Enhancing Tobacco Abstinence Following Hospitalization

Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Public Health Service sponsored clinical guidelines support smoking cessation interventions at every clinical encounter with a smoking patient. The primary aim of this research protocol proposed to examine the efficacy of a 12-week nurse-delivered relapse management intervention designed with conceptual underpinnings from Self-efficacy Theory to enhance smoking abstinence of hospitalized smokers following their hospital discharge. A randomized, controlled two-group design with an intent-to-treat approach was used. The sample consisted of 80 consenting smokers prospectively recruited during hospitalization. Subjects were randomly assigned by equal allocation to a special intervention group (SI) or an enhanced usual only group (UC). All subjects received enhanced usual care. Participants assigned to the intervention group received 8 telephone intervention sessions with a nurse over 11 weeks after discharge. Intervention was directed towards enhancing self-efficacy to maintain tobacco abstinence. Follow-up visits occurred 12 and 24 weeks following hospital discharge. Data collection included smoking point prevalence with validation by exhaled carbon monoxide. At 12 weeks, 20% (n = 8) UC and 40% (16) SI subjects were abstinent (LRƒÓ2 = 4.87, df = 1, p = .014). At 24 weeks, 15% (n = 6) UC and 42% (n = 16) SI subjects were abstinent (LRƒÓ2 = 7.69, df = 1, p = .004). There were significant differences between treatment assignments, particularly when confounding variables for current employment and greater lengths of hospital stay were controlled in the analyses. Self-efficacy with the Relapse Situation Efficacy Questionnaire was predictive of 12-week smoking status. Treatment adherence was significantly related to smoking behavior in the treatment group. The two groups did not differ in smoking lapse or with self-efficacy over time. Recruitment sites did differ with respect to smoking status, but only at 12-weeks after discharge. There were no significant cohort differences. Future research is needed to improve tobacco abstinence following hospitalization and to examine treatment adherence with an emphasis on strategies for improvement of treatment adherence with hospitalized smokers

A predictive model for failure properties of thermoset resins

A predictive model for the three-dimensional failure behavior of engineering polymers has been developed in a recent NASA-sponsored research program. This model acknowledges the underlying molecular deformation mechanisms and thus accounts for the effects of different chemical compositions, crosslink density, functionality of the curing agent, etc., on the complete nonlinear stress-strain response including yield. The material parameters required by the model can be determined from test-tube quantities of a new resin in only a few days. Thus, we can obtain a first-order prediction of the applicability of a new resin for an advanced aerospace application without synthesizing the large quantities of material needed for failure testing. This technology will effect order-of-magnitude reductions in the time and expense required to develop new engineering polymers

Queering black power : longing for a hero.

Both Amiri Baraka and James Baldwin had links to the Black Liberation Movements of 1960s and 1970s. Both of these men wrote fiction and social essays on the state of race relations in the United States. Amiri Baraka wrote short stories disavowing homosexuals in his writings. James Baldwin explored queer themes and queer characters in many of his works of fiction during this period. What simultaneously connected and disconnected these two men were their beliefs on human sexuality. While Baraka disavowed his sexuality, James Baldwin openly critiqued the treatment of homosexuals. My thesis explores how Amiri Baraka and James Baldwin discussed black masculinity, Black Liberation, queerness, freedom, and democracy. The brands of masculinity these two men presented in their writings queered them as well as Black Liberation. This created a connection to Gay Liberation. My aim with this project was to provide a lens into understanding Black liberation, Gay liberation, Women's liberation, Third World liberation, and ultimately every movement of liberation against western hegemony as queer movements. I argue that the search for freedom and the disavowal of inauthentic identities coupled with a quest for inclusion in the American freedom project queered Amiri Baraka and James Baldwin. I argue as they wrote to extend freedom to their black bodies, they also queered black liberation. The first chapter opens up with a review of the literature and research on relevant topics relating to Black Liberation, queerness, and black masculinity. Chapter two analyzes the literature and social essays of Amiri Baraka and establishes what I define as queer longing. Chapters three and four examine the literature and social essays of James Baldwin and explain how Baldwin's brand of masculinity queered Black Liberation

Individual Muscle Forces during Sit to Stand Transfer

Engineering: 2nd Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)Due to weakened muscles or diseased joints, more than 2 million Americans over the age of 64 have difficulty accomplishing a sit-to-stand (STS) transfer independently. Previous studies have examined joint torques and muscle activations during STS by using motion capture or rigid body models. However, individual muscle forces during STS have yet to be investigated, and such knowledge will potentially inform rehabilitation strategies for patients with weakened muscles to improve performance with STS transfer. The first step toward accomplishing this goal was to examine individual muscle forces as well as inter-limb differences in muscle forces during STS transfer in a young, healthy population. Subject-specific simulations were created for each subject’s STS trial with a custom three-dimensional musculoskeletal model. Static optimization was implemented to estimate individual muscle forces. We found that vastus lateralis generated the largest force, reaching its peak value after maximum hip flexion occurred, while the medial gastrocnemius generated the smallest force out of all the muscles examined throughout STS once maximum hip flexion was reached. Inter-limb differences, quantified as a percent difference, showed high variability between subjects as the standard deviation values were over 100% for some of the muscles examined across the phases of STS. Understanding individual muscle forces as well as symmetry of muscle forces between legs during STS transfer in healthy subjects is the first step to analyzing muscle function and weakness in patients with pathologic conditions such as osteoarthritis and may potentially inform rehabilitation strategies that could improve these patients’ functional performance with this task.A one-year embargo was granted for this item

Land Use Land Cover Change Effects on Southern Great Plains Precipitation

Great Plains land use has changed substantially over the last 160 years, altering the properties of the land through increased settlement and advances in irrigation. Changing the interface between the land and atmosphere has implications for the atmospheric boundary layer, the regional circulation, the local surface energy budget and resulting precipitation patterns. Land use land cover (LULC) changes are an important topic for this region due to its heavy dependence on agriculture. This study investigates differences in Southern Great Plains precipitation patterns between four LULC scenarios: the pre-settlement, 1920’s, Dust Bowl and present day eras. Using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled to the Community Land Model (CLM), simulations for each LULC scenario were run for a 13-year period (1990-2002), as this period encompasses a wide variety of remote forcing conditions. It is hypothesized that the impact of the conversion of native vegetation to cropland will alter the regional circulation of the Southern Great Plains through changes in the surface energy budget. Crops transpire more than native vegetation, such as grassland, which will result in higher surface latent heat fluxes, and higher surface dewpoints, in the modern day than in the earlier LULC scenarios. The increase in the surface latent heat flux will decrease the surface sensible heat flux, and 2m air temperatures will be cooler in the modern day, ultimately resulting in an altered regional circulation. It is hypothesized that the shift in the regional circulation will have an impact on the moisture flux and moisture transport from the Gulf of Mexico. The greater surface latent heat flux, along with the shift the regional circulation will result in greater precipitation in the modern day than in the pre-settlement, 1920’s and Dust Bowl scenarios. Advisor: Matthew Van Den Broek

Designing brand identity: From product innovation to branding

Product design is one of the most important industries in today’s world of fast innovation, meaningful design, and continued consumption. Brands are living organizations who have developed products and services with a desire to have a successful and mutually beneficial relationship with the people they serve. The goal of this project is to accomplish a brand identity that is true to the value of product design and its relationship to the target users. Through literature review, visual market analysis, design, prototyping, and packaging design, a complete identity has been developed to uniquely present a new brand into the sports medicine market. Targeted toward every crucial stakeholder in the process, this identity serves as the representation of how graphic design and branding can elevate the perception, experience, success, and loyalty of products and services in the marketplace

International Cultural Property: Another Tragedy of the Commons

In-situ and intra-national preservation of cultural property is threatened by a highly remunerative international black market. Despite the existing nexus of both domestic and international laws drafted to halt illicit trafficking in cultural property, black markets, such as ones in Southeast Asian art and artifacts, are thriving. This Comment examines whether the existing web of laws and regulations serve, in fact, to foster, rather than discourage, the continuance and growth of the art black market. Likening the destruction of rare cultural resources to the destruction of scarce natural resources, this Comment uses Garrett Hardin\u27s game theory tragedy of the commons scenario to illustrate the relational between art laws and the black market in cultural property. Finally, this Comment hypothesizes that the only workable solution may lie in declaring certain cultural property rights inalienable