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  Scalable purification of High Purity Recombinant Lanthanide Ion Selective Protein from Methylorubrum extorquens and metal binding affinities

  Courtney Henthorn

  I will be discussing a novel purification method for isolating the lanthanide-sequestering protein, Lanmodulin, from an E.coli expression process, in addition to discussing comparative metal binding affinities of Lanmodulin to Europium(III) and Iron(III). This research topic is of major interest due to the unfulfilled demand for a national, sustainable supply of rare earth elements (REEs), for applications such as permanent magnets, energy storage devices, biomining, and metal waste valorization. My findings include a reproducible and scalable purification method for the isolation of His6-tagged LanM, its resulting activity compared to a LanM purified using a published method, and confirmation that heat treatment does not hinder the metal binding properties of LanM nor reduce the yield of the LanM.

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  Secondary “Success”-ion: Healing Post-Agricultural Soils Through Prairie Plantings

  Valerie Thurston

  Ecological restoration in landscapes heavily impacted by industrial agriculture is a pressing scientific concern that will require the development of techniques that facilitate the establishment of biodiverse habitats in post-agricultural fields. Ecological invasion is a significant concern in old-fields of the American Midwest and early establishment of problematic trees such as Pyrus calleryana may alter the course of secondary succession. Some evidence suggests that more biodiverse habitats may inhibit ecological invasion in some settings (i.e. the diversity-resilience hypothesis), but little is known about how prairie diversity may influence woody establishment in Midwestern old-fields. Working with our community partners at the Five Rivers Metroparks (Dayton, Ohio), we have established a fully replicated long-term restoration experiment on a 30-acre former agricultural field. The long-term management goal for this abandoned farmland is to establish a prairie community that transitions to mature oak forests. The experimental design includes four prairie seed mix treatments each replicated 5 times in 50 × 50 m plots and applied in spring of 2020: (1) high diversity with high legume content; (2) high diversity with low legume content; (3) low diversity with high legume content; (4) low diversity with low legume content. Each of the plots was then subdivided into four subplots and each of these received one of four soil amendment treatments: (i) leaf mulch; (ii) whole soil inoculation; (iii) whole soil + leaf mulch and (iv) control. Vegetation was assessed systematically using two transects to establish six 1m² quadrat within each subplot. Initial observations suggest that higher diversity seed mixes establish more diverse plant communities, and those diverse communities garner more niche space in the plant community. These results offer preliminary support for the diversity – resilience hypothesis given that a reduction in open space in the community should make it more difficult for invasive species to establish. Ongoing work seeks to discern the presence of exotic and invasive species throughout the restoration experiment and relate the abundance of invasive species to biodiversity of the established prairie community.

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  Seizure Identification and Prediction Using DeepLearning

  Abigayle Hahn

  Epilepsy is often characterized by uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain that manifests as seizures. Behavior has been used to identify seizure activity in humans for a long time and it is the most commonly used way to identify human patients with epilepsy. However, most of the behavioral scales that are used to identify seizures are observer biased and do not capture the dynamics of seizure activity. Importantly, we don’t have any reliable methods to predict the onset and severity of seizures. Recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence offer us new avenues to automate the identification of seizures from video datasets. We hypothesize that seizure activity in a preclinical mouse model of epilepsy can be reliably captured using a DeepLearning approach. Using a large dataset of clinically-relevant seizure activity in mice, we have annotated key anatomical features across different epileptic stages. We used the DeepLabCut toolbox to train a model to identify 28 key body components across our entire dataset. Our model is able to capture kinematic data in novel seizure videos with a high degree of accuracy. We plan to further refine the accuracy of our model using an active learning approach and by increasing the amount of training data. Using the kinematic data from our video data sets, we plan to identify and define seizure states from a purely data-driven standpoint. Our ultimate aim is to translate our approach to a clinical setting in order to prevent Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).

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  Semiotics and Religious Images: St. Joseph Statue

  Caroline Duarte, J. LaVonn Berry, Jennifer Reckers

  Students in the CMM 357 Religious Rhetoric course were given the choice to choose a statue, building, space/place on campus that is marked as a religious text/artifact or propose a new object of visual rhetoric in order to analyze using the rhetorical theories from class. Thier analyses employ a variety of rhetorical theories and concepts discussed in class during the semester. Each group collaborated to answer the question: how does this artifact/text rhetorically communicate and construct religious identity at UD?

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  Semiotics of the Nun Doll Collection

  Mary Sabatino, Christierra Williams, Anthony Martine

  Students in the CMM 357 Religious Rhetoric course were given the choice to choose a statue, building, space/place on campus that is marked as a religious text/artifact or propose a new object of visual rhetoric in order to analyze using the rhetorical theories from class. Thier analyses employ a variety of rhetorical theories and concepts discussed in class during the semester. Each group collaborated to answer the question: how does this artifact/text rhetorically communicate and construct religious identity at UD?

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  Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" for woodwind quintet

  Andrea Garrison, Ashleigh Muir, Rachel Gleberman, Joseph Barnett

  This performance is a retelling of the age-old story of Peter and the Wolf using Prokofiev's musical score arranged for woodwind quintet.

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  Seroton-ing down the stress: serotonergic activity in response to predators in threespined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

  Michaela Rogers, Hayden Ott

  Animals constantly face stress in the environment due to rapid human-induced changes. A strong interest lies in the evolution of coping mechanisms that can help organisms deal with and respond to these stressors. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is highly conserved across taxonomic groups and is upregulated in response to a broad range of stressors, including predator exposure. Serotonin upregulation can help organisms cope with the threat of a predator by decreasing fear and anxiety. Previous studies have shown an increase in serotonergic activity following acute predator exposures in mice, rats, and fish after only one exposure, but less is known about repeated stimulation of the serotonergic system. I chased stickleback for 15 seconds with a model trout predator every other day for 12 days. I used high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to measure serotonin (5-HT) and its metabolite (5-HIAA) in whole brain tissue after the last day of exposure. We will use the 5-HIAA/5-HT turnover ratio to further assess the activity of the cells that integrate the synthesis, release, reuptake, and/or metabolism of serotonin. If predator exposure increases stress, then predator-exposed individuals will have higher levels of serotonergic activity. Individual differences in monoamine levels (e.g. serotonin) following stress exposure have been associated with individual differences in aggressiveness and risk-taking behaviors. Higher levels of serotonin in the brain following predator exposure provide implications on behavioral responses such as predator inspection and conspecific interactions following stressful events. These results can be linked to behavioral studies to explain variation in predator-exposed individuals.

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  Sexual Assault Cases and the Claim of Consent

  Nina Vaccaro, Lauren Sears

  In our research project we are interested in looking at the impact and implications of suspects claiming consent in sexual assault cases. The first question we are looking to answer is do different types of evidence, such as witness testimonies, DNA evidence, or other case facts on the victims and suspects, have an impact on the likelihood that the defendant will use a defense that the sexual assault was consensual. The second question we would like to analyze is how does claiming that the sexual assault was consensual impact the sentence imposed to the defendant. Previous research has been done on the effectiveness and weight of evidence collected by Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners as well as how consent is perceived in sexual assault cases. However, we would like to compare these aspects of sexual assault cases together to get a better understanding of the more comprehensive implications that consent has throughout the entire process of the case.

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  Sharing Library and Outdoor Space

  Annie Waters, Natalie Blue, Sarah Abed

  Students in the CMM 357 Religious Rhetoric course were given the choice to choose a statue, building, space/place on campus that is marked as a religious text/artifact or propose a new object of visual rhetoric in order to analyze using the rhetorical theories from class. Thier analyses employ a variety of rhetorical theories and concepts discussed in class during the semester. Each group collaborated to answer the question: how does this artifact/text rhetorically communicate and construct religious identity at UD?

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  Skeletal Muscle Reactive Hyperemia Is Dependent on the Deoxygenation Stimulus in Young Healthy Humans

  William Durbin

  Reactive hyperemia tests create mismatches in oxygen (O2 ) delivery and demand by occluding blood flow to skeletal muscle. We tested the hypothesis that skeletal muscle reactive hyperemia is dependent on the specific deoxygenation stimulus. We hypothesized that the magnitude of deoxygenation (Δ=nadir-baseline) would correlate with the magnitude of the reactive hyperemic response (Δ=peak-baseline), whereas the total deoxygenation would correlate with the total reactive hyperemic response. In six (3M:3F) young adults, we continuously measured forearm blood flow using doppler ultrasound on the brachial artery and muscle O2 saturation during three reactive hyperemia tests (1, 5, or 10 minutes in duration). The magnitude of deoxygenation was significantly (P < 0.05 via paired t-test) less during 1 min occlusion (-13±1.6%) compared to 5 min occlusion (-67±14%; P=0.0015) or 10 min occlusion (-74±10%; P=0.0004), but 5 min vs 10 min occlusion were not different (P=0.40). Similarly, the magnitude of the RH was greater in both the 10 min occlusion (329±102 ml/min; P=0.0004) and 5 min occlusion (295±123 ml/min; P=0.005) vs 1 min occlusion (131±69 ml/min; P < 0.0001), but not different from one another (P=0.11). However, total deoxygenation increased progressively from 1 min (-335±51 units), to 5 min (-10732±2209 units), to 10 min (-32357±5053 units; all P < 0.01) as did total reactive hyperemic response (1 min:1326±927 ml; 5 min:7865±4055 ml; 10 min:17447±9698 ml; P < 0.01). These results suggest the reactive hyperemia response is determined by the absolute magnitude of deoxygenation and total difference between O2 supply and demand. Prolonged deoxygenation in the 10 min occlusion led to a greater reactive hyperemia response, potentially mediated by increased muscle metabolite production and greater bioavailability of vasoactive products mediated by fully deoxygenated erythrocytes.

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  Sketch to Image Synthesis

  Samah Saeed A Baraheem

  Sketch-to-image is an important task to reduce the burden of creating a color image from scratch. Unlike previous sketch-to-image models, where the image is synthesized in an end-to-end manner, leading to an unnaturalistic image, we propose a method by decomposing the problem into subproblems to generate a more naturalistic and reasonable image. It first generates an intermediate output which is a semantic mask map from the input sketch through instance and semantic segmentation in two levels, background segmentation and foreground segmentation. Background segmentation is formed based on the context of the foreground objects. Then, the foreground segmentations are sequentially added to the created background segmentation. Finally, the generated mask map is fed into an image-to-image translation model to generate an image. Our proposed method works with 92 distinct classes. Compared to state-of-the-art sketch-to-image models, our proposed method outperforms the previous methods and generates better images.

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  Smart Air Quality Monitor

  Vamshidher Reddy Kowkutla

  Smart air quality monitoring IoT project is a system that monitors the quality of air in a specificenvironment and provides real-time data analysis. The project is designed to provide an effectiveand reliable solution to monitor the air quality of various environments such as indoor spaces,outdoor public places, industrial settings, and other such areas.The system consists of various sensors that are placed in the environment to monitor various airquality parameters such as temperature, humidity, particulate matter, carbon monoxide (CO),nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) as required in the project. These sensorscontinuously collect data and send it to a microcontroller, which then transmits the data to acloud-based platform using wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi or GSM.The cloud-based platform receives the data and performs real-time data analysis, providinginsights into the air quality of the monitored environment. The platform uses different algorithmsto predict the air quality of the environment and identify patterns and trends in the data.The project also includes a web-based user interface if possible that allows users to view the realtimeair quality data and receive alerts when the air quality falls below a certain threshold. Theuser interface also provides historical data analysis, enabling users to view trends and patternsin the air quality over time.The Smart air quality monitoring IoT project has significant applications in various industries suchas healthcare, industrial, environmental monitoring, and smart cities. The system can help inidentifying potential air quality hazards, enabling early detection and timely remediation. It canalso aid in policy-making decisions related to air quality regulations and provide valuable insightsinto the impact of various activities on the environment.

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  Smart Cane for Blind People

  Manoj Kumar Harinath

  Blind people are liable to get in contact with whatever obstacle which pass before them during walking, subjecting them to risk of injury caused from fall and it could also cause great damage to them. The aim of this project is to develop a smart cane with distance measurement system. The system is made up of an ultrasonic sensor as input and earphone as the output. Ultrasonic sensor is used to measure distance from the obstacle. Data is then sent to National Instrument Arduino UNO microcontroller for processing which later pro-duce voice for alerting the blond person as the output. Also, the system includes the GPS live locating system and guide the path for blind person. In general, the device will alert blind people of the obstacles through the audio output through which they can walk safely without any problem.

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  Smart Clock and Hub for Improved Sleep Health

  Jonathan Hoopes

  The purpose of this project is to demonstrate an understanding of the Internet of Things (IoT) by applying it to a smart light alarm clock and hub. To accomplish this task, sensors will collect meaningful data about the room and inform the owner about the room status. Sleep is a very important for the human body aiding in recovery, mental health hormone balance and many more vital functions. Having a bedroom in the proper temperature range and very dark are two of the leading ways to improve sleep quality The project will result in a prototype device as well as an increased understanding about circadian rhythm, sleep, and IoT.

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  Smart waste management using IOT Sensors.

  Uma Rani Ganga Devi

  A new technique called smart trash management uses IoT sensors to enhance waste management processes. It makes use of the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). The fill level, temperature, and other pertinent data are monitored in this system by sensors placed in trash cans, dumpsters, and other waste collection stations. A cloud-based platform receives the sensor data and transmits it for analysis and real-time decision-making. Waste management businesses may improve their collection schedules, lower operational costs, and lessen environmental effect by utilizing this technology. This article provides a summary of the advantages, difficulties, and potential future directions of smart waste management using IoT sensors.

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  Smart Weather Station

  Jayasree Rangu

  The Smart Weather Station IoT project aims to collect real-time weather data on temperature, humidity, wind speed, and precipitation in a given area using sensors and transmit this data to a cloud-based platform for analysis and visualization. The project will provide accurate weather forecasts and support climate research.The weather station will consist of various sensors as required such as a temperature sensor, humidity sensor, anemometer, and rain gauge. These sensors will be connected to a microcontroller board, such as an Arduino or Raspberry Pi, which will collect data from the sensors and transmit it wirelessly to a cloud-based platform.The cloud-based platform will receive the data from the weather station and process it to provide useful insights on weather patterns and trends. The platform will use different algorithms to analyze the data and provide accurate weather forecasts. It will also store the data for future analysis and support climate research.The Smart Weather Station IoT project has several potential applications, including agriculture, transportation, and emergency management. Farmers can use the weather data to optimize their crop yield by adjusting irrigation and fertilizer schedules. Transportation agencies can use the weather data to plan for road closures and detours due to severe weather conditions. Emergency management teams can use the weather data to prepare for and respond to natural disasters.Overall, the Smart Weather Station IoT project has the potential to provide valuable insights into weather patterns and trends, leading to better decision-making in various fields.

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  Social Media as a Community Organizing Tool

  Hannah Bair, Patrick Hoody, Elizabeth Kolb, Sophia Locker, Elizabeth Worpenberg, Riley Cronin, Claire Pawlecki, Anna Luepke, Simone Schuller, Sarah Behnke

  Representing Dayton Civic Scholars as the 2023 cohort, we are presenting our senior capstone project focused around social media as a community organizing tool. We are an interdisciplinary group of students following a three year framework, creating an intentional pathway from classroom to community through servant leadership and community engagement. Our cohort is honored to be working with City Wide and the Edgemont community to present two workshops focused around using email and Facebook for community organizing. Our poster outlines our three year experience together as well as our project implementation steps during our final semester.

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  Social Stigma and Psychosis: Examining Content Valence, Diagnostic Context, and Participant Spirituality

  Alicia Wilhelm Villanueva Van Den Hurk

  While stigma is generally attached to all mental illnesses, individuals who experience psychosis are reported to be one of the most stigmatized minority groups in society. The aim of this study is to explore different factors that might play a role in the stigmatization of individuals with this condition. More precisely, the present project will examine the effects of auditory content valence (i.e., pleasant vs. neutral vs. unpleasant), participant spirituality (i.e., high vs. low), and diagnostic circumstance (i.e., psychosis in the context of a psychiatric disorder vs. a medical condition) on stigma towards psychosis, as well as the interaction between these three variables. To do so, undergraduate students will be recruited and asked about their level of spirituality (part 1). A week after completing the initial survey, participants will be asked to complete part 2. During part 2, they will then be presented with three fictional patients who are experiencing psychosis symptoms either in the context of: 1) bipolar disorder I, or 2) a brain tumor. After reading each patient description, they will listen to five recordings of simulated auditory hallucinations (which will be pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral). For each fictional patient participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire that will measure their level of stigma.

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  Statue of Our Lady, Serenity Pines Garden

  Ellie Finnigan, Joe Zern, Phil Leon

  Students in the CMM 357 Religious Rhetoric course were given the choice to choose a statue, building, space/place on campus that is marked as a religious text/artifact or propose a new object of visual rhetoric in order to analyze using the rhetorical theories from class. Thier analyses employ a variety of rhetorical theories and concepts discussed in class during the semester. Each group collaborated to answer the question: how does this artifact/text rhetorically communicate and construct religious identity at UD?

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  Structural Health Monitoring using Structured Lights and Infrared Thermography

  Sreelakshmi Sreeharan

  Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a nondestructive data-driven process used to assess the conditions of structural systems using methods like acoustic emission, ultrasonic, thermal imaging etc. In recent years with advancement in computer vision, research into vision-based inspection methods using three dimensional (3D) optical imaging and point cloud data is a field of active research. Structured light technique is an active method in 3D optical imaging where patterns are projected on to the scene and the camera captures the distorted pattern caused by the scene. The method uses the pattern distortion information to recover the 3D geometry. Therefore, instead of relying on the scene optical properties, the structured light method uses a projector to project known structured patterns onto the scene and the correspondence is established using the captured projected pattern information. Infrared thermography ((IRT) technique is another widely used technique for contactless temperature measurement and stress analysis of materials based on thermo elastic effects. Furthermore, IRT can be used to estimate fatigue limit and fatigue life curve of structural materials. For both visible and thermal imaging pixels are the data acquisition points used for surface profiling. However, thermal cameras have lower resolutions in comparison to visible light due to larger sensor elements. To overcome the limitations of IRT and to better investigate temperature dependent structural deformations we propose the use of projective transformations to map thermal information on to 3D reconstructed surfaces using structural light technique.

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  Students Developing a More Specific Emotional Vocabulary through Picture Books - A Work in Progress

  Mary Horvath

  This study will be happening over the course of the next year, but this is a preview of what is to come! Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is a relatively new set of standards in Ohio’s curriculum. SEL standards are essential for achievement not only in the classroom but in life. Because of its novelty, it is crucial to find the best practices for teaching SEL to meet the needs of all students. Research has shown that the standard videos, activities, and take-home worksheets referenced in the curriculum are not engaging the students (Pysarenko, 2021, p. 639). Instead, picture books have been found to help students through emotional turmoil (Roberts & Crawford, 2008, p. 13). Therefore, this study proposes to further the connection between children’s literature and emotional vocabulary, which is part of the Ohio Department of Education SEL standard, “Demonstrate an awareness of personal emotions” (ODE, p. 8, 2019). Helping students grow their emotional vocabulary will help them connect better to themselves, the people in their lives, and their experiences so they can live an overall better life.

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  Students Gain Real World Skills from working part-time in Campus Recreation

  Tyler Lebegue, Andrew Mason

  This presentation will inform students about the value of working in campus recreation. There is one position that is under most students’ radar that will provide the most benefits. It is becoming a referee. These students gain transferable skills that are rarely ever considered when looking for part time employment. We have examined deliverables gained through conducting research, interviewing officials, and completing a comprehensive literature review. Our goal is to promote officiating in Campus Recreation with specificrecommendations on how to grow an official pool of candidates to gain the deliverableskills needed in the workplace. We will portray the importance of working withstudents to build a culture that focuses on engaging in career development, teachingstudents how to express their skills and experiences to sell themselves in ajob interview.

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  Student Songwriter Concert Guitar Students of Jim McCutcheon

  Chris Yakopcic, Miles Lockrem, David Colao, Dont'e Stevenson, Grace Caffoe, Isaac Burkart

  Guitar students of Jim McCutcheon, Lecturer in Guitar in the UD Department of Music, will perform original songs. This concert has been a part of the Stander Symposium since its inception and is always an insightful presentation of our musical student creators.

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  Studying Glioblastoma on a Microfluidic Model

  Laura Bender

  Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is among one of the most deadly, aggressive, and invasive types of cancer. Currently, there is no cure for patients diagnosed with GBM. Due to the cancer’s high rates of motility and invasion, even with treatment, patients are often given a survival time of 12-15 months after diagnosis. This makes GBM of particular interest to scientists who intend to improve the outcomes of GBM patients. In my study, I utilized the nonadherent method and microfluidic channels to generate a three-dimensional tumor model of GBM cell lines and the brain’s tumor microenvironment. In this model, we fabricated GBM spheroids to mimic the primary tumor. The spheroids were introduced to a PDMS device that has microfluidic channels and matrigel to simulate physical confinements and the extracellular matrix in the brain tissue, respectively. Using this model, I was able to successfully observe the migration and sprouting behavior of four different GBM cell lines, U-118 MG, U-87 MG, LN-229, and A-172. The success of this project will allow us to learn more about the invasion of GBM cancer so that better treatments can be developed to prevent the progression of GBM infiltration and recurrence.

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  Studying the Role of Hedgehog Signaling Pathway in Dorso-Ventral Patterning

  Anuradha Chimata Venkatakrishnan, Soumya Bajpai; other authors: Madhuri Kango-Singh, Amit Singh

  During organogenesis, 3-dimentional organs arise from a monolayer of cells and this requires axial patterning to establish Dorsal-Ventral (DV), Anterior-Posterior (AP) and Proximal-Distal (PD) axes. Among them, the DV axis is the first to form during eye development. Morphogens have also been associated with a multitude of developmental processes, including organ patterning and the control of organ size. The Hedgehog (Hh) family of molecules play an important role in eye development as it regulates formation of the retina in Drosophila by orchestrating a differentiation wave that allows for the rapid and precise differentiation of the fly retina. We wanted to understand how Hh signaling interacts with a previously identified dorsal selector gene, defective proventriculus (dve). Dve is a K-50 homeodomain containing transcription factor, a Drosophila ortholog of human SATB1. We know that loss-of-function of dve results in dorsal eye enlargement while gain-of-function results in complete eye suppression. We wanted to understand how this transcription factor can regulate Hh signaling pathway that is crucial for patterning, growth and eye development. Here, we present our results from modulating Hh signaling pathway in dve expression domain and how it affects eye development.