Exploring the Potential of the Web-Based Virtual World of Second Life to Improve Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes

Provides an overview of Second Life, an Internet-based virtual world, and summarizes discussions among addiction recovery experts about integrating virtual reality into behavioral treatment as a way to teach patients new responses to real environments

Bridging the Gender Gap in Forest Stewardship: Facilitating Programs for Women Landowners

Nationwide, women woodland owners are increasingly taking on the primary decision-making role for their land. In Wisconsin and beyond, most existing landowner outreach efforts target mixed-gender audiences. We explored how facilitation techniques can be incorporated into a women-centric workshop to increase women landowners\u27 confidence, knowledge, and readiness to take action in forest stewardship. We highlight three core techniques Extension workshop developers can use to promote landowner learning and engagement: creating space for participant-driven open dialogue, generating opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, and enabling participants to receive personalized advice from professionals about their land

Mapping Use of a Self-directed On-line Heart Disease Education Program onto Health Learning Outcomes: A Study of Post-Heart Attack Learners

We correlated 25 heart patients’ changes in four behaviors to usage of behavior themes and three on-line learning activities. Information correlated negatively; communications correlated positively; and interactive planning showed a positive trend with changing behaviors. These findings challenge on-line educators to transcend information provision and offer more opportunities that integrate social interaction and planning

Promoting Economic Development with Tourism in Rural Communities: Destination Image and Motivation to Return or Recommend

Improving tourism is one means Extension professionals and other community stakeholders can use to build rural economic resiliency. The research reported in this article evaluates what motivates tourists to visit and how they perceive of Wisconsin\u27s Kickapoo Valley as a destination. Data are drawn from surveys collected from out-of-town visitors. Results show the motivation to find excitement and adventure, the perception that the area is clean and hospitable, and whether visitors have been to the area more than once significantly affect their likelihood of returning to or recommending the area. Recommendations for how Extension professionals might use these findings are discussed

Evaluating Promotional Efforts for Driving Traffic to an Extension Outreach Website

As online communication becomes more important to Extension professionals, understanding how promotional strategies affect the number of people accessing online content also becomes more important. We tracked website visits resulting from four different promotional efforts to understand relative effectiveness of these efforts. Each effort was unique in cost, efficacy, and efficiency. We found that using multiple promotional approaches to drive traffic to educational content can increase engagement over time and allow for reaching larger audiences

Promoting Farmers\u27 Markets: Preferences of Farmers\u27 Market Leaders

Extension professionals across disciplines are involved with farmers\u27 markets, and reports have indicated an increase in the number of farmers\u27 markets across the country. We explored perspectives of farmers\u27 market leaders regarding topics and data of interest and capacity and willingness to collect data related to market promotion. The purpose of our work was to provide Extension educators with information that may guide programming around farmers\u27 markets. We collected data through an online survey of Wisconsin farmers\u27 market leaders in spring 2017. Market leaders were most interested in learning how to encourage word-of-mouth communication between customers and engage in other low-cost strategies, such as having partners help promote a market

Promoting Farmers\u27 Markets: Preferences of Farmers\u27 Market Leaders

Extension professionals across disciplines are involved with farmers\u27 markets, and reports have indicated an increase in the number of farmers\u27 markets across the country. We explored perspectives of farmers\u27 market leaders regarding topics and data of interest and capacity and willingness to collect data related to market promotion. The purpose of our work was to provide Extension educators with information that may guide programming around farmers\u27 markets. We collected data through an online survey of Wisconsin farmers\u27 market leaders in spring 2017. Market leaders were most interested in learning how to encourage word-of-mouth communication between customers and engage in other low-cost strategies, such as having partners help promote a market

Characteristic length of random knotting for cylindrical self-avoiding polygons

We discuss the probability of random knotting for a model of self-avoiding polygons whose segments are given by cylinders of unit length with radius $r$. We show numerically that the characteristic length of random knotting is roughly approximated by an exponential function of the chain thickness $r$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Communicating about self and others within an online support group for women with breast cancer and subsequent outcomes

Abstract Research suggests communicating too much about one's self within an online support group may amplify breast cancer patients' focus on their own problems and exacerbate negative emotions while focusing on others may have the opposite effects. This study explored how pronoun usage within an online support group was associated with subsequent mental health outcomes. There were 286 patients recruited into the study who filled out the pre-test and 231 completed post-tests four months later with survey measures including breast cancer-related concerns and negative emotions. Messages were analyzed using a program counting first person and relational pronouns. A positive relationship was found between use of first person pronouns and negative emotions

Gyration radius of a circular polymer under a topological constraint with excluded volume

It is nontrivial whether the average size of a ring polymer should become smaller or larger under a topological constraint. Making use of some knot invariants, we evaluate numerically the mean square radius of gyration for ring polymers having a fixed knot type, where the ring polymers are given by self-avoiding polygons consisting of freely-jointed hard cylinders. We obtain plots of the gyration radius versus the number of polygonal nodes for the trivial, trefoil and figure-eight knots. We discuss possible asymptotic behaviors of the gyration radius under the topological constraint. In the asymptotic limit, the size of a ring polymer with a given knot is larger than that of no topological constraint when the polymer is thin, and the effective expansion becomes weak when the polymer is thick enough.Comment: 12pages,3figure