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Cash for Daughters? The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Household Gender Composition
No full textSenior Honors Thesis, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-MadisonThis study evaluates the short-term impact of the Mukhyamantri Rajshri Yojana (MRY), a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program introduced in 2016 in Rajasthan, India, aimed at addressing gender disparities. The MRY offers financial incentives tied to milestones in the birth, health, and education of girls, and seeks to counteract the state's entrenched son preference. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) methodology, this study compares gender outcomes in Rajasthan to those in neighboring states without similar interventions, including Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra, before and after the policy’s introduction. Using data from the 2015–16 and 2019–21 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the analysis focuses on the probability of households having exactly one or two living daughters. Results show no evidence that MRY significantly increased the probability of having either one or two living daughters in the short run. In fact, the estimated effects are consistently negative or statistically insignificant across specifications. These findings suggest that conditional cash transfers alone may not be sufficient to shift deeply rooted son preference in the short term, which highlights the need for further research using the full DHS dataset and assessing longer-term impacts
Limitations of change management through agile: Why change in healthcare organizations cannot be accomplished through a traditional agile framework
No full textA seminar paper presented to the graduate faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science - Organizational Change LeadershipMany modern organizations, like Microsoft and Amazon, have weathered changing
market dynamics by adopting Agile methodology. Agile methodologies morph organizations into
loose-matrix structures without a hierarchical preference in facilitating change. However, Agile
methodologies have limitations in facilitating change in some industries. While Agile practices
have proven successful in dynamic sectors like software development and manufacturing, they
face substantial obstacles when applied to highly regulated, risk-averse environments such as
healthcare. Therefore, this paper explores these limitations through literature and case studies
that demonstrate Agile’s flexible, iterative, and decentralized approach may conflict with
healthcare’s safety-driven culture, hierarchical structures, and regulatory demands.
This limitation theory is based on Agile’s principles and rituals, such as short sprints, selforganizing teams, and minimal documentation or process, which are incompatible with the
healthcare industry's need for consistency, traceability, and strict adherence to evidence-based
protocols. This study argues that while Agile supports adaptability and continuous improvement,
it lacks the structural rigor required in environments where patient safety and legal compliance
are paramount. It also highlights the challenges posed by Agile’s emphasis on rapid feedback and
experimentation, which can be at odds with healthcare’s zero-error tolerance culture and
scheduling.
Detailed case studies of change initiatives in healthcare delivery systems, such as
technological care interventions and COVID-19 restructuring, demonstrate how time/schedule
constraints, cultural resistance to Agile principles, lack of co-location, and limited understanding
of Agile principles undermined long-term change efforts. These examples reveal that even under
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optimal conditions in which a sense of urgency presented itself, Agile failed to embed sustainable
transformation due to a misalignment with healthcare’s operational realities.
The study concludes that although Agile can enhance certain project-based or software in
healthcare, it has limitations as a standalone methodology for widespread change management in
specific industries. This research confirmed that, when change initiatives in healthcare delivery
or integration of software in healthcare clinical flow were introduced, Agile’s promise failed to
materialize. This conclusion supports the notion that Agile cannot be applied universally, and
adaptations to the model were necessary in overcoming the methodology's limitations in
industries outside of software. Healthcare institutions must adapt Agile to fit their specific
cultural and regulatory needs or risk failing change initiatives that cause change fatigue or fail to
achieve lasting impact
A study of the effects of language learning strategies and skills on students' independent thinking
No full textA seminar paper presented to the graduate faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science – English EducationThis seminar paper examines the role of language learning strategies (LLS) and skills in fostering independent thinking among students in a foreign language learning environment. Through a systematic literature review, the study analyzed how metacognitive, cognitive, and social strategies (e.g., goal-setting, self-monitoring, and peer interaction) promote learners' ability to independently analyze problems, integrate information, and develop original ideas. The main findings indicated that metacognitive strategies were most strongly associated with independent thinking, and that they significantly enhanced self-efficacy by helping learners regulate the learning process (e.g., progress reflection and adaptive planning). Cognitive strategies (especially skimming in reading and revising in writing) enabled students to process text independently, while social strategies reduced reliance on teacher feedback in speaking tasks. In addition, multimodal tasks integrating multilingual skills (e.g., digital storytelling) demonstrated the potential to promote self-directed learning by requiring learners to synthesize competencies without direct supervision
Towards 3D3C Velocity From Single Camera PIV Images Using A Combined Neural Network
No full textParticle Image Velocimetry is a non-invasive experimental technique used for characterizing fluid motion via image snapshots. A pair of pictures of particle-laden flows is captured in rapid succession, where the displacements of the particles between the frames is used to deduce the velocity. Typically, for two-dimensional observations, this procedure can be executed with one camera. However, the method becomes significantly more expensive, complex, and error-prone in 3D space. Reconstructing real-world, three-dimensional volumes requires significant expertise and execution time, as well as snapshots from multiple cameras offset at an angle that need to be synchronized. This process can also lead to errors such as ghost particles, misalignment errors from inaccurate camera calibration, and particle clustering or streaking. To alleviates these limitations, we propose a novel hybrid framework that combines a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with a Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) to predict three-dimensional, three-component (3D3C) fluid flow fields from single-camera image-pair snapshots. By incorporating image optics and the Navier-Stokes equations in our PINN model, we obtain the third, out-of-plane velocity component alongside the other components and pressure using the 2D2C flow predictions of the CNN in the image space, thereby achieving a comprehensive, real-world representation of the flow without the need for three-dimensional data. The CNN takes image pairs as input and outputs the two-dimensional flow that transports the particles from the first image in the pair to the second. This output is used along with the translation of particle motion from real-world to image space in the PINN to derive three-dimensional flow predictions. We validate our framework via both noisy and noise-free synthetic images, achieving a high degree of accuracy that addresses the limitations of current optical flow estimation techniques and absolves the need to rely on costly apparatus and complicated procedures to attain real-world, three-dimensional fluid dynamics information
Growing The Garden Of Change: Sharing The Stories Of Those Affected By Alzheimer's And Dementia
No full textPHOTO 411: Photojournalism and Documentary PhotographyI was inspired to research the impact of Alzheimer’s and
Dementia after a car accident left my grandma in the hospital,
and my family took on full-time care of my grandpa with
Dementia, Jack Hytrek. Seeing the work my family put toward
his care and the emotional toll it took on all of us, I wanted to
learn more about the disease and find support from those in
the community with similar experiences
PRZYBYSZ: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF SILESIAN VOIVODE MICHAŁ GRAŻYŃSKI
No full textFollowing World War I, a plebiscite and three uprisings could not decide the fate of a contested borderland between Germany and a newly reconstituted Polish state. Instead, an Allied coalition divided Upper Silesia into two halves and bound both governments to a special convention respecting the historically industrial, Roman Catholic, and multicultural region’s rights. Such protections were in place as the German side inherited a Polish-speaking minority and the Polish side a German-speaking one. Up until the outbreak of World War II almost twenty years later, the division would be a source for enmity between both states. Not only would their governments demand the return of the other half, they would also seek to justify the local population’s cultural proximity to and membership in their respective nations. This would require national activists to curtail the influence of the national minorities in order to make their side of the border more “German” or more “Polish.” This dissertation examines the work of Michał Grażyński who oversaw intensive methods to promote Polish identity while serving as Polish Upper Silesia’s governor from 1926 to 1939. To avoid following previous interpretations of his work being solely “anti-German” due to his challenging the enormous power held by his province’s German minority, the study takes a holistic approach in the form of a political biography. Grażyński was not an Upper Silesian by birth and spent his formative years in Kraków, where academic studies first introduced him to the problem of Polish independence and military service in the Great War transformed him into a participant in reconstructing the Second Polish Republic’s borders. He first handedly experienced the conundrum of international politics clashing with national interests, as he played a military role in the Upper Silesian plebiscite and the last uprising before the Allied division of the borderland. Such experiences coupled with time spent in the German half examining the conditions of Polish-speaking Upper Silesians, were formidable in Grażyński’s understanding of Upper Silesia’s contribution to Polish independence: a state required a supportive nation. But was it possible with a population that had been separated from Poland for over six-hundred years? The central argument of this study proposes that in order to make up for the poor display of pro-Poland votes in the plebiscite and to justify the region’s integration with the Polish state, Grażyński had to create a new understanding of what Polishness was and who embodied its ultimate representation apart from local politicians that still desired some sort of accommodation with the German element in Upper Silesia. If the uprisings were manifestations of Upper Silesians’ desire to join Poland, then the Silesian Insurgents served as the connecting force between the region and the Fatherland. To perpetuate this model, Grażyński attached their mission for freedom to that of a powerful political figure who played a central role in the fight for Polish independence: Marshal Józef Piłsudski. After the May coup in 1926, Grażyński essentially became the embodiment and executor of Piłsudski’s Sanacja regime in Polish Upper Silesia, cultivating a pro-government coalition of parties and organizations. Heavily investing in the growth of pro-Polish organizations, Grażyński also sought to equate national holidays with local ones while overseeing the opening of various institutions to highlight the cultural proximity between Polishness and Silesianness. To ensure their success, Grażyński aimed to diminish the influence of the German minority by attacking its dominance in power structures in education, industrial management, and land ownership all while navigating international restrictions and diplomatic disputes between Berlin and Warsaw. If Grażyński viewed Polish independence as the highest good, then his approach to Upper Silesia was not only to make it more “Polish.” It was to create a model citizen from its population to protect that privilege by making Upper Silesia an integral part of Poland’s return to the map of Europe
"A Watershed Approach to Reducing Runoff Entering the Waters of Lake Wissota "
No full textA Watershed Approach to Reducing Runoff Entering the Waters of Lake Wissot
Investigating the influence of atmospheric CO2, bathymetry, and salinity on Archean Ocean circulation
No full textDuring part of the Archean Eon (4 to 2.5 billion years ago), it is estimated that Earth experienced near-global ocean coverage. Little is known about the ocean during this time,but it coincides with—and may have been instrumental in—the earliest development of life on our planet. It is therefore essential to understand what the ocean’s physical environment could have been within the early Archean Eon, as it can help us better understand the background under which life on our planet evolved. However, modeling this environment requires constraints on the atmospheric and oceanic conditions at the time, many of which span wide ranges (e.g., atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases, and ocean salinity) or have almost no constraints at all, such as ocean depth and bathymetry. Here we use the ROCKE-3D coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model configured for the early Archean environment to explore the ocean properties and circulation under a range of atmospheric and oceanographic parameters. Specifically, a suite of simulations is performed to understand how atmospheric CO2 concentration,ocean salinity, and simplified ocean bathymetry could have impacted ocean circulation and heat transport. We find that 1) altering the atmospheric CO2 concentration results in different ocean states ranging from cold, fully ice-covered, to warm, fully ice-free; 2) the addition of bathymetry leads to changes in both ocean density and the overturning circulation, but the strength of the changes depends on the specifics of the bathymetry; and 3) the influence of increased salinity is larger in a colder ocean with sea ice present compared to a warmer ocean with no sea ice
Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Healthcare-Stress Mitigation
No full textFull Text DissertationIn this sequential qualitative study of mindfulness-based stress-reduction (MBSR) -based practices
among six health-care professionals. I found that participants reported reduced stress, improved
focus, improved sleep, increased personal insights and enhanced emotional regulation as health
professionals. Among these common themes, I found individual differences in their preferred
mindfulness techniques, reported teachers’ styles and stated challenges. These variations may offer
important details to consider when implementing mindfulness in the workplace and specifically
within the behavioral and medical health field
Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of microplastics and river hydrology in the Upper Mississippi River
No full textMicroplastic pollution in surface waters of Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR)
was investigated during May through November 2024. During this study, a total of 97
water samples (100L) were collected from sites in the main navigation channel, and
backwater habitats. Overall, 932 microplastic particles were identified, ranging from 0-80
particles per sample (0.00-0.871 particles/L) and microplastic prevalence exhibited an
inverse relationship with particle size. Microplastic concentrations were lower in October
when discharge was lowest compared to July when discharge was highest (p<0.001) and
positive correlations were found between microplastic concentration and discharge
relative to habitat (p<0.05). In addition, a positive correlation was identified between
microplastic concentration and turbidity in October (p<0.05). Microplastic concentrations
were not significantly influenced by habitat type or distance from main channel (p>0.05).
The predominant microplastic particle type identified across samples was fibers. A
random subsample of particles (n=155) was verified via FTIR Spectroscopy to verify
polymer types and revealed polyester, polyethylene, and polypropylene as the most
common polymers. This research confirms microplastic presence in UMR Pool 8 and
highlights the influence of temporal and hydrological factors on microplastic
concentrations