Digital Commons Network^™

Effective Health Care Leadership Strategies For Increasing Nurses’ Retention Rates In Hospitals, Jennifer Cole

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some health care leaders lack effective strategies to improve and sustain nursing retention rates, resulting in significant operational costs. Grounded in the Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore practical strategies health care leaders use to improve nursing retention rates in hospital settings. The participants were four health care leaders from California hospitals selected through purposive sampling based on their experience implementing successful retention strategies. Data were collected using semi structured interviews, and data triangulation was completed by utilizing the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, California state nursing board reports, and a professional nursing …

A Tale Of Two Faiths: Contemporary Protestantism In The Spanish-Speaking Catholic World, Jackson B. Mitchell

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the shifting religious landscape of the Spanish-speaking Catholic world through the lens of Protestant growth, particularly Pentecostal and Evangelical movements. Beginning with a historical account of Spain’s Catholic hegemony and its colonial export of Catholicism to Latin America, the study traces how Latin America’s religious identity has gradually diverged from its Spanish roots. Over the past half-century, Protestantism has grown rapidly across Latin America, challenging Catholic dominance and reshaping the region’s spiritual and social fabric.

The thesis then turns back to Spain, where rising immigration from Latin America and changing cultural dynamics have facilitated the reintroduction of …

Supply Chain Innovation: A Framework Of Public Procurement As A Demand-Side Innovation Driver, Peter Adjei-Bamfo, Hadrian Geri Djajadikerta, Ferry Jie, Kerry Brown, Reza Kiani Mavi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: Much of the supply chain innovation (SCI) literature has focused on innovation as driven by supply-side factors that often lead to incremental product changes. Such marginal innovation outcomes make suppliers less responsive to government buyers’ innovation needs for addressing societal challenges. Building on this observation, this article conceptualises how a demand-side innovation driver, namely public procurement, influences SCI radically and incrementally from downstream. Design/methodology/approach Employing the conceptual research approach and following established guidelines for building theory and conceptual development in management and supply chain research, we re-examine the SCI literature for existing assumptions about government innovation procurement and explain …

Lifesaving Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Pilot Evaluation Of A Targeted Educational Intervention To Improve Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Provision In Volunteer Surf Lifesavers, David Reid, Katie M. Dixon, Leesa Equid, Chris Jacobson, Jasmin C. Lawes, Tracey Hare-Boyd, Andrew Chubb, Michelle Murphy, Kane Treloar, Pamela Simon, Ned Douglas

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Approximately 26,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in Australia each year, and only 13% of patients survive their event and return home. Survival variability from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests can be explained by a range of factors. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) education quality-improvement programs focusing on identified elements of basic life support provision in concert with resuscitation system interventions have been associated with significant improvements in survival after cardiac arrest. Surf Life Saving Australia members respond to approximately 65 cardiac arrests per year in the community while on duty and have successfully resuscitated many beachgoers over the years. In addition to this, …

Challenging Magicians’ Intuitive Insights: The Role Of Audience Participation In Experiencing A Magic Trick., Radoslaw Wincza, Gustav Kuhn

School of Psychology

Magic is a performance art that relies on tricking the spectator’s mind into experiencing things that seem impossible. Experience in performing these tricks in front of live audiences provides magicians valuable insights into how spectators experience such tricks. However, most of these assumptions have not been empirically tested. Three widely held assumptions were selected: active participation increases the sense of wonder that participants experience, naming a card feels freer to the participant than physically selecting a card from a deck, and a trick that happens in the spectator’s hand is more impressive than if it happens elsewhere. To validate those …

The Simca Study Protocol: Factors Influencing The Implementation Of The Midwifery Continuity Of Carer (Mcoc) Model Of Care In Nhs Maternity Care In England: A Mixed Methods Cross Case Analysis Involving Clinicians, Women And Policy Makers [Version 2; Peer Review: 3 Approved], Rebecca Milton, Susan Channon, Julia Sanders, Sara Kenyon, Aimee Middlemiss, Heather Strange, Kate Davies, Lena Choudary-Salter, Susan Barry, Tina Prendeville, Aled Jones

School of Nursing and Midwifery

BackgroundDuring pregnancy, labour and early motherhood, most women in the UK receive care from different midwives. The National Health Service (NHS) policy change in England sought to introduce a model of care whereby each woman is cared for by the same midwife throughout antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal periods, supported by a small team of midwives to cover off-duty periods. This model is called the Midwifery Continuity of Carer (MCoC). The aim of this study is proposes to evaluate the implementation and delivery of MCoC across England, aiming to better understand the factors that result in different rates of progress with …

Best Practices To Expand Funding For Assisted-Living Facilities In Mississippi., Melissa Darlene Mason

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Background: Insufficient Medicaid reimbursement threatens the financial stability and quality of care in assisted-living facilities (ALFs). Fragmented funding, rising costs, and the absence of federal standards exacerbate financial challenges, highlighting the need for sustainable funding solutions. Purpose: This integrative review was conducted to examine Medicaid reimbursement challenges and to explore best practices for enhancing financial sustainability in ALFs through innovative funding strategies, alternative payment models, and policy reforms. Method: Using the Johns Hopkins evidence-based practice model, peer-reviewed literature from 2020–2025 was analyzed through the Donabedian model of healthcare quality to assess how Medicaid funding impacts care delivery and resident outcomes. …

Work-Life Balance Conflicts Parents Of Early Adolescents Faced During Covid-19 Lockdowns, Rodney Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Measures such as social distancing and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic meant parents balanced their roles as educators, tech support, and employees in shared home offices. This qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the work-life balance conflicts parents of early adolescents faced during the COVID-19 lockdowns, focusing on how parents managed the challenges of pandemic restrictions and their strategies for coping with cognitive, emotional, and physical fatigue for themselves and their families. This study was guided by the transactional theory of stress and coping. Twelve female parents were virtually interviewed, selected based on their having early adolescent children at home, …

African American Men’S Experiences In Mental Health Treatment Services In Rural Mississippi, Kimberly Jenkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental health disorders affect African American men similarly compared to their racial/ethnic counterparts. The problem is African American men do not access and engage in mental health services continuously, which affects their mental health outcomes. Grounded in ecological systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore experiences of African American men, who have accessed and engaged in mental health treatment services. This study had three research questions focused on African American men’s perspectives on mental health services, personal experiences with mental health providers, and barriers they encountered when engaging in services. Participants were eight young adult African …

Reimagining Faculty Retention And Governance In Regional Public Universities, Cabdulcasiis Maxamed Ciise

Masters Projects

This project addresses the faculty retention crisis in regional public universities (RPUs) by examining how neoliberal governance, characterized by performance metrics, market-driven funding, and corporate leadership, has restructured academic work and eroded shared governance. The purpose was to explore faculty burnout, disengagement, and leadership gaps, and to develop resources that support more ethical and collaborative institutional cultures. Using Labor Process Theory, Critical Social Theory, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior as guiding frameworks, this literature-based project analyzed the structural and ideological conditions driving faculty attrition and institutional instability. Research included an extensive review of peer-reviewed literature on neoliberalism in higher education, faculty …

Quaker Campus, April 24, 2025 (Vol. 23, Issue 13), Whittier College

Quaker Campus

No abstract provided.

April 24, 2025, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Ksu Concert Choirs Present: "One Heart"

Bailey School of Music Concert Programs

KSU Concert Choirs present: "One Heart"

Enhancing Cnns Via Structural Intervention With Xgboost, Cemil Emre Yavas, Lei Chen, Christopher Kadlec, Jongyeop Kim

Computing: Faculty Publications

This research investigates a novel hybridization strategy between Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and gradient-boosted decision trees to enhance image classification accuracy. While conventional approaches focus on optimizing either CNN architectures or machine learning algorithms independently, we propose that intervening in the architecture itself—by strategically replacing the dense classifier portion of the CNN with a tree-based learner—can yield superior results. In our study, we construct a CNN composed of three convolutional blocks, each followed by ReLU activation, max-pooling, and dropout layers. Instead of proceeding through the final dense layers, we extract features immediately after the Flatten layer and input them into …

Teletherapy Modality And Subsequent Observer Perceptions Of Therapists’ Alliance, Credibility And Empathy, Selena Wood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Because of advances in technology and social-distancing guidelines related to COVID-19, teletherapy has become increasingly common and likely to remain an option for those seeking treatment. Research comparing in-person therapy to teletherapy exists, but far less exists concerning differences between modes of teletherapy. This study compared perceptions of psychotherapists in video- and text-based teletherapy. Young adult participants (n =384) were randomly assigned to view either a video- or text-based therapy session involving either issues with weight or family problems. The participants then rated the therapeutic alliance, perceived empathy of the therapist, and credibility of the treatment. Results indicated that participants …

Assessing Relationship Type, Weapon Use, Weapon Type, And Injury In Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Data, Madeline Faye Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This paper explores the familial and stranger relationship dynamics between victims and suspects/offenders in sexual assault cases. It assesses the likelihood of weapon use and identifies the specific types of weapons involved. This analysis addresses gaps in existing research by examining the relationship between weapon type, weapon use, and relationship type. The study focuses on three key aspects: (1) the types of weapons used during an assault, (2) the nature of victim-suspect/offender relationships, and (3) the presence of any injuries. By analyzing these data, the research aims to identify trends in weapon use and determine whether certain relationships correlate with …

The Impacts Of Model Selection On Effect Size Estimation And Precision In Longitudinal Ocular Research: A Simulation Study, Morgan Christopher Ollinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study evaluates common approaches to analyzing ocular longitudinal data. These approaches range from univariate multiple linear regression to mixed-effect modeling to bivariate outcome models, and vary in both overall complexity, and the amount of data used for analysis. Through comparisons of relative model precision and accuracy, the study highlights how modeling choices may affect inference in the context of ocular data analysis. Through the use of simulated datasets based on reference data from a previous longitudinal study of myopia, a total of ten modeling approaches are assessed. The data are simulated under four different correlation and effect size scenarios …

“We Live In A Spiritual Country”: The Associations Among Health Literacy, Quality Of Life, And Religious Spiritual Personal Beliefs Among The Nigerian Population, Rebecca Aderoju

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation examines the complex interplay between health literacy (HL), quality of life (QoL), and spiritual and religious beliefs (SRPB) among underserved populations in Nigeria. Despite increasing awareness of healthcare options, many Nigerians continue to rely on faith-based healing practices due to deeply rooted religious and cultural traditions, economic barriers, and systemic healthcare limitations. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research incorporates both survey data and focus group discussions to investigate the relationship that Nigerians make among these variables. This study employs the Social Ecological Model (SEM) to explore how individual, interpersonal, community, organizational, and policy factors shape health behaviors and …

Of Plural Worlds, Sophia Mason

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Of Plural Worlds employs installation, soft sculpture, and drawing to visually demonstrate white colonial narratives in Mormonism (The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints) since the mid-1800s. The work uses a museum context as a way “into” the work and to talk about whiteness embedded in institutions. The museum installation however is funny; fabric sculptures won't fool anyone as "real" museum displays. The whole show traffics in obvious theatrical role play. The research is grounded in art theory, performance theory, Institutional Critique and scientific reports to create a space where viewers (especially white viewers) might experience the colonial tendency toward …

Matter Of 197 Madison Holdings Llc V Nys Div. Of Hous. & Community Renewal

All Decisions

The landlord challenged a DHCR ruling that found it liable for rent overcharges, asserting the agency acted arbitrarily in holding it responsible for rent increases by a prior owner. The rent had been frozen since 2000, yet the previous owner illegally raised it and later claimed deregulation. The tenant initiated a DHCR complaint, and the agency found overcharges based on the frozen rent order still in effect. The landlord failed to supply rent records, claiming ignorance of past rents due to a lack of documentation from the seller. The court held that carryover liability applies and the landlord was obligated …

Annual Graduate Faculty Meeting [Program], April 24, 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College.

Annual Graduate Faculty Meeting & Awards Ceremony Programs

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Filipino/Filipino American College Student Identities, Ashley R. Pangan

Masters Projects

Asian American college students are often lumped together as one identity and background. Asian American college students, specifically Filipino American college students, provide various experiences that shapes them to who they are individually. For institutions to understand the identities of Filipino students, theories like Baxter Magolda’s (2001) self authorship theory and Tinto’s (1999) theory of student integration are used as lens to provide contexts of Filipino identities. Before providing a space of Asian American students to present their identities, a workshop for faculty and staff is created to be able to foster an inclusive environment where professionals know that type …

Professional Development To Foster Rigorous, Student-Centered Discussions In Literacy, Elizabeth Hain

Masters Projects

This project looks at the gap of rigorous student discussion in literacy comprehension. It dives into research showing the impact of academic conversations for literacy comprehension. The project explores how professional development (PD) can equip teachers with strategies to foster student-centered discussions. The PD is designed to build teachers’ ability to implement Question the Author (QtA) techniques and facilitate rigorous, text-based discourse through Academic Conversations. The study aligns with constructivist learning theories, specifically Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and the role of metacognition in reading comprehension. Best implementation to facilitate the PD is post NWEA/State testing, allowing teachers to …

Just A Warning Shot: Break A Leg, Darius Arthur Ridgel

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Task Analysis And Prototyping, Karlie Caroline Sikorski

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Difference In Clinical Presentation And Surgical Outcomes In Pediatric And Adult Patients With Chiari Malformation Type 1: A Single Center Retrospective Study, Erik Öhlén, Victor Gabriel El-Hajj, Victor E. Staartjes, Pascal Jabbour, Erik Edström, Adrian Elmi-Terander

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Chiari malformation type 1 (CM1) is a common congenital disorder affecting both children and adults. Although pediatric and adult CM1 patients share many characteristics, the differences between the groups are not fully described.

METHOD: A comparative analysis was made of two previously defined cohorts of adult and pediatric non-syndromic CM1, surgically treated at the study center. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the Chicago Chiari outcome scale (CCOS) and radiological outcomes were measured as change in cerebellar tonsil and syringomyelia status.

RESULTS: A total of 209 patients (73 pediatric, 136 adults) were included, with median ages of 11 and 33 …

The Relationship Between Climate Change Awareness And Mental Health Among Adults In The United States, Stanley Nkemjika

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Understanding the connection between climate change awareness and overall well-being is crucial, particularly regarding its impact on the environment and mental health. However, there is a need for more research on this topic, especially within the American context. The mental health implications of climate change are not yet fully understood, and there is a gap in the literature. This gap was addressed by exploring climate change awareness effects on mental health among U.S. adults. The social ecological model provided a framework to examine the impact of climate change awareness on mental health, considering individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors. This …

Stereotype, Stigma, And Discrimination And Prep Use Among Black And Latino Men And Women, Aieshia Brooks Poole

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

HIV infections continue to rise in the Southern United States, with Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM), bisexual men, and women experiencing disproportionate impacts. Although pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective biomedical intervention for reducing HIV transmission, disparities in its uptake remain due to healthcare stereotype threat, felt stigma, and everyday discrimination. This quantitative cross-sectional study analyzed secondary data from the Generations: A Study of the Life and Health of LGB People in a Changing Society (2016–2019) to examine the relationship between these psychosocial barriers and PrEP use among Black/Latino MSM, bisexual men, and women aged …

Working Capital Management Strategies To Improve Private Healthcare Facilities’ Profitability In Southern Africa, Daina Zhira

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective working capital management is a critical business problem that negatively impacts organizational profitability. Private healthcare managers are particularly concerned with this issue because poor management of working capital can lead to reduced profitability, threaten operational sustainability, and ultimately compromise the quality of patient care. Grounded in the cash conversion cycle theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore the working capital management strategies managers used to improve profitability. The participants were eight private healthcare managers who had successfully implemented working capital management strategies to improve profitability. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and public records. Through …

Advanced Manufacturing Of Multifunctional Shape Memory Polymer Composites And Self-Healing Systems, John B. Konlan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The need for multifunctional light weight structures for engineering applications is on the rise. Multifunctional composites are desired because of their ability to combine multiple functionalities into one structure. The advantages of a high strength-to-weight ratio of multifunctional composites make them desirable and suitable for use in energy-efficient applications. Shape-memory polymers (SMPs) have attracted interest over the past several decades because of their multifunctional nature. They have found use in many applications such as aerospace, satellites, automobiles, textiles, and biomedical devices, where lightweight and multifunctionality are key. The self-healing nature of most SMPs makes them suitable for use in lightweight …