Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rare Beauty: Social Media Audit, Amalia Fleming, Mariyah Martinez, Lillian Stegen, Briley Bodin, Nadia Rodgriguez

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Our report entails a thorough social media audit of the makeup brand, Rare Beauty, founded by Selena Gomez. It analyzes the many strategies utilized to create an effective social media presence on multiple platforms. This report discusses how successful these social media and communication strategies are in leading to brand growth, development, and profit for Rare Beauty. In addition, our presentation aims to touch all of the aforementioned points in a way which gives our audience a complete yet succinct overview.

In our findings we have discovered that Rare Beauty has successfully utilized social media to create a community of …

An Exploratory Study Of The Effects Of Aquatic Walking On Function And Muscle Activity In Knee Osteoarthritis: Part 2, John M. Coons, Brandon Grubbs, Conor Theiss, Vaughn W. Barry, Sandra Stevens

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This paper presents Part 2 of a study that investigated the effects of an 8-week (3x/week) underwater treadmill (UT) walking intervention on knee osteoarthritis (KOA) outcomes in 6 adults with KOA (62.7 ± 14.2 years). The Knee Outcome Survey (KOS) for activities of daily living and muscle activity during a 10-m walk and a 20 cm step down were measured before and after the intervention. The following KOS measures improved after the UT walking program (p < 0.05; g > 0.8): stiffness, swelling, weakness, walking, going up stairs, going downstairs, kneeling on the front of the knee, squatting, and sitting with the …

Robert Hall Merrill: An American Engineer In China, Annie Benefiel

Scholarship and Professional Work

Presented at the 2023 Archival Kismet Conference "Thinking About Stuff," this presentation explores historical documents found in the Robert H. Merrill papers in the Grand Valley State University Special Collections and University Archives.

In 1920, Robert Hall Merrill, a young civil engineer from Grand Rapids, Michigan, traveled to China to serve as Assistant Principle Engineer on a reconstruction project of a portion of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest canal system in the world. Merrill's work produced a comprehensive survey report of the Grand Canal construction area near the Yellow River. The report contains numerous …

The Halliwick Concept: Practical Applications, Susan J. Grosse

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The Halliwick Concept has become a very popular method for use by professionals involved in instructional swimming and in therapeutic aquatics. Through a detailed look at the principles of Halliwick, this article expands on Halliwick theory by detailing applications of Halliwick to specific population groups. The practicality of implementing Halliwick methodology with and for individuals experiencing a variety of limiting challenges, both physical and cognitive/sensory, are discussed. Hints for success- oriented implementation are provided. For those unfamiliar with the Halliwick Method background resource material is included.

Freestyle: A Guide To Making Swimming Nutrition Simple, Megan Wills

Undergraduate Theses

Nutrition plays a critical role in the performance of an athlete. Although academic research surrounding the topic has increased, there is a disproportionate increase in materials created for the athletes themselves. Regarding competitive swimming, the scope of athlete-friendly instructional materials is even more limited. Therefore, there is an inherent disconnect between the academic research on the topic of competitive swimming nutrition and the athletes who need the information. The purpose of this project is to bridge the gap between the research and the content accessible for athletes themselves. Using an interpretive and simplistic approach, the available academic research was used …

Flying Under The Radar: A Survey Of Collegiate Pilots’ Mental Health To Identify Aeromedical Nondisclosure And Healthcare-Seeking Behaviors, Emily Faulconer, Lauren Pitts

Publications

The disclosure of a new or existing mental health condition in a pilot complicates their medical certification status. It has been proposed that the threat of losing medical certification often discourages pilots from seeking treatment for mental health issues or disclosing such information to aeromedical professionals, contributing to a barrier to seeking healthcare that affects pilots of all certification levels. The current study focused on the nondisclosure and healthcare-seeking behaviors of the collegiate pilot population(N = 2,452)at a large, accredited, private institution that offers flight training in accordance with Pilot Schools (2022). Data collected from our anonymous online survey over …

The Role Of Occupational Therapy In A Student Athlete’S Transition From High School To College, Justus Basinger, Keisa Boykin, Mary Shotwell

Spring 2023 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

The purpose of the project is to identify the issues facing student-athletes as they transition from high school to college and to determine occupational therapists’ role in the transition for student-athletes. To allow for specialized help in the transition process from high school to college, this research project will provide greater detail about the areas in which student-athletes experience stressors.

Sentience: Back To The Science From The Words, David A. Booth

Animal Sentience

Contributors to this discussion acknowledge ambiguities in the terms used, including ‘feelings’, ‘behavior’, ‘cognition’ and ‘sentience’ itself. Yet they continue to use such words without reference to scientific criteria established by experimental psychology.

2022 Annual Population Report Tables (April 15, 2023), Portland State University. Population Research Center

Oregon Population Estimates and Reports

The population data in the 2022 annual report tables were compiled by the Population Research Center, Portland State University, 4/15/2023.

The tables in this workbook present the 2022 population estimates produced by the Population Research Center, Portland State University. The July 1 estimates of total population for counties and cities and towns were certified December 15, 2022.

Some tables include the U.S. Census Bureau's decennial Census counts and historical population estimates produced by our Center, and other tables include calculations of change since Census 2020. Also included are population estimates for broad age groups and 5-year age groups.

Brain Deficit Patterns Of Metabolic Illnesses Overlap With Those For Major Depressive Disorder: A New Metric Of Brain Metabolic Disease, Kathryn S Hatch, Si Gao, Yizhou Ma, Alessandro Russo, Neda Jahanshad, Paul M Thompson, Bhim M Adhikari, Heather Bruce, Andrew Van Der Vaart, Aristeidis Sotiras, Mark D Kvarta, Thomas E Nichols, Lianne Schmaal, L Elliot Hong, Peter Kochunov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Metabolic illnesses (MET) are detrimental to brain integrity and are common comorbidities in patients with mental illnesses, including major depressive disorder (MDD). We quantified effects of MET on standard regional brain morphometric measures from 3D brain MRI as well as diffusion MRI in a large sample of UK BioBank participants. The pattern of regional effect sizes of MET in non-psychiatric UKBB subjects was significantly correlated with the spatial profile of regional effects reported by the largest meta-analyses in MDD but not in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or Alzheimer's disease. We used a regional vulnerability index (RVI) for MET (RVI-MET) to measure …

Reflecting On Students’ Reflections: Exploring Students’ Experiences In Order To Enhance Course Delivery, Therese Ferguson

The Qualitative Report

Learning qualitative research skills can be a daunting process for students given characteristics such as its subjective and time-consuming nature. I therefore wanted to understand in detail my students’ course experiences by exploring the (i) literal and metaphorical language that they utilized to describe their experiences with qualitative research; (ii) challenges they faced in undertaking qualitative research; and (iii) personal and course triumphs shared by students. Using a generic qualitative research design, I undertook document analysis of a sample of written coursework reflections from 17 of my master’s level students. Findings showed that students had an emotional experience of lows …

Processes Of Change In Online Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Hoarding, Jennifer Krafft, Julie M. Petersen, Clarissa W. Ong, Michael P. Twohig, Michael E. Levin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Initial research suggests that acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is efficacious in treating hoarding problems, but processes of change in ACT for hoarding are unclear. Thus, we investigated potential mediators and moderators in a randomized waitlist-controlled trial (n = 73) of web-based ACT for U.S. adults with clinically significant hoarding problems. Hoarding severity was significantly correlated with hoarding-related psychological inflexibility (r = 0.52, p < .01), mindful awareness (r = −0.40, p < .01), and beliefs that people with hoarding disorder are different from others (r = 0.31, p < .01). Effects of ACT were not significantly moderated by age, gender, or baseline hoarding-related psychological inflexibility. Longitudinal mediation analyses did not support mediation by hypothesized processes. However, the effect of condition on hoarding severity at follow-up was significantly mediated by hoarding-related psychological inflexibility at follow-up (ab = −0.41 [95% CI: 0.85, −0.01]), and change in hoarding-related psychological inflexibility (r = 0.73, p < .01) and mindful awareness (r = −0.69, p < .01) was correlated with change in hoarding symptoms over time. Overall, our results suggest that psychological inflexibility, self-stigma, and mindful awareness are indeed related to hoarding symptoms, but we cannot conclude that they underly the effects of ACT for hoarding. Limitations include a predominantly White and female sample.

Volume 9 Full Text, Bjur Staff

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

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 Bayesian Examination Of The Effect Of A Mental Health Psychosocial Education Vignette On Stigma Toward Persons With Schizophrenia And Depression, Lainie Krumenacker

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Psychosocial education has been used to combat stigma in several settings, but familiarity with and exposure to mental illness may also be key factors in reducing stigmatizing comments and behaviors. In this study, we implemented a between-subjects design where participants were allocated into two groups: one who received psychoeducational information about mental health (i.e., the “education group”) and one who received no psychoeducational information (i.e., the “control group”). Regardless of their group, all participants then read vignettes which discussed information about the diagnosis of schizophrenia or the diagnosis of depression. Following the vignettes, all participants completed a series of questionnaires …

Why Do High-Achieving Women Feel Like Frauds? Intersecting Identities And The Imposter Phenomenon, Nicole Lounsbery

Great Plains Sociologist

The imposter phenomenon is a concept used to characterize the presence of intense feelings of intellectual fraudulence, particularly among high-achieving women. Researchers have tried to explain not only why this phenomenon occurs, but why it is more prevalent in highly successful women. This study predicts that the intersection of gender with race, class, and parental educational attainment contributes to women’s feelings of fraudulence. Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) scores were used to determine the effects of identity variables on imposter feelings in a sample of 403 female graduate students. Results indicate a strongly positive relationship between Native American identity and …