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2019 Usd Fact Book, University Of San Diego

USD Fact Books (1985- )

No abstract provided.

Usd President's Report 2019 Financial Operations, University Of San Diego

President's Reports (1985- )

Dear Friends, 2018-2019 Financial Operations, Giving to the University, Leadership

Heat Exposure And Adaptation Strategies Of Outdoor Informal Sector Workers In Urban Bulawayo - Zimbabwe, Bigboy Ngwenya

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Ambient temperatures have risen over the past few decades and are expected to increase even further due to climate change impacts. Extreme temperatures, accompanied by high humidity levels, will exacerbate occupational heat stress, heat related illnesses and mortality amongst vulnerable groups, particularly among outdoor workers in developing countries in the tropics. In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, a large portion of the population work outdoors in the informal sector as street vendors (hawkers) due to a lack of employment opportunities. These hawkers spend long hours in the sun or under makeshift sheds with poorly developed adaptation strategies, and no access to cooling systems …

Moving On After Critical Incidents In Health Care. Second Victims: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Nurses And Midwives, Melanie Buhlmann

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Aims: The aims of this study were to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of nurses and midwives who have been involved in a critical incident in a non-critical care area and to explore how they have ‘moved-on’ from the event.

Background: It is irrefutable that health care is intrinsically risk-laden and perceived to be personally and professionally demanding for those who are employed within it. The term ‘second victim’ has been assigned to health care professionals who experienced emotional distress as a result of their involvement in critical incidents. Despite the recognition that critical incidents contribute to workrelated …

Dancing Through It: Enhancing Psychological Recovery In Dance, Peta A. L. Blevins

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Achieving elite level performance in dance requires intensive training and physical demands that may put dancers at risk of underrecovery and overtraining if not balanced with adequate recovery. Dancers have been shown to be susceptible to overtraining and burnout (Koutedakis, 2000), however, little is known about how dancers balance training and non-training stress with recovery to counteract negative training outcomes. This thesis investigated psychological recovery among vocational dance students, using a mixed-method study design to examine dancer experiences of stress and recovery, and the effectiveness of a mindfulness intervention in enhancing psychological recovery in vocational dance training. Study 1 explored …

Linking Patient Safety To Clinical Practice: The Insight Of New Graduate Registered Nurses, Melanie Murray

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

New graduate registered nurses’ (NGRNs) transition to practice with limited clinical experiences and skills. The related anxiety and stress predispose new graduate nurses to increased risk of contributing to preventable errors or adverse events. This risk, together with the new graduate’s fledgling ability to manage clinical deterioration, potentially compromises quality and safety of patient outcomes.

A longitudinal mixed methods design was used to develop an understanding of new graduate registered nurses’ patient safety knowledge and actions within the first year of nursing registration and offer important insights into NGRNs’ transition with a patient safety focus. New graduate registered nurses employed …

Video Cued Teacher Reflection To Guide Enhancement Of Student Engagement In A Specialist Primary Classroom, Tamara Nicole Standley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Specialist primary teachers confront the challenging task of teaching extensive learning content of the Western Australian Curriculum, within limited weekly timetabled lessons. This was the motivating factor behind this study aimed at investigating the use of self-tracking video technology as a tool for teacher reflection, to guide enhancement of student engagement and learning in the specialist classroom. Reflective practice is integral to monitoring and improving teaching pedagogy but without an effective reflection tool, it can potentially be a waste of time.

The capacity for a teacher to engage in reflection-on-action through real time video analysis enables a deeper understanding of …

Using Machine Learning To Predict Physics Course Outcomes, Cabot Zabriskie, Jie Yang, Seth Devore, John Stewart

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The use of machine learning and data mining techniques across many disciplines has exploded in recent years with the field of educational data mining growing significantly in the past 15 years. In this study, random forest and logistic regression models were used to construct early warning models of student success in introductory calculus-based mechanics (Physics 1) and electricity and magnetism (Physics 2) courses at a large eastern land-grant university. By combining in-class variables such as homework grades with institutional variables such as cumulative GPA, we can predict if a student will receive less than a “B” in the course with …

Nitrogen Self-Doped Activated Carbons Derived From Bamboo Shoots As Adsorbent For Methylene Blue Adsorption, Bingbing Mi, Jingxin Wang, Hongzhong Xiang, Fang Liang, Jianfei Yang, Zixing Feng, Tao Zhang, Wanhe Hu, Xianmiao Liu, Zhijia Liu, Benhua Fei

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Bamboo shoots, a promising renewable biomass, mainly consist of carbohydrates and other nitrogen-related compounds, such as proteins, amino acids and nucleotides. In this work, nitrogen self-doped activated carbons derived from bamboo shoots were prepared via a simultaneous carbonization and activation process. The adsorption properties of the prepared samples were evaluated by removing methylene blue from waste water. The factors that affect the adsorption process were examined, including initial concentration, contact time and pH of methylene blue solution. The resulting that BSNC-800-4 performed better in methylene blue removal from waste water, due to its high specific surface area (2270.9 m2 g−1), …

Identification And Crisis: An Exploration Into The Influence Of Sports Identification On Stakeholder Perceptions Of Sports-Related Crisis, Jennifer L. Harker

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This research examines sports identification as relational history with sports entities to test its predictive influence on stakeholders’ perceptions regarding sports-related crises. Sports identification was explored as both a social identification with sport (fandom) and as an individual identification with sport (fanship). Results suggest that sports identification is indeed a predictive element to stakeholders’ crisis perceptions; however, findings track in an interesting new direction that extends crisis communication theory in sport and suggests that sports crises are perceived in a similar manner to sports rivalries.

“Trespassers Will Be Persecuted”: Oil And Property Law In Ben Okri’S “What The Tapster Saw”, Rose Casey

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A movement appears to be underway in certain areas of property jurisprudence to recalibrate property law for more equitable and life-sustaining ends. For many legal theorists working from a Global South, indigenous, or minority perspective, international legal frameworks seem increasingly receptive to reformulating laws regulating property ownership to better protect frequently dispossessed communities and sustain ecological, animal, and human life. Perhaps the most promising such example of a potentially substantial change to prevailing formulations of property ownership is found in the area of indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. Since 2007, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has been working …

“We Are Women And Men Now”: Intimate Spaces And Coping Labour For Syrian Women Refugees In Jordan, Karen Culcasi

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

War affects women from the bedroom to the battlefield, but for most women war is experienced within intimate spaces. Intimate spaces are rarely the focus of mainstream academic research or media reporting; thus women's experiences with war and displacement are often concealed. Building from literature in feminist geopolitics that helps focus our attention toward everyday and intimate geopolitics, I conducted in‐depth interviews with Syrian women refugees in Jordan in order to examine how they are coping. Of the many ways that they've learned to cope, these women asserted that earning an income and adjusting to altered gender performances and relations …

Barriers To Using New Needles Encountered By Rural Appalachian People Who Inject Drugs: Implications For Needle Exchange, Stephen M. Davis, Alfgeir L. Kristjansson, Danielle Davidov, Keith Zullig, Adam Baus, Melanie Fisher

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Using a new needle for every injection can reduce the spread of infectious disease among people who inject drugs (PWID). No previous study has examined new needle use barriers among PWIDs residing in the rural Appalachian part of the United States, an area currently in the midst of a heroin epidemic.

Objective

Therefore, our primary aim was to explore self-reported barriers to using a new needle by PWID attending a needle exchange program (NEP).

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of PWID attending two NEPs in rural West Virginia located in the heart of Central Appalachia. A convenience sample …

Comparing Written Versus Pictorial Asthma Action Plans To Improve Asthma Management And Health Outcomes Among Children And Adolescents: Protocol Of A Pilot And Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial, Lisa Hynes, Kristine Durkin, Desireé N. Williford, Hope Smith, David Skoner, Christa Lilly, Viral Dilip Kothari, Jenny Mcsharry, Christina L. Duncan

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Asthma is an important focus for pediatric health research as management of asthma symptoms is a significant challenge, and morbidity and mortality among youths with asthma remain prevalent. Treatment guidelines for asthma recommend a written asthma action plan (WAAP) that summarizes individualized instructions for daily medication use. However, WAAPs are typically written at a seventh- to ninth-grade reading level, which can be a barrier to young people in understanding their treatment, having confidence in using a WAAP, and engaging with asthma education.

Objective: Utilizing a feasibility and pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, the objective of the Take Action …

Targeting The Blood-Brain Barrier To Prevent Sepsis-Associated Cognitive Impairment, Divine C. Nwafor, Allison L. Brichacek, Afroz S. Mohammad, Jessica Griffith, Brandon P. Lucke-Wold, Stanley A. Benkovic, Werner J. Geldenhuys, Paul R. Lockman, Candice M. Brown

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory disease resulting from an infection. This disorder affects 750 000 people annually in the United States and has a 62% rehospitalization rate. Septic symptoms range from typical flu-like symptoms (eg, headache, fever) to a multifactorial syndrome known as sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE). Patients with SAE exhibit an acute altered mental status and often have higher mortality and morbidity. In addition, many sepsis survivors are also burdened with long-term cognitive impairment. The mechanisms through which sepsis initiates SAE and promotes long-term cognitive impairment in septic survivors are poorly understood. Due to its unique role as an interface …

Effect Of Bulk Composition On The Heterogeneous Oxidation Of Semi-Solid Atmospheric Aerosols, Hanyu Fan, Fabien Goulay

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Abstract: The OH-initiated heterogeneous oxidation of semi-solid saccharide particles with varying bulk compositions was investigated in an atmospheric pressure flow tube at 30% relative humidity. Reactive uptake coefficients were determined from the rate loss of the saccharide reactants measured by mass spectrometry at different monosaccharide (methyl-β-d-glucopyranoside, C7H14O6) and disaccharide (lactose, C12H22O11) molar ratios. The reactive uptake for the monosaccharide was found to decrease from 0.53 ± 0.10 to 0.05 ± 0.06 as the mono-to-disaccharide molar ratio changed from 8:1 to 1:1. A reaction–diffusion model was developed in order to determine the effect of chemical composition on the reactive uptake. The …

Rank And File Equity Compensation And Earnings Management: Evidence From Stock Options, D. Kip Holderness Jr., Adrienna Huffman, Melissa F. Lewis-Western

Faculty Publications

The wide-spread use of rank and file equity-based compensation suggests that executives believe that rank and file employees can affect firm outcomes, and some research supports this view. If equity-based incentives influence rank and file employees’ productive efforts, they might also influence their earnings management decisions. We find that increases in rank and file employees’ option-based compensation—our proxy for equity-based compensation—are associated with increases in earnings management and that this relation is attributable to real activities (as opposed to accrual) earnings management. Cross-sectional tests indicate that the relation is stronger when rank and file option compensation is likely to generate …

Defense Perspectives On Fairness And Efficiency At The International Criminal Court, Jenia I. Turner

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Over the last several years, states parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have put increasing pressure on the court to become more efficient. Proceedings are seen as unduly slow, and judges have been urged to rein in the parties and expedite the process.

The emphasis on efficiency can advance important goals of the ICC. It can help ensure defendants’ right to a speedy trial, promote victims’ interests in closure, and allow the court to process more cases with limited resources. But as the experience of earlier international criminal tribunals shows, an unrelenting pursuit of efficiency could also interfere with …

Information Mischief Under The Trump Administration, Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The Trump administration has used government information in more cynical ways than its predecessors. For example, it has removed certain information from the public domain, scrubbed certain terminology from government web sites, censored scientists, manipulated public data, and used “transparency” initiatives as a pretext for anti-regulatory policies, particularly environmental policy. This article attempts to tease out an emerging “information policy” for the Trump administration, explain how it departs from the information policies of predecessors, and evaluate the extent to which both legal and non-legal mechanisms might constrain executive discretion.

The Seeds Of Early Childhood, Joanna L. Grossman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The trajectory of childhood is often shaped before childhood even begins. Pre-birth inequalities are not natural or inevitable. Rather, we create and cement policy choices that reduce access to adult healthcare, restrict accessible contraception, impede access to abortion, and deny prenatal care. Together, these choices mean that, in the United States, we maintain very high rates of unwanted pregnancy and increasingly high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, burdens that fall disproportionately on women of color and women of lower socioeconomic status. Equality demands that we address these disproportionate burdens.

Digital Health And Regulatory Experimentation At The Fda, Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

For well over a decade the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been told that its framework for regulating traditional medical devices is not modern or flexible enough to address increasingly novel digital health technologies. Very recently, however, the FDA introduced a series of digital health initiatives that represent important experiments in medical product regulation, departing from longstanding precedents applied to therapeutic products like drugs and devices. The FDA will experiment with shifting its scrutiny from the pre-market to the post-market phase, shifting the locus of regulation from products to firms, and shifting from centralized government review to decentralized …

Nutritional Beliefs And Practices Of Arabic Speaking Middle Eastern Mothers, Maissa Al-Bkerat

Open Access Dissertations

Childhood obesity is recognized as an important health problem in the United States. Researchers have identified culture and acculturation as major factors influencing obesity across several ethnic groups, although little is known about the historically invisible and vulnerable population of those identifying as Arabic speaking individuals from Middle Eastern countries. In Arabic culture, mothers are responsible for creating and maintaining a home environment that fosters healthy eating behaviors among family members including the children. It is assumed, therefore, that mothers in Arabic culture play an essential role in preventing childhood obesity.

The aim of this study was to explore perceptions …

Detection Of Ions And Small Molecule Toxicants In Aqueous Media Using New Colorimetric And Fluorimetric Methods, Teresa Louise Mako

Open Access Dissertations

Chapter 1 Abstract

Ultrasensitive Detection of Nitrite through Implementation of N-(1-Naphthyl)ethylenediamine-Grafted Cellulose into a Paper-Based Device

[Refer to PDF for graphical portion]

Reported herein is the immobilization of N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine on cellulose via an epichlorohydrin-based covalent attachment and the implementation of the functionalized cellulose into an ultrasensitive, paper-based device for nitrite detection. There is high demand for affordable, robust, sensitive, selective, and user-friendly detection methods for nitrite, a nutrient which is harmful at high concentrations in both marine environments and physiological systems. The reported functionalization procedure resulted in a 12.9-fold higher functionalization density than previously reported procedures using epichlorohydrin, …

Three Experimental Examinations Of Aspects Of Institutions Governing Natural Resource Use, Christopher Brozyna

Open Access Dissertations

Theory alone cannot accurately describe the characteristics of successful natural resource governance institutions. Laboratory economic experiments are needed to analyze the characteristics and validate theories in a controlled environment. Three such experiments on important, but frequently overlooked, aspects of institutions are reported: time allowed for decision-making, the strength of property rights, and how resource user groups impact each other. Chapter 1 analyzes how psychology can impact outcomes in institutions by forcing subjects to make decisions under time pressure, something not before analyzed in a dynamic Common Pool Resource management context. We find users under time pressure make decisions which reduce …

Managing Cyber Risks & Business Exposure In The Surface Transportation Ecosystem, Jacques R. Francoeur

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report focuses on Surface Transportation (ST), both fixed and route-based, and the growing threats to their information technology (IT) infrastructures. As an industry, ST seeks to optimize the movement of people and goods, while ensuring safety and resiliency and minimizing environmental impact. Cyber threats are a powerful medium for those with the political, social, and economic motivations and wherewithal to disrupt and destroy existing ST systems. The ultimate objective is to develop a new paradigm to define, describe, design, and deploy the most effective protection, at the lowest cost, in the shortest time within the limits of available resources. …

Law, Religion, And Secular Order, Zachary R. Calo

Scholarly Works

This article compares the law and religion jurisprudence of the US Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights across three legal areas: religious symbols and religion-state relations, individual religious freedom, and institutional religious freedom or freedom of the church. Particular focus is given to the manner in which this jurisprudence reveals the underlying structure and meaning of the secular. Although there continues to be significant jurisprudential diversity between these two courts and across these legal areas, there is also emerging a shared accounting of religion, secularity, and moral order in the late modern West.

How Many Copies Are Enough Revisited: Open Access Legal Scholarship In The Time Of Collection Budget Constraints, Kincaid C. Brown

Law Librarian Scholarship

This article discusses the results of a study into the open access availability of law reviews, followed by a discussion of why open access has such a high rate of adoption among law reviews, especially in comparison to the journal literature in other disciplines.

Relationships And Ethics In The Land Use Game, Patricia E. Salkin, Thomas Brown, Aisha Scholes

Scholarly Works

Ethical considerations in the land use decision making process can be organized into a number of categories, including, first and foremost, the broad subject of conflicts of interest.1 Players in the land use game can find themselves in real or perceived conflicts situations based on personal financial interests resulting from investments, including businesses and real estate holdings (such as the location of their property vis-à-vis the location of the subject property before the Board), employment for themselves or members of their immediate family, and memberships in nonprofit organizations that may be either passive or active (e.g., simply dues paying member …

Conversion Therapy: A Brief Reflection On The History Of The Practice And Contemporary Regulatory Efforts, Tiffany C. Graham

Scholarly Works

This brief symposium essay offers a broad-stroke sketch of the history of conversion therapy, its current status as a locus of regulation, and some preliminary questions about the direction the law might take to protect individuals who elect or are forcibly subjected to the practice.

Contract Creep, Tal Kastner, Ethan J. Leib

Scholarly Works

Scholars and judges think they can address the multiple purposes and values of contract law by developing different doctrinal regimes for different transaction types. They think if we develop one track of contract doctrine for sophisticated parties and another for consumers, we can build a better world of contract: protecting private ordering for sophisticated parties and protecting consumers’ needs all at once. Given the growing enthusiasm for laying down these separate tracks and developing their infrastructures, this Article brings a necessary reality check to this endeavor by highlighting for scholars and judges how doctrine in contract law functions in fact: …