Scholarworks

ScholarWorks is an open access repository for the capture of the intellectual work of Montana State University (MSU) in support of its teaching, research and service missions. MSU ScholarWorks is a central point of discovery for accessing, collecting, sharing, preserving, and distributing knowledge to the Montana State University community and the world.

 

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Design and fabrication of an automated soil-water micro-sampling system
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2023) Collins, Daniel David; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Stephan Warnat
Sustainable management of soil nutrients is a challenge for food production to meet the nutritional demands of a growing population of humans, which has surpassed eight billion. Informed management decisions toward maintaining suitable availability of plant macronutrients in soils without excess fertilizer inputs is limited by the ability to collect and analyze water chemistry in small sample volumes extracted from intact soils over time. Additionally, the semi-arid climate and increasingly more frequent meteorological drought conditions in soil systems like the agricultural regions of the Northern Great Plains limit the practicality of conventional soil-water collection and analysis techniques due to the small amounts of water available in the shallow vadose zone during the growing season. In this work, I present progress toward a solution at the intersection of automation, microfabrication, and environmental monitoring systems. The Microfluidic Environmental Solute Analysis (MESA) system has the potential to allow multiple deployments providing enhanced spatial and temporal resolution compared to conventional soil-water collection techniques in measurements of soil water solutes critical to understanding the soil chemistry that supports agricultural production. Using only 100 microliters of water extracted from the soil, the MESA system provides onboard, real-time electrical conductivity analysis (future work will include temperature, pH, and nitrate sensing). The electrical conductivity (EC) sensor uses single-frequency electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to measure the bulk fluid resistance within the measurement chamber of the MSM. Calibration of the MSM of EC ranging from 100 - 6440 microseconds cm -1 has shown that the cell constant is 9.530 cm -1, although this parameter is sensor and package dependent. In-situ conductivity measurements in engineered soil columns have revealed that the sand tested has an intrinsic conductivity of approximately 380 microseconds cm -1. The maintenance-free system is intended to be buried in the soil and provide automatic measurements throughout the Montana growing season without being disturbed. The deployment of the MESA system can provide researchers with new data that may enhance our understanding of biogeochemical cycling in dry-land agricultural settings.
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Interdepartmental transitions of care: a quality improvement project
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2023) Crass, Kami Magdalene; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Margaret Hammersla
Background: Lack of standardization and communication failures during interdepartmental transitions of care frequently contribute toward sentinel events and medical errors. Local Problem: At a hospital in Montana, lack of standardization and communication failures during interdepartmental handoffs resulted in potential and actual patient safety events. The purpose of this project was to implement a standardized interdepartmental handoff process utilizing a newly developed tool to improve patient safety and nursing staff satisfaction during intradepartmental handoffs. Methods: Incident reports and nurse satisfaction surveys pertaining to interdepartmental patient transfers from the Cardiac Cath Lab to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were reviewed pre-and post-implementation of the standardized handoff tool. Intervention: A standardized process utilizing a customized, paper IPASS (Illness severity, Patient summary, Action items, Situation monitoring/Contingency planning, and Synthesis) mnemonic tool was developed and implemented during this project. Results: No handoff incidents were reported and nurse satisfaction pertaining to handoff report between the Cardiac Cath Lab and ICU nurses improved after implementing the IPASS tool. Suboptimal tool usage rates indicate future improvements are required. Conclusions: This project implemented a customized, standardized, handwritten Cardiac Cath Lab-to-ICU handoff tool. Although reported patient safety events declined and nursing satisfaction improved, suboptimal tool use indicates the need for embedding the tool into the electronic medical record.
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Investigations of the gut-brain-metabolism axis in familial dysautonomia
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Cheney, Alexandra Marie; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Frances Lefcort; Valerie Copie; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.
Familial dysautonomia (FD), a neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease primarily present in Eastern European Jewish populations, is a useful model system to explore the effects of neuronal dysregulation, particularly in the developing field of the gut-brain-metabolism axis. FD originates from a single genetic mutation in the ELP1 gene and differs from other neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and autism that are dependent on multiple factors. Metabolic and gut impairments have been observed in FD patients, but only symptom management has been pursued without further exploration into the underlying disease pathophysiology. To better understand how the gut environment changes as a result of neuronal dysregulation and how this impacts the gut-brain-metabolism axis in FD patients, several studies of both human and FD mouse model samples were undertaken. Serum and stool samples from FD patients and their relatives were analyzed for metabolic alterations using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR)-based metabolomics. Stool samples from both a human cohort and FD mice were also analyzed for gut bacterial diversity via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Additionally, stool metabolomes of FD mice were analyzed for metabolic alterations. The FD mouse model enabled us to explore how gut physiology changed during disease progression using gut histological methods and gut function assays. Our studies demonstrated significant changes in the metabolomes and gut microbiomes of FD patients compared to their healthy relative controls. Additionally, the FD mouse model, a pan-neuronal Elp1 conditional knock out, was sufficient to drive metabolic and gut microbiome changes, and impair gut barrier function compared to control mice. When FD mice cohabitated with healthy control mice and were able to exchange gut microbes via stool consumption, the cohoused FD mice improved in overall health and gut function. Our studies found that the gut microbiome and metabolome of cohoused FD mice were comparable to their cohoused control counterparts. Overall, this work has enhanced our understanding of the gut-brain-metabolism axis in Familial dysautonomia and has provided insights into underlying molecular mechanisms, which may be potential targets for therapeutic interventions, including the use of metabolic supplements and/or altering the gut microbiome.
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Do we practice what we teach? Examining the affective reading dispositions of preservice elementary education students
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2023) Knickerbocker, Michelle Tappmeyer; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sarah Pennington
Using a narrative inquiry approach, this study attempts to address the issue of helping first-year elementary education students gain explicit understanding of their own affective reading dispositions and the past reading experiences that influenced their development and how their ARDs may influence the choices they make as teachers. Data was collected through the Literacy Habits Questionnaire (Applegate et al., 2014), two, one-on-one interviews, two group meetings, and reading autobiographical artifacts created by the participants. The theoretical framework used to support the study combined Beer's (1996) reading typology and McKenna's (2001) development of reading attitudes theory which highlight the importance of considering how the cognitive, sociocultural, and affective reading experiences affect reading identity and one's choice to read or not to read. As a collaborative experience, designed with the researcher as participant, this study also shines a light on how teacher educators may or may not address their students' ARDs and provide positive reading experiences to aid in reinforcing or adjusting students' ARDs before the enter the classroom as teachers. The results of this study indicate that providing a collaborative, interactive, reflective process focused on past reading experiences and the development of ARDs may provide students with new perspectives and address misconceptions about teaching and learning reading. Additionally, it reminds teacher educators that we cannot assume that all students entering a TEP have positive ARDs and/or are proficient readers. These are dispositional aspects that should be examined and addressed.
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Artistic strategy and influencing the audience in animated documentary filmmaking
(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Brosamer-Senger, Mary Katherine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Cindy Stillwell
The artistic approach of animated documentary film provides a framework for mixing artistic strategy with individual expression, giving the filmmaker an influence of the subjective meaning in each frame. This paper will examine three types of artistic choices: color, image design, and medium, and how each of these creative choices derives an alternative and complementary understanding of the filmmaker or subject. I will then analyze these creative choices more deeply in three animated films, 'Waltz with Bashir', 'Flee' and my student film 'Lucid', and show how the creative techniques used in each of these films helped the filmmaker form an alternative and emotional layer of connection with the audience.
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