Digital Commons Network^™

Comparison Of Hypothalamic And Hippocampal Neurogenesis Across Sexes And Ages Of Mice, Chloe Jensen, Madison Reynolds, Rebecca Kinyon

Liberty University Research Week

Background: The hippocampus is primarily known for its function in learning and memory; thus, it makes sense that this is a well-established highly neurogenic zone. Recent studies have demonstrated that the hypothalamus also has neurogenic properties where there were once believed to be none. Because of these recent findings, our study aims to provide baseline data pertaining to rates of neurogenesis in the hypothalamus in comparison to the hippocampus along with distinguishing differences in these rates between males and females. Methods: Using four mice, three young and one aged female, we cryosectioned the brain to image the hippocampal and hypothalamic …

Pilot Study: Black Tea Extract And Theaflavin Polyphenols Effects On L6 Myotubes, Elizabeth Allen

Liberty University Research Week

This research investigates bioactive polyphenol group theaflavins found in black tea and how they affect Akt signaling in skeletal muscle. The black tea polyphenols are a collection of innate compounds in Camillia sinensis, among them being the theaflavin group which is comprised of four compounds: theaflavin (TF1), theaflavin 3-gallate (TF2A), theaflavin 3’-gallate (TF2B), and theaflavin 3,3’ digallate (TF3) (He, 2017). The theaflavins group has been described as bioactive in a variety of different cellular pathways such as apoptosis, cellular division, gene expression and nutrient regulation (Li et al., 2021)(He, 2017)(Lin et al., 2007).

Previous work by Nagano et al., demonstrated …

Forensic Differentiation Of Feline Hair, Gabriel Dunn

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Interspecific Competition On Stress And Body Condition In A Montane Salamander (Plethodon Hubrichti), Jason Porter, Allison Carmen

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Music Enhances Theta Brainwave Activity Regardless Of Tuning Frequency, Robert Somerville, Davis Raz, Ersilia Mirabelli, Jettson Yarborough, Luc-Shalom Kouame

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

“Slaves To Sin:” Harnessing Neuroplasticity To Defeat Habitual Behaviors, Charity Parrott

Liberty University Research Week

How does neuroplasticity affect the life of a Christian? This thesis will seek to address the concepts of habit formation, neuroplasticity, and top-down control through a neurobiological perspective, and how they relate to the Biblical concept of habitual sin. Discoveries in neuroplasticity have revealed the brain to be a malleable organ, capable of rewiring neural connections and, in the hippocampus region, neurogenesis, or the creation of new neurons (Fuchs & Flügge, 2014). This thesis will compile research in neuroplasticity, explore the biological reasons behind the difficulty in escaping patterns of sin, and connect Biblical-based strategies for sin prevention with neurobiology. …

Euripides’ Medea As An Existential Protagonist: Comparing Conceptualizations Of Fate In The 400s Bc And The 1800s Ad, Johanna Bryant

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Inclusion May Affect Marching Band Members Of Black Universities Differently Than Members Of White Universities: Narrative Inquiry, Derrick Yates

Liberty University Research Week

There is a lack of research on the emotional connection and support students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities may seek through their band experience versus students of Predominantly White Institutions. Some studies demonstrate that those who participate in music ensembles express heightened self-esteem, a sense of connectedness, and a positive impact on their mental and psychological well-being. This narrative inquiry research study focuses on the unexplored perspectives of three band members from historically black and three predominantly white university marching bands, regarding their emotional connections to their programs and the emotional connections and support they receive from them. The …

Beyond The Homefront: The Transformation Of Women’S Military And Support Roles, 1941–1953, Madison Kelly

Liberty University Research Week

This paper examines the evolving roles of women in American military conflicts from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War, highlighting both their contributions and the societal constraints they faced. It emphasizes the transformative impact of World War II, when women entered industrial jobs, military service branches, and nursing roles in unprecedented numbers, symbolized by figures like “Rosie the Riveter” and organizations such as the WAC, WAVES, WASP, and Army Nurse Corps. The study also explores the regression of women’s roles during the Korean War and the gradual reemergence of impactful contributions during the Vietnam War, including nursing, Red Cross …

Paws And Predictions: Interpreting Intraspecific Cat Social Interactions Through Facial Signals, Levi Neal, Lauren Scott, Gosia Zobel, Brittany Florkiewicz

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

There has been limited research on humans’ ability to perceive and predict social interactions among cats using facial signals. This area is crucial to explore since conflicts between cats often cause significant stress for their guardians. By evaluating individuals’ skills in understanding cat interactions, researchers can develop tools to help guardians predict affiliative and nonaffiliative behaviors, leading to effective intervention strategies for multicat households. We distributed a survey to individuals subscribed to the Companion Animals New Zealand newsletter to assess cat guardians’ effectiveness in perceiving and predicting various social interactions among cats. We hypothesized that guardians with one or more …

Mother-Daughter Ties Across Borders: Identity And Connection In Dreaming In Cuban, Alvaro Ricardo Larrea Salazar

Liberty University Research Week

This project examines how trauma, memory, and political displacement shape generational identity in Cristina García's Dreaming in Cuban. I argue that García presents memory as both a bridge and a barrier within the matrilineal line of Celia, Lourdes, and Pilar, ultimately suggesting that reconciliation across political and cultural divides is possible only through acknowledgment rather than suppression of inherited trauma. While Celia’s devotion to the Cuban Revolution and her nostalgic attachment to lost love root her identity firmly in the past, Lourdes responds to revolutionary violence and exile by rejecting her heritage and embracing American capitalism as a form of …

The Lakota Sioux And The U.S.: What Went Wrong?, Blake Rackley

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Purposes For Sacred Song In Eighteenth-Century British Colonial America, Merrily Kelsey

Liberty University Research Week

In eighteenth-century colonial America, the colonists sang sacred songs for several reasons which they identified in song text, song book introductions, journals, sermons, and several other places.

Transnational Beings: Corner Store Entrepreneurship Of Mena Immigrants Of The Third Wave, Gabriel Al-Shaer

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Taming The Spirits: How Late Antiquity Domesticated The Bible's Supernatural World, Brian Pepin

Liberty University Research Week

This study examines a major hermeneutical shift in the interpretation of the Bible’s supernatural worldview, arguing that a decisive transition occurred during late antiquity (ca. AD 250–430). The biblical text presents a cosmos populated by active spiritual beings, including angels, demons, and divine agents influencing nations and history, and early Christian readers largely accepted these elements as real. However, as Christianity increasingly engaged with Greco-Roman intellectual culture, pressures to present the faith as rational and philosophically credible led to growing discomfort with literal readings of supernatural texts.

Through historical-theological analysis of patristic literature, this study traces how influential figures such …

Recovering Children's Choirs: Bonhoeffer's Musical Pneumatology And The Formation Of Polyphonic Fellowship, Dee Tackitt

Liberty University Research Week

This textual-investigative study explores how Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s musical pneumatology and his theology of polyphony provide a framework for recovering children’s choirs as practices of Spirit-formed communal discipleship. In Bonhoeffer’s writings—especially Life Together, Ethics, and Letters and Papers from Prison—polyphony becomes a theological metaphor in which “distinct voices sound together” under a unifying center without collapsing differences. Recent scholarship, particularly by Joanna Tarassenko, identifies this polyphonic imagery as a form of implicit pneumatology: the Holy Spirit harmonizes plurality into a fellowship where unity does not require uniformity, and difference does not result in division. This project applies that framework to the …

A Historical Study Of The Nursing Role, Kristen Montgomery, Jessica Aranda Bsn, Rn, Amanda Dalton Bsn, Rn, Machea Scott Bsn, Rn, Lisa Desantis Bsn, Rn, Halle Hilton Bsn, Rn

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Purpose: Historically, nurses have been at the bedside simply following the direction of physicians, but much has changed since then.

Aims: The purpose of this study is to examine how the roles of nurses have changed over the decades, from pre-professional caregiving to advanced practice. This study focuses on the birth of nursing as a profession, the direct experiences of nurses from different generations, the shift in physician-directed care to collaborative care, how nurses interpret the impact of major healthcare transformations on their role, and the emergence and development of the nurse practitioner role.

Methods: The study was conducted using …

Myth In Service Of Sin: Theology And Mythology In Dante's Inferno, Holly Staggs

Liberty University Research Week

Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy has been a central focus in medieval poetic scholarship. As a distinctly allegorical work, Dante's epic poem perfectly situates Christian teachings alongside paganism to reinforce a Christian moral order. One of the cornerstone teachings of the 14th century became Bishop John Thorseby's Seven Deadly Sins. While the Seven Deadly Sins teachings were obviously present in Purgatorio, the second part of Dante's poem, they also appear in Inferno. Dante positions them alongside pagan mythological figures in Inferno to strengthen his allegory for Christian moral order.

Using Path Analysis To Examine The Psychological Well-Being Model For U.S. College Students, Pi-Ming Yeh, Cheng-Huei Chiao, Gavin Waters

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Background: College students’ psychological well-being and mental health issues are very important in this society. Little is known about a comprehensive psychological well-being model for college students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was using Path Analysis to examine the Development of Personality and Psychological Well-Being Model among US college students.

Methods: This was a cross sectional, descriptive design. The 481 participants were recruited from nursing and business college students in the United States. After IRB approval, the trained researchers explained this study to college students. After agreeing to participate, they signed an informed consent form. Upon completion of a …

Just One More Thing, S'Il Vous Plaît: The Use Of Affective Presentation In Fictional Detectives Hercule Poirot And Lt. Columbo, Rachel Smith

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

The Assessment Of Women: A Study Of The Recruitment, Assessment, And Training Of Female Personnel In The Oss, Adaline Brenning

Liberty University Research Week

This study of the recruitment, assessment, and training of female OSS personnel sheds light on often overlooked aspects of the employment process within OSS. Through primary and secondary source research, including the study of undigitized archival material at the National Archives II, this research presents the earliest stages of the employment of female personnel as the first chapter of a broader M.A. thesis study of the women of the OSS. Key findings include an understanding of the rapid and effective development of the whole organization visible through the expansion and improvement of onboarding processes, contributions to scholarly understandings of women's …

To Loot Or Not To Loot: The Rise And Fall Of The Louvre (1793-1815), Rebecca Felton

Liberty University Research Week

The recent break-in at the Musée du Louvre resurrected centuries-old questions having to do with conquest, colonialism, and—above all—culture. The ease with which a group of criminals walked into the Galerie d’Apollon and walked out again with priceless artifacts in tow undercuts one of the primary justifications for the creation of the museum in the first place—that only a nation as civilized as France could safeguard the cultural inheritance of the West. The robbery thus begs the question: if France cannot even do that, why should she be allowed to keep the artwork she acquired through dubious means in the …

In Vitro Vs. In Vivo Studies On The Interaction Of Natural Products With The Gut Microbiota: The Example Of Stw 5, Olaf Kelber

Oxford ICSB

Background: Recent evidence suggests that natural products can modulate microbiome composition, offering health benefits. This study evaluates the effects of STW 5 (Iberogast) on microbiota in functional dyspepsia (FD) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) through a comparison of in vitro and in vivo data. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using PubMed and other scientific databases to collate data on STW 5's impact on the gut microbiome at phyla and genera levels. Results: In vitro studies demonstrated an increase in Enterococcus and a decrease in Clostridium and Bacteroides. Further in vitro research confirmed an increase in Firmicutes and a …

Amplifying The Issues Of Colorism: How Literature Challenges Colorist Beauty Standards, Wytinsea Jones

Liberty University Research Week

Colorism is a major concern in our society, including literature. Colorism excludes darker-complexioned people and perceives lighter complexion as more desired, favorable, and acceptable. In Alice Walker’s book, In Search of our Mothers’ Gardens, she defined colorism as, “preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on the color of their skin” (Myers, n.d.). This research presentation aims to explore how damaging colorism has been to ethnic communities and its impact on literature. Analyzing data on colorism found in Hispanic, Asian, Black, and Native American families will help provide context on the global phenomenon. Additionally, examining the correlation colorism has in …

A Parlamente Of Liberté, Égalité, And Fraternité: Gender Inequality In The Heptameron, Gabriella Wiehe

Liberty University Research Week

Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptameron emerges from the cultural and religious upheaval of sixteenth-century France as a sophisticated critique of patriarchal society. This research argues that through her use of “truthful” nouvelles, Marguerite transforms narrative into a tool of social reform, exposing systemic abuses against women while advocating for female liberty, equality, and fraternity. Unlike its model, Boccaccio’s Decameron, the Heptameron insists upon the veracity of its stories, positioning them as reflections of lived female experience and thereby legitimizing women’s testimony within a culture that routinely silenced it. By dramatizing issues such as sexual coercion, marital inequality, and moral double standards, …

Yun Dongju And The Effects Of Colonization On Literature, Grace C. Shields

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Tucked away in a small room, in a country he used to recognize, poet Yun Dongju (1917-1945) drafted nineteen poems that would become the foundation of his legacy: Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poetry. Growing up during the Japanese annexation of Korea, Yun drafted his poetry during a time where Korean language and cultural practices were banned by Imperial Japan. In my essay, I will use Yun’s poetry as a viewpoint for dissecting the negative effects of literary censorship brought about by colonization. Additionally, I will discuss the significance of how Yun – one of Korea’s most famous poets – …

Beyond Memorization: Ai Chatbots For Smarter Retrieval Practice, Marcy A. Faircloth, Patrick G. Paulson, Lawrence Schrenk

Essays in Education

This paper explores the integration of artificial intelligence chatbots as tools for implementing retrieval practice – an evidence-based learning technique that significantly enhances long-term memory retention – in business education contexts. We present four distinct implementation strategies that vary in sophistication and resource requirements: the standard AI model approach, which allows students to upload materials and use custom prompts for flexible, self-directed practice; the course-specific chatbot, which provides immediate access to preloaded curriculum content; the dedicated retrieval practice chatbot, which incorporates systematic algorithms for spaced repetition and interleaved practice; and the course-specific chatbot with integrated retrieval practice module, which combines …

Didactic Aspects Of Education Of Primary Teachers With A Focus On Strengthening Their Media Literacy And Fighting Disinformation. Experience From The Czech Republic, Kamil Kopecký, Veronika Krejčí

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The paper describes specific experiences with educational activities aimed at strengthening media literacy in the field of combating disinformation among primary and secondary school teachers, which were implemented in 2022-2023 through the Central European Digital Media Observatory. A total of 3633 primary and secondary school teachers from all over the Czech Republic participated in the education and evaluated the educational events. The article presents examples of specific educational activities oriented to the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes of students through teaching in primary or secondary school.

Leveraging Critical Social Media Literacy To Safeguard Youth Against Violent Radicalization And Extremism, Muhammad Akram, Adeela Arshad-Ayaz, Muhammad Ayaz Naseem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Social media is inundated with radical and extreme propaganda. Such information is often left unfiltered due to platform algorithms that are economically driven and socially unethical in design. It puts social media users, mostly youth, in danger of becoming radicalized and vulnerable to supporting and engaging with extremist beliefs. When young people lack sufficient critical social media literacy (CSML), radical and extremist information impacts their perspectives, affecting behavior in the real world. A PRISMA-guided systematic review of the Web of Science core collections and the Scopus database was used to find peer-reviewed articles about how CSML skills can be used …

From Consumers To Creators: Social Media Information Literacy Of University Students., Thuy Thanh Bui, Quyen Trang Mai Nguyen, Tu Thi Thanh Nguyen, Minh Cao Luu

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Social Media Information Literacy (SMIL) is increasingly important as social media platforms evolve. SMIL includes skills for navigating, evaluating, managing, creating, and engaging with social media content, aimed at effective information use and critical thinking. Using Heiss, Nanz and Matthes (2023) framework, this study surveyed 410 students via a self-assessment on a 5-point Likert scale. Results indicate students rated their SMIL as average, with the highest scores in appraisal and comprehension, and the lowest in digital creation. Female and senior students, as well as those in Education majors, rated themselves higher. Longer internet usage correlated with better SMIL, especially in …