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Multimodality as a Bridge to Required Reading in Today's Secondary Classroom
No full textA pre-service teacher noticed an increasing trend of secondary students' disinterest in required readings. This thesis details how multimodal instruction can serve as a bridge for engagement for secondary students. Provisions for why multimodal instruction should be utilized as well as for how it is being used in today's classrooms are given. Two lessons using multimodal concepts were taught by the pre-service teacher in an urban, public middle school. The paper includes a summation of the literature reviewed, the reflections garnered after planning and teaching multimodal lessons, and potential further avenues for study. This thesis is helpful for educators who are seeking out strategies with which to engage today's middle and high school students with required reading on a level that is both relatable and content rich. This paper also supports the idea that in order to navigate towards innovative instruction, teachers must re-calibrate their educational compasses for today's student population
Justification In Terrorism Response
No full textThe objective throughout the thesis is to understand why terrorism happens and the response that occurs from various governments around the world. There are critical evaluations of different types of terrorist groups and the factors that go into how a country justifies its response to a terrorist attack. After evaluating the literature that already exists on the topic, the methodology includes a comparative case study analysis of 5 examples of terrorism all over the world, by different groups and at different points in time. These examples are compared against each other to create hypotheses that can then be applied to other case studies
A Survey of Knowledge About Language Disorders Among Professionals Who Work With Children in the Foster System
No full textKnowledge of professionals and volunteers in the foster-care system regarding language disorders and their identification is essential to understanding how to positively increase the identification and intervention for children in the foster-care system. Current research suggests that there is a high percentage of children who go unidentified for language disorders, and that number is even higher within the foster care system. This study focused on evaluating the general knowledge these professionals and volunteers have of language disorders and the identification of developmental language disorders.
The participants in this study were both volunteers and paid professionals who frequently work with foster care children. Each participant completed a 40-question survey that focused on the participant?s background, their experience with children who have DLD/SLI, and their familiarity with DLD/SLI.
Based on each participant?s responses, researchers found that participants had vague to no knowledge of DLD/SLI. In the final section, participants generally scored within what is considered to be DLD-sensitive range. However, there was still plenty of space for the participants to grow in this area.
This research provides a foundation for future research and the creation of future professional trainings regarding DLD
Existentialist Textual Responses to the Japanese American Incarceration of World War II
No full textDuring World War II, and shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American government unjustly incarcerated over 120,000 Japanese American citizens due to rampant, racist, wartime hysteria which branded Japanese Americans as potential enemies of the state. After the war, internment narratives authored by Japanese Americans were published, sharing with the public their internment experiences and the traumas they bore due to the time they spent incarcerated. In my thesis, I analyze two of these narratives, applying the lens of existentialism to my analysis. First, I share a brief overview of Japanese American history, including an explanation of what the Japanese American internment was. Next, I share details and photographs I took while on site visits to the grounds of where two internment camps used to stand. Finally, I share my analyses (made through the use of the lens of existentialism) of two internment narratives, They Called Us Enemy and Farewell to Manzanar
“It does sometimes feel like Stockholm syndrome”: Exploring identity, resistance, and emotional labor in the lives of church camp staffers
No full textThe expectation set by Christian organizations is that employees will respond with and communicate kindness, tenderheartedness, joy, and forgiveness, as opposed to malice, wrath, and anger, as aligns with their religious ideology (English Standard Version Bible, 2009, Ephesians 4:31-32). Though sound theology, the practical application of these principles are often more challenging. Failure to comply with these expectations led employees with faith identities to feel as though they are defying both their organizational mandate and their deeply ingrained faith identity. The goal of this qualitative study was to further enhance the communicative understanding of identity relating to the intersection of faith and work role expectations. Using 26 semi structured interviews with individuals employed as church camp staffers across 11 Christian organizations in the United States, I explored the dialectic between the faith identity and role expectations they experience. Results yielded two theoretical and two practical implications discussed in greater detail below. In the end, acceptance and extending grace, for staffers and the Christian organization alike, goes a long way
The impact of the galactic environment on the dynamical evolution of long-lived open star clusters in the Latte suite of Feedback In Realistic Environment simulations
No full textOpen clusters serve as powerful tracers of the Milky Way's chemical and dynamical evolution. Because their member stars share common ages and chemical abundances, they provide insight into when and where stars formed in the Galactic disk, as well as how stars migrate and are dynamically heated over time. In this thesis, we use high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations from the FIRE-2 Latte suite (m12i, m12f, and m12m) to study the formation, evolution, and survivability of long-lived open clusters in realistic, Milky Way-like environments. We present a catalog of 128 gravitationally bound star clusters older than 1 Gyr that survive to present day (z=0). By tracking these clusters from their formation through cosmic time, we examine how local conditions, such as gas density, star formation environment, and proximity to giant molecular clouds, affect whether a cluster survives or is disrupted. We find that long-lived clusters tend to live in relatively low-density, kinematically quiet regions of the disk, and that these environments help shield clusters from disruption. Despite forming in dynamic disks that include spiral arms, gas flows, and satellite interactions, these clusters avoid disruption for billions of years. We also analyze the dynamical histories of these survivors to understand how processes like radial migration (both disk heating and cold torquing) shape their present-day orbits.
In the second part of the thesis, we focus on one extreme case study: a cluster nicknamed BOB, which serves as an analog to the old, metal-rich, and distant Milky Way open cluster Berkeley 20. This simulated cluster resides ~6 kpc from the galaxy's center and reaches vertical heights of several kiloparsecs. We trace the orbital and environmental history, identifying key perturbative episodes, including interactive with a gas cloud that prompts an outward migration event and a substantial interaction with an LMC mass satellite that causes significant orbit modification. This case study demonstrates how rare open clusters with unusual orbits may arise naturally as a consequence of the larger cosmological context. Together, this work provides a comprehensive view of the processes that govern open cluster survival and orbital evolution in realistic galactic environments
Near-infrared fluorescence and contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging with graphene quantum dots
No full textNear-infrared (NIR) fluorescence and contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging provide several advantages over other diagnostic imaging methods, including versatility in imaging and sensing, non-invasiveness, and, most importantly, cost-effectiveness. The combination of two biomedical imaging techniques, ultrasound and fluorescence imaging can uniquely offer enhanced anatomical visualization, sensitivity, and specificity necessary for improved diagnostic accuracy in detecting small tumors, tracing therapeutic delivery, and guiding biopsies. This work aims to harness the advantages of highly deterministic fluorescence imaging and deeply-penetrating ultrasound diagnostics combining them in one versatile platform, in graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Here, we developed six types of highly biocompatible GQDs exhibiting spectrally-separated fluorescence in the NIR range with NIR excitation. Their optical properties in the NIR are attributed to either rare-earth metal dopants (Ho-NGQDs, Yb-NGQDs, Nd-NGQDs, Tm-NGQDs) or defect-states (NGQDs, RGQDs). Moderate up to 1.34% quantum yields of these GQDs are well-compensated by their remarkable >4 h photostability. At the biocompatible concentrations of up to 0.5–2 mg ml-1 GQDs enable in vitro imaging in the NIR spectral region. GQDs doped with rare-earth metals exhibit ultrasound enhancement in vascular phantoms and biological tissue. In vivo studies demonstrate that GQD NIR fluorescence collected at 1000 nm (RGQDs) and 1050 nm (Nd-NGQDs) non-invasively through the bodies of sedated Balb/c mice and from their excised organs can help evaluating GQD tissue content and organ compartmentalization. Within twenty-one days after injection, both GQDs show no signs of acute toxicity in Balb/C mice. They accumulate in the liver, kidneys, spleen, lungs, heart and joints. RGQDs mainly undergo renal clearance, while Nd-NGQDs excrete predominantly through the hepatobiliary and splenic systems. Injected intravenously, Nd-NGQDs exhibit ultrasound enhancement and NIR fluorescence in liver, spleen, and kidneys. The best agreement is achieved between the two imaging techniques for Tm-NGQDs in the liver at 12 h post injection and for Nd-NGQDs in the liver at 24 h, spleen at 6 and kidneys at 12 hours post injection, suggesting the optimal timeline for imaging. Intraperitoneally-injected Nd-NGQDs demonstrate a greater consistence between ultrasound enhancement and NIR fluorescence within 1 – 48-hour time points in all imaged organs. Metal-doped GQD contrast agents developed for the first time in this work therefore hold significant promise for dual-mode ultrasound/fluorescence imaging. They can offer improved diagnostics and therapeutic delivery monitoring for multiple organ targets and conditions including cancer, kidney damage, and inflammatory diseases
The Real Estate Agent Response to COVID-19: Examining the Impact of Race and Gender on Entry and Exit Patterns
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the housing market and consumer behaviors. While anyone looking to buy or sell a home was affected by these changes, one group was particularly vulnerable to these swings. Real estate agents, whose incomes are largely based on commissions gained from home sales, responded quickly to changing conditions. In one of the largest housing markets in the nation, the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) recorded steep drops in agent licensing at the start of the pandemic, and large gains as economic conditions became more favorable again. Acknowledging that different demographics are not affected equally when it comes to economics, this study seeks to examine which specific market changes affected real estate agent licensing numbers, also determining if different impacts occur at the level of gender and race. More specifically, this study will use the licensing information of real estate agents in Texas from November 2018, before the pandemic, to August 2023, the date this dataset was last fully available from TREC. Results will show that different political and economic factors evoked dissimilar responses from agents of different gender and race. Preliminary analyses suggest that more economically vulnerable populations of real estate agents were more responsive to changing market conditions and incentives
Exploring transitions: Athletic retirement on exercise adherence, psychological well-being, and depressive symptoms in first-year university students
No full textRetiring from high school athletics and beginning university marks a significant transition in an athlete’s life (Ferrara et al., 2024). Previous literature has shown that athletic identity post-retirement affects first-year students’ mental health and affective responses (de la Vega, 2021; Holding et al., 2018). The current study analyzed how athletic identity influences exercise adherence, psychological well-being, and depressive symptoms in 185 first-year university students who were former high school athletes. Participants completed the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS; Brewer & Cornelius, 2001), Beck’s Depression Inventory – II (BDI- II; Beck et al., 1996), World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5; Topp et al., 2015), and International Physical Activity Questionnaire – Short Form (IPAQ-SF; Craig et al., 2003) via Qualtrics. Results found that AIMS negative affect subscale was positively correlated with depressive symptoms (r = .27, p < .001). A negative correlation found with the AIMS negative affect subscale with psychological well-being (r = -.32, p < .001). A positive correlation was found with exercise adhernce with AIMS composite score (r = .18, p = .007), AIMS social identity subscale (r = .25, p < .001), and AIMS exclusivity subscale (r = .15, p = .017). Participants who reported higher levels of athletic identity were more likely to report higher levels of depression and exercise adherence, and lower levels of psychological well-being. However, less than 10% of the variance was found to be explained by athletic identity. This suggests that first-year university students who were former high school athletes may be predisposed to experience negative mental health and emotions due to the loss of their athletic identity as they also transition into a university
Nursing Burnout
No full textBurnout is a critical issue in nursing, particularly in high-stress environments such as intensive care units (ICUs). Professional burnout, defined by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment, has emerged as a critical issue within the nursing profession. Existing research has focused on the prevalence of burnout in nursing, but there remains a gap in understanding how different clinical settings, especially high- stress areas like ICUs, contribute to these outcomes. This study uses the Holistic Nursing Theory, which emphasizes the importance of self-care and reflection for nurses, to explore how burnout may affect nurses' ability to deliver holistic care. The primary research question was: How does burnout in ICU nurses compare to non-ICU nursing roles? The outcomes of this project will help to identify and understand the unique stressors and challenges faced by ICU nurses which will help nurses plan strategies to address burnout in these high-stress settings, reduce burnout rates, improve nurse well-being, and enhance overall patient care outcomes. Participants were recruited by sending out a flyer through email to nursing faculty, graduate students, and through a private Facebook group. The survey was conducted from December 7, 2024, to January 31, 2025, gathered 70 responses, of which 55 were fully completed and analyzed. The majority of the responses were from critical care nurses (39 ICU and 16 non-ICU nurses). Based on the MBI tool both ICU and Non-ICU nurses experienced moderate levels of burnout in all areas addressed: emotion exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement. This mixed methods study provided a comprehensive understanding of burnout levels in a sample of critical care and non-critical care nurses. Implications for practice highlight the need to address ways to improve nursing practice to reduce stresses that contribute to burnout