Senior Capstone Recital: Trevor Walker, baritone

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Arts in Music. Mr. Walker studies voice with Dr. Nathan Munson.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2343/thumbnail.jp

Building Bridges Triple P: Pilot study of a behavioural family intervention for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

Ltd Background: Many parents of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report that they are ill-equipped to support their children's behaviour, and these youths are known to be at substantially greater risk of emotional or behavioural problems compared to their typically developing peers. There is a need for an efficient and tailored parenting program for parents of adolescents with ASD that includes guidance on how to best support these youths’ development and well-being. Aims: The current study examined the feasibility of Building Bridges Triple P (BBTP), an eight-week (11.5 h) parenting program specifically targeted to the needs of parents of adolescents with a developmental disability. Methods: A pretest-posttest single group design was used to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of BBTP, and the potential of the program to have desired intervention effects, with nine parents of adolescents with ASD. Results: After participating in BBTP, parents reported significant reductions in their adolescent's behaviour problems, increased parenting confidence, decreased lax and overreactive responding, and decreased symptoms of depression and stress. These effects were mostly observed at post-test but were more pronounced at 3-month follow-up. Parents reported that they were satisfied with the content and format of BBTP. Conclusions: Results provide preliminary support for the feasibility and acceptability of BBTP, and that the program has a number of desired intervention effects

Reduced-gradient analysis of van der Waals complexes

acceptedVersio

Probabilistic Offline Policy Ranking with Approximate Bayesian Computation

In practice, it is essential to compare and rank candidate policies offline before real-world deployment for safety and reliability. Prior work seeks to solve this offline policy ranking (OPR) problem through value-based methods, such as Off-policy evaluation (OPE). However, they fail to analyze special cases performance (e.g., worst or best cases), due to the lack of holistic characterization of policies performance. It is even more difficult to estimate precise policy values when the reward is not fully accessible under sparse settings. In this paper, we present Probabilistic Offline Policy Ranking (POPR), a framework to address OPR problems by leveraging expert data to characterize the probability of a candidate policy behaving like experts, and approximating its entire performance posterior distribution to help with ranking. POPR does not rely on value estimation, and the derived performance posterior can be used to distinguish candidates in worst, best, and average-cases. To estimate the posterior, we propose POPR-EABC, an Energy-based Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) method conducting likelihood-free inference. POPR-EABC reduces the heuristic nature of ABC by a smooth energy function, and improves the sampling efficiency by a pseudo-likelihood. We empirically demonstrate that POPR-EABC is adequate for evaluating policies in both discrete and continuous action spaces across various experiment environments, and facilitates probabilistic comparisons of candidate policies before deployment.Comment: 19 pages with 7 pages main paper, 10 pages appendix. Accepted to AAAI 2024 main trac

LOOK to Ohio: Preparing Tomorrow's Leaders Today

Why youth leadership? Community needs assessment data shows employers and community members wish to see youth thrive in their communities and remain after pursuing higher education. Youth leadership development programs allow youth access to these skills. Youth leadership helps to improve the economic vitality of a community as well as health and wellness, through integration of stewardship, leadership and friendship. These programs aid in developing ethical, effective leadership skills at all ages, and to deploy those skills for the betterment of the community, businesses, social services organizations, government entities, faith-based organizations, and families; to make a significant positive impact. Leaders are needed wherever there are groups of people. Theorists have explored leadership as a "trait or ability, a skill or a behavior and a relationship or process" (Northouse, 2012, p. 9). Leadership development is ultimately self-development, and can be enhanced in a variety of settings. Youth today interact in a variety of place-based, community settings with teachers, coaches, sponsors, employers and leaders. In all these settings, youth are expected to work through projects and solve practical problems at the personal, familial and community level, (Gallagher, 2012). LOOK (Leadership Opportunities for Organizational Knowledge) to Ohio is focused on three components: an OSU leadership course, place-based education and service learning. The program for high school students includes 10 monthly, themed place-based days at sites throughout the county. Place-based education allows students to raise awareness of topics such as creating healthy lifestyles. Instructors include experts from all four program areas in the county, region, and state. These connections with business leaders, commissioners, law enforcement and legislatures are keys to success. In addition to The Ohio State University, local collaboration occurs with the University of Cincinnati and other community colleges. The curriculum for this innovative program is offered in collaboration with The Ohio State University main campus, Department of Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership, allowing students to earn college credit through The Ohio Academy Program. Partnerships and collaborations are the "trademark" for the program. Instructors include all county-based Extension educators: 4-H youth development, agriculture and natural resources, community development, and family and consumer sciences. Each of the place-based theme day sessions include local leaders involved in guided, experiential instruction-based on locally identified topics that expose all dimensions of leadership and encompass the six impacts of community leadership development: personal growth and efficacy, community commitment, shared future and purpose, community knowledge, civic engagement, social cohesion (Pigg, 2015).AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Trevor Corboy, The Ohio State University Extension Program Coordinator, Community Development, Clermont County, [email protected] (Corresponding Author); Margaret Jenkins, The Ohio State University Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Clermont County; Nanette Neal, The Ohio State University Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Clermont County; Kelly Royalty, The Ohio State University Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Clermont County.LOOK (Leadership Opportunities for Organizational Knowledge) to Ohio is focused on three components: an Ohio State leadership course, place-based education and service learning. The program for high school students includes 10 monthly themed, place-based days at sites throughout the county. The curriculum for this innovative program is offered in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership. Attendees will learn how place-based youth leadership programming builds community partnerships, makes connections with multiple governmental levels, integrates local leaders as volunteers, supports meaningful relationships that lead to emergent careers, and encourages young talent to remain in or return to local communities. Participants will collaborate with others and utilize LOOK as an outreach and engagement tool to build a resourceful youth leadership program in their part of the university community

Evaluation of left ventricular ejection fraction using through-time radial GRAPPA

BACKGROUND: The determination of left ventricular ejection fraction using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) requires a steady cardiac rhythm for electrocardiogram (ECG) gating and multiple breathholds to minimize respiratory motion artifacts, which often leads to scan times of several minutes. The need for gating and breathholding can be eliminated by employing real-time CMR methods such as through-time radial GRAPPA. The aim of this study is to compare left ventricular cardiac functional parameters obtained using current gold-standard breathhold ECG-gated functional scans with non-gated free-breathing real-time imaging using radial GRAPPA, and to determine whether scan time or the occurrence of artifacts are reduced when using this real-time approach. METHODS: 63 patients were scanned on a 1.5T CMR scanner using both the standard cardiac functional examination with gating and breathholding and the real-time method. Total scan durations were noted. Through-time radial GRAPPA was employed to reconstruct images from the highly accelerated real-time data. The blood volume in the left ventricle was assessed to determine the end systolic volume (ESV), end diastolic volume (EDV), and ejection fraction (EF) for both methods, and images were rated for the presence of artifacts and quality of specific image features by two cardiac readers. Linear regression analysis, Bland-Altman plots and two-sided t-tests were performed to compare the quantitative parameters. A two-sample t-test was performed to compare the scan durations, and a two-sample test of proportion was used to analyze the presence of artifacts. For the reviewers´ ratings the Wilcoxon test for the equality of the scores’ distributions was employed. RESULTS: The differences in EF, EDV, and ESV between the gold-standard and real-time methods were not statistically significant (p-values of 0.77, 0.82, and 0.97, respectively). Additionally, the scan time was significantly shorter for the real-time data collection (p<0.001) and fewer artifacts were reported in the real-time images (p<0.01). In the qualitative image analysis, reviewers marginally preferred the standard images although some features including cardiac motion were equivalently rated. CONCLUSION: Real-time functional CMR with through-time radial GRAPPA performed without ECG-gating under free-breathing can be considered as an alternative to gold-standard breathhold cine imaging for the evaluation of ejection fraction in patients

Advancing socioecological mental health promotion intervention: A mixed methods exploration of Phase 1 Agenda Gap findings

Introduction: Protecting and promoting the mental health of youth under 30 years of age is a priority, globally. Yet investment in mental health promotion, which seeks to strengthen the determinants of positive mental health and wellbeing, remains limited relative to prevention, treatment, and recovery. The aim of this paper is to contribute empirical evidence to guide innovation in youth mental health promotion, detailing the early outcomes of Agenda Gap, an intervention centering youth-led policy advocacy to influence positive mental health for individuals, families, communities and society.Methods: Leveraging a convergent mixed methods design, this study draws on data from n = 18 youth (ages 15 to 17) in British Columbia, Canada, who contributed to pre- and post-intervention surveys and post-intervention qualitative interviews following their participation in Agenda Gap from 2020-2021. These data are supplemented by qualitative interviews with n = 4 policy and other adult allies. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed in parallel, using descriptive statistics and reflexive thematic analysis, and then merged for interpretation.Results: Quantitative findings suggest Agenda Gap contributes to improvements in mental health promotion literacy as well as several core positive mental health constructs, such as peer and adult attachment and critical consciousness. However, these findings also point to the need for further scale development, as many of the available measures lack sensitivity to change and are unable to distinguish between higher and lower levels of the underlying construct. Qualitative findings provided nuanced insights into the shifts that resulted from Agenda Gap at the individual, family, and community level, including reconceptualization of mental health, expanded social awareness and agency, and increased capacity for influencing systems change to promote positive mental health and wellbeing.Discussion: Together, these findings illustrate the promise and utility of mental health promotion for generating positive mental health impacts across socioecological domains. Using Agenda Gap as an exemplar, this study underscores that mental health promotion programming can contribute to gains in positive mental health for individual intervention participants whilst also enhancing collective capacity to advance mental health and equity, particularly through policy advocacy and responsive action on the social and structural determinants of mental health

Identifying mechanisms of youth mental health promotion:A realist evaluation of the Agenda Gap programme

Promoting youth mental health is a critical public health priority and merits robust policy and practice responses, inclusive of youth-centred and upstream interventions that address the root factors contributing to mental health outcomes. To that end, non-familial youth-adult relationships can powerfully impact youths’ healthy development, mental health and well-being, and capacities for enacting change within home, school, and policy contexts. Agenda Gap is a youth mental health promotion programme based on this principle, in which adult facilitators support youth (aged 15–24) in co-exploring activities focused on mental health promotion and policy advocacy, while fostering supportive, trusting intergenerational relationships. This study presents a realist evaluation of Agenda Gap, drawing on realist qualitative interviews with youth participants (n = 18) and adult collaborators (n = 4). We constructed 15 initial programme theories in four theoretical areas that we subsequently explored via analysis of the realist interview data. The analysis used the middle-range theories of ‘Third Space’ and ‘Third Place’ to conceptualize and articulate how causal mechanisms were produced from the non-familial youth-adult relationships that are foundational to the programme. Results are presented across 10 context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations in three sections: (1) Agenda Gap Facilitation Activates ‘Third-Space/Third-Place’ Mechanisms; (2) Youth Enhance Personal Mental Health while also Supporting Mental Health of Friends and Family; (3) Youth Become Inspired and Informed to Act as Advocates and Policy Change Agents. Taken together, these findings provide insights into the important mechanisms of non-familial intergenerational trust building and demonstrate how a strengths-based conceptualization of youth mental health supports mental health maintenance, promotion, and advocacy for this population

Identifying mechanisms of youth mental health promotion:A realist evaluation of the Agenda Gap programme

Promoting youth mental health is a critical public health priority and merits robust policy and practice responses, inclusive of youth-centred and upstream interventions that address the root factors contributing to mental health outcomes. To that end, non-familial youth-adult relationships can powerfully impact youths’ healthy development, mental health and well-being, and capacities for enacting change within home, school, and policy contexts. Agenda Gap is a youth mental health promotion programme based on this principle, in which adult facilitators support youth (aged 15–24) in co-exploring activities focused on mental health promotion and policy advocacy, while fostering supportive, trusting intergenerational relationships. This study presents a realist evaluation of Agenda Gap, drawing on realist qualitative interviews with youth participants (n = 18) and adult collaborators (n = 4). We constructed 15 initial programme theories in four theoretical areas that we subsequently explored via analysis of the realist interview data. The analysis used the middle-range theories of ‘Third Space’ and ‘Third Place’ to conceptualize and articulate how causal mechanisms were produced from the non-familial youth-adult relationships that are foundational to the programme. Results are presented across 10 context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations in three sections: (1) Agenda Gap Facilitation Activates ‘Third-Space/Third-Place’ Mechanisms; (2) Youth Enhance Personal Mental Health while also Supporting Mental Health of Friends and Family; (3) Youth Become Inspired and Informed to Act as Advocates and Policy Change Agents. Taken together, these findings provide insights into the important mechanisms of non-familial intergenerational trust building and demonstrate how a strengths-based conceptualization of youth mental health supports mental health maintenance, promotion, and advocacy for this population