Digital Commons Network^™

Undergraduate Nurse Educators’ Conceptualization And Utilization Of Deliberate Practice In Psychomotor Skills Education, Sarah Bundren Tappendorf

Dissertations

Nurses are responsible for providing safe patient care. When nurses lack skill competence, patient harm can occur. Therefore, providing skill competency education in pre-licensure nursing programs is key to providing safe patient care. Deliberate practice (DP) has been shown to be an effective teaching strategy for psychomotor skills acquisition and retention. Deliberate practice is the repetitive focused practice of skills facilitated by expert feedback with the goal to obtain mastery. The purpose of this descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study was to determine the proportion of undergraduate nurse educators who knew or did not know about DP, what undergraduate nurse educators who …

A Grounded Theory Exploration Of Learning To Read In The Montessori Early Childhood Classroom: Using Teacher Knowledge And Experience To Build A Model Of Reading Development And To Examine How Montessori Pedagogy Supports Reading Motivation, Sharra Weasler

Dissertations

Learning to read is one of the most important components of education and literacy skills in early childhood have a significant impact on later reading success. There is an abundance of quantitative research focused on reading, known as the science of reading. However, gaps and flaws have been identified in the research, indicating that an alternative approach is needed to supplement the current body of knowledge. The Montessori Method includes a comprehensive and effective approach for learning to read. Yet, no systematic research has been conducted to explore reading in this context. The purpose of this study was to explore …

Navigating Crises In Education: A Study Of Communication Strategies In Pk-12 Public School Districts, Darian Byrd

All Dissertations

This study explores the crisis communication strategies utilized by superintendents and communication leaders in PK-12 public school districts, focusing on their structural, human resource, political, and symbolic dimensions. Employing a qualitative, multi-site, multi-case study approach, this research delves into the communication frameworks, practices, and decision-making processes during crises, providing a comprehensive understanding of effective crisis management in educational settings.

The research is anchored in Bolman and Deal’s Four-Frame Model, which offers a multidimensional perspective on organizational analysis. By integrating this theoretical framework, the study examines how different communication strategies align with structural, human resource, political, and symbolic aspects …

Answering The Call: Harnessing Internal Boundary Spanning Infrastructure To Organize For Rural District Improvement, Cynthia Ward

All Dissertations

Despite the number of students and the growing diversity of the students served by rural districts, a lack of research exists on rural district systems to support the continuous improvement of schools. The lack of understanding around systems for rural district improvement stands to exacerbate long-standing inequities for rural communities. Using a three-article format and a qualitative case study approach, this dissertation contributes to what is understood about rural district systems for continuous improvement of schools. The first article examines how a rural district organized for the continuous improvement of its schools. The second article uses an improvement science approach …

The Characterization Of Cacna1a-Related Hemiplegic Migraine, Donna P. Schaare

All Dissertations

CACNA1A-related Hemiplegic Migraine (HM) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by paroxysmal episodes of hemiparesis/hemiplegia with or without headache. The presentation of CACNA1A-related HM can range from mild HM events in neurotypical individuals to life-threatening prolonged periods of hemiplegia with cerebral edema in individuals with baseline neurodevelopmental features. CACNA1A-related HM has been studied extensively in its familial form, Familial Hemiplegic Migraine type 1 (FHM1), but the often more severe disorder attributed to de novo variants, Sporadic Hemiplegic Migraine type 1 (SHM1), has had limited description. Genetic resources and the 3^rd edition of the International Classification of …

Reducing Greenhouse Gases Through Food Waste Reduction: A Literature Review Of Programs And Behavior Change, Schafer Flowerday

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly contribute to climate change. Methane is a potent GHG emitted in landfills as organic material breaks down. Food waste is the single most common item disposed of in Lincoln’s Bluff Road Landfill (LTU, 2022). As such, food waste disposal in the landfill is a preventable issue that could dramatically reduce GHG emissions in Lincoln. This project seeks to determine what barriers and motivations exist for reducing food waste at a consumer level. A literature review was conducted to find what behavior change campaigns and interventions have taken place nationwide to encourage residential food waste …

Current Status Of Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Adults With And Without Cognitive Disabilities In The United States, 2022, Elma Vasconcelos

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Objective: Evaluate the prevalence of non-compliance with colorectal cancer screening guidelines among US adults aged 45-75, comparing individuals with cognitive disabilities to those without.

Methods: This study utilized data from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, which uses weighted and complex survey sampling methodologies. Participants under 45 were excluded, resulting in a study sample of 220,879. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the prevalence odds ratio of colorectal cancer screening among individuals with and without cognitive disabilities.

Results: Those with cognitive disabilities had 1.07 (95% CI: 0.99-1.15) times the odds of not adhering …

Utilizing Morphology Instruction To Improve Students’ Reading Proficiency, Michelle Marie Sweigart

Masters Projects

Many adolescent learners face difficulties with reading comprehension as grades progress. Research suggests that this is due to a variety of contributing factors, including deficits in decoding, fluency, and vocabulary, in addition to content-area vocabulary becoming increasingly challenging. While research has shown the vast benefits of utilizing morphology instruction across grade levels to improve vocabulary, especially in secondary education, it is a largely underutilized area for intervention. This project explores the potential benefits of offering adolescents a morphological intervention to make grade-level vocabulary across content areas more accessible. Through the use of explicitly-taught strategies to systematically break down and employ …

Dosimetry Comparison Of Vmat And Hyperarc Plans For A Single Glioblastoma, Tylor Filipiak

Masters Projects

Purpose: This study compares the dosimetric effectiveness of HyperArc and Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) techniques in treating primary glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on ten patients from MyMichigan Health, Radiation Oncology department with primary GBM tumors. Patients were treated with HyperArc on Varian TrueBeam systems. VMAT plans were generated for comparison using identical optimization parameters, except for the Normal Tissue Objective (NTO). Dosimetric factors, including dose distribution, target coverage conformity, and dose to critical structures, were evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test to compare the two techniques.

Results: HyperArc showed …

Library News August 2024, Research Medical Library

Library News 2024

• BMJ Best Practice
• AccessMedicine and McGraw-Hill Medical Resources
• Best Practices for Reporting Outcomes and Harms
• "Adjust" or "Adjust for"? A Confounding Consideration

Linking Research To Action To Address Unintended Pregnancy In Refugee Settings In Uganda, Baobab Research Programme Consortium

Humanitarian Task Force

The evidence available to support and shape improved family planning (FP) programming in refugee settings is sparse, and little is known about how to effectively deliver such programming to the most vulnerable, including women and girls. Baobab is responding to these questions through two complementary formative studies on unintended pregnancy and abortion incidence in refugee settings in Uganda. The findings pointed to a critical mass of non-users who intend to use an FP method in the future, and of non-users who have no such intention, but are still supportive of FP use. To expand access to FP services using existing, …

Furthering Ascidian Taxonomy Using Molecular Biology, Nicholas Gulnick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ascidians are our closest invertebrate relatives and comprise nearly 3,000 species separated into three orders: Aplousobranchia (most speciose), Stolidobranchia, and Phlebobranchia (least speciose). Ascidians can be classified as either solitary or colonial organisms. Species delimitation using morphological characters alone has had varied results. Well known, widely distributed, morphological species have turned out to be catch all species comprised of several cryptic species. Molecular markers can help mitigate some of the issues presented by strictly using morphological observations, including resolving the status of cryptic species, and accessing the expert knowledge required to identify a species. By incorporating molecular markers and pairing …

Variability In Nutrient Concentrations Across Regions Of The Winyah Bay River Plume, Anne Mackenzie Gossman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

River plumes are one of the few large-scale features responsible for transporting particulates and terrigenous materials to coastal oceans. Macro-nutrients, such as dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and phosphorus (PO43-), are basic requirements for marine food webs. Due to the plumes’ ability to transport large quantities of these constituents, these systems contribute heavily to coastal productivity. This study focuses on the dynamics of the Winyah Bay river plume located in Georgetown, South Carolina. River plumes, including the Winyah Bay plume, are dynamic systems whose structures are comprised of a multitude of regions and features including the source, lift off, near-field, mid-field, …

Review Of Dear Dickhead, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Growing The Global Cancer Care System: Success Stories From Around The World And Lessons For The Future, Edward Christopher Dee, C. S. Pramesh, Christopher M. Booth, Fidel Rubagumya, Miriam Mutebi, Erin Jay G. Feliciano, Michelle Ann B. Eala, Giovanni G. Cerri, Ophira Ginsburg, Bishal Gyawali, Fabio Ynoe Moraes

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Despite major biomedical advancements in various realms of oncology, the benefits of these developments are not equitably distributed, particularly in underresourced settings. Although much work has described the challenges and systemic barriers in global cancer control, in this article we focus on success stories. This article describes clinical care delivered at Rwanda’s Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence, the cancer research collaborations under India’s National Cancer Grid, and the efforts of Latin America’s Institute of Cancer of São Paulo in advancing cancer care and training. These examples highlight the potential of strategic collaborations and resource allocation strategies in improving cancer care …

World Psychiatric Association-Asian Journal Of Psychiatry Commission On Public Mental Health, Dinesh Bhugra, Michael Liebrenz, Antonio Ventriglio, Roger Ng, Afzal Javed, Anindya Kar, Egor Chumakov, Helena Moura, Edgardo Tolentino, Susham Gupta, Roxanna Ruiz, Tarek Okasha, Margaret S. Chisolm, Joao Castaldelli-Maia, Julio Torales, Alexander Smith

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Although there is considerable evidence showing that the prevention of mental illnesses and adverse outcomes and mental health promotion can help people lead better and more functional lives, public mental health remains overlooked in the broader contexts of psychiatry and public health. Likewise, in undergraduate and postgraduate medical curricula, prevention and mental health promotion have often been ignored. However, there has been a recent increase in interest in public mental health, including an emphasis on the prevention of psychiatric disorders and improving individual and community wellbeing to support life trajectories, from childhood through to adulthood and into older age. These …

Deciphering The Wheat Seed Core Mycobiome Of Two Egyptian Cultivars (Giza 171 And Sids 14) By Using High Throughput Amplicon Sequencing Of The Its2 Region, Sobhy S.H. Abdelsalam, Muziri Mugwanya, Ahmed G. Gad, Ayman B.A. Basyony

Faculty Journal Articles

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important food crop throughout the world. The seed mycobiome is the primary inoculum affecting the overall health and productivity of wheat plants. Seed-borne fungi can have an impact on the production of wheat and cause health complications upon consumption. Therefore, for durable and sustainable wheat production, it is imperative to characterise the wheat mycobiome. The rationale of this study was to investigate the wheat seed mycobiome of two Egyptian wheat cultivars (Sids 14 and Giza 171) using a culture-independent technique. The fungal community in 6 wheat seed samples was identified by high-throughput amplicon sequencing …

Green Fuel Innovation: Enhancing Biodiesel Production With Mcm-41 Mesoporous Silica Catalysis, Hiba Ismaeel, Talib Albayati, Hayder Dhahad, Farah Al-Sudani, Issam Salih, Sohrab Zendehboudi

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

In this study, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with a hexagonal structure and large surface area were synthesized via a sol-gel method. The properties of the synthesized MCM-41 catalyst were characterized using BET, EDX, XRD, and FTIR analyses. The results showed that the MCM-41 had a high surface area of 966 m2/g and large pore volume of about 0.91 cm3/g. Sunflower oil was converted to biodiesel in a batch reactor at different temperatures (40, 50, 60 °C), methanol-to-oil molar ratios (6:1, 9:1, 12:1), catalyst loadings (0.7, 0.9, 1.25 wt%), and reaction times (up to 80 min) using the prepared catalyst under …

The Destructive Work Of Restoration: Fishing Communities Facing Territorialization In Turag River, Efadul Huq, Mohammad Azaz

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

Urban river restoration efforts are growing worldwide. Along with restoring and conserving rivers, riverside land is slated for public recreation, property development, and infrastructure for adaptation to climate change. Riverine landscapes, embedded in larger watershed ecosystems and claimed by multiple communities, are sites of contested planning in contemporary cities. In this paper, we advance the scholarship on contestation over control and access of urban rivers and floodplains by analyzing the role of river restorative legislation and water-centered planning in managing Turag, an urban river in Bangladesh. While river degradation in urbanizing regions is often ascribed to lack of regulatory controls …

Identification Of Bacterial Transcriptomic Signatures In Breast Cancer Tissues Using Publicly Available Datasets, Rasaq Awosemo

Master's Theses

Breast cancer remains a significant global health concern, with increasing evidence suggesting a link between bacterial infections and cancer progression. This study aims to identify bacterial transcriptomic signatures within breast cancer tissues using publicly available datasets. While previous work in our lab has extensively explored the role of Borrelia burgdorferi in cancer, this research broadens the focus to investigate the presence of various bacterial species across different breast cancer samples.

Employing advanced bioinformatics methodologies, including the STAR aligner and MetaPhlAn for metatranscriptomics analysis, we analyzed RNA-sequencing data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Our findings reveal diverse bacterial communities within …

Vengeance As Piety: The Heroic And Elegiac Devil Of Genesis B, Alisa Heskin

Masters Theses

In Christian theology, the fall of Lucifer and his fellow rebel angels details the origins of angelic sin and prefigures the fall of humanity. The narrative had a strong literary tradition in early medieval England, appearing frequently in both poetry and prose. The Junius manuscript, one of four codices preserving the majority of Old English poetry, contains three accounts of the fall of the angels, with the most extensive versions being found in the poems known by scholars as Genesis B and Christ and Satan. Much of the scholarly attention Genesis B receives pertains to its interpolation into the longer …

Youtube Influencers In Bangladesh: Analyzing Message Strategies Of Sponsored Ads In Vlogs, Monira Begum

Master's Theses

Social media influencers, particularly YouTube influencers marketing emerged as a growing industry in Bangladesh. However, research on this topic is limited. This study effectively addresses this gap and following quantitative methods and content analysis, this study mainly examines Influencers and brand categories, the narration of sponsored brands in advertising, influencers’ interactivities, and engagement with the followers, and message strategies in ads employing Taylor’s six-segment message strategy wheel, advertising appeals, and message formats. Results indicate that influencers' dominant vlog content is entertainment, as well as technology as prevalent brand characteristics in the study.

Regarding the narration of the sponsored ads, this …

Standardizing Attention Process Training-Iii For A Multisite Clinical Trial Of Neuromodulation, Jessica D. Richardson, Honey Isabel Hubbard, Sarah Grace Dalton, Sloan Davidson, Tiana Maple, Tyler B. Smith, Mo Chen, Rebecca Hiltner, Thomas Jones, Andrew R. Mayer, Orrin Myers, Cassandra Nelson, Sarah Pirio-Richardson, Cidney Robertson-Benta, Scott R. Sponheim, Joel Upston, Lindsay Worth, Nicholas Davenport, Davin K. Quinn

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

Introduction

The Control Network Neuromodulation to Enhance Cognitive Training in Complex Traumatic Brain Injury (CONNECT-TBI) study is an ongoing randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled multisite clinical trial to determine the enhancing effects of noninvasive neuromodulation when paired with cognitive training in military participants (Veterans and active duty) with mild TBI. Attention Process Training-III (APT-III) was selected for its strong evidence base, manualized procedures, and computerized program. However, many aspects of APT-III that make it ideal for personalization make it less ideal for reliable implementation across participants, clinicians/technicians, and sites. The purpose of this feature article is to highlight APT-III procedures that require …

Christian School Leaders’ Perspectives On Identifying And Hiring High-Quality Teachers, Alison Johnson, Rian R. Djita, Lynn E. Swaner

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Teacher quality is one of the most important factors influencing a student’s educational outcomes, yet scant research has examined teacher hiring and quality in Protestant Christian schools. In this qualitative work, we thematically analyze interviews about Christian schools’ teacher hiring practices with a group of 12 leaders from 10 member schools in the Association of Christian Schools International. We find that these 10 schools generally follow a standard hiring process. The qualifications they seek in teachers could be arranged into a pyramid, where the base—the most fundamental quality—is demonstration of authentic belief in Protestant Christian doctrines. After faith, school leaders …

Applying Emotionally Focused Group Therapy With Collegiate Student-Athletes Experiencing Disordered Eating And Poor Body Image, Emily Wagener

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Rates of eating disorders and sub-clinical disordered eating continue to rise each year, with higher rates seen among athletes than non-athletes (Curry, 2010). Fueled Athletes is a group-style intervention for collegiate student-athletes that uses Emotionally Focused Therapy to help group members identify and transform emotions that contribute to poor body image and disordered eating behaviors. The mission of Fueled Athletes is to create a program that addresses eating problems and body image disturbances experienced by student-athletes by creating a safe space, building a support network which will lead to decreasing rates of ED / DE within the student-athlete population. Future …

Program Evaluation Of The James Madison University School Psychology Students Of Color Succeeding Mentoring Program, Sa'mone Moore

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The James Madison University (JMU) School Psychology Program created the Students of Color Succeeding in Psychology (SoCS) Mentoring Program during the summer of 2022 with the help of school psychology professors and four racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) school psychology graduate students. The SoCS Mentoring Program was created to develop a mentoring relationship between current REM JMU school psychology graduate students and REM JMU school psychology alumni who were practicing school psychologists. The program hoped to provide mentoring to create community and professional relationships while also providing space for REM students and practitioners to converse about experiences that may occur …

Structure-Function Relationships In Neurodegenerative And Infectious Diseases: Biophysical Characterization Of Rna Secondary Structures By Computational Techniques, Kendy Guarinoni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research described in this dissertation focuses on the investigation of the structure and dynamics of regions of RNA implicated in two diseases: COVID-19 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia (ALS/FTD). Both studies sought to create experimentally corroborated models that were used to characterize the structure and dynamics of the C9orf72 repeat expansion and the s2m region in coronaviruses, respectively and provided the foundation for future work. In our work involving the s2m region of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, we determined that the homology modeling approach commonly used to derive atomistic structures when no coordinates are available yields a …

Environmental Factors (Rurality, Distribution Of Prescribers, And Altitude) Of People Who Died By Suicide In Montana, 2013- 2022, Anne N. Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Suicide is increasingly prevalent in rural areas across the United States, especially in the western Rocky Mountain states. The connection between suicide and rural residency is not well understood, nor is the relationship between the distribution of prescribers, altitude, and suicide. Purpose: This retrospective quantitative study aimed to describe the characteristics of individuals who died by suicide in Montana and investigate the associations among rurality, distribution of prescribers, altitude, and suicide rate. Methods: Montana suicide mortality data for 2013-22 was used to describe individual characteristics. A second dataset was created for each Zip Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) level in …

Environmental Sustainability In Universities Of The Gulf South, Carol T. Lunn

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Universities and colleges are uniquely qualified to serve as community showcases on incorporating environmental sustainability across education, research, operations and leadership. Campuses can serve as living laboratories that benefit students, employees and the local community. The Whole Institution Approach to sustainability promotes active engagement of the entire school in a holistic way. Leadership plays a key role in embedding sustainability across curriculum, research, operations and community engagement.

The purpose of this study was to research universities of the Gulf South to determine what environmental sustainability practices they have in place and examine if there are trends related to university characteristics. …

Performance And Enhanced Efficiency Induced By Cold Plasma On Sapo-34 Membranes For Co2 And Ch4 Mixtures, Fnu Gorky, Vashanti Storr, Grace Jones, Apolo Nambo, Jacek B. Jasinski, Maria L. Carreon

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, we investigate the influence of cold-plasma-induced enhanced performance and efficiency of SAPO-34 membranes in the separation of CO₂ and CH₄ mixtures. Placing the herein presented research in a broader context, we aim to address the question of whether cold plasma can significantly impact the membrane performance. We subjected SAPO-34 membranes to plasma mild disturbances and analyzed their performance in separating CO₂ and CH₄. Our findings reveal a notable enhancement in membrane efficiency and sustained performance when exposed to cold plasma. The pulsed plasma separation displayed improved structural integrity, and the experimental results …