Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item The impact of acoustic stimulation and daytime napping on heart rate variability and sleep architecture(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2023) Nicevski, Jennifer Rose; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dawn TarabochiaReceiving adequate overnight sleep is imperative for proper autonomic nervous system function. Recent studies utilizing acoustic stimulation (AS) have shown an improvement in sleep quality when applied during nighttime sleep, although the implications of AS on napping are not known. The purpose of the current study was to assess the impact of AS during a daytime nap on sleep and autonomic function. We hypothesized that AS (0.8 Hertz monaural beats at 30 decibels) would improve heart rate variability (HRV) during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and increase time spent in slow wave sleep in young adults. 25 young healthy adult subjects (12 men, 13 women, age: 23 + or - 1 yrs, BMI: 24 + or - 1 kg/m2) took part in the study. Participants were enrolled into a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover design where they completed two 90-minute afternoon nap opportunities with or without AS, at least one day apart. During each testing session, participants were fitted with gold-standard polysomnographic (PSG) equipment and five-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Subjective questionnaires assessing sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale) and anxiety (Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory) were given prior to and following each nap opportunity. ECG was recorded continuously starting 5 minutes prior to lights out until awakening, allowing assessment of wake and sleep HRV. Contrary to our hypothesis, there were no significant changes in total sleep time (Control: 73 + or - 4 vs. AS: 72 + or - 4 min, P=0.850), slow wave sleep (Control: 30 + or - 4 vs. AS: 31 + or - 4 min, P=0.855), or other objective sleep measurements between conditions (All P>0.05). AS did not impact sleep HRV measures (All P>0.05). However, there was a significant main effect for time where napping resulted in a significant increase in the R-R interval (F(1,19)=25.683, P<0.001) and reduction of self-report anxiety (F(1,24)=8.229, P=0.008), but these responses were not different across conditions (time x condition, P>0.05). Napping elicited a paradoxical increase of diastolic (F(1,24)=14.483, P=0.001) and mean (F(1,24)=10.857, P=0.003) arterial pressure, but again these responses were not different across conditions (time x condition, P>0.05). In summary, the current study supports beneficial impacts of daytime napping on anxiety levels, but minimal effects of AS on sleep architecture and autonomic function.Item Coda peripheral: perceptual connections between sound expression and visual art(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Moralez, Melanie Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sara MastCoda Peripheral explores the relationship between visual art and sound-expressions, in correlation with my graduate program artwork. It examines various approaches to differentiate perceptions of visual art from music and sound art. My aim is to reveal ways in which visual artists, including myself, have approached visual and sound art practices, while exploring the relevance of maintaining distinctions in our modern world. In this paper, I reflect upon images from artists who have engaged with sound and/or musical themes in their visual art, as well as images from my graduate art body of work that chronicle my explorations into this subject. The rare condition of chromesthesia hints at a more commonly held, perceptual experience to link concepts of visual art and music. Visual art has become such a broad and ill-defined concept that it has evolved to capture many things, including sound and music. In this thesis, I address several questions on perception and identifying meaning for ourselves: What are the attributes of music that are shared with visual art? How might we challenge perceptual values we place upon artworks? The creation and reception of art is a symbiotic cycle. Examining these concepts has led me to question how I might respond through my art.Item The blind leading the blind: filming during a pandemic with a sightless subject(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2021) Holder, John Kenneth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigThis paper is constructed to serve as a detailed analysis of the storytelling and logistical process for making the film Sonora in Colombia, South America. Sonora is an experimental short documentary with Juan Pablo Culasso as the main subject. Blind since birth and deeply reliant on his heightened sense of hearing and touch to understand the world around him, Culasso navigates a world that is truly more complex than most of us can imagine. As a result, he has developed a mind that inherently has a unique connection to nature. Sonora is ultimately a haptic film visually and sonically that combines Culasso's non-scripted voiceover with in-the-field examples of how he experiences nature. The goal is to instill a better awareness within the individual viewers of the potential use of their own senses.Item A customizable artificial auditory fovea(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2018) Casebeer, Christopher Ness; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ross K. SniderWe, as humans, can separate and attend to audio sources in mixtures of sounds and noise. We can listen distinctly to a friend at a party in a sea of background noise and conversations. Human auditory neurology exceeds even state-of-the-art audio algorithms. How are we able to do this? This dissertation takes inspiration from biology to frame a novel audio processing front-end. Neurobiology shows that auditory neurons isolate signal onsets, timing, frequency, amplitude and modulation characteristics. Why is it then that many standard processing methods choose to ignore this information or make the assumption that machine learning will extract it regardless of input processing? This dissertation uses time-frequency analysis principles towards building a new front-end aimed at preserving these fine temporal and spectral details of the original signal to improve audio system detection and recognition. The system allows keeping the fine frequency and time characteristics of a signal during analysis, while allowing customization of how much and where this resolution is kept. Like biology, this front-end can dedicate resources to detecting important signal events. It can over represent or foveate regions of the time-frequency plane that are important to the signal processing task at hand. These fine details are hypothesized to help enable audio learning algorithms to detect the fine nuances that distinguish musical instruments, determine the characteristics of a specific persons voice, or even detect the emotional state of a person. This customizable auditory fovea aims to mimic the powerful detection capability found in biology which is in contrast to standard methods in audio signal processing.Item An investigation into student understanding of longitudinal standing waves(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2008) Dostal, Jack Alan; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jeff AdamsThis study investigates the difficulties that introductory university physics students have with the concept of longitudinal standing waves in the context of standing waves in pipes. My goal is to identify difficulties that persist even after standard instruction on longitudinal standing waves and attempt to improve upon that method of instruction. The study follows a four-step design. I first use exploratory surveys and interviews with students to elicit the difficulties present in students' understanding of longitudinal standing waves in pipes. I then use the information gained to create and assessment instrument, the Standing Waves Diagnostic Test, and a curricular intervention, the Longitudinal Standing Waves Tutorial. I then undertake a three-step process of pre-testing students with the Standing Wave Diagnostic Test, intervention with the Longitudinal Standing Waves Tutorial, and post-testing again with the Standing Wave Diagnostic Test to determine the impact of the intervention. This is then compared to data from students in classes where the intervention is not used. Students using the intervention significantly outperform their non-intervention counterparts on the Standing Wave Diagnostic Test. The results of the students pre- and post-tests indicate that significant improvement in students' understandings of longitudinal standing waves can be achieved by the use of the tutorial.