Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Development Of An Instrument To Identify The Virtues Of Expert Nursing Practice: ‘Byrd’S Nurses Ethical Sensitivity Test’ (Byrd’S Nest), Lisa Marie Byrd

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop and analyze the psychometric properties of Byrd’s Nurse’s Ethical Sensitivity Test (Byrd’s NEST). An instrument to evaluate nurses’ ethical sensitivity in practice by examining choices of action in ethical dilemmas based on nursing virtues: compassion, fidelity to trust, moral courage, justice, self-confidence, resilience, practical reasoning, and integrity (Benner, Tanner, & Chelsa, 1996; Volbrecht, 2002). Benner’s theory of skill acquisition-novice to expert was the theoretical framework for this research which surveyed for correlations between a nurse’s ethical sensitivity and educational level, years of experience, certification, and work setting. Until now, there have been …

Housing Egypt's Urban Poor: A Case Study Of Future Housing Project, Nadine Sherif Fanous

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Running Out Of Library Space: Sharing Remote Storage To Increase Cost-Savings And Conserve Space, Kathe Obrig, Vani K. Murthy, Tracie E. Frederic, George P. Paul, Leah Pellegrino

Himmelfarb Library Faculty Posters and Presentations

A cooperative project between two urban academic medical libraries, the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library (George Washington University Medical Center) and the Dahlgren Medical Library (Georgetown Medical Center), was designed to relocate all pre-1980 bound journal volumes to a remote-storage facility. This poster explores the goals, process, and results, both financially and physically, of the collaborative initiative.

Professional Ethics: Forensic Anthropology And Human Rights Work, Jana Webb

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Human rights forensic anthropology does not have an ethical code developed specifically for this field. Currently, forensic anthropologists look to ethical codes in different fields. These codes may offer differing opinions. They do not address the specific work and issues forensic anthropologists may encounter in the field. An analysis of existing ethical codes in anthropology and forensic science was done to show which areas of the code were applicable to human rights forensic anthropology. Areas that these codes needed to address were also demonstrated. It was found that there was an emphasis on honesty and responsibility. Professionals had responsibilities to …

Creative Television Promotion, Kristina Quinlavin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The advertising world is a place focused on research, brand identity, and creativity, all of which combine to achieve one seemingly simple goal: to convince the consumer to purchase a specific item. It is often a difficult enough challenge to persuade a buyer that a product is worth her money, but there is one product category that demands something much more valuable than any price tag cost. This category requires its advertising to create a personal bond with the consumer; to welcome it and want it in her life. What is this audacious sounding product that charges something greater than …

I Am What I Wear: The Use Of Dress In Constructing And Evaluating Sexual Identity, Jean Stevens

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This thesis explores different disciplinary studies and discussions of dress, and more specifically, the use of dress in constructing a gendered identity and sexual identity. To conduct this research, I performed a literature review and referenced various social psychological, sociological, and/or feminist theoretical frameworks. I argue that dress cannot serve as any sort of innate or accurate indicator of sexual identity; rather, the meanings associated with dress are socially produced and vary across time and place. Evidence for this argument emerges only after a literature review, as one can recognize a common theme linking the literature, or perhaps a commonly …

Pure: Life And Design In Finland, Sarah Moskaitis

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

My longtime fascination with Scandinavian design inspired me to pursue an honors thesis project in spite of the many obstacles that would have to be overcome. As I began to design a project plan, my research led me to focus on one specific area of Scandinavia. Finland seemed to be one of the most interesting countries that Americans probably know the least about. Boasting one of the best educational systems in the world and an impressive design history, this quaint population of only about five million has completely transformed their homeland since the devastation left by World War II. The …

Ventilator Induced Lung Injury, John A. Johnson Jr.

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Severe physical-trauma can lead to the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Currently, the only known treatment for ARDS is mechanical ventilation. However, if mechanical ventilation is applied inappropriately further injury and malfunction of the lungs may occur, and thus, causing a ventilator induced lung injury (VILI). VILI has several manifestations including volutrauma, atelectrauma, and biotrauma. These mechanisms often exacerbate one another adding further insult to the injury. The goal of this current study is to establish a stable control pig model of ARDS as a comparison for ventilatory strategies that will act in a more protective manner than …

Do Children's Hospitals Have Lower Mortality Rates? Evidence From The 2003 Kids' Inpatient Database, Christiane Labonte

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Objective: To compare mortality rates at children’s hospitals and non-children’s hospitals.

Data Source: I used the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2003. Thirty-six states participated in the HCUP in 2003, which included 3,438 hospitals, and 2,984,129 pediatric discharges.

Study Design: I hypothesized that mortality rates at children’s hospitals would be lower than mortality rates at non-children’s hospital because children’s hospitals have more specialized inputs, from the clinical training of sub-specialists and nurses to advanced machines and diagnostic tools, and may use these inputs more productively. To …

Credit Card Interest Rates: Does Race And Gender Matter?, Brian Hecht

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper examines the consumer credit card market in theUnited Statesto determine what factors, race and gender specifically, influence interest rates available to consumers. Data from the 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances is used to model the credit card market and answer the questions: All else being equal do women have higher credit card interest rates than men? Do blacks or Hispanics, all else being equal, have higher credit card interest rates than whites?

The paper provides background on the credit card market and its growing importance, reviews key literature on the role that discrimination can play in different lending …

Upward Bound's Success In Interest Group Politics, Jessica Yusaitis

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

I examine how interest groups can gain and maintain federal funding by following one successful case study – Upward Bound.

Upward Bound is a federal program, headed by the Department of Education, which assists low-income high school students with finishing high school and with entering and succeeding in higher education. In 2005, President Bush proposed to cut finding for Upward Bound in order to further fund his No Child Left Behind initiative. However, UB managed to conduct a rewarding venture into interest group politics, and the program was reauthorized.

I plan for this project to serve as a handbook for …

Risk Factors And Their Effects On The Comorbidity Of Asthma And Anxiety Disorders In School Aged Children, Stephanie P. Seigel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, characterized by attacks that make a child or adult feel like they are unable to breathe (Shohat, Graif, & Garty, 2005). Currently, nearly 6.3 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are afflicted with asthma (EPA, 2006)

Children with asthma are also more prone to developing other disorders especially, anxiety. The prevalence of child patients with asthma suffering from anxiety disorders is found to be as high as 4.7% (Katon, Richardson, Lozano & McCauley, 2004). The current study aims to examine the risk factors that contribute to the comorbidity of …

Professional Ethics: Forensic Anthropology And Human Rights Work, Jana Webb

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Human rights forensic anthropology does not have an ethical code developed specifically for this field. Currently, forensic anthropologists look to ethical codes in different fields. These codes may offer differing opinions. They do not address the specific work and issues forensic anthropologists may encounter in the field. An analysis of existing ethical codes in anthropology and forensic science was done to show which areas of the code were applicable to human rights forensic anthropology. Areas that these codes needed to address were also demonstrated. It was found that there was an emphasis on honesty and responsibility. Professionals had responsibilities to …

Representations Of Native American Women In Museums, Heather Lauren Knapp

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

For centuries, Native American women have been presented in a variety of stereotypical manners, from the “squaw–drudge” workhorse to the “Indian princess.” From literature to film, they have been presented often in less-thandignified ways and usually in subservience to their fellow men. Another way in which these perceptions may have infiltrated the minds of the average American adult or child is through the tours and displays of the many museums offering exhibits on Native Americans across the country. This thesis focuses on the representations of Native American women in a selection of such museums. With the aim of experiencing the …

Kidnapping Terrorists: Extraterritorial Forcible Abductions In The Global War On Terrorism, Matthew R. Mcnabb

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

For those who have an interest in targeting, neutralizing, detaining, and adjudicating terrorists amidst the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), few tools are more poorly understood than the acquisition and subsequent movement of the alleged terrorists. Rendition is that process by which the body of an individual is taken from State A to State B. It may occur in either a “regular” or an “irregular” form. Regular rendition occurs when the individual is moved pursuant to the express terms and procedures of a given extradition treaty. Irregular rendition, on the other hand, is principally comprised of the rare instances in …

A Systematic Review Of The Methodology Of Expressive Writing Intervention Studies: Examining Location, Vanessa Juth

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Expressive writing interventions pertain to emotional disclosure through structured writing. Despite the encouraging results of controlled expressive writing studies, efforts to expand it into applied settings have been less successful and results have been more inconsistent. One varying factor among pertinent studies is the investigators’ alteration of the location of writing (both within and between studies). The purpose of this study is to systematically review the methodology and parameters of expressive writing intervention studies. A computer literature search was conducted using the PsycINFO and MedLine databases to identify peer reviewed articles of randomized controlled trials of the expressive writing intervention …

Nationalism, Law, Gender And Sexuality: An Anthropological Study Of U.S. Military Culture Among Veterans, Elizabeth R. Gwin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This study looks at the ways that sexual and gender identities are constructed through the translation of military experience into the veteran culture of a VA hospital, taking into account the influences of US nationalism in both military and civilian culture. Through life-history interviews, formal vocabulary association exercises, and informal participant observation carried out over the course of three months in 2006, questions about how the VA culture encourages or discourages certain displays of gender and sexual identity through its policies as well as its unofficial customs and traditions are identified and explored. The emergence of a new, unofficial “uniform” …

A Comparison Of Oral Reading Fluency Interventions: Group-Based Fluency Trials Versus Individualized Repeated Readings, Lynne Gertz

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Reading is a critical skill needed to achieve success in nearly every aspect of life. Students who have difficulty reading in the early grades have a greater chance of high school dropout, a negative attitude toward reading, and even a decreased likelihood of adequate employment. Unfortunately, well over half of all elementary school students read at or below a basic level. Although many factors are involved in becoming a proficient reader, research shows that fluency is one of the most important factors for reading at a mastery level. Oral reading fluency, the speed and accuracy with which a student reads …

The Food Fight Between The United States And Europe: Why Gmos Divide The West, Sarah A. Delude

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have quickly become an abundant source of food, especially in the United States. But as GMOs have grown, Europeans have raised major concerns over health and environment issues posed by GMOs. In 1998 the European Union imposed a moratorium restricting the approval of any new GMOs in Europe. But the United States saw this as a block to free and fair trade and has taken a case up with the World Trade Organization to resolve the matter. The final decision is past due, but the EU has already lifted the moratorium. Instead, it has imposed rules …

Incarceration Of African-American Males: Impact On African-American Families, Terri Barnes

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not Included

Players The First Magazine Dedicated To Young Female Athletes And Women’S College Sports Fans., Stephanie Plotino

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The involvement of women in athletics has exploded over the last 10 years. This project capitalizes on this changing dynamic by creating a prototype of a women’s college sports magazine called Players. No such magazine currently exists in the United States, but I believe there is a market for it among teenage female athletes who are interested in women’s college sports. Without Players, females have only male-dominated publications like Sports Illustrated or ESPN for general sports coverage, or they can read more female-friendly publications such as Shape and Fitness, which cater to an active lifestyle but do …

Representation Of Middle Eastern Culture Through Belly Dance In The Us, Elisabeth Johnson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In light of the myriad misunderstandings about the Middle East and its people, this paper will seek to analyze how Middle Eastern culture has been represented in the US through the art of belly dance. This project examines what is currently known about the roots of belly dance, especially in relation to how such origins may be presented within the dance, and the first exposures that the American public may have had to belly dance through literary accounts, theatre, and design in the late 19^th century and the early 20^th century. The representative accuracy and impact of these …

Understanding Al-Qaeda: History, Ideology And Infrastructure, Sarah Dickens

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Understanding al-Qaeda: History, Ideology, and Infrastructure is a critical analysis of the formation and evolution of the global terrorist organization commonly referred to as al-Qaeda. The work provides a foundation for understanding al-Qaeda’s operations and organizational strategies by detailing its historical origins, ideological framework, and infrastructural installations.

The thesis is divided into three segments, each containing two chapters. The first segment is devoted to a discussion of al-Qaeda’s historical formation. The initial chapter relies on the investigation of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the hunt for terrorist Ramzi Yousef as a point of departure in understanding al-Qaeda. This …

Wild Dog Management: Best Practice Manual, Peter Thomson, Ken Rose, State Wild Dog Management Advisory Committee

Bulletins 4000 -

Wild dogs (all wild-living dogs including pure-bred dingoes, hybrids, and domestic dogs running wild) are one of the major pest species impacting on grazing industries across mainland Australia. In this Manual, the text refers to dingoes where the information is derived from studies of essentially pure dingoes. Elsewhere the text usually refers to the more generic term, wild dogs. The information in this Manual is based on scientific studies, including detailed evaluations of techniques and strategies, as well as considerable practical experience from doggers, Department of Agriculture and Food staff and land managers. Much of this Manual focuses on sheep …

Three Science Fiction/Comedy Short Stories, Jerome P. Morgulis

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project was about creative writing and describes the process that I used to develop my stories. It contains three short stories that I wrote for an imaginary magazine called Creative Galaxy.

Journey Into The Process Of Developing A New Skill, Virginia Mcintyre

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Learning a new skill is comprised of several characteristics, some which are necessary and others which are desirable. An individual embarking on this endeavor needs practice, persistence and perseverance. It is desirable to possess intrinsic motivation which leads to available energy for the task. The approach to the process should be conducted with an open mind that embraces the fortitude required to overcome obstacles and celebrate achievements. This project includes the process and offers examples of how the reader may strive to meet such a challenge. Included in the process is a note on art and artists, background of the …

A Program To Increase Creative Consciousness Through Drawing, Craig P. Puffer

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project assumes that in the development of many children between the ages of five and eleven, a link exists between three observable phenomena: (1) the collapse of their ability to learn on their own; (2) the collapse of their creative abilities; and (3) the collapse of their willingness and ability to draw. Our society holds artists up as exemplars of creativity, and many adults seem to accept the following logical progression: (a) artists are creative; (b) artists can draw; (c) I can’t draw; (d) therefore, I’m no artist; and therefore, (e) I’m not very creative. However, as quadriplegics can …

A Coprological View Of Ancestral Pueblo Cannibalism, Karl Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

As the object of my scientific study, I’ve chosen coprolites. It’s not a common choice, but to a paleonutritionist and archaeoparasitologist, a coprolite—a sample of ancient feces preserved by mineralization or simple drying—is a scientific bonanza. Analysis of coprolites can shed light on both the nutrition of and parasites found in prehistoric cultures. Dietary reconstructions from the analysis of coprolites can inform us about, for example, the origins of modern Native American diabetes. With regard to parasitology; coprolites hold information about the ancient emergence and spread of human infectious disease. Most sensational, however, is the recent role of coprolite analysis …

Who’S Hurting Whom?, Susan E. Murray

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Female Vs. Male Serial Killers: An Analysis Of Characteristic Traits And Typologies, Meyoshia Passion Ta' Sasha Powell

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper examines the various differences between female and male serial killers. The central research question considers whether males and females compare as to major characteristic traits and typologies of serial murder? To explore possible differences, a content analysis was conducted. The major characteristic traits and typologies of serial killers contained in the extant literature were compared to a sample of female and male serial murderers. Analyses reveal that male serial killers possess more generalized traits as compared to female killers. In sum, there is a need to advance more gender relevant models.