Telehealth innovation in the American states

Schmeida, Mary Kent State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

This research is concerned with expanding access to healthcare. One method to do this is through use of new technology. Telehealth is the use of advanced communication technology to expand healthcare access. The policy aims to improve accessibility of public and private healthcare services in rural and urban areas, improve the quality of services, and reduce service costs. The varying chapters of this dissertation explore different phases of the policy process (policy adoption, policy implementation), as well as varying levels of analysis (state laws and program implementation versus individual behavior) to analyze barriers to the expansion of telehealth in the United States. Drawing on the growing literature in e-government and e-commerce, the research explores: (1) the scope of telehealth program implementation in the American states, (2) the adoption of enabling laws for telehealth, and (3) disparities in using online health information. Fifty-state multivariate regression analysis shows state legislative professionalism, healthcare professional networks, partisanship, state wealth, and severity of need are important factors in understanding the implementation of this policy. In addition, the insurance industry network, partisanship and public opinion, and severity of need (healthcare professional shortages) consistently matter in diffusion of telehealth enabling laws. Despite the gains that the 50 states have made in adopting telehealth policy, this research reveals the contours of a telehealth divide that mirror the well-known digital divide---those most able to use telehealth have higher incomes, education, and are white, rather than racial minorities. This research has important normative implications for the expansion of healthcare access through telehealth in America. It suggests policy at the state level (enabling laws) are necessary for the expansion of telehealth, as well as policy to address inequalities in technology access and skills (digital divide).

The impact of intersectoral information networks on drug court policy

Hale, Kathleen Kent State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

This research examines the distinct contribution of information disseminated by nonprofit organizations in intersectoral networks on policy implementation and on policy success in the American states. A diverse literature establishes the importance of information to policy diffusion and innovation in the intersectoral networks which characterize the state policy environment. Limited research suggests that nonprofit organizations diffuse synthesized, interpretive information of particular importance to state administrators. Less well understood is whether this information contributes to increased implementation or to successful policy outcomes. This study presents the first use of multivariate statistical models to test the impact of information in an intersectoral network on the scope of policy implementation and on successful policy outcomes. Original interviews and original survey data identify and describe the network surrounding drug court policy and alternatives to incarceration in the fifty states. Drug courts have been embraced by states as a reform and innovation in response to sentencing pressures and the symbiotic relationship between drugs and crime. In a series of fifty-state comparative studies, cross-sectional models test the influence of information against the cumulative scope of policy implementation and policy outcomes in 2004. Two-stage pooled cross-sectional time series models control for rival explanations and test these relationships over time from 1989 through 2004. Positive outcomes are measured through large-scale measures of criminal justice success including property crime, violent crime and drug abuse arrest rates. Cross-sectional models demonstrate a significant relationship between state implementation, information and the volume of local policy implementation. Time series models demonstrate that information has a significant impact on state and local implementation when controlling for large-scale demographic factors. Increased state and local implementation are significantly related to measures of improved outcomes over time. Distinct from earlier studies, professional associations exercise a dominant influence in the drug court information network. This research finds that information diffused by nonprofit organizations significantly influences the scope of implementation and policy outcomes in comparison to other factors. Findings suggest that nonprofit information contributes to state implementation capacity. Findings from this research also contribute to further understanding of government-nonprofit relations beyond contracting relationships and interest group influence.

General Educational Development (GED) graduates in their freshman year in college: A case study at a large mid-western state university

Helton, Wilson Eugene, Jr Kent State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the adult GED graduates' perceptions of transition from GED education to college during the freshman year and to examine the support systems available to these students at post-secondary institutions. The barriers these students perceive, the challenges they must overcome, and the mechanisms that post-secondary institutions have in place to retain GED graduates were investigated in this study. A qualitative case study method was utilized. Findings in this study were generated in response to the study's four research questions that framed GED graduates' perceptions of their transition to college. Data was collected from the following sources: (a) GED study survey; (b) interviews with eight GED graduates; (c) interviews with five stakeholders from a large, public university; (d) document analysis. Triangulation, member checking, and inter-rater reliability were used to ensure the highest possible dependability and accuracy for the study. The results of this study demonstrated that the adult GED graduate can be as academically successful in college as the traditional-aged high school graduate when certain academic support services are available to them at the post-secondary institution. The recruitment and retention of adult students is an important issue in higher education today. The findings of this study may provide those in higher education with a more comprehensive understanding of the GED graduate's perception of transition to college during their freshman year. This examination may help to identify some of the reasons why GED graduates have made a successful transition to a large mid-western state university. The concerns they describe about the transition process from GED program to college classes have not been broadly articulated to leaders in post-secondary education. This study provides a vehicle for such communication. Upon recognition of a problem, detailed plans of action can be developed to rectify the concerns raised.

The quiet in the land: Core-to-Core Culture Confrontation in a democratic English classroom

Bishop, J. Eric Kent State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this investigation was to answer two primary questions that pertain to a young person's transition from high school into the university English classroom. This study explored how a first-year college student shapes and re-shapes a "received" worldview in the context of a university English classroom that purports to be democratically structured and constructivist. The study also explored the ways that the young person might experience forms of silencing or marginalization as a result of enacting her received worldview and Discourse in that setting. A case study design served as the structure of this research project that followed the transition of seven graduates from the same high school who went on to enroll in seven different universities. The students participated in data collection activities that included interviews, reflective journals, essays, reader response activities, and portfolios. The students' responses were recorded as participant profiles and analyzed for evidence of worldview shifting, silencing, and Core-to-Core confrontation. All participants were educated for at least four years in Anabaptist-Mennonite schools. The primary analytical lens was the concept of "Core-to-Core Culture Confrontation," as defined by Chaim Potok (1986). Participant responses to literature were examined for evidence of how an Anabaptist-Mennonite worldview and Discourse, affected the participant's transaction (Rosenblatt, 1995) with literature. Additionally, three case studies were expanded to allow for the presentation and examination of the participants' Discourse (Gee, 1999) in their university English classes, including how each resolved any Core-to-Core culture confrontation. The results of this study show that students representing a non-mainstream worldview and Discourse will likely experience some forms of silencing in a democratically structured, constructivist English classroom. Transitioning from a "received" to a constructed worldview involves contribution of the student's prior knowledge (Beach, 1980) and an examination of her Discourse. Presentation of the student's Discourse will invariably result in Core-to-Core culture confrontations that must be resolved.

Weight as Status: An Expansion of Status Characteristics Theory

Reidinger, Bobbi Kent State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

The increasing focus on fatness within the United States lays the groundwork for examining the pervasive nature of weight within social interactions by understanding it as a status characteristic. Today, beauty and weight are often examined together as dictated by societal connotations surrounding weight. However, unlike other status characteristics the unique social framing of fatness, both as an individual failure and a disease, contributes to the expansion of status characteristic theory to consider it a diffuse status characteristic. In this NSF-funded study, experimental methods are used to test this theoretical question. First, stock photographs of thin and fat women were collected from various stock photography websites. Following this, the photographs were ranked in terms of attractiveness, ability, occupational prestige, and educational attainment. These rankings allowed for a matched pair of photographs to be utilized within the experiment. Using these stock photographs of thin and fat women, participants engaged in both individual and group tasks in an experimental setting at a mid-sized Midwestern university. Experimental results are mixed. Within the first task, weight clearly operates as a status characteristic for normal BMI subjects. However, initial evidence suggests that for overweight/obese BMI participants, weight may operate as a social identity. Within the second task, there is no interaction effect between subject BMI and the weight of the partner. Instead, participant BMI no longer matters and the simple presence of a fat partner within a task-oriented group becomes significant. As this is the first study to examine weight within the theoretical framework of expectation states, these results provide a starting point for further research. By conceptualizing weight as a status characteristic, theoretical ties can be made linking social psychology and fat studies disciplines to further extend fat research regarding interaction, health, identity, work, and more.

The Journey of Male Undergraduate Students in Pursuit of Leadership While in College: A Grounded Theory

Perkins, Joshua L Kent State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this research study was to develop a grounded theory that identifies how undergraduate male-identifying students pursue leadership positions. Specifically, this grounded theory sought to answer the following questions: (1) How do undergraduate male students perceive leadership and (2) What is the process in which undergraduate male students decide to pursue leadership positions while in college? Nineteen diverse male-identifying students who had all held university-funded leadership positions at a large state university located in the northeastern United States participated in interviews. The study participants were asked about their leadership pursuit journey, as well as how they perceived leadership through the utilization of a semi-structured interview format. Male-identifying students identified that they perceived leadership in four distinct ways: leadership as a way for personal advancement, leadership as a vehicle for altruism, leadership challenges self-esteem, and through the negative perceptions of leadership by peers. This study found that male-identifying students pursue leadership while in college through the process of Connecting Leadership Identity and Motivation; this was also identified as the core category of this substantive theory. Connecting Leadership Identity and Motivation encompasses six sub-processes that were identified to take place in a progressive step process, starting with step one and moving through step six. The six fundamental processes identified are Being Encouraged Toward Leadership (Step 1), Internalizing Belief in Leadership Ability (Step 2), Developing a Positive Leadership Self-Concept (Step 3), Identifying Motivations for Leadership (Step 4), Pursuing Leadership (Step 5), and Reinforcing Leadership Self Concept “Snowball Effect” (Step 6).

Analysis of Motivation, Situational Interest, and Augmented Reality

Raber, James A Kent State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Motivation and situational interest have proven to be critical factors related to student outcomes. Augmented reality, when leveraged properly, has been demonstrated to be an efficacious instructional vehicle across many academic domains, but little is known about its relationship to motivation and situational interest. Additionally, little empirical research has been performed on augmented reality applications related to the specific domain of history. Merely knowing that a technology, like augmented reality, can produce positive learning outcomes is not enough; understanding how it impacts motivation and situational interest are critical in understanding how and when to leverage this technology.This study analyzed the impact to situational interest and motivation using an augmented reality application that delivers instructional content about the tragic events that occurred on May 4th, 1970 at Kent State University. Using both a qualitative and a quantitative pretest and posttest approach, it was determined that situational interest and motivation were impacted by AR. More specifically, aspects of motivation decreased while situational and content knowledge increased. Through a qualitative approach, this study outlined factors that contributed to these changes. These factors include the feeling of immersiveness and enjoyable multimedia content, as well as negative feelings towards the location finding in the application as well as the applications’ technical reliability.

The social norms theory as a framework for understanding weight control behavior among college students

Clemens, Holly A Kent State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The present study used the Social Norms Theory as a framework for assessing weight control behavior among college students. This was the first known investigation to assess sex- and salient-specific normative beliefs about weight control behavior among college students. The purpose of the study was to determine if sex- and salient-specific weight control norms would have significant independent relationships with weight control behavior among college women and men after adjusting for the effects of body mass index (BMI) and socio-demographic measures. The sample consisted of 470 college female and male students, ages 18--26, attending either a 2-year community college or a 4-year university. A self-report questionnaire was developed to extract the data. The height and weight of each participant were objectively measured to calculate BMI. Discriminant function analyses were conducted separately for college women and men to test the ability of the weight control norm variables, BMI, and socio-demographic measures to distinguish between the low-, medium-, and high-involvement weight control groups. The analyses clearly indicated that weight control norms of same-sex, close friends were the best discriminators of weight control behavior among both college women and men. Findings of the analyses supported the hypothesis of the study. Perceived peer norms among college students may be important risk factors for engaging in unhealthy weight control behavior. The Social Norms Theory is a potentially valuable framework for understanding weight control behavior among college students.

Reflective and transflective liquid crystal displays

Zhou, Fushan Kent State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Recently transflective liquid crystal displays (LCD) received a lot of attention. A transflective display has a transmissive mode and a reflective mode. It combines the high contrast, high brightness of the transmissive mode with energy-saving of reflective mode and has good performance in various illumination conditions. However, state-of-the-art transflective displays have problems such as different electro-optical properties, difficulty in compatibility and optimization of both modes, low efficiency of light utilization, and complexity in structure. This dissertation focuses on finding new designs of transflective displays that address those problems. One way to do this is to study film compensation of LCD. We first studied film compensation of bistable twisted nematic (BTN) LCD. Starting form the reduced (3x3) Mueller matrices, we derived and simplified the conditions that film compensated BTN can be optimized. Based on these relations, electro-optical properties of some particular configurations, and designs of transflective BTN with high brightness and contrast were given. To confirm and get a better understanding of the results, we use the Poincare sphere to analyze film compensated BTN. The key to this approach is the existence of "fixed points". Compared with the matrix approach, this approach is more simple, elegant, and efficient. We then generalized the Poincare sphere approach to a universal approach of LCD. We applied the universal approach to film compensation of ECB and IPS, and the design of achromatic birefringent filters. We also give two more new designs of transflective displays. In the first design, a dichroic mirror is used to split the visible spectrum into two parts used in transmissive and reflective modes, respectively. Both modes can be optimized. It has a simple structure and good light utilization. A design for a full-color transflective display with good performance is also given. In the second design, each pixel is divided into two sub-pixels, a transmissive one and a reflective one. By using polymer stabilization, the birefringence of the transmissive sub-pixels is twice that of the reflective ones. The display has single cell gap, low driving voltage, fast response, high contrast and brightness, and the transmissive and reflective modes are synchronized.

MADD, drunk driving, and deterrence: The impact of state laws on individual attitudes and behavior

Durna, Tuncay Kent State University 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

As a part of traffic safety, drunk driving is a primary cause of highway traffic accidents causing deaths and injuries with enormous monetary costs to society and a major concern both for the public and elected officials at every level of government. With the effect of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and some other citizen activist groups, drunk driving has been conceptualized as a criminal justice issue in which drunk drivers are seen as irresponsible "sinful killers" who claim lives of "innocent" victims. Framing the issue as of "sin" led to adoption of punitive policy tools to deter undesired behavior. Based on deterrence theory, these policies aim to reduce drinking and driving by imposing certain, swift, and severe penalties. However, research findings on the effects of deterrent based laws are mixed and cannot explain the decline on alcohol related fatalities over the last two decades. Moving beyond the published literature on this topic, it is hypothesized that deterrent based laws not only have a simple deterrent effect through the threat of punishment, but also have a moralizing and educative effect on individual attitudes and behavior which would contribute to explain the long term decline in alcohol related fatalities. Unlike the previous research, this study uses both aggregate level and individual level data together to test the effectiveness of deterrence laws. Second, not only policy outputs---reduction in fatalities---but also policy outcomes---normative effects of the laws---are evaluated. Third, the effects of the laws are examined over the time not cross-sectional. Moreover, the impact of MADD on state adoption of drunk driving laws is empirically evaluated for the first time. The results of this research provided strong evidence for effectiveness of deterrent based laws on individual attitudes and behavior as well as on alcohol related fatality rates. The findings also indicate that MADD is an important factor in shaping drunk driving policies in American states. Deterrent based policies which increase the certainty of punishment appear to be more effective than policies aim to increase punishment celerity and severity. Sobriety checkpoints, the most costly policy, seem as the most promising policy tool to reduce drinking and driving.