\u27TRANSFER EFFECT STUDY OF A VIRTUAL BORESCOPE IN TRAINING AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS\u27

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has acknowledged training as an important tactic to improve the trustworthiness of inspection. This study was conducted to test the transfer of the skills learned with a simulator into the real world. For this purpose, data from seventeen students in the AMT program of Greenville Technical College was analyzed. Objective data was taken to assess the group\u27s performance on the simulator after each session of training. The comparison between two groups was made using objective data, collected while the subjects went through a test on a real engine and using the real borescope, and subjective ratings they gave their respective training system after a minimalist contact with their tool, and at the end of the study. Results showed that performance was not statistically different between the two groups; however, the subjective ratings show that improvements could be made to the simulator as its users do not feel confident of the transferability of the skills learned while using it. This study can be used as a stepping stone in the determination of the most efficient total duration of training as it provides an upper bound

Acculturation Disparity: An Emic Perspective from International Students Enrolled in Two South Florida Institutions of Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to provide research to support a new paradigm of emergent cultural experiences and acceptance which was measured by different levels of acculturative stress. The objective of this study was to identify the present levels of acculturative stress using the dependent variables defined as perceived discrimination, perceived hate, fear, homesickness, stress due to culture shock, and guilt. The independent variables included gender, age, length of time in the United States, graduate or undergraduate, place or residence during college, English proficiency, country of origin/citizenship, and countries previously lived in/visited. This research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of student perspectives by determining the cultural disparity relationship between the identified independent and dependent variables. The subject population was international students possessing an F-l Visa enrolled at two institutions of higher learning in the state of Florida. The primary assessment instrument was the Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS) developed by Sandhu and Asrabadi (1994). The outcome of this investigation expected to provide research supporting a model of social distances, defined by the three levels of cultural adequation, cultural lingualation, and cultural discordation. Indeed, every individual does bear the imprint of cultural socialization; and these imprints are vastly different from others with varying degrees of disparity. The study provided support indicating significant statistical evidence for the paradigm of cultural distance defined by three levels of disparity identified as cultural adequation, cultural lingualation, and cultural discordation

Antecedents to Organizational Performance: Theoretical and Practical Implications for Aircraft Maintenance Officer Force Development

This research explored the impact of Aircraft Maintenance Officer human capital, learning organization, and knowledge management on organizational performance. Survey methodology was utilized to gather data with both theoretical and practical implications on 21A force development practices. Solicitation of information regarding 21A competencies, utility of current AF logistics courses, and latent constructs were conducted through a web-based self-administered cross-sectional survey. Examination of the latent variables human capital, learning organization, and knowledge management was conducted using exploratory factor analysis and multiple linear regression supporting a positive effect on organizational performance. Practical application of the theoretical findings could yield potential cost savings through the consolidation, restructuring, or removal of logistics courses currently considered under the 21A Deliberate Continuum of Learning. Implications for researchers, practitioners, and senior 21A leadership are discussed along with limitations, recommendations, and areas for future research

Spartan Daily, October 14, 1963

Volume 51, Issue 19https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/4492/thumbnail.jp

Driving to Opportunity: Understanding the Links among Transportation Access, Residential Outcomes, and Economic Opportunity for Housing Voucher Recipients

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Department of Housing and Urban Development sponsored two major experiments to test whether housing choice vouchers propelled low-income households into greater economic security, the Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing program (MTO) and the Welfare to Work Voucher program (WTW). Using data from these programs, this study examines differences in residential location and employment outcomes between voucher recipients with access to automobiles and those without. Overall, the findings underscore the positive role of automobiles in outcomes for housing voucher participants

ADAPTABILITY IN A BHUTANESE REFUGEE COMMUNITY: NAVIGATING INTEGRATION AND THE IMPACTS ON NUTRITIONAL HEALTH AFTER U.S. RESETTLEMENT

Increasing rates of overweight, obesity, and related metabolic diseases documented among refugee communities across the United States necessitate greater attention to how processes of integration impact refugee health. These nutritional health trends (e.g., increasing rates of obesity) suggest potential disconnects between refugees\u27 past environments and their conditions after re-settlement, which may contribute to adverse changes in energy balance (diet and exercise). While Bhutanese refugees were among the largest refugee groups entering the US during the five years leading up to this research, very few studies have examined how they have responded to integration and the impact of this transition on their health. Grounded in human adaptability and political economic theories, and adopting a biocultural approach, this dissertation investigates how Bhutanese refugees in “Prospect City” (pseudonym) negotiate changing and unfamiliar structural and sociocultural conditions after resettlement and the consequences for energy balance and nutritional status. The results reveal high rates of overweight and obesity compared to US averages. Age and caste related differences in nutritional status were also found. High rates of overweight and obesity corresponded with an energy imbalance due to over consumption of energy dense traditional foods and limited understanding of the importance of regular exercise. Over consumption of energy dense traditional foods stemmed from several interrelated factors: the abundance of foods in the US, prior experiences with food deprivation, a history of political exile that reinforced desires to preserve cultural food preferences, and joint family efforts to accommodate work-related time constraints by increasing food production and availability. Decreases in exercise appeared to stem from more sedentary lifestyles in the US as a result of work environments and available transportation, coupled with a lack of health knowledge regarding health benefits of physical activity. This dissertation’s findings are being reported to Prospect City’s Bhutanese Community Organization to help develop strategies for improving nutritional health in the community

Finding Home Along Farmington Avenue: Assessing Models of Refugee Resettlement in the Greater Hartford Area

This thesis explores how different models of refugee resettlement influence refugee integration outcomes. Currently, the US offers two primary models: sponsorship through a voluntary agency with support from a community group, typically a religious congregation. Private sponsorship, or unaffiliated volunteering with refugees also occurs locally across the United States. Previous literature largely addresses the challenges of case-management model in facilitating refugee integration, but does not assess how U.S. community-driven approaches to resettlement affect refugees’ economic and linguistic outcomes. In the first section, this thesis examines the history of refugee resettlement in Connecticut through refugee admissions data, organizational analysis of the states’ principle resettlement agencies, and the Hartford area’s municipal involvement with resettlement. I find that Catholic Charities, Connecticut’s largest case-management agency, has been ineffectual in its past initiatives in resettling refugees. In total, I conduct twenty-two interviews with case-managers, community volunteers and Syrian refugees. Overall, my findings suggest that community and private sponsorship (largely based in West Hartford) enhances refugee families’ social capital, and, in turn, economic, linguistic, and social integration. At the same time, this phenomenon of largely privileged suburbanites helping individual refugee families achieve mobility perpetuates systems of metropolitan inequality

Internet-of-Things Devices in Support of the Development of Echoic Skills Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

A significant therapeutic challenge for people with disabilities is the development of verbal and echoic skills. Digital voice assistants (DVAs), such as Amazon’s Alexa, provide networked intelligence to billions of Internet-of-Things devices and have the potential to offer opportunities to people, such as those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), to advance these necessary skills. Voice interfaces can enable children with ASD to practice such skills at home; however, it remains unclear whether DVAs can be as proficient as therapists in recognizing utterances by a developing speaker. We developed an Alexa-based skill called ASPECT to measure how well the DVA identified verbalization by autistic children. The participants, nine children diagnosed with ASD, each participated in 30 sessions focused on increasing vocalizations and echoic responses. Children interacted with ASPECT prompted by instructions from an Echo device. ASPECT was trained to recognize utterances and evaluate them as a therapist would—simultaneously, a therapist scored the child’s responses. The study identified no significant difference between how ASPECT and the therapists scored participants; this conclusion held even when subsetting participants by a pre-treatment echoic skill assessment score. This indicates considerable potential for providing a continuum of therapeutic opportunities and reinforcement outside of clinical settings