22689 research outputs found
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AN EMPIRICAL CASE STUDY ON DATA-INFORMED STUDENT AND TEACHER WELL-BEING
No full textThis dissertation examined how data can be used to improve teacher well-being in K–12 schools, with a particular focus on a high-achieving independent school. Guided by the research question, “How can data be used to improve teacher well-being?”, the study framed data-informed decision-making (DIDM) as a human-centered practice that promotes operational change, along with relational trust, dialogue, and continuous learning. Drawing on Networked Ecological Systems Theory (Neal & Neal, 2013), this study situates teacher well-being within a broader framework of organizational, cultural, and leadership dynamics, addressing concerns about teacher burnout, post-pandemic recovery, and the need to align institutional practices with both faculty and student well-being more effectively.
Using a multi-method case study approach, the research combined quantitative data from the Authentic Connections Faculty Resilience Survey with qualitative interviews and document analysis. Participants included administrators from a single all-boys independent school. The study examined how leaders interpreted and responded to disaggregated well-being data and how their actions fostered institutional learning and collaborative change.
Key findings identified five themes: (1) prioritizing teacher well-being; (2) the importance of transformative, emotionally intelligent leadership; (3) using data and feedback for decision-making and shared responsibility; (4) the role of communication and collaboration in building trust; and (5) the emergence of innovation through systems thinking and improvement science. Faculty reported feeling more seen, supported, and involved when leadership engaged in transparent dialogue and actively used feedback in planning and wellness efforts.
The case study emphasizes the importance of aligning operational strategies with faculty lived experiences and utilizing data to foster dialogue, establish trust, and sustain meaningful change in schools. This research contributes to the growing body of literature advocating for holistic school improvement, with a focus on placing educator mental health at the core of student success
RAPID PROTOTYPING OF ELECTROCHEMICAL APTAMER-BASED SENSORS IN CLINICALLY RELEVANT CONTEXTS
No full textWith the advances in modern medical science, there is an increasing emphasis on personalized medicine – the practice of letting a patient’s individual circumstances (physical state, genetics, etc.) dictate medical decisions. A consequence of this is rising demand for sensors that can capture detailed real-time biomedical data – for example the continuous glucose monitor, which has revolutionized diabetes management by allowing patients to precisely track their blood sugar. Electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors present a promising new avenue for continuous sensing by using an artificially synthesized oligonucleotide as the affinity element. While the E-AB platform is ideal in theory, there are still challenges to overcome before it is ready for clinical use. Among these hurdles is the issue of practical implementation – what will E-AB sensors look like, and how will the output data be interpreted and translated into clinical action? These problems are foundational to the mainstream implementation of E-AB sensors in clinical practice; thus, efforts should be made not only to strive for solutions but also to establish platforms that allow a broader range of researchers to participate.
Over the course of this dissertation, I hope to contribute to the foundation of the solution to these issues. Firstly, I will discuss our work with a method for analyzing undiluted patient serum samples to streamline therapeutic drug monitoring by combining miniaturized electrochemical measurement equipment with an E-AB-modified gold chip to rapidly measure drug concentration. Secondly, I describe an electrochemical cell that can be fabricated in-house and is adapted for repeated use with low volume biological samples. The goal of this study is to provide a test paradigm for researchers aiming to develop electrochemical sensors for use with low-volume samples from biobanks or clinical studies that are otherwise not amenable to use with conventional electrode setups. The final chapter will provide proof-of-concept for a prototype electrode device that can be easily assembled and implanted in the subcutaneous space of anaesthetized rodents for continuous E-AB sensing. We hope that this device will not only be a useful research tool but also lead to wider adoption of continuous in vivo E-AB sensor technology by non-expert labs
BRIDGING MENTAL HEALTH AND EQUITY: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE INTERVENTIONS FOR BLACK AND LATINX FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENT SUCCESS
Full text linkFirst-generation college students often face unique mental health challenges that can impact their academic success and overall well-being. In this mixed methods study, the research questions aim to explore the multifaceted experiences of Black and LatinX, first-generation college students regarding their decision to seek counseling, their unique stressors as college students of color, coping mechanisms utilized for anxiety and depression, and the influence of familial and cultural factors on their mental health and well-being. The quantitative survey included 113 participants, and assessed through validated measures: GAD-7 for anxiety, PHQ-9 for depression, and the Sense of Belonging Scale-Revised for perceived support. The study also includes 10 qualitative interviews to deepen understanding of these themes.
Results highlight significant correlations: anxiety levels were linked to difficulties in academic and social functioning, underscoring the pervasive impact of anxiety on Black and Latinx FGCS. Similarly, depression symptoms correlated with feelings of inadequacy and familial pressure, reflecting challenges unique to this demographic navigating college without familial guidance. Contrarily, positive correlations were found in perceptions of peer and faculty support. Despite challenges, Black and Latinx FGCS reported forming meaningful peer relationships and feeling supported by faculty, which positively influenced their academic engagement and well-being.
Findings underscore the critical role of supportive environments in mitigating academic and psychological challenges for Black and Latinx FGCS, advocating for targeted interventions to improve their college experiences
The Ethics Engine: Operationalizing Reflective Practice in Interdisciplinary AI in Education Teams
Full text linkIncorporating AI into educational technology products requires interdisciplinary collaboration and moral resilience to meet the needs of educators and students. Teams of ed tech professionals, including data scientists, AI engineers, learning scientists, user researchers, and instructional designers, must navigate challenges such as interdisciplinary communication, negotiating decision-making power balances, and navigating their understanding of one another’s roles. These challenges impact their ability to integrate perspectives and maintain moral resilience. Inadequate integration of interdisciplinary perspectives across the team during design and development reduces the ability to address fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in AI-integrated product. Complex Adaptive Systems Theory analyzes how upstream team dynamics influence moral resilience and decision-making, leading to unintended consequences. An explanatory sequential study explores product team members' experiences, collecting quantitative data on disciplinary perspectives, attitudes toward AI, shared mental models, moral resilience, sociotechnical imaginaries, agile methodologies, and reflective design practice. This study suggests future support areas. Additionally, design thinking and reflective practices stand to benefit interdisciplinary ed tech teams, improving decision-making and overall design quality. A conversation-based assessment minimum viable product combining these approaches supports ongoing engagement in reflective practice and design thinking in the creation of learner- and educator-centered ed tech
Design and Synthesis of Crosslinkers to Immobilize Polyketide Synthases in their Active-state Conformation for Structural Analysis and Mechanistic Study
No full textPolyketide and polyketide-derived metabolites are a class of natural products that include immense structural variety and medicinal utility despite being constructed in vivo primarily from simple acetic and malonic acid building blocks. The catalytic mechanisms used by the Polyketide Synthase (PKS) enzymes to construct these compounds are not fully understood, hampering efforts to reprogram their activities to generate new modified products with useful properties. In the hope of improving that understanding, my research has focused on the synthesis of a variety of synthetic crosslinkers and substrate mimics intended to stabilize the active-state conformation for direct visualization by X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The compounds generated have been used to obtain structures of two new catalytic domains, the CTB1-MAT (malonyl acyl transferase) and PksA-PT (product template) domains, leading to new insights into these complex and synthetically powerful enzymes
Accelerated Discovery of Cell Migration Regulators Using Label-Free Deep Learning-Based Automated Tracking
Full text linkCell migration plays a key role in normal developmental programs and in disease, including immune responses, tissue repair, and metastasis. Unlike other cell functions, such as proliferation which can be studied using high-throughput assays, cell migration requires more sophisticated instruments and analysis, which decreases throughput and has led to more limited mechanistic advances in our understanding of cell migration. Current assays either preclude single-cell level analysis, require tedious manual tracking, or use fluorescently labeled cells, which greatly limit the number of extracellular conditions and molecular manipulations that can be studied in a reasonable amount of time. Using the migration of cancer cells as a testbed, we established a workflow that images large numbers of cells in real time, using a 96-well plate format. We developed and validated a machine-vision and deep-learning analysis method, DeepBIT, to automatically detect and track the migration of individual cells from time-lapsed videos without cell labeling and user bias. We demonstrate that our assay can examine cancer cell motility behavior in many conditions, using different small-molecule inhibitors of known and potential regulators of migration, different extracellular conditions such as different contents in extracellular matrix and growth factors, and different CRISPR-mediated knockouts. About 1500 cells per well were tracked in 840 different conditions, for a total of ~1.3M tracked cells, in 30h (2 min per condition). Manual tracking of these cells by a trained user would take ~5.5 years. This demonstration reveals previously unidentified molecular regulators of cancer cell migration and suggests that collagen content can change the sign of how cytoskeletal molecules can regulate cell migration
Resolving Environmental Injustice: A Multiscale Analysis of Urban Heat Impacts
No full textExtreme heat is a growing public health threat, with significant concerns for urban areas where built environments contribute to elevated temperatures through the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. As extreme heat events increase in frequency and intensity, the need for high-resolution, policy-relevant data on heat exposure has become increasingly urgent. This dissertation examines the spatiotemporal structure of urban heat, the association between heat waves and asthma exacerbations, and the ability of gridded climate datasets (GCDs) to capture intraurban temperature variability across Baltimore, Maryland. We first develop 1-meter resolution datasets for daily maximum and minimum air temperatures using generalized additive models trained on data from a ground-based sensor network of iButton thermochrons, a synoptic weather station, and satellite-derived measurements. These datasets reveal that daytime and nighttime UHI patterns are shaped by distinct meteorological and surface characteristics. We then investigate the association between extreme heat and asthma-related emergency department visits using geocoded electronic health records and air temperature measurements at several spatial resolutions. A case-crossover design with conditional logistic regression identifies strong associations between nighttime heat wave definitions and asthma exacerbations, particularly when using high-resolution temperature data. Finally, we evaluate the ability of four GCDs to capture intraurban temperature variability and extreme heat events. Substantial differences between GCDs were observed, with finer resolution products appearing to better reflect spatial heterogeneity and localized heat event clusters. These differences suggest that heat-health findings may depend on the choice of temperature dataset. More broadly, our findings suggest that using spatially resolved, intraurban temperature data as opposed to uniform estimates, can influence the estimated relationship between extreme heat and health impacts. This work provides insight into how differences among temperature data products affect the representation of heat exposure, the strength of observed health associations, and the identification of localized risk within cities
Waves of cell death regulate retinal ganglion cell development in human retinas and retinal organoids
No full textRetinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the only projection neurons that connect the retina to the brain. A proper number of RGCs in the retina is important for their functionalities in vivo. During vertebrate retinal development, waves of developmental cell death regulate the number of retinal cells and facilitate the formation of the functional visual pathway. However, how developmental cell death affects human RGC development and maturation is yet to be elucidated. To identify when and where developmental cell death occurs during human retinal development, we characterized the waves of cell death in human fetal retinas. To experimentally track and manipulate the developmental cell death in human retinal tissue, we used human pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal organoids as the model system, which has been proven to recapitulate human early development and generate all major neuronal types in the human retina. We observed two waves of apoptosis in the retinal layers and a wave of necrosis in the organoid core during differentiation. The early apoptotic wave mainly affects neuronal precursors, while the late apoptotic wave causes RGC death. We quantified the window of RGC neurogenesis and the lifespan of RGCs in human retinal organoids, and found that RGCs downregulate their marker genes and some likely convert to horizontal cells. During organoid long-term culture, most RGCs are eliminated by apoptosis and necrosis. To determine the role of apoptosis in RGC development, we differentiated human retinal organoids with genetic knockout of BAX and BAK. Double knockout of BAX and BAK abolishes two waves of apoptosis in retinal layers and increases necrosis in the core. Our data suggest that inhibition of apoptosis in human retinal organoids promotes RGC survival while inducing compensatory RGC necrosis. Moreover, inhibition of BAX/BAK-mediated apoptosis improves the maintenance of immature RGCs at the cost of delaying their neurogenesis and maturation, suggesting an important role of developmental apoptosis in regulating human RGC development. As human stem cell-derived RGCs hold promise for future regenerative approaches to cure retinal degenerative diseases and optic neuropathies, our findings will elucidate the key mechanisms regulating human RGC survival and maturation and inform organoid design for regenerative therapies
Realizing a Benefit, Not a Burden: Base Politics, Local Coordination, and the Transformation of Iwakuni Air Base
No full textLocal community acceptance of foreign military bases is one of the most controversial yet least understood phenomenon in base politics. Why do communities accept the burdens of foreign military bases? What are the causal mechanisms that can transform local sentiments from contestation to cooperation, or vice versa? Why do so many other bases linger in a fragile equilibrium of “shaky acceptance”?
To explain this phenomenon, a new theory of base politics is presented. The Theory of Net Benefit is a typological theory of base politics that explains the level of contestation or cooperation between foreign military bases and base-hosting communities. The decision to either contest or cooperate with base policies is determined in part by how well basing agreements and their implementation align with the preferences of the local community. Ultimately, however, it is a function of how local citizens perceive the base as either a net benefit or net burden on their community over time. The perceived balance between benefits and burdens is, therefore, the decisive factor in local acceptance of military bases.
This research illustrates the Theory of Net Benefit using the within-case methodology of causal interpretation. Using the case study method, it describes the causal mechanisms that best explain why a local government accepted base expansion after initially rejecting it. This longitudinal case study constitutes a comparison between the “before” and “after” cases to follow the changes in the level of contestation over time.
The transformation of Iwakuni Air Base was chosen as the single case under study because it exhibits a major status quo disruption (base expansion) and wide variance in the outcome over time (level of contestation). This case study is followed by a comparison of Okinawa realignment initiatives, which occurred during the same time and under the same bilateral agreements but resulted in a far different outcome. As this study demonstrates, the Theory of Net Benefit accurately models and describes the causal mechanisms that resulted in the observed outcomes for both cases
Examining the performance of the Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Survey sugar-sweetened beverage items: A mixed methods evaluation
No full textBackground
Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption can negatively affect health, and intake of these beverages is high among U.S. adolescents. In Alaska, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) has been used to monitor SSB consumption and support prevention efforts for over a decade, but the YRBS SSB items have not been evaluated in the state or local context.
Methods
A three-phase sequential mixed methods evaluation was used to examine the performance of four Alaska YRBS SSB items. First, cognitive interviews were conducted with Alaska high school students using a five-step data collection and analysis process. Next, a panel of experts reviewed the proposed revised items and made final revisions. In the last phase, the revised items and a calculated total SSB consumption measure were compared to reference data obtained through Automated Self-Administered 24-hour (ASA24) dietary recalls collected from Alaska high school students. Bland-Altman plots, Spearman rank correlation coefficients, and McNemar’s exact tests were compared to assess relative validity.
Results
Cognitive interviews (n = 22) revealed construct validity threats, particularly in the categorization of sports drinks, and measurement error related to the response option structure. Problems with terminology and example beverages were also detected. The expert review panel provided information on programmatic priorities, including the importance of the total SSB measure and one-time-per-day threshold. Revisions included a combined sports and energy drink item, collapsed response options, and changes to terminology and example beverages. Bland-Altman plots showed proportional bias, with the YRBS producing larger SSB consumption values than the ASA24 when consumption was low and smaller values when consumption increased. All Spearman rank correlation coefficients were statistically significant, ranging from 0.36 (soda) to 0.48 (other SSBs). Finally, at the one-time/beverage-per-day threshold, there was only a significant difference in proportions (YRBS – ASA24) for other SSBs (-19.8%, p < 0.001).
Conclusions
Findings from the cognitive interview and validation phases are consistent with previous research, and revisions to the items align with programmatic priorities of Alaska YRBS partners. The revised items also performed well when used to calculate total consumption at the one-time-per-day threshold. Future cognitive and psychometric testing in a variety of settings is warranted