Factors of Belonging of Male Speech Language Pathologists From Underrepresented Racial and/or Ethnic Minorities

Current literature lacks the perspectives of speech language pathologists (SLPs) who identify as both male and from an underrepresented racial and/or ethnic minority (UREM.) This research provides multiple viewpoints on how the intersection of race and gender affects sense of belonging in the profession of speech language pathology. This project takes a phenomenological approach utilizing snowball sampling and semi-structured interviews to discuss factors of belonging with four UREM male SLPs using interpretative analysis, bracketing, and member checks. The project shares four individual profiles in which participants shared their sense of belonging, inclusion and exclusion experiences, and the individual factors that shape and affect their clinical practice. Combined, 16 factors were identified across the four participants. The individual profiles and varied myriad factors identified by these four UREM male SLPs provide practical and theoretical insights about sense of belonging. Such profiles are heterogeneous and create an opportunity for the speech language pathology profession to reflect on its current inclusionary (and exclusionary) practices for individuals who are intersectional (by race/ethnicity and gender) minorities

SECURED DATA STORAGE MANAGEMENT WITH DEDUPLICATION IN CLOUD COMPUTING AND LOCAL GPT INTEGRATION

Exponential growth in cloud computing has brought enormous changes in data storage and processing, but also raised several questions on the security, privacy, and efficient storage of data. This report provides a dual-focused approach toward solving these challenges. First, we try to build an application securely and efficiently using data deduplication and Proxy Re-Encryption for optimization of storage and enabling secure data sharing. Deduplication ensures that redundant data is removed before encryption for maximum efficiency in storage, while PRE enables the safe sharing of encrypted data by re-encrypting the keys for specified recipients without the leakage of sensitive information. We further propose developing a local version of GPT. LocalGPT is a solution for privacy and being absolutely offline to interact with documentation in a privacy-preserving manner. Indeed, all data is local to the user’s device. By combining Large Language Models and Document Ingestion with local embedding generation using the Instructor Embedding model and storing them in a Chroma vector database, one can efficiently and securely create and query contextual documents without relying on an external server

Keep it Open, Keep it Ours: The Importance of Community-Owned Infrastructure in Open Access Book Publishing

When research is under attack, it is tempting to retreat into familiar ways of working and publishing. Big organisations might seem to offer security, and paywalls might look like protection against surveillance and stifling oversight. This is misguided. Paywalls create silos, dividing haves and have-nots. They also create gated points of access: the organisation that controls the gate controls the content. Open access (OA), by contrast, liberates content from post-publication censorship and suppression, whether by publisher or government, and equality of access creates opportunities for collective action. But openness alone is not sufficient: we need community support for open publication routes to create an information ecosystem that is robust against authoritarian threats. I will present Open Book Publishers (https://www.openbookpublishers.com/), an academic-led, non-profit, independent OA book press, as a case study in resilient, community-led, open publishing systems for OA books. The two core components in its success are: a funding model that harnesses community support rather than state or individual-fee-based funding to pay for OA publication; and participation in community-owned, non-profit infrastructure, built by the Copim community (to which we belong) supporting our own publishing and that of others. I will explain how collective funding makes it more difficult to critically threaten OBP financially, and how, by using open, community-owned infrastructure to fund, disseminate, and archive our OA books, we rely on infrastructure that the scholarly community collectively controls. I will conclude by arguing that open, interoperable infrastructures and robust community networks are the best way to safeguard the information ecosystem against control by large organizations, whether they be corporations or governments

Comparative Analysis of Embedding Techniques with Clustering Algorithms for Malware Opcodes

Malware detection and classification remain critical challenges in cybersecurity, especially as malicious software becomes increasingly sophisticated and prevalent. While much of the work involving embeddings has traditionally relied on supervised learning approaches, there is significant potential in leveraging unsupervised learning techniques to discern hidden structures in malware data. By employing embedding techniques to convert malware samples into high-dimensional vector representations, we can capture the subtle and complex patterns inherent in malicious code without relying on pre-labeled data. This unsupervised approach helps categorize malware into predefined malware families, greatly aiding in developing cybersecurity solutions. In contrast to traditional supervised models that depend heavily on historical data and predefined labels, unsupervised learning facilitates the discovery of novel and previously unseen malware variants. This research investigates a range of embed- ding methods, including Word2Vec, FastText, and Doc2Vec, paired with various clustering techniques such as DBSCAN, K-Means, Gaussian Mixture, Agglomerative, and BIRCH. The objective is to comprehensively analyze the combined impact of these methods on malware detection in an unsupervised setting. By shifting the focus towards unsupervised learning, this paper highlights the potential to capture malware’s dynamic and evolving nature, ultimately contributing to more adaptive and resilient cybersecurity strategies

Spartan Daily, February 18, 2025

Volume 164, Issue 11https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartan_daily_2025/1010/thumbnail.jp

Inspection Technologies for Construction and Maintenance of Highway Infrastructure – Review and Analysis

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) seek to provide high quality infrastructure that meets or exceeds the desired quality standards crucial for ensuring safety and efficiency in our nation\u27s transportation systems. Efficient inspection practices—which enable conformance with plans, specifications, and quality standards—are an essential part of this effort. In this digital age, state DOTs are relying on emerging technologies to improve inspection practices. However, there is limited knowledge available regarding various emerging technologies used for highway infrastructure construction and maintenance inspection. This study identifies various emerging technologies that are implemented at the state DOTs and their uses/applications for various inspection purposes. The emerging technologies studied in this project include Remote Sensing and Monitoring Technologies—specifically, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)—as well as Building Information Modelling (BIM), and Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR). Based on a comprehensive literature review and content analysis of journal articles, technical reports, state DOT documents/reports, templates, and guidelines on the identified technologies, the research findings indicate different usage levels among state DOTs and found that DOTs use these technologies for applications such as structural inspection, verifying quantities, bridge and visual inspection, safety inspection, inspection workforce training, inspection documentation, and measurements of pay quantities, among others. This study serves as a valuable resource for state DOTs seeking to maximize the benefits of their investments and embrace innovative inspection technologies to ensure safety and efficiency in the nation\u27s transportation infrastructure

The Data-Driven Library: Communicating the value of your school library program to administrators, parents, students, and colleagues

This article examines the use of data dashboards as a tool for teacher librarians to advocate for their school library programs. It emphasizes the importance of linking library services to district priorities to secure funding, increase collaboration, and demonstrate the library’s impact on student outcomes. An eight-step process is detailed, including defining objectives, identifying target audiences, collecting and visualizing data, and publishing dashboards using accessible tools like Google Workspace. By crafting coherent, audience-specific narratives, librarians can highlight how their programs support educational goals, improve resource utilization, and foster collaboration. The article concludes that data dashboards provide a sustainable and compelling way for librarians to communicate their value to administrators, faculty, students, and parents

Cultura Y Corazón: Latina Elementary School Principals Leading Schools

This qualitative participatory study focused on understanding the experiences of Latina elementary school principals on their pathway to school leadership and how cultural intuition and community cultural wealth influence their approaches to school leadership. Chicana Feminist Epistemology (CFE) and Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) framed the study, while testimonio y pláticas served as the methodological framework. The concept of Community Cultural Wealth served as an analytical framework. Students of color often feel their histories, experiences, and languages are undervalued in education. Participants in this study shared challenges in navigating school, coming from families that valued education but faced barriers. Their interconnected experiences reflected individual and collective growth, allowing them to serve with care and compassion. The study highlights how Latina elementary school principals lead with cultura y corazón, shaped by their own backgrounds