Scholarship & Research
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Item Improving the understanding of cognitive- motor function and lower-extremity biomechanics(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2021) Fischer, Patrick David; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Scott Monfort; Keith A. Hutchison, James N. Becker, and Scott M. Monfort were co-authors of the article, 'Evaluating the spectrum of cognitive-motor relationships during dual-task jump landing' in the journal 'Journal of applied biomechanics' which is contained within this dissertation.; Keith A. Hutchison, James N. Becker and Scott M. Monfort were co-authors of the article, 'Do dual-task demands generalize across sport-specific movements?' submitted to the journal 'Journal of applied biomechanics' which is contained within this dissertation.; Keith A. Hutchison, James N. Becker and Scott M. Monfort were co-authors of the article, 'Decoupling visual constraint from rapid decision-making effects during a jump-landing' submitted to the journal 'American journal of sports medicine' which is contained within this dissertation.Anterior cruciate ligament injuries present a considerable problem for athletic populations, especially those that engage in sports with open-skill movement demands like rapid changes of direction. These injuries typically occur in a non-contact setting, that is, the forces generated by the athlete's own movement overburden the ligaments in the knee and cause partial or total rupture of the tissue. Considerable effort has been devoted to researching and, by extension, counteracting the physical contributions to injury risk; for example, athletes are encouraged to develop better balance and lower-extremity strength to counteract the adverse effects of poor movement performance. However, anterior cruciate ligament injury risk is also tied to cognitive factors as well as physiological factors. This athlete-specific cognitive-motor relationship interacts with external distractions in the sporting environment to compromise an athlete's ability to move safely and effectively. The purpose of this research was to investigate contributions of different cognitive domains to movement performance in distracted, sport-relevant scenarios, to develop a better understanding of the cognitive-motor relationships that underpin injury rates in these athletic populations. A series of studies involving biomechanical and cognitive outcome measures demonstrated that cognitive function has an important, if not fully understood, role to play in mitigating an athlete's susceptibility to distractions during open-skill movement performance. This research adds to a critically underdeveloped body of work explaining the subject-specificity of dual-task movement performance in a lab setting and provides a foundation for developing new injury risk assessment and mitigation efforts for clinicians and coaches.Item Estimating economic impacts of Tommy John surgery on Major League Baseball pitchers(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2018) McMichael, Finn Ottey; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Randal R. RuckerTommy John Surgery is a common elbow surgery among baseball pitchers that has become more prevalent over the last two decades. In this thesis, I estimate the impact of Tommy John Surgery on Major League Baseball pitcher productivity and value to the team, measured through Marginal Revenue Product. Tommy John Surgery requires a rehabilitation period of over a year on average, and it is important for the team to be able to predict the pitcher's post-surgery performance. The estimated productivity impact of Tommy John Surgery is a decrease in pitchers' performance for at least two seasons following their return to play. The combined magnitude of this decrease in performance translates to about one team win and over an $800,000 decrease in Marginal Revenue Product for the team. I estimate the entire cost to a team resulting from lost productivity related to Tommy John Surgery to be about $2 million. With an average of 25 Tommy John Surgeries a season in Major League Baseball over the last five seasons, these costs total approximately $50 million league wide every year. Other components of this thesis include analyses of Wins Above Replacement as a productivity statistic in baseball and the impact of Tommy John Surgery on pitcher performance, measured through both Wins Above Replacement and standard pitching statistics, such as innings pitched and earned run average.Item Double secret probation, bias, and equity: a university conduct review(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2018) Kaminski, Katherine Renee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tricia SeifertBias issues in this country are real. Individuals are not treated equally and equitably because of their identities, their values, and their choices. This bias happens in places of employment, in the criminal justice system, in every day interactions and conversations. Bias is real, whether implicit or explicit, and too often compassion and equity seem to fall to the background when determining what is right and how we treat others or hold them accountable. Recent literature has found inequities in how k-12 students as well as the individuals in the criminal justice system are proportionally misrepresented by race and gender, with students of color suspended at a rate far greater than their white peers. Turning to higher education, media accounts suggest students who take part in university athletics or fraternities/sororities may receive preferential treatment. This could be because of monetary incentives from donors and alums of these organizations to the university or money that comes into the community and university because of athletic events. Therefore, the student conduct system at universities must also be investigated to determine if 'double secret probation' exists only on the movie screen or inequities in disciplinary consequences are indeed present. From a pragmatic perspective, the goal of this study was to understand the degree to which possible biases in higher education discipline systems exist and use that understanding to inform future practice. Through quantitative analyses, four years of discipline data from two public institutions were investigated to determine if students were suspended at a rate proportionate to the population by gender, race, affiliation with athletics or the fraternity/sorority system, as well as an overall violation 'score' based on their complete conduct history. Analysis showed that men and students of color were represented at higher rates in the suspension population than they were in the overall violation population. Controlling for all other predictor variables, gender, race, and a student's complete discipline record combined to create a violation 'score,' were all found to be statistically significant. There is still a lot of work to do in higher education, and specifically as a result of this study, in working with university conduct systems to realize and understand their implicit biases so that they and administrators may create and contribute to an environment in higher education where all students are treated equitably within the system.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.Item Conflicts of interest in the Federal bureaucracy : an examination of the interaction between law, agencies and policy making(Montana State University - Bozeman, 2003) Rankin, Michael C., Jr.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Karen C. JacobsonItem A study of the academic performance of selected varsity athletes at Montana State University(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1970) Wendel, Robert Wayne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Herbert R. AgocsItem A comparison between the attitudes of seventh and eighth grade athletes and nonathletes toward school(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1980) Overstreet, John MartinItem Values in basic training rules for the athlete and the athletic program(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1961) Kober, Alvin C.Item A study of the academic performance of selected athletes and non-athletes at Montana State University(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1971) Jorgenson, James PeterItem Diet and performance in high school athletics(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1956) Hart, Neil W.