AU Scholars’ Day, 2022

The China Historical Christian Database (CHCD) is a digital tool for the study of Chinese Christianity from 1550 to 1950 affiliated with the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University. The CHCD database is comprised of geographical and chronological information about people, institutions, and corporate entities associated with Christianity in China. Its aim is to assist researchers in constructing historical narratives by piecing together information with the extant data found in individual journals and institutional records. As an example, the CHCD could help researchers know which people or what events can be linked to a given missionary based on the time that they spent with a hospital or orphanage in a given town or province during a certain period. By collecting and cataloging records of activity and presence, relationships among people and across institutions emerge that are not otherwise recorded in print. The CHCD is an existing website in its beta version that we came alongside to assist in its development. One of the main challenges that the CHCD faces as it comes online is to represent a visual breakdown of those individuals and relationships. Our work required us to interact with the existing React web application that runs a graph database known as neo4j. The new component of our work was to incorporate the D3.js JavaScript library to create interactive data visualizations built with the results of neo4j queries. Our goal was to create a general view of the data as well as specific views that approached the data from the perspective of corporate entities, institutions, and geography. Our contribution included visualizations from basic charts and statistics to switchable pie charts and expandable lists that filtered the data based on user input. This work enables individuals to see large, complex data in straightforward, clear ways.

The WHAT-IF model is existing software that assists investment planning in managing and evaluating water infrastructure. It maps hydrological inputs to the resulting changes in crop outputs and energy production based on climate and investment scenarios provided by the user. One downside of the WHAT-IF model is that it fails to include any sophisticated visualizations for understanding the outputted statistics. In its current state, WHAT-IF is a black box in that it restricts the end user to think about geospatial relationships and large-scale implications of minor changes at only a conceptual level. The Water Management and Simulation Software (WMASS) works to provide visualizations for the user to understand the relationships within water basins. WMASS generates a visual representation via maps and markers based on the geo-spatial data and hydrological inputs used by WHAT-IF. WMASS uses Leaflet, a JavaScript framework, to create a mapping of the data. The ultimate goal of WMASS is to visually represent an environment where the user can represent and manipulate the components of a water system in order to create their own custom scenarios which could be returned back to the WHAT-IF model. The ultimate end use of WMASS is to assist hydrologists and water resource engineers to efficiently and clearly carry out simulations on projects in countries around the world.

The Madison County Food Network is a website application that was created from the need to have organized communication within the food network community in Madison County for the purpose of food rescue. Before this app, the people within the network, such as food banks, churches, or community organizations, would have to make calls to every other organization to ask if they were in a position to accept any more food. Our group was tasked with creating an application that would make it easier for organizations in the network to post food when they have an excess amount that they do not want to go to waste. After talking to the clients about what they wanted, we decided to model our app after Facebook marketplace as well as other social media platforms to make the user interface as user friendly as possible, especially for those who are not as familiar with technology. This project was originally started in our Software Engineering class in our first semester until we took over the project as our Senior Capstone project. After the first semester, our project was in great working condition but it was not as user friendly as it could have been. Our project was to fix bugs and update the user interface to make the app more user friendly and incorporate new functionality that resulted in feedback from people in the community about our project. Our group decided to use the Firebase platform to build our app because after doing some research we found that Firebase would be a free platform that would meet our needs. Through Firebase we were able to save user profiles, posts, and other data that is needed to have a functioning application.

Rolle’s theorem is a classical result typically studied in first-semester Calculus that can be used to locate a root of the first derivative of a polynomial between two consecutive roots of the polynomial. By differentiating several times, one can produce a sequence of all the roots of all nontrivial derivatives of a polynomial. Although the ordering of the roots is constrained by Rolle’s theorem, surprisingly some are non-realizable, meaning that even though they are allowed by Rolle’s theorem, they never occur. For our research we examined degree five polynomial root sequences. Following the identification and classification of several patterns, we used methods of mathematical proof to demonstrate the non-realizability of these patterns.

Alpha-synuclein is a protein within the midbrain found to be one of the causes of Parkinson’s disease. There is not a lot of known information about alpha-synucleint except that alpha-synuclein aids in the maintenance of keeping an adequate supply of synaptic vesicles. Within the alpha-synuclein protein, there are multiple gene variations that have resulted in mutations of amino acids. There have been previous studies, Oliveira et al. for example, which show the likelihood for an amino acid to change into another amino acid. These studies have been shown in amino acid substitution matrices which base the data on evolutionary intervals, which is how long it takes an amino acid to mutate. In 2003, Oliveira et al., hypothesized that their research would aid in identifying the knowledge gaps relating to alpha-synuclein and how it affects Parkinson’s disease. This experiment is a continuation of Oliveira et. al’s experiment proving how likely the four variants in SNCA are to occur. These are then compared to international data of those who have Parkinson’s disease. This data is compared to determine if there are more factors into being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease than just chance alone. With further research and understanding, the data will be able to show if there is an additional factor with being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and if so, if the factors are preventable. This may lead to discovering preventative measures for those factors of Parkinson’s disease.

The purpose of this experiment is to observe the staining of acrylic resin teeth over 4 weeks of exposure to different beverages: water, Mtn Dew, Coke, and coffee. The experiment also tests the impact of brushing with whitening toothpaste on staining of acrylic resin teeth. The hypotheses of the experiment are that the longer the period of time the acrylic resin teeth are exposed to a beverage, the more staining there will be and exposure to brushing with whitening toothpaste reduces staining of acrylic resin. In this experiment, specific samples of acrylic resin teeth were exposed to specific beverages over a 4 week time period. For the first hypothesis, the negative control was a sample of acrylic resin with no exposure to beverages, and the positive control was a sample with exposure to water. For the second hypothesis, the controls were samples of acrylic resin exposed to Mtn Dew, Coke, and coffee but no exposure to brushing with whitening toothpaste. Both hypotheses were accepted.

This honors thesis explores the changes in the publishing industry over the last ten years with a specific focus on the acquisition process. The industry has had to navigate a wide variety of changes. Luckily, the demand for books has not declined; instead, production has increased.  Personal interviews with industry professionals and an analysis of the manuscript proposal requirements of Midwest publishing houses were completed to develop conclusions on the changes in the industry. The main areas of change identified were categorized into acquisition efforts, technology, and audience. Acquisition editors are specifically looking for authors with marketable features that will help sell their book. The eBook is the most cited form of technology that has affected the industry, but it is not the only change that technology has set in motion. Advances in on demand printing, audiobooks, and podcasts have drastically changed operations and how books are acquired, printed, and promoted. Reader’s wants change over a decade and the publishing industry has to respond to those preferences. For example, nonfiction has overtaken fiction and poetry is on the rise. These changes stem directly from readers and show the importance put on consumers to impact new authors and books that are published.

In alcohol solutions, self-association hydrogen bonding occurs. Presumably from steric effects, hydrogen bonding decreases with increasing size of the alkyl group (R) attached to the hydroxyl group. We hypothesized that the total amount of hydrogen bonding of an alcohol and the rate at  which self-association hydrogen bonding would occur in increasing concentrations are both affected by the size of the R group. 

Interestingly, in 1H NMR spectroscopy, the chemical shift of an alcohol’s hydroxyl proton is greatly influenced by the degree of hydrogen bonding in the solution. The hydroxyl proton peak migrates downfield with increased hydrogen bonding because the shielding of the proton is decreased. We believe 1H NMR would be a useful tool to investigate the hydrogen bonding of various alcohols. Our study looked at several alcohols (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, tert-butanol) with different sized R groups and the 1H NMR peak of the alcohol’s hydroxyl proton at various concentrations in CDCl3. The ending chemical shifts for these alcohols and the slope of the lines of the chemical shift vs. concentration gave valuable insights into the hydrogen bonding ability of these alcohols. Our results showed the rate at which sterically hindered alcohols hydrogen bond is slower and overall ends in less hydrogen bonding. This is consistent with previous computer modeling based on polar surface area ratios of the R groups of a wide range of alcohols.1

Designing an internal combustion engine includes methods of engine configuration, air/fuel ratios, emissions, lubrication, and cooling systems, and stresses created inside an engine. The aim of this study was to determine the main factors to creating a working engine, while creating a working engine that can be used to demonstrate the main components of an engine in motion. Some of the main components of the engine include crankshafts, pistons, piston rings, camshafts, and valves. The crankshaft is the moving component on the bottom of the engine that turns, pushing the rods and pistons up-and-down, in a reciprocating motion. The piston moves up and down inside the cylinder, compressing the air and fuel for combustion. The piston rings provide a sliding seal between the piston and cylinder that prevent oil and fuel/air mixture from leaking during combustion. The camshaft times the valves to move every other revolution, and open and close to let the air and fuel in and exhaust out of the engine, producing power. In the process of finishing the design of the engine, we have implemented mechanical and chemical principles we learned in class. We also finished the engine display to demonstrate these principles to others.

Myofascial release is a new and upcoming method of treatment around the sports medicine world. There are many techniques that play a role in the concept of myofascial release. Since this is so new, the interest in figuring out how it helps athletes has been on the rise. Postural control is something every athlete needs in order to perform in their sport, so combining the two aspects of myofascial release and postural control is the basis of my research. In order to test postural control, the Star Excursion Balance Test was used. This test is something known around the world of Sports Medicine to test one’s postural control in multiple directions. Previous studies have not investigated the effects of myofascial release of the anterior and posterior tibialis muscles on an individual’s postural control. My results showed a slight increase in postural control with my treatment group, but not significant enough to say that myofascial release does in fact help. There will need to be more research done in order to confirm that myofascial release does help postural control.

Student-athletes around the nation are heavily recruited to continue an athletic career in their respective sport(s) at the collegiate level. While an athlete competing at a higher division school has the potential for being on scholarship, athletes playing at the Division III level do not have that option and typically play for the love of the game. This can cause a strong amount of athletic identity to be prevalent, discouraging athletes to discover who they are outside of sports and increasing the risk of identity crisis to occur. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the perception of identity Division III athletes have after the completion of their final competitive season. A qualitative approach was taken for this study, as individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted on six subjects who were of senior status and permanently done competing in their sport(s). Data analysis will be done by going through the audio recordings of each interview and identifying meaningful statements, then taking those statements and thematizing them into three main themes. The goal after the data analysis is to have a deeper understanding of the real-world phenomenon of athletic identity.

Athletes’ energy and efforts can depend on multiple different factors. One factor, where there has been limited research, is the role coaching styles and relationships with athletes play on rehabilitation support and outcomes. The perception of the athlete’s relationship with their coach can be very important, especially when looking at the amount of support they are receiving during rehabilitation after an injury. In order to dive deeper into this connection, this study looked at the relationship between the athlete and their coach with a modified CART-Q and a rehabilitation support questionnaire. The correlation between the two was looked at with a Pearson Correlation. The results showed that there was a correlation of .86, indicating a large effect size. This suggests that as relationships with coaches increase, support during rehab tends to increase and vice-versa. There should be additional research conducted that looks more into individual sports rather than the female athletic program in itself. The research conducted shows that a good relationship does not always mean the athlete feels supported during their rehabilitation process. Further research should also look at the more into the cause and effect of this established relationship.

The role core activation plays in movement, functionality, and power within athletic performance has been increasingly examined. As more and more research is created and published, it is becoming more widely accepted that movement of the extremities derives from the core. The research revolving around cognitive core activation and especially its effectiveness within collegiate volleyball athletics is in small quantity, and many researchers have directed their focus on how the lower extremity reacts. There is currently limited research regarding how cognitive core activation techniques affect the upper extremity. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the extent proper core activation has on the hitting velocity of collegiate volleyball athletes. This research was conducted by forming a control and treatment group, recording of initial velocity trials, completion of different core exercises, and recording of final velocity trials.

Mental health among student athletes has become a more popular topic in the last decade. However, many struggling athletes are not properly introduced to psychological interventions and their many benefits such as reduced stress and anxiety. Psychological interventions can be introduced in many forms such as goal setting, journaling, self-talk, imagery, modeling and social support. My research aimed to observe the prevalence of journaling, goal setting, self-talk, and social support in division III post-operative student athletes. The prevalence of interventions used were measured by a survey. Results revealed the popularity of goal setting and social support which are two of the more common psychological interventions.

Disordered Eating in athletes is a prevalent issue, especially in athletes that are in a more aesthetic sport such as dance, figure skating, gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, cheerleading and wrestling. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, most collegiate athletes were forced to stay home and not exercise as much as their bodies were used to. A lot of collegiate athletes identify with their sport so if they were unable to play their sport their mental health declined. When athletes could not exercise, what they could control was their calorie intake. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if the Covid-19 pandemic had a detrimental effect on mental health of athletes causing the prevalence of disordered eating tendencies to increase. After conducting a survey of 43 athletes from several sports from the university’s athletic department, the study concluded that there was not a significant amount of correlation between the decline of mental health and the decline of eating during the covid-19 pandemic.

The athletic population has been identified as an at-risk population for mental health conditions (Hebard & Lambeerson, 2017). This becomes increasingly concerning when considering the fact that high levels of stress and anxiety can significantly increase the risk of injury within sport. In addition, where certified athletic trainers are more than amply equipped to rehabilitate athletes who struggle with physical injuries, it is reported feeling unqualified and inadequate to care for their patients who need care pertaining to their mental health (Zakrajsek et al., 2016). Unfortunately, within collegiate athletics where there is a significant enough injury that requires physical rehabilitation, there is most likely a psychosocial component as well. The aim of this study is to better understand the relationship between mental well-being and adherence to rehabilitation, in hopes of laying the foundation for future research and the development of interventions for injured student-athletes. This study hypothesized that participants with higher levels of stress and anxiety would report lower levels of adherence to the rehabilitation program. This study consisted of a total of 10 participants, nine females and one male. Results were not supportive of the hypothesis showing that there was no significant relationship between mental well-being and adherence. However, results did show that the subscale of anxiety was statistically significantly correlated to adherence in a negative direction. Future research should investigate this relationship further with a larger sample size to get a better understanding of this relationship.

Sports specialization and pain perception are two important factors that apply to athletes. Each affects athletics and athletic performance in different ways. Sport specialization can be defined as the transition from participation in multiple sports to participation in one sport for eight months of the year consecutively or longer. Many athletes sport specialize for college; however, some may specialize at younger ages. Athletes who sport specialize prior to the age of twelve have a higher risk of chronic injury due to repetitive movement (Post et al., 2020). Pain perception can be described as one’s perception of physiological pain caused by stimuli that can cause damage to body tissue. Pain perception is different for all individuals and can be affected by a person’s pain tolerance and pain threshold. To see if there was a correlation between sport specialization and pain perception, a survey was conducted and sent out to Division III student athletes between the ages of 18-25 who completed a full season at a Midwest university during the 2021-2022 academic year. This survey consisted of 18 questions about sport specialization and pain perception. There were a total of 58 completed responses. The final analysis showed that there was no direct correlation between sport specialization and pain perception.

The purpose of this study was to explore possible differences between people who participate in Medicaid and people who do not when it comes to interpersonal interactions with doctors and other medical staff and the quality of medical care received. There were 111 participants (24 males, 84 females) gathered from around the United States from either various social media websites, the United Way, and a church outreach program. All participants were asked basic demographic questions, a Medicaid status question, and given the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-III. The researcher hypothesized that people on Medicaid would perceive having poor quality of care and worse interpersonal interactions. Independent t-tests were run for all of the subscales in the measure and results showed that none of them were statistically significant, therefore, the hypothesis was not supported. One possible explanation may be the small sample size for the Medicaid group (n = 14).

Given the rise in the number of college athletes, as well as diagnosed mental health conditions in this population, it is crucial to understand what contributes to their mental health. This study explored the role of the coach-athlete relationship on mental well-being. I hypothesized that perceived coach support will be a predictor of mental well-being. I also hypothesized that negative affect moderates the relationship between perceived coach support and mental well-being. A total of 171 NCAA Division III athletes participated in this study. Perceived coach support was a statistically significant predictor of mental-well being (β = .366, p = .003). Negative affect was not a significant moderator of this relationship; however post-hoc analyses discovered that it was a statistically significant predictor of mental well-being (β = -.660, p < .001). Further research should consider this unique role that the coach-athlete relationship has on mental-well being.

Language has the potential to produce stigmatizing labels for those who struggle with addiction, causing negative perceptions of recovery by the public. The purpose of this study is to test how person-first language (e.g. person with an addiction vs addict) can affect the public perception of recovery from addiction. This study is a vignette-based, between-subjects experiment and used Amazon Mechanical Turk to recruit participants across the United States. The participants (n = 217) viewed a randomly assigned vignette where the language was altered in either person-first language, addiction-first language, or control condition (no illness), followed by a series of questions asking them about their perception of recovery. We found that there was not a statistically significant difference in perceptions of recovery in addiction based on language, F (2,219) = .419, p = .658, partial eta squared = .004. Future research could continue to look at person-first language by adjusting the variable being measured and a larger sample size.

Previous research has highlighted the benefits of exercise, the relationship between mental health and exercise, and ways to increase motivation to exercise. This study examines the relationship between depression, anxiety, and exercise motivation in college students. The hypothesis for this study was that higher self-reported levels of anxiety and depression would correlate to lower reported exercise motivation. A multiple regression analysis was used and found no significant correlation between anxiety and depression symptoms and motivation to exercise. However, it was found that self-reported levels of depression and anxiety do significantly correlate with intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, two subscales of the RM4-FM measure for motivation to workout. There is room for future research in this area, and this will help provide implications for incorporating exercise into treatment plans for individuals with mental illness, specifically anxiety and depression.

To increase marital satisfaction and decrease divorce rates, strengthening skills that improve marital relationships should be a key focus. This study researches the skill of emotional intelligence (EQ), which has been positively correlated with marital satisfaction (MS). Because multiple elements are needed to maintain a marriage, commitment was examined as a mediator between the variables. Three simple and one multiple regressions were used to analyze the correlation between the variables with the results of 108 participants. A positive correlation between MS and EQ was found, as well as between commitment and MS. However, significant correlations were not found when commitment was introduced as a mediator, because there was no correlation between EQ and commitment. This topic of mediating factors between marital skills should be further explored to better understand how marriages are formed and could be strengthened.

This study examined whether the positive psychological effects that arise from spending time outdoors also occur during winter. College lacrosse players completed both an indoor and outdoor activity (practice); changes in vitality and positive affect (PA) were measured. It was hypothesized that vitality and PA would show a larger increase after the outdoor activity compared to indoor. Factorial Repeated Measures ANOVAs were conducted for both dependent variables. There was not a significant interaction between time and activity location for either dependent variable. A significant main effect of activity location was found with outdoor activity having higher scores for both vitality, F(1,9) = 5.46, p = .04, partial eta2 = .38, and PA, F(1,9) = 6.62, p = .03, partial eta2 = .42. The initial hypotheses were not supported and results were confounded by time of day. Future research should continue to examine winter specifically regarding the benefits of spending time outdoors.

Practicing mindfulness is a new and promising non-pharmacological tool for self-management of Parkinson’s and possibly a preventative measure. However, many forms of mindfulness meditation are extensive and inflexible to the experience of Parkinson’s, so this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a brief, guided mindfulness in Parkinson’s at Rock Steady Boxing, a non-contact boxing gym for Parkinson’s patients. I hypothesized that using a mindfulness-based program composed of brief guided meditations with Parkinson’s patients over a six week period would lead to a decrease in anxiety and perceived stress and an increase in sleep quality. Results for this study showed that the difference in anxiety between pre-test and post-test scores was statistically significant, t(12)=2.116, p < .05, while stress and sleep quality improved non-significantly. Based on these results, we conclude that mindfulness is beneficial for those with Parkinson’s most significantly in decreasing anxiety, and may demonstrate small benefits to stress and sleep quality.

The effects of stigma can be detrimental to the recovery of persons with severe mental illness (SMI). Understanding stigma can help to improve recovery outcomes. Contact with SMI is a factor known to decrease stigma. Burden is an important factor for caregivers of individuals with SMI. Perception of burden can decrease quality of life for caregivers. This study aims to assess whether perception of burden mediates the relationship between contact and stigma. If supported, efforts could be made towards making interactions with individuals with SMI less burdensome as a way of decreasing stigma. A survey was conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 105) using measures for contact, perception of burden, and public stigma. The results indicated no correlation between contact and public stigma. There was a significant correlation between perception of burden and public stigma. Given the inconsistency with prior research, further investigation should be done into this relationship.

Stigma of mental illness is an important area of research. Most research in this area focuses on the effects of public stigma. This study examined the relationship between internalized mental health stigma and religiosity. Religiosity was defined by intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. The participants (n=150) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. All participants completed a survey composed of demographic, internalized stigma, and religiosity questions. The researcher hypothesized that extrinsic religiosity would be a positive predictor of internalized mental health stigma. This study found that a total of 22.8% of the variance in internalized stigma can be explained by religiosity, which is statistically significant. Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity were both significant predictors of internalized stigma. Future research is needed to examine other relationships between internalized mental health stigma and religiosity.

Visible light is made up of electromagnetic energy of different wavelengths ranging from 380 to 750 nm. A certain amount of energy is required to excite electrons in order for the light to be visible. The energy absorbed has to be specific to excite an electron from the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO).  When this electron drops back from the LUMO to the HOMO energy is emitted in the form of visible light and at a discrete wavelength depending on the energy difference between these molecular orbitals.  Organic compounds that have several conjugated bonds will have the ability to absorb or emit energy in the visible region and thus have specifical colors.

Aldol condensation is a synthetic reaction between two carbonyl compounds that results in a conjugated double bond in a molecule. Aldol condensation was used to synthesize six highly conjugated compounds. These compounds were purified using crystallization then characterized and analyzed in order to confirm their properties. The maximum wavelength (λmax) of each compound was observed, and it was hypothesized that with every conjugated double bond added to a structure, the λmax shifts to a longer wavelength.

World events have brought several challenges and opportunities to the United States’ healthcare system and its professionals. One event is the political-military conflict in Afghanistan of 2021. With the complexities and logistics of relocating, re-culturizing, and laying a foundation for refugees to be successful in America, a myriad of complex risk factors surfaces in this vulnerable population, especially in the healthcare field. One prevalent issue that impacts the Afghan refugee population is maternal health risk factors for Afghan refugee women. An examination of the current literature reveals three themes for Afghan refugee women when seeking maternal healthcare in the United States: cultural and social barriers, education barriers, and the United States healthcare system barriers. Throughout this literature review, the author reveals maternal healthcare risk factors for Afghan refugee women with the intent to reduce the disparities Afghan refugee women might face.

An overwhelming majority of people that suffer from diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in Ecuador and there continues to be insufficient diabetic management. Barriers to Ecuadorian diabetic healthcare include prevalent risk factors, a lack of patient education, and poor access to healthcare. The issue of poor diabetic management in low-income countries is expected to increase significantly. My research aims to determine what type of risk factors are prevalent in Ecuador and why there is such a lack of patient education and access to healthcare. I surveyed Ecuadorians’ knowledge on diabetic risk factors, their level of patient education, and their access to healthcare. It was found that being overweight, having a poor diet, and suffering from a lack of education were the main risk factors to poor management of diabetes in Ecuador. It is important that Ecuadorians have a sufficient physical activity regimen, eat a healthy diet, and have access to educational resources for their diabetes. Adequate patient education and access to healthcare is important in understanding the scientific basis of diabetes so that proper management and treatment can take place in Ecuador. Once the people of Ecuador are more educated on the topic of diabetes, they will be able to improve their modifiable risk factors and self-educate. Knowledge of diabetes and the management of the disease is excellent progress towards lowering the prevalence of diabetes in Ecuador, as well as closing the disparity between Ecuador and high-income countries.

The hips play a key role in connecting the upper extremity to the lower extremity, they assist the body in movement, function, and stability. As the years progress hip importance and hip pain has become increasingly misunderstood and under researched. Within the past several years more research has been done on femoral acetabular impingement and labral tears but not much on what may cause the hip to become so damaged. The research revolving around chronic hip instability is very limited which is why I conducted my research. The research aims to establish a baseline to rule in or out whether the patient may have hip instability or not. They then will progress into further special tests, range of motion, and strength testing. Initial studies began with taking a survey to receive a score 0-100 on hip pain and difficulties they may have during everyday life. Based upon those findings they progressed into further testing the hip flexor, quadriceps, hamstring, and glute muscles. After they were put through special tests Trendelenburg’s test, Beighton criteria, log roll, FADIR test, FABER test, abduction-hyperextension-external rotation test, prone instability test, and hyperextension-external rotation test. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hip instability in athletes.

Exclusive breastfeeding is proven to have a positive effect on mothers and their newborns, especially within the first six months of life (Aljawadi et al., 2017). Exclusive breastfeeding is defined as the infant only receives breast milk, no other liquids or solids are given, including water (World Health Organization, 2019). To achieve optimal growth, development, and health, it is recommended that the infant be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life (World Health Organization, 2019). In Ecuador, approximately 44% of all mothers exclusively breastfeed (Salim & Stones, 2020). The purpose of this paper is to explore different factors that affect exclusive breastfeeding rates among Ecuadorian women. The three themes, or greatest factors, identified through this research are the mother’s age, residence area/region, and employment status with education level. 

Infant mortality rate (IMR) is commonly known in the healthcare industry as the death of an infant before reaching the age of one. Infant mortality rates are trending higher in both underdeveloped and developing nations (Vivanco et al., 2021). Since the infant mortality rate is lower in Ecuador compared to many of its neighboring countries as well as other countries in South America, it is important to research and consider the factors attributing to decreased amounts of infant deaths within this particular country. There are several factors that contribute to a country’s IMR being high including low income, lack of resources, and decreased education (Feld et al., 2021; Huiracocha-Tutiven et al., 2019; Juliao et al., 2021; Osorio et al., 2020; Romero-Sandoval et al., 2019). According to Romero-Sandoval et al. (2019) evident disparities were found among ethnic minorities, like indigenous social groups and afro-descendants within Ecuador, as the study showed that these groups have a higher IMR in relation to their low socioeconomic status.  Ecuador’s infant mortality rate trended higher in the 1980s but has been steadily decreasing from the early 1990’s into the 21st century (Romero-Sandoval et al., 2019; Vivanco et al., 2021). The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the reasons why the infant mortality rate is low. The three themes identified in this research are education, primary health care, and sociodemographics.

When looking at the differences between countries such as the United States of America and the  People’s Republic of China, one notices one major difference in their demographics, the ethnic makeup of their nations. In current history China is an authoritarian state with a population that is ninety-one percent Han Chinese. The United States is a democratic state with a population that is sixty percent White. Both countries have the presence of minorities, but on different scales.  Previous literature argues that the presence of higher levels of ethnic diversity in nations leads to more liberal democratic governments and policies. This paper examines how ethnically homogeneous a nation is affects its level of democracy. This study was done examining ethnic fractionalization data for countries against their democracy index score. The results found showed that ethnic fractionalization does not have a significant effect on regime type and that more ethnically homogeneous nations tend to be more authoritarian than democratic. These results cast doubt on the idea that more ethnically diverse nations are more likely to be liberal democracies.  While nations like China with more homogeneous populations have lower levels of democracy in their government system, a nation like Norway with an eighty-three percent Norwegian population has the highest democracy index score in the world.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a statistical revolution in the National football league, with new stats being developed that better measure the performance of teams and individual players and the likelihood of payouts from certain in-game decisions. One area that has not received a great deal of development, however, is statistics that predict which team should win a game. Even with enhanced statistics for team performance, there has been little research done into how accurate these statistics actually are at predicting games. This study seeks to analyze the efficiency of some of these statistics at predicting NFL games and compare it to the gold standard of predictions: the Las Vegas oddsmakers.

The transition into college is one of the most important stages of a young adult’s life. This is the stage where they are beginning to become individuals away from their parents. They are now having to make many decisions independently from their parents. One of these decisions is managing their personal finances. This is where they begin to apply what they learned either from previous courses, their parents, or trial and error. The purpose of this research is to look into how prepared students feel about managing their personal finance. Specifically, this research will investigate the personal financial attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge of current undergraduate students at Anderson University. This research was inspired from earlier research looking at these three domains at select universities. A similar methodology used by Brent Marsh of collecting self-reported data from students across campus will be employed for this research. The focus of this research was on students enrolled in the Honors Program and students with either a major or minor in Psychology.  Results will be analyzed and discussed.

Currently, it is believed that percent heart rate reserve is an effective way to measure exercise intensity. Since exercise intensity determines the various adaptations that occur as a result of exercise, it is important to know all variables that could make percent heart rate reserve less accurate in order to control those aspects. This research aims to determine the effect that hydration has on heart rate during exercise and consequently, the intensity and adaptations of exercise. It was hypothesized that increases in hydration would increase workload. To determine the effect of hydration on heart rate, each subject did a maximal heart rate cycle test, a check ride to estimate the workload correlated with 70% heart rate reserve, and two trials, one with a hydration protocol and one with a dehydration protocol. Overall, data did not give strong evidence to support the hypothesis.

Current research is inconclusive regarding the most effective rest interval for resistance exercise, as there can be benefits for both long and short rest durations. Because this information is relevant and applicable for both athletes and recreational exercisers, we believed it to be important to inform the research community of the most ideal rest interval for resistance exercise. For our study, we researched the effects of rest duration, specifically on bench press exercise sessions, when using a velocity-based training technique. A total of six participants were recruited for our study. All participants went through a total of five visits with researchers to obtain medical history and informed consent, a one-repetition maximum on the bench press, and a maximum velocity when pushing the bar in a concentric motion. This information was then used for the two rest duration sessions, one of which the participants had a two-minute rest interval, and for the other a four-minute rest interval in between exercise sets. Data analysis will compare the volume of bench press repetitions and sets between the two separate rest interval groups. Results and discussion will be provided.

Throughout history, art and portraits have been used to showcase the power of a certain person. Within the portraits, the choice of the subject’s dress was equally important in expressing the power they held. Within current and past societies, decisions of fashion can lead to an assumption of class status. In France, there were three distinguished classes – also called Estates – and each class wore different clothing based on their social status. Within each class, there were further distinctions based on one’s status within the class – still based on their clothing. My research is to determine what led to the distinctions between each class’s dress as well as tackle why further distinctions within each class was deemed necessary. Results will be analyzed and discussed.

Many people struggle with low back pain at some point in their lives. However, few notice the full extent of how their pain impacts different aspects of their everyday life, including their postural stability. Postural stability can be defined as the ability to control the body in space for the purpose of movement and balance. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between low back pain and postural stability. Postural stability was assessed by using the Balance Error Scoring System. Low back pain was assessed by having participants fill out the Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire. The study included nine Division III collegiate athletes who have a history of low back pain. Results showed that there is a regression line following the trend, however there were no significant correlations between any pair of variables. In conclusion, more testing with a larger sample size needs to be done.