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Growing Community Relations as a Community Day Services Intern at Misericordia
Get PDFAn overview of my experiences as a Community Day Services intern at Misericordia. Through my role, I am involved in working with residents with a range of developmental disabilities to grow their relations to the community through volunteering and participation in community-based resources. In this presentation, I describe my motivations for becoming a social justice intern, my learning objectives, and a reflection of the skills and knowledge I have gained through this opportunity
Mother Nature Repeats Herself
No full textTrees have a fascinating ability to communicate with one another through mycorrhizal networks by sending and receiving both chemical and electrical signals. This system of transmitting information closely resembles the pathways of neural networks by which neurons transmit electrical signals down their axons to the cell body. If the signals trigger an action potential, the neuron will release chemical signals and connect with other cells. In this painting, dendrites of the central neuron, which is designed to suggest tree imagery, bend and conform to best receive inputs from neighboring neurons. As this relationship is strengthened, the dendrites continue to grow based on directionality of favored and practiced connections. Similarly to the way the roots of trees grow and adapt based on their chemical environments, dendrites work to take up space efficiently and with precision.
Roots and neurons are dynamic. They both expand, contract, add, and remove their extremities in response to activity. This painting highlights the reciprocal feedback-oriented nature of nature. Just like how rainwater taken in by trees eventually evaporates back into the atmosphere and is recycled, neurotransmitters are reabsorbed back into the cell for reuse or degradation and recycling. Neurons and plants share information, embrace plasticity, and value the reuse of materials in similar ways. These characteristics build the foundation of natural cycles—Mother Nature is repetitive.
“Mother Nature Repeats Herself” utilizes quick and visible brush strokes to impress the urgent nature of neuronal firing. The background incorporates a vivid palette and texture that is meant to suggest feelings of movement and change. Its coloring is inspired by both sunlight and colors commonly found in brain tissue staining. Both lightning and electric neural signals influenced the charged energy that connects all the neuron figures. Just like these neurons connect to one another, they relate to the patterns and plasticity of roots, paralleled in nature. After all, Mother Nature is repetitive
Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Measures for Identifying Patients Requiring High-Intensity Care
Get PDFOBJECTIVES: Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) may progress to require high-intensity care. Approaches to identify hospitalized patients with AWS who received higher level of care have not been previously examined. This study aimed to examine the utility of Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment Alcohol Revised (CIWA-Ar) for alcohol scale scores and medication doses for alcohol withdrawal management in identifying patients who received high-intensity care.
DESIGN: A multicenter observational cohort study of hospitalized adults with alcohol withdrawal.
SETTING: University of Chicago Medical Center and University of Wisconsin Hospital.
PATIENTS: Inpatient encounters between November 2008 and February 2022 with a CIWA-Ar score greater than 0 and benzodiazepine or barbiturate administered within the first 24 hours. The primary composite outcome was patients who progressed to high-intensity care (intermediate care or ICU).
INTERVENTIONS: None.
MAIN RESULTS: Among the 8742 patients included in the study, 37.5% (n = 3280) progressed to high-intensity care. The odds ratio for the composite outcome increased above 1.0 when the CIWA-Ar score was 24. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) at this threshold were 0.12 (95% CI, 0.11–0.13), 0.95 (95% CI, 0.94–0.95), 0.58 (95% CI, 0.54–0.61), and 0.64 (95% CI, 0.63–0.65), respectively. The OR increased above 1.0 at a 24-hour lorazepam milligram equivalent dose cutoff of 15 mg. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV at this threshold were 0.16 (95% CI, 0.14–0.17), 0.96 (95% CI, 0.95–0.96), 0.68 (95% CI, 0.65–0.72), and 0.65 (95% CI, 0.64–0.66), respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Neither CIWA-Ar scores nor medication dose cutoff points were effective measures for identifying patients with alcohol withdrawal who received high-intensity care. Research studies for examining outcomes in patients who deteriorate with AWS will require better methods for cohort identification
Mitigation of AI adoption bias through an improved autonomous AI system for diabetic retinal disease
Get PDFWhere adopted, Autonomous artificial Intelligence (AI) for Diabetic Retinal Disease (DRD) resolves longstanding racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities, but AI adoption bias persists. This preregistered trial determined sensitivity and specificity of a previously FDA authorized AI, improved to compensate for lower contrast and smaller imaged area of a widely adopted, lower cost, handheld fundus camera (RetinaVue700, Baxter Healthcare, Deerfield, IL) to identify DRD in participants with diabetes without known DRD, in primary care. In 626 participants (1252 eyes) 50.8% male, 45.7% Hispanic, 17.3% Black, DRD prevalence was 29.0%, all prespecified non-inferiority endpoints were met and no racial, ethnic or sex bias was identified, against a Wisconsin Reading Center level I prognostic standard using widefield stereoscopic photography and macular Optical Coherence Tomography. Results suggest this improved autonomous AI system can mitigate AI adoption bias, while preserving safety and efficacy, potentially contributing to rapid scaling of health access equity
Interoperability in Deep Learning: A User Survey and Failure Analysis of ONNX Model Converters
Get PDFSoftware engineers develop, fine-tune, and deploy deep learning (DL) models using a variety of development frameworks and runtime environments. DL model converters move models between frameworks and to runtime environments. Conversion errors compromise model quality and disrupt deployment. However, the failure characteristics of DL model converters are unknown, adding risk when using DL interoperability technologies. This paper analyzes failures in DL model converters. We survey software engineers about DL interoperability tools, use cases, and pain points (N=92). Then, we characterize failures in model converters associated with the main interoperability tool, ONNX (N=200 issues in PyTorch and TensorFlow). Finally, we formulate and test two hypotheses about structural causes for the failures we studied. We find that the node conversion stage of a model converter accounts for ∼75% of the defects and 33% of reported failure are related to semantically incorrect models. The cause of semantically incorrect models is elusive, but models with behaviour inconsistencies share operator sequences. Our results motivate future research on making DL interoperability software simpler to maintain, extend, and validate. Research into behavioural tolerances and architectural coverage metrics would be fruitful
Adjudicating discretion in youth cases: Research, law, and policy for consideration in immigration proceedings
Get PDFAssociations Between Neighborhood Factors and Adherence in Youth with Spina Bifida: The Mediating Role of Parental Stress and Youth Internalizing Symptoms
Get PDFSpina bifida (SB) is a birth defect that impacts physical, medical, and neuropsychological functioning. Physical complications like hydrocephalus and bladder dysfunction require daily adherence to complex medical regimens. Additionally, youth with SB are more likely to have symptoms of anxiety and depression which can impact their ability to master their regimens. Evidence in other pediatric populations have examined the impact of family factors, like parental stress, and individual-level predictors of self-management outcomes, yet few have examined how the broader context, like neighborhoods, impact outcomes. Therefore, the current study examined (1) the level of the neighborhood vulnerability and acute healthcare services within the sample, (2) associations between neighborhood factors and parental stress and youth internalizing symptoms, (3) associations between parental stress and youth internalizing symptoms and medical adherence, (4) the degree to which neighborhood factors predict medical adherence, and (5) the mediating role of parental stress and youth internalizing symptoms on associations between neighborhood factors medical adherence in youth with SB. One hundred and thirty youth with SB were enrolled in a larger longitudinal study (Kayle et al., 2020). The current study included youth home addresses and parent report of experiences of stress. Youth internalizing symptoms were assessed via youth-, parent- and teacher-report and medical adherence was assessed via parent-report. Results indicated that a majority of youth with SB live in a mid to high vulnerable neighborhood with no hospitals. Neighborhood factors were not significant predictors of parental stress or youth internalizing symptoms. Parental stress and youth internalizing symptoms were not significant predictors of youth medical adherence. Similarly, neighborhood factors were not significant predictors of youth medical adherence. This study highlights the need for providers to consider larger contexts, including neighborhoods, when supporting youth with SB and their families and the need for additional research to explore other outcomes like neuropsychological and academic functioning that may be impacted by neighborhood factors
Queer Futurity Needs Queer Grief: An Analysis of the U.S. Public Response to Queer Loss
Get PDFGrief is an inevitable part of the human experience. However, communities, especially those where a majority of members have disprivileged identities, experience disenfranchised grief, or grief that is not openly acknowledged, socially accepted, or publicly mourned. Members of the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, plus other identities not encompassed in the acronym) community, and their allies can experience a type of disenfranchised grief known as queer grief. I argue that everyone, not just allies and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, should recognize and publicly acknowledge queer grief, because if queer lives lost are not recognized as worthy of mourning, then queer lives cannot be recognized as worthy of living. In this thesis, I compare public responses to the first display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall in 1987 and to the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub Orlando in 2016 by reviewing varying journalistic coverage through online and print newspapers, magazines, and TV news to determine if and how queer grief is publicly acknowledged, and more specifically the impact of that coverage, or lack thereof, on the LGBTQIA+ community and allies. I describe the ways in which these public responses led to advancements in HIV/AIDS research and highlighted the continued need for support in LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized communities. I conclude by offering the annual Pride parade as an example of queer catharsis that allows for the potential of a queer future by transforming queer grief into queer joy
Racializing Digital Campus Spaces: A Critical Phenomenological Approach to Understanding (Re)Production Of Whiteness in Digital Campus Ecology
Get PDFThe landscape of higher education campus environments continues to change as student populations diversify (Parsons, 2023; Renn & Reason, 2013) and campus spaces extend into the digital realm. This critical phenomenological study examined organizational features that racialize digital campus ecology by examining the phenomena of interest, racialized digital campus spaces (RDCS). Through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with undergraduate students that focused on their experiences with RDCS and semi-structured interviews with administrators that focused on the organizational infrastructure and campus digital culture, findings revealed a complex understanding of campus ecology when reflecting on issues around race. I introduce Augmented Reality of Race, Space and Campus Ecology to acknowledge that while digital spaces, physical spaces, and issues around race exist more broadly in society, the merging of the three in the context of higher education creates conditions that previous literature and theories have not quite captured in relation to the perspectives of ‘modern’ college students today. This study offers insights into student development and organizational strategies for student affairs practitioners, faculty, policymakers, and critical researchers around racialized higher education spaces and organizations
Stepparenting and Schooling: Challenges, Reconstitutions, and Outsider Perceptions
Get PDFThis study examined the challenges stepparents face in schooling their high-school aged children. An analysis of how stepfamily formation can impact this process was also investigated. The sample included 13 families composed of one biological and one non-biological parent with at least one child between the ages of 14 and 18 who was currently attending high school. Stepparents were asked to share their experiences with other family members, the school, and the community as they related to the education of their stepchildren. The primary research focus was to identify difficulties and successes that stepparents encounter as they engage with schools and the schooling process. This study was able to support, challenge, and enhance previous research in five key areas: parenting style, family classification, member relationship development, differences in parent experiences, and cultural myths and stereotypes. New knowledge was gained in seven, narrowly focused areas including the impact of gender and biology on educational decision-making, difficulties stepparents face with educational technology, parenting restrictions and schooling, household stability and schooling, school perceptions of stepparenting, frustrations with school policy, and school expectations. Research into the relationship between stepparenting and schooling will hopefully encourage educational institutions to review their policies and practices in light of new realities as children grow up in increasingly diverse and complicated home settings