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Confining Curiosity: An Ethnographic Study Analyzing the Operation of Science Education in a Disciplinary Alternative School
No full textThis ethnographic study investigates how science education is facilitated within a disciplinary alternative school (DAS) and how the property functions of Whiteness shape its structure, access, and implementation. Drawing from Critical Race Theory, and more specifically Harris’s (1993) concept of Whiteness as property, this study analyzes the racialized dynamics embedded in the everyday practices of science instruction at a disciplinary alternative school.Data was collected through science classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with two science teachers who were new to the U.S. school system and participating in the J-1 Exchange Visitor Teaching Program. Although both teachers brought over a decade of experience teaching in the Philippines, they faced a distinct set of challenges within the disciplinary setting, shaped by institutional constraints, scripted curriculum, and heightened behavioral surveillance. Findings are organized around the four key property functions of Whiteness: the right to disposition, the right to use and enjoyment, the right to status and reputation, and the right to exclude. These themes reveal how Whiteness operates materially and symbolically in alternative education, influencing who is granted access to meaningful science learning and under what conditions. Science instruction was frequently overshadowed by behavioral management, institutional interruptions, and a pervasive culture of surveillance, resulting in a learning environment focused more on control than on scientific inquiry. This study contributes to growing conversations at the intersection of race, discipline, and science education by highlighting how educational equity is undermined through the racialized mechanisms embedded in alternative school structures. The findings call for a critical reimagining of how science is taught in carceral-like educational spaces and how policy and practice can better serve students systematically excluded from comprehensive classrooms
Bridging the Gap Between Vocal Performance Degrees and Opera Apprentice Programs: A Comparative Study of Pedagogical Methods
No full textWhile operatic apprentice programs seek singers with strong vocal potential, they rarely define the specific technical skills necessary for success. This study bridges the gap between vocal performance degrees and the opera industry by identifying the vocal techniques that may improve a singer’s likelihood of acceptance into an apprentice program. To achieve this, the research draws from two primary sources: pedagogical texts and interviews with industry experts who actively teach, coach, or perform alongside apprentice artists at elite opera houses. These experts include voice teachers Darrell Babidge and Jack LiVigni, vocal coaches Beatrice Benzi and John Parr, and internationally acclaimed singers Angela Meade and Dolora Zajick. The findings provide practical guidance for singers and educators, clarifying the technical skills most valued in apprentice program auditions and offering training approaches that align with industry demands
Enhancing Documentation Proficiency: Feasibility of Integrating EHR Go & Unfolding Case Studies in Occupational Therapy Education
No full textObjective: This capstone project evaluated the feasibility of integrating EHR Go and Unfolding Case Studies (UCS) into the first-year curriculum of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) program. The goal was to enhance students’ SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) note documentation proficiency and critical thinking skills through simulation-based learning and increased exposure to real-world documentation expectations and examples. Feedback from 33 clinicians at Dignity Health St. Rose Dominican Hospital – Siena Campus informed the workshop design, and OTD faculty and graduate assistants at UNLV provided input on curriculum integration feasibility.Methods: A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent groups pretest-posttest design was used. Prior to the intervention, 33 clinicians participated in a documentation needs assessment to guide workshop development and content priorities. Twelve first-year OTD students voluntarily participated in a documentation workshop featuring EHR Go and UCS. The intervention included timed SOAP note writing, case-based scenarios, and feedback from instructors and peers. Pre- and post-intervention surveys measured students’ confidence in documentation, and SOAP note assignments were graded using a standardized rubric to assess objective proficiency. Scores were compared within the workshop group and against the remainder of the cohort (n = 15) who did not attend the workshop. Additionally, a SOAR analysis and staff interviews were conducted to evaluate curricular relevance and implementation feasibility. Findings: Clinician feedback emphasized the need for structured documentation training and validated the workshop’s content focus on clinical reasoning and EHR literacy. Statistically significant improvements in documentation confidence were observed for workshop participants in the Objective (p = .037), Assessment (p = .015), and Plan (p = .008) sections. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed that SOAP note scores improved significantly among participants (W = 0.0, p = .002, r = .88) and non-participants (W = 6.0, p = .003, r = .76), though workshop participants achieved a greater mean improvement (ΔM = 2.58 vs. 1.90). An independent samples t-test found no statistically significant difference between groups, t(25) = -1.20, p = .243, but a moderate between-group effect size (d = -0.46) suggested meaningful trends in favor of participants. Qualitative feedback further supported the workshop\u27s effectiveness and curricular value, while faculty and graduate assistant responses confirmed that the workshop’s learning activities could feasibly be integrated into existing first-year coursework with appropriate support. Conclusion: The integration of EHR Go and UCS into the UNLV OTD curriculum was feasible and showed promising benefits for enhancing SOAP note proficiency and fieldwork preparedness. Findings support continued use of simulation-based documentation training to bridge academic instruction and clinical documentation demands
Gotta Be Fresh: Comedy Central’s Workaholics, Masculinity, and Paratextual Decay
No full textThis thesis examines social media marketing materials for Workaholics, a sitcom aired on Comedy Central from 2011 to 2017, to study paratextual temporality/ephemerality, the “brand as friend” social media strategy, and how masculinity is articulated through paratexts. The project incorporates theories from the fields of social media and internet marketing studies, television content and industry studies, and promotional paratext studies. Research centered on 100 Workaholics X (formerly Twitter) posts, published from January 2012 to March 2017. Posts were collected using Google Chrome extension TwExportly. Qualitative textual and content analysis of these paratexts results in three categories of findings. First, I discuss the brand’s relationship with the audience developed through social media paratexts, observing the evolving writing style of the profile - from informal with errors in 2012, to polished and professional through 2014. Second, I examine the show’s prominent theme of masculinity: how its satire of toxic masculinity manifests as misogyny in paratexts, how these paratexts reinforced the Comedy Central brand of immature heteronormativity, and how the 2010s masculinity crisis was articulated through similar discourse in various online subcultures. Lastly, by exploring the temporality of ephemeral paratext meaning, I introduce the term “online paratextual decay,” the process of paratexts actively losing meaning primarily due to external technical factors and corporate participatory space oversight. I conclude with a discussion solidifying the concept of paratextual meaning decay: situating it in paratextual literature, identifying the corrosive relationship between toxic masculinity and paratexts, and the potential national implications of this decay effect
Effects of Body Armor on Respiratory Muscle Fatigue and Muscle Blood Flow During Progressive Treadmill Marching
No full textIntroduction: Torso-borne loads such as body armor are essential for modern military operations but impose mechanical and metabolic strain. These physiological stressors can trigger the inspiratory metaboreflex, which redirects blood flow from locomotor to respiratory muscles, further reducing muscle oxygen and endurance. While aerobic fitness has been shown to alleviate these effects, the interaction between sex, aerobic capacity, and oxygenation under load is not well understood. This study examined the physiological effects of torso-borne load carriage on respiratory muscle fatigue, skeletal muscle oxygenation, and exercise performance to volitional exhaustion and the degree to which sex and aerobic capacity influence these effects.Methods: Nineteen physically active participants (9 males, 10 females; 33±8 years) with prior load carriage experience completed a maximal graded VO2max treadmill test and two randomized treadmill marching trials to volitional exhaustion: unloaded and loaded with a standardized 28 kg military fighting load (body armor, helmet, and rifle). Each trial included four 10-minute stages which progressively increased in speed and grade until volitional fatigue. Maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and blood pressure (BP) were assessed between intervals, with blood lactate collected pre- and post-exercise. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensors were placed on the vastus lateralis, triceps surae, and intercostal muscles to monitor changes in skeletal muscle oxygenation (SmO2) and total hemoglobin (THb). Results: Time to exhaustion was significantly reduced in the loaded condition (2642±589 s) compared to unloaded (3833±636 s; p \u3c 0.001; d = 1.8), with males completing more stages under both conditions (loaded: 6.4±0.5 vs. 4.5±0.5 stages; p \u3c 0.001). Despite carrying a greater relative load (42.0±6.7% vs. 34.4±4.5% body mass; p \u3c 0.01), females exhibited smaller declines in quadriceps SmO2 under load (ΔSmO2: -15.9±13.2%) compared to males (ΔSmO2: -22.4±15.1%) over the first four stages, with a dramatic, significant decline in quadriceps SmO2 in males at volitional exhaustion (male ΔSmO2: -19.3±2.7%; female ΔSmO2: +6.4±4.5%). Post hoc analysis showed a medium-to-large sex difference in intercostal SmO2 under load (d = 0.6), favoring females, while differences were negligible in the unloaded condition, suggesting load-dependent sex disparities in respiratory muscle oxygenation. Higher VO2max was weakly associated with preserved quadriceps oxygenation under load (r = 0.33), although aerobic fitness explained only 11% of the variance in SmO2 responses. Conclusion: Torso-borne load carriage reduces exercise tolerance by impairing ventilatory mechanics and muscular oxygenation responses and accelerating the onset of respiratory muscle fatigue. These effects are consistent with activation of the respiratory muscle metaboreflex and greater cardiovascular strain. Notably, females demonstrated relative fatigue resistance under load even when carrying a higher percentage of their body mass. This suggests that sex-specific physiological differences, such as less absolute force production and decreased vascular compression, may preserve muscle perfusion. While aerobic fitness offers some protection, it does not fully explain inter-individual variability in muscle oxygenation responses. These findings identify the need for optimized load carriage strategies and appropriate conditioning programs among mixed-sex tactical populations
Housewerk: How Drag Performers Engage in Emotional Labor While Navigating Community Care
No full textThis dissertation examines drag performance as a form of service labor shaped by emotional labor, community care, and identity-based inequality. Drawing on interviews with drag performers shows how drag labor blends artistic skill, emotional regulation, interpersonal care, and entrepreneurial labor. While these demands mirror service sector roles in other industries, drag remains underrecognized and undervalued, particularly for performers who do not conform to white, cisgender norms. The study introduces Housewerk—an adaptation of Marlon Bailey’s concept of housework (Bailey, 2013)—to describe the mix of paid and unpaid labor drag performers engage in. Housewerk captures how performers must balance self-preservation (branding, income, emotional health) with social obligation (activism, mentorship, visibility), often at a personal cost. Marginalized performers—including trans artists, drag kings, intersex performers, and performers of color—report heightened emotional burdens, tokenization, and exclusion from booking and leadership opportunities. These findings build on and extend the work of Bailey (2013), Román (2005), and Piepzna-Samarasinha (2016;2018), who conceptualize queer and trans labor through kinship, care, and community survival. By drawing on and expanding theories of emotional and affective labor (Hochschild, 1983; Wharton, 1993; Ahmed, 2004; Kang, 2003; Carastathis, 2015; Niall, 2022), this dissertation reframes drag as labor that is simultaneously artistic, political, and communal. It contributes to sociological understandings of work, identity, and inequality by demonstrating how emotional labor operates in informal, identity-based economies where care and performance are demanded but not protected
Nevada HPV Vaccine Completion Time and Adherence Among 9-14-Year-Olds From 2017-2023
No full textThe HPV (Human Papillomavirus) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, in the United States. Since its development in 1991, the HPV vaccine has been proven to be highly effective against the infection (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2024). In order for an individual to receive optimal protection, the CDC has given guidelines dependent on age. It is important to understand changes in HPV vaccine completion for future public health immunization campaigns and objectives. To analyze how HPV completion and adherence has changed from 2017-2023 among the 9-14-year-old population, a retrospective cohort study was conducted utilizing secondary data from Nevada’s Immunization Information System (NV WebIZ). Vaccination records (n= 108,070) were used to determine the prevalence of completion in Nevada. Across the years 2017-2023, there was a low prevalence of HPV completion across adolescents. A nonparametric analysis was used to determine differences in the amount of time it took to receive the second dose of the HPV vaccine over time and across different demographic groups. There was no statistically significant trend over the years (p= 0.44). There were statistically significant differences in completion time among demographic groups including age, gender, racial background, and insurance types (p \u3c 0.001). A logistic regression was conducted to understand how demographic factors predict vaccination adherence. Gender, county, race, year of initiation, initial insurance, and initial provider were all significant covariates of the regression model (p\u3c 0.05). Despite the statistical significance, there were limited practical differences among groups. This study provides an overview of HPV completion across adolescents and can be used to understand HPV vaccination in Nevada
AI in Medical Practice and Education: A Work in Progress
No full textAt the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, we’ve been working for the past two years to integrate AI into pre-clinical medical education in ways that prepare students for the tools and challenges of future AI-augmented clinical practice. This includes formal curricular workshop exposure and guided experimentation with AI in data-driven capstone projects. In addition, ongoing projects include the pilot of a research design and workflow tool and the integration of ambient documentation into our simulation center. This session will reflect on what we’ve done, what we’re building toward, and what we’ve learned along the way, shaped by ever evolving technology and the constraints of limited resources
Reflections Through AI: Visualizing Learning, Emotion, and Mindset
No full textAttendees will learn about narrative identity, using AI as a reflective tool, and create a reflective artifact using AI. Narrative identities are stories that can help students make sense of their prior learning experiences. Negative experiences in math classrooms can influence students’ perceptions of the subject and sometimes cause negative feelings or anxiety towards learning math. For years, I have used drawing in conjunction with written explanation to observe my students’ thoughts and emotions towards learning mathematics. In my most recent iteration of using this activity in an undergraduate math class, one student described their feelings of learning math to Chat GPT and Chat GPT produced an image. This image connected the student to their unconscious image of math. The student will describe how AI helped shift their emotions towards math to a more positive mindset. Ideas will be shared for activities to showcase how AI can serve as a medium for students to visualize and process their emotional connections to learning, discuss how AI can be used as a tool for reflection, and, more broadly, how this use of AI can improve the teaching and learning culture
Design as Dialogue: Working with AI in Course Creation
No full textGenerative AI promises speed, but effective course design still demands human expertise. Drawing on our experience co-creating course materials with AI, this session examines how the nature of design work changes rather than disappears - shifting from content creation to critical curation, refinement, and decision-making. Participants will explore a practical prompt-building framework, analyze examples of raw and revised AI outputs, and leave with strategies to thoughtfully integrate AI into their own design workflows while recognizing where human judgment remains indispensable