Digital Commons Network^™

El Centro Newsletter (Aug 2024), Bryan Ramirez, Araceli Hernández-Laroche Ph.D.

Newsletters & Reports

Welcome to the second edition of El Centro’s monthly newsletter! Thank you for coming back to read our alumni, faculty, and student spotlights, recruitment updates, El Centro Scholarship story, and news. Please share your suggestions for our September newsletter. Know someone who is joining USC Upstate? Introduce them to El Centro!

Table of contents:

• A day trip to La Vila-Joiosa, Spain, page 1
• Faculty Spotlight, Dr. Refika Turgut (education), page 2
• Student Spotlight, Mariana Bakhoum (biology) pictured with Ms. Whittany Evans, page 2
• Avanzando recruits 6^th cohort, page 3
• Alumni Spotlight: Itzel Tello Lennon (communications studies), page 3
• New …

Measurement-Based Mental Health In Adolescents, Ayzia Lynn Taylor

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Adolescent mental health is a growing concern. Children and adolescents are commonly diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and depression. Some youth may also experience co-occurring symptoms that their primary healthcare provider must distinguish to appropriately diagnose and treat.

Purpose: The project aimed to implement measurement-based care for adolescents between the ages of 12 to 18 in a pediatric outpatient facility that is not currently utilizing post-assessment screening tools. The project seeks justification for treatment options utilizing pre-assessment screening tools and therapeutic relief with medication intervention determined by post-assessment screening results.

Methods: Adolescents between the ages …

El Centro Newsletter (Jul 2024), Bryan Ramirez, Maria Francisco Montesó, Araceli Hernández-Laroche Ph.D.

Newsletters & Reports

We hope you are enjoying your summer! This summer we’re writing to you from the Upstate of South Carolina and also from Alicante, Spain, where El Centro’s assistant director, Maria Francisco-Montesó, is traveling with eleven students from a variety of disciplines including biology, chemistry, elementary education, English, exercise science, nursing, pre-engineering, political science, pre-med, Spanish, sports training and conditioning, and translation and interpreting studies! Don’t forget to follow their journey on our socials!

Neurocognitive Processes As Longitudinal Predictors Of Reading Fluency, Jody Samuels

Theses and Dissertations

Reading fluency involves a complex interaction of different cognitive skills and abilities that develop with instruction and practice and relies on the automaticity of many distinct reading skills (e.g., pacing, word recognition, expression, phonological awareness). Fluent reading frees cognitive resources, such as working memory, for more advanced components of reading including comprehension and synthesis (Kim & Wagner, 2015; Samuels, 2006). Though early identification of students with fluency challenges is critical for providing evidence-based intervention, most screeners assess skills that are dependent upon instruction (e.g., letter identification, sound-symbol correspondence), delaying opportunities for identification. The current study examines the utility for including …

An Examination Of Self-Identity In Relation To Smoking And Vaping In South Carolina, Jaron Hoani King

Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND

This dissertation examines self-identity in the context of smoking and vaping among adults in South Carolina (SC) using data from the 2023 SC Adult Tobacco Survey (n=1370). The conceptual model created to guide this dissertation is called the “Smoker and Vaper Behavior-Identity Model” and draws constructs from theoretical frameworks in health behavior and social identity theories. Behavior was defined as lifetime and past 30 day cigarette or e-cigarette use. Self-identity was defined by asking respondents with a history of cigarette or e-cigarette use “Do you consider yourself a smoker/vaper”, respectively.

METHODS

First, this study assesses the prevalence of mismatching …

Lexical Access In Women With The Fmr1 Premutation, Nadia Sabeh Ayon

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Emergent research indicates that women carrying the FMR1 premutation (FXpm) may encounter difficulties in language skills, including increased dysfluencies, a reduction in the quantity and diversity of words produced, and increased word retrieval errors with age (Sterling et al., 2013; Bredin-Oja et al., 2021). Objectives: The present study aims to assess semantic and phonological lexical access skills in FXpm women as well as to examine the impact of cognitive load (time pressure) on lexical access.

Methods: Forty-two FXpm women and 25 control women, aged 26-65 years (M=46.22, age-matched: p=.115), participated. The Network Production Task (Oomen & Postma, 2001), featuring …

Nonverbal Iq Test Performance In Preschool-Age Children With Varying Language, Sandra Danelle Irvin

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the impact of two types of factors on IQ test performance in children with variation in language ability. The two types of factors studied here are: a) test characteristics (i.e., complexity of test directions) and test-taker characteristics (i.e., language ability). Method – Four participants, ages 4-7, completed norm referenced assessments for language and intelligence. Results – Descriptive results suggest no discernable trends between performance on language assessments and nonverbal IQ measures. The results demonstrated a discernable negative trend between performance on nonverbal IQ measures and linguistic complexity of instructions. Implications – While the …

Using Youth Participatory Action Research To Scale Up Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) In The Southern United States, Mariajose Jhamira Paton

Theses and Dissertations

The recently launched initiative, Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE), provides a targeted plan to end HIV in the United States (US) by 2030, and prioritizes key demographic groups and geographic areas that are disproportionately burdened by HIV. Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth, especially Black and Latiné youth (SGMBLY), are a key population for EHE as they have experienced the largest increase in new HIV rates in recent decades. States identified by EHE are disproportionately located in the Southern US, where increasing the uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV has been a challenge. Though proven effective, youth participatory action …

Picture Yourself Here: Sources For Exhibits And Programs, John H. Barnett

Faculty and Staff Publications

This document lists sources for free to no-cost exhibits and programs that have been carried out by personnel at the library at the University of South Carolina Upstate. The document accompanies the presentation, "Picture Yourself Here: Using Exhibits and Programs to Attract and Interact with the Campus Community."

Under Pressure: The Interplay Of Hypertension And White Matter Hyperintensities With Cognition In Chronic Stroke Aphasia, Jade Hannan, Natalie Busby, Rebecca Roth, Janina Wilmskoetter, Roger Newman-Norlund Ph.D., Chris Rorden, Leonardo Bonilha, Julius Fridriksson Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

While converging research suggests that increased white matter hyperintensity load is associated with poorer cognition, and the presence of hypertension is associated with increased white matter hyperintensity load, the relationship among hypertension, cognition and white matter hyperintensities is not well understood. We sought to determine the effect of white matter hyperintensity burden on the relationship between hypertension and cognition in individuals with post-stroke aphasia, with the hypothesis that white matter hyperintensity load moderates the relationship between history of hypertension and cognitive function. Health history, Fazekas scores for white matter hyperintensities and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Matrix Reasoning subtest scores for …

College Athletes And Suicide Prevention: A Collaborative Autoethnography, Kim D. Gross, Lisa M. Rubin, Anne P. Weese

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

This collaborative autoethnography weaves together a personal and powerful story from a former college athlete turned student-athlete services professional with reflections from a licensed mental health counselor who works with student-athletes. Kim shared her own struggles with mental health as well as her initially unknowing impact on a teammate, who sought her support when contemplating suicide. Information about depression and suicide among college athletes is presented along with practical ways and resources for anyone who might work with student-athletes to know. Developing skills to talk to student-athletes about suicide is one method for professionals to participate in supporting the mental …

Maternal Care Utilization And Provision During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Voices From Minoritized Pregnant And Postpartum Women And Maternal Care Providers In Deep South, Ran Zhang, Tiffany Byrd, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Myriam E. Torres Phd, Msph, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Jihong Liu Sc.D.

Faculty Publications

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected maternal care services especially for minoritized individuals, creating challenges for both service users (i.e., African American and Hispanic pregnant/postpartum women) and maternal care providers (MCPs). Guided by a socioecological framework, this study aims to investigate the experiences of African American and Hispanic pregnant and postpartum women, as well as MCPs, in accessing and providing maternal care services during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Deep South.

Methods

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 African American women, 20 Hispanic women, and 9 MCPs between January and August 2022. Participants were recruited from Obstetrics and Gynecology …

Inclusive Description Recommendations Of The Cooperative Metadata Team, University Of South Carolina Libraries Cooperative Metadata Team

University Libraries Policies and Reports

The University of South Carolina strives to “foster access and belonging” (University of South Carolina Strategic Priories, 2023/28), and the University Libraries endeavors to be “respectful and accessible” and “responsive to changes in user needs” by investing in initiatives that “promote inclusion for and within our community” (University of South Carolina Libraries Strategic Plan, 2022/24). The USC Libraries Cooperative Metadata Team (CoMeT) seeks to support these goals by providing guidelines for creating inclusive metadata and remediating existing records. These guidelines will allow for more efficient, timely, and thoughtful processing of materials.

‘Kazakh Means Freedom’ - Kazakh Language Policy And National Identity Before And During The Ukraine War, Mclean T. Brown

Senior Theses

This thesis examines the link between language policy and national identity in Kazakhstan, tracing the relationship between the two across history and describing how they have been affected by the Ukraine War. The Kazakh government has put considerable effort into developing a national identity for contemporary Kazakhstan, but conflicting standards of production make it difficult for a cohesive, well-defined Kazakh national identity to be put forth. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses, phenomenological critical discourse analysis, and ethnographic research, this thesis strives to alleviate existing gaps in Central Asian studies research while arguing that language policy is a lens through which …

Lyraquist: Language Learning Via Music App, Vivian D'Souza, Siri Avula, Mahi Patel, Tanvi Singh, Ashley Bickham

Senior Theses

Lyraquist is a new language learning mobile app that encourages the practice of a foreign language through music. Language learners can connect their Spotify Premium account to Lyraquist to listen to music in their target languages and utilize tools such as translation and vocabulary lists to facilitate language practice. Through integration with Spotify, users can import and create Spotify playlists and search the service’s entire catalog. By combining daily listening habits with several tasks associated with language learning in one place, Lyraquist hopes to be a useful language learning tool.

The Use Of Figurative Suicidal Language By College Students And Its Impact On Mental Health And Suicide Stigma, Makayla Hooker

Senior Theses

Using suicidal language as a hyperbole in everyday conversation has become common for college students experiencing stress. Previous research analyzed use of suicidal language on social media with the intention of finding the best way to provide help to the individuals expressing true suicidal ideation on social media but found that many people do not literally mean what they are saying when they use suicidal language. It was hypothesized that the frequency with which individuals use suicidal statements figuratively as well as the frequency with which they hear others use these statements would negatively correlate with the level of seriousness …

A Third Way: Christian Philosophy Of Music, Eric S. Gardner

Senior Theses

Philosophers have posed many difficult-to-answer questions regarding music. For example, what counts as beautiful music? Can beauty be objectified, or is beauty in the eye of the beholder? What counts as a performance of a piece of music? Besides, what counts as music anyways? Where does the noise stop, and where does the music begin? In this thesis, I want to show that the Christian worldview offers the philosophical building blocks to answer these questions. By working with biblical truths and Christian presuppositions, I hope to show that the Christian worldview can offer satisfying answers to these philosophical questions.

The Arabic Influence On The Spanish Language: Sociocultural Mechanisms Of Language Change Under Islamic Rule In The Iberian Peninsula, Reagan Borland

Senior Theses

After Latin, which makes up about 75-80% of the Spanish lexicon (Comparán Rizo, 2006, p. 17), Arabic is the most important linguistic contributor to the branch of Romance languages that would come to be known as Spanish or Castellano (Castilian), surpassing Germanic influence and that of other contributors such as French and Celtic languages. The broad range of Arabisms found in Spanish can be attributed to certain cultural and social changes that took place under Arab-Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula between 711 and 1492 and during the period following the so-called “Reconquista” of Spain by the Christian kingdoms to …

A Covenant People: Providentialism In Seventeenth-Century New England And Its Impact On The Development Of The Salem Witch Trials, Gracie L. Vess

Senior Theses

This project explores the New English Puritan ideology of providentialism from the first settlement of New England in 1620 to the Salem Village witch trials in 1692. During this period New England watched its motherland experience civil war, the overthrow of the monarchy, the installation of a commonwealth, the failure of the Puritan Reformation, the restoration of the monarchy, and the Glorious Revolution. These events influenced the way New Englanders saw England’s relationship with God as well as the meaning behind their providential purpose by allowing them to believe God had turned his wrath on England, so the colonists needed …

Predicting The Rate Of Degradation Related To Oxygen Electrode Delamination In Solid Oxide-Ion Electrolyzers, Yeting Wen, Kevin Huang

Faculty Publications

Language comprehension is often affected in individuals with post-stroke aphasia. However, deficits in auditory comprehension are not fully correlated with deficits in reading comprehension and the mechanisms underlying this dissociation remain unclear. This distinction is important for understanding language mechanisms, predicting long-term impairments and future development of treatment interventions. Using comprehensive auditory and reading measures from a large cohort of individuals with aphasia, we evaluated the relationship between aphasia type and reading comprehension impairments, the relationship between auditory versus reading comprehension deficits and the crucial neuroanatomy supporting the dissociation between post-stroke reading and auditory deficits. Scores from the Western Aphasia …

Dissociating Reading And Auditory Comprehension In Persons With Aphasia, Rachel M. Harrington, Sigfus Kristinsson, Janina Wilmskoetter, Natalie Busby, Dirk Den Ouden, Chris Rorden, Julius Fridriksson Ph.D., Leonardo Bonilha

Faculty Publications

Language comprehension is often affected in individuals with post-stroke aphasia. However, deficits in auditory comprehension are not fully correlated with deficits in reading comprehension and the mechanisms underlying this dissociation remain unclear. This distinction is important for understanding language mechanisms, predicting long-term impairments and future development of treatment interventions. Using comprehensive auditory and reading measures from a large cohort of individuals with aphasia, we evaluated the relationship between aphasia type and reading comprehension impairments, the relationship between auditory versus reading comprehension deficits and the crucial neuroanatomy supporting the dissociation between post-stroke reading and auditory deficits. Scores from the Western Aphasia …

University Libraries Impact Report 2023, Leslie Haynsworth, Kristine Hontz

University Libraries Policies and Reports

A report on notable activities in University of South Carolina Libraries in 2023.

The “System” Was Never For Us: Redefining Middle School Discipline To Empower Black Girls, Kenesha Johnson, Dywanna Smith, Kamryn Griffin, Jada Williams

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

This manuscript addresses the need for a transformative redefinition of school discipline, focused on empowering Black girls. It highlights the heightened likelihood of suspension and expulsion faced by Black girls, exposing flaws in traditional practices. Advocating for a paradigm shift, the manuscript emphasizes adopting restorative practices, centered on healing and collaboration to address behavioral issues at their core. It explores the impact of implicit biases and systemic racism on Black girls’ experiences, proposing a comprehensive, inclusive approach. Through transformative measures, schools create environments that actively empowers and supports the academic journey of Black girls, fostering a more equitable educational experience.

And Then The Black Birthed Me: Celebrating Black Girlhood In Middle Level Ela Classrooms Through Afrofuturism, Dywanna Smith, Kenesha Johnson, Kiana Eaddy

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

The manuscript delves into the dynamic interplay between Afrofuturism and young adult literature and Middle Level English pedagogical inspiration to offer fresh perspectives on intersectionality, agency, and empowerment among marginalized youth. The authors explore how Afrofuturistic young adult literature authors are employing characters who navigate a multitude of identities, challenging traditional power dynamics, and dismantling oppressive structures. Through its incorporation of technological innovation, speculative visions, and the reclaiming of historical narratives, Afrofuturistic young adult literature creates new paradigms of empowerment and self-realization for all students, but especially Black girls. Works such as Kalynn Bayron’s The Poison Heart (2021), Namina Fornas’ …

Putting Athletes First: An Empirical Examination Of The Hedonic Well-Being Of College Student-Athletes In Response To Nil, Susmit S. Gulavani, Thomas E. Henry, Carter Floyd, James Du, N. David Pifer, Yiran Su

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

No abstract provided.

Expanding Yosso’S Community Cultural Wealth To Intercollegiate Athletics, Molly Harry

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

No abstract provided.

Walk It Like You Talk It: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of College Athletics Response To The Murder Of George Floyd, Ezinne Ofoegbu, Leslie Ekpe

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

No abstract provided.

International Hispanic Intercollegiate Student-Athletes In Ncaa Division I: A Qualitative Exploration Of Culture In The Student-Athlete Experience, Allison K. Manwell, James E. Johnson, Khirey B. Walker

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

No abstract provided.

Exploring Success: Variations In Division I Student-Athlete Academic And Athletic Performance, Marissa K. Nichols, Nancy L. Lough, Alice J. Corkill

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

No abstract provided.

H-Town Takeover: Social Media Agenda Setting And Branding Efforts At The University Of Houston, Kevin Hull, Jason Lee, Ryan Zapalac, Matt Stilwell

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

No abstract provided.