St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC) is a private college in Sparkill, New York. The college is named after the medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas. It was founded by the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, whose headquarters are in the town. The college offers 35 majors across three schools: Arts and Sciences, Business, and Education.St..
Background: The increasing prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia has intensified interest in nonpharmacological interventions that may enhance cognitive resilience and quality of life. While cognitive training and digital interventions are well represented in the literature, structured multimodal arts-based interventions remain underexamined in neuroscience-focused journals. Objective: To synthesize peer-reviewed evidence (2015–2025) on structured nonpharmacological interventions for cognitive impairment and introduce the Therapeutic Thematic Arts Programming (TTAP®) model as a theoretically grounded multimodal framework aligned with contemporary neuroscience. Methods: Narrative review of peer-reviewed literature examining cognitive training, multisensory stimulation, reminiscence therapy, dyadic caregiver interventions, and structured activity programming in older adults with MCI or dementia. Results: Evidence strongly suggests multimodal structured engagement may positively influence mood regulation, behavioral symptoms, caregiver burden, and possibly cognitive maintenance. Mechanisms include activation of neuroplastic pathways, autobiographical memory networks, limbic–prefrontal integration, and social cognition circuits. Conclusion: Structured arts-based multimodal interventions warrant rigorous empirical investigation. TTAP® provides a conceptual framework consistent with current neurobiological models of cognitive reserve and multisensory engagement.
Economic and demographic shifts can shape property crime patterns in rural communities, challenging assumptions that these areas are inherently safe. Prior research has linked factors such as population size, housing turnover, employment, and resource production to crime, yet few studies examine their combined effects in rural settings. This study analyzes the relationship between economic indicators and property crime in rural Natrona County, Wyoming, guided by Routine Activity Theory, Strain Theory, and Social Disorganization Theory. The study hypothesizes that decreases in oil and gas production, heightened drought levels, a shrinking labor force, rising unemployment and residential availability, and lower high school graduation rates will be associated with increases in property crime. Additionally, it is expected that Natrona County will experience lower levels of property crime during periods of lockdown mandates. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model with the independent variables, COVID-19, gas and oil production, total population, labor force size, and homes for sale, was applied to monthly property crime data from January 2021 through December 2023. The model explained 91% of the variance in crime. Findings show COVID-19 negatively predicted property crime, while population totals and homes for sale were positively associated. Gas production was significant without a clear trend, and oil production and labor force size were not significant. Results highlight the critical role of housing and population dynamics in rural crime patterns. Future research should expand economic measures and improve data reliability to better capture rural crime dynamics.
Water pollution is a pressing global issue, exacerbated by industrial activities, agricultural runoff, and inadequate wastewater treatment, leading to widespread contamination of water bodies with heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and emerging contaminants like microplastics. Phytoremediation—the use of plants to remove, degrade, or stabilize environmental contaminants—offers a sustainable and cost-effective solution for improving water quality. This review explores recent advancements in phytoremediation, focusing on the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as nanotechnology, microbial synergy, and genetic engineering to enhance its efficiency. Nanomaterials, such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles, enhance contaminant bioavailability and degradation through mechanisms like photocatalysis and reactive oxygen species generation. Plant growth-promoting bacteria optimize rhizosphere processes to increase metal uptake and organic pollutant breakdown. Genetic engineering, including CRISPR/Cas9 approaches, enables precise modifications of plant traits related to pollutant tolerance and accumulation. Collectively, these advancements have demonstrated significantly improved contaminant removal rates compared to traditional plant-based methods—though primarily in controlled, small-scale studies. Challenges remain in scaling these technologies to real-world applications due to ecological risks, high regulatory costs, and the need for robust cost–benefit analysis. Continued interdisciplinary research and pilot-scale validation will be essential to ensure these tools can be safely and effectively deployed in large-scale aquatic remediation.
New varieties of broccoli have been developed to grow in the East Coast climate that demonstrated promising consumer demand for locally grown broccoli among East Coast consumers despite quality differences. Understanding of retail buyer preferences is decidedly limited, however. Previous studies were inconclusive or found buyers unwilling to overlook their quality differences. We had reservations concerning the validity of methods in a study showing indifference to local procurement—specifically, buyers reviewed the same broccoli and asked if local would make a difference in their choices. In this study, we address this concern by randomly supplying half the respondents with sourcing information and half without. The data show buyer preferences for color and bead size, and they were important attributes of variety selection. Quality perceptions of East and West Coast sourced broccoli strains were similar whether respondents knew the source or not, but a greater percentage of respondents preferred East Coast broccoli when provided with sourcing information compared with those who did not. East Coast sourcing stood as a standalone attribute that, although preferred, did not affect overall buyer perceptions of quality.
