The Effects of a Multi-Flavonoid Supplement on Cardiac Autonomic Regulation

Antioxidant supplementation has been shown to stimulate positive effects on cardiovascular health including a reduction in blood pressure by alleviating arterial stiffness, but little is known of the benefits of antioxidants on the autonomic nervous system. This study aims to look at the effects of a multi-flavanoid supplement combined with an acute bout of exercise and its effects on heart rate variability and autonomic function in pre-hypertensive, middle-aged individuals. 20 pre-hypertensive middle-aged individuals were randomly assigned to the placebo or treatment group. Subjects reported to the lab for baseline measurements. Beat-to-beat BP was measured on each subjects left arm and heart rate (HR) was monitored using a three lead electrocardiogram to attain cardiac autonomic modulation variables. Subjects were lying on a motorized tilt table, supine for 5 minutes, tilted head-up for 5 minutes and were lying supine again for 5 minutes, while measurements were being taken. Subjects supplemented for two weeks and returned for post measurements. The multi-flavonoid antioxidant supplementation showed favorable effects on the ANS by lowering the sympathetic outflow, and there was no additive effect of exercise and supplementation following the acute bout of aerobic exercise

Measuring the effectiveness of “the major decision”: a career counseling group for undecided and re-deciding first year, first-generation college students

Researchers have reported that the graduation and retention rate of students whose parents do not hold college degrees (first-generation college students or FGCS) are lower than that of their peers whose parents do hold college degrees. FGCS are 1.3 times more likely to leave college after their first year compared to their non-FGCS peers (Ishitani 2003; 2006). In their efforts to investigate ways to retain FGCS, researchers have given little attention to FGCS reported career intentions for college attendance (Bradbury & Mather, 2009; Byrd & MacDonald, 2005; Coffman, 2011; Martinez et al., 2009), even though a link has been established between career motives for college and increased GPA, adjustment to college, and increased college commitment for FGCS (Dennis et al., 2005). Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 1994) may offer a plausible explanation for one reason why FGCS are not continuing their enrollment in college. This study is a modification of the previous proposed career counseling group for undecided and re-deciding first year, first-generation college students. The current study was designed to utilize semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences and expectations of FGCS who were undecided or rethinking their college major through the lens of SCCT. Data gathered during this study were analyzed using the guidelines of Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences and expectations of these students while choosing to come to college, choosing a career, and the decision to become undecided or to re-think their college major. It was found that student experience a range of personal and vicarious experiences, social persuasion, expectations, physical/emotional states, messages, and thoughts around the decision making process. The tenets of Social Cognitive Career theory were represented in the results of this study; however, some of the findings did not reflect tenets of SCCT. Results from this study add to the data concerning the types of experiences that influence FGCS decision making and goal achievement

A comparative analysis of melodic and rhythmic music reading skills of percussion and wind instrument students in selected North Carolina high schools

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in melodic and rhythmic reading skills between percussion and wind instrument students in selected North Carolina band programs. Specifically, comparisons were made of the music reading skills among percussion, clarinet, and trumpet students in high school bands. A secondary research objective was to determine the effects of years of instruction, private instruction, piano instruction, and other music training or experience on the music reading skills of the students. A sample of 388 students from twelve North Carolina high school band programs served as subjects. The subjects were administered four subtests of the Colwell Music Achievement Test which measured melodic and rhythmic music reading skills directly applicable to this study. The independent variable was instrument group (percussion, clarinet, and trumpet). The dependent variables were the scores on the four subtests of the MAT. A series of univariate analyses of variance were computed to determine significant differences between the three instrument groups. Two-way analyses of variance were computed for each of the secondary variables to determine significant effects and interactions

Education of women in leadership: learning the new role of political candidate

Women are underrepresented in leadership across all sectors of our society – education, business, non-profits, and politics – leading to inequitable representation and inadequate outcomes. In order to recruit and retain more women in leadership, we need to better understand the experiences of women in new leadership roles. In this basic qualitative study, I used triangulated data from a journal analysis, interviews, and document analysis to examine the experiences of first-time female candidates for state legislative races during the 2018 election cycle. I examine why women chose the new leadership role including personal factors, outside factors that encouraged their decision, and the hurdles they had to overcome. I then explored what lessons women learned – lessons about themselves, politics, specific skills and people – and how they learned those lessons – from others, through experiences, and within formal learning structures. Finally, I share recommendations for other women preparing for this new leadership role, including talking to other women who served in the role, developing specific skills, and preparing for personal impact. The results demonstrate the importance of connecting women considering a new leadership role with other women currently serving in the role and with other women who are undertaking a similar role at the same time

Relations among promotive parenting behaviors and resourcefulness among African American children

"The purpose of the current study was to examine three promotive parenting behaviors (communication/reasoning, behavioral control, and trust) as predictors of resourcefulness among African American children. Child gender was also examined as a potential moderator of the relations between African American mothers' parenting behaviors and child well-being. Using data from a larger longitudinal project (N = 404) examining the social relationships among parents and behavioral outcomes among children, the participants in the current study were 136 African American mothers and children (n = 76 girls; 60 boys). The focal children were in the 4th grade and part of the second wave of data collection. Both mothers and children completed questionnaires in home interviews conducted by trained graduate and undergraduate students. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the contribution of all predictor parenting variables (communication/reasoning, behavioral control, and trust) to child resourcefulness. Socioeconomic status, child gender and family structure (i.e., single- versus two-parent families) were control variables. Results of the current project indicate that African American mothers of boys versus mothers of girls did not vary in mean levels of parenting strategies for boys versus girls. Only communication/reasoning was associated with levels of resourcefulness among African American children. Child gender did not moderate associations between promotive parenting behaviors and child resourcefulness."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Loosening the bible belt: the search for alternative spiritual narratives in the fiction of Randall Kenan, Lee Smith, and Ron Rash

In this project I argue for new readings of Randall Kenan's A Visitation of Spirits and "The Foundations of the Earth," Lee Smith's Saving Grace and On Agate Hill, and of Ron Rash's poetry, short fiction, and his novel Saints at the River as texts that confront religious institutions that have become distanced from this intimate sense of spirituality. They critique religious communities that use their ideology to control sexuality, women, and nature. Of these three authors, Randall Kenan is the most harshly critical of the religious community in his texts. Using sexuality as his primary way into this issue, he highlights the oppressive and silencing force of religion, and offers no spiritual solution to this quandary. His solution centers on a more humanist, secular form of acceptance for those on the margins, specifically those on the margins of sexuality. Lee Smith takes a more positive stance, even while critiquing the role religion plays in repressing female identity and independence. Ron Rash critiques man's manipulation of and separation from the natural world. He argues for a reconnection to the divinity of nature in which humanity has the potential to find a spiritual connection to something outside and bigger than itself

Your love is safe with me

This novel follows Rachael, a young, educated woman, as she descends from a stage of unsatisfied existential curiosities into a criminal underworld, where her appetite for disillusion is met with humanity's most crude and instinctual answers to the problem of desire. Drugs, sex, money, and revenge influence Rachael's relationship with her brother, Jesse, a convicted felon, Jose, and a young prostitute, Diamond, as she struggles to define the difference between who she is and what she must do. The structure of the novel attempts to reflect the consciousness of its narrator, Rachael, as she recalls various episodes from her recent life, which weave in and out of time and space, but together seek to tell her story in the only way Rachael knows how to tell it. Linguistically, the novel seeks to inhabit the mind of its narrator, a frazzled and yet contemplative mind, and to engage the necessary narrative contradictions that define and develop a character. At the center of the novel is the narrator's desire, a center from which all other conflicts must emanate. Rachael's lyrical journey through her memories seeks to reveal the intense emotional connection between her character and the conflicts she witnesses. In this way, the language of the novel seeks to deny reality as much as to illuminate it, to reveal what it is not as much as what it is, and, for Rachael, what it could be

The health of commercial Fishers in England and Wales: Analysis of the 2011 census

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordStudies of commercial fishing have shown that it is a hazardous occupation with high rates of injury and fatal accidents. Research has also identified a range of other health risks faced by fishers, yet the general health outcomes of fishers have not been compared to those of workers in other industries. This study aimed to assess self-reported health outcomes among workers in the fishing industry, and to compare this to those working in other industries. Drawing on 2011 census data for England and Wales we used generalised linear models to compare self-reported measures of 1) general health and 2) limiting long-term illness across industry categories, calculating odds ratios adjusted for age, geographic region and socio-economic profile of local authorities. Of the population working in 87 industry classes, those in category ‘03 Fishing and aquaculture’ had the fifth highest rate of poor general health (2.8% reported ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ health) and the sixth highest rate of reporting limiting long-term illness (10.3% reported their activities to be limited ‘a lot’ or ‘a little’). Odds ratios adjusted for age, geographic region and socio-economic profile of local authorities showed that only two other industries demonstrated statistical evidence for higher odds of poor general health or limiting long-term illness than workers in fishing and aquaculture. This study demonstrates that fishing is among the industries with the poorest general health and limiting long-term illness outcomes in the UK, demonstrating the need for tailored occupational health services to support UK fishing communities.University of Exete

H.M. Misimer’s Letter to Martha Misimer August 8, 1864

This document is a transcription of a letter written July 13, 1864 and sent by Henry M. Misemer, also known as H. M. Misemer, to his wife Martha J. Misemer. Misemer was from Monroe County east Tennessee. Prior to the American Civil War, he was a farmer, and his land was valued at $1000. During the civil war he served in the Union’s 3rd Regiment of the Tennessee Calvary in Company F. He was a Trumpeter, Private, and Corporal. East Tennesseans, like Misemer, did not align themselves with the Confederacy and instead opposed a receding from the Union. Slavery had been all but abolished in East Tennessee, with most of its residents being too poor to afford slaves. Misemer and Margaret J. Brown married on January 25th, 1855. They had one daughter together, Mary E. Misemer. Margaret would die in August 1857. Martha J. Bogart was married to H. M. Misemer on February 2nd, 1859. They had 3 children together, these were Charles F. Misemer, Margaret E. Misemer, and Laura C. Misemer. The East Tennessee community was largely devout Christians, due in some part to the sizable Quaker community that moved there in the early 19th century. This transcription and its attendant annotations, explanatory material, and bibliography were prepared by students in ENGL 618: Research Methods in English, the required gateway class for the MA in English at Western Carolina University

H.M. Misemer’s Letter to Martha Misemer July 24, 1864

This document is a transcription of a letter written July 24, 1864 and sent by Henry M. Misemer, also known as H. M. Misemer, to his wife Martha J. Misemer. Misemer was from East Tennessee, specifically Monroe County. Prior to the American Civil War, he was a farmer, and his land was valued at $1000. During the civil war he served in the Union’s 3rd Regiment of the Tennessee Calvary in Company F. He was a Trumpeter, Private, and Corporal. East Tennesseans, like Misemer, did not align themselves with the Confederacy and instead opposed a receding from the Union. Slavery had been all but abolished in East Tennessee, with most of its residents being too poor to afford slaves. Misemer and Margaret J. Brown married on January 25th, 1855. They had one daughter together, Mary E. Misemer. Margaret would die in August 1857. Martha J. Bogart was married to H. M. Misemer on February 2nd, 1859. They had 3 children together, these were Charles F. Misemer, Margaret E. Misemer, and Laura C. Misemer. The East Tennessee community was largely devout Christians, due in some part to the sizable Quaker community that moved there in the early 19th century. This transcription and its attendant annotations, explanatory material, and bibliography were prepared by students in ENGL 618: Research Methods in English, the required gateway class for the MA in English at Western Carolina University