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Trauma-informed care has been the subject of numerous scholarly studies in various contexts for nearly four decades. Thus, TIC practices have been shown to reduce educators' stress (Jaycox et al., 2019), increase teacher awareness of student trauma experiences (Kuhn et al., 2019; McIntyre et al., 2019), and improve teachers' self-confidence in engaging with and helping students with trauma (Gruman et al., 2013). However, while most education research has focused on how school personnel can implement trauma-informed practices, no research supports the comprehension of the lived experiences of K-12 trauma-trained teachers who implement TIC intervention strategies in their classrooms. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of trauma-trained K-12 teachers that have incorporated TIC intervention strategies within their classrooms to help understand their perceptions of the impact of trauma training and the use of TIC intervention strategies. The researcher used a purposive sampling and semi-structured interview format to investigate the experiences of six trauma-trained K-12 teachers using TIC intervention approaches in their classrooms. The results generated four major themes: The Impact of Training, Implemented TIC Strategies and Practices, Factors and Practices Contributing to Trauma-Informed Education, and Challenges. All the themes were fundamental to answering the research question related to lived experiences and perceptions of trauma-trained teachers. In an attempt to tackle ACE among K–12 students, this study provides implications and recommendations for future research that may improve the efficacy of TIC intervention strategies among teachers and school counselors.
With the modernization of power grids, high penetration of distributed energy-based resources (DERs), and modern loads, optimal power flow (OPF) analysis is one of the essential tools for reliable power system planning and operation. This research proposes novel OPF models for power distribution and transmission networks using second-order cone programming (SOCP). The advantages of SOCP-based convex OPF models are the efficient computational ability for large network systems and the global optimality. To confirm solution accuracy, the necessary conditions for the tightness of the angle and conic relaxations of power flow models are addressed in this research work for the proposed OPF models. In this dissertation, an OPF architecture is proposed to retrieve the bus voltage angle difference for radial distribution networks and thus control the reactive power flow, leading to better voltage regulation in the network and promising a globally optimal solution. This research also presents a SOCP-based AC-OPF model for unbalanced three-phase radial power distribution networks. Mutual coupling effects are generally ignored in the existing multi-phase SOCP AC-OPF models. The proposed SOCP-OPF model introduces a coupling coefficient for the mutual coupling effects on the three-phase unbalanced lines to overcome this critical issue. The derivation of the coupling coefficients has been illustrated with the required proof that the relaxation is tight and the solution from the proposed OPF model is optimal for an unbalanced multi-phase distribution network. Besides the distribution networks, this work also presents a novel SOCP-based OPF formulation for transmission system power networks. Power transmission networks generally have meshed orientation. For meshed power networks, though the conic relaxation is exact due to the cyclic angle constraints, the angle relaxation may not be exact. An OPF model is proposed for the SOCP-OPF model for power transmission networks satisfying the cyclic angle constraints. For that, the model defines a convex envelope to represent the relative bus voltage angles that satisfy the cyclic constraint criteria for a mesh in the network. This dissertation also presents an OPF formulation for AC-DC hybrid power distribution networks. The model determines the optimal modulation index for the converters for minimum network loss. In addition, this dissertation also proposes a distributed OPF (D-OPF) model for distribution networks and a time-dependent (T-OPF) model for real-time OPF analysis. All the proposed models in this research are tested in multiple and extensive networks, and the results show that the models are exact to produce globally optimal solutions for the reliable operation of the power grid.
Power electronics converters are an integral part of modern power and energy system. Power semiconductor switching devices are the most significant component in a power electronics converter. Power semiconductor devices such as MOSFETs/IGBTs age through different degradation mechanisms in long-term applications. Failure of MOSFETs/IGBTs is one of the primary causes of power electronics failure. And MOSFETs on-state resistance (RDSON) is a key health-indicating parameter. This dissertation presents sensing circuit designs that enable real-time monitoring of on-state voltage of the MOSFETs/IGBTs. In addition a complete online in-situ health monitoring system of the MOSFETs in a three-phase inverter is presented. A new on-state drain-source voltage (VDSON) sensing circuit has been used to monitor the RDSON of the high-side MOSFETs. This sensor references the drain of the high-side transistors for their VDSON measurement and allows VDSON measurement of multiple high-side transistors with respect to the same ground reference. The high-side VDSON measurement circuits combined with low-side VDSON measurement circuits have been used for a complete RDSON monitoring of all the MOSFETs in the inverter. The drain current (IDS) is captured from measurements using an off-the-shelf current sensor located at the output filter inductor. Accounting for propagation delays in the measurement circuitry, both the VDSON and IDS are sampled and converted into digital data multiple times in a switching cycle, filtered, and stored in a digital signal processor (DSP). The DSP, originally used for the inverter control, then processes the sensor data captured over one grid cycle and calculates the average RDSON of the MOSFETs of the inverter. Validations of all the sensing circuits, using theoretical analysis and hardware experiments along with the software implementation for data processing and handling are presented in the dissertation for this real-time, in-situ RDSON measurement. Furthermore, a method of mapping the MOSFET's RDSON to the junction temperature is presented which can be used for real-time accurate junction temperature estimation of the MOSFETs.
Maternal eating patterns during pregnancy and the first year postpartum contribute to short and long term maternal and child health outcomes. Food choices are thought to result from an interaction between individual-level appetite and the diversity and quantity of foods available to the individual. Appetite, the motivational drive to eat, is regulated by both internal and environmental factors and occurs both within and outside of physiological energy deprivation. Through a series of three manuscripts, this work examined psychophysiological influences on maternal appetite and their interrelations to understand how these factors present in pregnancy and postpartum, how they change over time, and their role in predicting the development of specific food desires. The Power of Food Scale (PFS), a measure of hedonic hunger, assesses perceived responsiveness to food stimuli in the environment. PFS retains stable psychometric properties and remains at similar levels across its subscales through pregnancy and the first year postpartum. In contrast, leptin, a hormone with roles in satiety, reward, and reproduction, shows positive mean change over the same time. Neither of these appetitive influences nor dietary restraint were associated with variability in cravings concurrently or prospectively, during pregnancy or postpartum. Overall, results of these studies suggest that these appetite influences vary relatively independently during pregnancy and postpartum, in contrast to relationships observed outside this time. Future research could build upon these findings by incorporating additional appetitive influences and/or increasing the frequency of assessments to capture fluctuations within trimesters or within the first year postpartum.
Sexual violence on college campus is a salient threat to the health and well-being of students in higher education. Title IX legislation was developed to address and help reduce sex-based discrimination, including incidences of sexual violence, on college campuses. However, existing data suggests that a relatively small number of campus survivors make a formal report and subsequently have an interaction with the Title IX Office (Cantor et al., 2015). Additionally, little is known about the implementation of Title IX processes, the nature of Title IX sexual violence reports, or the outcomes of survivors involved in Title IX reports. The current study adds to our understanding of these survivors’ experiences. Specifically, the study utilized archival Title IX report data obtained from one large public university during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years (n = 151) to explore the nature and scope of Title IX sexual violence reports and the academic health outcomes of survivors post-report. The study utilized data extracted from Title IX sexual violence reports to describe the characteristics of Complainants (i.e., survivors), Respondents (i.e., perpetrators), incident characteristics, reporting processes, and characteristics of cases involved in formal university hearings. The study also utilized aggregated data from the Title IX sexual violence reports in conjunction with data obtained from UNC Charlotte Maxient system, which contains student GPA and enrollment status, to examine the academic health of survivors over time. Complainants predominantly identified as Caucasian (65%) and female (93%). Respondents predominantly identified as Caucasian (42%) and male (99%). Complainants most often identified Respondents as friends (16%), ex romantic partners (16%), or acquaintances (14%). Only 11% of Respondents were identified as strangers. Complainants were most often referred to the Title IX Office by mandated reporters (87%). Over half of the Complainants (62%) engaged with Title IX staff following initial outreach. Many cases had incomplete academic data (no pre-report or post-report semester GPA). However, in the sample with three GPA time points (n = 57 survivors), academic outcomes over time were not significantly associated with Respondent’s affiliation to the university, source of referral to the Title IX Office, engagement in the reporting process, or involvement in a formal university hearing. Seventeen percent (n = 25) of Complaints dropped out of the university. However, Complainant engagement with the Title IX Office was not significantly associated with dropout. These findings increase our understanding of the Title IX process and the experiences of campus sexual assault survivors who are involved with the Title IX Office.
Entrepreneurial enterprises take risks, innovate, and remain proactive in seeking business opportunities. For the past 30 years, entrepreneurial orientation theory has been the basis of exploring organizational behavior and has proven to be a reliable measure of what drives firm performance. Entrepreneurial firms remain adaptive by directing their internal and external capabilities to capture digital commerce and customer-linking opportunities. Thus, online marketing has gained in significance, suggesting that firms with the ability to leverage their digital marketing capabilities position themselves to gain a greater market advantage. In addition, the digital environment also offers unique opportunities for female-led firms with an entrepreneurial orientation. The possibility now exists for high levels of connectivity, adding value to the female owner’s ability to expand networks and increase social capital. Digitization of markets suggests new prospects for connectivity and performance gains not previously accessible. There is a gap in the literature as it relates to a firm’s digital marketing capabilities and firm performance outcomes. In addition, there is a dearth of research regarding entrepreneurially oriented female owners navigating contemporary digital and social environments where greater opportunities exist to leverage networks to creating social capital and improve firm performance. A quantitative study was conducted utilizing a client database from the Carolina Small Business Development Fund, a state-wide community development financial institution offering small loans and grants to business owners in the state of North Carolina, and surveys collected from LinkedIn social media platform. The surveys provided data for this study evaluating the connection between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance when moderated by digital marketing capabilities and female owner behaviors.
Technology Usage has become an important topic because of disruptions in the healthcare space in recent years. Long wait times and service delivery times, reduced patient engagement and interaction on care plans, lack of access to just-in-time healthcare records, diverse IT infrastructure with little or no interoperability and frequent server downtimes are some of the critical issues that could leverage current technology solutions to engage with patients before, during and post encounter visits and significantly improve outcomes and patient experiences.
Objective – This study extends the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) model by examining the role of technology use in influencing healthcare outcomes and patient experience. The study also investigates how healthcare service modality (Brick& Mortar, Hospital at Home, Mobile/Telehealth) influences the relationship between technology use and patient outcomes. Specifically looking at how different healthcare modality types can leverage modern technologies and disruption trends to improve patient satisfaction and patient engagement throughout the life cycle of a patient encounter visit.
Methods – Our proposed model incorporates five constructs- Two Independent variables- Individual Behavioral Intention and Technology use, Two moderators- Cloud based Electronic Medical Record (EHR) and Modality and finally two dependent variables- Patient Satisfaction and Patient Engagement.
Results -Results from an online survey on technology use from patients who have experienced services from the different healthcare modalities will be collected and analyzed to support the model.
Conclusions – This study is an important innovative addition for the UTAUT2 model. It will have practical implications for academia and industry by informing future research and operationalization strategies on possible trends that could be leveraged to significantly improve performance and outcomes in the healthcare industry.
Key Words – Healthcare Business Types, Technology Use, Cloud Enabled Patient Portal, Healthcare Service Delivery, Technology Acceptance Model (UTAUT2), Patient Satisfaction, Patient Engagement
