Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating Opportunities To Improve Youth Outcomes In A Least Developed Country: An Action Research Study, Naomi Docilait

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The ambitious United Nations-adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require the concentrated effort of governments, the business sector, and other key stakeholders, including women and youth, for its success. Effective leadership will be essential for different sectors to integrate these development goals into strategic plans and operational activities in the service of realizing this agenda by 2030. Unfortunately for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the COVID-19 pandemic caused the worst economic outcomes in 30 years. For this group of countries, the pandemic has negatively influenced efforts to eradicate poverty and improve social outcomes. This setback makes achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by …

The Purcell Principle And The Antiblackness Of Constitutional Fundamentalism, Brittany Carter

American University Law Review

In Milligan v. Merrill, a district court in Alabama found that the state legislature designed Alabama’s new congressional district map in a way that diminished Black political power, and ordered the legislature to redraw its map to remedy the violation. Two weeks later, the Supreme Court stayed the district court’s order, allowing Alabama’s congressional elections to proceed under the discriminatory maps. The only stated rationale, offered by Justices Kavanaugh and Alito in a concurring opinion, was the so-called Purcell principle – the notion that federal courts should not enjoin a state’s election laws in the period close to an election. …

Epilepsy Center Characteristics And Geographic Region Influence Presurgical Testing In The United States, Stephanie M Ahrens, Kristen H Arredondo, Anto I Bagić, Shasha Bai, Kevin E Chapman, Michael A Ciliberto, Dave F Clarke, Mariah Eisner, Nathan B Fountain, Jay R Gavvala, M Scott Perry, Kyle C Rossi, Lily C Wong-Kisiel, Susan T Herman, Adam P Ostendorf, Naec Center Director Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

bjective

Persons with drug‐resistant epilepsy may benefit from epilepsy surgery and should undergo presurgical testing to determine potential candidacy and appropriate intervention. Institutional expertise can influence use and availability of evaluations and epilepsy surgery candidacy. This census survey study aims to examine the influence of geographic region and other center characteristics on presurgical testing for medically intractable epilepsy.

Methods

We analyzed annual report and supplemental survey data reported in 2020 from 206 adult epilepsy center directors and 136 pediatric epilepsy center directors in the United States. Test utilization data were compiled with annual center volumes, available resources, and US Census …

Health Disparities In Turner Syndrome: Uthealth Turner Syndrome Research Registry, Priscille Donate, Michelle Rivera-Davila, Siddharth K Prakash

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

AIM: Turner Syndrome (TS) is caused by partial or complete absence of the second sex chromosome in a phenotypic female. TS is associated with recognizable congenital anomalies and chronic health conditions. The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the health-related knowledge and insight of participants.

METHODS: In 2015, we founded the UTHealth Turner Syndrome Research Registry for longitudinal follow-up of individuals with TS. Study participants were recruited from UTHealth Houston clinics and the Turner Syndrome Society of the United States. Participants completed a questionnaire about demographics, karyotype, congenital anomalies, health history, frequency of contact with care providers, and …

Novel Compact Magnetless Isolator Based On A Magneto-Optical Garnet Material, Gianni Portela, Miguel Levy, Hugo E. Hernandez-Figueroa

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

A compact magnetless isolator for optical communication systems based on a ring resonator with an outer layer made of silicon and an inner layer made of a magneto-optical material that does not require an external magnet to keep its magnetization saturated is suggested. Three-dimensional computational simulations of the device performed with the full-wave electromagnetic solver COMSOL Multiphysics show that the insertion loss and isolation levels are about −1.9 dB and −23 dB, respectively, thus confirming the feasibility of the isolator. An analytical model of the device based on the temporal coupled-mode theory method has been formulated and there is a …

Lived Experiences Of Emergency Remote Teaching Use By High School Mathematics Teachers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Glenn E. Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study aims to understand further the lived experiences of high school mathematics teachers who underwent a sudden transformation into emergency remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used a qualitative approach, specifically an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Emergency remote teaching has been a new phenomenon that has presented itself worldwide.

This study used two methods for data collection. The first method used was the general participant demographic information survey, a demographic tool collection instrument created by the researcher. The second method for data collection included responses from one-on-one semi-structured interviews. A total of 13 participants completed the …

Professional Development And Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Regarding Research-Based Practices For English Language Learners In Middle School, Lydia R. Escobar

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to describe the research-based practices used by middle school teachers of multilingual or ELL students in the subject area courses and the teachers’ self-efficacy to implement those research-based practices while teaching. Also, this study aimed to describe the impact of professional development regarding research-based teaching practices on the implementation of these practices and to compare the teachers’ practices, their perceptions of self-efficacy, and the impact of professional development had on their teaching.

This study followed a quantitative methodology with a survey design. A non-probabilistic sampling was used for the selection of the participants. The sample …

Student Response To Varied Instructional Methods In Level I Fieldwork Experiences, Camille Cj Turner

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to investigate student responses to three different instructional strategies used to fulfill level I fieldwork requirements: traditional in-clinic rotation, a combination of virtual simulation and traditional in-clinic rotations, and virtual simulation. A multi-decade occupational therapy (OT) fieldwork shortage was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in which OT education programs struggled to provide accreditation-required clinical education. Virtual simulation programs were utilized to fulfill some requirements, particularly more introductory-level fieldwork. Several cohorts of a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy “bridge” program for licensed, practicing Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants and Physical Therapist Assistants were the subjects of …

An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study Of Elementary Teachers’ Uses Of Technology-Based Assessments, Karmel Davis

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide access to current information for administrators, teachers, and staff in an elementary school that is relevant to technology and assessments. The purposes of this study were (a) to examine how the decomposed determinant factors of the DTPB influence the teachers’ intention to adopt technologybased assessments and (b) to explore teachers’ perceptions regarding the benefits and detriments of using technology-based assessments to measure learning outcomes. The Technology-Based Assessment Use Survey (TBAUS) used for this study was adapted from the Ajjan and Hartshorne Questionnaire (AHQ) (Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008). Convenience sampling was used to select …

Comparison Of Achievement Differences Based On Years Of Participation In A One-To-One Laptop Program, Anne Petersen-Carnell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to determine the extent to which a statistically significant difference existed in eighth-grade English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics achievement between groups of students of low socioeconomic status (SES) who participated in a Washington school district’s one-to-one laptop program for 1 year versus 3 years. Siemens’ (2005) connectivism theory served as the theoretical framework for the study. The problem addressed by the study involved the digital divide. According to van Dijk (2006), the digital divide is defined as unequal access to computers and the Internet based on economic status. The research questions asked …

Novice Teacher Experiences Of Online Reading Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Deyanira M. Echevarria Candales

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation documented novice teacher experiences providing online reading instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the researcher captured educators’ first-hand accounts of their experiences shifting to fully online reading instruction, adapting instructional materials that were designed for in-person instruction for online learning, confronting challenges and successes during this period of uncertainty, and transitioning back to in-person instruction amidst the then ongoing pandemic.

The following research questions were posed: 1. How do novice elementary reading teachers, in a large public school district in South Florida, describe their experiences teaching reading online during a global pandemic? 2. How do novice elementary …

Venezuelan Professional Educators’ Pursuit Of International Graduate Studies In Instructional Technology, Maria De Lourdes Acedo De Bueno

Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed in this study involved the motivations, the experiences of international students, and how these experiences affect the professional practices and personal lives of Venezuelan professional educators in the pursuit of international higher education studies. Although Venezuelan professionals were pursuing international higher education, perceptions regarding their motivations and experiences as international students had not been studied sufficiently.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the experiences of 28 Venezuelan professional educators who were seeking instructional technology degrees in international higher education. Further, the study analyzed their intentions to pursue international studies in instructional technology or related …

Teachers’ Experiences In Implementing Primary School Physical Education Curriculum In Ghana And The United States, Patrick Collins Frempong

Theses and Dissertations

Barriers to implementing a full physical education curriculum presented challenges to teaching students about healthy lifestyles and supporting them through effective lessons. This mixed-methods study aimed to explore and compare primary school teachers’ experiences in rural Ghana and the United States in implementing the physical education curriculum. The present study addresses gaps in the literature by connecting teacher concerns when implementing a curriculum with fidelity. The mixed-methods study helped explore and compare primary school teachers’ experiences in rural (town populations of less than 5,000) Ghana and rural towns of the southern United States in implementing the physical education curriculum.

This …

Opioids And Opioid Use Disorder Treatment In Pregnancy: Spontaneous Abortion And Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Mennatullah Hasan

Open Access Master's Theses

Opioids, recognized for their efficacy in pain management, have seen a marked increase in prescription rates for use during pregnancy over the last two decades. Opioid utilization in this context is primarily attributed to the management of pain, a prevalent condition in pregnancy. Notably, over 70% of pregnancies are associated with low back and pelvic pain, while other frequent pain conditions include myalgia, joint pain, and migraine. The predominant indication for prescribing opioids during pregnancy is the treatment of acute pain. This trend is expected to persist or even escalate, considering the rising maternal age and the concomitant increase in …

Comparison Of Concurrent Measurement Of Rayleigh Waves Using A Distributed Acoustic Sensor And Geophones, Caleb Lintz

Open Access Master's Theses

Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) systems provide the capability to monitor a wide range of seismic and acoustic events using a fiber optic cable and an optical sensor. Existing and proven methods of monitoring acoustic events have used geophones to sense vibrational events. To explore the limits of how and when best to utilize these monitoring devices, this study investigated the limits and capabilities of both DAS and geophones. By comparing data received concurrently from each type of system, we can better understand how to utilize available monitoring equipment.

To compare the performance of both these instruments, an experiment was designed …

2023 Viewbook, Office Of Admissions

Viewbook

At IMSA, you will be part of a community of 652 diverse students passionate about learning. Located in suburban Aurora, IMSA’s campus consists of seven residence halls spread across 97 acres. While living and learning on campus, you’ll make new friends, encounter new ideas, and learn to live independently. You will also have the opportunity to explore over 85 clubs, organizations, and IHSAsponsored co-curricular and athletic programs. IMSA provides a safe, nurturing environment. Professional Resident Counselors (RCs) live in each hall and will help you navigate your home away from home through the Residential Life Curriculum.

Heaven? Is It Worth It?: The Effect Of Belief On Religious Participation And Signaling, Claudia R. Chin

Scripps Senior Theses

Religion has long been a subject that baffles economists because of its seemingly inefficient requirements. It is hard to get one's mind around why an individual would be willing to give up secular commodities for religion, or face the strict entry costs and stigma society associates with the religion. Although many reasons have been suggested, the most widely accepted solution to why we engage in these behaviors is Religious Signaling Theory (RST). RST argues that people engage in these ineffective costs as a way to signal their commitment to the religion, and religions were utilized by society to enforce these …

Interpersonal Emotions As Emergent Phenomena: Social Neuroscience Beyond Western Cultural Constructions, Kaitlyn Penchina

Scripps Senior Theses

Because science as it exists today is a cultural construction of the West, studies of neuroscience have often been limited by Western perspectives. In particular, the Western proclivity towards individualism has led to a field of neuroscience which has historically focused on studying single individuals, as opposed to social or collective neuroscience. For the most part, it has just been assumed that collective phenomena such as interpersonal emotions must be able to be reduced in terms of individual phenomena such as individual emotions. However, closer review reveals that interpersonal emotions have emergent properties that individual emotions alone do not account …

Wireless Investors & Apathy Obsolescence, Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci, Christina M. Sautter

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses how a subgenre of retail investors makes investors' apathy obsolete. In prior work, we dub retail investors who rely on technology and online communications in their investing and corporate governance endeavors "wireless investors." By applying game theory, this Article discusses how wireless investors' global-scale online interactions allow them to circulate information and coordinate, obliterating collective action problems.

Data Driven Method To Assess Safety And Energy On Freeway And Intersection Performance Using Probe Vehicle, Rezwana Kabir

Wayne State University Dissertations

Traffic congestion in cities is becoming a more pressing issue as travel demand increases, leading to safety and mobility problems and wasteful use of vehicle energy. Both freeways and signalized corridors are important in creating an efficient transportation network, and congestion on these infrastructure types presents a significant mobility concern in the United States. With advances in sensing technologies for intelligent transportation systems, probe vehicles equipped with GPS-enabled devices such as cell phones and in-vehicle telematics or navigation systems are increasingly being used to gather more information about traffic conditions. While fixed point detectors can be limited by their geographical …

Exploring Faculty Perspectives On Open Access At A Medium-Sized, American Doctoral University, Rachel E. Scott, Julie Murphy, Cassie Thayer-Styes, Chad E. Buckley, Anne Shelley

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Faculty hold widely varying perspectives on the benefits and challenges afforded by open access (OA) publishing. In the United States, conversations on OA models and strategy have been dominated by scholars affiliated with Carnegie R1 institutions. This article reports findings from interviews conducted with faculty at a Carnegie R2 institution, highlighting disciplinary and individual perspectives on the high costs and rich rewards afforded by OA. The results reiterate the persistence of a high degree of skepticism regarding the quality of peer review and business models associated with OA publishing. By exploring scholars’ perceptions of and experiences with OA publishing and …

Spherical Aluthge Transform, Spherical P And Log-Hyponormality Of Commuting Pairs Of Operators Ii, Hyung Won Kim, Jaewoong Kim, Jasang Yoon

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we consider the notions of spherical p, log, and w-hyponormality of commuting pairs of operators and study their properties and relations. We first show that spherically p-hyponormal 2-variable weighted shifts of hyponormal operators are invariant under powers and the generalized spherical Aluthge transformation. Second, we study the relation between spherical p-hyponormality and spherical w-hyponormality. Third, we study whether the spherical p-hyponormality with 0<p< 1 is invariant under the spherical Aluthge transformation. Finally, we briefly discuss the relation between log-hyponormality in single operators and spherically log-hyponormality in commuting pairs of operators.

Exploring New Horizons: Surgical Robots Supported By Artificial Intelligence, Aish Hussein, Mohamed Elsayed Sallam, Mohamed Yehia Ahmed Abdalla

Mesopotamian Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

Artificial intelligence-assisted surgical robots combine the agility and accuracy of robotic systems with the cutting-edge capabilities of AI technology. These advanced surgical robots are made to help surgeons carry out difficult surgical procedures more precisely and effectively. Surgical robots with AI algorithms built in can analyse enormous volumes of patient data, make choices in real-time, and adjust to changing circumstances. The surgical process and patient safety could both be considerably improved by this technology. Several important advantages of surgical robots powered by AI include Enhanced Accuracy Surgical robots can make extremely precise motions with little error because of the capabilities …

Equity In Focus : Investigating Gender Disparities In Glioblastoma Via Propensity Score Matching, Solomon Eshun

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Gender disparities in health outcomes have garnered significant attention, prompting investigations into their underlying causes. Glioblastoma (GBM), a devastating and highly aggressive form of brain tumor, serves as a case for such inquiries. Despite the mounting evidence on gender disparities in GBM outcomes, investigations specific at the molecular level remain scarce and often limited by confounding biases in observational studies. In this study, I aimed to investigate the gender-related differences in GBM outcomes using propensity score matching (PSM) to control for potential confounding variables. The data used was accessed from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), encompassing factors such as gender, …

Final Report: Conceptualizing Ethics, Authenticity, And Efficacy Of Simulations In Teacher Education, Carrie Wilkerson Lee, Liza Bondurant, Bima Sapkota, Heather Howell, Yvonne Lai

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

This working group was a continuation of working groups in 2019 and 2021 that initially aimed to focus on equity in simulations of practice in mathematics teacher education. We began by discussing our conceptualizations of simulations and equity. Next, we reflected on the lack of work that currently exists at the intersection of simulations and equity as well as our limited collective expertise in this space. We proposed the following areas of potential research: Access, Design, Affective Domains, Teaching Practices, Assessment, Critical Conversations. Attendees self-selected into focus groups and met to discuss their current work and how future work could …

Tau-Function Formulation For Bright, Dark Soliton And Breather Solutions To The Massive Thirring Model, Junchao Chen, Bao-Feng Feng

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In the present paper, we are concerned with the link between the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili–Toda (KP–Toda) hierarchy and the massive Thirring (MT) model. First, we bilinearize the MT model under both the vanishing and nonvanishing boundary conditions. Starting from a set of bilinear equations of two-component KP–Toda hierarchy, we derive multibright solution to the MT model. Then, considering a set of bilinear equations of the single-component KP–Toda hierarchy, multidark soliton and multibreather solutions to the MT model are constructed by imposing constraints on the parameters in two types of tau function, respectively. The dynamics and properties of one- and two-soliton for bright, …

Probabilistic Solutions Of Fractional Differential And Partial Differential Equations And Their Monte Carlo Simulations, Tamer Oraby, Erwin Suazo, Harrinson Arrubla

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The work in this paper is four-fold. Firstly, we introduce an alternative approach to solve fractional ordinary differential equations as an expected value of a random time process. Using the latter, we present an interesting numerical approach based on Monte Carlo integration to simulate solutions of fractional ordinary and partial differential equations. Thirdly, we show that this approach allows us to find the fundamental solutions for fractional partial differential equations (PDEs), in which the fractional derivative in time is in the Caputo sense and the fractional in space one is in the Riesz–Feller sense. Lastly, using Riccati equation, we …

Long-Time Asymptotics Of A Complex Cubic Camassa-Holm Equation, Hongyi Zhang, Yufeng Zhang, Zhijun Qiao

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

n this paper, we study the Cauchy problem of the following complex cubic Camassa-Holm (ccCH) equation mt=bux+12[m(|u|2−|ux|2)]x−12m(uu¯x−uxu¯),m=u−uxx,

where b is an arbitrary real constant. %By applying ∂¯-steepest descent method, l Long-time asymptotics of the equation is obtained through the ∂¯-steepest descent method. Firstly, based on the spectral analysis of the Lax pair and scattering matrix, the solution of the equation is able to be constructed %can be expressed by %the solution of via solving the corresponding Riemann-Hilbert problem (RHP). Then, we present %obtain different long time asymptotic expansions of the solution u(y,t) in different space-time solitonic regions of ξ=y/t. The …

Borsuk–Ulam Type Theorems For G-Spaces With Applications To Tucker Type Lemmas, Oleg R. Musin, Alexey Yu. Volovikov

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper we consider several generalizations of the Borsuk–Ulam theorem for G-spaces and apply these results to Tucker type lemmas for G-simplicial complexes and PL-manifolds.

Quantization Dimension For Inhomogeneous Bi-Lipschitz Ifs, Amit Priyadarshi, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury, Manuj Verma

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Let ν be a Borel probability measure on a d-dimensional Euclidean space Rd, d≥1, with a compact support, and let (p0,p1,p2,…,pN) be a probability vector with pj>0 for 1≤j≤N. Let {Sj:1≤j≤N} be a set of contractive mappings on Rd. Then, a Borel probability measure μ on Rd such that μ=∑Nj=1pjμ∘S−1j+p0ν is called an inhomogeneous measure, also known as a condensation measure on Rd. For a given r∈(0,+∞), the quantization dimension of order r, if it exists, denoted by Dr(μ), of a Borel probability measure μ on Rd represents the speed at which the nth quantization error of order r …