Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Understanding the effects of food waste reduction methods and the implementation of a food waste program(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Heath & Human Development, 2016) Leitch, Alicia Rae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Carmen Byker; Carmen Byker Shanks and Selena Ahmed were co-authors of the article, 'Food waste reduction strategies in large foodservice operations: a systematic review of literature' submitted to the journal 'Journal of sustainability' which is contained within this thesis.; Carmen Byker Shanks, Selena Ahmed and Thomas Bass were co-authors of the article, 'Understanding the effects of food waste reduction methods and the implementation of a food waste program' submitted to the journal 'Journal of sustainability' which is contained within this thesis.Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year totaling nearly a third of all food produced in the world.1 Food service operations are one of the leading contributors to food waste.2 Decreasing the amount of food waste is an emerging priority of the United States Department of Agriculture. Large-scale food service operations such as university dining facilities may be prime location to implement food waste reduction strategies in order to reduce overall food waste and increase sustainability. Despite the notable contribution of large-scale food service operations to food waste, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness food waste reduction strategies in such operations. The research presented here seeks to address this research need of identifying food waste reduction strategies and their effectiveness within large food service operations through a systematic review of literature using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement guidelines. Findings from this systematic review were synthesized to design and implement a cross-sectional pre and post study evaluating the effectiveness of two food waste reduction strategies including dining facility changes as well as a large service style renovation. Findings of the systematic review indicate that implementing food waste reduction strategies are effective in reducing overall food waste. Analysis of the cross-sectional pre and post study indicated a positive effect of dining hall renovation on reducing food waste. Findings from this study provide valuable information to inform food waste research and evidence on designing policies and practices to reduce food waste in large-scale food service operations.Item Evaluating determinants of psychophysiological stress in collegiate student-athletes(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2016) Terry, Jennifer Lauren; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Daniel P. HeilCollegiate student-athletes are a unique group of individuals who experience a vast array of cognitive and physiological stressors. In addition to the typical stressors of an average college student, such as homesickness, finances, academics, and social relationships, student-athletes must also cope with lack of free time, pressure to perform, relationships with coaches and teammates, and physiological stress due to training and competing. Student-athletes with unmanaged chronic stress are more likely to experience a plethora of negative health outcomes, effecting performance in the classroom, on the field, and in life. Currently, survey instruments exist to predict cognitive and physiological sources of stress in isolation, but no existing instrument integrates both cognitive and physiological stressors into a single measure of chronic stress. The current cross-sectional study compared magnitude and sources of stress, psychological and physiological, experienced by Montana State University student-athletes (n=30) and their non-athlete counterparts (n=22). In addition, associations between chronic stress (as indicated by hair cortisol concentration, or HCC) and subjective measures of psychological stress, physiological stress and sleep quality were assessed in a subgroup of participants (n=12 student-athletes; n=9 non-athletes). Student-athletes had significantly greater average weekly training load than the non-athlete students (P < 0.001), but all other indicators of psychological stress and sleep quality were not significantly different between the two groups. Of those participants who provided a hair sample, the student-athletes had greater average HCC (P = 0.027). Although no associations were observed between HCC and measures of psychophysiological stress or sleep quality, a significant correlation was observed between HCC and body fat percentage (r = -0.59, P < 0.045). Additional research is necessary to elucidate the role of body composition, as well as other factors, on chronic stress development in college student-athletes.