95038 research outputs found
Sort by
Seasonal Variation in the Physiology and Trophic Ecology of the Temperate Coral Oculina arbuscula
Get PDFCorals are the foundation of reef ecosystems that are instrumental to the health and abundance of a vast diversity of marine life. The synergistic effects of environmental change and anthropogenic impacts are causing widespread degradation of coral reefs. Extreme heat stress correlates with partial or complete loss of corals’ photosynthetic algal symbionts, a process known as coral bleaching. Unlike well-studied tropical species, lesser-known facultatively symbiotic corals, such as Oculina arbuscula, can survive without their symbionts by relying on heterotrophic carbon sources and are thus useful models to study the physiological effects of bleaching. Here, we measure the natural variation in the physiology of symbiotic and aposymbiotic colonies of the temperate coral O. arbuscula across seasons in coastal North Carolina. We collected colonies of O. arbuscula from Radio Island, North Carolina, during the fall, winter, and spring (September 2023, November 2023, May 2024), and symbiont density, chlorophyll a (chla) concentration, chla per cell, color intensity, and quantified δ13C and δ15N. We found that, compared to symbiotic colonies, aposymbiotic colonies had significantly lower symbiont density and chla and higher color intensity, and these trends varied across seasons. Seasonally, we found greater autotrophy (higher host-algal δ13C and δ15N overlap) during the fall and lower autotrophy during the spring. These results demonstrate natural fluctuations in the physiology and trophic strategy of O. arbuscula based on symbiotic state and season. They also improve our understanding of the coral-algal symbiosis and bleaching responses under environmental change.Bachelor of Scienc
Can't Gig Enough: Exploring the Impact of High-Quality Interactions on Gig Workers
Get PDFEvery day, we encounter strangers and make critical choices on whether to engage with them. Although gig workers often interact with multitudes of people outside their immediate network, they face isolation due to their unique work structures, leaving them with fewer opportunities for meaningful socialization. While we tend to overestimate how much strangers will dislike conversing, socializing with strangers is linked to well-being, happiness, and new opportunities. Applying the affect theory of social exchange to the results from my quantitative study on gig workers in rideshare and food delivery sectors supports my hypothesis that gig interaction quality enhances mental health, work engagement, and community focus. The study focuses exclusively on customer interactions and tests the impact of interaction length and quality on the three outcomes. Because gig workers lack strong work culture and relationships, exploring how high-quality customer interactions affect their work and lives establishes the impact substantial conversations have on the gig economy.Bachelor of Business Administratio
Japan’s Stability Imperative: Reconciling Political Insecurity with Defense Policy Preferences, 1947-1960
Get PDFI will argue that domestic political stability served as the dominant determinant of Japanese security policy in the early Cold War. The principal actors of Japanese policymaking in the 1950s—conservative politicians and the big business community (zaikai)—understood political stability as vital for advancing the national objectives of autonomy and prestige. Economic rehabilitation and sociopolitical reconstruction, the primary tools with which postwar Japan could pursue autonomy and prestige, depended above all on domestic political stability. The U.S. shared this stability preference and thus prioritized Japan's economic and political health over equality in bilateral security burden-sharing. Ultimately, remilitarization advanced when Japanese policymakers felt it augmented national autonomy and international prestige without destabilizing the nation's established government.
Bachelor of Art
The Death of Cinema and the Rebirth of Analog: On Cinematic Experiences in the Digital Age
Get PDFIn the twenty-first century, traditional aspects of the cinematic experience have been displaced by digital technology. The physical space of the movie theater as the center of engagement with cinematic experiences has been reduced by digital media and private viewing habits. Similarly, the presence of celluloid film has decreased in the last few decades due to controlled efforts by film companies to standardize digital cameras and projection. However, both movie theaters and celluloid film continue to live on into the present day, primarily in urban areas with long-standing historical film communities. This work examines the experiential affects of both the physical space of the movie theater and of analog projection as a contrast or alternative to the current highly digital media landscape and modern viewing habits, and investigates how our relationship to these two aspects of the cinematic experience has been altered by digital media.Bachelor of Art
Psychological Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Systematic Review
Get PDFAdverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are recognized as significant risk factors that can profoundly impact an individual’s mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more. However, there is a limited understanding of the long-term effects of specific combinations of ACEs across diverse populations. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the existing literature on the psychological impact of ACEs, examining the relationship between early life adversity and long-term mental health outcomes. The review was conducted following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA). A comprehensive search of peer-reviewed articles from PsycINFO and PubMed was conducted, with studies selected based on their relevance to childhood trauma and mental health outcomes. A quality appraisal of the included studies was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute Systematic Reviews tool (sum score range from 0 to 9). Sixty-three studies met the eligibility criteria with a total of 668,277 participants (mean age: 29.8 years; female participants 40~100% across studies). Most of the studies were cross-sectional (55 studies) and cohort study design (8 studies). The mean quality assessment score for the included cross-sectional studies was 6.5 (±1, range 4-8) and 8.9 (± 1.13, range 7-10) for the included cohort studies. Our findings showed that ACEs are associated with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance abuse. Additionally, ACEs negatively influence self-esteem, coping mechanisms, and social functioning. Psychological mechanisms, including disruptions in emotional regulation, were identified as contributing factors of these associations. This review emphasizes the importance of early screening for ACEs and targeted interventions to improve long-term mental health outcomes. Bachelor of Scienc
Sensitivity of ECG QRS Complex to Structural His-Purkinje Network Parameters in Computational Heart Models
Get PDFCardiac digital twins (CDTs) are emerging as a potentially transformative tool in cardiology, offering enhanced precision andpersonalization in cardiovascular treatment. A critical yet understudied factor influencing CDT accuracy is the His-PurkinjeNetwork (HPN), which governs the ventricular depolarization of the heart that shapes the QRS complex of the ECG. Thisstudy quantifies the variability in QRS morphology resulting from structural variations in the HPN and identifies key param-eters driving this variability. Nine structural parameters influencing HPN generation were simultaneously varied, and theireffects on ten quantities of interest related to QRS morphology were analyzed. A Sobol sensitivity analysis was conductedto determine both direct and interaction-driven contributions of HPN parameters to the observed variability.
Our results suggest that most minor variations in the His-Purkinje network structure do not significantly affect QRS complexfeatures; however, in certain cases, these changes can lead to abnormal QRS complex formation. While wave durationsand peak amplitudes of the QRS complex exhibit low sensitivity to individual HPN parameter variations, specific parametercombinations can result in interactions that significantly alter QRS morphology in these aspects, potentially reducing CDTaccuracy in modeling cardiac pathologies. Additionally, QRS peak timing was influenced not only by parameter interactionsbut also by the number of branches in the HPN. Changes in the His-Purkinje network can cause premature QRS formation,potentially obscuring the preceding ECG waveforms, particularly the P-wave. This can hinder the diagnostic accuracy ofmodels that rely on these waveforms for diagnosis. Interactions affecting timing variability were primarily centered aroundbranch and fascicle angles, as well as branch repulsivity to a slightly lesser extent; however, other parameters still hadsignificant interaction effects. These findings highlight key sources of variability that should be accounted for in future CDTmodels to improve the fidelity of simulated ECGs and enhance their clinical applicability.Bachelor of Science in Public Healt
Profiles of Structural Violence in Hispanic/Latino Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Parents: the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Youth Study
Get PDFThis study provides critical insights into the pervasive structural violence and compounded stress experienced by Hispanic/Latino caregivers, a population disproportionately impacted by systemic inequities that can adversely affect overall well-being. We analyzed data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Youth (n = 458) to identify structural violence exposure patterns among Hispanic/Latino caregivers/parents and examine how these patterns vary by birthplace and U.S. residency duration. Structural violence exposure was measured using six domains: chronic stress, perceived stress, racial/ethnic discrimination, acculturative stress, economic hardship, and neighborhood disorder. Latent profile and multinomial logistic regression identified structural violence patterns and their links to birthplace and U.S. residency. Participants were on average 38.3 years (range 23–71), were predominantly female (87.6%), mostly of Mexican descent (45.9%), and had low socioeconomic status, with 32.7% lacking a high school diploma, 50.1% earning under $20,000 annually, and 84.9% foreign-born. Latent profile analyses revealed three distinct exposure patterns: low-exposure, high-exposure, and high-environmental exposure. Findings indicate that foreign-born Hispanics/Latinos with less than 10 years in the U.S. had significantly lower odds of high-environmental exposure compared to their U.S.-born counterparts, suggesting differential vulnerability based on immigration status and time in the U.S. Birthplace and years in the U.S. were not significantly associated with group membership when comparing high- and low-exposure groups, indicating that multiple factors beyond nativity may contribute to structural violence experiences. These findings underscore the critical need for context-specific interventions tailored to the unique stressors faced by Hispanic/Latino communities to mitigate health risks associated with structural violence
Analyzing Smoking Challenges in Bladder Cancer Patients From an Online Forum: A Contemporary Qualitative Study of Peer Support and Cessation Motivators
Get PDFBackground Motivators and barriers to smoking cessation among bladder cancer (BC) survivors remain largely understudied. A novel approach to exploring these challenges is through analyzing user discourse on internet forums, which offer valuable insights into patients’ lived experiences. Objective To qualitatively examine smoking cessation in former and current smokers with connections to BC using Reddit.MethodsAll posts on the subreddit “r/stopsmoking” was queried for “bladder cancer” and its MeSH terms. Threads with anecdotal experiences on BC and smoking were included for analysis. Grounded theory was used to inductively analyze the original posts. Two independent reviewers arranged original posts into individual excerpts to identified preliminary themes. These categories were refined to derive resultant concepts. Results 145 total discussions (17 BC original posts by former and current smokers and 128 reponses) were included. Grounded theory identified 4 themes: coping with BC, fluctuating motivators, resilience and determination amidst smoking relapse, emotional release. Three resultant concepts were formed: BC impacts quality of life, BC experience serves as a motivator for smoking cessation, and successful smoking cessation relies on a robust support network. Conclusions This study unveils BC experiences without judgment apprehension. The diagnosis of BC and patients’ shared experiences may serve as catalysts to quit smoking. These themes and concepts on BC’s impact on smoking can assist clinicians to have tailored cessation discussions
Virtually Unchecked: The Relationship Between Autonomy and Nonproductive Behavior in Remote Workplaces
Get PDFMy thesis develops theory to explain how remote work impacts employee motivation and nonproductive work behavior, specifically cheating behavior and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Within the literature, some suggest that working remotely creates an “out of sight, out of mind” motivation that may promote nonproductive work behavior. I suggest remote work can do the opposite by enhancing employees’ motivation, reducing nonproductive work behavior. I develop my model drawing from self-determination theory, primarily assessing the impacts of remote work on autonomy and nonproductive work behavior. To test my hypotheses, I utilize a recall experiment, which draws on critical incident technique by assigning participants into conditions to recall either (1) working remotely or (2) working physically in the office. I found that remote work (compared to working in the office physically) positively influenced autonomy, and autonomy was negatively related to cheating behavior and CWB. The analyses also demonstrated an indirect effect — remote work (compared to working in the office physically) indirectly and negatively influenced both cheating behavior and CWB, as mediated by autonomy.
Bachelor of Business Administratio