Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exposure To Ambient Air Pollution And Fetal Death In Harris County, Texas, Amal Rammah

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The evidence from studies of maternal ambient air pollutant exposure (including O3, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and PM2.5 metal constituents) and stillbirth is limited and equivocal. There is also limited evidence of the acute effect of temperature increases in the week preceding delivery and stillbirth. In the first investigation of ambient air pollution, temperature and stillbirth among a large cohort of women in Harris County, Texas, we obtained birth and fetal death records from 2008-2013 and estimated weekly residential levels of apparent temperature and ozone (O3), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM2.5 metals from the local monitoring …

Identifying Risk Factors Associated With Cardiovascular Disease Risk In Lesbians, Sofia S. Velazquez

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of female deaths in the United States (1). While women, in general, are at risk for CVD, current research indicates that sexual minority women (i.e. lesbians and bisexual women [SMW]) may be at greater risk for CVD than heterosexual women. This heightened risk potentially stems from an increased prevalence of traditional CVD risk factors in SMW, creating health disparities between SMW and their heterosexual counterparts (2). Further research into this high-risk population is needed, in order to minimize these disparities.

The purpose of this study was to establish differences in the prevalence of …

Effects Of Extreme Precipitation On Gastrointesitnal Related Hospital Admissions In Texas, Sharmila Giri

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Extreme precipitation has been implicated in more than 51% of the waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States between 1948-1994. With increased incidence of extreme precipitation projected to be more likely due to ongoing climate change, the burden of waterborne disease is expected to rise even in the United States where drinking water is considered to be one of the safest in the world. In this study we aim to quantify the risk of extreme precipitation on gastrointestinal (GI) related hospital admissions by using meteorological and emergency hospital data from twelve major metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) of Texas from year …

Quantifying The Impact Of Laboratory And Care Systems On Relinkage To Hiv Care In A Southern, Urban Environment, Kellie L. Watkins

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Background: HIV viral suppression reduces the likelihood of transmission to just 5%,1 demonstrating the critical link between care and prevention, yet only 51% of people living with HIV (PLWH) were retained in care and 46% achieved viral suppression in the Houston area (2012), with the out-of-care (OOC) population increasing between 2008-2011.2,3

Methods: Record-search investigations across HIV surveillance and care data systems determined if potentially OOC persons referred to the Houston Health Department (HHD) from 2013-2015 (N=1287) qualified for public health follow up. A portion were randomized to a non-intervention group (n=200) to assess the program effectiveness. Participants without a disposition …

Factors Associated With Civilian And Police Officer Injury During 10 Years Of Officer-Involved Shooting Incidents: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Ellen Paddock

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Purpose. Law enforcement officer-involved shootings are uncommon events in the context of encounters with the public, but extreme situations which have the potential to pose immense harm to individuals and communities. Previous research demonstrates that a large proportion of such incidents result in injury or death, most commonly to civilians, but in some cases to officers as well. However, there has been little study of what factors are associated with injury during such incidents, and whether these factors might differ for civilians compared to officers. This study examined the factors associated with both civilian and officer injury and/or fatality during …

How Participatory Are We? A Systematic Review Comparing Women’S Participation In Participatory Action Research, Community Based Participatory Research And Participatory Learning In Action, Magdalene Hakala-Hartman

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Objective. This systematic review compares the extent of participation of women in maternal and child health and healthy living-type research projects based on three participatory research frameworks, Participatory Action Research (PAR), Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), and Participatory Learning in Action (PLA), by examining roles, tasks, engagement, and the duration and complexity of their participation- as guided by the Community Engagement in Research Index (CERI). The review analyzed differences in underlying structure of the studies connected to their theoretical underpinnings. Methods. Ovid Medline, PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, and Academic Search Complete were searched for studies published 2009 – 2018. …

A Strategic Evangelism Project For The Youth Of The Newly Formed South Brooklyn Academy Sparklers: The Indiscriminate Distribution Of God's Four Everlasting Covenant Provisions, Courtney W. Wickham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

God’s prophetic word to Jeremiah (31:31-34) echoes God’s plan of redemption which was there, even before the foundation of the earth. In this prophecy, God declares that “He will write His law on the hearts of men”. God’s law is His Word, and this Word “became flesh and dwelt among men” (John 1:14). This Thesis Project focuses on the first stage of Evangelism, sowing. The membership of the South Brooklyn Academy Sparklers Pathfinder Club, represent the youth arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They are passionate about the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) and the Three Angels Messages (Rev. 14:6-12). However, …

Leadership Matters: The Process Of Leading A Declining Church To Revitalization Utilizing Early Church Principles, Jarvis Baker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A review of current literature that exist details the perpetual decline that is occurring in the local church. Nevertheless, the leadership a pastor provides must not be ignored, when there is an attempt to lead a church from decline to revitalization. The purpose of this project is to assist pastors who lead declining churches to revitalization by examining the principles of the early church, which was a church that was vibrant in the area of growth and spiritual life. Based on questionnaires sent to pastors and other ministry leaders, the project will reveal the need for a practical Biblical plan …

Enhancing Veterans' Access To Stem Education And Careers: A Labor Market Analysis Of Veterans In The Stem Workforce - Infographic, Rosalinda Maury, Brice M. Stone, Nicholas Armstrong

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research brief presents key highlights on recent veteran participation in the STEM workforce drawing upon an analysis of the American Community Survey (2012-2016), led by the U.S. Census Bureau. From this data, the research team examined veteran participation across 49 distinct STEM occupations, which are grouped into the following five occupational clusters: Engineering, Information Technology and Computer Science, Life and Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Supervisor/ Management of STEM occupations. Among other analyses, the research team identified year-over-year trends in veteran participation, geographic distribution, and comparisons to non-veterans across all STEM occupations.

Enhancing Veterans' Access To Stem Education And Careers: A Labor Market Analysis Of Veterans In The Stem Workforce, Rosalinda V. Maury, Nicholas Armstrong, Brice M. Stone

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research brief presents key highlights on recent veteran participation in the STEM workforce drawing upon an analysis of the American Community Survey (2012-2016), led by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Enhancing Veterans' Access To Stem Education And Careers: A Labor Market Analysis Of Veterans In The Stem Workforce, Rosalinda V. Maury, Nicholas Armstrong, Brice M. Stone

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research technical report presents key highlights on recent veteran participation in the STEM workforce drawing upon an analysis of the American Community Survey (2012-2016), led by the U.S. Census Bureau. From this data, the research team examined veteran participation across 49 distinct STEM occupations, which are grouped into the following five occupational clusters: Engineering, Information Technology and Computer Science, Life and Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Supervisor/ Management of STEM occupations. Among other analyses, the research team identified year-over-year trends in veteran participation, geographic distribution, and comparisons to non-veterans across all STEM occupations.

Accessing The Adoption Of Mobile Learning In Nigeria: The Library Perspective, Humphrey Oguchinalu Nwaogu Hon, Ozonuwe Opene Sunday Oos

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract.

With the influx of new technologies in the world, learning is becoming more interesting than ever before. The study was conducted to access the adoption of mobile learning in Nigeria. Three objectives and three research questions were formulated to guide the researcher. 200, 300 and 400 levels of College of Natural and Applied Sciences and College of Social Sciences were the study population. The sampled population was 83 respondents which is the 10% of the entire population. Structured questioner was the instrument used for data collection. It was discovered that smart phones and laptops were the mobile technologies preferred …

Technical Processing In Private University Library Of Assam, Rajib Kalita Dlisc, Prof. Rajani Kanta Barman Dlisc

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Technical processing means library technical services and maintenance activities of a library's collection. Behind the-scenes activities that a library undertakes to process library materials loaned for the public. Most technical services operations covered ordering, claiming and receipt of materials; cataloging, classification of materials; and serials control. Other technical services include the activities related to acquiring donated materials, and repairing and preservation of library materials. I have been studied technical processing of the five private university libraries of Assam. In my studied, I want to study on determine the acquisition policy and procedure about the library materials and through light about …

La Comunicación Lingüística En Español Y Sus Barreras En El Sistema De Salud De Los Estados Unidos, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

La enseñanza del español con fines médicos en los Estados Unidos ha experimentado un crecimiento exponencial en las dos últimas décadas. Sin embargo, los pacientes de origen hispano se encuentran desprotegidos ante las barreras lingüísticas que impone el sistema de salud estadounidense en muchos contextos monolingües y bilingües. Esta investigación descriptiva muestra como, por un lado, los malentendidos producidos por la comunicación ineficiente desarrollada por intérpretes e intermediarios (familiares, enfermeras con conocimientos de español, facultativos con una preparación lingüística deficiente, etc.) tienen serias repercusiones para la salud en el tratamiento de los casos. Por otro lado, el estudio da cuenta …

Scholarly And Creative Activities, Unl Libraries: 2017, 2018, & 2019, Blake Graham

UNL Libraries: Faculty Publications

82 articles, books, websites, presentations, etc.

Emotion Differentiation Moderates The Effects Of Rumination On Depression: A Longitudinal Study, Yunjing Liu

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Elevated trait rumination is associated with and predicts the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD), but not all people with elevated trait rumination develop MDD. We hypothesize that certain emotional processes weaken the rumination-depression link, protecting people against increases in depression. In the current prospective longitudinal study, we examined one such process, emotion differentiation—the ability to identify and label specific emotions. Because higher negative emotion differentiation (NED) has been associated with greater psychological well-being and people typically ruminate in the context of negative affect, we predicted that NED, but not positive emotion differentiation (PED), would moderate the rumination-depression association, such …

The Consequences Of Processing Of Goal-Irrelevant Information During The Stroop Task In Younger And Older Adults, Jessica Nicosia

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent evidence from memory paradigms indicates that older adults can sometimes benefit more from processing goal-irrelevant information than younger adults, however these studies have often failed to simultaneously provide evidence of age-related control deficits. In the present experiments, participants initially studied a list of words. They then received a color-naming Stroop task where neutral words were either previously studied or new words. Across three experiments, participants were given different types of memory tests to examine the lingering effects of the neutral words during color-naming in younger and older adults. The results from all three experiments (including an attempted replication study) …

Drug Overdose Prevention: Promising Practices, Dawne Frain, Rachel Lubischer, Jessica Groeneweg, Lynn Castrianno, Jeanette Harder, Gaylene Armstrong

Reports

This report on best practices informs a needs assessment on the capacity of Nebraska systems to respond to surges or clusters of intentional, unintentional, and unknown drug overdoses, especially in high burden areas and with a focus on opioids.

How To Create A Stunning Video Orientation By Hand, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

This article describes the multi-faceted approach UGA Law Library took with their fall 2018 first year student orientation. It describes the process of the creating a virtual tour experience, pairing it with a hybrid face-to-face event, and assessing the impact of all aspects of the orientation. The creation of the video itself involved a multi-media approach using a combination of visual arts and technology to animate a product that has a longer expiration than traditional video or in-person library orientations offer.

Segmental Contributions To Speech Intelligibility In Nonconcatenative Vs. Concatenative Languages, Yahya Aldholmi

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the contributions of segments (consonants vs. vowels) to speech intelligibility in Arabic and English. In these two languages, consonants and vowels play crucially different grammatical roles. Arabic is a nonconcatenative language that primarily assigns lexical information to consonants and morphosyntactic information to vowels, while English is a concatenative language that does not assign distinct roles to either class of segments. On this basis, we hypothesized that consonants and vowels would play very different roles in the intelligibility of the two languages. Five laboratory experiments were conducted, three on Arabic and two on English. Participants listened to words …

Trash Talk: The Effects Of Plastic Pollution On Seabirds In Narragansett Bay, Erin A. O'Neill

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Plastic pollution in the ocean is a global concern with more than 8 million tons of plastic dumped into our oceans every year. This policy paper assesses plastic pollution in Narragansett Bay and the negative implications it holds on local seabird populations. Also, essential background information on plastic production and throwaway culture is provided. Moreover, the biological significance of seabirds is described, highlighting the vital role such populations play in local ecosystems such as Narragansett Bay. This paper contributes research to the global issue of plastic pollution by observing declining native wildlife life populations, such as seabirds, on a local …

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Non-Performing Loan And Its Effects On Banking Stability: Evidence From National And International Licensed Banks In Niger, Ngozi V. Atoi

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study examines Non-Performing Loan (NPL) and its effects on the stability of Nigerian banks with national and international operational licenses from 2014:Q2 to 2017:Q2. A “restricted” dynamic GMM is employed to estimate the macroeconomic and bank specific drivers of NPL for each licensed category. Z-Score is constructed to proxy banking stability, and its response to shocks NPLs is examined in a panel vector autoregressive framework. The results reveal that drivers of NPLs vary across the two categories of banks, but, weighted average lending rate is a vital macroeconomic driver of NPLs for both. The results also confirm the moral …

On The Efficiency Of Stock Markets: A Case Of Selected Opec Member Countries, Ebenezer A. Olubiyi, Peter O. Olopade

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

The study investigates the stock market efficiency of selected OPEC member countries within the context of random walk hypothesis and volatility approaches using monthly data on stock market indices from January, 2005 to April, 2016. Parametric (variance ratio: homoskedastic and heteroskedastic martingale), nonparametric (the Wright ranks and scores) tests and ARCHtype estimation are performed. Results of both parametric and nonparametric tests indicate that only Qatar’s stock market is weak-form efficient. The volatility results suggest that monthly stock returns of OPEC countries are volatile, with Qatar being most volatile and shocks to volatility of stock returns are asymmetric. The implications of …

A Predictive Model For Inflation In Nigeria, Nse S. Udoh, Anietie S. Isaiah

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

The study estimates a dynamic model using quarterly data spanning 1995 to 2016. Four dynamic models: level lagged variables, differenced lagged variables, log-transformed lagged variables and differenced log-transformed lagged variables were considered. The best predictive model was selected based on the Schwarz Information Criterion (SIC) value. From the empirical results, the level form models performed better than the differenced form models. On the basis of model parsimony, the level lagged model was the preferred model among the set of selected models. Predictions obtained from the model indicate that the model is stable as actual interest rate (IR) values, fall well …

Assessing Efficiency In The Pharmaceutical Sector Of Nigeria, Efayena O. Obukohwo, Enoh H. Olele, Patricia N. Buzugbe

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

The study analyses, empirically, the efficiency of the Pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria. Employing a balanced panel of 20 pharmaceutical firms between 2012 and 2016, the paper uses a non-parametric technique (Data Envelopment Analysis) to analyze the firms’ efficiency under the constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS) assumptions. The results obtained shows inefficiency in the pharmaceutical sector as it operates under a decreasing return to scale. This calls for an appropriate policy mix to stimulate the efficiency of the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria by enhancing research and development (R&D) as ell as regulations within the sector.

Enhanced Mean Ratio Estimators Of Auxiliary Variables Based On The Linear Mixture Of Variances, Damisa A. Saddam, Jamila Abdullahi, Umar Nura

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This paper incorporates the variance of auxiliary variables to propose three improved ratio estimators of population mean. To enhance the efficiency of the proposed ratio estimators, a linear combination of the population coefficient of variation, kurtosis, skewness and the population variance of the auxiliary variable is harnessed. The properties relating to the suggested estimators are assessed using constant, bias and mean square error. We also provided practical study for illustration and corroboration using a population data consisting of the fixed capital, which is the supporting variable and output of 80 factories which are the study variables. The suggested improved ratio …

Program Evaluation In Doctoral-Level Counselor Education Preparation: Concerns And Recommendations, Christopher A. Sink, Gergory Lemich

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Within the context of intentional collaboration between doctoral-level program evaluation and counselor educators, this article addresses the need for advanced training in program evaluation for preservice doctoral-level counselor education (CE) students. To determine the current level of evaluation training provided to doctoral students attending a nationally accredited CE program, 81 institutions and their program websites and accompanying materials were analyzed. Approximately 25% of these graduate programs appeared to provide a modest level of training. Over 50% of these units did not fully identify what program evaluation preparation was required or offered to students. Recommendations to enhance the program evaluation component …

Wellness And Prevention Program Sustainability Design For Clark University Athletics Department, Emily Corbett

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this work is to design a wellness based prevention program that is tailored to fit the campus community within Clark University, Worcester, MA, called the Peer Athletes Advocating for Wellness (PAAW) initiative. This paper first presents the current research on wellness related issues within a college campus, specifically surrounding sexual violence. It then outlines the current sexual violence prevention programming that takes place yearly for incoming first year students at Clark University, as well as a one-time initiative during which student athletes participated in the sexual violence prevention programming. There is a review of the current most …

Learner Persistence In English For Speakers Of Other Languages (Esol) Programs, Elyse Waksman

Sustainability and Social Justice

Persistence – or continued, intense study – is a common challenge for adults in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs because of various institutional, situational, and dispositional factors. The current state and federal funding standards for adult ESOL programs are driven by human capital theory, and therefore most funders require demonstrated employment outcomes for students. These top-down objectives do not always align with English learners’ own motivations and goals. ESOL organizations must consider the complexities of these interacting forces to develop effective persistence strategies for their constituents. This case study of an ESOL organization in central Massachusetts is …