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Description
The Morris-Lecar two-dimensional conductance-based model for an excitable membrane can be used to simulate neurons, and these neuron models can be connected to model neuronal networks. In this work, we analyze the dynamics of the Morris-Lecar model using phase plane analysis, and we simulate the model with different parameter regimes. We also develop and simulate a two-cell model network, as well as larger networks composed of 17 cells. We show that the bifurcation type and the parameters for the synaptic connections between model neurons affect the model network dynamic behavior. In particular, we look at the synchronization of networks of identical, repetitively firing neurons.
ContributorsSchlichting, Nicolas Jordan (Author) / Crook, Dr. Sharon (Thesis director) / Baer, Dr. Steven (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
The integration of behavioral health services into primary care in a rapidly evolving innovation that has shown potential to improve access to care, health outcomes, and lower health costs. In an effort to reform healthcare system, integrating behavioral health services become a vital part of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). As research and developments in integration continue to evolve, there is a need to identify consistencies, discrepancies, and gaps in the field to inform the best ways to move forward. This study is a systematic review seeking to identify trends, gaps, and future directions of research in integrated behavioral health in primary care. Using Google Scholar 171 papers were included, 95 being original research and 76 being reviews, commentary, and editorials. From the results, it is clear that the case for integration has been made, and now it is time to move to the specifics. Both empirical and theoretical evidence supports the benefits of integration to patients and health systems. However, there is a lack of literature that tackles problems that hinder or facilitate integration in independent clinics with unique characteristics. Most notably, specific interventions that are effective and appropriate in primary care, payment reforms that are feasible and sustainable, and the effect of integration on health disparities.
ContributorsDye- Robinson, Amy (Author) / Kessler, Rodger (Thesis director) / McEntee, Mindy (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
Today, there is a gap between the effectiveness of learning online and learning in person. Online educational videos such as ones found on Youtube mimic more of a lecture style of learning, which is easy ignore without a teacher nearby to engage the viewer. Furthermore, there is a lack of educational videos on the topic of Euclid’s Elements geometry proofs. This project remedies both accounts by offering a new approach on interactive online learning videos and exercises for the topic of Euclid’s Elements Book One, Propositions One and Two. This is accomplished by combining interactive videos, exercises, questions, and sketchpads into one online worksheet. The interactive videos are made using traditional methods of audio and visual elements, with an emphasis on having more dynamic visuals to engage with the viewer. The exercises are made using a program called Geogebra, and consist in having a question to solve, and diagram the use can manipulate to help solve the question. The questions consist in ensuring the viewer understands the material, as well as potential questions to gauge general understanding before and after using the worksheet. The sketchpads consist in stating the proposition being proved, and giving the user all the tools they need to construct or prove the Euclidean proposition in the online interactive environment offered by Geogebra. All of these components are then ordered into the worksheet to make an interactive online learning experience for the viewer. This way the viewer may both watch and actively use the material being presented to promote learning through engagement in a teacher-less environment.
ContributorsFischer, Quinn (Co-author, Co-author) / Roh, Kyeong Hah (Thesis director) / Zandieh, Michelle (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
Family influences are known predictors of adolescent health and well-being trajectories, yet little research has investigated how adolescents’ orientation to family may be associated with their physiological stress responses. Influenced by the strength-based approach to culture, this study evaluated 418 Hispanic adolescents' familism values and perceived life stress in family, school, and peer domains to investigate prospective associations with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress responses to the Group Public Speaking Task for Adolescents (GPST-A). Prior growth-mixture modeling on this sample revealed a five-class solution of cortisol responding to the GPST-A that was used here as the dependent variable: one class showed a more pronounced pattern of reactivity, potentially indicative of hyper-responsivity to the stress task; two classes showed evidence of a low to moderate cortisol response, potentially indicative of an adaptive physiological response to the challenge; and two classes showed patterns of non-responsivity, potentially indicative of hypo-responsivity. Results demonstrate that the role of familism is nuanced in the context of stressors, potentially offering both promotive and risk-amplifying effects for the physiological stress response system. This study offered several novel findings in the relation between cultural factors, salient stressors of adolescence, and HPA activity.
ContributorsSmola, Xochitl Arlene (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This literary analysis thesis determines the relationship between twin characterization in Victorian novels and contemporary literature. Using Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-glass as foundational works for twin characterization with the Freudian definition of doubles as uncanny, this thesis analyzes the following twin tropes: the trickster twins, twins separated into binaries of “good” or “whole” and “damaged” or “evil,” male twins where one dies and the other marries the woman they both love, and female twins associated with shared supernatural appearance and abilities. These tropes are identified in Victorian works including Sarah Grand’s The Heavenly Twins and Wilkie Collins’ Poor Miss Finch, then demonstrated in contemporary sources including Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, Kim Edwards’s novel The Memory-Keeper’s Daughter, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, and Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining. Ultimately, this thesis analyzes these tropes of twin characterization in 19th-century and contemporary literature from a variety of genres to demonstrate how the fin de siècle fears of cultural degradation, explored through duality using the vehicle of twin characters, remain as pervasive influences in today’s literature with similar concerns about individual identity.
ContributorsKnighton, Makenna Nicole (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Farmer, Steve (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
In 1671, John Milton published Samson Agonistes, a closet drama written in the tradition of Greek tragedy, having as its subject the biblical story of Samson. It opens with Samson, former hero of Israel because of his strength, now a blind prisoner of the Philistines who questions the reason for his previous calling and great gift of strength in light of his current captivity, the result of his failure to withstand temptation in the wiles of his former wife. Through the narrative of the drama, Samson engages with various characters, some sympathetic to his plight, and others, enemies, to move from an inactive despair to the hope that God might be able to use him again to a final devastating action, which is either his greatest feat, in response to "inner promptings," or a tragic act of self¬wrought vengeance.
Throughout Milton's work, we see the connection between the private, inner response to reason, worked out in a public, political setting. The difficulty with Samson, then, is the interpretation of that connection: knowing if his public action proves the moral fitness of his intellectual life, and whether his action can be instructive to an audience within the drama. To understand more clearly the way that Milton conceptualizes Samson's rational process, we will examine three texts which relate to Samson Agonistes in the way they engage questions of the ethical implications of dramatic representation. The first is Aristotle's classical treatise on the elements of tragedy, the second is a closet drama that works from a didactic and political framework contemporary to Milton's but in sharp contrast, and the third is a drama that overlaps dialogue of multiple perspectives, one which Milton draws from and adapts. Each text is a model for Milton, and we can approach a way of understanding the meaning of Samson Agonistes by thinking about Milton's relationship - what he applies, transforms, or rejects from each - to other representations of dramatic education.
Throughout Milton's work, we see the connection between the private, inner response to reason, worked out in a public, political setting. The difficulty with Samson, then, is the interpretation of that connection: knowing if his public action proves the moral fitness of his intellectual life, and whether his action can be instructive to an audience within the drama. To understand more clearly the way that Milton conceptualizes Samson's rational process, we will examine three texts which relate to Samson Agonistes in the way they engage questions of the ethical implications of dramatic representation. The first is Aristotle's classical treatise on the elements of tragedy, the second is a closet drama that works from a didactic and political framework contemporary to Milton's but in sharp contrast, and the third is a drama that overlaps dialogue of multiple perspectives, one which Milton draws from and adapts. Each text is a model for Milton, and we can approach a way of understanding the meaning of Samson Agonistes by thinking about Milton's relationship - what he applies, transforms, or rejects from each - to other representations of dramatic education.
ContributorsWilliams, Katherine Elizabeth (Author) / Perry, Curtis (Thesis director) / Fox, Cora (Committee member) / Engler, Karen (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2004-05
Description
In materials science, developing GeSn alloys is major current research interest concerning the production of efficient Group-IV photonics. These alloys are particularly interesting because the development of next-generation semiconductors for ultrafast (terahertz) optoelectronic communication devices could be accomplished through integrating these novel alloys with industry-standard silicon technology. Unfortunately, incorporating a maximal amount of Sn into a Ge lattice has been difficult to achieve experimentally. At ambient conditions, pure Ge and Sn adopt cubic (α) and tetragonal (β) structures, respectively, however, to date the relative stability and structure of α and β phase GeSn alloys versus percent composition Sn has not been thoroughly studied. In this research project, computational tools were used to perform state-of-the-art predictive quantum simulations to study the structural, bonding and energetic trends in GeSn alloys in detail over a range of experimentally accessible compositions. Since recent X-Ray and vibrational studies have raised some controversy about the nanostructure of GeSn alloys, the investigation was conducted with ordered, random and clustered alloy models.
By means of optimized geometry analysis, pure Ge and Sn were found to adopt the alpha and beta structures, respectively, as observed experimentally. For all theoretical alloys, the corresponding αphase structure was found to have the lowest energy, for Sn percent compositions up to 90%. However at 50% Sn, the correspondingβ alloy energies are predicted to be only ~70 meV higher. The formation energy of α-phase alloys was found to be positive for all compositions, whereas only two beta formation energies were negative. Bond length distributions were analyzed and dependence on Sn incorporation was found, perhaps surprisingly, not to be directly correlated with cell volume. It is anticipated that the data collected in this project may help to elucidate observed complex vibrational properties in these systems.
By means of optimized geometry analysis, pure Ge and Sn were found to adopt the alpha and beta structures, respectively, as observed experimentally. For all theoretical alloys, the corresponding αphase structure was found to have the lowest energy, for Sn percent compositions up to 90%. However at 50% Sn, the correspondingβ alloy energies are predicted to be only ~70 meV higher. The formation energy of α-phase alloys was found to be positive for all compositions, whereas only two beta formation energies were negative. Bond length distributions were analyzed and dependence on Sn incorporation was found, perhaps surprisingly, not to be directly correlated with cell volume. It is anticipated that the data collected in this project may help to elucidate observed complex vibrational properties in these systems.
ContributorsLiberman-Martin, Zoe Elise (Author) / Chizmeshya, Andrew (Thesis director) / Sayres, Scott (Committee member) / Wolf, George (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Conceptual poetry begins with the spark of the writing process, the moment when a poet finds inspiration and begins to write a poem. It is in that moment when the poem begins to be conceptualized, evolving throughout every part of the writing process. Conceptual poetry is the evolving idea of what the poem is working toward becoming, the concept of the end performance, and how the poem will be received. This conceptualization changes drastically with the revisions made throughout the process, the idea of the poem is revised as the author interacts with the work and audience. The revisions to the conceptualization may be minute or drastic. Small changes can be changing the feeling you want to elicit from the reader from slight anxiety to tones of fear. Larger changes can be changing the entire message you want to portray to your audience. Poems go through critical revisions that can leave a poem, and its conceptualized performed product, completely transformed and sometimes unrecognizable from the beginning product. The conceptual poetry and performance ends at the point where it leaves the author and becomes perceived and digested by the audience. The performance itself will always be conceptual and will never truly fulfill the concept the way that the poet has envisioned it.
ContributorsPolmanteer, Katherine (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Murphy, Patricia Colleen (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In this paper, I attempt to measure the impact of education levels on a country’s productivity, measured by its Gross Domestic Product. I find that educational attainment is significantly correlated with economic growth. Previous research on this topic has shown similar results and concluded the importance of education on improving the GDP levels in a country.
ContributorsDanishyar, Roma (Author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Hill, John (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Electronic Health Records: Suggestions for Future Use explores how EHRs are currently being used in the clinical setting and in the research setting. This paper provides suggestions for how EHRs should be used in the future, so that patient centered health care is optimized while maintaining efficiency. Additionally, the thesis discusses why privacy is viewed as an innate human right in society as well as why it is specifically valued in the healthcare setting. The value of privacy significantly impacts how EHRs are currently used, and the more automated EHR systems become, the more likely it is that the privacy of patients is threatened. It was concluded that the healthcare industry can improve EHR use in future clinical and research settings, while upholding privacy laws.
ContributorsPhillips, Emily (Co-author) / Waldman, Lauren (Co-author) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Mason, Hugh (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05