This dissertation is an ethnography conducted with the Los Angeles-based community arts organization called Machine Project. Operating both a storefront gallery in Echo Park and as a loose association of contemporary artists, performers, curators, and designers, Machine Project seeks to make "rarefied knowledge accessible" through…

Despite a Presidential Order in 2004 that launched national incentives for the use of health information technology, specifically the Electronic Health Record (EHR), adoption of the EHR has been slow. This study attempts to quantify factors associated with adoption of the EHR and Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) by combining multiple…

Libraries are important to universities, and they have two primary features: readers as well as collections are highly professional. In this study, based on the experimental study with five millions of users' borrowing records, our discussion covers: (1) the necessity of recommender system for university libraries; (2) collaborative filtering (CF)…

Early and forced marriage infringes rights of women and girls globally, undermining initiatives to raise involvement in education, reduce maternal mortality, increase employment and enterprise levels. Parental and Communal involvement in Early and Forced Child Marriage negatively influence Girls' Education, which hinders their participation in…

Background: Non-attendance and inappropriate referrals affect the effective and efficient running of healthcare services. Non-engagement with speech and language therapy (SLT) services may lead to negative long-term consequences for children in need of SLT intervention. Currently there is a dearth of research on non-attendance and non-engagement…

In many developed countries, children now begin their formal schooling at an older age. However, a growing body of empirical studies provides little evidence that such schooling delays improve educational and economic outcomes. This study presents new evidence on whether school starting age influences student outcomes by relying on linked Danish…

Until last year, Ohio had in place a rule requiring a minimum level of staffing for music, visual arts, physical education, counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers and visiting teachers. School districts had to have at least five of these eight positions for every 1,000 students. In March 2015, the State Board of Education eliminated this…

Until last year, Ohio had in place a rule requiring a minimum level of staffing for music, visual arts, physical education, counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers and visiting teachers. School districts had to have at least five of these eight positions for every 1,000 students. In March 2015, the State Board of Education eliminated this…

Students' ability to succeed academically in the school setting depends heavily on factors that students face outside of the school walls. One such contributor is the presence of a safe environment for students to travel to and from school. Unfortunately, for many students in urban and economically depressed environments, the daily commute to and…

Personal Health Records (PHRs) allow patients to access and in some cases manage their own health records. Their potential benefits include access to health information, enhanced asynchronous communication between patients and clinicians, and convenience of online appointment scheduling and prescription refills. Potential barriers to PHR use…

The Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe file includes data for the following variables: NCES school ID number, state school ID number, name of the school, name of the agency that operates the school, mailing address, physical location address, phone number, school type, operational status, locale code, latitude, longitude, county number,…

The Common Core of Data (CCD) nonfiscal surveys consist of data submitted annually to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by state education agencies (SEAs) in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the four U.S. Island Areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin…

Parents were given supplies to collect 3 child salivary cortisol samples (awakening, 30-min after awakening, bedtime) at home on a typical day, and return them via mail. Medical records also were abstracted. Results: Fifty-three percent (n = 29) returned child salivary samples. Families who returned samples typically returned them within 2 weeks,…

Background: One of the reasons for the slow and uncertain translation of research into practice is likely due to the emphasis in science on explanatory models and efficacy designs rather than more pragmatic approaches. Methods: Following a brief definition of what constitutes a pragmatic approach, I provide examples of pragmatic methods, measures,…

The purpose of this dissertation was to compare the perceived impact of federal financial aid on the decisions of college-aged African American and Hispanic males to attend college. Participants in the study were delimited to XYZ University, a regional university in Northeast Texas. A modified version of the College Experience Survey, originally…