Digital Commons Network^™

Ready, Set, Involved: The Power Of Parents, Maria Chavez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Parental involvement can be highly beneficial to students’ educational success. However, involvement is an issue for English Language Learning (ELL) students, as well as for their parents. Many of these parents want to be involved, but there are many factors that get in the way. School faculty need to be more proactive on informing parents about resources available to them and other ways they can become more involved in their child’s education. The purpose of this research is to understand what schools are doing today to involve parents and how they are reaching out to them. After interviewing teachers and …

Life Through Different Lenses, Teresa Morales

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

For this capstone project, my partner and I were able to explore the lack of affordable housing for low-income families and the demonstrable effect on students academic achievement. Children whose families have a difficult time finding adequate housing, live in poor conditions that limits them to acquire their learning skills and abilities to succeed. The community partner we worked with was a local Family Resource Center that provides housing assistance and other social determinants. The purpose of this research was understand how low-income families deal with inadequate living conditions and the impacts of student academic success. Based on an analysis …

Mediation, Dorcas Quek Anderson, Sabiha Shiraz

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Text Analytics Approach To Extract Course Improvement Suggestions From Students’ Feedback, Swapna Gottipati, Venky Shankararaman, Jeff Rongsheng Lin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In academic institutions, it is normal practice that at the end of each term, students are required to complete a questionnaire that is designed to gather students’ perceptions of the instructor and their learning experience in the course. Students’ feedback includes numerical answers to Likert scale questions and textual comments to open-ended questions. Within the textual comments given by the students are embedded suggestions. A suggestion can be explicit or implicit. Any suggestion provides useful pointers on how the instructor can further enhance the student learning experience. However, it is tedious to manually go through all the qualitative comments and …

Integrated Reward Scheme And Surge Pricing In A Ride-Sourcing Market, Hai Yang, Chaoyi Shao, Hai Wang, Jieping Ye

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Surge pricing is commonly used in on-demand ride-sourcing platforms (e.g., Uber, Lyft and Didi) to dynamically balance demand and supply. However, since the price for ride service cannot be unlimited, there is usually a reasonable or legitimate range of prices in practice. Such a constrained surge pricing strategy fails to balance demand and supply in certain cases, e.g., even adopting the maximum allowed price cannot reduce the demand to an affordable level during peak hours. In addition, the practice of surge pricing is controversial and has stimulated long debate regarding its pros and cons. To address the limitation of current …

Numerical Simulation And Optimization Of Blalock-Taussig Shunt, Thomas Hess, Ramesh K. Agarwal

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this study is to create an optimized Blalock-Taussig shunt used to temporarily repair pulmonary vascular blockages allowing a child time to grow so a more permanent surgical repair of the heart and vasculature can be performed. Blalock-Taussig or BT shunts are a surgical procedure performed on infants suffering from cyanosis or “Blue Baby Syndrome.” A BT shunt is an artificial vessel placed between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery to increase blood flow in the lung and blood oxygen saturation levels. In a study of 96 patients with currently in use modified BT shunts, 32 patients …

“For Lack Of Knowledge, Our People Will Perish”: Using Focus Group Methodology To Explore African-American Communities’ Perceptions Of Breast Cancer And The Environment, Kaleea Lewis, Shibani Kulkarni, Swann Arp Adams, Heather M. Brandt, Jamie R. Lead, John R. Ureda, Delores Fedrick, Chris Mathews, Daniela B. Friedman

Faculty Publications

Among women living in the United States, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death. Disproportionate racial disparities in breast cancer exist, with African American (AA) women consistently having the highest rates of breast cancer related mortality despite lower incidence. This study attends to the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) call to action recommending the identification of effective strategies for communicating accurate and reliable breast cancer risk information to diverse audiences. Using focus group methodology, this study explores how AAs perceive and decipher information related to breast cancer and its relationship to their environment. Six focus groups were conducted. …

Entendiendo Las Calorias/ Understanding Calories, Lorena Santana

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In Monterey County nearly half of residents have been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Monterey County is 58.3% Hispanic and studies show that Latinos are 50% more likely to die from diabetes than Whites. Therefore the Central Coast YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program seeks to prevent the development of diabetes by aiding prediabetic patients to make a lifestyle change and become healthier through a one-year program. In the United States non-English speakers often lack access to resources in their own language. With this knowledge the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program has created an educational resource to support Spanish speakers in understanding materials …

No Senior Or Persons With Disabilities Left Behind, Elizabeth Lopez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Monterey County Department of Social Services has been serving the community through the various programs to the community. The Aging and Adult Services unit of the department offers In-Home Supportive Services program which serves the senior population and people living with disabilities. This program unfortunately is not very known in the community and can serve a lot more people than it currently is. The problem being addressed is the lack of awareness that the program has among the community. The project implemented to remedy this lack of awareness is the creation of a county brochure that explains the program, …

Nationalism And Border Violence: The Global Rise In Soft Fascism, Rachel Shimabukuro

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Since the election of Donald Trump in the United States in 2016, there has been a particularly nationalistic, illiberal shift in the way we interact with the rest of the world. As we have favored some while violently excluding others at our borders, the media and press which criticizes these policies is under attack. This shift is not exclusive to the United States and the following research will also focus on the illiberal democratic movements in Hungary, Brazil, the Philippines, and the unfolding right-wing politics of a post-Brexit state. In an explanatory style, this research will focus on Benedict Anderson’s …

Effectiveness Of Remind.Com For Students Missing Credits At Greenfield High School, Alfredo Diaz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this capstone is to determine the extent to which online credit recovery is effective at allowing students to regain missing credits at Greenfield High School (GHS). Recent studies show students do better in school when parents are involved. This helps students become motivated and engaged in being successful students. The counseling department at Greenfield High School lacks connection with students and parents. It is not the school's fault nor the staff trying to provide students with resources to help them gain a high school diploma. Unfortunately, Monterey County struggles with parent involvement for the fact that many …

West Side Story: Success Within Special Education Through Arts Integration, Kelly Richardson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Arts education programs can provide the necessary skills students need for future success, including communication skills and confidence. The Turnaround Arts program at Rosa Parks Elementary School has advanced overall student success, particularly benefiting students in Special Education. Both Special Education teachers and the Arts Specialist at Rosa Parks Elementary were interviewed and the Turnaround Arts Program was observed. Each teacher described their experiences within this program to be noteworthy and recognized the importance it has had on their students’ success in the classroom. Based on an analysis of the data and the relevant research literature, we used what we …

Let’S Talk About It: Special Education Communication Barriers With General Education Teachers, Edith Diaz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on the communication barriers between Special Education and General Education educators, due to a lack of time for collaboration during the school year. Poor communication between teachers can negatively impact special education students’ academic achievement. Unfortunately, this issue has been around for decades, yet no effective solutions have been implemented. Solutions that have been considered include more teacher training, peer-mediated instruction, and co-teaching. Data was collected from interviews conducted with one administrator, two Special Education teachers and three General Education teachers from a local high school. Surveys were also taken from Special Education …

The Universal Language Of Music: Why Music Is Important In Education, Carron Prudhon

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focused on the need for increasing music opportunities in schools and the ways in which it increases literacy, particularly in an English Language Learners (ELL) classroom, where increasing English literacy is so vital. After interviewing a district music director, a high school English language development director, and a high school ELL teacher, three action options emerged as ways to provide more music in high school ELL classrooms. Based on the findings, an action was undertaken to help secondary teachers incorporate more music into their daily curriculum.

The Jefferson Scale Of Empathy: A Nationwide Study Of Measurement Properties, Underlying Components, Latent Variable Structure, And National Norms In Medical Students., Mohammadreza Hojat, Jennifer Desantis, Stephen C. Shannon, Luke H. Mortensen, Mark R. Speicher, Lynn Bragan, Marianna Lanoue, Leonard H. Calabrese

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) is a broadly used instrument developed to measure empathy in the context of health professions education and patient care. Evidence in support of psychometrics of the JSE has been reported in health professions students and practitioners with the exception of osteopathic medical students. This study was designed to examine measurement properties, underlying components, and latent variable structure of the JSE in a nationwide sample of first-year matriculants at U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine, and to develop a national norm table for the assessment of JSE scores. A web-based survey was administered at the beginning …

Evaluation Of The Hiv Infant Tracking System (Hitsystem) To Optimise Quality And Efficiency Of Early Infant Diagnosis: A Cluster-Randomised Trial In Kenya., Sarah Finocchario-Kessler, Brad Gautney, Anlin Cheng, Catherine Wexler, May Maloba, Niaman Nazir, Samoel Khamadi, Raphael Lwembe, Melinda Brown, Thomas A. Odeny, Jacinda K. Dariotis, Matthew Sandbulte, Natabhona Mabachi, Kathy Goggin

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: The HIV Infant Tracking System (HITSystem) is a web-based intervention linking providers of early infant diagnosis, laboratory technicians, and mothers and infants to improve outcomes for HIV-exposed infants. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the HITSystem on key outcomes of early infant diagnosis.

METHODS: We did a cluster-randomised trial at six hospitals in Kenya, which were matched on geographic region, resource level, and volume of patients (high, medium, and low). We randomly allocated hospitals within a matched pair to either the HITSystem (intervention; n=3) or standard of care (control; n=3). A random number generator was used to assign …

The Impact Of Ancestral Language Maintenance On Cultural Identity Among White Immigrant Descendants: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study, Micaella Elizabeth Colla

Doctoral Dissertations

There is insufficient research on the cultural identity formation of White immigrant descendants who have experienced ancestral language loss. This phenomenological qualitative study conducted in San Francisco, California explored the experiences and perceptions of seven White immigrant descendants in response to these questions: (1) What is the role of L1 (mother tongue) maintenance on identity maintenance among White immigrant descendants? (2) How do immigrant descendants view their cultural identities in the absence of their ancestral languages? And (3) How might educators encourage second language and culture acquisition, while protecting students’ first languages and cultures? Research data included narratives from in-depth, …

The Bridwell Quill. Issue 4: Laughter And Forgetting, Anthony Elia

Bridwell Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Transportation For An Aging Population: Promoting Mobility And Equity For Low-Income Seniors, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Martin Wachs, Lené Levy-Storms, Madeline Brozen

Mineta Transportation Institute

This study explores the travel patterns, needs, and mobility problems faced by diverse low-income, inner-city older adults in Los Angeles in order to identify solutions to their mobility challenges. The study draws information from: (1) a systematic literature review of the travel patterns of older adults; (2) a review of municipal policies and services geared toward older adult mobility in six cities; (3) a quantitative analysis of the mobility patterns of older adults in California using the California Household Travel Survey; and (4) empirical work with 81 older adults residing in and around Los Angeles’ inner-city Westlake neighborhood, who participated …

Spinal Infections: From Prevention To Cure, James Harrop

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

AOSpine North America (AOSNA) is honored to have the ability to present this focused issue on spinal infections. As we are all aware, spinal infections are a prevalent part of our daily treatment regimen as spine surgeons—whether these infections are in our elective practice or emergencies.

Ucf Libraries Application For The 2019 Acrl Excellence In Academic Libraries Award, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

In Search Of America: One Barbershop At A Time, Keith M. Buswell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Barbershops are a mainstay of the American tradition and have served as an anchor to main streets across the country. They have a colorful history and play an important role as community gathering places for men and boys. Before our society became more mobile, a boy may have grown up in the same barbershop, in the same barber chair, getting his hair cut by the same barber, from his years as a toddler, a teenager, and into his young adulthood. Many old school barbers have cut the hair of multiple generations, grandfathers, fathers, and sons, while standing in the same …

Supporting English Language Learners Through Collaboration, Compassion, And Engagement, Lora Ann Stead

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio illustrates the student’s academic work completed while in the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. The project is centered around the student’s philosophy on teaching English language learners (ELLs) as drawn from personal experience and second language acquisition research. The author seeks to provide awareness into best practices for teaching ELLs.

The portfolio is divided into three sections: 1) teaching perspectives, 2) research perspectives, and 3) annotated bibliographies. Within these sections, the author explores themes related to ELL teaching that highlight the importance of collaboration, compassion, and engagement. These topics include politely closing a …

Dayananda Saraswati And The Colonial Machines: Vedic Reformation, European Science, And Modernity In Colonial India, David Tauber

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The relationship between European science and religion has varied considerably through time and among different traditions. This monograph attempts to catalogue one such variant by exploring the context entrance of European science into the Indian subcontinent, at the beginning of the British colonial period, by focusing on how a single religion leader drew upon European notions of science in building his reformed Vedic theology. Dayananda Saraswati (1824-83) spent much of his life traveling northern India as an itinerate ascetic and ultimately founded an intellectual lineage that was instrumental in the Indian Independence movement. Despite having no formal British education included …

Mitigating Memory Randomization Weaknesses Via Moving Target Defense, Sultan M. Aldossary

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we address the problem of weakness of address space layout randomization. The address space randomization technique was proposed to make determining the address of a shared library more difficult since each instance of the program is loaded into a random base address. However, when address space randomization layout (ASLR) is implemented on a 32-bit system, an attacker can use a brute force attack to guess the address of the shared library.The main goal of the research described in this dissertation is to study the use of a dispatching algorithm and multiple back-end servers as a moving target …

A Learning Community Approach To Identifying Interventions In Health Systems To Reduce Colorectal Cancer Screening Disparities., Lillian C. Man, Melissa Dicarlo, Emily Lambert, Randa Sifri, Martha Romney, Linda Fleisher, Ronald Myers

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Although colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in the United States has been increasing, screening rates are not optimal, and there are persistent disparities in CRC screening and mortality, particularly among minority patients. As most CRC screening takes place in primary care, health systems are well-positioned to address this important population health problem. However, most health systems have not actively engaged in identifying and implementing effective evidence-based intervention strategies that can raise CRC screening rates and reduce disparities. Drawing on the Collective Impact Model and the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation, our project team applied a learning community strategy to …

Conference Report: Latinr 2018, Laura Acion, Natalia Da Silva, Riva Quiroga

The R Journal

LatinR <- Latin American Conference about the Use of R in Research + Development (LatinR) was an international conference whose goal was bringing together the Latin Ameri can R community. The inagural LatinR took place at the Universidad de Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 3 to 5, 2018. About 100 participants from more than 10 differ ent countries (e.g., Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Spain, United States, Canada) attended LatinR.

LatinR will be an annual meeting that will rotate among different countries in Latin America. LatinR 2019 will be hosted by the Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago de Chile on September 25 to 27

Factors Contributing To Successful Employment Outcomes For Individuals Who Are Hard-Of-Hearing, Sergio Cuevas

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between demographic variables (gender, race and ethnicity, age, level of education, and secondary disability), state-federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) services, and VR employment outcomes among individuals who are hard-of-hearing. This study also explored what VR services contribute to employment outcomes for individuals who are hard-of-hearing. Data from The U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Service Administration Case Service Report (RSA-911) FY 2014 was used to focus on individuals who are hard-of-hearing. Logistic regression, Chi-square, and Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) analyses were used to analyze the RSA-911 dataset.

Investigating Faculty Across The Disciplines Perceptions And Practices Of Reflective Writing In Community Engaged Courses: A Comparative Study, Marcela Hebbard

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, research in composition studies and Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) has focused on understanding better how student reflective practices assist on their transfer of writing knowledge across contexts (Yancey et al., 2014; Taczak & Robertson, 2017, Lindenman et al., 2018). However, not much research has been done that investigates faculty beliefs and practices about reflective writing, how they use it to measure student outcomes and achievement in community engaged courses and the implications this might have for the transfer of knowledge and practice of writing. This study draws primarily on activity theory to better understand whether there is a …

Writing Development Of Emerget Bilinguals: School-Wide Contextual Factors, Alma Rosa Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) measures Texas public school students’ knowledge and skills in many areas, including fourth grade writing. This system requires that students meet a certain performance standard score in writing to be successful. This state mandate impacts many Texas districts, teachers, and students. Districts must be prepared with necessary resources and tools to meet the writing needs of all students, including emergent bilinguals.

This case study focused on investigating how a bilingual teacher in a bilingual campus taught writing to her emergent bilinguals. Using the writer’s workshop approach, which many districts implement to …