Stander Symposium Projects

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  Geostatistical Interpolation of Subsurface Geologic Structure in southeast Ohio and northwest West Virginia

  Graydon Leo Konzen

  The objective of this study is to constrain the spatial and temporal extent of subsurface geologic structures in an area along the Ohio River in Washington County, Ohio and adjacent West Virginia counties. The Ohio River section from New Martinsville to the Willow Island Dam is unusually straight and strikingly coincident with a major basement fault defining the northwestern margin of the Early Cambrian Rome Trough. We hypothesize that this river segment is structurally controlled, implying that the zone of basement structural disruption may extend vertically upward through the entire Paleozoic stratigraphic section. To test this hypothesis, we have employed geostatistical interpolation of Ohio DNR and West Virginia Geological Survey oil and gas well data to construct a series of structure contour and isopach maps at a range of stratigraphic levels, especially on the shale and sandstone formations that are economically important as reservoir horizons in Appalachian oil and gas plays. Specifically, the rock formations contoured using the ArcGIS geostatistical analyst extension include the Cow Run sandstone (Pennsylvanian), the Big Injun and Berea Sandstones (Mississippian), the Marcellus Shale and Oriskany Sandstone (Devonian),and the Utica Shale (Ordovician). These results indicate that a significant Paleozoic fold, the Burning Springs Arch, shows at least 5 km of right-lateral strike-slip displacement where it intersects the newly recognized Ohio River fault system. Consequently, additional work is justified to understand the possibility that this fault or related structures could be vulnerable to induced seismicity as oil and gas production via hydraulic fracturing expands into the area with attendant increases in the volumes of deep wastewater injection.

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  GIS Analysis of Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Productivity in the Midwest United States

  Surya Margaret Freeman

  The objective of this project is to assess the historical trend of agricultural productivity in the Midwest, and examine how it is related to climate change. Climate change can have both positive and negative impacts on agriculture. Some positive impacts of climate change are longer growing seasons, average temperature increase, and higher CO2. On the other hand, some of the negative impacts of climate change on agriculture are extreme frost and heat stress periods, water shortages due to evaporation, and increased severe weather patterns. By analyzing climate data from weather stations around the Midwest United States and spatial agricultural data of two select crops, wheat and corn, we will examine the possible links between climate change and agricultural productivity. The climate data is collected from the National Centers for Environmental Information at NOAA, and the agricultural data comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Our results suggest that climate change have a mixed impact on agricultural productivity in the Midwest United States.

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  Give Your Best Advice: Advising Students in Crisis

  Ellie K Mulherin

  The purpose of this research was to study how academic advisors assist and advise students who have or are experiencing a crisis, by collecting best practices from advisors at two types of higher education institutions. To gain multiple perspectives, data was collected from a sample of six academic advisors with diversity in gender and race. Three participants were from the University of Dayton, a midsized private institution, and three were from Wright State University, a large public institution. The institutions serve distinct student populations; however, a consensus was evident about how students in crisis should be advised. A majority of the participants said that they feel a gap is present between academic and student affairs and would prefer more in-depth collaborations than merely individual relationship building. Based on these findings, I recommend that institutions should consider implementing workshops that help academic advisors give the appropriate response and advice to students in crisis

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  Growth regulatory pathway collaborates with axial patterning genes to regulate patterning and growth in Drosophila eye

  Neha Gogia

  In multicellular organisms, organogenesis requires axial patterning to determine Antero-Posterior (AP), Dorso-Ventral (DV), Proximo-Distal (PD) axes. Any deviation in these axes during development leads to congenital birth defects. In our model system, Drosophila melanogaster (a.k.a fruit fly), Dorso-Ventral (DV) patterning marks first lineage restriction event. We have identified defective proventriculus (dve-a Homeobox gene), an ortholog of SATB homeobox 1 (special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1), as new member of DV patterning gene hierarchy. We have shown that dve acts downstream of pannier (pnr, GATA-1 transcription factor), and upstream of wingless (wg) in dorsal gene hierarchy. Loss-of-function of dve, pnr results in dramatic dorsal eye enlargements, whereas gain-of-function suppresses the eye fate. We have demonstrated that Wg is downstream target of Hippo growth regulatory pathway (highly conserved) in eye. Furthermore, Wingless (Wg), which acts downstream of dve, also exhibits similar eye enlargement and suppression phenotypes and has been shown to play a role in growth. Here, we present that DV patterning genes interact with Hippo signaling to regulate the common downstream target, Wg during growth and patterning of developing Drosophila eye. Our data states (1) These two pathways interact antagonistically, and that (2) Activating Hippo signaling in dve, pnr expression domain results in change of head specific fate to an eye. We have tested retinal determination fate markers in these backgrounds. This study will address important questions, (1) Whether axial patterning genes (dve, pnr) and Hippo pathway regulates patterning, growth independently or in-coordination with each other by regulating Wg to form an eye/or any other organ, (2) Which of these pathways acts upstream and downstream, (3) During the development, whether growth regulatory pathways gets activated first and regulates patterning genes to form an organ or vice versa and (4) How the downstream targets are regulated, if these pathways are connected. The results from these studies will be presented.

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  Hall Effect Studies of LPCVD grown β-Ga2O3 on Sapphire

  Danielle E Smith

  With its ultra-wide bandgap of 4.5-4.9 eV and large breakdown electronic field, β-Ga2O3 has recently attracted attention because of its potential for next generation power electronics applications. The estimated breakdown field for β-Ga2O3 is 8 MV/cm, much larger than 2.5 MV/cm for 4H-SiC and 3.3 MV/cm for GaN, which could enable power electronics with larger power density and greater efficiency [1]. Also, Ga2O3 has the potential to be more cost-efficient in mass production than other wide bandgap materials due to its ability to be synthesized through standard melt growth methods [2]. With this motivation, this study examines the electronic properties of β-Ga2O3 via temperature dependent Hall effect measurements. The Ga2O3 was grown on c-face sapphire substrates via low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) using liquid metal gallium and oxygen precursors, with silicon dopants introduced via SiC4 gas. [3] Hall effect measurements were performed to determine carrier density and mobility as a function of temperature. The sign of the Hall voltage indicates that the Ga2O3 is an n-type material with electrons as majority carriers. The temperature dependence of the carrier density indicates activation energies of 10.7 meV and 10.1 meV for the Si dopant using samples with room temperature electron densities of 2×10 18 cm-3 and 3×10 18 cm-3 , respectively. Among several samples, the highest measured mobility was 34 cm2/Vs at room temperature and 40 cm2/Vs at 150K. These results indicate the potential of LPCVD grown Si-doped Ga2O3 for next generation semiconductor power electronics applications. [1] Applied Physics Letters 100, 013504 (2012) [2] Applied Physics Letters 103, 123511 (2013) [3] Applied Physics Letters 109, 132103 (2016)

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  Health-Related Quality of Life in Chronically-Ill College Students: Examining Influential Constructs

  Morgan E Longstreth

  The typical college student faces a number of challenges during their pursuit of higher education. Adding chronic illness to the fragile equation of identity development, establishing and fostering relationships, and academic pressures that occur during the college years provides significant impediment to such development. While academic functioning in these individuals is widely assessed, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is equally worthy of research and has arguably further reaching influence if better understood. There is little research examining how chronic symptoms affect the wellbeing of college students. Further investigation is needed in order to better understand and treat the difficulties these students face. Four HRQoL-related constructs hypothesized to have a special impact on those with chronic illnesses were selected to be studied in the present research: illness-related stigma, psychosocial functioning, coping skills, and psychological health (specifically depression and anxiety). Using an online survey platform, each construct is measured in individuals who self-identify as having a chronic illness. Constructs are examined using validated psychological measures, specifically with respect to symptom avoidance, illness intrusiveness, stigma, and mental health. Such research aims to provide insight into the college student’s illness experience, and how academicians, psychological and physical health care providers, and parents, peers, and students can better understand and meet the needs of the chronically ill college student.

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  Herbaceous layer species richness along forested headwater streams is negatively impacted by Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) invasion

  Mitchell J Kukla

  A major threat to forest ecosystems are invasive species such as Lonicera maackii (Amur honeysuckle), a shrub that has been shown to greatly increase understory shading in forests. Our aim was to understand how herbaceous layer species richness and abundance are impacted by invasion of L. maackii along forested headwater streams in southwestern Ohio. The herbaceous layer was sampled in 60 1-m2 plots along 5 headwater streams representing a gradient of honeysuckle invasion intensity: reference, moderate, and heavy. Within 12 plots at each site, percent cover was estimated for each species in April, June, and August. For all three sampling dates, herbaceous cover did not differ significantly among sites. Significant differences in species richness were found in April and June (ANOVA; P < 0.001). The Englewood Reference site had significantly higher richness than the Aullwood Reference site in April and June (P < 0.005), which we believe was due to differences in environmental and soil properties between the sites. The Englewood Reference site also had significantly higher richness than the Englewood Moderate site in April (P = 0.024) and the heavily invaded Buckeye Trail site in June (P = 0.00083). Further, Floristic Quality Assessment Index values were examined in each site. In each month, zero non-native plants were found in the Englewood Reference and Englewood Moderate sites. In April and June, there were more non-native species present in the Buckeye Trail site than the Charleston Falls and Aullwood sites. In summary, these results suggest that Amur honeysuckle had a negative influence on herb layer diversity, but not cover. In addition, the increased presence of other non-native species in the heavily invaded site suggests that L. maackii may be altering the composition of the herbaceous layer. Further analyses will examine how herb community composition differs among sites using non-metric multidimensional scaling.

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  High-Speed Automatic Human Face Recognition System

  Sulaiman S Alhazzaa, Amani Alkhudair, Brian D Hartnett, Dexin Ren

  The purpose of this project is to help develop further techniques and uses of high speed automatic facial recognition. This technology is used to detect requested people, such as criminals and missing people. Our focus is face feature extraction which is broken down into three stages. The first stage is face detection which may be performed with issues under various environments such as different sizes of the input faces, difficult lighting conditions, and multiple camera angles. To tackle these issues, we found solutions as following: for different sizes of the input faces, we recorded training images with different sizes by adjusting the distance from the recorded face to the input camera; for lighting issues, we changed the lighting of the environment that the subject was in by overexposure and underexposure the image; for camera angles, we trained the system with a large amount of images related with assorted angles of the camera. Higher angles were focused on to simulate a surveillance camera in an environment like a store or shopping center. A combination of the issues tested the outer functional limits of the program. Tests were first conducted on the team members to understand the functionality of the program. After, more individuals were added to the database. We created design criteria and wanted the speed, reliability, its security, and its legality to be the most important aspect of the program. Another main feature of the program is to extract multiple images of the human face and place the images in a database created specifically for each person. The concluding feature of the program is to compare the images of the human subject against individuals already registered in the database to quickly and accurately identify the person. The team is continuing to research the most efficient way to implement this technology.

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  How carbon composite and plastic ankle foot orthoses influence balance in individuals with multiple sclerosis

  Anna K Benton, Sarah E Hollis, Gregory Lance Mahrer

  Mobility impairments are reported as the most debilitating symptoms for individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Fatigue, a major issue, further affects mobility. Ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) are one potential solution to alleviate some of these mobility impairments; however, the effectiveness of AFOs for individuals with MS are still inconclusive and have known downfalls. Since the emergence of carbon fiber AFOs, which are lightweight and provide elastic energy storage, the use of AFOs to aid individuals with MS has become more promising; however, their high cost (approximately $300-$400) compared to traditional polypropylene AFOs (approximately $40) drive the need for further evaluation. We plan to take a comprehensive look at AFOs and examine the tradeoffs in wearing the polypropylene or carbon fiber AFOs with regard to gait, balance, strength, fatigue, and comfort. In collaboration with the University of Dayton’s Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program, our research group is now collecting this data from 20 participants with MS – each coming in on three separate occasions (no brace, plastic AFO, and carbon AFO). Participants completed various clinical assessments, the outcomes of which will be incorporated in the final overall conclusions on AFO effectiveness. The focus of this presentation will be on the more biomechanical aspects of the study in regards to the balance testing, which is done using two tests: the quiet standing posturography and limits of stability assessments. Five individuals have completed their study participation to date, so only the beginning stages of data analysis has been completed. Preliminary results suggest that the AFO conditions seem to positively affect side-to-side sway and that they do not restrict leaning. The completion of testing will hopefully give some insight and understanding into the effects of AFOs on gait, balance, and fatigue for those with Multiple Sclerosis.

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  How Mathematics Can Stop Crime

  William T Shovelton

  The Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered (SIR) Mathematical Model is widely used to study infectious diseases. Such models are also used to study predator-prey interactions, alcohol abuse, and social networks. Here, we will study a variation of SIR model for the interaction of police and gangs. In this work, we apply numerical techniques to simulate the solution of the model, which is a system of coupled ordinary differential equations. We compare the solution using various numerical techniques such as Euler’s Method, Runge-Kutta Methods, and Nonstandard Finite Difference Method.

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  Idealization, Maintenance Behaviors, and Infidelity Among Couples in Long Distance Relationships

  Ellen F Krueger, Angel Luis, Emily N Panella, Hind Sallih, Gabriella M Vargas

  Long distance relationships (LDR) are becoming more common, even though romantic partners are typically characterized as being closer in proximity. There are other reasons couples are in LDR other than separation or divorce, these include: attaining an educational degree, pursuing careers, military deployment, and emigration. Relational maintenance behaviors are used to preserve and improve the relationship and thus increase and maintain relationship satisfaction. Idealization is a specific maintenance behavior in which a partner unrealistically focuses on the positive aspects of their partner and relationship, remembering less disagreements or areas of contention. LDR couples tend to idealize each other more because of geographical distance and lack of physical proximity. Physical and/or emotional infidelity can be due to: sexuality, emotional satisfaction, social context, attitudes-norms, and revenge-hostility. From an evolutionary perspective, men have the opportunity to have a LDR with a partner but are also afforded the opportunity to cheat and “get away” with it, potentially having more chances at having viable offspring. This study examined how maintenance behaviors impact cheating in long distance relationships. The over-arching hypothesis for this study is even when engaging in maintenance behaviors (which increase or maintain relationship satisfaction) individuals in romantic relationships will still cheat on their partner. Additionally, a specific maintenance behavior, idealization, will an additionally mediate the relationship between maintenance behaviors. However we predict there will be gender differences such that males will idealize their partner less and be more likely engage in infidelity, whereas females will idealize their partner more and will engage in infidelity to a significantly lesser extent than males.

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  Identification of Bacterial Efflux Pump Inhibitors

  Cristian Mantilla

  Bacteria such as Escherichia coli contain efflux pumps (EP) that allow the cell to achieve multi-drug resistance. This phenomenon has been an increasing threat to modern medicine limiting the number of antibiotics available to treat disease. This pump is a tri-partite complex which includes components AcrA, AcrB, and TolC. TolC is a barrel-like protein that spans the bacterial cell’s outer membrane and opens out to the extracellular space. AcrB is a pump that spans the inner membrane and the periplasm. AcrA acts as a bridge that connects TolC to AcrB. Together, they make up the efflux pump which is activated by the proton motive force allowing the cell to expel antibiotics out into the environment, thus keeping the cell from being killed by the antibacterial drugs. To address the multidrug resistance characteristic that these efflux pumps confer on a bacterial cell, we screened a large number of small molecules with the best potential to bind to the tripartite pump and inhibit normal efflux function. After choosing eight of the most promising candidates, we performed efflux assays and tested the ability of the compounds to block efflux of a fluorescent reporter compound, ethidium bromide, from the bacterial cell.

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  Impact of Music and the Arts on Student Development and Education

  Rachel K Collinsworth, Mary Catherine Donovan

  In the era of STEM and high-stakes testing, the inclusion of music and the arts must still be recognized for their importance. The objective of this EDT 110H presentation is to identify and highlight the important influence the arts have on a student’s education and development.

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  Impeller Power Draw in Liquid-Solid Suspensions

  Mary Elizabeth Heigel

  Impeller power draw in liquid-only systems is well understood; however, this is not the case for liquid-solid suspensions. Typically liquid-only behavior is extrapolated, with the assumption that power draw is proportional to suspension density. Recent work has indicated that power draw can be affected by the presence of solids that do not alter the suspension density. This effect appears to be a function of particle size, and while past work has assumed that all impeller types are affected by solids in the same manner, this has never been verified experimentally. The subject literature is perplexing due to most studies considering only a single impeller type at a very limited number of operating conditions. In this study, the power draw was characterized in liquid-solid suspensions for a number of impeller types including axial-flow, mixed-flow, and radial-flow (with and without a disc). To develop a deeper understanding of the effect of solids on impeller power draw, the following testing was performed. To eliminate the effect of suspension density on power draw, neutrally buoyant solid particles were used. This was done by using salt water that matched the particle density as the liquid phase. Two particle sizes were studied to consider the effect of this parameter. It was found that the power draw increased slightly for both particle sizes as an increased amount of solid was added. Testing was also performed in which addition of solids changed suspension density. Again two solids were used: fine acrylic solids with a density less than twenty percent higher than the liquid and granular sand with a density two and a half times that of the liquid. This testing indicated that the increase of specific gravity increased the relative power draw linearly for each different impeller. For all the tests the various impellers behaved differently.

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  Improvements to Physical Activity at the University of Dayton

  Haley N Glaser, Angel J Pagan, Allison M Sandoval

  There is a growing epidemic of obesity and unhealthy behaviors across America.This presentation’s main focus is on the unhealthy behaviors that are growing among college students. A lack of physical activity and fitness could lead college students to become more stressed, obese, develop unhealthy eating habits, decrease their mental health, and negatively affect other related health areas in the body. Physical activity is key in college to stimulating the brain and developing healthy habits for the future because college is when habits for the future are truly developed. However, it is commonly stated that college students are constantly busy and have a hard time finding time for physical activity. In our project we will discuss the resources the University of Dayton provides students to assist in improving students’ physical fitness and overall health. The RecPlex is campus’ main source of physical activity, but there are also many outside resources available. However, suggestions such as, opening more gym space, creating free workout classes, and encouraging friendly competition between the Student Neighborhoods and doors, the could improve attendance and use of their equipment. There are already many incentives created to increase attendance at the RecPlex like Path Points, but many more could be created that includes more students. The University of Dayton provides few opportunities for students to improve their physical activity outside of the RecPlex and this project looks at resources that could be added to increase overall physical health on campus. Our goal is to provide tools for success to administrative staff and students that could help increase the amount of on campus involvement in unique physical activities both on and off campus.

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  Improving Communication Regarding Alcohol Consumption Concerns at UD

  GROUP Kelly F Fuller, Benjamin N Schmeusser, Victoria Lynn Singleton

  Binge drinking is a physical and mental health concern. Students who binge drink may be more inclined to participate in risky behavior, feel disconnected or depressed, and develop alcohol dependency, leading to alcoholism. Even if physiological alcoholism does not develop, other health concerns including high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, digestive issues, and certain cancers are associated with binge drinking. These issues are widespread, but are most prominent on college campuses, with the University of Dayton being no exception. At UD, there are current stigmatizations regarding alcohol consumption during certain holidays, especially St. Patrick’s Day. In response to this, most often through emails and letters, the University has facilitated healthy communication about the issue of binge drinking, expressed sincere interest in protecting the wellbeing of all students and their safety, and laid out clear expectations. Additionally, the University also does a good job of hosting and promoting numerous alcohol free events on and off of campus. With the acknowledgement that there is an increase in high risk drinking during holidays, we have also identified other events that may trigger an increase in alcohol consumption through student interviews. These events consist of but are not limited to hosting visitors, attending social events, and difficult academic weeks. The awareness of these trends creates a need for better communication between students and University Officials pertaining to alcohol safety and more alcohol free events throughout the entire year, which can be modeled after the University’s response to stigmatizations during holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day.

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  Increasing Intensive English Program Students’ Understanding of the Health Effects of Smoking Tobacco

  Emily Effer, Sydney E Hattendorf, Hanna J Peterson, Sherilyn E Rogers

  Health literacy is defined as the range of abilities to comprehend and evaluate health information in a way that allows individuals to make informed choices about their health. People who are especially impacted by this are the international students at the University of Dayton who are immersed in a new culture with a new language. The focus of our project was to determine what health information the international students in the Intensive English Program (IEP) at UD wanted to learn about tobacco use and smoking. We then edited an existing pamphlet about that topic to make it more understandable for IEP readers. Our original text was published by the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. When a SMOG test was run, it read at a 12.84 reading level. After meeting with the IEP students for a field test and eliminating complex language, we lowered the reading level to 6.5 and improved overall understanding. If all health information were presented at lower reading levels, the healthcare system in the United States could become less daunting to the majority of adults with low literacy.

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  Influence of Newspaper Endorsements in the 2016 Presidential Election

  Alexandra R Scherb

  The purpose of this study is to address the influence of newspaper endorsement on the county level in regards to the 2016 presidential election. I am looking at the newspaper endorsement influence of 346 papers on the vote percentages of their respective counties, and then comparing those to state percentages. That way we can see each newspaper’s specific influence on it’s county. This study is significant because we can start to see if newspaper endorsements are important and influential or not, which could have major ramifications for both politicians and newspapers. If we determined that newspaper endorsements were not important, we could begin to ask what has changed to make them unimportant (for example the change in news consumption). Furthermore, this election could be very out of the ordinary due to extraneous variables, and newspapers might not have had a chance at playing their traditional guiding role in voting choice. Should any of this be the case, there would be a major shift in politics and news as politicians have always relied on mass media for successful politics and mass media has relied on politicians for content.

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  Influence of Reverse Shoulder Implant Positioning on Patient-Specific Muscle Forces: A Simulation Study

  Kayla M Pariser

  A reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) is a common treatment for patients with severe shoulder injuries such as rotator cuff muscle tears and/or severe arthritis. The goal of an RTSA is to stabilize the shoulder and improve a patient’s range of motion. The stability of the shoulder relies on the muscles of the shoulder and with rotator cuff tears, the deltoid muscle becomes the shoulder’s primary stabilizer. The positioning of the implant is important as it directly affects the length of the deltoid muscle moment arm which determines the amount of deltoid muscle force required to produce the necessary torque about the shoulder for it to function after a RTSA. However, it is impossible to experimentally determine the force that the deltoid muscle will be able to produce after surgery. The overall goal of this work is to use simulation and optimization methods to optimize RTSA implant placement and deltoid muscle forces for fifteen RTSA patients. For each of the fifteen patients, a model of the shoulder joint and muscles and an optimization framework will be used to calibrate muscle model parameters and predict the shoulder muscle forces.

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  Integrated Shape and Texture Features for Robust Pedestrian Detection

  Hussin K Ragb

  Over the last decade, detection of human beings became one of the most significant tasks in computer vision due to its extended applications that include human computer interaction, visual surveillance, person identification, event detection, gender classification, robotics, automatic navigation, and safety systems, etc. However this task is rather challenging because of the fluctuation in appearance of the human body as well as the cluttered scenes, pose, occlusion, and illumination variations. For such a difficult task, most of the time no single feature algorithm is rich enough to capture all the relevant information available in the image. To improve the detection accuracy we propose a new descriptor that fuses the local phase information, image gradient, and texture features as a single descriptor and is denoted as fused phase, gradient and texture features (FPGT). The gradient and the phase congruency concepts are used to capture the shape features, and a center-symmetric local binary pattern (CSLBP) approach is used to capture the texture of the image. The fusing of these complementary features yields the ability to localize a broad range of the human structural information and different appearance details which allow to more robust and better detection performance. The proposed descriptor is formed by computing the phase congruency, the gradient, and the CSLBP value of each pixel with respect to its neighborhood. The histogram of oriented phase and histogram of oriented gradient, in addition to CSLBP histogram are extracted for each local region. These histograms are concatenated to construct the FPGT descriptor. Principal components analysis (PCA) is performed to reduce the dimensionality of the resultant features. Several experiments were conducted to evaluate the detection performance of the proposed descriptor. A support vector machine (SVM) classifier is used in these experiments to classify the FPGT features. The results show that the proposed algorithm has better detection performance in comparison with the state of the art feature extraction methodologies.

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  Intensive English Program Oral Communication Posters

  Ahmed M Al Riyami, Rashed B Alajmi, Sadiq M M A Almotawa, Mishari A Alshatti, Saori Kai

  The presenters are students from the Intensive English Program. The posters they have created are representative of an end of term project for the level 3 Oral Communication and Listening/Note-taking course; an intermediate class for English language learning students at the intermediate proficiency level. The goal of this assignment is to give students an introduction to research and an opportunity to improve their speaking and presentation skills.

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  Interaction of the hippo pathway and dronc in regulating cell proliferation

  Hannah M Scharf, Kirti Snigdha

  Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is one of the most important regulatory events for proper tissue homeostasis. It is a gene-directed program that helps in controlling the number of cells through components that influence cell survival as well as those that control proliferation and differentiation. Dysregulation of apoptosis is a hallmark for cancer in which mutated tumor cells exhibit uncontrolled cell division and evade cell death. Hence, to understand cancer biology and devise effective therapeutic avenue, it is highly essential to study how the genes involved in the pathways of cell growth and cell death get dysregulated to promote tumorigenesis. The Hippo signaling pathway was identified in Drosophila melanogaster, (commonly known as the fruit fly) and is evolutionarily conserved in mammals. The Hippo pathway regulates organ size, cell proliferation, and cell death, and is commonly deregulated in human tumors. Previous study in our lab has shown that the Hippo pathway interacts with initiator capase Dronc, along with effector caspase Drice and Dark to regulate cell death. In addition, Dronc is the first target gene that is negatively regulated by the Hippo pathway. We hypothesized that loss of Dronc, Drice, and Dark function will enable unchecked cell proliferation. To evaluate this we used the eye imaginal disc of the Drosophila melanogaster in which we will produce small clones of mutated cells for Dronc. We will evaluate different cell proliferation markers like cyclin A and E through immunostaining and confocal microscopy. This will help us in understanding how the loss of Dronc affects cell proliferation. Here we present our findings on this.

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  Interfering with the Consolidation of Memory

  McKenzie J Anderson, Kelly A Dunne, Alexander N Lawriw

  Research suggest that sleep improves memory. Specifically, memories are consolidated—incorporated within the context of previously established memory networks— during sleep (Rasch & Born, 2013). Studies indicate that memories are initially unstable after encoding and must be consolidated to become resistant to interference (Robertson, 2011). The objective of the present research was to examine how interrupting the encoding of a memory would interfere with later memory consolidation. Participants experienced a fake computer crash during their study (encoding) of pictures of common objects in a slideshow. While the experimenter attempted to “fix” the crash, participants completed an unrelated task to prevent rehearsal of the pictures. The slideshow resumed, showing the remaining pictures. One group of participants completed a recognition task of the pictures not long after viewing the slideshow. A second group of participants was asked to complete a delayed recognition task of the pictures via an online survey the following day. A third group of participants was asked to complete both the immediate recognition task, as well as the online delayed recognition task, the following day. Overall, we hypothesized that memory would be better for pictures that appeared near the beginning and the end of encoding, while pictures that were presented just before the interruption would be less likely to be remembered. Moreover, this last effect would be more pronounced on the second day because any memory consolidation that might have taken place would be disrupted. Finally, we expected two outcomes for the second day of testing: first, participants would be less confident in their assessment of their memory than they were on the first day of the experiment. However, participants would be just as and even more accurate in their memory for the pictures that we did not expect would be impacted by the interruption.

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  Investigate the role of OPA1 gene mutation in amyloid-beta 42 mediated neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease

  Elizabeth A Borchers, Lydia C Payton, Ankita Sarkar

  Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with no known cure to date. The disease is caused by the extra-cellular accumulation of amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) peptides, which results in neuronal death. We have developed transgenic Drosophila melanogaster (a.k.a fruit fly) model of AD where human Aβ42 peptide was misexpressed specifically in the Drosophila eye using the GAL4/UAS system. Our approach allows Aβ42 accumulation only in the differentiating photoreceptor neurons, which kills only the retinal neurons, and does not affect the reproductive ability as well as life span of flies. It allows us to use these flies to understand the molecular genetic basis of AD. One of the hallmark of AD is generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from mitochondria, which triggers neuronal death. My hypothesis is that OPA-1, a dynamin related GTPase, which regulate mitochondrial fusion, is involved in regulating Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration. A fine balance between mitochondrial fission and fusion events is essential for normal mitochondrial and cellular function. Mutations of OPA1, an early stop signal produces small unstable mitochondrial proteins, which increases ROS levels in neurons. There is a strong correlation between increased ROS levels and mitochondrial fragmentation with neuronal death. I will investigate role of OPA1 in Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration using our fly eye model. This gene is highly conserved between flies and humans. Thus, our studies will have significant bearings on understanding molecular genetic basis of AD and role of energy generating mitochondrial machinery in age related neurodegeneration.

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  Investigating cell-cell interactions in Drosophila glioma models

  Logan J Roebke

  Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a devastating form of primary brain cancer with poor prognosis. Capitalizing on the similarities between mammalian and Drosophila glial cells, Drosophila glioblastoma models have been established that show similarities to anaplastic glia from high-grade human glioma. Using the Repo MARCM system, we established two models of Drosophila glioblastomas by overexpressing oncogene RasV12 together with downregulation of Pten (PtenRNAi) in one model system and suppression of scribble (ScribRNAi ) in another. These genetic alterations lead to overgrowth of glial cells creating glioblastomas in Drosophila larval brain. The glioblastoma containing brain appear enlarged in comparison to normal wild type brain, which clearly suggests the dysregulation of growth control in tumors. We studied expression of ecdysone receptor (ECR) and Taiman proteins in the two model glioblastomas. Taiman is the co-activator of ECR, and cooperatively control growth. One mechanism by which Taiman regulates growth is by cooperatively interacting with Yorkie (Yki) the co-activator of the Hippo growth control pathway. We want to understand the role of these proteins in the development of the gliomas. We first tested the expression of ECR and Taiman in our glioma models and found that in both the models, ECR and Taiman are downregulated in the tumor cells in comparison to the normal expression in non-tumor cells. This suggests the growth control is lost in tumors. We will test the role of Yki in this growth regulatory interaction. Here we present our findings from the ECR-Taiman-Yki studies in Drosophila glioma models.