Digital Commons Network^™

Teacher Perception On The Implementation Of A Culturally Responsive Ela Curriculum, Erica Tate Dial

Theses and Dissertations

While the principles of culturally responsive and culturally relevant teaching hold transformative potential, they can only be fully realized if educators are genuinely equipped and empowered to implement them. This qualitative study examined teacher perceptions of an English Language Arts curriculum through the lens of culturally relevant and culturally responsive teaching. A diverse group of teachers, varying in experience, age, gender, and race, were interviewed to gather a range of perspectives on the implementation of this curriculum. The study focused on addressing the following research questions: 1. What are teachers’ perceptions of culturally responsive and culturally relevant instruction and academic …

Perspectives Of Corporate Instructional Design Experts On Effectiveness, Personal Traits And Attributes, And Technology, Thomas A. Gant

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological descriptive study explored corporate instructional design experts' perspectives on effectiveness, personal traits and attributes, and technology that enhance their expertise. Three central themes emerged: "Mastering Instructional Design: The Journey of Continuous Learning and Skill Development," highlighting the importance of mentorship, lifelong learning, and professional development; "Accessing Instructional Design Expertise Through Individual Strengths," emphasizing adaptability, problem-solving, and empathy; and "Navigating Technological Integration and Innovation in Instructional Design," showcasing the transformative role of tools such as virtual reality, learning management systems, and authoring software. Semi-structured interviews conducted via Zoom with 10 corporate instructional designers with at least 10 years …

Navigating And Transforming Pk12 Systems Through Research-Practice Partnerships, Maia Elkana, Rachel Ruggirello, Jay Hartman, Nikki Doughty, Victoria May

Institute for School Partnership: Research & Publications

This chapter examines how one research-practice partnership (RPP) navigated and impacted complex PK12 systems. Our experiences interrogate the locus of control for those participating in RPP projects in building and sustaining equitable university PK12 relationships and more equitable school communities. Through a case study focused on a school leadership and cultural transformation partnership between an urban school district, university researchers, and community non-profit organizations, we illustrate the ways that RPPs can support participants grappling with PK12 system factors. These systems can serve as both barriers and facilitators to equitable functioning within the context of the partnership as well as for …

Using Appreciative Inquiry To Strengthen Rpp, Maia Elkana, Victoria L. May

Institute for School Partnership: Research & Publications

Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs) offer a model for mutually beneficial learning and capacity building across disciplines and contexts. Bringing together professionals with different skills and areas of expertise can foster innovation with the goal of creating equitable transformation and improvement. Within these partnerships, individuals often need to approach the work with a different set of skills and mindsets than they might otherwise draw from in their regular roles as researchers, teachers, administrators, or policymakers. Several resources have examined the kind of personal capacities needed for working collaboratively across disciplines and considered the complex ways in which context, systems, and structures external …

Language And The Navigation Of Individual Understandings Of Multiracial Belonging In Hong Kong, Ailbhe Ong

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how self-identified multiracial individuals in Hong Kong navigate identity, belonging, and community within the city’s unique historical, political, and cultural landscape. Through interviews with young adults who grew up in Hong Kong, the project examines how language, family dynamics, schooling, and social spaces shape the formation and performance of multiracial identities. It argues that although Hong Kong’s environment offers a degree of fluidity, societal expectations, language hierarchies, and shifting political dynamics often challenge this flexibility. Moreover, Cantonese emerged as a key site where cultural competency, belonging and acceptance intersect, highlighting the tension for multiracial individuals when trying …

Geographies Of Freedom: Marronage, Slavery, And Black Cosmopolitanism In The Early North American Borderlands, Gemma K. Lynch

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis reconceptualizes the colonial U.S. South through the lens of the Atlantic World, revealing the mobility, and influence of Black actors. It emphasizes the role of Black people who, rooted in Africa and dispersed across the American colonies, developed and used a cosmopolitan understanding of the Atlantic to negotiate their freedoms. Focusing on Spanish Florida, Georgia borderlands, and French New Orleans, it unveils how enslaved Africans and their descendants navigated and exploited imperial conflicts between British, Spanish, French, and Native Americans. By uncovering the linkages between the colonial Southeast and contextualizing them with the greater Caribbean, this study reframes …

Preserving The Stolen: Cultural Appropriation And The Case Of Seattle's Totem Pole, Olga S. Koutroulis

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the cultural appropriation and conservation of the Chief-of-All-Women totem pole, originally stolen by Seattle businessmen from the Tlingit village of Tongass in 1899 and later reinstalled in Pioneer Square as a symbol of the city. By framing the totem pole as a site of both physical and cultural displacement, I trace its journey from sacred object to public monument, and ultimately to federally funded replica. Drawing on conservation theory, oral history, archival research, and an interview with Haida artist Sondra Segundo, I argue that the pole’s removal, replication, and continued display reflect broader patterns of settler colonialism …

The P3 Event-Related Potential (Erp) In Visual And Auditory Tasks: Implications For Executive Functioning In Adhd Preadolescent Children, Alex Visal Seng

Open Access Master's Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a widespread psychological disorder in children, poorly impacting executive functioning domains of inhibitory control and working memory. Event-related potentials (ERPs) provide neuroelectric insight into these cognitive processes. However, most ERP research focuses on one task type, limiting direct comparisons of cognitive demands across different task paradigms. This study examined P3 amplitude and latency in ADHD children using a visual NoGo task (response inhibition) and an auditory oddball task (working memory), and associations between the P3 ERP and behavioral measures of executive functions.

Cross-sectional data of symptomatic ADHD children (N=13; F=5; aged 9.15 ± 1.86 years) were …

The Anatomy Of Efficiency: Changes In British Military Medicine On The Western Front, 1914-1918, Ricky Mather

Open Access Master's Theses

The Western Front of the First World War was a theater of tragedy and unprecedented loss. As thousands of mangled British bodies were evacuated from the front lines, medical officers, surgeons, nurses, orderlies, stretcher-bearers, and other staff worked tirelessly in an efficient and technical manner to restore soldiers’ fitness so they might be redeployed into the chaos, and continue servicing the war machine. This thesis looks at changes in medicine driven by the war. First, it examines the evolution of medical theory and practice as reflected in three medical manuals. The first was published in 1911, before the war, and …

Through Their Eyes: Investigating The Broad Autism Phenotype In Parents An Exploration In Eye Tracking During A Phonemic Restoration Paradigm In Conjunction With Social Communication Measures, Elena Esposito

Open Access Master's Theses

The Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) refers to traits that resemble those seen in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The BAP traits are more common in first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD which suggests a potential genetic contribution to the disorder. Understanding how these traits manifest in communication remains limited. Previous research has shown differences in eye gaze patterns between children with ASD and neurotypical children. This study explored whether similar patterns exist in parents of children with autism (pASD) during a phonemic restoration task. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2) and Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) were also used in this study …

A Methodological Study: Using Eye Tracking & Comprehension Questions With L1 And L2 Spanish Readers, Julia Cerveira-Bianchi

Open Access Master's Theses

Eye tracking with a violation paradigm is an online, real-time measure, used within the field of second language acquisition to measure implicit or automatic knowledge (Godfroid, 2019). Native speakers (L1) demonstrate implicit knowledge, and second language learners (L2) exhibit various levels of developing implicit knowledge, which serves as a measure of proficiency. In a violation paradigm, L1 and L2 speakers read grammatical and ungrammatical stimuli. The eye-tracking data provides insight into participants’ sensitivity to grammatical violations. Previous studies have included comprehension questions, an offline measure, to ensure that participants read for meaning. However, eye tracking has rarely been applied to …

Numeric Simulation Of A Realistic Hydrokinetic Turbine In Exposed Ocean Environments, Anneke Neber

Open Access Master's Theses

As renewable energies become increasingly more important, it becomes necessary to tap into new resources, such as energy from tidal or ocean currents. A recent development is the use of hydrokinetic turbines, deployed on floating plat- forms. Numerical modeling can be an important tool to determine the forces acting on the floating platform and the turbine.

In this thesis, a realistic floating hydrokinetic turbine was simulated in OpenFAST. Experimental data and hand calculations, were used to partially verify the simulation. Environmental data at a site was analyzed to determine conditions to run the simulations for different tidal current speeds and …

Semi-Empirical Prediction Of Wave Runup During Nor’Easters In New England, Pranav Sai

Open Access Master's Theses

Wave runup amplifies the impact of storm events on coastal beaches, accelerating erosion and threatening infrastructure. Accurate quantification of extreme runup during storms is critical for improving coastal hazard predictions and informing resilience strategies. Field measurements of wave and water levels enable empirically derived formulas to calculate runup, parameterizing setup, incident swash, and infragravity swash separately. This study predicts extreme runup across Napatree Point, a sandy barrier at Rhode Island’s westernmost point, known for its dissipative beach morphology and exposure to intense storm activity. Using the ADCIRC+SWAN hydrodynamic and wave models, mean sea level and surface wave parameters were simulated …

Psychosocial Determinants Of Public Transportation Use Among Brazilian And American Users: An Integrated Modeling Approach, Ingrid Luiza Neto, Hartmut Günther, Bryan E. Porter, Taciano L. Milfont, Pastor Willy Gonzales Taco, Caroline Cardoso Machado

Psychology Faculty Publications

Overreliance on cars can promote individual, environmental, economic and social problems, requiring the development of measures to reduce car use and encourage the use of more sustainable transport options. Contributing to this call, here we report a cross-cultural study conducted in Brazil (n = 312) and the United States (n = 518) investigating the applicability of the model of Bamberg and Möser in predicting the use of public transport. Results indicated the model is equivalent across samples, regarding both the measures and the relations between the variables of the model. Intention strongly predicted self-reported public transport behaviour, explaining 70% of …

First Destination Survey 2025: For Degrees Awarded December 2024-August 2025, Hart Career Center, Illinois Wesleyan University

First Destination Survey

No abstract provided.

Active Learning In Respiratory Care Education: A Narrative Review, Tisha Ann Skariah, Udaya Kumar Rao, Manjush Karthika

Health Professions Education

Purpose: This study evaluates the effectiveness of active learning strategies in respiratory care (RC) education, specifically examining their impact on student engagement, critical thinking, and clinical competency to address limitations inherent in traditional passive instructional methods.

Methods: A comprehensive narrative review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted using databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. Thematic analysis was utilized to explore the influence of key active learning methodologies, including simulation-based learning (SBL), flipped classroom (FC), problem-based learning (PBL), and team-based learning (TBL).

Results: The findings demonstrate that active learning approaches significantly enhance clinical decision-making, collaborative skills, and knowledge retention …

Leveraging Chatgpt For Current Nursing Education: A Scoping Review, Jung Eun Kim, Sun Ok Jung, Yanghee Pang

Health Professions Education

Objectives. This study aims to map the current state of ChatGPT usage in nursing education, including its strengths and weaknesses, and the anticipated future applications of ChatGPT in nursing education.

Background. ChatGPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer), one of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, uses machine learning techniques to automatically learn language patterns and generate contextual outputs as a conversational interface between users and the program. ChatGPT has substantial potential in nursing, and nursing educators are trying to integrate ChatGPT into nursing education. However, the practical feasibility and efficacy of ChatGPT in nursing education have not been fully examined, and the related …

Chatgpt Use In Active Learning Among Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study., Asma Bouriami, Kamal Takhdat, Sana Barkatou, Abdelmounaim Manoussi, Jaouad Chouikh, Samia Boussaa, Ahmed Rhassane El Adib

Health Professions Education

Purpose: Active pedagogy offers interesting potential for teaching and learning, especially when combined with artificial intelligence tools. The aim of this study is to investigate students' knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and experiences regarding the use of ChatGPT within active learning methodologies.

Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted using a questionnaire with 913 nursing students from four public higher nursing institutes.

Results: Overall, the majority of participants have a low to medium level of knowledge, even though 79.4% of them use ChatGPT. In fact, Participants use ChatGPT mainly for problem-based learning, and project-based learning. In addition, men students are 1.55 more …

Social Media Impression Management And Its Association With E-Professionalism Among Medical Students, Maysaa Ageel, Sarah Ahmed Eltouny, Rabab Abdel Ra’Oof Abed

Health Professions Education

Purpose: The globally expanding impact of Social Media on the personal and professional lives of healthcare professionals has increased research interest in e-professionalism. While there are benefits of Social Media usage among medical students, it may pose an unintended overlap between their personal and professional attitudes. This study aims to evaluate medical students' Social Media usage, attitude, and impression management and assess their relation to students’ e-professionalism. Methods: An observational cross-sectional/ correlational research design was carried out at Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences in Jeddah using an 18-item questionnaire adapted from a 43-item questionnaire published in a previous study carried …

State: The Magazine Of Illinois State University, Winter 2025, Illinois State University, University Marketing And Communications

State: The Magazine of Illinois State University (1999-present)

Illinois State University alumni magazine

Eeg-Based Multi-Scale Perturbed Brain Cognitive Pattern Recognition Network For Gamer Level Classification, Lijun Jiang, Yanping Chen, Kexuan Liu, Xingyuan Chen, Li Dong, Weiya Ma, Diankun Gong, Dezhong Yao

General Human Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based classification of video game experts versus amateurs reveals cognitive brain patterns underlying complex abilities, with applications in attention modulation, medical rehabilitation, and health monitoring. While deep learning has advanced EEG-based cognitive state detection, challenges remain in extracting meaningful patterns from noisy data and preventing reverse inference attacks on user privacy. Here, we propose a novel multi-scale perturbed brain cognitive pattern recognition network (MsPE). Its key contributions are: (1) a multi-scale weak encryption method with attention mechanisms that protects privacy by perturbing EEG signals in temporal and frequency domains; (2) ConvFormer modules with adaptive channel sizes (3, 5, 15) …

The Moral Justifications Of The Justice-Experienced: Recidivism In Dark Triadic Morally Disengaging Offenders, Lacy Parrett

Scripps Senior Theses

Little is known about the cognitions of those who commit violent crimes; even less is known about the justification process of those who reoffend after completing a prison sentence. The proposed study suggests analyzing the moral disengagement strategies and personality traits of incarcerated adults to identify recidivism risk factors. Current literature indicates that nonhomicide violent offenders’ use of moral disengagement cognitions that justify the violation of socially accepted morals will moderate the relationship between psychopathic, Machiavellian, and narcissistic personality traits and offenders’ risks of recidivating. Furthermore, it is anticipated that an interaction will exist between moral disengagement and this so-called …

Cashing In Or Giving Back: The Role Of Film Tax Incentives In The Cultural Impact Of Runaway Productions, Karolina Krok

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the internationalization of Hollywood through economic and creative runaway productions driven by international tax incentives. It examines how these incentives can impact not only the commercial but the cultural success of productions filmed abroad, focusing on regions such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, California, New York, and New Jersey. The analysis centers on cultural tests and diversity requirements, revealing two main approaches: the first requires a minimum of diversity standards and cultural tests points to be met, while the second prioritizes and rewards productions with the highest achieved assessment of those. Furthermore, …

The Association Between Obstetric Violence And Postpartum Depression Among Latina Women In The United States: An Integrative Review, Natalia Alameda

Scripps Senior Theses

Obstetric violence, a structural form of gender-based violence, involves abuse, mistreatment, or neglect by healthcare providers during obstetric care. It is often associated with childbirth trauma and may result in physical and psychological harm to mothers and children, including postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is a major depressive episode occurring during pregnancy or within four weeks following delivery. While these concepts are often studied independently, few studies examine their intersection, particularly among Latina women in the United States. To address this gap, an integrative literature review was conducted to explore the association between obstetric violence and postpartum depression among Latina women. …

Garcia De Orta And The Colloquies: The Role Of Imperialism And Colonialism In Shaping Knowledge During The Scientific Revolution, Anabhra Singh

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the role of Portuguese doctor Garcia de Orta (1501–1568) and his Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India within the broader framework of the Scientific Revolution, emphasizing the interplay of imperialism, colonialism, and transnational knowledge exchanges in shaping knowledge production. Traditional narratives of the Scientific Revolution often focus on European advancements in physics and astronomy. However, recent scholarship highlights the contributions of non-European knowledge systems and the significant role of empire and trade networks in advancing scientific inquiry. Although Orta’s findings were not novel, the novelty of his text lay in its seamless integration of European, …

Inflammatory Mediators And The Rage Pathway In Placental Tissues Of Pregnancies Complicated By Severe Preeclampsia, Neelima Chandra, Thomas D. Kimble, Kathleen R. Heim, Sharon M. Anderson, Andrew P. Wong, Andrea R. Thurman, Gustavo F. Doncel

CONRAD Publications

Introduction: Preeclampsia (PE) is a complex multisystem disorder of pregnancy associated with abnormal placentation, vascular anomalies, and systemic inflammation and hypertension. Previous research assessing inflammatory triggers of the condition used plasma, amniotic fluid, or explant samples. Studies using placental tissue from either vaginal or cesarean deliveries are confined to semiquantitative analysis using subjective scoring methods and generally involve a small sample size.

Methods: In this study, we have quantified the expression of inflammatory mediators by immunohistochemical image analysis of archived placental tissues obtained from cesarean delivery of preeclamptic, chorioamnionitic, and normal pregnancies.

Results: Among the inflammatory mediators, we found a …

Arbitrator Selection Default Rules, Irene M. Ten Cate

American University Law Review

This Article makes the case for changing the default settings for the selection of arbitrators in international commercial arbitration. For three-member tribunals, the rules of most international arbitration institutions provide that each party picks an arbitrator. The institution or the co-arbitrators then select the tribunal’s president. This prescription, which parties may set aside by agreement, codifies longstanding practices and corresponds to the strong preference of international arbitration insiders. Nonetheless, I argue that arbitration rules should default toward institutional selection of all arbitrators.

Switching the default nudges parties that can’t take full advantage of the arbitrator selection game—due to inexperience, lack …

Shrines Of Discrimination: A Comparative Exploration Of American And Indian Approaches To Balancing Religious Freedom And Equal Rights, Sree Vedala

MC Law Review

Religious freedom and equality, foundational human rights, often clash in legal contexts, particularly when religious practices justify discriminatory actions. The U.S. judiciary has grappled with this tension, as exemplified in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and Yeshiva University v. YU Pride Alliance. These cases reflect opposing judicial tendencies: deference to religious beliefs versus prioritization of equality. However, neither case established a clear framework for balancing these rights. This article examines India’s "essentiality test," which assesses whether a religious practice is integral to a faith, as a potential model for resolving such conflicts. By comparing U.S. and Indian …

Securing The Internet Of Wetland Things (Iowt) Using Machine And Deep Learning Methods: A Survey, Guma Ali, Wamusi Robert, Maad M. Mijwil, Malik Sallam, Jenan Ayad

Mesopotamian Journal of Computer Science

Wetlands are essential ecosystems that provide ecological, hydrological, and economic benefits. However, human activities and climate change are degrading their health and jeopardizing their long-term sustainability. To address these challenges, the Internet of Wetland Things (IoWT) has emerged as an innovative framework integrating advanced sensing, data collection, and communication technologies to monitor and manage wetland ecosystems. Despite its potential, the IoWT faces substantial security and privacy risks, compromising its effectiveness and hindering adoption. This survey explores integrating machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques as solutions to address the security threats, vulnerabilities, and challenges inherent in IoWT ecosystems. The …

Self-Attention Enhanced Dual Bigru For Arabic Fake News Detection, Baqer M. Merzah, Jafar Razmara, Jaber Karimpour

Mesopotamian Journal of Computer Science

The rapid proliferation of social media platforms has greatly amplified the dissemination of fake news, representing significant obstacles to public trust and evidence-based decision-making, particularly for the Arabic-speaking population. Meeting the challenge of Arabic fake news detection is a problem compounded by the complex morphological nature of the language, as well as limited resources. This study presents a hybrid deep learning framework that integrates two Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Units (BiGRUs) along with an attention mechanism for efficiently detecting misinformation in Arabic news. The method leverages FastText word embeddings for disambiguating the intricate semantics of the Arabic language. The model is …