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Enhancing Discoverability: Transitioning a Board Game Collection from a LibGuide to a CollectionBuilder Site
Get PDFAs board game collections continue to grow in popularity at academic institutions, the University of Idaho Library wanted to establish an accessible and easy-to-use discovery tool for its physical game collection. At the collections’ origins, a LibGuide was created by librarians for this purpose, but as the collection records continued to grow into the triple digits, something more adaptable and customizable was necessary. In the summer of 2023, a team of librarians came together to build a custom site to house the game collection’s information using CollectionBuilder, an open-source framework for digital collections and exhibits websites that are driven by metadata and powered by modern static web technology. Creating this site came with unique challenges and considerations specific to the University of Idaho Library’s needs in displaying their board games. CollectionBuilder’s ability to support iterative and agile development, ample instructional documentation, and seemingly endless customizations makes it a suitable solution for a growing and changing collection discovery tool
From Farm to Friend: Fostering Compassion toward Farmed Animals through Design
Get PDFThis thesis explores how human compassion for farmed animals can be fostered through design. By analyzing the existing language, imagery, and social norms surrounding animal commodification, the research highlights the root of the issue: how humans perceive farmed animals in relation to themselves. Understanding how humans view and think about farmed animals is important for creating a message that disrupts these existing norms. The culmination of this thesis is a campaign, From Farm to Friend which is designed to be approachable and informative, encouraging the audience to have compassion for farmed animals and change their perception, from farm--to friend
Eviction Court in Multnomah County: Improved Legal Outcomes for Tenants Amidst Rising Eviction Filings
Get PDFTo examine how court processes at the Multnomah County Circuit Court impact tenants, our team conducted a series of court observations at the downtown courthouse between October and December 2023. In particular, we examined how the court handled the increasing size of eviction dockets during this period, the availability of legal assistance and other onsite services for tenants, the court’s implementation of new rules from Oregon House Bill 2001 (HB 2001), and any changes HB 2001 had on eviction case outcomes in Multnomah County. From our court observations, we found that high-volume eviction dockets were handled in a way that was convenient for landlords and their legal representatives, but cumbersome for tenants. Because the vast majority of tenants were unrepresented, they faced difficulties navigating the court process, submitting court documents, negotiating stipulated agreements, and defending themselves at trial. While no mediation services were offered at the courthouse, interpretation services, free childcare, and limited legal assistance were available to tenants onsite. Drawing on both our court observations and court record data, we found that HB 2001 had positive impacts for tenants in eviction court. While the number of eviction filings continued to rise after HB 2001 was implemented, the percentage of tenants who had their eviction case dismissed—rather than receiving a judgment of eviction—increased. In addition, the percentage of tenants who received a default judgment of eviction for failing to appear in court decreased
Integrative Approaches to Climate Resilience Planning: Application of a Plan Evaluation Framework
Get PDFIn the last two decades, urban governments have streamlined and prioritized the creation and implementation of climate resilience plans to cater to the communities\u27 vulnerabilities. Existing research illustrates that there is a gap in understanding how, or if, empirical (evidence-based) data are incorporated into the design and implementation of such plans and the extent to which their inclusion impacts outcomes in terms of vulnerability reduction. There is also a gap in the systematic study of their outcomes in terms of community resilience, and whether equity and environmental justice are promoted as priorities.
The purpose of the research is to understand the status of evidence-based empirical data inclusion in the structure of climate resilience plans and the ways in which it impacts outcomes in terms of vulnerability reduction, and to provide suitable tools to decision-makers and community members for enhancing resilience in the face of climate-change induced events. My argument is that empirical data are critical in identifying place-based problems, determining solutions, and providing evidence to support decision-making and scientific discoveries. Another purpose is to understand the extent to which climate resilience plans prioritize community resilience creation while promoting environmental justice and equity. For this purpose, I examine 15 US-based climate adaptation plans, focus on the two plans for Seattle and San Francisco for further examination, and then critically analyze the City of Portland and Multnomah County\u27s Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2015, using the aforementioned plans as guidance and comparison tools.
Adopting thematic analysis as the method, I used the ATLAS.ti platform for coding the two reference plans of Seattle and San Francisco, identified codes and themes relevant to the research in the reference plans, and matched them to the existing themes in the City of Portland and Multnomah County\u27s Climate Action Plan, 2015, thereby identifying gaps and scope for improvement. Additionally, to gain experience-based insights, I conducted semi-structured interviews with two sets of participants - experts who have been involved in climate-based decisions in Multnomah County, and members of community-based organizations in Portland, Oregon who represent the most vulnerable community members.
Thematic analysis, systematic coding, and interview insights enabled me to develop relationship networks between the existing conditions of empirical data, community resilience, and equity in the reference plans, ultimately allowing me to develop a framework for evaluating climate resilience plans. Therefore, the outcome of this research is the application of a framework for plan evaluation that could serve as a reliable and flexible model for evaluating a wide variety of climate resilience plans, with a strong emphasis on the inclusion of empirical and evidence-based data, community resilience creation, and equity and environmental justice in their implementation and evaluation. The overarching goal of the research is to add to the current understanding of how the inclusion of empirical data, the adoption of community resilience, and the promotion of equity and environmental justice as priorities influence resilience plan outcomes in terms of vulnerability reduction
Abiotic Variables Drive Different Aspects of Fish Community Trait Variation and Species Richness Across the Continental United States
Get PDFIntraspecific trait variation (ITV) is an increasingly important aspect of biodiversity and can provide a more complete perspective on how abiotic and biotic processes affect individuals, species\u27 niches and ultimately community-level structure than traditional uses of trait means. Body size serves as a proxy for a suite of traits that govern species\u27 niches. Distributions of co-occurring species body sizes can inform niche overlap, relate to species richness and uncover mechanistic drivers of diversity. We leveraged individual-level body size (length) in freshwater fishes and environmental data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) for 17 lakes and streams in the contiguous United States to explore how abiotic and biotic factors influence fish species richness and trait distributions of body size. We calculated key abiotic (climate, productivity, land use) and biotic (phylogenetic diversity, trait diversity, community-level overlap of trait probability densities) variables for each site to test hypotheses about drivers of ITV in body size and fish diversity. Abiotic variables were consistently important in explaining variation in fish body size and species richness across sites. In particular, productivity (as chlorophyll) was a key variable in explaining variation in body size trait richness, evenness and divergence, as well as species richness. This study yields new insights into continental-scale patterns of freshwater fishes, possible only by leveraging the paired high frequency, in situ abiotic data and individual-level traits collected by NEON
Becoming a Learner: An Autoethnography
Get PDFIt is well understood that attitudes toward language learning impact outcomes. This thesis uses autoethnography to explore the author\u27s experiences learning German, in-class and independently, examining the interplay between motivation, attitudes, and the learning environment. I analyze personal journals and notes, employing graphic storytelling to illustrate their emotional journey. This paper draws upon existing literature on second language acquisition, particularly focusing on Dörnyei\u27s L2 Motivational Self System and Ushioda\u27s person-in-context approach. The study reveals how personal beliefs, self-doubt, and the limitations of traditional classroom settings impacted my motivation and ultimately, how reflection facilitated a renewed commitment to learning. In conclusion, I advocate for more learner-centered language instruction that prioritizes learner autonomy
Confirmation of the Scanpyramids North Face Corridor in the Great Pyramid of Giza Using Multi-Modal Image Fusion from Three Non-Destructive Testing Techniques
Get PDFAbstract While non-destructive testing (NDT) measurements have been reported individually for archeological surveys of cultural heritage structures, only a few studies to date have attempted to combine NDT images by means of image fusion (IF). In this article, novel multimodal IF results from three different NDT techniques collected at the Chevron located on the Great Pyramid of Giza (aka. as Khufu’s Pyramid) are presented. The Chevron is an assembly of limestone blocks located in front of the recently confirmed ScanPyramids North Face Corridor (SP-NFC), which had been previously hidden for 4500 years. Under the research activities of the ScanPyramids mission, three profiles located on the Chevron were selected to explain multimodal IF in detail and highlight its usefulness in archeology. The NDT techniques employed in this study include ground penetrating radar (GPR), ultrasonic testing (UST), and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). A discrete wavelet transform (DWT)-based algorithm was employed to merge the reconstructed images from the three techniques for each profile, producing a single composite image. The final fused images contain pertinent information from all modalities, allowing to validate assumptions used to create the individual reconstructed images, and enable a more detailed examination of some of the conclusions reached in the authors’ previous ScanPyramids work
Prediction-Powered Inference for Clinical Trials
Get PDFPrediction-powered inference (PPI) [1] and its subsequent development called PPI++ [2] provide a novel approach to standard statistical estimation leveraging machine learning systems to enhance unlabeled data with predictions. We use this paradigm in clinical trials. The predictions are provided by disease progression models, providing prognostic scores for all the participants as a function of baseline covariates. The proposed method would empower clinical trials by providing untreated digital twins of the treated patients while remaining statistically valid. The potential implications of this new estimator of the treatment effect in a two-arm randomized clinical trial (RCT) are manifold. First, it leads to an overall reduction of the sample size required to reach the same power as a standard RCT. Secondly, it advocates for an imbalance of controls and treated patients, requiring fewer controls to achieve the same power. Finally, this technique directly transfers any disease prediction model trained on large cohorts to practical and scientifically valid use. In this paper, we demonstrate the theoretical properties of this estimator and illustrate them through simulations. We show that it is asymptotically unbiased for the Average Treatment Effect and derive an explicit formula for its variance. An application to an Alzheimer\u27s disease clinical trial showcases the potential to reduce the sample size
Organizational Supports for Promoting Evidence Use in Private Child Welfare Agencies
Get PDFThere is minimal literature about the organizational supports that private child welfare agencies have in place to pursue positive outcomes for the children and families they serve. This study drew upon the perspectives of 27 senior managers of fourteen nonprofit child and family serving agencies in six U.S. states to examine the extent to which agencies employed organizational supports for evidence use. We identified four types of organizational supports: technical and knowledge management infrastructure, leadership and strategic alignment, and linkage and exchange efforts. Managers described whether and how they used these supports to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making and practice. Managers also discussed the perceived utility of these supports, desired improvements, and additional supports they would like to access in the future. Implications for nonprofit human service organizations and managers are discussed
Reform for these Kids: Neoliberal Reform, Theorized Target Populations, and Spatial Injustice
Get PDFCharter schools were originally envisioned as laboratories of innovation, but we have scant empirical evidence of how charter policies and ideas have spread beyond charter walls into the wider educational landscape. The diffusion of knowledge reflects networks of power, and tracing diffusion can unearth the discursive and power dynamics at play. Using a systematic search of publicly-available documents, this study investigated the geographic diffusion of one Charter Management Organization (CMO)—Uncommon Schools—as a case of charter discursive diffusion. Grounded in Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), we found that artifacts were located disproportionately in higher poverty zip codes housing lower percentages of non-Hispanic white people. We argue that our findings reveal how the diffusion of charter school discourse constructs a specific type of education that targets socio-economically disadvantaged students of Color. Further, this discourse imagines policies that reaffirm inequalities and the production of unjust geographies