Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
Rutgers University Community RepositoryNot a member yet
58345 research outputs found
Sort by
Nurses’ perceptions of person-centered care in inpatient care units in Saudi Arabia
No full textProblems previously identified in the implementation of person-centered care in Saudi Arabia include communication barriers, work environment factors, and cultural discordance between patients and nurses. Some have questioned whether Western person-centered care concepts are even applicable in a non-Western setting. In a nation where the majority of nurses are international migrant workers, better understanding is needed of what person-centered care means to nurses and how they manage to enact it in practice.
This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore nurse perceptions of person-centered care in inpatient units in Saudi Arabia and identify what nurses regard as facilitators and barriers to person-centered care. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom with 21 nurses working in two hospitals in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. One was a Magnet® hospital. Interviewees included both Saudi-born and expatriate nurses. Qualitative analysis was then conducted recursively in a process combining both inductive and deductive elements.
Regardless of cultural background and place of work, nurses described extensive efforts to provide individualized, empathic, developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive care enabling patients and families to access information and participate in decisions. Perceptions of person-centered care aligned with established definitions. However, nurses did not separate descriptions of care from challenges encountered at the patient, organizational, and regional levels, including staffing and supplies shortages, gaps in regional care coordination, inadequate translation services, cultural beliefs limiting certain nurse-patient interactions, hostility toward foreign-born staff, and occasional violence. Differences were found between the Magnet® and the non-Magnet® setting. Nurses reported confronting these challenges through creativity, patience, knowledge, time, teamwork, and emotional self-regulation.
The findings suggest that nurses’ understanding of person-centered care should be characterized more accurately as "situation"-responsive care – a process of doing one’s best to achieve professional nursing values while contending with the difficult realities that define the context of care. The results of this research can help inform Saudi healthcare managers and policymakers to design programs that will limit the challenges nurses face as they endeavor to provide respectful, attentive, individualized, and responsive care.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Age structure and window collision mortality rate of migratory birds in urban green spaces
No full textCollision with windows is a major factor of mortality for birds in populated areas. Among bird collision cases, most of them are migratory birds, and we hypothesize that especially inexperienced young birds are affected. To test this prediction, we compared data from an inner-urban migratory bird stopover site located on the Rutgers-Newark Campus in Newark, NJ, and compared the age structure and fitness parameters of mist-netted birds with bird specimens collected as bird-window collision fatalities. In coastal sites, most passerines at stopover during the fall are expected to be juveniles and this study confirms this pattern for an inner-urban stopover site. We found that birds caught in mist-nets and/or collected as mortalities after window collisions are predominantly younger birds. This trend is particularly pronounced in the fall, while in spring, the ratio between younger, first-time returning birds, and older birds is more balanced. We found only slight differences in average fitness conditions between young and old birds. However, as expected, older birds on average were larger (as measured by wing chord length) than younger birds, and birds tended to be heavier and larger in spring than in the fall. When comparing the age structure between the mist-nested birds and the birds obtained in the window collision survey, we observed that the proportion of young birds is higher among birds obtained as bird-window collisions compared to birds caught in mist nets. This supports our hypothesis that overall younger birds are disproportionately more likely to collide with windows than older birds. Our data highlight the vulnerability of juveniles which is an additional threat to the ones also faced by adult birds during stopover in human-dominated landscapes. The higher rate of bird-window collision in younger birds likely is due to the lack of experience compared to older birds which have already completed previous seasonal migrations. However, the mechanisms behind gaining experience and the apparent higher ability of older birds to recognize and avoid glass surfaces are not yet known.M.S.Includes bibliographical reference
Mitochondrial inorganic polyphosphate in the physiology and pathology of the organelle
No full textInorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is an evolutionarily conserved, multifunctional polyanion composed by multiple orthophosphates bound together by higher energy phosphoanhydride bonds. In mammalian cells polyP has shown a high localization to the mitochondria, and the mitochondrial ATP synthase has suggested to be involved in its metabolism. Therefore, it is no surprising that polyP has been described to be involved in the regulation of key mitochondrial processes like bioenergetics, cellular oxidative status, and the formation and opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore. Though, the extent and mechanisms of the involvement of polyP in these processes is not fully understood. Interestingly, the dysregulation of these processes is implicated in the mitochondrial dysfunction that has been broadly described in the pathogenesis of multiple neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we have demonstrated the role of mitochondrial polyP in the regulation of bioenergetics and redox balance in mammalian cells. We have also demonstrated a protective role for the polymer against the mitochondrial dysfunction induced by a pharmacological model of Huntington’s disease (HD).Our results indicate that depletion of polyP dysregulates cellular bioenergetics, characterized by reduction in mitochondrial OXPHOS, the degree of which is dependent on the cellular location and chain length of polyP. Depletion of mitochondrial polyP also upregulates the pentose phosphate pathway. A downstream consequence of this metabolic shift is elevated reactive oxygen species generation, characterized by elevated mitochondrial superoxide and intracellular hydrogen peroxide levels. This finding is accompanied by an increased presence of proteins involved in cellular antioxidant defense. Our results also show that depletion of mitochondria specific polyP significantly distorts the mitochondrial architecture. Furthermore, in a model of HD-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, we demonstrate that polyP levels decrease and mitochondria with lower polyP levels show an increased susceptibility to mitochondrial swelling, which could lead to mitochondrial permeability pore-induced cell death. The findings of this study outline the extent of the bioenergetic, and redox imbalance induced by depletion of mitochondrial polyP, highlighting its crucial role in maintaining the organelles physiology. We also elucidate a cause-and-effect relation between mitochondrial polyP levels and mitochondrial dysfunction, along with its involvement in preserving the mitochondrial membrane integrity, thereby underscoring its protective function against mitochondrial dysfunction in a pharmacologically-induced model of HD.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references
Preparing for assault: framing the psychological impact of “the talk” within Black childhood
No full text“The talk” is regularly thought of as a conversation that parents have with their Black children. The conversation is known as an unorthodox survival tool in communities of color that have experienced an extensive history of discrimination and racialized brutality. With countless incidences of Black children (i.e. Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, etc.) being harmed or killed during encounters with law enforcement or racist vigilantes, Black families are left responsible for preparing their children of what lies beyond their protected homes and comminutes. However, with images of harm and death of Black bodies widely shared across mass media, especially Black children, these lived experiences have potentially caused an indelible impact. This research will investigate how or in what ways Black children psychologically, cognitively, and emotionally process the preparation of a possible assault on their humanity primarily based on their race.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Fresh rationality: overcoming the binary opposition of child and adult epistemologies
No full textThis paper explores the epistemic measure that negates childhood from its rationality. The main claim is that rationality is not properly understood as a gradual quantitative process. Rather, both adulthood – in its expertise – and childhood – in its newness – can be mutually understood as sharing a dialogic process of rational meaning-making. The paper presents, in its first section, the problem of the epistemic arrogance of adultism. The second section deconstructs this widely-held assumption of the quantitative measure of epistemic rationality. In the last section, I suggest a non-binary perspective on the shared rationality of childhood and adulthood, which I call fresh rationality. Fresh rationality can be described in terms of four concepts: playfulness, agentive ignorance & agentive knowledge, embodied meaning-making, and mutual dialogue. Throughout the paper, I apply the interdisciplinary approach of childhood studies in examining the philosophical trajectory of rationality towards a non-binary lens between childhood and adulthood.M.A.Includes bibliographical reference
Privatization in public schools: New Jersey communities in conflict
No full textThis dissertation explores the complex dynamics and conflicts surrounding the privatization of public school services in New Jersey. Through detailed case studies of multiple New Jersey towns, this dissertation examines how local school districts, grappling with funding challenges, consider outsourcing educational support professional roles to cut costs. The study delves into the contentious negotiations between school administrations pushing for privatization and labor unions defending public employees' jobs. Utilizing Bowers & Ochs' (1971) framework of agitation and control, the dissertation analyzes the tactical interplay between unions and school administrations, emphasizing the unions' strategic coordination with parents and the broader community to oppose privatization efforts. The research highlights the transformative role of unions in community organizing against privatization, shedding light on the broader implications for labor movements, public education organizing, and community development. This work contributes to the academic discourse on labor literature, community unionism, and the challenges facing public education in the face of privatization and fiscal austerity.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vit
Student Use of Mathematics Discourse during the Taxicab Problem
No full textThis analytic explores how the four twelfth grade students (Michael, Romina, Brian, and Jeff) used mathematics discourse throughout their problem-solving process of the Taxicab problem. Mathematical discourse refers to the way in which students talk, write, and reason about mathematics, including the use of language, symbols, representations, and practices. While acknowledging that discourse does not only refer to language, the mathematics register can be used to characterize mathematical discourse, as pointed out by Moschkovich (n.d.). The “mathematics register” is a term that refers to the use of specific language, notation, and protocols used in mathematical discourse to communicate mathematical ideas and reasonings. Students are expected to develop this domain-specific register and use more “precise linguistic encoding and expressions” of their mathematics understandings (Sigley & Wilkinson, 2015). The students in this analytic participate in mathematical discourse practices by “talking and acting in the ways that mathematically competent people talk and act when talking about mathematics” (Moschkovich, n.d.).
Matute et al. (2022) suggests ways in which students can use mathematics discourse practices and build their mathematics register: “Students need to combine everyday language, symbols, visual displays, and non-linguistic representations to communicate effectively in mathematics” (p. 1823). This analytic observes and identifies events where the students use the different representations of communication according to Matute et al. (2022).
Michael, Romina, Brian, and Jeff used all four of the language representations presented by Matute et al. (2022) to communicate their mathematical thoughts, ideas, and reasonings throughout their problem-solving process. Romina used the mathematical symbols x and y in Event 4 to communicate the idea of moving left and right or up or down on the Taxicab grid, respectively. Michael also spoke through symbols to the group when he used binary notation to explain the taxicab’s movements on the grid in Event 6. Throughout these six events, the students are seen using visual displays to share their ideas, like in Event 2 when Romina drew out Pascal’s Triangle and turned the paper to visually show Jeff this mathematical concept. In Event 3, Jeff used a non-linguistic form of communication by using his finger to point to the box he was referring to as he said, “well like to here we would say it’s 35”. This was in response to Researcher Maher’s question, who also used a non-linguistic way of pointing to a specific box on Jeff’s grid and asked, “where does this 10 come from?”
This analytic considers the student language used through the lens of the four representations of communication identified by Matute et al. (2022). It aims to illustrate that student communication can be represented in multiple dimensions surrounding their mathematical understandings, reasonings, and ideas. Through problem-solving, students like Michael, Romina, Brian, and Jeff “are accorded opportunities to develop deep understandings of mathematical concepts, acquire the language of mathematics (the mathematics register), and adopt multiple ways of representing mathematical solutions” (Wilkinson, 2018, p. 171). Wilkinson (2018) also emphasizes the importance of the mathematics register by saying that “when students have command of the mathematics register, they represent problems coherently, provide their conclusions, and explain their mathematical knowledge accurately and comprehensively” (p.170), which are the goals of student learning and understanding mathematics. Throughout this problem solving, mathematical discourse helped these students to articulate their thinking, develop reasoning, and engage with mathematical concepts on a deeper level.
Taxicab problem:
Researcher Maher presented the Taxicab problem to the students. This problem included coordinates on a single (fourth) quadrant with the “taxi stand” located at (0,0) as well as three “pick-up” points: A (blue) at (1,-4), B (red) at (4,-3), and C (green) at (5,-5). The problem statement was as follows: “A taxi driver is given a specific territory of a town, as represented by the grid. All trips originate at the taxi stand. One very slow night, the driver is dispatched only three times; each time, she picks up passengers at one of the intersections indicated on the map. To pass the time, she considers all the possible routes she could have taken to each pick-up point and wonders if she could have chosen a shorter route. What is the shortest route from the taxi stand to each point? How do you know it is the shortest? Is there more than one shortest route to each point? If not, why not? If so, how many? Justify your answers.”
References:
Matute, K., Catsellón, L., & Kitchen, R. (2022). English Language Learner Students’ Development of the Mathematics Register during a Problem-Solving Lesson. ERIC. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED630474
Moschkovich, J. (n.d.). WHAT COUNTS AS MATHEMATICAL DISCOURSE? https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED501034.pdf
Sigley, R., & Wilkinson, L. C. (2015). Ariel’s cycles of problem solving: An adolescent acquires the mathematics register. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 40, 75–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2015.03.001
Wilkinson, L. C. (2018). Teaching the language of mathematics: What the research tells us teachers need to know and do. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 51, 167–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2018.05.00
The mist and other stories
No full textThis dissertation consists of a collection of works completed and edited during my MFA. It comprises two short works and excerpts from a novel. The short works are separated by title. The novel excerpts are titled and numbered.M.F.A.Includes bibliographical reference
Political participation and civic engagement of Muslim young adults in the United States
No full textThis dissertation addresses political and civic engagement among young Muslims in the United States (US). In this dissertation, I uncover the enigmatic role that young Muslims in the US play in defending their communities in the wake of 9/11. Understanding how these young adults express their civic and political voice is an important contribution to the study of public affairs, with specific relevance to the intricate landscape of the political and civic participation of minoritized individuals in this country.
Drawing upon a recently collected dataset, this research seeks to elucidate the diverse avenues through which young Muslims in the US actively participate in democratic processes. In this dissertation, I examine voting behavior, political and civic engagement, and dual activism. The selection of these modes is underpinned by their alignment with well-established theories of political and civic participation, such as rational choice theory, social capital theory, resource theory, political socialization theory, mobilization theory and the civic voluntarism model.
This research unveils clear, unambiguous evidence of lower participation rates among American Muslim young adults in comparison with their older cohorts. Furthermore, the research reveals significant variations in participation shaped by gender, ethnicity, religiosity, education, organizational associations, and political orientation. These findings provide valuable insights for community leaders, and public administrators seeking to effectively engage with this strategically important demographic, ultimately enhancing young adult Muslims’ contributions to the broader civic and political discourse within the nation.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference