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A Window Into The Adolescent Mind: Can Cognitive Transformation Protect Against The Effect Of Peer Victimization On Adolescent Depressive Symptoms?
No full textPeer victimization becomes more common during adolescence and is recognized as a public health concern. Although past research links peer victimization to depressive symptoms, less is known about cognitive moderates for this association. Thus, the current study examines the association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms in high school adolescents and assesses cognitive transformation as a moderator (i.e., adaptive cognitive shift leading to a newfound perspective in the face of a life-altering event). Participants were 388 ninth graders who completed surveys assessing peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and a turning point narrative across one year. Regression analysis showed that ninth-grade peer victimization significantly predicted 10th-grade depressive symptoms, however, cognitive transformation did not significantly moderate this relationship. These findings signify the power of bullying and its long-term effects on high school adolescents as they transition to high school and the need to further explore protective cognitive factors
Advancing Road Safety Through Software-Defined Vehicles
No full textRoad traffic accidents are a significant global concern, claiming approximately 1.3 million lives annually and causing non-fatal injuries to 20–50 million people, many of which result in long-term disabilities. They are the leading cause of death for individuals aged 5–29 and impose a substantial economic burden, costing most countries 3% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In addition to car accidents, other types of road incidents, such as collisions involving tall vehicles and overpasses, also pose significant risks. These accidents result in numerous fatalities and cause millions of dollars in damages annually. Environmental conditions like wet or icy roads and poor visibility further increase the likelihood of accidents. Crashes are particularly frequent during rush hours and late-night hours, with intersections being especially hazardous, accounting for over 50% of urban road accidents. Weather also plays a significant role, with rain increasing crash rates by up to 34% and snow or ice exacerbating the risks. These trends underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions to improve road safety worldwide. Our research focuses on innovative approaches to minimize accidents and save lives. First, we propose SafeOverPass, a low-clearance warning system that uses edge computing and machine learning to provide critical alerts to drivers of tall vehicles. Second, we developed a method for determining a vehicle’s position using real-time data from an On-Board Diagnostic II (OBD-II) Vehicle Interface, addressing challenges posed by GPS signal loss. Third, we implemented a data-driven approach that integrates historical intersection accident data with real-time traffic information to reduce the likelihood of intersection accidents along a vehicle’s route. Lastly, recognizing the importance of rapid emergency response, we designed a mathematical model leveraging historical and real-time data to optimally position ambulances at and near intersections, minimizing response times and improving survival outcomes
Tax Foreclosure, Racialized Dispossession, And Belonging In Post-2008 Detroit
No full textSince 2008, Wayne County has issued more than 400,000 foreclosure notices to property owners in the City of Detroit for falling three years behind on their taxes, resulting in the yearly bloom each January of yellow-bagged foreclosure notices taped to doors or stapled to wooden stakes pounded into the frozen ground. Detroit’s sizable Black population living at or near poverty has felt the greatest impact of the yearly Wayne County tax foreclosure auction. This dissertation project seeks to understand the Wayne County tax foreclosures not simply as a mundane state process, but rather as a form of racialized dispossession. Drawing on Critical Race Theory and Marxist understandings of dispossession, this dissertation examines the Wayne County tax foreclosures and resulting demolitions, using public records data from 2008-2024. The data is geocoded to create maps showing where and when the foreclosures and demolitions took place. By drawing on the fields of sociology, history, law, and critical geography, this dissertation will contribute to understandings of wealth extraction from communities of color, the legacy housing discrimination, and community belonging
Black Joy Chasing: Fighting The Failing School Construct Using Ypar To Investigate Black Joy
No full textMany schools in Detroit’s inner-city are labeled as “failing schools.” Failing schools have been forced to develop plans and alter curricula for the purpose of increasing the proficiency of students. In many cases, students are subjected to a strict instruction-filled daily schedule, intensive intervention blocks, scripted curricula, and a reduction of elective classes, and enrichment activities. When schools are targeted as “failing schools,” in many cases the schools are closed, bouncing the students from one failing school to another. The idea of school accountability was made popular with the publication of A Nation At-risk. Since then there has been an ever-increasing push for more accountability in the Public School sector; disproportionately affecting the nation’s most vulnerable populations, the urban communities. As a result, the nation’s urban areas are now filled with a plethora of failing school options for children to attend. Many inner-city, majority Black schools lack the necessary components to build a love for learning and hence fail at creating a sense of optimism in students. How can Black Joy be utilized to emancipate children’s self-image in failing schools? The purpose of this study is to change the narrative and to switch the focus from what we know about failing schools to highlighting that the label of “failing “schools” is nothing more than a construct and that the young people who occupy these schools are more than the sum of their accountability assessment. Situating BlackCrit, and Social Cognitive Theory to guide the discourse; this research aims to center Black students, making them co-collaborators of the research using Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) in a writing class as a way of liberation to present an authentic picture of Black Joy
You Have To Listen Differently: Identifying African American Rhetoric & Discourse In Patient-Provider Communication
No full textMy dissertation brings a linguistic justice framework to the study of patient-provider communication, a vital area of study in health and medicine research. My work explores how African American rhetoric shows up in conversations between African American patients and their providers. Communication between providers and Black patients tends to be of poorer quality (in comparison to white patients and patients of other races), detrimentally impacting health outcomes. Thus, I argue that attending to African American rhetorical practices in these conversations justifies the need to analyze patient-provider communication through a lens of linguistic justice
The Importance Of Parental Involvement And Parent-Partnership Strategies To Support Student Academic-Perceptions Of Teachers, Administrators, And Parents During The Middle School Years 2024-25 Of 6th -8th Grade.
No full textABSTRACTTHE IMPORTANCE OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND PARENT-PARTNERSHIP STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT STUDENT ACADEMIC-PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, AND PARENTS DURING THE MIDDLE SCHOOL YEARS 2024-25 OF 6TH -8TH GRADE.
by
IMAN HARP-AHMAD
APRIL 2025
Advisor: Dr. Ben Pogodzinski
Major: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Parental involvement and parent-school strategies have crucial roles to play in promoting children’s positive development and academic performance in school. This paper focused on features of parental involvement and parent-school strategies that take to student academic achievement and success. In addition, the perceptions of Parents, teachers, and Administrators in terms of parental involvement and parent-school strategies of Middle School children has been studied. The study provided schools and districts with objective data that allowed stakeholders to identify specific and effective strategies to increase parental involvement. The research site located in Detroit-a charter public school. The population for this case study were parents of 6th-8th Middle school students and stakeholders of the school in the Detroit charter school district in the 2024-25 school year. The population of parents were parents whose children attend school in the school district, grade levels 6th – 8th. All participants were provided with a critical insight into the perceptions of the school-family relationship, support, and involvement and how these determinants had influenced academic achievement.
The theoretical basis for this research was based on Joyce Epstein framework (2018). Epstein’s six categories of involvement have been identified are parenting, communication, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and working together in the community. The results of this research provided insight that can help parents and teachers deal with family-school connections and between the stakeholders in a better way. A purposeful sampling method was used in this study. Six parents, three teachers, and three administrators were participated in this study. Data were collected and analyzed. The paper discussed the implications of the research findings as well as suggestions for future research. Keywords: parental involvement, stakeholders, collaboration, barriers, academic succes
Are Culturally Relevant Practices The Key To Addressing The Disproportionality Of African American Males In Special Education?
No full textThe disproportionality of African American males in special education continues to be a problem in education and this study aims to determine if professional learning in Culturally relevant practices can solve this problem. This mixed method study explores two research questions: 1). How does the amount of professional learning in culturally relevant practices impact the referrals of African American males to special education? and 2). Do teachers in grades K-8th feel prepared to meet the academic and behavioral needs of African American students? Critical Race Theory and Disability Critical Race Theory are used as frameworks for this study. Research question #1 was explored quantitatively through information gathered on Special education referrals of African American male students during the 2018-2022 school years and information gathered from surveys completed by teachers in the district studied regarding the amount of professional learning in culturally relevant practices they completed during 2018-2022 school years. Correlational analysis and Linear regressions were used to analyze data collected. Research question #2 was explored qualitatively through interviews with teachers that were analyzed through narrative analysis. The findings indicated increased hours of professional learning in culturally relevant practices decreased the number of referrals of African American students. In addition, teachers reported the desire to have more in depth professional learning in culturally relevant practices to assist them in feeling prepared to meet the needs of their African American students
Trauma In Common: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry Using Healing Circles To Explore The Impact Of Racism, Racial Trauma, And Race-Related Stress On The Coping Abilities Of Black Women Clinicians
No full textThis study aims to explore the lived experiences of Black women clinicians who encounter racism and racial trauma in both their personal and professional lives. The research focuses on understanding their coping mechanisms, the impact of racial socialization on their resilience, and their perceptions of healing circles as a non-traditional therapeutic approach. Using Indigenous healing circles and critical race theory as a framework to guide the conversation, this study explores how racism at systemic and institutional levels perpetuates race-related stress for Black women working in clinical settings. This study seeks to contribute to research, practice, and policy frameworks supporting Black women clinicians and the communities they serve
Poisson Voronoi Tomography Of Alaska With 3d Rayleigh Wave Dispersion Kernels
No full textWe introduce a probabilistic three-dimensional tomography approach to image Alaska’s lithosphere using ambient-noise Rayleigh wave dispersion and Poisson Voronoi (PV) inversion. Empirical Green’s functions from ∼1,000 broadband stations are processed via an automated Frequency–Time Analysis workflow to extract phase velocities between 8 and 50 s periods, employing uniform spectral whitening and a strict signal-to-noise ratio threshold. These measurements are converted into depth-dependent sensitivity kernels using direct inversion theory and mapped onto a 3D grid. A probabilistic PV method with nonlinear radial flattening (γ = 1.2) performs 500 low-dimensional inversions of 3,000 randomly distributed Voronoi cells, yielding an ensemble mean shear-wave velocity model to 240 km depth and corresponding uncertainty estimates. The resulting velocity distribution delineates major tectonic terranes and highlights areas of elevated uncertainty associated with sparse data coverage. This framework provides a robust foundation for joint inversion with body wave data and enhanced crustal corrections in seismic studies
Transition Metal Alkoxide Complexes Synthesis Using Thallium Reagents And Design Of Iron(ii)-Alkoxide Carbene Complexes And Their Reactivity
No full textABSTRACTTRANSITION METAL ALKOXIDE COMPLEXES SYNTHESIS USING THALLIUM REAGENTS AND DESIGN OF IRON(II)-ALKOXIDE CARBENE COMPLEXES AND THEIR REACTIVITY by LAKSHANI WATHSALA KULATHUNGAGE May 2025 Advisor: Dr. Stanislav Groysman Major: Chemistry (Inorganic) Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
This dissertation focuses on the synthesis and reactivity of transition metal and main group metal alkoxide complexes. The dissertation began with exploring a novel, efficient synthetic route towards transition metal alkoxides involving thallium reagents. A novel dimeric Tl2(OCtBu2Ph)2 complex was synthesized in the reaction between a lithium alkoxide and thallium precursor TlPF6. Tl2(OCtBu2Ph)2 served as a convenient precursor to the formation of old and new transition metal alkoxide complexes (M = Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn), including a rare example of T-shaped Zn(OCtBu2Ph)2(THF) complex, which could not be previously synthesized using conventional synthetic routes. The reaction of [Ru(cymene)Cl2]2 with Tl2(OCtBu2Ph)2 results in the formation of a ruthenium(II) alkoxide complex. This dissertation further focused on transition metal-mediated carbene transfer to olefins is a common synthetic route towards cyclopropanation. The synthesis and reactivity of a remote carbene at mononuclear Fe(OR)2 centers was investigated. This study was inspired by a previous study of our group, which demonstrated that the reaction between a Co(II) bis(alkoxide) precursor and diazoalkanes led to a formally Co(IV) carbene complex. This complex exhibited carbene transfer to isocyanides to form ketenimines. However, no cyclopropanation reactivity was observed. In contrast, the reaction of an Fe(II) bis(alkoxide) complex with diazoalkanes and diazoesters resulted in the reductive coupling of the diazo functionality through the terminal nitrogens; no carbene formation was observed. As an alternative approach towards reactive carbene functionality: replacement of the diazo carbene precursors with hypervalent iodine carbene precursors was attempted. The addition of PhIC(CO2Me)2 to a solution of Fe(OR)2(THF)2 and styrene led to formation of the corresponding cyclopropane in good yield. The optimum reactivity was observed for the stoichiometric ratio of 2:1 between PhIC(CO2Me)2 and styrene. A series of different olefin precursors including styrenes with various electronic properties were investigated. For most of the para-substituted styrenes, moderate to excellent yields are observed; good to excellent yields are also observed for the α-methylstyrene. For some styrenes (4-methoxo, 4-trifluoromethyl), all three iron(II) bis(alkoxide) catalysts generally exhibit similar reactivity. In contrast, some variability is observed for other styrenes (unsubstituted or 4-cyano). There appears to be higher reactivity for the electron-rich (4-tert-butyl, 4-methoxy) vs. electron-poor (4-trifluoromethyl, 4-cyano) substrates. No cyclopropanation was observed for β-methylstyrene, 1-decene, or methyl acrylate. Based on computational studies, the formation of a remote carbene radical, Fe(OR)2(κ2- (O=C(OMe))2C) was hypothesized based on the ability of [Fe(OR)2] to coordinate an iodonium ylide precursor in κ2-O,O-coordination mode, and the tendency of [Fe(OR)2] to undergo oxidation to Fe(III). The attempts to isolate the reactive iron-carbene intermediate invariably resulted in the formation of (MeO2C)2C=C(CO2Me)2 and PhI; however, the spectroscopical analysis of the reactions, including reactions with H atom donor reagents, also strongly suggested that a novel remote carbene radical intermediate mediates the reaction. Following the observation of efficient group transfer reactivity and facile ring opening polymerization reactivity of achiral transition metal bis(alkoxide) catalysts in previous studies, the development of a new chiral bis(alkoxide) ligand investigation of its coordination chemistry with 3d and main-group metals was inspired. Initially, the synthesis of H2[OO]Ph,Me was attempted which was unsuccessful due to the acidity of methyl hydrogens in phenyl methyl ketone leading to the ketone deprotonation forming a singly substituted product. As an alternative, a comparable substrate lacking α-protons, phenyl trifluoromethyl ketone was utilized. Herein, a new chelating bis(alkoxide) ligand featuring two stereocenters, H2[OO]Ph,CF3. The ligand was obtained as a mixture of homochiral (RR/SS) and heterochiral (RS) diastereomers, which were subsequently separated by column chromatography. Both separated products were characterized by NMR spectroscopy (1H, 13C, 19F), strongly suggesting the formation of the diastereomers. X-ray crystal structures of both isomers which were aollected in anti-form, confirmed the stereochemistry of the diastereomers; homochiral (RR/SS) nature of the rac-isomer and the heterochiral (RS) nature of the meso-isomer