An investigation into the need for co-curricular student services for distance education students

Ruth, David A Drexel University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

This case study investigated the need for co-curricular student services for distance education students within a college of nursing and health professions at a large urban university. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used, including interviews with faculty and administrators responsible for teaching, developing and administering online courses and a semantic differential questionnaire administered online nursing and allied health professions students. The results of the study were that students ranked academic advising, computer technical support and library services as more crucial than student activities, involvement in student organizations and student governance, which they ranked as less essential. The faculty identified the need for the university to create a sense of community with the students. The conclusions were that online students do not need the same kinds of services provided to the traditional campus students and, most significantly, that the role of the student affairs professional has changed as a result of distance education. Recommendations include the need for student affairs professionals to work more collaboratively with faculty and administration to craft services that are useful and effective for online students, to create ways to build community with online students and the university, and to incorporate a continuous evaluation process in online programs to develop standards for co-curricular services.

Using Mobile Learning to Advance Innovation in Small Private Universities: A Multi-site Case Study

Boniforti, Christian Drexel University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Innovative changes to teaching environments have been challenging to implement and sustain in higher education. Some institutions have turned to mobile learning programs to implement innovative practices. However, few studies focus on leadership’s role and the organizational characteristics found in such programs. The purpose of this qualitative, multi-site case study is to explore the use of mobile learning practices at three small, private universities in the United States of America, to understand how the influence of leadership on faculty supports the goal of advancing innovative practices. This study aims to address the central question of how administrators and faculty use mobile learning practices to advance innovation across the university. This study seeks to explore sub-questions related to the relationships that exist between administrators and faculty, organizational changes that foster or inhibit innovation, and the types of educational leadership styles found in each of the participating universities. The researcher utilized frameworks like Davis’ technology acceptance model (TAM), and Rogers’ diffusion of innovations. The research design for this study was a qualitative, multi-site case study aimed at gaining insight into the experiences and collaborative efforts of university leaders and faculty. This multi-site case study was bounded through the site selection process, which includes three small-sized universities operating a matured 1:1 mobile learning program. The populations in this study consisted of two leaders and between six to seven faculty members from each university. Interviews and focus group sessions at each site comprised the majority of data collection and contributed to the analysis that produced themes among the participating sites. The researcher explored the processes and characteristics of leadership approaches and established processes that supported the integration and expansion of the 1:1 mobile learning programs at each participating site. The findings and results of this study, captured through the voices and experiences of the 25 participants, provided a lens and viewpoints that provided evidence that leaders, and their leadership is influential in how innovation can transform the teaching and learning environment. Furthermore, this study provided evidence that the development of an established and supported mobile learning ecosystem, institutions were able to influence innovative practices across their campuses.

Assessing the use of creative problem solving skills and generic influences on learning in clinical reasoning by physician assistant students

Auth, Patrick Clifford Drexel University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The current research assessed the use of creative problems skills (flexibility, fluency, originality, elaboration, resistance to premature closure, and synthesis) and generic influence on learning traits (cognitive, synthesis, emotional, social physical and sensory) in clinical reasoning in physician assistant students. A grounded-theory study was conducted and data was obtained using quantitative and qualitative methods. Thirty physician assistant students from the Drexel University Physician Assistant Program participated in the study. The findings in this study concluded that physician assistant that physician assistant students are using creative problem solving traits in clinical reasoning. This was evident in the Auth's Diagnostic Thinking Inventory, clinical essays and standardized patient exercise. Fluency, synthesis, and resistance to premature closure are the most prevalent constructs of creativity in assessing clinical reasoning in physician assistant students. In addition, the findings in this study concluded that physician assistant are using generic influence on learning in clinical reasoning in the Reisman's Generic Influences on Learning Instrument, clinical reasoning essay and standardized patient exercise. Social, emotional and cognitive are the most prevalent constructs of generic influences on learning in assessing clinical reasoning in physician assistant students. The findings form this study provide physician assistant educators with tools necessary to better understand the clinical reasoning process in physician assistant students and to design a new standard for physician assistant curriculum.

Helping the homeless: Program evaluation of Philadelphia's supportive housing program (Pennsylvania)

Bolton, Cathy J. H Drexel University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The objective of this research was to determine the clinical effectiveness of the Supportive Housing Project of Philadelphia. This project targeted homeless individuals with diagnoses of severe mental illnesses. Three community behavioral health centers provided clinical supports for 122 clients across a five-year time frame (1997--2001). This research sought to address two questions. First, did participants show progress toward achieving program outcome goals? Second, could systematic predictors of improvement (or lack of improvement) be identified?. The design of the program evaluation was that of time-series reflexive controls. This is analogous to a repeated measure design using hierarchical random regression. Assessments were completed by case managers each month and by trained evaluators each quarter. The assessment points for each client were fitted to a curve, and the growth trajectories were examined to determine program success as measured by the individuals' rates of change (or slopes). Specifically three definitions of success were defined for interpretation of the slopes (rates of change). It was found that this program as implemented was successful in helping the homeless. Using the most stringent definition of success, the following results were found. (1) Housing Stability was achieved for 84% of the clients; (2) Management of psychiatric symptoms was achieved for 80% of the clients; (3) Attainment of adult living skills was achieved for 73% of the clients; (4) Socialization goals were met for 72% of the clients; (5) Quality of life goals were met for 54% of the clients. Predictors of individual differences in growth trajectories were examined to determine their potential impact on the rate of change. Predictors included: demographic variables, baseline measure and length of stay, complexity and severity of illnesses, customer satisfaction, and compliance with treatment. The baseline measure (as represented by the intercept) was predictive of the growth rate across all measures. Substance abuse history was a significant correlate of housing instability. Modest correlations were found for other predictors. Recommendations are offered to improve the success of supportive housing programs, and for further research in this area.

Burning and sooting behavior of ethanol droplet combustion under microgravity conditions

Yozgatligil, Ahmet Drexel University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The spherically-symmetric burning of an isolated droplet is a dynamic problem that involves the coupling of chemical reactions and multi-phase flow with phase change. To this end, microgravity droplet combustion serves as an ideal platform for advancing the understanding of the diffusion flame physics of liquid hydrocarbons. In an effort to reduce both gaseous and particulate pollutant formation and to extend environmental resources, renewable energy sources such as ethanol are gaining popularity. Ethanol today accounts for 1% of the highway motor fuel market in the U.S. and its usage is increasing steadily. Due to the increased importance of ethanol usage as a motor fuel, improvements in the understanding of its combustion characteristics are imperative. The influence of initial droplet diameter, pressure, oxygen concentration and inert substitution on the sooting and burning behavior of large ethanol droplets under microgravity conditions was investigated through measurements of burning rate and soot volume fraction. The experiments were performed at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) 2.2 second drop tower in Cleveland and Japan Microgravity Center (JAMIC) 10 second drop shaft. These experiments revealed that while ethanol droplets burned in 1 atmosphere air without soot formation increased sooting and formation of soot shell were observed at higher pressure and oxygen indices. The competition between the influence of residence time and flame temperature lead to an interesting behavior in which the soot volume fraction varied non-monotonically with increase in oxygen concentration at elevated pressure. Inert substitution techniques were used in order to gain additional insight on the influence of residence time and flame temperature on soot formation. Argon, helium and nitrogen were used as inerts and the oxygen concentration was varied between 21% and 50% mole fraction at 2.4 atmospheres pressure. Significant sooting was observed under some of these conditions and soot yield was highest in argon and lowest for helium. These observations were attributed to the changes in the residence time and the flame temperature. Calculations showed that soot particles in oxygen/argon inert case experience the longest residence time and the highest flame temperature.

The relationship between executive functioning and adaptive functioning in pediatric sickle cell disease

Jones, Kelly Elizabeth Drexel University 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic hematological disorder with complications including pain crises, chronic anemia, infections, organ damage, and stroke. The frontal lobes are highly susceptible to stroke in youth with SCD, and subsequently, executive functioning skills are often compromised. Additionally, children with SCD often have atypical adaptive demands, particularly medical-self care activities. Impairments in executive functioning may help explain difficulties with independent self-management and transition to adult hood. In an interactional model described by Tarazi and colleagues (2007), the role of increased medical self-care demands and executive dysfunction in the development of self-care independence in children with chronic illness is considered. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between executive functioning and adaptive functioning in youth with SCD by identifying which variables are most important in self-management and independence. It also aimed to validate the KIS-SCD as a measure of independence in medical-self care activities. Twenty-seven participants, ages 12-18 completed neuropsychological testing (general intelligence, attention, processing speed, memory, and executive functioning) and a measure of disease knowledge. Caregivers completed questionnaires assessing adherence, executive functioning, adaptive functioning, and medical self-care independence. Participants displayed borderline executive functioning skills despite parent reports of executive functioning within normal limits. Parent reports of executive functioning (BRIEF) were significantly correlated with adaptive functioning (ABAS-II; r = -.67, p < .01) and medical self-care independence (KIS-SCD; r = -.65, p < .01. Differences were found between those with low and high demands on response monitoring (t(24) = 2.32, p = .029) and inhibition/flexibility (t(24) = 2.07, p = .049). Results from hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed significantly greater predictive value of parent reports of executive functioning than other cognitive and medical variables for general adaptive functioning. Cognitive skills (i.e., sustained attention, memory) held the strongest predictive values for medical self-care independence. No variables were significantly predictive of adherence to SCD clinic appointments. Findings suggest that performance-based measures of executive functioning may be more sensitive that parent report measures in identifying executive functioning impairments in SCD. Executive functioning may explain variance in general adaptive functioning, particularly as it relates to parent reports, suggesting that parent reports and performance-based measures assess separate constructs of executive functioning. Cognitive functioning may be more related to disease-specific demands than global adaptive functioning. Continued research is recommended to further investigate the interaction between executive functioning and medical demand levels. Implications for these findings in the context of disease management and transition planning are discussed.

The quality of forensic mental health assessments of juvenile offenders: An empirical investigation

Sanschagrin, Kimberly A Drexel University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Mental health professionals have long been involved in the forensic mental health assessment of adult and juvenile offenders. Despite their extensive contribution of services in forensic settings, researchers and practitioners have focused their attention on the quality of services for juvenile offenders to a much lesser extent than they have adult offenders. With the numbers of adolescents entering the juvenile system over the last fifteen years increasing, mental health professionals have been called upon to address issues concerning juveniles. Although there is no empirically validated "gold standard" for conducting forensic mental health assessments, Heilbrun (2001) has proposed a model for the practice of forensic mental health assessment based on evidence from empirical, ethical, legal, and practice areas. This study examined the content and quality of forensic mental health assessments of juvenile offenders in a sample of 180 psychological evaluations requested by juvenile courts in the Philadelphia metropolitan area using an instrument created by this author and based upon Heilbrun's proposed model (2001). This study evaluated differences in the overall quality and content of these evaluations based upon the type of mental health professional conducting the evaluation. Further, this study also investigated the overall quality and content of forensic mental health evaluations, measuring the disparity between elements perceived to be important in forensic mental health evaluation and the actual practice of mental health professionals. Results reflected a continuing disparity between aspirational and actual report content. Only 6.1% of reports identified the legal question being addressed and only 3.4% of the reports included complete information about notification of purpose and limits of confidentiality. Limited clinical information was typically provided, and psychological testing was rarely conducted. There was no significant difference in the overall quality of forensic mental health assessments across disciplines. Further, the overall quality of forensic mental health assessments differed significantly according to the referral source, with reports requested by judges significantly better in quality than those requested by other referral sources (or without referral source specified). Implications of these findings for research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Development of a cancer-specific body-image instrument

Croff, Rebecca Conboy Drexel University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Cancer and its treatments have been shown to have a negative psychological effect on many patients. One effect of cancer that is often described anecdotally is body image disturbance. A moderate amount of research has been conducted on the relationship between body image and cancer. However, the results of these studies are limited because until recently a psychometrically validated measure designed to assess body image disturbance in cancer patients did not exist. Instead, when assessing body image disturbance, many researchers used measures intended for other populations or they have created a few questions for their study to assess body image which typically lack standardization and have not been validated. This paper discusses relevant theories of body image and scale construction. Through the use of the literature an empirically-driven body image instrument was developed for use in those who currently have cancer or have a history of cancer. In addition, tests of validity and reliability were conducted to determine the usefulness and factor structure of the measure. Initially, a panel of experts and cancer patients were asked to generate relevant items for a body image measure, resulting in 64 test items. Those items were reviewed by a separate panel of experts and rated on necessity, relevance, and clarity. The total number of items was reduced from 64 to 39 during this step. Convergent and discriminant validity was tested by comparing the new measure to other measures of body image and depression and anxiety. As hypothesized, the new measure demonstrated strong correlations with the other measures of body image and modest correlations with the measures of affect. Stability of the measure was examined through the use of test-retest methodology. Breast cancer patients were asked to complete the measure twice over a two week timeframe. The new measure demonstrated excellent stability (alpha = .96). Finally, a factor analysis was conducted, yielding a seven factor measure. The results of this step are considered preliminary because the study population isn't entirely representative of those the measure is designed to assess. Furthermore, a larger study population is typically used for a factor analysis.

Assessing the Transport of Receptor-Mediated Drug Delivery Devices Across Biological Barriers

Brewer, Erik C Drexel University 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

Administering therapeutics through the oral route or to the central nervous system presents significant challenges for large-molecule drugs, primarily due to the diffusive barriers and efflux mechanisms present in the cellular lining of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and blood brain barrier (BBB). Receptor-mediated endocytosis (RME) has been extensively studied as a method for augmenting the transport of therapeutic devices across these barriers. These devices range from simple ligand-therapeutic conjugates to complex ligand-nanoparticle systems. Customarily, characterizing the uptake of these carriers relies on their comparisons to the native therapeutic, which provides no understanding of ligand or cellular performance. Therefore, the focus of this research is to investigate the transport potential of the RME pathway itself, so that ligands can act as suitable benchmarks for success. To better understand the pharmacokinetics of the RME pathway, a model for barrier transport was designed based on the endocytosis cycle of transferrin, a ligand often used in RME drug-delivery research. This model established the correlation between apical receptor concentration and maximum transport capability. Experimental studies confirmed this relationship, demonstrating an upper transport limit independent of the applied dose. This contrasts with the dose-proportional pathways native therapeutics rely on for transport. Thus, the direct comparison of these two transport mechanisms can produce misleading results that change with arbitrarily chosen doses. Furthermore, transport potential was hindered by repeated use of the RME-cycle. Commonly, nanoparticles are incorporated to amplify the payload capacity of RME-devices despite the burden they pose to the cell. The response of size and the size distribution of nanoparticle-ligand formulations on the cell were tested and contrasted to their increasing payloads. These results demonstrate that size has a major influence on nanoparticle transport, and future studies should base the success of this technology not on the performance of the therapeutic itself, but on the capabilities of the cell. Using receptor-binding studies, we were able to demonstrate how these capabilities can be predicted and potentially adopted for high-throughput screening methods.

High-temperature free-radical polymerization of n-butyl acrylate

Quan, Congling Drexel University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Free-radical solution polymerization is an important commercial method to produce acrylic resins for paints, adhesives and coatings. In response to increasingly tighter environmental regulations, the polymerization method has been moving toward lower solvent levels and higher temperatures. At high temperatures (140--200°C), many side reactions---such as thermal initiation, chain transfer, beta-scission, and branching---play an important role in controlling polymerization rate and the molecular structure of the polymer, and thus they affect strongly the properties of the final product. Detailed information on the polymer structure, such as branching frequency and type of end groups, is required to deduce the reaction mechanism and obtain kinetic parameter values. In this work, free-radical polymerization of n-butyl acrylate (nBA) was carried out in a Mettler Toledo RC1e Calorimeter, at temperatures ranging from 120 to 180°C, with or without initiators [2,2'-Azobis (2,4,4-trimethylpentane), and 2,2'-Azobis-isobutane). The initial monomer concentrations were 10, 20 and 40 wt%, with xylene being solvent. Samples were collected during the polymerization to obtain conversion and molecular weight measurements by gravimetry and gel permeation chromatography (GPC), respectively. Selected samples were used to characterize the polymer structural characteristics. Fourier transfer mass spectrometry (FTMS) using an electrospray ionization (ESI) interface identified two predominant initiating species and two terminating species. 13C and 1H NMR corroborated the FTMS/ESI results. Quantification of the structural properties was based upon 13C and 1H NMR spectra. A comprehensive reaction mechanism that includes the predominant side reactions at high temperature, was proposed. A mathematical model was developed for a batch nBA polymerization reactor. Rate constants were estimated for back-biting, tertiary radical propagation, beta-scission, and terminal double bond reactions. The model can predict satisfactorily conversion, polymer average molecular weights, branching frequency, and number of the terminal double bonds.