21884 research outputs found
Sort by
Beauty and Burden: Water Quality in Illinois Rivers.
No full textPhosphorus pollution in Illinois watersheds is a growing concern, threatening water quality, aquatic ecosystems, and human health. Excess phosphorus acts as a limiting nutrient in freshwater systems, causing eutrophication, algal blooms, hypoxia, and fish mortality. Illinois watersheds also contribute to nutrient loading in the Gulf of Mexico, worsening hypoxic conditions. This study aims to analyze phosphorus load trends and identify key drivers, including watershed characteristics, climate variables, hydrology, land use, soil composition, and anthropogenic influences. Historical water quality data will be assessed using non-parametric tests such as Mann–Kendall and Sen’s slope to detect trends, followed by machine learning to evaluate factor importance. We hypothesize that watersheds with high precipitation, urban runoff, and intensive agriculture will show increasing phosphorus loads. Findings will inform targeted strategies to mitigate pollution and protect ecological health.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/ior2026/1023/thumbnail.jp
Cats Need Friends Too
No full textCats are independent by nature, showing love and affection on their terms. But what happens when you’re not around? Do cats benefit from having another feline companion? My research will explore how living in multi-cat households compared to solitary affects cats’ health and wellbeing, including medical conditions and behavior patterns. I plan to gather data by implementing questionnaires in participating veterinary hospitals’ exam rooms, where owners will provide consent and answer questions about their cats’ health status, behaviors (positive and negative), and household setup. My image above reflects my original prediction that cats benefit emotionally, physically, and socially when living in a multi-cat household. My hypotheses are that multi-cat ownership will be associated with reduced incidences of negative behaviors and calmer temperaments compared to single-cat households. While multi-cat environments may not be ideal in every situation, this research project highlights the potential emotional, behavioral, and health advantages of feline companionship.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/ior2026/1004/thumbnail.jp
Zoune at Her Nann-enn\u27s House
No full textZoune at Her Nann-enn’s House by Justin Lhérisson is a 1906 Haitian novella that examines the social and domestic trials young women face as they come of age. Translated by Susan Kalter, this first-ever English-language edition of the book also provides a rich afterword that critically situates Lhérisson’s story in social and political Haitian contexts and establishes how those particular contexts connect to larger social issues in our present moment. The plot follows a quietly resilient young girl, Zoune, sent from the countryside to live with her godmother in Port-au-Prince. Removed from her biological family, Zoune grows up under the strict care of her Nann-enn, Mme Boyote, who instructs her in labor, faith, obedience, and the customs of urban Haitian life. When Mme Boyote invites Colonel Cadet Jacques into the household in hopes of securing greater social stability, Zoune’s fragile sense of safety is disrupted, and new interpersonal tensions emerge. Rooted in the rhythms of everyday life, Lhérisson’s story offers an intimate portrayal of girlhood shaped by endurance and survival, while also serving as a subtle yet incisive critique of nineteenth-century Haitian military authority, religious influence, and social hierarchy.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/ua/1003/thumbnail.jp
Teaching students how to access the world: Information fluency modules in world criminal justice systems courses
No full textThis presentation discusses a long-term collaboration between Milner Library and the Department of Criminal Justices Sciences to bring information fluency training to students in CJS 369: World Criminal Justice Systems. Learn how it has changed from pen and paper, responded to COVID, and where it\u27s at now
Effects of Infused Instruction on Graduate Students’ Knowledge, Self-Perceptions, and Misconceptions of African American English Dialect
No full textDespite guidelines and requirements for training programs in communication sciences and disorders (CSD), pre-service and practicing speech-language pathologists report feeling under-prepared to work with speakers of Nonmainstream American English (NMAE) dialects such as African American English (AAE; Latimer-Hearn, 2020). The current study explored explicit instruction of the phonological and syntactic characteristics of AAE via infused instruction with speech-language pathology graduate students. Participants were 43 first- and second-year students in a CSD program. At the start of the course, participants completed a pre-instruction survey containing questions regarding demographics, exposure/experiences with AAE, baseline knowledge of AAE characteristics, and misconceptions regarding the dialect. Instruction on a variety of topics related to AAE occurred across five regular class periods and lasted 15 to 20 minutes each. Participants then completed a post-instruction survey with questions pertaining to AAE characteristics, perceived confidence/preparedness to work with AAE speakers, and misconceptions about the dialect. Results indicated statistically significant increases in demonstrated knowledge of AAE dialect following the learning experience. Participants also reported increased perceived knowledge, confidence, and preparedness to work with AAE speakers at the end of the course than prior to explicit instruction of AAE. CSD training programs that incorporate infused, explicit instruction of NMAE dialects within courses have the potential to influence graduate students\u27 knowledge, misconceptions, confidence, and preparedness to work with clients who speak an NMAE dialect such as AAE
Bridging the Divide Between Scholarly and Popular Leadership Writing
No full textLeadership writing occupies a space between theoretical complexity and the human desire for practical insight. While popular leadership books often achieve wide resonance without scholarly rigor, academic journal articles frequently achieve rigor without broader relevance. Our article offers reasons for this bifurcation and suggests the use of the hermeneutic circle as a frame to interpret popular leadership texts not as threats to academic credibility, but as opportunities for reflection and reorientation. Through the hermeneutic circle, the relationship between scholarly and popular texts is conceptualized as recursive interplay between parts (e.g., rigor, audience) and wholes (e.g., influence, disciplinary norms). Rather than dismissing popular leadership books as failed scholarship, their appeal can be treated as a phenomenological encounter, what we describe as resonance. Drawing on the hermeneutic turn, phenomenology, and leadership studies, the article proposes a framework for interpreting resonance with readership as meaningful data about readers’ lived experiences. By taking resonance seriously, popular texts become portals into how leadership is understood and enacted in practice, offering insights that can inform, refine, and expand scholarly leadership research
Conformation of Six-Membered Vanadium Chelate Rings
No full textVanadium complexes have many desirable catalytic and biological properties across a wide variety of chelate types with coordination moieties typically being oxygen and nitrogen. In this work, we carried out a data mining analysis investigating the conformation of six-membered rings formed between a ligand and a vanadium atom with the objective to understand how much the ligand conformation impacted the structure and stability of the coordination complex. There are 104 structures with the NVN unit in the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC), 28 structures with OVN unit, 386 structures with the OVO unit, and 11 structures with NVN(sp2)C(sp2) unit, with the remainder of the six-membered ring being three C atoms. The structures containing NVN, OVN, OVO, and NVN(sp2)C(sp2) units show chelate geometries including chair, twist-boat, boat, and half-chair. Out of the total 529 structures, there were 315 chairs (60 %), 91 twist-boats (17 %), 86 boats (16 %), 4 half-chairs (1 %), 2 planar (0.5 %), 13 complexes that contained more than one 6-membered ring and the complex having more than one chelate conformation (2.5 %), and 16 complexes where the structures are not deposited in the CCDC (3 %). Based on the analysis, there is a distinct correlation between the conformation of the ring and the composition of the chelate of the mononuclear, dinuclear and polyoxidovanadate complexes containing NVN, OVN, OVO and NVN(sp2)C(sp2) groups. Therefore, it appears that the chelate composition impacts the conformation of the six-membered ring and thus the stability of the complex
The Wonder of Communicative Participation
No full textChildren with complex communication needs (CCN) are a diverse group characterized by difficulties producing speech, understanding speech and language, and using reading and writing skills which result in limited engagement in everyday communicative interactions. They may use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies such as communication boards or electronic devices to communicate more efficiently. Meaningful participation for children with CCN is tied to positive influences on health and wellbeing.
Because children’s museums promote learning through play, and play provides opportunities for learning language, this study explores how staff member at children’s museums and parents of children with CCN can be trained to use communication partner strategies to model language and support communication using communication boards. The photo illustrates how the efficient usage of a communication board can break down barriers to the wonder of play and community participation for children with CCN.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/ior2026/1018/thumbnail.jp
To Study or Sleep? College Student Perceptions of Sleep Hygiene Barriers & Campaign Messaging on Campus
No full textThe image I have created to represent my research study portrays the intricate and demanding experiences of college students and seeks to highlight how poor sleep hygiene habits in college students can cause harm both externally (e.g., academic consequences) and internally (e.g., anxiety, stress, depression). This harm is shown through my image both by the student sleeping instead of working, and through the imagery of internal frustration and struggle experienced by the student. My research study seeks to examine how sleep hygiene health campaigns on college campuses both engage and impact students based on reported interaction with campaigns and standardized sleep hygiene measurements. To represent this in my research image, you will see current promotional messaging provided to ISU students on campus by the Health Promotion and Wellness department.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/ior2026/1014/thumbnail.jp