Digital Commons Network^™

Music Scholars And Open Access Publishing, Rachel E. Scott, Anne Shelley

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Interviews with twenty-one music scholars in various subdisciplines explored experiences and motivations that led them to publish their work OA as well as factors that have discouraged them from doing so. Each participant discussed the availability of OA publishing opportunities in their subdisciplines of music, how these are perceived, how they are evolving, and how they compare to opportunities in other disciplines. Participants also spoke to ways in which institutions support or value OA. The authors found that perspectives on OA publishing among music scholars vary considerably, ranging from those who identify as “an evangelist for open access” to those …

Investigations Into Prg-2 And Its Involvement In Developing Gallus Gallus Retinal Neurons, Jeffrey Parham

Graduate Theses

I am interested in the development of the nervous system, especially since during development nerves grow and extend, but in adults, they do not regenerate if damaged. We are specifically interested in the molecules that guide nerves to the correct target during their development. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a bioactive molecule that has been shown to play a role in neural development. LPA, through repeated studies, has been shown to stop neurons from growing by causing a physical change in a neuron’s growth cone (a structure used for navigation and growth). Recently, a novel set of genes, called PRGs, have …

Choosing Penumbra, Christina Melchiorre

Graduate Theses

Amaranthine | adjective

am·a·ran·thine | \ ˌa-mə-ˈran(t)-thən , -ˈran-ˌthīn \

1a : of or relating to an amaranth

b : Eternally beautiful and unfading; everlasting, undying

2 : of the color amaranth; a shade of reddish-rose

My work explores the narrative I have with family in relation to who I am and how I have developed as a result of both positive and negative influences. Despite the dysfunctional dynamics that I experience with my family, I choose to remain connected to them and continue to endure and persevere through the obstacles that they create. I particularly experience these moments through …

Identity Term Sampling For Measuring Gender Bias In Training Data, Nasim Sobhani, Sarah Jane Delany

Conference Papers

Predictions from machine learning models can reflect biases in the data on which they are trained. Gender bias has been identified in natural language processing systems such as those used for recruitment. The development of approaches to mitigate gender bias in training data typically need to be able to isolate the effect of gender on the output to see the impact of gender. While it is possible to isolate and identify gender for some types of training data, e.g. CVs in recruitment, for most textual corpora there is no obvious gender label. This paper proposes a general approach to measure …

Further Validation Of The Realness Scale: Are Celebrity Worshipers Unreal?, Lynn E. Mccutcheon, Lillian Donahue, Joshua L. Williams, Sarah K. Nielson, Scott Peterson, Terry F. Pettijohn Ii

Psychology: Faculty Publications

We administered the Realness Scale (RS), Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), and the modified Authentic Living Subscale (ALS) from the Authenticity Scale (AS) to undergraduate students from four American institutions of higher learning. We sought to further validate the RS by showing that it correlated positively with the ALS and negatively with the CAS. We also hypothesized that African Americans would score lower than Whites on the RS. Our results supported the first hypothesis, but we found only weak or non-existent support for the other two hypotheses. Discussion focused on reasons why our latter two hypotheses yielded mostly negative results and …

Association Between Depression, Happiness, And Sleep Duration: Data From The Uae Healthy Future Pilot Study, Mitha Al Balushi, Sara Al Balushi, Syed Javaid, Andrea Leinberger-Jabari, Fatma Al-Maskari, Mohammed Al-Houqani, Ayesha Al Dhaheri, Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Abdullah Al Junaibi, Naima Oumeziane, Marina Kazim, Aisha Al Hamiz, Muna Haji, Ayesha Al Hosani, Leila Abdel Wareth, Wael Almahmeed, Habiba Alsafar, Fatme Alanouti, Eiman Al Zaabi, Claire K. Inman, Omar El Shahawy, Michael Weitzman, Ann Marie Schmidt, Scott Sherman, Abdishakur Abdulle, Amar Ahmad, Raghib Ali

All Works

Background: The United Arab Emirates Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) is one of the first large prospective cohort studies and one of the few studies in the region which examines causes and risk factors for chronic diseases among the nationals of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aim of this study is to investigate the eight-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) as a screening instrument for depression among the UAEHFS pilot participants. Methods: The UAEHFS pilot data were analyzed to examine the relationship between the PHQ-8 and possible confounding factors, such as self-reported happiness, and self-reported sleep duration (hours) after adjusting for …

Outcomes In Ed Patients With Non-Specific Ecg Findings And Low High-Sensitivity Troponin, Lamees M. Alshaikh, Fred S. Apple, Robert H. Christenson, Christopher R. Defilippi, Alexander T. Limkakeng, James Mccord, Richard M. Nowak, Adam J. Singer, W. Frank Peacock

Emergency Medicine Articles

BACKGROUND: Although some emergency department risk stratification tools consider non-specific ECG findings as an aid in disposition decisions, their clinical value in patients with an initially low high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hsTnI) is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine if non-specific ECG (ns-ECG) findings are associated with 30-day major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in ED patients presenting with suspected acute coronary syndromes (ACS) who have a low initial hsTnI.

METHODS: Using the prospective Siemens Atellica hsTnI Food and Drug Administration submission observational database, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of the association between ns-ECG findings (defined as left bundle …

Development Of A Web-Based Crossword Puzzles To Teach Arabic Vocabulary In Islamic Junior High Schools/ تنمية الكلمات المتقاطعة على الإنترنت لتعيلم المفردات في المدرسة الثانوية, M. Adnan Al-Faraid Rahaded, Nurul Murtadho, Mohammad Ahsanuddin

Al-Arabi: Journal of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language

The purpose of this research is to design crossword puzzles on the Internet (web) to teach Arabic vocabulary in secondary schools and describe its quality. The researcher used the ADDIE method, which consisted of five stages: analysis, design, developm

Improving The Understanding Of Maharah Qira'ah Students Of Mtsn 3 Jombang Using The Question-Answer Relationships Method, Muhammad Afthon Ulin Nuha, Nurul Musyafa’Ah

Al-Arabi: Journal of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language

Seventh-grade students of MTsN 3 Jombang in learning Arabic are still low in understanding questions related to reading. They have difficulty identifying the main ideas in the reading, have not been able to make conclusions, and have problem retelling

Environmental Sensitivity Of Maternal And Offspring Phenotype In The Green Anole (Anolis Carolinensis) Lizard, Jamie Marks

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Animals dynamically invest their acquired energetic resources into fitness-related traits, and life-history trade-offs occur when limited resources are invested in a given trait at the expense of another. The phenotypic effects of life history trade-offs are well documented, but the mechanisms facilitating these trade-offs are poorly understood. One such mechanism is the insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) network, and specifically its two primary hormones: insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2). IGF1 is well-characterized but IGF2 is severely understudied, though it is present in nearly all amniotes and sometimes expressed at higher levels than IGF1 in adulthood. I …

A Phenomenological Study Of Principals’ Perceptions Of Instructional Leadership In The Context Of Mandated Teacher Evaluation, Gabrielle P. Delatte

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The literature on instructional leadership includes the practices in which principals can engage (Stein & Nelson, 2003) and discusses how the principal’s leadership practices can be mediated by the teacher observation tool within the teacher evaluation system (Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001). However, the literature includes less about how and why leaders enact those instructional leadership practices (Spillane et al., 2001; Spillane, 2006) and how the teacher evaluation tool might or might not be influencing that how and why. The purpose of this qualitative study is to produce a description of how principals perceive the instructional leadership they provide teachers …

Assembly Of Ceramic Particles In Aqueous Suspensions Induced By High-Frequency Ac Electric Field, James E. John Iv

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Ceramic materials processed using colloidal methods have been the focus of a great deal of research aimed at tailoring the final structure and microstructure of the finished ceramic sample. To this end, various external field effects have been investigated to modify the suspension microstructure without manipulating the ceramic particles directly. In a previous work in the field of ice templating it has been shown that AC electric fields are able to produce microstructural changes in ice templated ceramics that have significantly improved the final mechanical properties. However, the mechanisms for this process are still not well understood in ceramics.

To …

Development Of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography System For Mouse Eye Imaging And Measurement Of Vasodilation, Yilin Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is broadly known as a non-invasive technology that allows examining the retinal and choroidal vasculatures, alternative to fluorescein angiography. In this study, we have developed an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for imaging the mouse eye. We measure the retinal thickness, which is 216.53um. We apply OCTA to characterize the quantitative change in vessel diameter and the perfusion density of the retina after the wild-type mice are administered the adenosine or inhale carbon dioxide. Comparing the images acquired one minute and 5 minutes after the injection or CO₂ inhalation with the baseline, distinct changes …

Innovative And Effective Spreadsheet Tool For Learning Sentiment Analysis And Prediction, Michelle L. F. Cheong, Jean Yun-Chen Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we describe a spreadsheet tool which was developed and implemented to teach sentiment analysis and prediction to university students who are less technically inclined. We adopted the “Use-Modify-Create” cycle to ensure that the students learn the computing concepts and practices in a progressive and active learning manner, and we evaluated the effectiveness of the tool using the Learning Object Evaluation Scale for Students (LOES-S). The evaluation shows that our tool performed well in terms of quality, learn and engagement constructs, and our paired T-test shows strong evidence that, on average, the course module with the tool does …

Trade And Transfer Of Environmentally Sound Technology In Asean: Mapping Priorities To Economic Treaty Negotiations, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) share common objectives in economic, sociocultural and political-security integration. Addressing environmental concerns is animportant consideration which traverses different areas of integration policymaking. ASEAN has, in recent years, emphasised the importance of environmental considerations, including environmentally sound technologies (“ESTs”) which may contribute to its climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, in its law and policymaking. This article discusses the nexus between ASEAN’s needs for the transfer of ESTs and the group’s economic treaty negotiations. Through a “mapping” of such needs to free trade agreementareas, it aims to provide a pathway …

Community Outreach For Spanish-Speakers: Informing The Community About Monterey County, Emilia Gallegos Perez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Monterey County Rape Crisis Center (MCRCC) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate for and serve the people of Monterey County who are experiencing sexual violence. The main issue was that few Spanish speakers had knowledge about MCRCC services and programs despite Monterey County having a large Hispanic population. The community engagement team is the division in the organization that conducts community outreach within the Monterey County population. The idea for the project is to advertise a commercial and create an advertisement using a local radio station. The new initiative can help promote awareness in the community by …

Multipurpose Senior Service Program: Creating Connections With Community Partners, Xiomara Ivette Rivera Ortiz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Health Projects Center is a non-profit organization in Monterey County that provides a wide range of resources and support through its Multipurpose Senior Service Program (MSSP) to senior citizens of age 65 and older who have Medi-Cal benefits. This program helps seniors age people stay comfortably in their own homes. The main problem is that clients are not using the MSSP resources and support, to their advantage, in order to be healthy and safe in the comfort of their own homes. The agency's problem is the lack of marketing their services to community partners, which does not allow them …

Evaluating Post-Training Engagement, Caitlyn Dawn Gonzalez, Alyssa Trinity

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Impact Launch (IL) is a collective of social impact professionals dedicated to creating sustainable and equitable change. IL provides strategic planning, project design, collaborative capacity building, individual and team coaching, and leadership intensives for leaders, businesses, and organizations. Similar to those who have undergone other training programs, alumni of IL’s leadership training are prone to becoming disengaged with the tools they have learned and stagnant in their learning. The purpose of this project was to begin efforts to increase alumni engagement with the tools and each other through conducting a series of interviews; 6 alumni were interviewed to collect feedback …

Improving Self Regulation In Early Adolescents, Nicole Lopez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project focuses on the development of self-regulation in early adolescent middle school years. Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behavior and reactions to feelings and things happening around you. Adolescence is the transition from childhood to adulthood that begins with the onset of puberty and ends with successful independence from the parent.

A Cry For Inclusivity In The Institute For Innovation And Economic Development, Chelsea Ferolino

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many aspiring entrepreneurs in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz county are making the move to the Bay Area to pursue their careers as business owners, rather than creating jobs and businesses locally. The Institute for Innovation and Economic Development is a non-profit organization that provides entrepreneurial resources, services, and events that help individuals grow as aspiring business owners. The purpose of the program is to offer inclusivity, and encourage everyone in the tri-county area to utilize the resources they provide. The project implemented will be a plan to assist underrepresented individuals who are unaware of the resources iiED provides, …

Recognition Of Childrens’ Benefits While Participating In Sports To Parents, Melida Carmona

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focuses on the development of life skills through children’s participation in sports activities. Involving the success and failures involving, technology, social media and its effect on the human mind and body.

Campos Seguros In Santa Cruz County, Patricia Barajas Villasenor

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Monarch Services is a non-profit organization within Santa Cruz county. The agency provides services for domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Campos Seguros focuses on providing resources and advocacy to vulnerable populations, specifically Campesinos (farmworkers). Violence and abuse perpetrated against farm workers is an issue that demands more public attention and advocacy. Campesinos are highly vulnerable because of different contributing factors, these include immigration status, work uncertainty, and language barriers. Consequences include trauma, lack of reporting, and vulnerability to labor trafficking. Sexual abuse is highly prevalent within the agricultural realm; many employers can take advantage of Campesino’s vulnerable position. …

Benefits Of Implementing Culturally Responsive Teaching In Latino Elementary Classrooms, Lisa Hernandez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The benefits of implementing culturally responsive teaching strategies into the elementary classroom empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural references to impart knowledge and skills. Culturally responsive educators see themselves as part of a community of learners and desire to learn collaboratively. This capstone investigates the relationship between culturally responsive teaching and its effect on predominantly Latino elementary school students’ learning. Teachers who use culturally responsive teaching strategies see culture as an asset which can be used to enhance academic and social achievement. This study not only defines, but also highlights effective teaching strategies that reflect a …

The Nationwide Teacher Shortage: Factors Influencing Educators To Leave The Profession, Abby Keegan

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone research examines the nationwide teacher shortage, which has been apparent in America since the early 1960’s. However, this crisis did not begin to reach such levels of severity until recent years. There are currently thousands of vacancies in the teaching profession nationwide; not a single school across the nation is able to fill all the gaps. Research reveals that factors such as low salary, maltreatment from administrators, students, and parents, classroom safety concerns, a lack of teacher autonomy, and an overall societal disrespect for the profession can be to blame for this high resignation period. As these …

Context-Specific Conceptualizations Of Death In Early Childhood, Spencer Hart Winter

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Despite cultural myths and social taboos, young children are capable of understanding death and death concepts. Previous research has demonstrated that children have a varied and complex understanding of death that is influenced by their age, family culture, and previous experience. This study aims to differentiate children’s death concept depending on context, including children’s magical thinking, namely the difference between the deaths of a human, an animal, and an electronic toy. Using a modified version of the Death Concept Questionnaire, preschool-aged (3 to 5 years old) children (n=7) were presented with short video clips of a human, a dog, and …

Closing The Digital Divide, Maria Schlotthauer

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Family Resource Collective is a program under Community Bridges. Serving approximately 5,800 clients per year, the FRC helps the senior community of Santa Cruz County access resources.

There is a huge digital divide within the senior community. The Capstone Project titled ‘Closing the Digital Divide’ will directly address the issue that is now a national crisis. This project will focus on creating several pieces of educational material to aid older individuals in their journey to becoming more technologically savvy. The project teams expect to be able to have materials readily available for all those in need.

In the future, …

Greenfield High School Counseling Department: Behavioral Health Resources, Fatima Galarza

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Greenfield High School (GRHS) is a public school located in Greenfield California. Within the counseling department, the following services are provided: Four-year planning, college and career counseling, academic counseling, check-ins, transitioning eighth-grade students, and socio-emotional referrals. Greenfield High School offers services to about 1,384 students which are predominantly Hispanic students. The problem being addressed in GRHS is the lack of accessible behavioral health resources and the amount of time given to each student when connecting them to resources. The “Greenfield High School Counseling Department: Behavioral Health Resources” capstone project provides a more efficient way to refer students to mental health …

Effects Of Increased Use Of Technology On Elementary School Students In The Classroom, Audri Lawrence

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Technology has become a big part of the education system. Students use technology, such as tablets in their classrooms as early as preschool. There is much debate on whether or not the use of technology is needed in the elementary grades. This capstone closely examines how students are affected by the increased use of technology in the classrooms. In addition, the project explores how the intended technology affects students' development, social skills, and learning. Though technology has become an effective tool for students to use in our classrooms, it should be limited for young children, and should only be used …

Activated B Cells Suppress T-Cell Function Through Metabolic Competition, Nobuhiko Imahashi, Rafet Basar, Yuefan Huang, Fang Wang, Natalia Baran, Pinaki Prosad Banerjee, Junjun Lu, Ana Karen Nunez Cortes, Nadima Uprety, Emily Ensley, Luis Muniz-Feliciano, Tamara J Laskowski, Judy S Moyes, May Daher, Mayela Mendt, Lucila N Kerbauy, Mayra Shanley, Li Li, Francesca Lorraine Wei Inng Lim, Hila Shaim, Ye Li, Marina Konopleva, Michael Green, Jennifer Wargo, Elizabeth J Shpall, Ken Chen, Katayoun Rezvani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: B cells play a pivotal role in regulating the immune response. The induction of B cell-mediated immunosuppressive function requires B cell activating signals. However, the mechanisms by which activated B cells mediate T-cell suppression are not fully understood.

METHODS: We investigated the potential contribution of metabolic activity of activated B cells to T-cell suppression by performing in vitro experiments and by analyzing clinical samples using mass cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing.

RESULTS: Here we show that following activation, B cells acquire an immunoregulatory phenotype and promote T-cell suppression by metabolic competition. Activated B cells induced hypoxia in T cells …

Markers Of Neuroinflammatory And Degenerative Processes In Professional Athletes With Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome, Brooke Conway Kleven

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: The clinical criteria for Traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (ccTES) were developed to improve the diagnosis of Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This study aimed to determine whether there was an association between a clinical diagnosis of Traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES) and changes in serum biomarkers, balance, neuroimaging, and cognition among athletes in the Professional Athletes Brain Health Study (PABHS).Methods: Of the cohort, 130 professional fighters met age or retirement criteria and went to a consensus conference, with 52 fighters (40%) meeting the criteria for TES. A generalized linear model with generalized estimating equations was utilized to assess the odds of disease …