The Chanticleer, 2025-04-24, Graduation Issue

The editorially independent student produced weekly newspaper of Coastal Carolina University.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/chanticleer/1729/thumbnail.jp

Sense of Belonging Among Nontraditional Undergraduate Students

This qualitative study, viewed through a constructivist lens, was conducted with 16 nontraditional undergraduate students, comprising equal numbers from a two-year and a four-year higher education institution. The study delved into their perceptions of belonging, while exploring the commonalities and disparities of their experiences between the two types of institutions. Through semi-structured interviews, these participants shared their lived experiences to answer three research questions: 1) How do nontraditional undergraduate students at two-year and four-year higher education institutions describe their sense of belonging? 2) What influences their sense of belonging at these institutions, and 3) How does sense of belonging among students at two-year institutions compare with those at four-year institutions? The findings indicated that holistic student engagement and support, inclusive community engagement in higher education, and life balance and personal growth were pivotal in fostering a sense of belonging. The study also examined the similarities and differences across the two types of institutions from the participants’ perspectives. Several practice areas were identified to foster a more inclusive campus culture for nontraditional undergraduate students. Additionally, the study offered future research directions, contributing to the broader literature on the sense of belonging among older students. Overall, the participants highlighted the significance of an inclusive academic environment that recognized and welcomed their differences, aiding in their sense of belonging and academic success. This research emphasized the critical role of a sense of belonging in the success of this student demographic, affirming that such a feeling is crucial in the academic success of this growing student population

The Relationship between the Light and Dark Triads of Personality, COVID-19 threat, and COVID-19 Vaccine status in College Students

The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States was due, or at least in part, to the resistance to health guidelines, minimal to no safety measures implemented by nearly half the U.S. citizens, and, to a lesser extent, the initial lack of understanding into the pathogenic mode of transmission. The present study examined links between the Dark (i.e.., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) and Light (i.e.., compassion, empathy, altruism) Triad of personality traits, the perceived threat level of COVID-19, and COVID-19 vaccine uptake in an undergraduate college sample (N = 147). The study found no statistically significant differences in the overall Light or Dark Triad scores between students receiving and those not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccinated students reported a higher perceived threat level than their non-vaccinated colleagues. Implications and limitations of the study are reported. Relationships between personality, vaccine practices, and perceived health threats offer important insights. These findings may be useful in developing strategies that effectively tackle the contradictions between the psychological and the sociocultural determinants of health behavior. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in the Journal of Behavioral Health and Psychology: 10.33425/2832-4579/2510

The Chanticleer, 2025-01-30

The editorially independent student produced weekly newspaper of Coastal Carolina University.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/chanticleer/1734/thumbnail.jp

Insect wing flexibility improves the aerodynamic performance of small revolving wings

Insect wings are flexible, elastically deforming under loads experienced during flapping. The adaptive value of this flexibility was tested using a revolving wing set-up. We show that the wing flexibility of the beetle Batocera rufomaculata, suppresses the reduction in lift coefficient that is expected to occur with a reduction of wing size compared to rigid propeller blades. Moreover, the scaling of wing flexibility with size is intra-specifically tuned through changes in wing-vein cross-section, resulting in smaller wings achieving proportionally larger chordwise deformations compared to larger wings, when loaded with aerodynamic forces. These elastic deformations control the separation of flow from the wing as a function of Angle-of-Attack, as evidenced by the turbulence activity in the flow-field directly beneath the revolving wings. The study underlines the contribution of flexibility to control the flow over insect wings through passive wing deformations without the need for input or feedback from the nervous system. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in iScience: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.11203

FLOW FIELD SURROUNDING BLUEGILL (LEPOMIS MACROCHIRUS) DURING SUCTION-FEEDING

Suction-feeding is a common method for capturing prey by aquatic organisms and contributed to the diversification of fishes by enabling them to consume a wide range of prey. Suction-feeding is a complex fish-fluid interaction governed by various hydrodynamic forces: inertia, unsteady, viscous, and pressure gradients. These forces are described by the coupling between the flow physics equations (Navier-Stokes) and the dynamic behavior of the fish (motion and forces). However, the distribution of the pressure field that drives this process, and the extent to which suction-feeding is three-dimensional, remain underexplored. I estimated the pressure within the flow field surrounding the mouth of a Bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) during suction-feeding utilizing particle image velocimetry (PIV). Particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) was also used to measure the 3D velocity fields in a volume surrounding the mouth of a Bluegill. High-speed imaging was used for measurements of fish kinematics (duration and amplitude). The pressure field was estimated from the PIV velocity measurements through the Poisson equation. The boundary conditions for the pressure field were determined from the integral momentum equation, separately, for three phases of the suction-feeding cycle. I explored suction- feeding by quantifying the pressure field that drives the flow towards the buccal cavity, where the magnitude and location of a high-pressure zone varies throughout the feeding cycle causing significant variations of the spatial pressure distribution. Measurements of the 3D flow field enables direct measurement of all the hydrodynamic forces governing flow, which provides insight into the coupling effects between viscous, inertia and pressure gradient forces acting during the phases of suction-feeding. In particular, the 3D flow measurements enable a direct estimate of the pressure gradient terms in all three directions, which is not possible with 2D measurements utilizing, for example, PIV. These interactions are important because they govern the success rate and energy expenditure during the suction-feeding process. PIV analysis showed clear variation in pressure fields across phases, with regions of high pressure forming during mouth expansion, supporting the role of unsteady pressure gradients in prey capture. PTV data revealed that the three velocity components (u, v, w) had comparable magnitudes, indicating strong three-dimensional flow. These results provide novel insight into the pressure-driven mechanisms of suction-feeding and highlight the importance of 3D flow structure in prey acquisition

The Chanticleer, 2025-01-16

The editorially independent student produced weekly newspaper of Coastal Carolina University.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/chanticleer/1735/thumbnail.jp

Temperament and Screen Time into Adulthood

The possible correlation between language skills, temperament, and screen time in adulthood is understudied. It was hypothesized that high effortful control scores and low childhood screentime would corelate with higher cognitive reflection scores and higher language skills. Using a correlational design, 162 participants were studied (M age = 19.17 years old, 80% female, 86% White, 6% Hispanic). Participants completed an adapted version of the Adult Temperament Questionnaire (Evans & Rothbart, 2007), Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT; Fredrick, 2005), the Cognitive Reflection Test 2 (CRT-2; Thompson & Oppenheimer, 2016), Thompson & Oppenheimer, 2016), a childhood screen time questionnaire, a bilingualism questionnaire, and the Lexical Decision Task (Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971). Results indicated only a negative correlation between effortful control and negative affect. These findings add to existing literature by providing an interdisciplinary approach by combining communication, linguistics, and media studies to an understudied topic in psychology. The study also helps bring awareness of the possible positive and negative impacts that television shows and YouTube videos can have on children’s language development

The Rage, Spring 2025

The Rage zine is published in collaboration with Students Advocating Gender Equality and CCU Women\u27s and Gender Studies. Volume 3, Issue 2.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/the-rage-zine/1004/thumbnail.jp