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Evaluation of a Guide to Accessing Accommodations During Medical School Created by and for Students with Disabilities
Full text linkMedical students with disabilities constitute 7.6% of allopathic (MD) and 4.3% of osteopathic (DO) programs, and they are entitled to reasonable accommodation, per the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, research has demonstrated that disabled medical students often encounter barriers when accessing accommodations. In response to these barriers, Medical Students with Chronic Illness and Disability (MSDCI) National created the MSDCI Guide to Accessing Disability Accommodations During Undergraduate Medical Education (the Guide). We conducted a program evaluation to evaluate the efficacy of the Guide as a resource to the members of MSDCI, a program evaluation was conducted. A Qualtrics survey was distributed though the MSDCI listserv, and 29 complete responses were received. Responses were analyzed with descriptive statistics. All respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I would recommend this guide to other medical students with disability and/or chronic illness.” The sections rated “most useful” were “Accessing USMLE Accommodations” and “Understanding Materials for Accommodation.” The section rated “least useful” was “Accessing CASPer Accommodations.” Freeform comments highlighted a need for greater inclusion of DO-specific topics, and a more detailed explanation of the rights of disabled medical students. This feedback demonstrates that the Guide is a good resource for the disabled and chronically ill medical students in the MSDCI community. Future editions of the Guide will include more DO-related topics and exclude pre-medical topics
Critical Black Expressionism: A Womanist Manifesto
Full text linkThis thesis introduces Critical Black Expressionism (CBE) as a visual, spiritual, and intellectual methodology rooted in Black feminist traditions, ancestral knowledge systems, and artistic practice. Grounded in womanist theory and decolonial inquiry, the central argument asserts that Black women’s lived experiences, cultural memory, and spiritual cosmologies constitute a rigorous and sovereign framework for artmaking. Rather than borrowing from Eurocentric pedagogies, this approach draws from oral traditions, sacred ritual, and master-apprentice models that have long existed within African and African American communities. The Iyami Aje: Mothers + Witches collection is the visual embodiment of this research. Composed of multimedia sculptures, altar-based installations, and symbolic objects, the work explores Black maternal power, feminine cosmology, and ancestral presence through both material form and spiritual process. Each piece was developed through studio-based research, divination practices, and embodied storytelling. Materials such as jute, black-eyed peas, porcelain, and ritual oils carry historical, cultural, and metaphysical meaning. The collection centers two archetypes—The Great Mother and Big Mama in Rare Form—who serve as both subjects and methodological guides. CBE emerges from the making of this collection as both a practice and a proposition. It reframes mastery as relational, expands research to include embodied knowledge, and validates artistic creation as a site of theory production. As such, this thesis presents a new framework for understanding and evaluating Black art, not through the lens of the canon, but through the community\u27s perspective. Critical Black Expressionism asserts that art is not merely a response to oppression, but a system of knowledge, inheritance, and future-building. It offers a methodology for artists working within and beyond the academy to reclaim creative sovereignty through culturally specific, spiritually grounded, and politically conscious practice
Leveraging Future Foresight and Planning in Human Resource Management: Preparing Organizations for the Workforce of Tomorrow
Full text linkAs organizations face unprecedented uncertainty as they navigate a complicated and fast-changing world, the ability to anticipate and adapt to workforce shifts has become more crucial than ever. This thesis examines how future foresight and strategic planning in human resource management (HRM) can reinforce organizational adaptability and maintain a competitive edge. By analyzing key drivers of change—including technological advancements, demographic shifts, political dynamics, and socio-economic trends—the study identifies innovative HRM strategies that enable organizations to address emerging workforce challenges and opportunities proactively. Through a structured evaluation of foresight techniques, this research highlights best practices for cultivating a resilient and future-ready workforce. The research utilizes a multi-method approach, including PEST analysis, expert interviews, and an assessment of future foresight methods, to examine the external forces shaping HRM. The findings indicate that traditional HR strategies are increasingly insufficient in today\u27s fast-paced environment, especially for managing the complexities of modern workforce changes. Instead, structured foresight techniques—such as trend analysis and scenario planning—prove instrumental in helping HR professionals navigate uncertainties, optimize workforce planning, and enhance talent retention. The study contributes to HRM by bridging the gap between traditional personnel management and strategic foresight. It underscores the significance of integrating strategic foresight practices to anticipate political, economic, social, and technological shifts affecting workforce management
Sensemaking Opportunities for Students Experiencing Difficulty: A Mixed Methods Study
Full text linkAll students deserve to be engaged in high-quality science instruction that moves beyond memorization and recall of facts and offers opportunities for sensemaking. Science achievement is alarmingly low signifying there is a large percentage of students experiencing difficulty in science. The low science achievement may be symptomatic of gaps in opportunities for sensemaking within the science classroom. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, the current study explored the relationship between middle school science teacher beliefs and opportunities students experiencing difficulty in science had to participate in sensemaking discussions. Integrated findings from the study suggest that teachers’ beliefs influenced the opportunities students experiencing difficulty had to participate in sensemaking discussions and, at times, there was a mismatch between teacher beliefs and practice. The current study addresses an important gap in the research literature on opportunities students experiencing difficulty have for sensemaking in science classrooms, a grossly under researched area of inquiry
Investigating the Impact Trichoderma virens on Maize Phytohormones During Drought, Salt, and Cold Stress
Full text linkAbiotic stresses are becoming increasingly frequent and severe due to climate change, leading to significant reductions in crop yields. Though sessile, plants are not defenseless. They can invite plant-growth promoting microbes to colonize their rhizosphere and help reprogram their chemical defense systems. Through these partnerships, plants can more rapidly and robustly recover from environmental stressors compared to those grown in isolation. In this study, the role of the beneficial microbe Trichoderma virens in phytohormone production was explored in maize, a globally important staple crop, under drought, salt, and cold stress, with or without microbial inoculation. Using a liquid chromatography mass spectrometer (LC MS), key signaling molecules such as abscisic acid (ABA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), salicylic acid (SA), and jasmonic acid (JA), as well as metabolic precursors such as cinnamic acid (CA), p Coumaric acid, 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (12-OPDA) and other oxylipins like 13(S)-Hydroperoxy-9(Z),11(E)-octadecadienoic acid (13 HPOD), 13(S)-Hydroperoxy-9(Z),11(E),15(Z)-octadecatrienoic acid (13 HPOT), and 13-oxo-tridecadienoic acid (13 OTD) were characterized for any pattern with any of the stressors. T. virens may not have had a pronounced effect on signaling molecule production during cold stress, but during drought and salt stress moderately elevated levels of ABA, CA, p-Coumaric acid, and SA, along with strong jasmonates responses, particularly JA and 12 OH JA Phe made up the profile of this microbe’s signaling molecule response to abiotic stress in maize
Investigating Human Expertise in Manufacturing to Enhance Knowledge Preservation and Transfer Practices
Full text linkIn the US, the machining industry is a vital part of the economy, employing over 290,000 skilled machinists and over 89,000 mechanical engineers. Whilst employment figures for engineers in this crucial sector has been fairly steady, a rapid decline in machinist workforce has been observed in the last decade, along with retirement of aging expert machinists and engineers, creating workforce shortages and loss of valuable manufacturing knowledge inherent to those highly skilled and experienced individuals. As engineering design and manufacturing knowledge are closely intertwined, so is the knowledge pertaining to practical aspects of machining and design of components that are optimal in terms of manufacturing. Effective preservation of this valuable knowledge and effectively addressing the issues associated with shrinking and aging workforces necessitates exploring new approaches to knowledge collection, transfers and use of novel instructional methods in machinist and engineering workforce development. In this work, novel approaches to investigating, describing and preserving human knowledge in machinist and engineering design occupations were proposed and deployed. A case study and a comparison study were conducted with the use of a proprietary research method to observe trainee actions, behavior and obtain a deeper understanding of their learning processes. Results have shown high applicability of intensive hands-on training procedures on conventional machine tools in machinist workforce development, signifying the importance of training in immersive workplace environments and learning by iteratively performing hands-on tasks. Studies concerning human capabilities for intuitive evaluation of component design manufacturability and the role of experiential knowledge in Design for Manufacturing have shown the importance of practical experience and hands-on background in education of design and manufacturing engineers. An original knowledge elicitation method was conceptualized, proposed and employed in human subjects trials, showing high accuracy and good applicability. Results of performed research have been utilized to develop a software solution for education in manufacturing workforce development, providing a practical application of collected results for use in engineering education
Engineering Tunable Collagen Fiber Alignment Gradients to Quantify Contact Guidance Effects on Cell Migration
Full text linkDirectional migration of cells is one of the most important physiological processes, necessary for tissue and organ development. It also plays a crucial role in pathological conditions such as cancer metastasis. This directed migration is influenced by various factors present in the native environment, which guide cells to migrate steadily in a specific direction. Due to its importance, over the years, a lot of emphasis has been placed on understanding and exploring the biochemical and biophysical factors that direct cell migration. In addition to the commonly studied biochemical and biophysical cues, contact guidance from collagen fibers, in the native matrix, has also been shown to influence cell motility. However, current studies treat the arrangement of collagen fibers in a binary manner, either as unaligned or aligned fibers. In the native matrix, however, these fibers gradually transition from an aligned to an unaligned state, creating a gradient in fiber alignment. Since it is difficult to engineer these fiber alignment gradients at in vivo length scales, their role in guiding cell migration remains unexplored. Understanding how cells sense and respond to these cues is crucial for developing physiologically relevant in vitro models and advancing tissue engineering applications. To address this shortcoming, I first developed a microfluidic device that could replicate collagen fiber alignment gradients at physiologically relevant length scales. Using this microfluidic platform, I investigated the effects of these engineered gradients on both single cells and cell clusters. Both single cells and cell clusters exhibited a preferential migration towards increased fiber alignment. Cancer cells demonstrated a 2.6-fold directional bias, while endothelial cells displayed 2 times higher directional persistence on the fiber alignment gradient. Finally, I employed time-lapse imaging to understand the mechanism behind this preferential migration. Cells seeded on a gradient initially extended protrusions in multiple directions but preferentially stabilized those pointing toward higher alignment, resulting in cell polarization towards regions of increasing alignment. This polarization may be responsible for driving the observed directional migration bias. This work establishes a model system that allows investigation of fiber alignment gradients as a potent guidance cue for directed cell migration. Furthermore, this microfluidic device is a versatile platform that can be easily modified to incorporate additional native gradients. This can facilitate studies on how cells interpret simultaneous multiple directional cues
Fostering Human Rights Awareness in Kosovo: A Case Study on the Sustainability of NGO Trainings
Full text linkThe sustainability of human rights trainings in Kosovo remains a critical issue, particularly as the country seeks to develop a rights-oriented society aligned with Euro-Atlantic values. This case study evaluates the sustainability efforts of two trainings conducted by a non-governmental organization, focusing on their alignment with objectives, participant feedback, and systemic factors such as institutional support and follow-up mechanisms. It also explores broader challenges like participant disengagement and the limited integration of human rights education into the national curriculum. A mixed-methods approach was used, combining survey data from participants, interviews with NGO representatives, and analysis of internal documents. To ensure consistency, two trainings from the same 2023 project were selected. Despite efforts to center participant perspectives, the study faced methodological challenges, including low response rates, unavailability of certain stakeholders, and limited geographic and demographic diversity – factors that influenced the depth and generalizability of findings. Key results show the trainings were more effective at refreshing knowledge and influencing behavior than delivering new content. Training A demonstrated moderate sustainability efforts, reinforcing professional skills but exhibiting limited broader impact. Training B demonstrated moderate to high sustainability efforts by targeting educators as multipliers; however, barriers such as rigid curricula, limited resources, and insufficient follow-up mechanisms constrained its reach. The study concludes that sustainability hinges on systemic reforms, follow-up mechanisms, participant engagement, and stronger collaboration between NGOs, donors, and educational institutions. Future efforts should prioritize continuous monitoring, integrate sustainability into donor criteria, and expand access to educational resources. Addressing curriculum rigidity and building institutional partnerships will be key to ensuring these trainings foster lasting societal change