My research aims to determine the effectiveness of meditation and sleep applications (apps) on the reduction of anxiety and stress in college students, with a focus on sedative piano music. Results showed a significant reduction of stress and anxiety levels in college students when listening to sedative piano music versus non-sedative piano music. Music along with other therapy modalities in meditation and sleep apps show promise in reducing students’ anxiety and stress and promoting their successes.

Collective human attitudes influenced by macro-forces that impact environmental issues are partially correlated to our behaviors for the good and the harm of the planet. In this thesis, I will explore how collective human attitudes contribute to pro-environmental behaviors, common and pre-existing frames of mind on major conservation dilemmas, and finally suggest future directions on how humans could be inclined to take on more environmental responsibility through an increase in human-environmental connectivity. It is found that humans are largely driven by institution structures, education, and social influence. In conclusion, more efforts should be placed to further analyze these structural incentives for pro-environmental behaviors and use them to make environmental stewardship more accessible for all people and diverse circumstances. This can be done by evaluating the human dimensions of what influences human attitudes and behaviors, how to use these forces to systematically influence pro-environmental choices, applying these structural forces to main conservation issues, and further incorporating moral discourse into the environmental research in order to appeal correctly to all aspects and perspectives. Only when human connectivity is understood in relation to the natural sciences will we be able to make positive change in the direction of a healthier Earth.

Brundtland’s definition of sustainability is the ability to “meet the needs of the present<br/>without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (IISD, 2021). But<br/>what if there are no future generations? Social sustainability, the sector of sustainability that<br/>foregrounds the well-being and livelihoods of people (and thereby continuation of humanity), is<br/>included in definitions within the sustainability field, but less developed in sustainability<br/>practice. In an effort to bridge this gap of knowledge, 14 U.S. cities and over 100 sustainability<br/>policies were analyzed for their social sustainability performance. An eight-item analytical<br/>framework that deals with differing areas of social equity guided the analysis. Results found that<br/>most cities’ sustainability departments fell short of truly addressing social sustainability<br/>concerns. Out of the eight items, the most frequently addressed were housing security and racial<br/>and gender equality whereas few, if any, cities addressed the more specific social concerns of<br/>immigration, technology and media, or arts/cultural preservation. Future research is<br/>recommended to gain a better understanding of the ways existing cities can improve in this area.

This qualitative project was done as a way to learn more about the personal experiences of Asian American participants surrounding education and how it has impacted their identities, and questions how and if the model minority stereotype has impacted the Asian American student particiapnts. 14 participants were interviewed one-on-one to see if there were any patterns in values that their parents had pushed, and revealed that cultural expectations influence the participants’s educational choices, leading to self-regulation in regards to education. Because the shared trait of these participants are being current Asian American students in university at the time of their interviews, experiences range with how acculturated their parents are, the ethnic background of their families, and prior expectations with education.

Abortion is one of the most polarizing moral issues in our society today. This issue divides the country into two separate groups: Pro-choice or Pro-life. Our thesis analyzes published reviewed articles, media articles, policy papers, and perspective, opinion, and commentary pieces to discuss the ethical implications of selective abortion, specifically sex-selective abortion and genetic-selective abortion. Our thesis provides an overview of selective abortion, explores women’s bodily autonomy in the U.S., addresses the complexities of both sex-selective and genetic-selective abortion, and finally evaluates the U.S.’s regulation of selective abortion. Through these topics, we were able to determine the implications selective abortion has on the disabled community and how selective abortion is being used to ban abortion overall in the U.S.

Abortion is one of the most polarizing moral issues in our society today. This issue divides the country into two separate groups: Pro-choice or Pro-life. Our thesis analyzes published reviewed articles, media articles, policy papers, and perspective, opinion, and commentary pieces to discuss the ethical implications of selective abortion, specifically sex-selective abortion and genetic-selective abortion. Our thesis provides an overview of selective abortion, explores women’s bodily autonomy in the U.S., addresses the complexities of both sex-selective and genetic-selective abortion, and finally evaluates the U.S.’s regulation of selective abortion. Through these topics, we were able to determine the implications selective abortion has on the disabled community and how selective abortion is being used to ban abortion overall in the U.S.

Lithium ion batteries are quintessential components of modern life. They are used to power smart devices — phones, tablets, laptops, and are rapidly becoming major elements in the automotive industry. Demand projections for lithium are skyrocketing with production struggling to keep up pace. This drive is due mostly to the rapid adoption of electric vehicles; sales of electric vehicles in 2020 are more than double what they were only a year prior. With such staggering growth it is important to understand how lithium is sourced and what that means for the environment. Will production even be capable of meeting the demand as more industries make use of this valuable element? How will the environmental impact of lithium affect growth? This thesis attempts to answer these questions as the world looks to a decade of rapid growth for lithium ion batteries.

As technological advancement increases and becomes more accessible to everyone around the world, many communities and support groups have begun to offer online options for their programs, whether it be a fitness program, online therapy group, or doctor’s appointment. With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting every country around the world, online and virtual communities have become more necessary than ever. Using personal experience from an online fitness community formed as a response to social isolation called“Barrett Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies,” research was conducted to determine if online communities had the same effectiveness as in-person communities in reaching and maintaining individual health goals. Peer-reviewed scientific articles and research papers from many countries around the world were analyzed for demonstration and quantification of the efficacy of other online communities compared to in- person groups. In addition, the benefits and limitations of online communities were identified. Using all of the research and data collected, a novel fitness program was designed for implementation with an online synchronous group (OSG) and an online asynchronous option serving as a control to observe any differential adherence of participants to fitness goals. The proposed OSG consists of meetings and workouts through Zoom and is more interactive, even virtually. The control group had no interaction with others and completed the workouts alone. While this program was not distributed to the public and tested as part of this project, it was designed to be an optimized pilot program to test the impact of remote community engagement on goal attainment. It is predicted that the OSG would demonstrate improvement over control in better reaching goals and increased satisfaction with results. Scientific literature from a variety of disciplines discussed here informs this prediction.