Beyond the Battle: Historical, Religio-Philosophical, and Literary Depths of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train

This paper argues that Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is not merely an animated cinematic phenomenon but a multifaceted narrative that intricately weaves together diverse elements of Japanese cultural heritage. It offers a unique lens through which to examine some of the complexities of Japan\u27s sociocultural and philosophical landscapes and conversely, the impact of these on the film. It makes this argument in three sections: (1) The Importance of the Historical Setting in Demon Slayer, (2) Shintō, Buddhism, and Confucianism in Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, and (3) Relations to Antecedent Representations of Dreaming in Japanese Literature and Anime. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in Quarterly Review of Film and Video: https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2025.248091

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF INDIRECT CONSULTATION IN IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ADULTS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

Seventeen percent of the total population of children are living with an intellectual / developmental disability (IDD), and while resources and therapeutic interventions are accessible during early childhood years, they often cease after turning 21 years old. As a result, many adults with IDD do not acquire the skills necessary to live independently and sustain employment or meaningful relationships, impacting their independence and quality of life. The purpose of this study is to understand how self-management training (in the form of indirect consultation) for adults with IDD influence independence and socially significant behavior in relation to quality of life. The research questions posed are (a) how does self-management training in an indirect consultation model change self-selected behavior for adults with IDD, (b) how does self-reported quality of life change after learning skills important for adults with IDD, and (c) what are the barriers to implementing an indirect consultation model? The study used a multiple baseline across settings design to assess two behaviors for two adults with IDD attending the CoastalLIFE program. Behaviors were self-selected by the participants, and self-management training was conducted via an indirect consultation model to measure the efficacy of the intervention. Data were collected by the participants via self- reporting, with interobserver agreement data collected weekly to ensure accuracy in the measurement. Participants also completed a social validity questionnaire at the end of the study to provide feedback on the acceptability and importance of the procedures. Results showed that both participants were able to acquire their self-selected target behaviors across the targeted settings. Timeliness was acquired with indirect consultation only, where setting boundaries needed supplemental in-vivo training. Both participants reported increases in quality of life, with mean ratings ranging from 3-5. Participants also noted the acceptability of the procedures, which supports the social validity of the findings. While there were many successes with the indirect consultation, there were many barriers noted including data collection, treatment fidelity, and a lack of in-vivo training that might be necessary for certain skills. The results help to illustrate the potential efficacy of using an indirect model of consultation to assist adults with IDD in acquiring socially significant behavior change. While there were many challenges with execution, the findings help to demonstrate the need for ongoing studies within applied settings to build the research base for evidence-based interventions in natural contexts. Ongoing studies could help identify treatments that are both evidence-based and cost-effective to assist adults with IDD in developing independence. Future research should continue to evaluate low effort and cost-effective interventions within applied settings

Investigation into Mycorrhizae Associated with Native Venus\u27 Flytrap Root Tissue

Dionaea muscipula, a plant commonly known as the Venus\u27 flytrap, is found native to the southeast corner of North Carolina and the northeast corner of South Carolina. Several populations of native Venus\u27 flytraps are known to exist in the nutrient-poor peat bog conditions in and around Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve (LOBHP) in Northeastern South Carolina. Anthropogenic pressures in Horry County, specifically surrounding LOBHP, have resulted in a loss of habitat for several native and endangered species. As a result, conservation efforts are focused on relocating native Venus\u27 flytraps into adjacent habitats to ensure survival. This is only a temporary solution and does not account for aspects of soil that may influence Venus\u27 flytrap growth, development, and survival. It is presumed that Venus\u27 flytraps do not require mycorrhizal associations due to evolution of the leaf-trap for increased nutrient acquisition from otherwise nutrient-poor soils. However, related carnivorous plants, such as the sundew, have shown mycorrhizal associations with their root tissues. The presence of mycorrhizae in Venus\u27 flytrap roots would suggest that conservation efforts should account for soil microbiome prior to re-location of plants. I investigated root tissue structures and surrounding soil of native Venus\u27 flytraps for evidence of mycorrhizae associations and identification of mycorrhizal species in the soil microbiome. During this study, microscopy of stained root tissues resulted in identification of arbuscular mycorrhizae formations in 93.75%± of observed Venus\u27 flytraps roots. Further, endophytic fungi were observed after culture on nutritive media. Molecular analysis of fungal cultures support evidence of of host-specific associations with endophytes and mycorrhizae

The Role of Personality and Late-Life Categorical Spending Regret

This study examines the association between the big five “OCEAN” personality traits and late-life categorical spending regret. The categorical spending regrets examined are housing, food, clothing, appliances/furnishings, cars, leisure, child-related expenses, and providing financial help. Openness was associated negatively with spending regret on food. Conscientiousness was associated positively with spending regret on appliances/furnishings and cars. Extraversion was associated negatively with spending regret on food, cars, and providing financial help. Agreeableness was associated positively with spending regret on food, clothing, leisure, and providing financial help. The results for Neuroticism indicated no statistically significant association between the OCEAN personality traits and the categorical spending regrets tested. The findings provide insight into the psychological mechanisms underlying consumer spending regret and offer additional support for research on the psychological benefits of personality-matched spending. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Transformative Agreement Program. The article was first published in the journal Psychological Studies: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-025-00820-

Movement ecology of sandhills chub, a Carolina endemic

Fish movement studies have traditionally focused on species that support commercial and recreational fisheries, but recently more focus has been given to non-game, stream fishes because of their recognized importance in maintaining biodiversity within these ecosystems. Stream fish movement is described as being “restricted” and following a leptokurtic distribution via diffusive spread related to environmental and biological factors. Many studies of stream fish movement ecology in North America have occurred in high-gradient streams with coarse substrate in mountains or in streams of the interior plains. Sandhills streams of the southeastern USA are characterized as warm-water, low gradient, and dominated by sand with unique fish assemblages. Therefore, results from previous studies may not apply to Sandhills fishes. My objectives were to use the sandhills chub (Semotilus lumbee), a species of conservation concern that is endemic to the Carolina Sandhills, to test hypotheses related to diffusive spread, the restricted movement paradigm, and environmental and biological drivers of movement in these understudied headwater streams. From October 2022 to October 2024, sandhills chub movements were measured using capture-recapture methods in 1,400 m reaches of two North Carolina, USA, streams. I described net movement, total absolute movement, seasonal movement, and spawning movement by calculating kurtosis, skewness, median distance moved and used a χ2-test to examine directional movement bias. I tested for diffusive spread using linear regressions between distance moved and time at large and determined what factors were related to movement using generalized linear mixed models. The median distance moved was 0 m and 87% of fish moved ≤ 200 m. The limited movement of sandhills chub suggested that they do not follow patterns of diffusive spread. Seasonal and overall movement distributions were leptokurtic, and movement was not related to the environmental or biological factors I investigated. Movement distributions during the spawning season followed a similar pattern and were highly leptokurtic, with a median distance moved of 0 m. Additionally, there was no evidence of directional movement bias during the spawn. I hypothesized that sandhills chub have limited movements because of several reasons. They co-evolved with beavers, which naturally fragmented headwater streams in this region, possibly restricting movement. Homogeneous habitat conditions and ample cover could also explain why sandhills chub movements are limited, along with the effects of potentially high levels of intra- and interspecific interactions in low-productivity streams. This study provides insight into movement ecology of a Sandhills stream species. Given that restricted movements are pervasive in headwater stream leucisids, across a variety of stream types, future research should focus on experiments to elucidate mechanisms of this pattern. A mechanistic understanding of movement patterns will inform conservation and restoration measures in these increasingly anthropogenically fragmented and degraded habitats

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Perceptions of Fraud Across Voting Methods in the 2020 Election

The hallmark of the 2020 election was the heightened anxiety over voter fraud as a result of a dramatic increase in vote-by-mail. De- spite scant evidence of actual voter fraud, state legislatures have responded to these suspicions by enacting new laws which target access to and ease of voting-by-mail. This study assesses the public’s perceptions of the prevalence of fraudulent election activity across voting methods as well as the durability of these attitudes over time. Public opinion data used for this analysis were collected from nationally representative samples (n=1,000) in late 2020 and 2021 ([Redacted] Cooperative Election Study Team Content). With a focus on identifying differences across voting methods, respondents in both survey years were given parallel survey items utilizing four- point scales of the prevalence of fraudulent election activities when voting-by-mail and in-person. Specifically, this study explores differences in perceptions of the frequency of the following scenarios: people voting more than once, people stealing or tampering with ballots, people pretending to be someone else when going to vote, non-citizen voting, and officials changing the reported vote count. Ultimately, this study finds evidence for clear differences in the attitudes of Biden and Trump voters regarding the prevalence of election fraud. As a general trend, voters in both parties were more suspicious when ballots are cast through the mail. Additionally, beliefs about fraud present in 2020 persisted well into 2021

We Feel, We Understand: Examining the Moderating Effects of Publics\u27 Empathy on Crisis Outcomes Across Crisis Types and Response Strategies

This study examines how empathy, operationalized into affective and cognitive dimensions, influences stakeholders\u27 perceptions during organisational crises. Also, the study explores the mediating role of account acceptance in the relationship between crisis response strategies and organisational outcomes. An online three (crisis type: victim vs. accidental vs. preventable) × two (crisis response strategy: apology vs. denial) between-subjects experimental design with 686 participants randomly assigned to different crises (victim, accidental, preventable) and response strategy (apology, denial) was conducted. The findings reveal that account acceptance mediates the relationship between crisis response strategies and key organisational outcomes such as reputation, forgiveness, and purchase intention. Moreover, affective and cognitive empathy serve as moderators, amplifying or diminishing the effectiveness of these strategies. This research provides both theoretical insights and practical guidance on leveraging empathy to enhance crisis communication. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Transformative Agreement Program. The article was first published in the Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.7002

Library-Led AI Programming. How Coastal Carolina University Libraries Spearheaded Our Inaugural AI Week

Like many libraries, our librarians have been aiming to navigate the challenges of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and glean its’ potential academic advantages. With the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other GenAI tools, we recognized that we were faced with two obvious challenges.  First, how was the university going to pull together to foster constructive discourse about AI, and second, how would the library be involved? At Coastal Carolina University Libraries, we already coordinate events to create awareness and understanding of information literacy within our community with week-long programming for Open Access Week, National Library Week, and Banned Books Week.  Therefore, we decided to plan an AI Week for the university to approach this latest disruptive technology collaboratively, with the library as a leader in fostering these conversations.  This presentation will discuss our experiences with launching this new initiative, covering the entire process from planning to post-event assessment

The Sustainability Stones: Culturally Embedded Conservation Strategies and Their Vulnerability in Maupiti, French Polynesia

This paper explores culturally embedded conservation strategies through the lens of the traditional agroforestry and fisheries cycles in Maupiti, French Polynesia. By pairing certain breadfruit cultivars with specific fish species, the island’s community created a culinary system that regulates the seasonal consumption of marine resources, making the sustainable use of those resources more likely. While modern pressures such as reduced breadfruit diversity, competition with imported foods, and climate change have weakened these traditional practices, they remain an example of local ecological knowledge guiding conservation. The study highlights the threat of losing sustainable resource-use practices and biodiversity as both biodiversity and traditional ecological knowledge are reduced. Maupiti’s resistance to external development, however, and local community memory offer hope for a potential revival of these practices, preserving both biodiversity and cultural heritage. Reestablishing traditional breadfruit-fish pairings, or forging new ones, could play a vital role in conserving Maupiti\u27s terrestrial and marine biodiversity. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in Geographical Review: https://doi.org/10.1080/00167428.2025.246910