The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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Social Interaction Experiences of Neurodivergent Individuals During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way individuals socialize with the integration of social distancing, isolation, mask mandates and more. This study identified themes within the interpersonal experiences and socialization of college students who identify as neurodivergent during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was examined through a qualitative phenomenological approach utilizing semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed three themes, (a) Periods of Adjustment, (b) Comfort in Familiarity, and (c) Alterations in Social Interactions. These themes described how participants had to adapt to the many precautions implemented during the pandemic, the ease of interactions with familiar individuals, and the changing social experiences faced by participants. Implications for the counseling field, limitations of the study, recommendations for future research, and conclusion of the dissertation are included
The Importance of Cultural Competency: Improving Patient-Provider Relationships Improves Hispanic Health
No full textBackground: Hispanics living in the U.S have poor health compared to Non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanics experience more disease, a higher likelihood of dying from chronic disease such as cancer, heart disease and unintentional injuries. Aside from prevention knowledge and access to healthcare, another factor that can affect Hispanic health is the patient-provider relationships. More specifically, culturally competent healthcare providers are more likely to have better communication and interactions with their patients as they understand their culture and can apply it into the healthcare setting. Therefore, cultural competency is key to improving health outcomes among Hispanic patients and an important skill to have for students entering various health and human service careers. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of cultural competency among college students and see how they differ based on the type of health-related profession being pursued. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from an online Qualtrics survey to measure cultural competency using the Cultural Competence Assessment (CCA). College students from various health and human services professional programs at Texas A&M University-Commerce were recruited via email, social media and word of mouth to complete the survey. Descriptive analysis was done to compare cultural competence scores among various demographic groups. Bivariate correlations was used to examine any associations between that study variables. Results: Responses from 46 participants were analyzed using SPSS with majority identifying as being white (43.5%), age 18-34 (60.9), female (37%), employed (82.6%), with a household income between 50,000 (69.6%), and in a psychology/counseling/social work program (39.1%). Overall, participants with more experience interacting with diverse populations, cultural diversity training had higher mean overall scores of cultural competency. Furthermore, a positive association was found between knowledge about Hispanics and cultural competency. Conclusion: Culturally competent providers have better communication and interaction with Hispanic patients which improves the provision of quality care. Findings highlight differences in cultural competency score based on exposure to diverse others whether learned in a class or through interactions with diverse others. Therefore, efforts to increase awareness and exposure to diverse others as part of a student’s learning and career preparation is key. These findings can be used to inform curriculum design and student preparation for students in various health and human services programs
Experimental and Numerical Behavior of Encased Pultruded GFRP Beams under Elevated and Ambient Temperatures
No full textIn this research, experimental and numerical studies were carried out to investigate the performance of encased glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) beams under fire. The test specimens were divided into two peer groups to be tested under the effect of ambient and elevated temperatures. The first group was statically tested to investigate the monotonic behavior of the specimens. The second group was exposed to fire loading first and then statically tested to explore the residual behavior of the burned specimens. Adding shear connectors and web stiffeners to the GFRP beam was the main parameter in this investigation. Moreover, service loads were applied to the tested beams during the fire. Utilizing shear connectors, web stiffeners, and both enhanced the load-carrying capacities of the encased beams by 100.6%, 97.3%, and 130.8%, respectively. Comparisons between the burned and unburned peer beams were presented with losses in the load-carrying capacity of the burned beams. These losses were the highest in the cases of shear connectors and web stiffeners due to the obtained severe damage, which led to more reductions in the residual behavior of the burned beams. Numerical analyses were performed using the general-purpose finite element (FE) ABAQUS package to conduct a parametric study. The investigated parameters included the effect of the exposure duration and the temperature level. The results of the FE analysis showed good agreement with the experimental results. Additional reductions in the residual capacities of the f ire-damaged beams were observed due to exposure to longer fire durations. The improvements in the beam capacities due to using shear connectors and web stiffeners relative to the reference beams under the same exposure time decreased as the exposure duration increased. Furthermore, increasing the temperature to 700 C, 800 C, 900 C, and 950 C caused reductions in the residual capacities by about 25%, 45%, 70%, and 80%, respectively, for the encased beams in comparison to their peers at ambient temperature
Understanding the Implications of Underreporting, Vaccine Efficiency and Social Behavior on the Post-pandemic Spread Using Physics Informed Neural Networks: A Case Study of China
No full textIn late 2019, the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, led to the implementation of stringent measures forming the zero-COVID policy aimed at eliminating transmission. Zero COVID policy basically aimed at completely eliminating the transmission of COVID-19. However, the relaxation of this policy in late 2022 reportedly resulted in a rapid surge of COVID-19 cases. The aim of this work is to investigate the factors contributing to this outbreak using a new SEIR-type epidemic model with time-dependent level of immunity. Our model incorporates a time-dependent level of immunity considering vaccine doses administered and time-post-vaccination dependent vaccine efficacy. We find that vaccine efficacy plays a significant role in determining the outbreak size and maximum number of daily infected. Additionally, our model considers under-reporting in daily cases and deaths, revealing their combined effects on the outbreak magnitude. We also introduce a novel Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) approach which is extremely useful in estimating critical parameters and helps in evaluating the predictive capability of our model
Technology Integration in the Middle School Classroom: Exploration of Outcomes of Behavior Intentions, Self-efficacy, and District Expectations
No full textThe purpose of this exploratory case study was to examine middle school teacher behavior intentions, teacher self-efficacy, and perception of the technology initiative in the district of interest as they relate to actual implementation of technology for instruction in a 1:1 middle school. Six in-service veteran middle school teachers from six content areas and displaying a wide range of technology integration in the classroom were selected for the research study. A technology integration survey, two classroom observations of instruction, a one-on-one interview, and document analysis of lesson plans for the week of and the week preceding the observations were used to address the research questions. It was found that five of the six teacher participants have a generally positive perception of the district’s technology initiative with some variation in teacher understanding of expectations and perception of available resources and supports as well as perceived usefulness of the available technology in instruction. Although all participants were proficient in technology use, when distinguishing between technology use and integration for instruction, it was found that two of the teachers had relatively lower technology self-efficacy to integrate technology when compared with the four teacher participants who had relatively higher self-efficacy to integrate technology in instruction. Finally, it was found low teacher self-efficacy to integrate technology negatively impacted teacher behavior intentions to integrate technology and ultimately negatively impacted actual technology integration in classroom instruction and high teacher self-efficacy positively impacted teacher behavior intentions to meet district technology integration expectations and positively impacted actual integration of technology for instruction. Implications for practice include the need for school district leaders to explicitly state expectations for student-centered technology integration in instruction. Additionally, professional development supporting these expectations is also needed. Finally, recommendations for future research include a repetition of this study with clarified teacher expectations for technology integration, research focused on the impact of COVID-19 on self-efficacy and technology integration, and repetition of this study in other school districts to increase the generalizability of the findings
Texas High School (im)migrants Negotiating Acculturation: Measuring Bicultural Identity Integration in a New Cultural Context
No full textVarious academic disciplines are interested in post-migration cultural adjustment, or ‘acculturation’ and how it may affect health and well-being. Although many studies have reported the relationship between acculturation and well-being, crucial inconsistencies remain. The purpose of this study was to explore the bicultural identity integration of emergent bilingual adolescents who were enrolled in a high school newcomer course designed to support the acculturation experience. A mixed methods study measured differences, if any, which exist between recent (im)migrants’ acculturation strategy, or sometimes referred to as orientation, mode or preference, and their actual behaviors after taking an acculturation course. This study will help to understand how support systems can serve the acculturation process of (im)migrant adolescent students. This study adds to the body of work needed to support the diverse needs of (im)migrant students as they transition into a new cultural context within a school setting. It is hoped that this research can advance the complex understanding of acculturation, and how to develop bicultural integration strategies to better equip students in adapting to a new cultural context and toward improved social interaction between different cultural groups. This study could have important implications for understanding the well-being of new-to-the-country (im)migrant and refugee students
Being Tamil: Exploring the Relationship Between Tamil Heritage Language Maintenance and Ethnolinguistic Identity
No full textSince the Tamil language is perhaps the strongest indicator of a Tamil identity, this raises the question of how Tamil heritage language loss affects a Tamil identity? This study aims to answer this question using a mixed-methods approach involving an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews surveying members of the Tamil diaspora about their Tamil proficiency and use, migration patterns, attitudes towards the Tamil language, and identity. The Tamil identity is unique since this ethnolinguistic identification symbolizes a specific minority language and culture which cannot be similarly conveyed with a national identity, such as Indian or Sri Lankan, which is typically associated with the majority language and culture.The Tamil identity also encompasses two divergent identities of Indian Tamil and Eelam Tamil and this study will attempt to shed more light on the comparatively understudied Indian Tamil diaspora. Tamil heritage language maintenance faces some distinct challenges including what Schiffman (1998) observed as the pedagogical complications of maintaining a highly diglossic language as well as what Canagarajah (2012) observed as the pervasiveness of English proficiency among Tamils which leads to a higher receptive proficiency of Tamil in the diaspora. Tamil youth especially struggle with language maintenance after migration when learning the dominant language, such as English, and assimilating to the dominant culture takes precedence over maintaining the Tamil language. This study showed that while higher proficiency in Tamil speaking skills has a correlation with identifying as Tamil, it is still possible for Tamil identity to be maintained without Tamil language proficiency. There are a multitude of different aspects that Tamils in the diaspora claim keep them connected to their identity, including Tamil history, family members, traditions, and food. In this way, Tamils who have limited proficiency in the Tamil language are still able to find ways to keep connected to their Tamil identity and potentially use these means to pass on that identity to future generations. Since full Tamil language proficiency proves to not be necessary for a Tamil identity, this study has illuminated how Tamil diaspora members negotiate their identity and redefine what it means to be Tamil
Behavior of One-Way Reinforced Concrete Slabs with Polystyrene Embedded Arched Blocks
No full textThis study presents experimental and numerical investigations on seven one-way, reinforced concrete (RC) labs with a new technique of slab weight reduction using polystyrene-embedded arched blocks (PEABs). All slabs had the same dimensions, steel reinforcement, and concrete compressive strength. One of these slabs was a solid slab, which was taken as a control slab, while the other six slabs were cast with PEABs. The main variables were the ratio of the length of the PEABs to the length of the slab (lp/L) and the ratio of the height of the PEABs to the total slab depth (hP/H). The minimum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 6% with a minimum reduction in the slab weight of 15%. In contrast, the maximum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 24% with a maximum reduction in the slab weight of 40%. Moreover, the mode of failure changed from flexure to shear failure, especially for those slabs with an lP/L ratio equal to one. The geometric and material non-linearity was adopted in the proposed finite element (FE) model to simulate the slabs with PEABs using Abaqus software. Good agreement was obtained between the developed FE and experimental results
Effect of Using ECC Layer on the Flexural Performance of RC Beams Previously Strengthened with EB CFRP Laminates
No full textThis paper studies the efficiency of applying an engineered cementitious composite (ECC) layer to the tensile surface of (RC) beams that were previously strengthened using externally bonded (EB) carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates. One control and ten strengthened RC beams were produced and tested utilizing a four-point loading regime. For strengthened beams, two beams were kept strengthened using only CFRP, and additional ECC layers were added to the rest of the strengthened beams. The CFRP width and overlap length and position were among the test factors. Experimental results revealed that strengthening RC beams with CFRP laminates enhanced both the stiffness and flexural capacity of beams. Additional enhancements were obtained through the application of the additional ECC layers. The existence of the ECC layer alongside the CFRP laminate improved the flexural capacity by 102% and 125% when using CFRP widths of 50 mmand100mm,respectively, and the stiffness was improved by an average value of 318%. Three-dimensional (3D) finite element models (FEMs) were developed using ABAQUS software and verified against the experimental results to model the response of the tested beams. The verified model was used to conduct a parametric study to consider the effect of the ECC layer thickness and the reinforcement ratio on the strengthened beam behavior. The numerical results revealed that the effect of the reinforcement ratio was more significant than the ECC layer thickness in enhancing the load-displacement response, especially after the cracking stage
Scope for Pair-Wise Factor Substitution Strategies in US Rural Transit Operations When Factor Prices Change
No full textRural transit providers face unique challenges beyond those of their urban counterparts, including worse road conditions, access to trained labor, tighter budget constraints, and higher miles per rider. To date, transportation economics and policy research is scarce for this essential service in rural geographies due to data paucity. Employing the Generalized Translog Cost-minimization model, the core innovation in this paper is presenting the first illustration of the cost-minimization strategies available to transit providers when faced with the constraints of sparsely populated geographic settings. Using a rich dataset of 42 U.S. rural transportation providers across 17 years, we estimate the operational factor (fuel, labor, materials and maintenance) substitution capabilities for the typical provider. The estimated production factor input elasticities of substitution (own, crossprice, Morishima, and Shadow) differ substantially across price changes for the three input factors. Following, this study sheds new operational cost-minimization policy insights for rural public transportation operations