STEAM in Arabia

In late 2014 Texas A&M University at Qatar, which is a small branch campus focusing on engineering, launched its own STEAM initiative. Its goals are to better integrate the liberal arts into the engineering curriculum and to demonstrate the relevance of the arts to STEM-based education and research. What follows is a description of the initiative and the reception it has received

Major Depressive Disorder: Precursors, Predictors, and Coping Mechanism Among Undergraduate Students

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is common among college students. The disease perpetuates depressive symptoms and potentially leads to chronic depressive episodes. Existing literature has shown that students who use both cognitive and behavioral maladaptive coping skills are more prone to endure depressive symptoms and poorer academic performance. Despite these known associations, little research has examined the relationship between coping skills and self-efficacy in response to warning signs of MDD in college students. This study sought to fill the gaps in the research of MDD related to precursors, predictors, and coping mechanisms among undergraduate students in a national sample of U.S. college students. Secondary data (N = 6,713) were analyzed from the Healthy Minds Study 2012, which used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) with a test-retest reliability. Social learning and social cognitive theories were used as the theoretical frameworks to focus on problems such as management of life activities, academic success, and maladaptive beliefs. Analyses of the data from the cross-sectional survey using multiple linear and logistic regressions indicated a statistically significant relationship between depressive symptoms and the potential predictive factors of MDD. These findings contribute positively to social change by informing the work of therapists and program developers, who may use these results to create programs that reduce depressive symptoms among undergraduates

Development of a Social Marketing Plan to Decrease Long Term Care Nurses Use of Unnecessary Pharmacological Interventions to Address Residents\u27 Behavioral Disturbances

Seventy-six percent of long term care (LTC) residents display behavioral disturbances associated with psychiatric disorders, including dementia, which “often occur in clusters and include depression, psychosis, aggression, agitation, anxiety, and wandering” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2014 para. 2; Perkins, 2012). Forty percent of LTC residents with behavioral disturbances receive pharmacological treatments to manage their behavioral disturbances, but these medications have limited efficacy and significant adverse effects (Gustafsson, Karlsson, & Lövheim, 2013). This remains important because the population, ages 65 and older (approximately 88% of all LTC residents), represent the most vulnerable to the effects of pharmacological interventions (PIs; American Association of Retired Persons [AARP], 2007). According to the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 2005), the use of atypical antipsychotic medications for off-label purposes of treating behavioral disturbances in elderly residents with dementia in LTC facilities remains dangerous and can lead to death. Because of this, the FDA (2005) included a black-boxed warning in their labeling to describe the risks, noting these drugs remained unapproved for the treatment of behavioral disturbances in residents with dementia. Under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act (FDAAA), the FDA (2008) applied safety related changes to conventional antipsychotics drugs and atypical antipsychotic drugs. The purpose of this capstone project involves developing a social marketing plan that may help decrease LTC nurses use of unnecessary PIs to address residents’ behavioral disturbances and to increase their use of non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs). Evidence of PIs long-term effectiveness is lacking and can cause further debilitating conditions. While the use of antipsychotic drugs should decline, the use of NPIs should increase, since NPIs remain highly effective. Concerning long-term effect, nurses remain important partners in the decision-making process of the patients receiving PIs. Using the 10-Step social marketing plan framework developed by Lee and Kotler (2016) and Kotter’s (2012) 8-Step Change Model, a social marketing plan was developed and presented to LTC administrators at a facility in Covington, La. The plan was aimed at efforts to replace PIs with evidenced-based NPIs in the care of LTC residents with behavioral disturbances. The LTC Administrator and the Director of Nursing (DON) were very satisfied with the quality of the plan’s content, proposed factors for the implementation of NPIs, their understanding of the benefits of the using NPIs, and their ease of understanding of the social marketing plan. They agreed to implement the plan as a social marketing campaign at the LTC facility

The Musical Entertainer

Originally issued by Bickham in 1736-9 in parts, each containing 4 folio plates. Later issued by him in 2 v. of 100 plates each, with a separate t.p. for each volume. This later edition issued by Corbett has the same 2 v. formatAmong the composers named are Handel, Purcell, Corelli, Turner, Green, Leveridge, Boyce, Gunn, Vanbrugh, Monro, Carey, and LampePrincipally for high voice and figured bass. Part for flute printed at the end of most of the songshttps://ir.lib.uwo.ca/whitby/1004/thumbnail.jp

Working Memory Capacity Among College Students: The Role of Gender and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Among college students, 81.8% report experiencing at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, and approximately one third report experiencing Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) (Overstreet, Berenz, Kendler, Dick, & Amstadter, 2017). Individuals who experience PTSS may have impaired cognitive functioning when processing trauma-relevant material (Blanchette, Rutembesa, Habimana, & Caparos, 2018). An example of this is working memory capacity (WMC), which can be disrupted by affective distractors (Vytal, Cornwell, & Letkiewicz, 2013). In addition to impaired daily functioning (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013) those with lower cognitive performance also respond less effectively to clinical treatment options for PTSS (Wild & Gur, 2008). Furthermore, gender differences in PTSD prevalence (APA, 2013) and WMC (Maylor et al., 2007; Voyer et al., 1995) are well established. Conversely, little research is available on how PTSS influences an individual’s working memory capacity, specifically in the areas of verbal and numeric recall. The objective of the current study was to examine the role of gender as a potential moderator between PTSS and WMC, specifically verbal and numeric recall. Participants were 254 undergraduate students at a mid-sized southeastern university, recruited for an online study. Participants completed a self-report assessment of PTSS, two WMC tasks, and provided demographic information. Results confirmed a gender difference in PTSS, where women reported higher PTSS scores. There were no significant findings regarding gender and WMC (verbal and numeric recall). Similarly, there were nonsignificant findings for the relationship between PTSS and WMC. There was also a nonsignificant interaction effect. These results suggest that PTSS and gender do not affect WMC in the areas of verbal and numeric recall. However, there were significant methodological and environmental limitations associated with the study, minimizing the likelihood of detecting significant findings. The implications of the study are discussed, and future recommendations are provided

Toward a Free Collegiate Press: An Analysis of Influences that Can Lead to Censorship at College Newspapers

The purpose of this research was to explore the impact that influences at the individual, organizational and societal levels had on content in college and university student newspapers. Specifically, this research examined the ways that influences at the three levels could lead to censorship of the student press. A quantitative study was conducted through the use of online survey research. Student editors, faculty advisers, and academic affairs administrators of journalism and mass communication programs that are recognized as being accredited by the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) were surveyed to gather information about the structure of the newspapers, their roles in the publication and content selection process, and their perceptions of others\u27 roles. The practical purpose of this dissertation was to present methods for avoiding undue influences on content and censorship at both public and private learning institutions in an effort to ensure a free collegiate press. Theoretically, this study offered insight about the influences on media content at the collegiate level, their relationships to content selection and censorship, and other related implications. This research study addressed three sets of hypotheses and three sets of research questions. Previous research suggested that censorship of the student press was an issue at several higher learning institutions. The results of this study identified the types of student newspapers that usually have censorship problems and the perceptions and characteristics of the student editors, faculty advisers, and academic affairs administrators who serve in the positions to influence and censor content. Results showed that influences on content at any given level were related to the amount of control that existed. In addition, perceived differences did exist between student editors, faculty advisers, and academic affairs administrators as they related to influences on content. Perceived differences also existed between groups at public institutions as compared to private institutions

A cross-sectional study of the relationship between political ideology and state legislative responses to payday lending

The present study examines the relationship between state electorate and state government political ideologies and state legislative responses to payday lending. Payday lending is a form of short-term, high-interest credit (e.g., Graves, 2003; Karger, 2005), and components of states’ legislative responses toward payday lending regulation serve as dependent variables in this study. The internal determinants model serves as the policy innovation model, predicting the attributes of states that influence legislative responses to social constructs (Berry & Berry, 1999; Mohr, 1969). People espousing liberal political ideology believe in using governmental intervention to ensure corporate social responsibility, while those adhering to a conservative political ideology do not (Walters, 1977). The author predicted negative associations between political ideologies and components of state legislative responses to payday lending indicating more regulation. This study found four modest, significant correlations: (1) Between the percentage of each state’s electorate identifying as liberal and that state’s legislated maximum payday loan principle amount, (2) between the percentage of each state’s electorate identifying as conservative and that state’s legislated maximum payday loan principle amount, (3) between liberal state government political ideology and that state’s legislated maximum payday loan principle amount, and (4) between the percentage of each state’s electorate identifying as liberal and that state’s legislated payday loan implied maximum annual percentage rate. No relationship was found between liberal electorate political ideology and state legislated maximum payday loan maturity terms or fee disclosure requirements; between conservative electorate political ideology and state legislated payday loan implied maximum annual percentage rates, state legislated maximum payday loan maturity terms, or fee disclosure requirements; or between liberal state government political ideology and state legislated payday loan implied maximum annual percentage rates, state legislated maximum payday loan maturity terms, or fee disclosure requirements. This suggests that the internal determinant, liberal political ideology, is associated with using government intervention to regulate the state legislated maximum payday loan principle amounts and state legislated payday loan implied maximum annual percentage rates that payday loan consumers can be charged

Testing the Asset-Based Theory of American Social Welfare: Does a Future-Orientation Mediate the Relationship between Asset-Ownership and Financial Responsibility?

The ownership of financial assets protects American households from experiencing the struggles of income poverty. The asset-based theory of American social welfare, which was conceptualized by Professor Michael Sherraden in 1991 and amended in 2001 by other scholars, posited that social welfare programs diminish the prevalence of poverty by enabling households to save funds to purchase assets. This theory has been scantly tested—especially among American households—despite a great amount of funds being invested into programs designed to help low-income American households to build assets. The only previous study that examined the intermediary role of future-orientations on the effect of asset-ownership on a financial outcome operationalized assets as comprised primarily of farm animals (i.e., oxen, chicken, pigs, etc.), in a manner that deviates substantively from the original conceptualization of the asset-based theory of American social welfare. This dissertation research endeavored to remedy this limitation within the asset-ownership literature by utilizing data from a representative survey sample of American households—namely the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the accompanying Transition-to-Adulthood Supplement—to empirically test the theory using structural equation modeling analyses. Structural equation modeling analyses of the data suggested that young adults’ future-orientations positively partially mediated the effect of parental asset-ownership on young adults’ financial responsibility. Specifically, parental asset-ownership had an important direct effect (β = -0.174, z = -6.91, p = 0.000) on young adults’ financial responsibility, coupled with an important mediation effect of young adults’ future-orientations (β = 0.012, z = 4.17, p = 0.000) on the relationship between parental asset-ownership and young adults’ financial responsibility. The mediation effects implied that the design of asset-development programs should integrate components into the structure of the programs that empower the low-income participants to think and talk about their future-orientations and plans