Digital Commons Network^™

Does Ict Result In Dematerialization? The Case Of Europe, 2005-2017, Annika Marie Rieger

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Current levels of resource use are unsustainable, but there is a debate about the most feasible way to reduce them. One proposed mechanism is technological innovation: specifically, the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) could result in significant reductions in material consumption by substituting virtual for material goods, increasing resource efficiency, and replacing more resource-intensive sectors. Critics of this view argue that dematerialization due to ICTs is unlikely: they consume large amounts of resources and encourage additional consumption. Additionally, increased efficiency resulting from ICT use could lead to rebound effects, reducing their environmentally beneficial impact. This paper uses a …

Consumption, Annika Marie Rieger, Juliet B. Schor

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Consumption is a major contributor to environmental degradation and change. However, it was not until 1992—at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development—that consumption was seriously addressed by the global community. The consensus that emerged was that the global South had a “population” problem and the global North had a “consumption,” or more correctly, an “overconsumption” problem. It proved to be a durable formulation. Within environmental sociology, the prominence of the IPAT (Impact = Population × Affluence × Technology) equation (Ehrlich & Holdren, 1971) has contributed to this framing of the environment/consumption relation, although the rise of a global …

Complete Issue, Christopher W. Tremblay, Laura Owen, Patrick J. O'Connor Phd

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

Promoting Success For First-Generation Students Of Color: The Importance Of Academic, Transitional Adjustment, And Mental Health Supports, Sophie W. Schuyler, Jonique R. Childs, Timothy A. Poynton

Journal of College Access

Nearly 1 in 3 college students (30%) are first-generation students of color (FGSOC), possessing the intersectional identity of being both a first-generation college student and a racial minority. FGSOC face increased psychological and social difficulties in college when compared to students in other groups, resulting from cultural differences, lack of academic preparedness, stigma surrounding socioeconomic status, racial discrimination, and marginalization. This article summarizes peer-reviewed literature related to three types of supports that can improve the college experience and promote the academic success of FGSOC: academic supports, transitional adjustment supports, and mental health supports. The reviewed literature is framed by a …

Student Readiness Of Colleges: A Qualitative Study, Karen Widger Caldwell, Cala Millis, Timothy N. Constant, Patrick Borg, Katherine Threatt-Morgan, Christopher J. F. Burke

Journal of College Access

Using the framework of belonging, this qualitative study explores how one upper midwestern college engages in student-readiness and explores the disconnects that create barriers to student-readiness. The study investigates ‘student readiness’ broadly through the literature and more specifically by narrowing efforts to a detailed examination of one college by conducting interviews, observations, and collecting artifacts. The results of the study revealed that the college addressed student readiness differently depending on perspectives of staff/faculty, administration, and students. Three themes emerged after coding and examination of the data: supports, community and disconnect.

College Access For Prospective First-Generation High School Students: Parent Perceptions, Christopher W. Brown Ed.D, Alison Reeves Associate Professor, Laurel Puchner Professor

Journal of College Access

This qualitative interview study examined how parents of potential college-going first-generation students in one high school perceive and experience their access to resources and knowledge that would allow them to support their adolescents’ successful entrance into postsecondary institutions. The study found that the parents believe that high schools will help their children with college but that they underutilize the resources available and lack important social capital needed to help their students succeed.

“They’Re In The Shadows”: School Counselors Share The Lived Experiences Of Latino/A Undocumented Students, Katherine E. Bernal-Arevalo, Sergio Pereyra, Dominiqua M. Griffin, Gitima Sharma

Journal of College Access

Latino/a undocumented students are among the population of students who are in danger of not graduating or pursuing college due to the unique set of challenges they face navigating education in the U.S. This study aims to understand undocumented students' experiences and the factors that impede them from furthering their education. As professionals in education, school counselors can offer a unique perspective on the barriers that college-bound undocumented students face when pursuing higher education. Using a phenomenological approach, data was gathered from counselors (N=14) across 10 school districts. The findings revealed undocumented students are faced with a myriad of challenges, …

Undocumented Students’ Perceptions Of Institutional Support, Jennifer Alanis, Patty Witkowsky, Nicholas Tapia-Fuselier

Journal of College Access

This study employed phenomenological, case study inquiry to provide an in-depth exploration into eight undocumented students’ perceptions of campus supports to answer the research question: What are undocumented students’ perceptions of the type, nature, and effectiveness of institutional programs and support services that contribute to their persistence? Finding include undocumented students' perceptions of limited institutional support systems, impact of student organization involvement, and funding challenges. Implications for supporting retention and graduation of undocumented students are provided.

Building Critical Bridges: The Role Of University Presidents In Collaborating With Undocumented Student Activists, Rachel Freeman, Daniela Iniestra Varelas, Daniel Castillo

Journal of College Access

Undocumented students across the country have powerfully organized for the development of equitable programs and policies for undocumented students in higher education. Presidents of colleges and universities play a key role in working with undocumented activists to influence the development of these programs. Our research team with The UndocuScholars Project at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) spotlights university presidents who have been leaders in the field in working with undocumented students through the documentary film series College Presidents with Undocumented Students. In this article, we discuss the second film in the series showcasing President Elsa Núñez of the …

Catalyzing Change For Undocumented Students At Post-Secondary Institutions In California, Iliana G. Perez, Nancy Jodaitis, Victor Garcia

Journal of College Access

This paper highlights learning lessons and best practices from the California Campus Catalyst Fund (CCCF), a unique 3-year, $14M grant and technical assistance initiative, which supports programs for undocumented students at 32 campuses within each of the public higher education segments in California (University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges). The paper focuses on three essential components of substantive changes for undocumented students attending CCCF campuses: 1) access to financial aid, 2) knowledge about income generation through entrepreneurship, and 3) student leadership development. Recommendations stemming from best practices and implementation of the CCCF are provided for multiple …

Introductory Pages, Ian Levy, Caroline Lopez-Perry

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

The School Counselor’S Role In Anti-Racist College Counseling And Advising, Ian Levy, Caroline Lopez-Perry

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

Governing Science And Technology Under The International Economic Order: Regulatory Divergence And Convergence In The Age Of Megaregionals By Shin-Yi Peng, Han-Wei Liu And Ching-Fu Lin, Henry S. Gao, Weihuan Zhou

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Trade and technology have a long history of interdependence. It was the trade along the ancient silk road that helped to spread the technologies of China – such as paper-making, gun power, compass, and moveable type printing – to Europe. These technologies helped to launch the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Great Discoveries, which in turn set in motion globalization as we know today. As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, the role of science and technology grows even stronger in international trade. For example, the advancement of information and communications technology (ICT) has greatly facilitated the …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Aphasia Therapy, Depression And Quality Of Life In Post-Stroke Patients After Rehabilitation At 12 And 26 Weeks After Stroke: A Verse Sub-Study, Alia Rashid Khan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Depression is a common consequence of stroke, and people with aphasia (PWA) post-stroke have a higher risk of developing depression compared to stroke survivors without aphasia. However, current stroke interventions featuring aphasia therapy tend to neglect the effect of the treatment on mood. There is also a lack of evidence on the impact of stroke education and counselling on PWA in early stroke recovery. Additionally, the research on post-stroke depression often excludes or insufficiently describes PWA in study populations. The influence of direct aphasia therapy on depression in PWA is undetermined. This sub-study investigated: i) the effect of …

Analytical Assessment Of Project Complexity: A Guide To Managing Projects Through Reduction Of Complexity, Christopher Vanarsdale

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research discusses the characteristics that make projects difficult to manage. Project inefficiencies and failures can be attributed to the structure of a system. Developing a measurement for complexity based on the number and nature of interactions in the system can allow project complexity to be reduced while still meeting project objectives. Previous research has identified characteristics or markers of complex systems but does not address how to measure or how to reduce a system’s complexity.

The objective of this dissertation is to develop a metric for complexity that assists project and emergency managers in reducing project complexity either by …

Predicting The Impacts Of Climate Change On The Great Lakes Water Levels Using A Fully Coupled 3d Regional Modeling System, Miraj Kayastha

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Great Lakes of North America are the largest surface freshwater system in the world and many ecosystems, industries, and coastal processes are sensitive to the changes in their water levels. The recent changes in the Great Lakes climate and water levels have particularly highlighted the importance of water level prediction. The water levels of the Great Lakes are primarily governed by the net basin supplies (NBS) of each lake which are the sum of over-lake precipitation and basin runoff minus lake evaporation. Recent studies have utilized Regional Climate Models (RCMs) with a fully coupled one-dimensional (1D) lake model to …

Reverse Engineering Of Short Circuit Analyses, Anurag Nagpure

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The electrical distribution system has evolved with embedded computer systems that can better manage the electrical fault that occurred around the feeders. Such random events can affect the reliability indices of overall systems. Computerized management system for distribution operation has been improving with the advanced sensing technologies. The general research question is here to articulate is the responsiveness for utility crew to pinpoint the exact location of a fault based on the SCADA fault indicators from pole-mounted feeder remote terminal units (FRTUs). This has been a tricky question because it relies on the information received from the sensors that can …

Expatriate Middle Eastern Muslim Mothers’ Stories About Sex Education In U.S. Schools: Communication Privacy Challenges And Narrative Typologies, Nada Alfeir

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study examines the stories of expatriate Middle Eastern Muslim (EMEM) mothers in the U.S. about how they talked with their children about the sexual education classes offered in U.S. public schools. Three concepts from the Communication Privacy Management theory (CPM; Petronio, 2002) were adapted to an interpretive narrative perspective drawn on Frank's (2013) typology of narrative types. A total of 15 EMEM mothers who had lived for more than one year in the U.S. were recruited in the study. Qualitative data were collected through written stories and interviews, and supplemented by the author's observations. All written stories and interviews …

Functional Genetic Approaches To Provide Evidence For The Role Of Toolkit Genes In The Evolution Of Complex Color Patterns In Drosophila Guttifera, Mujeeb Olushola Shittu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Toolkit genes are set of genes that orchestrate the development of basic body plan of animals, and they are highly conserved in all animals. The co-option of the toolkit genes into the pigmentation pathway has led to the evolution of novel species. This study focuses on understanding how the complex color patterns in animals develop by using the Drosophila species in the quinaria group as models. We developed an mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH) protocol, which allowed us to study gene expression patterns in the abdomen of developing pupae of non-model Drosophila species (Chapter 2). Through ISH, we found that …

Impact Of Hemodynamic Vortex Spatial And Temporal Characteristics On Analysis Of Intracranial Aneurysms, Kevin W. Sunderland

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Subarachnoid hemorrhage is a potentially devastating pathological condition in which bleeding occurs into the space surrounding the brain. One of the prominent sources of subarachnoid hemorrhage are intracranial aneurysms (IA): degenerative, irregular expansions of area(s) of the cerebral vasculature. In the event of IA rupture, the resultant subarachnoid hemorrhage ends in patient mortality occurring in ~50% of cases, with survivors enduring significant neurological damage with physical or cognitive impairment. The seriousness of IA rupture drives a degree of clinical interest in understanding these conditions that promote both the development and possible rupture of the vascular malformations. Current metrics for the …

Superresolution Enhancement With Active Convolved Illumination, Anindya Ghoshroy

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The first two decades of the 21st century witnessed the emergence of “metamaterials”. The prospect of unrestricted control over light-matter interactions was a major contributing factor leading to the realization of new technologies and advancement of existing ones. While the field certainly does not lack innovative applications, widespread commercial deployment may still be several decades away. Fabrication of sophisticated 3d micro and nano structures, specially for telecommunications and optical frequencies will require a significant advancement of current technologies. More importantly, the effects of absorption and scattering losses will require a robust solution since this renders any conceivable application of metamaterials …

Sensing Methods For Two-Target And Four-Target Detection In Time-Constrained Vector Poisson And Gaussian Channels, Muhammad Fahad

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation we consider a sensor scheduling or resource management problem for a vector Poisson and Gaussian channels. The input is a binary random vector and the output is a set of conditionally independent Poisson or Gaussian random variables. The objective is to design a scaling matrix, which is a linear transformation whose purpose is to entangle the different inputs, under a total given energy/time constraint. The two metrics are adopted to quantify the performance of the designed scaling matrix: mutual information and Bayesian inference. In other words, it is an experimental design problem where the objective is to …

The Power Of The Panel: How American Comic Book Media Utilizes The Panel To Alter Audience Interaction, Austin Biese

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis traces the evolution of the panel across decades as well as various mediums. In one form, the panel becomes stretched when characters break the fourth wall to immerse readers in a new perspective on how the panel functions and creates meaning. In another form, comic book film adaptations comic imagery to instill a sense of nostalgia and to wink and nod at the audience, stretching the conventions of what the panel can be to impact the devoted audience. Lastly, in modern comic-reading apps, a ‘Smart Reading’ function remediates panels to provide an easier and unified path to read …

Phase-Field Fracture Modeling For Interlocking Micro-Architectured Materials, Shubham Sinha

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

It is fascinating to see how natural materials like teeth enamel, bone and nacre possess a very high stiffness and strength in spite of the fact that they are composed of minerals mostly. Studies have shown the reason for this aberration as the presence of weaker interfaces with intricate interlocking architectures at microscopic levels in these materials. Inspired by the architecture of these materials, micro-architectured sutures with jig-saw like geometry is being studied in this research study. The main focus of this study is to examine the effects of friction co-efficient and interlocking angles of the jig-saw tabs on pullout …

Design And Testing Of An Open Source Vacuum Oven For Research, Community Recycling, And Additive Manufacturing, Benjamin R. Hubbard

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

To aid the continuing growth of open source tools in the research community, this thesis presents two broadly useful instruments which can be built and operated for a fraction of the cost of equivalent or inferior commercial products. The first device is a digitally-replicable scale, which provides a single framework for making measurements on the order of milligrams all the way up to tens of kilograms by supporting multiple types of load cells. The second device is a vacuum oven, which is validated using the first. The open source vacuum oven facilitates the dehydration of materials at low temperature, providing …

Evaluating Household Food, Energy, And Water Environmentally Oriented Anti-Consumption In The Us: Toward A Comprehensive Theory Synthesis, Jacob Slattery

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Introduction – Everyday household activities using food, energy, and water (FEW) resources consumed in the US have perpetually contributed a large amount of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, amplifying the effects of climate change globally. These actions are embedded and routinized effectively at the individual level, resulting in habits inert to changes in household FEW behaviors more friendly to socio-environmental impacts. Public and voluntary policies could help shift perceptions of FEW household conservation, but a gap in environmental political and psychological research reveals a deficit in evidence examining the antecedents of the moral or personal norm concept.

Objective – The …

Real Time Adaptive Relay Settings For Microgrid Protection Verified Using Hardware In Loop, Aadam Harnekar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Microgrids with penetration of renewables is imposing new challenges for system protection. Renewables are characterized with high source impedance which limit the short circuit current. The value of short-circuit current is limited due to converters used which limit the current to a maximum of 1.1 to 1.5 times maximum rated load current. This can result in faults during the islanded mode of microgrid to go unnoticed if the relay settings are not adapted to account for it. The presence of such uncleared faults in the microgrid can result in exposing it to overcurrent for a long time which can damage …

Detecting Surface Interactions Via A Wearable Microphone To Improve Augmented Reality Text Entry, R. Habibi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis investigates whether we can detect and distinguish between surface interaction events such as tapping or swiping using a wearable mic from a surface. Also, what are the advantages of new text entry methods such as tapping with two fingers simultaneously to enter capital letters and punctuation? For this purpose, we conducted a remote study to collect audio and video of three different ways people might interact with a surface. We also built a CNN classifier to detect taps. Our results show that we can detect and distinguish between surface interaction events such as tap or swipe via a …

The Application Of Leaky Wave Antennas For Medical Hyperthermia Treatment And Beamformer In Fmcw Automotive Radar Systems, Masoud Sarabi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Thousands of years ago human discovered that if a slice of amber is rubbed against fur, it would absorb light-weight objects. Hundreds of years after that the ancient people figured out that there are actually two different characteristics of attraction and repulsion. Another 2000 years passed when human discovered that these two wonders of nature, magnetism and electricity are actually linked together like the two sides of the same coin. Since then, in the early 19th century great huge achievements were made in antennas and propagation by scientists such as Hans Christen Oersted, Heinrich Hertz, Alexander Popov and Marconi. Since …

Commissioning And Testing Of A New Dusty Thermal Vacuum Chamber, Ben Wiegand

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Dusty Thermal Vacuum Chamber (DTVAC) is a new facility purchased by the Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (PSTDL) that will be used to test the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of extraplanetary devices and systems. With the use of vacuum pumps and simulated regolith, the DTVAC can create extraplanetary environments such as those found on the Moon and Mars. This report details the actions that were taken to prepare the DTVAC for TRL testing, including the development of a Data Acquisition Center (DAC) and test fixtures, along with the findings of baseline tests that were performed to understand the behavior …