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Living and Fostering Restorative Practices in Learning Environments for a Sustainable Educational and Development System
No full textThis qualitative study focused on the lived experiences of five teachers who consistently and intentionally implemented restorative practices in their learning environments. The goal was to explore their experiences to reveal that awareness of the need for more humanistic approaches in the learning environment would increase, and to establish a sustainable and educational development system together. The following questions guided this inquiry: What are teachers’ experiences with restorative practices in theory and application? What was the introduction of teachers to the restorative practices work? How does implementing restorative practices in the identified teachers’ classrooms noticeably influence actions, symbols, and overall climate? What are the hopes, challenges, and evidence that restorative practices are effective in the learning environment? Using restorative conversation to gather observables and employing thematic analysis, with first and second coding cycles, the study identified key findings related to implementation, relationship building, student voice, leadership, and progress toward cultivating a positive and powerful learning environment and culture through an inclusive process involving students and teachers. The study offers implications for policy and practice as well as recommendations for future research.Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education, and School Psycholog
Hydrogels vs Bacteria: Potential Applications of Hydrophilic Polymers in Chronic Wound Treatments
No full textBiofilms are surface-adhered communities of bacterial cells with enhanced communication and genetic exchanges. In contrast to suspended (planktonic) bacteria, biofilm bacteria exhibit a high tolerance to anti-microbial treatments and increase the risks of chronicity and reinfection in skin wounds; this phenomenon is notable in diabetic patients. Hydrogels are three-dimensional networks of hydrophilic polymers, which provide methods of biofilm treatment and prevention that may be applicable to such chronic wound treatments. The addition of hyaluronic acid (HA) to hydrogels provides further wound healing efficacy as HA is a primary component of human connective tissues and promotes healthy cell regeneration. Through colony forming unit (CFU) and growth curve analyses, the effects of hydrogels and HA on planktonic and biofilm growth of three bacterial species commonly associated with wounds (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were studied to determine the most efficient hydrogel formulations. Results suggest that higher concentrations of HA in low, medium, and high molecular weights result in reduced bacterial growth of all three species, although results did not properly support the hypothesis that hydrogels would inhibit bacterial growth. This research provides important groundwork for future testable strategies in the development of biofilm-targeting materials, which can aid in the treatment of chronic wound infections.Chemistry and Biochemistr
Neural Radiance Fields for 3D Scene Reconstruction with Saliency Detection and Object Recognition
No full text3D scene representation is a key enabler for emerging technologies such as autonomous driving, remote surgery, immersive entertainment, and virtual commerce. Traditional approaches—such as point clouds, light fields, or holography—often require costly hardware setups and impose structural assumptions on the scene. Neural view synthesis (NVS) provides an alternative by generating novel viewpoints from a sparse set of input images, enabling photorealistic 3D reconstructions using accessible hardware. In this project, we develop a NeRF-based pipeline to reconstruct real-world indoor environments from mobile phone captures. Our primary goal is to create a lightweight and affordable framework for scene understanding and visualization. The workflow includes image collection, camera pose estimation using COLMAP, scene reconstruction via Instant-NGP, and object detection with YOLOv8. We further extract per-frame depth maps using the trained NeRF and record 2D detections with associated camera poses. The system outputs include the trained NeRF snapshot, per-frame 2D object detection results (JSON), rendered depth maps, and camera extrinsics—all of which can serve as foundations for downstream 3D scene understanding or VR visualization. Although our initial goal was to localize objects in full 3D, current progress stops at 2D detections and depth acquisition due to debugging time constraints. Full 3D fusion and VR integration are outlined as future work. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of combining NeRF and object detection into a modular, low-cost scene understanding pipeline suitable for applications in cultural preservation, virtual tourism, interactive design, and AR/VR prototyping.Computer Scienc
The Infinite Ladder in Mathematics: Transfinite Induction
No full textThis project explores the mathematical proof method of transfinite induction. Transfinite induction is mathematical induction beyond the natural numbers. These numbers are called ordinals, denoted by Greek letters. This thesis will introduce fundamental concepts of set theory, starting from the formal definition of natural numbers. We aim to provide a clear development of set theory by building definitions and theorems sequentially with examples and explanations. This structured approach will ensure that unfamiliar and familiar readers can follow the logical progression to prove major theorems used in different mathematical contexts highlighting transfinite induction's relevance in mathematics.Mathematic
Home is Where the Heart Is: Resident Satisfaction in Long Term Care
No full textResident satisfaction in long term care (LTC) is a crucial indicator of the quality of life and care received by individuals in residential settings. This literature review studies various theories aimed at improving residential life, including person-centered care models, environmental elements, and intergenerational interactions. It also explores methodologies for measuring satisfaction, comparing traditional assessment tools with consumer-centered approaches. In addition, the review analyzes contemporary models of residential care such as the Eden Alternative and Preference-Based Care, highlighting their implementation in recent years. These models focus on human spirit and personal autonomy, distinguishing them from traditional residential care approaches and yielding outcomes not previously observed in LTC research. Ultimately, this review seeks to evaluate the current quality of care in LTC settings and propose strategies for further improvement.
The findings suggest that LTC residents are generally receiving a higher level of care now than in the past. However, continued progress is still needed, with greater emphasis on residents’ quality of life rather than solely on life expectancy – an area that contemporary models are predominantly addressing. While many of these models are still in the early stages of implementation and lack long-term assessment data, current research indicates positive developments across multiple dimensions of care. Future research should continue to explore these alternative care philosophies and work toward refining assessment tools that more accurately capture the lived experiences of long-term care residents.Psycholog
Parallelizing Probabilistic Algorithms for Centrality Measures and Graph Partitioning on Large Graphs
No full textNetwork analysis is a powerful tool for extracting important structures and characteristics of large-scale graphs and has been used across multiple disciplines to aid the study of various domains, such as disease transmission, molecular structure analysis, information sharing, and power grid stress analysis. As the size of modern graph datasets continues to grow, serial computation of graph algorithms has become prohibitively expensive, prompting researchers to seek parallel solutions to common network analysis problems. However, the imbalanced workload and irregular data access patterns inherent to graph algorithms present a unique challenge when attempting parallelization, which can severely limit the speedup achieved.
In this thesis, we focus on GPU-accelerated probabilistic algorithms (1) to estimate Katz centrality, which is an important metric for measuring the relative importance of nodes in a graph; and (2) to solve the NP-hard problems of normalized-cut and ratio-cut graph partitioning, which are to partition the nodes in a graph into a given number of disjoint sets. We first propose two highly parallelizable Monte Carlo algorithms based on random walks to approximate the truncated Katz centrality and its original form. We next develop a GPU-accelerated Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm to find approximate solutions to the problems of normalized-cut and ratio-cut graph partitioning. These algorithms leverage GPU architecture and employ multi-level parallelism strategies to exploit their inherent parallelism. We analyze their performance by demonstrating the improvements compared to their counterparts in NetworkX, using the cuGraph GPU-accelerated backend, and scikit-learn. We achieve speedups of up to two orders of magnitude, while maintaining high estimation accuracy and partitioning performance.Computer Scienc
From Caudillos to Congress: Tracing the Rise of Antipolitics in the United States
No full textBy the end of the 1970s, American citizens’ distrust in their government and institutions had rapidly widened. As distrust and instability grew throughout the decade, the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s only deepened this sentiment, with former President Ronald Reagan pinning Americans’ problems on the government itself. As the United States continues to face growing economic, political, and social instability, working to better understand modern issues by analyzing historical patterns of institutional distrust becomes increasingly important. This article applies the antipolitics theory—a framework that requires the complete rejection of “politics” and the vilification of the government—to the context of the United States to highlight the influence of militarized political and social structures on contemporary issues. The persistent lack of faith in government has directly contributed to the rise of antipolitics, driving the rejection of “traditional politics” to the forefront of American government. While antipolitics has traditionally been applied to Latin American countries, this article seeks to use the theory as an analytical lens rather than a direct assertion to offer a diversified perspective on the challenges facing Americans. Specifically, this article explores the potential implications of applying the antipolitics framework to U.S. political and social instability, focusing on the role of the military, religion, and popular resistance in shaping contemporary issues and discourse. This paper will employ a close reading of primary and secondary sources, such as political speeches, government documents, and newspaper articles. While the paper centers on the rise of antipolitics in the U.S., the analysis focuses on the years of 2000-2025, specifically examining how key modern events, particularly the rise of the national security state, have contributed to growing economic, political, and social instability and the spread of antipolitics in traditional structures and institutions in the United States.Histor
Prevention, Punishment, and the Pipeline: A Journalistic Investigation on a School District's Approach to Vaping Following a New State Mandate
Get PDFAddiction threatens students' futures by weakening academic performance and increasing the risk of harsh punishment that contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline. In 2023, the Texas Congress passed House Bill 114 that created a new mandate for students caught vaping to be placed immediately into discipline alternative education programs (DAEP). This journalistic study investigates Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District (GCCISD)’s approach to complying with the new mandate and to providing resources and programming about vaping. Texas Education Agency data analysis and interviews with experts at GCCISD, Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth, Texas State University, and more, highlight the disconnect between legislators and constituents and effective approaches to vaping. Graphs created with Datawrapper provide visual context and scale.Journalism and Mass Communicatio
Whispers in the Shadows
No full textWhispers in the Shadows is a high fantasy novel where trust and manipulation play integral roles. Nya Bell must pretend to be the Holy Prophet even though she is only human, and is left to fend for herself against assassination attempts and the brewing possibility of war. Despite her prominent role, she feels powerless to stop the impending dangers, and humankind's further subjugation at the hands of the magical Celesti. When given the chance to make a move of her own, she must decide to protect her own family or humans as a whole. This theme is furthered through the relationships she develops; everyone has ulterior motives but Nya is forced to rely on them to further her own goals. In the end, she utilizes the power she has as a trusted figure to save those she cares for, only to realize that those who made her the Prophet were always two steps ahead. But could Nya’s effort have been enough to spread the revolution?Englis