Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

An analysis into how aware are Black students, ages 18-26 at Kent State University, are of Afrocentric Rites of Passage. A qualitative method was utilized to collect literature to explain Afrocentric compared to Eurocentric application of education, exploring Afrocentric Rites of Passage fundamentalism and canonical texts, and how “Rites” can be a cultural matrix for education. Afrocentric Rites of Passage was chosen as the basis of research to challenge the methodology of education in USA. A questionnaire was also developed to collect personal data from Black students to assess the awareness of Afrocentric Rites of Passage at Kent State University. College begins the next step in solidifying our social identities for involvement in society. Concluding high school and embarking on the experience generally occurs ages 18-26 for modern education. The belief in college to a better economic future undermines the “need” of education for USA’s philosophy: “Go to school to get a better job!” With Eurocentric norms and views on reality dominating the USA, arguments from educators, counselors, and social workers alike have proposed the harmful implications of this phenomenon on the Black experience. Contributors to this articulation of research includes Ms. Pamela Hubbard, Kent State Ronald E. McNair Scholars program, Dr. Kumah-Abiwu, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Linda Myers, Paul Hill Jr., Dr. Molefi Asante, Dr. Naim Akbar, and other scholars who delve deeper into the African American experience as it relate to education.

Miscommunication is often seen as a detrimental aspect of human communication. However, miscommunication can differ in cause as well as severity. What distinguishes a miscommunication where conversation partners continue to put forth the effort from miscommunication where conversation partners simply give up? In this eye-tracking study, participants heard globally ambiguous statements that were either a result of an experimental error or speaker underspecification; participants either received positive or negative feedback on these ambiguous trials. We found that negative feedback, paired with the reliability of the message, will impact the amount of processing effort a comprehender puts forth—specifically, listeners were less forgiving of errors when they were penalized and when speakers instructions lacked effort. This suggests that language users weigh conversational contexts and outcomes as well as linguistic content during communication.

Keywords: ambiguity; intentions; communication; comprehension, context

Our project for the 2016 Undergraduate Symposium on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity is entitled “The Tell-Tale Heart”- a One-Act Play adapted by Gerald P. Murphy. The play, involving many new aspects of technical theatre is based around a story told through narration and balletic-contemporary dance based on Edgar Allan Poe’s poem of the same name. The goal is to put on a successful production of this work that will evoke a new style of theatre from its participants.

Through the generous gift of a flash grant and the performance of this production, the creative team hopes to inspire the program to rethink theatre - To think outside the box. We challenge our audiences not be satisfied with traditional theatre. For this project we will be creating interactive thread installations, a new development in scenic design that will enhance our production value.

The hope is that this project will encourage other aspiring directors and designers to take chances and strive to work collaboratively in the future in order to progress the theatrical developmental process. We expect to incorporate a multitude of new and exciting technical advancements in our production. Mostly dealing with lighting design, we hope to introduce the school to these techniques so that they can be implemented in future productions.

On our production team, we also have a textiles liaison, Scott Ward. He will assist our technical team with the thread installations. We will all collaborate with our cast and crew to produce this new work.

Keywords: Hydrogels, Pluronic F127, drug release, florescence TR-BSA

Problem: Many of currently available methods of delivering a single factor have demonstrated a limited efficacy in stimulating tissue repair. This has been associated with the complexity of tissue healing process. Therefore, it is critical that multiple therapeutic factors should be delivered to act in concert with the normal process of tissue healing, which may provide physiologically relevant release profiles that mimic the natural healing response. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a proof-of-concept of achieving the controlled release of drugs in a sequential fashion by developing composite of biodegradable hydrogels consisting of F-127 hydrogel and gelatin microspheres.

Methods: Two forms of hydrogels, Pluronic F127 and gelatin microspheres, were prepared separately by mixing them with a model drug (Texas Red bovine serum albumin, TR-BSA) and the prepared hydrogels were incubated at 37^oC over days. At selected time points, supernatants were collected to quantify the extent of drug release from the gels based on the intensity of the florescence from TR-BSA.

Results and Conclusion: Our data supports that the sequential delivery system can enable the release of TR-BSA loaded with F-127 gel over ~8hr and gradual release of TR-BSA loaded within gelatin microsphere over duration of days. This study implicates that a sequential release of two different drugs can be achieved by triggering an initial release of one drug from F-127 gel followed by slow release of another drug from gelatin microspheres.

Problem: Studies have examined the effects and importance of family support in the lives of LGBT youth. It has been inferred that family support is a beneficial factor in the mental health of LGBT children, adolescents, and young adults. However, few studies have included social connectedness as an additional variable contributing to perceived family support and levels of depression within LGBT college students. Therefore, this study investigated the role of perceived family support and social connectedness on depression in LGBT university students.

Hypothesis: Respondents’ depression levels will differ contingent upon family support and social connectedness. In particular, it is expected that social connectedness will moderate the relationship between perceived family support and depression levels.

Methods: To date, participants include 78 LGBT students at Kent State University. The respondents who choose to select what best described their gender consisted of 40 females, 12 males, 8 transgender/gender queer, 2 transgender (female to male), and 7 identify as other. Participants completed the following surveys online: a demographic questionnaire, Perceived Social Support-Family (PSS-FA) Scale, Social Connectedness Scale-R (SCS-R), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale. Distribution of the surveys online allowed for anonymity and the opportunity for participants to complete the surveys in any place of their choosing.

Results: Upon completion of data collection, regression analyses will be conducted to assess for moderating effects. The findings may have implications for reducing depression in LGBT college students who have little family support by promoting their sense of social connectedness.