35967 research outputs found
Sort by
NATURE OF GOOD-PARENT BELIEFS OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN SERVED BY A PEDIATRIC COMPLEX CARE PROGRAM
No full textGood-parent beliefs, one’s idea of what it means to be a “good parent” to their child, function to help guide parental decision-making and facilitate coping in the context of pediatric illness. Among parents of children with advanced cancer and other complex illnesses, mixed-methods research has identified common themes across individuals’ good-parent beliefs. However, the good-parent beliefs of primary caregivers of children served by Complex Care Programs (CCPs) have not yet been explored. CCPs serve children with medical complexity (CMC), a distinct group of pediatric patients with multiple complex chronic medical illnesses and intensive medical involvement. Due to the chronicity and complexity of their conditions, parental medical decision-making for these children, and parent coping, are unique from other pediatric populations. This study aimed to describe the good-parent beliefs of primary caregivers of children served by CCPs and describe how these programs can best provide care in a way that aligns with parents’ good-parent beliefs. The current study included 15 primary caregivers of children served by a CCP at a large midwestern academic medical center. Qualitative interviews were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. All participants were able to describe their good-parent beliefs, and there were 16 good-parent beliefs identified in the sample. Good-parent beliefs were associated with medication- and surgery-related decision-making. They often provided direction to parents in managing their child’s complex needs, but they also served to incite rumination, identity challenges, and self-judgement for some. Despite not discussing good-parent beliefs directly with CCP staff, most participants felt that providers both understood their good-parent beliefs and acted in ways that helped parents to feel like a “good parent.” While many good-parent beliefs in the present study reflect those identified in other pediatric parent populations, current results suggest additional beliefs which have a focus on children’s growth and development, and on parent/caregiver well-being, as part of the role of being a “good parent” of CMC. Clinical implications are numerous for both pediatric medical and psychosocial providers, including the possibility of future development of population-specific psychotherapeutic interventions for caregivers. Future research is needed to elucidate the nature of good-parent beliefs more fully in this population, understand their functions, and guide clinicians to work most effectively with these families
Delineating the Longitudinal Associations Between Somatic Symptoms, Negative Urgency, and Lack of Perseverance During Preadolescent Development
No full textFunctional somatic symptoms affect a substantial proportion of youth during the preadolescent to later adolescent stages, posing a risk for maladaptive behaviors such as substance misuse. Our previous work demonstrated that these associations were mediated by dimensions of impulsivity (negative urgency and lack of perseverance), suggesting a combined internalizing/externalizing pathway to risk-taking behaviors. The present study sought to better delineate the directionality of associations between these endophenotypes within youth enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, using cross-lagged analysis. Further, we aimed to characterize the neural mechanisms underpinning these relationships through mediation analysis, accounting for sex differences. Our findings suggest that somatic symptoms precede impulsive behaviors in females, starting a cycle of lacking perseverance and increased somatic symptoms later in development. We failed to identify connectivity mediators driving these associations, possibly due to pubertal and environmental events conflating findings. Future work should employ more advanced statistical procedures and mixed-methods approaches to better describe the biological nature of this risk-pathway.2027-06-2
How Does Melanism Affect Survival Rate of Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in Schmeekle Reserve, Stevens Point, WI?
No full textEastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) are commonly found at higher densities in urban areas; however, vehicle collisions and other anthropogenic threats can cause mortality. Melanism in gray squirrels is caused by a genetic mutation and is thought to occur at higher rates in urban areas and more northern environments. Melanism has been shown to decrease survival rates in rural forest environments, possibly due to easier predation of melanistic squirrels, and has been shown to have no effect on survival in highly urbanized settings. We hypothesize that survival rates of melanistic gray squirrels will be lower than those from other gray squirrels. Students with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point chapter of The Wildlife Society have been trapping gray squirrels in Schmeekle Reserve, a 113-hectare urban natural area, since 2020. Squirrels are trapped from February to mid-March of each year, and data including sex, age, and fur variant are recorded. Each trapping season, several melanistic individuals are captured. We will use Program MARK to analyze these data in a Cormack Jolly Seber framework to determine if melanism affects survival of gray squirrels in Schmeeckle Reserve. We aim to understand how urban adapted animals, such as the Eastern gray squirrel, evolve with their environment to help managers better understand the impact of urbanization on wildlife.University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, & Creative Activity (URSCA
Improving Production and Quality Operations Management in Small and Medium-Sized Machining Enterprises Using IEC/ISO Manufacturing Operations Management Framework as a Reference Model
No full textProduction performance and product quality are core indicators of operational effectiveness in the manufacturing industry. The activity model for Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), established by the IEC/ISO 62264 standard, has become a widely adopted framework across global manufacturing sectors. This model integrates several key management activities enabling systematic and continuous improvement of operational efficiency. The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) plays a critical role, providing essential technical support for the implementation of the MOM framework. This study adopts a Process Reengineering approach and selects a representative small-to-medium-sized machining manufacturer—as the research object. Based on the activity reference model defined in IEC/ISO 62264-3, the study systematically examines potential deficiencies in the company’s Production Operations Management (POM) and Quality Operations Management (QOM). Specific improvement strategies and reengineered process proposals are subsequently developed. Following joint evaluation by senior cross-functional executives of the case company, including the CEO, the proposed strategies and process reengineering have received preliminary endorsement and recognition. The study outcome demonstrates the high valuable and practical feasibility of the proposed strategies, exceeding the case company's expectations and meet the study target and significantly enhancing operational maturity and management performance. laying a solid foundation for the subsequent implementation of production and quality operations management improvements. Keywords: Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Process Reengineering, Production Operations Management (POM), Quality Operations Management (QOM)
How Heavy is the Edge? Resource Utilization of Edge Generative AI on Distributed AI Infrastructure
No full text/Distributed AI infrastructures are extensively employed in cloud industry settings to accommodate the growing demands of AI services. However, extending such infrastructures to the edge remains under exploration. This study addresses this challenge by enabling edge AI with Ray, a widely adopted open-source distributed AI infrastructure. This work uncovers the resource utilization patterns of edge GenAI across deployment and inference stages, providing a more comprehensive view of how GenAI workloads affect edge resources. Our findings, based on deploying and running GenAI models (GPT-2, TinyLlama, and Llama-1B) on a three-Raspberry Pi 5 cluster with Ray, reveal valuable insights on leveraging the distributed AI infrastructure to support resource-intensive edge intelligence
Censorship Within Japanese Media and What it Represents About Japanese Society
No full textColor poster with text and images.In this paper I will be discussing the relation between Japanese manga and anime, and the changes from the transition from manga to anime due to censorship laws and changes within post-WWII Japan. Continuing, I will discuss what these laws and changes within Japan are meant to accomplish and what their application/results could have on their media as a whole. Next, I will be discussing what changes are made to media when exported to other countries to adhere to their redactive laws. The definition of censorship that I will be using for this paper is: “Places where media that has been changed to limit the themes, concepts, or actions that are deemed unsensible or unwanted by a large, usually government, body.” This definition is meant to include things that are commonplace such as blurring or black boxes, or even censorship that’s more transformative via cutting out parts of original material completely. This research will make people aware of how media can be changed to convey a certain culture's beliefs on what is “appropriate” for a certain group of people. To take it to a more extreme level, this research will also convey how strict/effective censorship can be at a non-concerning level- not censoring certain content to prevent learning about certain information. And how potentially concerning censorship could be put in place with similar laws. And finally how censorship reflects a culture as a whole.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program
Oral History Interview, Jenni Hart (2506)
No full textIn her three May/June 2025 interviews with Troy Reeves, Jenni Hart discusses her 25 years of working for the university in different capacities. To learn more about this oral history, download & review the index first (or transcript if available). It will help determine which audio file(s) to download & listen to.In her three May/June 2025 interviews with Troy Reeves, Jenni Hart discusses her 25 years of working for the university in different capacities. Jenni begins by talking about how she originally came to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as an undergraduate student in 2000 and discusses her undergraduate experiences, including her memories of 9/11, registration in the early 2000s, her social life, memorable classes, and her student hourly job at Tripp Residence Hall. She then discusses her career journey post-graduation, including how her student hourly position led to a job in UW Housing, her transition to the Department of Bacteriology, the challenges she faced working for the School of Education, and the fulfillment she finally found working for the School of Journalism. Jenni wraps up the interview by talking about her responsibilities as the School of Journalism department administrator, the Vilas Hall pipe burst in February 2019, changes in technology in the workplace over time, the Covid-19 pandemic, her participation in the Letters & Science Committee for Academic Staff Issues, the relationship between faculty and staff in the School of Journalism, winning the Martha Casey Award, and her recent transition to the Math Department. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Academic Staff Award Winners project of the UW-Madison Archives & Records Management oral history collection
Refining Neural Network with Symbolic Regression
No full textClassical neural network (NN) compression methods, such as NN pruning and distillation, focus on reducing the NN size. However, these methods often sacrifice accuracy in the process. To address this issue, we propose a novel NN refinement method based on symbolic regression called SR-R. At its core, SR-R employs a symbolic regression method based on Cartesian genetic programming to find a compact mathematical expression that accurately approximates the input-output relationship of a selected module within the NN. SR-R then replaces the targeted module with the discovered mathematical expression. Finally, SR-R fine-tunes the parameters of the remaining modules in the NN. Experiments are conducted on two types of NN benchmarks: multilayer perceptron NNs (MLP) and convolutional NNs (CNN). Experimental results show that, compared with NN pruning and NN distillation, SR-R can effectively reduce the number of NN parameters while maintaining or even enhancing inference accuracy
The Impact of a Teacher Professional Learning Experience on Catholic Educators’ Support of LGBTQIA+ Students: A Case Study
No full textFull Text DissertationLGBTQIA+ high school students are at greater risk for experiencing negative academic, emotional, and social experiences as a result of the way they are treated based on their sex, orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE) characteristics. The presence of supportive faculty in schools can potentially mitigate the impact of negative peer interaction and ameliorate the LGBTQIA+ student experience. This qualitative case study explores shifts in teachers’ beliefs and behaviors regarding support for LGBTQIA+ students after participating in a Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) experience. Situated in a historically all-boys Catholic school, a previously under researched environment, the study addresses a notable gap in research. Guided by cognitive dissonance and transformative learning theory, data were collected through surveys, interviews, and observations, then analyzed using in-vivo and depth coding. Findings indicate that Catholic educators experience cognitive dissonance around LGBTQIA+ student support, and that a transformative learning-based curriculum can foster meaningful change—particularly when paired with time for reflection and strong community support. Recommendations include further research into student responses, curriculum development, and the formation of educator support networks
Establishing Relationships Among Shoulder Joint Dynamics and Rotator Cuff Tendon Health in Youth Manual Wheelchair Users with Pediatric-Onset Spinal Cord Injury or Disorder
No full textIntroductionCumulative duration of manual wheelchair use places approximately 250,000 children in the United States with pediatric-onset spinal cord injury or disorder (SCI/D) at risk for early-onset rotator cuff tendon pathology, such as tendinosis or tendon tears. Rotator cuff pathology impairs shoulder function and causes pain, hindering mobility, participation and reducing quality of life. Unfortunately, there are no guidelines for preservation of shoulder health specific to youth manual wheelchair users. Further, the development of clinical assessment and intervention tailored to the youth wheelchair user is limited due to poor understanding of the typically developing shoulder joint complex, especially the rotator cuff soft tissues. The purpose of this dissertation was to establish relationships among shoulder joint biomechanics and rotator cuff health outcomes in youth manual wheelchair users with pediatric-onset SCI/D. The central hypothesis, that modifiable manual wheelchair biomechanics among youth with pediatric-onset SCI/D are related to specific patterns of diagnostic and quantitative musculoskeletal ultrasound findings for the rotator cuff, was tested using three specific aims. Aim 1: Establish associations between manual wheelchair handrim kinetics and rotator cuff quantitative macroscale morphology in youth with pediatric-onset SCI/D.Methods: In the first aim, the correlations of wheelchair handrim biomechanics with rotator cuff quantitative macroscale morphology parameters including tendon thickness and subacromial impingement risk were determined using B-mode musculoskeletal shoulder ultrasound, and wheelchair handrim kinetics in in 11 youth manual wheelchair users. Results: Increasing acromiohumeral distance was associated with increasing handrim peak resultant force, and with decreasing variability of handrim force effectiveness. Supraspinatus tendon thickness was associated with decreasing handrim force effectiveness and decreasing variability of handrim force effectiveness. Supraspinatus tendon thickness was also associated with increasing peak resultant force variability and increasing variability of rate of rise of handrim resultant force. Increasing subacromial occupation ratio was associated with decreasing peak rate of rise of resultant force, and with decreasing variability of handrim force effectiveness. Discussion: This was the first study to investigate relationships among handrim kinetics and rotator cuff morphology in youth manual wheelchair users with pediatric-onset SCI/D. Associations were identified between subacromial impingement risk factors and magnitude and variability of wheelchair handrim kinetics. Because handrim kinetics are directly related to shoulder joint kinematics and kinetics, this results indicated the critical need to further explore the relationships among wheelchair biomechanics, rotator cuff pathology, and rotator cuff morphology in youth manual wheelchair users. Aim 2: Establish relationships among glenohumeral joint dynamics, rotator cuff tendon pathology, and rotator cuff quantitative morphology in youth with pediatric-onset SCI/D.Methods: In the second aim, this dissertation determined correlations of glenohumeral joint dynamics with rotator cuff tendon pathology and rotator cuff quantitative morphology in 34 youth manual wheelchair users with pediatric-onset SCI/D. A physiatrist performed B-mode shoulder ultrasound, and quantitative morphology parameters including rotator cuff tendon thickness and the subacromial occupation ratio were determined using ultrasound images. Rotator cuff tendon pathology was assessed qualitatively by a musculoskeletal radiologist. Manual wheelchair handrim kinetics and motion capture marker trajectories were acquired during propulsion at a self-selected speed on a smooth, level surface, and an inverse dynamics model computed glenohumeral joint kinematics and kinetics (dynamics). A conservative approach was utilized first, with Spearman correlation coefficients used to determine relationships between glenohumeral joint dynamics and rotator cuff quantitative morphology, and Mann-Whitney U tests used to determine relationships between glenohumeral joint dynamics and rotator cuff tendon pathology, and between quantitative morphology and tendon pathology. A second, broad approach was used to define potential relationships among rotator cuff tendon pathology, quantitative morphology, and glenohumeral joint dynamics. An iterative data transformation process was developed, with log transformations performed on non-normal variables, and Box-Cox transformations performed for data remaining non-normal. Results: A single relationship was identified using the conservative approach: glenohumeral anterior force was lower with supraspinatus tendon pathology. The second approach revealed many distinct potential associations among glenohumeral joint dynamics magnitude and variability, rotator cuff pathology, and rotator cuff quantitative morphology. Discussion: The potential correlations identified in this study indicate complex relationships of glenohumeral joint dynamics to rotator cuff health outcomes in youth manual wheelchair users. The bi-directionality inherent in the relationship of some quantitative morphology features to pathology, such as rotator cuff tendon thickness and acromiohumeral distance, rendered full clinical interpretation of these data difficult. Aim 3: Determine patterns in wheelchair propulsion glenohumeral joint biomechanics and quantitative morphology underlying rotator cuff pathology and shoulder pain in youth manual wheelchair users with pediatric-onset SCI/D.Methods: In the third aim, this dissertation addressed a critical gap in knowledge by defining rotator cuff tendon pathology and quantitative macroscale morphology using bilateral B-mode shoulder ultrasound in a cohort of 25 typically developing, non-wheelchair user youth. Bilateral shoulder ultrasound was also performed in 34 youth manual wheelchair users. Glenohumeral joint dynamics were computed for the wheelchair users by an inverse dynamics model using optical motion capture and wheelchair handrim kinetics data as in the second aim. An innovative machine learning approach was employed to elucidate the relationships of glenohumeral joint dynamics to rotator cuff health. A bilayer clustering method employing k-means clustering followed by agglomerative hierarchical clustering determined latent youth rotator cuff health phenotypes using key quantitative macroscale morphology parameters and two common self-reported measures of pain and satisfaction. Glenohumeral joint dynamics potentially related to rotator cuff tendon health, selected based on the findings from the second aim, were used to develop logistic regression prediction models to determine glenohumeral joint dynamics underlying rotator cuff phenotype and tendon pathology. Results: There was substantial overlap in rotator cuff health between youth manual wheelchair users and typically developing youth. Four distinct phenotypes emerged. One phenotype, composed almost entirely of wheelchair user shoulders, had minimal pathology. Phenotypes were distinguishable by tendon morphology, pain, and satisfaction. Glenohumeral joint dynamics predicted phenotype and pathology in youth manual wheelchair users with 91.2% and 94.1% accuracy, respectively. Discussion: Complex patterns in glenohumeral joint dynamics were identified which appeared related to rotator cuff morphology and rotator cuff tendon pathology in youth manual wheelchair users. One phenotype indicates that the interaction of glenohumeral joint dynamics and rotator cuff morphology may be leveraged to minimize the risk of tendon pathology in youth wheelchair users. Conclusion:The three studies in this dissertation provide insights about the role of pediatric manual wheelchair use in rotator cuff health that will inform musculoskeletal care for youth with SCI/D. The results of this dissertation indicate that there is substantial overlap in rotator cuff health between youth manual wheelchair users and non-wheelchair users, but suggest the presence of a phenotype specific to youth with SCI/D who are at lower risk for rotator cuff tendon pathology than their peers, despite similar age and cumulative duration of wheelchair use. This dissertation determined that patterns in glenohumeral joint dynamics are highly predictive of rotator cuff phenotype and tendon pathology. The comprehensive understanding of ”he n’ture of glenohumeral joint dynamics patterns differentiating rotator cuff phenotype and the presence and severity of rotator cuff tendon pathology establishes the framework for individualized assessments of rotator cuff health and biomechanical targets for rotator cuff injury prevention in youth manual wheelchair users. The findings from this dissertation could also facilitate the development of objective, individualized recommendations for manual wheelchair propulsion technique training and wheelchair fit or design parameters. These results constitute important considerations in the design of future generations of manual wheelchairs. The knowledge gained from this dissertation could inform personalized wheelchair fit to promote beneficial shoulder biomechanics, or the development of clinical guidelines for shoulder exercise for injury prevention or rehabilitation. As a general recommendation for wheelchair users, the results of this dissertation suggest that decreasing superior force and internal rotation moment loading of the glenohumeral joint in wheelchair propulsion may decrease risk for rotator cuff tendon pathology. The relationships of modifiable wheelchair propulsion factors to rotator cuff morphology and pathology identified in this dissertation provide directions for future research focused on the development of clinical interventions to prevent or treat early-onset rotator cuff pathology and understand the progression of rotator cuff health and relationships to changes in wheelchair biomechanics, pain, and quality of life