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The Effect Of Patient And Hospital-Level Factors On 30-Day Readmission After Initial Hospitalization Due To Stroke, Emmanuel Akowuah

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Background: Hospital readmissions account for a large part of healthcare costs, especially among stroke patients. Readmission is common among disabled stroke survivors because they often suffer some neurological deficits, functional impairment, and other preexisting cardiovascular conditions. Although previous studies have explored the relationship between hospital readmissions after initial hospitalization due to stroke and a set of predictors using various analytical models, it often remains uncertain which predictors are most influential or essential. This study aimed to assess the effect of patient and hospital-levels factors on 30-day readmission after initial hospitalization due to stroke using the Anderson model of healthcare …

The Impact Of A Division I Volleyball Season On Jumping Performance, Joshua R. Pascal

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has been conducted on different performance metrics in collegiate athletes in various sports, including volleyball. These metrics include strength, speed, power output, and jump height. However, little research has examined changes in seasonal jumping performance in volleyball athletes on a weekly basis. Purpose: To examine how Division I Volleyball jumping performance is affected by a competitive season. Methods: 11 female volleyball athletes from one NCAA Division I institution wore VERT sensors during practices for the entire 15-week competitive season. The athletes also completed countermovement Jump Mat testing on the first practice of the week, with the exception of …

Nine Stories And The Society Of The Spectacle: An Exploration Into The Alienation Of The Individual In The Post-War Era, Margaret E. Geddy

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the thematic links between three of J. D. Salinger’s short stories published in Nine Stories (“A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” “Down at the Dinghy,” and “Teddy”), ultimately arguing that it is a short-story cycle rooted in the quandary posed by the suicide of Seymour Glass. This conclusion is reached by assessing the influence of T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” on these stories, something that is understood through the Marxist frame of Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle.

Health Behavior In International Student-Athletes, Alison Adams

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Context: International student-athletes (ISAs) are a unique population that must overcome challenges associated both with being an international student as well as with being a student-athlete(Bradley, 2000; Bentzinger, 2016). These challenges include the increased likelihood of injury and the subsequent need for healthcare. Athletic trainers are responsible for providing and coordinating healthcare for student-athletes when it is needed. In order to provide high-quality care, it is important that they understand the unique values and experiences of each individual athlete (Unruh, 1998).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine how cultural factors and past experience impact health behavior in …

Physiological Response Of Elasmobrachs During Propofol Immersion, Matthew Levendosky

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Sensory experiments require anesthesia so the animal is immobilized, however fish anesthetics have shown to depress sensory responses. Newer anesthetics may offer similar anesthetic relief, but differ in means of action so sensory responses may be unaffected. Propofol has been used intravenously on small elasmobranchs but may provide prolonged effects if used as an immersion anesthetic. Objectives of this study were 1. Determine appropriate concentration of anesthetic to minimize induction and recovery for animals anesthetized at a surgical plane of anesthesia and 2. Measure physiological response of the pupil to light stimuli during anesthetic immersion. To address these objectives, I …

The Relationship Between Servant Leadership And Teacher Retention And Student Achievement, David Earl Murphy

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This non-experimental quantitative study aimed to determine if servant leadership influenced teacher retention or student achievement and if teacher retention influenced student achievement. This study’s respondents were 145 middle and high school teachers within a contiguous rural region of the Southeastern United States. Survey responses were received and analyzed during the late summer of 2020. Three research questions guided this study: Does servant leadership [high, low] influence teacher retention intention; What is the effect of servant leadership [high, low] on student achievement by categorical population groups as identified by the GaDOE; and lastly, What is the effect of teacher retention …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Principals' Influence On Teacher Attrition, Kellie E. Gebhardt

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Classroom teachers' decisions to leave the profession negatively affect the educational experience of the students, burden the remaining teachers, and drain school districts of funds that should go to students but instead are spent on recruiting and training. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of former classroom teachers to determine the role their school principals may have played in their decisions to leave the profession. Ten former elementary school teachers from South Carolina participated in the study. The researcher collected data using interviews; a semi-structured interview protocol was created from current literature and designed to align with the research …

Professionalizing Emergency Medical Services (Ems): Still At The Crossroads, B. Jeanine Newton-Riner

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In this work, I examine the failure of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to professionalize over the course of its existence as an occupation. I consider how popular culture has contributed to a conflicted identity between what the public sees and how EMS providers view themselves. I believe that EMS has been restrained from professionalization due to oppression by physicians in a manner consistent with how two other allied health professions, pharmacy, and physical therapy, once were. I explore the professionalization of these two occupations to identify similarities and differences that may provide insight into next steps needed by EMS providers …

Factors Associated With Hiv Testing In Liberia: Findings From The 2013 Demographic Health Survey, Miatta M.E. Dennis

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is among the world’s most serious challenges. The African region is severely affected with nearly one in 25 adults being HIV infected –accounting for over two-thirds of HIV infected people worldwide. In 2013, approximately three in four men and half of women aged 15-49 had never been HIV tested. In 2018, over 7,000 Liberians were HIV positive. Increasing HIV testing rates is the primary step to reducing HIV infection rates. This study examines factors associated with HIV testing behavior among Liberians using the Knowledge Attitude Behavior (KAB) model as a conceptual framework. The 2013 Liberia Demographic …

Application Of The Andersen Health System Utilization Framework In The Investigation Of The Use Of Traditional Medicine In Kumasi, Ghana, Pascal Felix

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

There is a gap in theoretically-based-research on the use of Traditional Medicine (TM) in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). The Andersen Health System Utilization (AHU) framework was used to explore the factors associated with TM use among chronically ill patients seeking care from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Ghana, West Africa. Two research questions allowed a focused application of the AHU model. The first research question sought to identify the need, predisposing, and enabling factors associated with TM use. The second research question sought to examine the relationship between TM and perceived health status. Multinomial logistic regression and instrumental …

Association Rules Patterns Discovery From Mixed Data, Welendawa Acharige Charith A. Elson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Finding Association Rules has been a popular unsupervised learning technique for dis covering interesting patterns in commercial data for well over two decades. The method seeks groups of data attributes and their values where their probability density of these attributesattherespectivevaluesismaximized. Therearecurrentlywell-establishedmeth ods for tackling this problem for data with categorical (discrete) attributes. However, for the cases of data with continuous variables, the techniques are largely focusing on cate gorizing continuous variables into intervals of interest and then relying on the categorical data methods to address the problem. We address the problem of finding association rules patterns in mixed data by …

Perceptions Of Physical Activity Engagement Among African American Emerging Adults At Georgia Southern University - Statesboro Campus, Addison Mickens

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Physical Activity (PA) is critical to the health and well-being of African American emerging adults, ages 18-25. Research suggests that African American (AA) college students engage in less PA than other racial/ethnic groups. Few studies have examined the relationship between the collegiate built environment (CBE) impact on PA in this population. The Social Ecological Model (SEM) and the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) were used to show how the environment facilitates influence on the behavior through physical and social factors affecting the behavior of engaging in PA. Methods: The purpose of this cross-sectional, concurrent multi-method study was to determine barriers …

Understanding The Relationships Between Combat-Related Ptsd Symptoms And Drinking Motives On Military Parental Satisfaction, Melissa C. Hinely

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

As of 2017, over 1.3 million Americans are enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces (Department of Defense, 2017). Military personnel, particularly those exposed to combat, are significantly more likely to experience Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; Xue et al., 2015). Furthermore, persons with PTSD are more likely to misuse alcohol, particularly when motivated to drink as a means to cope with negative emotions related to their PTSD symptoms (Simpson et al., 2014). Both PTSD and alcohol misuse have been found to contribute negatively to parental satisfaction and distress (Chesmore et al., 2018; McGraw et al., 2018). Veterans/service members who were parents …

Can Farmers And Bats Co-Exist? Farmer Attitudes, Knowledge, And Experiences With Bats In Belize, Hannah G. Shapiro, Adam S. Willcox, Mallory Tate, Emma V. Willcox

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Bats (Chiroptera) are often viewed negatively by the public. Negative public perceptions of bats may hinder efforts to conserve declining populations. In Belize, the presence of vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus and Diphylla ecaudata) exacerbates the potential for conflicts with humans because of the increased rabies transmission risks. To mitigate these risks, the Belize government provides farmers with assistance to trap and remove vampire bats. In June 2018, we surveyed farmers (n = 44) in and adjacent to the Vaca Forest Reserve in Belize to learn more about their attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with bats. This information may …

Talking Trash In The Big Apple: Mitigating Bird Strikes Near The North Shore Marine Transfer Station, Stephan J. Beffre, Brian E. Washburn

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Anthropogenic activities that concentrate wildlife near airports increases the risk of wildlife–aircraft collisions. Placing waste management facilities, natural areas, golf courses, and other landscape features near airports have the potential to attract wildlife hazardous to aviation. We conducted a 3-year study (March 2013–February 2016) to determine if the implementation of a Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program (WHMP) would influence the bird use of a waste transfer station located near LaGuardia Airport, New York City, New York, USA. We conducted wildlife surveys during 3 phases: (1) no mitigation program and no waste transfer station, (2) active mitigation and no waste transfer station, …

After Decades Of Suburban Deer Research And Management In The Eastern United States: Where Do We Go From Here?, Paul D. Curtis

Human–Wildlife Interactions

State wildlife agencies have regulatory authority and oversight over deer (Cervidae) management in the United States. However, increased urban sprawl and overabundant deer populations have created increased human–deer conflicts. Because of the growing controversy surrounding the use of traditional management practices such as regulated hunting in suburban areas in the eastern United States, managers are now using specialized tools and management approaches to reduce deer conflicts in urban areas. However, this has created new challenges as they try to meet the desires of diverse stakeholder groups. Although deer management programs in urban areas differ somewhat in every state, effective management …

Population Increases Of Large Birds In North America Pose Challenges For Aviation Safety, Richard A. Dolbeer

Human–Wildlife Interactions

There is a strong correlation between bird mass and the likelihood of aircraft damage during a bird–aircraft collision. Thus, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established airworthiness standards related to bird mass for engines, airframes, and windshields. Most standards use large (1.8 kg) and medium (1.1 kg) birds as benchmarks (the empennage and certain large turbofan engines use a 3.6-kg bird). There are 20 large (≥1.8 kg) and 16 medium (1.1–1.7 kg) bird species in North America with ≥20 strikes reported for civil aircraft (FAA National Wildlife Strike Database), 1990 to 2018. I analyzed the population changes of these …

Serum Chemistry Values In Wild Black Vultures In Mississippi, Usa, Fred L. Cunningham, Sherman W. Jack, Amanda R. Deese, Eric R. Wengert, Kyle Van Why, Carla L. Huston, Scott Lemmons, Richard B. Minnis

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Vultures (Cathartidae and Accipitridae) play an important role in ecosystem balance by rapidly disposing animal carcasses and thus preventing the potential spread of pathogens. Blood chemistry values provide a means of assessing the health of wildlife and wild animal populations; however, there are significant differences in chemistries among species and when comparing captive and free-living New and Old World vultures. In 2007, we collected blood serum from 30 female and 14 male wild, healthy black vultures (Coragyps atratus) live-trapped by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services from a power substation in …

Using Bioenergetics And Radar-Derived Bird Abundance To Assess The Impact Of A Blackbird Roost On Seasonal Sunflower Damage, Bonne A. Clark, Page E. Klug, Phillip M. Stepanian, Jeffrey F. Kelly

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Methods aimed at reducing avian damage to agricultural crops are routinely implemented in situations where efficacy can be assessed by quantifying blackbird (Icteridae) abundance relative to environmental variables and extrapolating to ensuing crop damage. Concomitantly, Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR) data may have potential to enhance crop damage mitigation through improved monitoring of nuisance wildlife populations. We used WSR to derive daily abundance estimates of blackbirds at a fall roost in North Dakota, USA from 2012 to 2019. We integrated these estimates with previously developed bioenergetics-economic models to estimate local sunflower (Helianthus annuus) damage. The greatest losses usually occurred …

Viewing Bornean Human–Elephant Conflicts Through An Environmental Justice Lens, Elena C. Rubino, Christopher Serenari, Nurzhafarina Othman, Marc Ancrenaz, Fauzie Sarjono, Eddie Ahmad

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Sabah, on the northeastern corner of Borneo, is concurrently Malaysia’s largest producer of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and home to the endangered Bornean elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis; elephants). Concomitantly, Sabah has been experiencing increasing and unsustainable human–elephant conflicts (HECs), which have not been thoroughly investigated from a human dimensions standpoint. To address this void, in March 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 37 villagers located in the Sabah districts of Lahad Datu, Tawau, and Telupid to investigate villager cognitions regarding elephants, behaviors toward elephants, the formal and informal village institutions employed to mediate HECs, and the …

Enabling The Best Interests Factors, Adrián E. Alvarez

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

For over a century, state courts and other child welfare agencies in the United States have been applying the “best interests of the child standard” to all decision-making concerning children. The standard is also enshrined within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)—a treaty that every nation in the world has ratified except the United States. Notwithstanding its widespread adoption in family law, the standard is, with only a few exceptions, noticeably missing from American laws and policies pertaining to children in the immigration system.

There is a rich literature arguing that children should enjoy special …

Gig Workers As Essential Workers: How To Correct The Gig Economy Beyond The Covid-19 Pandemic, Miriam A. Cherry, Ana Santos Rutschman

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, estimates suggest that approximately forty percent of U.S. workers shifted to working remotely from home. But for many gig workers, who performed grocery shopping for Instacart, delivered food and restaurant meals for DoorDash, or who picked up and delivered packages for Shipt, they were working in person and busier than ever. In fact, many of these gig jobs were considered "essential work," and the rules of state lockdowns across the country classified gig workers as "essential workers."

Paid by the task, and managed by algorithms that can automatically deactivate …

Elevating Physician-Patient Relationships In The Shadow Of Metric Mania, Benjamin Sundholm

Faculty Publications

Today, medical and health institutions devote significant time and resources to documenting, measuring, and reporting various metrics. These metrics are used to improve various aspects of care, from efficiency and quality to safety and access. Unfortunately, too often, medical and health institutions overemphasize metrics that are easily captured but too simplistic. As a result, insufficient attention is devoted to crucial, albeit complex and difficult to measure, facets of care. Physician-patient relationships are among the primary casualties resulting from the widespread penchant for overly simplistic metrics. This Article develops a strategy for improving such relationships. I suggest that enhancing physicians' interpersonal …

The Power Of A Positive Tweet, Patricia G. Montana

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

I am not naively suggesting that all we need are more positive tweets to solve the inequity problems that still plague many law schools’ treatment and advancement of legal writing faculty. But I do wonder whether more positive tweets from administrators, tenured colleagues, and others can help (and more instantaneously) spread positive feelings, heal past harms, build relationships, forge new connections, and ultimately help create more opportunities for success.

Economic Analysis Of Jewish Law, Keith Sharfman

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Like any legal system, Jewish law is amenable to economic analysis, both positive and normative. Economic analysis can help to explain how and why the various rules comprising Jewish law arose and persisted over time. It also can facilitate a direct assessment of Jewish law on the merits. In practice, however, it is a mainly positive economic analysis of Jewish law that scholars have emphasized, while normative analysis has, for the most part, been underemphasized.

Take, for example, the application of law and economics to biblical exegesis. The legal-economic work in this field has been largely descriptive rather than …

Genetic Alterations In B Cell Lymphoma Subtypes As Potential Biomarkers For Noninvasive Diagnosis, Prognosis, Therapy, And Disease Monitoring, Esra Esmeray, Can Küçük

Turkish Journal of Biology

Neoplastic transformation of germinal center B (GCB) cells may give rise to a variety of different B cell lymphoma subtypes, most of which show substantial heterogeneity in terms of genetic alterations and clinical features. The mutations observed in cancer-related genes in GCB cells are related to abnormalities in the immunogenetic mechanisms associated with germinal center reaction. Recent studies have rapidly identified genomic alterations in B cell lymphomas that may be useful for better subclassification, noninvasive diagnosis, and prediction of response to therapy. The WHO recognizes different lymphoma subsets classified within 2 major categories of B cell lymphoma: Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) …

The Effect Of R547, A Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor, On Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Death, Betül Hacioğlu, Gökhan Kuş, Hati̇ce Mehtap Kutlu, Selda Kabadere

Turkish Journal of Biology

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third main cause of cancer-related death. Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and their cyclin partners regulate the cell cycle. Since inhibition of CDKs gives some guiding ideas for cancer studies, we aimed to determine the possible effects of R547, a cyclin kinase 1-2-4 inhibitor, on proliferation and apoptotic mechanisms of Hep G2 cells (human) and H-4- II-E cells derived from rat HCC. We determined in vitro survival rates with MTT assay, apoptosis with flow cytometry, morphological changes with confocal microscopy, and ultrastructural changes by transmission electron microscopy. Cisplatin was used as a positive control. After 24 h …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Biology

No abstract provided.

Oncogenic And Tumor Suppressor Function Of Meis And Associated Factors, Bi̇rkan Gi̇rgi̇n, Medi̇ne Karadağ Alpaslan, Fati̇h Kocabaş

Turkish Journal of Biology

MEIS proteins are historically associated with tumorigenesis, metastasis, and invasion in cancer. MEIS and associated PBXHOX proteins may act as tumor suppressors or oncogenes in different cellular settings. Their expressions tend to be misregulated in various cancers. Bioinformatic analyses have suggested their upregulation in leukemia/lymphoma, thymoma, pancreas, glioma, and glioblastoma, and downregulation in cervical, uterine, rectum, and colon cancers. However, every cancer type includes, at least, a subtype with high MEIS expression. In addition, studies have highlighted that MEIS proteins and associated factors may function as diagnostic or therapeutic biomarkers for various diseases. Herein, MEIS proteins and associated factors in …

Expression Pattern Of Olfactory Receptor Genes In Human Cumulus Cells As An Indicator For Competent Oocyte Selection, Neda Daei-Farshbaf, Reza Aflatoonian, Fatemeh-Sadat Amjadi, Sara Taleahmad, Mahnaz Ashrafi, Mehrdad Bakhtiyari

Turkish Journal of Biology

Odorant or olfactory receptors are mainly localized in the olfactory epithelium for the perception of different odors. Interestingly, many ectopic olfactory receptors with low expression levels have recently been found in nonolfactory tissues to involve in local functions. Therefore, we investigated the probable role of the olfactory signaling pathway in the surrounding microenvironment of oocyte. This study included 22 women in intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle. The expression of olfactory target molecules in cumulus cells surrounding the growing and mature oocytes was evaluated by Western blotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, integrated bioinformatics analyses were carried out and 6 ectopic …