Personal construct

This creative project is a community-driven website entitled Personal Construct, which uses text, images, and online drawing tools to allow visitors to create visuals of personal experiences with others. The project investigates identity through memory and interpersonal experiences, seeking to transform the gallery of the website into a surrogate individual composed of real-time interactions with the site. Lines of internet code influence how the project appears and changes as visitors create new memories through direct interaction with an HTML5 canvas. Similarly, our brains dynamically create new neural connections as we interact with others. Code becomes a metaphor for this neural network. While there is an initial framework that exists as an entity of its own at the beginning of the project, the project itself will become a different individual as it stores each interaction. The website will be hosted at www.personalconstruct.com from June 2014 until May 2016.Department of ArtThesis (M.A.

An Experimental Investigation of Autonomy Support Versus Thwart in an Exergaming Context

Considerable literature in self-determination theory (SDT) establishes satisfaction of basic psychological needs related to competence, autonomy, and relatedness as important determinants of well-being and motivation. Despite the abundance of SDT literature, few studies provide an investigation of autonomy support and autonomy thwart within an experimental design. Using SDT as a guiding framework, the effects of autonomy support (AS) versus autonomy thwart (AT) were examined within an exergaming context. Specifically, this study investigated the impact of autonomy support / thwart on five variables: perceived autonomy need satisfaction and autonomy thwart, affect, game performance, and willingness to recommend the study to others. Students (N = 75) aged 18 to 25 years participated in lab sessions assessing study variables. One-way and factorial ANOVAs revealed that (a) participants in the AS condition reported higher levels of autonomy support and lower levels of autonomy thwart than the control and AT condition, (b) students in the AT group reported higher levels of autonomy thwart and lower levels of autonomy support than the control or AS condition, (c) AT students indicated greater negative affect from baseline to post-test compared to the AS and control participants, and (d) AS and control participants reported an increase in positive affect while the AT group demonstrated a slight decline in positive affect that was not significant. Results align with previous SDT research regarding social-contextual environments. Furthermore, findings suggest that leaders within a learning environment should consider pedagogical choices and contextual manipulations that elicit AS in order to promote optimal functioning from the subjects in their care

Capitalizing on Social and Transactional Learning to Challenge First-Grade Readers

A classroom teacher capitalizes on social learning and reader response theories to challenge her accelerated first-grade readers by implementing literature circles. The aim of this action research was to identify a clear view of how to use literature circles with first-graders and what might be accomplished. Three constructs emerged from the interviews and observations that support the potential for using literature circles with primary students including: engagement and independence, reading benefits, and writing improvement. With respect to social learning and reader response theories, literature circles were found to be possible, practical, and beneficial for supporting the literacy perceptions and practices of accelerated primary students

Mathematical Modeling of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Humans

Tick-Borne Encephalitis is a virus that affects ones nervous system and is transmitted from tick to human through tick bite. In recent years, the number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis in Europe has been increasing. This mathematical biological model of Tick-Borne Encephalitis was created in order to further our understanding of such phenomenon, as well as study the relationship between vectors and their hosts. Specifically, we will investigate the population model of ticks in certain regions and its correlation to tick-borne encephalitis infections in the region

Mathematical Modeling of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Humans

Tick-Borne Encephalitis is a virus that affects ones nervous system and is transmitted from tick to human through tick bite. In recent years, the number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis in Europe has been increasing. This mathematical biological model of Tick-Borne Encephalitis was created in order to further our understanding of such phenomenon, as well as study the relationship between vectors and their hosts. Specifically, we will investigate the population model of ticks in certain regions and its correlation to tick-borne encephalitis infections in the region

The Impact of Onboarding Levels on Perceived Utility, Organizational Commitment, Organizational Support, andc

This study examined the outcomes and assumptions of Bauer’s (2010) model of onboarding levels (Compliance, Clarification, Culture, and Connection). Specifically, we examined the impact of onboarding levels on subsequent work attitudes (i.e., perceived utility of onboarding, organizational commitment, perceived organizational support, and job satisfaction). Participants who were onboarded at the highest level, Connection, had higher perceptions of onboarding utility, organizational commitment, perceived organizational support, and job satisfaction. Bauer’s hierarchical assumption was supported, however our data suggests the frequency of occurrence of these levels is quite different. Organizations should design onboarding programs that provide all four levels of onboarding experiences

Does directly observed therapy improve tuberculosis treatment? More evidence is needed to guide tuberculosis policy

Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) now ranks alongside HIV as the leading infectious disease cause of death worldwide and incurs a global economic burden of over $12 billion annually. Directly observed therapy (DOT) recommends that TB patients complete the course of treatment under direct observation of a treatment supporter who is trained and overseen by health services to ensure that patients take their drugs as scheduled. Though the current WHO End TB Strategy does not mention DOT, only “supportive treatment supervision by treatment partners”, many TB programs still use it despite the fact that the has not been demonstrated to be statistically significantly superior to self-administered treatment in ensuring treatment success or cure. Discussion DOT is designed to promote proper adherence to the full course of drug therapy in order to improve patient outcomes and prevent the development of drug resistance. Yet over 8 billion dollars is spent on TB treatment each year and thousands undergo DOT for all or part of their course of treatment, despite the absence of rigorous evidence supporting the superior effectiveness of DOT over self-administration for achieving drug susceptible TB (DS-TB) cure. Moreover, the DOT component burdens patients with financial and opportunity costs, and the potential for intensified stigma. To rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of DOT and identify the essential contributors to both successful treatment and minimized patient burden, we call for a pragmatic experimental trial conducted in real-world program settings, the gold standard for evidence-based health policy decisions. It is time to invest in the rigorous evaluation of DOT and reevaluate the DOT requirement for TB treatment worldwide. Summary Rigorously evaluating the choice of treatment supporter, the frequency of health care worker contact and the development of new educational materials in a real-world setting would build the evidence base to inform the optimal design of TB treatment protocol. Implementing a more patient-centered approach may be a wise reallocation of resources to raise TB cure rates, prevent relapse, and minimize the emergence of drug resistance. Maintaining the status quo in the absence of rigorous supportive evidence may diminish the effectiveness of TB control policies in the long run.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134652/1/12879_2016_Article_1862.pd

Analyzing the Impact of Active Learning in General Education Mathematics Courses

This talk shares the preliminary results of a study that explores the general perceptions and attitudes of students in general education mathematics courses taught using primarily active learning- based methods (like group work, projects, and discovery learning), and compares them with those enrolled in a general education mathematics course taught in a more traditional and lecture-based method. We present an analysis of survey data collected throughout the semester, which explores the disposition and mindset of students, their mathematical confidence and anxiety, and perceptions of pedagogical methods used for the teaching of mathematics. We also explored how these perceptions and dispositions changed throughout the course by comparing pre, mid, and post surveys