for the high …

Foster Care Independent Living Program And Adolescent Success, Sherisee Bossett

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The research topic discussed will explore Independent Living Program (ILP) services within the parameters of the foster care system. The research conducted followed guidelines within the positivist paradigm along with quantitative data collecting to gather information regarding experiences of youth while in the program and independence after the program through the utilization of surveys from those who have emancipated from the foster care system. Participants were eighteen years or older. The study included 28 participants who ranged in age and gender. Surveys were collected and analyzed using Qualtrics and SPSS software. The data collected and analyzed in this research revealed …

Characterization Of Influenza Nucleoprotein Body Domain As Antiviral Target, Alicia Morgan Davis

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Influenza is a segmented negative strand RNA virus. Each RNA segment is encapsulated by viral nucleoprotein (NP) and bound by the viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) to form viral ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs) responsible for RNA synthesis. NP is a structural component of the vRNP but also interacts with both viral and host factors to regulate viral RNA expression. NP is conserved among influenza A isolates, making NP interactions compelling antiviral targets. Here I characterize mutations within 5 amino acids of NP that comprise an accessible region of the NP body domain, as determined by NP crystal structure. This region was …

Beliefs About Fatherhood Among Social Workers, Abraham I. Acklin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research was conducted to study the beliefs about fatherhood among social workers. Data for this project were gathered through separate interviews which were conducted using a sample of five individual social workers that worked with children and families. The participants were asked a series of questions regarding their beliefs about fatherhood. Ultimately, this study found that social workers believe that fathers are important and can contribute to their children’s lives in a healthy manner through emotional, educational, and financial support.

The results from this study suggest that fathers play an important role in their children’s lives and greatly contribute …

Social And Psychological Implications Of Placement Instability Among Former Foster Youth, Myra D. Lopez-Brock, Carolina F. Morales

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the social and psychological implications created by unstable placements and trauma experienced by former foster youth. The participants of the study were recruited from college campuses via Extended Opportunity Program and Services liaisons as well as the Guardian Scholar Program liaisons. The sample included individuals that identified as former foster youth and individuals that identified as never being in foster care. The findings indicated the social and psychological differences among former foster youth that resided in unstable living arrangements as compared to youth that were not in foster care.

Building Bridges From Current English Content To An Imagined English Future, Iftikar Saeed Alsulami, Danyah Abdulaziz Aleisa

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Learning English as a second language is a key factor to promote globalization, because the language has spread widely. Furthermore, learning English vocabulary for the fast-paced global business environment is highly dependent on the imagined future of a business major; he or she must imagine in what context the business career will take place: what sphere of activity will be involved, in which scenarios of language usage, and what lexical items will be needed. Vocabulary learning has long been characterized by the use of decontextualized vocabulary academic word lists. As an alternative, this project researches the use of an integrated …

Internet Use And Social Isolation: Exploring The Variables, Melissa Marie Allen

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Internet use is a growing trend in today’s society, and there are many variables surrounding use that can potentially affect individuals’ psychological well-being. The purpose of this study is to discover if the motivation for Internet use has a direct effect on individuals experiencing social isolation. An Explanatory Design was utilized for this study, and participants were comprised of 47 adult males and females. Quantitative data was collected for this study through use of online surveys, such as Internet use (observed motivation and frequency) survey, JongGierveld Loneliness Scale (explored emotional and social loneliness) and The Big 5 Personality Inventory (viewed …

Relational Aggression As A Social Tool Of Choice Among College Students, Donald Patrick Cox

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the knowledge and use of relational aggression in a college population, reasons for use if occurring, and perceptions on the effectiveness of relational aggression to attain one’s social goals.

The methods used in the study were a self-administered survey questionnaire using a Likert scale to measure the results. This survey had an opening statement that gave a brief definition of relational aggression. The survey was administered at a Riverside County community college; the sample size was 42 students. Data analysis provided a percentage-based tabulation of those results.

The key findings were …

The Disproportionality Of African American Children In The Child Welfare System: A Community Perspective, Ehizele Angel Usigbe, Sheila Maria Mendoza

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

African American communities have been subject to institutional and societal inequalities for much of our nation’s history. A review of the literature has shown that these families have unequal access to resources and opportunities, especially in the comparison to the rest of the population. These factors may contribute to African American children having higher rates of substantiated cases of abuse and neglect, as well as the amount of time that these children spend in the foster care system. A qualitative study was conducted in the form of focus groups. The study examined the African American community’s perspective of the child …

Coming Out Of The Coffin As The Posthuman: Posthuman Rhetoric And Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Series, Rebecca Ann Garcia

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In this article, I argue that the vampires in Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels illustrate clearly the posthuman self in its connection beyond itself to other vampires, humans, and non-humans. Learning to co-exist becomes problematic in Harris’ series, where we encounter a “new” representation of vampire. These vampires have come out of the coffin, and their revelation allows us to explore how they can be viewed in connection to the human world and how their transcendence can be seen as a move toward posthumanism, as its particular blend of body and community help demonstrate what the self expanded could be. …

Fabrication Of Polyvinyl Alcohol / Chitosan / Bidens Pilosa Composite Electrospun Nanofibers And Their Enhanced Antibacterial Activities, Kegere James

Theses and Dissertations

Given the current Challenges faced by the increasing rate of drug resistant bacteria, a lot of attention has been shifted from synthetic antibiotic products to natural products that are eco friendly and have a wide spectrum of activity when exposed to pathogens. The main objective of this research was to successfully fabricate electrospun nanofibers from polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl alcohol blended with Chitosan, Bidens pilosa (Both distilled and crude extract) composite blends and invesitigate their potential antibacterial activities agains E. coli and S. aureus. Fabrication of nanofibers was performed by the electrospinner technique which applies high voltage on the polymer forcing …

Transformational Leadership In Action: A Case Study On The Role Of Ngos In Reducing Poverty And Catalyzing Social Change In Egypt., Nour El Akkad

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents the concept of transformational leadership and suggests that non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as transformational leading agencies, have a vital role in addressing community needs in Egypt. The study is conducted using the qualitative research method, focusing on the case study of Alashanek Ya Balady Association for Sustainable Development (AYB-SD), which is an Egyptian NGO directing its efforts towards poverty alleviation and social change in the district of Old Cairo in Cairo. The study inspects the different programs of the NGO using the SWOC (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Challenges) approach that examines the internal and external environments in which …

Glomus Tumor Of Trachea In An Adult Male, Sidra Arshad, Zubair Ahmad, Nasir Ud Din

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Glomus tumors most commonly occur in distal extremities, particularly in the subungual region. The origin of these tumors is modified smooth muscle cells of glomus bodies. Trachea is one of the rare sites where normal glomus bodies may be sparse or absent, so occurrence of glomus tumor in trachea is very rare. Only 30 cases have been reported in the literature so far. In this case report, the authors describe a very rare and in fact first case of glomus tumor of trachea in a 45-year male Pakistani patient.

Biomimetic Calcium Phosphate/Pem Coatings For Sequential Multifactor Delivery, Emily E. Jacobs

Doctoral Dissertations

Many of the most promising strategies for tissue engineering and regeneration aim to replicate natural cellular microenvironments including matrix components, growth factors, and cellular proteins as a means to guide the migration, proliferation, and differentiation of progenitor cells. Combinations of growth factors synergistically enhance tissue regeneration, but typically require sequential, rather than co-delivery from biomaterials for maximum efficacy. Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) coatings can deliver multiple factors without loss of activity; however, sequential delivery has been limited due to interlayer diffusion of multiple factors that results in co-delivery.

This dissertation examined the incorporation of a biomimetic calcium phosphate (bCaP) layer into …

2016/2017 University Of The Pacific General Catalog, University Of The Pacific

Catalogue, Bulletin, Catalog

No abstract provided.

Machine Learning For Disease Prediction, Abraham Jacob Frandsen

Theses and Dissertations

Millions of people in the United States alone suffer from undiagnosed or late-diagnosed chronic diseases such as Chronic Kidney Disease and Type II Diabetes. Catching these diseases earlier facilitates preventive healthcare interventions, which in turn can lead to tremendous cost savings and improved health outcomes. We develop algorithms for predicting disease occurrence by drawing from ideas and techniques in the field of machine learning. We explore standard classification methods such as logistic regression and random forest, as well as more sophisticated sequence models, including recurrent neural networks. We focus especially on the use of medical code data for disease prediction, …