SU Graduate Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/98

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The Role of a Health Care Leader in the Community Health Needs Assessment Process
(2024) McCann, Kerry; Freda, Kaynabess; Nursing; Master of Science in Nursing
In alignment with the Affordable Care Act of 2010, non-profit hospitals must complete a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) every three years to collect data to prioritize health needs and implement strategies for improvement. The purpose of the internship was to identify and demonstrate health care leader (HCL) skills necessary to effectively implement the CHNA process including data collection, evaluation, and implementation of programming. Literature review supports that nurse involvement is essential to include in community health planning, and the HCL has a unique opportunity to use graduate competencies to advocate for community health promotion. The internship took place within an organization designed specifically as a partnership between the local health department and local hospital to conduct the CHNA. The internship provided opportunities to demonstrate HCL competencies such as knowledge of health policy, population health, knowledge of health care environment, and leadership with a focus on interagency collaboration. Internship activities included prioritization and implementation of CHNA data through creation of written and virtual resources, community outreach events, program development, and participation in interagency meetings. The internship examined the role of the health care leader (HCL) in the CHNA process, and how the expertise of advanced-degree nurses can improve the CHNA process. The experience provided the intern an opportunity to build upon the present role as a community health nurse, and to prepare for future opportunities in leadership roles and to lead effective interagency collaboration.
ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq for PPARγ in Human Urothelial-Derived Cell Lines
(2024) Thomas, Logan; Anderson, Philip; Erickson, Les; Williams, Eugene; Biological Sciences; Master of Science in Applied Biology
Bladder cancer has a high prevalence throughout the world, primarily affecting men over the age of 55. Despite having multiple treatment options, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, bladder cancer has a high recurrence rate in patients. Consistent with other cancer types, understanding the molecular mechanism of bladder cancer has the potential to increase the number and type of treatment options available to patients. Upregulation of the transcription factor (TF), PPARγ, has been associated with the metastasis of bladder cancer, but this mechanism is not clearly understood. To gain additional information on this mechanism, we conducted both a ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq analysis on three bladder cancer cell lines (UMUC1, SW780, and 5637) after treatment with a PPARγ agonist, rosiglitazone (RZ). The goal of this analysis is to identify genome-wide binding sites and genes regulated by PPARγ within these cell lines. We determined that RZ reduced the number of PPARγ binding sites in the three bladder cancer cell lines. Additionally, there were no PPARγ motifs bound by PPARγ regardless of cell or treatment type. The RNA-Seq results suggest that RZ affects gene expression within UMUC1 and SW780 cell lines but not 5637. Furthermore, GSEA identified numerous differentially expressed biochemical pathways in the UMUC1 and SW780 cell lines. G2M checkpoint and E2F target gene sets were downregulated within RZ-treated UMUC1 and SW780 cells but not 5637. The downregulation of these mechanisms may play an essential role in PPARγ’s involvement in bladder cancer metastasis. How PPARγ is involved in bladder cancer metastasis is still unknown; however, these results provide additional insight into this mechanism.
The Ecology of Writing, Feedback, and Revision Practices in an Upper-level Undergraduate English Course
(2022-04) Endicott, Kelsie Gaskill; Finch, Maida; Williamson, Thea; Towle, Beth; Doctoral Studies in Literacy; Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Contemporary Curriculum Theory and Instruction: Literacy
A dearth of knowledge exists in empirical literature regarding how effectively upper-level college students (juniors and above) and their professors communicate during feedback rounds of written assignments, in addition to the resources that these students utilize when revising. Therefore, this single case study explored how college students and their course professor perceived the role of feedback and revision on written assignments in an English course, how the professor constructed feedback, and how students interpreted the feedback and revised their written assignments. Data sources consisted of classroom observations, interviews, documents and artifacts, and field notes. The data was analyzed by engaging in multiple rounds of coding. First cycle codes included initial (Saldana, 2016) and a priori codes to examine the language of the participants in an effort to better understand the nuances of their communication and writing practices. Second cycle codes included pattern coding so as to collapse codes into thematic categories that highlighted findings. Five findings emerged from the data I collected: (1) students perceived feedback to be shaped by their experiences, the way students perceived feedback was situational and context-dependent, and feedback should function to improve the piece, (2) students had similar processes for applying feedback, (3) students used myriad resources to revise their written assignments, however, they were not always aware of all of the resources that they used, (4) the professor perceived feedback as being valuable when it is effective, and feedback is most effective when it is personalized to the writer, dialogic, and instructive, and (5) when providing feedback, this professor predominantly saw herself as a writing coach and likewise provided coaching-style feedback to students in varied modalities, but primarily through digital end comments.
Investigations into the Regulation of Short-Chain Fatty Acid Assimilation and Ethanolamine Metabolism in Bacteria
(2022-05) Miller, Stephanie Marie; Erickson, Les; Carter, Michael; Sokoloski, Joshua; Nyland, Jennifer; Biological Sciences; Master of Science in Applied Biology
Metabolism is the process of importing extracellular materials and degrading them for the purposes of biomass and energy. Acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) is a keystone intermediate that is frequently the entry point into multiple cellular pathways. Two acetyl-CoA pathways, such as ethylmalonyl-CoA pathway (EMCP) and the glyoxylate bypass (GB), rarely coexist inside of the same organism. The genomes of two bacteria, Paracoccus denitrificans and Rhodobacter capsulatus, have the genes for both acetyl-CoA assimilation pathways. During growth with acetate, P. denitrificans utilizes both the EMCP and the GB. Additionally, R. capsulatus has the genes for two propionyl-CoA assimilation pathways. Propionyl-CoA can be assimilated through a branch of the EMCP called the methylmalonyl-CoA pathway or through the methylcitrate cycle. By using molecular cloning techniques to generate deletion and fusion strains, I investigated when the EMCP, the GB, the methylmalonyl-CoA pathway, and the methylcitrate cycle were active during growth with acetate or propionate. Our investigations with R. capsulatus indicate that R. capsulatus is possibly utilizing the EMCP and the GB differently than P. denitrificans. Investigating the EMCP, GB, methylmalonyl-CoA pathway, and methylcitrate cycle furthers our understanding of the biological control of these pathways. Because the EMCP shares reactions with bioplastics precursor molecules, understanding the mechanism of biological control of the EMCP and the pathways that intersect with the EMCP are critical for the possibility of proposing a mechanism of manipulation. This work investigates the operation and control of the EMCP, the GB, the methylmalonyl-CoA pathway, and the methylcitrate cycle in R. capsulatus.
Feeding and Trophic Ecology of Invasive Blue Catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) in the Nanticoke River, Chesapeake Bay
(2023-12) Zachary S. Crum; Noah Bressman; Corbin Hilling; Christina Bradley; Eric Liebgold; Biological Sciences; Master of Science in Applied Biology
Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus were introduced into Western Shore tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in the 1970s to provide fishing opportunities and are now classified as an invasive species due to their negative economic and ecological impacts. By the 2000s, these invasive ictalurids expanded into tributaries along the Eastern Shore, which possess unique ecological characteristics, potentially driving local differences in the feeding and trophic ecology of invasive Blue Catfish. As opportunistic, generalist feeders, variability in prey availability may be evident in the diet of Blue Catfish. This study investigates the diet composition and trophic interactions of Blue Catfish in the Nanticoke River watershed, on the Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore, using stomach content and stable isotope analyses. Stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur in bulk muscle tissue suggest that Blue Catfish consume marine-derived nutrients and feed at a high trophic level. However, effluent from wastewater treatment plants and agricultural sources may influence δ15N and δ34S values. Stomach contents from Blue Catfish (n = 557) reveal size-based variability in prey and moderate local differences in diet composition compared to other Atlantic slope tributaries. Blue Catfish >350mm total length frequently preyed on seasonally available economically and ecologically significant species, including river herring Alosa spp., blue crab Callinectes sapidus, White Perch Morone americana, and Atlantic Menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus. These ecological insights inform fisheries management of invasive Blue Catfish and prey species on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
Say Hello to My Little Friends! Investigating the Influence of Exaiptasia diaphana Symbiotic State on the Feeding Ecology of the Nudibranch, Berghia stephanieae
(2023-05) Musselman, Kyle; Liebgold, Eric; Bradley, Christina; Bressman, Noah; Taylor, Ryan; Biological Sciences; Master of Science in Applied Biology
Mutualistic cnidarians are crucial to the success of biodiverse and economically valuable marine ecosystems, with coral reef ecosystems in particular holding immense ecological and economic importance. However, natural stressors, such as predators and anthropogenic stressors like climate change, pose serious risks to these ecosystems. The interactions between these stressors must be understood to provide a holistic view of how cnidarian ecosystems are being impacted. This study uses a model mutualistic cnidarian, Exaiptasia diaphana (Aiptasia), and a model specialist invertebrate predator of cnidarians, Berghia stephanieae (Berghia), to investigate how bleaching events impact the quantity and functionality of nematocysts in cnidarians, the feeding behaviors of invertebrate predators of cnidarians, and the stable isotope composition of invertebrate predators of cnidarians. This study utilized unbleached and bleached E. diaphana to quantify unfired and fired nematocyst content in both E. diaphana variants, in feeding trials to examine B. stephanieae feeding behavior in the presence of both E. diaphana variants, and in stable isotope analysis to assess how different E. diaphana variants influence the tissue composition of B. stephanieae. Bleaching was found to decrease nematocyst quantity but did not impact nematocyst functionality. Offering bleached E. diaphana as a prey item did not influence invertebrate cnidarian feeding preferences nor did consuming bleached E. diaphana immediately alter B. stephanieae’s stable isotope composition. However, mixing models indicate that Symbiodinium is a diet item that is assimilated within B. stephanieae’s tissues, but the proportion of tissue that Symbiodinium accounts for is unknown. This indicates that Symbiodinium found within E. diaphana are not an attractant, but are an additional source of nutrients, for B. stephanieae, which could have further reaching effects unobserved in this study. While mutualistic cnidarians are adversely impacted by bleaching events, this study provides evidence that invertebrate predators of cnidarians may possess limited resilience to bleaching events. Continued investigation into the effects of bleaching at multiple trophic levels is necessary to determine the comprehensive impacts of such events and to coordinate future conservation actions effectively.
Nurse Educator Scholarship & Qualitative Research
(2023-04) Sabater, Katie; Barnes, Annette; Reid, Tina; Webster, Debra; Nursing; Master of Science in Nursing
Nurse educators have many roles and responsibilities in addition to teaching including service, clinical practice, and scholarship. One way a nurse educator can achieve scholarship is through qualitative research that can enrich the nursing curriculum and education, empower the nurse educator, and improve patients' lives. To perform qualitative research, the nurse educator must understand the ethical considerations to reduce harm to participants, the importance of informed consent, and the necessity of confidentiality and anonymity. This internship aimed to understand the importance of scholarship for the nurse educator and how qualitative research can address the role through first-hand experiences of scholarship. The Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) student learned the role of focus group facilitator and conducted focus groups for data collection and transcription. The setting of this internship took place on campus at a public university. The preceptor and advisor were both university faculty. Graded course activities included a project proposal reflection, literature review, final paper, and presentation. Other experiences used for evaluation were completing the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) courses and obtaining certification, conducting focus groups as a facilitator, collecting audio data, and transcribing data. Other activities that were experienced included attending a virtual nurse educator conference and the opportunity to explore the use of thematic analysis procedures for qualitative data. Nurse educators have an obligation to perform scholarship in their careers in the form of grant funding, dissemination, clinical practice, or research. Even though qualitative research can be a very time-consuming, intensive endeavor, it is still necessary to be performed to make advances and inform academia and the nursing community.
Reaching into the Present, Growing Out of the Past: The Neo-Slave Narrative’s Innovation on Historical Slave Narratives and Contemporary Black Consciousness
(2023-05) Russell, Andrew; Quintana Wulf, Isabel; Wenke, John; English; Master of Arts in English
My thesis, “Reaching into the Present, Growing into the Past: The Neo-Slave Narrative’s Innovation on Historical Slave Narratives and Contemporary Black Consciousness,” approaches the neo-slave narrative genre as an innovative genre that both reinterprets the historical record to create a long history of slavery and show how the socioeconomic issues that slavery perpetuate through time and affect individuals in the contemporary moment. To accomplish this task, I have deployed an aesthetic study of the neo-slave narrative and how those aesthetics are in conversation with the historical record. After establishing common aesthetic features in the neo-slave narrative, I then shift my study to show how a neo-slave narrative can use its literary features to dismantle and deconstruct power structures in the contemporary era by focusing on the comedic slave narrative. While the comedic slave narratives use humor across their texts, the use of comedy is more interrogative in nature and gives its protagonists observational powers that are a critical feature in comedies to criticize and question extant power structures. The comedic slave narrative is reliant on postcolonial and Marxist theories, and the thesis makes uses of Althusser’s theories on interpellation and Fanon’s establishment of internalized racism to understand the forces that continue to colonize the black political consciousness in post-slavery life. However, comedy as an interrogative tool dismantles these structures to show how individuals can resist and grow in a social structure that is hostile to black independence.
The Social History of Photography in Baltimore, Maryland, 1839-1930
(2023-05) Stancil Blakeman, Allison; Goyens, Tom; Gonzalez, Aston; French, Kara; History; Master of Arts in History
Before the fall of 1840, American locksmith-turned-telescope maker Henry Fitz Jr. opened Maryland’s first-ever daguerreotype studio in Baltimore. Fitz introduced the city to portrait photography from his third-floor studio at 112 Baltimore Street. From here, photography’s popularity in Baltimore grew exponentially. Daguerreotype businesses emerged downtown, creating a bustling photography hub. Eventually, the evolution and streamlining of the photographic process, alongside increased accessibility to the medium, lowered prices. This allowed Baltimoreans from every walk of life to document special events and their daily lives within the walls of these studios. Where photography in the city began as very white and male-dominated, women and African American men started making names for themselves by the turn of the century. However, lacking recognition and representation has left these photographers out of Baltimore’s historical record. African American and women photographers’ histories remain muted and largely forgotten aside from few mentions in census records and city directories. Photographs created by these photographers are even harder to find. Baltimore is often overlooked in studies of early American photography regardless of its position as the second most populated city in the United States from 1830-1850, its connection to early photographic experiments, and its early adoption of the medium. To correct this disparity, I argue for Baltimore’s diverse cast of photographers’ inclusion alongside cities like New York and Philadelphia. This thesis studies the social history of photography in Baltimore, including key players, photography processes and materials used, and how the city and the medium evolved. Newspaper articles and advertisements, census records, business directories, auction and exhibition catalogs, photography magazines, and various forms of photographs, including daguerreotypes, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, tintypes, gelatin silver prints, and photo albums, are used to not only tell a surface-level history of photography in Baltimore but also uncover previously overlooked stories of women and African photographers and the vibrant communities they photographed. I conclude with a call to action to develop and implement more preservation initiatives and projects to reveal stories of early photographers from minoritized and disadvantaged groups.
Faux frogs, foam nests, and females: Mate choice as an evolutionary driver of conspicuous mating signals
(2022-12) Hamilton, Olivia; Taylor, Ryan; Hunter, Kimberly; Corfield, Jeremy; Biological Sciences; Master of Science in Applied Biology
Chapter 1 - Across many taxa, males gather in leks to perform multisensory courtship displays for females. Changes in the sensory scene over the course of mate evaluation are inevitable during a lek. This dynamic nature makes a female’s ability to recall the location of individual signalers an important component of female mate choice. It is hypothesized that complex (especially multimodal) signals may improve a female’s ability to remember, and thus discriminate among potential mates. To test this hypothesis, we employed robotic frogs and a blinding system in playbacks with female túngara frogs (Physalaemus (=Engystomops) pustulosus). Specifically, we asked if the visual component of a multimodal signal improves a female’s ability to remember the location of a signaler. Females’ memory for a multimodal signal was examined after an initial presentation period followed by a holding period and/or silent period. Females were only able to remember a signaler’s location after the introduction of a silent period. They were still able to remember even after a combined 25 s after the obstruction of the visual stimulus (robotic frog). Silence is common in choruses and our data suggest that memory instantiation for multisensory stimuli occurs as a result of this silence. Chapter 2 - Vision can play a vital role in a receiver’s response to a signal. Often used in tandem with other sensory stimuli, vision is commonly used as a modality for signaling to potential mates. In nocturnal species, however, the neural processing of an image with a limited light source may degrade the resolution and/or details of that scene and the signalers within it. Túngara frogs (Physalaemus (=Engystomops) pustulosus) are a Neotropical species that perform nocturnal multimodal courtship displays (visual, acoustic, and seismic) to attract females. Females have been shown to have a consistent preference for a multimodal display in laboratory settings at a fixed distance. Here, we tested how the distance between a female and a displaying “male” (robotic frog and speaker) influenced the decisions of female túngara frogs. We compared the response of females to a robotic frog at three distances (80 cm, 90 cm, and 110 cm) from the release point of females. At the established 80 cm distance, females significantly chose the multimodal speaker over the unimodal, but this preference vanished at 90 and 110 cm. These data suggest that female túngara frogs are unable to recognize the visual stimulus of a male’s multimodal display as it becomes more distant. This is consistent with observations of natural pairings wherein females sample and choose males at close distances. We suggest that female túngara frogs efficiently integrate visual stimuli in nocturnal conditions, but their distance to a stimulus limits this ability. Chapter 3 - Anurans exhibit extreme diversity in their reproductive strategies. During fertilization, species from several lineages produce foam nests that buffer developing embryos to their external environment. There have been many proposed functions for the production of these nests, but one function that has received little attention is how foam nests may act as an environmental cue to influence female mating decisions. In the túngara frog (Physalaemus (=Engystomops) pustulosus), males commonly call near foam nests when they are displaying for females. Previously, it was demonstrated that females of this species prefer a male call when it is associated with a real, field-collected nest (Martin et al. 2011). Amplexed pairs also often form communal nests, and it has been hypothesized that foam nests may act as a cue for an ideal oviposition site to amplectant females. Here, we tested the preferences of females using both real and faux, 3D printed foam nests in various treatment conditions. We were unable to find any evidence that females respond to the visual stimulus of foam nests during mate evaluation or that foam nests act as a possible cue for an oviposition site. We did, however, show that females had identical responses to the faux and real foam nests. Our results demonstrate that even in a well-studied organism like túngara frogs, we still have much to learn about their fundamental ecology. Chapter 4 - In this natural history note, we describe the first observation of a terrestrial vertebrate predator for the foam nests of túngara frogs (Physalaemus (=Engystomops) pustulosus) in the rainforest of Soberanía National Park, Panamá. The snake species we observed feeding on the eggs within the nest was documented as a juvenile Erythrolamprus (=Liophis) epinephelus and this is also the first account of oophagy for this species.
Analyzing the Effects of Mercury on Acetylcholinesterase In Vitro
(2022-06) Strange, Jessica; Nyland, Jennifer; Clark, Jessica; Juncosa, Jose; Biological Sciences; Master of Science in Applied Biology
This study aims to establish a viable method for testing the relationship between low doses of inorganic mercury and the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in vitro. Mercury has been identified as a heavy metal that can induce an immune response through cytokine signaling, resulting in an unopposed inflammatory response by downregulating the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines. The ubiquity of mercury as an environmental toxicant and its ability to bioaccumulate and become biomagnified makes it a xenobiotic of interest in many toxicological studies. This is notably performed in concentrations of micromolar ranges or higher. Previous findings support a dysregulation of the immune response when mercury exposure occurring in the nanomolar range is coupled with bacterial or viral adjuncts. This co-exposure is demonstrated exasperating the effects seen in the inflammatory response through the inhibition of the anti-inflammatory counteraction of the immune system to reestablish homeostasis. The further understanding of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) and the enzyme AChE as a regulator is one area of interest when hypothesizing the mechanism of this inflammatory response. This research presented in this manuscript establishes the use of a continuous assay based on Ellman’s method as a viable method to assess the effects of mercury on AChE in vitro which allows for the further analysis of this complex relationship between low dose mercury exposures, bacterial adjuncts, and the CAP. Specifically, this method offers an explanation for a potential mechanism of how these components relate to one another and the upregulation of the inflammatory response, and specifically how it becomes unchallenged.
Wrestling with Writer's Block: Pedagogical Interventions that Work and Why
(2022-05) Imirie, Olivia; King, Carolyne; English; Master of Arts in English
"Wrestling with Writer's Block: Pedagogical Interventions that Work and Why" presents a study about first year composition students' experiences with writer's block and how understanding one's writer identity and writing process is essential to learning to compose through this experience. Prior research from within composition studies that examines the inability to write refers to this phenomenon as writer's block, writing anxiety, and writing apprehension (Rose; Bloom; Daly and Miller). These terms are significant as language like writing anxiety or apprehension considers the inability to write as a chronic problem that needs diagnosis and treatment; consequently, this perspective negatively shapes how instructors work with students who struggle to write as it encourages instructors and students to seek to eradicate the phenomena, rather than learning to understand it as part of many writer's processes. Additionally, research on writer's block has almost exclusively been about instructors' perceptions of how and why students experience writer's block, rather than including students themselves. This oversight limits instruction as students need to share their experiences with writer's block and what strategies they find useful for overcoming moments of writer's block and to learn from each other. "Wrestling with Writer's Block" builds on this prior work by reasserting that we need to address and describe the phenomena through the colloquial and student-preferred term of writer's block. Through analyzing three interviews with students who identify as experiencing writer's block, this project describes how understanding one's own identity as a writer and individual writing process is essential to better understanding writer's block. This thesis argues that writer's block is an integral part of the writing process for many students; as such, exploring the experience presents an opportunity for growth and learning and should not be seen as an enemy to composing. By studying students' descriptions of their writer identity, metaphorical language about writing and writer's block, and language of transfer, "Wrestling with Writer's Block" argues that instructors must incorporate pedagogy which does not treat students who experience writer's block like they are broken or sick; rather, instructors should encourage students to discover their writer identity and individual writing process to increase their confidence as writers and work with rather than against writer's block.
The Walking Icelanders: Revenants in the Íslendingasögur
(2022-05-20) Bristow, Devon; Leasure, T. Ross; English; Master of Arts in English
This study analyzes the revenants found in six different sagas from the Íslendingasögur, or Icelandic Family Sagas. Revenants are those people who die and then reanimate post-mortem to haunt the living, or pre-mortem. This analysis contains seven categories. The first is Post-Mortem Rising, which examines the four most common reasons that revenants return in the Icelandic Family Sagas. The second is Corporeality, otherwise understood as a revenant’s physicality or lack thereof. The third is Ambulation and refers to a revenant’s ability to wander. The fourth is Articulation, which examines a revenant’s ability to speak. The fifth is Detriment, or a revenant’s ability to harm the pre-mortem whether through physical or nonphysical means and in an offensive or defensive manner. The sixth is Vampirism, or the way Icelandic revenants can infect the pre-mortem and create more revenants through physical attacks or simply existing in close proximity to a pre-mortem person. Finally, the seventh category is Removal, which refers to the different avenues through which either the revenant itself or the saga’s protagonist can disanimate that revenant for good. Each category helps illuminate the functions the Icelandic revenant serves within the sagas. Together they provide a framework for other scholars to perform similar analyses on the Íslendingasögur, other medieval liminal beings, and analogous entities in contemporary American media.
Snack-Sized Turtles? Investigating Size Class Distributions and Predation of the Endangered Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)
(2021-11) Rocker, Amanda; Ransom, Tami; Liebgold, Eric; Chen, Xuan; Price, Dana; Biological Sciences; Master of Science Applied Biology
Reptiles are experiencing decreased population sizes and declines in number of populations. Despite this overall pattern, for many species, there remains insufficient data to understand population trends, let alone the specific causes of these declines. One species experiencing severe declines, but sparse assessment is the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), a freshwater species found in wetlands in Eastern North America and classified as endangered under the IUCN Red List. This decline likely has occurred because of potential threats such as predation, collection for the pet trade, and habitat loss. I studied the size class distributions of turtles in Maryland and Delaware populations based on frequency of juvenile and adult turtles. I found that C. guttata populations had a negatively skewed size distributions at all study sites. However, they were primarily individuals in the 90–100 mm plastron length size range, while larger, older, individuals were not typically present. Additionally, I analyzed the potential predation of C. guttata based on predator-caused injuries and assessing predator abundance via camera traps. Clemmys guttata had a greater rate of predator-caused injuries compared to other common turtle species; however, there was no correlation between injury rate and predator activity, specifically regarding raccoons (Procyon lotor). My results suggest while there was a large proportion of adults in populations of C. guttata at my sites, very old adults were absent. This was potentially caused, in part, due to predation, but the explanation for high injury rates of C. guttata is complicated and likely involves other factors such as human removal for the pet trade.
Factors contributing to retention of hospital nurses in urban and rural areas
(1994) Weisman, Karen H.; Nursing
The purpose of this study was to learn about the characteristics of nurses who have maintained employment relationships with hospitals and to identify differences in characteristics among nurses working in urban and rural areas. Using a three section self report questionnaire, data was collected from 257 registered and licensed practical nurses from two hospitals (one rural, one urban as defined by the definition of metropolitan statistical areas) in the state of Maryland. This represented 61.4% of the available nurse population in these two facilities. The results found that rural nurses reported significantly more nursing experience and service to their hospitals; and experience significantly greater satisfaction regarding issues of salary/departmental support, teamwork, schedule/work environment, and patient/family interaction. Nurses from both the rural and urban samples listed location, friends, schedule and salary as factors affecting their own reasons for maintenance of their positions. Further research should focus on validating the results of this study to determine trends in retention based on geographic regions. Consistent with The Model of Nurse Retention, (Curran & Minnick, 1989) nurse retention was found to be a highly complex and personal concept and each institution must assess its own employees when developing strategies to enhance employee retention.
Nurses' attitudes toward the use of computers in nursing practice
(1989) Scott, Beverly Joan; Nursing
The use of computers in nursing practice is creating significant economic, political and social change within the nursing profession. Nurses' attitudes toward computers and their use in nursing practice will influence the nurses' ability to actively participate in and fully integrate this change. The purpose of this study was to describe the attitudes of nurses toward the use of computers in nursing practice and to examine the association of these attitudes with demographic variables of: age; position; degree in nursing; degree in fields other then nursing; years of experience in nursing; years employed at the study hospital; previous education in the use of computers and computer use variables of ownership of a home computer and regularity of its use.
Aphra Behn: Libertine? Or marital reformer? A history, with an examination of several plays and fictions
(1998) Rouse, Florence Irene; English
Aphra Behn was an important female writer in the Restoration era. She wrote twenty or more plays which were produced on the London stage, as well as a dozen or more novels, several volumes of poetry, and numerous translations. She was the first woman writer to earn her living by her pen. After she became successful, a concerted attack was made on her, alleging a libertine life and immoral behavior. Gradually, her life work was expunged from the seventeenth-century literary canon based on this alleged lifestyle. Since little factual information is available about her life, critics have been happy to invent various scenarios. The only true understanding of her attitudes is found in the reading of her plays, not to establish autobiographical facts, but to understand her attitudes. Based on the evidence in her many depictions of libertine men in her satirical comedies, she disliked male libertines and found their behavior deplorable. In plays and poetry, her longing for a new social order in which men and women might love and respect one another in freely chosen wedlock is the dominant theme. Far from being libertine, Aphra Behn is an early pioneer for companionate marriage.
The effectiveness of an applied psychology course with nonpsychology graduate students
(1986) Jones, Charles; Psychology
This research assessed the effectiveness or value of an applied psychology course with nonpsychology graduate students. Twenty-four graduate students who enrolled in an applied psychology course at Salisbury state College were selected as experimental subjects, and twenty-eight students were selected from the Graduate Education Department as control subjects. The following variables which may effect the relationship between treatment and criteria were controlled: enrollment as a nonpsychology graduate student, proximity to graduation, previous and concurrent psychology coursework. Differences between pretest-posttest, and pretest-follow-up scores on four criteria including state like anxiety, social anxiety, self disclosure, and martial adjustment were observed. When compared to the control group on the "posttest, subjects who completed the applied psychology course exhibited significantly greater improvement on most criteria measures. On the six month follow-up, significance on the criterion measures were somewhat diminished, however students who completed the applied psychology coursework continued to exhibit significantly greater improvement than those in the control group.
Discriminative differences among high, medium, and low worriers and their ability to discriminate high, medium, and low anxious material
(1997) McNulty, William; Psychology
This study investigated the discriminative abilities of 173 undergraduate males and females who were presented with scenarios in which levels of worry were manipulated. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ: (Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Borkovec, 1990) assessed participants level of trait anxiety (worry) and categorized them into high, medium, or low worry groups. Participants who scored high on the PSWQ were able to discriminate among the three levels of worry as well as the medium and low worry groups. People who scored high on the PSWQ were significantly more likely to report feeling less likely to cope with worry producing situations than the medium and low worry groups.
Multiple roles, well-being and the clergy wife
(1997) Blevins, Joyce H.; Nursing
Women in particular have been viewed as potentially vulnerable to role conflict because of their multiple roles. The impact of these multiple roles on the mental health of a woman remains unclear. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between multiple roles, role strain, and the level of well-being in women with multiple roles. The second purpose was to determine whether clergy wives differ from women not married to clergy on reported well-being. The survey was undertaken to examine the effects of the ministry on ministers' wives and families.

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