Digital Commons Network^™

Working In A Wiki: A Tool For Collaboration Among Virtual Teams, Joanne Kinsey, Amy L. Carozzino

Journal of Extension

A wiki can be a useful collaborative Web tool for managing virtual teamwork. Although a wiki is easy to use, the challenge comes with enlisting team members to adopt a wiki for collaborative projects. This article describes uses of a wiki, challenges to maintaining virtual teams, and five recommendations for implementation by universities, agencies, and institutions.

Extension Master Gardener Intranet: Automating Administration, Motivating Volunteers, Increasing Efficiency, And Facilitating Impact Reporting, Lucy K. Bradley, Jonneen Cook, Chris Cook

Journal of Extension

North Carolina State University has incorporated many aspects of volunteer program administration and reporting into an on-line solution that integrates impact reporting into daily program management. The Extension Master Gardener Intranet automates many of the administrative tasks associated with volunteer management, increasing efficiency, and facilitating impact reporting while inherently motivating volunteers by meeting their needs for achievement, affiliation, and power.

Better Kid Care Program Improves The Quality Of Child Care: Results From An Interview Study, Carol S. Ostergren, David A. Riley, Jenny M. Wehmeier

Journal of Extension

More high quality child care is needed in the United States. This article evaluates the Better Kid Care (BKC) program produced by Pennsylvania State University Extension. Child care staff in Wisconsin were interviewed about changes they had made in their early childhood programs following participation in the BKC program. Findings show that 2 months post-program, most participants could name specific skills or knowledge they learned and improvements they made in their early childhood programs as a result of BKC. The BKC program improves child care quality, and increasing program participation is recommended.

Graduate Scholar Profiles, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Craig Callen: Tributes From The Evidence Community, Richard D. Friedman

Articles

At the wonderful memorial service for Craig Callen held at MSU shortly after his death in April, I had the honor, by reason of proximity, to appear in effect as the representative of nationwide, and even worldwide, community of scholars that has felt his death very deeply. I am grateful for the opportunity to perform this same function in print.

Meeting Extension Programming Needs With Technology: A Case Study Of Agritourism Webinars, Samantha Rozier Rich, Stephen Komar, Brian Schilling, Stacy R. Tomas, Jenny Carleo, Susan J. Colucci

Journal of Extension

As clientele needs diversify, Extension educators are examining new technologies, including online tools, to deliver educational programming and resources. Using agritourism as the educational topic, the study reported here sought to evaluate participants' acceptance of online educational programming (webinars) and the effectiveness of the technology in meeting the needs of participants and Extension educators. Overall, results provided favorable support of webinars for online educational programming and illustrated the effectiveness of this technology in reaching diverse audiences. Findings suggest webinars can enhance the value, availability, and sustainability of Cooperative Extension programming.

Revising An Extension Education Website For Limited Resource Audiences Using Social Marketing Theory, Sarah L. Francis, Peggy Martin, Kristin Taylor

Journal of Extension

Spend Smart Eat Smart (SSES), a unique website combining nutrition and food buying education for limited resource audiences (LRAs), was revised using social marketing theory to make it more appealing and relevant to LRAs (25-40 years). Focus groups and surveys identified the needs and preferences of LRAs. Needs were cooking, basic health, and budget-friendly nutrition ideas. Preferences were limited text, more videos, graphics, and color. Usability testing of the revised site indicated users perceived the information valuable and the design appealing. By incorporating the needs and preferences of LRAs, SSES is now perceived as appealing as well as relevant.

Mapping Extension's Networks: Using Social Network Analysis To Explore Extension's Outreach, Tom Bartholomay, Scott Chazdon, Mary S. Marczak, Kathrin C. Walker

Journal of Extension

The University of Minnesota Extension conducted a social network analysis (SNA) to examine its outreach to organizations external to the University of Minnesota. The study found that its outreach network was both broad in its reach and strong in its connections. The study found that SNA offers a unique method for describing and measuring Extension outreach and that SNA can be effectively used to examine internal patterns around outreach while informing strategies toward improved alignment and greater leveraging of institutional knowledge. The findings indicate that SNA has great potential for improving reporting, developing internal collaboration, and conducting system-wide impact evaluations.

Place-Based Learning And Mobile Technology, Chris Labelle

Journal of Extension

When delivered on a mobile device, interpretive tours of a locale afford powerful learning experiences. As mobile devices become more powerful, content for these devices that is individualized and location-specific has become more common. In light of this trend, Oregon State University Extension developed a GPS-enabled iPhone tree tour application. This article discusses lessons learned during the design, development, and evaluation of the application and suggests locale-specific instructional content delivered on a mobile device can be an effective instructional approach for Extension educators.

Virtual Training For Virtual Success: Michigan State University Extension's Virtual Conference, Lela Vandenberg, Luke Reese

Journal of Extension

Michigan State University Extension conducted its first virtual conference, attended by more than 600 staff, with a weeklong menu of over 100 online meetings and learning sessions. Providing multiple types of pre-conference hands-on training to small groups using Adobe Connect Pro was an important key to success. Other success factors were pre and post training homework, well-trained "hosts" for each session, guidelines and checklists, pre-conference equipment check, virtual office hours, and immediate and friendly help. Embedding these factors into online training can help ensure successful adoption and positive impact of this new way of meeting and sharing knowledge.

An Analysis Of The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service's Role In Bridging The Digital Divide, Antoine J. Alston, Lashawn Hilton, Chastity Warren English, Chanda Elbert, Dexter Wakefield

Journal of Extension

The study reported here sought to determine the perception of North Carolina County Cooperative Extension directors in regard to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service's role in bridging the digital divide. It was perceived by respondents that variables such as income, education, gender, disability status, race/ethnicity, age, and geographic location (rural versus urban) are major factors in the digital divide. Recommendations are made regarding North Carolina Cooperative Extension forming partnerships in order to narrow the digital divide in its regions, in addition to developing educational programming efforts in this area for all clientele served.

Social Media Use Of Cooperative Extension Family Economics Educators: Online Survey Results And Implications, Barbara O’Neill, Andrew Zumwalt, Janet Bechman

Journal of Extension

This article describes results of an online survey conducted by the eXtension Financial Security for All (FSA) Community of Practice (CoP) to determine the social media capacity and activity of its members. The survey was conducted to inform two subsequent FSA CoP programs: an archived webinar on social media programs and impact evaluation methods and a national grant-funded financial education social media outreach project. Survey topics include social media tools and access methods used by FSA CoP members, frequency of use, descriptions of content posted, number of fans/followers, institutional guidelines, and social media impact evaluation strategies.

An Examination Of The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, And Threats Associated With The Adoption Of Moodle™ By Extension, Tayla Elise Hightower, Theresa Pesl Murphrey, Susanna Mumm Coppernoll, Jennifer Jahedkar, Kim E. Dooley

Journal of Extension

The use of technology to deliver programming across Extension has been addressed widely; however, little research has been conducted concerning the use of Moodle™ as a course management system for Extension. The purpose of the study reported here was to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the use of Moodle™ as an educational tool in eXtension from the perspective of those currently using the system. Findings reveal specific elements affecting the adoption of Moodle™ across eXtension that should be addressed in order to encourage further diffusion.

Chinches De Cama (Bed Bugs): Para Profesionales En El Control De Pestes, Ryan S. Davis

All Current Publications

En la última década, reportes de infestaciones de chinches de cama (Cimicidae: Cimex lectularius) han estado en aumento en todo Norte América y en otros países. De acuerdo con esto, las presentaciones de chinches de cama al Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Lab también han aumentado. Esta hoja de datos ha sido diseñada para informar a los profesionales en el control de pestes de las complejidades involucradas en la erradicación de chinches de cama.

Comprehensive Strength Training Program For A Recreational Senior Golfer 11-Months After A Rotator Cuff Repair, Jason Brumitt, Erik P. Meira, Hui En Gilpin, Meredith Brunette

Faculty Publications - College of Physical Therapy

Background and Purpose: Golf is a popular sport played by hundreds of thousands of individuals of all ages and of varying skill levels. An orthopedic or sports-related injury and/or surgery may limit an individual’s sport participation, require him/her to complete a course of rehabilitation, and initiate (or resume) a sportspecific training program. Unlike the availability of evidence to guide postsurgical rehabilitation and sportspecific training of athletes from sports other than golf, there have only been two reports describing outcomes after surgery and for golfers. The purpose of this case report is to present a post-rehabilitation return to sporttraining program for …

Escape From Competition: Neighbors Reduce Centaurea Stoebe Performance At Home But Not Away, Ragan M. Callaway, Lauren P. Waller, Alecu Diaconu, Robert Pal, Alexandra R. Collins, Heingz Mueller-Schaerer, John L. Maron

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The greater abundance of some exotic plants in their nonnative ranges might be explained in part by biogeographic differences in the strength of competition, but these competitive effects have not been experimentally examined in the field. We compared the effects of neighbors on the growth and reproduction of spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) in Europe, where it is native, and in Montana, where it is invasive. There were strong negative competitive effects of neighboring vegetation on C. stoebe growth and reproduction in Europe. In contrast, identical experiments in Montana resulted in insignificant impacts on C. stoebe. Although the …

Recent Rates Of Forest Harvest And Conversion In North America, Jeffrey G. Masek, Warren B. Cohen, Donald Leckie, Michael A. Wulder, Rodrigo Vargas, Ben De Jong, S. P. Healey, Beverly Law, Richard Birdsey, R. A. Houghton, David J. Mildrexler, Samuel Goward, W. Brad Smith

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications

Incorporating ecological disturbance into biogeochemical models is critical for estimating current and future carbon stocks and fluxes. In particular, anthropogenic disturbances, such as forest conversion and wood harvest, strongly affect forest carbon dynamics within North America. This paper summarizes recent (2000–2008) rates of extraction, including both conversion and harvest, derived from national forest inventories for North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico). During the 2000s, 6.1 million ha/yr were affected by harvest, another 1.0 million ha/yr were converted to other land uses through gross deforestation, and 0.4 million ha/yr were degraded. Thus about 1.0% of North America's forests experienced …

Genetic Monitoring For Managers: A New Online Resource, Jeffrey Brian Stetz, Katherine Kendall, Christina D. Vojta, Genetic Monitoring (Gem) Working Group

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

Monitoring our natural resources will increasingly rely on genetic tools in order to understand and respond to invasive species, habitat degradation, fragmentation, disease, or climate-related changes. In recent years, the rapidly evolving field of genetic monitoring has seen explosive growth in sampling methods, genetic markers, and analytical approaches designed to estimate a wide range of parameters from connectivity to population growth rates. Some of these methods have taken root and now dominate particular aspects of population assessment and monitoring, whereas others have seen less success in real-world applications. To aid managers and researchers with limited genetics experience, we developed a …

Children’S Independent Mobility : And The Mobile Phone: 8 To 12 Year Olds, Catherine Underwood

Program monitoring and evaluation

Children who know how to use a mobile phone, as opposed to those who don’t, are more likely to move about their neighbourhood without adult supervision, research from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) suggests. The study, by ACER Research Fellow Ms Catherine Underwood, examined the extent to which knowing how to use a mobile phone is correlated with children’s physical activity and ability to move through their neighbourhood without adult supervision, also known as independent mobility. More than 800 Victorian primary school children aged between 8 and 12 years participated in the research, of which 84 per cent …

Novel Amino Acid Transporter-Targeted Radiotracers For Breast Cancer Imaging, Fanlin Kong

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women in the world. Its 5-year survival rate ranges from 23.4% in patients with stage IV to 98% in stage I disease, highlighting the importance of early detection and diagnosis. ¹⁸F-2-Fluoro-2-deoxy-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG), using positron emission tomography (PET), is the most common functional imaging tool for breast cancer diagnosis currently. Unfortunately, ¹⁸F-FDG-PET has several limitations such as poorly differentiating tumor tissues from inflammatory and normal brain tissues. Therefore, ¹⁸F-labeled amino acid-based radiotracers have been reported as an alternative, which is based on the fact that tumor cells uptake …

Cultural Orientation And Drinking Behaviors Among Chinese University Students, Shiyuan Wang

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study aimed to develop a cultural orientation instrument among Chinese university students and to investigate the relationship between cultural orientation and their drinking behaviors. Four research questions were raised regarding these two objectives. A sample of 1421 students from universities in Beijing, Kunming and Wuhan participated in this study. The final instrument included 67 items consisting of 10 factors that loaded on two second-order factors: Chinese and Western culture. Thus, four categories of cultural orientation (Traditional, Western, Bicultural and Marginal) emerged, confirming the applicability of Berry’s acculturation theory in cultural orientation. The result also indicated that traditional oriented group …

Effective Science Teachers’ Professional Development: A Multiple-Case Study Of District-Level Science Supervisors’ Perspectives, Chris J. Schaben

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

At its heart, science teachers’ professional development is about continual growth and improvement (Yager, 2005). Conducting research to understand what constitutes effective professional development is inherently complex (Hewson, 2007). The imperative to link research on professional development to student achievement (Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003) increases complexity of research on the topic. These complexities require multiple research approaches and indicate that all stakeholders could provide insights to identify what constitutes effective professional development. District-level science supervisors’ voices are missing from the data on effective science teachers’ professional development and this provides a potential gap in the literature (Banilower, Heck, …

Community College Faculty Perspective On Changing Online Course Management Systems: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Kathleen Eitzmann

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This is a phenomenological research study about a college that is changing course management systems for online courses and the experiences that the full-time faculty go through during the transition from one course management system (CMS) to another.

Colleges are seeing a student enrollment shift away from the traditional classroom toward the online environment. This demand in online learning means colleges have to offer more online courses, train more faculty, and support the technological requirements of online learning. Many colleges purchase a course management system to support their online courses. When a college changes the course management system, faculty must …

Abiotic Stress Responses In Photosynthetic Organisms, Joseph Msanne

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cellular and molecular aspects of abiotic stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana subjected to cold, drought, and high salinity and in two photosynthetic green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Coccomyxa sp. C-169, subjected to nitrogen deprivation were investigated. Cold, drought, and high salinity can negatively affect plant growth and crop production. The first research aimed at determining the physiological functions of the stress-responsive Arabidopsis thaliana RD29A and RD29B genes. Cold, drought, and salt induced both genes; the promoter of RD29Awas found to be more responsive to drought and cold stresses, whereas the promoter of RD29B was highly responsive to salt stress. …

Quantum Mechanical And Molecular Mechanical Study Of Solvent Effects, Dejun Si

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Intermolecular interaction and solvent effects play important roles in determining physical and chemical properties of molecular systems, and must be considered in relevant quantum mechanical (QM) calculations. Due to the high computational cost, full and rigorous QM treatment of both solute and solvent molecules is impractical. Computationally efficient molecular mechanical (MM) methods can be used to describe solvent effects, and combined into QM methods to formulate QM/MM methods. Classical force field method and reaction-field method are the two most popular MM methods. However, the issue of effectively combining MM methods with high-level QM methods remains unsolved. This thesis presents several …

Federalizing Medicaid, Nicole Huberfeld

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article is one of only a small number of proposals over the past forty-six years for federalizing Medicaid. None of these proposals has grappled directly with the reasons that Medicaid does not satisfy federalism goals, and thus a key reason for modernizing Medicaid’s structure has been ignored. Despite being an area of “traditional state concern,” healthcare should no longer be left to the economic and political whims of the states, as Medicaid is not an effective Brandeisian “laboratory of the states.” Admittedly, some would oppose centralization on the ideological grounds that more federal government power is bad, and more …

Fundamental Rights In Latin America A Comparative Study Addressing Human Rights Violations In Venezuela, Colombia, And Argentina, Maria Eugenia Rios

HIM 1990-2015

Over the last few decades the importance of human rights has increased considerably in international relations. With globalization and democratization, more states and individuals develop concerns about the fundamental rights every human is entitled to; regardless of sex, religion and ethnicity. Latin American countries began obtaining their independence over 200 years ago while progressing into becoming working democracies. Yet, they have been plagued by oscillating authoritarian regimes and social conflicts that constrain and inhibit their hopeful development. The majority of the Latin American states have reached a point where further positive growth was expected; yet human violations have taken a …

Explaining The Economic Control Of Iran By The Irgc, Matthew Douglas Robin

HIM 1990-2015

In 1979, Iran underwent the Islamic Revolution, which radically changed society. The Iranian Revolution Guard (IRGC) was born from the revolution and has witnessed its role in society changed over time. Many have said the IRGC has reached the apex of its power and is one of if not the dominating force in Iranian society. The most recent extension of the IRGC's control is in the economic realm. The purpose of this research is to explain the reasoning and mechanism behind this recent gain in power. The literature review demonstrates flaws by previous studies of Iran. Most used a singular …

Rand Takes On The Constitution An Objectivist Perspective Of The United States Constitution, Farin C. Robinson

HIM 1990-2015

Author and philosopher Ayn Rand has gathered a cult like following thanks to her bestselling novels We the Living, Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Through Rand's fictional writings she illustrates the principles of her philosophy objectivism. Objectivism employs five principles; objective reality, reason, self -interest, capitalism and individualism as the truths that govern the philosophy. Objectivists believe that their self-reliant philosophy holds the key to all life's answers. This thesis examines the following question: what would the founder of objectivism Ayn Rand think about the U.S. Constitution? Sadly Ayn Rand passed away in 1982 and never expressed her full …

Improving Eyewitness Testimony Methods For More Accurate Recall Of Events, Ashley M. Schachter

HIM 1990-2015

Eyewitness testimony has as long history in the court system, and is very persuasive to juries. Jurors are hard pressed to ignore a witness' assertion of a perpetrator's identity. However, the juror's perception of eyewitness testimony is problematic as it has been documented as inaccurate and unreliable in numerous experiments. With the advent of DNA testing and efforts such as The Innocence Project, it has become apparent that faulty eyewitness accounts are central to many wrongful convictions. The intent of this thesis was to explore how law enforcement can facilitate more accurate eyewitness accounts via their interview process. Research suggests …