Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

The objective of my honors thesis was to implement the mindfulness habit of journaling over the course of six months, then use the journal entries as a means to reflect upon observations of pre-selected metrics (connecting Zen teachings to my daily life, accessing my ability to rest, navigating relationships to others, and developing compassion for myself) in order to track how learning about Zen Buddhist philosophy impacts my life.

Crazed Oasis strives to create a community-based, sustainable clothing brand that looks and feels great, while creating a community that is safe and welcoming to individuals of all backgrounds. We strive to educate all about the world to provide an understanding and appreciation for all individuals and cultures. The current climate of the world is a crazy one, and the clothing industry is highly unsustainable. Crazed Oasis is creating the solution by building a community to create new friendships and connections while focusing on the important topics of the world, such as sustainability, mental health, human rights, arts and passions, and more. Through our clothing products, we will educate and create a culture of understanding through art.

Santé is an event planning company that aims to address the growing need for mental health support among university students. The company's focus is on creating events that are specifically designed to help students cope with stress. Santé's events offer a variety of activities and resources that cater to students' mental and emotional needs. From outdoor walks to movie night sessions, Santé's events aim to create a safe and welcoming space for students to de-stress and connect with others. With a team of experienced event planners, Santé is dedicated to providing high-quality events that promote mental wellness and help students navigate the challenges of university life.

Given the growing reports of toxic gymnastics culture and evidence of mental health issues in gymnasts, this study aims to fill in the gaps surrounding the causes of poor mental health and wellbeing of gymnasts as a result of negative gymnastics culture focusing on the idea of mental toughness. Current college gymnasts (n=7) completed a questionnaire and in-person interview to discuss their ideas around mental toughness, their experience with gymnastics culture and the coaching behaviors that create it, and their understanding of their own mental health. 7 participants completed all materials. Results showed that all participants had a mental toughness score falling in the “average” or “good” range with a mean score of 85 out of 140. Mental toughness was mentioned in a negative context 95 times overall and a in positive context 41 times overall during interviews. 6 participants rated their overall experience of gymnastics culture as average and 1 rated it as good, but when reflecting on their most negative experiences of gymnastics culture 4 participants rated their experience as average and 3 rated their experiences as bad. All participants expressed having experienced symptoms of poor mental health in the past 4 months and witnessed symptoms of poor mental health in teammates. 6 participants were unlikely to communicate their symptoms and 4 were unlikely to seek professional help, yet the number of participants likely to offer direct support or encourage teammates to communicate symptoms with a coach/trainer was 5 and 4 respectively. Negative mentions of mental health overall (118) was three times higher than positive mentions of mental health (43) during interviews. As a whole, gymnasts who experienced negative gymnastics culture struggled to recognize poor mental health/wellbeing and viewed mental toughness as synonymous with enduring mental and physical pain. Starting gymnastics at a young age and development in the sport and ideas becoming internalized as part of self, as well as negative coaching behaviors and abuse were referenced as potential reasons for poor understanding of mental health in gymnasts. Recommendations for improvement of gymnastics culture to prevent the negative consequences on gymnasts understand of their mental health include (1) acknowledgement and awareness by coaches of the impact their behaviors can have on gymnasts, (2) building strong personal connections with gymnasts, (3) increasing coaches and support staffs understanding of mental health symptoms so they can recognize them in gymnasts, and (4) promoting and encouraging meaningful conversations around mental health to remove stigma and fear of retaliation for gymnast.

In this thesis, several different methods for detecting and removing satellite streaks from astronomic images were evaluated and compared with a new machine learning based approach. Simulated data was generated with a variety of conditions, and the performance of each method was evaluated both quantitatively, using Mean Absolute Error (MAE) against a ground truth detection mask and processing throughput of the method, as well as qualitatively, examining the situations in which each model performs well and poorly. Detection methods from existing systems Pyradon and ASTRiDE were implemented and tested. A machine learning (ML) image segmentation model was trained on simulated data and used to detect streaks in test data. The ML model performed favorably relative to the traditional methods tested, and demonstrated superior robustness in general. However, the model also exhibited some unpredictable behavior in certain scenarios which should be considered. This demonstrated that machine learning is a viable tool for the detection of satellite streaks in astronomic images, however special care must be taken to prevent and to minimize the effects of unpredictable behavior in such models.

Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that affects an individual's ability to function per societal expectations, leading to the onset of stigmatization and discrimination. This can affect the course and outcome of the individual's diagnosis, which impacts several aspects of life, including interpersonal relationships, self-care, and medical attention. Reclassifying the term "schizophrenia" can create a better understanding of the disorder's symptoms and increase funding and research to alleviate the stigmatization currently affecting individuals with this diagnosis.

Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that affects an individual's ability to function per societal expectations, leading to the onset of stigmatization and discrimination. This can affect the course and outcome of the individual's diagnosis, which impacts several aspects of life, including interpersonal relationships, self-care, and medical attention. Reclassifying the term "schizophrenia" can create a better understanding of the disorder's symptoms and increase funding and research to alleviate the stigmatization currently affecting individuals with this diagnosis.

By studying the workflow used to create the black hole, Gargantua, in Interstellar, artists can understand how to simulate complex astronomical phenomena in other special effects software such as Houdini. This workflow utilizes a balance between scientific realism and artistic interpretation of astronomical phenomena such that simulations can maximize their success in film. Through significant amounts of research and study, the artists at Double Negative generated a scientifically realistic black hole in shape and physical behavior, but made creative decisions when shading and lighting their simulation. I find that DNeg’s workflow integrates well when using Houdini technology. I follow their workflow to generate a series of spiral galaxies in Houdini and find how Houdini’s node network layout allows artists to incorporate both scientific realism and creative approaches to a simulation. A strong understanding of the mechanics of the simulated astronomical event scientifically informs the look and shape of a production, while Houdini’s node network layout makes it easy for special effects artists to manipulate simulations to their own artistic interpretation of astronomical phenomena.