End of Life, A Talking Circle Grief support groups are offered to the bereaved, after the death of a loved one, yet are rarely made available to those who have been given a terminal diagnosis. This vulnerable and under-serve population may greatly benefit from having an outlet for complex new emotions, the experience of connectedness, understanding and support from others who are facing their own mortality. The purpose of this project is to develop a pilot support group model serving individuals facing end of life to assess the demand for and value of such an intervention. Research on promising practices with support groups for terminally-ill patients was combined with a community-

Utilizing cellulase enzymes can enhance the production of biofuels. In this study, 14 cellulases identified through metagenomic analysis of cow rumen were expressed in E. Coli, purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC), and then assessed for enzymatic activity versus a control cellulase isolated from Aspergillus Niger. To do this, we evaluated the breakdown of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) in a plate assay with Congo Red detection. 4 with high activity and 2 with low activity were selected for analyzing the effective pH on the enzymatic activity and expanding the research to kinetic analysis. Our results could inform new cellulase design and enhance biofuel production.

In this study, we look at the offending of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals over their life course. Growing research on criminal offenses finds LGB individuals offend more often than heterosexual individuals, due to different experiences within social institutions like family and school, but very little criminological research that includes transgender or gender non-conforming individuals as offenders. We aim to gather information about LGBTQ individuals’ experiences in social institutions, across the stages of their life course, to illuminate experiences that act as turning points in the queer life course toward and/or away from involvement in crime.

We hypothesized that a greater training volume would be produced using a training protocol where resistance is decreased with each set (DR) compared to a constant resistance (CR) protocol. In order to develop DRs, we used the subject's fatigue ratio (using an individualized regression equation) from a CR training protocol where the number of repetitions declines with each set. 20 active-duty male firefighters (mean±SD, age = 32± 7yr, height = 180±5 cm, body mass = 96±16 kg, fire service = 9±7 yr) completed 4 sets at 65% of their 1RM CR and DR bench press, lat pulldown, and leg press exercises to failure with 30 second rest intervals.

Our project idea involves hosting a campus-wide scavenger hunt that will span three days; Mon April 22-25, 2024, featuring four quests/scavenger hunts daily, participants will be given a riddle that will lead to one of 12 buildings on campus. In these buildings, we have hidden a piece of paper with a QR code. Students must bring this QR code back to our table on the quad and win a gift card. This activity is being held in part by WRRAP. Our aim is to offer an exciting recreational opportunity for participants to engage in interactive and social activities outside of their dormitories, fostering a sense of community and camaraderie among students.

Women have always faced discrimination , but have made great strides, particularly in the workforce. Though more women are entering male dominated fields, these jobs are still seen as inherently male. Specifically, STEM fields have been slow to integrate women into its elite ranks. The field of sciences are traditionally male dominated and associated with masculinity. This is mostly attributable to sociocultural influences rather than biological differences or ability. Stronger implicit association of men with science promotes differences in academic and career outcomes. The current study aims to investigate gender differences in the masculine association with science.

I am working with a Political Science research fellowship to map the incipient far right and Alt-Right. Finding points of opposition, commonality, and differences between the various groups.

The North Coast Arts Integration Project (NCAIP) is a four-year federally funded project that seeks to integrate and strengthen arts instruction in eight rural elementary and middle schools with the goal of improving student academic performance, reasoning skills, creative thinking and engagement. NCAIP increases student exposure to the arts through field trips and in-­school performances by local, national and international performing artists. In addition, our project builds community bridges by partnering teachers with local teaching artists and other local arts institutions. We will share examples of an arts integrated lesson and provide a chance for you to have a short arts experience.

American tattoos are no longer considered counter-culture. Dominant ideologies that once reserved tattoos for bikers, criminals, and sailors now consider tattoos as highly popularized and commonplace. This prospectus will not look at the history of tattooing so much as it will explore the acts of getting, maintaining, and displaying tattoos as rhetoric. I explore the relationship between modern body art and rhetoric and argue that tattoos are persuasive and contextually meaningful. Tattoos function as a personal narrative and a social artifact fixed in time.

The negative impact of menopause on cardiometabolic health has been documented, but there is limited evidence regarding the relationship between quality of life and cardiometabolic health indicators (e.g. CVD, diabetes) in postmenopausal women. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of quality of life on detriments to health in postmenopausal women, using 65 questions drawn from validated surveys. Participants were recruited using print and social media and completed the confidential survey online. Results demonstrated that subjects who expressed a greater burden and dissatisfaction with their quality of life showed an increase in risk factors for cardiometabolic disease.