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This thesis clarifies the interdisciplinary field of interactive installations in digital media and digital art. As an interdisciplinary field, interactive installations emphasize three dimension; bodily interaction beyond restricted mouse clicking; physical interfaces using digital technologies that can reconfigure a space; particular forms of participants' engagement. To investigate these interactive installation artifacts in greater detail, this thesis adapts a theoretical perspective from performance studies using epistemic, critical, and constitutive qualities to investigate interactive installations as performance. First, epistemic qualities explore how embodied interactions prompt participants' engagement. Second, critical qualities encourage participants to ask questions and explore issues. Lastly, constitutive qualities address how participants actuate new configurations by interacting with installations. This thesis applies the epistemic, critical, and constitutive aspects and its theoretical discourse to interactive installations. With two works, Please Smile (2012) and Hooray (2013), it probes these effects in an additional user study of both works. Using the quantitative and qualitative results of a questionnaire and participant interviews, it also analyzes how participants engage with Please Smile and Hooray and respond both emotionally and physically.

A variety of dietary choices are marketed to enhance glycogen recovery after physical activity. Past research provides recommendations regarding the timing, dose, and nutrient compositions to facilitate glycogen resynthesis. This study examined the effects of isocaloric sport supplements (SS) vs fast-food (FF) on glycogen resynthesis and exercise performance. Eleven male completed two experimental trials in a randomized, counterbalanced order. Each trial included a 90-minute glycogen depletion ride followed by a 4-hour recovery period. Absolute amounts of macronutrients (1.54±0.27 g.kg-1 carbohydrate, 0.24±0.04 g.kg-1 fat, and 0.18±0.03 g.kg-1 protein) as either SS or FF were provided at 0 and 2 hours. Muscle biopsies were collected from the vastus lateralis at 0 and 4 hours post exercise. Blood samples were obtained at 0, 30, 60, 120, 150, 180, and 240 minutes post exercise for insulin, glucose and blood lipids. A 20k time-trial (TT) was completed following the final muscle biopsy. There were no differences in the blood glucose and insulin responses. Similarly, rates of glycogen resynthesis were not different across the diets (6.9±1.7 and 7.9±2.4 mmol·kg-1·h-1 for SS and FF, respectively). There were also no differences across the diets for TT performance (34.1±1.8 and 34.3±1.7 minutes for SS and FF, respectively. These data indicate that short-term food options to initiate glycogen resynthesis can include a wide range of dietary options when total macronutrient composition is balanced.

Purpose: To determine if the effects of environmental conditions and their corresponding levels of heat strain during wildfire suppression influence behavior of wildland firefighters (WLFFs). Methods: Twenty-two WLFFs participated in regular activities on the fireline while under direct observation. Core (TC) and skin (TSK) temperatures, heart rate (HR), breathing rate (RR), physiological strain index (PSI), activity counts (ACT), ambient temperature (TEMP), relative humidity (HUM), and a detailed activity log were recorded in 10-minute averages across the entire work shift of subjects in the study. Wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) estimations were calculated using TEMP and HUM inputs recorded during the work shift. Results: Total time spent in temperature classifications defined by WBGT was 2,280 minutes or 16% of the total time (14,240 min). Average ACT in the white, green, yellow, red, and black flag conditions (384.0 ± 400.5 countsmin-1, 122.0 ± 125.8 countsmin-1, 106.8 ± 176.3 countsmin-1, 324.1 ± 353.6 countsmin-1, 249.7 ± 236.8 countsmin-1) were not less than ACT during WBGT conditions below 78.0°F (487.0 ± 704.4 countsmin-1). PSI values observed in the five flag conditions (3.1 ± 1.3, 2.2 ± 1.4, 2.1 ± 1.2, 2.7 ± 0.9, 2.9 ± 0.7) and outside of (2.2 ± 1.6) indicate adequate thermoregulation in this population across all weather conditions. Additionally, there was no difference in TC in response to changing environmental conditions. TSK and the gradient between TC and TSK were highly variable across all 22 subjects and environmental conditions. Conclusion: Increase in WBGT gradation did not reduce observed measurements of ACT and PSI. Situations of elevated body temperature were mitigated by individuals in response to body heat manifestation across all temperatures.

The purpose of this study was to explore current perceptions and attitudes of local food producers and hospital staff towards incorporating locally-sourced foods into hospital food service programs. Perceived opportunities and challenges to procuring and using local products in the hospital setting were identified. Additionally, perceived enablers and barriers of local producers were identified around working directly with institutions. The goal of this study was to integrate perceptions of producers and hospital staff to develop locally relevant suggestions for strengthening producer-hospital relationships and increase the amounts of local foods in hospital food service programs. Qualitative data was collected by conducting interviews with hospital staff involved with food procurement and management, as well as with local producers and food distributors. Demographic data was also collected from participants. Findings resulted in the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with direct working relationships between local food producers and hospitals and the increase of locally-sourced foods in food services. Barriers included price, product availability and quantity while opportunities included positive relationships, product quality, and champion leaders. The integration of results allowed for the development of capacity building suggestions. Such suggestions included the development of aggregated food systems, hospital staff wellness programs and collaborative problem solving processes. Most significantly, this study suggested that efforts to connect producers and hospitals in collaborative dialogue to identify and resolve misconceptions and misinformation may serve to most successfully strengthen Montanas farm-to-institution system and increase the amounts of locally-sourced foods being used in hospital food service programs.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States. Although cardiac rehabilitation is recognized as a standard element of continuum of cardiac care only 10-60% of eligible patients participate. Various barriers exist preventing cardiac patients to enroll in cardiac rehabilitation. These barriers are categorized into three different levels: 1) patient barriers, 2) physician barriers and 3) healthcare system barriers. Patient barriers can include lack of insurance, transportation, need to return to work, family issues and the perception cardiac rehabilitation is not needed but lack of physician referral is the leading deterrent for patients not enrolling in cardiac rehabilitation. Numerous reasons have been found to influence whether or not a physician processes a referral including age and gender of the patient, motivation of patient, type of physician (primary care versus cardiologist) and lack of knowledge on local cardiac rehabilitation facilities. One way researchers have found to overcome the obstacles related to issuing a referral is for the hospital and staff to utilize an automatic referral system along with trained liaisons to increase the enrollment rates of cardiac rehabilitation. While this strategy has proven to be effective in increasing referral and enrollment rates there is still a need for strategies that address other barriers for cardiac patients. Home-based cardiac rehabilitation programs can address the problems of transportation, family and work-related issues and the preference of not exercising in group settings. Home-based programs give the patients more freedom and therefore can help increase exercise adherence rates.