The Effect of Maternal Anxiety of Breastfeeding Exclusivity and Duration

This study examined whether postpartum anxiety affects breastfeeding exclusivity and duration among mothers in Northwest Arkansas. While maternal anxiety was not a significant predictor, child age and infant birth order were associated with breastfeeding outcomes.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/coesym25/1012/thumbnail.jp

The Reality of Reputation: Exploring Proxy Measures and Predictive Modeling in \u3ci\u3eU.S. News & World Report\u3c/i\u3e College Rankings

Since 1983, U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) has published annual college rankings that shape institutional decision-making, student choices, and public perceptions of higher education. While widely utilized, these rankings have been criticized for their reliance on subjective reputation metrics, methodological opacity, and emphasis on factors correlated with institutional wealth rather than student outcomes. This study examines whether publicly available data from sources such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard can serve as proxies for the factors used in the USNWR National Universities 2025 Best Colleges rankings. Using statistical correlation analyses and regression modeling, the study assesses the extent to which these proxy measures predict the peer assessment factor, one of the most heavily weighted and controversial components of the rankings. Findings indicate that variables such as selectivity, faculty salaries, and financial resources per student exhibit strong predictive relationships with peer assessment scores, reinforcing concerns that rankings favor institutional affluence and historical prestige. These results provide insight into how rankings may shape institutional decision-making, particularly regarding resource allocation, and suggest that without increased financial investment, climbing the rankings remains challenging. Additionally, this study highlights recent changes to the USNWR methodology, including an increased emphasis on social mobility, and considers their implications for future rankings. By offering a data-driven analysis of ranking methodologies, this research informs ongoing debates about their validity and impact, equipping higher education stakeholders with a clearer understanding of their role in institutional strategy and public perception

Remembering the Stasi on the Screen: Historical Film Analysis of the East German Ministry for State Security

The purpose of this thesis is to assess how the history and identity of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security, Stasi) has been internalized by the German people through film media. Germans endured significant trauma and cultural manipulation at the hands of the Stasi and the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party, SED) that is personified in many ways. The trauma that the Stasi inflicted sits heavily on the reflective interpretations of the DDR, complicating retrospection on life in the DDR and its positive elements. The Stasi have come to represent the essential negativity of life in the DDR in the popular historical memory of film; however, appreciating the historical memory spawned by this shared experience as it is today requires an understanding of how it has changed over time. Therefore, this thesis will analyze film depictions of Stasi characters or characters that interact with the Stasi, separating out thematic groups of individuals based on their relationships to the Stasi and identifying similar narratives between the relationships. A list of films ranging from those produced in Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic, DDR) to the most recent productions made for streaming platforms will be assessed to this end, covering to a varying degree of depth more than fifteen films and three television series in order to compile a substantially representative body of primary sources. Core categories of relationships under review will be the outsiders, sub-categorized as prisoners, suspects, and Western interests; inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (unofficial collaborators, IMs), divided into informants and special agents; and official agents of the Stasi separated into low and high command positions when possible. These categories will be reviewed in the context of a continuous development over time with particular attention to shifts occurring before or after Germany’s Wende (Peaceful Revolution, directly translated as the Turning Point)

The Associations of Mental Health with Academic and Exercise Procrastination

This study examines the relationship between exercise procrastination and academic procrastination with symptoms of depression and anxiety among college students. Procrastination is commonly studied in academic settings, but limited research has looked at how various types of procrastination can impact mental health. In this study we specifically look at exercise and academic procrastination. A total of 109 undergraduate students participated by completing surveys measuring their levels of academic and exercise procrastination, as well as their symptoms of depression and anxiety. The results showed that higher levels of both academic and exercise procrastination were significantly associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. Additionally, the significant interaction between academic procrastination and exercise procrastination indicated that students who reported high levels of both experienced the highest levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. This suggests that the combined effect of procrastination in multiple areas of life may intensify mental health challenges

A Nano-Scale Approach to Controlled Apoptosis in Brain Cancer through Magneto-Mechanical Actuation

In this study, we investigate the effects of cell therapy and magneto-mechanical actuation (MMA) to treat glioblastoma (U87). MMA approach employs super low-frequency alternating magnetic fields (AMF) to actuate intracellular PEGylated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (PEG-SPIONs). Magnetic forces are translated into mechanical agitation on PEG-SPIONs, which can disrupt key cellular components. We explored two ways in which the MMA approach can be used to combat cancer growth. First, we investigated MMA directly in U87 cells. Preliminary observations indicate that PEG-SPIONs are intracellularly taken up by the U87 cells via micropinocytosis. Cell-counting kit-8 toxicity assays revealed a cytotoxic effect of MMA treatment with increasing PEG-SPION concentration, likely due to cytoskeletal disruption. Microscopy images showed characteristic apoptotic blebbing and cellular protrusions in MMA-treated U87 cells, suggesting induction of apoptosis. Second, we investigated the regulation of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) expression using MMA in transduced neural stem cells. These cells were engineered via lentiviral transduction to express TRAIL, which selectively binds death receptors on cancer cells to induce apoptosis. TRAIL-secreting neural stem cells (tC17.2) were treated with PEG-SPIONs at various concentrations (0-200 ug/mL) and exposed low-frequency pulsed AMFs (100 mT, 50 Hz, 30 min). Confocal microscopy confirmed PEG-SPION uptake in tC17.2 cells, while cytotoxicity studies indicated that MMA treatment was sufficient to induce mild ER stress and modulate TRAIL expression without causing damage to the tC17.2 cells. Conditioned media from tC17.2 cells were transferred to U87 cells to assess cytotoxicity in comparison to commercial TRAIL with known concentrations, which revealed that the TRAIL secreted from tC17.2 cells exhibited a similar effect to commercial TRAIL at a concentration of 1000 ng/mL. This MMA approach has the potential to minimize side effects in patients without the need for interfering drugs. By leveraging MMA for targeted cancer therapy, this study represents a significant step forward in the field of cancer nanotherapeutics

Retelling a Tale in Pictures: A Fusion of the Arts in a Medieval Emaki of the Japanese Court Romance Geni npo monogatori Tale of Genji

The Genji no monoga ta ri 源氏の物語, the Tale of Genji, b y the Japanese court lady Murasak i Shi kibu 紫式部 ( c . 9 7 3 – c . 1014), thought to have been completed around the year 1008, is one literary masterpiece of the Heian 平安 period (794–1185) that has been adapted for retelling many times. A little over one hundred years after its conception it had been adapted and lavishly illustrated as an emaki 絵 or “ picture scroll. This paper provides a discussion on the importance of the emaki to the representation of this early text