The creation of novel antimicrobial agents is currently at the forefront of modern healthcare due to a stark decrease in antimicrobial drug development in recent years and rise of “superbugs” that are resistant to more than one type of antimicrobial treatment, which are predicted by 2050 to cause 10 million deaths per year. Our research is focused on testing bacterial and fungal pathogens against methanolic and hexane extracts of various medicinal plants, such as Argemone mexicana. From previous work by our group, several antimicrobial compounds were isolated from the roots and leaves of A. mexicana, including berberine, chelerythrine and sanguinarine (work published in PLOS ONE in 2021). Since then, we have synthesized multiple rationally-designed variants of these original phytocompounds (fourteen berberine and four chelerythrine variants) and have tested these A. mexicana-inspired phytocompounds for altered antimicrobial activities. Interestingly, several of these variant compounds show increased antibacterial effects against gram-positive bacteria, yet reduced toxicity against the eukaryotic fungal cell lines tested. Moreover, based on an alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay, it appears that the altered antimicrobial actions of some of these unique variants may be due to changes in the permeability of the cell envelope, resulting in the leakage of intracellular proteins. A manuscript is being prepared to publish these exciting findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Our current work is focused on testing additional poorly-explored medicinal plants, as well as designing and synthesizing new variants of bioactive molecules in the hopes of discovering new, more effective drugs.

While hiking trails can disrupt the environment they are in, they can also increase plant diversity and allow animals to more easily pass through the location. All seeds require a method for dispersal, and for many, animals are the vector for their spread, either through endozoochory, epizoochory, dyszoochory, or myrmecochory. It has been suggested that anthropomorphic trails increase the presence of certain animal species, leading to more seed dispersal and diversity due to zoochory. This would suggest that the plants located closer to trails would be more likely to have animal-mediated seed dispersal as a primary mechanism. This study aims to answer whether hiking trails affect the percentage of dicot plants with an animal mediated seed method. This study sampled twelve sites, both close to (1m) and far away from (5m) on a wooded trail in Northwest Indiana. The plants within each sample were identified and their seed dispersal method was determined. Results showed that there was no significant difference in the percentage of plants with an animal-mediated seed dispersal method close to and far from trails. These results indicate that trails may have less of an impact on plant species than currently suspected, but could also be due to the presence of birds and the maintenance of the trails

The control of branching in Neurospora crassa has been studied under numerous environmental conditions. Here we present the observations of N. crassa morphology in simulated low-gravity across two main experiments. Wildtype samples were grown on solid and liquid media. The control group was grown on the lab bench while the experimental group was grown in a clinostat. In the first experiment, the samples were allowed to grow for two days so that the edges of growth could be observed. Qualitative properties including density and growth patterns were first compared. Photographs of microscope images were then used to measure branch intervals, frequency of branching, and branch types. In the second experiment, growth rates were calculated using the amount of growth every 24 hours over four days. Using statistical analysis, it was found that lateral branching, branch intervals, and growth rates were not significantly different between control and experimental samples. However, the growth patterns and density variations were dissimilar, and significant difference was found with the number of main hyphae and apical branching. It was concluded that simulated low-gravity has some effects on the morphology of N. crassa.

According to the World Health Organization, infectious diseases account for three of the top ten global causes of death. Antimicrobial drug discovery to treat such illnesses surged in mid-twentieth century but has sharply declined in recent years. At the same time, antimicrobial-resistant “superbug” infections are on the rise. Plants produce a robust supply of novel metabolic compounds including many antimicrobial agents. However, with the advent of modern antibiotic drugs, natural plant-derived antibiotic sources have largely been left unexplored. Therefore, our work is focused on screening poorly explored medicinal plants in the hopes of discovering novel antimicrobial drugs. To do this, we have been testing extracts of various plants found in the Valpo medicinal garden for their effects against twelve bacterial and fungal microbes of interest. To date, methanol and hexane extracts of both aerial and reproductive portions of 8 plants have been screened, with three plants showing especially promising activities. Both raspberry leaf and yarrow flower methanol extracts were seen to inhibit growth of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with little activity against the fungal organisms tested. Chokeberry leaf methanol extracts had similar trends, but with overall less activity. Moreover, we are currently working to separate the methanolic chokeberry leaf and raspberry leaf crude extracts using column chromatography to eventually determine the specific compounds responsible for these antibacterial activities. These data highlight the importance of plants as an invaluable pharmaceutical resource at a time when antimicrobial drug discovery has plateaued.

Correct functioning of the nervous system critically depends on the formation of the precise neuronal network. In the vertebrate visual system, axons of retinal ganglion cells project to the specific layers on the target regions in the brain, such as the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus and the superior colliculus/tectum in the midbrain. In mammals, the layer-specific visual projection provides the anatomical basis for disparity-based stereopsis (perception of depth). Our previous studies have provided evidence that Nell2 (Neural epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like-like 2), an extracellular glycoprotein predominantly expressed in the nervous system, acts as an inhibitory guidance molecule for retinal axons in establishment of the layer-specific visual projection. A crucial question at the next step is how Nell2 is recognized by retinal axons and how downstream signals are mediated. However, the receptor(s) for Nell2 has not been identified in retinal axons. The current work aims to identify and functionally characterize the receptor(s) that transduces Nell2-mediated signaling in retinal axons. By using immunohistochemistry, we have recently found that the receptor tyrosine kinase Ros1, which is known to bind to Nell2 in the testis, is expressed in developing chick retinal ganglion cells, suggesting that Ros1 may act as a receptor for Nell2 in the visual system. To analyze the function of Ros1 in the visual projection, we have designed and generated DNA oligonucleotides that encode pre-micro-RNA (pre-miRNA) sequences against Ros1 cDNA. The pre-miRNA sequences will be introduced into and stably expressed in the developing retina, by using the Tol2 transposon system and in vivo electroporation, and effects of Nell2 knockdown on the layer-specific visual projection will be analyzed by axon tracing. We expect that this project will elucidate the function of Nell2-Ros1 interaction in the layer-specific visual projection and provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of neuronal network formation.

The commensal human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans, prior to infect the human body, must penetrate the intestinal mucosal barrier. To do so, it needs to bypass the different protective mechanisms such as fluid secretion. The basolateral Na⁺-K⁺-2Cl^– cotransporter 1 (NKCC1) is a key protein regulating fluid secretion in the intestine. We hypothesize that C. albicans decreases fluid secretion prior to invasion by inducing NKCC1 internalization. In our experiments, we used Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells expressing a GFP-NKCC1 fluorescent tag and T84 cells, a human colonic cell line. Cells were infected with 100,000 C. albicans for varying lengths of time, fixed, stained and mounted for fluorescence microscopy. The number of internalized vesicles was evaluated using FIJI. Our results show that in MDCK cells, C. albicans only increased NKCC1 internalization at the 30-minute time point (P<0.05), all subsequent time points were not significant. Similarly, infecting T84 cells with C. albicans significantly induced NKCC1 internalization at the 30-minute (P<0.05), 1 hour (P<0.05), and 90-minute (P<0.05) time points. Past 90 minutes, we observed a sharp decline in the number of internalized vesicles that continued to decrease through 6 hours of exposure to C. albicans. Finally, in C. albicans-T84 infected cells, using an immunoblot approach, we found that total NKCC1 protein expression was decreased by ~20% (P<0.05) compared to uninfected cells. Our results suggest that C. albicans induces internalization of NKCC1, and subsequent degradation of NKCC1, which would decrease fluid secretion and allow adhesion, and invasion of the epithelium.

Plastic accumulation has increased drastically in the last decade, due to plastics not being able to degrade on a usable scale. Microplastics are small bits of plastic that can be ingested by organisms, but not digested. These plastics mimic biological chemicals, like hormones. It is critical to be able to measure the microplastic content of natural samples so we can evaluate load, and the success of any interventions. We have created standards of 5 microplastics to use to develop methods for quantification of microplastics in soil. We plan to use a spectrophotometer to measure the fluorescence of Nile-Red stained microplastics in the standards and spiked soil samples. Once these methods are established, we will be able to quantify the microplastics in environmental samples. Overall, our goal is to use a microbial community to degrade microplastics, and these methods will allow us to determine whether microplastics are being degraded in our experimental samples.

Precipitation patterns in the Midwest are becoming more extreme due to climate change. Spring floods and summer droughts are predicted to increase in frequency. This rapid change in precipitation may challenge plant growth throughout the region. We simulated the effects of these extremes in precipitation on 100 Arabidopsis thaliana recombinant inbred lines (RIL) to investigate gene-by-environment interactions on five growth and development phenotypes. We calculated the genetic variance, correlation, and heritability of the phenotypes, and will perform a QTL analysis to determine candidate genes that may play a role in plant success in this environment. The long-term goal of the project is to identify genes with an effect on plant fitness in the Midwestern environment as it is impacted by climate change.

Forensic entomology uses insects to help estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI) based on blow fly colonization. The PMI provides an estimate of the time between death and discovery and is of extreme relevance due to its large role in forensic investigations. Nine fetal pigs were thawed from frozen 24 hours before the start of the experiment. Six fetal pigs were covered with plastic bags: three with thin plastic bags (average bag weight of 5.43 g) and three with thick plastic bags (average bag weight of 11.9 g). The remaining three pigs served as the control group. These pigs were placed outside, monitored for 6 days, and checked three times daily to look for the presence of blow fly eggs, adults, and maggots. Third instar maggots were collected for later observance. ANOVA tests were conducted to look for differences in the timing of blow fly oviposition between treatments. There was no significant difference found for any of the life stages in either trial. P-values ranged from 0.22 -1. The maggots were identified to species to look for differences in species composition between treatments. Lucilia coeruleiviridis was the dominant species found. Sarcophagidae flies were found only on bagged pigs. Sarcophagidae larvae have been found very rarely in this field site over the past decade, so this is an interesting finding. Scavenging of the pigs was a problem and future research should aim to reduce the effects of vertebrate scavenging. This research was repeated in the Fall 2022 and results from that field season will also be presented.

As humans continue to produce more plastic, more and more plastic and other anthropogenic material is being introduced to the environment. Among other problems, plastic and anthropogenic materials in nests can harm birds through entanglement, ingestion, a decrease in parasites, and possibly higher visibility to predators. The goal of this research is to study the effect of plastic may have on predation risk. In the fall, natural robin and cardinal nests were acquired, and artificial nests were created out of grape vines, straw, pine needles and mud. Half of the nests were placed in an environment without any plastic, and three strips of white polyethylene plastic were added to the other half. Additionally, artificial eggs were created out of non-toxic modeling clay, and three were included with each nest. The nests were placed in low trees and shrubs on campus and checked two to three times a day. The time until predation and type of predator was recorded. Overall, 74% of the nests were attacked with more bird predation than mammal predation. We found that the time until predation was significantly longer for nests with plastic (n=11, t=2.3, p<.05). This experiment took place in the fall, and we are now repeating it during the spring breeding season using old nests collected during the winter. An increase to time till predator attack on nests containing plastic suggest birds may incorporate white polyethylene in their nests as a predator deterrent.

My series “Black Women Can…” is designed to be an attack against the harmful stereotypes and attitudes aimed at black women, “misogynoir”. Misogynoir, coined by Moya Bailey, is the combination of the words “misogyny”, the harmful attitudes and oppression of women, and “noir”, black in French. Misogynoir is simply the misogyny of black women. In Bailey’s book Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance she describes the three archetypes that black women are cast. These stereotypes, coined by Carolyn M. West, are the jezebel, the mammy, and the sapphire. In these depictions of Black women in the media, consumers of said media are fed the same three narratives that say, “This is what Black women are, and this is how they behave in the real world.” Consequently, the repetitive use of these harmful stereotypes in media bleeds into the real world, in the form of misogynoir.

Pathogenic bacterial and fungal infections are some of the leading causes of death in the population at large. Due to the ever-growing prevalence of drug-resistant “superbugs” and the lack of new antimicrobial drugs, there is a need to explore new and alternative pathways for fighting these diseases. Through a collaborative project, we previously explored extracts of the Argemone mexicana plant and isolated three antimicrobial agents found within. We are now exploring a number of new molecules which are variants of those found in the A.mexicana plant. Additionally, we have recently begun investigating alternative plant extracts, and have been separating these extracts in the hopes of identifying molecules responsible for these newer plants’ antimicrobial activity.

In this project, the bacterium Escherichia coli will be used to produce fusion proteins consisting of a fluorescence marker linked to an enzyme. One fusion protein will combine superfolder green fluorescence protein (sfGFP) with glutathione s-transferase (GST), and the other will combine sfGFP with folylpolyglutamate synthase (FPGS). The first stage of this process involves designing a DNA sequence with appropriate linkers, tags, and cleavage sites to be inserted into a plasmid. Then the fusion proteins will be expressed in E. coli, isolated, and finally validated by SDS-PAGE. In the future, other fusion proteins using variants of GST and FPGS will be created.

Fungal infections are very common throughout the world, but there is a lack of effective anti-fungal compounds. New anti-fungal compounds (e.g., D) are being developed to inhibit Methionine Synthase; an enzyme responsible for making the essential amino acid methionine. Previous investigations have shown that compounds containing the Pterin group demonstrated potential anti-fungal activity; however, it is challenging to synthesize these compounds because of insolubility and competition issues. To combat these issues, work is being conducted on adding the Pterin group at the end of the synthesis thereby bypassing the insolubility and competition issues. So far, the Boc Amine group (B) has been added to the starting material (A). Work is being done now in scaling up the (AB) reaction and eventually add the Pterin group (C).

CooA is a protein found in Rhodospirillum rubrum (Rr) and Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans (Ch) and is both a carbon monoxide (CO) sensor and transcription factor. When CO binds to a CooA heme, the protein undergoes a conformational change that enables it to bind to DNA. The broader goal of this research is to obtain a mechanistic understanding of how the CooA heme iron, along with amino acids that are attached to that iron, enable CooA to act as a CO-specific sensor. Experiments have been performed involving the substitution of the heme center for other transition metals, specifically manganese, to determine the chemical or physical changes the protein undergoes. This project was evaluated using electronic absorbance (UV-Visible) spectroscopy to study the CooA iron/metal bonding environment and fluorescence spectroscopy to study CooA DNA binding. Preliminary results suggest the metal complex coordination number and porphyrin distortion influence the ability of the protein to bind DNA for the Ch homolog when the terminal, distal amino acid side chain is unbound from the metal center.

Valparaiso University has recently received NSF funding to purchase a Raman Microscope. In this presentation we will describe the data it can obtain for different research purposes. This microscope finds application in its ability to detect light which is scattered rather than reflected or transmitted. Based on the wavelengths and energy of scattered light, we can learn information about the molecular structure of a sample. We will describe the application of Raman Spectroscopy at distinguishing three different forms of etidronic acid towards identifying the best structure which binds iron. In part this is accomplished by comparing the hydrogen acid with its deuterated form. This application supports research at Valpo’s Solar Energy Research Facility.

The rapid increase in plastic production over the past few decades has escalated the consequential global plastic pollution across all environments. Plastic pollution consists of large intact pieces, and also small, fragmented and altered pieces of plastic. In aqueous media, small micro- (< 10 um) and nanoplastics (< 1 um) have different properties than the larger plastic pieces, prompting the need for further investigations and concerns related to human and environmental health. We recently determined that using a small volume of liquid solubilizer, such as n-dodecane, and vigorous mixing, small micro- and nanoplastics are formed. Ultrasonic mixing can be used to further decrease these particle sizes and increase the concentration suspended in water. Common stock and real-world plastics, such as polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), and polycarbonate (PC) all readily formed nanoplastic suspensions in water. We have quantitatively created nanoplastic suspensions of known concentration with the solubilizer and have also removed it from the solution. The ease of this nanoplastic formation is also concerning, as it suggests they are more abundant and bio-available in natural environments than currently estimated.

Pedestrian traffic is the largest transportation mode in use on campus. It’s a central part of student life on campus. This research project examined pedestrian traffic on the Valparaiso University campus with an aim to both identify the highest pedestrian traffic areas, as well as determine the charactics of the traffic in those areas. We hypothesized that foot traffic would be the greatest at three locations: Gellerson, Harre Union, and Center of Science.

Pedestrian counters were placed throughout campus, with the main focus on the sidewalks that were determined by experience to be the heaviest traveled. The goal was to determine which pathways are most used during a normal class day including the weekends and which routes were the most popular. Pedestrian counting devices were placed at the identified locations and operated for a range of two to four days. All locations included at least two days’ worth of data. The data collection effort was designed to encompass the breakfast, first class of the day, and inter-class passing periods to allow for analysis of these high-traffic times.

The data was compiled by hour and day to allow for more detailed analysis of pedestrian travel behavior. Passing periods and overall pedestrian counts by location were noted. Once all data was compiled, the pathways were compared to determine which locations saw the highest volumes, and when the peak times at those locations occurred. From this data, inferences about the campus buildings generating these volumes, and pedestrian routes between them, could be surmised.

Peanut roundabouts, also known as dogbone roundabouts or dumbbell roundabouts, are a type of roundabout that has two roundabout segments connected by a narrow “waist” in the middle, resembling the shape of a peanut. They are typically applied in locations with challenging topography or right-of-way restrictions, precluding the use of a traditional circular roundabout. As a typical roundabout, peanut roundabouts are designed to accommodate higher traffic volumes and reduce traffic congestion by allowing traffic to flow continuously in a circular pattern without the need of signalized control. Peanut roundabouts are becoming more commonly used where efficient use of space is required. This study presents a comparative analysis of the delays at a planned peanut roundabout compared to an all-way stop controlled intersection in Elkhart County, Indiana. This comparative analysis is based on data collected using a micro-simulation model of the existing stop-controlled intersection and proposed peanut roundabout. The study tracked the difference in vehicle delay between these two intersections and in an effort to identify the factors that influence the associated delays. The findings of this study have practical implications for transportation planners and engineers, as the results provide insights into the factors that affect delays at these types of intersections, which can be used to improve transportation infrastructure and design on future intersection projects.

The purpose of this study was to perform an analysis of a campus intersection with both high traffic and pedestrian volumes focusing on both traffic operations and safety. A camera was placed at the intersection of Campus Dr. and Chapel Dr. and data was collected for a total of four weekdays while classes were in session. Vehicle movements and vehicle/pedestrian interactions at the crosswalk were observed. The data was used to make the following analyzes: determining of vehicle turn movements at the intersection, analysis of all-way stop warrants based on these movements, determination of the percentage of vehicles that do not come to a complete stop at the intersection, the volume of students who use the crosswalk each day categorized into 15-minute Intervals, and the identification of vehicle/pedestrian interactions at the crosswalk and if these interactions are safe, moderate, or unsafe.

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) currently utilizes traditional inductive loops to detect vehicles at all signalized intersections throughout the state. While functional, inductive loops require specific installation measures, are difficult to maintain, and are not able to be adjusted once placed. This study, sponsored by INDOT, analyzed and evaluated the effectiveness of an alternative vehicle detection method utilizing a pole-mounted radar system. The intersection of LaPorte Avenue at Porters’ Vale Boulevard in Valparaiso Indiana was used for this study. Detection events from the existing, standard inductive loops were compared to the radar system data. Where discrepancies were noted, video footage for the same time interval was used to verify the accuracy of each system. Based on the number of false calls, missed calls, and actuation time lag, the radar system was not found to meet the current INDOT standards of signal detection technologies.

With the growing use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) (drones) in commercial and professional engineering markets, the consumer drone industry has gradually improved and now offers advanced capability at an affordable price. Offerings from a number of UAV manufacturers can be operated in high wind conditions, and along with their software counterparts, can provide aerial mapping, imaging and topographic information to the user. Acquiring this information, if accurate, is also more efficient than traditional surveying methods.This study collected photographic data using a small consumer drone and then processed this data using commercial mapping software to develop a topographic surface model. The accuracy of this model was then evaluated versus ground data acquired via conventional surveying methods. The efficiency of the data workflow using drones was also noted.

Parking lots are a vital part of the urban infrastructure, providing convenience, safety, and economic benefits to communities. Proper planning, design, and management of parking lots are essential for realizing these benefits while promoting sustainable transportation and livable communities. Having adequate parking facilities on the Valparaiso University campus ensures that off-campus students and staff members can efficiently and conveniently access their on-campus destinations. A parking study was conducted on the Valparaiso University campus in the fall of 2022 to evaluate if campus parking lots are providing adequate capacity by both day of the week and time of day. A total of six parking lots were analyzed taking into account the different categories of parking spaces (resident, commuter, faculty/staff). Data collection for this study was partially provided by the CE 457 Traffic Engineering class. The data was collected, compiled, and graphed by the day, time, and parking space classification with maximum lot occupancy calculated for each location and parking category.

Valparaiso University is currently in a unique time of debate and unrest due to the decision to sell Brauer Museum art pieces, also known as “deaccessioning”, to fund freshman dormitory renovations. As a digital media student who is interested in the art of storytelling and video production, I took it upon myself to create a documentary that shows the story from various perspectives of impacted individuals. The documentary will also include news articles, audio from other interviews, and footage of the museum and various forms of activism in response to the deaccessioning. Currently, there is no form of media that displays multiple aspects of the story besides the “artisacoreresource” website. I believe it is important for people inside and outside of the Valpo community to understand the importance and effects of this unprecedented situation on our community and other universities.

As children, many of us would bring objects to life using our imagination. We would repurpose objects whose purpose was not to entertain children and we would use them for our amusement. My series, titled “Impossible Machines,” will attempt to capture that child-like imagination with a dystopian twist. “Impossible Machines” is a series of 4 oil paintings featuring hostile robots made up of various metal objects. Viewers will experience the most prominent environmental colors reflecting off the machine’s surfaces while also identifying familiar objects within these robots.

This series explores the advances of technology and receding natural environments through a metaphoric lens. Grayscale Frankenstein-esque machines take over the canvas of a planet’s natural environment. Similar to how advancements in technology have led to an increasingly grayer world at the expense of our natural environment.

This series titled “Building Blocks” is an exploration of shape, size, color, and poetry. The playfulness of concrete poetry, or visual poetry, in relation to my style of orderly and organized geometric abstraction is the main subject of my senior thesis project. I am intrigued by how the relationships of these elements can change how they compliment or juxtapose each other within a set of rules and limitations. These paintings are a playful puzzle, a kind of organized and orderly pattern through geometric abstraction, while the poetry provides an expressive and dynamic combination. The illusion of space and depth is created with color and shape while the gradations provide the effect of movement. I discovered that a seemingly insignificant change in variables provides a variety of surprising outcomes.

I want viewers to explore the various elements of each painting, discovering how the concepts of what is concrete and what is abstract can overlap and interact. I find that my paintings envelop a kind of rhythm, which can be enhanced or challenged by the hand written poetry. The poems are all original, and all of the straight vertical and horizontal borders of each shape are hand painted without the use of tape. This series is a record of my growing and changing ideas. They display a combination of skills of poetry writing, a study of relationships between shape, size, and color, and the gift of having a steady hand.

Exploring Asian Cuisine: A Cookbook for Beginners is a collection of four Asian recipes from Japan, China, and the Philippines. The main goal of this project is to help teach and demystify Asian food with recipes that are accessible and approachable without sacrificing authenticity and flavor. Each recipe has been carefully chosen to represent the unique flavors and ingredients of different Asian regions. From the bold flavors of Filipino Chicken Adobo to the delicate balance of flavors of Japanese curry, each recipe offers a glimpse into the rich culinary traditions of Asian cuisine. As a graphic designer, I am influenced by the Bauhaus movement and design philosophy of “form follows function.” Bauhaus design is often characterized as abstract, geometric, having shapes with little to no decoration, the use of primary colors, and bold typography. With my goal of sharing my favorite Asian recipes and showcasing my ability as a graphic designer to create visually compelling designs that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing, I hope that this cookbook will inspire others to explore the delicious and diverse world of Asian cuisine.

According to Healthline, intrusive thoughts are explained as “unexpected images or thoughts that seem to pop into your head”. My series of three acrylic paintings titled VIVID, serve to encapsulate the words and images that manifest in and out of my consciousness. In the form of controlled chaos, words from my thoughts will be echoed across a painted page along with spontaneous images that push themselves to the forefront of my mind. My thoughts are often much like fast fashion, picking up trends and dropping them when another trend captures my attention, and this series will follow suit. The VIVID series will consist of self-portraits as well as a collection of objects both painted and adhered to the surface of the paper. These paintings are constructed to convey the spontaneity of the thoughts and ideas that flow through me. This series of paintings are intimate, providing secret parts of my life, and most importantly an homage to neurodiversity

Two of the most popular decision-making techniques used in machine learning are Decision Trees and Random Forests. In this project, I will be analyzing the differences between Decision Trees and Random Forests and will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each technique in detail. In particular, I have computed the F1-score of each technique for the same data set in order to compare their performance. The F1-score is a weighted average of the precision and recall, with 1 representing the best score possible and 0 the worst score possible. In addition, I compare the predictions made by Decision Trees and Random Forests and create graphical visualizations of how much importance each technique gives to each variable in the data set.

Predictive ANALYSIS OF AIRBNB PROPERTIES IN THE CITY OF BERLIN

Nikhil Shinde

ABSTRACT

For my capstone project, we will be working on predicting the prices of the properties that are marketed and sold for short time boarding by the company called Airbnb. The location of the properties we have chosen to predict the prices for is the city of Berlin which is situated in Germany. The reason for choosing this location is that it happens to be one of the busiest and most favorable places for short-term lodging. The exciting element about this project to me is that it uses real-time data that represents a major city of a well-known country.

We will predict the prices of the properties depending on various attributes of the property like its location, amenities it provides, host, reviews from the past and much more. To achieve this objective, we will like to employ several Data mining techniques such as Exploratory Data analysis, Feature Engineering, and Model building. For the model-building part, after getting to know every bit of data and making it suitable enough for model-building, we will like to use the Regression model and see how well it fits the data. The basis for judging the model’s performance will be the Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), R^2, and Adjusted R² values. Talking about the data, the data constitutes about 22553 rows and 72 columns analysing and processing the same would question my technical capabilities which I am sure will get enhanced as the project reaches its endpoint. One of the methodologies that we will perform to fit the data is Exploratory data analysis in which we will consider looking into all the attributes and their contribution in predicting the price of the property as well as if the combinations of selected attributes in the data give our whole analysis a deeper meaning. Some of the basic steps in doing the EDA include eliminating null values, normalizing the data, checking for multi-collinearity, and depending on the model’s performance we will further plan on what modifications are to be done to make sure we are getting accurate results. Talking about the source of the data, I have found the CSV file on the website of the company and the data represents the city called Berlin in Germany. The primary goal behind opting for this as my capstone project is that it pretty much covers all the technologies and technical aspects of what I was taught throughout the master’s program.

The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a leading scholarly organization for mathematics in North America. Their primary publication, the American Mathematical Monthly (AMM), comprises over 130 published volumes dating back to 1894. The sheer volume of text in the journal has made it difficult for those interested in the history of mathematics and the organization to locate information. Adding to this challenge, there is no central search tool for the AMM corpus consisting of over 30,000 individual documents. The project team was tasked with creating a website that provides enhanced search tools for the AMM repository. Working with a historian from the MAA and using an agile development process with regular feedback, the team identified ways to improve the search process for relevant data while navigating through the technical and legal challenges associated with the handling and presenting of the corpus. The tool suite will provide a centralized search function specific to this repository with filters that make it faster to find information. This full-stack solution relies on HTML/CSS, Python, Django, SQL, and an Apache Web Server presented to the user through a web browser. Ultimately, the project provides an e-reader and search tool for region-specific documents from participating MAA historians, simplifying the challenge of working with the large AMM corpus.

A team from Computing and Information Sciences (CIS) undertook to build a mobile centered campus information prototype application in partnership with Valparaiso University’s College of Business (COB). This prototype effort would assist in navigation issues, event awareness, and providing easy access to commonly sought tools and platforms. The CIS team opted to build the prototype with the React Native multi-platform framework supporting multiple mobile ecosystems, because it is built on top of the widely used JavaScript language. The CIS team also created JSON-server artifacts as a substitute for a full database implementation for the prototype to allow for faster capability demonstration. These choices enabled the system to be built in an “agile driven” collaborative approach, while still incorporating ongoing input and feedback from the ongoing COB team’s polling and interview efforts. Within the prototype application, users are able to access DataVU, otherwise known as Colleague™, the primary integrated student information system. Also accessible to students is the BlackBoard™ portal, the central learning management system employed by the University. Extra features include a ‘panic button’ capability to contact campus police, counseling, and health centers, as well as taking users to an externally hosted, interactive campus map.

This research employs a genetic algorithm to efficiently identify maximum sets of k-distinct lattice paths, which can be used in optimizing solutions for scheduling problems, routing problems, and data transmission in network systems. Building upon the previous work by Gillman et al., our method overcomes the computational limitations of traditional brute-force techniques, providing a more effective approach. The adaptability and potential of our methodology in tackling various optimization problems make it a valuable foundation for future research and applications.

This project explores using the data-parallel functional programming language Futhark to develop the core of a general purpose statistics library. Additionally, this project seeks to show that the strict numeric-only model that futhark enforces, combined with the highly optimized compiler that makes operations that can be parallel into parallel code, lends itself well to implementing statistical tests. The nature of the uses cases for statistical tools required the creation of a testsuite to validate on mathematical correctness. The statistical correctness was paramount because of the library’s goal of serving as a computational backend for Python & R users. This validation occurred by using the iris dataset from R due to most statisticians and data scientists familiarity with it. It also provides enough data to run many different tests. The currently implemented tests include 1 & 2 sample T tests, Pearson correlation coefficient, and F Test statistic for a 1 way ANOVA. A function to calculate the alpha and beta values for a simple linear regression is also implemented. Initial testing against industry standard solutions, such as R, show promise in terms of performance and accuracy. When running the testsuite, even when compiled to run sequentially, is often markedly faster than R. This is even in spite of the fact that the library is using 64 bit floating point values compared to R’s 32 bit. More testing is needed to see how the size of datasets changes the overall performance, but results are expected to be on par with R.

Our customer, Professor Buinicki, has written and published the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game (DCC RPG) adventure module “The Peasants’ Fell Bargain”, which is built around an extensive branching narrative, set in a very developed genre. In this project the goal is to convert this tabletop roleplay recreational module into an interactive digital experience. It will capture the flow and decision paths as outlined in the original text along with some modifications to make it suitable for a single player. The development team selected the Unity engine ecosystem, a widely used industry tool for 2D game creation, was selected. In addition to numerous benefits for expediting scene creation, this platform also provided an integrated source control solution built to handle both application code and visual/art assets needed to deliver an immersive experience to the player. While this imposed a learning curve, the facilities provided by this tool enabled the team to support a two week development cycle and incorporate regular feedback from the author. Ultimately this also led to a highly effective, cross-disciplinary discussion with mutual feedback

This project is the development of a video game based on the written narrative provided by our clients, who engaged in a semester-long design process through the ENGL 280: Writing RPGs (Role Playing Games) course. Using an agile development approach and in close partnership with the storytelling team, a fully 3D and immersive game experience was produced that brings the story to life, incorporating genre-specific language and user decision making. The playable environment was built with Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) and existing visual asset libraries, which enabled the team to quickly build prototypes and extend previously created work. The decision to leverage those tools enabled the team to both rapidly prototype and reach a higher quality deliverable by avoiding unnecessary detail creation. This created a tradeoff in time utilization because additional effort was needed to master the platform and ecosystem. Once this was accomplished we were able to maintain regular dialogue with the storytelling team in order to capture the mood and narrative fully. The constraints of the timeframe placed some limits on reworking aspects as the collaboration developed, but a full demo that is interesting and visually appealing was created.

Alternative teacher licensure programs provide nontraditional routes for aspiring teachers seeking to gain initial certification. Common objectives for these programs are to combat teaching shortages, support the needs of nontraditional education students, and recruit diverse pools of teaching candidates. Individuals seeking to pursue an alternative pathway into the teaching profession may encounter distinctive challenges as they navigate through the licensure process and education landscape. This survey study examines the experiences of students in Valparaiso University’s Transition to Teaching Graduate Certificate program located in Valparaiso, Indiana. Students were asked questions relating to three categories: motivation, barriers, and support. Survey responses were collected and coded to determine drivers of student success and possible program improvement. Key findings of the survey results indicated the positive impact of professional mentorship and interpersonal relationships on teaching experiences, how students in the program were simultaneously fueled by a passion for teaching and desire to increase their employment security, and the importance of clear structures and processes to help students navigate state and institutional requirements.

Trace routing on printed circuit board (PCB) is an integral aspect of radio frequency (RF) design. Within this study, various trace routing techniques are utilized to verify RF signal integrity on standard PCB. Various trace parameters are analyzed within this study, such as via placement, trace width, trace spacing, and ground plane configuration on RF transmission line impedance. Different trace routing techniques are verified through KiCAD design studio and testing on PCB. Overall, RF design on PCB demonstrates the importance of careful trace routing to achieve optimized RF performance on PCB.

In the past most tools and process design kits (PDKs) have been proprietary and restricted to paying companies. But a collaboration between Google and SkyWater Technology Foundry has allowed for the release of the open source SKY130 PDK. This PDK allows for the creation of integrated circuit designs on a manufacturable process. This work presents a design for a QAM demodulator for use in communication receivers. I also discuss the general analog design process using the open source PDK. This design can serve as part of a frontend in applications such as satellite communication.

The Guild Undergraduate Creative Work and Research awarded a grant to commission the building of an AMSAT CubeSat, which was assembled using a modular design and a solar casing. The CubeSat is powered and controlled using a Raspberry Pi Zero W, programmed to transmit telemetry signals and communicate with other boards using GPIO connectors as well as provide power and reboot functionality. The design was modified to be mounted permanently outdoors, allowing for learning, realistic satellite mission operations, planning, and communications. In addition the AMSAT CubeSat project allows students to gain valuable hands-on experience in satellite design, programming, and communication, as well as contribute to the advancement of amateur radio and satellite technology.

Most institutions have staff members or departments that focus on first-generation student success but there oftentimes is still a gap between the programs and assistance being offered and the help that first-generation students report needing. I extend the existing literature on first-generation college student challenges through a focus on first-generation student support and their access to necessary resources (i.e. food, books, internet access, etc.) at Purdue University Northwest (PNW). PNW’s fall 2022 undergraduate class had over 56% first-generation students and the institution was named a “First-Gen Forward” institution by the NAPSA Center for First-Generation Student Success.

To gather data, a virtual survey was sent to 200 current PNW students via email. The survey consisted of 30 questions broken into four sections containing multiple choice, rating scale, and short answer questions. These questions focused on the students’ demographics, access to vital resources, support systems, perception and usage of PNW’s resources, and improvements that could be made on campus. The survey was open for two weeks and recorded 45 total responses.

The survey shows that even institutions that focus on the needs of first-generation college students are often overlooking items that could greatly decrease the issues that these students face. Survey responses indicate that small changes such as expanded tutoring and library hours, increased advertising of their existing first-generation student-focused programs, and expanded food pantry availability would be valuable changes for student support. Survey responses also indicated though, that PNW provides positive support resources for first-generation students involved in first-generation programming.

In the past few decades, populations of both native bees and non-native bees such as Apis mellifera (the honeybee) have been in a steady decline. This downturn has been due to a number of things, but habitat loss and large-scale pesticide usage have played a large role in the population decline. However, in a recent study by Nature, Stamets et al. learned that polypore mushroom extracts can help to provide protections against viruses when ingested by honeybees. With their general health improved, honeybees would be able withstand the effects of pesticide use and habitat loss more easily and could potentially lead to more stability within bee populations. The USDA published population density data for Bee populations for the year 2012, within this project I’ve created a suitability analysis for the growth of polypore mushroom species to compare the USDA Bee population data. By using a correlation test, I’ll be able to further analyze the relationships between not only polypore mushroom growth and bee populations, but I will also be able to compare the bee population density to specific variables as well.

This paper discusses how art interpretation preserves memory by reflecting upon several different interpretations of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884) by George Seurat. Throughout history, audiences have interpreted La Grande Jatte’s message and preserved its significance in their own way. Still, each memory has centered around and brought forth a feeling of harmony. This paper argues that the timeless, compelling nature and legacy of Seurat’s masterpiece demonstrates a powerful characteristic of our memories—their ability to simultaneously shift, change, and even contrast while still holding the innate emotion and significance embedded in our remembrances. These memories, as mentioned, are rooted in an unique interpretation of the art work. Art interpretation plays an essential role in the legacy of artworks, but it is commonly seen as a nuanced subject. Nevertheless, the practice of hypothetical intentionalism—combining authorial intention with meaningful, educated interpretations to draw legitimate and lasting conclusions about a work—can simplify our understanding of the purpose and merit of art interpretation. As the practice of hypothetical intentionalism unifies interpreters through common themes, liberates interpreters through creativity, and allows all reasonable interpretations to be heard, everyone is given a seat at the intellectual table—making artwork more compelling, engaging, and influential. The visual, technical, and memorial workings of La Grande Jatte shows its potential as a tool for analysis.

This study investigates the attitudes and communication preferences during the home buying process from the perspectives of the local realtor’s past and current customers. Overall, the study is designed to analyze various influential factors during all stages of the home buying process. The specific objectives are to: a) determine what general methods customers prefer to use during the home buying process; b) measure how customers currently use realtor services; c) determine the level of customer satisfaction with the realtor; d) determine the brand loyalty of their current customers, and e) identify the most effective communication methods with customers. A survey instrument was developed to address these research objectives, which was distributed to all past and current customers of the realtor via an email in Google form. After three weeks, unfortunately only 27 usable responses were received for analysis. The results suggested that the realtor should improve its website, some of the most used services, the agents’ skills, and communication efforts. These efforts could lead to a greater brand reputation and customer loyalty. A positive agent-customer relationship contributes to a brand customers can trust. Also, the relationship between the agent and the customer serves as the most influential factor for finding loyal customers rather than the real estate brand itself. It is imperative that the realtor continues to offer great services and gain trust through positive agent relations.

Per the request of a prominent Turkish tent company, this analysis focuses on the market potential for their tent offerings when expanding into the United States market. The tent company currently offers various types of tents to meet the needs of different customer segments. Technology advancements enable tent companies to sell their products globally, which makes the tent business an extremely competitive industry. Tents may serve many purposes, ranging from single person camping sites to more expansive coverage for those needing treatment for illness. In recent years, notable changes in the tent industry occurred, especially in the wake of the pandemic. Analysis of the external, uncontrollable factors that influence the international tent industry and the United States market landscape provides insight into the potential entry. Based on analyzing environmental influences and potential target markets, the report offers suggestions to develop marketing strategies and marketing mix to be successful in the United States market. The team considers components of the marketing mix: product, place, price, and promotions. Although not a comprehensive list of considerations, the market analysis and recommendations will lead the Turkish tent company on the right path for international entry.

The Valparaiso University Physician Assistant Program’s purpose is to develop and maintain professional competencies for enrolled physician assistants (PA). An accredited institution provides assurance to the quality and recognition of the education earned. The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for Physician Assistant’s, Inc (ARC-PA) is the established agency which defines the education standards, competencies for PA programs, and ensures compliance within the United States. This project seeks to provide critical quantitative and qualitative analysis of the university’s PA program and advise administrators on how to resolve citations of noncompliance. To correct the outlined citations, we will determine the effectiveness of the didactic and clinical curriculum using standardized test score across various fields of study. Additionally, student survey evaluations of program environments, amenities, and course will be evaluated in conjunction with scoring performance to direct significant areas of attention. Finally, provide recommendations for data management structural improvement for preserve and advance performance of accreditation requirements. The results showed that individual student test scores can be modelled accurately using multiple linear regression in combination of section distributions portioned by class year to indicate improvement of program competencies. In general, student performance improved in most categories, and we were able to isolate deficiencies when significant. The survey results highlighted a diverging comparison to scoring performance such that in most cases students believed that electives and program accommodations were declining. This project emphasized the importance of collecting detailed data to provide meaning understanding of the PA program’s performance and structure procedures for maintain accreditation.

This report presents a model developed to explore the relationship between charging infrastructure availability and electric car sales growth in California. The model focuses on analysing the rate of charging infrastructure growth and sales growth of different types of electric vehicles between 2016 and 2021. The data is analysed using a stochastic approach, and a logistic function is used to model the charging infrastructure growth rate. The model treats California as the environment and uses multiple charging stations as patches. The model’s results are presented as plots on the interface, and the correlation between the sales and charging infrastructure growth rates are predicted over five years. This report provides insights into the interdependence between charging infrastructure availability and electric vehicle sales growth, which can be valuable for policymakers and stakeholders in the transportation sector.

All incoming students at Valparaiso University participate in a math placement process, which begins with a questionnaire that asks students to self-report their high school GPA, ACT/SAT scores, and previous math classes taken. Based upon the questionnaire, students are assigned a math pre-placement score of 0, 1, 2, or 3, with 0 corresponding to placement into MATH 110: Intermediate Algebra and 3 corresponding to placement into MATH 131: Calculus I. However, since the questionnaire is based upon self-reported data, the data is sometimes inaccurate, which may place students into math courses for which they are not prepared to succeed. Using actual admissions data for the Fall 2022 freshmen cohort, I analyze the accuracy of the self-reported data and the math pre-placement scores. This research serves as the basis for a new process of calculating math pre-placement scores directly from admissions data. This new process is not only beneficial for ensuring students are placed into the appropriate math courses, but also for simplifying the process and increasing retention.

Although all students receive a math pre-placement score, students also have the opportunity to take a math placement assessment through the ALEKS software in order to try to raise their placement level. I investigate the correspondence between the pre-placement scores and the ALEKS assessment scores in order to determine if the cut-off values should be re-calibrated. I also analyze what percentage of students are able to complete math review modules through the ALEKS software and successfully raise their placement level. Furthermore, I calculate the average time that successful students spend in the ALEKS software system so that the University can more effectively advertise this opportunity to incoming students.

Two commonly-studied ideas in sports are the “hot hand” and “cold hand” phenomenon. The “hot hand” is when an athlete performs better than expected after a good outcome. For instance, a basketball player may be more likely to make a shot after making their two previous shots. In contrast, the “cold hand” is when an athlete performs worse than expected after a bad outcome. Both of these phenomena have been studied in a variety of sports including basketball and tennis, but only a couple of studies have examined their relation to golf. In golf, there is a widely-held idea that better players are more level-headed in the face of unusually good or bad outcomes, meaning that they theoretically exhibit less of a “hot hand” and “cold hand” effect. In statistical terms, this means that the scores of better players should exhibit greater independence than the scores of worse players. Using scores from college golf tournaments, I test this idea using a Chi-Square Test of Independence and a Two-Way ANOVA Test. Surprisingly, I find that better players actually exhibit less independence in their golf scores, and have an increased chance of following up a bad hole with another bad hole. In other words, better players are more likely to exhibit a “cold hand” effect than worse players. This suggests that, contrary to popular knowledge, mental calmness may not be a major determinant of a golfer’s skill level.

Lower back pain is a condition that affects a large subset of people in the workforce, and specialists are constantly investigating better ways to diagnose and treat lower back pain. In efforts to combat lower back pain and subsequent lower back injuries, we will assess if EMG signals possess muscle fatigue indicators that can provide early recognition of potential muscle overexertion in the erector spinae. In our study, electromyographic (EMG) signals will be captured via Delsys EMGworks surface electrodes and the signals will be processed with iWorx Teaching Assistant (TA) to detect changes in the erector spinae. Each subject will perform the deadlift exercise until the subject verbalizes feelings of muscle fatigue. The EMG signals from the subject’s erector spinae will be monitored before and throughout activity. The EMG signals will be band-pass filtered, then the frequencies demonstrated throughout the deadlift activity will be compared across all subjects to determine if a muscle fatigue indicator is demonstrated in the EMG signals.

I developed an apparatus to visualize pressure gradients in the air. This apparatus is based on the concept of Schlieren imaging. Schlieren being German for streak, as high contrast streaks in the image show the differences in pressure. Key components of the apparatus are an optical zoom camera, point light source, spherical concave mirror, and a knife edge. While the limitations of the usefulness of this apparatus are only constrained by the imagination, the initial application is for visualizing density gradients in the air caused by convective heat transfer. A longer-term goal for the project is to visualize the flow of air through a wind tunnel.

We developed a fixture to enable welding thermocouples making the process more repeatable while simultaneously cleaning up the weld junction and allowing for different welding joints. Three fixtures were developed, each incorporates an auto-attaching electrical connection and bending apparatus to form the wire into the desired shape producing either a butt or ball weld. The final proposed design operates its arms using a sliding mechanism which actuates perpendicular to the wires body. This design provides good control over the location and bend of the thermocouple wire. It falls short in the easibility to insert the wire. An alternative design utilizes arms which pivot about the location where the individual uninsulated wires split from their jacket. This design bends the wire in a progressive manner providing the user with a larger tolerance in wire length as it can be pulled back to aid in the alignment process. Inconveniently, this design lacks the means to contain the wire within its vertical bounds. These plus other characteristics of the proposed designs have been rated in a Pugh Matrix to deduce which approach is best suited for this instrument.

Hydrogen is an important energy vector and storage medium poised to play a prominent role in the energy transition, either as a fuel to produce electricity in fuel cells or carbon-free process heat. Many electrochemical processes can produce hydrogen and other clean fuels, which could benefit from being performed at higher temperatures and high pressures. This poster demonstrates how a high-pressure and temperature setup was created to answer questions regarding the solar thermal decoupled electrolysis process to create hydrogen.

Research has shown that at higher temperatures, the kinetics are more rapid, leading to a higher current density. Another advantage of producing hydrogen at higher pressure is that it does not need to be later pumped mechanically up to pipeline pressures for distribution, reducing the needed infrastructure for distribution.Currently, a custom high-pressure, high-temperature electrochemical test platform created to study electrochemical processes for hydrogen production at temperatures up to 200°C and pressures up to 10 bar is being utilized for experimentation. Results of cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments of the electrochemically reversible ferri-ferrocyanide redox couple are shown that validate that the test station is in control. Particular attention is given to the repeatability of the CV data in the ferri-ferrocyanide system when gold and platinum working electrodes are employed. Parameters in the Butler-Volmer model of the system are extracted from the CV data and shown to match previously published values within experimental uncertainty.

Nanoparticle medicinal platforms have shown a great promise for lymphatic system drug delivery attributable to their high lymphatic uptake following local injection. However, the quick dissipation of drug-filled nanoparticles from the local injection site has posed a challenge for sustained drug delivery. To overcome this challenge, a controlled release platform for gradual release of nanoparticles is desired. Hydrogels are a promising alternative for such purpose because of their versatility, ease of drug loading, tunable properties, and range of biocompatible material options. Therefore, the objective of this work is to synthesize and characterize an injectable hydrogel capable of encapsulating nanoparticles and providing a sustained release over an extended period of time. Hydrogels were synthesized using sodium alginate and calcium chloride (CaCl2) cross-linker on the basis of sodium alginate’s controllable gelation rates and biocompatibility. Synthesis conditions including CaCl2 and sodium alginate concentrations were varied, while hydrogel properties including gelation time and degradation rate were evaluated. This research lays the foundation for future studies of nanoparticle encapsulation into and release from such hydrogels.

The purpose of this study was to measure and compare joint angles for traditional and RingFit exercises. It is key to have proper form during exercises to prevent future injuries. The joint angles measured were range of motion of the hips for jogging, squats, and planks, the minimum knee angle during hip bridges, flexion of the front knee and hip adduction/abduction during warrior pose, and knee angle during chair pose. The joint angles allow for analysis of quantitative differences in form measured between traditional and RingFit exercises. The study included six subjects of varying athletic ability, consisting of three males and three females. Each participant was measured in the Xsens sensor suit and calibrated to their specific measurements, including overall height, shoulder and hip width, and wingspan. They then completed two exercise circuits, one being traditional, and the other being non-traditional. Then statistical analysis was used to determine whether the angles were significantly different between traditional and RingFit. The results show the similarities between traditional and RingFit exercises, but the smaller range of motion demonstrated by the traditional exercises decreases the ability for the person to get injured in these specific exercises. However, in future injury prevention, a larger range of motion demonstrated by the RingFit exercises would be beneficial to those who are doing other physical activities outside of these isolated movements.

Small drones have experienced intensifying competition over their design and increasing diversification of their uses. Drones have become increasingly applicable to military use, and are now subject to regulatory schemes that allow corporations to make use of their cost-effective aerial photography capabilities. This competition brings opportunities for designing more effective components – broadly understood as lighter components that bear greater, or the same, loads as their predecessors – especially for components like landing gear, which must bear the weight of the drones, as well as impetus forces related to any small falls they might experience. The components must also be cheap, as high attrition is a feature of these small, replaceable drones. Therefore, techniques that improve the amount of iteration available to designers are highly desirable. Mathematical optimization allows the relatively easy optimization of parts by allowing a computer to design large numbers of iterations and redesign them for improved performance. In this work, we explore the design of drone landing gear and develop a schema to perform engineering design optimization on said drone landing gear. To be able to create the landing gear geometry and analyze the landing impact, we use FreeCAD, a Python 3.0-based open source CAD program with the open source Calculix FEA solver included. This allows us to programmatically generate and analyze large amounts of landing gear geometries in Python. The Python integration with FreeCAD makes this software ideal for integration into our optimization algorithms, allowing us to simulate and optimize a large number of landing gear designs programmatically.

Active-play videogames such as the Ring Fit Adventure for Nintendo Switch exist to mimic common real-life exercises while being much more accessible to the everyday person. To determine whether the Ring Fit activities are the same as normal exercises and therefore effective, flexion angles were measured and statistically analyzed with data from traditional exercises, namely running and squatting. The data was recorded using Xsens 3-D motion tracking software with an inertial measurement unit suit. Five subjects performed five squatting exercises with the Ring Fit, five squatting without, five running with the Ring Fit, and five running without. Each subject performed 5 reps for each exercise in which they were completed in a random order and their knee joint movements were analyzed. During squatting, the difference in the duration at the maximum flexion point of the knee was statistically analyzed. It was determined that the Ring Fit made the subjects spend about 3.4 more seconds at the maximum knee flexion point compared to normal squatting. During running, the flexion angle was compared between exercising with and without the Ring Fit. It was determined that the Ring Fit caused about 19 more degrees of flexion at the knee. The accuracy of flexion angles for squatting supports the use of the Ring Fit, but the increase in the running angles shows it may not accurately represent a normal running exercise.

Squatting can be an effective exercise to strengthen lower body muscles but must be completed with proper form to prevent injury and optimize benefits. While squatting, the center of pressure of the foot impacts a person’s center of mass, which is integral to the quality of a squat. The location of the center of pressure on the foot can affect knee joint stresses, which impact injury risk and the efficiency of the squat. Current literature lacks information on the foot center of pressure in females while squatting in various foot positions. Studying the center of foot pressure in female squatters would determine if certain squat stances are safer than others. In this study, the location of the peak center of foot pressure in two females for three squatting stances is measured. Foot positions with feet pointed forward, slightly outward, and slightly inward are analyzed. The positions of the center of pressure are normalized for all subjects and a coordinate system is defined to make the measurements consistent for all subjects. Tekscan Strideway Gait Analysis System is used to record foot pressure during squatting. Statistical analysis will be used to determine if altering foot position causes significant changes in the center of pressure on the foot.

Lymphatic filariasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by the transmission of parasitic nematodes via mosquito blood meal. The disease originates with microfilariae infiltrating the bloodstream and maturing. As the life cycle of the nematodes progresses, they make their permanent residence inside of the lymphatic system. This causes severe, permanent damage to the system and results in symptoms such as lymphedema and elephantiasis. While several drugs have antiparasitic activity, systemic administration of small molecule drugs yields poor lymphatic access and thus poor efficacy against adult worms within lymphatic vessels. Therefore, the goal of this research is to develop an oral liposomal drug delivery system (DDS) to deliver both hydrophilic and hydrophobic anti-parasitic medications to the lymphatic system to eliminate the filarial worms inhabiting it. Liposomes composed of phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol were synthesized using the thin-film hydration method. The liposomes were then downsized using different combinations of stirring, bath sonication, and extrusion using a syringe and a 0.22 micron hydrophilic filter. Particle size was characterized after downsizing using a Horiba LA960 Static Light Scattering (SLS) device. Additionally, solubility testing was performed to evaluate the DDS’ drug loading capabilities. This project lays the groundwork for future investigations of drug loading and release using this liposomal platform.

Carbon dots (CDs) are an emerging zero dimensional carbon nanomaterial with a wide variety of applications in biological and mechanical fields. The versatility of CDs can be attributed to their various synthesis-dependent properties such as electrical and optical characteristics, including fluorescent properties. The goal of this research was to develop a classroom feasible carbon dot synthesis process that is simple, low temperature, and quick enough to be performed within a typical laboratory period to expand students’ knowledge of carbon dots, synthesis methods, and the impact of synthesis parameters on particle characteristics. Carbon dots were synthesized by heating sucrose in phosphoric acid and water for approximately one hour and adding ammonium hydroxide as a passivator, yielding a solution that showed visible fluorescence under ultraviolet light. The fluorescence properties of the carbon dots were further characterized using a spectrophotometer at excitation wavelengths of 405 and 500 nm, and the impact of synthesis parameters including temperature, time, and component concentration on fluorescence properties was investigated. This approach promises to be an accessible classroom activity for nanomaterial exploration, and will be further expanded into a full lab protocol.

It is commonly accepted that the sound produced by acoustic guitars is largely dependent upon the size, shape, and orientation of the braces on the underside of the guitar’s front panel, which is the sound board. In general, luthiers have approached the construction of guitars from an artistic, qualitative standpoint, resulting in there being little quantitative data available. To quantify what makes an acoustic guitar sound the way that it does, we developed an apparatus that measures the soundboard’s vibrational response by placing an accelerometer on the soundboard while striking the guitar’s bridge with an impact hammer. Since the bridge is the location where the strings attach to the body, the impact hammer stimulates the excitation of the strings. The guitar was divided into a grid, and trials were conducted by moving the accelerometer to different points on the grid until a full map of the guitar soundboard’s response was recorded. Three guitars were tested at the same points with the apparatus: two of the same make and model and one from a different manufacturer. A Frequency Response Function (FRF) was found based on the data measured by the accelerometer. The two similar guitars showed nearly identical responses at the test points, while the guitar from the different manufacturer showed a noticeably different response. These results show that the natural frequency of a guitar’s response to external excitation is a key factor in quantifying the qualitative aspects of a guitar’s sound.

The Phantom of the Opera has remained a staple of musical theatre since it opened back in the 1980’s. From its monstrous set design to its lavish score, Phantom’s flair for the dramatic earned Andrew Lloyd Webber a place among musical theatre legends. One of the reasons that this show is so effective, however, is the well-developed cast of characters. The characters are well-rounded, allowing the audience to gain a sense of empathy and understanding when they are on stage. This is critical especially for Christine and Carlotta, the two opposing lead sopranos in the Opera Populair.

In studying Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera from a social and analytical perspective, I focus on the elements hidden within the story, that are emphasized by the score, that highlight the struggles faced by performers who are assigned female at birth (AFAB). These two ingenues experience a myriad of tragedies, from lost careers and deceased relatives to manipulation and mental anguish from the presence of the Phantom. I plan on examining these characters and the score through the lens of the mental health conversations we are having today. Authors, like Lynn Bradley and George Musgrave, have begun to evaluate how the performance industry can take its toll on performers, especially AFAB performers. This research, combined with research about The Phantom of the Opera by Sebnem Nazli Karali, could pave the way for a conversation around how this timeless musical can represent the difficult mental health landscape that exists for AFAB performers.

The percussion part in Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique (1830) stands out in 19th-century repertoire as a relatively early example of an ambitious and highly elaborate, active, even central part of the score, which adds to the work’s overall impact. Berlioz’s contribution to the advancement and development of percussion technique via his orchestral compositions cannot be overstated.
This research investigates Berlioz’s percussion part in Symphonie Fantastique (1830) in context with a later work, the Treatise on Instrumentation (1844). I focus on the third, fourth, and fifth movements. In investigating my topic from a historical, cultural, and analytical perspective, I ask in which way Berlioz’s experience of writing Symphonie Fantastique (1830) might have coloured the sections on percussion in the later treatise. Furthermore, I conduct performative analyses — embodying the percussion parts myself — to inquire into aspects of drumstick labeling, the spooky qualities of the kettle drum, bass drum and crash cymbals combinations, benefits of multiple timpanists, and the use of church bells as part of the percussion instrumentation. By analyzing the treatise in relation to the symphony, with specific focus on the above-named aspects, both the symphony’s percussion parts and the section in the Treatise on Instrumentation (pages 370-390) and the relationship between the two become more clear, showing off the composer/writer as the orchestration expert he was in 1844.

Title: Amy Beach’s Song “The year’s at the spring” (1899)

My research discusses American composer’s Amy Beach’s “The year’s at the spring”, No. 1 from her Three Browning Songs, Op. 44.
Anecdotal documentation claims that the first piece was composed in part on the train to Boston and that Amy Beach was inspired by the rhythmic noise of the train wheels. But the text of the song portrays an optimistic awakening of nature in the morning and a sense of trust in God (“God’s in His heaven– All’s right with the world!”). Overall, Amy Beach looked to European Western Art music with regard to style, genre choice, and text-music relationship.
How does this song navigate between specific Western European influences — such as by song composers Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann — and the tension between the text’s evocation of nature/trust in God and the composer’s own words regarding “what inspired” this song? In providing a close reading, I determine that in addition to all of these present influences we find in this song the composer-musician herself: a brilliant pianist whose virtuosity and pianism influenced the accompaniments of the song.

Brass multiphonics refers to the technique by which musicians can produce two or more pitches simultaneously by buzzing and singing into their instrument at the same time. While some composers have taken advantage of the harmonious sonorities that can be created through this technique by writing in a consonant and tonal style, others have taken advantage of the motor-like timbre of the technique and leaned into the harsh dissonances it can create. This paper will investigate two pieces which utilize multiphonics: William Kraft’s Encounters II (1966) and Øystein Baadsvik’s Fnugg (2014). It will contextualize the composers’ decisions in respect to the treatment of the two independent voices and how they expand the compositional palette that exists for the composition of new solo brass repertoire.

Edward MacDowell was once one of the most influential American composers who later fell into obscurity. MacDowell’s Woodland Sketches Op. 51 (1896) —a cycle of ten short piano pieces — invites questions about programming, given that late-19th century programming practices involved frequent reordering and fragmentation of cyclical works. Research on Edward MacDowell has increased but how his music wa played, and in what order, has largely been left unanswered.

By exploring MacDowell‘s piano suite Woodland Sketches Op. 51 from a historical, cultural, analytical, and performative perspective, I found that MacDowell’s music was highly expressive and that its popularity was, not least, a result of the flexible performance practice and its space for artistic license, including out-of-order performances, which created unique narratives at each and every performance.

As concert programs continued to develop in the twentieth century, pieces were paired together in unique ways based on themes, keys, etc. Additionally represented in this time period is a gradual shift from unique programming to a quest to hear complete sets of music rather than excerpts today.

By investigating Edward MacDowell through a historical, analytical and performance practice perspective new discoveries can be made. MacDowell has an interesting history and his contemporaries often played his music as well. The music itself reveals themes of nostalgia and American nature and the way it was performed exposes shifts in programming. Overall, MacDowell is a composer at a turning point for music.

Anxiety has always been a prevalent theme in music, including popular, symphonic, and operatic music. Many musicologists have analyzed composers’ sociopolitical and personal anxieties and how these have inspired their compositions. However, much of the current literature on this topic limits its study to music between the Baroque and Romantic eras. Additionally, very little research has been done on famous LGBTQ+ composers and how their complex emotions toward their identities influenced their compositions. This research brings 20^th-century symphonic works by LGBTQ+ composers into the scholarly conversation by showing how Leonard Bernstein musically represented his anxiety toward his queer identity in Symphony No. 2 The Age of Anxiety.

Age of Anxiety was written in 1949 during the Red and Lavender Scares of the immediate post-World War II period. As a gay leftist, Bernstein was a prime target for these historical witch hunts, which brought him immense stress in light of his LGBTQ+ identity. By analyzing the symphony’s score, Bernstein’s personal letters, and biographies, this research examines how sections of the symphony reflected his intense self-loathing and fear in that period toward his queerness. This analysis reveals that many musical elements, especially dissonance and tempo variations, throughout Age of Anxiety reflect Bernstein’s own feelings of fear and doom toward his queer identity. These findings serve as a call for musicologists to further discuss the works of LBGTQ+ composers fully acknowledging their identities, especially during the “Age of Anxiety,” and how their anxieties toward their queerness can unlock meaning in their compositions.

There are many opinions on how performers should improvise ornaments in J.S. Bach. Discrepancies in terminology and minimal access to performance documentation from Bach’s time complicate how performers and musicologists interpret his music. When performing the slide, or Ger. Schleifer, possibilities open up, ranging from Werktreue (text-driven) to more artistically autonomous, freer interpretations. How to pace the (three) notes of this ornament? In recordings, they are often located between “on” and “not exactly on” the beat, with differing effects.

In my research, (1) I look into this ornament’s notation (in Bach’s works generally); (2) I investigate 18th-century treatises (Quantz, Mozart), and how these writings are read today (Dorottya Fabian, 2018); and (3) I reenact several recordings by imitating vocalists, following Anna Scott (2014).

By moving incrementally away from the score and in the direction of sound; and from (1) notation to (3) reenactment/embodiment, I discover that the way musicologists have viewed Bach’s music and this ornament “as text” neglects important interpretive potential that gets unlocked by considering the topography of “music as sound”, which links the performer with J. S. Bach’s music on a sensory, kinesthetic level. Reenacting recordings also opens up an experiential understanding that interpretation is a shared process — shared by many bodies, including those of the singers I’m reenacting and myself. The insights I’m left with move “performance” from a text-focused endeavor (the score) — a decidedly 20th-century mindset — to an altogether different reading in which the multiplicity of recorded voices show a way forward with “Zerfließe”, which acknowledges the performer and past performers as creators of meaning for this work, rather than erasing them.

My research discusses Buffalo String Works, a music program for young string players in Buffalo, NY, an initiative started in 2014 with the “mission […] to ignite personal and community leadership through accessible, youth-centered music education.” This program is an initiative, which not only provides musical training in violin, viola, cello and other instruments to kids in the area, but it also takes good care of children from immigrant families or refugees and at-risk youth, giving people from difficult economic backgrounds the chance to learn lifelong skills.
This research takes a look at music instruction books used at this and many other youth string programs — the Suzuki method. I focus on how the use of the Suzuki method may aid children of refugees, with immigrant backgrounds, or otherwise “at risk” in inclusion, coping mechanisms, self-reflection, and assimilation into a new context. This study draws on newspaper articles published in the last ten years about the work of Buffalo String Works, as well on interviews with members of the staff, and on research about the effects in general of the Suzuki method on children. My findings suggest that such music programs, run by brave individuals, are much more than music programs; they contribute massively to building community and creating futures for children across the economic and cultural divides of Buffalo, NY.

It is not uncommon for a director to present new interpretations for widely known operas; at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, it has become the recent norm to perform an opera using all original music and libretto but with a meta plot happening on stage. It has become known that Richard Wagner was Anti-Semitic, and there have been a few different interpretations of his operas that have demonstrated and exaggerated his views. In 2017, Barry Kosky directed Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. His interpretation of this opera was controversial and upset many viewers (Skramstad, Per-Erik. 2017.). The aim of this paper is to address the topic of Die Meistersinger considering “Regietheater”, a term first used by Wieland Wagner (1917–1966), who in the years after World War II responded to the problematic ways in which Wagner’s works have been appropriated by the Nazis by “designing and producing minimalist and heavily symbolic staging’s of Wagner operas in Bayreuth and elsewhere” (Wikipedia). Regietheater can be a powerful tool for reinterpreting classic works like Die Meistersinger, allowing directors to explore and critique the themes and ideas presented in the original work, however, it can be controversial, as some critics view it as a departure from the original intent of the composer or playwright. The question I will ask is: “Should directors use operas to create new meanings that go beyond the meaning that the composer had originally wanted?”

Many scholars consider the famous hornpipe movements in Handel’s Water Music as a nod to water on which the piece was first premiered. However, it is unlikely that the typical assumption that Handel wrote a hornpipe because of its association with sailors is correct. Research shows that correlation did not come until much later in the 1700s. Why then does Handel write not just one but two hornpipes into his Water Music; are they even associated with the dance they receive their name from? As I researched the hornpipe movements of Handel’s Water Music from a historical, cultural, and analytical perspective, I noticed that there are a number of elements that come from the hornpipe genre and the hornpipes of Purcell, the English composer of whose shoes Handel was eager to fill. The meter, syncopation, and form of this piece connect it to a number of other examples of hornpipe from the same time period and the impact Handel wanted his music to have on English audiences. While scholars such as Madeline Inglehearn have researched the specifics of the hornpipe dance and Christopher Hogwood, Paul Lang, and Donald Burrows have examined Water Music and more broadly Handel’s biography, none of them give the hornpipes their full credit as an emblem of Handel’s ambition in the English court. In my research, I set the story straight on the “Hornpipe” and “Alla Hornpipe” , their relation to King George I, his country, and the favor Handel hoped to win through their performance.

Alexander Arutunian’s Trumpet Concerto in Ab Major is a milestone in modern solo trumpet repertoire. A dialogue between the trumpet and accompaniment, whether that’s a piano or orchestra, Arutunian’s work offers a remarkable display of virtuosic showmanship, demonstrating various technical aspects of trumpet playing. While many studies have been conducted, some around virtuosity, more research is needed to determine the nature of Arutunian’s unique blend of virtuosity and nationalism, deriving from his Soviet-Armenian roots. To fill some gaps in Arutunian scholarship, my research uses historical, cultural, biographical, and music-analytical modes of investigation. In rondo form, Arutunian’s concerto features an introduction, distinct A, B, and C sections, and a detailed conclusion. I contextualize these and other elements of Arutunian’s concerto in light of virtuosity and nationalism, highlighting the shifting key, the progression of harmonies, the union of articulations and tempo, and the dynamic shaping. Authors Deborah Caldwell (2015) and Stephen Craig Garrett (1984) have provided analyses of various solo trumpet works, including Alexander Arutunian’s concerto, making note of its various elements that contribute to the piece’s virtuosity. Scholars Robert Doran (2020) and Susan Bernstein (1998), furthermore, have extensively researched the origins of virtuosity and how it influenced composing. I discuss how Alexander Arutunian went about composing a virtuosic piece with a more personal style enhanced with a sense of nationalism, thereby offering a deeper understanding of how 20th-century composers navigated between composing in established genres and styles and rethinking those; and between writing for virtuoso performers and acknowledging their national roots.

Tchaikovsky’s fascination for Russian sacred music is generally acknowledged in Western classical musical and scholarly circles. Lesser known is that he also employed markers of Russian sacred music in certain instrumental works to carve out a unique “Russian” sound. In investigating Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture from a historical, cultural, and analytical perspective, I focus, on the one hand, on broad elements proving Tchaikovsky’s vocal-to-instrumental transfer of Russian sacred music tropes into his overture, such as his continuity-driven phrases, the blurring of rhythm and meter, and an emphasis on the bass line; but I also take a look at specific references such as in the opening section where Tchaikovsky employs an instrumental version of the Russian Orthodox hymn “O Lord Save Thy People”. While several scholars have investigated Tchaikovsky’s Russian sacred music, among them Olga Dolskaya-Ackerly (2001), Lindsay Norden (1919), and Alfred Swan (1973), none of them have focused on how Tchaikovsky materialized his imagination of an inherently Russian sacred aesthetic in certain orchestral works. By closely investigating parameters of texture, register, and meter; and by considering the hymn reference, a Russian sacred vocal aesthetic reveals itself in the 1812 Overture, offering a new way of listening to the piece.

De-Colonizing Puccini’s Opera Turandot (1924)

This research is about Puccini’s opera Turandot. Using historical, cultural and music-analytical methods, I contextualize this piece in a manner distinct from older musicological approaches. Whereas until recently, scholars have highlighted themes of orientalism and exoticism, this focus is being reconsidered these days as Puccini’s operas, along with other Western compositions, are reevaluated from a “de-colonizing” perspective. Building on the works of Mosco Carner (1936), Hon Lun Yang (2017), and Frederick Lau (2018), I throw light on Chinese song elements and the way they are used in Turandot, but also the way that current Chinese audiences would understand these song elements. For example, one song used in the opera is titled “Jasmine Flower”. This research investigates how for Chinese audiences this song captures an entirely different meaning than what Puccini and his audiences, as well as later audiences of Western opera, heard in this melody. By placing Puccini’s opera within this conversation with an aim of cultural sensitivity, my research helps audiences here at Valparaiso to shift their own listening.

Freshman college students are encountering a major life transition that can impact their mental state in a positive, but also negative way. Currently, there are no instruments to identify depression in college freshmen. Our goal is to create an instrument that is able to identify depression in this target population. Through qualitative research based on previous experiences of college freshman, we have been able to create a list of items that portray the unique experiences of depression. Through the recruitment of students, focus sessions, and interviews, we have revised our list of items to create an instrument for our target population. Creating our instrument has allowed us to compare it to the standard screening tool, Centers for the Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) to ensure the accuracy of our tool.

Those with elevated blood pressure (BP) at a young age have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (Zhang et al., 2019). College students are unaware of modifiable factors that increase risk of developing hypertension (HTN) and complications. The purposes of our study are to assess rates of hypertension in college students, help students learn the risk factors for high BP, and improve overall health status. Two conceptual frameworks were used: Neuman Systems Model and The Fogg Behavioral Model (TFBM). Neuman’s model assumes each client is an open system, interacting with risk factors of health (Neuman & Fawcett, 2011). Primary prevention education on risk factors should preclude development of hypertension in healthy college students. TFBM states motivation, ability, and prompts must occur at the same time for behavior to occur (Behavior Model, 2022). At initial screenings at a private midwestern college campus, BP and heart rate were measured. 103 students participated in an online health survey which assessed health history related to hypertension, overall health, and knowledge of hypertension. Education was provided on how risk factors affect BP. The results indicated most college students were unaware of their risk factors and family history regarding hypertension. The majority of students reported normal BP. Additionally, most had normal body weight, body water, and body fat percentages. This study identified factors that influence BP to establish a baseline for management/prevention of HTN. The goal is to have healthier people, lower BP, and prevention of long-term cardiovascular risk.

The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) located at Brookhaven National Laboratory uses longitudinally polarized proton-proton collisions to study the gluon spin contribution to the known proton spin of 1/2 h-bar. The relative contributions of the quarks and gluons to the spin of the proton remain uncertain. Using data from the 2013 longitudinally polarized proton-proton collisions we study the asymmetry of proton spin-dependent production of neutral pions (pi0s) from these collisions. pi0s rapidly (8.5 * 10^-17s) decay into 2 photons that are detected by the Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter. By comparing the number of pi0s produced when protons collide with different helicities, the asymmetry of pi0 production (A_LL), which can be related to the contribution of the gluon spin to the spin of the proton, can be measured. The two-photon invariant mass spectrum is reconstructed and then fit using a skewed Gaussian function to represent the pi0 signal and a Chebyshev function to characterize the background. Various checks must be made to assure the quality of the data being analyzed. The status of this analysis will be presented.

Here we study double degenerate systems (DDs); in this context, those are double white dwarfs. Specifically, we explore the rate at which type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) occur as a result of double degenerate systems. SN Ia originate from exploding white dwarfs. In order to better understand SN Ia, we determine a delay time distribution rate, which is the number of SN Ia that occur at certain ages of the specific double degenerate system. Due to a lack of data for DDs, we simulate more of these systems using various probability distributions for multiple parameters in order to expand the data set. We base our distributions on DD systems found among the central stars of planetary nebulae and explore how reasonable alterations to these probability functions affect the delay time distribution. Overall, we find that our predicted rate at which SN Ia occur in spiral galaxies is consistent with observed SN Ia rates and delay time distributions, suggesting that up to 80% of all SN Ia may come from DD mergers.

Reducing the government’s role in economic planning, encouraging privatization of government entities, and spending less is the primary goal of neoliberalism. The mechanisms used by governments are reducing taxes, allowing coporations to open offices worldwide, and encouraging individuals to indepdently save & invest. Neoliberal economics notoriously is known for lowering taxes in all categories, thus creating a society where wealth accumlation is much simpler. Primarily the US and the UK invoked the largest reforms of neoliberalism in the 1980s-by cutting income tax on the wealthiest earners. Despite both nations raising their top tax brackets during the Second World War era-a shift in taxatation from the wealthiest earners towards the middle class was underway. Comparing the US and the UK experience to other countries: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Germany, will comparatively assess how economic inequality occurs during neoliberalism implementation. New Zealand cut income taxes by approximately 30%, but implemented tax cuts using a phased in approach. Canada and Australia chose to diversify their economices, particularly with the globalization of trade, but did not lower income taxes by a large margin. Germany is considered the founding country of neoliberalism, but their approach is different from the US and UK approach to tax cutting. Rather focusing on keeping workers incentivized to produce more and make Germany’s economy stronger in the western hegemony was vital towards Germany’s neoliberalism efforts. Neoliberal ideology and economic policy shapes questions surrounding the benefits of a less tax structure, but does this fall short of putting people ahead?

In the business world, a line of credit can be the deciding factor in a company’s operation or closure. According to the Small Business Association, “small business credit cards account for $430 billion in spending, or about 1 in every 6 dollars spent on general purpose cards”, so clearly small time entrepreneurs, who specialize in taking monetary risks for profit, rely heavily on the ability to make purchases now and pay them off later. And in our modern world of start-ups, “mom and pop shops”, and online businesses, more and more people are looking to break into this scene. This includes marginalized and minority groups, those who traditionally have been denied or restricted from access to credit. In 2020, “an estimated 140,918 U.S. firms with majority Black or African American ownership, up 14% from 124,004 in 2017…” (Pew Research), while nearly “one in four new businesses is Hispanic owned” (SBA). My essay ventures to answer the question as to what policies have been enacted to work against these institutional blockades to credit access, how they’ve negatively and positively affected the longevity of minority owned businesses, and what changes can still be made to assist those who want to become self sufficient and make a more equitable field in the business world for all. My research pulls from numerous sources, including governmental journals, academic databases, and social action organizations dedicated to this very field.

Research into the impacts of war crime prosecution on public opinion range from broad to individualized studies. Lesser exists regarding the role of prosecution on trust in government and support for the military following a ruling. Through analysis of current international policies, this article sets out to analyze the impact of the people’s view of war crime prosecution on trust in democracy. Type and strength of the democracy are also taken into consideration. States who transitioned to democracy just before the events that led to war crime prosecution seem to be trusted less than those who shifted after or long before.

This paper provides an analysis of sanctions effects by examining different cases where sanctions were implanted in countries such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Cuba. These sanctions have raised various issues that caused a lack of resources, migration, a raise in the death toll, inflation, and a decrease in the GDP of the countries in which they were applied by the United States and the United Nations. The main question is whether broad sanctions had effective outcomes for those stated countries and how can targeted sanctions be better or bring out similar results.

Throughout this project I will be analyzing the shift in the Latino vote across more recent Presidential elections. I want to highlight this as a topic because the Latino vote has never been united, why? Different latino groups favor different parties and in this project I explain why and how some groups have shifted their vote to a different party regarding different political issue stances. Latinos should be a united front and a vote parties could count on but when their vote is about 60 – 40, it’s hard to know which way they’ll sway. Ultimately why are different groups in the Latino community favoring the parties they do? This is based on many factors which we will emphasize throughout the project. After collecting data results from recent presidential elections and cross examining the Latino vote it will explain furthermore into why the latino vote has shifted.

Research on how polarization contributes to distrust from citizens to their government. There has been a significant increase since the early 2000s about the polarization between political parties and how it instigates distrust between citizens and government. These differences are especially prominent in the United States but other countries, such as France, the United Kingdom, and Germany have seen an increase in conservative, right winged parties and political leaders as well. This article contributes to the knowledge of why trust is important to functioning democracies and what affects that trust. Specifically, if trust is affected by the type of government institution and the difference between trust in parliamentary and presidential democracies.

Social media is a new phenomenon that took the early 2000s by storm in the United States. Just as quickly, social media became a haven for users to post hateful content and spread hate speech online. Despite this, social media hasn’t seen many repercussions for harboring hate speech. Because of its resemblance to the Internet, social media managed to be grouped in with regulations imposed on ISPs which are largely broad and loose. Also, with certain defensive measures like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and freedom of speech granted by the First Amendment, social media has bypassed much legal scrutiny. Furthermore, the political parties can’t agree on why social media needs to be regulated, which has allowed social media to also bypass congressional scrutiny. As a result of all of this, more hate speech has flourished on social media than show be allowed. In attempting to bring the U.S. further for civil rights and equality, cracking down on hate speech is necessary. To do this, there are some policy proposals that could potentially work around § 230 and still be accepted by the U.S. judiciary. What many of these proposals highlight is that social media is insufficient in regulating hate speech on its own which means government intervention is necessary.

Competency to stand trial (CST) is a due process right guaranteed by the 14th amendment. As a result of the Supreme Court Case Dusky v. United States (1960), CST is defined as a defendant’s abilities to rationally and factually understand trial proceedings, as well as consult with their attorney. Individuals who are mentally ill are more likely to be incompetent to stand trial and are more likely to be referred for evaluations to determine if they are competent or incompetent to stand trial. The escalating increase for referrals on competency to stand trial (CST) evaluations has impacted the process of legal proceedings and due process rights in many states, potentially including, potentially, Indiana. One hypothesized contributing factor to the national competency crisis is the association between homelessness and CST referrals. The relation of homelessness and competency could be attributed to a variety of factors include: substance abuse, mental illness, and criminalization of poverty. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between homelessness, CST referrals, and CST evaluation outcomes. Using the Odyssey Public System, we had a population of over 4000 CST evaluations. We sampled 150 of these evaluations for the current research question. Using mycase.in.gov, additional data about the case (including specific charges, whether the defendant was homelessness, and outcome of CST and those cases) was coded by student research assistants. This poster will review the background of this growing problem and identify how many (CST) evaluations in Indiana involve homeless individuals and the outcomes of those cases.

Splitting is one of the most common symptoms reported among people with high levels of emotional thinking, such as those with borderline personality disorder. Splitting, also known as dichotomous thinking or black-and-white thinking, describes how BPD individuals tend to switch between their moods frequently, from feeling in love with a person to quickly feeling like they are your enemy (Parsonage). It’s unclear what the neuropsychological reason behind this behavior happens to be, however, we started by taking a deeper look of the patterns in the brain waves present when splitting does occur. The hypothesis of this study states that the characteristic of black-and-white thinking in individuals with BPD-related symptoms is due to a heightened amount of gamma wave production in the brain. The key takeaway for this project has been deciphering relationship between gamma wave production and dichotomous thinking, and what patterns are found in emotional thinking. Our findings conclude that there may be a significant relationship between those who fall under higher levels of emotional thinking with the likelihood of splitting in these individuals.

Competency to stand trial (CST) is a due process right guaranteed by the 14th amendment. As a result of the Supreme Court Case Dusky v. United States (1960), CST is defined as a defendant’s abilities to rationally and factually understand trial proceedings, as well as consult with their attorney. Psycho-legal scholars suggest that the United States has entered a “competency crisis”—defined by increasing orders for CST evaluations, an increased finding of incompetency, and delays in CST evaluations and restoration services. The escalating increase for referrals on CST evaluations has impacted the process of legal proceedings and due process rights in many states, potentially including Indiana. CST has been the most common type of evaluation within forensic psychology, and there have been numerous articles investigating potential racial and gender bias in CST referrals, reports, and outcomes (Cooper & Zapf, 2003; Dirks-Linhorst, 2018; Judd & Parker, 2018; Kois, et al., 2012; MacCallum, et al., 2015, Paradis, et al., 2016; Pierelli, et al., 2011, among others). Previous research suggests that within CST cases in the U.S., race/ethnicity and gender did not predict CST referrals or outcomes. Utilizing archival data collection of over 4000 CST cases in a Midwestern state between 2018 and 2021, this study will attempt to replicate these prior findings, as well as, investigate whether an interaction effect exists between race or gender and offense type in CST outcomes, and identify whether racial minorities have experienced longer delays in CST evaluations than their white counterparts.

In this study, we investigate the perceived nature of digital and physical goods. Digital goods have increased in number as technological advances continue to interact with consumerism. Because of this, digital and physical goods have been set up as rivals in the market, and understanding their relationship with psychological ownership seemed a perfect next step in data collection. We hypothesized that if a good has a higher perceived capacity for psychological ownership, then it will be valued at a higher rate than goods that have a low perceived capacity for psychological ownership. Participants (N = 16) were students enrolled in a research methods in psychology course. Through a survey, participants indicated how much they would pay for a given item, either digital or physical, and how much psychological ownership they felt for each good. We found that digital goods are valued less than physical goods and have a lesser sense of psychological ownership. The results we have found have large implications for how our preferences lie when it comes to physical and digital possessions. By using the data we found in this study, we have determined that people still prefer physical items even when living in a digital era.

Both children and adults are excellent word learners, and one way in which individuals learn language is through cross-situational word learning (CSWL). In CSWL paradigms participants see multiple items on a screen and hear them labeled. They are not informed which label goes with each referent and must track the co-occurrences across trials. Infants’ (Yu et al., 2011), preschoolers’ (Vlach & DeBrock, 2016), and adults’ (Benitez et al., 2020) memory abilities are related to their CSWL abilities. Memory is an important factor in CSWL in both massed trials and interleaved trials (Vlach & DeBrock, 2016). Related to memory is metacognition, in which individuals have an understanding and awareness of their own thought (Hembacher & Ghetti, 2014). Given that memory is important to CSWL abilities, the current study investigates if there is a similar relationship between adults’ CSWL and metacognition.

Participants will include adults above the age of 18 (N=15). CSWL will be measured for interleaved and massed items similar to that used by Vlach & Johnson (2013). CSWL is assessed as their accuracy of choosing the correct referent over a distractor. Metacognition will be assessed by asking participants how confident they are with their answers.

We plan to run a regression with CSWL as the dependent variable. We predict that adults with better metacognition will be more accurate in their judgments about the accuracy of their word-referent mappings. The implications of these results will aid our understanding of the mechanisms that support word learning and add to our growing understanding of metacognition.

A child’s language develops both prenatally and throughout childhood and can significantly impact their abilities to produce and understand language throughout their lifespan. The goal of this study is to find accessible ways to equip caregivers with resources to set their child up for future success in the comprehension and production of language. Parent’s understanding of childhood development is related to their child’s efficiency in moving through developmental stages, specifically in relation to the acquisition of language (Booth, 2018). To further research this topic, we are creating a remote video-training process to teach parents. Existing literature has shown the power of video-training on parent’s understanding, showing that those who received specific training could implement new activities with their children, leading to an increased development of language-related skills (Blom-Hoffman, 2008). Current research about video formats, conducted on college students, has found that participants learn best from combined audio and visual aspects that included social cues from footage of the instructor speaking (Brünken, 2002; Kizilcec, 2015). As an expansion of these ideas, this study will focus on finding out what video format is most beneficial to teach parents new information. Specifically, we will compare learning outcomes from videos of a real person presenting information compared to those with an animated character. Findings from this research will provide a more efficient way of equipping parents to best support their child in the process of being able to understand and produce written and spoken language.

The need for novel stimuli is crucial in word-learning tasks during psychological experiments. Word-learning tasks take many forms for both children and adult participants. They are either explicitly taught names for novel objects, like direct naming and sight cues, or implicitly where they discern the object and its appropriate name throughout multiple trials. It is also significantly important for the database of novel objects to expand because even exposure to novel stimuli more than once can alter the outcome of an experiment. A new novel stimuli database would limit the possibility of overlap in these studies.

The Learning and Language Acquisition (LaLA) Lab needed stimuli that could both be in digital format and physical format so it could be held by participants. The LaLA Database consists of stimuli that is hand-crafted for this very purpose. Due to the hand-craftedness, it would be hard for participants to give a real name to any of the objects. These objects were photographed and had their backgrounds removed so the only object present is the novel stimulus; as well as, videos of the object with novel names were created. With the creation of any new database, however, there is a need for trials with the public in order to solidify the effectiveness of what has been created.

Children learn language from the individuals in their environment. Research has been conducted about children learning language from different speakers, for example, from different accented speakers (Schmale et al., 2011), from their peers (Perry et al., 2018), and from those they trust (Corriveau et al., 2011), but there is little research on the comparison between children learning from adults and children learning from other children. We know that the language input children and adults use directed to a child is substantially different (Hoff-Ginsberg & Krueger, 1991). Therefore, the current project will assess whether preschool-aged children learn the names for novel objects more effectively when they are presented by another child or by an adult.

To aid our study, we have begun the process of creating a unique database of novel objects to present to preschool-aged participants. By utilizing novel objects, we can assure that participants will be unfamiliar with the names associated with the objects. Participants will be presented with these objects through a video and then will be tested to see how many objects they can identify correctly.

This project will lay a foundation for future research and allow researchers and educators to understand the best learning environment for young children. The knowledge about language development gained in this study has the potential to impact researchers, educators, childcare givers, and parents, as well as the potential to influence the way in which we teach children words in educational settings.

Most music connects with individuals using words or repeated rhythmic sequences in today’s music. However, are we able to identify emotional connections to music from the classical era? Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” contains four distinct movements, each expressing a different season. With these contrasting movements, many researchers in the field of Psychology have used “The Four Seasons” to understand mental activity. Researchers like Leigh M. Rigby, R. G. Thompson, C.J. A. Moulin, S. Hayre, and R. W. Jones used this piece of music in their studies. Nicholas Lockey also expresses that the musical contrasts and similarities in the movements express much to the individual listener. One way to track human emotion and behavior is through color psychology. John Gage and June McLeod have done research in the past on how color expresses emotions. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Theory of Colours (1840) set a foundation for this approach. Using Gage’s and McLeod’s research along with the history of color psychology, a research experiment was designed to better understand how individuals could depict emotions within each movement of Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”. Using undergraduate student volunteers and the ImageJ software, the results were calculated with the total percentages of different colors used on various coloring sheets during each trial. Calculations were done on the average color percentages, and an inferential statistical analysis was used to determine if differences between the means were significant or not using a p value of 0.05. The results are displayed in graphical format.

Intellectual humility is being able to recognize and own our intellectual limitations while continuing to seek a deeper understanding of knowledge and truth.Those who have intellectual humility are humble; intellectually humble adults are more thorough, open-minded, and conscientious information-seekers (Bowes et al., 2021; Koetke et al., 2021). Little is known about how contexts might encourage or discourage intellectual humility. Previous studies have investigated cognitive precursors, including intelligence and theory of mind in children (Danovitch et al., 2019). Through the classic achievement goal theory there is a distinction between mastery and students that are strictly performance oriented. It is predicted that people who are more intellectually humble will prefer instructors who display intellectual humility and teach to have an emphasis on mastery. Through this study we will assess the relationship between students’ intellectual humility and their preferences in the classroom.

In the proposed study, participants will be 30 college students who will complete questionnaires on intellectual humility as well as rating preferences on different teaching scenarios. Classroom preferences will be tested with vignettes of different teaching scenarios. Intellectual humility will be assessed through student self report on established scales.

The data will be analyzed through multiple regression. Intellectual humility is used as a predictor and teaching preferences will be entered as the dependent variable. The results of the

People use many different strategies in order to learn a language. One way we think individuals learn language is through statistical learning (SL) where they track the regularities in the speech stream in both adjacent (Saffran et al., 1996) and non-adjacent dependencies (NAD) (Gomez, 2002). Handedness is related to adult language abilities (Knecht et al., 2000). This relationship between handedness and language is thought to be driven by lateralization, where handedness is a proxy for lateralization. The current study will investigate the relationship between handedness and SL in adults’ language abilities.

Participants will be undergraduate students. Participants’ handedness will be assessed with the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire (Cavill & Bryden, 2003). Their SL will be tested using the SL language from Gomez (2002) testing NADs. Participants will listen to the language during a familiarization period. After listening to the language, participants will hear a string of syllables and will then decide if the string that they heard was correct or incorrect for the language they heard previously. SL abilities will be calculated using the number of syllables they correctly judge as having come from the language they heard previously.

It is predicted that lateralized adults, adults who are either left-handed or right-handed, will have better scores on the SL task. A t-test will be used to determine if there was a significant difference in SL scores for left versus right-handed adults. This study will extend and help elucidate some of the mechanisms that may play a role in language.

Music has been shown to influence arousal and mood. A positive mood is associated with better learning, and a medium level of arousal is optimal for learning. Active music therapy has been shown to activate brain clusters involved in memory in the frontal and temporal lobes. Additionally, preferred music has been shown to increase activation of the frontolimbic circuits of the brain that play a role in emotional regulation and, therefore, executive function. Current research has not adequately tested whether preferred music indirectly improves learning by influencing mood/arousal; this study attempts to do so. Fourteen participants are sorted into high- and low- functioning groups using standard measures of executive functioning and creativity. Each group experiences a music condition, where they listen to music that fits their preference, and a non-music condition. Learning is measured via performance on the CVLT-3. Participants are read a word list from the CVLT-3 or RAVLT under each condition and are then asked to recall the word list under silence. This procedure is repeated until the test is complete. Arousal and auditory information are measured physiologically throughout the experiment via frontal and temporal EEG electrode arrays. It was expected that the frontal waves recorded at recall in the music condition would be Beta waves (13-25Hz) due to the participant’s alert and attentive state at a medium level of arousal. The frontal waves recorded at recall in the non-music condition, therefore, were expected to be below 13 or above 25Hz. Results of multivariate multiple regression are presented.

The national increase of competency to stand trial (CST) referrals has contributed to delays in legal proceedings, hindrance of due process rights, and class action lawsuits. The state of Indiana previously did not have best practice standards regarding timeliness in completing CST evaluations. The current study used archival data from Odyssey Public Access to investigate Indiana court’s handling of the increasing demand for CST evaluations and the process of referral during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of this study elucidate that the state of Indiana is not operating according to other states’ best practice standards. However, the current study concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic did not significantly increase the time to complete CST evaluations. This research sheds further light on the future of CST referrals and evaluations during an endemic.

Abstract: The lack of empirically based diagnostic criteria for delayed ejaculation (DE) not only undermines confidence in the reported prevalence rates for this sexual dysfunction, but it has also resulted in a lack of validated patient reported outcomes (PROs) for assessing this condition. The current study was designed to describe and evaluate six face-valid variables previously shown to discriminate between men with and without DE for their utility as diagnostic measures for DE. A sample of 1285 men (mean age = 37.8, SD = 12.7) free of erectile problems and premature ejaculation completed an online sexual health survey that included potential questions intended for use in the diagnosis of DE. Questionnaire items included ones reflective of previously proposed diagnostic constructs related to DE: ejaculation timing/latency, ejaculation efficacy/control, and negative effects of DE. Results indicated that five of the six proposed items showed moderate intercorrelations, suggesting that each constituted a distinct (i.e., non-redundant) though relevant criterion related to the diagnosis of DE. Based on the level of interrelatedness, the better items representing each construct were included in commonality analysis to assess their unique contributions to the diagnosis of DE. Perceived lack of ejaculatory efficacy/control contributed the largest portion of the variance to the diagnosis of DE (58%), with bother/distress (an index of the negative effects of DE) contributing the second largest portion (25%), and ejaculation timing/latency contributing only a small portion of the variance (6%) to the diagnosis of DE. The relevance of these findings to developing a patient report outcome (PRO) for diagnosing DE that considers both empirically supported questions/items and an appropriate balance of items regarding the three constructs was discussed.

Intellectual humility is a relatively developing concept within the field of psychology that observes the level that individuals are aware of their own intellectual level and receptive to the thoughts and ideas of others (Krumrei-Mancuso, et al 2016). Among the main studies that observe intellectual humility and have sought to define it observe the main characteristics of those who possess intellectual humility. Along with this, we are analyzing whether or not someone’s levels of intellectual humility can play a role in how susceptible they are to misinformation, in an adult sample. Especially in the current times, knowing whether or not possessing intellectual humility can possibly prevent susceptibility to misinformation is crucial. Utilizing multiple scales of intellectual humility and susceptibility, this study will observe the ways in which different levels of intellectual humility reflect in someone’s susceptibility levels. The scales we used to measure this were the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale (Krumrei-Mancuso, et al 2016), the Limitations-Owning Intellectual Humility Scale (Haggard et al, 2018), and the General Conspiracist Belief Scale (Brotherton, et al 2013). We predict a negative correlation between intellectual humility and high susceptibility, suggesting that those who are more susceptible will have lower levels of intellectual humility.

The poster discusses the significance, theoretical approach, and objectives of “The Elderly Fall Prevention Program” (EFPP) targeting adults aged 65 years or older in Manhattan, New York City. Falls are one of the leading causes of injuries and hospitalization in this age group, and the program aims to mitigate the issue holistically by incorporating Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Behavioral capability, self-efficacy, environmental factors, and social support are key constructs of SCT that the program focuses on to achieve desired behavioral outcomes. The EFPP involves promoting behavioral capability, gaining confidence in one’s ability to predict and prevent falls, promoting environmental changes, and involving families and communities of vulnerable groups in educational sessions. The EFPP has long-term objectives to reduce the incidence of falls among the elderly by 35% by 2030, and intermediate objectives to have 40% of the elderly population spend 15 minutes a day in physical activities and educate 40% of them to identify and avoid common home hazards. The immediate objectives of the program are to educate 45% of the families of the target population about the importance of emotional and psychological support. The program’s efficacy will be assessed through annual statistical reports and surveys.

Background information About 1 in 7 children have suffered from child abuse and neglect in the U.S. last year, and children who have a low socioeconomic status are at higher risk (CDC, 2022). Child abuse and neglect is frequently reported in Illinois (HHS, 2022). Purpose The purpose of my intervention is to prevent the reoccurrence of child abuse and neglect among adult parents between the ages of 25 and 35, who have a past documented report and receive SNAP benefits, by implementing The Incredible Years Program at the South Chicago Community Center. Program and Theoretical Approach The Incredible Years Program will be guided by the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and address 3 constructs commonly found in literature: knowledge, self-efficacy, and environmental impediments. Participants will attend weekly sessions over the course of 6 weeks and learn positive parenting practices, active coping strategies, and how to access parental assistance programs to reduce environmental stressors. Participants will also complete a pre and post questionnaire assessing their knowledge, and a score of 80% will be considered passing. Health Objective The health objective states that the intervention will reduce the prevalence of child abuse and neglect cases among program participants by 30% after 5 years of program implementation. Conclusion and Recommendation This program utilizes the most significant constructs of the SCT as research supports that both parent education and training programs are effective at preventing child abuse and neglect (Temcheff et al., 2018). SCT is recommended to guide future child abuse and prevention programs.

Background Information In Indiana, individuals with mental illnesses are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. Rather than being evaluated and treated in a proper facility, such as public psychiatric hospitals, offenders are referred to jails and prisons. According to Ray, Sapp, et.al. (2016), “Studies have found the rate of serious mental illness in jail and prison ranges from 14 to 16 percent, a rate three to five times greater than the proportion of serious mental illness in the greater population.” Mentally ill offenders that are not receiving adequate representation while incarcerated are not getting access to resources needed once released, leading to an increase in health problems, lack of medication, help for mental illness, and recidivism rates (Lewandowski, 2018). Purpose The purpose of the intervention is to reduce recidivism rates among mentally ill offenders, increase knowledge of recovery from mental disorders, and evaluate goals met upon completion of the Recovery Works Program. Theoretical Foundation and Plan This educational intervention is based on the social cognitive theory to determine the availability of community based formal resources and social support networks while incarcerated. Each participant in the program will utilize at least one of the following re-entry resources: Re-Entry Funding, Community Funding, Recovery Residence Funding, Intensive Outpatient Treatment Funding, Discretionary Funding, Residential Treatment Funding, and After Care Funding. Recommendation and Conclusion Since the Recovery Works Program does not have consistent execution and monitoring across NWI, the proposed objectives will be applied and re-evaluated after 5 years of proper program implementation.