JSU Student Symposium 2025

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  Why Combat Athletes Lose Weight for Competition

  Jacob Walls

  Please note: no video is available for this presentation.

  Rapid weight loss (RWL) is widespread among combat sports athletes seeking a competitive advantage. However, the methods and techniques vary generally and can significantly impact performance and health. The effectiveness and risks of weight loss depend on the methods used, their scientific basis, and athlete supervision.

  This study investigates the prevalence, methods, and influencing factors of weight loss strategies in combat sports. It explores how cultural norms, coaching practices, and scientific guidelines influence weight-cutting decisions in different combat sports. It evaluates whether current weight-cutting practices align with evidence-based recommendations for safe weight management. Maintaining a healthy weight loss system is important due to the increased potential health risk the athlete could face if done incorrectly or neglectfully. By reviewing and analyzing weight loss trends across different combat sports and levels of competition, this research highlights where areas of improvement can occur to support the athlete more efficiently.

  Most combat athletes undergo weight cuts multiple times yearly, typically losing 3-5% of body weight within 7-14 days before competition. The most frequently used strategies are controlled dieting, increased exercise, training in heated environments, and fluid restriction. However, some athletes turn to extreme methods such as laxatives, diuretics, diet pills, and self-induced vomiting, which pose serious health risks, including dehydration and hormonal imbalances.

  Coaches significantly influence athletes’ weight-cutting strategies, but many rely on traditional, non-scientific methods, increasing the risk of unsafe practices. This increases the risk of unhealthy weight loss cuts for athletes since these methods tend not to be based on some form of scientific methods. Athletes should collaborate with sports nutritionists to ensure weight loss methods are both effective and safe. They can guide them on the proper way to lose weight safely and efficiently. With guidance from a health professional, an athlete can achieve successful weight cuts that should lead to less hindrance to their performance and increase their overall health.

  While weight cutting is essential in combat sports, rapid weight loss over short periods poses serious health and performance risks. Some athletes follow safe weight management strategies, but others adopt extreme, harmful methods due to pressure or misinformation. A science-based, holistic approach to weight management is essential for optimizing performance while minimizing health risks.

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  Graphic Design | Kelcy Williams

  Kelcy Williams

  Graphic design entry for 2025 Student Symposium

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  Exploring the Virtualization Potential of Raspberry Pi Devices with Proxmox VE

  Deuntae Winston

  Please note: no video is available for this presentation.

  Single-board computers (SBCs) are becoming increasingly popular for all types of applications due to their versatility, affordability, low power consumption, growing computing capabilities, and active community support. They were originally marketed for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, DIY projects, and educational purposes. However, over the years, the development of more powerful models has opened the way for resource-intensive applications such as virtualization. This work explores the feasibility and limitations of using the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (RPi 4B) and the Raspberry Pi 5 (RPi 5) to create affordable virtual environments with Proxmox VE. Proxmox VE is an open-source virtualization platform for the management of virtual machines (VMs), containers, and storage resources. The study considers various memory configurations and storage mediums for the evaluated SBCs, including microSD cards, SATA SSDs connected through USB 3.0, and NVMe SSDs connected through PCIe x1. To assess and analyze the potential of the proposed virtual environment, exhaustive experiments were conducted, focusing on VM cloning time, startup efficiency, scalability, live migration, and network performance.

  Our experiments showed that both Raspberry Pis (RPi 4B and RPi 5) can be utilized in virtual environments, albeit with a limited number of VMs, primarily due to memory constraints. The SBCs with 4 GB of RAM could run up to six basic Debian VMs, while the 8 GB versions supported a maximum of fifteen VMs. The RPi 5, with its upgraded hardware, significantly outperformed the RPi 4B, making it a better choice for projects requiring higher processing power, if the slight increase in cost fits within the budget. Moreover, the PCIe x1 interface available in the RPi 5 (but not in the RPi 4B) proved to be a key advantage in all the experiments performed in this work, offering a much higher data transfer rate. For the RPi 4B, storage access emerged as the primary bottleneck. In contrast, with the RPi 5 equipped with an NVMe SSD connected through PCIe x1, the network became the most common limitation, as storage access speeds far exceeded network transfer rates.

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  Graphic Design | Abdul Bashiru Yussif

  Abdul Bashiru Yussif

  Graphic design entry for 2025 Student Symposium