cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-310984
title: Promoting transformative experiences in STEM education

description: This study examines what STEM teachers do to promote transformative experiences amongst their students. There is a need to increase the number of high school students entering the STEM pipeline in order to increase the number of STEM college graduates in the United States (NCES, 2009). Transformative experiences have been shown to be effective in changing student conceptions in science classes (Pugh, 2010, 2011, Heddy and Sinatra, 2013)). This study looks at teachers and their students at a college preparatory high school in Southern California that has a competitive robotics team. STEM teachers were interviewed and observed in order to investigate what they do to promote transformative experiences amongst their students. The Transformative Experience Survey (TES) was then administered to the students in the classes taught by the participants to see if the teachers were effective in increasing the frequency of transformative experiences amongst their students. The observation field notes and interview transcripts were then coded to find themes that would answer what teachers did to promote transformative experiences. The TES was administered at the end of the school year to assess the extent to which transformative experiences had occurred. Although not trained in the TTES model, the teacher who used all the methods outlined in the TTES model was the most successful in promoting transformative experiences amongst their students. Another teacher who made students aware of the opportunities available to them in advanced STEM classes also showed an increase in transformative experiences. Students taught by teachers who did not focus on methods outlined in the TTES model did not exhibit an increase in the frequency with which transformative experiences occurred.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-44996
title: Social work with the terminally ill: Unique characteristics, knowledge, and skills required of workers
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-123631
title: A study of three systems and their roles in excluding the poor
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-141531
title: An exploratory study of the effects of two types of paternal deprivation on latency age boys
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-316661
title: Designing energy-efficient and robust SRAM cells and on-chip cache memories

description: This dissertation presents various optimization techniques for designing energy-efficient on-chip cache memories in deeply-scaled FinFET technologies. The major part of the dissertation deals with static random access memory (SRAM) designs that include the following techniques. (i) The dual-gate control feature of FinFETs is used to enhance SRAM cell stability, where only internal signals to the SRAM cell are adopted to drive back gates of FinFET devices. Furthermore, an optimization framework is proposed based on voltage scaling and device tuning to derive a design with the lowest expected leakage energy consumption under process variations. By using this approach, the proposed dual-gate controlled all-single-fin 6T SRAM achieves a minimum energy point at 324mV using 7nm FinFET devices with a nominal supply voltage of 450mV. Despite the unique features of dual-gate FinFETs, such devices are still not supported by major semiconductor foundries. Hence, optimizations based on read/write-assist techniques and the threshold voltage, Vt, of SRAM transistors are the subject of the next two designs. (ii) One design proposes a SRAM cell composed of four transistors that is obtained by removing pull-down transistors of the standard 6T SRAM, and using low-leakage high-Vt (HVT) devices for pull-up transistors and fast low-Vt (LVT) devices for access transistors. This dual-Vt 4T SRAM simultaneously improves hold and write characteristics, but requires read-assist techniques to ensure a non-destructive and robust read operation. This provides a 25% smaller cell area and at least 2× lower leakage power of the dual-Vt 4T SRAM compared with the all-single-fin 6T counterpart, which in turn makes the proposed 4T design a suitable memory cell for large L2 and L3 cache memories. However, the semi-static nature of the 4T SRAM prevents operation of this cell at low voltage levels. (iii) Accordingly, the target of the final design is an all-single-fin 6T SRAM cell made of HVT devices, which is denoted by 6T-HVT. HVT devices have a lower OFF current and higher ON/OFF current ratio, which makes them attractive devices for SRAM designs. However, the lower ON current of such devices results in performance degradation during read access. A co-optimization framework is thus formulated to derive the voltage level of assist techniques along with key parameters of a SRAM array such that the energy-delay product of the 6T-HVT is minimized. To do this efficiently, an analytical model for the SRAM array is also proposed, which for the first time accurately captures the effect of assist circuits. In addition to SRAM designs, this dissertation explores spin-transfer torque magnetic RAMs (STT-MRAMs) as a promising emerging memory technology. In particular, an STT-MRAM cell with a FinFET access transistor is designed to enable low write energy STT-MRAMs with small-area footprints.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-338974
title: Public transportation accessibility impacts of the Tucson Modern Streetcar

description: The Sun Link Modern Streetcar route opened on July 25, 2014, in Downtown Tucson and on the University of Arizona campus. Even though the opening of this 3.9-mile route has been hailed as a success due to its role in revitalizing Downtown Tucson, there are still major issues with accessibility to mass transit in greater Tucson. In this study, mass transit accessibility in Tucson is measured using a GIS-based transit accessibility model before and after the opening of the Sun Link system to determine the effect the streetcar had on overall transit accessibility in the Tucson Metropolitan Area. The study is focused on the years 2009 and 2014 (i.e., two points in time, five years apart) to clearly identify accessibility differences before and after the Sun Link system began operation. ❧ The analysis compares transit routes and resulting access for each residential parcel in Tucson to a diverse set of land uses based on the Land Use Public Transportation Accessibility Index (LUPTAI) during the study interval. The study finds that while residential parcel accessibility increased on average, accessibility to a diverse mix of land uses at transit stops themselves decreased on average within the study interval. Recommendations from this analysis are important in determining what areas of Tucson need improvement on mass transit accessibility. This thesis serves as a demonstration of the effects of a new rail transit system in medium-sized metropolitan areas and provides the first implementation of the LUPTAI GIS transit accessibility model in the U.S.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-339710
title: Inhibitory spillover in adolescence: a fMRI study

description: The current study is the first to report on the neural mechanisms of inhibitory spillover during adolescence, a developmental period characterized by significant biological and behavioral changes affecting inhibitory ability, emotional saliency, and behavioral control. Twenty-four adolescents completed functional neuroimaging while completing the emotional go/no-go task (Berkman, Burklund, & Lieberman, 2009). Adolescents also completed a self- report measure of anxious and depressive symptoms. The emotional go/no-go fMRI task required explicit cognitive/motor inhibition in the presence of irrelevant affective stimuli. It was designed to assess inhibitory spillover from prefrontal cognitive control regions to ventral affective regions via the shared neural substrate of the rIFG. Results from the present study replicated the original inhibitory spillover study results (Berkman et al.,2009), dovetail motor and cognitive inhibition studies, and extend the current literature by examining inhibitory spillover and adolescent anxious and depressive symptomatology. Overall, these results support that the rIFG may be the overlapping region for all domains of inhibition, such that any explicit inhibition may indirectly dampen other neural regions via the rIFG. This effect is particularly important for the adolescent brain and can inform behavioral interventions for adolescents who struggle with aligning their actions to their goals, especially when their attention is competing with emotional stimuli (e.g. teens with symptoms of anxiety and depression).
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-366977
title: Global judicial dialogue and the U.S. Courts

description: Global judicial dialogue has been understood as a significant process that has been transforming the global legal environment for the past three decades. In the United States, however, scholars have focused on a normative debate regarding the appropriateness of engagement in this process by U.S. courts. At the same time, the few studies that move beyond normative arguments emphasize the role of the judge as a deliberate, independent actor in the international environment; thus, they do not take into account other processes and actors that influence judicial globalization. This dissertation addresses some of the important questions that remain without a definite answer when it comes to the participation of American courts in global judicial dialogue. Bridging the judicial behavior, judicial globalization, and court-related public opinion literatures, I elucidate the extent to which a globally oriented behavior by a court can threaten its legitimacy, the conditions under which U.S. appellate courts participate in global judicial dialogue, and the role lawyers and other interested parties play in this process. I establish, first, that the relationship between court legitimacy and global judicial communication in the form of foreign and international law citations is conditional on the public’s own openness toward global processes, in combination with the public’s attitude toward the outcome of a particular case. Second, I demonstrate that federal circuit courts engage in global dialogue because of the internationalization of their caseload, and not due to the will of cosmopolitan judges. Finally, I show that this globalization of law is, in part, a result of pressures from below, through the incorporation of foreign and international law in merits and amici briefs.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-370611
title: Occupant-aware energy management: energy saving and comfort outcomes achievable through application of cooling setpoint adjustments

description: Past studies have shown that many buildings have overcooling problems during the cooling season with the cooling temperature setpoints that are widely used in industry practice nowadays (Mendell, 2009). It not only causes a certain level of discomfort for building occupants, but also results in excess cooling energy consumption. Adjustment of temperature setpoints has proven to be one of the most practical and cost-effective methods to reduce space cooling and heating energy consumption (Hoyt et al., 2014). However, because of the concern of the impact that may have on occupant thermal comfort, application of temperature setpoints adjustments have been limited to the unoccupied period. In addition, with the development of participatory sensing technologies, one promising application is to base setpoints on actual occupant preferences or acceptance levels rather than static models. Therefore, further research about energy savings achievable through temperature setpoint adjustment and its’ impacts on occupant comfort is needed in order to broaden the application of this strategy. ❧ The previous research has shown that more than 20% of annual HVAC energy reduction could be achieved by applying temperature setpoint adjustment in sealed, mechanically conditioned commercial buildings in California. Instead of single HVAC system type and ventilation strategy, this thesis explored the application of cooling setpoint adjustment for multiple cooling and ventilation configurations. Variable Air Volume (VAV) system and Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) were used to represent conventional and low-energy HVAC system. In addition to mechanical ventilation, mixed-mode ventilation were involved. Totally 17 climates were selected based on ASHRAE climate zones to cover both extreme and mild climates globally. ❧ Two category of charts were generated for assisting designers or building operators to make decisions during initial design or building operational period. The first set of charts provides information about total Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of baseline models and energy saving reductions for each setpoint adjustment in seventeen climates. The second set of charts presents trade-offs between occupant comfort outcomes and energy reductions through cooling setpoints in each climate. These results indicated the potential of reducing cooling energy consumption, maintaining or even improving occupant comfort level, in commercial buildings through adjusting cooling setpoints.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-126642
title: The measurement of empathy in second-year MSW graduate students
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-368569
title: Methodology to aid building envelope selection during the design process using climate oriented prefabricated building envelopes

description: The building envelope is the outermost layer of the building. Its design is critical as it relates to the aesthetic, structural, and energy performance of the building. The heat transfer through a building envelope is related to the thermal loads of the building. The three main factors of the heat transfer (radiation, conduction, and convection) through a building envelope are governed by its materials and physical properties. Based on the climate, the envelopes require different material configurations. Climate oriented building envelopes are building envelopes that are designed for a specific climate. Prefabricated building envelopes have an immense potential in saving cost, life cycle cost (embodied energy) and time in construction. Prefabricated envelopes also have less thermal bridging resulting in better performance of the building envelopes compared to a conventional building envelope. Climate oriented prefabricated building envelope show an immense potential in terms of performance, constructability, and cost savings. ❧ Four different prefabricated building envelopes (CLT, GFRC, SIP, and precast concrete) were chosen and then fine-tuned to eliminate thermal bridging on the envelope, to be able to construct as a modular panels, and to have a flexible envelope design configuration. Each of these envelopes were evaluated for condensation in eight ASHRAE defined climate zones in the US. The envelope design was updated to be able to satisfy the R-value defined by ASHRAE 189.1 and also avoid condensation when used in all eight climate zones. Heat transfer of the envelope was verified using THERM, and the R-value of the envelope was found using NFRC conditions. A database of these prefabricated envelopes designed for climate zones was created. COPBET a tool that can assign these envelopes in a building and perform building simulation using EnergyPlus was created. It was developed in Grasshopper and was integrated with various plugins like Honeybee, Flux, and Design seeds. COPBET was used to perform energy simulation of the building using all the envelopes in the database for different climate zones. Envelopes that performed better based on the climate zone for the building was found. COPBET was also created to visualize the envelope modelled building as an online model and as a virtual reality model. It was also created to identify the quantity of materials in the envelope. The tool was able to output the envelope options based on climate zone. COPBET could be used by architects, building scientist to model their building, and visualize the envelope based on climate zone during the early stage of design process.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-413151
title: Approaching Israel education

description: This is an attempt to approach Israel education in a way that teaches students how to negotiate and navigate their way through challenging and controversial issues. It works with the assumption that Israel absolutely has the right to exist and its existence is legitimate and important for the world community. It also acknowledges that Israel has had challenging elements and historical moments in its history, as do all countries and nations in the world. This curriculum teaches students how to ask questions, how to think metacognitively about them and how to establish identity in a very personal way.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-140890
title: A retrospective study of 23 girls who experienced the Lathrop Hall Program and an assessment of the continuity of care upon their return to the community
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-145108
title: A survey of social work administrators and its significance to curriculum planning
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-329820
title: Uncovering proteomic and neuroimaging markers associated with human diseases

description: The goal of this thesis is to uncover proteomic and neuroimaging markers that are associated with human diseases. It is comprised of three parts. ❧ The first part is a large-scale study of identifying associations between protein domains and many diseases. We develop a framework to incorporate several publicly reported genotype and phenotype associations. Different methods including Association, Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), Domain-disease pair exclusion analysis (DPEA), Bayesian, and Parsimonious explanation (PE) are validated and evaluated to provide a predicted landscape between domains and diseases. ❧ The second part is an enrichment analysis of Schizophrenia (SCZ) risk factors towards a developmental profile of postsynaptic density (PSD) protein complexes. We determine the distribution and combinatorial interactions of protein domains within and across all the immuno-purified protein complexes, and report protein domain landscape of PSD complexes. ❧ The third part aims at predicting regions of brain structure that contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. We apply a Likelihood Causal Model Selection (LCMS) approach to infer for each trio of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), Regions of Interest (ROI) and disease. We found several ROIs and SNPs significantly associated with AD. Through simulation studies we have validated that most of the selected models do make sense in explaining the observed data.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-337133
title: Understanding activity recognition using gesture information and hierarchy structure

description: In my thesis, I introduce four different solutions for activity recognition, especially for fine grained activity recognition. My basic idea is to use pose patch information (Pose based Discriminative Patch Model), hierarchy information (Hierarchy Abstraction Network), and deep learning features to boost activity recognition. ❧ First, I focus on using human pose information to improve activity recognition. Utilization of pose information in activity recognition has been limited, possibly due to the difficulty of inferring accurate pose from images. Motivated by this observation, we propose a method which can exploit pose information without the necessity of estimating accurate pose first. Instead, we extract discriminative image patches that are associated with human joint positions. Experiments have shown favorable improvement in activity recognition performance as well as providing satisfying pose estimation results. ❧ Second, I focus on solving fine grained activity recognition. There have been many approaches to the problem of activity recognition, many of which are hard to apply to the stated problem of fine-grained activity recognition. We describe an abstraction hierarchy model named Hierarchy Activity Network (HAN), which includes Meta level(s), Base level and Infra level(s). Base level is the level at which annotations are provided in the training data. Meta levels group some of the base level activities into one, resulting in more abstraction activities. Infra levels decompose a set of base level activities based on Infra distinctions. In the example, and in our experiments, we use only one Meta and one Infra level but the technique easily extends to the multiple levels. ❧ Next, with the wide usage of deep learning in computer vision topics, we apply deep learning solutions into more general fine grained activity recognition problems. We find out two solutions to use deep learning in fine grained activity recognition. First, we can use an end to end solution to fine tune ImageNet model. Another solution is to use deep feature in activity recognition. In the experiment, we prove that by using deep feature, we can get better performance in fine grained activity recognition. ❧ For my last work, I am building an unified framework to integrate scene, frame and pose information for activity recognition. By observing these three key information can be formulated in a hierarchical coarse to fine structure, we propose Hierarchy Pose Temporal Model (HPT) which uses scene information as the coarse level feature, temporal information as the middle level feature, and pose information as the finer level feature. Besides, we consider temporal and pose information as latent variables to enable the model to compute for the most discriminative temporal frames and pose configurations.
DOI: 10.25549/usctheses-c40-410898
title: Marine litter: the plastic pollution in the ocean crisis and how to raise public awareness to impact legislation

description: This thesis highlights how human activity is the driving force that is pushing the world’s oceans to the brink of collapse. It examines many of the anthropogenic sources causing lasting damage to the ocean, focusing on the plastic pollution crisis more specifically. Based on primary and secondary research, the author discusses how organizations seeking to increase public awareness and engagement about the plastic pollution crisis can leverage strategic public relations tactics to impact change. The data for this study was obtained through secondary research as well as qualitative interviews of subjects who have been involved in campaigns designed to raise public involvement in environmental causes. Focusing on the issue of plastic pollution in the ocean, this report uses the campaign to ban plastic microbeads as a case study to demonstrate how strategic public relations can drive engagement and impact legislation, resulting in lasting change for the protection of the environment. ❧ The first chapter provides an overview of what is currently happening to the ocean by outlining some of the greatest threats caused by human activity. The second chapter focuses on the issue of plastics and provides a timeline of how these synthetics were introduced to, and eventually adopted, by mainstream society. Chapter three explores the global plastic pollution crisis, detailing the many issues involved with dependency on plastic products, while examining how this material is constantly ending up at sea. The fourth chapter uncovers the threats ocean plastics pose for the welfare of marine life, human health, and the global economy. In later chapters the author covers the role strategic public relations plays in gathering support for environmental causes, highlighting two extremely successful campaigns that were effective in raising public awareness and participation in recent years. Chapter six provides a discussion with experts who have had personal experience with campaigns related to ocean plastics. Chapter seven introduces an impact funnel that reveals how organizations can target key stakeholders and develop effective strategic public relations strategies to target these groups and push for changes in legislation that tackle the biggest culprits of ocean plastic at the source, ultimately providing a final analysis and conclusion.