Effects of Victimization and Community Characteristics on Health Outcomes

Drawing on the neighborhood disorder model, the environmental stress model, and general strain theory, this study examined the effects of victimization experiences, anticipated victimization, and perceived community characteristics on overall physical health and mental health outcomes. This study used cross-sectional survey data from the 2014-2015 Nebraska Annual Social Indicator Survey (NASIS). Linear regression was used to examine how victimization experiences, worry about victimization, community context, and perceptions of crime and policing were associated with the health outcomes, controlling for demographic characteristics. The findings show that more worry about crime, less positive community perceptions, and less perceived police protection were associated with poorer physical health. In addition to these same factors, poorer mental health was associated with perceived increases in crime and feeling anger about crime in a community. These findings are consistent with prior research showing that victimization and community characteristics affect different health outcomes. Future research should examine perceptions of community cohesion variables with robust measures. Addressing variables about perceptions where communities lack cohesion and social order can help reduce stress and strain for individuals. Advisor: Lisa Kort-Butle

Effects of Victimization and Community Characteristics on Health Outcomes

Drawing on the neighborhood disorder model, the environmental stress model, and general strain theory, this study examined the effects of victimization experiences, anticipated victimization, and perceived community characteristics on overall physical health and mental health outcomes. This study used cross-sectional survey data from the 2014-2015 Nebraska Annual Social Indicator Survey (NASIS). Linear regression was used to examine how victimization experiences, worry about victimization, community context, and perceptions of crime and policing were associated with the health outcomes, controlling for demographic characteristics. The findings show that more worry about crime, less positive community perceptions, and less perceived police protection were associated with poorer physical health. In addition to these same factors, poorer mental health was associated with perceived increases in crime and feeling anger about crime in a community. These findings are consistent with prior research showing that victimization and community characteristics affect different health outcomes. Future research should examine perceptions of community cohesion variables with robust measures. Addressing variables about perceptions where communities lack cohesion and social order can help reduce stress and strain for individuals. Advisor: Lisa Kort-Butle

Raising recycling awareness : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Environmental pollution has increasingly become a large problem throughout the globe. Community recycling programs started emerging in the 1980s and continue to increase in number across the United States. Efforts to recycle materials in the household have focused mainly on paper, plastic, and metal. Schools use an astounding amount of paper on a daily basis. Grissom Elementary, located in Muncie, Indiana, throws away hundreds of pounds of paper weekly. In order to increase environmental pollution awareness, I began a paper recycling program in my third grade classroom. I also taught a unit entitled "Saving the Environment" in order to introduce the notions of other environmental pollutants and bring awareness to some of the younger members of the Muncie community.Honors CollegeThesis (B.?.

5 Years of User Research: Mary Idema Pew Library Learning & Information Commons, Grand Valley State University Libraries

The Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons at Grand Valley State University opened in 2013. Ongoing user research has been conducted to learn how students use the building and to identify design successes and opportunities for improvement. This document synthesizes insights gained through five years of post-occupancy user research

Cancer Growth Lesson Plan

Students will explore a cancer simulation model utilizing a worksheet. Most students have known someone who has had cancer. This lesson is designed to introduce students to the behind the scene components and facts related to cancer. Students will understand how cancer will keep growing until treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation is used to shrink the tumor or kill the cancer. The cancer simulation game will allow students to role play and act like a natural killer cell that can kill a cancer cell. Students will be able to understand what their friend, family member, or acquaintance may have endured during a cancer diagnosis and an implemented treatment protocol. Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death in the United States. This lesson is used to bring cancer to the forefront of class discussion. All students will benefit from this lesson because it is hands on allowing students to explore and analyze two model simulations. Students will then construct a graph using excel illustrating the total number of cancer cells present and removed. The primary file is a lesson plan, accompanied by supplemental files. In the supplemental zipped files, you will find: Student worksheets Lesson plan Powerpoint presentation

An Open Letter: To Andreas Schleicher, OECD, Paris

Dear Dr. Schleicher,We write to you in your capacity as OECD’s director of the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA). Now in its 13th year, PISA is known around the world as an instrument to rank OECD and non-OECD countries (60+ at last count) according to a measure of academic achievement of 15 year old students in mathematics, science, and reading. Administered every three years, PISA results are anxiously awaited by governments, education ministers, and the editorial boards of newspapers, and are cited authoritatively in countless policy reports. They have begun to deeply influence educational practices in many countries. As a result of PISA, countries are overhauling their education systems in the hopes of improving their rankings. Lack of progress on PISA has led to declarations of crisis and “PISA shock” in many countries, followed by calls for resignations, and far-reaching reforms according to PISA precepts

Dietary Choline and Betaine and Risk of CVD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies

Studies implicate choline and betaine metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in cardiovascular disease (CVD). We conducted a systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis to quantify a summary estimated effect of dietary choline and betaine on hard CVD outcomes (incidence and mortality). Eligible studies were prospective studies in adults with comprehensive diet assessment and follow-up for hard CVD endpoints. We identified six studies that met our criteria, comprising 18,076 incident CVD events, 5343 CVD deaths, and 184,010 total participants. In random effects meta-analysis, incident CVD was not associated with choline (relative risk (RR): 1.00; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.02) or betaine (RR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.01) intake. Results did not vary by study outcome (incident coronary heart disease, stroke, total CVD) and there was no evidence for heterogeneity among studies. Only two studies provided data on phosphatidylcholine and CVD mortality. Random effects meta-analysis did not support an association between choline and CVD mortality (RR: 1.09, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.35), but one study supported a positive association and there was significant heterogeneity (I2 = 84%, p-value < 0.001). Our findings do not support an association between dietary choline/betaine with incident CVD, but call for further research into choline and CVD mortality

Diet and Gut Microbial Function in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Over the past decade, the gut microbiome has emerged as a novel and largely untapped source of variability for metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk, including diabetes. Animal and human studies support several possible pathways through which the gut microbiome may impact health, including the production of health-related metabolites from dietary sources. Diet is considered important to shaping the gut microbiota; in addition, gut microbiota influence the metabolism of many dietary components. In the present paper, we address the distinction between compositional and functional analysis of the gut microbiota. We focus on literature that highlights the value of moving beyond surveys of microbial composition to measuring gut microbial functioning to delineate mechanisms related to the interplay between diet and gut microbiota in cardiometabolic health

Continuities and Difference in the Reading Habits of Digital Natives

The 2010s has seen an explosion of scholarship eulogizing the novel, as if the medium has been freshly murdered by the Internet and a generation of digital natives who refuse to read. The final pages of Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid: Science and the Reading Brain turn to panic as she wonders whether the vast benefits of reading will be extinguished, and the tone of Michael Schmidt’s The Novel: A Biography is nostalgic and mournful, capping sections on the evolution of the novel decades before the present day. In an increasingly complex media ecology, how can the novel survive as a leisure activity for a new generation, and a theoretical concept flexible enough to bridge old and new media? This thesis aims to illuminate the continuities between the disparate outgrowths of the traditional print book and study the media consumption of young readers. The sum of this research shows that digital marauders have not, in fact, snuffed out novel reading. Reframing the novel through research and prototype iteration not as a static medium defined by form, content, or an imagined common origin point, but instead as a site of experience that engenders a unique co-creative relationship between reader and text, demonstrates how novel reading can endure

Clinical Focus Program: Enhancing the Transition of Senior Nursing Students to Independent Practice

The Clinical Focus Program was designed to prepare senior nursing students for the transition to practice in the hospital setting. Through a series of 1:1 precepted clinical experiences, the students developed a broad base of clinical competencies and self-confidence in their nursing skills. Hospitals experienced reduced costs related to orientation and recruitment of new graduate nurses. The program also was valuable in building a network of collegiality and scholarship between education and practice environments. According to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, the supply of nurses will be 29% less than what is needed by the year 2020, based on a projected increase in demand of 40% and only a 6% increase in supply. One of many factors contributing to this shortage is nurses leaving nursing. Between 1996 and 2000, the number of nurses leaving the profession grew to almost 500,000. Although little is known about this population as a whole, 30% to 54% of new graduate nurses change jobs or leave nursing during their first year of practice for reasons that include feeling inadequately prepared for the fast-paced acute care setting, caring for high-acuity patients, and lacking a supportive work environment. Improving the transition from student to professional nurse might reduce these stressors and increase satisfaction, ultimately resulting in fewer nurses leaving the profession. This is supported by a recent report on the American nursing shortage published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in which one of the chief areas identified as needing improvement was in preparing students adequately for the reality of work as a professional nurse. One way to facilitate the transition from student to practicing nurse may be to provide additional clinical experiences for senior nursing students. Clinical experiences are rich learning opportunities for working with patients with clinical entities about which students may have only read or studied theoretically. Specifically, mentored clinical experiences before graduation are extremely valuable. Such programs bridge the gap between the idealism of nursing education and the reality of the workplace. Students begin to identify with the professional role and to think and perform like nurses. Providing mentored clinical experiences requires academic and service leaders to share the responsibility of creating these opportunities. This article describes the development, implementation, and first-year outcomes of the Clinical Focus Program (CFP), a partnership between the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh College of Nursing (UWO) and 2 tertiary care institutions, ThedaCare (TC) and Children\u27s Hospital of Wisconsin-Fox Valley (CHW-FV). The driving force behind the program was the Wisconsin Nursing Redesign Consortium, a collaborative partnership of academic and service organizations formed to address the nursing shortage within the state of Wisconsin. At a conference sponsored by this consortium in 2002, nursing professionals across the state were invited to form service and academic partnerships and submit proposals for projects that would address the growing demand for professional nurses. The CFP was one of these pilot projects