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University Of New Hampshire 2024-2025 Faculty Senate Xxix - December 9, 2024 Minutes Summary, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Agendas & Minutes

No abstract provided.

Youth Program Fy2024 Evaluation Report December 2024, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The Youth Conflict Resolution & Restorative Practices Program (Youth Program or Program), administered by the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) in collaboration with 10 community mediation centers (Centers), aims to reduce youth conflict and/or violence through a social and emotional learning (SEL) and positive youth development framework. This approach leverages mediation and restorative practices to equip youth with essential SEL skills and improve school climate. This FY2024 program evaluation report assesses the Youth Program’s effectiveness across multiple domains, including school climate, student SEL competencies, engagement/awareness, training, and resources.

Forecasting Crime Rates Utilizing Machine Learning And Economic Indicators, Owen Miller

Honors Projects

Abstract: The following project utilized the correlation between economic indicators and crime rates to build tree-based machine learning algorithms that predict monthly crime rates in Ohio. The goal of the study was to answer how economic variables could be used in forecasting county level crime rates. A sample of 9 counties were utilized in building regression trees, random forests and evolutionary random forest models. The study concluded that lagged crime rates provided the best predictive ability in forecasting models, while economic variables provided more accuracy to property crime. The study could be furthered by creating models at the department level …

Special Education Teachers' Perceptions Regarding Inadequate Transition Planning Services For Students With Severe Intellectual Disabilities, Jennifer Garcia Villanueva

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed in this study was that students with severe intellectual disabilities (SwSID) enrolled in life skills settings are not receiving adequate transition planning services at local rural public schools in a southwestern state. The purpose of this study was to investigate special education teachers’ (SET) perceptions about transition services for SwSID and explore SETs’ suggestions about how to improve delivery of transition planning services. The conceptual framework for this study was Schlossberg’s transition model. For this basic qualitative design, 12 semistructured interviews with SET of SwSID were conducted. Data analysis was conducted using open coding, axial …

Fall Prevention Staff Education For Nurse Preceptors' Utilization In Nursing Orientation, Angela Green

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This project involved the creation of a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) staff education project for nurse preceptors to utilize in nursing orientation. The project was to increase the nurse preceptors’ knowledge, awareness, and competencies of the hospital’s fall prevention plan. The gap in nursing practice issue was an increase in fall occurrences throughout the hospital. The hospital’s key performance indicators for fall events demonstrated a significant increase in fall rates. The practice-focused question for this project addressed whether a staff education project on fall prevention provided to nurse preceptors would result in a decrease in the number of the …

Hospital Location, Socioeconomic Factors, And Obesity Impact On Patient Readmission Rates 30 Days Post-Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, Mazalo Looky

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is associated with a high rate of readmissions within 30 days after discharge. Patient variables such as obesity and socioeconomic status (SES) are modifiable, whereas hospital factors such as location indicate the need for a better regional needs assessment. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of hospital location, SES, and obesity (independent variables) on the 30-day readmission rate post-CABG (dependent variable) among US patients. Secondary data sets available from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Society of Thoracic Surgery websites were analyzed to assess the impact of location, …

Deputy Sheriffs’ Experience With Inmate Suicide, Tiffany Buco

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Deputy sheriffs working in correctional facilities are responsible for enforcing rules and regulations of the facility, supervising inmates, ensuring security, and preventing inmates from escaping. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of deputy sheriffs experiencing an inmate’s death by suicide. The sample for this study consisted of six deputy sheriffs who had been a deputy sheriff for at least 3 years and experienced an inmate suicide. The theoretical foundation applied to this study is the personal construct theory because it requires constructs that are used to make sense of people’s experiences, in this …

Ucf Pegasus Plan - 2nd Grade - Immigration, Emily T. Yackel, Elizabeth Logan, Hannah Schwarz, Mckinzi Johnson, Katie Molloy, Victoria Kingstone

Pegasus Plans: Social Studies Unit Plans for Florida Teachers

During this unit, students will learn about the history and symbols associated with immigration throughout the 1800s to modern times. Students will interact and explore with different pieces of literature and technologies dealing with Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and other countries’ cultural influences. Materials such as virtual tours, AR apps and arts integration will be used throughout this unit plan.

Order On Impact Of Truck Inds. And Discovery Issues

Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy

No abstract provided.

Social Media Influencer’S Crisis Responses And The Short And Long-Term Effects On Their Brand And Reputation, Reese K. Brosnan

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A crisis for a social media influencer is incredibly prevalent as a part of the career since they are constantly online and showing themselves to the world. There is currently plenty of research on how to plan for a crisis response for organizations that are not having to respond as both an individual and as a brand. The need for research on how an influencer can plan for and respond to a crisis in an effective manner is imperative as the rate of people wanting to be a social media influencer has increased. Therefore, more people will become reliant on …

Chimes: December 9, 2024, Calvin University

Chimes

“That’s not true inclusion:” For disabled students, full campus accessibility remains elusive by Sarah Sparling

Umm al-Jimal archaeological site added to UNESCO World Heritage by Grace Buller and Elisabeth Stevens

2025 January Series sees restructure and big names by Graham Kort

Changes to dining hall hours, staffing benefits leave students broadly dissatisfied by Maya Oeverman

Making worship more accessible: A Q&A with Eleanor Plutz about ASL chapel interpretation by Anna Caruso

“The Holy Spirit Made Me Dance” by Natasha Jayaputra

Designing An Interactive System For Early Social Learning: Leveraging Emotion Recognition And Real-Time Feedback To Foster Early Childhood Emotional Mirroring And Social Skill Development, Yue Gu

Theses

For young children, traditional educational methods often rely too heavily on the caregiver's own time and energy as well as social attributes. There is currently no product on the market that mirrors emotions and provides real-time feedback on personality drawings that can simultaneously stimulate young children's recognition of facial emotions, understand and mimic expressions, and promote their social development. The purpose of this thesis is to design an interactive system to enhance early social learning in young children through emotion recognition and real-time feedback. The system utilizes a digital device's camera for emotion detection to detect children's facial expressions. It …

Greenmind: A Climate-Positive News Portal, Surabhi Singh

Theses

Greenmind is a website that promotes positive climate narratives for environmentally conscious individuals seeking hope and actionable solutions. It redefines how we approach climate change narratives by focusing on hope and progress. Unlike traditional media that often rely on fear to grab attention, Greenmind delivers stories showcasing actionable solutions and positive impacts already happening across the globe. Its core mission is to empower individuals to see themselves as agents of change, fostering collective action rather than promoting fear as a tactic for change. Greenmind’s approach to climate narratives is supported by research emphasizing the power of positive storytelling. Studies from …

Exploring The Factors Involved To Support African American Males' Success In Mathematics During The Early Grades, Elmore Travis Collier

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This study used a mixed methods approach to examine the instructional and social emotional factors that support African American boys’ success during early elementary grades. The study investigated key influences including teacher and parent demographics, student-teacher, and parent-student relationships, building mathematical confidence in students, and approaching math as a long-term investment. It explored how these factors existed within an ecosystem that contributed to positive math outcomes for students by the third grade. The study used surveys and interviews of teachers, parents, and students to describe instructional activities, relationships, and interactions at school and home that supported positive math outcomes. Findings …

Resurrecting The Muse: Kithara And Lyric Poetry Performance Practice In Greco-Roman Antiquity, Abigail Petersen

Honors Projects

Both students and pedagogues of classical studies are familiar with the inherent musicality of Greek and Latin poetry, and they also widely accept the idea that poets sang their works to accompaniment on a kithara, or large lyre. However, little work has been done to perform works of poetry according to this tradition, and thus many modern attempts at oral recitation feature a forced and pedantic rhythm that bores the listener and fails to do justice to the revered art of Greco-Roman poetry. Through a review of primary and secondary sources, I examine the construction of the kithara, the context …

Latinas In Law Enforcement: Tokenism, Barriers And Changes Along The Narrow Bridge To Promotion, Saturnino Velazquez

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand and analyze themes and patterns shared among the lived experiences of 12 female Latina Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) in male-dominated police departments in the Midwest (Illinois and Minnesota). The researcher chose to adopt a basic interpretive qualitative research methodology for this study because it provides a flexible and useful research tool, and provided a broader approach to interpreting meaning from rich and detailed data, yet complex, and account of semi-structured interviews that served as a data collection instrument. This study was guided by the theoretical framework of Kanter’s research on …

Deciphering Immune Suppression Mechanisms Of Primary And Metastatic Breast Cancer, Seunghyun Lee

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has revolutionized cancer treatment, receiving FDA approval for various previously incurable cancers. In breast cancer, the combination of pembrolizumab (an anti-PD-1 antibody) with chemotherapy has become the standard-of-care for early-stage (Keynote-522) and advance-stage (Keynote-355) triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Unfortunately, over 30% of TNBC patients fail to respond to the combined chemo-immune therapy treatment, and the causes are unknown. Furthermore, ICB has demonstrated poor results in hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. While it is well-established that breast cancer cells can evade immune responses, the specific mechanisms driving immune evasion remain unclear. Thus, deciphering the immune system's role in …

The Echo: December 9, 2024, Taylor University

2024-2025 (Volume 112)

No abstract provided.

Latinas In Law Enforcement: Tokenism, Barriers And Changes Along The Narrow Bridge To Promotion, Saturnino Velazquez

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand and analyze themes and patterns shared among the lived experiences of 12 female Latina Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) in male-dominated police departments in the Midwest (Illinois and Minnesota). The researcher chose to adopt a basic interpretive qualitative research methodology for this study because it provides a flexible and useful research tool, and provided a broader approach to interpreting meaning from rich and detailed data, yet complex, and account of semi-structured interviews that served as a data collection instrument. This study was guided by the theoretical framework of Kanter’s research on …

Sharing Our Screens, Katie Day Good

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Adipocyte-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles Exacerbate Diabetic Ischemic Heart Injury By Promoting Oxidative Stress And Mitochondrial-Mediated Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis, Lu Gan, Jianli Zhao, Peng Yao, Theodore A. Christopher, Bernard Lopez, Wayne B. Lau, Walter Koch, Erhe Gao, Xin-Liang Ma, Yajing Wang

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Diabetes increases ischemic heart injury via incompletely understood mechanisms. We recently reported that diabetic adipocytes-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEV) exacerbate myocardial reperfusion (MI/R) injury by promoting cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Combining in vitro mechanistic investigation and in vivo proof-concept demonstration, we determined the underlying molecular mechanism responsible for diabetic sEV-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis after MI/R.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Adult mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. sEV were isolated from plasma or epididymal adipose tissue. HFD significantly increased the number and size of plasma- and adipocyte-derived sEV. Intramyocardial injection of an equal number of diabetic plasma sEV in nondiabetic …

Sd-Weat: Towards Robustly Measuring Bias In Input Embeddings For Artificial Intelligence Language Models, Magnus Gray

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries and markets, from healthcare to entertainment, revolutionizing decision-making processes. However, as AI grow more influential, they also risk amplifying existing biases, potentially leading to harmful consequences. Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-4 and Llama, have heightened concerns about bias in natural language processing (NLP) tasks, driving the need for robust methods to detect and mitigate bias. Current approaches, such as the Word Embedding Association Test (WEAT) and its sentence-level extension the Sentence Encoder Association Test (SEAT) often fall short in capturing the nuances of biases in the input embeddings …

When Help Hurts: Workplace Instrumental Support And Employee Emotional Exhaustion Within-Person, Jensine Paoletti-Hatcher, Anthony T. Misisco, Eden B. King

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The social support paradox describes mixed findings on the effects of social support on well-being. An application of the person-environment fit perspective can address the paradox by reasoning that similar quantities of social support needs and social support supplies should result in optimal well-being outcomes. We integrate a person-environment fit perspective with self-determination theory in an examination of the relationship between workplace instrumental support and emotional exhaustion through a two-week experience sampling method study. Fifty-nine participants responded to questions about desired quantities of work-related help from their colleagues (coworkers and supervisors) and their perceived quantities of work-related help after work …

Mems 411: The Ball Bearing Sorter Group N, Jack Zhao, Anri Cifuentes, Shawn Xiong, Richard Li

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The challenge was to design and develop an automated device capable of sorting and packaging six types of ball bearings—varying in size (1/4 inch and 1/2 inch) and material (stainless steel, brass, and nylon). The device needed to meet strict performance and design constraints, including fitting within a compact 20x20x20-inch footprint, weighing no more than 15 pounds, and sorting bearings with high speed and accuracy.

This problem represents a practical scenario in automated manufacturing, where efficient and precise sorting is crucial for streamlining assembly line operations. The solution required integrating innovative engineering mechanisms, such as size differentiation, material separation, and …

Mems 411: Timed Mosquito Egg Container Design Project, Paige Warren, Witt Ciesla, Ethan Sobel

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The goal of this project is to design and construct a device that allows for the controlled study of mosquito egg-laying behavior in response to artificial light and temperature variations. Specifically, the device will limit access to cups of standing water, which serve as egg-laying sites, to preprogrammed times of day over a 7-day period.
The device should ensure the following:

• Control Access: The container should be open and closed at predetermined intervals, allowing mosquitoes to access the cups of standing water only during these times.
• Programmability: It should be easy for a novice to specify the opening and closing …

Mems 411: Ball Bearing Sorter, Abdissa Effa, Juliet Whitehead, Ayub Shifa

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The challenge is to design and fabricate a compact device capable of autonomously sorting and transporting ball bearings of varying materials (chrome steel, brass, nylon) and sizes (¼” and ½”) into designated packaging stations. The device must operate efficiently, accurately, and within the constraints of a 20x20x20-inch enclosure, meeting industrial assembly line standards of speed and precision while minimizing human intervention. It aims to address the need for high-rate sorting systems in manufacturing environments, ensuring accurate material identification and classification for streamlined operations.

Family Ties: How Families Of Origin And Procreation Influence Women’S Migration And Integration, Becca Goldrup

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women's migration is an increasingly important focus of interest in understanding the family-level factors shaping individual and family-level migration decisions. Utilizing interviews with 30 immigrant women residing in Utah who migrated to the US at three different ages (childhood, young adulthood, and later adulthood), I ask: “How do familial relationships impact the immigration experience for women in the US, and how does this vary by age at migration?” I find that family significantly shapes women's migration decisions and experiences post-migration for women of all ages, but this influence has subtle differences based on their age at migration. Women who migrated …

Appropriateness Of Ambulatory Antibiotic Prescribing In South Carolina, 2012–2017, Pamela Bailey, Majdi N. Al-Hasan, Julie Royer, Max Habicht, Julie Ann Justo, P. Brandon Bookstaver Pharm.D., Sharon Weissman, Hana R. Winders

Faculty Publications

This population-based cohort study examines the appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing in South Carolina via aggregated pharmacy claims data matched with diagnosis codes from medical claims. Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing decreased from 30.2% in 2012 to 22.6% in 2017 (P < 0.001) and was more common in adults >40 years old.

Delivering Improved Survivorship Care For People Affected By Advanced Or Metastatic Cancer, Julia Lai-Kwon, Sarah Heynemann, Nicolas Hart, Raymond J. Chan, Thomas Smith, Andrea L. Smith, Larissa Nekhlyudov, Michael Jefford

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

No abstract provided.

Special Education Teachers' Perceptions Regarding Inadequate Transition Planning Services For Students With Severe Intellectual Disabilities, Jennifer Garcia Villanueva

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed in this study was that students with severe intellectual disabilities (SwSID) enrolled in life skills settings are not receiving adequate transition planning services at local rural public schools in a southwestern state. The purpose of this study was to investigate special education teachers’ (SET) perceptions about transition services for SwSID and explore SETs’ suggestions about how to improve delivery of transition planning services. The conceptual framework for this study was Schlossberg’s transition model. For this basic qualitative design, 12 semistructured interviews with SET of SwSID were conducted. Data analysis was conducted using open coding, axial …