University of Southern Mississippi
Aquila Digital Community (University of Southern Mississippi, USM)Not a member yet
11361 research outputs found
Sort by
A Stakeholder-Focused Strategy for Developing and Executing Smart Safety Systems for Construction Sites
No full textThis paper explores the development and implementation of the Smart Site Safety System (4S) with artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) technologies from the perspectives of various stakeholders in the construction industry. It aims to shed light on the voluntary adoption of the 4S as a safety benchmark on construction sites by examining the views of developers and contractors, assessing implementation processes, identifying potential challenges, and suggesting relevant training initiatives. Preliminary work was conducted at two active construction sites in collaboration with selected innovation and technology firms. This approach offered several advantages, including comprehensive testing, leveraging established business relationships, and minimizing initial development costs. The first interview took place during the installation phase of the project, with a follow-up interview conducted nine months later. This systematic method helped mitigate risks, address relevant requirements, and overcome implementation obstacles. Furthermore, the participating companies are committed to ongoing research, incorporating VR training sessions with AI monitoring designed to leverage workers’ expertise and ensure effective role alignment within the 4S framework. This research positions the 4S initiative within the context of educational technologies, demonstrating its effectiveness in promoting self-directed learning and skill development through analyses of interviews. The interviewees include safety officers, centralized management platform operators, and the programming team members. This forward-thinking approach addresses the industry\u27s urgent need for capacity building and skill enhancement, supporting a smooth transition to a safer and more sustainable workplace
Mercury Concentrations, Health, and Marine Food Consumption across Four Eastern Caribbean Populations: Insights from a Novel Community-based Study
No full textMercury (Hg), as an environmental pollutant, can have harmful effects on human health. A common way that people are exposed to Hg is through seafood consumption. This project was designed to investigate Hg exposure through seafood consumption and its health effects among adults in 4 Caribbean countries: Barbados (n = 117), Grenada (n = 90), St. Lucia (n = 126), and St. Vincent & the Grenadines (n = 77). We applied a novel, community—based method, which involved recruiting and paying local barbers and hairstylists to collect hair samples from their clients who consented to join the project as participants. Participants also completed surveys with questions focused on their demographics, diet, and heath. Hair samples were analyzed for total Hg using a Direct Mercury Analyzer resulting in the following Hg concentrations (mean ± sd): Barbados, 2.32 ± 3.51 ppm (after the removal of one extreme outlier of 1,136 ppm); Grenada, 1.22 ± 1.54 ppm; St. Lucia, 1.10 ± 1.47 ppm; and St. Vincent & the Grenadines, 2.74 ± 4.20 ppm. Of the data on demographics, dietary history, and health history, only country of residence and sex were found to be correlated significantly with Hg concentrations. We conclude with the hypothesis that other factors in addition to seafood consumption may affect Hg exposure in these 4 Caribbean countries and that further research into more complex Hg pathways is needed in the region. This project highlights the value of community partnerships in research design and its findings indicate the complex sources of Hg exposure within human populations
Sensory Awareness in Architectural Design and Construction: A Guide to Inclusion and Hospitality for All
No full textModern approaches to architectural design and construction have gravitated toward elegance, glossiness, and over exaggeration of a bright environment through materials such as marble, glass, white paint, and fluorescent lighting. While these choices can be alluring, their impact on individuals with disabilities and sensory processing disorders is typically dismissed. This study explores the intersection of architectural elements — such as lighting, noise, scent, and spatial organization — and sensory overload in disabled individuals. Through a detailed literature review, education of architectural principles, and incorporation of building techniques, this study proposes a computer-generated three-dimensional model of a shopping center. The primary focus area is a boutique, selected due to its stereotypical lack of sensory awareness in commercial avenues. This space will incorporate features that highlight where accessibility and inclusion meet architectural design and construction. Sensory considerations will be prioritized for lighting and noise, wayfinding, and aroma presence. This model and research aim to provide a conceptual influence for future designers, to ensure inclusion and hospitality for all customers. Further, it is the hope that this model and research will emphasize the amount of work that is still to be done on making buildings inclusive in addition to accessible
Reflecting on Racial Microaggressions: The Impact on Food Consumption in Minority Women
No full textU.S. laws, policies, and practices have been implemented to reduce forms of overt racism and discrimination. These structural barriers have been effective (e.g., Dovido & Gaertner, 2000; McConahay, 1986; Sue & Sue, 2007). Covert forms of racism, however, including racial microaggressions, are more difficult to address using structural changes and, therefore, continue to thrive (Omi & Winant 1994; Sue et al., 2007). Racist attitudes and discriminatory behaviors are sources of anxiety and stress (Kogan et al., 2014; Pascoe & Richman, 2009) with long-term anxiety and stress leading to elevated risks for mental and physical illnesses, including obesity (Bose et al., 2009; Williams, 2018) that puts individuals at risk for other preventable chronic diseases (Phelan & Link, 2015). Unhealthy dietary choices, as well, are linked to suppression of emotion following stressful events (Leow et al., 2018; Gibson, 2006; Evers et al., 2010). What is not known is whether covert forms of racism and discrimination, particularly experiencing or even just witnessing racial microaggressions, impact dietary choices, and whether healthy versus unhealthy emotion regulation techniques mitigate the impact on dietary choices. Findings from this study indicated that instructions to engage in perseverative thinking compared to expressive writing about a racial microaggression resulted in the consumption of more food by the thinking group. Emotional eating, but not cognitive reappraisal or emotion suppression, interacted with condition such that those who scored higher on emotional eating and who were in the thinking group ate substantially more than other groups
Perceptions, Efficacy, and Adaptation of Online Learning in Physics and Chemistry Education
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic forced a sudden shift to online learning in Physics and Chemistry in Singapore. As restrictions eased, researchers explored its impact through interviews with instructors and analysis of student data made available through a data lake managed by the National University of Singapore’s Institute for Applied Learning Sciences and Educational Technology. Interviews focused on instructor adaptation and beliefs about online teaching, while the data investigated student perceptions and changes in teaching efficacy pre- and post-pandemic. Analysis of the students’ course feedback indicated that Course Code C005 received more positive feedback from students, particularly towards the instructor’s effectiveness in teaching compared to before the pandemic, while Course Code C006 experienced a decline in students’ experience in the same category. From the interviewees’ feedback, most of the course instructors prioritized safety over pedagogical preferences
Development of E-Module Based on Game-Based Learning to Enhance Students\u27 Conceptual Understanding and Interest in Vibration and Wave Concept
No full textThis study aims to determine the effect of using a Game-Based Learning e-module on improving students\u27 conceptual understanding and learning interest. The research employed the Research and Development (R&D) method using the ADDIE development model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). The developed e-module was tested on eighth-grade students. Conceptual understanding was measured based on seven indicators: interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining. Learning interest was analyzed through four indicators: interest and enjoyment in the material, motivation to learn, focus and attention during the learning process, and the level of participation, enthusiasm, and involvement of students. Data were collected through tests, questionnaires, and observations, and analyzed using the N-gain and Wilcoxon tests. The results showed that all indicators of conceptual understanding had an average N-gain score of 0.5, categorized as moderate, with a significance value of \u3c 0.005. Meanwhile, learning interest indicators had an average N-gain score of 0.6, also in the moderate category, with a significance value of \u3c 0.005. The conclusion of this research that using a Game-Based Learning e-module is effective in improving students\u27 conceptual understanding and learning interest
A Story of Life Through Death: An Osteobiography of Two Individuals from the Late Saxon Period
No full textThe Anglo-Saxons were the most influential inhabitants of the British Isles in the years AD 450-1066, reigning during a time marked by much warfare, pestilence, and famine. Their impact on British history is still seen through archival materials as well as the archeological and bioarchaeological records. A recent development in the field of bioarchaeology is the osteobiography, which places skeletal analysis in context of the overall culture to create the most complete interpretation of the individual and their life history. Involving both traditional bioarchaeological evaluation and isotopic analysis, this method was applied to two Anglo-Saxon skulls donated to the University of Southern Mississippi in 2023. They had originally been recovered near Cambridgeshire, England, in the late 1960s in a cemetery revealed during housing construction.
Individual #1 was a male and Individual #2 a probable female. Both exhibited typical Anglo-Saxon features and were 50-65+ years old at death. They lived in the region of Cambridgeshire for their entire lives and enjoyed diets consisting mostly of wheat, barley, and roasted meats. Individual #1 experienced some metabolic stress as a child but likely was well-nourished as an adult. In contrast, Individual #2 had scurvy as an adult but showed no evidence of malnutrition as a child. Both exhibited minor dental pathology but otherwise had no other signs of disease or trauma. Overall, this study demonstrates how the information that can be found from only analyzing the skull can be used to create a life history, returning identity and autonomy to the individual
A Study on Deepsea Fish Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks
No full textThis study investigates automated deep-learning methodologies for two primary tasks, firstly fish and its habitat classification and deep-sea fish detection using the DeepFish dataset. A pretrained ResNet-50 model attained a validation accuracy of 82.8% for multi-class habitat classification, demonstrating robust performance in most habitats based on 6,517 images, although exhibiting lower recall for visually similar or underrepresented classes. A binary ResNet-50 classifier achieved 99.8% accuracy in distinguishing fish from. no-fish images using approximately 40,000 images. The YOLOv5s model, trained on 4,505 images containing 15,463 bounding-box annotations, achieved a mean average precision ([email protected]) of 98.2% All models were trained on the SeaHawk computing cluster with four GPUs. These findings highlight promising directions for future research in video-based modeling, semi-supervised learning and efficient marine edge computing
Group Behavioral Skills Training to Promote Preschool Teachers\u27 Use of PRIDE Skills
No full textEarly childhood educators report that challenging behavior is a common concern and report low levels of training and confidence in utilizing behavior management strategies to prevent and decrease instances of disruptive behavior. The literature demonstrates that Teacher Child Interaction Training (TCIT) is an effective behavior management intervention. However, it’s mutli-component nature makes the intervention time and resource intensive. Similarly, traditional behavioral skills training is an effective implementation support modality for training educator but is also time and resource intensive when multiple educators require support for challenging behaviors in the classroom. The current study utilized a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design to assess the effectiveness of behavioral skills training with small groups of Early Head Start (EHS) educators (i.e., groups of two educators) how to implement PRIDE skills, a component of TCIT, with target children referred due to disruptive behaviors during centers time. Results demonstrated an increase in EHS educators’ aggregate use of PRIDE skills during the 5-minute special time observations. Target children also demonstrated decreases or maintenance of disruptive behaviors at a low level and increases or maintenance of appropriately engaged behaviors at a high level as their educator’s aggregate use of PRIDE skills increased. All three educators rated group behavioral skills training as a socially valid implementation support and rated PRIDE as acceptable, feasible, and effective for their children. Results of this study indicate that consultants may feasibly implement group behavior skills training to train small groups of EHS educators in the use of PRIDE skills