bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Newly Opened High School Campus: The Principal's Process in Creating the Teacher Profile to Hire the Inaugural Staff
Authors:   , Redden Jennifer N.
Published: December 2023

This study sought to explore the hiring process, including the creation of the teacher profile, of four suburban North Texas high schools implemented when hiring teachers for the first year of the campus' existence. An exploratory sequential mixed methods research design was applied, and three data collection tools were implemented: an electronic survey, interviews with campus administrators, and the analysis of campus hiring process artifacts. Survey data suggested that participating campus principals valued those domains and indictors on ASCD's Qualities of Effective Teachers and the Teacher Quality Index. Administrator interview data revealed that campus administrators who opened high school campuses in North Texas ISD and hired teachers for the inaugural year valued teachers aligned to the campus administrator's mission, vision, philosophy, and values. In addition, artifacts provided by the four interviewed administrators indicated the implementation of the campus administrator's mission, vision, philosophy, and values when developing the teacher profile and subsequent interview questions in collaboration with the campus leadership team involved in the hiring process. Recommended actions for campus administrators of new high school campuses, and recommendations for further research are also included.
Consideration of Dynamic Assessment to Identify Gifted, Emerging Bilingual Latinx Students: Lessons for School Leaders
Authors:   , Toy Adam P.
Published: December 2023

Little, if any, research exists that provides guidance for educators on the use of a dynamic assessment as a tool for better identifying Latinx students for gifted programs. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of campus principals and elementary teachers as dynamic assessment was being considered as part of the gifted and talented identification protocol. Data were collected through teacher and principal interviews and focus groups, along with an analysis of current practices and protocols within the studied district. The findings revealed several key themes that emerged from educator perspectives on the ability of emergent bilingual students to be placed in gifted programs and how dynamic assessment could or could not play a part in the assessment process. The study provides support and context for future research about dynamic assessment as applied to gifted and talented identification of Latinx students, including (a) the development of a dynamic assessment, (b) the implementation of a dynamic assessment with presentation of data that supports or do not support its use, (c) training to support the implementation of a dynamic assessment, (d) the human capital and time associated with implementing a dynamic assessment, and (e) educator mindset associated with the implementation of a dynamic assessment for students who do not speak English in the home.
Renewable Electricity in DFW: Access, Distribution, and Consumer Awareness
Authors:   , Greer Marissa
Published: December 2023

Texas is the leading producer of renewable energy in the U.S, and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) is the largest metropolitan area in the state. Texas has a deregulated energy market, with three types of providers: privatized, public-owned, and co-operatives. Privatized providers compete in the deregulated market, and consumers choose between hundreds of electricity retailers. Public-owned providers are owned by the municipality, and electricity consumers that live within the city limits must use the municipal provider. Electric co-operatives operate similarly where customers within the region must use the co-operative, but instead of being owned by the city, co-ops are owned by the members (customers). To date, the availability, cost, accessibility, and outreach of renewable electricity among these provider types remains unclear. For this reason, my research examines the renewable energy market in DFW by asking: (1) Who has access to renewable energy and how do they understand it? (2) How do electricity retailers distribute and make renewable energy available? and (3) If consumers can choose their provider, why do they select certain electricity plans over others? My findings suggest that while many consumers want or are open to using renewable energy, uncertainties surrounding how to find or choose a provider, price, and lack of information about renewables are obstacles for consumers to access renewable energy. Additionally, while renewable energy is widely distributed in the region, there are disparities in renewable energy options.
Coercion and Consent among Employer-Sponsored and Dependent Visa Holders: A Study of Indian Workers in the U.S. Information Technology Sector
Authors:   , Jangeti Neha
Published: December 2023

Highly educated and skilled Indian nationals are the largest recipients of H-1B visas in the US. An employer must be willing to sponsor an H-1B work visa for the worker to continue to live and work in the US. This stipulation has granted US employers unprecedented power over H-1B visa holders, which can be understood as status coercion; employers have state-sanctioned power to threaten or discharge a worker from their status, i.e., visa status, which interconnects work and migration status. While the expansive power of employers to curtail a worker's status is one factor driving the ongoing coercive conditions, the other factor is precarious work. There is a gap in the literature in understanding what occurs at the intersection of status coercion and precarious work, especially within high-skilled information technology (IT) jobs. For instance, how does status coercion operate for employer-sponsored H-1B visa holders? Is it similar for dependent visa workers on H-4 EAD visas that rely on their spouse's H-1B, and F-1 OPT visa workers who have employment authorization from USCIS? Lastly, do these visa workers ever resist status coercion? In this study, I draw on twelve in-depth, semi-structured interviews of Indian nationals in the IT sector on H-1B, F-1 OPT STEM, or H-4 EAD visas. Findings suggest these workers experience greater status coercion than non-visa holders due to their visa status. Also, H-1B, F-1 OPT STEM, and H-4 EAD visa workers experience greater status coercion regardless of whether their visa is employer-sponsored, employment authorized by USCIS or a dependent visa. The consequences of coercion are that these workers are underemployed, overworked, given limited access to claims-making, and subjected to repetitive tasks on outdated technology. Yet, workers also exercised agency and ingenuity in their interconnected migration and employment trajectories. I find that visa workers ‘game' the US visa system via ‘visa hopping' from one visa to the next to ensure they can extend their stay and work in the US. While workers continuing to stay and work shows their compliance and consent to work in coercive conditions, I argue that gaming the US visa system can be understood as a form of resistance that showcases visa holders' creative agency.
Survivor vs. Victim: Self-Labeling of Trauma Victims and Its Implicit Impact on Resilience and Recovery
Authors:   , King Ruth
Published: December 2023

Past research demonstrates that participants who label themselves as ‘victims' experience worse trauma-related outcomes than those who label themselves as ‘survivors.' Self-labeling in trauma research is typically measured using a dichotomous measure where participants choose either victim or survivor, but this construct may be better conceived as more continuous. The current study assessed self-labeling as a possible continuous construct and explored its predictive validity. To capture self-labeling as a continuous construct, we created and utilized a new scale, the Trauma Self-Labeling Measure. Two hundred eleven participants completed a battery of questionnaires to measure self-labeling and four trauma-related outcomes: posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depression, anxiety, and resilience. When tested on the continuous trauma self-labeling measure, an overwhelming number of participants chose in-between victim and survivor (78.9%) which suggests self-labeling is better assessed using a continuous measure than dichotomous. However, correlation analyses revealed that the continuous self-labeling measure was not significantly correlated to the four trauma-related outcomes, whereas the dichotomous self-labeling, continuous victim, and continuous survivor measures were. When conducting post-hoc analyses, we found an unexpected positive correlation between the continuous victim and survivor self-labeling measures. This unexpected positive correlation suggests that self-labeling is not a singular construct, as previously assumed, but rather is composed of separate victim and survivor constructs. In conclusion, the current study provides the first empirical evidence to support the idea that self-labeling is more continuous than dichotomous and composed of two separate constructs of victim and survivor.
Everything and the Kitchen Sink; or, Towards an Understanding of a Creative Practice, "Codex Symphonia," Metamodernism, and Rhizomic Composition
Authors:   , Reeder Kory
Published: December 2023

Creativity is not a hierarchical, but an intertextual, rhizomic process, pulling from a vast array of interests, experiences, and influences. These feed into each other, to inform and motivate artists as creating persons in an ongoing process we call the creative act. Anytime an artist sets out to make something, they are experiencing a dynamic yet concentrated moment of energy in the chaotic cloud of creativity. To demonstrate this, I explore several ideas that inform my piece, Codex Symphonia, including musical influences, but also visual art, film, literature, philosophy, social theory, and politics. In this document, I show that the act of creating a musical work is a deeply personal process that relies heavily on the experiences and vast network of influences on the composer. With this document I look to the contextual structure(s) that point to the possibilities that a work might exist. That is to say that the composition Codex Symphonia is a specific result of an extensive network of ideas and influences not coming from a single origin—it is, in fact all of them together at the same time in a metamodernist act of reconciliation.
"Idle Flux": A Composer/Choreographer Collaboration
Authors:   , Montgomery Samuel A.
Published: December 2023

The following thesis documents the collaboration process behind Idle Flux, a collaboration between Samuel A. Montgomery, a graduate composer at University of North Texas, and Emily Jensen, a graduate choreographer at Texas Woman's University. Comprising an 18-minute stereo fixed media composition and choreography for seven dancers, Idle Flux seeks to challenge the traditional spatial relationship between audience members and performers through restructuring seating and stage arrangements while featuring immersive sound design in multiple venues. This thesis considers multiple sources of inspiration, including Immersive Van Gogh® Exhibit Dallas, John Jasperse's Canyon, Zoe | Juniper's BeginAgain, Francisco López's installations, Alexander Ekman's A Swan Lake, Imagine Dragons' "Enemy," Son Lux's "Dream State (Dark Day)," and Ryan Lott's dance compositions. This thesis also examines the interdependent collaborative relationship between composer and choreographer by considering the issues of autonomy and creative control, examining previous collaborative models proposed or implemented by Van Stiefel, José Limón and Norman Lloyd, John Cage and Merce Cunningham, Doris Humphrey and Norman Lloyd. In addition, this thesis discusses the creative process and foundational concepts behind the fixed media composition, including the use of sound samples, exploration of timbre through synthesizers, development of motives and musical language, and the spatialization of sound in multiple venues. This thesis further considers the advantages and challenges associated with creating an immersive experience at each venue as well as an interdependent collaborative process that facilitates the autonomy and creative independence for both the composer and choreographer.
Stay for the Heron: Essays
Authors:   , Hameline Cassia
Published: December 2023

Hameline, Cassia Leigh. "Stay for the Heron: Essays." Doctor of Philosophy (English), May 2023, 146 pp., works cited, 27 titles. Stay for the Heron: Essays is an essay collection that explores truth, perception, and loss as it follows the writer's movement across landscapes that speak to a past she had, for so long, tried to run from. The essays in this collection seek to understand how we can write about difficult topics like abandonment, infidelity, and acts of self-destruction: do we get close to them? do we create distance? at what range are we able to relive the moments that caused us pain, or anger, or passion, or love and present them in written form for others to see? The collection challenges the narrative nonfiction form in preference for a more fluid, lyric, and hybrid genre that more accurately presents the material—at times fuzzy, difficult, confusing—at hand. Through its literary experimentations, such as fragmentation, lyricism, shifting points of view, and photography, the works here deconstruct what we consider "traditional" in the Essay genre and, instead, supports a shift towards a more contemporary tradition. The essays in Stay for the Heron explore the persona's geographical movement, paying close attention to the bodies of water she seeks out everywhere she goes, to find deeper meaning in the innate and earthly pulls we feel throughout life. From the sand-covered child watching her brother gut fish in awe, to the confused then sad then bitter teenager abandoned by her father, to the young woman whose lover's betrayals prompted her own self-destruction, and ultimately, to the woman who sought solitude for years before realizing she needed to come home; these essays interrogate perception, memory, and the concept that no one's truth is quite the same as another's. Despite their differences, though, there is space for them all.
Laser Powder Bed Fusion of H13 Tool Steel: Experiments, Process Optimization and Microstructural Characterization
Authors:   , Channa Reddy Sumanth Kumar Reddy
Published: December 2023

This work focused on laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of H13 tool steel to examine microstructure and melt pool morphology. Experiments were conducted with varying laser power (P) in the range of 90-180 W and scan speed (v) in the range of 500-1000 mm/s. layer thickness (l) and hatch spacing (h) were kept constant. Volumetric energy density (γ) was calculated using the above process parameters. In order to find a relation between the recorded density and top surface roughness with changing process parameters, set of equations were derived using the non-dimensional analysis. For any chosen values of laser power, scan speed, hatch spacing and layer thickness, these equations help to predict top surface roughness and density of LPBF processed H13 tool steel. To confirm the universal relation for these equations, data of In718 and SS316L processed in LPBF was input which gave a R-square of >94% for top surface roughness and >99% for density. A closed box approach, response surface model, was also used to predict the density and surface roughness which allows only in the parametric range. Material microstructures were examined to identify the melting modes such as keyhole, transition and conduction modes. X-ray diffraction data revealed that there was a presence of retained austinite in all the H13 printed samples. Elongated and equiaxed cellular structure were observed in higher magnifications due to solidification rate and thermal gradient.
Metaphor and Mimesis in an Animal Soundscape
Authors:   , Whiting Willyn R.
Published: December 2023

Metaphor and Mimesis in an Animal Soundscape serves as a supplementary document for two pieces of contemporary concert music; HOWL, for viola, saxophone and fixed media, and Pastorale for viola and fixed media. Both works quote the second movement of Antonio Vivaldi's violin concerto, La Primavera. This quotation is used to support a musical program which explores the larger topic of metaphor in music. In addition, both pieces play with contemporary trends in music including, but not limited to, acoustic ecology and spectralism.
Effects of Hypoxia Responses during Moderate- and Severe-Intensity Exercise Performed to Exhaustion
Authors:   , Kumawat Mandeepa Mohanlal
Published: December 2023

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of hypoxia responses during moderate- and severe-intensity exercise performed to exhaustion. Nine healthy university students, five men, and four women (mean ± SD, age, 23 ± 1 y; height 167 ± 8 cm; weight 73 ± 7 kg) performed a cycle ergometer test in normoxia and hypoxia conditions. Cardiorespiratory, metabolic, and perceptual responses were measured during moderate-intensity and during severe-intensity exercise. During moderate-intensity exercise, hypoxia exaggerates the cardiorespiratory and ventilatory responses and delays the attainment of the steady state VO2 kinetics. However, during severe-intensity exercise, compensatory responses were not adequate, oxygen demand was slightly increased and VO2 max was reduced in hypoxia affecting the overall performance. Therefore, the greater reliance on the anaerobic pathways could have a serious implication on the performance of the exercise over a wide range of intensities.
Cleaner Futures: Covalent Organic Frameworks for Sustainable Degradation of Lignocellulosic Materials
Authors:   , Lan Pui Ching
Published: December 2023

As countries pledge their commitment to a net-zero future, much of the previously forgotten climate change research were revitalized by efforts from both governmental and private sectors. In particular, the utilization of lignocellulosic materials saw a special spotlight in research interest for its abundance and its carbon removal capability during photosynthesis. The initial effort in mimicking enzymatic active sites of β-glucosidase will be explored. The crystalline covalent organic frameworks (COFs) allowed for the introduction of a variety of noncovalent interactions, which enhanced the adsorption and the catalytic activity against cellobiose and its glycosidic bonds. The physical processes associated with this reaction, such as the kinetics, equilibrium, and activation energies, will be closely examined and compared with existing standard materials and comparable advanced catalysts. In addition, several variants of COFs were synthesized to explore the effect of various noncovalent interactions with cellobiose. A radical-bearing COF was synthesized and characterized. The stability of this radical was examined by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) and its oxidative capability tested with model lignin and alcoholic compounds. The reaction products are monitored and identified using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). An oxidative coupling of phenol was explored, and its initial results are presented in chapter 5.
12 Études Caractéristiques, Opus 2, by Adolf von Henselt: A Pedagogical Guide with Practical Exercises on Selected Etudes
Authors:   , Kim Hyunsuk
Published: December 2023

Adolf von Henselt (1814–1889) was one of the most renowned German pianists and composers of his day. The majority of his compositions are for the piano, one of his most successful being the set of Piano Études, Op. 2. It consists of twelve etudes, each of which is designed for developing a particular technique. Henselt's etudes are as demanding as Chopin's and Liszt's, so this pedagogical guide is designed for advanced-level students. Henselt uses many finger extensions and stretches larger than an octave, which may be difficult for smaller hands to play, but proper flexibility and relaxation should enable all students to play them. This dissertation describes the specific technique for six selected etudes and provides exercises to help students learn each technique effectively. The selected etudes—Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 11—were chosen to cover all three technical levels of less-advanced, advanced, and very advanced as well as a variety of musical styles and technical challenges.
Hochschild Cohomology of Finite Cyclic Groups Acting on Polynomial Rings
Authors:   , Lawson Colin M.
Published: December 2023

The Hochschild cohomology of an associative algebra records information about the deformations of that algebra, and hence the first step toward understanding its deformations is an examination of the Hochschild cohomology. In this dissertation, we use techniques from homological algebra, invariant theory, and combinatorics to analyze the Hochschild cohomology of skew group algebras arising from finite cyclic groups acting on polynomial rings over fields of arbitrary characteristic. These algebras are the natural semidirect product of the group ring with the polynomial ring. Many families of algebras arise as deformations of skew group algebras, such as symplectic reflection algebras and rational Cherednik algebras. We give an explicit description of the Hochschild cohomology governing graded deformations of skew group algebras for cyclic groups acting on polynomial rings. For skew group algebras, a description of the Hochschild cohomology is known in the nonmodular setting (i.e., when the characteristic of the field and the order of the group are coprime). However, in the modular setting (i.e., when the characteristic of the field divides the order of the group), much less is known, as techniques commonly used in the nonmodular setting are not available.
Musique Concrète Instrumentale in Helmut Lachenmann's "Child's Play" (1980): A Pedagogical Study for Late Intermediate Students
Authors:   , Kong Byung Sook
Published: December 2023

Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann is a German composer of contemporary music. In his 1980 work for piano, Child's Play, Lachenmann develops one of his own signature concepts, musique concrète instrumentale, in which he uses the "standard" (not prepared) piano in non-conventional and innovative ways to explore new sounds and techniques. This dissertation is a pedagogical study that provides a teaching guide for educators who would like to use Child's Play as an introduction to some of the sounds and techniques of contemporary music for their late intermediate students. In order for educators to effectively guide their students through Child's Play, they should understand the sonorities of musique concrète instrumentale as well as the extended techniques it requires. This dissertation addresses those needs through three principal means. First, it introduces Lachenmann's musique concrète instrumentale and classifies the various sonorities into three types: descriptive, contrasting, and extended. Second, it analyzes and discusses technical elements in the cycle, including notational considerations, pedaling, and sound effects. Last, the dissertation provides pedagogical suggestions to help students master these technical elements. By studying and playing this piece, students not only become intimately familiar with some of the many sounds they are able to produce on the piano, but they also gain experience in playing contemporary techniques and repertoire and familiarity with nontraditional notation. This study of Lachenmann's Child's Play will provide educators with a guide for teaching this valuable work to their late intermediate students.
Exploring Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Identity Development in a Community Based Youth Program
Authors:   , Pham Lena Trang
Published: December 2023

Community based youth programs play a significant role in promoting positive youth identity development outside of the classroom. This can be particularly important for racialized groups such as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). Based on ethnographic research conducted at Asian American LEAD, this thesis explores the effect of a five week summer program on AAPI youth identity development. Data collection methods include participant observation, a pre- and post- survey, and semi-structured interviews with staff, participants, and program alumni. The research findings highlight how ethnic and racial identity development is fostered through the creation of safe spaces, shared struggles with peers and staff, and recognition of one's AAPI identity.
Interpretation of "No-Re I" (2018) for Flute Solo by Gyu-Bong Yi: An Analytical Study of Korean and Western Fusion with Performance Suggestions about Extended Techniques
Authors:   , Yoon Hyunsu
Published: December 2023

This dissertation serves as an analysis and performance guide for No-Re I for Flute Solo (2018) by Gyu-Bong Yi (이규봉), a work that combines Korean elements and Western compositional techniques. The modern flute, developed in the mid-nineteenth century with the Boehm's Schema, has pushed the boundaries of the instrument through experimentation with new techniques, leading to numerous contemporary works presenting unique challenges for flutists. No-Re I includes passages with various extended techniques and unique combinations, requiring specific solutions to overcome the challenges they present. For example, this dissertation offers specific fingering diagrams and descriptions for executing the double trills used in No-Re I. Additionally, certain notations used by the composer may have limitations in projection or clarity, and this dissertation elucidates the composer's intent based on an interview and provides solutions for these limitations. This research also discusses the fusion of Korean and other East-Asian aesthetics with Western musical language including the works of Isang Yun (1917–1995), a Korean-born musical pioneer, who had a successful career as a composer and educator, especially elaborating on his unique compositional technique, the Haupttöne, which is based on tonal centers influenced by East-Asian philosophy, Korean folk music, and its unique characteristic of ornamenting the main tone.
Multiomics Data Integration and Multiplex Graph Neural Network Approaches
Authors:   , Kesimoglu Ziynet Nesibe
Published: December 2023

With increasing data and technology, multiple types of data from the same set of nodes have been generated. Since each data modality contains a unique aspect of the underlying mechanisms, multiple datatypes are integrated. In addition to multiple datatypes, networks are important to store information representing associations between entities such as genes of a protein-protein interaction network and authors of a citation network. Recently, some advanced approaches to graph-structured data leverage node associations and features simultaneously, called Graph Neural Network (GNN), but they have limitations for integrative approaches. The overall aim of this dissertation is to integrate multiple data modalities on graph-structured data to infer some context-specific gene regulation and predict outcomes of interest. To this end, first, we introduce a computational tool named CRINET to infer genome-wide competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks. By integrating multiple data properly, we had a better understanding of gene regulatory circuitry addressing important drawbacks pertaining to ceRNA regulation. We tested CRINET on breast cancer data and found that ceRNA interactions and groups were significantly enriched in the cancer-related genes and processes. CRINET-inferred ceRNA groups supported the studies claiming the relation between immunotherapy and cancer. Second, we present SUPREME, a node classification framework, by comprehensively analyzing multiple data and associations between nodes with graph convolutions on multiple networks. Our results on survival analysis suggested that SUPREME could demystify the characteristics of classes with proper utilization of multiple data and networks. Finally, we introduce an attention-aware fusion approach, called GRAF, which fuses multiple networks and utilizes attention mechanisms on graph-structured data. Utilization of learned node- and association-level attention with network fusion allowed us to prioritize the edges properly, leading to improvement in the prediction results. Given the findings of all three tools and their outperformance over state-of-the-art methods, the proposed dissertation shows the importance of integrating multiple types of data and the exploitation of multiple graph structured data.
Who are You Going to Believe: Me or Your Lying Eyes? Three Essays on Gaslighting in Organizations
Authors:   , Kincaid Paula A.
Published: December 2023

In this dissertation, I theorize on how gaslighting manifests in managerial and organizational settings. I discuss the process of gaslighting and how the use of various manipulation tactics manifests between people in organizations over time. I take three distinctive approaches to study this complex phenomenon. First, using a rich case study, I develop new theory to explain how one notorious child molester was able to sustain a career for decades while assaulting hundreds of children and young women. In doing so, I introduce the concept of gaslighting which previously has only been rigorously applied to intimate interpersonal relationships in domestic (e.g., at home) settings. In essay 2, I expand on the individual level theory developed in essay 1 to develop a more generalized theory of gaslighting in organizations. I situate gaslighting within a nomological net of related constructs and illustrate how gaslighting is a unique construct with different antecedents and consequences that occurs in organizations more often than it should. In my final essay, I build on one of the propositions developed in essay 2 and empirically test what antecedents are likely to influence whether or not a firm is accused of gaslighting on Twitter. Through doing so, I find counter-intuitive yet interesting results. In conducting a post-hoc analysis, I reveal insightful knowledge about the interactions influencing whether a firm will be accused of gaslighting on Twitter and impacting the number of accusations that will be leveraged against a firm.
William Duckworth's "Southern Harmony": A Comprehensive Exploration into the Synthesis of Two Archetypal American Genres
Authors:   , Boyd Jordan D.
Published: December 2023

In his Southern Harmony collection, William Duckworth extracts existing material from shape-note hymns found in William Walker's 1835 publication A Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. He then applies minimalist and postminimalist processes to this material to create innovation choral compositions. This document provides a comprehensive analysis of the methods used to construct all twenty works in Duckworth's collection by tracing the extracted source material through the fabric of the new compositions. This study provides substantial evidence of Duckworth's place as a pioneer of the postminimalist genre. It also provides a discussion on the vocal implications of utilizing shape-note hymns as source material as traditional performances of the genre are typically associated with a unique vocal style.
Intermodal Stimulus Compounding with Ambient Odors Produces Averaging in Rats
Authors:   , Kirkland Sophia B.
Published: December 2023

In an organism's natural environment, there are always an uncountable number of stimuli, and stimulus features, available to gain control over behavior. When these component stimuli are presented simultaneously, this new stimulus compound can occasion a previously unseen effect on behavior. Stimulus compounding is a method used to better understand how variables in stimulus features may impact the final effect on an organism's responding when presented with a stimulus compound. While stimulus compounding experiments are often conducted using intermodal tone and light stimuli, it is conducted far less often using intramodal stimuli, potentially due to the competing stimulus features of same-modality stimuli. Even less conducted research has been done using two odor component stimuli, despite the large impact odor has on many species' behavior. The purpose of this study was to conduct a stimulus compounding experiment using intramodal ambient odor stimuli in rats, to see what kind of effect a mixed odor compound would have on the subject's behavior. This was done using a wind tunnel designed operant chamber, where both subjects were trained to respond to independently presented odor stimuli. Following training a compound mixture of both component odors was presented to the subjects. The results of this study demonstrated an averaged effect on behavior, producing a response rate under the compound mixture that was intermediate to the response rates under each independent component stimulus. This may be due to several factors, including the efficacy of initial training procedures, the efficacy of the apparatus, and the merging of the component stimuli's features.
Lived Experiences in the Pecan Capital of the World: Oral Histories with People of the San Saba Pecan Industry
Authors:   , Noel Heather N.
Published: December 2023

The growth of the pecan industry in San Saba offers a microcosm into the evolution of the industry as a whole. Individual ingenuity in agriculture, business, and technology carved a path for success for the native nut in San Saba. Thanks in part to the efforts by founding families of the area and their descendants, the pecan has become a widely-used ingredient in holiday sweets of the American South and a symbol of Texas identity. Yet, the industry's development and the lives of the people who have cultivated it are stories that have remained largely untold. Through oral histories with family pecan growers, descendants of migrant farm laborers, and others working in the industry as well as primary sources such as those from early pecan sales catalogs, United States Department of Agriculture and other government documents, this project will trace the history of the pecan in San Saba – including how it has shaped the natural landscape and the individual and collective identities of San Saba and its residents.
The Role of Play Therapists' Characteristics and Self-Efficacy in Predicting Barriers to Engaging Parents
Authors:   , Line Ahou Vaziri
Published: December 2023

The current study sought to explore play therapists' barriers to engaging parents in their clinical work as well as understand the relationship between play therapist characteristics and their attitudes toward parents. Using a demographic questionnaire, Therapist Barriers to Engaging Parents (TBEP), and the Counseling Self- Estimate Inventory (COSE), 136 members of the Association for Play Therapy were surveyed to explore predictors to engaging with parents. Overall, play therapists reported low scores on barriers to engaging parents indicating play therapists are likely to report positive attitudes toward working with parents. Through two multiple regression analyses measuring the predictive value of self-efficacy subscales including Dealing with Difficult Clients and Counseling Process, play therapist identification as a parent, years of experience, and hours of training on parent engagement, both models demonstrated statistically significant findings with large effect sizes. This study found that play therapist self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of play therapists' attitudes toward parents accounting for approximately 80% of the variance in the models. Play therapists' identification as a parent as well as years of practice also predicted their barriers to engaging parents. Hours of training in parent engagement had no relationship to TBEP scores. Implications for practice include a need to provide play therapists with training experiences that involve working with parents directly rather than traditional training models, as well as attend to general counseling self-efficacy of play therapists. Implications for future research as well as limitations are discussed.
The Perceptions of School Leaders about Their Readiness to Lead Early Childhood High-Needs Schools
Authors:   , Brown Onjaleke M.
Published: December 2023

The problem identified for this study was that principals of elementary schools often do not have the appropriate preparedness and readiness required for meeting the needs of children and teachers in the primary grades. The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of early childhood campus leaders regarding how well-prepared they are to supervise a high-needs campus that consists of primary grades which include prekindergarten through third grade. Qualitative methodology of case study design with a phenomenological perspective was selected. A finding of this research study was principals' preparedness for supervising early childhood grade levels was because their prior work experience in early childhood. Also, supports for the principals are needed to impact how they supervise early childhood grades, but careful consideration of which supports are needed must be made. The final finding was principal actions when supervising early childhood classrooms are based on their opinion about quality rather than the district defined quality document. Recommendation for further research are to replicate this with a larger population and sample; conduct a quantitative study of the impact of early childhood leadership on student outcomes that would follow a cohort of students through elementary school; and conduct a qualitative case study of principal leadership preparation that includes a teacher focus group to determine if the leadership practices are impacting teacher practices.
The Influence of Particle Morphology and Heat Treatment on the Microstructural Evolution of Silver Inks for Additively Manufactured RF Applications: A Comparison between Nanoflake and Reactive Inks
Authors:   , Summers Jason Masao
Published: December 2023

In recent years, advancements in additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have paved the way for 3D-printed flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) and created opportunities for extending these gains to RF applications. However, printed metal interconnects and devices are typically characterized by high porosity and chemical impurities that significantly limit their electrical conductivity and RF performance compared to bulk equivalents. Using direct ink writing (DIW), two silver inks, a nanoflake suspension and a nanoparticle-reactive ink, were investigated to understand the relationship between free interfacial energy, sintering behavior, DC conductivity, and RF loss. The printed silver samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to monitor microstructural evolution, grain size and orientation, and chemical purity as a function of heat treatment temperature. Three heat treatments were applied to each ink: the manufacturer's recommendation, 225°C for 30 minutes, and 350°C for 30 minutes. Four-wire structures and coplanar waveguides were printed to compare the DC and RF performance up to 18 GHz, respectively. The results show that ink formulations that facilitate larger grains, high density, and good chemical purity have superior RF performance. A low resistivity of 1.4 times bulk Ag, average of 0.8% greater RF loss factor than evaporated Ag, and a maximum current density of 4.6 x 105 A/cm2 were achieved with printed structures. This work highlights the importance of engineering a high density and high purity microstructure in printed silver components necessary for high-performance printed electronics.
Student Perceptions of Advanced Academic Coursework and Its Impact on College and Career Readiness
Authors:   , Doty Rachel A.
Published: December 2023

Although students have more opportunities than ever before to participate in advanced academic programs while in high school, it is unclear whether this has affected their ability to succeed in college. To determine what impact the students' experiences in Advanced Placement (AP) and dual credit coursework had on their level of college and career readiness (CCR), students were asked to recall what factors influenced their ability to succeed in postsecondary education and describe what information is most beneficial for students as they select their academic pathways. This phenomenological qualitative study gathered data from students that had recently graduated from two high schools in a rapidly growing, suburban school district. Participants in the study reported that the most common benefits from advanced academic programs included more challenging expectations and learning how to navigate the various logistics of postsecondary education. By examining these students' perspectives, the findings from this study may positively influence policy and practice by increasing the likelihood that students are adequately prepared for college and have the ability to succeed at the collegiate level. Continued examination of student experiences in postsecondary education is imperative for improving CCR and may provide more insight into what factors inhibit student success after they graduate. Data collected from a more inclusive sample of participants or perhaps longitudinal data following a cohort through the transition from high school to college could help ensure that educators are able to adequately prepare students for life beyond high school.
Dynamic Courier Capacity Acquisition in Rapid Delivery Systems: A Deep Q-Learning Approach
Authors: Auad Ramon , Erera Alan , Savelsbergh Martin
Published: December 2023

With the recent boom of the gig economy, urban delivery systems have experienced substantial demand growth. In such systems, orders are delivered to customers from local distribution points respecting a delivery time promise. An important example is a restaurant meal delivery system, where delivery times are expected to be minutes after an order is placed. The system serves orders by making use of couriers that continuously perform pickups and deliveries. Operating such a rapid delivery system is very challenging, primarily because of the high service expectations and the considerable uncertainty in both demand and delivery capacity. Delivery providers typically plan courier shifts for an operating period based on a demand forecast. However, because of the high demand volatility, it may at times during the operating period be necessary to adjust and dynamically add couriers. We study the problem of dynamically adding courier capacity in a rapid delivery system and propose a deep reinforcement-learning approach to obtain a policy that balances the cost of adding couriers and the cost-of-service quality degradation because of insufficient delivery capacity. Specifically, we seek to ensure that a high fraction of orders is delivered on time with a small number of courier hours. A computational study in the meal delivery space shows that a learned policy outperforms policies representing current practice and demonstrates the potential of deep learning for solving operational problems in highly stochastic logistic settings.

History: This paper has been accepted for the Transportation Science Special Issue on Machine-Learning Methods and Applications in Large-Scale Route Planning Problems.

Funding: This work was supported by Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo [72180404].

Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2022.0042 .
A LEITURA E O ENSINO DE LITERATURA COMO “EXERCÍCIO DE ATENÇÃO”: ENTREVISTA COM A PROFESSORA SÔNIA MONNERAT BARBOSA
Authors: Monnerat Barbosa Sonia , Bastos da Silva Erica , Rodrigues Pinto Maria Isaura , Almeida Pereira Maria Betânia , Gomes da Silva Mônica
Published: December 2023

As organizadoras do DOSSIÊ 28 — Literatura Infantojuvenil: Perspectivas contemporâneas conversaram com a Professora Associada de Teoria da Literatura da Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Prof.ª Dra. Sonia Monnerat Barbosa, docente dos cursos de Graduação do Instituto de Letras e da Especialização em Literatura Infantojuvenil da Pós-Graduação Lato Sensu em Letras da UFF. As perguntas percorrem uma trajetória dedicada às questões da importância do ensino de literatura, o lugar da literatura infantojuvenil dentro da crítica literária e as especificidades do trabalho de pesquisa com o texto literário do jovem público, seja na Educação Básica, seja no Ensino Superior. A entrevistada entretece as lembranças de seu processo formativo e criativo como leitora e docente ao mesmo tempo em que nos propicia uma profunda reflexão sobre o ensino de literatura, a importância do estudo do texto literário, considerando as questões editoriais como co-criadoras de interpretações, o lugar da literatura infantojuvenil dentro da crítica literária e suas mudanças em sintonia com os questionamentos e novas configurações socioculturais.
O direito à moradia nos tempos do coronavírus: alcances e sentidos a partir do Projeto de Lei nº 827/2020 e da ADPF 828/DF
Authors: Macedo Júnior Gilson Santiago , Pedron Flávio Quinaud
Published: December 2023

O trabalho objetiva a discussão sobre o direito à moradia a partir das medidas que visam a suspensão da retomada compulsória de imóveis no Brasil: o Projeto de Lei nº 827/2020 e a ADPF nº 828/DF. Sabe-se que a moradia assumiu um relevante papel nas políticas de enfrentamento ao novo coronavírus (SARS-CoV-2) a ponto de países, como os Estados Unidos da América, decretarem a moratória dos despejos na expectativa de diminuição do contágio. Para melhor compreensão do tema, o artigo recupera o cenário doméstico e internacional sobre o direito à moradia, as discussões no Congresso Nacional e no Supremo Tribunal Federal. Trata-se de estudo qualitativo que, amparado em pesquisa bibliográfica, investiga a existência de colisão entre direitos fundamentais com a eventual suspensão de medidas de retomada compulsória de imóveis. O estudo analisa, ainda, o uso da máxima da proporcionalidade de Robert Alexy no julgamento da medida cautelar na ADPF nº 828 para, por fim, demonstrar que a suspensão das remoções forçadas, embora implique em limitação temporária ao direito de propriedade, é adequada, necessária e proporcional em sentido estrito.
Apesar da sombra da vigilância, uma escola...
Authors: Braz Lidiane da Silva , Da Costa Pereira de Menezes Eliana
Published: December 2023

Pretendemos, com a discussão apresentada nesse artigo, analisar as recorrências discursivas produzidas nas/pelas práticas que acontecem em uma escola pública, inserida em contexto socioeducativo. Ancoradas teórico-metodologicamente nos estudos foucaultianos em educação e na filosofia da diferença, a pesquisa que dá condições para as análises construídas busca problematizar as práticas educacionais desenvolvidas nesse espaço, que se dão entre a sujeição e/ou a condução das condutas e as possibilidades de contracondutas. Para tanto, assumimos como material do estudo duas práticas produzidas em oficinas que acontecem na escola – Monólogo; e a letra de um Videoclipe: “Sonho de liberdade”. Os anúncios visualizados em tal materialidade nos possibilitam defender outras intencionalidades para as práticas que são desenvolvidas na/pela escola em questão, para além das técnicas de sujeição, práticas essas consideradas a partir da experiência e seu sentido singular e contingente, as quais compreendemos, possibilitam o exercício crítico do pensamento ao mesmo tempo que permitam afecção. Tais práticas, pelo movimento vivo de afetos que curto circuitam as relações, dão lugar ao exercício ético do cuidado de si e do cuidado com o outro.