Barriers to young adult patronage of public libraries: a survey of New Jersey librarians

The purpose of this study was to investigate how public librarians in New Jersey responded to the external and internal barriers to young adult patronage as identified by the 1995 National Center for Educational Statistics study and the 1999 Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development initiative. The researcher conducted a purposive online survey of New Jersey public librarians who were members of the New Jersey Young Adult and Children\u27s (NJYAC) Iistserv and served young adults. Responses to the online survey totaled 77 or 16%. Percentages were used to analyze the data and Microsoft Excel was used to generate charts and tables. The findings of the survey indicated that librarians who participated in the study no longer felt that lack of service and lack of resources were still barriers to young adult patronage of public libraries; however, many agreed that limited access to technology and lack of space were both still significant barriers. Furthermore, study participants did not indicate what steps they had actually taken to overcome the barriers to young adult patronage of public libraries, only steps that they would like to take or were planning to take

Correlation Between Music and Preliteracy Skills in Preschool Age Children

Is there a relationship between music and knowledge? If there is evidence that music is influential for processing complex cognitive information, it is reasonable to consider that if children are exposed to music early, it will help them develop literary skills. In the last decade, researchers have paid more attention to possible relationships between musical-rhythmical skills and reading acquisition. Our study chose to focus on the relationship between music and literacy development in preschool children. We hypothesized that since both music and reading involve the sequential processing of units of information, there must be a positive correlation between musical-rhythmical skills and preliteracy skills

Best Practices for Bioacoustic Analysis of Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Advertisement Calls Over a Suburbanization Gradient

Identifying how species respond to an anthropogenic change in their environment is crucial to understanding species persistence and best conservation practices. Wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) can be found throughout all of North America in both human-disturbed and remote habitats, and they are therefore an excellent species to use to test the impacts of environmental change on their behavior and physiology. Wood frog mating activity includes male congregation and auditory chorusing behavior (i.e., advertisement calls). I explored bioacoustics methods for analyzing these wood frog advertisement calls across a suburbanization gradient to determine if and how suburbanization affects the pitch, duration, and number of advertisement calls. I present best practices for measuring individual advertisement calls in the bioacoustics analysis program Raven, and I explain my hypotheses and present preliminary results.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2023/1023/thumbnail.jp

Effect of Hormone Concentrations on Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Testicular Physiology

For over 30 years, rapid amphibian species decline and extinction has been a global phenomenon; more than 70% of the world’s amphibian species are now declining. A major cause of amphibian decline is reproductive failure, which can be due to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and subsequent hormonal and/or sex organ abnormalities. This study aims to understand the effects of varying hormone concentrations on the testicular physiology of male wood frogs (Rana sylvatica). To do so, this research examined testicular histology slides of R. sylvatica (n = 104) males collected from suburban and rural vernal ponds in southern Connecticut. Various testicular structures were quantified as a proxy for reproductive preparedness and output. These results were then compared to the frog’s corresponding testosterone and estradiol concentrations. By understanding the fundamental relationship between reproductive physiology and reproductive success, we will gain the knowledge needed to ensure that amphibian populations can thrive despite human impacts.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1131/thumbnail.jp

The Effects of Temperature on Rapid Body Color Change in Anolis Aquaticus

Rapid body color change is well documented in animals, but the variety of environmental factors that induce this change are not fully understood. Anolis aquaticus is a tropical lizard with rapid body color changes that uses colder-than-average refugia, namely diving underwater for extended periods, to flee from predators. Using underwater refugia causes these lizards to lose several degrees of body heat. The relationship of low body temperatures on body coloration was tested. First, an observational study was conducted in the field of the correlation between body temperature and body color. Then body temperature was experimentally reduced in the laboratory to observe the effect on body color. Body color was quantified from standardized photographs, and visual modeling was used to determine lizard body coloration changes as seen by their primary predators (birds). Preliminary results that document the effect of temperature reductions on body color changes in A. aquaticus are presented.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1051/thumbnail.jp

No Evidence for Sex-Specific Visual Acuity in Anolis aquaticus

Sex differences in sensory perception are widespread among animals, driven by sex-specific reproductive challenges. Males and females often exhibit different sensory abilities, such as in visual acuity; for example, in Heliconius butterflies, males exhibit greater visual acuity due to their mate-seeking behaviors. This study examined this idea in Anolis aquaticus, a semi-aquatic lizard with sexual dimorphism. Males court females using a colorful throat fan (dewlap), which females use to select mates. It is predicted that females will have greater visual acuity than males, given their reliance on visual signals for mate choice. A custom-built apparatus was used to test 45 A. aquaticus (17 females, 28 males) responses to increasingly conspicuous stimuli. No significant sex differences were found in visual acuity or overall responses to stimuli. These results suggest that visual acuity does not differ between sexes in anoles and that other ecological factors (e.g., prey identification) may drive the evolution of visual acuity.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1052/thumbnail.jp

Mechanistic Investigations of Electron-Primed Photoredox Catalysis

While single-electron transfer is a crucial step in a wide range of organic syntheses, the common catalysts for this process, alkali metals, are highly hazardous, have poor chemoselectivity, and produce toxic byproducts. Electron-primed photoredox catalysis holds promise as a novel catalytic strategy to replace alkali metals with safer organic photocatalysts. This study attempts to elucidate the currently unknown mechanism of electron-primed photoredox catalysis via the most promising new candidate: reduced 2,4,5,6-tetrakis(diphenylamino)isophtalonitrile [4-DPAIPN]. The external quantum yield of the photocatalyst was established by running quantitative 1H-NMR on aliquots of the studied system after certain known amounts of light exposure. Cyclic voltammetry was run to establish certain kinetic rates of the 4-DPAIPN and the 3M3NTMB. Fluorimetry was performed to analyze the emissive properties of the photocatalyst. While the full mechanism is not yet completely understood, a more comprehensive mechanistic picture of the photocatalyst has been obtained.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/1099/thumbnail.jp

Dewlap Color Variation and Male Visual Grasp Response Across Populations in a Neotropical Lizard

The sensory drive hypothesis proposes that signals evolve to be most effective in their respective environment, and that the receiver’s sensory systems in that environment should evolve to match those signals. Differences in sexual signals and sensory systems in adjacent habitats may operate as isolating mechanisms. Male Anolis lizards have brightly colored dewlaps that they use for communication. Anolis aquaticus, a Costa Rican species that exhibits intraspecific variation, was studied as populations’ dewlaps vary in redness or yellowness. It is hypothesized that this variation is shaped by sensory drive and facilitates species isolation in A. aquaticus. Visual modeling was used to simulate anole vision, model dewlap conspicuousness to A. aquaticus, conduct visual grasp response (VGR) trials, and employ ddRADSeq genotyping. It was found that “yellow-ness” of a dewlap varies among populations and larger males respond to yellow stimuli more than smaller males. However, preliminary VGR results currently do not support the sensory drive facilitating isolation hypothesis.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1174/thumbnail.jp

Female Acceptance of Mates Is Consistent Across Different Sex Ratios and Male Proximities in Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Breeding Aggregations

Sexual selection plays a crucial role in shaping reproductive strategies. We investigated the influence of sex ratio and male proximity on female acceptance of mates in wood frogs (Rana sylvatica). We hypothesized that females at a more even sex ratio would exhibit higher acceptance of males due to reduced male competition when compared to females at a more male-skewed sex ratio. Using digital video analysis of mating trials (n = 39), we quantified male proximity to females and female acceptance of males at two sex ratios – 1:4 (F:M) and 1:7. Males at a 1:4 sex ratio maintained greater distances from females during amplexus attempts than those at a 1:7 sex ratio. However, no significant effect of male proximity or sex ratio on female acceptance during amplexus attempts was observed. This suggests that factors beyond sex ratio and male proximity, such as female preferences for specific male traits, may drive mating patterns, if female choice exists at all in these “scramble” R. sylvatica mating aggregations. These findings increase our understanding of sexual selection in scramble breeding amphibians and suggest further research into the possible factors influencing female mate choice

Atomic-layer-deposited ultrafine MoS2 nanocrystals on cobalt foam for efficient and stable electrochemical oxygen evolution

Ultrafine molybdenum sulfide (MoS2) nanocrystals are grown on a porous cobalt (Co) foam current collector by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using molybdenum hexacarbonyl and hydrogen sulfide as precursors. When used to catalyze the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the optimal Co@MoS2 electrode, even with a MoS2 loading as small as 0.06 mg cm-2, exhibits a large cathodic shift of ca. 200 mV in the onset potential (the potential at which the current density is 5 mA cm-2), a low overpotential of only 270 mV to attain an anodic current density of 10 mA cm-2, much smaller charge transfer resistance and substantially improved long-term stability at both low and high current densities, with respect to the bare Co foam electrode, showing substantial promise for use as an efficient, low-cost and durable anode in water electrolyzers.L. F. Liu acknowledges the support of the FCT Investigator grant (no. IF/01595/2014) and the Exploratory grant (No. IF/01595/2014/CP1247/CT0001) from the Portuguese Foundation of Science & Technology (FCT). D. H. Xiong and W. Li are thankful for the financial support from Marie Curie Action COFUND fellowships (NanoTrainforGrowth, Grant Agreement no. 600375) under the FP7 framework. D. H. Xiong also acknowledges the financial support from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2015 T80847). This work was partly funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 project "CritCat" (Grant Agreement No. 686053).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio