Screenagers: Screen Time and Mental Health in College Students

This thesis investigates how increased screen time use affects the mental distress states of college students. With technology rapidly developing, personal devices have become increasingly popular for ownership of adolescents and college-age individuals. While social media and personal devices can be a learning tool, they can also be detrimental if used to a problematic extent. This study aims to explore levels of mental distress states at two southern universities. In addition, researchers collected screen time data to identify the potential relationship between screen time and mental distress states. Researchers intended to use these findings to demonstrate reasonable guidelines for users looking to protect themselves from the detriments of social media use. Participants reported both general and social screen time data points over an average of a given week. Then, participants responded to the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale to measure levels of depression, stress, and anxiety. The Social Media Disorder Scale was used to identify levels of social media addiction. Researchers examined these measures, comparing screen time data to mental distress state scores and social media disorder levels. The findings of this study indicate that as social media use has increased among college-age students in recent years, their mental distress states and social media addiction levels have increased as well

Beyond the Road: An Overlanding Documentary

Beyond The Road is a journey into the heart of overlanding, where adventure meets environmental stewardship. Through personal narrative, scenic exploration, and expert insights, this documentary uncovers how the simple act of traveling off the grid can reconnect us to nature in meaningful ways. It’s not about the latest gear or conquering rugged landscapes; it\u27s about experiencing the land with respect, learning resilience, and understanding our role in preserving these wild spaces for future generations. Beyond The Road invites audiences to embrace simplicity, find joy in the essentials, and see the world with renewed responsibility

Emigration to Immigration: How Muslim Immigration to Ireland Helps Signal Historical and Political Shifts

Ireland has long since been a nation characterized by their history of colonialism, emigration and political support of immigrants. Today, however, the tide seems to be shifting— and going unnoticed. In this paper, I hope to highlight the pitfalls of Irish exceptionalism and nationalism, how they contribute to and ignore the growth of far-right ideology within the Republic. Using the Muslim community in Ireland as a case study, I prove how the far-right movement is affecting Muslim in Ireland today

Preparation and Analysis of Imine-Conjugate Amoxicillin-Chitosan Hydrogels for Wound Care Applications

In the past decade, research has shown the effectiveness of biopolymers for medical applications such as wound dressing, suturing, promoting cell proliferation, and controlled drug administration (Baranwal et al., 2022). Chitosan is a natural biopolymer of high functionality that is comprised of repeating β-(1,4)-2-amino-D-glucose and β-(1,4)-2-acetamido-D-glucose units that are linked by 1,4-β-glycosidic bonds. Chitosan is a highly biocompatible, cost effective, and versatile biopolymer that has merit in several medical applications, including drug delivery hydrogels (Nicolle et al., 2021). Due to chitosan’s large number of functional groups, it is possible to modify the polymer with antibiotic and therapeutic compounds through a reversible mechanism. This study explores the effectiveness of chitosan modification for drug delivery in wound care. Chitosan was modified at primary alcohol groups with primary-amine-containing drugs, which includes many antibiotics like amoxicillin. This allows drug release at the wound site for therapeutic effects. The functionalized chitosan was then used to produce innately antibacterial hydrogels, which were compared to traditional antibiotic-loaded, chitosan-based hydrogels. Drug release rates of the hydrogels were analyzed via UV-Vis spectroscopy and antimicrobial studies. It is anticipated that the resulting innately antibacterial hydrogels have the capacity to be used in several clinical applications