Minnesota State University Moorhead

Kleinschmit A.J., Sparks-Thissen R.L., Pandey S.

ABSTRACT Collaboration and communication are important competencies for undergraduate life science education, as noted in the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education report. However, initiating collaboration and communication in the classroom can be an anxiety-inducing experience for many students. In contrast to traditional-style icebreakers, we introduce a course content-focused icebreaker activity that served as a group-forming undertaking on the first day of class. We developed four sets of handouts (icebreaker tickets), each having a common course theme (e.g., microbiology, cell biology, physiological system infections/disorders, virology). Students were randomly provided with a ticket at the beginning of the course, and they worked to establish groups with their peers, based on their own interpretation of the ticket’s content and rationalization of a grouping scheme. Student feedback and engagement data collected from implementation at three independent institutions were largely positive, where students reported the activity to be an effective tool for building a course content-focused community of learners. The icebreaker tickets and instructor’s notes disseminated in this manuscript can be adapted to fit educators’ course goals and help set the tone for the first day of the class and beyond that fosters communication and collaboration among students.

Gracyk T.

Abstract This essay focuses on certain norms of Western opera, most notably the long-standing practice of excluding those who possess unattractive voices from leading roles in opera productions. Aging voices are sometimes accepted, but otherwise the institution of Western opera reflects and reinforces the common social bias against people with unattractive voices. Resistance to casting ugly voices in leading opera roles is an overlooked category of the marginalization and silencing of a whole class of voices in the performing arts. I consider arguments that might be given in support of continuing this practice, but I argue that they fail. Current practice merits ethical censure, both for the selection process that is part of the means of production and, especially, for the attitude that the audience is prompted to deploy in engaging with the drama.

Chalikia M.H., Vaid J., Kobayashi N.

Feder M.E., Wisenden B.D., Luhring T., Wagner C.

There is growing evidence that a natural repellent, injury-released alarm cues, can be used to guide the movements of invasive fishes to achieve management goals. However, because this process involves perception, downstream cognitive processing of sensory information affects decisions regarding expression of antipredator behavior. Response habituation, wherein repeated or continuous exposure to a cue reduces behavioral response rates, is an oft-cited challenge for use of predation cues as conservation tools. Habituation may be delayed or prevented by altering the concentration and/or the temporal pattern of odor release (pulses of odor vs continuous application). We examined the effects of varying odor concentration and exposure regime (continuous vs pulsed) on behavioral response of adult sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) to conspecific alarm cue in a two-choice maze. We found that exposure to alarm cue induced more frequent and rapid upstream movement, regardless of exposure regime. There was also clear evidence of a speed-accuracy tradeoff, wherein sea lamprey that took longer to arrive at the bifurcation in the maze were more likely to avoid the arm activated with alarm cue. We could not ascertain the value of increasing concentration or pulsing the alarm cue on preventing habituation, as habituation did not occur. We hypothesize dishabituation to the alarm cue occurred immediately prior to testing due to handling that may have inadvertently simulated an unsuccessful predator attack. If true, incorporating dishabituating stimuli may prove a useful means to maintain the efficacy of alarm cue when applied as a repellent to manipulate the movements of sea lamprey.

Xiao Y., Li X., Fan L., De Lannoy G., Peng J., Frappart F., Ebtehaj A., de Rosnay P., Xing Z., Yu L., Dong G., Yueh S.H., Colliander A., Wigneron J.

Kim W., An H.S., Hantula D.A., Di Benedetto A.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the younger generations’ experiential consumption of foreign contemporary music online (i.e. digital music streaming services) by generation and gender in the US market.Design/methodology/approachThe author proposes a sequential experiential consumption model by applying Jacoby’s refined stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory to better understand the experiential sequences in foreign music consumption among young generations in the US market. The proposed model, using structural equation modeling (SEM), examines a cognitive permeable role and a hierarchical affective mediating role. Also, moderating roles of generation and gender are simultaneously tested in overall and specific causal relationships.FindingsThe refined S-O-R framework is superior to a linear one in better understanding young consumers’ online experiential foreign music consumption behavior. Moreover, hierarchical sequenced affective organismic behavior is crucial to enhance young consumers’ online music consumption experiences to regulate subsequent behavioral responses. Furthermore, gender differences but no generational differences exist in the experiential consumption process among young consumers. Nevertheless, the strength of S-O-R factors affecting experiential consumption seems idiosyncratic simultaneously in gender and generation.Practical implicationsThe study suggests foreign music streaming services boost profitability by focusing on young consumers' psychological ownership and tailored experiences, encouraging a shift from freemium to premium subscriptions. Also, the findings recommend adopting phygital experiences using technologies like AR, VR and MR to enhance engagement and create unique, emotionally resonant experiences for young consumers, thus fostering a more profitable business model.Originality/valueThe authors address under-researched topics relevant to young generations by applying Jacoby’s refined S-O-R framework to foreign music consumption through online streaming. This approach delves into a lesser-explored consumer behavior framework, highlighting young generations’ musical trends. The model reveals cognitive and affective roles, offering advantages over traditional linear S-O-R models. It also uniquely incorporates the moderating effects of generation and gender in music consumption studies, addressing a gap in music-related studies.

Folkerds A.S., Coursol D.

This chapter will help counselors and counselor trainees develop the capacity to understand the concept of death anxiety for themselves and for those they serve. Moreover, this chapter will define death anxiety, discuss the history of death anxiety within the helping professions, and provide guidelines for exploring one's own death anxiety and the death anxiety of clients. This chapter will describe terror management theory (TMT) and how the denial of death and death anxiety lies at the heart of human behavior and cultural affiliation. This chapter introduces cultural humility as a foundation for engaging in conversations about death and a model for clinically applying cultural humility is examined. In addition, creative teaching strategies are offered for engaging students in self-reflective learning about death anxiety. Finally, this chapter will provide a foundation to normalize Barbie's question in the blockbuster movie, “Do you guys ever think of death?” (Gerwig, 2023).

Wisenden B.D., Adkins C.M., Campbell S.A., Chakraborty S., Cloutier M.E., Doebler A.D., Hanson K.A., Hoff L., Johnson M.I., Larson P.S., Lukasik C.M., Michaelson Z.R., Middllekauf C.A., Olson T.L., Perelman L.J., et. al.

Navigating risk of predation is a major driver of behavioral decision-making in small fishes. Fish use personal information from olfactory and visual indicators of risk, and also rely upon social cues to inform behavioral trade-offs between risk avoidance and fitness-positive activities such as foraging. Here, fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), were captured, clipped and released at 48 field sites chemically labeled with either fathead minnow alarm cue (high risk) or water (low risk). We removed the chemical label after 2 h, then monitored area use by clipped and non-clipped fish. In addition, a shoal was placed in traps in half of the risky and half of the safe locations as a visual social cue of safety. We caught 2919 fish in the first sample, of which 594 were fathead minnows. These were clipped and released. The second sample caught 1500 fish, of which 164 were fathead minnows including 11 bearing marks from the first sample. Non-clipped fathead minnows and northern redbelly dace in the general community, which lacked personal information about risk status associated with trap sites, avoided areas previously labeled with alarm cues for at least 2 h after the source of alarm cue was removed, unless an experimental shoal was present at the risky site, in which case they joined the shoal in the trap. Clipped fathead minnows with direct personal knowledge of risk showed a significant shift away from areas labeled with conspecific alarm cue and a significant attraction toward sites seeded with a shoal. Moreover, unlike non-clipped fish in the general community, clipped fathead minnows were not influenced by experimental shoals at sites previously labeled as risky. These data indicate that the influence of social cues of safety depend on whether individual minnows have access to recent personal information about risk. Animals use information for making decisions about when and where it is safe. Information comes from direct personal experience and/or from observing the behavior of others (social cues). In this study minnows with different levels of personal knowledge about risk responded differently to social cues about safety. Naïve minnows relied on social cues while minnows with personal knowledge of risk associated with an area ignored social cues. This study, conducted on free-living fish in a natural population, show how fish use information about risk and safety when the risk of predation is highly variable in space and time.

Kim W., Cake D.A.

Kumawat D., Ebtehaj A., Schwank M., Li X., Wigneron J.

The tau-omega model is expanded to properly simulate L-band microwave emission of the soil–snow–vegetation continuum through a closed-form solution of Maxwell's equations, considering the intervening dry snow layer as a loss-less medium. The error standard deviations of a least-squared inversion are 0.1 and 3.5 for VOD and ground permittivity, over moderately dense vegetation and a snow density ranging from 100 to 400 kg m−3, considering noisy brightness temperatures with a standard deviation of 1 kelvin. Using the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite observations, new global estimates of VOD and ground permittivity are presented over the Arctic boreal forests and permafrost areas. In the absence of dense in situ observations of ground permittivity and VOD, the retrievals are causally validated using ancillary variables including ground temperature, above-ground biomass, tree height, and net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide. Time-series analyses promise that the new data set can expand our understanding of the land–atmosphere interactions and exchange of carbon fluxes over Arctic landscapes.

Hanson K.A., Mauland B.A., Shastri A., Wisenden B.D.

AbstractThe ability to detect and respond to the presence of predation risk is under intense selection, especially for small‐bodied fishes. Damselfishes (Pomacentridae) use auditory vocalizations during inter‐ and intrasexual interactions, but it is not known if they can use vocalizations in the context of predator–prey interactions. Here, we test if yellowtail damselfish, Chrysiptera parasema, can learn to associate the territorial vocalization of heterospecific humbug damselfish Dascyllus aruanus with predation risk. In conditioning trials yellowtail damselfish were presented with the territorial call of humbug damselfish while either blank water (control treatment) or chemical alarm cue derived from damaged skin of conspecific yellowtail damselfish was introduced. In conditioning trials, fish exposed to alarm cue exhibited increased activity and spent more time in the water column relative to fish that received the control treatment. After a single conditioning trial, conditioned fish were exposed again to the territorial call of humbug damselfish. Fish conditioned with the call + alarm cue showed increased activity and spent more time in the water column relative to fish that had been conditioned with the control treatment. These data indicate associative learning of an auditory stimulus with predation risk in a species that regularly uses auditory signalling in other contexts. Recordings of conditioning and test trials failed to detect any acoustic calls produced by test fish in response to the perception of predation risk. Thus, although yellowtail damselfish can associate risk with auditory stimuli, we found no evidence that they produce an alarm call.

Wallace A., Barosh T., Brisch E., Laybourn P., Balgopal M.M.

ABSTRACT Logistical challenges in large enrollment classes are often mentioned as obstacles to active learning. Writing is an integral part of being a scientist and is often one of the first tools considered by STEM instructors to increase student engagement, but iterative writing assignments in large classes require creativity on the part of the instructor. We found an association between writing-to-learn assignments designed to be consistent with inclusive learning pedagogies and student performance measures in a large enrollment undergraduate biology course. They provide ample opportunity for deliberate practice and inclusive engagement, components of the “heads and hearts” hypothesis posed to explain the variation in active learning impacts on the performance of minoritized students.

Locquiao J., DeSutter K.

A persistent teacher shortage obstructs equitable education in the United States. Ample empirical research has identified myriad (often system-level) variables that predict retention of special education teachers (SETs). However, three teacher-level psychological factors have yet to be examined: the moral identity of SETs, basic psychological needs (BPN) satisfaction from special education work, and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation for special education work. This exploratory study conducted multiple regression modeling on 202 cases of practicing SETs to determine the extent that the three factors relate with SET retention as measured by total years special education teaching experience. Results present preliminary empirical evidence that internalized and symbolized moral identity relate with SET retention—but with inverse negative and positive relationships. Furthermore, BPN satisfaction and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation appear to not relate with SET retention. Results point to the potential in considering proximal teacher-level psychological factors to describe and address teacher retention.

Shastri A., Rons N., Ding Q., Kmiec S.J., Olson M., Furukawa Y., Martin S.W.

We present a 23Na nuclear spin dynamics model for interpreting nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-lattice relaxation and central linewidth data in the invert glass system Na4P2S7-xOx, 0 ≤ x ≤ 7. The glassy nature of this material results in variations in local Na+ cation environments that may be described by a Gaussian distribution of activation energies. A consistent difference between the mean activation energies determined by NMR and DC conductivity measurements was observed, and interpreted using a percolation theory model. From this, the NaNa coordination number in the sodium cation sublattice was obtained. These values were consistent with jumps through tetrahedral faces of the sodium cages for the sulfur rich glasses, x < 5, consistent with proposed models of their short range order (SRO) structures. From NMR spin-echo measurements, we determined the NaNa second moment M2 resulting from the NaNa magnetic dipole interaction of nearest neighbors. Values of M2 obtained as a function of sodium number density N were in agreement with models for uniform sodium distribution, indicating that these invert glass systems form so as to maximize the average NaNa distance. A simple Coulombic attraction model between Na+ cation and X (=S−, O−) anion was applied to calculate the activation energy. In the range 1.5 ≤ x ≤ 7, an increase in activation energy with increasing oxygen content x occurred, and was consistent with the decrease in average anionic radius, and the increase in Coulombic attraction. For small oxygen additions, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5, the suggested minimum at low oxygen concentration seen in the activation energies obtained from DC conductivity data is not evident in the model.

Farooq O., Elbannan M.

AbstractUsing the data for Indian SMEs, this paper examines in an emerging market setting whether firms with exposure to informal competition are more likely to avoid taxes. We use a sample of 9281 Indian firms that responded to the World Bank Enterprise Survey and find empirical evidence that supports this conjecture. We find that firms headquartered in states/provinces with better business environment and firms with more competitive position in the market are less likely to avoid taxes in response to informal competition. This paper also shows that firms that avoid taxes are more likely to invest in innovation and have more efficient operations than the firm that does not avoid taxes.