Digital Commons Network^™

Fayol's Unity Of Direction Principle Implemented In The Gospel Baptist Church Of America, Sam F. Aung

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There are many Myanmar churches in the USA, and many of them are based on their ethnicities. Since many are working classes, some church members have difficulty attending church worship services and participating in other church activities. This negatively impacts the Gospel Baptist Church of America (GBCA) church's mission, vision, and goals to implement them every year. The leadership team and their management skills at Gospel Baptist Church must address and find solutions for the issues so that members cannot perform their character as followers of Jesus Christ in the church. This praxis program helps the author implement the management …

Tell Them We Were Bees, Diamond L. Garrett

Masters Theses

Tell Them We Were Bees is composed of 55 poems. The thesis uses different poetic forms and a variety of literary and rhetoric devices to facilitate the imagery of bees including but not limited to their functions and how they are perceived. The symbolism of bees and nature used throughout in analogies and metaphors represent the experiences of African Americans and women in the society and culture of the United States. The thesis will draw on aspects of racism: such as the system that continues to uplift racism, micro aggressive experiences, internalized racism, colorism, hate crimes, and other personal experiences …

Be(D) Fast For Faster Screening, Allison Goshorn, Alaine Schauer

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Local Structure Of Zinc-Indium-Tin Oxide Films Via Grazing-Incidence X-Ray Pair-Distribution Functions And Theoretical Methods, G. B. González, C. J. Benmore, Julia E. Medvedeva, J. S. Okasinski, C. Riegger, O. Medina, M. M. Stulajter, T. Bsaibes, G. Cardenas, S. Cone, K. Edlund, M. Osorio, T. Holmes, I. Zhuravlev

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

A detailed experimental and theoretical study on the local (r ≤ 4.5 Å) atomic structure of amorphous and crystalline zinc-indium-tin oxide (ZITO) thin films using grazing-incidence x-ray Pair-Distribution Functions (PDFs), ab initio Molecular Dynamics (MD), and Empirical Potential Structure Refinement (EPSR) Monte Carlo simulations is presented. High-energy synchrotron x rays, a two-dimensional detector, and different incident angles were used to probe the depth uniformity of five (ZnO)0.15 (In2O3)0.70 (SnO2)0.15 films that were deposited via pulsed-laser deposition at growth temperatures (TG) ranging from 25 to 300 °C. Films deposited at TG ≤ 150 °C were amorphous. The partially crystalline (TG = …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Reading Teachers Instructing Students With Diverse Needs Using The Mcgraw Hill Direct Instruction Programs, Kyle Phillip Ford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study is to understand the experiences of reading teachers instructing students with diverse needs using the McGraw Hill Direct Instruction programs in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms during the first three years of the district-wide implementation in a large school district in Florida. Instructing students with diverse needs using the McGraw Hill Direct Instruction programs is generally defined as using either McGraw Hill’s Corrective Reading or Reading Mastery program to teach students with reading deficiencies. The theories that guided this study were Bandura’s social cognitive and self-efficacy theories. The central research question was “What …

Improving Management Of Suicidality Within An Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Program Through Standardization Of A Suicide Rating Scale Among Clinical Staff Members: An Evidenced-Based Practice Project, Nicole Neale

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Standardization of suicide assessment protocols is essential for maintaining standards of care and optimizing patient safety. However, many healthcare organizations lack a universal protocol for suicide assessment, likely due to the absence of a gold-standard method or tool. This evidence- based practice project aims to enhance the accuracy and consistency of suicide assessments for individuals diagnosed with eating disorders as well as other mental health disorders, ultimately improving patient safety measures and outcomes within an eating disorder treatment center. This project includes a thorough literature review of suicide risk factors, assessment methods, and available tools, followed by the education and …

Restoring The Restoration: Sidney Rigdon And The American Quest For Primitive Christianity, Bradley Alan Hart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation offers a comprehensive historical analysis of Sidney Rigdon and his contributions to the religious movement known as Restorationism, which gained significant momentum in early nineteenth century America. Often overshadowed by figures such as Joseph Smith and Alexander Campbell, Rigdon’s role as a theological innovator and leader has been marginalized by both his contemporaries and by historians of American religion. This work seeks to reposition Rigdon as a central figure, not only within the Mormon tradition but across a broader spectrum of Restorationist faiths that emerged during this period. Restorationism, while commonly associated with the Stone/Campbell movement and Mormonism, …

Creating A Culture Of Transformational Leadership Through Implementation Of A Nursing Leadership Development Program, Gina Freeman Yost

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Nurse leaders are responsible for influencing frontline nurses in the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care amid resource constraints and competing priorities. A growing body of evidence indicates that relation-based leadership styles, such as transformational leadership, improve quality and safety within the healthcare environment and positively impact patient, staff, and organizational outcomes. While a transformational leadership style has been proven to successfully drive all organization members to work together toward the organization’s vision, most organizations do not assess leadership style or provide formal training to promote growth in this important leadership facet. This scholarly project aimed to close the gap in …

Cultivating Advanced Education For Christian Faculty In Higher Education Institutions: A Phenomenological Study, Gary D. Hyrne

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of cultivating advanced education for Christian faculty at higher education institutions in the United States. The central research question guiding this study asked: What are the experiences of Christian faculty cultivating advanced education in higher education institutions? The Christian faculty participants' research was guided by data on their lived experiences at private Christian institutions, state universities, or other secular institutions of higher education. Secular relates to the worldly or temporal, not overtly or specifically religious. Bandura’s social cognitive theory guided the study. The research design followed the recommendations of …

Lived Experiences Of Adults Who Were Removed From Primary Caregiver And Placed In Foster Care Before Age Three, Jillian Eve Young

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The capacity to form attachments early in life with important and primary caregivers can significantly influence a child’s psychological development in numerous areas across the life span. Healthy attachments early in life have been shown to be essential; however, due to various situations, many children have trouble developing healthy attachments or experience disruptions with primary/important caregivers. This transcendental phenomenological study focused specifically on the lived experiences of adults ages 18-64 (born between 1960 and 2004) who were removed from their primary/important caregiver during the first three years (even temporarily) and placed into foster care. In these circumstances, it could be …

Women Riding To Victory: Healing From Burnout, Melissa Grace Glanowski

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine if burnout could be significantly impacted in participants who attended the Women Riding to Victory: Healing from Burnout equine intervention. The project utilized a mixed-methods experimental design to determine the effectiveness. The Burnout Assessment Tool Questionnaire was used to analyze the pre and post-test scores of burnout in female attendees. A paired samples t-test was used to measure the data collected from the surveys. The results of these surveys found a mean difference of 5.916, and with the outlier removed, 4.363. The significant p-value of 0.013, and with the outlier removed, 0.01 …

Bridge Over Troubled Water: Crossing The Bridge Between Biblical Confession And Pastoral Practice Regarding Divorce And Remarriage In Unie-Abc Congregations, Marco H. Kälin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Quite a few pastoral workers within the Unie-ABC perceive a discordance between their churches’ biblical-theological confessions regarding divorce and remarriage and the pastoral practice in which they minister. This could induce tension in which a pastoral worker’s counsel is constrained by the church’s biblical position on these issues. In order to diminish that gap, the purpose of this action research project is to implement a redesigned biblical-theological framework regarding divorce and remarriage in training seminars for Unie-ABC pastoral counselors. The project utilized quantitative data collected through email responses and documents provided by Unie-ABC congregations. In addition, qualitative data was developed …

History Professors' Attitudes About Civil War Monument Removal: A Qualitative Study, Natania Y. Piper

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Violence in the United States is on the rise creating movements such as Black Lives Matter and others who call attention to ongoing racism in our country. One area of argument within the discussions of racism is the presence of Civil War monuments (CWMs) throughout the country. Many support the destruction, deconstruction, or relocation of these monuments, due to arguments that they are intended to demean and subjugate racial minorities. Others argue they do not carry this intent or meaning and are simply a memorial to former leaders. Little research exists that explores historian perspectives on this issue. The purpose …

An Exploration Of Potential Gaps Between The Expectations Formed In Local Nursing Programs And The Lived Work Experience Of Newly Licensed Nurses, Melissa Low

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Understanding how expectations formed while in nursing school affect one's successful transition as a newly licensed nurse allows educators to identify curriculum changes to align expectations between academic and healthcare settings to improve the transition to professional nursing. A descriptive-hermeneutic phenomenological study utilized interviews, observations, and journal activities to identify variances between student nurses' expectations and the professional nurse work environment. A purposeful, criterion-based sampling of newly licensed nurses within four and 12 months of orientation identified 11 individuals to interview, observe, and gather journal entries to detail specific gaps between their expectations formed in nursing school and their lived …

How Spanish Seventh-Day Adventists Respond To A Discipleship Characteristics Training Program, Victor N. Rodriguez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The current condition of the local church reflects a problem that concerns many churches in North America: There is a lack of understanding regarding the meaning of discipleship. The local church needs to recover a sense of biblical discipleship to execute the Great Commission and make disciples who make disciples. The purpose of this DMIN action research project was to understand how members of Olympia Spanish Seventh-Day Adventist Church would respond to a discipleship characteristics training program (DCTP). This research project used a mixed method approach to collect and analyze data from 16 participants and 16 members of a control …

A Quantitative Descriptive Study Of Authentic Leadership Practices And Attracting The Millennial Generation, Bria L. Tillman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The millennial generation represents the largest group of the American population, but this statistic is not reflected in local church attendance. Barna Group (2022) explains that many millennials have a relationship with God but are absent from church due to certain customs, leadership practices, and lack of belonging. This rationale is the basis of this research, designed to explore church leadership practices and how to create leadership that builds trustworthy, transparent, and authentic relationships. This descriptive study aimed to examine the extent to which Avolio, Gardner, and Walumbwa’s (2018) authentic leadership practices of transparency, trustworthiness, and relevancy attract millennials to …

College Student Experiences In A Creative Writing Extracurricular: A Phenomenological Study, Jacqueline D. Kunkel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of students at Western Pennsylvania community colleges with creative writing extracurricular involvement and its impact on academic success and personal development. The theory guiding this study was Astin’s theory of student involvement, as it provided a framework for exploring involvement in creative writing extracurriculars within the community college. The central research question of the study was: What are the lived experiences of community college students actively involved in a creative writing extracurricular? Two sub-questions follow, dissecting the student's academic success and personal development. The research study design was …

Lived Experiences Of Ukrainian Nursing Students In The Us: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Katherine E. Ferrell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological was to explore the lived experiences of Ukrainian prelicensure nursing students at a midwestern nursing program. The theory guiding this study was Albert Bandura’s social learning theory as it explains how people learn through observing, imitating, and modeling. The second theory guiding this study was Madeleine Leininger’s transcultural nursing theory as it identifies that nursing faculty must understand and have knowledge of different cultures to provide meaningful care and education to their students. This study obtained IRB approval before beginning recruitment of 10 Ukrainian nursing students from a private, faith-based university in the midwestern …

Strategic Steps Applied Using A Team Leadership Model To Implement A Restructured Leadership Program, Angel Cynthia Gayle

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

To fulfil its mission, an organization must operate effectively and efficiently. The role of the organization’s leadership is to implement the most appropriate solution to alleviate the problems. However, when the leadership of the organization itself is the strategic problem, organizational theory is a valuable source to implement as steps are taken to solve the problem. Team leadership was the topic of discussion in this research project. The topic of team leadership was researched with the quest of selecting an appropriate team leadership model for Christians In Action International Network, Inc. in Tamarac, FL. The benefits and values in the …

Addressing Church Retention In A Post-Christian Age: A Multi-Faceted Approach, Lawrence Kendall Gurley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Declining and shuttered churches in America have become the norm in the past several decades. Congregations and church organizations have witnessed a steep decline while the average age of members and clergy continues to rise. Interventionist efforts to alter the calculus of these trends have been underway for many years in both mainstream and evangelical circles. Only recently have Pentecostal organizations begun to address this decline. The research shows that church decline and attrition, although pervasive, are not inevitable but require concerted and sustained efforts to restore health and a sense of mission to local churches. This dissertation builds on …

Genome And Gwas Analyses For Soybean Cyst Nematode Resistance In Usda World-Wide Common Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris) Germplasm, Ainong Shi, Haizheng Xiong, Thomas E. Michaels, Senyu Chen

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, has become a significant threat in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) production, particularly in regions like the upper Midwest USA. Host genetic resistance offers an effective and environmentally friendly approach to managing SCN. This study aimed to conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genomic prediction for resistance to SCN HG Types 7 (race 6), 2.5.7 (race 5), and 1.3.6.7 (race 14) using 0.7 million whole-genome resequencing-generated SNPs in 354 USDA worldwide common bean germplasm accessions. Among these, 26 lines exhibited resistance to all three HG types, with a female index (FI) of less than …

Delivering Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy For Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction As An Over-Encapsulated Polypill: Rationale And Protocol For The Combo-Hf-X Pilot Crossover Randomised Clinical Trial, Colette Dejong, Mark D Huffman, Anubha Agarwal, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: A four-drug regimen of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is underused, in part due to prescriber inertia and low patient adherence. Although fixed-dose combination pills ('polypills') have improved adherence and clinical outcomes for other conditions, there are no polypills available that combine multiple classes of GDMT for HFrEF. Pharmacy-level over-encapsulation, in which several tablets are combined into one capsule, offers an opportunity to create customised HFrEF polypills with the goal of improving delivery of HFrEF therapies.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In the COMBO-HF-X pilot crossover randomised clinical trial, we will enrol 30-40 patients …

Erratum: Hematopoietic Stem And Progenitor Cells Confer Cross-Protective Trained Immunity In Mouse Models, Bailee N Kain, Brandon T Tran, Pamela N Luna, Ruoqiong Cao, Duy T Le, Marcus A Florez, Laure Maneix, Jack D Toups, Daniel E Morales-Mantilla, Scott Koh, Hyojeong Han, Roman Jaksik, Yun Huang, Andre Catic, Chad A Shaw, Katherine Y King

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107596.].

Antimicrobial Performance Of A Novel Drug-Eluting Bioenvelope, Zerelda Esquer Garrigos, Sunil Kapur, Michelle Leroux Williams, M Rizwan Sohail

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Neighborhood Disadvantage And Inequities In Access To Preemptive And Living Kidney Transplantation, Brandon M Fairless, Oluwatunmise A Fawole, Duc T Nguyen, Ankona Banerjee, Kenneth J Nobleza, Abiodun O Oluyomi, Omar Rosales, Jayna M Dave, Elizabeth A Onugha

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Key Points:

1. Pediatric patients residing in low-resource neighborhoods experienced lower rates of preemptive and living donor kidney transplantation.

2. Household-level factors (single-parent, non-English primary language, and receiving government assistance) may also affect the type of transplant received.

3. Area Deprivation Index scores offer an objective way to quantify neighborhood-level disadvantage and can enhance pretransplant screening.

Background: Living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) generally results in better outcomes than deceased donor kidney transplant (DDKT). Preemptive kidney transplant (KT) allows patients to bypass undergoing maintenance dialysis and is associated with improved patient and graft survival. Studies in the US pediatric population have shown racial-ethnic disparities …

Protocol For Unlocking Alternative Polyadenylation Insights From Bulk Rna-Seq Data With Polyaminer-Bulk, Venkata Jonnakuti, Sriya Jonnakuti, Hari Krishna Yalamanchili

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

PolyAMiner-Bulk, a deep-learning-based algorithm to decode alternative polyadenylation (APA) dynamics from bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data, enables scientists to identify and quantify APA events from processed bulk RNA-seq data. The protocol allows researchers to explore differential APA usage between two conditions and gain a better understanding of post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. The major steps involve input data preparation, executing PolyAMiner-Bulk, and interpreting the results. A basic familiarity with pre-processing bulk RNA-seq data and command-line tools is suggested.

For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Jonnakuti et al.¹

Look, Janie Soupiset

Lorgnette: Quarterly Review of Children's and Young Adults' Books

No abstract provided.

Everyone Loves Career Day But Zia, Leah D. Carruth

Lorgnette: Quarterly Review of Children's and Young Adults' Books

No abstract provided.

The U.K. High Potential Individual (Hpi) Visa: Potentials And Drawbacks For Foreign-Born Students, Nicolas P. Garon

LSU Law Journal for Social Justice & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Split Scores: An Examination Of The Decision To Split High School Athletics In Louisiana, Taylor C. Guice

LSU Law Journal for Social Justice & Policy

No abstract provided.