Search Results
The Biomechanics of Golf Performance
The purpose of this study is to determine what golf equipment and swing characteristics best predict playing ability in a population of golfers. Golfers will come to the laboratory and hit shots with various clubs while the movement of their body and the ball are tracked.
Participants will come to the Penn State Golf Teaching and Research Center and hit golf shots using their driver, 7 iron, and putter. A golf simulator will be used to track the ball trajectory. The movements of participant's body segments and the force they apply to the ground will be measured in three-dimensions as they swing. Participants will receive brief instruction from a Class-A PGA Professional upon completion.
Participants will receive brief instruction from a Class-A PGA Professional upon completion.
Between ages of 18-75
Physically able to play a full round of golf (i.e., 18 holes)
Not between ages of 18-75
Not physically able to play a full round of golf (i.e., 18 holes)
Strong Foundations: Intervening to Promote Co-Parenting and Reduce Father Hazardous Drinking in Expectant Parents.
This is a randomized efficacy trial of a family and alcohol intervention (mFF+) for expecting couples with heavy drinking fathers and light drinking/abstaining (in pregnancy) mothers. We propose to test an innovative preventive strategy by adapting an evidence-based preventive intervention for couples at the transition to parenthood - Family Foundations (FF) - to yield a multi-modal intervention that incorporates alcohol content into existing modules of FF and adding alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) for hazardous drinking. This is a multi-PI application with Drs. Eiden (at Penn State) and Godleski (at Rochester Institute of Technology) as co-PIs. Dr. Colder (at the University at Buffalo (UB)) is a co-investigator and will serve as PI of the UB subcontract. Families will be recruited in Western New York (Buffalo and Rochester). Investigators at Penn State (Drs. Eiden and Feinberg) will provide training and supervision. Data management and analyses will occur at Penn State
Couples will be asked to participate in online parenting classes and family assessments during and after pregnancy. There are 3-5 prenatal and 1-4 postnatal classes that take place over Zoom. Family are also asked tp participate in 3 family assessments: 1 during pregnancy, 1 at 6 months of infant age, and one at 12 months of infant age. Families will be asked to complete inline surveys before each assessment. Additionally, families are asked to submit hair and saliva samples.
425.00
First time parents
18 years of age or above
English speaking
Both parents living together
Not pregnant with first child
Parents not living together
Examining views associated with physical exercise and its connection to diet, social connectivity, and stress reduction: Online Focus Groups
The primary objective of this study is to examine, via online focus groups, the perceptions that are held by potentially-eligible subjects in the PSH DPP program in regard to the importance of physical exercise, particularly within the context of diet, social connectivity, and stress reduction. These perspectives will then be used to help develop, test, and refine additional motivational text messages that can be used in a text messaging intervention. Participants will receive a $25.00 gift card.
Body Mass Index ≥25 kg/m2 (≥23 kg/m2 if Asian)
Have no previous diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes
Fluent in English
Body Mass Index <25 kg/m2 (<23 kg/m2if Asian)
Previous diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes
Not fluent in English
Health Apps to Mitigate COVID-19 Risk Survey
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting everyone’s daily routine, our lives have changed drastically. The health of ourselves, families, friends, and communities is our biggest concern and finding a cure to this problem is still underway The purpose of this survey is to analyze how people are taking control of their health using various health applications forms.
iVR for the Geosciences
Fieldwork is a core activity in the geosciences. Immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), allow for embodied experiences while not physically present at a field site or create experiences not possible in physical reality. Immersive VR (short: iVR) refers to systems using head-mounted displays to deliver 360-degree experiences. It can deliver remote and large-scale geological entities to the laboratory, allowing geoscientists to apply real-world skills and methods to explore and interact with 3D geological models. We describe a project in which we developed an iVR workbench and experience for Iceland’s Thrihnukar volcano combining satellite imagery with terrain elevation data to create a basic reconstruction of the real world, using terrain elevation terrestrial LiDAR data to provide a point cloud model of the entire magmatic-volcanic system and intensity values for the identification of rock types, and Structure from Motion (SfM) mapping to construct a photorealistic point cloud of the volcano. To reproduce fieldwork activities, this project digs deeply into the scientific workflow of geosciences research, evaluates the priorities of the major phases of geosciences fieldwork, and develops a prototype immersive workbench for direct manipulation, information retrieval, geometric measurement, and the integration of multimedia resources. This workbench offers analytic functions currently not available in the field and is expected to help making fieldwork experiences accessible, shareable, and available any time. Future developments will also allow for collaborating remotely as well as designing repositories for comparative studies.
Major in disciplines related to Earth Sciences (e.g., Geosciences, Geography, and Environmental Science)
Human intent recognition using surface cues in physically dynamic tasks
Prediction of a subject's goal in a task based on patterns in their body language, speech, facial expressions, reaction to outcome, in short any observable measure.
provides consent to record video of the experiment
does not consent to experiment being recorded
Effects of Individualist and Collectivist Culture on Emotional Empathy in Counselor Trainees
This research is an attempt to understand the components of empathy and the cultural factors that shape its development. I am seeking about 200 Master's-level counseling students in the U.S. to complete the online survey. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, and participants will have chances to win Amazon gift cards and to learn the study results.
over 18-year-old
under 18-year-old
Threat of infection, social decision-making, and the autonomic nervous system
The purpose of the study is to test how social decisions are affected by possible risk of infection. We aim to examine how choices in a risky social decision-making situation can influenced by viewing images of infection threat (e.g., person with runny nose) vs. images of neutral scenes or other threatening scenes.
There will be one 90-minute in-person visit. Participants will be asked to have electrodes placed on their skin to record their physiological signals, answer questionnaires, and complete a decision-making task on the computer while looking at different images.
$30
Student at Penn State University Park
English-speaking
No cardiovascular, metabolic, or neurological condition
No diagnosis of COVID-19 within the last 14 days
Not a student at Penn State University Park
Does not speak English
Has cardiovascular, metabolic, or neurological condition
Has/had diagnosis of COVID-19 within the last 14 days
Investigation of Semantic Processing in Context
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of context on the processing of words in young adults with and without an autism spectrum disorder. The knowledge gained may lead to further understanding of the cognitive and linguistic processing of individuals with autism spectrum disorder—how they understand and see the world around them. The study is being conducted at our on-campus lab and includes the completion of some standardized paper and pencil tests and some computer-based activities. Participants receive compensation for their participation.
Normal or corrected to normal vision
Normal hearing
With or without a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder or Asperger syndrome
Vision problems (uncorrected)
Hearing problems
Invisible Sojourners: Second Language Socialization Among International Spouses
This study will examine how international spouses improve their English ability and form connections with the local community. Participants will be interviewed to learn about their experiences. Social events that are found to be positive will be recorded so that the interactions in that space can be analyzed to determine how they help international spouses.
Understands spoken English
Nocturnal stress: Psychophysiological mechanisms and eating behavior
This study will examine the relationships among time-of-day, light exposure, stress markers, and self-reported eating. Physiological measures of stress will be assessed both in and out of the laboratory using a gold-standard emotion induction task, along with out-of-lab questionnaires and ambulatory sensors.
This is a week-long study consisting of two in-person visits and five out-of-lab days. During the in-person visits, you will be connected to equipment that measures your physiological data and participate in a task with different sounds. During the out-of-lab days, you will wear a sensor that will collect your physiological data and answer questionnaires.
$135
Not a regular (>1x day) user of nicotine products
Willing to participate in 2 in-lab sessions and 5 out-of-lab days of wearing a sensor
Willing to have gender-matched lab member attach electrodes to the participant while their shirt is removed
Willing to abstain from alcohol use for 24 hours, caffeine consumption for 6 hours, eating for 2 hours, and vigorous exercise for 2 hours prior to the study session
Not willing to have gender-matched lab member attach electrodes to the participant while their shirt is removed
Not willing/able to wear biosensor at home for 5 consecutive days
Diagnosis of a cardiovascular, metabolic, and/or neurological condition
Regular (>1x day) user of nicotine products
fMRI based mapping of the supraspinal projections of the exercise pressor reflex
This study will examine how the brain controls blood pressure responses during exercise, and will include 2 separate visits. In one visit, you will perform a series of handgrip exercises followed by inflation of a blood pressure cuff while we collect muscle nerve activity and blood pressure. In the other two sessions you will perform a similar task while laying in an MRI machine.
healthy
able to perform handgrip execise
normal blood pressure
have metal implants
taking heart medication
pregnant/nursing
smoker
Understanding the user experience of using consumer-facing digital symptom checkers
This is an interview study that examines how people use online symptom checker platforms or apps (e.g., WebMD, Ada, K health app, Your.MD) to self-diagnose or support the decision of whether and when to do a medical visit. The research procedure involves: 1) a short screening survey which helps us determine who are eligible to participate; 2) an audio‐taped interview with each eligible participant that will last approximately 30‐60 minutes online or offline near Penn State University Park. Each participant will be compensated with a $20 Amazon gift card for completing the interview.
Speak English or Chinese
At least 18 years of age
Have used online symptom checker platforms or apps
Have never used any symptom checker
Vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, cognitively impaired adults, and prisoners
Gaming Communities as Virtual Third Places: A Quantitative Assessment
This study will collect information about the use of gaming communities for social interaction.
Participants will be asked to complete a short survey.
Perceptional evaluation of concert halls with different properties
The overall goal of the project is to better understand how people subjectively perceive differences in concert hall acoustics. Subjects will listening to musical passages, side-by-side, in aural simulations of being in different concert halls or rooms. Subjects will then be asked to provide perceptual ratings on reverberance about the different rooms in which they are listening to.The results from this research will help to better understand how concert-goers perceive different room, and will help acoustic consultants to better design concert hall in the future to produce more pleasing acoustic environments.
5 years of formal musical training
Hearing thresholds below 15 dB (will be checked during testing)
No musical training or less than 5 years
Hearing thresholds above 15 dB
Understanding the Public Opinion about Commute Time in Automated Vehicles
The main research goal of this work is to collect drivers’ opinions on autonomous vehicles and their perceptions of time when they ride with autonomous vehicles comparing with manual-driven vehicles.
Have at least one year of driving experience
The age of driver is under 18
Describing and Understanding Local Varieties of Central Pennsylvanian English
This study aims to provide original descriptions and analyses of features of the vernacular varieties of English spoken in Central Pennsylvania. Previously understudied, this project will provide new data from both spontaneous speech and controlled experiments to contribute to our understanding of language variation in Central PA, and to the larger body of knowledge on variation in American English.
from the Central PA region
native speaker of American English
did not grow up in Central PA
does not speak English as a native language
Understanding the Experiences of College Students of Color with Psychiatric Disabilities
The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the lived experiences of college students of color with psychiatric disabilities, particularly related to the formation of racial identity, disability identity, and the impact of perceived discrimination.
18 years of age or older
Capable of providing informed consent
Diagnosis of a psychiatric disability
Identify as a person of color
Individuals who are not yet legal adults
Prisoners
Unable to speak/read English Language at time of interview
Attitudes and ethical concerns toward use of TMS in depressed adolescents: a qualitative study of recipients and their parents
This project will examine adolescents', parents'/guardians', and society's attitudes toward the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and theta burst stimulation (TBS) in adolescent depression. The attitudes and concerns of adolescents,their parents/guardians, and society around TMS are important as they can influence the uptake of the interventions, with adolescents playing an important role in assenting to the intervention, and parents/guardians consenting to treatment.
Participation will involve about 1 hour of your time in a semi-structured interview. We will have a separate 1 hour semi-structure interview with your child. The interviews will take place via Zoom or phone. Interviews will be recorded. Phone calls to Zoom meetings are encouraged, if phone calls are the preferred interview method.
$50.00
Adults with the capacity to consent
Able to conduct the interview in English
Children who lack the capacity to assent
Adults who llack the capacity to consent
Biobehavioral Health Risk and Resilience in College Students (PSU THRIVE Study)
This protocol is designed to examine biobehavioral health risks, resilience, grit, forgiveness and well-being in college students.
18 to 24 years of age
English is a primary language
Under age of 18 years
Over age of 24 years
Not comfortable speaking English
Linking olfactory deficits to memory impairment and AD neurodegeneration
The purpose of this voluntary research study is to find out more about changes in the brain as we age. This study is trying to determine if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), genetic variations, amyloid positron emissions tomography (PET), neuropsychological testing, and smell tests can be used to evaluate memory loss and cognitive impairment.
You will be asked to come to the research site once a year for 5 years.Annual (and semi-annual) procedures include completing smell tests, neuropsychological tests, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). One-time procedures include provide blood sample, amyloid PET scan (if indicated), and optional lumbar puncture.
Up to $250 a year
Smell impairment
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
Currently smoke
Have claustrophobia
Graduate Students’ Experience with Online Professional Profiles and Social Media
With the development of information and communication technologies, Social Network Sites and other online platforms can be great resources for career-related information and social networking. Despite the evidence of possible professional benefits, it remains unclear whether graduate students’ experiences with building online career profiles and social networking are positive. Therefore, this study aims to understand graduate students’ experience with professional practices on the Internet concerning their motivations, benefits, and risks.
An active graduate student at University Park campus
Emotion Regulation and Mother-Infant Synchrony
The aim of this study is to better understand emotion regulation in infants by measuring brain, behavior, and mother-infant relational mechanisms. We plan to collect simultaneous brain activation in mothers and infants while they engage in a face-to-face interaction. We will then test associations between individual brain activation, mother-infant brain synchrony, and infant emotion regulation behaviors.
Participants complete questionnaires online, then come in for 1 in-person visit. Mother and baby complete a play and a neutral task while fNIRS is collected from them simultaneously.
40
Infants born 3 weeks within their due date.
Infants of a birth weight > 2500 g.
Infants with NO serious medical complications.
English-speaking families.
Infants who experienced any serious medical complications.
Infants who were born > 3 weeks before the indicated gestational period.
Families who do not understand and do not speak English
Predicting Concussion Outcomes with Salivary miRNA
The purpose of this study is to identify changes in salivary micro ribosomal nucleic acid (miRNA) expression that are predictive of symptom duration and severity following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in children. The primary endpoints of this study are as follows:1)Characterization of brain-related miRNA in the saliva of 250 children with mTBI and 200 age- and gender-matched controls between the ages of five and twenty-three years.2)Identification of a set of salivary miRNAs that is predictive of duration and severity of mTBI symptoms.
Saliva collection and surveys at baseline, 7 days, and 30 Days
$20
Seen in the Penn State Pediatric Concussion Clinic within 2 weeks of most recent concussion
Periodontal disease
Ongoing seizure disorder, or other neurologic disorder
Drug or alcohol dependency
clinical diagnosis of severe TBI
Postmenopausal women and their endothelium: Is dietary nitrate supplementation protective?
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The loss of estrogen from menopause puts women at a greater risk of developing heart disease. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of drinking beetroot juice on measures of blood vessel health and blood pressure. Participants will drink beetroot juice and placebo juice each for one week followed by blood pressure measurements and ultrasound imaging of an artery in the upper arm. A sub-aim of this study is to investigate the effects of estrogen status on blood vessel function between pre- and post-menopausal women.
There are a total of 6 in-person visits to the Clinical Research Center. You will be asked to drink beetroot juice (2 oz) every day for 7 days. Participants will undergo vascular assessments, blood pressure measurements, and blood draws (11 in total for 6 visits).
$120
BMI <35
Blood pressure <130/80
LDL <170 mg/dL
Individuals with resting blood pressure > or = 130/80 mmHg
Users of any tobacco and/or nicotine products (smokers, chewing tobacco, nicotine-containing patches/gum, smokeless cigarettes)
Individuals with any overt cardiovascular, metabolic, hematologic, pulmonary, renal, musculoskeletal, and/or neurological disease(s)
Individuals with active cancer
Slips of Action in Adolescents and Young Adults
Adolescence is a critical period during which many important healthhttps://irb.psu.edu/IRB/sd/ResourceAdministration/Project/ProjectEditor?Project=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[058ACDEB3E43384D816C7E390C2B83F6]]&Mode=smartform&WizardPageOID=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[E4552FC57E491543A6B7FD8268E23FD7]] habits form in humans. However, animal models provide mixed information about habit formation across development and there are relatively few human studies that address differences between habit formation in adolescents and adults. To address this gap, the proposed study will assess differences in habit formation in adolescents and adults as measured by the "Slips of Action" task, which seeks to discriminate between habitual and goal-directed learning of visual stimuli pairings.
There will be one in-person visit lasting about one hour. Visits will begin with informed consent. Participants will complete a computer task where they are asked to learn associations between pictures and then will be tested on the associated pairings. They will also complete questionnaires and cognitive tasks.
$20
Healthy adults between the ages of 25 to 40
No learning disabilities (e.g., ADHD) or diagnosed psychological conditions (e.g. anxiety)
Right handed
Not on any medications known to influence behavior
Diagnosed neurological or psychological condition including severe anxiety and/or depression, schizophrenia, learning disability, ADD/ADHD, or autism
Significant family history of neurological or psychological disorders
Left handed
Participant is on any medication that may influence behavior
Reducing Perception Error in Diagnostic Radiology
This research is being done to find out the relationship between an individual’s mental state and how well they perform visual-perceptual tasks. This will allow us to understand the brain processes related to errors in image perception, to understand how mental states impact medical image interpretation. Overall, this research will help us develop training programs to reduce the amount of perceptual errors in diagnosing images
Healthy adults, with college or advanced degree
Normal or corrected to normal vision
Pregnant or lactating
Presence of pacemaker, aneurysm clips, or any metal in the body
A history of welding or grinding
Claustraphobia
Evaluation of the Immune Response and Antigenic Signature of Patients with Babesia Infection in Pennsylvania with the Aim of Developing a Rapid Diagnostic Test
We are evaluating patients who have been infected with Babesia. Babesia is a blood parasite that is acquired from ticks. The number of cases seen in Pennsylvania every year has been increasing. We intend to evaluate the blood of patients acutely infected with Babesiosis and review for possible simultaneous co-infections. We will compare those infected patients with the blood of healthy individuals. The goal is to identify proteins in the blood of acutely infected patients that are specific for Babesia and also evaluate the prevalence of patient's who have contracted a co-infection from the tick vector that transmitted the Babesia infection. The identification of the specific bacterial/parasitic antigens could then be used to create rapid diagnostic tests and help clinicians increase awareness of these tick-borne diseases.
We will obtain basic demographic information and past medical history. We will obtain two 10ml samples of blood. The blood will then be stored and ultimately sent to Antigen Discovery, Inc for proteomic array screening.
18 years or older
History of having your spleen removed
History of liver or kidney disease
HIV
Diabetes
Perception of English sentences in context
This study tracks the eye movements of 30 adults to gather information on how they process sentences when presented in a context.
native speaker of American English
grew up mainly in the US
not a native speaker of American English
did not grow up mainly in the US
Comparison of Two Methods of Genre-based (Research Article) Writing Instruction
The different effects of genre-based writing instruction and integration of technology use in genre-based writing instruction will be examined. The specific genre for this study is a research paper. Different patterns of instructor-learner interaction in both instructional situations will also be investigated.
There will be three in-person visits for instructions on academic writing. Pre- and Post-instructions questionnaires and reflective journals will be collected.
non-native English speakers
adults older than 18 years old
active student enrolled at University Park campus
living in the United States
younger than 18 years old
not living in the United States