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Determined to Graduate: How Active and Enrolled Nontraditional College Students Define Persistence and Success in an Accelerated Degree Completion Program
No full textThe purpose of this mixed method study was to discover how active and enrolled nontraditional college students (NTSs), who are generally described as being over 24 years of age along with other distinct characteristics, defined persistence and success in an accelerated degree-completion program at a northeast liberal arts college. Additionally, this study sought the students’ experiences of the institution’s specific accelerated degree programs (ADP) and how it addressed the barriers the NTSs encountered. The duration and delivery of accelerated coursework differs from traditional college courses. Accelerated courses at this study site were compressed into 4- to 6-week modules that met once or twice a week, over a 6-month semester, versus the traditional 16-week, multiple-daysa-week schedule per semester. The methodology for this mixed method study involved data collection through a survey of 48 descriptive questions with opportunities for additional comments from the participants through 10 openended questions. The quantitative analysis was conducted with SPSS. The qualitative data received from the open-ended questions were analyzed with NVivo software, and the data received as comments were coded into smaller categories utilizing NVivo codes. The findings from the open-ended questions resulted in the themes, which emerged from the data. This research study examined how students’ individual attitudes and beliefs influenced their persistence and degree completion; additionally exposing how and why the accelerated degree completion format is ideal for the nontraditional student. This study also uncovered the students’ experiences of the accelerated degree program (ADP) and it addressed barriers to their degree completion. The students’ perspectives and experiences of the ADP at the study site reflected their satisfaction and progress toward degree completion while balancing contrasting responsibilities. By understanding the needs and motivation of NTSs and how an accelerated degree-completion program can help them finish their degree, colleges and universities could attract, retain, and graduate self motivated adult learners who are seeking degree completion
DETERMINING THE LOCATION AND SIZE OF THE BRAIN TUMOR WITH 3D SLICER
No full textCancer is the leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries. Brain and other central nervous system (CNS) tumors are among the most fatal cancers and account for substantial morbidity and mortality in the United States. Brain tumors account for 85% to 90% of all primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Worldwide, an estimated 308,102 people were diagnosed with a primary brain or spinal cord tumor in 2020. Detection of brain tumors on MR images is a time-consuming and laborious task performed by radiologists and doctors. Efforts have been made to develop automated systems to assist physicians in tumor detection and diagnosis and treatment planning. Our aim here is to make the tumor tissue easier to detect by labeling and thresholding the brain MR image
ECG-Based Cardiac Assessment for Microgravity and High-Altitude Atmospheres
No full textThis research project focuses on the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal characteristics and introduces novel methods to identify certain types of arrhythmia and/or the onset of heart attack with high accuracy. This is especially important as fatal heart episodes have been reported in connection with takeoffs and landings as well as high-altitude atmospheres. Signal processing techniques will be employed to identify ECG characteristic feature points and then machine learning will be applied to classify the signal into healthy or classes of irregular ECG beats. The proposed techniques are intended to conveniently assist monitoring the heart functionality in conditions such as aerospace environments
Evaluating the Link Between Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders and Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Their Relevance to the Dental Hygiene Clinical Evaluation
No full textBackground: Dental professionals are in a prime position to recognize the signs and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and make the appropriate referrals for a medical consultation. Due to the frequency of prophylaxis appointments, the dental office is an appropriate setting to conduct OSA screenings, however, dental hygienists are often lacking the knowledge, impacting their attitudes and screening practices during the dental hygiene examination. The aim of this dissertation was to determine if there is a link between orofacial myofunctional disorders and OSA, if the dental hygienist is provided with the education necessary to identify OSA risks and make referrals, and if there is a benefit to including the identification of orofacial myofunctional disorders as risk factors for OSA in the dental hygiene curriculum. Methods: A comprehensive review of the literature related to OMD and OSA was conducted, using the University of Bridgeport Wahlstrom Library databases. Results: The findings of this dissertation demonstrate a clear link between orofacial myofunctional disorders and OSA. Craniofacial features impact upper airway size and contributing factors to its narrowing can lead to an increased risk of collapse and consequently, disrupted nighttime sleep. Dental hygienists are lacking education on sleep-disordered breathing, OSA, and orofacial myofunctional disorders as risk factors for OSA, preventing them from screening for OSA and feeling confident in making referrals. Including orofacial myofunctional disorders as risk factors for OSA into the dental hygiene curriculum would be beneficial. Conclusions: The link between orofacial myofunctional disorders and obstructive sleep apnea is clear. Dental hygienists are not provided adequate education on OSA, or orofacial myofunctional disorders as risk factors for OSA. Including OSA identification and screening into the dental hygiene examination will increase diagnosis and treatment. Including preventative medical screening into the dental appointment reduces the risk of medical comorbidities and increases medical evaluation and treatment, therefore, it has the potential for reducing costs to the healthcare system over time
Race, Class and Hurricane Maria: A Case Study Examining Perceived Racial Discrimination Experienced by Puerto Ricans
No full textDissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Doctor of Education.Hurricane Maria, one of the worst natural disasters, struck Puerto Rico and over 4,600 people died (Joplin, 2018) with additional deaths due to outbreaks of infectious disease, limited access to clean water, and malnutrition (Rodriguez-Díaz, 2017). Many Puerto Rican’s lost their jobs, homes, and access to educational resulting in a great migration to mainland USA.
This qualitative case study is framed in Critical Race Theory and investigated the perceptions of Puerto Rican’s displaced by Hurricane Maria. Participants of this study voiced their perceptions and lived experiences in the context of race, class and the effect on their educational outcomes.
Participants in this study defined the existence of racism based on colorism between Puerto Ricans and noted contempt by U.S. born Americans towards Puerto Ricans holistically. They also indicated that The United States government response was negligent and Puerto Rico’s government’s emergency response was both negligent and corrupted. The findings of this research show that both the United States and the Puerto Rican Government responses led to school closures, slow rebuilding of infrastructure efforts, job losses and defunding of pensions that resulted in a mass exodus from Puerto Rico in search for a better future in the U.S. mainland.
This study provided the opportunity to give a voice to the disenfranchised participants as a way to promote equality and bring about social justice and change
Urban Native Flora and Noteworthy Bee Species: Bridgeport, CT
Full text linkThe economic value of bees and other pollinators in the United States, as a whole, is estimated to be approximately $3 billion per year. Bees in urban matrixes provide crucial pollination services to urban community farms and gardens. The decline of notable bee species (A. mellifera, B. affinis, B. terrnarius) has prompted the expansive initiative of determining conservation status of all bee species. Urban areas have long been under-sampled, especially for bees, which surprisingly sometimes can provide refuge for insects. urban bee communities, and the flora they use for brood provisioning and nutrition, is not well understood. Here, we present several notable bee species and floral interactions observed in Bridgeport, Connecticut across multiple flight seasons
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD: A CASE STUDY OF A HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES COLLEGE READINESS PROGRAM
No full textDissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education the School of Education, University of Bridgeport.Researchers are finding the traditional vision of college readiness is not working for today’s disconnected youth. Hess (2010) and Hehir (2012) affirm that the one-size fits all approach for advising students about postsecondary education does not work for all students.
This retrospective case study sought the perspectives of participants in a college readiness program located in the ‘gold coast’ of Connecticut. For over thirty years, the program’s goal has been to introduce Black, first-generation students from New England to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Black students are generally as likely as their peers from other racial and ethnic groups to aspire to earn a college degree, yet in spite of their aspirations, remain under-represented in college enrollment and graduation (Holland, 2007).
This study is relevant because a workforce shortage of three million college graduates is expected (Carnevale et al., 2010). Blumenstyk (2020) predicts by 2027, 70% of all jobs will require some education beyond high school and fewer jobs will be available for people with some or no college degree. This prediction indicates a need for high school graduates to continue their education into college where they can learn the necessary skills to obtain a quality job in the future. However, certain underrepresented groups are accessing and persisting in college at lower rates than expected by many educators and policymakers.
Literature indicates that the first year of college can be more challenging for first-generation college students than their peers who have college-educated parents. The study also revealed that Black, first-generation students have a different experience than White students when on a college campus even when engaging with the same faculty and the same campus activities (Museus et al., 2017). College campus communities that provide an environment of belonging and focuses on a culturally conscious framework, cultivates a connection for students to their campus community (Hurtado & Carter, 1997) and as a result have better retention rates that leads to more students graduating with bachelor degrees
Enhanced Deep Learning Architectures for Face Liveness Detection for Static and Video Sequences
No full textThe major contribution of this research is the development of deep architectures
for face liveness detection on a static image as well as video sequences that use a
combination of texture analysis and deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to
classify the captured image or video as real or fake. Face recognition is a popular and
efficient form of biometric authentication used in many software applications. One
drawback of this technique is that, it is prone to face spoofing attacks, where an
impostor can gain access to the system by presenting a photograph or recorded video of
a valid user to the sensor. Thus, face liveness detection is a critical preprocessing step in face recognition authentication systems. The first part of our research was on face
liveness detection on a static image, where we applied nonlinear diffusion based on an
additive operator splitting scheme and a tri-diagonal matrix block-solver algorithm to
the image, which enhances the edges and surface texture in the real image. The diffused image was then fed to a deep CNN to identify the complex and deep features for
classification. We obtained high accuracy on the NUAA Photograph Impostor dataset
using one of our enhanced architectures. In the second part of our research, we
developed an end-to-end real-time solution for face liveness detection on static images,
where instead of using a separate preprocessing step for diffusing the images, we used a combined architecture where the diffusion process and CNN were implemented in a
single step. This integrated approach gave promising results with two different
architectures, on the Replay-Attack and Replay-Mobile datasets. We also developed a
novel deep architecture for face liveness detection on video frames that uses the
diffusion of images followed by a deep CNN and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to
classify the video sequence as real or fake. Performance evaluation of our architecture
on the Replay-Attack and Replay-Mobile datasets gave very competitive results. We
performed liveness detection on video sequences using diffusion and the Two-Stream
Inflated 3D ConvNet (I3D) architecture, and our experiments on the Replay-Attack and
Replay-Mobile datasets gave very good results
Two Axis Solar System
No full textFor several hours of service, stationary solar energy systems produce less than their maximum power output. This is because solar panels produce their highest peak power while they are perpendicular to the sun's light, which occurs only for a brief period of time during the day while the panel is stationary. Solar tracking systems have been around for a long time and solve this problem. Some systems use light sensor arrays to monitor the sun's light intensity, while others depend on mathematical models with no external sensors that simply set the angle of the panel at specific times during the day. This project's engineering design phase is split into two semesters, with the first semester's design process having already been detailed in the first article. The aim of this document is to show how to develop, test, and analyse a low-cost solar tracking system primary design that best addresses the problem statement
An Evaluation of a Math Specialist Teacher Pilot Program: A Mixed Methods Study
No full textDissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education.This mixed methods case study utilized the conceptions of a program evaluation to investigate the Primary Mathematics Specialist Teacher Professional Development pilot project, to provide clarity on the implementation, and to inform the program manager, the Ministry of Education, and school leaders of the effectiveness of the professional development. The researcher utilized five different instruments to collect data including test scores, observation protocols, interviews, field notes and document review. Participants in this study represented a multi-level sampling approach. The findings indicated that administrators, coaches and teachers perceived the implementation of the professional development as positive and appeared to improve students’ skills to learn mathematics in all four schools. Furthermore, teachers valued and appreciated the support from coaches as they expressed how they fostered a professional relationship where collaboration was heightened through coteaching, modelling, dialogue, feedback, and common planning. The overall benefit of the professional development was significant as teachers changed their beliefs about mathematics practices which further enhanced students’ interest, confidence, and participation and holds promise for the future of the schools and effect on student learning. However, if teachers were more involved in professional development decisions and their needs and interest were considered, the results would have been more positive. The findings from this study support previous research that utilized the transformative learning theory to investigate adult learning. Given the pilot status of this implementation, these findings offer in sight to initiate discussion between the Ministry of Education and the program manager to expand the program to other schools