Digital Commons Network^™

Datashare Monterey County Website, Audra Ketchem

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The DatashareMontereyCounty website was created by combining Conduent technology and knowledgeable staff from the Monterey County Public Health Department. This project attempted to solve the disengagement between many people in Monterey County and health interventions/prevention initiatives set in place by the health department. Two contributing factors related to community disengagement were that residents were not always aware of works the health department was attempting to promote and the complexity of health data (statistics). The main focus of the project demonstrates how understanding health information may or may not impact decision making. When concepts are difficult to understand this can deter …

Increasing Math In Preschool Curriculum, Riley Burnett

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In many preschools and early childhood educational settings, mathematical skill-building is lacking in the curriculum. With a lack of math curriculum in a preschool classroom, students may not have foundational mathematical skills, may lack problem-solving skills, and may lack self-confidence in math skills. To help children develop their math skills, I designed a virtual math activity for 3 to 4-year-old preschool children attending Monterey Peninsula College Early Childhood Lab School.

Learning Together- The Importance Of Parental Involvement In Their Children’S Education, Myra C. Sanchez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Studies have shown that parental involvement is key for children to succeed in education, confidence, and their overall development (Project Appleseed, n.d.). However, lack of parental involvement and scarcity of resources and tools for parents to be involved in their children’s education are immense issues that the community of Greenfield, CA face. Children with parents who are actively involved in their education have been linked to higher achievements and graduation rates (Project Appleseed, n.d.). Yet, when parent participation is lacking for a child, they are faced with difficulties that affect their day-to-day life, potentially negatively impacting them in the long …

Salinas Union High School District Resource Video, Carmen Ambriz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Wellness Center at Harden Middle School opened in the Fall of 2019 and is new for students, parents, and faculty. Due to misconceptions about the Wellness Center and the resources offered, students are either not utilizing the Wellness Center or not using it correctly. Results from pre-surveys indicated that a combined 74.7% answered they didn’t know or sort of knew what a Wellness Center was used for. The factors contributing to this problem are the stigma surrounding mental health, parents not likely to support their children receiving services, and students dealing with socio-emotional issues that are impacting class time. …

Growth And Success In Special Education, Kimberly Berrelleza

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The agency I interned at was a charter school in Monterey Bay. They provide education for all students including students with special educational needs. I address the problem of structure and resources within the Special Education department. They struggled with high staff turn arounds, a loose tracking system, misused resources and a lack of communication within the special education staff, teachers and administrators. In order to solve all those challenges they have now assigned jobs and duties to get work done more efficiently and have put systems and protocols in place. My capstone project was to report on the growth …

Support Group Outcomes For Hispanic/Latinx Youth In San Benito County, Melina M. Perez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Relatively few studies have examined the process of social/cultural detachment in Hispanic/Latinx youth in the United States. The present project adopted an ecological approach to this issue, focusing on mezzo- and macro-level support system development, apart from micro-level character and self-esteem development. Educational disparities, acculturation stress, and familial oppression lead to gaps between parents, adolescents, schools, and the community. Following the Youth Alliance’s philosophy that youth need support from multiple sources in order to heal, the Guiding and Understanding Individuals in Achieving Success (GUIAS) program’s support group sessions bridge these gaps. By offering culture- and gender-sensitive lessons, hands-on activities, and …

Affinity & Affection: Adolescent Relationships, Andrea Lopez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Epicenter is a resource center that serves LGBTQ, system affected, and at-risk youth in Monterey County. The problem being addressed is the misconceptions about healthy and unhealthy relationships among youth. Many young people fall into unhealthy relationships or behaviors due to not understanding the healthy characteristics of relationships. A contributing factor to unhealthy relationships is youth seeing examples of unhealthy relationships in their home. This leads them to practice or seek out similar unhealthy behaviors that they have witnessed. Unhealthy relationships harm a young person’s perception of relationships and the behaviors they will exhibit later in life. The consequences …

Behavioral Health Issues Among War Veterans, Michelle Guzman

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Monterey County Military & Veterans Affairs Office is a government agency that helps Veterans and their dependents with Military services that are offered in the Monterey County area. Some of the main problems that returning veterans are facing from coming back from OEF and OIF are behavioral health issues as far as PTSD, substance abuse and many more different health issues. Behaviors required to outlive in a war zone, such as keeping up a consistent state of alertness, may at first decipher into troublesome behaviors in civilian life, such as feeling tense or unsteady and being easily startled. Some …

Disparities In Oral Health: Socioeconomic Status And Policies To Increase Access To Primary Dental Care, Mckenzie Nutter

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Primary dental care is a patient-centered service consisting of routine dental checkups. The oral cavity is the first point of entrance to the body for many harmful pathogens. Therefore, primary dental care is essential to not only prevent and treat conditions in the mouth, but to also reduce the number of systemic diseases in the rest of the body. However, people with higher incomes or wealth have increased access to primary dental care. People with low socioeconomic status have decreased access to primary dental care, at least in part due to difficulties in paying for separate dental insurance. Disparities in …

Linking Social Emotional Learning And Literacy, Alicia Laufenberg

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This capstone project explores the linkage between social emotional learning and literacy in a second-grade general education classroom. It provides details on the social emotional assessment tool, the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA), and the literacy assessments, Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessments and DIBELS 8^th Edition Oral Reading Fluency Benchmark Assessments. This capstone discusses the social emotional literacy lessons that were implemented in the classroom between the collection of baseline and final data. It also reviews existing research that links social emotional learning and literacy. This capstone examines the results of this study and the direction future research should …

Social Isolation, Anxiety, And Stress Among Vrs/Vri Sign Language Interpreters During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kolten Schnack

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in increased Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) and increased remote working for interpreters who work in Video Relay Services (VRS) as many have received temporary permission to work from home rather than a central call center. While certain occupational health risks such as stress and burnout for sign language interpreters who work in VRS have been studied, no one has studied general mental health among VRS sign language interpreters under the current pandemic (Dean et al., 2010; Schwenke, 2015; Wessling & Shaw, 2014). This study aimed to collect data on sign language interpreters’ experiences of social …

The Way The Cookie Crumbles: A Consultative Look Inside A Local Omaha Food Truck, Halsie Guenther

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This paper investigates a local Omaha food truck, Carson’s Cookie Truck. In this analysis, the key opportunities and threats facing the food truck industry as a whole, as well as the internal resources and capabilities of Carson’s Cookie Fix are evaluated to uncover the strategic problem facing the company. Results from the analyses indicate that the main problem facing Carson’s is an underutilization of the company merger with eCreamery. With the identification of the strategic issue, key recommendations are presented to combat the deterioration of Carson’s competitive position. A recommendation to leverage the merger to strengthen corporate differentiation and raise …

Mcgirt Policy Briefs: Regulation Of The Environment And Natural Resources, Monte Mills

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

On July 9, 2020, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. Although the only actual effect of that decision was on Mr. McGirt’s state court criminal conviction, rendering it invalid in light of the continuing existence of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s reservation, the implications of McGirt reverberated throughout Oklahoma and the nation. By rejecting Oklahoma’s arguments that the march to statehood had resulted in the implicit disestablishment of the Creek’s reservation (and, by analogy, those of the neighboring and similarly situated Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole Nations), Justice Gorsuch’s opinion on behalf of the Court’s …

Deepsea Coral Sample Container, Sara Passantino, Andrew Noble, Casey Smith, Thomas Smith

Mechanical Engineering

In order to better understand the health of our oceans and the species that inhabit them, scientists often collect samples for later analysis onshore. The demanding deep-sea environment makes this collection process a challenging engineering task. Samples must first be located, then removed from the seafloor and stored for transportation to the surface. The performance of the engineered solutions that complete each of these tasks is critical in allowing marine scientists to maximize the insight obtained from their expeditions. Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE) is an organization that performs such collection of organisms with the help of remotely operated …

Multicultural Competencies Of Healthcare Professionals And Disability-Inclusive In Telehealth During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Si-Yi Chao, Keith B. Wilson, Carrie L. Acklin

Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education Faculty Publications

There is evidence that people with disabilities are more likely to be discriminated against and to have disproportionate health care disparities compared to people who are able-bodied during the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. In light of COVID-19, telehealth has been transformed to the primary health care delivery due to social restrictions of most, globally. Disability-inclusive telehealth design can promote culturally diverse groups access and more accurate COVID-19 information, knowledge, public health measures, and guidelines of preventive strategies for acquiring COVID-19. Applying multicultural competencies is required for healthcare providers to maximize health engagement and outcomes of PWD. In many areas of health …

Educational Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange And Teacher Self-Efficacy, Gabriela Flores, Denver J. Fowler, Richard A. Posthuma

Journal of Global Education and Research

The purpose of this article is to examine social cognitive theory and social comparison theory, and how they are integrated to propose that self-efficacy mediates the relationship between leader-member exchange social comparison (LMXSC) and performance. Furthermore, the article supports the need for development and examination of the effects of educational leadership and teacher self-efficacy. That is, to determine if school leadership has an effect on teacher self-efficacy, and if teacher self-efficacy has an effect on student achievement. The preliminary conceptual model developed within the article includes insightful research questions to be considered for impending future studies. The authors hope this …

Insurance, Maren R. Cave, Thomas D. Martin, Bradley S. Wolff

Mercer Law Review

During this Survey period, the courts in Georgia returned to the usual abundance of automobile and uninsured motorist (UM) cases, the summaries of which make up most of this annual update. The courts decided three cases involving UM coverage limits that were less than the policies’ liability limits and the claims of insureds that the carriers owed coverage equal to the liability limits. The insurers prevailed in all three cases. In a fourth case, the Georgia Court of Appeals determined that an insured could not sue a tortfeasor in the name of “John Doe,” where the person’s name was known …

Construction Law, Ward Stone Jr.

Mercer Law Review

During the Survey Period, the Georgia appellate courts handed down a number of decisions underscoring the requirement that contractors hold valid and current contractor’s licenses issued by the Secretary of State’s office in order to be able to enforce construction contracts.Several attempts to side‑step the statute,carve out exceptions, or avoid the harsh consequences of violating the statute were rejected in favor of strict interpretation. As several courts noted concerning the licensing statutes:

[I]n construing any statutory text, we must presume that the General Assembly meant what it said and said what it meant. To that end, we must afford the …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2019, to May 31, 2020. The Article discusses developments with respect to attorney discipline, ineffective assistance of counsel, bar admission, disqualification of counsel, judicial conduct, malpractice and other civil claims, contempt, several miscellaneous cases, formal advisory opinions (State Bar of Georgia and the American Bar Association), and amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

Table Of Cases

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reformed Worship (Rw) 138 - Lent / Easter (December 2020), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Features

Worship Series: The Way of the Cross by Nicole Ensing....3

Children's Pages for the Christian Year by Lindsey Goetz....10

Paschal Lamb by Karla Bowe, Beth Disselkoen, and Faye Dykema....20

Articles

Editorial: I'm Angry by Joyce Borger....2

For Pastors: Slain Victory by Scott Hoezee....2

Q&A: The Psalms of Anger by John D. Witvliet....35

Worship as a Cultural Expression of Latino People by Harold Caicedo....43

Resources

Repentance and Renewal by Brian Turnbow....12

Bring Light to Our Lives by Emily Hoffman....15

The Lamb of God by Dianne Van Rooyen....26

The Dead Christ …

Health Is Political: Public Health Practitioners And Researchers Should Be Trained Accordingly, Claire Pendergrast

Population Health Research Brief Series

Policy has long been considered a core element of public health practice. The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that public health practice and research exist within a political context that cannot be ignored.

Rapid Sequence Induction Versus Traditional Induction: An Objective Structured Clinical Exam, William Scott, Courtney Parker Shouse

Doctoral Projects

Every surgical procedure requiring general anesthesia begins with the induction process. Induction of general anesthesia can be altered by using a number of combinations of pharmacological agents and airway management techniques to place the patient in an anesthetic state while providing adequate oxygenation. Mastering the induction process as well as airway management are integral parts of being a competent anesthesia provider.

Twenty million endotracheal tubes are placed within the United States annually by medical professionals (Grant, 2013). Endotracheal tube placement can be a stressful process for anesthesia students to master. The aim of this doctoral project is to provide anesthesia …

Cultural Competence Objective Structured Clinical Examination For Student Nurse Anesthetists, Ashley Nicole Minor, Loryn Elise Jamison

Doctoral Projects

The landscape of ethnicity is growing increasingly diverse. In 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that by the time the 2020 Census is conducted, over half of the nation’s children will be of a minority group (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). With this evolution in cultural variety comes a necessity to incorporate exposure and training of cultural competency into professional health programs. Student registered nurse anesthetists (SRNAs) are a key demographic to professional growth within the realms of cultural competence as related to the field of nurse anesthesia. Along with clinical skills and advanced knowledge, cultural competence should be equally developed. …

The Institute’S Team For Damage Investigations, Lucas A. Laughery, Aishwarya Y. Puranam, Christopher L. Segura Jr., Anahid A. Behrouzi

Architectural Engineering

ACI Committee 133, Disaster Reconnaissance, was conceived in the aftermath of the 2010 Chilean Earthquake, an event that affected thousands of structures. That event caused extensive damage to an estimated 50 to 100 mid-rise and high-rise reinforced concrete (RC) buildings, including seven that were damaged beyond repair.^1-3 Although ACI has had a strong history of publishing assessments of disasters (refer to textbox: Historical Disasters Examined in ACI Publications), the Institute had no formal mechanism in place to deploy a team to investigate and report on critical lessons to its technical committees and membership. Furthermore, the broadening international reach of …

Evaluation Of An Intervention To Maintain Therapeutic Pressure Of The Endotracheal Tube Cuff During Intraoperative Surgery, Jamare Reed

Doctoral Projects

The current practice of intraoperatively assessing the cuff pressure of the endotracheal tube (ETT) is arbitrary and potentially leads to negative impacts on patients. This best practice project aimed to review and synthesize the existing evidence-based literature on measuring ETT cuff pressure and to establish a policy guideline for anesthesia providers to measure ETT cuff pressure in the intraoperative environment. Based on the star model of the knowledge transformation framework model provided by the Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice (ACE), the creation of evidence-based policy on ETT cuff measurement is expected to potentially prevent poor patient outcomes, patient expenses, and …

Unregistered Patents, Miriam Marcowitz-Bitton, Emily Michiko Morris

Washington Law Review

Although all should be treated equally under the law, patent law has long been known to favor some less than others. Patentable technology is highly heterogeneous, covering everything from minute improvements in electronics to pioneering new artificial organs, but patent protection itself is purely a one-size-fits-all system. Patents thus overreward some while underrewarding others. On the one hand, patents overreward low-investment, low-value inventions by granting them the same twenty-year term of protection as those that required much higher investments and yield much higher social value. The resulting glut of low-quality patents has contributed greatly to the “patent crisis” of opportunistic …

Understanding Provider And Parent Experiences In Caring For Hospitalized Young Children: Summary Findings From A Formative Study In Kenya, Breakthrough Research

Reproductive Health

Although young children are unable to articulate their own experiences, their experiences can be studied by collecting responses from parents of hospitalized newborns and young children (0–24 months). It is also critical to understand the role of health providers, including their communication and behaviors with parents and families caring for hospitalized young children. This formative study of the manifestation of mistreatment of newborns, infants, and young children (0–24 months) led to co-design (with families and providers) of a set of interventions that promote a positive experience of care. The study was conducted in five hospitals in Kenya: Pumwani Maternity Hospital, …

Investir Dans Le Changement Social Et Comportemental Est Rentable Pour Augmenter L'Utilisation De La Contraception Moderne Au Niger, Breakthrough Research

Reproductive Health

The Breakthrough RESEARCH Business Case modeled social and behavior change (SBC) cost-effectiveness in Niger utilizing two investment scenarios to assess the impact of SBC programming on modern contraceptive use: The national plan scenario was based on planned investments documented "Family Planning in Niger: 2012–2020 Action Plan" and "2018 Operational Plan," with the national plan indicating a cumulative five-year investment of approximately $5.5 million dollars in SBC for FP, and a double investment scenario examined the effects of doubling Niger's national plan total investment to $11.1 million with the increased investments targeting community awareness activities and group interpersonal communication (IPC) for …

Investing In Social And Behavior Change Is Cost-Effective For Increasing Modern Contraceptive Use In Togo, Breakthrough Research

Reproductive Health

The Breakthrough RESEARCH Business Case modeled social and behavior change (SBC) cost-effectiveness in Togo utilizing two investment scenarios to assess the impact of SBC programming on modern contraceptive use: The national plan scenario was based on planned investments documented in Togo’s "Plan d’Action National Budgetise de Plantification Familiale 2017-2022," which indicated a cumulative five-year investment of approximately $3.6 million dollars in SBC for FP, and a double investment scenario examined the effects of doubling the Togo national plan total to $7.4 million with increased investments for community awareness activities and SBC packages for youth that included group interpersonal communication (IPC).