Digital Commons Network^™

Harnessing Speech-Derived Digital Biomarkers To Detect And Quantify Cognitive Decline Severity In Older Adults, Gozde Cay, Valeria A Pfeifer, Myeounggon Lee, Mohammad Dehghan Rouzi, Adonay S Nunes, Nesreen El-Refaei, Anmol Salim Momin, Md Moin Uddin Atique, Matthias R Mehl, Ashkan Vaziri, Bijan Najafi

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Introduction: Current cognitive assessments suffer from floor/ceiling and practice effects, poor psychometric performance in mild cases, and repeated assessment effects. This study explores the use of digital speech analysis as an alternative tool for determining cognitive impairment. The study specifically focuses on identifying the digital speech biomarkers associated with cognitive impairment and its severity.

Methods: We recruited older adults with varying cognitive health. Their speech data, recorded via a wearable microphone during the reading aloud of a standard passage, were processed to derive digital biomarkers such as timing, pitch, and loudness. Cohen's d effect size highlighted group differences, and correlations …

Whiteness As The Standard: Shifting Ideologies, Race, And Social Context, Kelsey Swift

Publications and Research

In previous work, I have documented and analyzed the persistence of mainstream ideologies around ’standard’ and ’nonstandard’ American English in the adult ESOL classroom and their connection to linguistic racism and anti-Blackness. This study explores how these ideologies developed more broadly, employing elements of raciolinguistic genealogy and metapragmatics to analyze historical language scholarship. I find that while the linguistic features of ‘nonstandard’ English have remained remarkably consistent in the popular imagination, they became increasingly linked with Blackness, especially during and after white backlash to the Great Migration (and other cultural and political changes) in the mid-20th century. I argue that …

Reflections On Williamson On Logic And Validity, Graham Priest

Publications and Research

Over many years now, Tim Williamson and I have engaged in debates over fundamental issues concerning logic. On some things, we have disagreed strongly; on others, we have agreed.

Sharing Stories Of Hope And Transformation In U.S. Higher Education: An Ereader By Portland State University Students, Óscar Fernández, David Peterson Del Mar

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This eReader showcases stories of hope and transformation written by diverse students enrolled in University Studies courses at Portland State University. The goal is to motivate first-year and transfer students to see that, in higher education, they are not alone in their personal, familial, and academic struggles—and personal, familial, and educational achievements.

Developmental Change In English-Learning Children’S Interpretations Of Salient Pitch Contours In Word Learning, Carolyn M. Quam, Daniel Swingley

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

To efficiently recognize words, children learning an intonational language like English should avoid interpreting pitch-contour variation as signaling lexical contrast, despite the relevance of pitch at other levels of structure. Thus far, the developmental time-course with which English-learning children rule out pitch as a contrastive feature has been incompletely characterized. Prior studies have tested diverse lexical contrasts and have not tested beyond 30 months. To specify the developmental trajectory over a broader age range, we extended a prior study (Quam & Swingley, 2010), in which 30-month-olds and adults disregarded pitch changes, but attended to vowel changes, in newly learned words. …

“Legally Magic” Words: An Empirical Study Of The Accessibility Of Fifth Amendment Rights, Kate Weisburd, Roseanna Sommers

Faculty Scholarship

Fifth Amendment case law (including Miranda v. Arizona) requires that individuals assert their right to counsel or silence using “explicit,” “clear,” and “unambiguous” statements—or, as some dissenting judges have lamented, using “legally magic” words. Through a survey of 1,718 members of the U.S. public, we investigate what ordinary people believe it takes to assert the right to counsel and the right to silence. We then compare their perceptions against prevailing legal standards governing invocation.

With respect to the right to counsel, the survey results indicate that members of the public have a uniformly lower threshold for invocation than do courts. …

How Influential Is Petro-Pedagogy On Federal Educational Guidelines?, Cherrie Amor Chavez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Petro-pedagogy highlights the pervasive influence of the fossil fuel industry within educational frameworks. This phenomenon operates subtly, manifesting in educational content's biases, omissions, and prioritizations. Focused on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this research employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to scrutinize educational directives through a Petro-pedagogical lens. The study aims to unveil the language, power dynamics, and ideological constructs perpetuating fossil-fuel narratives within educational discourse through this lens. The study's significance lies in revealing concealed power structures within environmental and climate change education. The study uses critical discourse analysis to reveal pervasive …

Bridging Cultural Disconnects: Implementing Social And Emotional Learning Through The Use Of Action Research And Community Responsive Pedagogy Through The Art-Making Process, Rajeev Colleen Haymond

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis project will explore the intentional implementation of social and emotional learning strategies while being grounded in a community responsive pedagogy in an art classroom. The big idea was to be intentional when incorporating social and emotional learning teaching strategies to offer a safe space that will aide in bridging the cultural disconnect that I have observed in the classroom. Through building on the five SEL competencies such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making students were able to build up their sense of pride and self. Through the use of action research, I was able …

Beyond The Classroom: A Land-Based Approach To Outdoor Education, Jacquelyn R. Matthews

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This pilot project seeks to nurture space for Indigenous perspectives while equipping early childhood educators with tools for integrating diverse epistemology into outdoor learning practices to foster collaborative educational approaches. To align with this effort of shared knowledge, the project intends to offer a culturally sustaining educational tool that can help disrupt dominant approaches by evaluating alternative teaching strategies that center partnerships with local Indigenous communities to move toward equity-centered education. This can be achieved by modeling a resource guide after the theoretical underpinnings of Etuaptmumk Two-Eyed Seeing, and land-based pedagogy. A major component of this resource guide will include …

Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Three Outreach Events To Improve Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake Among Racial And Ethnic Minority Communities In Houston, Texas, 2022, Carmin Munoz-Lavanderos, Abiodun Oluyomi, Omar Rosales, Norvin Hernandez, Nana Mensah-Bonsu, Hoda Badr

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: Lack of access to timely, accurate, and linguistically appropriate COVID-19 information has complicated the dissemination of evidence-based information and contributed to vaccine hesitancy among racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. We developed community events that provided outreach, education, and access to COVID-19 vaccination to overcome vaccine hesitancy in these communities.

METHODS: Using spatial analysis techniques, we identified 3 communities with low vaccine uptake in Houston, Texas, in fall 2021; engaged 20 stakeholders from these communities via 4 focus groups to understand barriers to vaccination; and developed and implemented 3 COVID-19 vaccine education and outreach events tailored …

Situations Predisposing Primary Care Patients To Use Antibiotics Without A Prescription In The United States, Lindsey A Laytner, Barbara W Trautner, Susan Nash, Fabrizia Faustinella, Roger Zoorob, Kiara Olmeda, Michael K Paasche-Orlow, Larissa Grigoryan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Patients' situations can impact their intentions to use antibiotics without medical guidance (non-prescription use) in the future. This survey determines the prevalence of intended (future) use of non-prescription antibiotics for 13 predefined situations and identifies the sociodemographic characteristics associated with intended use for these types of situations.

METHODS: Patient surveys (N = 564) were conducted from January 2020 to June 2021 in the waiting rooms of 6 safety-net primary care clinics and 2 emergency departments in a private healthcare system. We used principal component analysis to identify 3 situational summary factors: barriers to a doctor visit, accessibility of non-prescription …

Understanding The Role Of Ampa Receptors In Autism: Insights From Circuit And Synapse Dysfunction, Andres Jimenez-Gomez, Megan X Nguyen, Jason S Gill

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Autism spectrum disorders represent a diverse etiological spectrum that converge on a syndrome characterized by discrepant deficits in developmental domains often highlighted by concerns in socialization, sensory integration, and autonomic functioning. Importantly, the incidence and prevalence of autism spectrum disorders have seen sharp increases since the syndrome was first described in the 1940s. The wide etiological spectrum and rising number of individuals being diagnosed with the condition lend urgency to capturing a more nuanced understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms underlying the autism spectrum disorders. The current review seeks to understand how the disruption of AMPA receptor (AMPAr)-mediated neurotransmission in the …

International Bestsellers And The Online Reconfiguring Of National Identity, Rachel Noorda, Millicent Weber, Melanie Ramdarshan Bold

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

International bestsellers are the ideal sites for examining the complicated relationship between literary culture and national identity. Despite the transnational turns in both literary studies and book history, place is still an important configurer of twenty-first-century book reception. Books are crucial to national identity and catalysts of nationalist movements. On an individual level, books enable readers to shape and maintain their own national identities. This Element explores how contemporary readers' understandings of nation, race/ethnicity, gender, and class continue to shape their reading, using as case studies the online reception of three bestseller titles-Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies (Australia), Zadie Smith's …

Multimodal Prediction Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder And Comorbid Depression Severity And Energy Delivered By Deep Brain Electrodes, Saurabh Hinduja, Ali Darzi, Itir Onal Ertugrul, Nicole Provenza, Ron Gadot, Eric A Storch, Sameer A Sheth, Wayne K Goodman, Jeffrey F Cohn

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

To develop reliable, valid, and efficient measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) severity, comorbid depression severity, and total electrical energy delivered (TEED) by deep brain stimulation (DBS), we trained and compared random forests regression models in a clinical trial of participants receiving DBS for refractory OCD. Six participants were recorded during open-ended interviews at pre- and post-surgery baselines and then at 3-month intervals following DBS activation. Ground-truth severity was assessed by clinical interview and self-report. Visual and auditory modalities included facial action units, head and facial landmarks, speech behavior and content, and voice acoustics. Mixed-effects random forest regression with Shapley feature …

Silencing The Sex Worker, Yvette Butler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article argues that sex workers are silenced when they attempt to contribute to lawmaking processes. As a result, they are unable to contribute their knowledge in a meaningful way. The consequence is that laws reflect only one perspective of life in the sex trades: the prostitution abolitionist position that all sex work is inherently a form of violence against women. Without the ability to help shape this narrative, sex workers will continue to be silenced by the allegation that they are a danger to the feminist movement, courts will make harmful rulings, and legislatures will continue to enact laws …

The Domain-Specific Neural Basis Of Auditory Statistical Learning In 5-7-Year-Old Children., Tengwen Fan, Will Decker, Julie Schneider

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Statistical learning (SL) is the ability to rapidly track statistical regularities and learn patterns in the environment. Recent studies show that SL is constrained by domain-specific features, rather than being a uniform learning mechanism across domains and modalities. This domain-specificity has been reflected at the neural level, as SL occurs in regions primarily involved in processing of specific modalities or domains of input. However, our understanding of how SL is constrained by domain-specific features in the developing brain is severely lacking. The present study aims to identify the functional neural profiles of auditory SL of linguistic and nonlinguistic regularities among …

“Muchakang Pangkalawakan”: Queering Engagements With Bakla Of The Philippine Tropics, Artemio P. Millo

Sociology & Anthropology Department Faculty Publications

The performance of participants in the Miss Gay Muchakang Pangkalawan [Miss Ugly Gay Universe] in Quiapo, Manila, reflects characteristics of the flamboyant and effeminate bakla. However, these stereotypical depictions may not always be consistent with how participants view themselves. This study argues that an introspective understanding of how participants make sense of their identity work engendered by ever-turning tropes reveals slippages that can liberate them from existing oppressive stereotypes. By utilizing personal narrative and ethnographic reflexivity, this study deconstructs the participants’ performances, revealing identity-making that may reinforce or resist dominant discourses on the bakla under which these narratives are …

Preparing For End Of Life In A New Country: A Grounded Theory Study On African Migrants Living In Australia, Gertrude Gondwe Phiri

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

African migration to Australia has grown in the past 20 to 25 years with many migrants staying permanently. This has led to migrants dying away from their birthplaces where family is responsible for end-of-life care planning for the individual. Although migrating to Australia is considered a great achievement, many migrants also experienced challenges. Previous studies have explored the barriers faced by migrants in relation to end-of-life care but have not addressed the cause of those challenges. This constructivist grounded theory study examines how migrants from three African countries, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (MZZ) prepare for end-of-life in Australia. The study …

A Novel Integration Of Data-Driven Rule Generation And Computational Argumentation For Enhanced Explainable Ai, Lucas Rizzo, Damiano Verda, Serena Berretta, Luca Longo

Articles

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is a research area that clarifies AI decision-making processes to build user trust and promote responsible AI. Hence, a key scientific challenge in XAI is the development of methods that generate transparent and interpretable explanations while maintaining scalability and effectiveness in complex scenarios. Rule-based methods in XAI generate rules that can potentially explain AI inferences, yet they can also become convoluted in large scenarios, hindering their readability and scalability. Moreover, they often lack contrastive explanations, leaving users uncertain why specific predictions are preferred. To address this scientific problem, we explore the integration of computational argumentation—a sub-field …

Enhancing Writing Quality And Self-Efficacy Beliefs Through Process-Oriented Task-Based Instruction And Multiple Feedback Forms, Samira Moussaoui

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

Abstract:This article presents the research findings of a quasi-experimental study seeking to enhance the writing quality and self-efficacy beliefs of Algerian undergraduate learners. The study employed task-based writing instruction within the process approach framework, and various forms of formative feedback (self-, peer-, and teacher feedback). The sample comprised 24 English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate learners with an intermediate level in academic writing. Data were collected through pre- and post-intervention writing tests to assess the participants’ writing quality, as well as pre- and post-intervention surveys, along with post-hoc interviews, to measure their writing self-efficacy levels. The analysis of the …

Control Intervention Design For Preclinical And Clinical Trials: Consensus-Based Core Recommendations From The Third Stroke Recovery And Rehabilitation Roundtable, Kathryn S Hayward, Emily J Dalton, Jessica Barth, Marian Brady, Leora R Cherney, Leonid Churilov, Andrew N Clarkson, Jesse Dawson, Sean P Dukelow, Peter Feys, Maree Hackett, Steve R Zeiler, Catherine E Lang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Control comparator selection is a critical trial design issue. Preclinical and clinical investigators who are doing trials of stroke recovery and rehabilitation interventions must carefully consider the appropriateness and relevance of their chosen control comparator as the benefit of an experimental intervention is established relative to a comparator. Establishing a strong rationale for a selected comparator improves the integrity of the trial and validity of its findings. This Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR) taskforce used a graph theory voting system to rank the importance and ease of addressing challenges during control comparator design. "Identifying appropriate type of control" was …

The Effect Of Asynchronous Pre-Service Training On Aac Strategy Use, Cheri Dodge Chin

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the impact of a one-time online, asynchronous training program on graduate students' use of communication partner strategies for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) users. The study examines the training effect on the overall correct usage of naturalistic communication partner strategies, the implementation immediacy, the influence of feedback, and the training's benefits and drawbacks. Using an A-B single case research design with qualitative feedback, the study included pre-service university students studying speech pathology or education. Participants engaged in storybook reading activities with communication devices at a university clinic to establish baseline measures. Following this, they completed a one-hour …

Listen Up: Perceptions Of Audiobooks By Teachers, Librarians, And Parents, Megan Bright

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Reading is a critical component of education. From learning to read, to eventually reading to learn, students and teachers rely upon texts to help make sense of the world around them. Methods and tools vary, but teachers, librarians, and parents can all agree that reading is a fundamental skill their students need. However, students are sometimes told to limit their use of audiobooks in favor of reading with their eyes. These limitations may prevent students from finding the books they love and also limit students’ opportunities to use books to learn about the world around them. This study sought to …

Active Transfer Learning For Audiogram Estimation, Hossana Twinomurinzi, Herman Myburgh, Dennis L Barbour

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Computational audiology (CA) has grown over the last few years with the improvement of computing power and the growth of machine learning (ML) models. There are today several audiogram databases which have been used to improve the accuracy of CA models as well as reduce testing time and diagnostic complexity. However, these CA models have mainly been trained on single populations. This study integrated contextual and prior knowledge from audiogram databases of multiple populations as informative priors to estimate audiograms more precisely using two mechanisms: (1) a mapping function drawn from feature-based homogeneous Transfer Learning (TL) also known as Domain …

Interventions Connecting Young People Living In Africa To Healthcare; A Systematic Review Using The Re-Aim Framework, Titilola Abike Gbaja-Biamila, Chisom Obiezu-Umeh, Ucheoma Nwaozuru, David Oladele, Alexis Engelhart, Thembekile Shato, Stacey Mason, Victoria Carter, Juliet Iwelunmor-Ezepue

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Africa's young people are among the least focused groups in healthcare linkage. The disproportionally high burden of youth-related health problems is a burden, especially in developing regions like Africa, which have a high population of young people. More information is needed about factors that impact linkages in healthcare and the sustainability of health interventions among young people in Africa.

METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed from October 2020 to May 2022 in PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Global Health, and the Web of Science. Studies included in the review were conducted among young people aged 10-24 living in Africa, written …

Can Micro-Expressions Be Used As A Biomarker For Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mindi Ruan, Na Zhang, Xiangxu Yu, Wenqi Li, Chuanbo Hu, Paula J Webster, Lynn K Paul, Shuo Wang, Xin Li

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Early and accurate diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is crucial for effective intervention, yet it remains a significant challenge due to its complexity and variability. Micro-expressions are rapid, involuntary facial movements indicative of underlying emotional states. It is unknown whether micro-expression can serve as a valid bio-marker for ASD diagnosis.

METHODS: This study introduces a novel machine-learning (ML) framework that advances ASD diagnostics by focusing on facial micro-expressions. We applied cutting-edge algorithms to detect and analyze these micro-expressions from video data, aiming to identify distinctive patterns that could differentiate individuals with ASD from typically developing peers. Our computational …