Digital Commons Network^™

Sleep Hygiene Analysis & Education Module For Nursing Students, Kayla Jean Sorenson

Nursing

There is a research gap regarding college nursing student sleep habits and education compared to general college and medical students; nursing students are at high risk for poor sleep hygiene and impaired sleep quality due to coursework rigor, clinical hours, and balance between work (for majority) and college social life. There is a lack of sleep education and support in nursing students to allow for behavior change to occur amidst academic, employment, and social expectations. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) can play a vital role in health promotion to impact the nursing student population regarding sleep health. The practice improvement project (PIP) …

Nutritional Insecurity Among College Students On A Midwest Campus, Stephanie Lee Hendricks

Nursing

College students experience nutritional insecurity at higher rates when compared to the general public. Compounding social, financial, community, and policy barriers limit the ability of college students to access healthy, palatable foods in adequate amounts for an active lifestyle. Recent literature, national societies, and healthcare entities have begun to highlight this concerning public health issue, yet literature has not fully explored or agreed upon the specific causes, exact prevalence, and implications of having limited food availability. Additionally, a greater understanding and awareness of this social determinant of health is required to facilitate and identify health promotion needs among this population …

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: Youth Prevention And Cessation Discussions By Primary Care Providers, Sarah Hutton Christianson

Nursing

Youth use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has increased over the last several years, necessitating proactive steps by primary care providers (PCP) including discussing ENDS health effects with youth and providing cessation counseling. The CDC recommends that people under age 25 should not use ENDS. Brief counseling about use of tobacco products is cost-effective and beneficial to patients’ health. PCPs need current, accurate information about ENDS to deliver comprehensive preventive services and cessation counseling to a vulnerable adolescent population. The purposes of this practice improvement project were to increase PCPs’ knowledge, patient discussions, and cessation referrals related to ENDS …

Advanced Practice Provider Experiences Precepting Nurse Practitioner Students, Carly Rose Kaspari

Nursing

Preceptors for nurse practitioner (NP) students are in increasingly short supply. Enrollment in NP programs has increased at 14.5% from 2008-2017 each year. The increase in NP students has created an increased demand for qualified preceptors and increased competition among other healthcare professional programs for clinical placements. Additionally, clinical preceptors, specifically advanced practice providers (APP) often report feeling unsupported in the role of a preceptor. Support and understanding for preceptors from clinical leadership is imperative as the demand for preceptors continues to grow, clinic leadership must understand preceptor experiences and how to best support APPs who serve in this role.The …

Adverse Childhood Experiences Among College Students: Best-Practice Recommendations For Student Health Clinicians, Rachel Marie Ostlund

Nursing

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly prevalent and considered a global public health crisis (Forgash, 2015). ACEs are associated with toxic stress resulting in severe impairment of the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems (Asmussen et al., 2020). Consequently, the ten categories of ACEs have been linked to multiple risk factors for unhealthy behaviors and nine of the 10 leading causes of death in adults (Asmussen et al., 2020). A crucial component to mitigating the effects of ACEs is through identification of those exposed. Ideally, screening for ACEs occurs after the age of 18 years and prior to the onset of …

Emergency Care Skills Preparedness Of Rural Nurse Practitioners, Erika Marie Stueve

Nursing

In the rural setting, emergencies present as high stress situations and can have significant consequences for the patient, family, provider, and hospital staff involved. Many rural hospitals rely heavily on nurse practitioners (NPs) to provide care for the community as well as covering the emergency department. Thorough education in emergency training and skill competencies are essential when taking on the role of a provider in rural facilities and critical access hospitals. When a critically ill patient presents to a rural emergency department, an NP may be the only provider available, therefore, having increased education and continued sustainment of emergency care …

Opportunities, Barriers, And Recommendations In Down Syndrome Research., James A. Hendrix, Angelika Amon, Leonard Abbeduto, Stamatis Agiovlasitis, Tarek Alsaied, Heather A. Anderson, Lisa J. Bain, Nicole Baumer, Anita Bhattacharyya, Dusan Bogunovic, Kelly N. Botteron, George Capone, Priya Chandan, Isabelle Chase, Brian Chicoine, Cécile Cieuta-Walti, Lara R. Deruisseau, Sophie Durand, Anna Esbensen, Juan Fortea, Sandra Giménez, Ann-Charlotte Granholm, Laura J. Hahn, Elizabeth Head, Hampus Hillerstrom, Lisa M. Jacola, Matthew P. Janicki, Joan M. Jasien, Angela R. Kamer, Raymond D. Kent, Bernard Khor, Jeanne B. Lawrence, Catherine Lemonnier, Amy Feldman Lewanda, William Mobley, Paul E. Moore, Linda Pollak Nelson, Nicolas M. Oreskovic, Ricardo S. Osorio, David Patterson, Sonja A. Rasmussen, Roger H. Reeves, Nancy Roizen, Stephanie Santoro, Stephanie L. Sherman, Nasreen Talib, Ignacio E. Tapia, Kyle M. Walsh, Steven F. Warren, A Nicole White, Guang William Wong, John S. Yi

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Recent advances in medical care have increased life expectancy and improved the quality of life for people with Down syndrome (DS). These advances are the result of both pre-clinical and clinical research but much about DS is still poorly understood. In 2020, the NIH announced their plan to update their DS research plan and requested input from the scientific and advocacy community.

OBJECTIVE: The National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and the LuMind IDSC Foundation worked together with scientific and medical experts to develop recommendations for the NIH research plan.

METHODS: NDSS and LuMind IDSC assembled over 50 experts across …

C.O.P.E. Influence On Resiliency And Self-Efficacy In A Rural North Dakota School (Creating Opportunities For Personal Empowerment), Ariel Kristine Schwarzrock

Nursing

One in three teens is estimated to experience an anxiety disorder between 13 to 18 years of age. Developed mental health burdens in adolescents can go undetected and untreated. About 50% of those with mental health disorders noted in adulthood started by age 14 years. Therefore, adolescence may be a critical phase for developing positive coping mechanisms and one where nurse practitioners can proactively impact outcomes. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based strategy effective in decreasing mental health burden. Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment (COPE) is a program created for pediatrics using CBT strategies to manage emotions and promote …

Improving Hepatitis C Screening Rates In A Primary Care Setting, Katie Jean Thompson

Nursing

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is the most common blood borne infection in the United States and frequently develops into a chronic disease, which can lead to serious health complications including liver damage, cirrhosis, cancer, and death. Due to vague symptomology associated with HCV, half of people with chronic HCV are unaware of their condition. New HCV infections are most common in persons who inject drugs (PWID) and chronic infection is currently most prevalent in baby boomers (birth age 1945 to 1965). The purpose of this project was to increase health care professionals’ comfort level and knowledge regarding HCV screening guidelines …

Private Facilitators Of Public Regulation: A Study Of The Environmental Consulting Industry, Dave Owen

Faculty Scholarship

Most accounts of businesses and regulators depict adversarial relationships. In these accounts, businesses typically seek to avoid or limit public regulation or, alternatively, to distort it so it serves private rather than public ends. This article uses a study of the environmental consulting industry to explore a different set of relationships between businesses and public regula- tion. These consultants generally work for for-profit companies, and they serve as regulatory intermediaries between busi- nesses and government. Those dual roles raise concerns that environmental consultants, like many other businesses, will seek to subvert regulatory schemes or will serve as instruments of regulatory …

Cybercrime Vs. Cyberwar: Paradigms For Addressing Malicious Cyber Activity, Mieke Eoyang, Chimene Keitner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bad Role Models? American Influence On Israeli Criminal Justice Policy, Hadar Aviram

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article I rely on the public policy concept of "policy transfer" to examine the impact of U.S. legislation, litigation, and politics on the Israeli criminal justice landscape. The Article identifies four eras: 1. The Great Light from the West - the ascent of U.S. criminal justice as British influence fades; 2. The Decade of Rights - a misperception of America as a paragon of criminal justice rights and protections that results in influences on Israeli jurisprudence; 3. The Law-and-Order Enchantment Period - a time at which Israeli scholars and policymakers import punitive trends from the U.S., particularly in …

Exploring The Effects Of Interleaving On Mind-Wandering, Alyssa Lynn Miller

Psychology

Research has shown that interleaving (a study technique where two topics are practiced in an alternating fashion) enhances learning and memory. However, it is unclear whether interleaving impacts the frequency of mind-wandering. The current research explores the extent to which interleaving reduces mind-wandering using a between-subjects design. Participants completed the experiment remotely and learned 40 bird images from 8 distinct families. Bird images were presented in pairs from two different families (e.g., interleaved) or individually from one family (e.g., blocked). After a brief distractor task, participants completed a final classification test. Participants also completed a post-assessment questionnaire regarding the level …

Pulling Back The Curtain: A Student Collaborative Case Study Of Equity Issues In Colorado’S School Finance System, Amy Jo Schwartz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the Great Recession, a seven percent decrease in funding ended decades of academic growth and further widened the achievement gap between White and Black students (Jackson et al., 2020). Colorado’s school-finance system is particularly distorted and inequitable because of a series of tax-limiting policies which, combined, have led Colorado to become one of the lowest-funded per pupil states in the country (Resnick et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to describe the policymaking context, as it relates to equity within Colorado’s school-finance system and explore policy alternatives to improve equity within the system. The study was designed …

Managing Economically Important Diseases Of Sunflower And Oilseed Rape In North Dakota, California, And Schleswig-Holstein, Brandt Gregory Berghuis

Plant Pathology

Rust, caused by Puccinia helianthi, and blackleg, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans, are economically important diseases on sunflower and oilseed rape, respectively. In order to recommend the most effective disease management practices to growers, management strategies need to be evaluated as new tools are developed and pathogen populations change. The objectives of these studies were to; 1) evaluate the efficacy of foliar fungicides on rust in confection and oilseed sunflowers in the U.S. Northern Great Plains, 2) determine virulence phenotypes of Puccinia helianthi in the sunflower seed production region of Northern California, and 3) evaluate the seed applied fungicide adepidyn for …

Understanding Programmed Cell Death Pathways By Characterizing Barley Disease Lesion Mimic Mutants, Wail Alsolami

Plant Pathology

Programmed cell death (PCD) in plants refers to rapid and localized cell death that occurs as a result of regular biological processes, or in response to infection or injury. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of PCD will fill key knowledge gaps in regard to plant development or resistance mechanisms. Upon pathogen invasion salicylic acid and reactive oxygen intermediate (ROI) signaling responses are triggered that contribute to the PCD outcome. Substantial research efforts have been conducted to identify genes involved in these PCD pathways including the generation and characterization of disease lesion mimic mutants (DLMMs) that spontaneously express PCD and necrotic lesions …

Past Flooding Events And A 400+ Year Ring-Width Chronology Of Bur Oak Along The Red River In North Dakota And Minnesota, Matthew Bruce Schlauderaff

Natural Resources Management

A paleoflood record of the United States portion of the Red River of the North was created utilizing rings of bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.). Emphasis was placed on the flood of 1826. Samples were collected from standing trees and historic log buildings. All samples were observed for flood rings and measurements were taken for 90% of physical samples. Flood rings for 1826 were disproportionately found at one specific site near Shelly, MN. Ring width measurements were taken from 179 physical samples and combined into a ring-width chronology spanning from modern times back to 1601. The results suggest that the …

Patch-Burn Grazing In Southwestern North Dakota: Assessing Above- And Belowground Rangeland Ecosystem Responses, Jonathan Wesley Spiess

Natural Resources Management

Rangelands are heterogeneous working landscapes capable of supporting livestock production and biodiversity conservation, and heterogeneity-based rangeland management balances the potentially opposing production and conservation goals in these working landscapes. Within fire-dependent ecosystems, patch-burn grazing aims to create landscape patterns analogous to pre-European rangelands. Little work has tested the efficacy of patch-burn grazing in northern US Great Plains. We investigated patch contrast in above and belowground ecosystem properties and processes during the summer grazing seasons from 2017 – 2020 on three patch-burn pastures stocked with cow-calf pairs and three patch-burn pastures stocked with sheep. We focused on vegetation structure, plant community …

Rationally Reconstructed And Attenuated Vaccines For Epidemic Response, Agm Rakibuzzaman

Microbiological Sciences

Most of the recent viral outbreaks were caused by highly mutating RNA and single stranded DNA viruses. The availability of safe and effective rapid response vaccines early on in an epidemic situation, along with good vaccine delivery systems, is critical for pandemic response plans. Additionally, immunodominance patterns in the host response to epitopes in vaccine antigens can complicate immune responses to vaccines. In this thesis, using porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) as a model, we have focused on changing viral immunodominance patterns to rationally improve vaccine efficacy. We hypothesized that rational alteration of the immunodominant decoy epitope would remove nonprotective …

Water Quality Observations Of A Headwater Watershed In The Red River Basin And Value Of An Interdisciplinary Majors Capstone Course In The Natural Resource Sciences, Zachary Anderson

Natural Resources Management

Understanding how change and adaptive management plays a role in natural resource sciences is key to preforming well in the field, as well as evaluating effects of management changes. Therefore, two studies were conducted: 1) to determine the value of skills taught in an interdisciplinary capstone course; and 2) to understand baseline water quality parameters in order to gauge subsurface drainages role in alterations in water quality. Overall, participants surveyed in the capstone course agreed the interdisciplinary approach of the class and skills taught was helpful following graduation. The study also shed light on areas that could be improved to …

The Response Of Salmonella Enterica And Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia Coli In Low-Moisture Environments, Jessica Rae Lauer

Microbiological Sciences

The recent increase in outbreaks of low-moisture foods due to contamination with foodborne pathogens has led to an increase in interest of the response of these pathogens to low-moisture environments. In addition, knowledge of the response of foodborne pathogens to immediate desiccation stress is sparce. The first objective was to evaluate the long-term survival of enteric pathogens on wheat grain over the course of a year. Hard red spring wheat was inoculated with strains of Salmonella enterica and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and their survival was monitored for a year. Strains of Salmonella enterica were detected over the course of …

Improving Data And Understanding Of Public Water Supply In North Dakota Through Municipal And Industrial Water-Use Information Specifically Focusing On The Bakken Region 2000-2018, Joseph Connor Cleys

Natural Resources Management

The Bakken oil boom 2005–2015 has dominated conversations on North Dakota’s water use in the past two decades. This study focused on municipal and industrial water use across 83 different use categories for the Bakken and non-Bakken areas of the state. A phone survey was conducted to determine how industrial permit holders use their water. Additionally, water use databases from the North Dakota State Water Commission and Southwest Water Authority were analyzed to determine correlations between the oil boom and water use in municipal and industrial categories, and determine differences and similarities between water use in the Bakken and the …

Scenario Development For Niger Environment Based On Risk And Effect Analysis With Drought, Drought Response, And Population Growth As Drivers, Soumaila Mounkaila Siddo

Natural Resources Management

Niger is a landlock country located within the Sahara Desert and Sahel region. The region is subject to extreme climate conditions including heat waves, droughts and floods. Rapid population growth together with institutional incapacity and poor adaptive capacity can exacerbate the consequences of extreme climate. This paper develops four scenarios for the Niger environment based on risk and effect analysis with drought, drought response, and population growth as drivers. Scenario 1 (long-term drought, ineffective institution, rising population) would result in high risks of socioeconomic and environmental consequences as compared to scenarios 2 (long-term drought, effective institution, controlled population growth), 3 …

The Effects Of Dementia Knowledge On Dementia Worry, Attitudes, Social Comfort, Empathic Concern, And Personal Distress, Alexandria Rose Ebert

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The present study examined the effects of different types of dementia knowledge on attitudes and affective reactions towards persons with dementia. Work has demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of personhood-based knowledge have lower levels of personal dementia fear and higher levels of social comfort. However, to our knowledge, work has not examined dementia attitudes more broadly or differentiated causal relations among different forms of dementia knowledge and attitude outcomes. Participants (N = 334) aged 19-78 (M = 44.53, SD = 16.57) were randomized into one of five experimental conditions: (1) biomedical-knowledge (BK; read biological and medical facts about …

The Receptor Basis Of Serotonergic Modulation In An Olfactory Network, Tyler Ryan Sizemore

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Neuromodulation is a nearly ubiquitous process that endows the nervous system with the capacity to alter neural function at every level (synaptic, circuit, network, etc.) without necessarily adding new neurons. Through the actions of neuromodulators, the existing neural circuitry can be adaptively tuned to achieve flexible network output and similarly dynamic behavioral output. However, despite their near ubiquity in all sensory modalities, the mechanisms underlying neuromodulation of sensory processing remain poorly understood. In this dissertation, I address three main questions regarding the mechanisms of one modulator (serotonin) within one sensory modality (olfaction). I begin by establishing a "functional atlas" of …

Analysis And Classification Of Software Fault-Proneness And Vulnerabilities, Mohammad Jamil Ahmad

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Software bugs are expensive to fix and can lead to catastrophic consequences. Therefore, their analysis and the use of machine learning for prediction are of the utmost importance. Many prediction models have been proposed and different factors affecting the prediction performance have been extensively studied. This work addresses four topics in two areas in software engineering: software fault-proneness prediction and analysis and classification of security-related bug reports. The first topic focuses on the effect of the learning approach (i.e., the way software fault-proneness prediction models are trained and tested) on the performance of software fault-proneness prediction which lacks extensive research …

Sexual And Place-Based Identity: A Life Course Analysis Of Lgbtq+ Undergraduate Understandings Of Climate Change In Appalachia, Brandon Anthony Rothrock

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

LGBTQ+ persons face heightened vulnerability to climate change-induced disasters due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Yet, there are limited studies that examine how LGBTQ+ students, particularly in a higher-education setting, understand climate change in relation to their sexuality. With a majority of studies on LGBTQ+ persons and climate change focusing on LGBTQ+ experience during and after disaster, there is a gap in understanding LGBTQ+ perceptions of climate change in the day-to-day. Particularly in Appalachia, a region characterized by a strong place-attachment to and a collective identity with the natural environment, studies of marginalized groups’ perceptions of …

Can Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Improve Core Features Of Autism? Findings From A Comparison Of Pcit For Children With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorder, Robin C. Han

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Although there is a small yet growing body of evidence supporting Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) as an effective treatment for disruptive behaviors among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Scudder et al., 2019), further study is warranted, particularly with more robust methodology (e.g., larger sample sizes, comparison groups). Furthermore, preliminary studies have demonstrated improvements in symptoms of autism following the completion of PCIT, including improvements in frequency of child verbalizations (Hansen & Shillingsburg, 2016), caregiver report of social skills and social responsiveness (Zlomke et al., 2017), time spent in pretend toy play (Lieneman et al., 2019), and shared positive affect …

Short Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites Manufactured By Stereolithography, Michael John Holthaus

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

The effectiveness of manufacturing short glass fiber composites using stereolithography (SLA) was investigated. Modifications were made to a standard SLA printer to induce a flow field through the resin tank. In this study a 1/32 inch glass fiber content of 15% by volume was printed in combination with a commercial Peopoly SLA UV curable resin. Testing was performed for fiber dispersion and whether the addition of glass fiber would increase the mechanical properties of the composites. While printing it was found the surface finish of the specimens was coarse from the glass fibers. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed to …

A Case Study Investigating Therapy Methods Used By Speech Language Pathologists Working With Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Julia Byers Van Volkenburg

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study was an in-depth examination of the experiences of five speech language pathologists (SLPs) working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) during language therapy sessions. This case study aimed to better understand the various therapy techniques being used by the SLPs through interviews and a reflective journal kept by the researcher. It also sought to examine the ways those therapy techniques may have included creative dramatics. Through thematic analysis, major and minor themes emerged from the interviews. The main theme of the study was the importance of individualizing therapy for students with ASD. Individualizing therapy was supported by …