Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Air Temperature And Diet Are Not Associated With Oxygen Consumption Rate In Banded Crickets, Gryllodes Sigillatus, Nicole Bailey, Connor Oakes, Rachel Sleeth, Mallorie Smith

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

All living organisms acclimate to their environments, with ectothermic species particularly susceptible to environmental change, specifically temperature. Ectothermic insects like crickets directly alter their physiological processes depending on the environment in which they live. Temperature is vital in regulating processes such as metabolism, respiration, and reproduction, among other things. What remains unclear is how a change in the environment, specifically extreme temperature change and dietary alterations, affects physiological processes. In this study, we performed experiments on ectothermic banded crickets to examine the effects of temperature change and the interaction of temperature and diet on oxygen consumption. For both experiments, we …

Effects Of Anthropogenic Noise On Body Mass In Gryllodes Sigillatus, Jessica L. Venturi, Joyce Zheng

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Insects use vibrational structures to produce and sense airborne sounds in intraspecific communication. These signals are important in courtship as well as defensive behavior against predators. For example, insects can detect the presence of nearby predators using vibrations. With an increase in anthropogenic activity, processing these signals and the constant threat they represent may increase stress on insects, subsequently affecting their behavior and physiology. Our experiment was designed to determine whether anthropogenic noise, possibly perceived as a stressor, will decrease the body mass of banded crickets, Gryllodes sigillatus. We predicted that the anthropogenic noise would stress the crickets, leading to …

Truth, Not Accuracy: Native American Fiction Vs. White Settler Colonialism, Charles Democker

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

For centuries, depictions of Native American culture have largely been constructed by White authors and have thus reflected white settler colonialist ideology. This paper suggests that one way to counter this point of view when studying Native American history is to turn to fiction, specifically fiction written by Indigenous authors. Taking as an example Ojibwe author Louise Erdrich’s Plague of Doves, a novel based on the real-life massacre of a frontier family in the late nineteenth century, this paper argues that the creative fiction of Indigenous authors can counter the biased, incomplete, and often incorrect official histories of White–Native interactions. …

Bad Boy Bias: Linguistic Bias In The Law, Parth Sharma

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper seeks to establish and put in use methodology capable of analyzing the significant linguistic bias found within American jurisprudence. It summarizes the limited preexisting empirical work done and adds a new original empirical study on linguistic bias in the courtroom. It examines a large number of cases through various software and examines the prevalence of certain labels (badges of bias). In doing so, this paper seeks to find the most common labels and seeks to determine the amount of emotional variability present within the courtroom. Based on these results, the paper provides recommendations, answering how best to efficiently …

Higher Education Students’ Perceptions Of Online Learning During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Abby O’Bryant

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This article focuses on the impacts of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic on students at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Using survey data (n = 64) and semistructured interviews with currently enrolled students (n = 17), key impacts of online learning on the student body were analyzed. The respondents reported disengagement in lectures, negative impacts on their mental and physical health, negative thoughts about dropping out and transferring, apprehension about the quality of course content, and dissatisfaction with tuition. The paper utilizes qualitative data analysis to report the findings.

The Physics Research Problem: A Brief Analysis Of Financial And Administrative Factors Relating To Recent Trends In Research Output In Physics In India, Varad Dhodapkar

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper attempts to view and interpret data from various sources such as the World Bank database, research and development (R&D) reports by the Indian government, Nature Index, Scopus index, and others to examine the effect that the various government financial initiatives and administrative features and policies concerning funding of institutions of higher attainment have had on India’s research output in the field of physics. In addition to this, the inconsistent standards of funding across various institutes of higher education, investment in R&D activities made by other nations in comparison to India, the share of physics research output of various …

Survival Of Deaf Jewish People During The Holocaust Era, Phyllis D. Rifkin

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project uses academic and personal research to explore the experiences of Deaf Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. The author is a member of the Deaf community and a Deaf Interpreter, as well as the daughter of a Deaf Jewish Holocaust survivor. She examines the construction of Deafness in the eugenics era and chronicles the stories of Deaf Jewish survivors. A recurring theme in these narratives is Deaf survivors’ strategic use of silence to facilitate survival.

Almost 30 Years Later: Anti-Femicide Activism In Mexico From 1993 To 2022, Kathryn Webb

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

What factors have influenced the strategies of the anti-femicide social movement, and what has this movement accomplished after continuously advocating for almost 30 years? Analyzing news articles, scholarly journals, books on social movements, and Twitter accounts, I argue that the inaction of the government was a root cause of the movement’s change in strategies, from peaceful petitions to highly visible vandalism, and that institutional barriers prevent progress on this issue even in the current day. I demonstrate that transnational activism through international institutions such as the United Nations had a limited impact on effecting domestic change but that using social …

Work-Life And Health Experiences Of Computer Science Faculty Parents Of Children With Developmental Disabilities During Covid-19, Molly Armstrong

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents of children with developmental disabilities (PCDD) had been shown to experience more stress than parents of children without developmental disabilities (non-PCDD). COVID-19 may have exacerbated difficulties for PCDD. To compare differences in COVID-19 experiences between PCDD and non-PCDD, 202 parents working as computer science (CS) faculty reported their experiences of mental health symptoms, physical health symptoms, work-life conflict levels as experienced during the pandemic, and any changes in their childcare responsibilities because of COVID-19. Participants completed surveys on their experiences during Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, the first academic year after the start of …

Agency Actualization And Artistic Awakening: The Poetic Rhetoric Of Freedom School Students, Eden Doyle

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper analyzes the rhetoric of poems written by Freedom School students in Mississippi amidst the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Much of the rhetoric documented, explored, and valued from this era is of adults with the power and means to have their voices heard and respected; however, this paper argues the value of these students’ unique Black experience as one that is underexplored and greatly compelling. The social and political context surrounding the inception of Freedom Schools is discussed, as well as the need for further research and scholarship on the intellectual activity and rhetorical artifacts of the …

The Effects Of Covid-19-Induced Stress, Anxiety, And Depression On The Eating Behavior Of College Women, Natalie Simpson

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Increases in the prevalence of disordered eating patterns have been linked to distress and poor mental well-being. Additionally, COVID-19 has been linked to both depressive and anxious symptomatology, along with increased feelings of distress (Fitzpatrick et al., 2020). Because disordered eating is particularly prevalent among college-age women, this study sought to determine how depression, anxiety, and stress affect eating behaviors of college women in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. One hundred seventy-nine women, aged 18–24, at Butler University gave informed consent before completing a questionnaire pertaining to their demographics, their stress surrounding COVID, and their weight change since March …

An Evaluation Of Women’S Social Status In Colonial Hong Kong With A Feminist Lens - Case Studies, Heng Du

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Even though Hong Kong remained under British control from 1842 to 1997, denizens were not modernized in a way comparable to that of the British. To the contrary, while governing Hong Kong, British colonizers allowed continued reference to ancient Chinese customs in the area. Such policy diminished women’s chances of receiving fair treatment in matters such as property management and divorce. Unlike in Hong Kong, women were legislated to be parallel to men in matrimonial and property inheritance petitions in China, Britain, and colonial Singapore. This study is based on two exemplary cases judged by authorities in colonial Hong Kong. …

The Effect Of Covid-19 On Substance Use And Mental Health On A College Campus, Georgia L. Coffman

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this research, the author surveyed a university population to determine the impact that COVID-19 has had on substance use and mental health. Current research provides significant data indicating worsening mental health and substance use. This paper looks at how applicable those trends are to a small private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. The data included 261 respondents composed of students, faculty, and staff of the university. The results reveal that college students, faculty, and staff experienced statistically significant increases in feelings of unhappiness, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, agitation, and irritability during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic. Data analysis of …

Identifying Disinformation In Scholarly Publishing, Natalie M. Mclendon

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper examines the pro-Confederacy movement’s attempt to distort history through textbook revision to argue in favor of strengthened media literacy as a brace against the effects of disinformation and propaganda. Previous definitions of misinformation and disinformation overlap and are as yet unclear and, therefore, should be further studied. “Lost Cause” mythologists worked diligently to propagate school textbooks which portrayed skewed versions of history that cast Southern Confederates’ cause as noble and honorable while obscuring the real reason for the Civil War. While undergraduate students can rely on the CRAAP and BEAM methods of identifying problematic texts, they should be …

Table Of Contents And Front Matter, Bjur Staff

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

A Qualitative Study Of Food Behaviors In University Of Mississippi Students As They Relate To Nutrition Security, Bethany Selby

Honors Theses

Recent literature has demonstrated high rates of food insecurity in college students, with most estimates ranging from 30 to 40 percent. Additionally, the college diet is notoriously lacking in nutrition, and a large majority of college students do not meet the recommendations made by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Nutrition security, defined as an individual having consistent access, availability, and affordability of foods that promote wellbeing and prevent disease, addresses both of these issues.

This study, conducted in Spring 2022, used focus groups to examine food behaviors in a sample of majority undergraduate students at the University of Mississippi (n …

The Effectiveness Of Housing First In Improving Mental Health Outcomes Among Homeless Individuals: A Rapid Review, Nya Harper

Student Research Symposium

Objective: The purpose of this study was to review primary research regarding the efficacy of a Housing First (HF) intervention compared to existing treatments for improving mental health outcomes in homeless adults with mental illness.

Methods: A rapid review was conducted from the PubMed database using a predetermined search protocol and inclusion criteria to identify eligible articles.

Results: HF was significantly more effective at helping homeless adults with mental illness become stably housed. HF groups’ subjective measures of mental health were not consistently higher than usual treatment groups.

Conclusion: Evidence supports the efficacy of HF over existing treatments in a …

Comparing Vasopressin Receptor 1a Density In Paired Vs. Widowed Coyote Brains, Jacey Hopkin

Student Research Symposium

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a neuropeptide known for its key role in the formation of social bonds and acts through binding to the AVP 1a receptor (AVPR1a). Most notably, research has demonstrated that monogamous species have higher levels of AVPR1a compared to non-monogamous species. AVPR1a is typically found in brain regions facilitating individual relations, social memory, and interspecies attachment; these areas are closely associated with partner preference and monogamous behavior. In addition, it has been observed in prairie voles that levels of social neuropeptides, such as oxytocin, will decrease when pair-mates are separated for extended time periods. A majority of …

Plants Lack The Functional Neurotransmitters And Signaling Pathways Required For Sentience In Animals, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz, Jon Mallatt

Animal Sentience

We cannot agree with Segundo-Ortin and Calvo that plants are sentient organisms. We have critically examined several aspects of their target article, and find their claims are not supported by the published evidence. We address these claims in sections on whether plants have a ‘neurobiology’ analogous to that of animal nervous systems, including neurotransmitters and synaptic receptors that respond to anesthetics; and whether plant signaling resembles neural transmission. For the latter, we especially consider the unique way plants signal their responses to wounding. Although the plant vascular system has been compared to the animal nervous system, animal blood vessels would …

Peer-Supervision Of Nursing Professionals: A Shield Against Burnout, Kyle Gamache, Sarah Gamache, Joseph Robillard

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: Burnout is a major risk in healthcare professions and is a significant contributor to the current nursing shortage. Strategies to combat burnout of healthcare professionals are in desperate need. The purpose of this project is to introduce the clinical peer supervision model as a method to alleviate burnout in nursing professionals.

Approach: Eight nurses from in-patient settings participated in a peer-supervision support group, modeled after existing European nursing and mental health provider-support protocols. To assess the effect of this intervention, qualitative data analysis was conducted on the transcripts of session and the results described. All participants reported statistically high …

Deficit Irrigation Management For Irrigated Corn In Nebraska: Economically Viable?, Lia Nogueira, Cory Walters, Emily O'Donnell, E. Wesley F. Peterson, Suat Irmak

Cornhusker Economics

In this study we determine the economic value of deficit irrigation management using both technological and methodological advancements. The use of soil moisture probes represents the technological improvement. We provide improvements in the methodology as follows. Regarding data, we employ a field-size study, instead of plots, where the irrigation decision is determined by the moisture level in the soil measured through a soil moisture probe. Regarding the understanding of the yield response to water, although we examine the commonly used quadratic function, we improve upon this specification by also examining an alternative response function, the linear response stochastic plateau. Our …

"Challenging The Known." 16th Annual Research Week: Event Proceedings, University Of The Incarnate Word

Excellence Summit (Research Week) Archived Proceedings

Presentations of completed and ongoing research activity conducted by graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty at University of the Incarnate Word. Includes poster, podium, visual arts, interactive demo, and creative and performing arts presentations. Coordinated and presented by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

Fruit And Vegetable Intake And Home Nutrition Environment Among Low-Income Minority Households With Elementary-Aged Children, Brittni Naylor Metoyer, Ru-Jye Chuang, Minjae Lee, Christine Markham, Eric L Brown, Maha Almohamad, Jayna M Dave, Shreela V Sharma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic differences were shown to have an influence on child fruit and vegetable intake. This study examined the associations between parent and child fruit and vegetable intake and the home nutrition environment among Hispanic/Latino and African American families. Through a cross-sectional study design, self-reported surveys (

Consciousness, Evolution, And The Self-Organizing Brain, Karen Seymour

Journal of Conscious Evolution

While evolution is guided by natural selection, it is internally driven by self-organizing processes. The brain encompasses these complementary forces and dynamics of evolution in both its structure and dynamics by embodying a historical record of the factors that have shaped it throughout its evolutionary past, as well as by being shaped by selective parameters in real time. Self-organization is evident in not only the brain’s structure and form, but also in the processes that support consciousness. From the convergence of complex structure and the novelty-generating dynamics of chaos that both characterize the brain arises the experience of explicit consciousness, …

Thematic Analysis Of Food Safety Literature: The Fda Food Code And State Legislation, Sabrina Nicole Backlund

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

One of the most important purposes of communication is to warn people of environmental dangers. More specifically, communication can identify risks associated with food safety. The government and food safety experts are to provide information on these dangers. This study aims to determine whether these entities use consistent language to communicate these dangers. The reader will first take a journey through relevant communication concepts and an introduction to food safety. This qualitative applied communication analysis uses MAXQDA software to ascertain similarities in word choice between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food code and state legislative material. This comparison uses …

A Quieter Ocean: Experimentally Derived Differences In Attentive Responses Of Tursiops Truncatus To Anthropogenic Noise Playbacks Before And During The Covid-19-Related Anthropause, Paige E. Stevens, Veda Allen, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

The effects of anthropogenic noise continue to threaten marine fauna, yet the impacts of human-produced sound on the broad aspects of cognition in marine mammals remain relatively understudied. The shutdown of non-essential activities due to the COVID-19-related anthropause created an opportunity to determine if reducing levels of oceanic anthropogenic noise on cetaceans affected processes of sensitization and habituation for common human-made sounds in an experimental setting. Dolphins at Dolphin Quest Bermuda were presented with three noises related to human activities (cruise ship, personal watercraft, and Navy low-frequency active sonar) both in 2018 and again during the anthropause in 2021 via …

Plants Detect And Adapt, But Do Not Feel, Paul C. Struik

Animal Sentience

Plant sentience is a hot topic in scientific and popular media. There are moral reasons to respect both the service of plants to humanity and their natural integrity as creatures playing their own significant role in a complex ecosystem. However, to infer that plants have certain cognitive capacities that are present also in certain human and nonhuman animals calls for scientific rigor beyond mere analogy. The unique capacities of plants identified by Segundo-Ortin & Calvo are not necessarily linked to sentience. Nor is it likely that sentience is an evolutionary trait that is present to some extent in all living …

Gut Microbiota-Derived Trimethylamine N-Oxide Contributes To Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Through Inflammatory And Apoptotic Mechanisms, Tyler W. Benson, Kelsey A. Conrad, Xinmin S. Li, Zeneng Wang, Robert N. Helsley, Rebecca C. Schugar, Taylor M. Coughlin, Caris Wadding-Lee, Salma Fleifil, Hannah M. Russell, Timothy Stone, Michael Brooks, Jennifer A. Buffa, Kevin Mani, Martin Björck, Anders Wanhainen, Naseer Sangwan, Sudha Biddinger, Rohan Bhandari, Akiirayi Ademoya, Crystal Pascual, W. H.Wilson Tang, Michael Tranter, Scott J. Cameron, J. Mark Brown, Stanley L. Hazen, A. Phillip Owens

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

Background: Large-scale human and mechanistic mouse studies indicate a strong relationship between the microbiome-dependent metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and several cardiometabolic diseases. This study aims to investigate the role of TMAO in the pathogenesis of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and target its parent microbes as a potential pharmacological intervention. Methods: TMAO and choline metabolites were examined in plasma samples, with associated clinical data, from 2 independent patient cohorts (N=2129 total). Mice were fed a high-choline diet and underwent 2 murine AAA models, angiotensin II infusion in low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient (Ldlr-/-) mice or topical porcine pancreatic elastase in C57BL/6J mice. Gut …

Questions About Sentience Are Not Scientific But Cultural, Yoram Gutfreund

Animal Sentience

Abstract: The findings of complex cognitive-like behaviours in plants are surprising and exciting. However, they do not provide a scientific reason for ascribing sentience to plants. The target article, in trying to provide evidence for sentience in plants, exposes the weakness of the science of animal consciousness in general. In this commentary, I try to explain why the scientific method is incapable of resolving the question of which organisms or systems are sentient.

A Review Of The Implications Of The Love Canal Disaster And The Subsequent Actions Of The State And Federal Government, Hannah Albright, Brooklyn Hurtt, Douglas Mock

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

There is much literature written about environmental law and policy. The one focused on in this poster presentation is “Love Canal: A Toxic History from Colonial Times to the Present” by Richard S. Newman. The novel focuses on the Love Canal tragedy in upstate New York, where a chemical plant caused housewives to turn into activists after their neighbors, friends, and even their own families became extremely ill or succumbed because of the toxic waste. The tragedy at Love Canal was the precursor to grassroots movements across the United States.