The Impact of Music on Studying Ability in College Students

This study investigates the relationship between listening to music and studying ability in college students. This study was conducted by utilizing a convenience sampling technique to have participants partake in the study. Each participant was randomly assigned to either a control or one of two experimental groups based on block-random assignment. The individuals in the first research group listened to a brief segment of a hit song while studying a list of uncommon words and definitions before being tested on their ability to recall this information. The individuals in the second research group listened to a brief segment of the instrumental version of the same hit song as the first research group while studying the same list of words and definitions before being tested. The individuals in the control group studied the same list of uncommon words and definitions without the music stimulus and were then tested on their ability to recall the information. The data for each participant was kept anonymous as it was analyzed. Each participant was a student at a small, midwestern university. The null hypothesis for this study is that there is no relationship between listening to either lyrical or instrumental music and studying ability. Following a statistical analysis, I fail to reject the null hypothesis as there was not a significant difference in the posttest scores for the participants in each group. Due to the convenience sampling technique utilized, the results cannot be generalized to a larger population. Further research needs to be performed to determine if there is a relationship between listening to both lyrical and instrumental music and effective studying ability in college students

Effects of Social Isolation on Heart Rate Variabilty

The present study looked at the interaction and effects of social isolation onheart rate variability (HRV). Participants in this study includedundergraduate (N=20) students from St. Johns University and the Collegeof Saint Benedict. This study included an online survey that measuredneuroticism as well as an online program participants played calledCyberBall. After participants took the neuroticism survey they wereattached to a BioPac machine using electrodes that monitored their heartrate variability while they played two rounds CyberBall. Heart ratevariability was collected for a total of twenty minutes. We hypothesized thatsocial isolation would decrease heart rate variability

A new HPLC method for simultaneously measuring chloride, sugars, organic acids and alcohols in food samples

This paper introduces an original, rapid, efficient and reliable HPLC method for the accurate and simultaneous quantification (g/L) of chloride in samples containing sugars, organic acids and alcohols. Separation was achieved using a HI-Plex H column at 35oC, with H2SO4 (0.005 N) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The column effluent was monitored by a Refractive Index (RI) detector. A linear response was achieved over NaCl concentrations of 0.25 – 2.5 g/L and 5 – 40 g/L. The analytical method inter- and intra-run accuracy and precision were better than ±10.0%. Investigating the mechanism of detection using different chloride and sodium s reviled that this method can be used for determining the total concentration of chloride salts when in suspension. This method was successfully applied to 15 samples of commercial food products and the salt content obtained from this method was compared with 3 other methods for salt determination. The (HI-Plex H) column was designed for determining the concentrations of sugars, organic acids and alcohols when in solution. Hence, application of our new methodology would allow the determination of sugars, alcohols and organic acids in samples derived from seawater-based fermentation media as well as samples from salty food and dairy products

The Association of the Childhood Opportunity Index on Pediatric Readmissions and Emergency Department Revisits

Journal article in Academic Pediatrics using the Child Opportunity Index to to measure the relationship between social determinants of health and pediatric hospital readmissions and emergency room revisits. Finds that children in low opportunity areas have a greater chance of revisiting the emergency room or being hospitalized after an initial encounter. Results suggest that a broader approach, including policy and system-level change, is needed to effectively reduce readmissions and ED revisits

Do Changing demographics affect election outcomes and different immigration public policy in Texas and California from 1990 to now?

This presentation will explore whether changing demographics have affected California and Texas\u27s election outcomes from 1990 to the present and whether changing demographics have affected different immigration policies in Texas and California from 1990 to the present. Also, both states took similar paths when it came to their immigration policy in the past; in 1994, California passed Prop 187, which banned all services for undocumented immigrants, whereas the Texas Sanctuary City ban allowed police officers to pull people over to question their immigration status (Nowrasteh, 2016; Patton, 2017). I will explain the Demographic breakdown over different time periods, election outcomes and different immigration policies between California and Texas. Immigration policy is important because it changes what policies are implemented in state capitals around America. Moreover, I will discuss how California and Texas are different culturally. A takeaway from this project were the similarities between the election results in California and Texas as when elections got closer in both states, candidates, such as Gov. Wilson, Schwarzenegger, and Abbott, all had to readjust their positions on illegal immigration in order to be re-elected and politically relevant. Another takeaway is that because of the election results that started in 1998 for California and Texas, both states\u27 voting and immigration laws, for the most part, went in very different directions

#ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike: Exploring Asexual People's Resistance through Social Media

Asexual people often face rejection from friends, family, and peers due to misconceptions. These misconceptions emerge from compulsory sexuality, a system of power that centers and enforces people having sex, sexual desire, and sexual attraction, while oppressing those who do not. Using a sample of sixty-eight Instagram posts with the #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike hashtag, I examine how asexual people present themselves in ways that defy compulsory sexuality and other systems of power to generate asexual and intersectional resistance. I find asexual people resist invisibility, invalidation, and misconceptions through online representation, showcasing their existence, joy, and connection to others as forms of resistance. Further, asexual people of color resist the colorblindness in the asexual community and asexual people resist exclusion from the LGBTQ+ community. I demonstrate the need for an anti-racist asexual community and for other fields to consider compulsory sexuality as a system of power in their work.Master of Arts (MA)Sociolog