The Annual Research Showcase is an event held at St. Mary's University every year to celebrate our commitment to research and academic achievement. These are posters from the McNair Scholars who participated in the event.
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Mica Productions: The Sad Truth Behind Cosmetic Corporations' Impact on Children's Well-being in India
Nyleen Benavides
Mica is a shiny silicate mineral found in granite, crystals, or rocks. This mineral has attracted the eyes of many cosmetic corporations. Due to high rates of unemployment and poverty in Asian countries, particularly in India’s Jharkhand region, corporations have taken over to profit the exportations of mica. India relies on illegal child labor in mica mining sites that are not only hazardous to children, but the economy and ecosystem. Previous research has shown how cosmetic corporations use mica as one of their main ingredients for shiny pigmentations within their products. However, there is limited research that has indicated the links between child labor and the cosmetic industry. This research examines the effects that cosmetic corporations have on children in India. Specifically, it discusses why the high demand of mica increases child labor and negatively impacts the health, economic, and social well-being of children. By analyzing secondary sources such as peer reviewed articles, reports, and policies in India, this study contributes to a better understanding of exploitative child labor by cosmetic corporations.
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Separate But Found: An Ontological Analysis of Toni Morrison's Beloved
Byron Haynes
In Toni Morrison's Beloved, separation becomes the ideal solution for African American women to recover their humanity and build a future. These women understandably harbor for their oppressor and would be unable to foster a coexistence with them, given their suffering after being the victims of sexual assault, lynchings, hard labor, substandard living circumstances, and death regularly. By illustrating the methodical methods in which women are dehumanized under Whiteness, this essay examines how each woman reclaims their humanity through the separation of Whiteness in their lives through Baby Suggs’s preaching, Sethe’s choice to kill her daughter, Denver’s exploration of reality distanced from her family, and Beloved’s mere existence. Keywords: Race, Maternity, Slavery, History, Identity
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The Effects of Sour & Spicy Food on Visual & Auditory Reflexes
Aditi Kumar, Alondra-Sophia Martinez, Magdalena E. Saad, and Emma J. Welsch
• The reflex reaction time measures how quickly the nervous system can respond to a stimulus. • In the experiment, both visual and auditory reflexes were measured to evaluate differences in reaction time after the consumption of sour and spicy foods. • Spices and herbs produce different signals that interact with the nervous system. (McMullen 2024) • Comparing the response times from before and after consumption, this experiment allowed us to determine if different tastes affect reflex reaction times.
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Turn out, Having Latinx Faculty Doesn't Mean the School Sucks: The Faux Relationship Between Latinx Saturation Rate and Institutional Prestige
Julianne Pena
• 25% or more full time students that are of Latinx decent (U.S. Department of Education) • Since 1992, enrollment and attendance of students increased (Vela & Gutierrez, 2017) • Latinx students more likely to enroll in HSIs over non HSIs (Vargas et al., 2019) • Latinx faculty to Latinx students 146:1, White faculty to White students 10:1 (Vargas et al., 2019) • Overrepresentation of White faculty and Underrepresentation of Latinx faculty (Robertson, 2023) • Diverse faculty is impactful (Contreras, 2017; Dayton et al., 2004; Turner & Gonzales, 2014) Purpose: The purpose of this topic is to bring awareness to Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), the misconceptions that come with prestige, and illustrating how students learn better through having a diverse faculty (Contreras, 2017; Dayton et al., 2004). Hypothesis: If university administrators are correct in their assessment of Latinx faculty as less valued, we would expect to see a negative statistical relationship between Latinx saturation rate and institutional prestige.
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Evaluation of prosthetic and orthotic technologies using AI technology
Iris Reyna, Samerial Brown, Gary Guerra, and Ed Khu
Individuals with lower limb prosthetics have amputations and abnormal limb motions, which poses a high risk of injury when doing everyday activities. In this field, evaluation of individuals' prosthetics are done through biomechanical analysis and gait analysis. This analysis is used to study human movement and evaluate the mobility and quality of life of amputee patients as well as determining the modifications, positioning, and alignment needed to ensure stability with prosthetic and orthotic technologies (Kumar & Bhowmik, 2024). Trunk flexion has importance to the study because of its impact on lower limb kinetics, kinematics, the increase of ground reaction forces, stride parameters and joint movements. Trunk acceleration shows the functional mobility of an individual during assessment, the higher the acceleration the faster the trunk (Warrener, et al., 2021).
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Do young belugas play more or less than adult belugas?
Winter Saldana
★ The presence of play is used as an indicator of well-being in many species including belugas (Hill et al., 2017; Hill & Ramirez, 2014). ★ Adult and young belugas engage in similar types of play, but the frequency with which belugas play with objects, the actions used during those object play bouts, and the type of materials the objects consist of have not been examined in detail (Hill & Ramirez, 2014). ★ The purpose of this study was to explore if object play exhibited by belugas varied in frequency of play bouts, actions, and materials used by young and adult animals.
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AI vs. Human Imagery in Advertising: Do Consumers Care?
Belyn Thompson
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming digital marketing, with AI-generated images increasingly used in advertising and brand communication. While these visuals allow companies to reduce costs and experiment with creative ideas, it remains unclear how consumers perceive AI-generated content compared to human-created visuals. Advances in platforms such as DALL-E and Midjourney have made AI images more realistic and difficult to distinguish, raising questions about transparency and ethical disclosure in advertising. This study examines how AI-generated images and disclosure strategies influence consumer perceptions, including purchase intent, aesthetic appeal, and perceived realism across different product categories.
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The casualties of the open-borders debate: Latinx feminist voices on the ethics of migration
Amely Logan
To consider philosophical perspectives on immigration restrictions and the consequences of the open borders debate more generally.
• The open borders debate within the ethics of migration consists of arguments from philosophers who justify states’ rights to restrict immigration and arguments from philosophers who believe states should have open borders.
• Christopher Heath Wellman’s “Immigration and Freedom of Association,” where he argues that states do in fact have a right to exclude immigrants from their territories. I highlight how the language and framing around migrants in works, like Wellman’s, itself does harm to migrants.
• While border enforcement results in mass casualties among immigrants, I argue that social terms that characterize immigrants as “illegals” and “aliens” constitute another type of causality migrants face that is overlooked in the open borders debate.
• By taking seriously Latinx feminist voices, like those of Mariana Ortega and Gloria Anzaldúa, that are often neglected within the ethics of migration, it becomes clearer to understand the immigrant experience and difficulties immigrants face due to the way in which they are portrayed in the United States.
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Importance of intervention
Megan Lexi Maldonado
Domestic violence is a global issue, and research extensively highlights its impact on individuals, especially children. This poster examines the detrimental effects of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on children, such as attachment problems, intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), resilience, cognitive abilities, and trust. Despite growing awareness, there is still a lack of information on effective community and school interventions to aid affected children. The intent of this poster is to promote discussion on strategies for communities and schools to better assist children impacted by IPV.
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Female Beluga behavior during breeding season - It's all about the males
Alondra-Sophia Martinez, Heather Manitzas Hill, and Katie Kolodziej
This poster was created for the 5th annual Research Showcase. From the poster:
The current study examined the behavior of adult female belugas during courtship/breeding.
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Traditional gender roles and intimate partner violence: Exploring relationships between religion, self-control, and alcohol
Carina J. Pawlak
IPV is the physical, psychological, or sexual aggression by a married, unmarried, or live-in partner (Patra et al., 2018).
- Male perpetrators are reported for 92% of the IPV cases compared to females and are more likely to severely injure or kill their partners (Levitt et al., 2008).
- In a traditional community that had lax attitudes toward IPV, there was an 80% increase in the likelihood of perpetration and women’s consent to the violence increased their likelihood of victimization by 11% (Linos et al., 2013).
- To maintain traditional gender roles found within religious communities, some men may use religion such as using reaffirming Bible verses: “Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord” (King James Bible, 1769/2017, Ephesians 5:22). - Masculine gender role stress occurs when men are confronted with threats to their masculinity, which may prompt them to act violently when traditional gender roles are breached (Baugher & Gazmararian, 2015; Baumeister et al., 1996).
- Finkel et al. (2009) found that participants had a higher likelihood of committing IPV if they were low in dispositional self-control.
- Alcohol intoxication was found to be positively correlated with IPV perpetration (Grom et al., 2021).
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Investing in the future
Sophia Phelan
Research question
Do HBCUs and HSIs liberal arts provide higher returns on investments than Non-Minority Serving liberal arts institutions for students?
Uniqueness of HBCUs and HSIs
Historically Black Universities and Colleges
• Must be founded before 1964
• Provide educational opportunities for Black Americans
• Strong ties to Black culture and history
• Focus on community service and leadership development
Hispanic-Serving Institutions
• At least 25% of the student body is Hispanic or Latino
• Incorporate culturally relevant curriculum and support services
• Committed to making higher education accessible to Hispanic students
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The human touch: exploring emotional attachment responses to human and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated imagery
Belyn P. Thompson
Considering the new age of marketing, consumer reactions and interactions with marketing have drastically changed and flexed over the decades. The most recent hit revelation is AI marketing, specifically AI-generated images, and the worry that it brings to not only marketing specialists but to the whole community. Within other studies, there is often mention of an emotional connection to images used in advertisements (among videos, media, etc.) through various methods such as senses, loyalty, connection, and empathy. This paper works to better understand how AI-generated images used for advertising could affect emotional attachment and purchase behavior in consumers.