Stander Symposium Projects

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  Impact of anaerobic propionate exposure on early intracellular infections by Listeria monocytogenes

  Sydney Krystine Herzog

  Listeria monocytogenes is an intracellular pathogen that can cause enteric infections with high mortality rates. During intestinal transit, L. monocytogenes is exposed to anaerobic conditions enriched with fermentation acids such as propionate. Through previous research in the lab, we have seen that anaerobic exposure of propionate enhances Listeriolysin O (LLO) production in wildtype L. monocytogenes but not the delta codY mutant. How L. monocytogenes responds to anaerobic propionate exposure is not yet fully understood. Since we see this enhancement of LLO production due to anaerobic propionate exposure, we wanted to determine if anaerobic propionate exposure could enhance intracellular infections, particularly phagosomal escape. We performed 2-hour cell culture infections with RAW 264.7 macrophage cells as well as wildtype and delta hly mutant L. monocytogenes strains to determine the initial entry and survival. We found that propionate pretreatment enhanced initial entry and survival of wildtype L. monocytogenes but not the delta hly mutant. This led us to our next approach where we performed 4-hour cell culture infections with wildtype and delta codY mutant L. monocytogenes strains to determine its ability to perform actin co-localization. We found that propionate rescued the delta codY mutant defect in actin-colocalization. These results indicate that anaerobic propionate exposure has effects on L. monocytogenes pathogenesis, but more research is needed to determine how this occurs.

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  Impacts of Nutritional Intake on College Students Mental and Physical Well-being.

  Peyton Jean Niemi

  Going into college there is the potential for college students diets to change. Past research shows that nutritional intake can be impacted as well as can lead to body image issues, eating disorders, stress eating, and disordered eating habits. According to Komarudin et al (2023), 76% of college students with an obese nutritional status have a negative body image. The goal of this research project is to get a better understanding of how nutritional habits are impacting college students physical and mental well-being.

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  Implementing Critical Mathematics Pedagogy in High School: Impacts and Challenges

  Olivia Kathleen Duker

  Critical pedagogy helps students connect what they learn to the real world and see how it has the power to promote or deny social justice. While this method of teaching is often more clearly applied to subjects like English or history, it can also be used in math classes. The purpose of this project is to explore how to implement critical mathematics pedagogy in high school classrooms as well as its impacts and potential challenges.

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  Improved thermal conductivity of DLP-printed h-BN composites

  Israa Eltahir Ali Elfaki

  The limited thermal conductivity of many polymers has constrained their widespread use,despite their appeal for their resilience, affordability, and lightweight nature. Hexagonal boronnitride (h-BN), the structure analog of graphite, has many applications due to its superbproperties. Owing to its stacking layer structure, h-BN possesses anisotropic thermaltransportation property, exhibiting superior thermal conductivity along its in-plane direction butlower cross-plane thermal conductivity. Developing h-BN composites with controllable BNalignments will enable great potential for making high thermal conductive components for variousapplications. Digital light processing (DLP) is one of the additive manufacturing (AM) techniquesthat can be used to control h-BN plate orientation in a polymer matrix. This research investigatedthe DLP-printed h-BN composites, and the results showed the controllable alignments of h-BN inthe composites for improved thermal conductivities.

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  Improving Methods for Enantioselective Organophosphorus Synthesis by A Chiral Nucleophile-Metal Bifunctional Catalytic System

  Jackson Thomas Shuman

  The use of Benzotetramisole (BTM) as a catalyst is a promising strategy for enantioselective organophosphorus synthesis since the reaction has been previously reported by Numan and Brichacek and has been tested in Dr. Erb’s research laboratory. However, the yields are only moderate (46-58%) and the enantiomeric excess (ee) of the purified product are poor, with 62% being the highest reported ee [1]. Preliminary computational data performed in the Erb lab has revealed that the cause of the lower ee (and possibly yield) could be the ability of the intermediate to adopt different conformations that are similar in energy but would give a mixture of chirality in the product. The addition of a metal ion could result in the formation of a ring structure, providing a firm anchor that prevents rotation of the Phosphorus-Nitrogen bond, and thus would form two possible intermediates. Locking the rotation of the intermediate prevents the relief of steric strain between groups on the substrate and the organocatalyst in one conformation, thus making one intermediate much higher in energy, less stable, and less likely to form. The other intermediate would also be locked in place in a similar way but has lower steric strain and thus would be more favorable. It may even be possible that the higher energy intermediate can isomerize to form the lower energy intermediate. Following this, bimolecular substitution by a nucleophile, such as an alcohol, would release of the catalyst and provide the product in improved enantioselectivity or yield.

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  India During World War 2: The Quit India Movement

  Sam J. Gepperth

  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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  Innovating Web Security: Formal Verification and Automated Analysis for WebAssembly

  Viet Viet Bui

  In the realm of web security, escalating data leakages cause substantial financial losses, surpassing hundreds of millions annually. Traditional security measures, while necessary, have shown their limitations, as evidenced by the relentless succession of cyberattacks. These vulnerabilities largely stem from human-generated errors in coding, among other critical oversights, highlighting an urgent need for a more reliable and robust security approach.Our primary goal is to transform web security through the strategic application of formal methods and WebAssembly. This initiative is structured with three specific aims. Firstly, our approach utilizes formal verification tools like the Coq Proof Assistant to enhance code integrity and mitigate initial vulnerabilities in WebAssembly programming. Second, we aim to bolster the protection of user-specific data, such as cookies, by seamlessly translating WebAssembly programs into the Coq environment for thorough formal analysis, thus providing a formidable defense against widespread cyber threats. Third, through a compilation of benchmarks and case studies, we strive to set new benchmarks in web security standards using formal verification. Our mission is to dramatically reduce both the frequency and severity of cyber-attacks, showcasing our methodology's capability to foster a more secure digital environment.

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  Insights on the role of the Hr4 transcription factor during the development and evolution of a sexually dimorphic fruit fly pigmentation trait

  Victoria Maureen Fowler, Rachel M. Stanojev, Ashley Violet Williams

  Animal morphological traits are patterned by Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) which include regulatory genes that pattern the expression of the trait-building realizator genes. The first and most well-studied GRNs were found to include dozens or more transcription factor encoding genes. The study of GRNs has moved to “evo-devo” model traits in recent years, for which the identify and function of obvious candidate genes has more or less been resolved. These successes present the next challenge, where the remainder of their GRNs need to be characterized but the candidate genes have been exhausted. If trait evolution is going to be understood at the scale of GRNs, then more complete GRN characterizations are an essential goal to be reached. One such evo-devo trait is the male-specific pattern of black pigmentation that develops on the posterior abdomen segments of Drosophila melanogaster and which evolved in the Sophophora subgenus of fruit flies. Several novel transcription factors have been identified whose loss-of-function perturbed pigmentation development. Here, we share our findings on the regulation, function, and evolution of the Hormone receptor 4 (Hr4) transcription factor gene. This work highlights the potential and challenges to an expansive understanding of GRNs and their evolution.

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  Inspirational Women in STEM: Presentation and Panel Discussion - Session 1

  Camryn Lanise Justice, Jennifer Lynne Keltos, Deeksha Kalkatte Laxman, Jyothsna Mailapalli, Sridatta Naupada, Keerthana Sai Pillala

  Despite the progress of women and minorities in post-secondary education fields such as medicine and law, they continue to face challenges in engineering and other STEM disciplines, both in academia and in the workplace. The Leadership and Engagement for Engineering Diversity (ENM 583) class develops an awareness of the barriers, biases and challenges to improving the culture to make the field more inclusive. Our contribution begins with presentations developed in an abbreviated pecha kucha format to profile inspirational women in STEM fields, followed by a panel discussion of the issues preventing parity in representation in STEM, as well as personal observations and experiences, with the hope of enlightening our community about the gaps in opportunities faced by classmates and colleagues.

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  Inspirational Women in STEM: Presentation and Panel Discussion - Session 2

  Sowmyasri Amujuri, Arpitha Guruprasad, Jennifer Lynne Keltos, Jeevanajyothi Kochana, Madhu Shankar Koppisetti, Nishanth Sreeram nagar Niranjan, Deepali Vishal Thombare

  Despite the progress of women and minorities in post-secondary education fields such as medicine and law, they continue to face challenges in engineering and other STEM disciplines, both in academia and in industry. The Leadership and Engagement for Engineering Diversity (ENM 583) class develops an awareness of the barriers, biases and challenges to improving the culture to make the field more inclusive. Our contribution begins with presentations developed in an abbreviated pecha kucha format to profile inspirational women in STEM fields, followed by a panel discussion of the issues preventing parity in representation in STEM, as well as personal observations and experiences, wit the hope of enlightening our community about the gaps in opportunities faced by classmates and colleagues.

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  Inspiration at What Cost: Destroying 'If They Can, So Can I' from the Social Media World

  Vaegus Mykul Gallimore

  This THR/VAR 250 Diversity in the Creative and Performing Arts poster presentation project requires each student to research and present on a topic relevant to the interdisciplinary fields of visual and performing arts through a critical multicultural and social justice lens that foregrounds the appreciation of diversity and enables the expansion of personal cultural competencies.

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  Intelligent Sales Forecasting Platform

  Isabelle M. Bailey, Amanda K. Bush, Christopher Michael DiGeronimo

  MIS and OPS Senior Capstone Projects include small teams of 3 or 4 senior students working weekly with a company/organization to solve a real business problem. These projects extend for the complete undergrad senior year including both Fall and Spring semesters. Students act as Project Consultants and Managers to guide the project from inception until conclusion by delivering solutions and deliverables to the client. Students produce project documentation and formal presentations at multiple stages of the project and conclude with presentations to the supporting Client's Leadership Team.

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  Investigating Key Features of Multifocal and Multicentric Breast Cancer via Bioinformatics and a Model-on-a-Chip

  Thanh Lan Chu

  Breast cancer has been considered as the second contributor to cancer-related fatalities among women worldwide. Among different categories of breast tumors, multifocal and multicentric breast cancers (MMBC) tend to be more aggressive than unifocal tumors and are highly associated with lower survival rates, higher recurrence rates, and increased lymph node metastasis. So far, the underlying mechanisms governing MMBC invasion and proliferation have remained unclear. Recent advancements in three-dimensional in-vitro tumor models have proven to more effectively replicate the intricate tumor microenvironment compared to traditional two-dimensional cell culture on petri dishes. In addition, employing bioinformatics to assess gene signature profiles in various public datasets could offer perspectives on different breast tumor behaviors such as migration and invasion. Therefore, our approach involves utilizing the advances of bioinformatics and lab-on-a-chip technology to broaden our understanding of MMBC along with novel features related to the aggressiveness of MMBC. In this research, two distinct clusters of differentially expressed genes were identified, shedding light on key biological pathways which intricately linked to MMBC. For the on-chip model, the optimal spheroid formation was achieved from MDA-MB-231 cells mimicking primary breast tumors; and a uniform chessboard pattern was designed and generated by UV photolithography of SU-8 2025 photoresist, on a glass slide to facilitate positioning and quantification of the spheroids. The spheroids were introduced on the chip and embedded in a collagen gel that mimics the extracellular environment of the breast tissue. This on-chip model allows for further investigation into various cancerous behaviors such as cell invasion, tumor movement, and tumor necrosis. This integrative approach provides a novel platform for studying MMBC, potentially revealing critical insights for improved diagnostics and treatment strategies for MMBC.

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  Investigating social vulnerability associated with flood issue in Dayton Ohio

  Audrey Grace MacVicar

  Flooding is a significant global disaster, exacerbated by increasing temperatures and precipitation according to recent climate studies. The US Congress passed the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 to minimize flood losses and promote hazard planning. Dayton, OH, previously devastated by floods, may face heightened risk due to rapid climate shifts. In addition, historic redlining policies have concentrated minorities near the Great Miami River, exacerbating environmental justice issues and social vulnerability. Social vulnerability, influenced by socioeconomic status, race, and age, affects recovery post-disaster. The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) measures these factors, aiding in understanding communities' resilience to rebound from floods. This project aims to gather hydrological data from FEMA and estimate SVI by using GIS. We aim to create flood inundation and SVI maps to evaluate flood vulnerability and our community's susceptibility to floods. We hope our study could provide information on the recovery capacity, guiding mitigation efforts.

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  Investigating the electrochemical properties of novel chalcogenide nanocrystals

  Muhammad Qasim Ali, Muhammad Mustafeez Ur Rehman

  Exploration of new and more sustainable semiconductor nanomaterials is a major research thrustto find a material which can provide improved performance in terms of energy efficiency andminiaturization. In this work, novel multinary copper-based chalcogenides nanocrystalsincluding tellurides were synthesized in the solution phase and their electrochemical propertieswith respect to structure were investigated. These nanocrystals are then deposited on the Siliconwafers using dip coating method and then drying it under the fume hood at 25 °C. CyclicVoltammetry (CV) method is used to measure the charge storage capacity of our material withthe help of Versa Stat-4. A quasi-solid-state device was fabricated by sandwiching twoelectrodes, working electrode obtained by using dip coated nanomaterial and reference electrodeis obtained by using the mixture of potassium chloride (KCl) and silver chloride (AgCl),separated by an ion transporting layer in the presences of Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) andSodium Hydroxide (NaOH) as electrolytes. Electrochemical measurements such as specificcapacitance and CV curves show promising results for these materials to be used in batteries andphotovoltaic devices.

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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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  Investigating the Theory-Practice Gap in Sales Engineering Transitions

  Jack Kenneth Doll

  This research paper reports the investigation of the theory-practice gap that exists for engineering graduates transitioning into sales engineering or technical sales roles. Sales engineering is the practice of employing technical knowledge to facilitate the sales process of complex engineered products and services, acting as a bridge between engineers and customers. A balance of technical knowledge and sales acumen are critical to success in these positions . To investigate this theory-practice gap, the researcher employs a mixed-method design consisting of self-assessment surveys directed at current and previous sales engineers to gauge their readiness and skills at graduation versus the skills they have acquired throughout their career. These surveys explore the aspects of missing skills, if any, that they have observed in their industry experience. This research provides valuable insights for educators, industry professionals, and aspiring sales engineers, facilitating a more seamless integration of theory and practice in this growing field.

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  Is There an Inverse Relationship Between Utility Sector Stock Returns and Rising Interest Rates? An Empirical Analysis, 1999-2023.

  Andrew Charles Kohnen, Cannon Spelman

  Financial economists believe that utility sector stocks are bond proxies i.e., as yields on bonds increase, utility sector stock prices will decline. In this study, I test the hypothesis that an inverse relationship also exists between rising Federal Funds Rates and utility stock movements. For my test, I use four periods of rising Federal Funds Rates since 1999. These periods have different macro characteristics, with two occurring after an economics recession, one during a period of modest inflation and slow but steady economic growth, and the most recent period, February 2022 - August 2023, where inflation is high and rising and the Federal Reserve is aggressively raising the Federal Funds Rate. I use the Top 20 stocks by market in the utility sector to carry out my analysis.

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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; other researchers: Akansha Raj, Anuradha Venkatakrishnan Chimata, Madhuri Kango-Singh, Amit Singh

  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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  Kinematics of Inextensible Constant Curvature Model for the Design of Minimally Invasive Surgical Robots

  Yucheng Li

  Continuum robots are inspired by biological organisms such as snakes, octopus tentacles, and elephant trunks to replicate their flexibility. These robots can navigate complex and confined spaces, enabling them to adapt to changing shapes and surfaces and interact delicately with environments without causing damage. Hence, their inherent flexibility and maneuverability make continuum robots ideal for surgical procedures in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). However, MIS requires exacting precision in both the position of the surgical robot end-effector and the shape of the continuum robot backbone. Additionally, the high flexibility of continuum robots introduces complexity in motion planning and control. To address these challenges, this study focuses on two key aspects: understanding kinematic redundancy and locomotion in the inextensible continuum robot and proposing a novel design of the backbone and actuating system of the continuum robot to enhance backbone stiffness without loss of flexibility. The DIMLab's prior research has successfully achieved the objective of comprehensively understanding the kinematics of continuum robots, enabling their application in the medical field.