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  Role of M1BP, a transcriptional pausing transcription factor in JNK-mediated cell death during eye development

  Anuradha Chimata Venkatakrishnan, Hannah paige Darnell

  In all multicellular organisms, transcriptional regulation is crucial to regulate differential gene expression, which is important during development and growth. Transcriptional pausing is one such mechanism used to control gene expression. Recently, we have shown that M1BP, a transcriptional pausing transcription factor, promotes eye development by suppressing wingless (wg) expression. We also showed that M1BP regulates caspase-mediated cell death that is triggered by wg induction. M1BP is a functional homolog of ZKSCAN3, an autophagy repressor in humans. Jun-amino-terminal-(NH2)-Kinase (JNK) signaling is a pro-death pathway that is also known to activate caspase-mediated cell death. We hypothesized that M1BP could have a role in mediating cell death via JNK signaling during eye development. We used the Drosophila melanogaster model to study the role of JNK signaling during M1BP mediated eye suppression. Using the GAL4-UAS system, we modulated JNK signaling components along with downregulating M1BPRNAi. We present data that shows that the absence of M1BPRNAi results in activation of autophagic marker and JNK signaling. We show that activation of JNK signaling enhances M1BPRNAi phenotype and downregulation of JNK signaling rescues the M1BPRNAi phenotype of no eye. We also show that loss of M1BPRNAi in addition to blocking cell death and autophagy resulted in a rescue of the M1BPRNAi no eye phenotype.

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  Room temperature Photoluminescence of Bulk Ge and Ge_(1-x) Sn_x for Different Sn Concentration

  Vijay Amir Gregory

  Silicon (Si) integrated photonic devices have been the subject of much interest. However, the limitations of Si prevent it from being used as an efficient light source or detector. It has been shown that Ge with its indirect bandgap energy being close to the direct valley, can be band engineered to achieve optical gain by alloying it with Sn. However, the defect states that arise from the lattice mismatch between Ge and Sn can result in high dark current and low signal to noise ratio in detectors, as well as low gain in lasers. Currently, at AFRL, methods are being implemented to grow GeSn on Si with good crystal qualities. In this research, the optical properties of Ge and its alloys, GeSn are studied for different concentrations of Sn. The photoluminescence of bulk Ge and Ge_(1-x) Sn_x will be studied using a diffraction grating spectrometer and a 980nm pump laser. The results will show the benefits of the proposed growth techniques in producing high quality Ge_(1-x) Sn_x thin films that could lead to significant technological developments.

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  Second Language Learning Motivation and Investment in Warscapes: A Case Study of Successful English Learners from Afghanistan

  Brittany Noel Antoon

  A significant body of scholarship exists on second language (L2) learning investment and strategies within the classroom, yet considerations for successful L2 learners in fragile contexts with limited formal education are conspicuously absent from literature. This article explores enabling factors of successful L2 learning in the particular warscape (Korf et al., 2010) of Afghanistan within the sociological framework of investment (Norton, 1995) and psychological framework of motivation (Garner & Lambert, 1972). The researcher surveyed and interviewed U.S.-based individuals from Afghanistan who acquired English proficiency there. Results indicate participants were able to overcome barriers to formal education through independent study and family advocacy and achieve high levels of proficiency despite little to no formal language instruction. The article discusses participants’ motivation and social positioning with respect to English language learning in light of Norton’s framework of investment, as well as possible implications for aid agencies serving regions in conflict.

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  Seeds, Squirrels, and Students: how human disturbance can affect rates of seed consumption

  Mira Brese Holifield, Catherine G. Landry, Juliana Marie Vollmer

  Seed consumption by animals is an important source of energy in the food web, as well as a mechanism used by plants for dispersal. The goal of this study was to look at seed consumption by animals in the Dayton area such as birds and squirrels and see if the consumption is affected by human disturbance. The two different areas we focused on differed in the amount of daily human activity. The two locations were the Environmental Research Area and around the University of Dayton campus. The Environmental Research Area (ERA) was considered to be low-traffic, while the University of Dayton campus had high traffic. We selected five locations at each site and placed trays with a set number of sunflower seeds. Every couple days we counted the remaining seeds in the trays and then refilled them to determine the rate of seed consumption. Our preliminary results find that there is a general difference in rate of seed consumption between the high traffic and low traffic areas. Greater implications of these findings suggest that human activity can affect where local animals source their food.

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  Serenity Pines and Burke’s Pentad

  Kyle Cullen, Kate Doyle, Erin Zielsdorf

  Burke’s Pentad is a rhetorical perspective that allows us to notice all elements of a scene and provokes thought on what caused an action to take place. The five elements are act, agent, agency, purpose, and scene. Serenity Pines was dedicated in October 2001 in memory of former administrator Joe Belle. During his time at UD, he hoped for a place of serenity and reflection for students to visit.

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  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) - non-structural protein 3 suppresses the pro-inflammatory cytokines in host cell

  Ryan Jamison Nelson

  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an enveloped, single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus with genome size ~30 Kb. SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes 13–15 open reading frames (ORFs). Among them ORF1a encodes a non-structural protein 3 (Nsp3). Nsp3 is one of the largest proteins encoded by virus with an average molecular mass of about 200 kD. Nsp3 plays an important role in virus replication which includes creating virus replication/transcription complex and processing viral proteins. Nsp3 with papain-like protease activity cleave Nsp1-Nsp2, Nsp2-Nsp3 and Nsp3-Nsp4 in viral polypeptide. However, there is very little known about the role of Nsp3 on host innate immune response. To determine the role of SARS-Cov2- Nsp3 on host innate immune response, we transfected the HEK-293 Cell with plasmid containing SARS-CoV2-Nsp3 gene with green fluorescent protein (GFP). Transfected cells were analyzed for interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) expression. Our result showed that SARS-Cov2- Nsp3 significantly reduced IL-6 and TNF alpha expression, indicating the role of SARS-Cov2- Nsp3 in virus induced immunosuppression. However, we need to confirm our results with more replicates

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  Sexualization in Sport: Analyzing the Female Collegiate Athlete

  Kara Joyce Shunnarah

  Sport has historically been a male dominated area. Since the passage of Title XI in 1972, the opportunity for females to participate in sport has expanded. However, despite efforts towards inclusion within the sporting context, stereotypes and social expectations have remained present for female athletes. The present research study analyzes the experiences of collegiate female athletes with specific focus on female athlete sexualization through media representation and uniform dress. The study exhibits how sexualization in sport can affect the female athlete's athletic performance and perception of media coverage. Focus groups were conducted with female athletes at the University of Dayton. Qualitative results explore how female athletes balance the identity of being both a female and an athlete. Findings provide a deeper insight into the realities of a collegiate level female athlete, revealing both the changing and the stagnant socially constructed experiences within sport.

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  Social Distancing in Response to an Epidemic Review

  Dylan Matthew Beck

  The goal of this project is to review how author and mathematician, Timothy Reluga has used game theory to come up with the best social distancing strategy in response to an epidemic. In his paper, “Game Theory of Social Distancing in Response to an Epidemic” Reluga makes some assumptions to make the problem simpler. This project will review Reluga’s methodology, results, and look at what effects these assumptions have.

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  Social Media Usage During COVID-19: Friend or Foe?

  Claudia Nicole Dominique

  Mental health is one of the primary concerns on college campuses across the country, with a concerning number of students reporting mental distress. The COVID-19 pandemic only worsened this mental health crisis, resulting in a country-wide increase in mental health concerns. While the internet helped people stay in contact with one another, the increase in social media usage could have exacerbated college students’ existent mental distress. The broad goal of the current study is to highlight the relationship between social media usage and mental health among college students. In addition, the study also seeks to evaluate students’ self-reported changes in their mental health and social media usage as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study utilized online surveys to collect data on individuals’ perceived impact of the pandemic on their social media behavior, and subsequently, their overall mental health. This research will contribute to our knowledge about mental health among college students by providing greater insight into the psychological state of students today, thus allowing future researchers to address the mental health concerns of those who have lived through a global pandemic.

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  Soil Health in an Anthropogenic Landscape

  Pepper Julia Cantwell, Olivia P. Fenner, Ellise K. Westerheide

  With the knowledge of roads being a man-made structure that can have important ecological effects, we were interested in how these structures can affect root growth and soil characteristics. By measuring root growth, soil moisture, and pH at varying distances from a paved road, we can learn how anthropogenic factors affect soil. It’s important to address these scientific questions at this time of civilization because we are encroaching on natural resources now more than ever before. Using a soil coring method, we can test pH and soil moisture levels, as well as collect and record any root samples captured in each core. From past research, an ideal soil moisture for the type of soil we are testing would be between 10-18 percent and with a neutral pH of around 7. High root growth generally indicates a healthy system, so that would be ideal too. We expect to see the amount of root growth and moisture increase as we get further away from the road, as well as the ideal pH starting to appear as samples are taken away from the road.

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  Solitary Confinement Effects on Mental Health

  Olivia Brady Canalizo

  For my senior capstone project, I studied the mental health symptoms of prisoners who had experienced solitary confinement while incarcerated. Using a nationally representative data set that included the characteristics of thousands of prisoners, I was able to conduct my research by evaluating a variety of mental health issues such as nervousness, hopelessness, and depression while controlling for the inmate's sex, race, and age. Analyzing this data, I found that there is a significant correlation between inmates with mental health issues and those who have experienced solitary confinement.

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  Sororities in Pop Culture Research Study

  Eloise Elizabeth Crane, Elizabeth M. Finnigan, Grace Marie Kennedy

  Sororities and sorority life has blown up over the past decade. There are many social stigmas related to sororities and over the years, sororities have been depicted a lot differently than they are in reality. More specifically, a recent TikTok trend has gone viral of girls posting videos during their recruitment process of what they are wearing and where they purchased the items from. These videos, predominantly from the south, went viral as people started to mock them and send them to friends. The goal of this research study is to unravel the socialization influence sororities have and come to a consensus on how sororities are depicted in pop culture and why. This study advances theory since there are not many studies done on this particular topic. Sororities are organizations that everyone hears about but not many people are aware of what they are really about unless they are a member. The social stigma that sororities face are most commonly not accurately depicted, especially from movies and television shows.

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  Spatial Metabolic Modeling and Analysis

  Matthew J. Cummings

  Over the summer of 2021, I (Matthew Cummings) and one other undergraduate student worked closely with an Assistant Professor and Graduate Researcher for the NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology at Northwestern University. As a team, we extensively researched how manipulation of a set of partial differential equations could effect the reaction pathway for a set of chemical reactions (within a cell) involving 1,2-propendiol, propenaldehyde, and 1-proponal. Analyzing how manipulation could effect these reaction pathways has many applications that could be used in many industries, including cosmetic, perfume, air care, cleaning, and more. In my presentation, I will talk about our team's findings and how we came about them as well as these applications.

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  Speech Therapists’ Experiences with Parental Demands.

  Rose C. Arkus

  This research study focuses on exploring the challenges that speech therapists may face when interacting with parents of children who are receiving speech language therapy. The research works to explore the impact on the patient’s well-being. Some confounding impacts that will be explored through interviews include: the impact of social class, and accessibility to services. The results provide insight on the experience of navigating parental demands and child well-being within both schools and private centers in Ohio. This research is important to examine because it provides insight into gaps of literature and research for those who are practicing speech therapy and those who are receiving the therapy.

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  Spilling the Beans: An Ethical Analysis of Fair Trade Considering Catholic Social Teaching

  Elise Michelle Abshire

  In this poster, I will be presenting research on the difference of direct and fair methods of coffee trading in light of Catholic Social Teaching. My proposition is that buying fair trade coffee beans is insufficient for respecting the inherent dignity of the human person, and direct trade must be the standard for any ethically conscious consumer. Throughout recent years, there has been an increasing ethical consciousness amongst universal consumers to buy more environmentally friendly, cage-free, and organic items. However, modern media fails to caution the ethical consumer about the importance of purchasing products that provide the greatest respect for the dignity of man, and the distinction between fair and direct trade provides insight on this issue. Fair trade was established in the 1980s as a way to ensure workers were being justly paid and living in proper conditions (Le and Janovokic, 2019). However, the issues of accountability and the middleman have been a hindrance in the effectiveness of fair trade. In contrast, direct trade means that coffee roasters are supplied directly from farmers without a middleman (Le and Janovokic, 2019). The Catholic Social Teaching principle of the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person was also examined with the consideration of Marianist Educational Values, especially education for justice. In conclusion, through knowing more about and utilizing direct trade, well-informed, ethical consumers can change lives. Finally, being informed ethical consumers should affect how we live out our daily lives on a Marianist campus, including how we source our coffee beans for our coffee shops.

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  Structure-function analysis of Defective proventriculus (Dve) in Drosophila melanogaster eye development

  Anuradha Chimata Venkatakrishnan

  Organ development is a highly regulated process to transform a monolayer organ primordium into a fully developed organ. Formation of morphogen gradient acts as critical cue to determine cell fate in developing tissues. In Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit fly), wingless (wg) morphogen acts as a negative regulator of eye development and wg gradient determines the eye vs. head fate. Previously, we have identified defective proventriculus (dve, an ortholog of SATB1) as a novel dorsal patterning gene that regulates transcription of wg morphogen. Axial patterning is required to establish Antero-posterior (AP), Dorso-Ventral (DV), and Proximo-Distal (PD) axes. Of the three axes, DV axis is the first lineage restriction event during eye development and any deviation results in developmental birth defects. In the dorsal gene hierarchy, dve acts downstream of GATA-1 transcription factor pannier (pnr) and upstream of wg. Loss-of-function of dve results in dorsal eye enlargement and increase in wg while gain-of-function results in eye suppression and reduced wg. In humans, SATB1 functions as a transcriptional regulator and chromatin organizer and requires tetramerization by the ULD domain. Furthermore, SATB1, the human ortholog of dve is highly upregulated in cancers. Here we have used the Drosophila eye model to understand the role of different Dve protein domains. We performed structure-function analysis of Dve protein to elucidate the role of various domains in regulating wg and eye development. We have developed several transgenic lines, which will allow us to induce expression of the specific domains of Dve protein and assay their effect in the eye. Dve has a ULD domain for tetramerization, HOX domains for DNA binding and PPP4R2 domain for H2AFX dephosphorylation. Here we present our results on ectopic induction of these domains and their effect on eye phenotype and wg expression in the developing eye.

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  Student chamber music ensembles performance

  Jamie Allison Burenga, Taylor Lou Flight, Sierrah Lorette Howard, Emily Elizabeth Hunt, Margaret Rachel Moore, Cameron Jacob Page, Jaylee A. Sowders

  The music department presents performances by student performers in chamber music ensembles. These are intimate orchestrations that are composed for very few performers. We proudly present our student woodwind quintet performing Carl Nielsen's Woodwind Quintet, opus 43 and our student woodwind trio performing Francois Devienne's Trio in Bb, opus 61, #5.

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  Studying spatiotemporal gene expression in real time and lineage cells in Drosophila using G-Trace reporter system

  Anuradha Chimata Venkatakrishnan, Imaan Jameel Khan

  All multicellular organisms show strictly controlled transcriptional regulation that determines differential gene expression along the spatiotemporal axis. This dynamic spatiotemporal gene expression determines the variation in cellular structure and functions and also their interaction with other genes or proteins in cells. So far, GFP or LacZ based reporter systems have been widely utilized in Drosophila melanogaster to study such gene expression changes. Alternatively, antibody based immunohistochemical approach is also used to determine protein localization patter in tissues. But such approaches pose a challenge when studying transient or very early expression patterns. Therefore, we have utilized a genetic system that combines Gal4/UAS, FLP/FRT and fluorescent reporters to provide information about spatial, temporal, and lineage expression of genes. When crossed with a Gal4 stock, the Gal4 Technique for Real-time and Clonal Expression (G-TRACE) will reveal real time RFP expression, and ubiquitous lineage-traced GFP expression. Here, we utilize this method to study some of the genes that play an important role during eye development.

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  Study on landfill locations related to the race of the residents in Montgomery County, Ohio.

  Amanda N. Thieneman

  Recent studies have shown that landfills are frequently located in low-income areas. A common definition for a landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. These waste materials give off chemicals and fumes which are harmful to humans, especially those closer to the landfill site. The health of people is at risk. In other studies, a variety of health conditions have been reported of those living closer to landfill sites suffering more from them than those living further away. These conditions include asthma, cuts, diarrhea, stomach pain, recurring flu, cholera, malaria, cough, skin irritation, and tuberculosis (Njoku et al., 2019). Since other studies have already shown that landfills can lead to health problems, we can make the inference that the people living closest to the landfill sites in Montgomery County are also being affected in this way. This research study is solely focusing on the race of residents in Montgomery County and the locations of the landfills. The purpose of this study is to see if race has a correlation to the location of landfills in Montgomery County. There are two operating landfills in the county and the study looks at the percentage of nonwhite people for those areas. This study is important because if there is an environmental injustice happening then people should be informed. It also can provide the community with valuable information that could influence change and promote advocacy for environmental justice.

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  Substance Use and Crime Rates

  Nancy Russell

  In this study, I use a combination of existing research and the collection of survey data from college-aged participants to explain the relationship between substance use and the commission of various crimes throughout the college years. The study includes participants who anonymously reported their history of drug and alcohol use within the last year. This information was then compared with violent and property crimes that were self-reported by the respondents. The association between substance use and various crimes committed while under the influence showed a strong positive correlation. My findings highlight the importance of substance use and abuse as a major risk factor for crimes committed on the University of Dayton’s campus as well as in the student neighborhood. This underscores the need for a comprehensive understanding that the more drug and alcohol use on college campuses, the more crimes that will be committed among those living in the community.

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  Success of Trans and Black Directors in Theater

  Jadin Shaw

  My poster presentation is about Black and Transgender directors and how their success has a big impact for Trans and Black representation around the world. When it comes to Black directors it took decades for them to break into the entertainment industry. Directors like Janet Mock, Jordan Peele, Spike Lee, and Ava DuVernay are household names in the industry who have created many commercially successful projects. They have all faced adversity in their careers and were able to continue to make meaning through their art. My poster will document the trouble they went through in order to make it where they are today and the impact of their work, featuring “Get Out, “Selma”, and other works.

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  Text to Image Synthesis via Mask Anchor Points and Aesthetic Assessment

  Samah Saeed A. Baraheem

  Text-to-image is a process of generating an image from the input text. It has a variety of applications in art generation, computer-aided design, and photo-editing. In this thesis, we propose a new framework that leverages mask anchor points to incorporate two major steps in the image synthesis. In the first step, the mask image is generated from the input text and the mask dataset. In the second step, the mask image is fed into the state-of-the-art mask-to-image generator. Note that the mask image captures the semantic information and the location relationship via the anchor points. We develop a user-friendly interface that helps parse the input text into the meaningful semantic objects. However, to synthesize an appealing image from the text, image aesthetics criteria should be considered. Therefore, we further improve our proposed framework by incorporating the aesthetic assessment from photography composition rules. To this end, we randomize a set of mask maps from the input text via the anchor point-based mask map generator, and then we compute and rank the image aesthetics score for all generated mask maps following two composition rules, namely, the rule of thirds along with the rule of formal balance. In the next stage, we feed the subset of the mask maps, which are the highest, lowest, and the average aesthetic scores, into the state-of-the-art mask-to-image generator via image generator. The photorealistic images are further re-ranked to obtain the synthesized image with the highest aesthetic score. Thus, to overcome the state-of-the-arts generated images’ problems such as the un-naturality, the ambiguity, and the distortion, we propose a new framework. Our framework maintains the clarity of the entities’ shape, the details of the entity edges, and the proper layout no matter how complex the input text is and how many entities and spatial relations in the text. The experiments on the most challenging COCO-stuff dataset illustrates the superiority of our proposed approach over the previous state of the arts.

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  The Ark-Woman, Conqueror of Evil and Type of the Virgin Mary: A Marian Reading of 1 Samuel 5 and Revelation 12

  Anthony Luis Hernandez

  This thesis seeks to uncover the Scriptural foundations for the ancient Catholic sensibility of the Virgin Mary being the great opponent of Satan, the devil. The method adopted is a Marian reading of both the ark of the covenant and the Woman clothed with the sun in Scripture, specifically where the ark appears in 1 Samuel 5 and the Woman in Revelation 12. The thesis begins with some brief illustrations of the ark's history from the Old Testament and extra-biblical traditions, then moves on to a close reading of 1 Samuel 5 and Revelation 12, respectively. For 1 Samuel 5, a close reading of the text seeks to uncover how Scripture portrays the ark in this passage as nothing less than God's chosen conqueror of evil. For Revelation 12, a close reading of the text follows John's carefully-constructed depiction of the Woman clothed with the sun, clothed with triumphant spiritual dignity, specially protected by providence, and invulnerable to the attacks of the Dragon. The work concludes with a joint typological reading of the 'ark-Woman' (the ark from 1 Samuel 5 together with the Woman of Revelation 12) through a Marian lens. It is hoped that a Marian exploration of these texts may help to heighten our appreciation of some of the biblical foundations for Marian devotion, as well as alert us to the indispensable role which the Virgin Mary plays in the spiritual battles of all Christians.

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  Theatre In Union: A view into how theatre can bring communities together

  Ben H. Remke

  Theatre has always been a way to bring a community together and in today’s age of polarization it is a way to bring diverse ideas together. Within the local Dayton community there are theatre companies like The Human Race Theatre who try to bring the community together through their shows. In Cincinnati there is the Cincinnati Black Theatre Company and the Cincinnati Black Theatre Artists Collective; they bring the community together through prioritizing the needs of Black theatre artists. This call for change to address the inequity in racial disparities is happening all throughout American theatre and has come to the forefront through movements like Dear White American Theatre. My poster will demonstrate how this organizing and telling the stories of those marginalized will allow local communities to come together and change the theatre industry for the better.

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  The Discrete and Continuous Fourier Transform

  Michael Kim Moreno

  The decomposition of functions of time into functions of frequency has found a myriad of uses in physics and signal processing. Thus, Fourier transform methods have become an invaluable tool when trying to analyze and understand these systems. This talk will focus on the application of the Fourier Transform as it relates to the heat equation as well as the uses of the Discrete Time Fourier Transform and the Discrete Fourier transform in methods of signal processing.