Follow

• 

  The Role of Hemocytes in Shell Formation in the Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica

  Cristina R. Prall

  The Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, produces a tough, fracture-resistant protective composite shell that is composed of calcite (a polymorph of calcium carbonate) as well as organic material (proteins, glycoproteins). Scientists have examined the shell formation process in molluscs for many decades and have proposed two models for the shell formation process. The matrix-mediated model focuses on the role of proteins as nucleation sites for calcite crystal formation while the hemocyte-mediated model proposes the role of oyster blood cells for transport of calcite nuclei to the shell formation front. Specifically, the hemocyte-mediated model proposes that the hemocytes of C. virginica contain calcium carbonate crystals that are transported through the tissues and deposited at the shell formation front. These nuclei then grow and coalesce to form the typical layered organic-mineral shell structure. This study focused on determining if hemocytes were capable of producing mineral structure when cultured outside the organism. Hemocytes were collected from notched oysters and cultured for up to ninety six hours ex vivo in order to determine if crystal formation occurred. Microscopic analysis (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) of the hemocyte samples revealed crystal structures within and around cells cultured on glass substrates. The process of shell formation is very complex and probably involves both the matrix-mediated and hemocyte-mediated model for movement of both organic and mineral resources to the shell formation front. While elucidation of the basic biological process of shell formation is of great interest, there is potential for use of hemocyte crystal deposition for development of biomedical implant coatings. The biocompatible oyster-derived material may function as a better interface for integration of tissue with metallic implants.

• 

  The Role of Visual and Proprioceptive Limb Information in Object Size and Affordance Judgments

  Adam Barnas, Adam D. Sitz

  In the mirror illusion, visual information from a mirror reflection of one hand influences the perceived location of the other hand. Holmes, Crozier, and Spence (2004) demonstrated this visual capture effect on a spatial localization task in which visual information was found to influence reaching movements towards a target when the seen (in the mirror) and felt (proprioception) position of the hand did not match. In this present experiment, the conflict between vision and proprioception was examined by means of a task in which participants adjusted the physical distance between their two hands to match targets of different lengths. In each trial, participants viewed their visible hand and its reflection in a mirror, while their unseen hand was positioned at one of four locations located behind the mirror. At all times, the visible hand was positioned fourteen cm in front of the mirror, and as such, the unseen hand always appeared to be twenty-eight cm from the visible hand regardless of its actual position. While viewing their visible hand and its reflection, participants performed simultaneous finger movements with both hands to maximize the illusion. Participants then viewed a target block and repositioned their unseen hand such that the distance between their hands matched the block length. Results suggest that movement of the unseen hand relative to the visible hand was biased by visual information from the mirror, and this bias increased as the visual-proprioceptive conflict increased. These results suggest that the visual information about hand position overrode the proprioceptive information when the hands were used to indicate perceived object length. Additional experiments will use affordance judgments to further investigate how visual and proprioceptive information affect judgments of limb location and action capabilities.

• 

  The Use of A Mental Rotation Task to Assess Narcissism and Gender Biases

  Adam Barnas, Dana S. Lynch, Joshua D. Moran, Cara M. O'Grady

  This study evaluates levels of overconfidence with a series of mental imagery tasks while assessing various participant characteristics such as narcissism, or excessive self-admiration of one's own physical or mental capabilities. Participants where assigned to an experimental condition in which they received a bias concerning gender stereotypes, stating that men were superior to women in performing certain spatial tasks while women were more adept than men in completing verbal tasks. Participants in a control condition received instructions necessary to complete the tasks and similar to those given in the experimental condition; however, there was no mention of gender stereotypes. During the experiment, letters (F, L, and R) appeared on a computer screen either in a correct formation, as if typed in a word, or an incorrect formation as a mirror image of the correct formation. The letters were also presented at different rotated positions, such as upright, sideways, or upside down. After each image appeared, participants reported whether the letters were mirror images or in the correct formation, regardless of the rotation. Participants then gave an indication of their confidence in accurately identifying the presented formation of the letter. We predict that men in the experimental condition will express higher levels of confidence because of perceived superiority influenced by the stereotype information as compared to confidence expressed by men in the control condition. We further predict that women in the experimental condition will express lower levels of confidence because of perceived inferiority influenced by the stereotype information as compared to confidence expressed by women in the control condition. The expected results of this study will demonstrate a relationship between perceived gender biases and overconfidence and at least a temporary reduction in narcissism that may prevail in many learning environments, such as schools and universities.

• 

  Transfer Matrix Approach to Propagation of Angular Plane Wave Spectra Through Metamaterial Multilayer Structures

  Han Li

  The development of electromagnetic metamaterials for perfect lensing and optical cloaking has given rise to novel multilayer bandgap structures using stacks of positive and negative index materials. Gaussian beam propagation through such structures has been analyzed using transfer matrix method (TMM) with paraxial approximation, and unidirectional and bidirectional beam propagation methods (BPMs). In this thesis, TMM is used to analyze non-paraxial propagation of transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) angular plane wave spectra in 1 transverse dimension through a stack containing layers of positive and negative index materials. The TMM calculations are exact, less computationally demanding than finite element methods, and naturally incorporate bidirectional propagation.

• 

  Transition Program for Chinese Student at the University of Dayton:A Developmental Perspective and Insight of Intervention for Chinese Student Transition to American Higher Education

  Xue Tao

  In spite of the continuing growth in enrollment of Chinese students coming and studying in American higher education institutions, there is a paucity of research about the experiences, transitions and development of Chinese students while attending higher education institutions in the United States. Chinese students have a unique culture background and identity. Their world outlook, views on life and values are different from American students. On the other hand, the new Chinese students also have some other unique characteristics, which come from their age. As a new generation, Chinese students decide to be absorbed into Western culture, while interacting with their own identity and displaying some special personalities, which are different than Chinese students of previous generations. There are bridge programs at University of Dayton designed to support international student transition. The goal of this research is to understand those inherent characteristics combined with newly created identities, exam the existing bridge programs, and find the best ways to help Chinese students transition to American higher education system by hearing their internal voice and story.

• 

  Tutoring in the Dayton Public Schools: The Norms and the Disparities of Inner City Education. A Service Learning Project of the Sophomore Social Justice Cohort

  Amy M. Keckler

  As a member of the Sophomore Social Justice Learning and Living Cohort a part of our mission is to support, encourage, and facilitate literacy in the Miami Valley. My support of the program's goals was to tutor inner city children in Dayton's Cleveland Elementary School. After being trained to tutor reading by Project READ, I tutored 5 elementary school children for a total of 20 hours. During my experience I was able to apply what I have learned in my sociology and social work courses and to experience first-hand the normal practices and disparities in our educational system, especially focused on inner city education. My presentation will focus on those experiences and observations to highlight the Dayton education system's assests and successes as well as to reflect on those areas that still need great improvement.

• 

  Understanding Issues Facing Foreign Nationals Navigating the US Immigration Service

  Patrick Quinn

  The Sophomore Social Justice Learning and Living Cohort (SSJLLC)is an opportunity for students to get involved with many aspects of social justice whether it is at the local, regional, national, or global level. Immigration is one of the greatest challenges and highly contested issues facing our democracy today. There are several issues that confront the people wishing to immigrate to the United States. I personally explored these issues by participating in The Immigration and Refugee Plunge sponsored by the UD Center for Social Concern. This plunge was designed to give participants a better look at the process and the problems many foreign nationals face navigating the United States Immigration Service. I will be reflecting on the principles and practices of the system; the benefits of the current system; the negative aspects of the process; and, how maintaining the current system can impact immigration and our democracy.

• 

  Understanding Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: The Roles of Perceived Social Support, Self-esteem, and Self-blame

  Avery H. Ozimek, Rusty P. Schnellinger, Laura E. Stayton, Anne L. Steel

  The relationship between the experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been well established in the literature (Basile, Arias, Desai, & Thompson, 2004). However, researchers have called for more complex statistical models capable of identifying and analyzing the pathways potentially linking IPV and PTSD. Research indicates that IPV victims report lower levels of perceived social support than non-IPV victims (Bengtsson-Tops & Tops, 2007) and that as a result, victims are at greater risk of developing PTSD (Ozer, Best, Lipsey, & Weiss, 2008). The current study analyzed the moderating or âbufferingâ role of perceived social support in the relationship between IPV and PTSD. It was hypothesized that the relationship between IPV and PTSD would be stronger among individuals perceiving lower social support. In addition, it was hypothesized that the relationship between PTSD and the interaction of IPV and perceived social support would be accounted for by the mediating roles of characterological self-blame and self-esteem. The hypotheses were tested by distributing questionnaires to 132 adult female participants recruited at a substance abuse treatment facility and a private university. The results indicated that both IPV and perceived social support predicted PTSD, and perceived social support moderated the relationship between IPV and PTSD. At the extreme levels of perceived social support, the relationship between IPV and PTSD was weaker among individuals perceiving high levels of social support than among those perceiving low levels of social support. However, at the moderate levels of perceived social support, the relationship between IPV and PTSD was stronger among individuals perceiving high levels of social support than among those perceiving low levels of social support. Lastly, the results showed that self-esteem mediated the relationship between PTSD and the IPV x Perceived Social Support interaction variable.

• 

  Upside/Downside Capture Ratios and S&P 500 Sector Returns in Volatile Markets

  Chris P. Sammons, Jessica Thomas

  The purpose of this study is to determine which S&P 500 sectors outperform in four types of markets. The first market is a long-term market that includes a series of upswings and downswings with an overall upward trend. We use the time period 2005-2011 to represent this type of market period. The second type of market, a downswing market, is represented by the time period 1/1/08-3/31/09. The third type of market, an upswing market, is represented by the time period 3/31/09-12/31/10. The fourth type of market is a trading range, or overall flat market, and is represented by the 12 months in 2011. Upside and downside capture ratios are calculated for all four market for all 10 S&P 500 sectors and compared for outperformance. Results are forthcoming.

• 

  US Immigration: The Power Struggle Between the States and Federal Government

  Sariana L. Garcia

  With this thesis I will evaluate how the topic of immigration is handled in the political forums in the United States. Immigration is a topic of interest to many, which raises controversy in differing opinions regarding how it should be addressed. I look into the authority given to the states and the federal government regarding immigration. In order to prove the federal authority over immigration I did a close study of the US Constitution and the sections where it refers to topics relevant to immigration, such as the Fourteenth Amendment, where it hints at assigning the federal government the authority to deal with immigration issues. I evaluate well-known cases in which the US Supreme Court has deemed stateâs immigration laws unconstitutional, forwarding this task to national laws passed by Congress. With this thesis I aim to provide reasons why the topic of immigration should be handled by the federal government, given its constitutional authority. I will make a case for national unanimity when making policy decisions regarding immigration.

• 

  Visual Distance Cues Used for Relative Distance Judgments in 2D Displays

  Laura A. Janosko

  Recent evidence suggests that the quality of graphics in a computer-generated virtual environment influences the accuracy of distance judgments made within the virtual environment. This experiment investigates the suggestion that missing or incomplete surface texture and shadow information in low quality computer graphics may account for inaccurate distance judgments. Participants will view a static, computer-generated desktop surface with between 5 to 8 everyday objects arranged on the virtual desktop. Each participant will complete two conditions: a high-quality condition, in which the virtual objects will include realistic texture and shadow information, and a low-quality condition, in which the objects have incorrect texture information and no shadows. On each trial, participants will make judgments about the distances between two objects in the display. We predict that distance judgments will be more accurate in the high-quality condition. An eye tracker will be used to determine which pictorial depth visual cues participants rely on when making distance judgments. We hypothesize that participants will use visible shadows, when available, to judge spatial layout and the distances between objects. Results will provide information about the influence of distance cues such as texture and shadows in the perception of spatial layout in 2 dimensional computer-generated images.

• 

  What's in Your Neighborhood? The Progress of Public Neighborhood Center Schools in Dayton and Cincinnati

  Danyell R. Lewis

  The Cincinnati Public School (CPS) district has been the leading model for education in Ohio, with an overall Annual Report Card rating of âEffectiveâ. Part of this success can be attributed to CPS creating a district-wide initiative to improve schools. One program that seems promising is the Community Learning Centers (CLC) initiative, beginning in 2001. CLCs use schools not only as institutions of learning, but also as community âhubsâ. Partnerships between the district and local organizations help provide services including tutoring, mentoring, health/wellness, parent/family engagement and more. Resources are not only available to students and parents, but to the community at large. The current project makes use of Performance Index scores, Value Added measures, school building and district report card ratings, and other indicators to analyze the CPS Community Learning Centers program to draw comparisons to the Dayton Public Schools Neighborhood Center Schools initiative, which is modeled after the CPS program.

• 

  Why We Attend School: A Qualitative Retention Study at a Proprietary Higher Education Institution

  Jennifer K. Plumlee

  Retention has become an important issue for colleges and universities throughout the United States. While current retention research has focused on traditional four-year universities and community colleges, little attention has been dedicated to retention efforts at for-profit colleges. Utilizing the personal experiences of for-profit students, the purpose of this research was to explore how a student's previous academic history, relationships with faculty and peers, personal responsibilities, and individual attitude affect a student's ability to be retained. Data was gathered from the for-profit institution: Lincoln College of Technology in Franklin, Ohio. Lincoln College of Technology grants associate's degrees in the medical, business, criminal justice and informational technology fields. Data consisted of personal interviews as well as the analysis of the college's retention documents. The methodology for the research was guided by the constructivist paradigm and grounded theory and the data generated assists a for-profit college's ability to explain, predict, and explore retention.

• 

  X-band Miniaturized Coplanar Waveguide Band-pass filter with Coupled Resonator

  Chenhao Zhang

  Band-pass filter is the basic component in microwave/RF integrated circuit. It plays the extremelyimportant role in communication systems such as wireless, radar and GPS navigation systems. Thisproject develops a passive narrowband band-pass filter which works in X-band spectrum (8GHz-12GHz).The filter is fabricated on a 400 µm thickness sapphire substrate with a 0.25µm thickness BST thin filmdeposited using a large area pulsed laser deposition system. Compared with traditional microstripfilters, it has miniaturized dimensions and good frequency tunability. The filter is a grounded coplanarwaveguide structure which has 2.4mm by 2.4mm dimension with center frequency at 10GHz, thebandwidth is 0.4GHz, the insertion loss is 1.7dB and the quality factor is 25.

• 

  You Are Never Too Old To Learn

  Erich R. Beyer

  The Sophomore Social Justice Learning and Living (SSJLLC) cohort has a twofold mission. The first is based on the Marianist principles of educating the person as a whole by integrating education with leadership and service. The program mission is to improve literacy in the Miami Valley and participating in activities that advance the cause of social justice. This year Project READ partnered with the SSJLLC and trained the sophomore cohort to tutor reading to students in grades K-8, young adults, and the not-so-young adults. I was assigned a 60-year old man who is studying to pass his GED. It was very interesting to tutor someone so much older than I and from such a different background than mine. Despite our age difference, we still connected and were able to relax around each other and learn from one another. The majority of the time I helped him with his reading comprehension, but I also helped him with his basic mathematics skills. This tutoring experience and our relationship has influenced my thinking on the importance of education in this country and how important and necessary it is to increase education opportunities for everyone regardless of geography, upbringing, or age. He showed me that no matter where we come from we all deserve the same amount of respect. Tutoring this man really heightened my awareness and importance of our Marianist values of lead, learn, and serve.