University at Albany, State University of New York
University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY): Scholars ArchiveNot a member yet
6197 research outputs found
Sort by
Social Communication Skills Moderate the Relationship between Family Quality of Life and Parenting Stress
No full textParents of newly diagnosed autistic children face elevated levels of parenting stress due to the unique demands associated with raising an autistic child and the challenges of navigating the early intervention systems which often impact their family functioning (Rivard et al., 2023). This study aimed to investigate how autistic traits and demographic variables are associated with parenting stress and family quality of life (FQOL) in caregivers of recently diagnosed autistic children. Data were obtained from 118 caregivers enrolled in a family education program within one year of their child’s autism diagnosis. Measures included the Parenting Stress Index, Short Form, The Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale, and the Social Responsiveness Scale- Second Edition. Correlational analyses revealed that higher levels of autism characteristics and higher parenting stress were associated with significantly lower FQOL. Results also suggested that greater social communication difficulties intensified the negative association between parenting stress and FQOL. Other autism characteristic domains did not significantly moderate this relationship. These findings underscore the importance of supporting caregivers early in the diagnostic process, particularly through interventions that address social communication challenges and parenting stress
Officers’ Perceptions of Body-Worn Cameras: An Exploratory Study of Small Police Departments in Upstate New York
No full textThe aim of this exploratory study is to examine how police officers perceive the impact of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on their use of discretion when communicating with members of the public. In this context, “discretion” refers to an officer’s authority to make independent judgments while enforcing the law; deciding whether to issue a warning, make an arrest, or resolve an incident informally when legality permits. To understand officers’ opinions, a cross-sectional, quantitative online survey was distributed to various police departments and sheriff’s offices in upstate New York. Participants completed a series of Likert-style survey items addressing their general views on policing, perceptions of the communities they serve, opinions on departmental BWC policies, and personal attitudes toward the use of BWC devices. Data from 60 sworn officers were analyzed Participants completed a series of Likert-style survey items addressing their general views on policing, perceptions of the communities they serve, opinions on departmental BWC policies, and personal attitudes toward the use of BWC devices. Results show that officers view BWCs as both protective to the self and constraining in their use of discretion. Approximately two-thirds of participants indicated that BWCs reduced their willingness to exercise discretion in uncertain situations and increased the pressure to perform, while most agreed that the devices offered protection against false complaints and contributed to a greater sense of personal safety. Overall, findings suggest that BWCs restrict discretionary action for most officers, opting toward verbal persuasive methods and other non-intrusive means of enforcement while being recorded by BWCs
DNA and Protein Determinants for p63 Transcriptional Activity
Get PDFThe transcription factor p63 is critical for development of the epidermis and other epithelial-related structures. Mutations in the DNA-binding domain of p63 lead to a range of human developmental disorders characterized by symptoms such as ectrodactyly, painful skin dysplasia, and cleft lip and palate. The TP63 gene is also amplified in squamous cell carcinomas, contributing to tumor pathogenesis. While the importance of p63 in human health is well established, the mechanisms underlying its control of an essential gene network remain unclear. TP63 encodes multiple isoforms with distinct N- and C-terminal domains. The ∆Np63α isoform is directly linked to epidermal development and maintenance, but the physiological and molecular roles of other p63 isoforms remain unexplored. Here, we use massively parallel reporter assays to identify key DNA sequence and co-factor requirements for p63 activity at cis-regulatory elements. These data reveal insight into how ∆Np63α serves as a context-dependent activator and repressor. We also found that two C-terminal β isoforms are constitutive activators, Thus, the same DNA elements support multiple p63-dependent activities, depending on isoform and co-factor availability. We then identified that the ∆Np63β isoform controls a distinct gene regulatory network and induces enhancer-associated chromatin modifications reflecting increased transcriptional activity. These novel activities depend on distinct domains in the β -specific C-terminus. Finally, we examined the unique 14 amino acid ∆N domain and found it functions as a novel transactivation domain (TAD) with characteristics consistent with known TADs. These results reveal key context into how p63 functions to regulate its indispensable gene network and controls myriad physiological processes in human development. Our data provide insight into differential activities of p63 isoforms, how the local sequence content and cellular context influence p63-dependent behaviors, and how switching between isoforms with distinct N-terminal TADs controls a range of behaviors in the p63-dependent gene regulatory network
Understanding the Dynamical Mechanisms Governing Northern Hemisphere Wintertime Persistent Flow Regimes and Their Associated Extreme Weather Events
Get PDFWeather regimes are characterized as patterns of low-frequency variability in the middle to upper troposphere of the extratropics. Weather regimes can also be linked to variations in surface weather, making the study of weather regimes a bridge between traditional synoptic-dynamic meteorology and subseasonal-to-seasonal variability. This dissertation identifies and categorizes persistent flow regimes (PFRs), analyzes the dynamics underpinning PFR formation, identifies the linkages to atmospheric teleconnections, and examines the occurrence of surface weather extremes before and during PFRs.
PFRs are identified from 1979–2022 and grouped into five clusters using k-means clustering, which then allows for time-lag composite analysis to determine the dynamical mechanisms underpinning PFR formation. PFRs occur about three times each winter season and tend to last between 10 to 14 days, with a small subset of cases lasting up to 40 days. PFR formation generally occurs in the week before the start of each PFR, with some variation between different clusters. Most PFRs develop from a combination of long-lived Rossby wave trains traveling across the Northern Hemisphere, eddy-mean flow interactions at the eastern end of the oceanic storm tracks, and antecedent blocking highs over high latitudes.
The relationship between PFRs and teleconnections such as the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) and the North Pacific jet phase (NPJ) are established for periods before, during, and after PFR lifecycles. Phases 6 and/or 7 of the MJO are found to be statistically significantly more frequent in the two weeks leading up to the formation of all five PFR clusters. The relationship between PFRs and the NPJ is more varied, but more phases of the NPJ are significantly different from climatology than for the MJO. By compositing select subsets of MJO events preceding PFRs, the pathway for tropical-extratropical interactions can be examined. In many of MJO subsets, the anomalous convection is far away from the Noth Pacific jet, and the orientation and strength of the jet is not as conducive for Rossby wave propagation across the North Pacific.
The frequency of surface weather extremes (extreme cold or warm temperatures and atmospheric rivers (ARs)) are assessed for periods before and during PFRs. Temperature extremes are up to four times more likely to occur during PFRs than climatology both before and during PFRs, especially across western North America, Europe, and the Arctic. AR frequencies range from half to double the expected number of ARs both before and during PFRs, representing shifts of the climatological storm tracks. Composite analysis of ARs that are associated with PFRs versus non-PFR ARs reveals that ARs during PFRs tend to have stronger low-level (850-hPa) wind anomalies rather than stronger moisture anomalies, suggesting a dynamical rather than thermodynamical impact of PFRs on ARs
Non-profit Hospital Spending on Community Health Improvement: Catalysts, Impediments, and Opportunities in New York State
Get PDFThis dissertation assesses the distribution and determinants of spending by non-profit hospitals in New York State on community health improvement services and community benefit operations. Utilizing the Social Ecological Model of Health, this study considers multiple levels of influence on this spending, including organizational and community characteristics. Using quantitative analysis, it examines cross-sectional, spatial, and longitudinal patterns in spending and identifies organizational and community-level factors influencing it. Qualitative analysis investigates operational factors affecting spending, including individual and interpersonal influences. The results of this mixed-methods study can inform hospital administrators, public health officials, policymakers, and communities in optimizing policies and decision-making to better support public health and health care in New York State
Misoscale Vortices in the Eyewall Boundary Layer of a Tropical Cyclone in a Large Eddy Simulation
Get PDFSince the late 1980s, there have been numerous observations of extreme updrafts, gusts, and small-scale rotation in the eyewall of tropical cyclones (TCs). Research aircraft, dropsondes, and, more recently, mobile radars have collected these observations, most often from within the boundary layer. Previous studies have documented dropsondes associated with extreme gusts and updrafts, while others have discussed specific incidents of misoscale features in tropical cyclones. Several high-resolution numerical simulations of TCs have documented similar features. This study uses one such simulation from Worsnop et al. (2017). A small but intense tropical cyclone in a quiescent environment is simulated.
This simulation produces misoscale features characterized by high vertical vorticity in the lowest 300 m. These features occur throughout the domain, but are strongest within the eyewall, amid the strongest radial and tangential wind gradients. A selection of eight features that meet both wind speed and vertical vorticity intensity criteria, and are from within the eyewall region, are composited during growth, maximum intensity, and decaying stages. These features intensity rapidly due to vortex stretching in the lowest 50 m above the surface. They exhibit negative pressure perturbations associated with the strong vertical vorticity. The features also have high turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). The dominant terms in the TKE budget for these features are the radial and tangential elongation terms, and all eight of the features used in the composite lie along the largest azimuthally averaged radial wind gradient. This study presents an analysis of the characteristics of these features, a vertical vorticity budget, a pressure decomposition, and a TKE budget of the composite at growing, maximum intensity, and decaying time frames
The Role of the Nasal Migratory Mass in Olfactory Bulb Formation and Fertility
Get PDFThe olfactory migratory mass plays an essential role in the development of the olfactory bulb by facilitating the migration of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons from the olfactory placode to the pre-optic hypothalamic area in the brain. In mammals, the migration of GnRH neurons is critical for establishing the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG axis), which regulates reproductive function through the production and secretion of gonadotropins. Luteinizing hormone (LH) and Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) instruct the gonads to function appropriately, ensuring sexual maturation and fertility. Disruptions in this migratory pathway have been linked with Kallmann syndrome, a condition characterized by low levels of GnRH, resulting in decreased gonadotropin secretion and physical manifestations such as delayed or absent puberty. By elucidating the mechanisms and ontogeny of the migratory mass and its role in guiding GnRH-1 neurons on their specific trajectory, it can gain valuable insight into the connection between olfactory system development and reproductive health
Food Rescue, Food Waste, and Policy in New York: A Mixed-Methods Study of Food System Impacts
Get PDFThis dissertation investigates how food donation policies in New York State influence the recovery, redistribution, and waste of surplus fresh produce, with a focus on fruits and vegetables. Using an interdisciplinary, systems-based approach that integrates system dynamics modeling with qualitative, community-engaged research, the study analyzes the effectiveness and unintended consequences of three major policies: Nourish New York, the Farm to Food Bank tax credit, and the Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law.
Chapter 2 uses simulation modeling to examine how the tax credit and waste ban affect produce recovery and redistribution. Results show that while both policies can boost donations, they may also increase waste at food assistance organizations if food quality is low or organizational capacity is insufficient. Outcomes improve substantially when paired with investments in capacity.
Chapter 3 introduces a shock scenario and environmental footprint modeling to assess Nourish NY and the waste ban under crisis conditions. Findings highlight that although these policies can enhance food availability and reduce environmental impacts, their success hinges on strong coordination and diversion of waste from landfills.
Chapter 4 presents interview-based insights from food rescue organizations implementing Nourish NY. Regional networks and informal coordination are among the factors that have buffered policy implementation gaps at nonprofits. A feedback diagram illustrates how collaborative capacity is central for policies to contribute to food systems resilience.
Overall, the study emphasizes the need for shock-responsive, equitable, and environmentally sound food rescue systems—and the critical role of implementation context in shaping policy outcomes
For The Love of Subtitling: Analysing The Challenges in Audio-Visual Translations of Rocky aur Rani kii Prem Kahani
Get PDFAny form of audio-visual media utilises specific stylistic elements in order to represent the reality within which the media form is situated. These representations occur through the language and iconography of the media form, which works on stereotypical features that the audience can easily identify. Forming a pivotal part of the media, these representations must be rendered in the translations for a linguistically and culturally diverse audience. Audio-Visual Translation (AVT) has been used since the 1930s to make media accessible. Of the various modalities, subtitling has emerged as the most widespread mode of AVT due to time and cost benefits. However, the subtitling process is restricted by various challenges that can restrict the translation process, especially in terms of transferring culturally specific terms from the source. The verbal or linguistic aspect is merely one dimension of the process, as this form of translation deals not only with relaying information but also with the semiotics and pragmatics of meaning-making. The socio-cultural context of the linguistic element within media forms requires the translators to opt for a set of translation strategies that will best express this context to the audience. Through the examination of the subtitles of the Bollywood film Rocky Aur Rani kii Prem Kahani (2023), the paper will examine the process of AVT and the subtitling decisions made to reveal the cultural nuances embedded within the film that must be translated through subtitling. This forms an analysis framework, which the paper explores in terms of the narrative constructed on the cultural and socio-linguistic identity markers pertinent to audio-visual media
Beyond Gaining and Losing: A Thematic Approach to The Translation of Washington Square
Get PDFIn putting a literary work into another language, the translator functions as a literary critic, whose task requires both language competence and critical perception. As Venuti writes, “A translation does not communicate the source text itself but the translator’s interpretation of it”. The translation, therefore, can be considered as another form of literary criticism, inspiring the reader to enrich the repertoire of the source text. A comparative reading of the source text against the translation engages the reader in processing three-fold interpretations, leading to a multifaceted communication among the source text, the translator and the reader. The reading of the translation constitutes a meeting ground where readers communicate their interpretations with both the source text and the translation. This article examines how such reading constructs the theme of gaining and losing, the writing style, and the subversive act of transcending the gaining of material benefits as manifested in the translation of Henry James’s Washington Square