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Community through SCU Sociology Club
Get PDFAs graduating seniors, we are blessed to reflect on all that the Sociology Department has done for us in the past 4 years. Starting at Santa Clara University in 2020, we took our first round of courses completely online, including SOCI 1: Introduction to Sociology, which we unknowingly took together, especially as it was so hard to meet other students asynchronously. In Spring 2021, a few classes transitioned into a hybrid format, one of which being SOCI 35: Intro to Research Design and Methods with Professor Nichols. We were one of few students that opted into the in-person learning option, equipped with masks and 6+ feet of space between us. Professor Nichols invited us to become the Peer Educators for SOCI 35 in Fall 2021. During one of the infamous Sociology Department pizza parties that fall quarter, the faculty, including Professor Pumar, head of the department at the time, invited us to restart the Sociology Club, as it had died out before the pandemic. They reassured us that we would have the department’s support, in guidance, funding, and planning, so we accepted
Advising Discerning College Students about Psychotherapist Career Options: Unpacking the Alphabet Soup of Graduate Training and Licensure
No full textMany college students are interested in a career as a psychotherapist. With more recent attention directed towards mental health needs and less stigma in seeking professional services, there may be an even greater level of interest among college students wishing to become psychotherapists. Graduate training and career options in psychotherapy can be remarkably confusing since there are many diverse pathways to licensure as a psychotherapist. There is an alphabet soup of options that include pursuing a PhD, PsyD, MFT, LPC, MSW, among others? Students, and their advisors, need simple guidelines to best figure out which pathway is best for individual students. This article hopes to introduce several critical questions and issues to consider to help students more easily find the path that will suit them best
Understanding and Enhancing Linux Kernel-based Packet Switching on WiFi Access Points
No full textAs the number of WiFi devices and their traffic demands continue to rise, the need for a scalable and highperformance wireless infrastructure becomes increasingly essential. Central to this infrastructure are WiFi Access Points (APs), which facilitate packet switching between Ethernet and WiFi interfaces. Despite APs’ reliance on the Linux kernel’s data plane for packet switching, the detailed operations and complexities of switching packets between Ethernet and WiFi interfaces have not been investigated in existing works. This paper makes the following contributions towards filling this research gap. Through macro and micro-analysis of empirical experiments, our study reveals insights in two distinct categories. Firstly, while the kernel’s statistics offer valuable insights into system operations, we identify and discuss potential pitfalls that can severely affect system analysis. For instance, we reveal the implications of device drivers on the meaning and accuracy of the statistics related to packet-switching tasks and processor utilization. Secondly, we analyze the impact of the packet switching path and core configuration on performance and power consumption. Specifically, we identify the differences in Ethernet-to-WiFi and WiFi-to-Ethernet data paths regarding processing components, multi-core utilization, and energy efficiency. We show that the WiFi-to-Ethernet data path leverages better multi-core processing and exhibits lower power consumption
Machine Learning For Detection Of Covid-Related Cardiomyopathy
No full textCardiomyopathy refers to conditions that make it harder for the heart muscles to contract, which may manifest as muscle thickening, stiffening, or growing abnormally. COVID-19 has been associated with cardiovascular complications like cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Several studies have found that 20-30% of COVID-19 patients may develop cardiomyopathy or experience heart failure, especially in severe cases. Detection of cardiac complications such as cardiomyopathy is vital because it can be fatal. If caught in the early stages, it can be mitigated with noninvasive strategies like medications and lifestyle changes, rather than surgical implants and potentially transplants. Unfortunately, there can be barriers to accessing a diagnosis in a timely and cost-effective manner. Additionally, low income, whether individual or regional, can heavily impact the ability to get diagnostic tests.
Machine learning can offer earlier detection, as it has been used to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in multiple age groups with high specificity and sensitivity. For our project, we will use machine learning to detect cardiomyopathy in COVID-19 patients. We will use data that involves COVID-19 patients who have cardiomyopathy and COVID-19 patients without cardiomyopathy to train a model for detection. Our main objectives are to preprocess the ECG image data to remove extraneous information for improved model performance and use the transfer learning method and a deep learning model to classify cardiomyopathy in COVID-19 patients. Our project is necessary because it will potentially help save lives and can be used by many different types of people such as healthcare professionals
Skin Phantom Development for Electrophysiological Wearable Device Testing
Get PDFThis senior design project aimed to develop a skin phantom suitable for testing electrophysiological wearable devices. Our skin phantom consisted of a porous paper PDMS as the epithelial layer, initially paired with agarose gel as the tissue layer, and later with gelatin based on comparative analysis. Through rigorous experimentation and leveraging data from the IT’IS Foundation’s interactive database, we identified that gelatin exhibited superior electrical properties compared to agarose, making it a more effective medium for replicating human tissue. Our work not only validated the use of paper PDMS with both agarose and gelatin but also demonstrated that gelatin\u27s lower impedance enhances the efficiency of electrical signal transmission.
The results of this project have potential to make an impact in the field of electrophysiological wearable technology development. We were able to create a skin-tissue phantom that considers electromagnetic properties critical for realistic device testing and tune these properties by changing their fabrication parameters. By showing that paper PDMS works effectively with gelatin, we provided a viable alternative for future skin phantom constructions. This advancement ensures that electrophysiological devices can be tested under conditions that closely mimic real human skin, thereby improving their reliability, performance, and safety in real-world applications
Translucent Object and Automated 6D Pose Annotation Method for Robotic Manipulation
No full textHumanoid robots are anticipated to play integral roles in domestic settings, aiding individuals with everyday tasks. Given the prevalence of translucent storage containers in households, characterized by their practicality and transparency, it becomes imperative to equip humanoid robots with the capability to localize and manipulate these objects accurately. Consequently, 6D pose estimation is a crucial area of research for advancing robotic manipulation. However, most existing 6D pose estimation methods and datasets predominantly focus on opaque objects, leaving a gap in research concerning translucent objects. We introduce a novel translucent object dataset with 6D pose and bounding box annotations tailored for robotic manipulation. The dataset includes six classes of translucent container objects in diverse environments and lighting conditions. Additionally, we introduce an automated ground truth annotation method that can be easily replicated and requires only RGB input. Finally, we fine-tune PoET, a transformer-based RGB-only 6D pose estimation framework, on the novel translucent object dataset. Finetuned PoET achieves 94% accuracy on translucent objects from the new dataset
Augustine on the Religious Foundation of Citizenship
Get PDFIn Gaudium et spes, the Second Vatican Council declared, “Let the citizens cultivate with magnanimity and loyalty the love of the country, but without a narrow mind, so that they always look also for the good of the whole human family, united by all kinds of links between the races, and the nations.”1 This declaration responded to one of the most pressing issues of the time, the problem of defining the limits of the state’s social agency. Twenty years prior to Vatican II, the Church witnessed one of the most explosive wars in recorded history, a conflict that had violently stretched the limits of empires and nations, of small communities and institutions — and even the limits of the human soul. The theme of the time, not surprisingly, was one of anthropological change.2
Integral to the Second Vatican Council’s view of the nation state was understanding what it meant to be a citizen. The council positioned citizens within a concrete political society, exhorting them to protect the unity of their national commonweal. Nevertheless, the council also recognized that secular citizenship cannot encompass the religious dimension of human life. The council resorted to the Augustinian paradigm of the two cities to circumscribe the proper aims of secular citizenship: “This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of the two cities, to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in response to the Gospel spirit.”3 The perennial problem of this paradigm is defining what properly belongs to the nation state, setting apart “what belongs to Caesar.” Broadly speaking, secular citizenship is the social signifier that confirms a natural person’s membership in a political community.4 In recent times, as national and cultural boundaries shift, many people in the Church struggle to understand how their religious identity relates to their status as members of a nation state. What do Christians owe to their nations? What is the proper aim of secular citizenship? In this paper, we will look at the defining characteristics of the Augustinian concept of the two cities. This will provide us with a framework to rethink what citizenship means for the Christian faith in the 21st century.
Gregory the Great’s Metaphor of the Shepherd of the Flock as a Pastoral Model for the Contemporary Catholic Priesthood
No full textThis dissertation explores Gregory the Great’s shepherd of the flock metaphor—a key image in his Pastoral Rule—in its cultural, scriptural, and patristic contexts. It argues that the shepherd metaphor remains relevant in the ongoing conversation on the Catholic priesthood and pastoral leadership. No less Pope Francis himself engages and, in effect, updates the shepherd metaphor in contemporary conversation. This project combines two functional specialties within theology: history and pastoral reflection. It also resorts to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, establishing the shepherd image as a conceptual construct and a theological model.
The survey of the shepherd of the flock’s origin and meaning shows that it has remained a robust leadership model through time and across cultures, culminating in the metaphor’s established place in the biblical tradition with Jesus the Good Shepherd as the paradigm. Significantly, Gregory the Great, in his Pastoral Rule, revivifies the metaphor and makes it constitutive of his ascetic-pastoral framework. Believing the Church’s survival depends greatly upon virtuous and quality leadership, Gregory uses his Pastoral Rule—a regimen of ascetic practices and moral-spiritual virtues—to recruit candidates equipped for pastoral ministry.
Inspired by the shepherd metaphor as a theological paradigm, the dissertation critically appropriates the Gregorian ascetic-pastoral framework to address the interrelated issues of clerical sexual abuse, clericalism, and flawed theology of the priesthood. It proposes a contemporary pastoral spirituality focusing on recovering the theology of the undershepherd, understanding the spiritual-ascetic-pragmatic nexus of authority, nurturing pastoral hermeneutics, and embracing ongoing accompaniment. The dissertation concludes with a contextualized view of the Church in the Philippines’ pastoral engagement with the current circumstances and ongoing conversation on the Catholic priesthood and exercise of ministry
Reimagining Constitutional Democracy for Human Flourishing: A Re-reading of Augustine’s Social Love, Ubuntu Ethics, and CST for the Zambian
No full textComparable to the person battered and left for dead and lying by the roadside, the poor in Zambia epitomized by the story of Regina Mukuka Nyirenda, a former civil servant, attest to the socioeconomic, political, and gender injustice ordinary suffer despite Zambia being a constitutional democracy and a Christian nation since 1991. Although, in theory, it ascribes to the dignity and rights of everyone without discriminating, the liberalist human rights regime (framework) underlying Zambia’s constitutional laws since colonialism promotes the flourishing of the elite neoliberalist class while perpetuating socioeconomic, political, and gender injustice. Conversely, it undermines the thriving of the victims of injustice and marginalizes them from substantive democratic political decision-making for their flourishing, the common good, and democratic polity. This dissertation seeks to promote social justice in solidarity with Zambia’s anawim using Augustine’s social love operational in the two cities in dialogue with mutual solidarity (ukwikatana) according to Ubuntu philosophy (ubwananyina) in the light of CTS’s call to social action on behalf of the poor using the paradigm of seeing, judging, and acting according to the signs of the times. I encapsulate the synergy of these three prisms in the African Ubuntu aphorism: “Your pain is my pain; my wealth is your wealth; your salvation is my salvation,” or what I express in short, Ubuntu solidarity for equal flourishing. Zambia’s democracy should promote democratic rights and social justice to be genuine. The Constitution must not only be shaped by the thin, rational, liberalist human rights tradition but also by the thick, communitarian one. It should be ethical and relevant to the people’s cultural context, aspirations, and experiences. Through a contextualized theology, the local Roman Catholic Church must participate actively in democratic polity by promoting civic education and shared action using cultural values for the message to be impactful: ubwananyina (familyhood) and ukwikatana (mutual solidarity)