Stander Symposium: College of Arts and Sciences

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  Investigating the Personal, Environmental, and Institutional Experiences of Juvenile Recidivism

  Celia Angela Carl, Brandon A. Hohman

  This study aims to look at the personal experiences, environmental influences, and institutional experiences that contribute to the recidivism of juvenile offenses. Past research has shown that mental health, social health, and institutional occurrences can be impressive predictors of future and more severe recidivism. Many programs have been enacted within juvenile detention centers in order to influence the rate of recidivism within the criminal justice system. This study will engage relationships between factors within the lines of personal health, environmental structure, and institutional experiences so that we can find concrete predictors of recidivism within juvenile experiences. Our study will be based on the research question: what personal experiences, environmental influences, and institutional experiences contribute to the recidivism of juvenile offenses? We utilized the Pathways to Desistance dataset, administered by the MacArthur Foundation, to address these inquiries.

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  Investigating the Relationship Between Texting Behaviors and Transportation

  Sarah Victoria Frazier, Dorian A. Miller

  This research project intends to explore the relationship between texting tendencies and the transportation behaviors of walking and driving. One intriguing and increasingly prevalent phenomenon arising from this digital revolution is the act of texting while in motion, specifically while walking and driving. When young drivers are operating a vehicle, 42% report they read text messages (Taylor & Blenner, 2015). Similarly, Jiang et al. (2017) found that 40% of people look at their phone when moving through a crosswalk. While research has been conducted on this topic, many researchers have not specifically looked into collisions with both cell phone use while driving and cell phone use while walking, which we believe is a major research gap. Therefore, this research analyzes past collision experiences in relation to behavioral intentions to use cell phones while walking and driving.

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  Investigating the role of PLN in Brain and Behavior

  Ben Klocke

  Intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis is critical for a wide range of cellular processes in neurons. As such, dysregulation of Ca2+ homeostasis has been implicated in many neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, including bipolar, schizophrenia, and autism. Given the importance of proper Ca2+ handling, neurons have evolved a diverse Ca2+-handling “toolkit” to tightly regulate the trafficking of Ca2+ throughout cellular and subcellular compartments such as endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which functions as a key intracellular Ca2+ storage unit. One critical ER Ca2+ regulatory protein is the sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATP-ase (SERCA2), which pumps Ca2+ ions into the ER lumen and is vital to proper Ca2+ homeostasis in not only neurons, but in all mammalian cell types. Interestingly, studies from our lab have exposed phospholamban (PLN), a SERCA2 regulator previously thought to have a largely cardiac-specific function, to be expressed in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) of the mouse brain. Using a constitutive global PLN knockout mouse model, we found that PLN plays an important role in regulating locomotor activity; we then developed and employed a novel TRN-specific conditional knockout mouse model to investigate the role of PLN in TRN-dependent behaviors such as sleep and executive functioning. Overall, these findings provide the first evidence that PLN plays a role in the brain and advances our knowledge on the role of TRN in the regulating of brain and behavior.

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  Is urban farming the bee's knees? A socio-ecological study on the effect of pollinator recruitment methods on pollinator communities in urban agriculture.

  Samantha B. Urquidez

  Pollinators are essential to agriculture and with the increase in urban farming, there is great concern regarding insect pollinators in urban spaces. While there has been extensive literature looking at bee abundance and biodiversity in urban environments, there has been little research studying the efficacy of currently utilized pollinator recruitment practices in urban agricultural systems. In Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area 18 urban agricultural sites have been sampled for insect pollinator activity utilizing timed observations, pan traps, and hand netting. In addition to traditional methods of looking at pollinator activity, an important component of this research includes a sociological study that looks at the farmers themselves and how their efforts may be affecting the pollinator activity observed on their agricultural plots. To examine this relationship, we conducted an electronic survey and one-on-one interviews with each of the farmers in addition to our biological sampling. Our goal is to better understand the factors impacting pollinator activity and what pollinator recruitment methods are most effective in an urban environment.

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  JAK STAT Signaling regulates defective proventriculus (dve) to determine dorso-ventral patterning in Drosophila eye.

  Sunanda Yogi

  Axial patterning is the fundamental process of organogenesis, which entails delineation of three distinct axes: Antero-Posterior (AP), Dorso-Ventral (DV) and Proximo-Distal (PD) axes. Any impairment in the axis formation may lead to developmental birth defects in humans and therefore, getting insight of the mechanism of axis determination is crucial for better understanding of organogenesis. In Drosophila eye model, DV patterning is the primary lineage restriction event. A new member of DV patterning gene, defective proventriculus (dve, a Homeobox gene), an ortholog of SATB homeobox 1 (special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1) has been identified which acts downstream of a GATA-1 transcription factor pannier (pr), and upstream of wingless (wg) in the dorsal gene hierarchy. Unpaired (Upd), a long-range secreted ligand for JAK STAT pathway, is known to promote eye development by negatively regulating Wg expression. Here we present that Upd interacts with dve, to regulate the patterning and growth of the developing Drosophila eye. We found that activation of JAK STAT pathway in dve expression domain results in dorsal eye enlargement and downregulation of Wg expression whereas its inactivation in Dve domain results in eye suppression phenotype and upregulating Wg expression. Our data strongly imply that Upd plays a crucial role in defining the functional domain of Dve during DV axis formation of developing eye. We will present the complex interactions between these two highly conserved pathways, viz., JAK-STAT and dorsal eye fate selectors in growth and patterning of the eye.

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  Jesuits, Jews, and Jacobins: A polite disagreement between Don Luigi Sturzo and Hannah Arendt

  Laura T. Coughlin

  This paper, Jesuits, Jews, and Jacobins: A polite disagreement between Luigi Sturzo and Hannah Arendt, exposes original research funded by the University of Dayton and performed at the archives of the Istituto Luigi Sturzo in Rome. The essay is part of a larger dissertation project that endeavors to clarify the conservative and religiously inflected antifascism of Don Luigi Sturzo, Italian priest-politician and founder of the Partito Popolare Italiano (PPI). In August of 1942, Hannah Arendt and Don Luigi Sturzo, both wartime exiles in the United States, exchanged letters related to Arendt’s groundbreaking essay, “From the Dreyfus Affair to France Today.” This correspondence reveals a genuinely civil conversation between partners engaged in dialogue about the most significant European issues of the long nineteenth century and the effect of those issues on the twentieth century. Of particular interest is their debate in three areas on which Arendt drives the conversation: 1) the relationship of the Society of Jesus to the formation of negative Catholic attitudes about the Jews of Europe, 2) the importance of personal political formation to a democratic tradition that enforces individual and human rights, 3) the distinction between the “mob” and the “people.” As to this last point, the former (“mob”) is large, emotional, violent, and easily led to reaction (e.g. Fascism) especially in corrupt states. By contrast, the latter (“people”) is small, rational, consistent, and able to secure the integrity of the laws.

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  'Jesus of Siberia'

  Jillian Yates, Noah Trimble & Ren Sikes

  Rhetoric drawing on religious stories, ideals, concepts, and experiences surround us in our daily lives. These posters represent a sampling of the rhetorical analyses conducted by students from CMM 357 Religious Rhetoric throughout the Spring 2024 semester. Groups presented several themed reports prior to Stander and picked one to showcase at the symposium.

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  Lovecraft and the Uncanny: A Psychoanalytic Critique of H.P. Lovecrafts' The Outsider

  Jules Carr-Chellman

  Scholarship on H.P. Lovecraft’s literature often will erroneously label his work as simply grotesque or weird. In this paper, I will use a psychoanalytical lens to critically examine Lovecraftian literature and argue that his fiction is not merely grotesque, but instead that his work displays elements of the uncanny that are ciphered in with more intentionally weird parts of his narrative. The first objective of this project is to define the uncanny as it is understood by Sigmund Freud: a feeling that occurs when something that is meant to be hidden is revealed. Having established Freud’s psychoanalytical framework of the uncanny, I will then apply it to H.P. Lovecraft's short story The Outsider.

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  Low Dimensional Manifolds in Geometric Topology

  Jacob D. Biesecker-Mast, Jasmine George, Michael Thomas Siegrist

  Polygons have maps that when applied to them intuitively work like gluing sides together. These maps create mathematically interesting manifolds that are locally modeled by ℝ^2 with different topological properties. This project will analyze and explore these surfaces using topological invariants.

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  Mahatma Gandhi’s View on the Implementation of Railways and the Impact in India

  Robert T. Bordenkircher

  What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.

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  Mapping Solar Potential: A GIS-Based Analysis for Assessing Solar Viability for University of Dayton

  William Fitzgerald Grob

  In an era marked by growing concerns about climate change and the imperative to transition towards sustainable energy sources, this capstone project endeavors to explore the solar viability of our University of Dayton campus through a comprehensive GIS-based analysis. The objective is to provide valuable insights into the potential for harnessing solar energy, thereby contributing to informed decision-making in renewable energy effectiveness and usage for powering our campus. This study employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools to integrate various spatial datasets, including topography, land use, and LIDAR data. Utilizing advanced analytical techniques, we assess the solar potential of University of Dayton's campus by considering factors such as sunlight exposure, shading effects, geographical features, and rooftop angle. The GIS-based model developed for this project serves as a powerful tool to visualize, analyze, and interpret the complex interplay of factors influencing solar energy generation.The findings of this research will not only shed light on the solar energy potential for Dayton but will also offer valuable insights for policymakers, urban planners, renewable energy stakeholders, and administrators to make decisions for reducing our energy usage. The project contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable energy solutions, offering a tangible and data-driven approach to evaluating the feasibility of solar energy implementation in the chosen area. Through the examination of our current university energy usage, I will make informed conclusions on how much money and resources will be saved for the university upon switching to a more renewable and environmentally friendly form of energy. Through this capstone presentation, I aim to showcase the methodology, key findings, and implications of our GIS-based analysis. By understanding the solar viability of Dayton, we take a step forward in fostering sustainable energy solutions and shaping a more environmentally conscious future.

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  Martin Luther King Jr.´s Leadership and Nonviolent Resistance: Shaping the March on Washington

  Laura Zamorano Garcia

  What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.

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  Mary as Nurturer, A New Model for Contemporary Times

  Caitlin B. Cipolla-McCulloch

  Mary’s role in salvation history, characterized by her birthing of Christ, remains the singular descriptive feature of how the Mother of God is viewed in the Church today. While this role, affirmed uniquely at the Council of Ephesus in 431--Mary as the Theotokos, that is “God-bearer” is important--her life and participation in the early Church are not able to be limited to just this feature. This paper will argue that Mary’s role in the life of Christ is a role of nurturing, not simply birthing. We will explore this thesis in four parts. We will first investigate the life of Middle Eastern women in antiquity to highlight an origin of the notion of nurturing. Secondly, a clear definition of nurturing as it applies to Mary will be presented. Utilizing this definition, we will then explore the evolution of this nurturing in the French school of spirituality particularly in the wake of the French Revolution. Finally, we will engage the writings of a mid-twentieth-century Marianist Mariologist who helps provide language that can be adapted to fit the needs of the Church today.

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  Measuring and Addressing Collegiate EMTs' Preparedness for Mental Health Emergency Responses

  Spencer J. Hawkins, Allison Marie Johnson

  The COVID-19 Pandemic highlighted the increasing mental health burden felt by graduate and undergraduate students in the United States. A study from 2020 showed that 35% of undergraduate students screen positive for major depressive disorder, while 39% screen positive for general anxiety disorder (Chrikov et al., 2020). Previous research has supported the claim that collegiate EMS programs are especially effective at responding to mental health emergencies on college campuses (Friedman, 2022). UD EMS utilized multiple established questionnaires and surveys to gain insight into the preparedness of members to respond to various emergencies. The "perceived ability to attend to various patient presentations survey", adapted from Waltrich et al. (2022), allowed measurement of the perceived knowledge, ability, and confidence of UD EMS members when responding to medical-related calls, trauma calls, and mental health-related calls. Day's Mental Illness Stigma Scale (Day et al., 2007) allowed the measurement of mental health stigma across seven different measurements. 39 UD EMS EMTs completed these measurements before and after a mental health training program to determine how the training would affect attitudes. Data from before the training indicated that the EMTs possessed more perceived knowledge, ability, and confidence when responding to medical and trauma calls than mental health-related calls. After the training, the EMT's perceived knowledge, ability, and confidence related to medical and trauma calls did not change but perceived knowledge and ability to treat mental-health-related calls matched medical and trauma scores. Additionally, the measurement of Day's Mental Illness Stigma Scale showed that mental health stigma decreased across four of seven measures in the EMTs and increased in no way. While confidence in mental health-related calls was unaffected, additional mental health response training for collegiate EMTs shows promise to increase effective mental health emergency responses on college campuses.

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  Media’s Role in College-Aged Students' Misconceptions of the Criminal Justice System

  Hallie M. Callitsis, Anya Christine Jawyn

  In recent decades, the widespread prevalence of fictional crime shows has become a defining feature of popular culture, captivating audiences with their intricate narratives of criminal investigations, courtroom dramas, and forensic analyses. This research aims to delve into the connection between these fictional crime shows and the perceptions of the criminal justice system among college-aged students. The central research question guiding this study is: How does exposure to fictional crime shows influence college-aged students' perceptions of the criminal justice system? By employing a survey-based methodology and distributing questionnaires to college students, the study intends to analyze responses, identify patterns, correlations, and significant findings related to the impact of media exposure on perceptions of the criminal justice system. After analyzing the data using a linear regression model, with the dependent variable being knowledge-based questions we found that nothing was significant. While this does not support our hypothesis, it is still relevant in determining how fictional crime shows impact the perception of the criminal justice system. Similarly, we ran two additional linear regression models with dependent variables based on the answers to the following questions: on average, what percentage of criminal cases in the US end in a plea bargain; and approximately what percentage of police officers have ever fired their gun while on duty? In regards to plea bargains, we found that being a criminal justice major/minor or not was significant, and with police officers firing their guns on duty being a criminal justice major/minor or not, race, and gender were all significant.

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  Mock Trial

  Kaylee N. Ballard, Selena Rosalind Geary, Gabriella Jeanne Grant, Logan Thomas Groff, Melanie Grace Herzog, Katherine Jean Hoener, Crystal Safowah Kissi, Mireille Mahirwe Kuzwa, Antonino M. Lacorte, Rylie Mick, Taryn Elizabeth Mitchell, Madeleine Elizabeth Onderak

  The University Mock Trial team engages in trial simulations in competition with teams from other institutions all across the country. Through these trial competitions, students develop critical thinking and public speaking skills, as well as a knowledge of legal practices and procedures. The team will present an abbreviated version of the case they have worked on this year – the State of Midlands v. B.F. De la Porta and Poe Cameron.Case summary: During the annual charity gala for Sohi Children’s Hospital, four masked individuals break into the vault at Miller Tower. During the heist, one of the armed robbers and Emory Sands, a Miller Tower security officer, are severely wounded. Two of the robbers flee via a helicopter on the rooftop and two flee into the streets of Santa Ivo City. After an extensive investigation on the local and federal level, Poe Cameron is arrested as one of the four suspected armed robbers, and local billionaire Berkley De la Porta is arrested for funding the criminal operation.

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  Modern Implications of Gandhi and Sanger’s Views and Debate on Birth Control Use

  Lucy K. Schuermann

  What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.

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  Modulation of Tumor Growth by Yorkie and Wingless

  Arushi Rai

  Studies with Drosophila RasV12,scrib-/- tumor models have shown that Yorkie, the effector molecule of the Hippo pathway, interacts with other signaling pathways to form a dynamic transcriptional network within cancer cells. Previously, we have shown that in RasV12,scrib-/- cells Wingless (Wg) acts upstream of Caspases, JNK, and Yki forming a tumor-specific network that regulates tumor growth and development. By studying this complex network, we aim to unravel the key players that regulate tumor growth. Wg appears upstream of the molecular network and is also a transcriptional target of Yorkie. Wg expression is ectopically induced in RasV12 and RasV12,scrib-/- tumor clones. However, accumulation of Wg is reduced in tumor clones with heterozygous loss of yki (ykiB5/+;RasV12,scrib-/-) or downregulation of Wg signaling (dTCFDN; RasV12,scrib-/-). Heterozygosity of yki (ykiB5/+;RasV12,scrib-/-) and downregulation of Wg signaling (dTCFDN; RasV12,scrib-/-) both resulted in reduced tumor clone size in comparison to RasV12,scrib-/- tumor clones. To further understand the molecular mechanism by which Wg and Yki promote tumor growth, we will investigate the effect of downregulation of Wg pathway and Hippo pathway on the (a) the transcriptional network of RasV12,scrib-/- tumor clones by analyzing the mRNA expression by qRT-PCR and (b) hallmarks of cancer such as invasion, cell adhesion, and survival signaling by immunohistochemistry-based approach (c) analyzing the Hippo pathway (Mst,p-MST), JNK pathway (JNK,p-JNK) and Wg pathway activity by Western blot assay. Here, we present our progress on the organization of the molecular network that involves Wingless and Yorkie.

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  Molecular genetic dissection of a transcription factor Defective proventriculus in growth versus cell fate decisions

  Anuradha Chimata Venkatakrishnan

  Defective proventriculus, a homeodomain containing transcription factor acts as a dorsal fate selector during Drosophila eye development. It is highly conserved across species and its human ortholog SATB1 is highly upregulated in cancer. Earlier, we have shown that dve is crucial to establish dorsal fate which is required to promote growth and cell fate decisions. Furthermore, the dve expressing cells (~150-200) are responsible for expression of a morphogen wingless (wg)/Wnt in the developing eye. These dve expressing cells provide an inductive signal to determine eye vs head fate specification. Since dve is involved in growth regulation and cell fate decisions, we wanted to dissect these two independent functions during eye development. We employed structure-function analysis because dve has two isoforms and the Dve protein has multiple functional domains such as ULD domain, two Hox domains and a PPP4R2 domain. We hypothesized that different domains of Dve might be involved in regulating different functions. We present our results from studies on the role of these domain(s) on eye development and regulation of Wg expression in the developing eye. Here, we present results from individual functional domain(s) of Dve, combination of domain(s) and chimeras with SATB1. SATB1, human ortholog of dve, has similar domains and such studies can shed light on how SATB1 might function in diseases.

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  Mouse Brain Image Analysis

  Aditya Shrivastava

  For the study of brain function and behavior, the mouse brain serves as a valuable model system. Methods to accurately analyze the complex signals produced by the mouse brain are becoming increasingly important due to developments in neuroimaging and optogenetics. Techniques that can take the information contained in mouse brain signals and turn it into useful biological insights are especially needed. In brain analysis, image segmentation is commonly used for measuring and visualizing the brain's anatomical structures, for analyzing brain changes, for delineating pathological regions, and for surgical planning and image-guided interventions. In the last few decades, various segmentation techniques of different accuracy and degree of complexity have been developed and reported in the literature. In this work, we focus on dataset collection and computational model for mouse brain image segmentation.

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  Mucin Can Rescue Anaerobically Grown Listeria monocytogenes from Killing by Antimicrobial Peptide Ll-37

  Nicolina Valore

  Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can cause infections with a high mortality rate in the United States. Therefore, learning more about the interactions between this pathogen and our immune defenses could greatly strengthen our ability to protect high-risk communities. During transmission from food to the human intestines, L. monocytogenes is exposed to various environmental conditions, including propionate, a common food additive as well as a fermentation product by our gut microbiota, and various oxygen levels. How these environmental factors influence L. monocytogenes fitness and pathogenesis is not fully understood. My Berry Summer Thesis Institute research investigated L. monocytogenes interactions with mucin and antimicrobial peptides, both are critical barriers found in the intestinal lumen. L. monocytogenes was grown with or without propionate under aerobic or anaerobic conditions and then exposed to mucin and antimicrobial peptides. Then, I measured the bacterial colony forming units (CFUs) to calculate survival after exposure. My preliminary results showed that anaerobically grown bacteria were more susceptible to antimicrobial peptide LL-37 than aerobically grown bacteria. However, the presence of mucin rescued anaerobic, but not aerobic, bacteria against LL-37. These results highlight the need to further investigate the role of oxygen in L. monocytogenes fitness and pathogenesis under relevant conditions.

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  Navigating the Food Crisis: Food Insecurity, Sustainability, and Gandhi

  Kevin M. Gonzalez-Brito

  What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.

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  Non-Violence and Vegetarianism

  Casey M. Tirado

  What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.

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  Novel role of miRNA-137 in Drosophila eye development

  Rad Radhika Padma

  During organogenesis various players including genes non-coding RNAs like microRNA (miRNA) are involved in differentiation and development. miRNA are involved in post- transcriptional regulation of gene expression in a tissue-specific manner and thereby fine tune the expression of their target gene(s). Therefore, miRNAs play a crucial role in regulation of the cell fate and differentiation during development. In a forward genetic screen, we identified a miRNA which exhibits reduced eye phenotype upon overexpression in the developing eye. Here, we present our characterization of the role of this new miRNA (miR-137) in growth and development of an eye-antennal imaginal disc of Drosophila. Our results illustrate the novel role of miR-137 in eye development and growth. The results from our studies on molecular characterization of the role of this miR-137 during eye development will be presented.

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  Numerical vs. Spatial Magnitude Understanding as Seen in Preschool Aged Children

  Merrick Hirt

  The ability of young children to differentiate between numerical and spatial magnitudes is correlated with executive functioning skills and has been recognized as a pivotal predictor of early math success (Fuhs et al., 2021). This ability is defined as flexible attention to magnitudes (FAM). In the current study, we expanded on previous findings which concluded that a child's performance in mixed FAM trials, where the child is asked to switch back and forth between numerical and spatial magnitudes, is most strongly connected to math achievement (Wagner et. al., 2023). To examine this, we added six additional mixed trials to the existing FAM task to see if the additional trials would have an effect on data collection. Data was collected from 63 preschool children (aged 3-5) where in varying levels, children were asked to point to boxes based on instructions to identify the box with either the larger objects, or the most objects. In a third level the previous two levels were mixed and the child was asked to make their selection based on the color of the box. We found that children’s performance did not decline in the 6 additional trials, suggesting 18 test trials will be suitable for future use of the FAM task. As expected, children scored lower on number trials and switch trials. Notably, children also scored worse on trials directly following check trials, suggesting that children struggle to switch between questions about incongruent and congruent objects. This distinction has been noted and is a possible direction for future research.