Assisting Ministry Leaders Managing Bipolar Disorder in Adolescents and Young Adults: Development of an Eight-Week Educational Program

Bipolar disorder poses significant challenges for individuals and their communities, particularly within religious ministry. This research project addressed the need for an educational program that equips ministry leaders to support adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder effectively. The Love Faith Church (LFC) in Columbia, South Carolina, serves as the focal point for this study. This project included the development of an eight-week Ministry Leaders’ Educational Plan to educate ministry leaders about bipolar disorder in adolescents and young adults. It emphasized evidence-based research and biblical foundations to help ministry leaders better understand and recognize the signs associated with bipolar disorder. The program further guided leaders in creating a supportive, spiritually nurturing, and cognitively stimulating environment for these individuals. The study leveraged a mixed-methods approach, encompassing quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Pre- and post-test surveys were conducted to gauge ministry leaders’ perspectives and measure changes in knowledge, communication, and leadership abilities. In-depth interviews and focus groups provided qualitative insights into the experiences and opinions of ministry leaders. This research project bridged a significant gap in the literature by focusing on ministry leaders’ experiences in addressing bipolar disorder in adolescents and young adults within a church setting. Doing so addressed the critical need for tailored interventions in this field. The goal was to empower ministry leaders to better serve and support individuals with bipolar disorder, fostering a more inclusive and understanding religious community. In conclusion, this research project represented a vital step toward improving faith communities’ mental health support systems. Equipping ministry leaders with the knowledge and skills helped reduce stigma, promote inclusion, and enhance the well-being of adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder

Academic Advisement: Age, Transfer Status & Ethnicity

This study explored the academic satisfaction of students at SUNY Brockport in regards to age, transfer status, and ethnicity. The 2017 NSSE was administered on-line to all the registered freshmen and seniors in Spring 2017. The mean advisement scores were obtained for these students and their counterparts and recorded. Independent t-tests revealed no significant difference of academic advisement satisfaction among students, regardless of age group or minority status; however, transfer students were shown by an independent t-test to have slightly lower satisfaction compared to non-transfer students. A more detailed analysis of the survey findings will be presented and discussed.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/research_posters/1018/thumbnail.jp

Tau-crystallin/alpha-enolase: one gene encodes both an enzyme and a lens structural protein.

tau-Crystallin has been a major component of the cellular lenses of species throughout vertebrate evolution, from lamprey to birds. Immunofluorescence analysis of the embryonic turtle lens, using antiserum to lamprey tau-crystallin showed that the protein is expressed throughout embryogenesis and is present at high concentrations in all parts of the lens. Partial peptide sequence for the isolated turtle protein and deduced sequences for several lamprey peptides all revealed a close similarity to the glycolytic enzyme enolase (E.C. 4.2.1.11). A full-sized cDNA for putative duck tau-crystallin was obtained and sequenced, confirming the close relationship with alpha-enolase. Southern blot analysis showed that the duck genome contains a single alpha-enolase gene, while Northern blot analysis showed that the message for tau-crystallin/alpha-enolase is present in embryonic duck lens at 25 times the abundance found in liver. tau-Crystallin possesses enolase activity, but the activity is greatly reduced, probably because of age-related posttranslational modification. It thus appears that a highly conserved, important glycolytic enzyme has been used as a structural component of lens since the start of vertebrate evolution. Apparently the enzyme has not been recruited for its catalytic activity but for some distinct structural property. tau-Crystallin/alpha-enolase is an example of a multifunctional protein playing two very different roles in evolution but encoded by a single gene

SOCIAL WELFARE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN AGRICULTURE: THE CASE OF ECUADOR

A non-linear optimization model which maximizes total Ecuadorian social welfare, defined as the sum of consumers' and producers' surpluses for the four major crops (corn, bananas, rice and African palm) is developed to evaluate the tradeoff between welfare and environmental degradation in Ecuador. It was found that a total welfare loss of US$122 million (a 11 percent reduction - from US$ 1.112 billion to US$ 989.66 million) would be expected from a 30 percent reduction in the total pesticide load on the environment in the production of the four major crops. The distributional impacts of the welfare loss were found, however, to be significantly skewed toward the loss of consumers' surplus. Specifically, a 30 percent reduction of total pesticide load on the environment would result in a reduction of 3.86 percent of producers' total surplus while consumers would be expected to loose 19.46 percent of their total surplus.welfare tradeoff, environmental impacts, non-linear optimization, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Navigating the Challenges of Department Digitization Projects

In 2021, The University of Southern Mississippi’s Digital Lab began a partnership with the Chemistry and Polymer Science departments to digitize student lab notebooks for potential inclusion in the IR. As with all good stories, things rarely go to plan, and this story has it all: pandemics, retirements, a hydraulic lift, and more! Join Graduate Assistant, Susan Williams, and Digital Lab Manager, Elizabeth La Beaud, as they discuss the challenges and triumphs of inventorying, digitizing, providing access, and preserving over 500 student lab notebooks

The Icefield Ranges Research Project, 1974

Researchers are braving the Yukon ever earlier in the season for the Icefield Ranges Research Project (IRRP). The first group arrived at the IRRP Kluane Lake base camp (61 N, 138 W) on 15 April 1974 and the last group did not leave until 15 October. The winters of 1974 and 1975 mark the first occasion of the base camp being open year-round for two consecutive years. This innovation made possible as a result of the appointment of Mr. and Mrs. A. Williams as a resident camp-management team, is necessary scientifically because certain meteorological projects have to be conducted on a twelve-month basis, as discussed below. One hundred and four researchers and their assistants, representing nearly twenty universities, government agencies and institutions, made use of the IRRP facilities, and approximately 3,300 man-days of accommodation and subsistence were recorded. A number of improvements were made to the physical facilities; a new 24 ft x 12 ft (7.3 m x 3.7 m) utility building is now under construction, and two small trailer units have been installed by the group from the University of British Columbia as additional laboratory space for animal behavioural studies. The two ski-wheel-equipped Helio Courier aircraft of the Arctic Institute of North America performed a total of 173 hours of project-support flying, and in addition twenty hours of time of a Jet Ranger and a Hughes 400 helicopter was chartered. One of the Institute's aircraft, which was on lease to Trans North Turbo Air Limited and was engaged in commercial and tourist operations, suffered a minor accident during the field season. The largest aircraft ever to land at the base camp, a Canadian Forces Hercules transport, was used in support of the High Altitude Physiology Studies programme. ... Glacier survey project: In 1972 the Institute was awarded funds by the Glaciology Division, Department of the Environment, Ottawa, to undertake an inventory of glaciers in the St. Elias Mountains. This work was continued during 1974 by Messrs, S.G. Collins and R. Ragle. Work on the glacier basins of the Donjek River, Alsek River and Tatshenshini River was completed. To date more than 2,000 glacial features have been mapped and recorded. They concern glacier size, location and description. The Project is scheduled for completion in 1976. An extensive bibliography of the St. Elias Mountains is in preparation also and now contains more than 1,100 entries. Climatological projects: Under the direction of the Camp Manager, Mr. A. Williams, and Mr. R. Lenton of AINA, Montreal, and as part of a proposed long-range plan, two pilot climatological projects were initiated in 1974 on behalf of Environment Canada and Parks Canada. Standard and automatic stations were established in the Kluane National Park adjacent to the Slims River and at the 9,000 ft (2,700 m) Divide Station. The year-round meteorological project at Kluane Lake Base was continued in association with the Atmospheric Environment Service, Whitehorse, Y.T. ..

Mapping the sensitivity of split ring resonators using a localized analyte

Split ring resonator (SRR) based metamaterials have frequently been demonstrated for use as optical sensors of organic materials. This is made possible by matching the wavelength of the SRR plasmonic resonance with a molecular resonance of a specific analyte, which is usually placed on top of the metal structure. However, systematic studies of SRRs that identify the regions that exhibit a high electric field strength are commonly performed using simulations. In this paper we demonstrate that areas of high electric field strength, termed “hot-spots,” can be found by localizing a small quantity of organic analyte at various positions on or near the structure. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the SRR to the localized analyte can be quantified to determine, experimentally, suitable regions for optical sensing