Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for children impacted by trauma. Despite decades of empirical support for its efficacy, many children do not complete the full course of TF-CBT as designed. Up to 27% of children do not receive the full dose of treatment, limiting treatment effectiveness. Number of traumatic experiences, avoidance, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and foster care show mixed associations with treatment completion across evidence-based treatments overall, and it remains unknown if these same factors contribute to early termination of TF-CBT. Given documented barriers to participation (e.g., lack of parental involvement), further analysis using TF-CBT data is warranted. Thus, this study sought to identify client characteristics (e.g., residence status [living with parents versus not], number of trauma types [not including number of experiences], UCLA PTSD RI-5 scores and symptomology, and demographics [white, male, age]) associated with premature dropout or treatment transfer compared with treatment completion. The study used secondary baseline data from a statewide implementation of TF-CBT (N = 562 children). Multinomial logistic regression analyses revelated that children with a greater number of trauma types were significantly more likely to drop out of treatment or have their treatment transferred than complete TF-CBT. Under PTSD symptoms, children with higher arousal were more likely to transfer but children with higher re-experiencing symptoms were more likely to complete. This suggests that TF-CBT treatment may not be as accomplishable for children with multiple trauma types and tailoring based on these symptoms early may lead to less treatment transfer or dropout.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is one of the world’s coldest capital cities with roughly 1.5 million residents. About fifty percent of the city’s residents are off the electrical grid and millions continue to live nomadic lifestyles, raising livestock for food. Problematically, residents often turn to raw coal - Mongolia’s largest export - as a means to cook food and stay warm. Project Koyash is a philanthropic engineering initiative that was founded in the Arizona State University Program Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) to combat the air quality crisis plaguing the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar. Koyash has already deployed 13 fully functional and autonomous units consisting of a solar powered air filtration system in Ulaanbaatar. Koyash innovated a solution of solar panels, air filters, batteries, inverters, PCB Arduinos, and other necessary components for providing crucial humanitarian services. The team is working to send more units and develop a local supply chain for the systems. This thesis project explores the development of Koyash, assesses the human health implications of air pollution, and reflects on the entire process.

This study looks to uncover the relationship between curiosity, specifically the factor of curiosity called stress tolerance, and the perception of groove, which is commonly operationalized as the pleasurable feeling of wanting to move with music. We hypothesized, based on prior research, that individuals with low stress tolerance would experience groove at lower rates in comparison to their highly stress-tolerant counterparts, and that the gap in groove ratings across groups would grow as rhythmic complexity increased. A sample of 190 participants were asked to rate three different audio clips varying in rhythmic complexity on how groovy they were. Participants then completed the Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale Revised, which was used to measure stress tolerance. Participants were then split into two groups, consisting of individuals with high stress tolerance or low stress tolerance, before having their groove ratings across the different rhythmic complexities compared. This method did not produce any evidence that suggests stress tolerance and groove perception have a meaningful relationship. However, this lack of significance may lead us to a better understanding of the purpose of groove, and learnings from this study will be useful when pursuing further research on this topic.

The specific and concrete motives to use social media are likely to grow as social media multiplies. Study 1 was conducted to identify the hierarchical structure of motives of using social media that explain a wide range of previously identified motives from Uses and Gratification theory (Katz & Blumler, 1974). College students (N = 948) completed previously established measures of social media motives and a range of social media behaviors. Findings revealed two higher-order factors: (1) “Instrumental” motivation captures motives to achieve a specific aim by using social media (e.g., for information, self-expression, social interaction) and these motives are positively correlated with private self-conscious on social media, and (2) “Experiential” motivation captures motives to escape from reality by using social media (e.g., for entertainment, passing time, convenience) and these motives are positively correlated with social media addiction. Study 2 aimed to determine if the higher order structure, “Instrumental” and “Experiential”, emerge across a wider range of motivations to use social media. College students (N = 216) completed a survey on the 7 social media motivations from study 1 and 16 more social media motivations found in the two pilot studies. Findings from the confirmatory factor analysis revealed the 23-factor model was the better predictor to use social media than the higher order factors. The predictive validity of the higher order factors suggests “Instrumental” motivation is the better predictor of personality and “Experiential” motivation is positively correlated with social media addiction.

Type one diabetes is a complex disease and may affect physical and mental health. These mental health effects include the impacts of stigma which may result from misconceptions. Physical health effects may include not following diabetes self-management behaviors, which increases the risk of short-term hypoglycemia complications and long-term hyperglycemia complications. This online study investigated how stigma affects type one diabetes self-management behaviors. This study sample was adults aged 18 years or older with type one diabetes. These participants were recruited from online social media platforms including Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts. Quantitative data was collected through an online survey and qualitative data was collected through an online interview. Results show that misunderstanding type one diabetes is a major factor that results in social stigma behaviors. As a result, the majority of adults with type one diabetes experience internal stigma and affected self-management behaviors to a certain extent, depending on the amount of support, education, and experience the individual has.

The symbiotic relationship between wood-eating termites and hindgut protists is crucial for termite digestion, with protists aiding in lignocellulose degradation. This relationship, dating back to the late Jurassic, resembles the ancestral association between termites and wood roaches, Cryptocercus, established over 150 million years ago. Paraneotermes simplicicornis and Kalotermes flavicollis, members of the Kalotermitidae family, harbor diverse symbiotic communities pivotal for wood digestion and nitrogen fixation. Parabasalians, such as Cristamonadea, exhibit morphological diversity, with some taxa being joeniids, calonymphids, or devescovinids, residing primarily in termite guts. To explore the coevolutionary history and morphological evolution, this study aims to describe devescovinid communities in P. simplicicornis and K. flavicollis using morphological and molecular approaches. Phylogenetic analysis reveals the relationships among Devescovina, Metadevescovina, Macrotrichomonas, and Calonympha. A misidentification of published sequence AB458854 Joenia annectens provides valuable insights into how species are classified, while the discovery of previously unknown symbionts demonstrates the extent of diversity within these ecosystems. Notably, Clade 2 was named Prototermanova, where novel Cristamonadea species were identified, exhibiting genetic and morphological similarities to Devescovina. Similarly, Clade 4 was labelled Trichoterm, where two novel Devescovina species challenged existing taxonomic classifications. DNA sequencing analyses provided additional validation, highlighting the genetic diversity and potential novelty of symbionts within the termite gut. Morphological examination aligns with previously identified genera, and BLAST analysis supports observations of potential novelty in certain symbionts. Protists from P. simplicicornis and K. flavicollis show close relation to Joenia and Devescovina, respectively. This study sheds light on the complexity of termite symbiotic relationships and underscores the need for continued research to fully comprehend protist diversity within termite guts.

InclusiTeach is a student-created website resource aiming to enrich diversity awareness across employee bases nationwide to ultimately create a more inclusive workplace. The application is presented to employers as a time-saver in creating their own DEI efforts with an easily distributable mode of training, while everyday consumers can reap the benefits of InclusiTeach for personal development or satisfying curiosity.