Digital Commons Network^™

Environmental Dimensions Of Colonial Settlement: A Palynological Investigation Of La Cienega, New Mexico, Kyle W. Edwards

Graduate Masters Theses

Using palynological data, this project explores how changing land use practices associated with successive waves of colonial settlement shaped local environments in La Cienega, New Mexico. This is accomplished by linking collected pollen data to known historic occupations beginning with pre-colonial Puebloan populations and continuing through the present day, encompassing both Hispanic and Anglo-American colonial occupations. The data were collected from a single sediment core taken at a small pond located within La Cienega. Pollen from 12 samples was analyzed, providing a 600-year record of changes within local plant communities. The collected data are interpreted in relation to known archaeological …

Examining Sociological Differences And The Influence Of Prey Distribution And Environmental Variability In The Distribution Of A Top Marine Predator, The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus), Stefanie K. Gazda

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the influence of environmental variability on the distribution of prey, and the influence of prey spatial structure and habitat variability may have on the distributions of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Additionally I examined how sociological differences (behavior type and the changes in a foraging behavior specific to Cedar Key Florida) influences the relative roles of bottlenose dolphins within the population.

The Gowans et al. scheme assumes that small groups form small communities and that foraging groups are small and rare as there are few foraging benefits to promote grouping. Using network analysis, …

Critical Forces That Structure Subtidal Ecological Communities In The Gulf Of Maine, And The Integration Of Invasive Species Into These Communities, Martine C. Wagstaff

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Shallow subtidal epibenthic communities worldwide are under threat from exploitation, pollution, eutrophication, acidification, climate change, and invasive species, with implications for ecosystem diversity, productivity, function, and services. Subtidal ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine are particularly impacted, making it crucial to understand these habitats so that our impacts can be predicted and mitigated. I investigated the basic ecological forces that structure shallow subtidal epibenthic communities in this region, and how invasive species integrate themselves into these communities. I used community phylogenetic and functional trait analyses to investigate if invertebrate communities in the rocky subtidal are assembled via deterministic or random …

The Politics Of Official English: Exploring The Intentions And The Outcomes Behind English-Only Policies In The United States, David Gonzalez Nieto

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Although the Constitution did not declare English the official language of the United States, its complete linguistic dominance in such a linguistically diverse nation is unparalleled. Despite its supremacy, the last three decades have witnessed a renewed nationalistic movement that claims the role of English is threatened and that its establishment as the official language of the United States is crucial to protect the language and the unity of the nation.

So far, attempts to institutionalize English at the federal level have failed, but 28 states have adopted English as their official language and/or legislation that limits the use of …

Marital History And Retirement Security: An Empirical Analysis Of The Work, Family, And Gender Relationship, Lauren A. Martin Palmer

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the relationship between marital history and individuals’ retirement resources, namely Social Security, employer-sponsored pensions, and non-housing wealth. Prior research provides a foundation for understanding marriage’s positive relationship to retirement security, and suggests that marriage is financially beneficial and can even lessen some external factors that would otherwise damage a family’s financial situation. Yet changing demographics, with fewer people in first marriages and rising numbers of individuals experiencing divorce and choosing to remain unmarried, suggest our understanding of this relationship for today’s retirees may be limited. The purpose of this research is to identify which aspects of complex …

Automatic Detection And Quantification Of Bluff Erosion Events In Single Image Series, Martin D. Hellwig

Graduate Masters Theses

Many communities along coastlines and riverbanks are threatened by water erosion and hence an accurate model to predict erosion events is needed in order to plan mitigation strategies. Such models need to rely on readily available meteorological data that may or may not be correlated with the occurrence of erosion events. In order to accurately study these potential correlations, researchers need a quantified time series index indicating the occurrence and magnitude of erosion in the studied area. We show that such an index can be obtained by creating and analyzing a single image series using relatively cheap consumer grade digital …

The Integration Of African Americans In The Civilian Conservation Corps In Massachusetts, Caitlin E. Pinkham

Graduate Masters Theses

The Civilian Conservation Corps employed young white and black men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. In 1935 Robert Fechner, the Director of the Civilian Conservation Corps, ordered the segregation of Corps camps across the country. Massachusetts’ camps remained integrated due in large part to low funding and a small African American population. The experiences of Massachusetts’ African American population present a new general narrative of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Federal government imposed a three percent African American quota, ensuring that African Americans participated in Massachusetts as the Civilian Conservation Corps expanded. This quota represents a Federal acknowledgement …

Impact Of Parental Stress On Asthma Management Behaviors And Health Outcomes: A Longitudinal Analysis Of Inner City School-Aged Children, Amanda Constance Green

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Background. Asthma is a prevalent chronic condition with excess disease burden in school-aged, minority children from low income inner-city communities. Conceptualized within a nursing and socio-ecological framework, the purpose of this secondary analysis of a prospective study of inner-city school-aged children with asthma (School Inner-City Asthma Study [SICAS]) was to examine associations between characteristics of children and parents, parents stress, parent asthma management behaviors (AMB) and child asthma outcomes, including emergency (ED) visits for asthma, missed school and asthma control.

Methods. The sample included 351 school-aged children (7.9 years old, SD= 1.9 years; 53.0% male; 95.7% minority). Parents reported their …

Learning Considered: Emergent Design In Student Affairs, Carl F. Ericson

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper is an argument for how Student Affairs practitioners in Higher Education can do a better job pursuing and living up to the profession’s stated goals for student learning. It is not a balanced or thorough presentation of facts and theories and it makes no attempt to review all of the pertinent literature. It does use extensive quotations from key documents and authorities in relevant fields and those excerpts are intended not only to support the argument and display the ideas and language necessary to develop a learning centered culture, but to also point out that people working in …

Services For People With Intellectual And/Or Developmental Disabilities In The U.S. Territories, John Butterworth, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

The following report represents an expansion of the data collection activities mandated by a 2012 Administration of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). Prior to 2012, the AIDD funded data projects, Access to Integrated Employment, Family and Individual Information Systems project (FISP), Residential Information Systems Project (RISP) and the State of the States in Developmental Disabilities only collected data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 2012 FOA requested that three of the AIDD data projects work together to include the five U.S. Territories (American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, …

The Role Of Valproic Acid, A Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, In Reducing Anxiety Levels In Rats: An Epigenetics Study, Juliet Buteme

Honors College Theses

Rats, like humans, show personality traits: they are born with different anxiety levels (i.e., high (HAn) or low anxiety (LAn) levels). In this study, we investigated (1) if treatment with valproic acid (VPA) can lower anxiety level in trait anxiety rats and (2) how VPA may interact with environment (e.g., enriched (EE), standard (SE) and isolated environments (IE)). VPA is a deacetylase inhibitor that increases Histone 3 acetylation, a known epigenetic mechanism that interacts with stress response proteins, and treats epilepsy and mood disorders. Since rats reared in IE exhibit heightened anxiety levels as compared to those in EE, we …

Blacks In Massachusetts: Comparative Demographic, Social And Economic Experiences With Whites, Latinos, And Asians, James Jennings, Barbara Lewis, Richard O’Bryant, Rachel Bernard, Linda Sprague Martinez, Russell Williams

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

This report describes the social and economic, and education status of Blacks in Massachusetts, within a comparative framework with Whites, Asians, and Latino/as. A range of population, household, and economic variables are highlighted under the following categories: Population Characteristics; Families and Households; Education and Schooling; Housing; Health Characteristics; Labor Force, Occupations and Employment; and Income and Poverty. The information presented in this report is based on data from the 2010 Decennial Census; the American Community Survey 2009 – 2013 5 Year Estimates; the American Community Survey 2009-2013 5-Year Estimates Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) as well as PUMS for the …

Against Totalitarianism: Agamben, Foucault, And The Politics Of Critique, C. Heike Schotten

Political Science Faculty Publication Series

Despite appearances, Agamben’s engagement with Foucault in Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life is not an extension of Foucault’s analysis of biopolitics but ra-ther a disciplining of Foucault for failing to take Nazism seriously. This moralizing rebuke is the result of methodological divergences between the two thinkers that, I argue, have fun-damental political consequences. Re-reading Foucault’s most explicitly political work of the mid-1970s, I show that Foucault’s commitment to genealogy is aligned with his commitment to “insurrection”—not simply archival or historical, but practical and political insurrection—even as his non-moralizing understanding of critique makes space for the resistances he hopes …

A Comprehensive Review Of Interteaching And Its Impact On Student Learning And Satisfaction, Beatriz Isabelle Querol, Rocio Rosales, James Soldner

School for Global Inclusion and Social Development Faculty Publications

This review provides a historical overview of behavioral teaching methods that have demonstrated efficacy across age groups, educational levels, and disciplines. In particular, we focus on a recent behavioral teaching method known as interteaching to highlight its effectiveness as a user-friendly alternative to the traditional classroom lecture. Applications of prior behavioral teaching methods will be briefly highlighted, followed by a more thorough overview of the empirical data to date supporting interteaching as an effective behavioral teaching method to increase academic engagement, learning, and satisfaction in the classroom. Key recommendations for pedagogy resulting from this research and a guide for future …

A Comparison Of Interteaching And Classroom Lecture In Rehabilitation Education, James Soldner, Rocio Rosales, William Crimando

School for Global Inclusion and Social Development Faculty Publications

A growing body of research continuesto demonstrate the effectiveness ofinterteaching in the college classroom.However, to date, no studies have beenpublished on the use of interteaching inrehabilitation education. The purpose ofthe present study was to systematicallyreplicate previous research by comparinginterteaching to traditional classroom lecturein two sections of an undergraduate medicalaspects of disability course. Findingsindicate students performed better on postdiscussionquizzes following the interetachingcondition. Social validity findings alsoindicate the majority of students preferredinterteaching and reported learning morewhen interteaching was in effect. Theimplications of these results are discussedalong with a summary of future directions inthis line of research.

A Comparison Of Interteaching And Classroom Lecture In Rehabilitation Education, James Soldner

School for Global Inclusion and Social Development Faculty Publications

A growing body of research continuesto demonstrate the effectiveness ofinterteaching in the college classroom.However, to date, no studies have beenpublished on the use of interteaching inrehabilitation education. The purpose ofthe present study was to systematicallyreplicate previous research by comparinginterteaching to traditional classroom lecturein two sections of an undergraduate medicalaspects of disability course. Findingsindicate students performed better on postdiscussionquizzes following the interetachingcondition. Social validity findings alsoindicate the majority of students preferredinterteaching and reported learning morewhen interteaching was in effect. Theimplications of these results are discussedalong with a summary of future directions inthis line of research.

A Comprehensive Review Of Interteaching And Its Impact On Student Learning And Satisfaction, James Soldner

School for Global Inclusion and Social Development Faculty Publications

This review provides a historical overview of behavioral teaching methods that have demonstrated efficacy across age groups, educational levels, and disciplines. In particular, we focus on a recent behavioral teaching method known as interteaching to highlight its effectiveness as a user-friendly alternative to the traditional classroom lecture. Applications of prior behavioral teaching methods will be briefly highlighted, followed by a more thorough overview of the empirical data to date supporting interteaching as an effective behavioral teaching method to increase academic engagement, learning, and satisfaction in the classroom. Key recommendations for pedagogy resulting from this research and a guide for future …

Needs Assessment For The Topsfield Council On Aging, Jan E. Mutchler, Ceara Somerville

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

The Town of Topsfield’s older population grew substantially during the last decade. Increases are expected to continue as the number of seniors increase moving forward, as well as the share of the Topsfield population they represent. In response to these demographic changes, a study was undertaken to generate and organize information on the older residents of Topsfield and the community organizations supporting their well-being. Special focus was placed on needs of older residents along with the capacity of the Topsfield COA to meet those needs. Methods used included description of existing data, key informant interviews, and focus groups aimed at …

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2015 Report & Evaluation, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC, originally known as the Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution), the statutory state dispute resolution agency and an applied research center of the McCormack Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has administered the Community Mediation Center Grant Program (the CMC Grant Program or grant program) under G.L. Ch. 75, §47 since July 2012. The grant program provides state operational funding to qualified community mediation centers. The program goal is to advance the mission of community mediation as a cost-effective public service that increases access to justice for Massachusetts citizens, particularly for low …

Role Of The Orphan Crispr 2 In Enterococcus Faecalis, Andriy Barchuk

Honors College Theses

Enterococcus faecalis is a Gram-positive aerotolerant anaerobic bacterium primarily found as a member of the human and animal intestinal flora. Enterococcus faecalis along with 27 other species comprise the genus Enterococcus. Out of the whole genus E. faecalis and E. faecium are the second most common nosocomial cause for urinary tract and wound infections. The treatment of the infections is made even more complex due to E. faecalis resistance to last-resort drugs like vancomycin. An inverse relationship has been observed in the species between antibiotic resistance and presence of the CRISPR-cas locus. CRISPR-Cas (clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and …

Foreword, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

Throughout the tenures of five U.S. presidencies, eight UMass presidencies, six governors, and five UMass Boston chancellors, Shaun O’Connell has regularly produced scintillating essays distilling the essence of several books, “bundled,” as it were, because of common themes that run through their pages, into masterful expositions—profound, reflective, social critiques that invariably tie knots between fiction and nonfiction and a range of pertinent public policy issues. His extraordinary ability helps us understand that the best poets and novelists and nonfiction authors give us glimpses into the complex machinery of the human psyche and often imbed economic and social policy issues before …

Climate. A Period Of Consequence: Environmental Literature Of 2006 (2006), Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author talks about the consequences of not respecting the climate and understanding global warming will cause ecocide and our own extinction.

Reprinted from New England Journal of Public Policy 21, no. 2 (2007), article 5.

Imagining Boston: The City As Image And Experience (1986), Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

I want to discuss community and imagery, social division and literary unity, Boston poetry and prose. In most issues of NEJPP I will focus upon those recent books that fire our imaginations and help us shape our sense of local and regional place. In this issue, however, I want to look back at the tradition of imagery that resonates in Boston's history. Old ideas of Boston are quickly being buried under layers of architectural and cultural renewal. While the suburbs become more urbanized and the commuter roads more clogged, downtown Boston is in the midst of the greatest building boom …

Wars Remembered (2003), Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

O'Connell speaks about his father, among other war veterans, dealing with the effects of the wars they fought in. He explains his father's history from how he enilisted to how he died. He also touches upon other's war experiences and writing about the after effects of them as well.

Reprinted from New England Journal of Public Policy 19, no. 1 (2003), article 3.

Introduction: Turning Pages, Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

Pages, essays, and books pile up in libraries while pixilated words and paragraphs get packed away on hard disks or float in clouds: permanence versus ephemera. Yet, as underfunded libraries turn into media centers and as digital backup options proliferate, who can tell what pages will last and for how long. These essays have long been stored in volumes of the New England Journal of Public Policy (NEJPP) or made available on the journal’s website. This collection sets them in a fresh context and gives them an opportunity to reach new readers in a format that shows how …

Two Nations: Homeless In A Divided Land (1992), Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

The works discussed in this article include: Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics, by Thomas Byrne Edsall with Mary D. Edsall; Why Americans Hate Politics, by E. J. Dionne, Jr.; A Far Cry from Home: Life in a Shelter for Homeless Women, by Lisa Ferrill; Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics, by Suzanne Garment; Songs from the Alley, by Kathleen Hirsch; Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, by James Davison Hunter; Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America, by Jonathan Kozol; Parliament of …

New York Revisited (1992), Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

The works discussed in this article include: City of the World: New York and Its People, by Bernie Bookbinder; New York, New York, by Oliver E. Allen; New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in New York City, from 1750 to the Beginnings of Our Own Time, by Thomas Bender; The Heart of the World, by Nik Cohn; The Art of the City: Views and Versions of New York, by Peter Conrad; After Henry, by Joan Didion; Literary New York: A History and Guide, by Susan Edmiston and Linda D. Cirino; Our …

Important Places (2005), Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author talks about his time and associations with the University of Massachusetts Boston. He also describes Ireland and his family's roots there and how it connects with Boston as well as his life in New York.

Reprinted from New England Journal of Public Policy 20, no. 2 (2005), article 10.

Touched By Fire: Readings In Time Of War (1991), Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

In "Touched by Fire: Readings in Times of War," Shaun O'Connell draws us into the eerie atmosphere that pulled this country into itself in the late fall and early winter, when thoughts of war provoked hard questions and when, for a time, doubt became the stuff of eloquence.

The works discussed in this article include: Pledging Allegiance: The Last Campaign of the Cold War, by Sidney Blumenthal; Millie's Book, as dictated to Barbara Bush; An American Life, by Ronald Reagan; The Civil War: An Illustrated History, by Geoffrey C. Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns; …

Biotechnology Trailblazer: Hayat Sindi (Vol. 3 Issue 1), Global Leadership Dialogues

Global Leadership Dialogues

Hayat Sindi is cofounder of Diagnostics For All, a Massachusetts nonprofit that designs low-cost diagnostic devices to improve health services in developing countries. She is also president of the i2: Institute for Imagination and Ingenuity, an organization that seeks to engage scientists, technologists, and engineers in entrepreneurship and social innovation. She earned a degree in pharmacology from King’s College in London and became the first woman from the Arabian Gulf to earn a PhD in biotechnology, which she completed at Cambridge University. She has combined her knowledge of biotechnology and pharmacology to aid in the invention of low-cost, portable, and …