Community Leadership Experience Guide & Booklet

Tamara BauerDuring the fall semester of 2018 and spring semesters of both 2018 and 2019, I served as the Community Leadership Experience (CLE) student coordinator for LEAD 212: Introduction to Leadership Concepts. My role in this position was to create a tangible guide and booklet to create a meaningful and purposeful learning experience for over 600 first-semester freshmen. Through research, collaboration with my faculty supervisor, and reflection, I successfully consolidated all information regarding the CLE into an intentionally designed Cats 4 Cans Best Practices Booklet and CLE Guide for students to utilize throughout their experience. Attached are both the booklet and guide for review. Within both documents are clean and simplistic designs meant to improve upon the reader’s experience as they make their way through the CLE. The Cats 4 Cans Best Practices Booklet includes each step of the project’s process, from outlining the history and purpose behind Cats 4 Cans, to providing students with resources to continue to make progress on food insecurity at K-State, in the Manhattan community, and beyond. The purpose of the CLE Guide is to provide students with a clear idea of the CLE’s guidelines and expectations. It focuses on not only the logistics behind the CLE, but also describes the issue of food insecurity and how the Staley School utilizes appreciative inquiry in order to create a powerful learning experience for each learning community (10-12 students) in LEAD 212. In the fall of 2018, the Cats 4 Cans Best Practices Booklet was introduced to all LEAD 212 sections for them to use as a resource throughout the semester. In comparing teaching evaluations between the fall of 2017 and 2018, we concluded the booklet was a success due to both qualitative and quantitative results describing students’ overall satisfaction with the CLE. Moving forward, we hope to continue making progress on improving upon the CLE for first-semester freshmen by further analyzing these results and making adjustments to both the booklet and guide as necessary. My experience working with LEAD 212 students and my faculty advisor has given me a deeper understanding of structuring curriculum, intentionally designing and organizing documents to better suit students, and ultimately helped me discover the next step I want to take in my future career; higher education

Species Delimitation and Phylogenetic Relationships of the Wild Yams (\u3ci\u3eDioscorea\u3c/i\u3e) Native to Eastern North America

Most taxonomic treatments currently recognize two to three species of native yams in eastern North America: Dioscorea villosa, D. floridana, and sometimes D. quaternata, a segregate of D. villosa. Earlier authors (e.g., J. K. Small) had recognized as many as five species (with D. hirticaulis and D. glauca also as segregates of D. villosa). Key morphological features in distinguishing these putative species are rhizome morphology (long and cord-like vs. thick and contorted), number of first leaves (1–3 vs. 4–7), and habitat (sandy, rocky, swampy). Unfortunately, these critical features are rarely collected and preserved on herbarium sheets, given the length and twining nature of these perennial vines. Instead, herbarium material often consists of the terminal part of the vine, usually less than 0.5 m, and reproductive parts of a single sex. To assess species boundaries, then, representatives of the putative species were collected and assessed for genetic variation. Unique haplotypes corresponding to the morphological units would support the hypothesis of separate species; common haplotypes would be ambiguous, that is, would neither support nor refute the hypothesis of separate species, but would provide baseline data for future studies. Dioscorea floridana and a broadly circumscribed D.villosa were recovered as genetically distinct, but no variation was found in the D. villosa complex. Given these data, boundaries within the D. villosa complex remain ambiguous. Combined with data from other studies, these DNA data were then used to infer relationships of the native U.S. species to other species in the genus as well to the species in Dioscorea section Stenophora

Addressing Bias From Faculty Through Implementing Bias Training

Research has indicated that college students experience bias from college faculty on a regular bias. However, there is no mandated training for college faculty on the various forms of bias and the impact that it can have on students’ ability to be successful. While bias influences many students, students of color, women, LGBTQ+ students, and students from of different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds experience bias at greater rates than white students. This project explores how the various forms of bias, the training that college faculty receive, student development theory, and how bias impacts students’ success and their sense of belonging in the greater campus community. It is proposed that implementing bias training for college faculty will increase student retention and motivation, specifically from these underrepresented populations of students. Ultimately, this project argues about the need for faculty to engage in bias training so that they can better understand the diverse population of students and the systemic issues that certain populations serve and how they can create more equitable and inclusive environments for all students

Development and Application of Gadolinium Free Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Fibrosis Imaging for Multiscale Study of Heart Failure in Patients with End Stage Renal Disease

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a powerful tool to noninvasively image ventricular fibrosis. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) CMR identifies focal and, with T1 mapping, diffuse fibrosis. Despite prevalent cardiac fibrosis and heart failure, patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) are excluded from LGE. Absence of a suitable diagnostic has limited the understanding of heart failure and obstructed development of therapies in the setting of ESRD. A quantitative, gadolinium free fibrosis detection method could overcome this critical barrier, propelling the advancement of diagnostic, monitoring, and therapy options. This project describes the development of a gadolinium free CMR technique and application for cardiac fibrosis measurement in patients with ESRD. Magnetization transfer (MT) occurs during standard cine balanced steady state free precession (bSSFP) CMR, where extracellular matrix protons exchange magnetization with water molecules. Extracellular water volume expansion, concomitant with fibrosis, reduces MT and subtly elevates signal intensity. Our technique, 2-pt bSSFP, extracts endogenous contrast sensitive to tissue fibrosis by obtaining pairs of high and low MT-weighted images and calculating normalized signal differences, denoted by ΔS/So. We tested 2-pt bSSFP in patients referred for CMR and found excellent agreement spatially with LGE and quantitatively with extracellular volume fraction. Diagnostic and clinical application of 2-pt bSSFP was comparable to LGE. We applied 2-pt bSSFP to patients with ESRD for multiscale comparison with correlates of fibrosis ranging from blood biomarkers to whole organ function. Patients with ESRD displayed hypertrophy with reduced contraction, but elevated ΔS/So and fibrosis. Some biomarkers correlated with both hypertrophy and fibrosis, highlighting the need to distinguish between hypertrophic and fibrotic remodeling. We monitored fibrosis over 1 year using 2-pt bSSFP in a cohort of patients with ESRD. ΔS/So and fibrotic burden increased substantially, despite minor changes in structure and function. Collectively these studies validate and apply 2-pt bSSFP for gadolinium free fibrosis CMR in patients with ESRD. While ventricular structure and function are commensurate with progression toward heart failure, it is now possible to specifically describe global and focal patterns of cardiac fibrosis in ESRD, along with comparisons to blood biomarkers which may lead to improved diagnostics and molecular treatment targets

Disability and access: Leadership opportunities for students with disabilities in high school

Many students at public high schools enrich their high school experience and gain valuable skills through their participation in extra-curricular activities including, but not limited to, high school student leadership organizations. In this study, the researcher aims to present qualitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews that provide insight into the accessibility of high school student leadership organizations to students with disabilities. This study examines the perspectives of both student leaders in high school student leadership organizations and students with disabilities at three public high schools. The findings indicate that high school student leadership organizations provide limited accessibility to some students with disabilities. Policy, practice, and research implications are explored about how to improve the accessibility of high school student leadership organizations

Running Economy while Running in Extreme Cushioning and Normal Cushioning Running Shoes

The purpose of the study was to determine if running economy was influenced by wearing maximal cushioning shoes vs. control (neutral cushioning) shoes. (Please see Abstract in text

Maine Family Farms: Life and Business in Balance #4800

The needs of farmers at each life stage are unique, as choices about farming practices, child rearing, business growth, and succession planning enter into decision making. This publication series, Maine Family Farms: Life and Business in Balance, provides a starting point for farm families to think about issues that range from family conversations to managing stress and sharing ideas about life and business balance.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/extension_ag/1003/thumbnail.jp

Lighting Automation - Flying an Earthlike Habitat

Currently, spacecraft lighting systems are not demonstrating innovations in automation due to perceived costs in designing circuitry for the communication and automation of lights. The majority of spacecraft lighting systems employ lamps or zone specific manual switches and dimmers. This type of 'hardwired' solution does not easily convert to automation. With advances in solid state lighting, the potential to enhance a spacecraft habitat is lost if the communication and automation problem is not tackled. If we are to build long duration environments, which provide earth-like habitats, minimize crew time, and optimize spacecraft power reserves, innovation in lighting automation is a must. This project researched the use of the DMX512 communication protocol originally developed for high channel count lighting systems. DMX512 is an internationally governed, industry-accepted, lighting communication protocol with wide industry support. The lighting industry markets a wealth of hardware and software that utilizes DMX512, and there may be incentive to space certify the system. Our goal in this research is to enable the development of automated spacecraft habitats for long duration missions. To transform how spacecraft lighting environments are automated, our project conducted a variety of tests to determine a potential scope of capability. We investigated utilization and application of an industry accepted lighting control protocol, DMX512 by showcasing how the lighting system could help conserve power, assist with lighting countermeasures, and utilize spatial body tracking. We hope evaluation and the demonstrations we built will inspire other NASA engineers, architects and researchers to consider employing DMX512 "smart lighting" capabilities into their system architecture. By using DMX512 we will prove the 'wheel' does not need to be reinvented in terms of smart lighting and future spacecraft can use a standard lighting protocol to produce an effective, optimized and potentially earthlike habitat