Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / National calls for a better-educated nursing workforce are proliferating. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) challenged the nursing profession by setting the goal of having 80% of the nation's nurses prepared at the baccalaureate level (BSN) or higher by 2020. This is an ambitious goal given that, nationally, only 50% of nurses have a BSN. In fact, only 40% of nurses in Michigan have a BSN, and in the rural North-Central Region of this state, only 29% (the lowest in the state) of the nurses have a BSN. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand and interpret the meaning of being an associate degree (AD) nurse, the meaning attaining a BSN has for rural registered nurses who currently have an AD, and the barriers they experience that inform their decisions to return to school (or not). The investigator interviewed 11 AD nurses from rural North-Central Michigan and analyzed interview transcripts to identify common experiences and shared meanings using methods identified by Diekelmann, Allen, and Tanner (1989). Two themes were explicated in this study: "Getting in and Getting out" and "What Difference Does it Make?" The findings in this study challenge many of the common assumptions about academic progression in nursing and provide educators, administrators, and legislators with insight about the strategies that may be most helpful for achieving the IOM goal in rural Michigan.

Recent research suggests that visual-verbal paired associate learning (PAL) taps a crossmodal associative learning mechanism involved in reading acquisition. However, evidence from children with dyslexia indicates that deficits in visual-verbal PAL are strongly linked to the verbal demands of the task. The research presented in this thesis had two overarching aims: first, to dissociate crossmodal and verbal demands in driving the PAL-reading relationship, and second, to assess the hypothesis that visual-verbal PAL plays a causal role in reading development. To address the first aim, a series of experiments examined the relationship between reading ability and PAL tasks differing in modality (crossmodal, unimodal) and output demand (visual, verbal). The results supported a verbal account of the PAL-reading relationship. In typically developing children and children with dyslexia, only tasks with a verbal output demand (i.e., visual-verbal PAL, verbal-verbal PAL) demonstrated a relationship with reading ability. In children with dyslexia, poor performance was isolated to difficulties learning novel phonological forms, rather than difficulties specific to crossmodal associative learning. Furthermore, the ability to learn novel phonological forms was found to fully explain visual-verbal PAL performance across reading abilities. In a final experiment, the causal role of visual-verbal PAL in reading development was assessed. The results of a longitudinal study from the start to the end of kindergarten showed that visual-verbal PAL measured in pre-readers did not predict reading ability at the end of kindergarten. Instead, PAL performance was influenced by learning to read.

This study is a description and analysis of change in selected personality characteristics of junior-level undergraduates in the first phase of the curriculum for the Guidance Associate degree at North Texas State University.

Cette recherche avait pour objectif d’étudier les troubles cognitifs à l’origine de la dyslexie, et plus particulièrement le déficit d’apprentissage de paires associées (PAL) à composante verbale (input ou output). Tout d’abord, une étude longitudinale menée auprès d’enfants tout-venant pré-lecteurs et apprentis lecteurs a permis de mettre en évidence une contribution spécifique des PAL intermodales à l’efficience ultérieure en lecture/transcription. Les résultats de l’étude neuropsychologique indiquent pour leur part que les enfants dyslexiques présentent un déficit pour tous les types de PAL à composante verbale. Ce déficit apparait toucher à la fois la mémorisation des réponses, notamment verbales, et la mémorisation des liens entre les deux items. Il serait lié à un défaut de stockage de l’information et non à un problème de récupération et affecterait l’apprentissage des paires associées sans entraver leur rétention à long terme. / This research aimed to study the cognitive causes of dyslexia, particularly the paired associate learning (PAL) including a verbal component (input or output) deficit. First, a longitudinal study of normally developing pre-readers and beginning readers highlighted a specific contribution of intermodal PAL as predictors of later reading/transcription skills. As for the results of our neuropsychological study, they indicate that dyslexic children exhibit a deficit for all types of PAL with verbal component. This deficit appears to reach both the memorization of answers, especially verbal answers, and the storage of the mapping between the two items. It would be linked to an information storage failure but not to a recovery problem, and would affect the buildup of associations without impairing their long-term retention.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar os aspectos fundamentais do negócio jurídico associativo, na forma disciplinada pelo atual código civil. O legislador ampliou a disciplina referente à associação, pessoa jurídica de direito privado; definiu essa entidade e estabeleceu os elementos essenciais que seu estatuto deve conter. Inseriu regras acerca dos direitos dos membros e da transmissão da qualidade de associado. Tratou da sua exclusão e da necessidade da existência de uma justa causa para tanto. Foram elencadas normas acerca da convocação e competência da assembleia geral dos associados. Por fim, se estabeleceu regras acerca da dissolução dos entes e do destino do patrimônio remanescente, bem como da possibilidade de restituição da contribuição aos membros. Foi identificada omissão do legislador em relação a certos pontos, que serão estudados na presente tese de doutoramento, com auxílio de doutrina estrangeira, em especial a italiana. Para tanto, trataremos das principais características das associações, que as distinguem de outras pessoas jurídicas de direito privado, em especial as fundações e sociedades, analisando os seus elementos essenciais. Serão abordadas as formalidades previstas para sua constituição e aquisição da personalidade jurídica, bem como os efeitos da personificação. Será feita uma diferenciação entre as associações personificadas e não personificadas, para analisarmos se o regime jurídico aplicável a elas deveria ser distinto. Ademais, dentro da disciplina do negócio jurídico e do contrato, em especial, procuraremos identificar a natureza do ato constitutivo que dá origem à associação. A organização interna dessas entidades será estudada, envolvendo questões acerca da constituição, funcionamento, funções e competências dos seus órgãos, bem como a forma de tomada de deliberações e a disciplina de sua anulação, além dos problemas de conflitos de interesses e de responsabilidade dos administradores. Trataremos, ainda, das condições para alteração dos estatutos e das regras para retirada e exclusão dos membros e seus efeitos. Por fim, abordaremos a dissolução das associações. / The present work aims to analyze the basic aspects of the legal transaction with the purpose of creating an association, as regulated by the current civil code. The legislator broadened the discipline referring to the association, a legal entity of private law. He defined this entity and set the essential elements that its bylaws must contain. He inserted rules concerning the rights of the members and the transmission of the quality of associate. He dealt with their exclusion and the necessity of the existence of a fair cause for it. Norms concerning the call and the competence of a general meeting of the associates have been foreseen. Finally, rules concerning the dissolution of the entities and the destination of the remaining assets have been established, as well as the possibility of the restitution of the contributions to the members. However, the legislator omitted some points, that will be studied in the present thesis with reliance on foreign doctrine, in particular the Italian one. In order to achieve that, we will deal with the main characteristics that distinguish the associations from other legal entities of private law, in special foundations and business entities such as partnerships and corporations. The formalities foreseen for its constitution and the acquisition of the legal entity will be discussed, as well as its effects. Differences between the associations with and without legal entity will be established, to conclude wether their applicable legal regime needs to be special. Moreover, dealing with the disciplines of the legal transaction and of the contract, specially, we will try to identify the nature of the constituent act that originates the association. The internal organization of these entities will be studied, involving questions regarding the constitution, operations, functions and abilities of its bodies. Besides that, the form of deliberating and the process to invalidate them will be analyzed, as well as the problems of conflicts of interests and responsibility of the managers. We will then have mentioned the conditions for alteration of the bylaws, the appraisal rights and the exclusion of the members and its effects. Finally, we will approach the dissolution of the associations.

Esta dissertação tem por escopo estudar a interface do Acordo TRIPS com o a Convenção sobre Diversidade Biológica, sob a perspectiva dos países em desenvolvimento. Para tanto, resgata a construção epistemológica Ocidental do conhecimento, direito, propriedade intelectual e desenvolvimento. Esta base teórica constituída é questionada pela CDB, que apresenta direitos relativos ao acesso de recursos genéticos e / ou conhecimento tradicional que subvertem a ordem estabelecida de geração do conhecimento e acumulação econômica. Tal subversão é parte integrante de movimento maior que questiona o próprio modelo de desenvolvimento e a relação Norte e Sul. Esta pesquisa contextualiza a estruturação legal e organizacional do tema e revisa as contribuições de autores que estudam este, sistematizando-as. Com este arcabouço, ela levanta hipóteses e reflete sobre as respostas destas, identificando paradoxos, compatibilidades e desafios. Apresenta (ndo) se, por fim, uma análise da governança institucional deste tema, através de uma nova configuração cognitiva e legal do mesmo. / This MA dissertation aims at studying the interface of the \'TRIPS Agreement\' with the \'Convention on the Biological Diversity\', under the view of the developing countries. As such, it ransoms the epistemologic building of the Ocidental knowledge, as well as the rights, intelectual property and development. This theoretical basis is questioned by \'CDB\', which presents rights related to the access of genetic resourses/ and the traditional knwledge, which subvert the established order of knowledge generation and economic accumulation. Such subvertion is part of a larger movement that questions its own development model and the North/ South relation. This research contextualizes the legal orgazing structuralization of the theme and revises the contributions of authors that study it, systematizing them. With this backbone, it rises hypotheses and thinks of these hypotheses, identifying paradoxes, compatibilities and challenges. It finally presents an analysis of the institutional governing of this theme, via a new cognitive and legal configuration of the same.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar os aspectos fundamentais do negócio jurídico associativo, na forma disciplinada pelo atual código civil. O legislador ampliou a disciplina referente à associação, pessoa jurídica de direito privado; definiu essa entidade e estabeleceu os elementos essenciais que seu estatuto deve conter. Inseriu regras acerca dos direitos dos membros e da transmissão da qualidade de associado. Tratou da sua exclusão e da necessidade da existência de uma justa causa para tanto. Foram elencadas normas acerca da convocação e competência da assembleia geral dos associados. Por fim, se estabeleceu regras acerca da dissolução dos entes e do destino do patrimônio remanescente, bem como da possibilidade de restituição da contribuição aos membros. Foi identificada omissão do legislador em relação a certos pontos, que serão estudados na presente tese de doutoramento, com auxílio de doutrina estrangeira, em especial a italiana. Para tanto, trataremos das principais características das associações, que as distinguem de outras pessoas jurídicas de direito privado, em especial as fundações e sociedades, analisando os seus elementos essenciais. Serão abordadas as formalidades previstas para sua constituição e aquisição da personalidade jurídica, bem como os efeitos da personificação. Será feita uma diferenciação entre as associações personificadas e não personificadas, para analisarmos se o regime jurídico aplicável a elas deveria ser distinto. Ademais, dentro da disciplina do negócio jurídico e do contrato, em especial, procuraremos identificar a natureza do ato constitutivo que dá origem à associação. A organização interna dessas entidades será estudada, envolvendo questões acerca da constituição, funcionamento, funções e competências dos seus órgãos, bem como a forma de tomada de deliberações e a disciplina de sua anulação, além dos problemas de conflitos de interesses e de responsabilidade dos administradores. Trataremos, ainda, das condições para alteração dos estatutos e das regras para retirada e exclusão dos membros e seus efeitos. Por fim, abordaremos a dissolução das associações. / The present work aims to analyze the basic aspects of the legal transaction with the purpose of creating an association, as regulated by the current civil code. The legislator broadened the discipline referring to the association, a legal entity of private law. He defined this entity and set the essential elements that its bylaws must contain. He inserted rules concerning the rights of the members and the transmission of the quality of associate. He dealt with their exclusion and the necessity of the existence of a fair cause for it. Norms concerning the call and the competence of a general meeting of the associates have been foreseen. Finally, rules concerning the dissolution of the entities and the destination of the remaining assets have been established, as well as the possibility of the restitution of the contributions to the members. However, the legislator omitted some points, that will be studied in the present thesis with reliance on foreign doctrine, in particular the Italian one. In order to achieve that, we will deal with the main characteristics that distinguish the associations from other legal entities of private law, in special foundations and business entities such as partnerships and corporations. The formalities foreseen for its constitution and the acquisition of the legal entity will be discussed, as well as its effects. Differences between the associations with and without legal entity will be established, to conclude wether their applicable legal regime needs to be special. Moreover, dealing with the disciplines of the legal transaction and of the contract, specially, we will try to identify the nature of the constituent act that originates the association. The internal organization of these entities will be studied, involving questions regarding the constitution, operations, functions and abilities of its bodies. Besides that, the form of deliberating and the process to invalidate them will be analyzed, as well as the problems of conflicts of interests and responsibility of the managers. We will then have mentioned the conditions for alteration of the bylaws, the appraisal rights and the exclusion of the members and its effects. Finally, we will approach the dissolution of the associations.

The study purpose is to advance implementation of sustainable development at colleges, and to contribute to organizational change research using social network analysis. The researcher conducted document analysis using 2012-2016 sustainability reports of 16 purposefully selected two-year colleges under a common framework. Interpreting and coding resulted in ranking sustainable development activities as well as grouping colleges using cluster analysis. A survey and interviews were employed by the researcher to determine major themes as challenges to sustainability implementation, and personal network themes using social network analysis measures and sociograms. Challenges to sustainability implementation identified as study themes were: (1) college leadership transition; (2) communication networks; and (3) sustainability funding and resources. Personal network themes based on network analysis were: (1) sustainability leadership typologies; (2) network communication bridges and cliques; and (3) social capital for sustainability funding and resources. The research found personal egocentric network techniques an effective methodology in identifying attributes of communication links to inform transformational leaders implementing innovation. Study implications are that sustainability leaders within informal networks of staff, administrators, and faculty influence and actively participate in innovation diffusion. Faculty and staff work on specific projects and activities advancing sustainability such as community gardens or working with environmental groups, and administrator support provides social capital in terms of funding and resources. Striking the right balance among types and communication ties is a challenge for transformational leaders. Personal network techniques help leaders recognize organic network cliques and bridges during implementation stages, allowing for informed support and advancement of college sustainability. From this study, sustainability practitioners may be interested in using sustainability activity frequencies for planning and sharing with other colleges, as well as using personal network techniques to develop sociograms identifying important network positions, cliques, and bridges for sustainability implementation.

Administrators of nursing programs in community colleges are aware of the need to retain and to graduate students to meet the growing demand for licensed practical nurses (LPNs). High attrition in a 2-year nursing program in South Carolina affected the number of students either graduating as a LPN after completing the third semester, or continuing in the program to become a registered nurse (RN). Guided by Jeffreys's nursing undergraduate retention and success model, this causal comparative study investigated the differences between students who were and were not successful in the initial 3 semesters of the program. Archival student records for all students entering fall 2012 through fall 2013 (n = 373) were analyzed using multiple ordinal logistic regression. The independent variables were demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity), admissions qualifications (SAT/ACT scores, prior degree, or pre-nursing certificate), and academic performance (GPA in prerequisite courses, final course grades, and Kaplan standardized test scores). The dependent measure, student success, was defined by Jeffreys's pathways: attrition, failure, and retention (interim or continuous). Data analysis indicated GPA in prerequisite courses and grade in the first medical-surgical course were significant factors in predicting students successfully passing the initial 3 semesters. There were no other significant findings. Findings were incorporated into a recommendation for a policy change to increase the prerequisite GPA admissions requirement. Implications for social change include increased retention and graduation rates, thus preparing more students to enter the workforce as LPNs and contribute to reducing the nursing shortage.

Effective nursing care can be threatened when nurses are not culturally attuned with their patients. Associate degree nursing (ADN) students receive information about diverse ethnicities in the nursing curriculum, but it may not be sufficient to provide the expertise necessary to care for patients of various cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the 2nd year ADN students' levels of cultural competence and their perceptions of self-efficacy in working with Caucasian, African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Asian ethnicities. The study used a cross-sectional survey design to determine if a relationship existed between the students' reported cultural competencies and their self-efficacy scores while providing care to patients of these diverse cultures. The process of cultural competence in the delivery of health care services was used as the theoretical framework for this study. A volunteer convenience sample of 64 2nd-year ADN students completed the Nurse Cultural Competence Scale and the Cultural Self-Efficacy Scale. The Pearson-Product Moment correlation revealed a significant negative, moderate relationship between self-efficacy and the students' perceptions of cultural competence. A project was designed to enhance skills and knowledge to improve the students' cultural competency while caring for patients of Asian, Native American, and Hispanic cultures because minimal familiarity of those cultures contributed most to the negative correlation. Research on methods to improve cultural competence among health care professionals should be continued. Positive social change will occur as nursing students gain proficiency in their abilities to provide culturally appropriate care to patients of diverse ethnic backgrounds.