Digital Commons Network^™

Factoring: Difference Of Squares, Thomas Lauria

Open Educational Resources

This lesson plan will explain how to factor basic difference of squares problems

Automated Evolution Of Feature Logging Statement Levels Using Git Histories And Degree Of Interest, Yiming Tang, Allan Spektor, Raffi Khatchadourian, Mehdi Bagherzadeh

Publications and Research

Logging—used for system events and security breaches to more informational yet essential aspects of software features—is pervasive. Given the high transactionality of today’s software, logging effectiveness can be reduced by information overload. Log levels help alleviate this problem by correlating a priority to logs that can be later filtered. As software evolves, however, levels of logs documenting surrounding feature implementations may also require modification as features once deemed important may have decreased in urgency and vice-versa. We present an automated approach that assists developers in evolving levels of such (feature) logs. The approach, based on mining Git histories and manipulating …

Activation Of The Cognitive Control Network Associated With Information Uncertainty, Tingting Wu, Kurt P. Schulz, Jin Fan

Publications and Research

The cognitive control network (CCN) that comprises regions of the frontoparietal network, the cingulo-opercular network, and other sub-cortical regions as core structures is commonly activated by events with an increase in information uncertainty. However, it is not clear whether this CCN activation is associated with both information entropy that represents the information conveyed by the context formed by a sequence of events and the surprise that quantifies the information conveyed by a specific type of event in the context. We manipulated entropy and surprise in this functional magnetic resonance imaging study by varying the probability of occurrence of two types …

Human Ace2‑Functionalized Gold “Virus‑Trap” Nanostructures For Accurate Capture Of Sars‑Cov‑2 And Single‑Virus Sers Detection, Yong Yang, Yusi Peng, Chenglong Lin, Li Long, Jingying Hu, Jun He, Hui Zeng, Zhengren Huang, Zhi-Yuan Li, Masaki Tanemura, Jianlin Shi, John R. Lombardi, Xiaoying Luo

Publications and Research

The current COVID-19 pandemic urges the extremely sensitive and prompt detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Here, we present a Human Angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2 (ACE2)-functionalized gold “virus traps” nanostructure as an extremely sensitive SERS biosensor, to selectively capture and rapidly detect S-protein expressed coronavirus, such as the current SARS-CoV-2 in the contaminated water, down to the single-virus level. Such a SERS sensor features extraordinary 106- fold virus enrichment originating from high-affinity of ACE2 with S protein as well as “virus-traps” composed of oblique gold nanoneedles, and 109- fold enhancement of Raman signals originating from multicomponent SERS effects. Furthermore, the identification standard of virus …

Food And Cultural Politics: A Culinary Lens Into Teaching American Art And Culture, Evie Terrono

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

Seeking to challenge students to think deeply and critically about American art and material culture and their broad socio-cultural implications in the past and present, I developed in 2017 a course that explored the interpretation of foodstuff and American foodways in American art, prints and commercial advertising, and material culture. This article analyzes the pedagogical objectives of the course in its integration of a multi-modal learning approach that reinforced connections between learning, experiencing, and critical interpretation. Capitalizing on the emergence of scholarship in food studies in American art and through other cross-disciplinary readings students analyzed food symbolism, racial and economic …

Systematic Review Shows No Strong Evidence Regarding The Use Of Elastic Taping For Pain Improvement In Patients With Primary Knee Osteoarthritis, Stephan Heddon, Nicole Saulnier, Jorge Mercado, Michelle Shalmiyev, Jean-Philippe Berteau

Publications and Research

Background:

A recent trend in the field of primary knee osteoarthritis suggests that elastic tape (e.g., K-tape) relieves pressure on the joint by increasing tension on fascia. Elastic tape (ET) is expected to decrease pain and help patients to recover faster.

Objective:

This systematic review aims to analyze the efficacy of this method on pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis by using The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score.

Data sources:

Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standard for reporting systematic reviews of qualitative and quantitative evidence, we used 3 electronic databases, …

Phil 302: Ethics In The Workplace, Cuny School Of Professional Studies

Open Educational Resources

Introduces the philosophical frameworks used to guide ethical practice in the workplace. Using a case study approach, the course provides an analysis and critique of significant moral issues existing throughout business and industry in both domestic and international markets. Topics covered include classical and contemporary ethical theories, codes of professional conduct, issues such as consent and privacy, and environmental and social responsibilities at the personal, managerial, and organizational level.

Speed Dating Peer Review Activity, Gloria Gianoulis, Susan Rocco

Open Educational Resources

Peer Review of student writing in a fully online, synchronous learning environment can be challenging. By drawing on the principles of speed dating, this activity meets 3 goals for fostering student success: fosters student-student engagement, encourages student investment in peer review, and improves students' accountability for participation.

Com 101 (21471) Media Literacy, Rachel Kovacs

Open Educational Resources

This course emphasizes the critical need for media literacy and an informed understanding of media industries. It is essential to select credible information when we are inundated with messages on a daily basis. It is also crucial to identify when stories and issues of importance are not reported or inadequately reported in the media and when it is up to us, as consumers of media, to create those stories and issues and bring them into the public domain.

Black Women Novelists, Trevar Riley-Reid

Open Educational Resources

By the end of this course, students will have:

• Engaged in analytic reading, writing and critical thinking about novels written by black women
• Participated in and created a learning community via asynchronous and synchronous online discussions
• Learned the ways that culture, history and environment shape literature and interpretation
• Utilized learned tools of analysis through practice

Eng 102: College Writing Ii, Cuny School Of Professional Studies

Open Educational Resources

A continuation of College Writing I with increased emphasis on expository and analytical writing through research-based assignments in varied academic formats such as reports, formal essays, and research papers across the disciplines, making use of appropriate technology for composing, editing and sharing documents. Research project requires students to use scholarly databases, provide proper attribution and documentation of primary and secondary sources, and argue an opinion based on well-chosen and compelling evidence.

Modern Europe, Barbara Syrrakos

Open Educational Resources

Modern Europe Syllabus in History

Introductory Art History Essay Assignments, Vanessa Troiano

Open Educational Resources

Midterm and final essay assignments with a model essay for an undergraduate survey course of Art History from prehistory to contemporary art.

Math 120 Precalculus Review, York College Math 120 Students, Virginia L. Thompson

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Mapping The “Ungeographic” In Jesmyn Ward’S Where The Line Bleeds, Beth B. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This essay examines the ways in which author Jesmyn Ward guides her reader in reimagining a small Mississippi town in her novel Where the Line Bleeds (2008) by uncovering the antagonisms and ambivalences found in the Dirty South and reflecting on the physical and interior geography of her characters.

The Last Horseman: Albrecht Dürer’S Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, Megan L. Crosby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Albrecht Dürer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse through comparisons with examples from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, as well as the artist’s own numerous representations of Death. These comparisons will show the way Dürer interpreted and changed the iconography of the Four Horsemen.

Swk 600: Research Methods I, Barbra Teater

Open Educational Resources

This course syllabus is for a Master level social work course on research methods. This course is the first in a two-part series where the end product is a research proposal in this course that is then carried out in the subsequent course. This course could also serve as a stand-alone course ending with the research proposal. The course uses an OER textbook resulting in a zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) for the students.

Assessment Of Presentation Skills (Management), Heidi Bertels

Open Educational Resources

This rubric was designed to assess presentation skills for student in the BS in Business at CUNY College of Staten Island.

Temporal Dynamics Of Functional Brain States Underlie Cognitive Performance, Hong Gu, Kurt P. Schulz, Jin Fan, Yihong Yang

Publications and Research

The functional organization of the human brain adapts dynamically in response to a rapidly changing environment. However, the relation of these rapid changes in functional organization to cognitive functioning is not well understood. This study used a graph-based time-frame modularity analysis approach to identify temporally recurrent functional configuration patterns in neural responses to an n-back working memory task during fMRI. Working memory load was manipulated to investigate the functional relevance of the identified brain states. Four distinct brain states were defined by the predominant patterns of activation in the task-positive, default-mode, sensorimotor, and visual networks. Associated with escalating working memory …

Quan 201: Quantitative Reasoning And Society, Cuny School Of Professional Studies

Open Educational Resources

An interdisciplinary introduction to the ways in which data can be used to enhance thinking and decision-making capacities, including using simple statistical techniques, creating visual representations of quantitative data, deriving accurate conclusions from quantitative data, and using data effectively in analyses and arguments. Assignments build capacity to evaluate and write clearly about quantitative evidence using methods for analyzing and communicating about data that do not require complex mathematics.

Eng 350: Advanced Composition, Cuny School Of Professional Studies

Open Educational Resources

Introduces advanced composition, reading, and interdisciplinary research skills. Reinforces the analysis and display of quantitative information, the selection of visual elements, and the creation of compelling presentations. Develops strategies for successful collaborative projects. Requires students demonstrate the research and writing competencies appropriate for senior undergraduate studies.

Great Directors: Sidney Lumet, William Blick

Publications and Research

Given the breadth of Lumet’s oeuvre, it’s debatable whether or not he has a distinctive, recognizable style. The canon encompasses such a large canvas, it is impossible to say whether or not his films are instantly recognizable. There are, however, trademark characteristics: gritty New York urban realism, dynamic and snappy dialogue coupled with frequent collaborations with the best actors and writers in the business. These collaborations captivated film critics and the public alike, as both bore witness to Lumet’s talent for translating text to screen. Lumet’s politics are unabashedly liberal and often elicit distrust of the establishment as characters challenge …

Edl805 Program Design And Evaluation Syllabus, Harriet Fayne

Open Educational Resources

Emphasis on research designs (theoretical and applied); needs assessment; data collection and analyses techniques; program development and review; grant proposals/funding; research reports; and continuous improvement through feedback loops.

An “Anti-Handbook Handbook” For Unexpected Changes In A Library Organization, Stephanie M. Margolin, Malin Abrahamsson

Publications and Research

Library employees face countless changes, big and small, in their workplaces every day: not only the COVID-19 pandemic but also such commonplace events as open positions, renovations, budget cuts, and new library systems. No single handbook can anticipate all the changing needs. This case study discusses how one particular library responded, in a specific time and context. The librarians and staff created a model of self-leadership in an effort to articulate a shared purpose and to establish cohesion and well-being in a group that was sometimes divided and stressed. Lessons learned include the importance of ways of thinking, rather than …

The Origins Of The Pledge Of Allegiance, Paul T. Zurheide

Publications and Research

To some, the Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic celebration of the nation, as it was advertised since its beginning. However, it is not simply a salute to a flag. It is also vow of loyalty to the nation, a vow that is consistently repeated by schoolchildren to ensure that loyalty is ingrained in them from the start, before they can even cognitively grasp the meaning of a vow, loyalty, or even the nation. This is because when the Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892, the United States, and its people, were undergoing tremendous change. It was becoming a …

Laboratory Techniques In Public Health: Bi-520 Introduction To Public Health Lab Manual, Anuradha Srivastava

Open Educational Resources

This laboratory manual for a foundations course Public Health is unique in the sense that very rarely, a foundations course in the field has a lab component offered with the lecture. This lab manual provides basic laboratory exercises that could be useful to introduce undergraduate students to the basics of public health laboratory practices.

The Dominican Population Of The New York Metropolitan Region, 1970 - 2019, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction:

This study focuses on the demographic and socioeconomic changes occurring within the Dominican population of the New York metropolitan area between 1970 and 2019. By 2019 Dominicans had become the largest Latino nationality in New York City having surpassed Puerto Ricans a decade earlier in sheer numbers.

Methods:

This report uses the American Community Survey PUMS (Public Use Microdata Series) data for all years released by the Census Bureau and reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa, (https://usa.ipums.org/usa/index.shtml). See Public Use Microdata Series Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew …

Disinfection Station For Face Masks, Jennifer Islam, Lubna Sharmin, Farrukh Zia

Publications and Research

As the world currently faces a global pandemic where anyone can get sick from COVID-19, one way for people to stay safe from the general public is by wearing face masks. This project involves the design, construction, and testing of a disinfection station device for face masks where the user can clean and dry their face masks in order to make them safe to be used multiple times. The device consists of a temperature & humidity sensor (to measure the temperature of water), push button, potentiometer, servo motors, DC motor, and LEDs attached to an Arduino UNO. This device follows …

Improving College Students’ Fact-Checking Strategies Through Lateral Reading Instruction In A General Education Civics Course, Jessica E. Brodsky, Patricia J. Brooks, Donna Scimeca, Ralitsa Todorova, Peter Galati, Michael Batson, Robert Grosso, Michael Matthews, Victor Miller, Michael Caulfeld

Publications and Research

College students lack fact-checking skills, which may lead them to accept information at face value. We report findings from an institution participating in the Digital Polarization Initiative (DPI), a national effort to teach students lateral reading strategies used by expert fact-checkers to verify online information. Lateral reading requires users to leave the information (website) to find out whether someone has already fact-checked the claim, identify the original source, or learn more about the individuals or organizations making the claim. Instructor-matched sections of a general education civics course implemented the DPI curriculum (N=136 students) or provided business-as-usual civics instruction (N=94 students). …

Allogeneic Bone Marrow–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Safety In Idiopathic Parkinson’S Disease, Timothy M. Ellmore

Publications and Research

Background Neuroinflammation plays a key role in PD pathogenesis, and allogeneic bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells can be used as an immunomodulatory therapy. Objective The objective of this study was to prove the safety and tolerability of intravenous allogeneic bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells in PD patients. Methods This was a 12‐month single‐center open‐label dose‐escalation phase 1 study of 20 subjects with mild/moderate PD assigned to a single intravenous infusion of 1 of 4 doses: 1, 3, 6, or 10 × 106 allogeneic bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells/kg, evaluated 3, 12, 24, and 52 weeks postinfusion. Primary outcome safety measures …