Articles and Scholarly Works
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Open access articles authored by members of the University of Minnesota community. For more information, see the University of Minnesota Open Access Policy for Scholarly Articles that went into effect January 2015.
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Browsing Articles and Scholarly Works by Type "Thesis or Dissertation"
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Item Beyond the message: Examining how engaging message mediums impact visitor displacement in emerald ash borer-treated woodlands(2022-10) Rannow, Brett A.A variety of factors, including aesthetics, can significantly influence a recreator’s decision to revisit or displace from a setting. Invasive species can significantly change an area’s appearance and, unless visitors are informed about and understand the change, discourage visitation (McFarlane & Watson, 2008; Müller and Job, 2009; Schneider et al., 2019). Moving beyond static signs, advanced communication technologies like augmented and virtual reality show promise to meaningfully engage visitors (Ahn et al., 2014; Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), increasing understanding of landscape changes and potentially retaining visitation. However, limited work addresses if and how such technologies significantly influence visitor behavior. To address this gap, four informational interventions about forest management treatments utilized in response to emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) were tested. Informational interventions included photos with text, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and a control group that received no treatment information. State park visitors were randomly assigned to interventions and indicated displacement intentions following intervention exposure. Displacement intentions in response to the treated landscapes ranged from 12-26%. A Chi-Square Test compared displacement intentions across informational interventions and found more engaging technologies changed displacement intentions in only one of the four management responses assessed. Future research with other outcomes and management topics will be useful to refine the utility of AR and VR in this realm.Item CURRENT STATE AND BARRIERS THAT EXIST IN INFORMATICS USAGE AND ADOPTION WITHIN LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES(2016-05-03) Felder, GaryThe HITECH ACT of 2009 created reimbursement incentives that are using technology (such as EHRs) in meaningful ways. LTC facilities were excluded from the incentives and hence have been mostly force to bear the cost on their own for adopting newer technologies. Many facilities at the time sighted the high cost and limited revenue stream to support such endeavors as implementing information technology solutions. Now that many hospitals and providers have join the EHR bandwagon as well as being a participant in data interchange, Long Term Care facilities have lagged behind and now cause a major data gap in management of health population data. This study aims to review underlying issues that are causing Health Information Technology (HIT) adoption barriers within the LTC setting. Additionally we will study those facilities where adoption has taken place and observe how strives have been made to improve patient outcomes and safety.Item Designing for Cognitive Assistance: Using Technology to Improve the Lives of People with Cognitive Decline(2021-07) Stebbings, Wade MDesigning for cognitive decline using a tablet-based system to support failing memory, this project aims to mitigate the consequences of cognitive decline. The study occurs across four development iterations, resulting in four fully functional prototypes, using the author’s mother as the subject. The results of each iteration informs the decisions taken in the next, utilizing an agile-style methodology in its development process. Final results and observations include speculation about future applications and directions for this system.Item Dopaminergic signaling in the spinal cord suppresses locomotion in larval zebrafish development(2024-03) Walters, Deborah, LThe significance of dopamine (DA) and its multifaceted role as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system has undergone extensive investigation. The research focus of my project centers on dopamine’s role in modulating spinal locomotor circuits in larvae zebrafish. Previous research from our lab showed that larval zebrafish swimming patterns change during development from long episodes durations at 3 days post fertilization (dpf) to short episode durations at 4 dpf and coincides with gross to fine motor control. Dopamine receptor D4 signaling in the spinal cord is necessary in facilitating this switch, likely by modulating dopamine signaling and regulating the activity of motor neurons involved in generating locomotor patterns. We demonstrated that antagonism of D4R signaling starting at 3 dpf prevents the switch from long to short episode durations, while D4R antagonism at 4 dpf reverses the switch from short to long episode durations. We hypothesized that 3 dpf larvae possess sufficient dopaminergic receptors in the spinal cord to bind to DA, enabling the advancement of the developmental switch from immature, long swim patterns to a mature state resembling 4 dpf larvae by exposing larvae at 3 dpf to exogenous DA. To test this, we used transgenic zebrafish that expressed Channelrhodopsin (ChR) in glutamatergic neurons within the spinal cord, allowing for the activation of these neurons using blue-light stimulation. Fictive swimming was measured using peripheral nerve recordings in different conditions, of a baseline (t0), treatment of dopamine (t1), and washout (saline) (t2). Control (untreated) preparations exhibited no significant changes between conditions, indicating that repeated optogenetic stimulation by itself did not induce notable changes in locomotor activity. Dopamine application significantly decreased the number of bursts and episode duration during optogenetic stimulation locomotor activity without affecting number of episodes, burst duration, or inter-burst intervals. These results suggest that exogenous DA affected swim patterns in 3 dpf larvae to resemble their 5 dpf counterparts, indicating a sufficient expression level of dopamine receptors in spinal locomotor networks of 3 dpf larvae to prematurely advance the developmental switch. These results could elucidate how neurodegenerative and motor disorders develop and progress, and shed light on the mechanisms underlying spinal cord injury. These findings could potentially inform translational medical approaches creating novel therapeutic interventions for treating neurodegenerative diseases.Item A Longitudinal Analysis of the Effects of the NYU Caregiver Intervention-Adult Child on Subjective Health(2020-11-10) Albers, Elizabeth, AObjective: The present study examined whether the NYU Caregiver Intervention for Adult Children (NYUCI-AC) influenced the subjective health of adult child family caregivers of persons with dementia. Methods: A randomized controlled trial, conducted between 2006 and 2012, compared outcomes among a psychosocial intervention group to usual care controls. One hundred and seven adult child caregivers of persons with dementia were included in the sample (n=54 assigned to the intervention group; n=53 assigned to the usual care control group). Participants were assessed up to eight times; every four months in the first year, then every six months afterwards. The current study focused on the effects of the NYUCI-AC on changes in self-rated health over the study period. Results: Growth curve models found that self-rated health among intervention group and control group caregivers did not differ over the study period. No effect of the intervention on self-rated health emerged over time after controlling for baseline differences in gender and satisfaction with social support. Conclusions: The NYUCI-AC is a multicomponent psychosocial intervention that provides counseling and support to adult child caregivers and did not alter subjective health over time.Item The Lyapunov Vector Theorem and its Application to Continuum Models of Trade(2018) Mather, RyanItem On the Feasibility of RTapp™ as a Daily Delivered Dose Evaluation Tool for Adaptive Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)(2020-08) Zulkarnain, Nur Izzati HudaRTapp™ is a daily dose evaluation software developed by ©SegAna LLC. It utilizes deformable image registration (DIR) to update patient anatomy based on daily cone-beam CT and assess the dose distribution according to the detected changes. RTapp™ can be a useful tool in lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to avoid underdosing target and overdosing organs at risk (OARs). In this study, the feasibility of RTapp™ to assess the quality of treatment delivered in every fraction was investigated in a retrospective analysis of 20 lung SBRT patients. For each patient, the simulation CT images, treatment structures, plan, and dose from Pinnacle3 treatment planning system, daily CBCT from MOSAIQ record and verify system, and pre-treatment couch alignment information from Varian on-board imaging (OBI) software were imported into the RTapp™ software. Bidirectional DIR was applied to update the planning target volumes and OARs and the dose distribution to the patient's daily anatomy. The ability of RTapp™ to deform structures were validated by evaluating Dice coefficient (DC) and Hausdorff distance (HD) between the deformed RTapp™ ITV (rtITV) and physician-drawn ITV (pITV). The accuracy of dose calculations by RTapp™ was evaluated by recalculating the doses with Pinnacle3 for the target coverage and several dose metrics to lungs, heart, cord, esophagus, and airway. Ten, three, and one out of 20 patients showed more than 5% decrease in PTV V100%, PTV V90%, and both ITV V100% and GTV V100%, respectively. The mean (± standard deviation) values of the DC ranged from 0.75 to 0.81, with a mean of 0.78 ± 0.03, indicating good overlap between the rtITV and pITV. Meanwhile, the average, 95%, and maximum HD had mean values (± standard deviation) 1.44 ± 0.27 mm, 3.61 ±0.62 mm and 6.14 ± 1.24 mm respectively. The difference in the PTV coverage had the largest variation. 97% of the fractions had the ITV and GTV coverage difference within ± 2.5%. The difference in the dose to OARs was the highest in regions with a steep dose gradient, specifically, the dose to lungs. The ability of RTapp™ as a daily dose evaluation tool to maintain the quality of lung SBRT treatment was validated. The fast auto-segmentation and dose distribution updates according to daily anatomical changes provided by the RTappTM software is highly beneficial as a step towards the realization of adaptive radiation therapy without introducing time and resource constraints. However, further studies are necessary to validate the accuracy of RTapp™ DIR for clinical applications.Item Open Virtual Exhibit Creator (OVEC): An Open Source Framework for Virtual Reality Museum Exhibit Creation(2023) Schumacher, Brett WThere have been numerous innovative and impressive works in the current landscape of applying Virtual Reality in museums, yet there is a striking lack of community resources to aid in their development. Curators without the technical background in VR are then left with a significant barrier of entry. This paper presents the Open Virtual Exhibit Creator (OVEC), a new open-source Unity tool aimed at closing this gap. OVEC was developed over the last year in partnership with the Wangensteen Historical Library at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as an initial effort in creating an open source framework for Virtual Reality exhibits. Despite not being able to conduct formal user evaluation, sufficient progress was made and informal feedback was received so as to measure its success. OVEC shows potential to assist in the creation of VR exhibits and has a flexible design to allow for easy future extension.Item A Practical Guide to Pedagogy and Performance on Multiple Low Brass Instruments(2023-12) King-Fournier, Carson A; King-Fournier, CarsonIn the Applied area at most small and medium-sized higher education institutions, there frequently is one or two faculty members teaching multiple instruments. While there are some notable exceptions, fundamentally these are the low brass faculty. In these roles, one is often expected to teach the four traditional low brass instruments: trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, and tuba. Programs that have more students and resources and can accommodate two instructors: one for trombone/bass trombone, and one for tuba/euphonium. In extremely rare instances will a university have an instructor on each instrument, which generally occurs at elite institutions. Additionally, there is continual pressure on all colleges and universities to cut costs and increase revenue and enrollment. With this pressure, as professors retire or leave an institution, departments are replacing them with part-time faculty, or in some cases hiring one person as a full-time tenure-track professor teaching all low brass instruments instead of multiple faculty. This is frequently a detriment to the students, some of whom will not be receiving as specialized of instruction. Under the direction and supervision of Dr. John Tranter and Professor Thomas Ashworth, the University of Minnesota School of Music began a ‘Low Brass Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)’ track several years ago, which was designed specifically to address this issue. Under this program, students are expected to declare a primary (trombone in the author’s case) and secondary (euphonium) instrument. Then, the student participates in lessons, ensembles, studio classes, and recitals both on their primary and secondary instruments. The goal of this selective program is to prepare students for a job as a Low Brass Professor, and to give them a greater understanding of the multiple instruments they will need to teach to students looking for career success. Many professors start their careers at smaller institutions in such positions, so a program tailored to making students more competitive to be hired to the ‘first job’ helps kickstart their career more quickly than their peers. To date, other institutions (Arizona State and West Virginia Universities among others) have adopted similar DMA tracks at their institutions. It became apparent while going through this program that the skills acquired through doubling on an auxiliary low brass instrument not only improves one’s musicianship and knowledge of said instrument, but when applied to students of that instrument it yields faster progress and a higher level of performance. Through research that included significant study given to the euphonium, teaching observations by industry professionals, and interviews with established performers and teachers, this document serves to outline a pedagogical and performing framework for those in positions where they are obliged to teach multiple low brass instruments, or those looking to perform on multiple low brass instruments more faithfully.Item Professional Guidelines: Assessing Iowa’s Environmental Educators and Naturalists(2022-08) Donovan, Bobbi, EItem Rethinking Cryptocurrencies: Liquidity and Valuation(2022) Jin Hong, KuanIn this paper, we integrated the literature on constant function market makers (CFMMs), a recent invention on the blockchain, with the broader field of monetary economics to arrive at a novel framework for explaining cryptocurrency prices and utility in terms of their liquidity profile with goods. CFMMs utilize invariant curves for constant time determination of the exchange ratio between tokens. By defining liquidity in terms of invariant curves of liquidity pools, we were able to empirically show how access to liquidity impacts the utility of risk-averse traders in face of volatile market movements. Additionally, we developed an augmented model of Walrasian auction in which the arbitrage of CFMMs is considered and included in the market clearance equation. We introduced tokens as a means of purchasing claim to liquidity, and developed approximate equilibrium solvers to calculate token prices based on the Gale-Nikaido-Debreu lemma, assuming rational expectations. We showed that token prices are positively impacted by the amount of locked liquidity. Additionally, we posited how factors such as skewness of liquidity and circulation of tokens may affect token price. Our empirical results were inconclusive, and we suggested modifications to our market model that may resolve the issues. Lastly, we included supplementary discussions about liquidity on CFMMs that serves to motivate further exploration of the topic. We also appended a brief commentary on the expected utility of liquidity provision, particularly the path dependence of liquidity fees.Item An Update on Food Allergen Management and Global Labeling Regulations(2017-08) Diao, XinyuFood allergy is a growing concern worldwide, it has profound effects on the individual’s quality of life, as well as a country’s economy. There is an increasing recognition of food allergy pathogenesis, diagnostic methods and treatment therapies in recent years. Currently, food allergen management has been gradually established in different settings in order to reduce the occurrence of life-threatening food allergy reactions although the best practice to prevent food allergy is still strict avoidance. Food allergen labeling has proven to be an effective way to prevent accidentally access to potentially hazardous residues of the allergen for allergic consumers, however, inconsistency across countries regarding food allergen labeling legislation poses inconvenience in international food trade. Therefore, 3 topics will be discussed in this thesis (1) the current understanding of food allergy; (2) food allergen management in the industry, schools, restaurants and during/after pregnancy; (3) the status of food allergen labeling legislation around the world, including 164 countries which are current WTO members (till August 2017), an inventory was assembled and analyzed, future needs were identified by comparison.