Achieving Hedonic and Eudaimonic Wellbeing Through Value Co-Creation in Tourism: The Role of Positive Emotions, Empowerment, and Social Connectedness

This study investigates how value co-creation in tourism enhances hedonic (HWB) and eudaimonic well-being (EWB). Guided by Self-Determination Theory, it examines the role of positive emotions, empowerment, and social connectedness in mediating the relationship between customer co-creation behaviors and well-being. Data from 410 domestic travelers in North America and China were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. Results reveal that participation and citizenship behaviors significantly enhance HWB and EWB through positive emotions and social connectedness. Social interactions foster trust and belonging, while empowerment had no significant direct effect on well-being. This study advances the theoretical understanding of co-creation’s psychological outcomes and highlights its transformative potential for tourism practitioners. Practical recommendations include designing personalized, culturally immersive experiences to strengthen emotional and social engagement. Limitations include demographic and cultural biases, suggesting further research across diverse populations and service perspectives

Sustainable Skiing - How do locals and tourists perceive sustainable development of ski tourism?

Global warming poses major challenges for Alpine tourism and ski resorts in particular. Consequences such as shifts of seasons or technical snowmaking raise doubts about the sustainability of the industry. This study investigates the perceived economic, ecological, and socio-cultural impacts of ski tourism on the residents’ and tourist support for tourism development. The perception theory serves as a theoretical basis for this study. Following a quantitative research design, 340 local and tourist skiers in a major Tyrolean glacier ski resort were interviewed using an online survey. The results reveal that perceived ecological and socio-cultural benefits of sustainability positively affect the support for tourism development. This study could not confirm any significant differences between the perceptions of locals and tourists. The study's findings provide valuable insights into how ski resorts can more effectively communicate their sustainability efforts to locals and tourists

Lightning Talks: It Could Be Wonderful: OER Collaboration with Students

OER textbooks already offer many advantages for our moral emotions. By removing cost and offering greater accessibility, they alleviate anxiety. By encouraging authors to create open resources for students in need, they foster empathy and sympathy, while reducing fear and anger over stolen intellectual property. This talk will address another step that can further promote the moral emotions of care and wonder: collaboration with students. These emotions are essential for keeping students engaged in their own learning, but often OER textbooks fall short in these areas. Care can be fostered by inviting students into the process of creating content for textbooks, such as student artists who could offer their works to liven up otherwise monotonous pages. Wonder is likewise fostered by challenging students to act as knowledge makers and content creators, while simultaneously offering perspectives that more directly inspire their generational peers

Student Overboard: Rescuing One Discipline at a Time

Take a behind-the-scenes look at this Louisiana team's innovative approach to developing an Introduction to Practical Nursing course. By collaboratively adapting an open licensed textbook, the team is working to enhance LPN education and training in the state. With federal grant support from LOUIS: The Library Network, eighteen cohorts are working to create courses for high-demand CTE programs. The Practical Nursing cohort stands out by incorporating recorded interviews with nursing students and practitioners into both the textbook and Moodle course. Discover how they’re making it happen and learn more about the Building a Competitive Workforce: Career and Technical Education (CTE) OER with Embedded Digital Skills grant

Naves inventoras de regiones. Colonial Spanish American Epic Poetry and the Invention of America

In La invención de América (1958), Edmundo O’Gorman highlighted the need to understand the discovery of the New World as an ontological process through which the Americas came to be conceived as an emerging geopolitical entity. This process was carried out through a series of historical accounts and pictorial productions that traced the contours of the New World and the meanings attributed to its history in accordance with European representational practices. I posit that poets of the Spanish colonies in the Americas produced a distinctive trend of epic poetry by transposing the semiotic and epistemological tools developed in the historical accounts of the early modern period. This specific trend, which I deem historiographical, allowed poets in the Americas to advance interpretations of a recent history of conquest and colonization built upon the poetization of early modern debates around historical truth, memory, and eyewitness testimony. By analyzing how the epic poems of the Americas contributed to the polemics of “the invention of America,” I trace a genealogy of works that converse simultaneously with the literary and historiographical tradition and thus allow us to further interrogate Latin America’s colonial history.Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.

Module 3

This module contains materials on vector data analysis concepts and practice, and a brief exercise reviewing Module 2 concepts

PARAMETRIC PRAGMATISM: TRANSFORMING BUILDING USE AND FACADE FOR SUSTAINABLE REUSE

The urgency of addressing climate change has become increasingly apparent, driven by the excessive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) that directly impact both the natural and built environments (Sijakovic and Peric 2021). The pressing evidence of climate change compels architects and engineers to rethink conventional approaches, positioning computational modelling and simulation approaches as a transformative solution that balances aesthetic innovation with environmental responsibility (Kabošová, Katunský, and Kmet 2020). In response, this thesis explores the concept of Parametric Pragmatism as a solution-oriented approach to sustainable architecture. In this thesis, I intend to utilize parametric design methods, specifically in optimizing building facades, to create environmentally responsive architectural solutions that significantly reduce carbon emissions and enhance energy efficiency and improve aesthetics of the building. In response, this thesis explores the concept of Parametric Pragmatism as a solution-oriented approach to sustainable architecture. Retrofitting existing downtown buildings plays a critical role in reducing embodied carbon—the carbon emissions associated with material extraction, manufacturing, and construction—by extending the life of existing structures rather than demolishing and rebuilding. Many buildings constructed during the 1960s–1980s have inefficient facade systems that not only lead to high operational carbon emissions but also limit interior flexibility by enforcing deep floor plates with poor daylighting and ventilation, constraining opportunities for diverse programmatic uses. Instead of demolishing these structures and triggering the carbon-intensive processes required to construct new buildings, retrofitting facades and reusing existing structural systems can significantly reduce embodied carbon while revitalizing urban areas. Facade retrofitting not only improves thermal performance but also redefines a building’s interface with its environment by balancing key parameters such as solar radiation control, daylight access, building reprogramming in response to solar and daylight simulations, and the variation of monotonous facades. This process requires navigating tradeoffs between operational energy reductions and the embodied carbon of new materials, ensuring that performance gains justify the retrofit’s environmental and structural costs. Additionally, the post-COVID rise in commercial real estate vacancies offers an opportunity to repurpose underutilized buildings for mixed-use development, addressing both the commercial crisis and urban housing shortages. Modern buildings have evolved into complex entities where advanced technologies and diverse programmatic requirements must seamlessly integrate to fulfil various functions, from energy efficiency and structural integrity to accommodating multiple uses within a single space. To meet these demands, new computational techniques have been developed to facilitate the design of such intricate structures, establishing a quantitative relationship between the environment and the building envelope (Eltaweel and Su 2017). This thesis draws from studies on parametric design and contemporary building envelope technologies to explore how data-informed strategies can optimize performance, enhance adaptability, and address the evolving challenges of sustainable architectural retrofits By focusing on retrofitting structurally sound, late 20th-century buildings, this research demonstrates how the innovative application of energy conversion materials and other technological advancements can significantly reduce embodied carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency, and elevate aesthetic appeal beyond the limitations of current "glass box" commercial buildings. These buildings often present a monotonous, sterile appearance, lacking in visual engagement and contributing to heat gain and energy inefficiency. Through parametric design, retrofitted buildings not only enhance environmental performance but also bring a renewed aesthetic that engages the public and integrates with diverse urban settings. Integrating adaptive and responsive facade strategies into retrofitting enhances public engagement with sustainability efforts by visibly demonstrating environmental performance. Such approaches break down the homogeneity of glass-box towers, allowing the building envelope to respond dynamically to environmental conditions, contextual cues, and diverse programmatic needs fostering a more vibrant, functional, and resilient urban fabric.Master of Architecture (MArch

Higher amounts of habitual physical activity changes the relationship between hot flashes and subclinical cardiovascular disease risk

The menopausal transition is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Hot flashes (HF), a cardinal symptom of menopause, have been associated with increased CVD risk, particularly in perimenopausal women. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is an indicator of endothelial function and a subclinical CVD risk factor. Lower FMD has been associated with more HF. As moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is recognized to reduce CVD risk, our goal was to determine whether higher levels of MVPA change the relationship between HF and FMD in perimenopausal women. Healthy perimenopausal women had HF measured objectively using sternal skin conductance for 24 h. MVPA was determined using 7 days of actigraphy. Endothelial function was measured via brachial artery FMD on the non-dominant arm. Pearson correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate relationships between variables. Simple slopes analysis was performed to understand how MVPA moderates the relationship between HF and FMD. Lower FMD tended to correlate with a higher objective HF rate, and this relationship was stronger for HF measured during waking hours. Controlling for age and BMI, HF and the interaction between HF and MVPA were significant predictors of FMD. Simple slope analysis showed a significant HF effect on FMD with lower (-1SD) MVPA, whereas there was no significant relationship between HF and FMD with higher (+1SD) MVPA. These results suggest that MVPA moderates the relationship between FMD and objective HFs in perimenopausal women

Handheld Device for Burn Depth Analysis Through Skin Hydration: A Proof of Concept

About 500,000 Americans seek treatment for burns annually, but burn depth, used to create treatment plans and determine whether surgery is needed for treatment, is only correctly found about 50-80% of the time in the US. In the UK and other countries, clinicians have used laser doppler imaging (LDI) with clinical evaluation to increase diagnostic accuracy, however US based physicians tend to just use clinical evaluation, citing cost and difficulty of use as reasons for not using this technology. The purpose of this thesis is to present an innovative, cheap, and easy to use device that can be used to evaluate burn depth in a non-contact modality. When researching the pathophysiology of burn injuries, I found Jackson’s thermal wound theory, postulating that besides the degradation of proteins in the immediate environment, poor fluid flow is the next biggest challenge, without fixing more tissue will die. LDI uses this idea to look for fluid movement, while I planned to use this by finding water. The macro scale seemed to support this as well, burn victims with a significant amount of skin area burned lose so much fluid that they require IV fluid resuscitation for recovery. Based on this detection method, I created a device with a pair of LEDs that emit light at 910 and 970 nm, where 970 nm is a water absorption peak. To ensure that the device meets standards, a mathematical model was created and tested.Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering (MSBME

A Subject of Interest: Silence, Memory and the Dramaturgical Journey of Writing

This thesis traces the creation of A Subject of Interest, an original play exploring the complex relationship between Brazil and the United States during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964–1985). Blending dramaturgy, journalism, and creative writing, the project investigates how historical silences—personal and collective—shape memory and identity. Inspired by personal family history, extensive historical research, and interviews, the thesis reflects on the creative challenges of adapting factual research into a dramatic narrative. It examines the tension between historical accuracy and emotional truth, the responsibility of storytelling in confronting silence, and the process of shaping real-world trauma into theatrical form. Throughout, the work highlights dramaturgy’s potential to bridge journalism, politics, and fiction, and argues for storytelling as a tool of resistance against historical erasure.MFA Thesis Research GrantMaster of Fine Arts (M.F.A.