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Assessing What Matters: Examining Purposeful Assessment Implementation Across NTN Schools
No full textLeadership and Learning in Organizations capstone projectThis capstone study, completed in partnership with New Tech Network (NTN), investigates the implementation of purposeful assessment across a diverse network of K–12 project-based learning (PBL) schools. While NTN identifies purposeful assessment as one of its core focus areas, consistent implementation remains a challenge. Using a mixed-methods approach, which included teacher surveys, school leader interviews, and a focus group with NTN coaches, this study explored the extent to which purposeful assessment is used, as well as the internal and external factors that enable or hinder its adoption. Findings revealed that purposeful assessment is frequently deprioritized, and most teachers are not actively engaged with the model. Inconsistencies were also found between teacher self-perceptions and school leader observations. Based on these findings, the project offers four targeted recommendations to improve implementation: developing a shared understanding of assessment, strengthening the alignment of coaching and professional development (PD), establishing systems to monitor fidelity, and providing support to school leaders for collaboration and scheduling. These insights offer actionable strategies for NTN to enhance assessment equity, consistency, and effectiveness across its schools
Impact of Media Literacy Education Resources on Individual Learning and a Community of Practice
No full textLeadership and Learning in Organizations capstone projectThis capstone project examines the individual and community impact of resources produced by the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), a leading U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit recognized internationally for advancing media literacy education. NAMLE’s mission is to empower individuals to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act on messages across all forms of communication. Whereas they are committed to assessing their influence on individual learners and broader communities, NAMLE faces two major challenges: the absence of a formal evaluation plan and the need to quantify long-term outcomes. Guided by an integrated conceptual framework, this quality improvement project employs a mixed methods design incorporating 25 in-depth interviews with NAMLE staff, stakeholders, and other experts; a 28-item survey completed by 195 respondents; and an extensive literature review, document review, and website analysis. Findings indicate that while critical thinking is foundational, its practical application in classrooms is inconsistent and in need of ready-to-use tools. Systematic impact measurement must consider individual and community message interpretation pathways. Equity and diversity require strengthening through inclusive, community-based approaches for marginalized groups. Barriers such as resource usability (e.g., U.S.-centric content, poor online navigation), financial sustainability (corporate funding dependence, underfunding, opportunity costs), and a hostile, politically charged environment for its mission work hinder widespread adoption of promising practices. Despite such challenges, NAMLE is widely perceived as an essential community hub. Recommendations propose establishing an equity-centered logic model for program evaluation, diversifying outreach to neglected communities, developing accessible and turnkey resources with robust professional development that focuses equally on critical media literacy, and diversifying revenues while advocating for funded media literacy policies and national curricular progress
Water Treatment Plant Operational Resilience – An Evaluation of Powdered Activated Carbon Usage for Seasonal Tastes and Odors Control in Relation to Climate Change and Source Water Quality
No full textWater treatment utilities adapt daily to intake water quality fluctuations caused by weather and other factors. Taste and odors are not health concerns, but consumers relate their presence to unhealthy drinking water. Climate change impacts are expected to affect water quality and increase taste and odors. Therefore, water utilities will need to adapt to ensure that they are able to continue to meet the expectations of the consumers. A survey of Tennessee water treatment plant operators indicated that operators may rely heavily on the robustness of the plants and operator experience, which could pose challenges in planning for the future. Predictive tools for understanding climate change impacts are needed to prepare for the future. Simple linear regression and logistic regression models were developed for two water treatment plants located in Nashville, TN. The models were developed to describe the relationship between powdered activated carbon use and ambient air temperatures, taste and odor compounds, and intake water temperature. Simple linear regression did not meet the performance criteria. Logistic regression modeling met the criteria and was used to predict climate change impacts on taste and odor compound presence and powdered activated carbon usage as a function of ambient temperatures for the projected 2030-2060 (future mid-century), and 2069-2099 (future) time periods. The predictions, on average, indicated that climate change impacts have occurred as of the study period (2007-2016). By the future time period (2069-2099), the season for taste and odors and powdered activated carbon usage will likely be extended to most of the year (>0.1000 probability) reaching a critical level of concern for five or six months of the year (>0.9000 probability). A method was developed to estimate the powdered activated carbon needed for treatment as temperatures increase. A low estimate of the climate change impact is to increase powdered activated carbon usage, on average, by approximately 30% by the future time period (2069-2099). This study was a first attempt to assist water utilities in planning for future taste and odor management under projected climate changes using statistical modeling
Bibliometric Fusion: An Open Science Collaborative Project on Research Collaboration Network Mapping
No full textA Multi-Method Examination of Self-Regulation Processes in Preschool-aged Children
No full textKeywords: self-regulation, reward responsiveness, reward positivity, risk-taking, impulsivity, preschool-agedSelf-regulation is a multi-faceted developmental construct that relates to all aspects of a child’s functioning. However, specific self-regulation constructs and their associations within the preschool age period are not well established. Understanding self-regulation at the point of action involves assessing associations amongst reward, risk-taking, and impulsivity. The current study examined reward responsiveness as it relates to risk-taking and impulsivity in a sample of 44 preschool-aged (M = 4.27 years, SD = 0.75) children. Approximately half of the children experienced neonatal opioid exposure. We used a multi-method approach, which included a neural measure of reward responsiveness (i.e., RewP), behavioral measures of risk-taking and impulsivity, and parent-reported impulsivity. Results did not indicate statistically significant associations between risk-taking and impulsivity, potentially due in part to the relatively small sample size. For reward responsiveness, although we did not observe a statistically significant difference between RewP conditions, the RewP to loss component was significantly related to parent-report impulsivity.Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in Psychological Science
The Role of Motivation and Prior Knowledge in the Illusory Truth Effect
No full textRepeated exposure to false claims increases their perceived accuracy, a cognitive bias known as the illusory truth (IT) effect. Incorporating the framework of the Motivation and Opportunity as Determinants (MODE) model, a 2 × 2 mixed design with 668 participants tested the effects of motivational instructions (motivated vs. control) and repetition (repeated vs. novel) on perceived accuracy of false trivia claims that are commonly known. We hypothesized that participants with the motivation cue would rate repeated (easy) false claims as less accurate than the control group, which was not exposed to the motivation cue. Results showed a robust main effect of repetition, with repeated claims rated as more accurate than novel claims, regardless of condition. No effect of condition was observed, indicating that our motivational cue was insufficient to disrupt reliance on fluency-based judgments, even when individuals had accessible prior knowledge. These findings highlight the persistence of the IT effect and underscore the challenges of addressing misinformation. Implications for interventions, such as enhanced motivational strategies and structured feedback mechanisms, are discussed
Developing and Validating Imaging Techniques for Accurate Quantification of Whole-Body Skeletal Muscle Architecture
No full textMuscle architecture, defined as “the number and orientation of the muscle fibers within a muscle”, has an important influence on a muscle’s ability to produce force and shorten or lengthen under load. Briefly, muscle fiber arrangements that result in more sarcomeres aligned in series to each other and parallel with the muscle’s mechanical line of action allow greater length excursions and contraction velocities, while muscle fiber arrangements that result in more sarcomeres aligned in parallel to each other and obliquely to the muscle’s mechanical line of action allow greater force production. In addition, the curved fiber geometry that is necessary for mechanical stability results in heterogeneous patterns of strain development and the formation of intramuscular fluid pressure gradients that may restrict perfusion. However, our tools to study the structure-function relationship of human skeletal muscle, including ultrasound (U/S) and diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTMRI), need further development. The overall goal of this dissertation research is to develop and validate imaging techniques for accurate quantification of whole-body muscle architecture. First, we developed a numerical simulation framework and systematically examined the effects of condition variables on the accuracy and precision of DTMRI-based muscle architecture estimates. Based on the simulation predictions, we made practical recommendations for the implementation of in vivo skeletal muscle DTMRI experiments. In the second part of our study, we implemented a fiducial-based co-registration framework which allowed the direct comparison between U/S- and DTMRI-reconstructed muscle fiber architectures in vivo. As previous studies showed that U/S had good agreement with direct anatomical inspection in muscle architecture measurements, our newly developed U/S-MR cross-modality registration framework demonstrated its potential to work as a validation tool for DTMRI-based in vivo muscle architecture measurements. In the third part of our study, we designed and implemented an in vivo experiment protocol for the characterization of human skeletal muscle. We focused on the muscle groups that act on the lower body, optimized the image acquisition and analysis protocols, and measured the architecture parameters of representative muscles. Overall, this work has produced an improved understanding of skeletal muscle architecture, and new tools for its validation and in vivo characterization
Self-Reported and Observed Caregiving in Offspring of Parents with Huntington’s Disease: Characteristics and Associations with Parent-Child Relationship
No full textThesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in Psychological Sciences.Objective: This study examined Huntington’s disease in the context of self-reported and observed caregiving behaviors between offspring and their HD-affected parents. Method: Fifty-six offspring of parents with Huntington’s disease (ages 10 to 38 years old) reported and were evaluated for caretaking behaviors and stress related to caregiving. Results: Caregiving behaviors differed by offspring age and sex. Females and offspring from 10-17 years old reported more caregiving actions and consequences than males and offspring from 18-38 years old. Offspring who reported higher caregiving stress were observed to have a lower relationship quality with their HD-affected parent. Discussion: These findings indicate a need for further research on identifying and developing interventions for family members of HD patients, specifically adolescent female offspring.Advisor: Dr. Bruce Compa
Optimizing Hospice Staffing for Quality End-of-Life Care
No full textLeadership and Learning in Organizations capstone projectThis project partnered with Preceptor Hospice in Wisconsin, a nonprofit provider of end-of-life care. The purpose was to address the organization’s challenge of balancing staff capacity with census fluctuations to maintain high-quality patient care. The study employed a mixed-methods design including analysis of historical census data, staff and family survey results, and interviews to evaluate staffing thresholds against quality indicators. Findings revealed that hospice staffing directly correlates with census stability and care quality, with evidence pointing to critical staffing indicators that should guide workforce planning and policy recommendations
An Electrochemical Biosensor Array Platform for the Continuous, Dual-technique Monitoring of Multiple Biomarkers in Organ-On-Chips
No full textElectrochemical biosensors are ideal complementary tools to evaluate organ-on-chip (OoC) systems because they can be miniaturized, allow multiplexed measurements, have rapid response times, and require minimal sample preparation while being inexpensive. In this work, a microfluidic multianalyte electrochemical sensor array (µMESA) platform is presented for the continuous, dual-technique, multianalyte detection of biomarkers in OoCs. Surface and electrochemical characterization of the screen-printed electrode (SPE) revealed heterogeneous Pt surfaces that were stable and reproducible enough for sensing. The SPE with glucose, lactate, glutamate, and acetylcholine biosensors was integrated into the µMESA and simultaneous, selective detection of the four corresponding biomarkers under laminar flow was demonstrated. The µMESA was used to measure glucose consumption by bacterial cells. Osmium-based redox polymers (OsPVIAA) with various metal-loadings were synthesized, but higher loadings only correlated to larger oxidation peaks up to 32%. OsPVIAA was highly successful in preventing background interfering signals from cell media. Optimizing hydrogel crosslinking and incorporating a thin poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) film produced an OsPVIAA-glucose sensor that minimized loss of the polymer to the bulk solution. Fluorosilicone-based ion-selective membranes for K⁺ and Ca²⁺ were also prepared on the SPE. However, they exhibited super-Nernstian responses during calibrations. Simultaneous amperometric (acetylcholine, glutamate) and potentiometric detection (K⁺, Ca²⁺) of analytes was also presented. This work explored the multianalyte detection, interference mitigation, and sensor stability aspects of electrochemical biosensing. By demonstrating its applicability in dynamic environments like flow conditions and biological media, the µMESA platform was shown to be well-suited to electrochemically analyze tissue functions in OoCs