Digital Commons Network^™

The Association Between Sedentary Behavior And Heart Disease Mortality Rates Among Florida Residents., Umed Norkulov

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026

This research project examines the association between sedentary behavior and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) mortality among Florida residents. As heart disease remains the leading cause of death in Florida, identifying modifiable risk factors is a public health priority. This study utilizes an ecological design to analyze age-adjusted mortality rates across Florida’s 67 counties, correlating them with the prevalence of sedentary lifestyles reported via the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

Key findings indicate that sedentary behavior exceeding 10 hours per day is an independent risk factor for heart disease, increasing risk by 8% to 18%, regardless of other physical activity …

The Strength Of The Association Between Obesity And Mortality From Diabetes Among Adults In Florida, Diego A. Garcia, Jacob Bleasdale Phd,Ms,Ches, Cristobal Cintron Msc, Drph

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a leading cause of preventable death across the United States, with obesity being directly tied to this condition as one of its most significant and modifiable risk factors. Although national-level evidence strongly supports this association, Florida-specific population data is still limited.

Methods: County-level adult obesity prevalence and age-adjusted diabetes mortality data were obtained directly from the Florida Health CHARTS website (FL DOH,2024) for all Florida counties. The Pearson correlation (r) was used to evaluate the strength of association between the variables

Results: A statistically significant, moderate-positive correlation was found between adult obesity rates …

Ecological Consequences Of Variable Glacial Melting On Arctic Biodiversity: Trophic Shifts And Community Dynamics, Aislyn Malone, Audrey Swart

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Our project investigated the profound impacts of increasing glacial melting on various trophic levels, habitats, and other ecological processes.

Predicting Capture And Survival Probabilities Of The Arizona Tiger Salamander: A Comparison Of Capture-Recapture Models, Brittney Nelson

Scholars Week

Capture-recapture models are essential tools for estimating population dynamics in ecological studies. A fundamental component of these models is the capture history matrix, which records individual detection over time and serves as the basis for estimating survival and capture probabilities. This presentation explores three statistical approaches to these estimations: the Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) model, the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for CJS, and the Bayesian CJS model. The CJS model provides a likelihood-based framework for estimation, and the HMM CJS incorporates latent states into the model to account for uncertainty in detection. The Bayesian CJS extends this same analysis by integrating prior …

The Association Between Disease Burden And Alzheimer's Hospitalization Rates In Older Adults., Autumn Johnson

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2025

Dementia refers to symptoms that impair daily life, including social and intellectual abilities, with memory loss being a key feature. Conditions such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Huntington’s Disease, and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) are major causes of memory loss. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disorder that deteriorates memory and thinking skills, characterized by withdrawal from social activities, mood changes, and confusion about time or place.

Age is the leading risk factor for Alzheimer’s, alongside non-modifiable factors like genetics and family history. Modifiable factors include physical activity, smoking, education, and social engagement. The Alzheimer’s Association’s 2024 fact sheet emphasizes the need for more research …

Excess Body Weight And It’S Association To Diabetes Mortality Among Florida Adults, Shivanie M. Sharma

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2023

“Excess Body Weight and Its Association to Diabetes Mortality” is a topic that has been highly studied and researched. However, there has yet been a study that looks at excess body weight and its association to Diabetes Mortality among Florida Adults. Specifically, by utilizing data from the Florida Health Charts. This includes the analyzation by Person (Florida Blacks versus Whites), Place (Florida counties), and Time (rate of diabetes mortality though the years in Florida). This study further provides information on the idea of the “obesity paradox.” But, it also sheds light on the implications and limitations based on previous epidemiological …

The Importance Of Statistical Design In Spatial Analysis: Indiana Superfund Site Locations And Socioeconomic Variables, Jenna Johnston, Cecilia Hall

Fall Interdisciplinary Research Symposium

Environmental justice research has focused on the question of whether marginalized people are more likely to live close to polluted sites. These spatial disparities have been found when analyzing the distribution of Superfund sites with race and socioeconomic status. However, these results appear to be dependent on what methods and units of analysis are used. This study examines whether these disparities exist in Indiana by comparing the results of two different statistical tests: a t-test and bootstrapping analysis.

Using t-tests to compare median income in areas close to and far from Superfund sites at distances of 1 and 5 miles …

Seedling And Resprout Survival Of Three Chaparral Species Following Woolsey Wildfire, Karagan L. Smith, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

Fire is a common natural disaster that effects Southern California. Combined with recent chronic drought, there has been an increase in the damage and frequency of these fires in recent years. Three chaparral species are common to the Pepperdine campus: Malosma laurina, Ceanothus spinosus, and Ceanothus megacarpus. The survival of these native species is essential because they are indicators for the changes that are occurring in our local ecosystem and provide further implications of how our ecosystem responds to natural disaster. Seedling recruitment and resprouting are mechanisms these chaparral species use to reestablish postfire. Postfire data have been recorded …

Comparison Of Postfire Seedling Recruitment Of 2019 In Three Key Chaparral Species, Karagan Smith, Reid Furukawa, Brett Muramoto, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

Fire is a common natural disaster that sweeps through Southern California. Combined with periods of acute, and most recent, chronic drought, we have seen an increase in the damage and frequency of these fires in recent years. Three chaparral species are common to the Pepperdine campus: Malosma laurina, Ceanothus spinosus, and Ceanothus megacarpus. The survival of these three native species is essential because they serve as biomarkers for the changes that are occurring in our local ecosystem and provide further implications for how our ecosystem is responding to natural disaster. Seedling recruitment is a mechanism that is used by …

Effect Of Locality Recognition On Aggressive Behavior In The Red Swamp Crayfish, Procambarus Clarkii, Brett K. Muramoto, Tyler Farley

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Climate change affects habitat globally, facilitating the expansion and rapid proliferation of invasive species which damage the newly invaded ecosystem. Intraspecific aggression among an invasive species is an important focus in ecological studies because it can contribute to their overall success as invaders. The crayfish species, Procambarus clarkii, inhabits freshwater streams in the Santa Monica Mountains (Los Angeles, CA) as an aggressive invasive predator. These invasive crayfish are well known for their highly aggressive interactions with conspecifics. It has been shown that body size, temperature, sex, and level of hunger influence their levels of aggression. However, there is a …

Persistent Appalachian Health Disparities: An Integrative Literature Review, Richard R. Trosper

Grace Peterson Nursing Research Colloquium

Persistent Appalachian Health Disparities: An Integrative Literature Review

Richard Trosper

Research Sponsor: Elizabeth P Anderson RN, PhD

Background: The area surrounding the Appalachian Mountains is referred to as Appalachia. There are 420 counties in 13 states which are considered to be part of the Appalachian region (Shapiro, 2001). Despite the progress made by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, health in Appalachia still falls far behind that of other parts of America (Widner, 1990). This disparity has been termed and utilized in research in the realm of limited health care access, different diseases, and health related problems confused with the complexity …

Frontline Experiences From Changing Fisheries Bycatch Paradigms, David Kerstetter

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

No abstract provided.

Avian Species Of The Chacabuco Valley, Walker Nordin, Sydney Morison

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

The focus of this poster is the avian ecology of the Chacabuco Valley in the Aysen Region of Chilean Patagonia. Information on various bird species and habitat types was obtained via structured bird surveys near lakes throughout the valley, with the aim of correlating certain bird species and behaviors with specific habitat types. The results showed the most common bird species of woodland, shrubland, and lake habitats, as well as associated behaviors. Some bird behaviors were analyzed in greater depth, in order to speculate on certain species habitat requirements. The findings of this project will provide baseline reference information for …

Insights Into Forest Soil Carbon Dynamics From Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nmr Investigations Of Natural Organic Matter In Forest Ecosystems, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Metal-Specific Effects On Stream Macroinvertebrates--Physiological And Ecological Approaches, Daniel Cain, James Carter, D. B. Buchwalter, Samuel Luoma

Clark Fork Symposium Archives

The success of remediation of mining wastes in the upper Clark Fork River (CFR) will be measured by mitigation of metal exposures and reduction of risk to biological communities. Dissolved Cu concentrations at most sites in the upper 90 km of the CFR have declined during the period 1993-2002. Annual trends in benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage data indicate that in-stream ecological conditions have improved, also. Despite the general similarity in those patterns, correlation in year-to-year Cu exposure and changes in the benthos within sites is weak. These simple relationships are probably confounded by other factors acting on the benthos. Additionally, interpretation …