Digital Commons Network^™

Globalization, Foreign Languages And National Identity In The Dominican Republic, Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr.

FDLA Journal

Due to the fact of the transformation of the Dominican economy, jumping from a rural, sugar cane exporting-country to a more diverse economy, based in four pillars: The Remittance of US Dollars of Dominicans living in America, the Tourism Industry, the Duty-free Industrial Parks and the Major League Base-ball Players and Academies, it is not difficult to imagine that English has been the language par excellence behind those advancements. Those socio-political facts besides the phenomenon of globalization have had a tremendous impact in popularizing this language with the correspondent academic impact of modernizing and reforming our national curriculum, for both …

Methodological Discrepancies In The Teaching/Assessment Process Of Efl At The High School Level In The Dominican Public System, Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr.

FDLA Journal

Discrepancies between the processes of Teaching and Assessment of English of the Middle Level. Dr. Pedro Tavárez DaCosta: 2016. Freelance Researcher, for the Regional Office of Education 11-02 in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Teacher's Evaluation / Evaluation Criteria / Summative and Formative Evaluation / Program for Evaluation Improvement in Language Teaching. This research work consisted in the implementation of a plan in which, by way of treatment, it was possible to improve the levels of assessment competences of the foreign language, of the non-qualified teachers of English of the middle level, Districts 11-01 and 11-02 of the Regional of Education …

Of Standardized Student Measurements And Tests In The Dominican Republic, Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr., Fransheska Arias Reyes Lic.

FDLA Journal

The present work seeks to establish a comparison between two different and distant evaluation tools applied to the Dominican student population in order to measure the efficiency of our educational system in the recent years, one of them measured the quality of Dominican education in three areas (the PISA Test), whereas the other tested the quality of the proficiency of the English language (EF English Proficiency Index), both for the pre-college levels. Although one of our cherished ideas was our having analyzed such tests of extreme relevance for us, the EFL Teachers and Professors at many different levels, as the …

Methodological Discrepancies In The Teaching/Assessment Process Of Efl At The High School Level In The Dominican Public System, Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr.

FDLA Journal

Discrepancies between the processes of Teaching and Assessment of English of the Middle Level. Dr. Pedro Tavárez DaCosta: 2016. Freelance Researcher, for the Regional Office of Education 11-02 in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Teacher's Evaluation / Evaluation Criteria / Summative and Formative Evaluation / Program for Evaluation Improvement in Language Teaching. This research work consisted in the implementation of a plan in which, by way of treatment, it was possible to improve the levels of assessment competences of the foreign language, of the non-qualified teachers of English of the middle level, Districts 11-01 and 11-02 of the Regional of Education …

Effectiveness Of The G-T Method In Efl Monolingual Adult Classes At Private Institutes In The City Of Puerto Plata, D.R, Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr.

FDLA Journal

The goal of this research is to determine the effectiveness of Grammar -Translation Method on EFL adult learners. The sample of this investigation was based on 30 graduated students as a universe and a sample of 15 which represent the 50% in which 9 of them were female who represent the 60% and 6 male who represent the 40% from Impact Languages Institute. The research used random sampling process to lead this investigation. The findings of this research indicated that there is a positive Correlation between the usage of Grammar Translation Method and both female and male EFL learners. This …

Effectiveness Of The G-T Method In Efl Monolingual Adult Classes At Private Institutes In The City Of Puerto Plata, D.R., Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr.

FDLA Journal

The goal of this research is to determine the effectiveness of Grammar -Translation Method on EFL adult learners. The sample of this investigation was based on 30 graduated students as a universe and a sample of 15 which represent the 50% in which 9 of them were female who represent the 60% and 6 male who represent the 40% from Impact Languages Institute. The research used random sampling process to lead this investigation. The findings of this research indicated that there is a positive Correlation between the usage of Grammar Translation Method and both female and male EFL learners. This …

Personality Features And Efl Learning Process Within The Dominican Society Context, Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr.

FDLA Journal

Through this work we are focusing on discussing the relationship between the Traits of Personality and the performance of Students in EFL Learning (introversion/extroversion and other determining factors of the educational Process) within the Dominican´s Society context as largely perceived by Teachers of English as a Foreign Language. There have been a great number of international studies already published which had tried to explain the effects of such features of the student's personality, mostly introversion/ extroversion on the student‘s performance in foreign language learning, something , which from the teacher‘s perception have always been presumed as an unquestionable fact. Although …

Efl Programs For People With Special Needs In The In Different National Settings, Pedro J. Tavarez-Dacosta Dr.

FDLA Journal

The present work attracted our attention motivated by the need of seeking ways of helping people learning EFL, with certain disabilities than undertaking a research project by itself. The needs for implementing those special program in our country is out of the question, since to the extent that our society and country has been developing in economic, social and political terms, to that extent we have realized the need to become a more inclusive society, more open to sectors with special needs, not only in terms of urban planning, but also in the design of their own educational policies towards …

Proximity-Based Vector Database Sharing For Enhanced Rag Systems, Hp Inc

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure proposal introduces a system for enhancing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems by enabling proximity-based sharing of vector databases among devices. Leveraging Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for device discovery and Wi-Fi Direct for high-speed data transfer, this system eliminates the limitations of isolated local vector stores and the privacy risks associated with cloud-based solutions. Key features include local library generation, secure proximity-based discovery, and dynamic integration of shared libraries. The decentralized and privacy-preserving architecture ensures secure collaboration in dynamic environments, transforming the scope of information retrieval in workplaces, classrooms, and beyond.

Wearable Docking Station For Head-Mounted Display, Karen Jean Kwan, Jasmine Soria Sears, Atieh Taghavinia, Rebecca Spiegel

Defensive Publications Series

As disclosed herein, a wearable docking station for a head-mounted display is provided. The wearable docking station may include a first arm of a neckband conforming to a neck of a user. The wearable docking station may include a second arm of the neckband conforming to the neck of the user. The wearable docking station may include a central portion of the neckband connecting the first arm and the second arm. The wearable docking station may include at least one interface for docking a head-mounted display (HMD) when the HMD is removed from a head of the user. A system …

Device Power And User Connectivity Optimization For Terrestrial And Non-Terrestrial Network Selection, Dang Tu Nguyen, Sooraj Sasindran, Karthick Musuvathi Janakan, Soumyadeep Paul

Defensive Publications Series

This document describes techniques to optimize device power and user connectivity for terrestrial or non-terrestrial, e.g., low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite, network selection by a device modem. Per the techniques, the modem is configured to not perform a scan for Terrestrial networks (TNs) during Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) signal emission gaps; instead, the modem is configured to wait for the next NTN signal availability and connect to the NTN accordingly. To do this, the telephony framework is implemented to provide the signal emission gap information at the device location to the modem such that the modem can initiate the rescan for NTN …

Private Set Intersection For Offline, Privacy-Preserving, Contact-Based Nearby Device Discovery, Kevin Yeo, Darren Krahn, Joon Young Seo, Dave Mccloskey

Defensive Publications Series

To support offline, privacy-preserving, contact-based discovery (that does not reveal the user’s contacts to nearby devices), a cryptographic protocol is needed that allows sending and receiving devices to share their encrypted identifiers and/or address books without revealing private information. This sharing needs to be implemented in a manner that avoids various types of attacks. Sharing the identifiers in a specific order is critical to avoiding certain types of attacks that may compromise user privacy. This disclosure describes a cryptographic protocol developed using signatures and private set intersection (PSI) that enables privacy-preserving, contact-based discovery. The cryptographic techniques utilize a federated identity …

Probabilistic Identity Filter For Offline, Privacy-Preserving, Contact-Based Nearby Device Discovery, Dave Mccloskey, Darren Krahn, Joon Young Seo, Kevin Yeo

Defensive Publications Series

A core component of offline, private, contact-based discovery is requiring the two devices to perform a cryptographic protocol known as private set intersection (PSI) between a list of identifiers stored at a first device and the address book of known contacts stored at a second device. However, PSI is computationally expensive. This disclosure describes a probabilistic identity filter for devices. A device can encode a set of identities using this filter that enables other devices to check if their identity belongs in this filter with no false negatives and only small false positive probabilities, while ensuring that other devices cannot …

Techniques For Dynamic Switching Between Non-Terrestrial And Terrestrial Networks, N/A

Defensive Publications Series

Maintaining a continuous satellite connection from a mobile device can be power-intensive, leading to power drain and reduced battery life. Such a connection is unnecessary when more efficient connectivity options are available. This disclosure provides techniques for intelligent management of satellite connectivity. Per the techniques, a mobile device continually monitors the availability of Wi-Fi networks. If the mobile device is currently connected to a satellite network and a Wi-Fi network becomes available, the device proactively detaches from the satellite network and connects to the Wi-Fi network. If the Wi-Fi connection is subsequently lost, the device automatically initiates re-attachment to the …

On-Demand Generation Of Searchable Ephemeral Web Addresses Via Agentic Browser Actuation, Tal Snir

Defensive Publications Series

Traditional web crawlers may face challenges indexing certain types of dynamic, ephemeral web content, such as customized product comparisons or filtered lists, as this content can be generated on-the-fly and may not have a persistent, static uniform resource locator (URL). This situation can lead to search results that do not include certain types of user-customized information. A disclosed system can be configured to capture user intent from a query and deploy an agentic technology, for instance, a browser actuation agent. The agent can programmatically simulate user navigation on a target website to dynamically generate an ad-hoc URL corresponding to content …

Python 4.0 — A Gated, Forward-Safe Evolution, Joseph Jm Walker

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure proposes a gated upgrade model for the Python programming language that allows developers to adopt new runtime semantics, safer defaults, and modern concurrency primitives without breaking existing code. The design introduces an opt-in feature gate (from __future__ import python4_strict) on Python 3.x that enables UTC-aware datetimes, strict UTF-8 I/O, structured concurrency, and type-safe defaults at the module level. In Python 4.0, these semantics become the default, with a one-release rollback option for compatibility.

The proposal also includes tools for migration (refactor4 codemod framework), standardized packaging (pyproject.lock.json), and concurrency enhancements (TaskGroups, cancellation scopes, optional GIL-free mode). A governance model …

Anticipating The Unexpected: Preservice Teachers Learn Through An Unbalanced Scale Task, Christine J. Picot, Josip Slisko

Transformations

This article examines how an unbalance scale task prompted seven preservice teachers (PSTs) to confront and revise their assumptions about student thinking. Tasked with predicting how early elementary students (K-2) might make an unbalanced scale equal, teacher candidates largely anticipated additive or subtractive solutions and less frequently redistributive solutions. However, several students proposed creative strategies including one who removed all the cubes creating an equal 0 = 0 scenario. This moment sparked deep reflection and a broader reconsideration of what it means to anticipate diverse students reasoning. We discuss implications for teacher preparation and curriculum design that supports flexible relational …

Facilitating Trauma Informed Practices In Intermediate Algebra, Ruthmae Sears, Kelley Cummings, Sandra Vernon-Jackson, Keisha Albritton, Alfredo Rodriguez-Vera, Chuqian Song

Transformations

As a programmatic evaluation effort, we examined the extent to which Intermediate Algebra instructors promoted trauma-informed practices. Data were garnered from 230 students enrolled in Intermediate Algebra in Fall 2024 via a Trauma Informed Practices Survey and a survey about the impact of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. The quantitative data was analyzed using frequencies, and the qualitative data were analyzed using open coding and thematic analysis. The results suggest that students generally perceive their instructors exhibited trauma-informed care. The results have implications for providing adequate support and resources to ensure all students learn mathematics.

Resources To Resolve Ethical Dilemmas And Build Moral Resilience In The Workplace, Lynn Greenleaf Brown

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Two common problems nurses grapple with are ethical dilemmas and moral distress. The purpose of this PechaKucha presentation is to discuss steps and resources to resolve an ethical dilemma, define moral distress, and review actions to improve moral resilience.

Detailed abstract attached.

Conquer And Prevail Issue 199 October 23 2025, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Conquer and Prevail Newsletter

No abstract provided.

'The Mayo Lab Podcast' Builds Community Through Talk, Marisa C. Atkinson

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – To help prevent others from experiencing loss from substance abuse as he did, University of Mississippi student Tyler Barber serves as the host for "The Mayo Lab Podcast" helping fellow students with their overall well-being.

October 23, 2025, Caa

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Community, Autonomy, Irony: Lessons From Historic Rosenwald Schools, Ronald B. Matus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing evidence suggests the Rosenwald schools of the American South, which anchored thousands of Black communities for a half century before desegregation, boosted academic outcomes for generations of Black students and helped fuel the civil rights movement. The research literature, however, is thin on what specifically made these schools successful. My research attempts to narrow the gaps by asking the Rosenwald alums themselves. Through semi-structured interviews, 10 alums in Florida identify defining features of their schools, including seamless community connections; a culture of high expectations for academic achievement and character development; and especially caring and committed teachers. The alums’ insights …

Design And Implementation Of A Cross-Platform, Modular Electronic-Nose System, Kaushika Rudraraju

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electronic noses (e-noses) are a subject of great research. They are useful in multiple platforms and serve a great purpose in both studies and safety. This thesis presents a portable, modular e-nose platform that spans the full pipeline from sensing to visualization, with emphasis on scalability, repeatability, and straightforward integration. The hardware is organized as swappable sensor modules each hosting multiple commercial sensors and local signal-conditioning networked to a master microcontroller via structured communication protocols. High-resolution acquisition, time alignment, and efficient streaming to a host enable reliable logging and analysis. A controlled exposure chamber and a repeatable sampling protocol (baseline-exposure-purge …

“The Best Laid Plans”: Evaluating How Housing Expectations Impact Prison Reentry, Vittoria A. Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study assesses the expectations of housing stability pre-release and evaluates how closely these expectations align with actual housing outcomes. Additionally, this study examines how the alignment between pre-release housing expectations influences recidivism. The aim is to understand how individuals’ perceptions of their housing plans prior to release affect their reentry experiences and to offer insights that may inform policy and program design. Using data collected pre- and post- release within a prison reentry program from 115 individuals, results indicate that higher overall housing concern is associated with slightly higher odds of recidivism, and mismatches between expected and actualized housing …

Gc Minutes Oct 23, 2025, Graduate Council

Graduate Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Police Officers’ Perceptions Of The Cultural, Structural, And Potential Training Barriers That Prevent Police Agencies From Adopting An Effective Emergency Response System, Allan David Dunham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the proven efficacy of the incident command system (ICS), police agencies face obstacles in effective critical incident response. This qualitative study explored the cultural, structural, and potential training barriers that hinder the adoption of the ICS within police agencies. The purpose was to investigate how police can more effectively adopt this unified command structure designed for multiagency emergency response. Guided by the theory of planned behavior, the research question addressed how California police officers’ attitudes, perceived social norms, and sense of behavioral control influence their adoption of incident command system principles. Data were collected using semistructured Zoom interviews with …

Kindness In Action: Leveraging Qualitative Data To Assess And Enhance A Library's Physical And Digital Space, Jennie Tobler-Gaston, Lori Schwartz

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library has a history of conducting kindness audits that evaluate our physical space. The “Kindness Audit” has been an internal effort to reflect on how welcoming, accessible, and responsive our library environment is to all who use it. In Fall 2024, a working group reimagined this effort with a broadened lens: incorporating the physical space, the welcoming atmosphere, and the usability of the library website.

This presentation outlines the process and purpose of this updated audit. We designed and distributed a qualitative observation paper survey for our physical …

New Registered Nurse Experiences During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Comparing Nurse Apprenticeship To Traditional Graduates, Scott S. Christensen, Sue Chase-Cantarini, Marla Dejong, Hui Li, Tracey L. Nixon, Xiaoming Sheng

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

Nurse apprentice/externship programs enhance the nursing workforce by preparing new nurses for smooth transitions to practice. This study assessed new nurses’ experiences over time and compared those who participated as apprentices against those who did not. Research outcomes demonstrated the value of apprenticeships in preparing nurses for COVID-19 workplace environments.

Detailed abstract attached.

Fuel Adulteration Detection Using Open-Ended Coaxial Line And Circular Waveguide Techniques, Abdulrahman Alofi, Ahmed Shamseldin, Sharif Iqbal M. Sheikh, Hussein Attia

Faculty Publications

Fuel adulteration, the practice of blending lower-quality substances like kerosene with gasoline, poses significant challenges for ensuring fuel quality and safety. This study investigates two electromagnetic-based methods for detecting such adulteration: the open-ended coaxial line method and the circular waveguide method. The results reveal that the open-ended coaxial line technique is particularly effective in detecting kerosene contamination, identifying levels as low as 10% by measuring changes in the dielectric constant of the gasoline-kerosene mixture. Operating in the frequency range of 0.25–1.25 GHz, this method captures subtle changes in permittivity. In contrast, the circular waveguide method evaluates contamination by monitoring shifts …