Digital Commons Network^™

Don’T Close The Book On Print: Mid-Term Return On Investment Of Print Books Purchased Under Different Acquisition Modes, Maria Savova, Candace Lebel

Library Staff Publications and Research

Five years ago we conducted a study on short-term return on investment in print books purchased under different acquisition modes. Unsurprisingly, the demand-driven purchases - and course readings in particular - showed the highest level of engagement and return on investment within the first year after purchase. Approximately a third of all titles purchased on approval and as firm orders also saw at least one use in the first year, and the titles that were used experienced an average of 2.5 circulations.

These results triggered some follow-up questions which we can now address with five years of additional data. Do …

Statistical Success: Three-Year Analysis Of Student Performance And Student Insights From A First-Year College Statistics Course, Jennifer Harris

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This study included quantitative and qualitative analysis of three years of students in an introductory college-level statistics course. The quantitative analysis focused on what aspects might be relevant to student success. The instructor and the modality appear to be significantly related to student success. Somewhat surprisingly, fully onsite courses had a lower success rate than online or partially online courses. The qualitative analysis focused on the student comments on end of course surveys for the same three years. These comments were categorized based on topic and then rated from -3 reflecting a strong negative feeling, through to +3 indicating a …

Enhance Collaborative Online Learning And Skill Building With Learning Activities Using Shared Templates, Heather Thomson

Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository

At the start of the semester, students begin by identifying a problem of interest and then work through a series of shared templates to develop a solution. Learning activities are collated into a final group presentation.

Racism Without Race: The Racialization Of Middle Eastern And North African Students At U.S. Colleges, Hannah Mesouani

Dissertations

Although a growing body of literature covers the experiences of international students at U.S. colleges, the stories of those who do not fit into the U.S. racial schema remain untold. This study examined how Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) students understood their racial identities given the United States’ tense history with Islam and the MENA world. Using foundational texts on critical race theory, current scholarship on Arab Americans and foreign-born students, and facets of the Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS), this study examined the experiences of MENA students who study amid a national backdrop of xenophobia and racialized Islamophobia. This …

The Journeys Of Women In Local Elected Office: From Community Engagement To Making Meaningful Contributions, Andrea Marr

Dissertations

Women remain underrepresented across every level of elected office in the United States. More than 30 years after the supposed “Year of the Woman,” women hold less than 30% of the elected positions in local, state, and federal office. In the past, researchers attributed the paucity of women in office to structural barriers, including sexism in the electorate, fundraising difficulties, and discrimination by party gate keepers. A growing body of research, however, attributes the dearth of female politicians to a lack of political ambition among women and to gender socialization that prevents women from seeing themselves as political leaders.

The …

Talking Back To The Elpac: Resilient Resistance And (Re)Imagining Through Ypart, Zulema Reynoso

Dissertations

Policies that label and track students based on language and race dismiss the voices and lived experiences of English learners (ELs) through forced fits and ideologies that devalue multiple languaging and ways of knowing. This qualitative study explores how an educator and 20 seventh-grade bi/multilingual Latinx students labeled long-term English learners (LTELs) reimagined how language is perceived, taught, and assessed across traditional schooling contexts and language policy landscapes. Drawing from LatCrit theory, Latina/Chicana feminisms, and dimensions of youth participatory action research (YPAR), this study centered both LTELs as jóvenes educados (dignified youth) and a conceptualized taller (studio space) to affirm …

Special Education: Inclusion And Exclusion In The K-12 U.S. Educational System, Erik Brault

Dissertations

The U.S. Department of Education defines students with disabilities as those having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities. Previous research has found that students with disabilities placed in inclusive environments perform better academically and socially compared to students with disabilities who are placed in segregated environments. Yet, we know that inclusion in K-12 general education classrooms across the country is not consistently implemented.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the effects, if any, of general education high school teachers’ personal and professional experiences and knowledge on their attitudes toward educating …

Queering Healthcare Equity: Exploring How Two Community Health Centers That Specialize In Lgbtq Healthcare Frame Cultural Competence, Tommy Royston

Dissertations

Despite increased advocacy and funding, significant inequities in healthcare access, quality of care, and health outcomes have continued to persist for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ) communities. Intersecting marginalized identities such as race, gender, and disability compound health inequities faced by LGBTQ folx. These inequities are not random; rather, they result from deeply embedded homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and racism that pervade the U.S. healthcare system. An exploratory comparative case study was completed using qualitative data collection methods (i.e., key informant interviews, focus groups, and document analysis) to investigate how two California-based Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) that specialize in …

Equalizing Postsecondary Transition For At-Promise Youth Receiving Special Education Services: A Chance To Succeed, Karla R. Sanchez

Dissertations

Postsecondary transition can be difficult for At-Promise Youth Receiving Special Education Services (APYRSES). Special educators supporting postsecondary transition often manifest traditional and institutionalized forms of oppressive education while dismissing collective values and beliefs.

This qualitative case study examined the beliefs and attitudes shared by three special education teachers after being introduced to a justice-focused, humanizing intervention to facilitate postsecondary transition for APYRSES. The conceptualized intervention was grounded in liberatory educational frameworks and drew from critical, culturally affirming, sustaining, and humanizing theories that foster cultural reciprocity, self-determination skills, and antiracist social–emotional justice learning to afford opportunities for APYRSES to succeed. The …

Analysis Of One Secondary School's Support Systems For Aspiring First-Generation Latinx College Students: A Case Study, Tiffany Cunningham

Dissertations

U.S. Census Bureau Report (2020c) showed Hispanic students constituted 18.5% of the U.S. population, 36% attended higher education and only 14% completed postsecondary education. Research has shown Hispanic, specifically Latinx, students faced barriers in accessing higher education’s hidden curriculum, compounded by deficit beliefs about their language, culture, and lack of family involvement (Kiyama, 2018; C. Martinez & Mendoza, 2020). Additionally, first-generation college students require college readiness skills, including specialized knowledge about college and measurable and immeasurable skills shown to support student success in college (Chlup et al., 2018; Duncheon, 2021; Morley et al., 2021). Despite secondary school supports like college …

Safeguarding From Scrutiny: Toward A Critical Consciousness Of Organizational Culture In Humanitarian Ngos, Andrew Henck

Dissertations

Humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (HNGOs) face a moment of reckoning brought on by decades of operational complexity and conceptual tensions between self-espoused values and external pressures as social change movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter demand organizational accountability. Humanitarian aid is being questioned systematically as most HNGOs continue reconciling with their colonialist origin stories from the Global North. Alongside a shrinking British foreign aid budget, and mounting pressures for proving value for money, HNGOs face a record number of natural disasters, energy crises, armed conflicts, and other major emergencies to respond to across the globe.

As the British aid sector …

The Development Of The Holistic Pastoral Wellbeing Assessment: A Mixed Methods Study, Timothy Captain

Dissertations

Some pastors are clearly in crisis. Research has indicated that clergy struggle to cope with the stressors of their profession. While pastoral work is overtly spiritual in nature, day-to-day tasks include interactions with God, themselves, congregants, and the world at large. Without multi-dimensional tools to consider their wellbeing, specifically assessments that reflect their worldview and role, pastors may remain unaware of dangerously low levels of wellbeing until they reach a place of crisis. Therefore, in this mixed methods study, the Holistic Pastoral Wellbeing Assessment (HPWA) was developed and tested to offer a validated, useful tool for pastors and those who …

Evaluation Of A Photodynamic Therapy Agent Using A Canine Prostate Cancer Model, Dong Luo, Xinning Wang, Gopalakrishnan Ramamurthy, Ethan Walker, Lifang Zhang, Aditi Shirke, Naraen G. Naidu, Clemens Burda, Lee Ponsky, James Basilion

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Male dogs can develop spontaneous prostate cancer, which is similar physiologically to human disease. Recently, Tweedle and coworkers have developed an orthotopic canine prostate model allowing implanted tumors and therapeutic agents to be tested in a more translational large animal model. We used the canine model to evaluate prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted gold nanoparticles as a theranostic approach for fluorescence (FL) imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT) of early stage prostate cancer.

Impact Of Long-Term Trauma Exposure On Competitiveness And Generosity, Anchal Khandelwal

Master's Theses

: Although half of all nations in the world have experienced armed conflict in the last 50 years, there is still a glaring lack of evidence on the persistent human costs of these conflicts. We exploit the quasi-random variation in abduction (Blattman and Annan 2009) and establish a control (neighboring) sub-county based on the intensity of exposure by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda to investigate the long-term impact of trauma exposure on competitiveness and generosity. We do this by conducting lab-in-field experiments on a sample of adult North Ugandan women and find that trauma exposure reduces competitiveness in …

Rare Autoimmune Disease Caused By Not-So Rare Virus, Tiffany Marchewka, Acho Bernard, Molly Kempa, Kathryn Heal, Joseph M. Fullmer

Conference Presentation Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Osteosarcoma Of The Larynx: A Case Report And Review Of Literature, Arup Ganguly, Rodolfo Garza, Vinayak Jain, Shravan Narmala

School of Medicine Publications

The most common malignant laryngeal tumors are squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), and other types such as sarcomas are rare. Osteosarcomas of the larynx are extremely rare within the subset of sarcomas, with very few cases reported in the literature. This cancer has a predilection for elderly males, in the sixth to eighth decades of life. Associated symptoms include hoarseness, stridor, and dyspnea. It is known to spread early and has a high rate of recurrence. We present the case of a 73-year-old male, a former smoker, who presented to the clinic with severe dyspnea and progressive hoarseness and was found …

Creating An Emulsion From Onions, Roisin Burke

Articles

No abstract provided.

Ecological Validity Of Immersive Virtual Environment Experiments On Human Thermal State And Behavioral Intentions: Experimental Protocol Factors, Girish Rentala

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Using immersive virtual environment (IVE) based experiments to investigate human thermal states and thermal adaptive behaviors during the building design phase could help identify potential comfort issues and enable designers to optimize building performance cost-effectively before the actual building construction. However, to effectively utilize IVEs to study thermal states/adaptive behaviors, it is crucial to ensure the ecological validity of IVE experiment protocols. This entails accurately representing in-situ (real) environments within IVEs and establishing comparability and generalizability of data collected under different thermal stimuli between IVE and in-situ environments. Existing thermal stimuli based IVE studies have not effectively evaluated the ecological …

The First Transcriptomic Atlas Of The Adult Lacrimal Gland Reveals Epithelial Complexity And Identifies Novel Progenitor Cells In Mice, Vanessa Delcroix, Olivier Mauduit, Hyun Soo Lee, Anastasiia Ivanova, Takeshi Umazume, Sarah M Knox, Cintia S De Paiva, Darlene A Dartt, Helen P Makarenkova

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The lacrimal gland (LG) secretes aqueous tears. Previous studies have provided insights into the cell lineage relationships during tissue morphogenesis. However, little is known about the cell types composing the adult LG and their progenitors. Using scRNAseq, we established the first comprehensive cell atlas of the adult mouse LG to investigate the cell hierarchy, its secretory repertoire, and the sex differences. Our analysis uncovered the complexity of the stromal landscape. Epithelium subclustering revealed myoepithelial cells, acinar subsets, and two novel acinar subpopulations: Tfrc^hi and Car6^hi cells. The ductal compartment contained Wfdc2+ multilayered ducts and an Ltf+ cluster formed …

Machine Learning-Based Aggression Detection In Children With Adhd Using Sensor-Based Physical Activity Monitoring, Catherine Park, Mohammad Dehghan Rouzi, Md Moin Uddin Atique, M G Finco, Ram Kinker Mishra, Griselda Barba-Villalobos, Emily Crossman, Chima Amushie, Jacqueline Nguyen, Chadi Calarge, Bijan Najafi

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Aggression in children is highly prevalent and can have devastating consequences, yet there is currently no objective method to track its frequency in daily life. This study aims to investigate the use of wearable-sensor-derived physical activity data and machine learning to objectively identify physical-aggressive incidents in children. Participants (n = 39) aged 7 to 16 years, with and without ADHD, wore a waist-worn activity monitor (ActiGraph, GT3X+) for up to one week, three times over 12 months, while demographic, anthropometric, and clinical data were collected. Machine learning techniques, specifically random forest, were used to analyze patterns that identify physical-aggressive incident …

Application Of Social Media In Marketing Library Resources And Services At Kyambogo University Library, Uganda, Eric Keziron Oloo, David Luyombya

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined the application of social media (SM) in marketing library resources and services at Kyambogo University Library (KYUL). The study adopted a mixed method utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The study revealed that: KYUL uses WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to market its resources and services. Other channels were Websites, emails, displays of new information resources, flyers, newsletters, user orientations, posters, and exhibitions. SM is considered a vital library marketing platform. However, the respondents raised various impediments to successful SM at KYUL. Based on the findings the study made conclusions and recommendations.

How Exemplary Chief Nurse Executives Utilize The Six Domains Of Conflict Transformational Strategies To Establish Common Ground And Produce Breakthrough Results, Michael Thompson

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological method study was to identify and describe strategies that exemplary chief nurse executive leaders use to identify and establish common grounds to produce breakthrough results in healthcare by using the six domains of transformational conflict strategies: collaboration, communication, emotional intelligence, ethical behaviors, problem solving, and shared interest.

Methodology: As a part of the thematic phenomenological study, the research identified and described the lived experiences of eight exemplary chief nurse executive leaders in health care who used conflict transformational strategies to find common ground to produce breakthrough results. The target population for the study included …

How Exemplary Elementary School Principals Establish Common Ground And Produce Breakthrough Results By Using The Six Domains Of Conflict Transformational Strategies, Monica Berro

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological conceptual replication study was to discover and describe how exemplary elementary school principals establish common ground and produce breakthrough results by using the six domains of conflict transformational strategies: collaboration, communication, emotional intelligence, ethical behavior, problem solving, and shared interest.

Methodology: This qualitative phenomenological conceptual replication study discovered and described the lived experiences of eight exemplary elementary school principals on how they used the six domains of conflict transformational strategies with their stakeholders to produce breakthrough results. Participants led public elementary schools in Los Angeles and Orange counties in California. Data were collected using …

Definition And Characteristic Features Of A ‘Cultural Flashpoint’: A Case Study Of Exploring Masculinities, A Controversial Gender And Education Programme In Ireland, Joan Hanafin, Paul Conway, Cormac O Beaglaoich, Jack Hanafin

Articles

The concept ‘cultural flashpoint’ (CF) has not been fully defined or described. The authors test this concept through the prism of a controversial gender-focused Irish school programme, Exploring Masculinities (EM). Adopting an instrumental case study methodology, they use media content analysis to develop a temporal trajectory of the CF, describe its shape, explicit and implied contentious themes, and its process. They identify characteristic features of a cultural flashpoint: (i) a focal issue, event and/or object; (ii) conflict; (iii) bounded time period; (iv) the involvement of exo- and multi-sectoral individuals and groups; (v) randomness, opaqueness and conflation among its expressions; and …

May 20th Letter From Chuck To Glennis, Chuck Yeager

0455: Brigadier General Chuck Yeager Collection, 1923-1987

Letter in which Chuck describes to Glennis his daily activities, along with plans to improve Don Yeager's military assignment.

Commencement 2023: Speech By Distinguished Professor Of The Year Bruce Huber, Bruce R. Huber

Commencement Programs

Professor of Law Bruce Huber, selected by Notre Dame Law School’s Class of 2023 as Distinguished Professor of the Year, delivered the following speech to the class during the Law School’s Hooding Ceremony on May 20, 2023, in Purcell Pavilion.

Commencement 2023

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Commencement 2023, Taylor University

Commencement

The program of the 2023 Annual Commencement of Taylor University, May 20, 2023.

Covid-19 Pandemic: Lived Experiences Of Teachers Supporting Students’ Socialemotional Learning Needs Upon Returning To Face-To-Face Instruction, Valerie Cover

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of San Bernardino County elementary school teachers in supporting students' social-emotional learning needs upon returning to face-to-face instruction after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology: This phenomenological study identified and described San Bernardino County elementary school teachers' experiences supporting students' social-emotional needs upon returning to face-to-face instruction after the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were purposively chosen based on specific criteria of working in a public kindergarten through sixth grade setting within San Bernardino County. The participants answered 15 semi-structured questions. The transcribed data collected by the researcher during the …

Villanova University Charles Widger School Of Law Commencement Program - Class Of 2023, Class Of 2023

Villanova University School of Law Commencements

The Program for the Commencement Exercises of the 68th graduating class of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law in 2023