Browsing by Subject "Theory"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Advancing Pharmacy Practice Through Social Theory
    (University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, 2011) Rovers, John
    Although there is a substantial role for social theory in explaining patients’ health behaviors, it does not appear that pharmacists commonly use such theories to provide patient care. This paper attempts to demonstrate an explicit link between social theory and pharmacy practice. The theory of structure and agency and the practice problem of poor medication adherence (MA) in patients with HIV/AIDS are used as exemplars to illustrate such a link. Factors influencing MA were identified from qualitative studies of adherence in patients with HIV/AIDS. All factors identified were stratified into one of four categories: agency related factors that facilitate MA; agency related factors that are barriers to MA; structural factors that facilitate MA; structural factors that are barriers to MA. Stratifying MA in this manner allows pharmacists to identify clinical interventions that are targeted towards the specific cause of MA problems.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Degeneration theory in naturalist novels of Benito Pérez Galdós.
    (2011-04) Stannard, Michael Wenley
    Degeneration theory was elaborated in the nineteenth century based on the very old belief in human trans-generational decline. After incorporation into social and biological theories in the eighteenth century, it flourished in the fields of medicine and public health in the early nineteenth century and was emphasized, above all, in some fields of psychiatry. Degenerationist beliefs were influential in the professional middle classes of France, England and Spain. The discourse was incorporated by Émile Zola into the aesthetics of his Naturalist novels in the 1870s and 1880s and directly influenced Benito Pérez Galdós in Spain in the 1880s. An analysis of a quartet of Galdós's Naturalist novels shows evidence of degenerationist thinking, under the influence of Spanish and French medicine.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Funding China's Urban Infrastructure: Revenue Structure and Financing Approaches
    (Center for Transportation Studies, 2011-05) Zhirong, Zhao; Chengxin, Cao
    With the rapid increase in the need for urban infrastructure, the issue of infrastructure funding has become more and more essential. This paper focuses on the following three issues: first, it clarifies the trend and regional pattern of infrastructure funding. Second, this paper further discusses funding mechanisms from the perspective of government and market. Third, this paper will evaluate current trend and pattern based on the five theoretical dimensions. Concerning the trends of infrastructure funding, the growth of market financing is faster than fiscal revenue; therefore, the importance of fiscal revenue has decreased. Regionally, the east has the highest reliance on fiscal revenue, which is largely due to its high land transfer fee. Municipality has the highest proportion of market financing. From the perspective of government and market, the importance of government-leading mode has decreased, while UDIC-leading and private sector involvement play a more and more essential role.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Nature as impression for Dao: A theory of spiritual tourism development in Da-Nang - Viet-Nam
    (2015-09) Tran-Tuan, Hung
    To keep pace with the developing trend of spiritual tourism in Viet-Nam, the city of Da-Nang continuously expands the size of spiritual festivals, inaugurates new religious establishments, and prepares to build a spiritual cultural theme park. Given this form of tourism is young for Da-Nang, the issue is how the city should develop its spiritual tourism offering in a determinative and authentic way for the efficiency of its environment, socio-cultural, and economic sectors. This research aims to generate a theory of current spiritual tourism development in Da-Nang by a qualitative method, grounded theory, which refers to interview data and utilises a specific coding system. Discussion of the theory is based on comparisons and contrasts to cases and situations of heritage, cultural, and especially spiritual tourism development; and to the tourism development literature. Recommendation is made for a selective orientation for a more sound and effective development. Theoretical contributions of spiritual tourism development in Da-Nang, and future research directions are presented.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Phenomenological Exploration of the Apparel Sizing Practice of Small Womenswear Businesses
    (2019-02) Carufel, Robin
    Inconsistent garment sizing has plagued the apparel industry from its inception. Solutions to the problem require large anthropometric databases and advanced skills in statistical analysis, which small businesses have no access to or training in. To give a voice to those engaged in sizing practice, this study conducted a phenomenological inquiry into six small womenswear business’ experiences regarding sizing practice. Findings suggest three major influences on sizing practice: Financial Resources, Experience, and Designer Mindset; and three themes are presented regarding how decisions about sizing are incorporated into the apparel design process: Timing of Decisions, Fit Model, and Design Intent. This study concludes with suggestions for how to incorporate technical design and entrepreneurship into apparel design curricula to better serve the student interested in design entrepreneurship, suggestions for easy improvement of sizing practice for small womenswear businesses, as well as suggestions for future research in sizing.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Simple solutions to complex problems in fisheries
    (2014-06) Burgess, Matthew G.
    Fisheries science faces a challenging combination of complexity and data limitation that places opposing pressures on theoretical research - which seeks to describe the complexity - and empirical research - which is constrained to simplicity by the limitations of available data. In this volume, I present studies aiming to reconcile theoretical and empirical approaches to assessing the current status of fished populations and designing management plans in two ways: i) by using concise mechanistic theories rooted in measurable parameters to develop new predictive assessment tools; and ii) by using ecological and economic theory to develop insights whose applications are not data-dependent or system specific. My research provides several important insights for assessment and management in fisheries: 1) Combinations of biological and socioeconomic conditions that eventually lead to extinction or overfishing can often be empirically identified decades before high harvest rates and large population declines occur, allowing for preventative management. 2) Though there is concern that harvest value, which rises as a harvested species is depleted, can allow profits to be maintained it is driven extinct, this threat most often also requires catch-rates to be substantially robust to declining abundance. Because range contraction often buffers population densities against abundance declines, habitat destruction may exacerbate threats of overharvesting. 3) Assessments based on single-species population models in multispecies fisheries can often provide reliable estimates of sustainable yields and harvest rates in populations with high vulnerability to overfishing, but often significantly overestimate sustainable yields and harvest rates in populations with lower vulnerability. However, single-species assessment frameworks can nonetheless be used to identify conditions leading to such bias, and estimate bounds on its magnitude. 4) Diversifying technologies and efficiencies within fishing fleets often leads to fewer population collapses in both managed and unmanaged fisheries; and increases the positive impact management can make on fishery yields and profits. The studies in this volume provide new perspectives on theoretical-empirical synergies in fisheries research, and maximizing the information value of fisheries data through theoretical concision and ecological abstraction.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Theoretical evolutionary genetics of plant mating system and self-incompatibility
    (2020-12) Harkness, Alexander
    The mating system of a diploid eukaryote is an outcome of intragenomic coevolution. Close relatives are more likely to share recessive deleterious mutations at many locations, so an allele at another locus that reduces the probability of inbreeding will increase offspring’s expected fitness. Self-incompatibility in flowering plants, which acts through a polymorphic locus (an S-locus) that rejects pollen when pollen and pistil haplotypes match, is a particularly old and widespread inbreeding avoidance adaptation that has persisted through long-term balancing selection among different S-locus haplotypes (S-haplotypes). Intragenomic coevolution occurs between the individual elements of the S-locus: those expressed in pollen and those expressed in pistils. When intragenomic coevolution is disturbed, selection on mating system or on particular mating system adaptations is shifted and the population may adapt in new ways. In this thesis, the theoretical consequences of three disturbances to the intragenomic coevolution of mating system in flowering plants are determined. First, it is shown that isolation of the genetic load in separate inbreeding populations produces a transitory benefit upon secondary contact to a mutation promoting outcrossing, but that this benefit evaporates too rapidly as the populations reassimilate to favor the evolution of greater outcrossing consistently. Second, it is shown that, under the taxonomically widespread ribonuclease-based self-incompatibility system, the evolution of a novel S-haplotype greatly disturbs inter-haplotype coevolution, and may either lead to coexistence of all haplotypes (diversification) or extinction of multiple haplotypes (collapse) in a rescue-like process. Third, it is shown that biased patterns of pollen rejection form between non-coevolved S-haplotypes from isolated populations, which may favor the introgression of some haplotypes, prevent introgression of others, and cause some to be lost by swamping introgression.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Using the theory of planned behavior to measure pharmacists' engagement in political advocacy and determine factors impacting their engagement
    (2014-02) Tomaszewski, Daniel Mark
    The level of regulation that impacts healthcare delivery in the United States suggests the need for healthcare providers to participate in the formation and implementation of health policies. Advancing health policies can most effectively be accomplished through various forms of political advocacy. To date, little research has been conducted to measure the level of involvement pharmacists take in political advocacy. The study's purpose was to develop and test a survey that measured pharmacists' level of involvement in political advocacy and factors that impact their involvement. To accomplish this, a survey was developed using The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The initial survey was refined through a series of semi-structured interviews. Participants involved in the interview process included practicing pharmacists, research experts, and political advocacy experts. The revised survey was used to survey a national sample of practicing pharmacists. The overall response rate was 10.3%, which resulted in 103 usable responses for analysis. Statistical analysis included assessing the survey items for reliability and validity and multiple regression analyses. Reliability statistics were used to develop an ideal item list and regression analysis was used to measure the appropriateness of The TPB. Reliability statistics suggested the elimination of a total of 22 of the 68 items. Factor analysis was not used to further evaluate the item list due to the low number of responses and potential high number of factors. Results of the multiple regression analysis suggested the model incorporating all items related to The TPB was appropriate (adjusted R-squared = 0.361), as well as the ideal item only model (adjusted R-squared = 0.300). In addition, each of the models' demonstrated that the construct attitude (p<0.001) predicted involvement in political advocacy. Using the ideal item only model, the construct of perceived behavioral control (p=0.015) also demonstrated a relationship. This study provided us with an initial evaluation of pharmacists' involvement in political advocacy. The results of the study suggested that The TPB does appear to have utility in the topic; however, the low number of participants limits generalizability. Additional studies are needed to further evaluate the topic.