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Oral history interview: Juan Lopez
Get PDFTranscript file (.pdf) and closed captioning available.Interview with Juan P. Lopez's daughter, Nancy Lopez. Nancy shares about her fathers poor upbringing and how the military changed her father's life for the better
The effect of hemp leaves on intake, digestion, and rumen fermentation parameters in beef steers
Get PDFHemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivation creates by-products (i.e., seedcake and leaves) that, if not placed in an existing market, may be wasted. This waste could be mitigated by feeding these by-products to livestock. Hempseed meal (HSM) has been approved for poultry feed in the U.S. at ≤20 % dietary inclusion. However, HSM is also used in human markets, reducing its economic viability as livestock feed. Research has indicated that hemp leaves have similar nutritive value to conventional forages and may be a suitable feed for ruminants; however, in vivo digestibility studies are lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of hemp leaf supplementation at a dose of 3.9 mg/kg body weight (BW) cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) on intake, digestion, and rumen fermentation in beef steers. Ruminally cannulated beef steers (n = 5) were fed hay and alfalfa cubes for 15-d then fed the same diet supplemented with hemp leaves at 3.9 mg/kg BW CBDA per day for 14-d. Hemp supplementation significantly increased forage intake and total tract digestion of organic matter and neutral detergent fiber (P ≤ 0.01). There were no effects of treatment on ruminal ammonia, total volatile fatty acid concentrations, or ruminal pH (P ≥ 0.60). Hemp supplementation affected molar proportions of acetate, propionate and butyrate (P ≤ 0.01). These data indicate that hemp leaves can be supplemented to cattle at the dose provided (3.9 mg/kg BW CBDA) without negatively impacting diet utilization or rumen fermentation. Future research should confirm these findings at higher levels of hemp inclusion and/or in total mixed rations.Agricultural Science
"You Can't Get There from Here": Use of Crime Scripts in Validity Testing
Get PDFPurpose
Detectives require analytic tools for the evaluation of deception, truth, and probability as police investigations need to assess the validity of suspect alibis, witness claims, victim allegations, and crime theory feasibility.
Design
For a crime to happen, a number of preliminary, intervening, and follow-up steps have to occur (e.g., finding a target, casing the bank, disposing of the body) along the dimensions of time, action, and geography (TAG). A crime script is a framework for dissecting this sequence. We propose their use for assessing the feasibility of a crime narrative. If the required phase shifts are improbable, or the order of actions illogical, then such an analysis warns investigators the TAG line is problematic.
Findings
Different case studies – a wrongful conviction, a murder trial, and a social media crime frenzy – are dissected and evaluated using crime scripts. The analyses reveal the improbability of all three crime narratives.
Practical Implications
Crime scripts are a useful thinking tool in criminal investigations. By deconstructing a crime into discrete temporal, geographic, and action phases, the viability of the overall narrative can be assessed. If a reasonable story cannot be constructed from the linked stages, there is a problem and further inquiries are required.
Originality
We propose a novel application of crime scripts to assist in police investigations. Despite the importance of validity and veracity assessment in this task, the area remains an understudied part of the criminal investigation process
The Cultivation of Climate Resilience: Ethnographic Perspectives on Indigenous Agricultural Practices in Nepal
Get PDFAlthough the impacts of climate change are increasingly visible in rural Nepal, manifesting in erratic rainfall, seasonal shifts, and declining agricultural productivity, adaptation responses are often delivered through top-down programs that overlook the lived realities of Indigenous farmers. The objective of this study is to understand how climate change is reshaping Indigenous agricultural livelihoods in the highlands of Nepal, and how adaptation unfolds through everyday practices, informal institutions, and encounters with formal governance. This study uses a qualitative approach, including ethnographic fieldwork, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and analysis of government and development documents and publications. Although adaptation in the Thami and Jirel communities may appear to be driven by institutional programs, it is in fact sustained through situated practices rooted in kinship, land-based knowledge, and spiritual relationships with the environment. This study includes three specific aims across three interrelated domains of analysis. At the ecological level, it examines how farmers interpret and respond to environmental change through crop and seasonal calendar shifts, and land use transformations, revealing both the impacts of climate change and the strategies of adaptation. At the institutional level, it explores the layered relationships between formal adaptation practices and informal Indigenous systems, such as labor-sharing arrangements, ritual stewardship, and nature worship–practices often sidelined in policy frameworks. At the narrative level, this study centers the voices of farmers to understand how adaptation is experienced, narrated, and sometimes quietly resisted in response to interventions that fail to recognize Indigenous worldviews. Ultimately, this research shows that adaptation is not only a technical challenge but also a deeply social, cultural, and political negotiation over life, land, and the rural futures within a shifting climate regime.Geography and Environmental Studie
Visual-Spatial Overlap and Cross Domain Structural Priming: Math to Language
Get PDFThis study tested whether structural priming effects extend across cognitive domains and whether visual-spatial formatting modulates this effect. Specifically, the experiment investigated whether solving a math expression with a particular attachment structure—high (HA), low (LA), or baseline (B)—influences interpretation of a syntactically ambiguous language sentence presented in either a one-line or two-line format. Sixty undergraduate participants (ages 18–45) viewed 24 math-language prime-target pairs in a fully within-subjects 3 (Prime Type: HA, LA, B) × 2 (Line Condition: one-line, two-line) factorial design. The dependent variable was binary: participants selected either a high or low syntactic attachment interpretation of the ambiguous sentence. Although previous work (Scheepers et al., 2011) has demonstrated cross-domain priming effects from math to language, no significant priming or formatting effects were observed in the current behavioral data. The final generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM) revealed only a significant intercept (p < .001), reflecting a general high-attachment bias across conditions. No main effects of prime type, line condition, or their interaction were detected (all p > .99). These results suggest either that cross-domain structural priming effects are not robust under these task parameters or that the abstract syntactic representations involved are insensitive to spatial alignment disruptions. Future directions include analysis of the collected eye-tracking data to probe real-time processing effects and potential sub-threshold priming dynamics.Psycholog
The Influences of Humor Styles and Dark Triad Personality Traits on Malevolent Creativity in College Students
No full textCreativity is typically considered to be a positive quality; however, creativity has a dark side. Malevolent creativity utilizes novel ideas to cause deliberate material, mental, or physical harm to others. This study examined the contributions of humor styles and dark triad personality traits to malevolent creativity in college students. An anonymous, online survey was administered to 299 undergraduate students (81.9% female/woman; 41.5% Hispanic; Age Mean = 20.3) and included validated scales assessing Malevolent Creativity (MC; Hurting People, Lying, and Playing Tricks), Humor Styles (HS; Affiliative, Self-Enhancing, Aggressive, and Self-Defeating), and Dark Triad personality traits (DT; Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Machiavellianism). Pearson correlations were used to assess the relationships between malevolent creativity, humor styles, and dark triad traits. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine whether dark triad traits contributed to MC over and above humor styles. For the Hurting People MC subscale, Aggressive and Self-Defeating Humor were significant in the first block but became non-significant with the inclusion of the Dark Triad traits. For the final model, only Machiavellianism was significant. For the Lying MC subscale, both Affiliative and Aggressive humor were significant in the first block, but were not significant with the addition of the Dark Triad traits in the second block. The final model found Machiavellianism to be the only factor significant. For the Playing Tricks MC subscale, Aggressive Humor was significant in the first block, and both Aggressive Humor and Machiavellianism were significant in the final model. Machiavellianism was the most consistent significant predictor of malevolent creativity across the subscales. This aligns with previous studies linking Machiavellianism to malevolently creative acts such as sabotaging others to gain an advantage. This study extends previous research by documenting the significant contribution of aggressive humor to malevolent creativity among those who play tricks or pranks on others.Psycholog
"Unburdened & Becoming": A Project in Two Parts
No full textEven as a child, my dance training was shaped by discipline and technique, but as a dancer in acting school, it morphed into something else. I began to infuse the creativity & freedom taught in my acting classes into my movement and choreography. As I have spent the last four years of undergraduate learning several different techniques from a myriad of acting and dance professors, I have discovered my own teaching and creative approach. My Honors Capstone is not only a culmination of everything I’ve learned about myself as an artist over my years in school, but also a research study on a “process-focused” methodology executed through movement classes and a twenty-minute movement piece.Theatre, Dance, and Fil
Visualising Aura: A Cinematic Adaptation of Carlos' Fuentes Gothic Novel
No full textVisualizing Aura: A Cinematic Adaptation of Carlos Fuentes’ Gothic Novel is an adapted screenplay based on Aura, a short novel by Mexican writer and essayist Carlos Fuentes. Originally published in 1962, Aura blends horror, Mexican Gothic literature, and magic realism, incorporating elements of witchcraft and the supernatural. The story follows Felipe Montero, whose life takes an unexpected turn after responding to a newspaper job listing. He soon meets his employer, Consuelo, a decaying old woman, and her mysterious niece and caretaker, Aura. As Felipe delves deeper into their history, he gradually uncovers the unsettling truth, Consuelo and Aura are not who, or what, they appear to be. This screenplay is highly visual, written entirely in Spanish, and stylistically aligns with Avant-Garde and Art film traditions while preserving the novel’s horror and magic realism. The adaptation reinterprets Aura as a subversion of traditional purity and Marianismo ideals imposed on women in Mexican society, intertwining these themes with the rich cultural history of witchcraft among Mexican women. Additionally, it critiques the societal demonization of aging in women, using horror and pagan imagery to expose the damaging notion that a woman’s value diminishes with age leading to extreme measures to preserve their youth. The adaptation process involved multiple close readings of the novel, extensive research on film projects and screenplays for inspiration, and meticulous outlining using flowcharts and notecards. Drafting and restructuring were carried out under the supervision of a thesis/script advisor to ensure a compelling translation of the novel into visual media. Audiences can expect an immersive, suspenseful screenplay that keeps them on the edge of their seats. As the mystery unravels, they will encounter striking visuals, unexpected jump scares, and a shocking plot twist that brings the story full circle.Theatre, Dance, and Fil
Fructooligosaccharide: A Potential Dietary Strategy for Obesity
No full textObjectives: According to 2017–2018 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) more than 2 in 5 adults (42.4%) have obesity. Fructooligosaccharide (FOS), a common prebiotic fiber, in combination with vitamin D supplementation, has previously been shown in our laboratory to modulate vitamin D signaling in the colon and suppress the growth of a pathogenic bacteria in mouse model. However, the effect of FOS on glucolipid metabolisms during the progression of obesity is unclear. Here, we hypothesized that FOS can attenuate body fat gain and improve glucolipid profiles in high-fat diet-induced obesity. Methods: Male and female C57BL/6J mice at 5-week-old were randomized (n=10/group) to receive 1) standard AIN-93G control diet (CON), 2) CON + 5% FOS (CON-FOS, 3) HFD (60% kcal from fat), or 4) HFD + 5% FOS (HFD-FOS) for 10 weeks. Body weight, visceral fat, serum triglyceride (TG), blood glucose, and serum insulin levels were collected and examined for analysis of the effect of the FOS. Results: Both male and female HFD mice exhibited significantly higher body weight compared to CON mice. FOS attenuated body weight gain in HFD male mice, but not female mice. Overall, body weight gain, visceral fat and serum TG level were significantly lower in female HFD mice compared to male HFD mice as expected. Administration of FOS further suppressed the visceral fat gain in male and female HFD mice by 25% and 50%, respectively. Similarly, serum TG was 25% and 12% lower in FOS-treated male and female HFD mice, respectively, compared to HFD alone of each sex. FOS did not affect the level of blood glucose in HFD mice. Yet, serum insulin was about 2-fold lower in FOS-treated HFD mice, regardless of sex, compared to HFD mice. Furthermore, HOMA-IR in HFD mice was normalized by FOS indicating that insulin resistance in HFD mice was alleviated by FOS interventions. Conclusions: Taken together, our study demonstrated that FOS suppresses weight gain, improved lipid profiles, and alleviated insulin resistance in HFD-induced obese mice. While further investigations on the mechanism by which FOS impact glucolipid metabolisms in obesity remain to be investigated, our data suggest that FOS may be a promising prevention strategy for prevention of obesity and its associated complications.Family and Consumer Science
Bridging communities: Vireo and DSpace integration for open knowledge sharing
No full textThis presentation will explore how the integration of Vireo with DSpace fosters a community-centered approach to managing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) and other research outputs. By streamlining submission workflows, enhancing repository functionality, and enabling interoperability, this integration empowers institutions to serve diverse communities more effectively. The discussion will include real-world case studies, insights into open-source collaboration, and strategies for promoting trust in digital repositories while supporting local and knowledge sharing.
The integration of Vireo, an open-source ETD submission and management system, with DSpace, a widely used open repository platform, represents a significant achievement in repository evolution. This panel aligns with the Community sub-theme by showcasing how this synergy addresses the diverse needs of global users while fostering trust and enabling repositories to better promote equitable access. With the increasing demand for interoperable systems that balance global connectivity and local context, Vireo and DSpace stand as powerful tools for supporting repository growth and innovation.University Librarie