Aquatic Effects of a Localized Oil Spill on Lake Conway, AR and Its Tributaries

Oil spills, no matter where they occur, elicit environmental concern and avoiding these disasters should be a priority. Old pipelines that are not regularly maintained and carry large amounts of crude oil long distances are of particular concern. One such pipeline is the 65 year-old Pegasus pipeline owned by ExxonMobil. On March 29, 2013, 795,000 L of Wabasca Heavy Canadian crude oil spilled into a neighborhood of Mayflower, Arkansas, when the Pegasus pipeline ruptured. This spill led to the evacuation of many homes in the surrounding neighborhood. Drainage ditches in the affected neighborhood drained oil into a nearby cove of Lake Conway. This lake is popular for recreational fishing, thus concerns were raised not only about the potential effects of the oil spill on area residents, but also the lake and its biological communities. Ultimately, this project assessed the effect of the oil spill in water and sediment samples on freshwater test organisms. Samples were collected at 6 sites in the affected neighborhood and in Lake Conway. Chronic Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) tests were performed on water samples using Pimephales promelas and Ceriodaphnia dubia. Acute sediment toxicity tests were performed using Chironomus dilutus. These tests measured sub-lethal toxicity in at least one of the sampled sites, indicating that further investigation of environmental after-effects is warranted

Effective Interventions to Support LGBTQ+ Youth

Victimization of LGBTQ+ youth in schools in the form of bullying is a national concern. Research has shown that LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to be bullied than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. Bullying can lead to social and emotional, academic, and mental health concerns for LGBTQ+ youth. This literature review attempted to discover effective interventions to alleviate these problems for LGBTQ+ youth. Databases were scoured for peer-reviewed articles to use in this literature review. There is an on-going challenge to help this at-risk and diverse population, but the findings of this literature review provide a starting place for adults in schools to begin the hard work of meaningful interventio

Credit the Parents? The Impact of Racial Socialization on African American Students’ Stress-Related Coping and College Adjustment

Many new stressors emerge in college and have a significant impact on college adjustment. However, little is known about common stressors, their causes, and impact on college adjustment for students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This project investigated the extent to which different college stressors impact sleep-related college adjustment, and whether racial socialization and emotion regulation strategies serve as coping strategies that moderate this relationship for HBCU students. The theoretical framework for the study was an adapted version of the Integrative Conceptual Model of Adaptive Socialization (ICMAS; Dunbar et al., 2017). Data were collected via an online survey from 187 students attending an HBCU. Participants reported the frequency of their experiences with different college stressors, the types of racial socialization messages they received from their parents, their emotion regulation coping strategies, and their sleep-related college adjustment. Data were analyzed using correlations, hierarchical multiple regressions, and moderation analyses. Results indicated that frustration and self-imposed stressors were the most predominant types of stress experienced by HBCU students. Frustration-related college stress significantly predicted sleep-related college adjustment problems, including problematic sleep habits and negative emotions that prevented adequate sleep. Results also indicate that the only socialization messages that impacted sleep-related college adjustment were mainstream ideals. However, moderation effects were not detected indicating the ICMAS model was not a good fit for the data. Methodological and developmental considerations are discussed, and the importance of future research investigating coping strategies specifically relevant to college students in the culturally affirming context of an HBCU