Carolyn Wilson Digital Collections (Lipscomb Univ.)
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1413 research outputs found
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Executive Functioning and Reading Comprehension
No full textAs a newer area of reading research, executive functioning skills have been proposed to account for individual variation in reading comprehension beyond the contribution of decoding and language skills. Several studies ranging from the United States to Great Britain show reading comprehension is both directly and indirectly related to working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition. Therefore, these skills are believed to be an integrated component for reading comprehension. As students enter into the classroom with varying levels of decoding and linguistic comprehension, educators, interventionists, and key stakeholders may also be tasked with considering the role of the child’s executive functioning development in his or her literacy growth. This session will provide an overview of recent research on reading and executive functioning as well as implications for educators and reading professionals as they support students with these key skills
Esperanto: A Universal or Minority Language
No full textWhen created languages develop a community and culture, they begin to imitate the elements of natural languages. Esperanto, a language created to unite the world under one lingua franca, demonstrates this process as it shifts from its original intention to a minority language in characteristic. “Esperanto: A Universal or Minority Language” explores the dichotomy between a language created to be spoken by all, and one that has isolated itself within its own community and customs. In discussing the history of Esperanto’s creation and structure, its evolving and loyal community, and its parallels with natural minority languages like Maori, this essay demonstrates how the natural and isolating nature of language development penetrates even the intentionality of a language created to connect the world. “Esperanto: A Universal or Minority Language” breaks down the creation and evolution of an artificial but intentional language whose loyal and defensive language speakers are isolated from outsiders, creating a condition which imitates the process of natural minority language development
Heat Waves and Heart Rates: Exploring the Correlation Between Temperature and Anxiety
No full text“Will an individual be more prone to anxiety or panic attacks with an increase in body temperature?” Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. Commonly known is the idea that situational factors, such as the death of a family member or financial stress may increase a person’s anxiety levels. Yet, according to research, factors such as physical location or high temperatures may also determine the prominence of anxiety. Using temperature- controlled environments in conjunction with medical instruments, we measured the anxiety levels of participants through the duration of anxiety-inducing media. By analyzing these physiological responses, we can gain insight into the correlation between temperature and anxiety, as well as inform future research on the role of environmental factors in the development of anxiety interventions
Spilling the Tea: Effects of UV Disinfection on Bioactive Compounds in South African Rooibos Tea
No full textThis study investigated the effects of ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection on key bioactive flavonoid compounds in rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis). There is an interest in non-thermal food preservation technologies, and UV treatment offers potential advantages for beverage processing. However, concerns exist regarding possible degradation of health-promoting compounds during treatment. Rooibos tea samples were subjected to five UV exposure intensities (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mJ/cm²), and concentrations of four major flavonoids (aspalathin, orientin, vitexin, and rutin) were measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Surprisingly, most flavonoids showed stability or slight concentration increases at higher UV doses. Aspalathin concentrations increased by approximately 10% at the highest UV doses (75-100 mJ/cm²), while orientin showed the most pronounced response with a 55% increase at 100 mJ/cm². Vitexin remained exceptionally stable across all treatments with only 4% variation, while rutin exhibited a moderate 10% increase at 100 mJ/cm². These findings suggest that UV disinfection at typical treatment doses does not significantly degrade key bioactive compounds in rooibos tea and may potentially enhance extraction or bioavailability of certain flavonoids
Investigating the Potential Ability of the TLR4-NF-κB Axis to Reduce Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Expression in Intestinal Epithelial Cells
No full textNecrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) primarily affects premature infants and is characterized by intestinal necrosis, inflammation, and high mortality. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-induced apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells is thought to drive NEC development. Upon binding bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), TLR4 signaling activates NF-κB, leading to inflammatory gene expression. Indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a pro-ligand of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), prevents NEC in a mouse model by downregulating TLR4, despite reduced AhR expression in NEC-affected intestines. However, the molecular mechanism behind the reduced expression of AhR in NEC is unclear. To model NEC in vitro, we treated IEC-6 enterocytes with LPS, which reduces AhR expression. Next, we assessed I3C’s effect on cell viability following LPS treatment. I3C failed to reverse LPS-induced cytotoxicity, as measured by MTT assay. We then investigated how LPS reduces AhR expression, hypothesizing that this occurs via TLR4/NF-κB activation. IEC-6 cells were pretreated with the TLR4 inhibitor C34 before LPS exposure, but AhR expression remained unchanged, suggesting that TLR4 is not responsible for LPS-induced AhR downregulation. However, pretreatment with the NF-κB inhibitor JSH-23 abolished LPS-induced AhR suppression, indicating that NF-κB mediates this effect. These findings suggest that targeting NF-κB signaling may enhance the therapeutic potential of AhR ligands for NEC by restoring AhR expression in NEC tissues. Further elucidation of this mechanism could improve NEC treatment strategies
Trial or Faith?- History of Christianity from Rome to the Reformation
No full textThe history of Christianity has always fascinated me. I enjoy learning about Christianity and the history of the church because the church experienced lots of growing pains like the Crusades and some of the insane/crazy Popes like Alexander VI or Medieval popes like Stephen Vi, who had the corpse of his predecessor dug up and put on trial
Swan Lake: Tchaikovsky\u27s Lasting Influence on Ballet
No full textRussian ballet has had a significant influence on this dance form since at least the nineteenth century. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had an especially pivotal role, writing works that placed increasing emphasis on the artistic importance of music in addition to the choreography. A study of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake exemplifies his new emphasis on music and the evolution of ballet in the late nineteenth century. My research surveys the early history of ballet and provides a brief biography of Tchaikovsky. Most of my work, however, is an analysis of the music (score) and choreography of Swan Lake—demonstrating Tchaikovsky’s emphasis on music and his sharp departure from conventional ballet practices of the time
Making Robotic Reinforcement Learning More Efficient: Analyzing the SERL Framework
No full textTeaching robots through reinforcement learning (RL) has made great progress, but real-world training is still difficult. Robots need lots of practice to learn, rewards can be hard to define, and resetting the environment after each attempt is often a challenge. The Sample-Efficient Robotic Reinforcement Learning (SERL) framework helps solve these issues by offering a ready-to-use, open-source software package that makes RL more practical for real-world robotics.
This project explores SERL and how it improves robotic RL by making learning faster and more efficient. SERL includes smarter ways to reuse training data, automatic methods for understanding rewards from images, and a system that helps robots reset tasks on their own. It also provides strong robot controllers to handle tricky tasks that involve physical contact.
SERL has been tested on real robots and has successfully learned tasks like assembling circuit boards, organizing objects, and routing cables—all in less than an hour of training. This challenges the common belief that RL is too slow for real-world use. Because SERL is open source, it makes advanced robotic learning more accessible to researchers and engineers.
By reviewing SERL’s features and results, this work highlights how it makes RL more practical and useful for robotics