Matching Items (43,917)
Description
The goal of this research was to contribute to the understanding of how the physical design of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) environments may be improved to enhance nursing communication, and in turn, the quality and safety of patient outcomes. This study was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the major characteristics of nurse communication in a hybrid ICU nurse station design? (2) What are the factors in the built environment that enhance or hinder nurse communication in a hybrid ICU nurse station design? The research design was exploratory and qualitative. Observations were conducted in two ICUs with hybrid nurse station layouts. Participant observation was used to systematically observe and document nurse communication and the physical attributes of the ICU nurse work environment that affect communication. Literature, observations, and information regarding staffing and design about the selected ICUs were analyzed for the generation of concepts and the exploration of significant themes. Results show that nurse interactions with other staff members varied within the different zones of the ICU pod. A biaxial map illustrates four key types of core nurse communication interactions: At ease, On guard, In motion, and On the edge. The quadrants representing barriers to nurse communication are On guard and On the edge, and included interactions with other staff members in the pod. The quadrants representing facilitators to nurse communication are At ease and In motion. The hybrid nurse station layout supported nurse-nurse communication, but not communication interactions with other staff members present on the pod. The results provide a broad understanding of how nurse communication is affected by the environment in which nurses work, and allows for the emergence of design opportunities to enhance nurse communication.
Contributors
Newcomb, Emily Michelle Darling (Author) / Lamb, Gerri (Thesis advisor) / Stein, Morris (Thesis advisor) / Wolf, Peter (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
This dissertation analyzes the reliability of reported employee stock option (ESO) expense, the determination of expected life of ESOs, motivations to manipulate ESO expense, and the impact of noise in ESO expense on subsequent stock price returns. Based on unique data, this is the first paper to measure average historical ESO life for all employees of a broad set of firms. I find average life has a mean of 4.12 years. Average life is reduced by 0.38 years per 10 percentage point increase in volatility, and industry effects explain an additional 7% of the variation. Reported expected life increases 0.37 years per year of historical life and an additional 0.16 years per year of age of the outstanding options. Deviations of reported volatility and life from benchmarks have positive correlations with deviations from own reporting history. Using stated assumptions rather than benchmark assumptions drops (increases) ESO expense by 8.3% (17.6%) for the 25th (75th) percentile firm. The change in earnings per share decreases (increases) by $0.019 ($0.007) for the 25th (75th) percentile firm. Tests for motivations to manipulate stock option expense downward have mixed results. Absolute values of deviations from benchmarks have a positive relationship with subsequent stock price volatility suggesting noise in reported stock option expense results in stock price noise. Deviations from benchmarks and subsequent cumulative abnormal returns have statistically significant results but are difficult to interpret.
Contributors
Young, Brian (Author) / Coles, Jeffrey (Thesis advisor) / Hertzel, Michael (Committee member) / Babenko, Ilona (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
Sensing and controlling current flow is a fundamental requirement for many electronic systems, including power management (DC-DC converters and LDOs), battery chargers, electric vehicles, solenoid positioning, motor control, and power monitoring. Current Shunt Monitor (CSM) systems have various applications for precise current monitoring of those aforementioned applications. CSMs enable current measurement across an external sense resistor (RS) in series to current flow. Two different types of CSMs designed and characterized in this paper. First design used direct current reading method and the other design used indirect current reading method. Proposed CSM systems can sense power supply current ranging from 1mA to 200mA for the direct current reading topology and from 1mA to 500mA for the indirect current reading topology across a typical board Cu-trace resistance of 1 ohm with less than 10 µV input-referred offset, 0.3 µV/°C offset drift and 0.1% accuracy for both topologies. Proposed systems avoid using a costly zero-temperature coefficient (TC) sense resistor that is normally used in typical CSM systems. Instead, both of the designs used existing Cu-trace on the printed circuit board (PCB) in place of the costly resistor. The systems use chopper stabilization at the front-end amplifier signal path to suppress input-referred offset down to less than 10 µV. Switching current-mode (SI) FIR filtering technique is used at the instrumentation amplifier output to filter out the chopping ripple caused by input offset and flicker noise by averaging half of the phase 1 signal and the other half of the phase 2 signal. In addition, residual offset mainly caused by clock feed-through and charge injection of the chopper switches at the chopping frequency and its multiple frequencies notched out by the since response of the SI-FIR filter. A frequency domain Sigma Delta ADC which is used for the indirect current reading type design enables a digital interface to processor applications with minimally added circuitries to build a simple 1st order Sigma Delta ADC. The CSMs are fabricated on a 0.7µm CMOS process with 3 levels of metal, with maximum Vds tolerance of 8V and operates across a common mode range of 0 to 26V for the direct current reading type and of 0 to 30V for the indirect current reading type achieving less than 10nV/sqrtHz of flicker noise at 100 Hz for both approaches. By using a semi-digital SI-FIR filter, residual chopper offset is suppressed down to 0.5mVpp from a baseline of 8mVpp, which is equivalent to 25dB suppression.
Contributors
Yeom, Hyunsoo (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Committee member) / Ozev, Sule (Committee member) / Yu, Hongyu (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
Non-native saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) has invaded many riparian communities and is the third most abundant tree in Southwestern riparian areas. I evaluated lizard populations and microhabitat selection during 2009 and 2010 along the Virgin River in Nevada and Arizona to determine the impact of saltcedar. Along the riparian corridor, I observed common side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) within two vegetation types: monotypic non-native saltcedar stands or mixed stands of cottonwood (Populus fremontii), willow (Salix spp.), mesquite (Prosopis spp.) and saltcedar. I predicted that population parameters such as body condition, adult to hatchling ratio, abundance, and persistence would vary among vegetation types. Also, I predicted the presence of saltcedar influences how lizards utilize available habitat. Lizard population parameters were obtained from a mark-recapture study in which I captured 233 individual lizards. I examined habitat selection and habitat availability using visual encounter surveys (VES) for lizards and recorded 11 microhabitat variables where 16 lizards were found. I found no significant difference in population parameters between mixed and non-native saltcedar communities. However, population parameters were negatively correlated with canopy cover. I found that lizards selected habitat with low understory and canopy cover regardless of vegetation type. My results indicate that lizards utilize similar structural characteristics in both mixed and non-native vegetation. Understanding impacts of saltcedar on native fauna is important for managers who are tasked with control and management of this non-native species.
Contributors
Nielsen, Danny (Author) / Bateman, Heather L. (Thesis advisor) / Miller, William H. (Committee member) / Sullivan, Brian K. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of high band directors in the United States toward solo and ensemble activities. Independent variables such as teaching experience, level of education, MENC region in which directors taught, personal solo and ensemble activity experience, teaching assignment, and director-centered external factors (supplemental contracts, teaching evaluations, program awards) were used to investigate potential differences in attitudinal responses. Subjects were high school band directors (N = 557) chosen through a stratified random sample by state. Participation in the study included completing an online researcher-designed questionnaire that gathered demographic information as well as information regarding directors' attitudes towards benefits from student participation in solo and ensemble activities, the importance of such activities to directors, and attitudes towards student participation in local, regional, and state solo and ensemble festivals and contests. One-way analyses of variance and two-way multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to investigate potential differences in responses according to various independent variables. Significant differences were found in responses to statements of the importance of solo and ensemble to directors and of solo and ensemble festivals and contests according to region, solo and ensemble experience, and director-centered external factors. No significant differences were found for statements of director's attitudes toward benefits of student participation in solo and ensemble activities according to any independent variables. Results indicate that directors understand and believe strongly in the benefits of solo and ensemble activities to students, but factors such as time, job demands, band program expectations, and festival and contest adjudication, format, and timing may hinder directors' inclusion of solo and ensemble activities as an integral part of their program. Further research is suggested to investigate directors' attitudes within individual states as well as ways to integrate solo and ensemble activities into daily band rehearsals.
Contributors
Meyers, Brian D (Author) / Sullivan, Jill (Thesis advisor) / Busg, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
Interviews of nine managers within the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division's Western Region were conducted by a researcher who also works as a Wage and Hour Investigator. The intention of this research was to survey the differences in trafficking-related training and experience throughout the region, to examine the role of the Wage and Hour Division in human trafficking casework, and to explore potential areas for growth. This thesis recommends that upper level agency management produces standards for training, interagency engagement, and procedures and also provides suggestions for best practices and effective enforcement.
Contributors
Norberg, Katherine Joanne (Author) / Stancliff, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Simmons, William (Committee member) / Téllez, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
In the present research, two interventions were developed to increase sun protection in young women. The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of intervention content eliciting strong emotional responses to visual images depicting photoaging and skin cancer, specifically fear and disgust, coupled with a message of self-efficacy and benefits of sun protection (the F intervention) with an intervention that did not contain an emotional arousal component (the E intervention). Further, these two intervention conditions were compared to a control condition that contained an emotional arousal component that elicited emotion unrelated to the threat of skin cancer or photoaging (the C control condition). A longitudinal study design was employed, to examine the effects of condition immediately following the intervention, and to examine sun protection behavior 2 weeks after the intervention. A total of 352 undergraduate women at Arizona State University were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions (F n = 148, E n = 73, C n = 131). Several psychosocial constructs, including benefits of sun protection, susceptibility to and severity of photoaging and sun exposure, self-efficacy beliefs of making sun protection a daily habit, and barriers to sun protection were measured before and immediately following the intervention. Sun protection behavior was measured two weeks later. Those in the full intervention reported higher self-efficacy and severity of photoaging at immediate posttest than those in the efficacy only and control conditions. The fit of several path models was tested to explore underlying mechanisms by which the intervention affected sun protection behavior. Experienced emotion, specifically fear and disgust, predicted susceptibility and severity, which in turn predicted anticipated regret of failing to use sun protection. The relationship between this overall threat component (experienced emotion, susceptibility, severity, and anticipated regret) and intentions to engage in sun protection behavior was mediated by benefits. The present research provided evidence of the effectiveness of threat specific emotional arousal coupled with a self-efficacy and benefits message in interventions to increase sun protection. Further, this research provided additional support for the inclusion of both experienced and anticipated emotion in models of health behavior.
Contributors
Moser, Stephanie E (Author) / Aiken, Leona S. (Thesis advisor) / Shiota, Michelle N. (Committee member) / Kwan, Sau (Committee member) / Castro, Felipe (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
There is increasing evidence that ovarian status influcences behavioral phenotype in workers of the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bee workers demonstrate a complex division of labor. Young workers perform in-hive tasks (e.g. brood care), while older bees perform outside tasks (e.g. foraging for food). This age correlated division of labor is known as temporal polyethism. Foragers demonstrate further division of labor with some bees biasing collection towards protein (pollen) and others towards carbohydrates (nectar). The Reproductive Ground-plan Hypothesis proposes that the ovary plays a regulatory role in foraging division of labor. European honey bee workers that have been selectively bred to store larger amounts of pollen (High strain) also have a higher number of ovarioles per ovary than workers from strains bred to store less pollen (Low strain). High strain bees also initiate foraging earlier than Low strain bees. The relationship between ovariole number and foraging behavior is also observed in wild-type Apis mellifera and Apis cerana: pollen-biased foragers have more ovarioles than nectar-biased foragers. In my first study, I investigated the pre-foraging behavioral patterns of the High and Low strain bees. I found that High strain bees progress through the temporal polyethism at a faster rate than Low strain bees. To ensure that the observed relationship between the ovary and foraging bias is not due to associated separate genes for ovary size and foraging behavior, I investigated foraging behavior of African-European backcross bees. The backcross breeding program was designed to break potential gene associations. The results from this study demonstrated the relationship between the ovary and foraging behavior, supporting the proposed causal linkage between reproductive development and behavioral phenotype. The final study was designed to elucidate a regulatory mechanism that links ovariole number with sucrose sensitivity, and loading decisions. I measured ovariole number, sucrose sensitivity and sucrose solution load size using a rate-controlled sucrose delivery system. I found an interaction effect between ovariole number and sucrose sensitivity for sucrose solution load size. This suggests that the ovary impacts carbohydrate collection through modulation of sucrose sensitivity. Because nectar and pollen collection are not independent, this would also impact protein collection.
Contributors
Siegel, Adam J (Author) / Page, Jr., Robert E (Thesis advisor) / Hamilton, Andrew L. (Committee member) / Brent, Colin S (Committee member) / Amdam, Gro V (Committee member) / McGraw, Kevin J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
The comparative study of the poetics of landscape of the Argentinian poet Diana Bellessi in Sur (1998) and the U.S. poet Mary Oliver in What Do We Know (2002) reveal how each writer acknowledges discourse and perception as means to bridge the nature/culture dichotomy and to unsettle the American landscape from cultural and epistemological assumptions that perpetuate the disconnection with matter. While Bellessi re–signifies the historical and cultural landscape drawn by European colonization in order to establish a dialogue with the voices of the past related to a present–day quest to reconnect with nature, Oliver articulates an ontological and phenomenological expression to reformulate prevailing notions of cognizing materiality aiming to overcome the culture
ature divide. I therefore examine the interrelationship between perception, language and nature in Bellessi’s and Oliver’s poetic works by deploying Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological theory of perception into material feminist theoretical works by Karen Barad and Susan Hekman. In so doing, I demonstrate how both poets act on language to forge a non–dualistic expression that, in allowing matter as an agentic force that relates with humans in dynamics of mutual impact and intra–activity, entails a phenomenological and onto–epistemological approach to ground language in materiality and produce ethical discursive practices to relate with nature. I argue that Bellessi’s and Oliver’s approach toward nature proves as necessary in the articulation of efforts leading to overcome the nature/culture dichotomy and thus, to address ecological and environmental concerns.
ature divide. I therefore examine the interrelationship between perception, language and nature in Bellessi’s and Oliver’s poetic works by deploying Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological theory of perception into material feminist theoretical works by Karen Barad and Susan Hekman. In so doing, I demonstrate how both poets act on language to forge a non–dualistic expression that, in allowing matter as an agentic force that relates with humans in dynamics of mutual impact and intra–activity, entails a phenomenological and onto–epistemological approach to ground language in materiality and produce ethical discursive practices to relate with nature. I argue that Bellessi’s and Oliver’s approach toward nature proves as necessary in the articulation of efforts leading to overcome the nature/culture dichotomy and thus, to address ecological and environmental concerns.
Contributors
San Martín Vásquez, Angela (Author) / Horan, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Hernández-G, Manuel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011
Description
Other studies have previously demonstrated that perceived stress and maladaptive stress management can lead to harmful outcomes including depression, morbidity, and mortality. College students (especially freshmen) have more difficulty dealing with stress, which can increase their susceptibility to engage in high risk behaviors. The importance of conducting this research is to discover the effects that perceived stress levels may have on depression outcomes in college students, and to evaluate the influence of health related behaviors on this relationship. This study used a retrospective cross-sectional correlational design to examine correlations between perceived stress, physical activity, and other health behaviors on clinical and perceived depression in college students. A random sample of 20,000 students was drawn from 62,476 students enrolled at Arizona State University (ASU). Participants included 2,238 students who volunteered to take the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) in spring 2009. Supplemental questions for ASU students were developed by ASU Wellness and administered as a part of the ACHA-NCHA II. The university sent an invitation email, wherein students were directed through a hyperlink to the survey website. ACHA provided institutional survey data in an SPSS file for analysis. The data were evaluated with Spearman Rho Correlation Analysis and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. There were more female participants (n = 580) than males (n = 483), both averaged 23 years of age. Men had greater height, weight, and body mass index than females, all were significant mean differences. There were more significant correlations between health factors and having perceived depression than with having real or diagnosed depression. Logistic regression showed that out of all variables and behaviors studied, only high levels of stress, poor general health, substance use, and gender (female) resulted in significant odds in predicting that a participant would be in one of the depression categories. This research suggests that addressing these factors may be important to prevent and reduce depression among college students. This study provides empirical evidence that there is a significant relationship between perceived stress and depression among college students, and that health behaviors such as substance abuse have a negative mediating effect on this relationship.
Contributors
Skipworth, Katherine (Author) / Swan, Pamela (Thesis advisor) / Woodruff, Larry (Committee member) / Moses, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created
2011