Journal Article31 October 2025
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Volume 25, Issue 1 (2025)Read More
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Journal Article31 October 2025
A Light-Dependent Resistor Based Embedded Image Acquisition System for use in Low-Resolution Application-Specific Data Processing
This paper proposes an efficient hardware-based approach to image acquisition & processing to replace complex camera systems in simple industrial & commercial applications.Journal Article31 October 2025
The El Mozote Massacre of 1981: Central American Human Rights and United States Cold War Policy
This research explores the motivations behind the denial of the 1981 El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador. In this event, the US-backed Atlácatl battalion of the Salvadoran Army brutally killed over 500 Indigenous peoples in the department of Morazán. Despite multiple eyewitness accounts of the massacre, both the United States and Salvadoran governments repeatedly denied responsibility for the event. This project is based on official US governmental documents from the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Department of State, and Congress. These documents illuminate conversations within the government concerning knowledge about the massacre, plans for continuing foreign aid, and further military actions. This information is supplemented by eyewitness accounts of the massacre and reports made by international human rights groups, which significantly differ from what is presented in the governmental documents. Although few scholars have closely examined El Mozote, there is a significant body of scholarship that explores US Cold War foreign relations and the primacy of militarization in foreign policy decisions. Scholarship on Latin American human rights is scant, exploring general trends in rights violations across the continent. Most American research does not consider Spanish-language sources. This investigation adds to foreign relations and human rights scholarship by presenting original, bilingual research on this insufficiently examined event. Research findings clarify the motivations of US Cold War foreign policy in El Salvador and highlight its overlooked effects on human rights. This project seeks to promote greater awareness of the El Mozote massacre, along with current human rights violations involving the US and El Salvador, to encourage support for the achievement of justice for the victims and their families.Journal Article31 October 2025
Art Therapy in Social Work Practice
Art therapy is an emerging practice among mental health professionals looking for new ways to engage with their clients and encourage nonverbal communication. Creativity is a means of processing memories, improving relationships, and strengthening the mind-body connection across a variety of age groups and practice settings. The efficacy of art therapy has led to its integration into social work practice, benefitting a diverse range of client populations within the field. While a lack of macro-level research studies has prevented the implementation of standardized art therapy techniques in social work, clinical research trials have examined art therapy across several areas of practice to address common issues that clients are facing like trauma, relationship problems, mental illness, and the marginalization of LGBTQIA+ youth.Journal Article31 October 2025
The Art of Movement
I wanted to do this project for my Interdisciplinary Studies Capstone to showcase some of my skills and to articulate what I want to do with my degree. I want to go into Medical Illustration, and I want to make science easier for people to learn. To do this I want to take complicated subjects and remake them into simpler terms. For my capstone, I decided to take anatomy of the arm, leg, and abdominal organs and draw them on professional women athletes. I thought that expressing this anatomy in less of a clinical way is one strategy to make it easier for people to learn. To make these art pieces I first brainstormed athletes I wanted to include in the pieces and settled on Ilona Maher, Caitlin Clark, and Tara Davis-Woodhall. I decided after that to do the leg muscles on Maher, arm muscles on Clark, and the abdominal organs on Davis-Woodhall. I chose to use a variety of different mediums including charcoal, graphite, colored pencils, watercolor, and acrylic paint. Once everything was illustrated, I took out a handful of muscles I wanted to highlight, so I made little labels for the muscle or organ shown.Journal Article31 October 2025
From "Pata Pata" to Come Back, Africa: Miriam Makeba and Her Fight Against Apartheid, 1953-1990
Perhaps one of the most notorious periods in African history was that of Apartheid – a system of racial, political, social, and economic discrimination placed upon the non-white majority of South Africa. Beginning in 1948 and lasting until the early 1990s, Apartheid marked a significant transformation in not only African liberation movements but also those happening across the globe, including the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. While the efforts to overcome Apartheid and empower the overall messages of African liberation and solidarity are well-documented, there are several methods of achieving these goals that have been unfortunately overlooked. Figures such as Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko have become synonymous with the fight against Apartheid in the political and judicial spheres, but one incredibly effective sphere has remained somewhat shrouded in the background: music. During Apartheid, a woman by the name of Miriam Makeba used her music to spread messages about black South African community and resilience while simultaneously reflecting on the struggles of black South Africans among the discrimination and oppression they were experiencing. This project’s purpose is to analyze and discuss Miriam Makeba’s role in the Anti-Apartheid Movement through the lens of her music and acting career, and it will cover the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a whole using a variety of sources, including films, journal articles, documentaries, and more.Journal Article31 October 2025
What We Watch on Social Media Makes an Impact
Prior research has demonstrated that certain social media content consumed can create unrealistic expectations of themselves; however, some hypothesize that social media provides empowering and supportive spaces. Unfortunately, many studies rely on cross-sectional data, limiting the ability to infer causality. This study looked at one of the most-used social media platforms by teens in the United States, TikTok. For this study, it was predicted that viewing “body check” videos would negatively affect body image. If significant, we could try and restrict those videos from being posted. The findings supported the hypothesis, but not significantly. However, there were quite a few limitations, with the number of participants being the main one. The participants were recruited college students.Journal Article31 October 2025
Exploring Cultural Perspectives on Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by impairments in personal, social, academic, or occupational functioning. Despite its universal recognition, perceptions and responses to autism vary widely across different cultural contexts. This paper explores the impact of cultural perspectives on the diagnosis, intervention, and support for individuals with autism. It highlights how cultural beliefs, values, and societal norms shape the understanding and management of ASD, revealing significant differences in diagnostic practices and support systems around the world. The paper discusses how cultural factors influence the interpretation of autism, using case studies from diverse settings, including Africa, Southeast Asia, China, and indigenous communities such as the Navajo. For instance, in many African societies, autism is often perceived as a spiritual condition, complicating access to appropriate medical care. Conversely, the Western medical model often frames autism as a disorder to be fixed, which can lead to a deficit-focused view. By bridging cultural gaps and fostering a more inclusive understanding of autism, this paper advocates for improved diagnostic practices and support services, ultimately promoting a more equitable and compassionate global approach to ASD.Journal Article31 October 2025
A Case Study on the Use of Cultural Violence and its Contribution to the Third Reich's 'Euthanasia' Program
The genocidal actions taken by the Third Reich during the mid-20th century were horrific and dehumanizing. While the Holocaust often focuses on the tragic genocide that occurred against the Jewish people carried out by the Third Reich, the genocide that they carried out against the disabled community is often overlooked. With the deaths of tens of thousands of disabled people occurring through this genocide, it is important to understand how this genocide occurred, without any worldwide protest. Nazi Leaders including Alfred Rosenberg, Adolf Hitler, and Ernest Rüdin used widespread cultural indoctrination to dehumanize the disabled community and horrifically justify their deaths. This system of indoctrinated beliefs, often referred to as the Volk, ultimately contributed to widespread death and discrimination of the disabled community in Europe during the mid-20th century.Journal Article31 October 2025
A Thistle from the Womb: The Renaissance Experience of Childbearing and its Distinctive Contributions to Modern Society
In a patriarchal society that elevated lineage through male heirs, children were great blessings. However, a long history of nightmarish parturition, namely the process of delivery, developed a systemized process steeped in trepidation, with rituals influenced by culture, tradition, and society alike. In this approach, European Renaissance childbirth, with Italy as a hearth, was a male-centric elevation of childrearing as a divine command. This pressure, combined with large age-gap marriages, ill health, and back-to-back pregnancies formed a highly lethal atmosphere. As this paper argues, within the historical expanse of human reproduction, the Renaissance childbirth scene was made distinct by the societal desire for dominion over fertility and the trepidation of parturition by appealing to medieval tradition and patrilineal customs. This can be seen in several practices: cultivating specific rituals and objects to alleviate distress and provide comfort; continuing medical advancements through refuting ancient speculative methodology, advancing caesarean section, along with replacing midwives with male physicians; and controlling fertility through contraceptive and abortive mechanisms. These developments heralded from the devastation of the Black Plague, which served as the link between the sunset of the Medieval Age and dawn of the European Renaissance.Journal Article31 October 2025
Three Good Things and Family Process
There is a need for adaptive and affordable prevention/intervention strategies to promote happiness, health, and well-being in families. Three Good Things (3GT) is a free exercise from the field of positive psychology meant to shift an individual’s focus and perceptions towards gratitude. 3GT promotes focusing on gratitude by reflecting on what an individual is grateful for from the past day/week. Persons are encouraged to write down and share their 3GT with another individual. A mindset of gratitude is closely associated with improved happiness, health, and well-being. The exercise of reflecting on 3GT is adaptive to most individuals/families. To date, most studies using the 3GT intervention have focused on individuals, leaving a gap in the literature for family process. This one-time, cross-sectional qualitative study (n = 89) examined how families experienced the 3GT intervention, together. Researchers conducted a systematic qualitative thematic analysis to determine prominent themes and supportive quotes. Findings from this study may be used to inform educators, clinicians and individuals who work with families on strategies to promote overall family happiness, health, and well-being.Most Popular Articles
Journal Article
14 August 2014
Impact of Text Messaging on Communication
This study used two focus groups to learn about college students and their use of text messages. All of the students were from the Arts and Humanities College at Minnesota State University. One focus group contained five females and other focus group contained five males. The main focus of this study was to find if text messages displaced face-to-face communication. The results of this study suggest text messages do have a displacing effect on face-to-face communication. But text messaging is not the only technology that has the displacement effect. This study also suggests males and females view text messages differently. The implications of the five themes that emerged are discussed in this study.Journal Article
11 August 2014
The Tax Treatment of Mixed Personal and Rental Use of Real Estate
In 2010, individual taxes provided almost half (43.35 %) of the U.S. Federal Revenue. Every U.S. citizen has an obligation to pay tax in order to support their government; however, they also have the right to keep tax as low as possible by effective tax planning (Smith, Harmelink, & Hasselback, 2012). Tax planning is a proper arrangement of transactions or affairs in order to reduce tax liability. Tax planning can become complex if the transaction involves multiple areas of tax law. I am going to discuss an aspect of real estate that involves multiple concepts and rules governing tax compliance: the tax treatment of mixed personal and rental use of real estate. The paper discusses tax treatment of deductions, losses, sales, and exchanges of mixed-use real estate. Mixed-use real estate means that homeowners rent, or use for business purposes, part or all of their primary or secondary homes, either permanently or temporarily. These situations are pretty common for U.S. citizens yet the tax effects on these transactions are not well understood and can be complex. The focus on the paper is to describe the tax treatment of various situations where residential property is rented at least part of the tax year.Journal Article
12 August 2014
The Politics of Black Womens' Hair
Historically, black women’s image has been subjected to high scrutinization that rendered every choice they made for their body and hair important. Black women have undergone many pressures that shaped their hair choices in various ways. However, there is a general tendency in the literature to homogenize all black women’s experiences and disregard their ethnic diversity. In this study, we explored both African and African American college women’s feelings about the motivations to straighten (relax) or wear their hair without chemical treatment (natural). For this qualitative approach, we utilized a cross-cultural approach and interviewed 12 African and African American college women with relaxed (chemically treated) or natural (chemically untreated) hair to understand the motivations for their various hair choices. Findings reveal that African and African American women with relaxed hair are influenced by different factors; African women with relaxed hair reported being influenced by community and media while African American women reported family as the most influential factor regarding their hair decisions. Both African and African American women with natural hair viewed their hair as a personal choice rather than a political statement. In general, African American women reported more exposure to natural hair than African women who, for the most part, went natural when they came to the United States. Although, black women seem to have similar experiences about their hair cross-culturally, there are relevant particularities in each group’s experiences that are worth taking into account for a more precise knowledge of these groups.Journal Article
27 August 2014
The Effects of Room Color on Stress Perception: Red versus Green Environments
The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of red versus green room colors on individual perception of stress. Room color was found through previous studies to have specific effects on psychomotor activity and emotional states. Correlations were found between red room color and emotional and physical stimulation, while green was associated with inhibitory effects. Additionally, Goldstein’s theory of color perception showed that red has stimulating effects on human behavior. Subjects consisted of 15 female and 15 male college freshmen at Minnesota State University, Mankato. An experimental booth was used for red, green and white room conditions. Subjects were required to wait inside of the booth for five minutes before completing a copy of the stress inventory from the DASS (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale) under each condition. It was found that subjects in red the red room condition had higher stress rating scores compared to green or white room conditions. Consequently, the findings suggest that environment color plays a significant role in stress perception.Journal Article
26 July 2022
Masturbatory Behaviors Among Older Adult Populations: A Literature Review
Sexual behaviors, such as masturbation, extend into older adulthood (50+ years in chronological age) and are present at all stages of the aging process. Different living situations and circumstances for older adults can affect masturbatory behavior, such as death of spouse, living in long-term care facilities, and cognitive decline. This literature review evaluates extant research on older adult masturbation, comprising 29 articles included in the final review, all published between 1991 and 2021. They consist of literature reviews, meta-studies, cross-sectional studies, semi-structured interviews, systematic reviews, and case studies. Current evidence suggests that masturbatory behaviors are an important part of older adult sexual health, although they decline in frequency across the aging, and increase in the absence of a spouse. Presence of masturbatory behaviors are not as conducive to life satisfaction as partnered sexual activity. However, older adults who masturbate in absence of partnered sexual activity have generally higher life satisfaction than those who are not sexually active. Findings suggest that older adult masturbatory behaviors are affected by social aspects, including class, religion, educational attainment, gender, and assigned sex, in addition to biological aspects, such as presence or absence of erectile dysfunction, arthritis, dementia, and so on.Journal Article
27 August 2014