Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Algorithmic Bias: Causes And Effects On Marginalized Communities, Katrina M. Baha

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Individuals from marginalized backgrounds face different healthcare outcomes due to algorithmic bias in the technological healthcare industry. Algorithmic biases, which are the biases that arise from the set of steps used to solve or analyze a problem, are evident when people from marginalized communities use healthcare technology. For example, many pulse oximeters, which are the medical devices used to measure oxygen saturation in the blood, are not able to accurately read people who have darker skin tones. Thus, people with darker skin tones are not able to receive proper health care due to their pulse oximetry data being inaccurate. This …

Mining The Soma Cube For Gems: Isomorphic Subgraphs Reveal Equivalence Classes, Edward Vogel, My Tram

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Soma cubes are an example of a dissection puzzle, where an object is broken down into pieces, which must then be reassembled to form either the original shape or some new design. In this paper, we present some interesting discoveries regarding the Soma Cube. Equivalence classes form aesthetically pleasing shapes in the solution set of the puzzle. These gems are identified by subgraph isomorphisms using SNAP!/Edgy, a simple block-based computer programming language. Our preliminary findings offer several opportunities for researchers from middle school to undergraduate to utilize graphs, group theory, topology, and computer science to discover connections between computation and …

Gender Gap In Computer Science: An Invitational Rhetoric Study, Cindy Ramirez

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project will address the gender gap in computer science through a discourse analysis of materials used to attract young girls to the field. Applying Invitational Rhetoric, Foss and Griffin’s feminist rhetorical theory, I will determine how rhetoric is being used to attract or possibly dissuade young females from entering computer science. Women have contributed to the field of computer science beginning in the 19th century even though computers were not yet invented. Considered the world’s first programmer, Ada Lovelace helped pioneer the first modern computer science concepts, and many of the same ideas we use today, like variables and …

Data Visualization And Infographics Design Art404g/Dsp Xxx, Harrison Dekker

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Engagement And Computational Thinking Through Creative Coding, Dana Hoppe

Honors Theses

Rising enrollments in Computer Science pose an opportunity to engage students from diverse backgrounds and interests; and a challenge to deliver on positive learning outcomes. While student engagement is the driving factor for increased learning performance and retention, it has been declining to new lows for Computer Science students in recent years. In order to further explore the potential of contextualized computing as a tool for increasing engagement in computing and developing Computational Thinking aptitude in students, we have developed an introductory computing course contextualized with Art and Design with modules centered around guiding pedagogical principles and aimed at middle …

Examination Of Practices Used By Ap Computer Science Teachers With Higher Than Average Female Enrollment, Derek J. Miller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the practices employed by AP Computer Science A teachers that can help recruit and retain female students in computer science. A survey was sent to teachers to see what practices they used in their classrooms and what practices they thought had the biggest influence on female student recruitment and retention. Of the five practice categories (recruitment, pedagogical, curricular, extracurricular, and mentoring), the survey respondents thought recruitment was the most influential and curricular was the least influential. After the survey, 12 teachers were chosen for interviews because they had a higher enrollment of female students than the rest …

Interview Of Stephen Andrilli, Ph.D., Stephen Francis Andrilli Ph.D., Jane Highley

All Oral Histories

Stephen Francis Andrilli was born in August 1952 in Bryn Mawr, PA. He was born to Francis and Leatrice Andrilli. Dr. Andrilli is the oldest of four children; his three sisters are Carol (now Carol Strosser), Patricia (now Patricia Kempczynski), and Barbara (now Barbara Parkes). Aside from a few years of living in Gettysburg, Dr. Andrilli has lived in the Philadelphia area for most of his life. He attended St. Jerome School, where he finished 8th grade. He then attended LaSalle College High School, where he graduated in 1969 at age 16. He entered La Salle University (formerly La Salle …

Access Granted: A Study Of The Factors Affecting The Development Of Technology Literacy In Black Males, Carlton Bernard Bell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

One of the most urgent challenges of the digital divide is the need to expand technology literacy. Access to technology was believed to be one of the causes for the discrepancy that exists, but there is a deeper divide: the divide that exists between technology literacy, and career readiness. Although access to technology has improved over time, the educational outcomes for Black males in related fields have not. A critical area of concern is the lack of a Black male professional presence in technology fields, which has serious implications for the future of our society. These implications include a less …

An Interview With The Scorpion: Walter O’Brien, Walter O'Brien

The STEAM Journal

An interview with Walter O'Brien (hacker handle: "Scorpion"), known as a businessman, information technologist, executive producer, and media personality who is the founder and CEO of Scorpion Computer Services, Inc. O'Brien is also the inspiration for and executive producer of the CBS television series, Scorpion.

Algorithmic Music Composition And Accompaniment Using Neural Networks, Daniel Wilton Risdon

Senior Projects Spring 2016

The goal of this project was to use neural networks as a tool for live music performance. Specifically, the intention was to adapt a preexisting neural network code library to work in Max, a visual programming language commonly used to create instruments and effects for electronic music and audio processing. This was done using ConvNetJS, a JavaScript library created by Andrej Karpathy.

Several neural network models were trained using a range of different training data, including music from various genres. The resulting neural network-based instruments were used to play brief pieces of music, which they used as input to create …

Interview Of Margaret Mccoey, M.S., Margaret M. Mccoey, Matthew Riffe

All Oral Histories

Margaret “Peggy” McCoey is the Director of Graduate Programs in Computer Information Science, Information Technology, and Economic Crime Forensics at La Salle University. Born in the Oxford Circle section of Philadelphia in 1957, Peggy grew up in St. Martin of Tours parish attending their grade school before going to Little Flower High School. After graduation in 1975, Peggy entered La Salle University an undergraduate where she received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Peggy received a master’s degree from Villanova in 1984. Beginning in 1982, Peggy McCoey has taught at La Salle University in some capacity. Throughout the 1990’s, Peggy …

Connecting The Disciplinary Dots: Faculty Attitudes Toward The Professionalization Of Web Development, Kathleen Mary Kalata

Dissertations

Professionalization offers rewards such as prestige, financial benefits and autonomy. Fields such as nursing and social work have undergone the professionalization process. This exploratory study examined faculty attitudes regarding the professionalization of web development as defined by the Hall model of professionalism. The purpose of the study was to understand how faculty view web development as a profession. Based on the Hall’s Professionalism Scale (1968) and modified survey by Snizek (1972), the Web Development Professionalism Inventory (WDPI) was used to explore faculty attitudes toward professionalization.

This study surveyed faculty about their views on the structural and attitudinal components of web …

The Meaning Of Music-Making For Computer Scientists With A Serious Musing-Making Avocation: A Phenomenological Case Study, Varda Shaked

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study explores the meaning of music-making in the lives of computer scientists who play classical music as their serious avocation. In particular, it investigates their tendencies and capacities to concurrently engage in two such distinct disciplines on a regular basis, by exploring the cognitive, social, and cultural aspects of their concurrent engagement. While current research literature approaches the affinities between mathematicians/scientists and musicians through the presence of mathematical properties of music and through anecdotal evidence involving known persona and their innovations, this study provides a deeper look at the individuals who combine such worlds, in order to better understand …

Computer Skills, Gender, And Technostress In Higher Education, Sonya Shepherd

Sonya S. Gaither

The creation of computer software and hardware, telecommunications, databases, and the Internet has affected society as a whole, and particularly higher education by giving people new productivity options and changing the way they work (Hulbert, 1998). In the so-called “information age” the increasing use of technology has become the driving force in the way people work, learn, and play (Drake, 2000). As this force evolves, the people using technology change also (Nelson, 1990). Adapting to technology is not simple. Some people tend to embrace change while others resist change (Wolski & Jackson, 1999). Before making a decision on whether to …