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Posterior Thigh Injury—Field Hockey
Full text linkCASE HISTORY: A 25-year-old female field hockey player experienced acute left groin pain radiating to her thigh during a game, lasting only a few minutes. An initial evaluation by a general practitioner revealed no specific symptoms or clinical signs; the athlete was advised to rest and prescribed anti-inflammatory medication. PHYSICAL EXAM: During a subsequent training session, the patient reported pain extending to the posterior thigh. The clinical examination noted non-specific pain radiating from the groin to adjacent regions, with occasional lateral and posterior extension. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSES: Piriformis syndrome; Nerve radiculopathy; Quadratus femoris tendinopathy; Labral tear
TESTS & RESULTS: Initial X-rays showed no fractures or abnormalities. Given the patient’s age, a CT scan was considered, and an MRI (axial T2-weighted fat-suppressed images) confirmed a quadratus femoris muscle tear. Clinical tests (passive extension, adduction, and external rotation) indicated approximately 9.1% asymmetry. FINAL DIAGNOSIS: Quadratus femoris muscle tear. DISCUSSION: This case underscores the challenges in diagnosing soft tissue injuries that present with non-specific symptoms. Although initial imaging was unremarkable, advanced imaging with MRI was critical for confirming the diagnosis, thereby excluding other conditions such as piriformis syndrome and nerve radiculopathy. Early and accurate diagnosis is essential to guide appropriate treatment and prevent further complications. OUTCOME OF THE CASE: The patient was managed conservatively with rest, medications, and steroid injections, along with a physical therapy program emphasizing hip abductor strengthening. Adjunct therapies (e.g., ultrasound, shockwave, and electrical stimulation) were also considered. RETURN TO ACTIVITY AND FURTHER FOLLOW-UP: The athlete was advised to gradually resume activity under supervised rehabilitation once symptoms improved. Follow-up clinical evaluations and imaging studies are planned to monitor healing and determine readiness for full return to sport
Mental Toughness and Neuromuscular Strength: A Parsimonious Model from a Multisystem Perspective
Full text linkMental Toughness (MT) is a trainable capacity that supports consistent performance under pressure. Conceptually grounded in purposefulness, efficiency, and flexibility, MT is increasingly examined through a multisystem lens, including physiological function. Yet, specific physical indicators that meaningfully relate to MT remain unclear. PURPOSE: To identify physiological predictors of MT in healthy adults. METHODS: Eighty-four adults (M = 84; 44.7 ± 14.8 years; BMI = 26.8 ± 5.2; %BF = 24.2 ± 7.2) completed the Mental Toughness Index (MTI). Candidate predictors included VO₂max (Bruce Protocol), resting heart rate (RHR), % body fat and BMI (via DEXA), right-hand grip strength (dynamometer), and age. Standardized predictors were entered into an AIC-based stepwise linear regression to model MTtotal in MATLAB. RESULTS: The final model retained two predictors: grip strength and age, F(2, 45) = 2.64, p = .082, adj. R² = .064. Grip strength was significantly associated with MTtotal (β = 0.30, p = .037); age was not (β = -0.19, p = .166). No other variables improved model fit. CONCLUSION: Neuromuscular strength emerged as a significant predictor of self-reported MT, independent of cardiovascular fitness and body composition. While modest in variance explained, this relationship suggests that functional strength may signal or support adaptive stress responses. These findings contribute to a growing view of MT as a multisystem construct. Future studies should examine whether enhancing neuromuscular performance can positively influence MT in high-stakes or stress-laden environments
Differences in Hand Grip Strength in Division I Male Student-Athletes Across Multiple Sports
Full text linkHand grip strength (HGS) is often used as a marker of hand and forearm muscular strength, but also as an indirect gauge of upper-body muscular strength and shoulder stability. For sport athletes that utilize grasping actions (e.g., tennis, lacrosse, wrestling), HGS measures can be used to help guide programming to increase strength and stability of the upper extremity and to monitor progress through rehabilitation programs following upper extremity injury. However normative values for HGS for different sport athletes are scarce. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare potential differences between bilateral HGS across multiple sports in Division I male student-athletes. METHODS: During a preseason screening, 146 Division I male student athletes (19.9 ± 1.5 y, 182.3 ± 8.0 cm, 83.2 ± 11.1 kg) volunteered to complete a standard hand-grip test. A hand-held dynamometer was used to determine HGS for the right (HG-R) and left (HG-L) hands using standard procedures. The highest of three trials was recorded for each hand. One-way ANOVAs with Tukey’s post-hoc test were conducted to assess differences across the different sport athletes using SPSS v30 (a = 0.05). RESULTS: Normative data showed significant differences in HG-R and HG-L across sports (F[5] = 3.940, p = 0.002 and F[5] = 5.871, p \u3c 0.001, respectively). Wrestlers had the highest HG-R and HG-L (52.1 ± 10.1 and 51.9 ± 8.1 kg), whereas tennis had the lowest HG-R and HG-L (42.7 ± 4.2 and 35.7 ± 5.0 kg, respectively). Wrestlers had significantly higher HG-R than basketball and soccer, and significantly higher HG-L than soccer, tennis, and lacrosse (p \u3c 0.05). Male tennis athletes had significantly lower HG-L than basketball, baseball and lacrosse (p \u3c 0.05). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest absolute HGS varies across different male sport athletes, therefore, normative values for HGS should be sport specific. Future research that explores the relationship between HGS and injury risk is recommended to assess the utility of using HGS to monitor fatigue and injury risk in athletes, especially those where grasping and grip is inherent to the sport-related tasks. Furthermore, this study focused exclusively on male Division I athletes, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to female athletes or those in different divisions or levels of competition
Measuring Spatial and Temporal Variation in Species Composition of Ephemeral Pond Amphibian Assemblages Using Metabarcoding
Full text linkAmphibian populations worldwide face severe threats, heightening the need for reliable monitoring methods. In this thesis, I explored and tested environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding protocols to survey amphibian assemblages in ephemeral ponds of the the Green River Preserve in central Kentucky, USA. First, I evaluated whether the commonly used mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene could effectively capture species-level variation in local amphibians for eDNA metabarcoding. Extensive primer design and testing revealed significant challenges in amplifying fragmented eDNA from water samples. In a second study, I applied a metabarcoding approach using the mitochondrial 12S ribosomal RNA (12S) gene to examine temporal variation in amphibian communities at multiple ephemeral ponds throughout a breeding season, comparing results to traditional visual encounter surveys. The metabarcoding and visual encounter survey approaches presented different data that offered a more complete picture of the species composition of our study site when examined in combination. My thesis outlines both the utility and challenges of eDNA metabarcoding for amphibian conservation, highlighting the importance of locus choice and the power of molecular methods in revealing spatiotemporal patterns of amphibian assemblages
Analysis of Computational Approaches to Cognitive Diagnosis
Full text linkAccess to good education is crucial to the well-being of individuals as well as communities. Recent technological advancements in the field of computer science show promise of generating precise descriptions of student cognitive states regarding specified knowledge concepts through a process called cognitive diagnosis. This can facilitate the creation of more targeted lesson plans and more personalized educational software. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of four computerized cognitive diagnosis models. The models include three existing models: Item Response Theory, Neural Cognitive Diagnosis, Knowledge Association Neural Cognitive Diagnosis, and a proposed model, Concept Agnostic Knowledge Evaluation, which was used to quantify the value of labeling exercises with knowledge concepts. These models were trained and evaluated using four separate data sets: the 2009 ASSISTments data set, the NeurIPS 2020 dataset, the Junyi 2015 data set, and the ASSISTments 2012 dataset. Each model-data set combination was evaluated under five distinct conditions: basic and sampled to determine the effect of data sampling, as well as undersampleEven, undersampleCorrect, and undersampleCorrect, and undersampleIncorrect to determine the effect of manipulating the class ratios. The Accuracy, Area under the ROC curve, mean average error, and root mean squared error of each experiment was recorded. Results reaffirmed the superiority of neural network models over psychometric models. Concept labeling was found to greatly improve interpretability with comparable performance results. Data sampling was shown to be an effective means of improving neural network training time. It was shown that model performance may degrade as user knowledge improves. Future research may investigate ways to adapt to changing user knowledge states, the development of automatic question labeling, or question generation from labels to further facilitate the collection of data on the cognitive diagnosis task
EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF TRAUMA-RELATED GUILT ON THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN CAMPUS SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION AND MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES
No full textBoth sexual assault and alcohol use are extremely prevalent on college campuses. This poses a risk for alcohol-involved sexual assault due to lowered perceptions of danger. Alcoholinvolved sexual assault (AISA) is concerning due to the negative outcomes associated with it, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, increased alcohol use, and alcoholrelated problems. In addition, trauma-related guilt has also been shown to be present in sexual trauma exposed individuals, which could influence how individuals recover from sexual trauma. However, research is limited in terms of how trauma-related guilt may influence the relationship between campus sexual assault and mental health/alcohol-related outcomes. The current study aimed to 1.) examine the associations between campus sexual assault and mental health/alcoholrelated outcomes, 2.) explore differences in mental health outcomes (PTSD, depression, and alcohol use/problems) in individuals who experienced AISA versus non-AISA, and 3.) explore whether the association between campus sexual assault and alcohol use outcomes is mediated by trauma-related guilt. A survey measuring campus sexual assault, alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, PTSD symptoms, and depression symptoms was distributed to a sample of trauma exposed college women. Results indicated that there were significant associations between campus sexual assault, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences and AISA and hindsight bias. Additionally, there were significant group differences in hindsight bias and alcohol use. Lastly, there was no mediating effect for trauma-related guilt on the association between campus sexual assault and alcohol-related outcomes. Future studies should aim to examine these variables in larger samples and should examine the effects of different types of sexual trauma in relation to the outcome variables. Lastly, the results from the current study can be used to design and implement interventions targeting heavy alcohol use on college campuses to reduce the risk for AISA and interventions for hindsight bias in sexual trauma survivors
EXAMINING ANTECEDENTS OF DIVERSITY INITIATIVE FATIGUE: A MODERATEDMEDIATION MODEL
Full text linkThis thesis investigates the relationships between bias awareness, motivation to respond without prejudice, racialized attitudes, and diversity initiative fatigue (DIF) among employees within an academic setting, specifically focusing on faculty and staff at Western Kentucky University. Data were collected through a survey-based approach to measure these constructs and assess their relationships. This study hypothesized that bias awareness negatively correlates with DIF and motivation to respond without prejudice mediating this relationship. Furthermore, the research examines how racialized attitudes moderate the relationship between bias awareness and motivation to respond without prejudice. By examining these relationships using a moderated mediation model, the study seeks to provide insights into understanding and addressing DIF. Results indicated that bias awareness had a significant negative relationship with DIF. Internal motivation to respond without prejudice partially mediated this relationship, but only at mean levels of racialized attitudes. Supplementary analysis revealed that the direct negative effect of bias awareness on DIF was strongest for individuals with high levels of colorblind racialized attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as future directions of the research topic
FORGET ME, NOT: A NOVEL
No full textThis novel follows the collective journeys of three women: Rose, Emilia, and Hayden. Each of these three women’s paths cross in unique ways to assemble a story about womanhood, family, faith, and identity, as well as how each informs the other. This novel will explore the ways history can repeat itself within a family, the uphill battle of overcoming grief, and the strength of unconditional love. It will also demonstrate how our identities are always changing, and while how we grew up may be a factor in shaping our identity, we are much more than that. Most of all, it begs the question: What, exactly, makes a family
LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT ACROSS THE UNITED STATES ARMY’S TOP LEADERSHIP POPULATIONS
No full textNations around the world view the United States military as the personification of leadership in both military and societal populations. The United States Army has revolutionized its command selection process by expanding upon the current Officer Evaluation Report (OER) and the Non- Commissioned Officer Report (NCOER) for some senior ranks at the battalion and brigade levels. Rooted in doctrine, and with a budget of 7,400 per assessed leader to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the leader’s knowledge, skills, and behaviors on an individual level. The Army does this through its Army Command Assessment Program. At its initiation, the program inserted psychometric testing, various observer-rated assessments, and peer and subordinate feedback as data points to holistically identify strengths, weaknesses, and potential counterproductive and ineffective leadership traits that could cause risk to the Army.
This study, utilizing archival qualitative data of more than 1,100 peer and subordinate feedback comments, investigated the probable disconnect between how the Army directs leaders to lead based on Army doctrine and what peer and subordinates are requesting of their leaders. This research utilized the attributes and competencies described in the Army Leadership.
Requirements Model within Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 6-22 Army Leadership, as well as comments received from randomly selected peers and subordinate data provided by the Command Assessment Program. The results indicated that there is a plausible case for two additional attributes and one competency to be identified in the Army Leadership Requirements Model. This study also explored whether peers and subordinates are in a consensus reflecting on which current attributes and competencies leaders have that must be sustained and which attributes and competencies leaders have that must be improved. The findings identified, although not originally sought after was the likeliness from a statistical standpoint are peers and subordinates (if selected at random) would potentially provide positive or negative feedback. Finally, this study also identifies recommendations for future research, if the Command Assessment Program or United States military leadership deem it appropriate to do so
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES FOR GEOLOGIC MAPPING: EXAMINING REMOTE SENSING, MACHINE LEARNING, AND FIELDWORK INTEGRATION IN THE OLMSTEAD QUADRANGLE, KENTUCKY CASE STUDY
No full textThe Olmstead Quadrangle (scale 1:24,000), in south central Kentucky, is a karst-rich region within the Pennyroyal Plateau Sinkhole Plain, serving as a primary groundwater recharge zone for the Mammoth Cave system. Composed of Mississippian-age sedimentary rocks, it contains numerous sinkholes, dry valleys, and sinking streams that shape its hydrology. While the Pennyroyal Fault System runs through the area, no faults have been documented within the quadrangle. Despite its significance for groundwater flow, karst development, and geohazards, its lithologic and structural features remain inadequately mapped. The existing geologic map by George E. Ulrich (1966) merged Renault Limestone, Bethel Sandstone, and Paint Creek Limestone into a single undifferentiated unit, overlooking key lithologic variations. Given advancements in remote sensing, LiDAR, and machine learning, an updated map is needed to refine stratigraphic boundaries and document geologic structures. This study integrates ASTER, LiDAR, and Sentinel- 2 satellite imagery with machine learning algorithms, field investigations, thin section petrography, and SEM analyses. Results confirm that remote sensing effectively distinguishes major stratigraphic units, particularly oolitic limestone, red sandstone, and minerals within stratigraphic units, including silica, kaolinite, calcite, and dolomite. Band math (Band Arithmetic) function performs arithmetic operations on the bands of a raster layer. and LiDAR analysis link sinkhole development to Paint Creek Limestone, highlighting its karst susceptibility. Vegetation and farmland affect remote sensing accuracy, with winter imagery yielding the best results. LiDAR and field validation confirmed the absence of major faulting within the quadrangle, aligning with previous assessments but differing from adjacent quadrangles where faults are documented. Thin section and SEM analyses revealed dolomitization, indicating diagenetic alterations that may influence unit classification. This study enhances geologic mapping accuracy and establishes a framework for future mapping in Kentucky by integrating remote sensing, machine learning, and field validation. Additionally, it demonstrates the effectiveness of advanced mapping techniques in heavily vegetated and farmland-covered terrains, for future societal benefits and resource management strategies. The updated map provides critical insights into groundwater management, hazard assessment, and urban planning