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Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages Jan 2022

Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Un-Portalable! is an animated multimedia short film about two friends who become fused together after using a faulty teleporter. They attempt to conceal their deformity while simultaneously navigating a social situation with one of their friends. The main focus in the film is the concept that boundaries tend to become clearer as they begin to break. This conceptual focus merges into the visual theory of the film in which highly expressive character design and hybrid media utilization are driven by relational and narrative design choices. This film serves as a condensed pilot and proof of concept for a larger prospective …

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Deadly Combinations: Factors That Are Associated With Simultaneous And Concurrent Polysubstance Use, Laura Lightfoot Jan 2022

Deadly Combinations: Factors That Are Associated With Simultaneous And Concurrent Polysubstance Use, Laura Lightfoot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Mortality reports show that most overdose deaths include more than one substance. In addition, there is a gap in the literature that discusses risk factors for polysubstance use. The objective of this study was to explore what factors relate to the likelihood of engaging in polysubstance use, defined as using more than one substance. Specifically, the goal was to evaluate predictors of simultaneous (i.e., the use of alcohol and another substance at the same time in the past six months) polysubstance use and concurrent (i.e., the use of any two substances in the past six months) polysubstance use, vs. no …

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The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie Jan 2022

The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Cycles is a 3D animated short film about a father who struggles to keep up with his daughter as she races through life. Whereas most coming-of-age films focus solely on the journey of the adolescent, Cycles subverts the expectations of the genre by exploring the impact growing up has on both the parent and child in tandem. As a film, Cycles relies on the careful and deliberate use of tropes, informed character and environment design, and established cinematic devices to support the story's theme of accepting change. Though my personal experience inspired this film, it evolved into a contemporary and …

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The Loyalty Of The Lords Of Albret: An Investigation Of The Gascon Rolls At The Outset Of The Hundred Years War, Jason Delaney Jan 2022

The Loyalty Of The Lords Of Albret: An Investigation Of The Gascon Rolls At The Outset Of The Hundred Years War, Jason Delaney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis will examine the juxtaposition of the duchy of Gascony's importance to the Plantagenet Crown with the difficulties administering the region and protecting it from French interference during the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries, resulting in the necessity of securing the loyalty of Gascon nobles for assistance. The lords of Albret were powerful allies under Edward I (1272-1307), and their defection to the French under his son, Edward II (1307-1327), put Plantagenet Gascony in a vulnerable position when the Hundred Years War began in 1337. Resecuring the loyalty of Albret – and other powerful Gascon lords – was crucial for …

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Distracted Driving And Pedestrians' Effects On Headway At Signalized Intersections, Bassel Elgamal Jan 2022

Distracted Driving And Pedestrians' Effects On Headway At Signalized Intersections, Bassel Elgamal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Distracted driving and pedestrians pose one of the most difficult challenges to ensuring a safe and efficient transportation system. Modern communications have delivered greater convenience. However, this has come at the cost of attention spans. Safety has been thoroughly explored in terms of distracted driving and pedestrians. However, impacts on traffic operations have received minimal research attention. Few studies provided a theoretical mechanism on how intersection operations can be affected but failed to quantify the real-life impacts on traffic operations. Furthermore, new Florida laws prohibit cellphone usage while driving but is allowed when the vehicle is stationary, which may result …

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Evaluating Novel Combinations Of Polyamine Targeting Therapeutics In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Sai Preethi Nakkina Jan 2022

Evaluating Novel Combinations Of Polyamine Targeting Therapeutics In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Sai Preethi Nakkina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Pancreatic cancer overall has a poor five-year survival rate of less than 8%. Well-tolerated regimens and immune cell infiltration to promote anti-cancer treatments are major challenges. Studies described herein leveraged testing different combinations/doses of polyamine targeting inhibitors to further understand the impact of targeting key polyamine pathway mediators in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Placebo controls were compared to groups treated with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO, a polyamine biosynthesis inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase), different polyamine transport inhibitors, and compound combinations in strategies for polyamine blockage therapy (PBT). Informatic analyses showed that the dysregulation of key polyamine pathway mediators are associated with poor patient …

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Mathematical Model For Giraffe Population Dynamics, Huntir Bass Jan 2022

Mathematical Model For Giraffe Population Dynamics, Huntir Bass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Since the 1980s the overall giraffe population has dropped at least 40% causing some researchers to label this rapid decline as the "Silent Extinction." Due to this plummet, understanding the behaviors of the giraffe population is absolutely necessary before they are on the brink of extinction. Through the usage of mathematical modeling methodologies, a general model is created to illustrate the relationship between juvenile and adult female giraffes through numerous interaction parameters. Variations on specific variables generate different simulations, which allows more biological accuracy. With each variation having an established coexistence equilibrium between the juvenile and adult female populations, the …

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Circulating Suburbia: Locating A Transnational Suburban Imagination In Post-War Periodicals, 1945-1970, Tyler Dick Jan 2022

Circulating Suburbia: Locating A Transnational Suburban Imagination In Post-War Periodicals, 1945-1970, Tyler Dick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this thesis I argue that a suburban cultural imagination developed transnationally during the post-war period (roughly 1945-1970) rather than as a cultural phenomenon largely associated with the 1950s United States. I situate the suburbs—in both their physical and cultural constructions—as my primary focus and discuss the suburb's influence on hegemonic culture by performing an in-depth comparison of the U.S. with another country with a long history of suburbanization—Australia. Given that the suburbs structure several social, cultural, economic, political, and historical vectors—which all in turn inform issues of gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality—I focus on how the suburbs inform …

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The Twinning Of Crisis: Intimate Partner Violence, State-Level Policy, And Female-Headed Family Poverty Across The United States, Julio Montanez Jan 2022

The Twinning Of Crisis: Intimate Partner Violence, State-Level Policy, And Female-Headed Family Poverty Across The United States, Julio Montanez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and poverty plague populations as twin social crises. Just as IPV has implications in terms of gender, race, magnitude, and deleteriousness—so does poverty. IPV cuts across demography but has concentrated burden for certain groups. In addition to the many dimensions of violence survivors may face, survivors may face economic abuse, as well as difficulty working or attaining an education. Poverty, measured in relative and absolute terms, is stratified by various demographic categories (e.g., disability, ethnicity, gender), with certain groups facing an enhanced prevalence of the issue. With these demographic disparities working in the background of the …

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Creating A Reverberating Beat: Digital Curation Of The Women Writers Of The Beat Generation, Elena Maria Rogalle Jan 2022

Creating A Reverberating Beat: Digital Curation Of The Women Writers Of The Beat Generation, Elena Maria Rogalle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The focus of my study is the creation of a special topics American literature or Women's Studies course about the women writers of the Beat Generation; this course provides students with a variety of explorations of women's writing during and after Post World War II America. This period saw many changes in terms of women's roles as they challenged the mid-20th century societal constructs. My research examines the women Beat writers by centering on their distinct women's discourse and how their voices challenged the patriarchally-driven canon of Beat Generation writers. To accomplish this task, my research focuses on expanding the …

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Digital Humanities & Community College Libraries: Opportunities And Challenges, Mia Tignor Jan 2022

Digital Humanities & Community College Libraries: Opportunities And Challenges, Mia Tignor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Digital humanities study applies technological tools to the study of humanities topics and allows for the exploration of new questions in ways that were not possible using traditional research models. Librarians have been active participants of the field since its inception, as they explore new ways to critically engage with information organization and information literacy instruction, and most research that focuses on the intersection between these fields takes place within research universities . In contrast, there is very little research examining digital humanities work at the community college, which primarily offers associate degrees, vocational certificates, and other workforce based training. …

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History Of The Cuban Diaspora And Responses To July 2021 Protests In Cuba: An In-Depth Examination Of Emerging Social Movement, Carolina Alonso Domech Jan 2022

History Of The Cuban Diaspora And Responses To July 2021 Protests In Cuba: An In-Depth Examination Of Emerging Social Movement, Carolina Alonso Domech

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In July of 2021, thousands of people took to the streets in different cities of the United States in demand of military intervention by the U.S. government and freedom for the people of Cuba. This study aims to explore the motivation behind the Florida-based Cuban American popula-tion to engage in acts of civic protest. The study explains the unique characteristics of the Cuban American Immigrant group in the United States influencing social movement participation. The study provides an analysis of the background of the S.O.S. Cuba movement. To accomplish this, in-depth focus groups were conducted to explore the opinions, reactions, …

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Reexamining Cytolethal Distending Toxin's Host Cell Entry And Trafficking: The First Steps Down A Long Road, George Huhn Jan 2022

Reexamining Cytolethal Distending Toxin's Host Cell Entry And Trafficking: The First Steps Down A Long Road, George Huhn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is a virulence factor produced by many Gram-negative bacteria, including Haemophilus ducreyi, the causative agent of genital chancroid. CDT is a heterotrimeric toxin consisting of a cell-binding domain (CdtA + CdtC) and a catalytic domain (CdtB) that has DNase activity. After binding to the host plasma membrane, CDT undergoes endocytosis and travels through the endosomes en route to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Only CdtB and CdtC arrive in the Golgi before moving to the ER. Only then does CdtB move into the nucleus, causing DNA damage that induces cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. The previous CDT trafficking …

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Various Dynamical Regimes, And Transitions From Homogeneous To Inhomogeneous Steady States In Nonlinear Systems With Delays And Diverse Couplings, Ryan Roopnarain Jan 2022

Various Dynamical Regimes, And Transitions From Homogeneous To Inhomogeneous Steady States In Nonlinear Systems With Delays And Diverse Couplings, Ryan Roopnarain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation focuses on the effects of distributed delays modeled by 'weak generic kernels' on the collective behavior of coupled nonlinear systems. These distributed delays are introduced into several well-known periodic oscillators such as coupled Landau-Stuart and Van der Pol systems, as well as coupled chaotic Van der Pol-Rayleigh and Sprott systems, for a variety of couplings including diffusive, cyclic, or dynamic ones. The resulting system is then closed via the 'linear chain trick' and the linear stability analysis of the system and conditions for Hopf bifurcations that initiate oscillations are investigated. A variety of dynamical regimes and transitions between …

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Methods And Characterization Of Topological And Disordered-Induced Protection Of Coherence In Quantum Systems, Sayandip Dhara Jan 2022

Methods And Characterization Of Topological And Disordered-Induced Protection Of Coherence In Quantum Systems, Sayandip Dhara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Quantum computers can efficiently simulate natural processes and solve certain types of mathematical problems. Two of the key issues preventing the development of platforms to realize a scalable quantum machine are the decoherence of the qubits due to the interaction with the environment and the existence of a large overhead to correct errors. Although there already exist noisy intermediate-scale quantum machines, we still need to improve much to be able to solve problems faster than the already existing classical computers. In this dissertation, we explore two approaches to tackle both issues. We propose a scheme where, using quasi-Majorana zero modes …

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Paleoethnobotany And Starch Grain Residue Analysis Of Pottery From Site 8br85, Cape Canaveral, Florida, Hanna Park Jan 2022

Paleoethnobotany And Starch Grain Residue Analysis Of Pottery From Site 8br85, Cape Canaveral, Florida, Hanna Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Located on Cape Canaveral within the Indian River region of Central Florida, the Burns Site (8BR85) reveals important information about the Ais, a mobile fisher-gatherer group who occupied the area during the Malabar II Period (A.D.1000 – 1600). As a bridging region between the two largest cultures in Florida (Timucua to the North and Calusa to the South), Central Florida and the Ais, in general, are under-studied concerning paleoethnobotanical research. The research presented here investigated starch residues of ceramic vessel sherds from the Burns Site which were identified through a comparative catalog which was built-in part of this research project. …

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Analysis And Characterization Of Smokeless Powders And Smokeless Powder Residues, Emily Lennert Jan 2022

Analysis And Characterization Of Smokeless Powders And Smokeless Powder Residues, Emily Lennert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The ability to associate a smokeless powder, smokeless powder residue, or organic gunshot residue (OGSR) to one another may be helpful in determining the origin of a suspected sample and aid in linking a suspect to a crime scene. In this study, smokeless powders were extracted and analyzed via gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and direct analysis in real time – high resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS). Subsequently, group definition was performed using hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis followed by internally validated classification models. Then, smokeless powder residues were generated in-lab and extracted. Resulting residue data from each …

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Libraries Event Checklist - Virtual Events, Megan M. Haught Jan 2022

Libraries Event Checklist - Virtual Events, Megan M. Haught

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

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John C. Hitt Library Multipurpose Room 402 - Layout Options, Ucf Libraries Jan 2022

John C. Hitt Library Multipurpose Room 402 - Layout Options, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

Room layout options for the John C. Hitt Library Multipurpose Room 402.

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Fabrication Of Piezoelectric Field Effect Transistors For Acoustic Signal Detection, Luke Minks Jan 2022

Fabrication Of Piezoelectric Field Effect Transistors For Acoustic Signal Detection, Luke Minks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this study, a standard bulk FET design is fabricated with a piezoelectric gate, allowing a microwave-frequency voltage signal to be transmitted from a transducer to the transistor via acoustic conduction through the substrate. Using a single polycrystalline aluminum nitride film as the piezoelectric material, microwave-frequency piezoelectric transducers were fabricated in parallel with piezoelectric FETs. These device pairs function by generating high frequency acoustic waves in the substrate via application of AC voltage to the transducers; the transistors then recover these signals by detecting these waves in their gates via the piezoelectric film, reproducing an attenuated version of the original …

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Igniting Interest?: Female Perceptions Of Communication Effectiveness In Public Safety Recruitment Campaigns, Ashley Papagni Jan 2022

Igniting Interest?: Female Perceptions Of Communication Effectiveness In Public Safety Recruitment Campaigns, Ashley Papagni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Despite the potential for positive impacts resulting from a diverse workforce, fire departments across the country have struggled with the recruitment and hiring of minorities for decades, with women accounting for only 4.7% of its workforce (NFPA, 2020). Due in part to the limited diversity, the fire service tends to perpetuate the stereotypes of masculinity. There are three identified issues that are leading to the lack of female applicants in public safety positions, including the lack of diversity and inclusivity in Public Safety Organizations (PSOs), the absence of women in the role as firefighters, and the absence of recruitment strategies …

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Methodology Of Augmented Reality Chinese Language Articulatory Pronunciation Practice: Game And Study Design, Daria Sinyagovskaya Jan 2022

Methodology Of Augmented Reality Chinese Language Articulatory Pronunciation Practice: Game And Study Design, Daria Sinyagovskaya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Learning a language can be hard. Learning a language that contains tones to convey meaning is even harder. This dissertation presents a novel methodology for creating a language practice using augmented reality that has never been used before. The design of a new app in AR and non-AR versions can evaluate the same practice methodology. This methodology was applied to new software and was examined in regard to the importance of this software. Although the study results are inconclusive, progress has been made in answering research questions on the effectiveness of AR versus non-AR and the reliability of peer assessment. …

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High Fidelity Injury Severity Analysis Using Econometric Modeling Approaches, Ahmed Kabli Jan 2022

High Fidelity Injury Severity Analysis Using Econometric Modeling Approaches, Ahmed Kabli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Crash severity models are typically developed using police reported injury severity databases. However, several research studies have identified various challenges associated with police reported data. Therefore, the current dissertation is focusing on developing high resolution crash severity models based on medical professional driver injury severity reported using Abbreviated Injury Scale for eight body regions. The dissertation focused on developing a disaggregate injury severity modeling framework that can enhance the estimation accuracy of independent variable impacts on severity. Within this broad research vision, the dissertation has multiple objectives. First, a joint random parameters multivariate model structure with as many dimensions as …

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Shape Parameter & Nodal Distribution Insensitive Radial Basis Functions For Nonlinear Optimal Control Problems, Ahmed Elsadek Ahmed Elshafee Seleit Jan 2022

Shape Parameter & Nodal Distribution Insensitive Radial Basis Functions For Nonlinear Optimal Control Problems, Ahmed Elsadek Ahmed Elshafee Seleit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Computational optimal control relies mainly on pseudospectral methods. The use of Chebyshev and Legendre polynomials is ubiquitous in the literature. This family of methods has good accuracy characteristics but constraints the nodal distribution to a certain grid that is denser at the boundaries. In this work, a set of novel Coupled Radial Basis Functions (CRBFs) is introduced as an approximation means for the nonlinear optimal control problem. CRBFs are real-valued Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) augmented with a conical spline. They do not require a specific nodal distribution. A plethora of research articles were published on the optimization of the shape …

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Reverse Engineering Of Adversarial Samples By Leveraging Patterns Left By The Attacker, Rahul Ambati Jan 2022

Reverse Engineering Of Adversarial Samples By Leveraging Patterns Left By The Attacker, Rahul Ambati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Intrinsic susceptibility of deep learning to adversarial examples has led to a plethora of attack techniques with a common broad objective of fooling deep models. However, we find slight compositional differences between the algorithms achieving this objective. These differences leave traces that provide important clues for attacker profiling in real-life scenarios. Inspired by this, we introduce a novel problem of 'Reverse Engineering of aDversarial attacks' (RED). Given an adversarial example, the objective of RED is to identify the attack used to generate it. Under this perspective, we can systematically group existing attacks into different families, leading to the sub-problem of …

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Sex Based Differences In Muscle Quality Recovery Following One Week Of Lower Limb Immobilization And Subsequent Retraining, Ryan Girts Jan 2022

Sex Based Differences In Muscle Quality Recovery Following One Week Of Lower Limb Immobilization And Subsequent Retraining, Ryan Girts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The present project represents the second part of a two-phase clinical trial designed to comprehensively examine the effects of knee joint immobilization and recovery on skeletal muscle size, strength, and central nervous system plasticity in healthy males and females. The purpose of this study was to examine differences between sexes in the recovery of muscle quality, size, and strength in response to a resistance training-based rehabilitation program following one week of knee joint immobilization. Twenty-seven participants (males: n = 16, age = 22 ± 3 years, BM = 81.3 ± 14.8 kg, BMI = 25.0 ± 3.4 kg/cm2; females: n …

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An Ethnographically Informed Case Study Exploring The Culture Of Writing Instruction In One Middle School English Language Arts Class, Misha Zaidi Jan 2022

An Ethnographically Informed Case Study Exploring The Culture Of Writing Instruction In One Middle School English Language Arts Class, Misha Zaidi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This qualitative, ethnographically informed case-study examines how social, psychological, and organizational factors of a culture impact writing instruction and practice within an English Language Arts middle school class. In order to explore possible reasons for stagnant writing instruction in middle schools, two research questions guided this study: (RQ1) What do the components of writing instruction look like in one middle school class?, and (RQ2) How does one middle school ELA class exhibit identity distinction, writing development, and discourse surrounding writing instruction? I examined how one middle school class exhibits identity distinction among students and teachers within writing, development of writing, …

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The Impact Of Covid-19 Precautions On Teachers' Preparation Programs In Kuwait, Nour Alshammari Jan 2022

The Impact Of Covid-19 Precautions On Teachers' Preparation Programs In Kuwait, Nour Alshammari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

COVID-19 has changed the world we know, especially our educational system. This study explores the impact of schools' lockdown during COVID-19 on teachers' preparation programs in Kuwait. This qualitative research explores the adjustments that higher education institutes in Kuwait adopted to fulfill their teachers' preparation programs. Two public higher education institutes were the focus of this study by investigating the available syllabi and curricula of their teachers' preparation programs. The reviewed data revealed in-school learning stopped as institutions adhered to the government's closure directive. This study also revealed that higher learning institutions introduced changes to their training curriculum to prepare …

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Cultivating Culturally Responsive, Equity-Centered, And Trauma-Informed Attitudes Among Educators, Jasmine Haynes Jan 2022

Cultivating Culturally Responsive, Equity-Centered, And Trauma-Informed Attitudes Among Educators, Jasmine Haynes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This qualitative study explored the influence of implementing a culturally responsive and equity-centered trauma-informed professional development series with educators. Seven middle school educators from various regions of the U.S. participated in a culturally responsive and equity-centered trauma-informed professional development series in the 2021-2022 academic year. Educators participating in the series received three live virtual two-hour trauma-informed modules highlighting racial trauma, race-related trauma triggers, and deficit versus asset-based perspectives of racially diverse students, along with case studies and critical discourse. Data collection included pre-and post-interviews (n = 14), participant journal reflections (n = 14), and intervention module case study reflection transcripts …

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Advancing Medical Education By Optimizing The Use Of Formal And Informal Curriculum Resources, Ziana Bagot Jan 2022

Advancing Medical Education By Optimizing The Use Of Formal And Informal Curriculum Resources, Ziana Bagot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Current and aspiring medical school students are inundated by curriculum resources. To optimize the curriculum resources that are offered in medical education, the present work examines both institutionally and commercially developed resources from the lens of various stakeholders through three separate, yet related, studies. The first study, a scoping review, synthesizes and recognizes gaps in scholarship regarding obstacles that underrepresented, pre-medical students encounter in applying to medical school, specifically focusing on the impact of access to commercial test preparation resources. A review of existing literature regarding this population's medical school admission difficulties yielded a majority of non-empirical, deficit-focused articles that …

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