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You Can’T “Nudge” Nuggets: An Investigation Of Late Night Dining With Behavioral Economics Interventions, Samuel Bevet, Lizzy Pope, Meredith Niles

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate and improve the “Late-Night Dining” options in a university dining hall. Surveys assessed student desires around Late-Night offerings, and evaluated students’ habits and motivations during Late-Night. Two interventions based on the principles of behavioral economics were implemented to see if students could be “nudged” into making healthier choices. In the first, a “veggie-heavy” entrée was added at the beginning of the entrée line, so that students would substitute a healthier entrée for the less healthy alternatives. In the second, a healthy snack-food bar was set up to cater to students who didn’t want …

Diabetes Type Ii Quality Improvement Using The My Own Health Report, Lynn Bennett Mcmorrow Fnp-C

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Diabetes Mellitus Type II Quality Improvement Using the My Own Health Report

Lynn Bennett McMorrow

Rationale: To maintain Primary Care Medical Home status, Cold Hollow Family Practice (CHFP) is mandated to perform continuous quality improvement for chronically ill patients. To achieve this goal at CHFP, a formal quality improvement (QI) process using a validated health risk assessment tool, My Own Health Report (MOHR) was used to engage patients with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in dialogue regarding self change behaviors. The goal was to improve patient self-care management as evidenced by decreased HbA1c readings or weight as compared to non-participating patients, …

Standardizing The Process For Diagnosing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) In The Primary Care Setting, Louise Rosales

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Standardizing the Process for Diagnosing

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the Primary Care Setting

Louise Moon Rosales, MSN, APRN

Purpose. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common problem that primary care providers diagnose and treat. Yet, there is a current lack of standardization to diagnose ADHD in many primary care settings. This purpose of this project was to standardize the process of diagnosing ADHD through introduction of screening instruments. Objectives included: assessment of clinician knowledge and attitudes about ADHD, implementation of a clinician-directed educational intervention, and development of a work flow procedure to standardize the diagnostic process.

Methods. …

Implementation Of A Deconditioning Prevention Program: Getting Dressed Makes A Difference, Seleem R. Choudhury

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Implementation of a Deconditioning Prevention Program: Getting Dressed Makes a Difference

Seleem R. Choudhury MSN, MBA, RN, CEN, FAEN

Purpose. Deconditioning by immobility or bed rest affects essential body systems and diminishes functional capacity. Individuals age 65 and older have more hospital stays than any other age group. they also account for one out of three hospital admissions costing healthcare over $330 Billion annually. Numerous studies demonstrate this age group often struggle to get back to normal level of activity. . Empowering patients to dress and wear their own clothes can prevent deconditioning. Benefits to hospitals include reduced cost through …

Implementation Of Family Planning And Contraception For Female Inmates In Vermont, Callan Janowiec Fnp

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Background and Objective(s): Unplanned pregnancies are disproportionately high among female inmates, and incarceration provides a unique opportunity for care may be otherwise difficult to obtain, including reproductive health and family planning services, specifically the provision of contraception. It is known that women are 14 times more likely to initiate contraception if education and services are provided within the prison (Clarke et al., 2006b). Despite decades of research identifying the unmet need, very few prisons around the country provide any sort of sexual health or family planning care to prisoners (Braithwaite, Treadwell, & Arriola, 2008).

Methods: This project involves the creation …

Enhancing Discharge Transitions At Gifford Health Care, Megan L. O'Brien

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Enhancing Discharge Transitions at Gifford Health Care

Megan L. O’Brien, MS, FNP-BC, APRN

Purpose. During transitions of hospital discharge, errors and lack of education pose risks to patients resulting in dissatisfaction with hospital care, poorly attended follow-up appointments, and readmissions. Discharge planning that encompasses patient centered, multidisciplinary principles have been proven to reduce health care costs while increasing satisfaction among patients and staff. At Gifford Health Care in Randolph, Vermont, hospital readmission rates were below the national average of 15.9%, but the patient satisfaction scores were lower than state and national averages. To improve discharge transitions, this project utilized the …

Truth And Lives: Beneath Our Skin, Jeanette Miller

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

“Art can be fundamental to our collective understanding of who we are, what we believe, and how we relate to each other and our surroundings. Artists can weave the cultural fabric necessary for a sustainable, vibrant society.” (Surdna Foundation, 2016).

With this in mind, I’ve sought to create a project aimed at generating insight, compassion and critical dialogue around the common threads of body diversity. Through a practice of relationship building with individuals from diverse and marginalized intersections of society, I’ve begun adapting stories, shared by participants, about how they live and thrive (or not) in their bodies. Adaptations are …

Gratitude, Reciprocity And Joyful Connection: Cultivating Planetary Well-Being In Education, Kristen M. Andrews

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

As an educator in the Anthropocene, I am called to create the conditions for students and teachers to care for themselves, others, and the earth in support of the greater whole. Care is born of connection, and when people engage in activities that foster relationships among all beings, human and non-human, they are poised to experience joy. From a place of joyful connection, our unique gifts are more likely to manifest in the interest of planetary wellbeing. The focus of this project was to cultivate this type wellbeing in educational venues by employing the interactive tools of gratitude and reciprocal …

Finding Home: An Exploration Of Place Through Storytelling, Devin M. Rigolino

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

With the increasing rate at which people move between communities of place, not everyone experiences the act of “putting down roots.” For some of us, these migratory lifestyles can hinder the development of connections and deep relationships with the places in which we live. This lack of connection can at times numb our ability to observe the impacts that we have on the places we find ourselves and on others we share these spaces with. By using Chicago, Illinois as a model for demonstration, this project offers insights on ways to strengthen the relationships people have with communities of place. …

Circle Practice: Stories Of Organizational Change, Relationships And Community, Colleen M. Twomey

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

This project explores the impacts of an organizational development process in a non-profit domestic and sexual violence program. The organizational changes documented in this initiative illuminate a disconnect between the process for organizational development and the quality of relationships among staff and the larger community. This project also explores the practice of Circle as a sacred gift from Indigenous peoples that has the capacity for creating individual, organizational, and community transformation in ways that can bring healing, love, authenticity and belonging to other initiatives working to end violence. The experiences from this project have led to a further exploration of …

Emergency Crisis Services For Psychiatric Boarder Patients At Central Vermont Hospital Ed, Ann E. Burzynski

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Project Publications

Purpose: This project’s aim was to reduce the length of emergency department (ED) stays for psychiatric boarder patients at Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) and prevent unnecessary psychiatric inpatient admissions through access to psychiatric crisis stabilization care.

Methods: June of 2016, CVMC ED developed a unit called the Transitional Care Area (TCA). TCA staffing consisted of mental health workers and security staff. Training strategies were derived from national evidence-based psychiatric care emergency programs (i.e., Alameda Model), along with pertinent safety actions from The Joint Commission. Training modules focused on community social supports, behavioral crisis stabilization modalities, and development of crisis …

Master's Project: A Case Study Of The "Benet Land Problem" In Eastern Uganda, Anna Dirkse

Rubenstein School Masters Project Publications

Boundaries are inherently political creations. Boundaries of national parks and other protected conservation areas are one such instance. Social boundary lines are also drawn within communities to determine who is legitimate and who is allowed to access resources as a community member. Boundary lines are also present in the stories people tell about themselves and their environment; the portrayal of their roles as land stewards may leave out certain details. The effects of environmental issues such as deforestation and soil erosion transcend such constructed boundaries.

Historically, the Benet, as indigenous peoples of eastern Uganda, had derived their livelihood and cultural …

Choices And Preferences Of Vermont Master Gardeners - Do Socio-Demographics Matter?, Grace Matiru

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to characterize the choices, preferences and motivations of fruit and vegetable gardeners in Vermont, and to determine whether socio-demographic characteristics affect some of these choices, preferences and motivations. Using a survey of Vermont Extension Master Gardeners (EMGs), data were gathered over a 3-year period (2011-2013). The findings show most EMGs (>90%) garden in private home gardens, and the most popular vegetables grown were tomatoes, herbs, and salad greens. Beans, cucumbers and peppers sere also popular and among fruits, blueberries, apples, raspberries and strawberries were grown by over 40% of EMGs. Approximately 10% of EMG …

Naloxone Administration Route In Opioid Overdose: A Review Of Vermont Ems Data, Alden York Sacco Mph, Chris Lamonda Mph, Michael O'Keefe, Daniel Wolfson Md, Mario Trabulsy Md

Master of Public Health Culminating Projects

Objective: Emergency Medical System (EMS) personnel administer the direct opioid antagonist naloxone in cases of opioid overdose via intramuscular (IM), intravenous (IV), subcutaneous (SQ), intraosseous (IO), or intranasal (IN) routes. Some early studies suggest that the intranasal route of administration is of similar effectiveness to injectable routes. The main objective of our study was to compare the efficacy of intravenous and intraosseous (IV/IO) routes of naloxone administration to the intranasal (IN) route in suspected opioid overdoses in Vermont.

Methods: We reviewed retrospective data from Vermont EMS Statewide Incident Reporting Network (SIREN) between April 2014 and August 2016. We included all …

Association Between Sexual Assault And Sexual Minority As Risk Factors For Suicidality Among Vermont Youth, Katherine Mariani, Heidi Gortakowski, Thomas Delaney

Master of Public Health Culminating Projects

Purpose: Sexual assault and sexual minority are known risk factors for suicidality in adolescents. This study identifies the association between sexual assault and sexual orientation in order to better predict and direct resources to teens at high-risk for suicide.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study utilizing the Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 2015. Logistic regression was used to correlate risk based on sexual assault and sexual orientation.

Results: 34.9% who were sexually assaulted attempted suicide compared to 4.0% of students who were not assaulted. 21.3% of LGB or unsure students attempted compared to 3.9% of straight youth. …

The Impact Of Act 148 On Food-Insecure Populations In Chittenden And Essex Counties Of Vermont, Gina E. Cassara

Environmental Studies Electronic Thesis Collection

It is estimated that as much as 40% of the food produced in the United States goes to waste (Hall, Guo, Dore, & Chow, 2009), and much is still edible when it is disposed of. Simultaneously, the United States faces significant food insecurity, with an estimated 12.7% of the population meeting the criteria in 2015 (Coleman-Jensen, Rabbit, Gregory, & Singh, 2016). In 2012, Vermont passed the Universal Recycling of Solid Waste Act, or Act 148, which bans recyclable materials from landfills by 2020 by mandating their recovery (VT DEC, 2014). Because the law includes edible food waste and prioritizes food …

Conserving Vermont's Endangered Species Through Designation Of Critical Habitat, Amanda M. Ramsing-Lund

Environmental Studies Electronic Thesis Collection

Although the Endangered Species Act of 1973 is federal legislation, protection of threatened and endangered (T & E) species varies in stringency across states. H.570 (Act 145) is a Vermont law passed during the 2015-2016 legislative session that updated some of the legal protections for T & E species. Through this legislation, the State was given the authority to protect critical habitat for T & E species through the Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources. However, the legislation did not provide an official way to designate areas as critical habitat. The purpose of this study was to design an …

Traditional Values In A Modern World: An Ethnographic Study Of Permaculture Practitioners In Vermont, Rose C. Thackeray

Environmental Studies Electronic Thesis Collection

Our current agricultural system is unsustainable, creating lasting and accumulating effects on the Earth’s ecosystems. Many people are growing unsatisfied with the ways in which our food system has degraded their individual and community well-being. Permaculture is an agro-ecological system, rooted in a set of ethics that in recent decades has sparked the interests of people far and wide, with varying backgrounds, to become more self-resilient and build healthier communities. This research seeks to understand individual experiences of permaculture practioners in Vermont and the impacts to their environmental worldview, relationship to the natural world, sense of community, and resiliency. One …

Automated Appointment Reminders And No-Show Rates At Appletree Bay Primary Care: A Quality Assurance Project, Kathleen Margaret Clark

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Nursing Master Project Publications

This quality assurance project is aimed to determine how effective a specific primary care office’s current method of reminding patients of scheduled appointments is in reducing the percentage of no-shows. The retrospective data gathered from a calendar month will be evaluated to determine what percentage of patients check-in when reminded with a telephone call. The estimated national no-show is between 23% and 34%. This project reveled a no-show rate of 3.7% at Appletree Bay Primary Care, This rate is important to the health and wellness of their patients. With additional research, the variables affecting this practice’s no-show rates may be …

The Impacts Of Preconception Nutrition On Pregnancy: An Educational Module Promoting Preconception Care, Alexa R. Holleran

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Nursing Master Project Publications

Recent research has shown that maternal overweight and obesity (OW/OB) prior to conception are directly and independently associated with negative outcomes in pregnancy, birth, infancy, childhood, and beyond. The purpose of this project was to create and evaluate educational materials for providers who work with women of childbearing age, in order to encourage and facilitate conversations about the importance of preconception nutrition in family planning. A literature review was conducted, and from it two documents were created: 1) an educational module for providers offering background information, relevant research, and tips for discussing the matter with patients; and 2) an infographic-style …

Increasing Pneumococcal Vaccination Among Adults 65 And Older: The Development And Implementation Of A Pneumococcal Vaccine Administration And Documentation Protocol For A Small Primary Care Practice., Marina M. Ecklund

College of Nursing and Health Sciences Nursing Master Project Publications

This project focuses on the development of a protocol to increase administration and documentation of pneumococcal vaccination among patient 65 years and older in a primary care practice setting. The project entails reviewing immunization records of all patients age ≥ 65 years at Appletree Bay Primary Care (ABPC) practice to determine current pneumococcal vaccination rates among the specified age group within the practice. A single trial vaccination clinic was it established in collaboration with the Vermont Family Pharmacy wherein patients were contacted by phone by the primary investigator, informed that they may be due for one or more pneumococcal vaccination …

Master's Project: The Ala Archa Ecological Leadership Project: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Environmental Adventure Education In Growing Responsible Environmental Leaders In The Kyrgyz Republic, Nathan E. Fry

Rubenstein School Masters Project Publications

Many experiential education programs maintain that their respective curriculums cause an increase in environmental ethics and action from graduates. However, a number of researchers suggest that programs do not produce genuine Responsible Environmental Behavior (REB) in students. Other researchers and educators have suggested that combining key elements from the two major models of experiential education – outdoor adventure education and environmental education – may produce the desired increase in REB. Based on research by Marcinkowski (2001), an increase in students’ internal locus of control coupled with an holistic approach to teaching ecological behavior are most likely to achieve this increase. …

Silica Nanoparticles For The Delivery Of Dna And Rnai In Cancer Treatment, Michael Aaron Vrolijk

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

DNA and interfering RNA (RNAi) – short interfering RNA (siRNA) and micro RNA (miRNA) – are promising new cancer therapies, especially for drug resistant lines. However, they require a delivery system in vivo to prevent degradation and off target effects. Silica based nanoparticles, both solid and mesoporous, are a promising option due to their biocompatibility, ease of preparation and morphology control, reproducibility, and facile addition of functional groups including targeting ligands.

After a brief introduction to cancer treatment and review of the current nanoparticle treatments undergoing clinical trials, this thesis details the many methods explored over the past ten years …

Estimating Landscape Quality And Genetic Structure Of Recovering American Marten Populations In The Northeastern United States, Cody Michael Aylward

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The American marten (Martes americana) is an endangered species in Vermont and a Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the northeastern United States. Though historically widespread in northeastern forests, their range presumably contracted to northern Maine and the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks by the early 1900s. Regionally, populations appear to be in recovery. Natural recolonization is believed to have occurred in New Hampshire, northeastern Vermont and the western Adirondacks. A reintroduction effort in southern Vermont that was originally declared unsuccessful is now believed to be the source of a recently detected population in the area. However, our …

Dutch-Indian Land Transactions, 1630-1664: A Legal Middle Ground Of Land Tenures, Daniella Franccesca Bassi

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Living by a commercial ethic and resisting English encroachment from New England, the Dutch made at least 40 land purchases by written deed from their Indian neighbors from 1630 to 1664. In the past, scholars have seen only a European instrument of dispossession in the so-called "Indian deeds" that document land transfers from Indians to Europeans. In fact, they are colonial phenomena with uniquely Indian qualities. This is particularly true of the Dutch-Indian deeds signed or marked between 1630 and 1664. The Dutch-Indian deeds of the seventeenth century exhibit a middle ground of land tenures, in which the Dutch were …

Hiding In Plain Sight: How Binary Gender Assumptions Complicate Efforts To Meet Transgender Students' Name And Pronoun Needs, Dot Brauer

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Existing literature about transgender college students calls upon higher education organizations to support trans students' use of self-identified first names (in place of legal names, given at birth) and self-identified pronouns (in place of assumed pronouns based on sex assigned at birth, or other's perceptions of physical appearance), but that literature lacks guidance on how to achieve this work, which is deceptively complex. This study addressed this gap in the literature in two ways. First by using critical theory to show how hegemonic, binary notions of gender shape intellectual, social, and regulatory dimensions of higher education in ways that complicate …

Protein Kinase Mzeta (Pkm-Ζ) Regulates Kv1.2 Dependent Cerebellar Eyeblink Classical Conditioning, Kutibh Chihabi

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Learning and memory has been a topic that has captured the attention of the scientific and public communities since the dawn of scientific discovery. Without the faculty of memory, mammals cannot experience nor function in the world; among homosapiens specifically, language, relationships, and personal identity cannot be developed (Eysenck, 2012). After all, some philosophers such as John Locke argued we are nothing but a collection of past memories in which we have developed and improved upon (Nimbalkar, 2011).

Understanding the cellular mechanisms behind learning, and the subsequent formation of memory, has been a topic that has garnered scientific interest for …

An Exposition Of Selberg's Sieve, Jack Dalton

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

A number of exciting recent developments in the field of sieve theory have been done concerning bounded gaps between prime numbers. One of the main techniques used in these papers is a modified version of Selberg's Sieve from the 1940's. While there are a number of sources that explain the original sieve, most, if not all, are quite inaccessible to those without significant experience in analytic number theory. The goal of this exposition is to change that. The statement and proof of the general form of Selberg's sieve is, by itself, difficult to understand and appreciate. For this reason, the …

Detecting Landscape Response To Perturbations By Climate And Base Level In Central Pennsylvania Using In-Situ 10be And 26al, Alison R. Denn

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The change of topography with time and the consequent structure of Earth's surface is dependent on the production and transport of weathered bedrock. I use measurements of in-situ cosmogenic 10Be to investigate erosion rates and exposure ages of boulders, streams, and hillslope sediments in central Pennsylvania, a landscape shaped by glacial/interglacial climate cycles and changes in base level. I measure rates of landscape change at three separate sites, Hickory Run boulder field, Young Womans Creek watershed, and Garner Run, a small upland catchment bounded by two ridgelines.

Hickory Run Boulder field is the largest of its kind in the eastern …

Accelerating Quantum Monte Carlo Via Graphics Processing Units, Benjamin Evert Himberg

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

An exact quantum Monte Carlo algorithm for interacting particles in the spatial continuum is extended to exploit the massive parallelism offered by graphics processing units. Its efficacy is tested on the Calogero-Sutherland model describing a system of bosons interacting in one spatial dimension via an inverse square law. Due to the long range nature of the interactions, this model has proved difficult to simulate via conventional path integral Monte Carlo methods running on conventional processors. Using Graphics Processing Units, optimal speedup factors of up to 640 times are obtained for N = 126 particles. The known results for the ground …