Digital Commons Network^™

La Correlación De La Tecnología Educativa, La Gamificación Y La Enseñanza Multisensorial En El Desarrollo Académico Y Socioemocional De Estudiantes Autistas En Puerto Rico, Ainé Andino Dávila

Theses and Dissertations

El incremento de estudiantes con autismo en Puerto Rico exige prácticas pedagógicas más inclusivas, innovadoras y basadas en evidencia. Sin embargo, persiste una brecha entre las necesidades sensoriales y socioemocionales de estos estudiantes y el uso integrado de estrategias tecnológicas, lúdicas y multisensoriales en el aula. El propósito de esta disertación es analizar la relación entre la tecnología educativa, la gamificación y la enseñanza multisensorial con el desarrollo académico y socioemocional de estudiantes autistas del nivel elemental, según la percepción de docentes de Puerto Rico.

Este estudio sigue un diseño cuantitativo correlacional de corte transversal. La muestra estuvo compuesta por …

Factores Que Inciden En Docentes Para Integrar Competencias Digitales En La Enseñanza De Educación Agrícola En Escuelas Del Norte De Puerto Rico, Adiris Román Vázquez

Theses and Dissertations

Este estudio indagó si los docentes de cursos de Educación Agrícola en escuelas públicas de la región Norte de Puerto Rico poseen competencias digitales y dominio de la tecnología para integrarlas en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Se trabajó un enfoque cuantitativo con diseño no experimental descriptivo y correlacional. Se implementó en escuelas de la región norte, de Puerto Rico. La muestra seleccionada fue no probabilística conformada por 35 docentes del programa de educación agrícola. Para medir las competencias se implementó un cuestionario dirigido a medir las competencias digitales, aceptación y factores de uso de la tecnología en el proceso de …

Problemas Del Habla Y Lenguaje En Niños Menores De Cinco Años A Causa De La Pandemia Del Covid-19, Taisha M. Serrano Vargas

Theses and Dissertations

La disertación se centró en el impacto de la pandemia del COVID-19 en el desarrollo del habla y lenguaje en niños menores de cinco años en Puerto Rico. Se investigó cómo las restricciones de socialización y las alteraciones en las rutinas cotidianas pudieron contribuir a problemas de comunicación en esta población. El aumento en el uso de tecnologías y la disminución de interacciones cara a cara, debido a las medidas de distanciamiento social y cuarentenas, estuvieron asociados con retrasos en el desarrollo lingüístico de los niños.

El propósito de esta investigación fue identificar y documentar las posibles consecuencias que la …

Conocimientos Sobre La Transición Postsecundaria De Estudiantes Del Programa De Educación Especial De Undécimo A Duodécimo Grado En Una Escuela Secundaria Pública En Puerto Rico, Nancy L. Ortiz Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

El propósito de este estudio fue determinar el nivel de conocimiento que poseían los estudiantes del Programa de Educación Especial sobre el proceso de transición postsecundaria. La investigación se desarrolló mediante un enfoque cuantitativo con un diseño descriptivo, considerando la transición como una etapa determinante en la vida académica y personal de los estudiantes con discapacidades, por su influencia en la preparación para la educación universitaria, la inserción laboral y el desarrollo de la vida independiente.

El estudio se llevó a cabo en una escuela secundaria pública de Puerto Rico e incluyó una muestra de 21 estudiantes del Programa de …

Revisión Sistemática Sobre La Actitud Del Docente De Educación Preescolar Frente A La Incorporación De Niños Especiales Dentro Del Programa Regular Y Sus Efectos En El Aprendizaje De Estudiantes Regulares De Usa, Período 2015 Al 2024, Fressia Mary Medina Greenbaum

Theses and Dissertations

El propósito de esta investigación fue evidenciar hallazgos sobre la actitud del docente de educación preescolar frente a la incorporación de niños especiales dentro del programa regular de educación preescolar y sus efectos en el aprendizaje de estudiantes regulares en preescolares de Estados Unidos de América. La posición que adopte el docente es de suma importancia para el logro de la incorporación de estudiantes especiales desde temprana edad, conocer cuáles son los obstáculos que enfrenta el docente y aclarar cuales son los beneficios tanto para estudiantes especiales como para estudiantes regulares.

La presente investigación utilizó la revisión sistemática como metodología, …

A Qualitative Study Of Teacher Perceptions Of Reading Proficiency, Latia Tyler

Theses and Dissertations

This applied qualitative dissertation was constructed to provide insight into the experiences of teachers who provide reading instruction for third grade students at the target school. Seven teachers engaged in semi structured interviews that sought to examine their perceptions on their abilities in teaching reading instruction, their perception on school supports, their perceptions on reading proficiency and factors that contribute to it. Additionally, comprehensive reading plans, published by the state of Florida, were examined to further understand the perceptions of teachers alongside district intended approach for reading instruction.

Thematic analysis of data revealed eight key themes including gaps in foundational …

Validity Of The Polar Verity Sense Optical Armband And Iphone Accelerometer For Heart Rate Variability Assessment, Chinelo C. Chukwuma

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the validity of the Polar Verity Sense optical armband and iPhone accelerometer (Kubois seismocardiography, SCG) against the Polar H10 across different body positions (for both devices) and measurement durations (for Verity Sense only) while accounting for skin pigmentation. Healthy young adults (n = 46) participated in simultaneous recordings in the supine, seated, and standing positions using the Kubios mobile application on separate devices. Verity Sense measurements were collected for both 1‑ and 5‑min durations, whereas accelerometer measures were 1 min. Skin pigmentation was quantified with the melanin index (M-index). For resting heart …

Female Athletes’ Mental Health Help-Seeking Experiences: Understanding The Impact Of The Coach-Athlete Relationship And Coach Sex, Verena Zaisberger

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Mental health help-seeking remains stigmatized in the world of sports (Cosh et al., 2024). Evidence suggests that female athletes may prefer to disclose vulnerable topics to individuals of the same sex (Keil et al., 2023), including help-seeking (O’Keeffe et al., 2022). However, no investigations have explored how coach sex or the coach-athlete relationship may influence female athletes help-seeking experiences. This is despite the importance of coaches in promoting and facilitating mental health services utilization (Bissett et al., 2020). To further understand this topic, the aim of this study was to explore what female athletes’ mental health help-seeking experiences are under …

Exploring The Benefits Of Virtual Learning Environments For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Kenton Louis-Jean

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological applied dissertation explored the lived experiences of K–5 teachers who worked with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in virtual learning environments. As virtual instruction became increasingly prevalent in K–12 education, limited research had examined how teachers adapted instructional practices to meet the cognitive, sensory, and engagement needs of students with ASD in online settings. This study addressed that gap by examining educators' firsthand perspectives on implementing virtual instruction for students with ASD.

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight K–5 teachers who had experience teaching students with ASD in virtual or hybrid learning environments. Participants …

Accessibility Vs Exclusivity: Examining The Barriers To Entry For Early Career Professionals Entering The Commercial Art Market, Cameron Arthur

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This dissertation examines the barriers to entry for early-career professionals seeking to enter the commercial art market, focusing on how structural exclusivity limits access to art business careers. The research addresses a noticeable gap in art market scholarship by focusing on the professional ecosystem behind galleries, auction houses, and advisory firms, which remain underexplored. The study employs a qualitative methodology, supported by selective quantitative data, combining a critical review of existing literature, analysis of industry employment reports, and interviews with art market insiders. This mixed-method approach provides a multidimensional view of the sector’s systemic barriers. Key findings reveal the three …

Tax As Curator: Tax Incentives And The Mediation Of Acquisition In Uk Museums, Julia Dalton

MA in Art Business Dissertations

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The Marketability Of The Muse: Understanding The Valuation Of Muse-Artists On The Contemporary Market, Mairi Alice Dun

MA in Art Business Dissertations

The label ‘muse,’ and the attention that comes with it, has kept female artists' names in the minds and institutions of the art world for the past 25 years. The word itself carries enough intrigue to make the women behind great male artists’s works interesting. However, in the past five or ten years, while other, formerly invisible, female artists have received a massive reevaluation in the market, and collectors have trended towards adding women to their collections, the art of female muses still trails that of their male counterparts by a large margin. The gendered value gap is not just …

How Have Emil Nolde’S Political Biographies Impacted His Market, From ‘Weimar Degenerate’ And ‘Dissident’, To ‘Complicit Antisemite’?, Samuel Goodwin-Hudson

MA in Art Business Dissertations

Emil Nolde is regarded as one of the most accomplished and innovative modernists. Celebrated for his varied iconographies expressed with thick, erratic brushstrokes, displaying highly saturated, non-naturalistic tonal contrasts, and pronounced, distorted forms. He often draws comparisons to Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. He died a national hero in Northern Germany, 1956, at 88 years of age. His oeuvre has inspired numerous artists, such as Georg Baselitz, Daniel Richter and Anselm Kiefer. Accordingly, his art has been exalted by institutions and converted by learned collectors, subsequently demanding huge sums.

The exhibition 'Emil Nolde. A German Legend. The Artist during …

Laws, Looting, And Legitimate Trade: The Effectiveness Of The Icc At Prosecuting Cultural Heritage Crimes From An Art Market Perspective, Kassidy Houlihan

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This dissertation is a legal analysis of cultural heritage crime prosecution at the International Criminal Court aimed for art market practitioners. It seeks to evaluate whether the ICC could be an effective means of prosecuting cultural heritage crime in a way that positively effects the art market. It closely reads the Rome Statute to determine how the cultural heritage crimes of looting and intentional destruction of cultural property could be charged at the ICC. It then uses the case studies of Prosecutor v. Al Mahdi and Prosecutor v. Al Hassan, the only two cultural heritage cases at the ICC to …

Artwork Or It-Bag? How Arts-Luxury Collaborations Impact Artist Cultural Visibility, Edwina Keary

MA in Art Business Dissertations

Since Marc Jacobs’ introduction to Louis Vuitton in 1997 and experimentation with artist collaboration, art and luxury collaboration has boomed. Over the years, customer demands have shifted in the wake of postmodern consumer culture, and brands must keep up with them to maintain their competitive advantage. The nature of collaborations has therefore shifted their focus to include experiences as well as products. Different collaboration types have a unique impact on both the brand and the artists involved. This research explores the impact of product versus experience-based collaboration on the cultural visibility of the artists involved through press coverage analysis. This …

Institutional Legitimation And Artistic Value In Portuguese Contemporary Art, Constança Maria Lobo De Castro Afonso

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This dissertation examines the mechanisms of institutional legitimation in the Portuguese art market, with main emphasis on museums, curatorial practices, media mediation and the ever-changing role of public participation. Drawing field theory (Bourdieu), art world sociology (Becker) and recent studies of media and symbolic capital, it positions Portugal as a ‘semi-peripheral’ market in which institutional framing and international infrastructures play a critical role in establishing value and reputation. The literature review shows that legitimacy is collectively produced by a constellation of actors, narratives and conventions, rather than solely by the intrinsic properties of artworks or straightforward market demand.

Through a …

Where The Muses Dwell Vs. Where The Muses Sell: How The Experiences Of Art World Professionals Reflect The Increasingly Blurred Boundaries Between Museums And Auction Houses From 1940-2008, Sara Marcus

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This dissertation aims to explore how the experiences of personnel who have crossed over from museums to auction houses reflect the increasingly porous boundaries between these traditionally separate cultural and commercial institutions. Utilizing a strong historical and theoretical foundation built upon a historicization of museums and auction houses as well as analyses of key philosophical and sociological concepts and discourse, this paper presents a critical examination of the role of art world professionals as case studies. Through qualitative analysis of interviews with three prolific and generalizable professionals from 1940-2008, fundamental themes emerge from the research that expose how the growing …

Female Ultra-Contemporary Artists: Rise And Career Trajectories, Alexie Talabard

MA in Art Business Dissertations

Over the past decade, ultra-contemporary women artists, those born after 1974, have gained important visibility and market success. Despite the attention they attract, there has been little academic research on why this rise has happened. This dissertation explores the factors behind their prominence, looking at how the art market, institutions, social movements and digital platforms, have shaped their success.

The study draws on literature, market data, case studies and interviews to situate these artists within both commercial and cultural contexts. It finds that their rise is not just a short-term trend but reflects broader shifts in the art world, including …

An Imperial Pivot: How The Qing Court Shaped The Kapāla And Its Global Value, Haiyi Wang

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This thesis examines the journey of the kapāla, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual skull cup, from a sacred implement to a global commodity. It argues that the modern identity, display, and commercial value of the kapāla in the Western world are not a natural extension of its original religious meaning but are fundamentally a product of its aesthetic and political re-creation by the Qing imperial court. This study posits the Qing court's intervention as the "decisive pivot" that systematically replaced the object's native "religious value system," based on ritual efficacy, with a new "imperial value system" rooted in craftsmanship, precious materials, …

Imitation In Eastern Art Auction Markets: A Comparative Study Of Digital Strategies Under Institutional Isomorphism, Yutong Wu

MA in Art Business Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Maintaining Trust In Uncertain Times: Funding Pauses And The Ethical Cost To Community-Engaged Research, Brynn E. Sheehan

Department Psychiatry & Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Federal funding pauses, once considered rare, are increasingly disrupting the stability and continuity of community‐engaged research. Even projects with active, awarded grants are experiencing the strain of funding uncertainty, raising substantive concerns among research teams and community partners. These disruptions extend beyond operational delays; they jeopardize the continuity of relationships developed through sustained, collaborative engagement. In the absence of clear information about a project's future, uncertainty undermines trust and challenges the ethical principles that guide human subjects research, particularly beneficence and justice. This paper draws on direct experience and insights from the broader field to examine the practical and ethical …

Improving Pediatric Emergency Department Lethal Means Safety Documentation Rates For Adolescents With Mental Health Concerns, Cassandra L. Stegall, Ana-Maria Mcgill, John Fanton, Paul C. Mullan

Department Psychiatry & Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Introduction:

Lethal means safety counseling (LMSC) is recommended for children presenting to the emergency department (ED) for a mental health (MH) evaluation. Currently, no gold-standard guidelines exist for documenting LMSC in the ED.

Methods:

This quality improvement project was conducted in the ED of a tertiary children's hospital. Baseline data were analyzed for access to any LMSC documentation (ALD) for "firearms/guns," "sharps," or "medication," and for complete LMSC documentation (CLD) if access to all 3 types was documented. The first intervention period added open-ended screening questions about access to lethal means to the MH-licensed clinical social worker note template. Intervention …

When Prices Spike: Identifying Excessive Volatility In Fertilizer Markets, Feng Yao, Manuel A. Hernandez

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Sharp and volatile fertilizer price movements can hinder adoption and reduce agricultural productivity, especially among vulnerable smallholders. Using a nonparametric location-scale approach to model price returns, we quantify the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) - the high return threshold exceeded with low probability - to identify excessive price spikes in potash, urea, and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) markets. We use the bias-corrected estimator from Martins-Filho et al. (2018) and propose a simpler estimator based on Hill (1975). Backtesting results indicate superior performance of the Hill-based estimator, supporting its value as a convenient method for detecting unusual fertilizer price surges amid recurring global volatility.

Nonparametric Estimation Of Smooth Coefficients In Fixed-Effect Panel Data Models, Taining Wang, Feng Yao, Jun Cai

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

We propose a kernel-based nonparametric estimator for a smooth coefficient panel data model with fixed effects. Without requiring a zero sum of fixed effects, we propose an estimator that is easy to construct and computationally efficient. Eliminating the fixed effects through a local within transformation, we perform a local linear estimation for the coefficient functions associated with time varying variables and associated derivatives. We further estimate the intercept coefficient function, if present, through a difference of kernel weighted averages. We characterize the estimator’s asymptotic properties under a large-n and large-T framework. We demonstrate that the estimator is not asymptotically equivalent …

Impact Of Cigarette Smoke On Immune And Stromal Cells, Justin Wong

Master's Projects

Cigarette smoke is a plight on human health, being a major contributor to lung diseases. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) directs immune regulation and metabolic adaptation in response to environmental toxins. This study investigates transcriptomic changes between wild-type and AHR knockout mouse lung tissue under smoke and air conditions. Single-cell RNA sequencing data were generated by the Butcher Lab and analyzed in Seurat for differential gene expression (DGE) analysis. A two way ANOVA framework was used with DGE analysis to classify genes as smoke induced or suppressed in an AHR dependent or independent manner, and these gene sets were analyzed …

Safe-R2r: A Safety-Aware And Budget-Optimized Retrieval Controller For Rag Systems, Mandar Sunil Gondane

Master's Projects

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) improves factual grounding in large language models by incorporating external evidence during inference. However, most RAG systems rely on fixed retrieval strategies that ignore query difficulty, computational cost, and prediction uncertainty. This project introduces SAFE-R2R (Safety-Aware and Budget-Optimized Reason-to-Retrieve), a retrieval controller that treats retrieval as a query-dependent decision problem. SAFE-R2R organizes retrieval into a multi-rung ladder ranging from no retrieval to deeper retrieval with reranking. At each rung, the system generates an answer, computes reliability signals, and combines them into a risk score used within a conformal calibration framework to decide whether to accept the answer …

Experiencing Followership: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of Executive Assistants In Higher Education, Trina R. Smith

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The burgeoning study of followership needs more follower-centric qualitative research that describes follower beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and experiences. The traditional view of leadership is that a single person is responsible for the success or failure of a project, team, or organization. However, scholars have suggested that 80% of the success of a team or organization may be attributed to followership. Followership research is rapidly expanding, and scholars are calling for more empirical follower-centric research to add to the discipline. Likewise, the executive assistant (EA) position is one of increasing responsibility, but there are few empirical studies on EAs' experiences across …

From Panels To Power: Empowering Middle Schoolers Through Comics, Ali Geigerman

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores how craftivism, grounded in feminist theory and informed by multiliteracies, can be used to disrupt and reclaim the traditionally male-dominated genre of comics for girls and non-binary students. While the New London Group’s concept of multiliteracies expands definitions of literacy to include visual, spatial, and multimodal forms of meaning-making, it does not fully address questions of power, representation, and voice. Drawing specifically on the work of bell hooks as a theoretical anchor, this study positions comics not only as legitimate multiliterate texts but also as sites of feminist intervention. By blending multiliteracies, feminism, and craftivism, this research …

Subliminal Nature: Dialogues In Performance, Carlos A. Carvajal

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

I will discuss how my artwork sets for the development of various layers of experience within the same context and space, to stimulate the subconscious of the audience. This layering is a combination of stimuli of senses (the inclusion of sound and active participation) and the syntax of the dynamics of audience interaction. Sound and visuals create a performance to acknowledge and read, while also pertaining to participation by a sort of instruction for the viewer to partake in the work. These are all different layers of experience that happen simultaneously within a piece, setting up different possible outcomes from …

Statistical Quality Control: A Bayesian Framework, Jakia Jaber Tunal

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In many industries, it is important to assess whether a machine or system is operating within acceptable limits or has gone out of control. This project applies Bayesian statistics to monitor a process over time and detect changes in its behavior. First, initial data are collected to understand the system’s typical performance and to form a starting prior distribution. As new observations arrive over time, the prior is updated through Bayesian inference, combining past information with incoming data. This iterative updating creates a continuous monitoring framework that adapts as more evidence becomes available. When the updated results suggest that the …