The Relation between Substance Use and Medication Adherence among HIV Positive Substance Users in Residential Treatment

Poor medication adherence is problematic among HIV positive, low-income African-American substance users. Substance use has been shown to be associated with poor medication adherence, though we do not know the mechanism that underlies this relationship. Lack of positive environmental rewards and the propensity to discount delayed rewards may be possible mechanisms to explain this relationship. Using baseline data from a randomized controlled trial, we examined the relationships between substance use and medication adherence, testing both environmental rewards and delay discounting as independent mediators. There was a main effect of substance use on adherence, such that high frequency of substance use predicted poor adherence. There was also a main effect of environmental rewards on adherence, such that a lack of environmental reinforcement predicted poor adherence. This study shed light on the processes that contribute to low adherence, namely substance use and lack of environmental contingencies, and suggests important targets for intervention.

ESSAYS IN ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

This dissertation studies technological change in the context of energy and environmental economics. Technology plays a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Chapter 1 estimates a structural model of the car industry that allows for endogenous product characteristics to investigate how gasoline taxes, R&D subsidies and competition affect fuel efficiency and vehicle prices in the medium-run, both through car-makers' decisions to adopt technologies and through their investments in knowledge capital. I use technology adoption and automotive patents data for 1986-2006 to estimate this model. I show that 92% of fuel efficiency improvements between 1986 and 2006 were driven by technology adoption, while the role of knowledge capital is largely to reduce the marginal production costs of fuel-efficient cars. A counterfactual predicts that an additional $1/gallon gasoline tax in 2006 would have increased the technology adoption rate, and raised average fuel efficiency by 0.47 miles/gallon, twice the annual fuel efficiency improvement in 2003-2006. An R&D subsidy that would reduce the marginal cost of knowledge capital by 25% in 2006 would have raised investment in knowledge capital. This subsidy would have raised fuel efficiency only by 0.06 miles/gallon in 2006, but would have increased variable profits by $2.3 billion over all firms that year. Passenger vehicle fuel economy standards in the United States will require substantial improvements in new vehicle fuel economy over the next decade. Economic theory suggests that vehicle manufacturers adopt greater fuel-saving technologies for vehicles with larger market size. Chapter 2 documents a strong connection between market size, measured by sales, and technology adoption. Using variation consumer demographics and purchasing pattern to account for the endogeneity of market size, we find that a 10 percent increase in market size raises vehicle fuel efficiency by 0.3 percent, as compared to a mean improvement of 1.4 percent per year over 1997-2013. Historically, fuel price and demographic-driven market size changes have had large effects on technology adoption. Furthermore, fuel taxes would induce firms to adopt fuel-saving technologies on their most efficient cars, thereby polarizing the fuel efficiency distribution of the new vehicle fleet.

An Analysis of the Implementation and Perceived Effectiveness of the SchoolMAX Family Portal

ABSTRACT Title of Document: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION AND PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SCHOOLMAX FAMILY PORTAL Warren Wesley Watts, Doctor of Education, 2015 Directed By: Margaret J. McLaughlin, Ph.D. Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education School districts have spent millions of dollars implementing student information systems that offer family portals with web-based access to parents and students. One of the main purposes of these systems is to improve school-to-home communication. Research has shown that when school-to-home communication is implemented effectively, parent involvement improves and student achievement increases (Epstein, 2001). The purpose of the study was to (a) understand why parents used or refrained from using the family portal and (b) determine what barriers to use might exist. To this end, this descriptive study identified the information parent users accessed in the SchoolMAX family portal, determined how frequently parents accessed the portal, and ascertained whether parents perceived an increase in communication with their children about academic matters after they began accessing the portal. Finally, the study sought to identify whether barriers existed that prevented parents from using the family portal. The inquiry employed three data sources to answer the aforementioned queries. These sources included (a) a survey sent electronically to 19,108 parents who registered online for the SchoolMAX family portal; (b) SchoolMAX portal usage data from the student information system for system usage between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015; and (c) a paper survey sent to 691 parents of students that had never used the SchoolMAX family portal in one elementary school, one middle school and one high school that were representative of other schools in the district. Survey results indicated that parents at all grade levels used the family portal. Usage data also confirmed that approximately 19% of the students had parents who monitored their progress through the family portal. Usage data also showed that parents were monitoring approximately 25% of students in secondary schools (6th – 12th grade) and 16% of students in elementary schools. Of the wide menu of resources available through the SchoolMAX family portal, parents used three areas most frequently: attendance, daily grades, and report cards. Approximately 70% of parents responded that their communication had improved with their children about academic matters since they started using the SchoolMAX family portal, and 90% of parents responded that the SchoolMAX family portal was an effective or somewhat effective tool. Parents also expressed interest in the addition of additional information to the SchoolMAX family portal. Specifically, the top three additions parents wanted to see included homework assignments, high stakes test scores, and graduation requirements. Parents also reported that 92% of them spoke to their children at least 2 to 3 times per week about academics. Due to the low response rate of the parent non-user survey, potential barriers to using the SchoolMAX family portal could not be addressed in this study. However, this issue may be a useful research topic in a future study. Keywords: school to home communication, student information systems, family portal, parent portal

A case study of a district's intended and unintended results connected to the implementation of a required ninth-grade algebra 1 strategic initiative

There is a long history of debate around mathematics standards, reform efforts, and accountability. This research identified ways that national expectations and context drive local implementation of mathematics reform efforts and identified the external and internal factors that impact teachers’ acceptance or resistance to policy implementation at the local level. This research also adds to the body of knowledge about acceptance and resistance to policy implementation efforts. This case study involved the analysis of documents to provide a chronological perspective, assess the current state of the District’s mathematics reform, and determine the District’s readiness to implement the Common Core Curriculum. The school system in question has continued to struggle with meeting the needs of all students in Algebra 1. Therefore, the results of this case study will be useful to the District’s leaders as they include the compilation and analysis of a decade’s worth of data specific to Algebra 1.

SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNANCE AND KNOWLEDGE-FIT IN DECISION RIGHTS: HOW DISTRICTS RECRUIT AND HIRE SCHOOL LIBRARIANS

This study examines the organizational structures and decision-making processes used by school districts to recruit and hire school librarians. For students to acquire the information and technology literacy education they need, school libraries must be staffed with qualified individuals who can fulfill the librarian’s role as leader, teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator. Principals are typically given decision rights for hiring staff, including school librarians. Research shows that principals have limited knowledge of the skills and abilities of the school librarian or the specific needs and functions of the library program. Research also indicates that those with specific knowledge of school library programs, namely school district library supervisors, are only consulted on recruiting and hiring about half the time. School districts entrust library supervisors with responsibilities such as professional development of school librarians only after they are hired. This study uses a theoretical lens from research on IT governance, which focuses on the use of knowledge-fit in applying decision rights in an organization. This framework is appropriate because of its incorporation of a specialist with a specific knowledge set in determining the placement of input and decision rights in the decision-making processes. The method used in this research was a multiple-case study design using five school districts as cases, varying by the involvement of the supervisors and other individuals in the hiring process. The data collected from each school district were interviews about the district’s recruiting and hiring practices with principals, an individual in HR, library supervisors, and recently hired school librarians. Data analysis was conducted through iterative coding from themes in the research questions, with continuous adjustments as new themes developed. Results from the study indicate that governance framework is applicable to evaluating the decision-making processes used in recruiting and hiring school librarians. However, a district’s use of governance did not consistently use knowledge-fit in the determination of input and decision rights. In the hiring process, governance was more likely to be based on placing decision rights at a certain level of the district hierarchy rather than the location of specific knowledge, most often resulting in site-based governance for decision rights at the school-building level. The governance of the recruiting process was most affected by the shortage or surplus of candidates available to the district to fill positions. Districts struggling with a shortage of candidates typically placed governance for the decision-making process on recruiting at the district level, giving the library supervisor more opportunity for input and collaboration with human resources. In districts that use site-based governance and that place all input and decision rights at the building level, some principals use their autonomy to eliminate the school library position in the allotment phase or hire librarians that, while certified through testing, do not have the same level of expertise as those who achieve certification through LIS programs. The principals in districts who use site-based governance for decision rights but call on the library supervisor for advisement stated how valuable they found the supervisor’s expertise in evaluating candidates for hire. In no district was a principal or school required to involve the library supervisor in the hiring of school librarians. With a better understanding of the tasks involved, the effect of district governance on decision-making, and the use of knowledge to assign input and decision rights, it is possible to look at how all of these factors affect the outcome in the quality of the hire. A next step is to look at the hiring process that school librarians went through and connect those with the measurable outcomes of hiring: school librarian success, retention, and attrition; the quality of school library program services, outreach, and involvement in a school; and the perceptions of the success of the school librarian and the library program as seen from students, teachers, administrators, parents, and other community stakeholders.

COMPREHENSIVE ELECTRICAL/OPTICAL/THERMAL CHARACTERIZATIONS OF HIGH POWER LIGHT EMITTING DIODES AND LASER DIODES

Thermal characterizations of high power light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) are one of the most critical issues to achieve optimal performance such as center wavelength, spectrum, power efficiency, and reliability. Unique electrical/optical/thermal characterizations are proposed to analyze the complex thermal issues of high power LEDs and LDs. First, an advanced inverse approach, based on the transient junction temperature behavior, is proposed and implemented to quantify the resistance of the die-attach thermal interface (DTI) in high power LEDs. A hybrid analytical/numerical model is utilized to determine an approximate transient junction temperature behavior, which is governed predominantly by the resistance of the DTI. Then, an accurate value of the resistance of the DTI is determined inversely from the experimental data over the predetermined transient time domain using numerical modeling. Secondly, the effect of junction temperature on heat dissipation of high power LEDs is investigated. The theoretical aspect of junction temperature dependency of two major parameters – the forward voltage and the radiant flux – on heat dissipation is reviewed. Actual measurements of the heat dissipation over a wide range of junction temperatures are followed to quantify the effect of the parameters using commercially available LEDs. An empirical model of heat dissipation is proposed for applications in practice. Finally, a hybrid experimental/numerical method is proposed to predict the junction temperature distribution of a high power LD bar. A commercial water-cooled LD bar is used to present the proposed method. A unique experimental setup is developed and implemented to measure the average junction temperatures of the LD bar. After measuring the heat dissipation of the LD bar, the effective heat transfer coefficient of the cooling system is determined inversely. The characterized properties are used to predict the junction temperature distribution over the LD bar under high operating currents. The results are presented in conjunction with the wall-plug efficiency and the center wavelength shift.