bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anthropometric analysis of Turkish fetuses’ face
Authors: TUNCER Işık
Published: December 2023

Aims: This study aims at collecting data on the morphology of the face during its development in order to get detailed information on the neighboring structures and its variations using anatomical dissections and obtain normal morphometric values of the face growth and human fetuses during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester.

Methods: This study was performed on spontaneously aborted 97 fetuses (49 males, 48 females) (11 first trimester, 63 second trimester and 24 third trimester) that have no observable congenital malformations or maternal history of risky pregnancy. The fetuses were taken from a Gynecology Department of a School of Medicine and a Maternity Hospital in Konya. Thirteen direct facial anthropometric measurements were performed on 97 volunteers. The data obtained were compared with the data of previous studies.

Results: Means and standard deviations of the parameters in regard to gestational weeks and trimesters were calculated. A significant correlation was observed between all parameters and gestational age (p
The relationship between nursing students' mental health literacy levels and holistic nursing competencies
Authors: DURAN GÜL Kısmet , AKPINAR Havva
Published: December 2023

Aims: The study was conducted to examine the relationship between nursing students' mental health literacy levels and holistic nursing competencies.

Methods: This was a descriptive and relational study. The sample of the study consisted of 440 nursing department students at a state university. Data were collected with the Sociodemographic data form, the mental health literacy scale, and the holistic nursing competence scale.

Results: The mean score of the mental health literacy scale total scores of the students was 101.11±8.49, and the mean total score of the holistic nursing competence scale total score was 168.41±40.53. There was a positive relationship between the mental health literacy scale total score and the general ability sub-field (r=0.101) of the holistic nursing competence scale and the professional development sub-field (r=0.095), and this relationship was statistically significant (p
Evaluation of color stability of bulk-fill restorative materials with different properties
Authors: ÇELİKSÖZ Özge , TEPE Hatice , YAMAN Batucan
Published: December 2023

Aims: The present study aims to evaluate the color stability of bulk-fill restorative materials with different properties over different time periods when immersed in a coffee solution.

Methods: According to the selected restorative materials, the study groups were formed as follows: CNT/light (Alkasite, Cention N, Ivoclar Vivadent, light cure mode), CNT/self (Alkasite, Cention N, self cure mode) EQF (Glass hybrid restorative, Equia Forte HT, GC Corporation), AU (Single-shade bulk fill, Aura Bulk Fill, SDI), Z550 (Filtek Z550, 3M) (control group). A total of 50 samples (n=10) were prepared using standard molds (2mmx10mm). After finishing and polishing procedures, all samples were kept in distilled water at 37°C for 24 hours. The first color measurement (L*a*b ) was performed with Vita Easy Shade V (VITA Zahnfabrik). Samples were added to the coffee solution. Color was measured at times simulating 7 days, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year of clinical service. Color changes (ΔE1, ΔE2, ΔE3 and ΔE4) were calculated according to the CIE L*a*b system. Normality of the data was examined by D'Agostino & Pearson omnibus normality test. One-way ANOVA analysis and Tukey test were performed. Statistical significance level was set at p 0.05 and statistical analysis software (GraphPad Prism 6.0, GraphPad Software, USA) was used for the analysis.

Results: According to ΔE1 results; clinically unacceptable color change (ΔE>3.3) values were observed in CNT/light and CNT/self groups. The color change values of EQF, Z550 and AU groups were statistically similar (p>0.05). According to ΔE2 results; an unacceptable color change (ΔE>3.3) was observed in all groups except EQF. According to ΔE3 results; an unacceptable color change (ΔE>3.3) was observed in all groups. According to ΔE4 results; an unacceptable color change (ΔE>3.3) was observed in all groups. The color change values of EQF, Z550 and AU groups were statistically similar (p>0.05). CNT/light group showed the highest color change in all time periods, followed by CNT/self group.

Conclusion: The color stability of single-shade bulk fill material and glass hybrid restorative materials is similar to the control group. The color stability of alkasite material needs to be improved.
Retrospective assessment of pediatric patients with tube thoracostomy inserted in a tertiary pediatric intensive care unit
Authors: DURAK Cansu , ŞAHİN Ceyhan
Published: December 2023

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the indications for tube thoracostomy (TT) procedures in pediatric intensive care units and to analyze the role of chest X-rays in the subsequent monitoring and management of patients.

Methods: A retrospective evaluation of 31 pediatric patients aged 1 month to 18 years who had been admitted between January 2023 to July 2023 at Sancaktepe Şehit Prof. Dr. İlhan Varank Training and Research Hospital, were performed. Children who underwent TT were included. Demographic data, clinical variables, and outcome data were analyzed

Results: The median age was 50 (4-214) months, and the gender distribution of the patients was almost equal. The median duration of a PICU stay was 10 (4-100) days. Pneumothorax (PTX) was diagnosed in 45,1%, pleural effusion in 38,7%, and hemothorax in 16,1% of patients. Six (19,4%) patients experienced complications related to chest tubes. Invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) was required in 19 patients (61,3%), and the median duration of IMV was 9 (3-93) days. A total of 23 patients (74,2%) required non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) support during their stay in PICU. There was no statistically significant difference between indications of TT and length of stay, NIMV and IMV requirement, duration of TT, complications, and mortality.

Conclusion: TT is a life-saving interventional procedure in emergencies. The absence of proper execution of this technique may result in considerable morbidity and fatality. Hence, all clinicians must possess a comprehensive understanding of the tube thoracostomy operation.
Investigation of dermatological manifestations in maintenance hemodialysis patients
Authors: DEMİRCİ SAADET Elif , DEMİR Mehmet Emin
Published: December 2023

Aims: Skin findings are common in patients with both chronic kidney disease and undergoing hemodialysis. These findings are observed as nonspecific and specific dermatological manifestations. Our study aimed to describe the characteristics of dermatologic findings of patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing maintenance hemodialysis treatment and to investigate the relationship between these findings and the demographic and clinical features of those patients.

Methods: Patients who were admitted to a private hemodialysis clinic in August 2023 were prospectively analyzed. Age, gender, type of vascular access, hemodialysis duration, etiology of end-stage renal disease, duration and frequency of hemodialysis sessions, dermatological findings, and the most recent complete blood count, parathyroid hormone, calcium, phosphorus, urea, and creatinine levels were examined and the findings were documented. Calcium x phosphorus levels were calculated. Statistical significance was accepted as p
An evaluation of spinal anesthesia results in pediatric patients undergoing pilonidal sinus surgery: a retrospective study
Authors: AKDENİZ Sevda
Published: December 2023

Aims: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy, side-effects, and complications of spinal anesthesia (SpA) in children undergoing pilonidal sinus surgery with SpA.

Methods: The records of pediatric patients who underwent pilonidal sinus surgery with SpA from January 2019 to March 2023 were retrospectively evaluated from the database in the Samsun University Samsun Maternity & Children's Training and Research Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Türkiye. Children's sociodemographic characteristics, clinical and vital signs, motor block duration, operative time, and complications were recorded.

Results: Eighty-one patients underwent pilonidal sinus surgery with SpA, 54 (66.7%) boys and 27 (33.3%) girls, with a mean age of 14.38±1.29 years. The patients’ mean body mass index was 26.83±1.1 kg.m-2, and the success rate was 96.3% (n=78). Eleven (13.6%) patients received supplemental anesthesia among the 78 procedures completed using SpA. The incidence of complications was 5.1% (n=4). Intraoperative hypotension developed in two cases and postoperative vomiting in two, all of which resolved with no sequelae.

Conclusion: Our retrospective analysis suggests that pediatric SpA is a safe and effective technique for children undergoing pilonidal sinus surgery. However, further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings.
Assessment of sonication-based culture in diagnosing orthopedic implant infections: a comparative analysis with microbiological diagnostic approaches
Authors: ÇEKLİ Yavuz , EGE Demet
Published: December 2023

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic advantages of microbiological culture, histopathological examination, and the management of sonication in the diagnosis of infections related to orthopedic implants and prostheses.

Methods: The study included 21 patients suspected of orthopedic implant or prosthesis-related infections. The classification of implant and prosthesis-related infections and the choice of treatment were based on the Infectious Diseases Society of America diagnostic and treatment guidelines. During the operations, samples were taken from the implant and inflamed tissue around the implant for each patient, and these samples were evaluated using standard culture, histopathological examination, and sonication methods.

Results: The sonication method exhibited a higher sensitivity in comparison to both tissue cultures and cultures acquired from implants and prostheses without the application of sonication (61.1% vs. 38.8% vs. 27.7%, P < 0.05, respectively). The count of isolated microorganisms was greater in the sonication method when compared to both tissue cultures and conventional cultures taken from implants and prostheses (16 vs. 10 vs. 6, P < 0.05, respectively). The sensitivity of the sonication method was found to be higher compared to conventional cultures, even among patients who had been administered preoperative antibiotics (p
Comparison of preoperative MRI and surgical findings in perianal fistulas and factors affecting recurrence
Authors: BAYSAL Hakan , KAZCI Zeynep Nihal , ALİMOĞLU Orhan
Published: December 2023

Aims: Anal fistula occurs most commonly when the anal glands become obstructed and infected in the intersphincteric plane. Although it has a high recurrence rates, its treatment is surgical. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard for accurate preoperative evaluation of the patient and detection of the relationship to the muscle groups that provide continence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the compatibility of MRI with surgery and to determine the parameters effective on recurrence.

Methods: Primary perianal fistulas with MRI between 2016 and 2023 were retrospectively evaluated. Patient demographics were documented. Fistula classifications according to MRI findings, abscess locations, internal and external opening regions on MRI were compared with surgical findings. The surgical procedures performed were documented. Univariate and multivariate evaluations of recurrence performed by Cox regression analysis. Disease-free survival data were analyzed.

Results: A total of 180 cases with a mean age of 43.75±12.57 years were included in the study. At the end of MRI, there were 69 (38.3%) cases with an fistula external orifice > 3 cm. The largest group in Parks classification were intersphincteric patients with 127 (66.7%), 52 (28.9%) of the patients were in the complex group. The level of agreement between surgery and MRI internal opening was 13.4% and statistically significant (Kappa coefficient of agreement 0.134; p3 cm, transsphincteric, complex and patients requiring loose seton in surgery (p=0.001, p=0.001, p=0.001, p=0.001, p=0.007; p
Exploration of Logical Meta-functions in ICLE: An Analysis of Pakistani Argumentative Essays
Authors: Rasool Attia , Mehmood Asim , Ashraf M. Raheel
Published: December 2023

Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) studies how a language functions in a social context, concerning the meaning of clauses at three different levels: interpersonal, ideational, and textual. The aim of this corpus-based research is to find out the logical structures      of clauses in Pakistani academic writings by evaluating two main elements of clause complexity: taxis and logico-semantics relations. For this purpose, Halliday & Matthiessen’s (2014) system of clause complexing was employed as an analytical framework. A sample size of 100 argumentative essays was taken from the ICLE corpus, which was written by Pakistani students. This corpus was annotated by using the UAM corpus tool manually. Furthermore, the comparative distributions of different types of clause complexes were studied and evaluated accordingly. It helped to identify and understand lexico-grammatical variations at the clause level in non-native Pakistani academic writings. The findings showed that Pakistani students composed hypotactic and paratactic with almost the same ratio in their writing with a minor deviation. They also tend to build different types of logico-semantic relations of clauses during the argumentation; however, the occurrences of expansion were high in contrast to projection.  The null hypothesis was tested by deploying the Wilcoxon signed rank test. It revealed no significant difference between paratactic and hypotactic approaches. However, their various logico-semantic relations displayed significant differences (p<0.05).
An Orthographic Analysis of Sound Changing Rules in the Urdu Language
Authors: Khan Tania Ali
Published: December 2023

The current study aims to determine the sound-changing rules in the Urdu language and their underlying causes. For this purpose, words that exhibited distinct pronunciations as compared to their written forms were selected for the study. A list of 500 words was prepared from the Urdu dictionary "Feeroz-ul-Lughat," and twenty (20) proficient Urdu language speakers were selected to articulate these chosen words. The study’s analysis was divided into three stages, namely recording, transcribing, and examining the speakers' pronunciations to identify the sound changing patterns; consulting the dictionary for standard transcriptions; and phonetically and orthographically transcribing and examining the selected words. The findings revealed various contextual occurrences in which phonological changes had occurred. Additionally, after a thorough examination, the evidence supporting or contradicting the existing sound-changing rules was explored through the selected words from the Urdu language. Markedly, this study aims to enhance the understanding of the phonological dynamics in spoken Urdu expressions as well as the major factors contributing to sound changes in the Urdu language.
Unelected oversight : the politics of government investigations and problem monitoring
Authors:   , Drolc Cody A.
Published: December 2023

How do elected officials and top decisionmakers receive information about the problems encountered in government agencies? Policymaking and agenda setting research primarily examines how elected officials directly gather information through mechanisms like oversight hearings or from outside interests. In this dissertation, I build on existing research by examining how agenda setting and problem identification take place in an oversight context with a specific focus on unelected means including bureaucrats themselves, Offices of Inspectors General, and the Government Accountability Office. In doing so, I extend and clarify existing theories of oversight, agenda setting, and problem identification to highlight three important but underappreciated and understudy sources of expert information. First, I consider oversight within public organizations performed by civil servants. Using survey data, I find that bureaucrats with greater knowledge of internal oversight processes and public service motivation are more likely to identify problems in their agency. Second, I consider the monitoring agendas of federal Offices of Inspectors General using an original dataset of reports. My findings suggest that OIGs monitor a greater variety of issues with larger budgets and when signals in the political environment become more diverse. Third, I use a new dataset of all Government Accountability Office reports from 1974-2018 to examine how Congress steers their auditing agenda, noting that it reflects a desire for information on technical agencies but still reflects members' political concerns in relation to individual agencies and the president. Taken together, these findings advance our understanding of oversight and accountability by demonstrating how unelected administrators and specialized organizations monitor and identify problems that undermine the effectiveness of government programs.
Selecting data for multilingual multi-domain neural machine translation on low resource languages
Authors:   , Graham Heather Mackenzie
Published: December 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] While machine translation has achieved impressive results on the world's most widely spoken languages, thousands of languages do not have the quantity of data necessary to train a state-of-the-art system. We propose here a technique to identify the best available datasets for augmentation in many-to-one multilingual neural machine translation systems by quantifying the factors that most affect translation performance - data set domain, relation between source side languages, translation quality, and data set size. Previous research has considered these factors qualitatively and in isolation of each other, but selecting an augmenting data set from various possibilities requires a quantitative synthesis of all these factors. We evaluate a number of techniques to measure each of these factors and learn a system combining them. The focus is on the Luyia languages of western Kenya as a case study for an extreme low resource scenario, but the application of these techniques to similar languages is also explored.
A partial equilibrium model of the Chinese swine industry scenarios and comments
Authors:   , Meffert Abigail
Published: December 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Using a partial equilibrium model of the Chinese swine industry, the author evaluates alternative recovery scenarios from the current African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in China and the possible impacts of one COVID-19 scenario on China's pork market. A ten-year baseline outlook shows sharp increases in China's domestic pork prices and imports in response to the reduction in pork production caused by ASF. Those effects are larger in a scenario that assumes that the ASF impact on China's sow inventories and pork production is greater and lasts longer. Model results suggest that the use of meat-type gilts to expand the breeding herd could have different short and long run effects on pork production, prices, and trade. If COVID-19 results in reduced incomes and a smaller population in China, pork consumption, production, and imports will all be reduced relative to baseline levels.
A content analysis of word choice in social media news coverage of mass shootings
Authors:   , Sabatke Sarah
Published: December 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This study examined how news organizations utilized Twitter to report on the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Employing the theories of framing and agenda setting, the researcher conducted a content analysis of tweets posted by five different news organizations -- both on the local and national levels. Findings showed that tweets from the five outlets in the wake of the shooting overwhelming focused on the topics of gun control and public policy. Twitter news coverage of the Parkland shooting from the selected news outlets was categorized into the following themes: tweets expressing sympathy or support, tweets related to victims of the shooting, tweets referencing the shooter, tweets regarding gun control/public policy, tweets regarding activism following the shooting, tweets discussing copycat threats and tweets that did not clearly fit any of the themes, which were then placed into an "other" category. Findings showed that Twitter coverage of the school shooting focused overwhelming on the topics of gun control and public policy over the three weeks following the shooting. The study also discovered that student activism assisted in setting the news media's agenda following the event.
Planting depth within-field soil variability effects on corn stand establishment and yield
Authors:   , Stewart Stirling
Published: December 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Seedbed conditions during corn (Zea Mays L.) planting can have substantial impact on corn stand establishment and final yield. Optimal stand establishment is associated with maintaining yield potential with sustained seedling vigor. Planting management decisions are complex due to spatial variability within-fields from changing soil characteristics, such as soil texture or landscape position. Furthermore, seedbed suitability varies temporally, and management decisions should also consider forecasted conditions. Field experiments conducted in central Missouri from 2017-2019 assessed varying corn planting depths on stand establishment and yield on fine- and coarse textured soils of an alluvial soil, and over summit, back-slope, and foot-slope slope positions of an alfisol claypan soil landscape. Additionally, in 2019, planting depths were conducted over two planting dates on a separate study of a claypan soil. On alluvial soil, deep planting (7.6 cm) often had the most uniform and timely emergence. Shallow planting (3.8 cm) had the least uniform emergence and was particularly troublesome on fine-textured soil under warm conditions. Total plot yield was not altered by changing planting depth, but individual plant performance revealed trends based on growing season, soil texture, and planting depth. On the claypan landscape investigation, stand establishment showed contrasting trends impacted by warm and cool growing conditions during the emergence period. When warm, deep planting depths provided enhanced emergence uniformity and rate, while the opposite was true for cool conditions. Planting depth influenced stand establishment characteristics, but only with cooler germination conditions. The back-slope position stand establishment changed the greatest across growing seasons and planting depths. In 2019, shallow (3.8 cm) and deep (7.6 cm) planting depths negatively impacted yield. Also, during the final year (2019), the early planting date experienced cool soil temperatures resulting in decreased emergence rate, uniformity, and percent. Corn yield was not affected by planting date or depth. These results indicate that certain soil textures and landscape positions require greater attention to achieve optimum stand establishment, and as such could be built into on-the-go planter prescriptions. These results also demonstrate that despite early establishment differences, corn can often compensate for performance issues and maintain similar yield potential.
A study of the militarized landscapes in gaming
Authors:   , Bridgeman Hesston
Published: December 2023

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Landscapes are a crucial and dynamic part of the field of geography and can be researched in many ways. The visual study of militarized landscape can inform us about the type of landscapes we interact with every day. Among the most impactful ways landscape and geopolitics are expressed and viewed are through technology and digital space. How does the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise represent militarized landscapes and environments? In particular, the subject of video games has become increasingly relevant to the field of landscape studies, geopolitics, and geography in general. The way these games are played, and the content within, creates a narrative and may impact how the player interprets the world and thinks about the landscapes that are represented. These games present representations of a wide range of social groups, nationality, place, and most importantly landscape. This thesis will explore several topics related to video game landscape, geopolitics, warfare--especially political propaganda--and oppositional binaries like us vs. them, the militarization of digital landscapes.
Annual evidence of moisture limitations at treeline in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Authors:   , Bailey Sydney N.
Published: December 2023

This study is focused on capturing a recent regeneration patterns on an annual level over the landscape of the Sangre de Cristo (SDC) mountain range. Modern temperature trends (post-1945) of this area are dominated by sharp rises in minimum temperature during the warm and cool seasons. Coincidentally, the onset of heat-induced drought stress is impacting trees throughout the mountain forest belt, though research is lacking across broad spatial scales at treeline. I used dendroecological techniques to destructively sample seedlings on contrasting north and south facing slopes at upper treeline in the SDC to investigate moisture interactions at treeline. I hypothesized that if patterns of tree regeneration are primarily driven by temperature, then I would expect seedling establishment to be more abundant on south-facing slopes. Alternatively, if heat induced drought stress is an important driver, I would expect seedling establishment to be more confined to north-facing slopes. Results show that seedling establishment is significantly (p < 0.01) favored on north-facing slopes (n=169) verses south-facing slopes (n = 66). These seedlings are also significantly younger (p < 0.05) and smaller (p < 0.01) than their counterparts on south-facing slopes. The relationship between climate and annual establishment patters were investigated to identify any important drivers. Results show that there is a negative relationship between drought conditions and establishment events. Across all sites (n=6) and slope aspects, there was no establishment found after 2009, possibly indicating a minimum threshold has been surpassed and conditions are no longer suitable to regeneration above treeline. This indicates the possibility of moisture limitations at treeline and brings into question the future structure and extent of the upper forest border under a warmer and drier climate.
Data mining student activity patterns in an interactive activity-based STEM learning environment
Authors:   , Brownawell Susan E.
Published: December 2023

Jupyter Notebook is gaining in popularity for STEM instruction and activity-based learning. This platform for sharing interactive documents via a web interface allows instructors to combine a variety of media together with interactive and editable code, providing rich opportunities for an active learning pedagogy. Other online learning environments, such as Canvas and Moodle, provide or integrate learning analytics for the use of administrators, educators, and students to improve learning outcomes; however, these platforms lack the rich learning environment of Jupyter Notebook. Also, with increasing interest in online learning, research communities have arisen for Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining. Unfortunately, these research communities have not yet begun to address the Jupyter Notebook learning environment. The University of Missouri College of Engineering offers a Program of Study in Data Science (PSDS) under contract with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA.) This program is delivered online, making heavy use of Jupyter notebooks served by JupyterHub for active engagement with course content. The PSDS infrastructure uses the Graylog log management program to collect Jupyter logs, which are stored in an integrated Elasticsearch document store for a period of months. The PSDS program provides an excellent case study for a proof-of-concept in applying learning analytics to the Jupyter learning environment. This thesis consists of two major parts. (1) Mining the Graylog system to extract useful log messages, transformation of those messages into student-activities features, and loading the data into a PostgreSQL database for long-term storage. (2) Developing a variety of visualizations of student activity for administrators, instructors and students. The pedological structure of PSDS courses allows unique insights into student engagement with the course material. Finally, recommendations are made for the development of a more comprehensive logging system and additional analyses that could be performed.
Innovative immersion approach to retention of African-American 1st year chemical engineers
Authors:   , Cathey Jeffrey J.
Published: December 2023

Students that identify as Black1, chemical engineers, and 1st-year undergraduates face unique circumstances along with perspectives that have not been assessed in depth. This pilot study aims to highlight the challenges facing 1st-year African-American students, within the bounds of their experiences during their introductory chemical engineering course and overall interactions within a Chemical Engineering Department at a Predominately White Institution (PWI). The emphasis on 1st-year students is that this group faces the largest retraction of enrollment across disciplines and the students studied possess intersecting identities noted to foster an "at-risk" retention history. Chemical engineering is a specialized major in itself and faces unique retention challenges; studies specific to retention in chemical engineering separate from engineering as a whole are limited. African American engineering retention characteristics and phenomena are an emerging field; insight specific to chemical engineering 1st-year students are not heavily reflected in the literature. The literature and my own findings show cultural2 barriers that hinder African-American students from perceiving the department as a nurturing and inclusive environment. This pilot study looks to bridge the institutional divides to gain an understanding of a population overlooked, as an effort to build a base for future work specifically examining and addressing Black students' experiences in chemical engineering.
Effects of musical collaboration on intergroup attitudes
Authors:   , Hollis Abigail M. A.
Published: December 2023

Music is an important presence in our world, thought to be universal in human societies. The ubiquity of music has led some to postulate that it might have an important evolutionary purpose. One theory about the purpose of music is that it helps facilitate the social aspects of our existence. If this is the case, music has the potential to be a powerful tool for change. Indeed, some research has suggested that music can increase positive intergroup interactions. Thus far, the research has shown that music may produce change in intergroup attitudes when accompanied by other intergroup interactions, such as cohabitation. It has also shown promise in relation to music preference and witnessed musical interaction. However, evidence for increased positive intergroup attitudes following actual (instead of imagined, vicarious, or witnessed) musical interaction in a controlled environment is still lacking. The purpose of this study was to test this idea. One hundred eighty-two undergraduate psychology students were recruited to complete musical tasks in collaboration, a non-musical task in collaboration, or a musical task alone (isolation). I hypothesized that (1) relative to intergroup non-musical collaboration, intergroup musical collaboration will lead to an increase in positive intergroup attitudes; and (2) musical isolation will lead to minimal or no increase in positive intergroup attitudes. The results of this study did not support these hypotheses.
The application of integrated regional enstrophy in identifying the south Asian summer monsoon season
Authors:   , Ji Qiuping
Published: December 2023

This study uses integrated regional enstrophy (IRE) to identify the onset and termination of South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) (10[degrees] N-25[degrees] N, 80[degrees] E-120[degrees] E) from 2000 to 2019. The SASM region is separated into two parts. The one in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) (10[degrees] N-25[degrees] N, 80[degrees] E-100[degrees] E) represents the Indian summer monsoon and the other one in the Western North Pacific (WNP) (10[degrees] N-25[degrees] N, 100[degrees] E-120[degrees] E) represents the Western North Pacific summer monsoon region. The onset is defined by the first day that the low-pass (6-month) IRE is larger than the 20-year average, and the retreat date is defined as the first day the low-pass IRE is less than the average. The same method is applied to the precipitation rate (Prate), and the opposite method is applied to the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). The results from each definition and each region are compared. In general, the IRE gave later onset than Prate and OLR, which resulted in a shorter SASM season. The later onsets given by IRE may be related to the bogus monsoon onset caused by the intraseasonal oscillation. The interannual variation caused by ENSO were not obvious with SASM defined by IRE. The WNP and the whole SASM regions seem to be more obviously affected by to the phase transition process of ENSO.
Intervertebral discs : metabolic responses to load, injury, and pro-inflammatory stimulation
Authors:   , LePage Emma C.
Published: December 2023

Introduction: Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is a significant cause of back pain and disability. Factors such as trauma and magnitude and frequency of loading are associated with IVD degeneration. However, the contributions of mechanical loading, injury, pro-inflammatory stimulation, or any/all of these factors combined, are not fully known. Excessive/abnormal loading is thought to contribute to degeneration through disruption of the extracellular matrix and pro-inflammatory/degradative responses of the tissue. The objective of this study was to determine how magnitude of loading with or without injury and/or pro-inflammatory stimulation affects the metabolic response of a whole-organ rat tail IVD explant model. Methods: Endplate-IVD-endplate whole-organ explants were harvested from the tails of rats. Injured groups were punctured with a 20G needle to the center of the nucleus and stimulated with or without 10ng/mL IL-1[beta]. Explants were cultured in the Flexcell system at various loading magnitudes for 3 days. Media was collected for biomarker analysis and tissue for extracellular matrix composition analysis. Results: Uninjured explants had increased pro-inflammatory, anti-degradative, and degradative biomarker release with the application of load. There was also an increased release of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) to the media and decreased tissue GAG with load. With injury, there was a general decrease in pro-inflammatory and anti-degradative biomarker release and increased GAG released to the media with the application of load. In injured and IL-1[beta] stimulated explants, there was increased pro-inflammatory and anti-degradative biomarker release to the media, decreased degradative activity, and decreased GAG release to the media with the application of load. Discussion: These results suggest that, with uninjured and non-inflamed discs, loading is associated with relevant pro-inflammatory and degradative responses in a magnitude-dependent manner. Additionally, loading may counteract the inflammatory and degradative responses in injured discs associated with pro-inflammatory cytokine stimulation. These differences have clinical importance as they can help in the development of methods to mitigate risk for IVD degeneration. Further study is required to elucidate the mechanisms underlying IVD responses to load and/or injury with or without cytokine stimulation and translate these findings to the clinical setting.
An evaluation of functional analysis methodology for play behaviors in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder
Authors:   , Light Simone
Published: December 2023

Deficits in play skills are common among children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The importance of play in educational settings provides opportunities to build relationships and social interactions in those contexts. To facilitate play, the environment can be altered to isolate reinforcing variables that specifically increase the occurrence of the target behavior. One method to assess those variables is using a functional analysis. Although commonly used to assess the occurrence of challenging behavior, the current study offers a methodology for identifying environmental conditions that support increased levels of functional play. A multi-element experimental design assessed the environmental contexts which promoted functional play across three young children diagnosed with ASD. Results from this study indicated the potential for using functional analysis as a tool to identify environmental variables that promote increased durations and variability of functional play for all three participants. Additionally, for one participant, a social validity assessment was completed to determine his preferred condition. The most selected condition did not align with the condition that reinforced the most functional play. A review of limitations and future extensions are discussed.
Educating for adoption : understanding long-term outcomes of the Agroforestry Academy
Authors:   , Mendelson Sophia
Published: December 2023

Agroforestry adoption remains low in temperate regions despite academic acceptance of diverse benefits. And while education is often cited as a tool for empowering adoption, researchers have struggled to identify generalizable factors regarding agroforestry education that lead to successful adoption. As such, there is a need for investigation into the relationship between educational programming and agroforestry adoption within particular, program-specific contexts. One such context is the Agroforestry Academy at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, an annual week-long temperate agroforestry training program. This study represents the first long term follow-up with participants since the program's inception in 2013, and utilizes a 'learning for sustainability' framework to ask Who learns? Why is it learned? How is it learned? and What is learned? with the purpose of developing a richer understanding of the role that educational programming plays in relation to agroforestry adoption processes, as well as how that role might be leveraged to enhance such processes moving forward. In addition to potential programmatic adjustments, findings reveal the importance of instrumental, experiential, and social learning orientations within adult agroforestry education. Further research into methods of enhancing agroforestry instructors' capacity for social learning and network facilitation is recommended.
Characterization of the relationship between radiographic grading and biomarkers in patients with knee osteoarthritis
Authors:   , Patel Ishita R.
Published: December 2023

"Osteoarthritis (OA) is a whole-joint degenerative disease, affecting more than 25 percent of the adult population. Currently, OA is most commonly diagnosed based on radiographic documentation. However, radiographic grading is only able to diagnose OA at later stages of the disease. Thus, in recent years research into serum, urine and synovial fluid biomarkers has increased in hopes of developing diagnostic, disease stage and prognostic models for OA and increase our understanding of disease biology. The objective of this study was to develop biomarker panels using serum, urine and synovial fluid to predict radiographic grade based on the Kellgren Lawrence (K-L), JS-I-O and Composite scoring systems, and to determine biomarker differences in patients with varying degrees of radiographic marker severity based on the Composite scoring system. Methods: Bilateral anterior posterior and merchant radiographs were obtained from patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Serum, urine and synovial fluid were collected from patients prior to or during surgery. Fluid samples were analyzed for biomarkers relating to degradation, synthesis, inflammation and bone metabolism. Results: Biomarker panels were created for each of the radiographic scoring systems. The biomarker panel for composite scoring had the highest overall predictive ability and the K-L grading system had the lowest. Further, each biomarker panel was unique and highlighted different OA disease mechanisms. When examining differences in biomarkers based on radiographic marker severity assessed by the Composite scoring system, biomarker levels were different in patients with: medial and lateral joint space narrowing, osteophyte formation, medial cyst formation, lateral chondrocalcinosis, patellofemoral joint space loss and misalignment. Discussion: These results suggests how you radiographically assess a patient can place them into different cohorts and significantly affect the biomarkers required for development of predictive panels. Further, these results show that differences in biomarker concentrations exist between patients with varying degrees of radiographic markers in specific compartments of the knee. Taken together, this study shows that radiographic grading with the addition of biomarkers can improve our understanding of disease biology, ultimately leading to earlier diagnosis, improved prediction of disease progression, better clinical decision making and better treatment monitoring."--Introduction
When theories of psychology and composition intersect : a case study of Schoenberg, Dutilleux, and Lansky
Authors:   , Roberts Elisabeth C.
Published: December 2023

Although music had been understood for centuries to affect and even express certain psychological states, the method of observation and study essential to the evolving field of psychology and neuroscience in the twentieth century ushered in a profoundly different approach to considering the sense of self, the world, and creativity. Consequently, knowledge about psychology appears to have affected creative activities. It then follows that, as the discipline of psychology--made manifest specifically in cognition and memory--evolved in Western society, its morphing theories flavored the perspectives of musicians in their craft. The objective of this thesis is to examine the effects of psychology on three prominent twentieth-century composers in the context of one musical work by each: Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19 (1911) of Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Metaboles (1964) by Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013), and the chatter series (1985-1988) of Paul Lansky (born 1944). These compositions serve as successive representations of psychological influence, in which it becomes apparent that societal views of psychology can play a subtle but powerful and reflexive part in music creation. Each work was composed for a different instrumental medium and represents a separate national tradition. In essence, I am proposing a new kind of case study, in which the composition of art music can be evaluated as a fulfillment of creators who are interacting to some degree with their own personal knowledge of contemporaneous psychology, whether explicitly or implicitly.
Rural agglomeration : how does the distribution of people across rural America affect entrepreneurship?
Authors:   , Sanders Austin
Published: December 2023

Where people live affects a region's economy. Urban economists have long analyzed the effects of large and densely settled regions -- urban agglomerations -- on the local economy, finding that people and businesses in these places tend to benefit from low transportation costs, access to large labor and consumer markets, and knowledge spillovers. In this context, rural areas are largely considered to be the sparsely populated 'other' however, our experiences suggest that population distribution varies across rural America, with people in some rural regions densely clustered in small towns while people in other regions are thinly spread across the countryside. In this study, I develop a measure of the rural population distribution -- rural agglomeration -- and test its explanatory power in a regional entrepreneurship model to determine if rural counties where population is more clustered in towns benefit from the effects of dense settlement patterns described in the urban economics literature. This study contributes to the existing literature on entrepreneurship and regional economic development by applying the agglomeration economies concept to a rural context. Rural agglomeration is a new way to characterize rural regions and it may have important policy implications for rural businesses, infrastructure (e.g., broadband), and services (e.g., public education and healthcare).
Habitat use and distribution of lithophilic spawning and riffle fishes in the East Fork Black River
Authors:   , Brant John
Published: December 2023

Freshwater streams are dynamic ecosystems that house diversity of taxa adapted to and dependent on habitat characteristics these flowing systems. Conservation of these ecosystems, requires an understanding of the abiotic and biotic factors and relationships that influence the presence, survival, and persistence of stream organisms. Stream fishes face natural challenges inherent to stream life and anthropogenic threats such as fragmentation and impoundment of streams. In addition to inhibiting movement of fish, dams influence habitat characteristics such as substrate distribution and size. Dams alter downstream substrate characteristics, which in turn influences availability of habitat characteristics necessary for native lithophilic spawning fishes. The goal of our project was to determine if substrate size and distribution are limiting habitat characteristics for lithophilic spawning fishes of the East Fork Black River downstream of Taum Sauk Reservoir in the Missouri Ozarks. Our questions were: 1) What habitat characteristics do Hornyhead Chubs, Nocomis biguttatus, select for spawning in the East Fork Black River? and 2) What habitat characteristics are associated with fish communities within riffles and runs in the East Fork Black River?
The variability of the El Nino southern oscillation and Modoki mode and their impacts on New York State climate
Authors:   , Cain Thomas
Published: December 2023

The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has long been an influential climate and weather driver for many regions. Many studies have examined the variability of the phases of ENSO, leading to discovery of a separate mode of El Nino dubbed the El Nino Modoki, featuring a tripole Walker circulation. However, few studies have examined the variability of El Nino with Modoki separated from regular El Nino events. The goals of this study were to demonstrate that the El Nino signal was stronger separate from Modoki (thus leading to higher predictability), and to examine the effect of the Modoki on both a national and regional level, showing the connection between other teleconnections such as the Pacific North American teleconnection (PNA), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and the North American Oscillation teleconnection (NAO). Using NCEP/NCAR composites, conventional El Nino events were found to have a stronger signal, with persistent features being easier to identify. Similarly, the Modoki showed a pattern that was similar but different to the regular El Nino. Using New York State for the area of regional analysis, all ENSO phases were found to modify the effect of the PNA, but the effect was different depending on location. Both of these results indicate that it is possible to generate a clearer picture of the impacts of ENSO by properly classifying these events.