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  Contesting Human Rights Coherence: Neoliberalism as an Epoch of Brutality

  David Quick

  The end of the Cold War solidified modern human rights’ dependency on neoliberalism. Neoliberal capitalism fosters universal commodification, hyper-individualism, and a standard of excess. A consequence of these developments is that some persons of marginalized populations turn to crime as a means of achieving basic human rights. To particularize, the realization of the self as a rights-holding subject emerges from the brutalization and subsequent de-realization of the other. Furthermore, justifications of such actions may be coherent within the modern human rights discourse. This thesis is contextualized by the historical dynamics and present-day observations of El Salvador, which I take to represent broader global trends in the development of human rights into a discourse of apparently coherent brutality. Given this contradiction, I compare the peril and potential of reclaiming human rights as a popular discourse.

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  Cooperative Regulation of Growth by defective proventriculus and yorkie in the Drosophila eye

  Arushi Rai, Rohith Basavanahalli Nanjundaiah

  The developing eye of Drosophila is a well-established model for studying developmental geneticprocesses and growth regulation. The developmental genetic networks discovered in Drosophilaare highly conserved in all animals including higher mammals. Axial patterning precedesdifferentiation in the Drosophila eye which begins from a ventral equivalent state. The dorsal fate isestablished by onset of expression of the GATA-family transcription factor Pannier (Pnr), and otherdorsal-specific genes like Iroquois (Iro-C) family proteins. Our long-term goal is to understand themolecular basis of Dorsal-Ventral patterning and growth in the eye by interactions of the dorsalselector genes and growth regulatory genes. We recently identified defective proventriculus (dve)as a candidate for dorsal-ventral eye patterning that act as a transcriptional repressor that binds tothe K50 site. Gain of function of Dve, results in eye suppression, while loss of function of dve,exhibits dramatic eye enlargement phenotypes which raised an interesting question, whether thedorsal patterning gene dve, apart from its main function of specifying cells fate, plays a dual role inregulating growth during eye development in Drosophila? Dve may interact with the Hippo growthregulatory pathway to control patterning and growth of the eye. We tested the interactions betweenHippo pathway and dorsal-ventral patterning using the GAL4-UAS system. We tested if thesepathways act independently to control eye patterning and growth or act via shared targets andregulatory interactions. In this context we investigated the effect of overexpressing Yorkie (theeffector of the Hippo pathway) and Dve during larval development specifically in the dorsoventraldomains of the eye imaginal discs. Over expression of Yki extends the Dve domain in the eye discas a result of which the disc growth is enlarged, and suppresses eye differentiation, therebysuggesting that these two distinct genes may regulate a common downstream target to control thedisc growth and differentiation. We have tested wingless (wg) a known and conserved Hippodownstream target for Dve and Yki mediated effects using reporter assays, and qRT-PCR- basedapproaches and our results will be discussed.

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  COVID-19, Academic Caretakers, and Mental Health

  Hannah Kessler

  The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected research productivity in academia. Yet, as more and more studies have been conducted, it has been clear that it has not affected everyone equally. In particular, COVID -19 has exacerbated existing inequalities in academia. For example, there has always been a gender inequality in academia with women publishing, getting paid, and promoted less than men. In addition, women often shoulder most caretaking responsibilities in the household, which puts more strain on them in their jobs. During the quarantine period of the pandemic, nearly all childcare services were unavailable, causing academic parents to juggle full-time caretaking in addition to their full-time job. Numerous studies have shown that COVID-19 and quarantine left women and caretakers in academia with more responsibilities and less relief, affecting not only their research productivity and university jobs, but also their mental health. In a research study about academic caretakers at the University of Dayton in which 19 faculty from various departments were interviewed, almost all respondents mentioned the negative effects COVID-19 had on their mental health. Common themes included feeling stretched thin between work, childcare, and other duties and feeling burnout and unmotivated. Many respondents cited the stress of being a full-time caretaker and employee, the lack of in-person support, and anxiety about the future as central causes of their mental health decline. However, despite mental health struggles being an issue for all respondents, many said that being in various communities that supported each other were a huge help to them during this time.

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  Creating a Secure Cloud

  Caleb Cecil

  The next wave of computing is moving to the cloud. The cloud offers reliable, scalable, and cheap ways for companies to upgrade their business. It has revolutionized how we interact with each other today and is becoming an integral part of our everyday lives. However, when companies move to the cloud, they must set up their cloud architecture or data transmission securely. This leads to huge security risks in which sensitive data could be released. This project outlines the different threats and vulnerabilities that the cloud faces. It also surveys the current solutions to cloud security. Finally, a generalized model and considerations are discussed when creating cloud architecture. This model will be used in a case study to validate the efficacy of this cloud architecture.

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  Creating Effective Formative Physics Assessments to Guide Instructional Practices

  Gretchen Obergefell

  Since the 1970s, quality instruction and assessments within the field of physics have become a highly researched area in physics education research (PER). These assessments help identify common misconceptions that continue to plague the field of physics for years. Some of the most experienced students and teachers in physics have misconceptions and pass them along to classmates and students. The research goal is to design an assessment relating to the circuits unit of a conceptual physics course that can diagnose a student's prior knowledge and track progress after introducing the unit. The assessment consists of two parts: a pre-test and a post-test. Students take the pre-test during the class before the circuits unit. The test assesses students’ prior knowledge of electrical circuits. The same assessment is administered during the next class meeting after the circuits unit concludes as a post-test to measure how instruction affected student understanding. The research was conducted in a conceptual physics lab class with a population of 8 students. The population consisted of mainly non-science majors who have taken the corresponding lecture course, or are concurrently enrolled in the lecture course with the lab. Results showed that students improved their ability to define key characteristics of simple, series, and parallel circuits. Data also illustrated that students struggled to use Kirchhoff’s Loop and Junction Rules. Information gathered from this research demonstrates that quality formative assessments provide helpful feedback to guide instructors on how to teach students best. Low stakes formative assessments can be used as formative instructional practices to highlight prior knowledge and misconceptions of students. Teachers can then respond to these misconceptions and attempt to correct them during instruction.

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  Creating Inclusive Community: Understanding, Connecting, and Taking Action

  Logan Trzeciak, Tiernan Lindy, Sierra Cook, Angelic Edwards-Rojas, Alexia Siakwan-Adusei, Daunte Brown, Deja Richardson, Aila Carr-Chellman, Mikayla Petrovic

  Creating Inclusive Community involves students, faculty, and staff who enrolled in UDI 380 “Understanding, Respecting, and Connecting: Examining Privilege and Taking Action” and attended a diversity conference. The focus of the conference was to examine the challenging concepts of privilege and oppression and to develop strategies to create a more equitable world. Come hear the students experiences at the conference and discuss the skills and knowledge they gained to enhance the campus climate for inclusivity and diversity at the University of Dayton. Please join us for a lively discussion!

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  CrisisNetwork for Remote Treatment to the SUD Communities in Dayton

  Parthkumar Dashrathbhai Patel, Upasana Nilesh Bhatt, Samhitha Gummadi, Monika Somu

  Objective:A Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a mental illness that affects a person's brain and behavior and makes it difficult for them to regulate their use of drugs, alcohol, or other substances, whether they are legal or illicit. According to a report from the Ohio Department of Health, drug overdoses have surged by 372%. (From 1999 to 2010). Also, Co-occurring (mental health and substance use) diseases affect 8.9 million adults of which only 7.4% are being treated for both ailments and 55.8% of people receive no care at all. To the best of our knowledge, there are few interventions that have been successful in supporting substance use disorder patients. In this proposal, we seek to understand how best to create a crisis network (interventions) for communities seeking to support SUD patients during times of crisis and for patients who seek help for their SUD.Methods:In this course of study, we seek to understand how mHealth (mobile health) applications could support SUD patients during times of crisis. For testing this approach, we would like to create a mHealth application that works as an interface to help SUD patients in times of crisis by involving communities like friends, family members, and volunteer users (of the application) who are in the proximity of the patient. We train the volunteer users (especially communities like friends and family) in the app by creating well-thought training materials on how to give a detox to the patient in the moment of crisis and certify them based on an exam they go through after the training. We also train the SUD patients on how to use the app when they are intoxicated and need help. The patient’s side interface is going to be very simple as they are going to use it during a crisis. Later, we will deploy this app for a period of 4 months, we will do participant interviews during the entire period. In these participant interviews, patients and helpers are going to be interviewed about their experiences with the app, its limitations, and their expectations of it.Significance:The deployment of the mobile app can help us understand the efficacy of mHealth applications during times of crisis. It will also make us aware of any issues that might impede both patients and caregivers. Also, we can realize if these mHealth applications are giving enough help to the patients. This entire study will highlight aspects of SUD care and support during times of crisis that future researchers must pay attention to.

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  Cultural Significance of Clothing

  Ella Doyle and Charlie Corrigan

  Part of a course project on intercultural communication, which can be expressed and studied in myriad ways. The students of CMM 316.01 investigated various forms of cultural expression by comparing and contrasting the ways a particular form is used by multiple cultural groups. Specifically, each group researched and presented about the ways food, music, festivals, rituals, dance, clothing, and other artifacts communicate cultural identity in at least two different cultures.

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  Curating Rituals of Healing: A Digital Exhibit

  Anh Pham, Brian Schmidt, Rebekah Beamer, Colleen Duffy, Marissa Mark, Lindsey Coulter, Tori Miller, Amariá Jones

  Students in the English writing research seminar share their experiences conceptualizing, researching, composing and designing a digital exhibit to complement “Rituals of Healing,” an exhibit on display in the Rose Gallery. In collaboration with the Marian Library, students conducted archival research to explore material, historical and/or cultural characteristics of secular and religious practices associated with healing the mind, body, and spirit. One of the goals of the digital exhibit is to consider the ways multimodal experiences can be accessible to all persons with a range of abilities. In support of this goal, the panel offers American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation as well as other examples of accessibility.

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  Density effects on Lonicera maackii leaf flushing rates

  Sarah Metz, Emma Borgert, Katie Holmes, Anna Pallone

  We studied the ecosystem process of flushing rates of Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) in the Environmental Research Area at Old River Park. We wanted to see if Amur honeysuckle stand density had an impact on leaf flushing rates. We expected to see higher rates of leaf flushing in plants with lower densities of Amur honeysuckle, and lower rates in plants with greater densities surrounding them. We collected data at Old River Park in three separate sampling events. On the first sampling day, we established twenty Amur honeysuckle plants ranging from low to high density of surrounding honeysuckle. Ten samples were on the exterior of the oxbow lake, and ten samples were on the interior of the oxbow lake. We recorded the length of ten random buds on each tree using calipers. We measured leaf lengths on these plants weekly. We also performed stem counts of woody plants in five-meter diameter transects around each sample to calculate density. Additionally, we took soil samples directly under the roots of each sample using soil cores to determine if soil properties affected leaf flushing rates. The soil samples were taken back to the lab for processing and analysis the following week. All data was then managed and analyzed using Excel and R. studio. Preliminary results from our study show a pattern of higher flushing rates in low-density areas and lower flushing rates in higher-density areas which supports our hypothesis.

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  Department of Music Honors Recital Auditions

  Marie Bliss, Amanda Bursch, Megan Carlson, Duncan Costello, Josie Gore, Trinity Hines-Anthony, Patrick Linegang, Declan Phelps, Anna Simmons, Anna Smith, Jason Swann, Luke de Villiers

  Twelve music students selected by the Department of Music faculty perform for a panel of outside judges, who will choose six finalists to perform on the Honors Recital at the end of the semester. Performances will include a variety of vocal and instrumental music.

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  Design across Culture

  Lauren Riley, Kat Brothers, and Bill Farmer

  Part of a course project on intercultural communication, which can be expressed and studied in myriad ways. The students of CMM 316.01 investigated various forms of cultural expression by comparing and contrasting the ways a particular form is used by multiple cultural groups. Specifically, each group researched and presented about the ways food, music, festivals, rituals, dance, clothing, and other artifacts communicate cultural identity in at least two different cultures.

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  Desserts Around the World

  Caroline Duarte and Clare Loesch

  Part of a course project on intercultural communication, which can be expressed and studied in myriad ways. The students of CMM 316.01 investigated various forms of cultural expression by comparing and contrasting the ways a particular form is used by multiple cultural groups. Specifically, each group researched and presented about the ways food, music, festivals, rituals, dance, clothing, and other artifacts communicate cultural identity in at least two different cultures.

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  Detecting Violation of Helmet Rule for Motorcyclists

  Kunal Agrawal

  Motorcycles are one of the most popular modes of transportation, particularly in developing countries such as India, and Vietnam. Due to lesser protection compared to cars and other standard vehicles, motorcycle riders are exposed to a greater risk of crashes. Therefore, wearing helmets for motorcycle riders is mandatory as per traffic rules and automatic detection of motorcyclists without helmets is one of the critical tasks to enforce strict regulatory traffic safety measures. Due to the increase in the number of vehicles on roads, the number of injuries or accidents has also increased. According to a study, approximately 21.5% of motorcycle riders had been wearing helmets at the time of the accident. This has also made a huge impact on city development planning. Due to not wearing a helmet, there’s an exponential increase in the fatality rate during an accident. It has been observed that these fatality rates are higher during the daytime and the dark. To decrease the risk of fatal injuries, we are developing a model that will detect whether a motorcyclist wears a helmet or not. We will be using the traffic data from Vietnam from daytime and nighttime. The trained model using this data will be used further for the city planning simulator.

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  Determine the releasing probability of laser-induced nanoparticles from a soft substrate

  Xuesong Gao

  This letter presents a study of laser-induced nanoparticle release from a soft substrate in air under different conditions. A continuous wave (CW) laser heats a nanoparticle and causes a rapid thermal expansion of the substrate, which gives the nanoparticle an upward momentum that releases it from the substrate. The deformation of PMMA substrate, the releasing probability of different nanoparticles under different laser intensities are studied. The effect of the surface charges of the nanoparticles and the surface properties of the substrates on the nanoparticle release is also investigated. Finally, the nanoshells’ shape will be damaged during the transfer when the laser intensity is high. Compare to the laser induced forward transfer (LIFT), a low-cost CW laser is used in this study. Due to the simplicity of this technology and the wide availability of commercial nanoparticles, this nanoparticle release technology may find applications in nanoparticle characterization and nanomanufacturing.

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  Determining Relationships Between Bat Activity and Woody Vegetation in Natural and Constructed Wetlands on the Daniel Boone National Forest

  Katie Holmes

  Wetlands provide habitat and critical ecosystem services for a wide range of organisms, including bats. However, much about bats and wetlands is still unknown. This study examined bat activity in Myotis and non-Myotis bat species and woody vegetation in both natural and constructed upland-embedded wetlands on the Daniel Boone National Forest. To test this relationship, we surveyed bat activity and woody vegetative structure at three wetland pairs (three natural and three constructed wetlands) during two data collection periods. We used SM3 bat acoustic detectors and identified bat calls using Kaleidoscope Pro software. The data relationships between basal area, woody vegetation density and dominance, and Myotis and Non-Myotis species activity were analyzed using R studio. The results show Non-Myotis species were more active at constructed wetland sites, and their activity decreased in wetlands with higher tree density and greater basal area. Myotis species were more active at natural wetland sites, and while their activity increased as basal area increased, activity was relatively consistent across tree densities. These findings suggest natural wetlands may provide important habitat for Myotis species, which is useful information for improving management practices as bat populations continue to decline due to white-nose syndrome.

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  Determining the effects of propionate and low temperatures on L. monocytogenes survival and pathogenesis

  Elizabeth Herr

  Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen with the capability of causing severe illness in individuals who consume contaminated foods. Many foods have been found to harbor the bacterium, but dairy products, produce, and other prepackaged foods are particularly susceptible. These foods and others are commonly stored in cold temperatures to limit most bacterial growth. However, previous research has shown that L. monocytogenes has unique adaptations that promote its growth in low temperatures. To counter the negative effects of cold temperatures, L. monocytogenes alters its membrane composition to maintain its integrity. Alterations to the cell membrane of L. monocytogenes are also an effect of propionate, a common food additive and short chain fatty acid found in the human intestinal tract. In past research, propionate has been proven to reduce L. monocytogenes growth and pathogenesis by decreasing membrane fluidity. However, the effects of both cold and propionate on L. monocytogenes pathogenesis are not known. To address this knowledge gap, my research investigates and analyzes how cold temperature and propionate affect the ability of L. monocytogenes to infect and grow within eukaryotic cells. I have found that propionate has no significant influence on the optical density of L. monocytogenes cultures grown between 4°C and 10°C in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions measured over four days. To further examine the effects of cold temperatures and propionate on L. monocytogenes, I will use cell culture-based infection models to measure L. monocytogenes pathogenesis and cell-cell spread in macrophage, fibroblast, and intestinal epithelial cells.

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  Determining the Effects of Propionate on Listeria monocytogenes Susceptibility to Lysozyme

  Jeanne Paula Sering

  Listeria monocytogenes is a harmful pathogen transmitted through contaminated food. Listeriosis, the infection associated with L. monocytogenes, is rare but potentially fatal, with a twenty to thirty percent mortality rate. For that reason, the lack of safe strategies to prevent infections can be detrimental. Current infection preventative strategies rely on stringent food surveillance and recalls, but we want to determine alternative tactics to further protect the public from L. monocytogenes. More specifically, we want to identify environmental factors that can compromise the ability of L. monocytogenes to cause infections before the pathogen reaches the intestines. For example, propionate is generally recognized as safe by the FDA and is used as an additive in various food products. Our lab has previously demonstrated that propionate exposure in L. monocytogenes can lead to changes in growth and pathogenesis. To determine how propionate exposure affects L. monocytogenes survival and fitness in the gastrointestinal tract, my thesis project therefore studies the effects of propionate on L. monocytogenes resistance to the lysozyme found in our saliva. If propionate enhances L. monocytogenes lysozyme resistance, the use of propionate in food products might contribute to L. monocytogenes survival during transmission between food and our gastrointestinal tract. However, if propionate decreases L. monocytogenes resistance to lysozyme, it could be beneficial to use propionate as an efficient infection preventative strategy. To better understand the functions of propionate in L. monocytogenes lysozyme resistance, I performed a literature review in the following areas: the importance of oral health, antimicrobial mechanisms in the oral cavity, lysozyme, and Listeria monocytogenes.

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  Determining the Role of Propionate and SigB on Benzalkonium Chloride Resistance in Listeria monocytogenes

  Emma Schaefer

  Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is a deadly food borne pathogen that causes listeriosis infection in humans with a high mortality rate from meningitis or sepsis. L. monocytogenes can form biofilms in food processing environments and becomes resistant to antimicrobial agents such as benzalkonium chloride (BC) and other quaternary ammonium chlorides (QACs). BC is used for cleaning and disinfection of food processing areas and is known to disrupt cell membranes of L. monocytogenes, causing cytosol leakage and the degradation of proteins and nucleic acids. Previous research shows that QAC resistance is associated with the upregulation of certain efflux pump genes (mdrL, brcABC, qacH, and emrE). Moreover, biofilm formation can also contribute to QAC resistance and subsequent persistence of L. monocytogenes in the environment. In addition, propionate is a commonly used food additive for flavoring and spoilage prevention that can potentially regulate L. monocytogenes biofilm formation. Biofilm formation and the expression of efflux pumps can both be regulated by the stress response sigma factor SigB in L. monocytogenes. However, it is not clear whether propionate affects this regulatory pathway. Therefore, my Honors Thesis research aims to investigate whether propionate can be used to increase L. monocytogenes susceptibility to BC and to determine the role of transcription factors, such as SigB, in conferring BC resistance. Results indicate that BC decreases planktonic growth in the presence of propionate in aerobic conditions, but not anaerobic conditions. Additionally, the growth of the ΔsigB mutant is significantly reduced by BC under anaerobic but not aerobic conditions. These results highlight that SigB as well as the presence or absence of oxygen all play critical roles in regulating L. monocytogenes susceptibility to BC. Therefore, environmental conditions and genetic composition of L. monocytogenes can both contribute to the efficacy of our antimicrobial efforts in the food processing industry.

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  Determining the role of propionate in macrophage M1 and M2 activation

  Hannah Derespiris

  Macrophages are one of the many essential cells of the innate immune system that help to protect the body from dangerous pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes. L. monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can cause infections, especially in the elderly, immunocompromised, and pregnant women. The antimicrobial activities of macrophages that are utilized to respond to pathogens such as L. monocytogenes include phagocytosis, inflammatory responses, and the production of antimicrobial compounds such as nitric oxide. These activities need to be regulated carefully to avoid causing unintentional damages. Typically, macrophages exist in a naive, nonactivated state, or can be activated classically (M1) and alternatively (M2) by different cytokines. Furthermore, propionate, a major gut metabolite, can also influence macrophage activities. To better understand how propionate affects macrophage antimicrobial activities, I investigated how the morphology of macrophages at various activation states are altered by propionate treatment. Using cell culture-based assays, I observed that propionate elongates nonactivated, M1, and M2 activated macrophages, indicating that propionate may modulate a macrophages response to infection. Additional experiments were performed to assess how propionate treatment of nonactivated and activated macrophages impacts infection with L. monocytogenes, glucose consumption, and cell motility. The findings from this research will help to identify ways in which propionate can enhance macrophage ability to respond and fight dangerous pathogens such as L. monocytogenes.

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  Determining the role of ZFP36L1 in reducing norovirus replication and norovirus-induced damage in the cells

  Paige Howland, Luis Martin, Madison Richardson, Tooba Shafeeque Ahmed Momin, Abiageal Newell

  Norovirus is a positive sense, non-enveloped virus. This virus is one of the most common causes of acute viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu) in humans. Norovirus is resistant to commonly used disinfectants such as 70% ethanol and currently, we do not have any vaccine against this virus. In the current study, we explored the role of ZFP36L1, a CCCH-type zinc figure protein (ZFP) in suppressing norovirus replication using murine norovirus as a model. ZFP36L1 was overexpressed or knockdown in RAW 264.7 cells. Wild type, ZFP36L1 overexpressed or ZFP36L1 knockdown RAW 264.7 cells were infected with murine norovirus. Virus titer in those cells were measured at 24 hours post-infection (p.i.). Our results show that ZFP36L1 knockdown significantly enhanced the virus titer as well as the cytopathic effect in the cells. ZFP36L1 overexpression reduced the cytopathic effect in the cells as compared to the wild-type and ZFP36L1 knockdown cells. ZFP36L1 overexpression is showing trends in reducing the virus titer which needs to be confirmed for statistical significance with a going study.

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  Developing Isolators/Circulators for Quantum Photonic Integrated Circuits using Topological Photonic Crystals

  Riley J. Barrett; other authors: Chandriker Kavir Dass, Piyush Shah, Michael Newburger, Said Elhamri, Robert G. Bedford

  Isolators and circulators are critical components in both electric and photonic systems. In optical systems, their function is to allow light travelling in one direction to pass, but any reflected light from the opposite direction to be either blocked by an isolator or redirected by a circulator. However, these functions have yet to be applied to a quantum photonic integrated circuit (PIC) because isolators and circulators are either too bulky for an integrated circuit or not compatible with quantum components. Chiral photonics enabled by topological photonic crystals with hexagonal lattice of triangles present the building blocks to overcome these issues. Such structures are patterned and etched into thin (~170 nm) GaAs using nanolithography procedures, and then an underlying AlGaAs layer is undercut using HF, resulting in a suspended membrane of GaAs. It is important to ensure the process retains the required features to sustain the topological nature of the photonic crystal and understand how each nanofabrication step impacts the pattern fidelity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) allows us to evaluate the etching process and determine the area, depth, and triangularity of the triangles within the photonic crystal. We process SEM images to determine large-scale pattern fidelity and have developed a “triangularity” metric to evaluate the pattern fidelity. We have evaluated the efficacy of our measurement techniques which has shown promise and will lead to more accurate results. Over the course of the past nine months, we have been nearing the goal of at least 85% triangularity and we plan to begin integrating isolators/circulators into PIC platforms.

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  Development of synthetic DNAs to inhibit the TolC protein in the fight against antibiotic resistance

  Alison Gossman

  Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has become a major threat to our public health system. Multidrug resistant bacterial infections are often acquired in a clinical setting and treatment options are often limited. Due to the ability of bacteria to reproduce very quickly and adapt to a wide variety of environments, bacterial cell evolution seems to be outpacing our ability to discover new antibiotics. While there are many ways for bacterial cells to resist the killing effects of our antibiotics, one mechanism that can lead to a multidrug resistance characteristic is the overexpression of efflux pump proteins. These integral proteins in the bacterial cell membrane, composed of AcrA, AcrB, and TolC, can export antibiotics before they can exert their killing effects on the bacterial cell. The goal of this research is to address this issue by targeting the efflux pumps with novel single-stranded DNA-based inhibitors. Similar to a cork in a bottle, single-stranded DNA molecules that can bind to the TolC component of the efflux pump could block efflux, thus resensitizing the bacterial cell to antibiotics. Here, we use a process called SELEX to select for specific sequences of single-stranded DNA from a randomized single-stranded DNA library that have a high affinity for binding to E. coli TolC. This approach could be applied to clinically-important multidrug resistant bacterial strains, which we hope will improve many antibacterial treatment options.

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  Does Low Socioeconomic Status have an Effect on Crime Rates?

  Daria Harris, Alexandra Murray

  Our project is going to address the increasing Incarceration rates in the United States since the 1970s. Incarceration can be defined as the state of being confined. Incarceration typically refers to those confined to prisons, however jail confinement is a form of incarceration as well. Nearly 2.2 million persons are incarcerated nationwide in the U.S, with almost half of these offenders serving time for non-violent drug crimes. (Hayes, 2020). This is important because mass incarceration is one of the biggest issues in the criminal justice system. Since incarceration rates in the U.S are the highest in the world, it is important to discuss what factors and contributors lead to the increase of incarcerated persons. The purpose of this research was to have a national representation of incarcerated persons. The population intended for this study includes incarcerated persons in both State and Federal facilities. The results of this dataset contain variables ranging from inherent factors such as race, age, and gender to extrinsic factors such as drug usage, childhood experiences and family background. The key variables from this dataset we plan on using to support our information is the age of the inmates, employment at time of arrest, their criminal record and illegal drug/alcohol abuse at time of arrest. Analyzing the relationship with each of these variables would allow us to determine risk factors and intervention methods that could prevent them.

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  Does Race Affect the Usage of Solitary Confinement as Punishment Within Prisons?

  Bradlee Elders, Christopher Miller

  The criminal justice system has faced much scrutiny in recent years due to the prejudice that police are letting, consciously or unconsciously, influence the way that they conduct their duties. Does this subjection to racism and prejudice stop with policing or does it go even further to the correctional side of the criminal justice system? The current study looks a little deeper and asks the question “Does race affect the usage of solitary confinement as punishment within prisons?”. A few prior studies have been conducted with the hope of answering this question and have found that there are racial disparities in the use of solitary confinement as punishment, however, most results were insignificant enough to make a sound conclusion. By analyzing data provided by the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities in 2004, composed of self-reported responses from 18,185 incarcerated individuals, the current study found evidence of disparities within the use of solitary confinement in prisons, however, not due to race as the results were not significant enough. The current study, however, has found that there are significant disparities in the use of solitary confinement as punishment in prisons when the mental health of the incarcerated individual is taken into consideration.