This study explores the connection between exclusionary disciplinary practices and the school-to-prison pipeline. It highlights how exclusionary discipline, including suspensions and expulsions, disproportionately affects marginalized groups such as students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ youth, further contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline. In contrast, restorative justice—a non-punitive approach—offers a promising alternative. Initially adopted from the criminal justice system, restorative justice has been integrated into school environments to foster positive school climates, improve experiences, and mitigate challenging behaviors. This research examines educators' attitudes toward both exclusionary and restorative practices, as well as their awareness and implementation of restorative justice strategies. Using a comprehensive case study approach, this study aims to identify best practices for implementing restorative justice and evaluate how the decisions made by administrators and teachers regarding exclusionary discipline can significantly impact students' future trajectories.
People with PTSD or histories of trauma may have brains that vary in structure when compared to healthy or trauma-exposed (but non-PTSD) controls. This is especially true when it comes to the white matter of the brain. In this review, I found a variety of research articles covering the effects of trauma on white matter, using methods primarily of regions of interest (ROI) and fractional anisotropy (FA) through diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Other methods include TBSS, voxel-based analysis, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), among others. Adults, adolescents, and children with PTSD and with trauma that meet PTSD criteria will be considered together. My prediction is that adults and adolescents with histories of various forms of psychological trauma will have reductions in white matter volume in the corpus callosum, cingulum, and uncinate fasciculus, while children will have reductions in the corpus callosum, cingulum, and hypothalamus.
This presentation is a continuation of research I have conducted in the past year and presented to the Southern Political Science Association in 2025 as a socio-political examination of Kazakhstan since becoming an independent nation since the collapse of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. The de facto seat of power in the Central Asian region, Kazakhstan is the location of much material wealth in the region, but also a source of incredibly distinct and storied culture despite well-documented Soviet erasure. The presentation will examine the implications of these developments in a holistic fashion and ultimately answer a question many Americans have when it comes to foreign relations and developments: "Why should I care?"
In recent years, the use of graphic novels has increased in popularity when sourcing valuable educational materials for struggling readers. Although many have deemed graphic novels to be a source of entertainment rather than an educational tool, graphic novels have unique educational benefits for students who struggle with reading comprehension. Graphic novels have a special form of telling stories through visual and textual elements that create a different way for students to follow a plot, setting, or dialogue. Because of this diverse format of storytelling, it is effective in grabbing students' engagement with classic texts and their various Lexile levels. Graphic novels offer a new way of accessing information within a complex narrative such as classic novels that are read at the high school level.
Cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) are insect vectors for human bacterial diseases such as murine typhus, cat scratch disease, and bubonic plague. After a flea ingests an infected blood meal, flea-borne pathogens have been shown to transverse the flea gut epithelial barrier and invade the salivary glands, which may result in pathogen transmission via flea bite. However, the mechanism(s) by which pathogens escape from the flea gut barrier remains unclear. This project aimed to determine whether mechanical damage during blood feeding compromises the integrity of the flea gut epithelia. Because the insect gut primarily comprises collagen, we measured denatured collagen using a fluorescent collagen hybridizing peptide (CHP) from pooled flea guts at different time points post-emergence (0, 2, 7, 14, and 21 days). Our results show that collagen damage increases with age in the gut of blood-feeding fleas. In particular, collagen damage is highest at 7 days post-emergence.
In the United States, settler-colonialism is often dismissed as a "bad chapter" of the past, an embarrassing episode of the nation's history, considered irrelevant to contemporary socio-political discussions. In contrast, while ongoing, Canada's reconciliation efforts remain performative, failing to address underlying colonial power structures. This project argues that settler-colonialism is not merely a historical phenomenon but a pervasive socio-political and cultural structure shaping the contemporary world. Capitalism depends on racialized and gendered hierarchies, continually produced through dispossession, marginalization, and exploitation. The prison-industrial complex (PIC) exemplifies this dynamic by industrializing dehumanization and weaponizing state violence against marginalized communities through mass incarceration, policing, and surveillance. However, the PIC is only one element of broader colonial-capitalist systems that militarize social control and reproduce systemic oppression. Ultimately, this argument contends that settler-colonial capitalism entrenches necropolitical governance by embedding structural violence and transforming vulnerability, death, and dispossession into weapons of capitalist expansion and colonial elimination.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) affect a person’s ability to learn, move, interact, or care for themselves. According to the CDC, about 1-in-10 adults in the U.S. are impacted by IDD. Existing literature suggests that adults with IDD require unique environments that are conducive to their medical and psychological needs, often requiring around-the-clock care at home or dedicated facilities. In addition, adults with IDD often require long-stay periods and custom environments in healthcare settings. Therefore, this scoping review investigates how healthcare facility design impacts the experiences of adults with IDD and their caregivers. Most of the existing data used observations, interviews, and surveys with caregivers. Some of the initial findings indicate that adults with IDD are most susceptible to triggers and discomfort from light, sensory overloads, and unexpectedness with the design of the environment. Therefore, further research should be conducted from the perspective of adults with IDD to cater to their design needs.
KEYWORDS Adult with Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), healthcare design, built environment
Bacterial endosymbionts often significantly impact host physiology and ecology and can, therefore, influence ecological processes such as species introductions. Wolbachia pipientis is an intracellular endosymbiont common in arthropods that are transmitted to offspring through the egg. Wolbachia have diverse effects on hosts, including cytoplasmic incompatibility, mating, parthenogenesis induction, nutritional enhancement, pathogen resistance, and increased fertility and lifespan, to name a few. The kudzu bug (Megacopta cribraria) is a legume-eating insect native to Asia introduced into northern Georgia in 2009. Kudzu bug distribution has expanded throughout the southeastern US and is now common in 15 states. Kudzu bugs harbor two bacterial symbionts: Candidatus Ishikawaella capsulata and Wolbachia pipientis. The relationship between kudzu bugs and Candidatus is well studied, but that with Wolbachia is less understood. This study uses multi-locus sequence typing to characterize Wolbachia in kudzu bug samples from early in the US introduction (2013) and current populations (2024). The following questions were address: 1) Did frequency of Wolbachia infection change over time introduced populations?; 2) Is there genetic variation in Wolbachia between native and introduced kudzu bug populations or between 2013 and 2024 introduced populations?
Urbanization has significantly affected the availability and quality of urban green and bluespaces (UGBS), as increasing development often reduces these essential natural features. The intensification of urban landscapes frequently prioritizes infrastructure over nature, resulting in a scarcity of UGBS, which are crucial for promoting mental health. Mental health trends in the United States show an increasing prevalence of anxiety and depression, particularly in urbanized areas. This study examines the relationship between exposure to UGBS and mental health across the contiguous US (CONUS), focusing on physical coverage, and potential human exposure. Using remote sensing, GIS, and spatial statistical analysis, our research examines how varying levels of green and bluespace exposure, as key Nature-Based Solutions, influence mental health in urban environments. The findings will inform urban planning strategies that seek to enhance environmental health by incorporating UGBS into city landscapes, ultimately supporting mental well-being in increasingly dense urban environments.
We have studied 1D and 3D atom interferometry (AI) sequences carried out with Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in the presence of external potentials consisting of harmonic plus anharmonic terms. The process where a BEC is split into multiple clouds and then recombined to form an interference pattern was numerically simulated by solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE). Approximate solutions to this equation were generated using the Lagrangian Variational Method (LVM) whose trial wave function consisted of a sum of Gaussian functions, one for each cloud. We derive the LVM equations of motion as well as a formula for the phase of the trial wave function. The variational result is compared to the numerical solution of the GPE. We will also compare these results with those given by time-dependent perturbation theory.
