Stander Symposium Projects

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  Contamination Potential of Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (GMBVA)

  Tesfalem Gebretsadik Mehari

  This study is about identifying the potential contaminants for the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (GMBVA). This study aims to mark areas with high contamination levels to take appropriate measures in ensuring the wellbeing of the community around. The location for GMBVA distributes in southwest Ohio, which is a groundwater that covers a total area about 2060 Km2. This Aquifer is formed in sedimentary rock deposited by glaciers that holds more than a trillion gallons of water. Therefore, the GMBVA is a valuable resource for 1.5 million people in southwest Ohio. The depth of groundwater table of the GMBVA system is less than 20 feet, which makes the GMBVA highly susceptible to contamination from the surface pollution.Generally, an aquifer or groundwater can be polluted by natural factors such as geological contamination contacting with salty water body surface as well as man-made contaminations. This study was focused on identifying and mapping different man-made contaminations that can infiltrated directly to GMBVA, including road salt, agriculture, residential area from land cover data, and the depth to groundwater.The study data contains roads, agriculture, residential area, wells, and aquifer boundaries. All these data are processed and analyzed to identify potential contamination areas. This study aims to categorize the areas into high, medium, and low depending on the overlying of the contamination factors. From the current analyzing result we found that contaminating factors lie on the surface of an Aquifer with a low depth value of wells are at high risk and wells at a high depth value are low risk. By far, we can distinguish areas of highly exposed, or less exposed or no exposed contamination on recharge areas.We would further examine the affected aquifers and take future action to prevent and or reduce further contamination of aquifers in the study area.

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  Counterpart International and Community Advocacy Against Gender-Based Violence in Bangladesh

  Meghan Elizabeth Leigh Ellis, Mark D. Franchak, Pengqing Sun

  Based on the work and data gathered by Counterpart International, a development agency funded by USAID, this presentation examines efforts to increase community involvement in advocacy against gender-based violence in Bangladesh. This is part of a larger program Counterpart International has implemented since 2018, titled, ‘Promoting Advocacy and Rights’ (PAR) in collaboration with local NGOs. Anchored in the Gender/Women in Development (GID/WID) approach, PAR aims to deepen democratic values within civil society to improve public governance. The presentation will particularly focus on workshops Counterpart had organized to discuss the issue of gender-based violence against Bangladeshi women. Besides, these meetings are also used as an opportunity to train both the men and women on how to advocate against such violence. We are specifically interested in the tools and methods Counterpart uses to measure the success of these training sessions which incorporate both quantitative and qualitative indicators such as meeting attendance, participant feedback, and trainee testimonials etc. Drawing upon our analyses and based on the critical development studies framework, we raise a separate set of evaluative questions in relation to how Counterpart recognizes and acknowledges the unequal access to decision-making power and opportunities between Bangladeshi men and women, the effects of its work on the respective communities, and how Counterpart facilitates, or fails to facilitate, a shift toward equal control between men and women in Bangladesh’s society. Additionally, in incorporating Bangladesh’s historical background, we ask how does the country’s colonial past intersect with the current development work. Lastly, the presentation will provide recommendations on how Counterpart may successfully move forward in its efforts to empower Bangladeshi women.

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  COVID-19 and its effect on academic performances of minority students at universities

  Seaniece Denee Richardson

  The purpose of this study was to see if COVID-19 has had any effects on minority students' academic performance at universities. The survey created was set up by students and distributed through three social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn). The responses from 299 students across the country were analyzed. This study arose from other research showing that COVID-19 has impacted our community and people financially, mentally, academically, etc. This project asks students about their graduation plans, classes, grades, courses, and remote vs in-person learning.

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  COVID-19 and Size/Style Investments

  Ryan W. McEvily

  In mid February 2020, the U.S. Equity market experienced a sharp decline in stock prices due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Near the end of March, the stock market had an initial rebound and has continued an upward trend throughout the remainder of 2020 and into 2021 as Covid-19 vaccines plus fiscal stimulus packages have given investors renewed hope the the economy and equity markets will continue to normalize.In this study, my objective is to analyze the returns during the initial decline and rebound period for a number of size/style investment indexes offered to investors by Willshire. Size is identified as large and small while style is identified as value and growth. The size/style investment indexes are also dimensionalised by market value weighting and price weighting. I test the following hypotheses: (1) Large cap indexes outperform small cap indexes on the downswing, while small cap indexes outperform large cap indexes in the upswing period. (2) Value outperforms growth in the downswing while growth outperforms value in the upswing. (3) Market value weighted indexes outperform price weighted indexes in the downswing and price weighted indexes outperform market weighted indexes in the upswing.

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  COVID-19 and the mental health of college students: A comparison of freshman and senior students

  Julia Marie Muccio, Allison Connor Papesh, Anna Elizabeth Serey, Dominic Agostino Speights, Kaylie Hope VanDoren, Margaret Clare Walker

  Our study aims to discover the effect of COVID-19 on the mental health of college freshmen and seniors at the University of Dayton. Through survey design, we explored mental health-related factors such as stress, academic performance, social well-being, anxiety, and overall well-being. We will explore how these factors have changed for students over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we expect to find different outcomes related to mental health across both groups. In order to combat the negative mental health consequences of COVID-19, higher education institutions must continue to focus on preserving the quality of life for their students during this unprecedented time.

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  Covid 19 Restrictions and Children’s Social, Educational and Psychological Well-Being

  Gianna Marie Panozzo

  Covid-19 restrictions such as stay-at-home orders, closure of schools, and non-essential workplaces around the United States pose a threat to children’s social life, education, and psychological well-being. This study aims to explore the impact the pandemic’s restrictions had on students that attend High Point Elementary School in Orland Park, Illinois. An online survey was conducted using Qualtrics from February 17th to March 29th, 2021 among 20 parents that have children aged 8 to 11 years that attend this elementary school. The survey included two sets of questions labeled Pre-Covid-19 restriction questions and Post-Covid-19 restriction questions were set up on a bipolar matrix table. Participants were able to select where their child stands on two extremes of the scale which were labeled “not at all likely” and “extremely likely” on a 6-point Likert scale. To compare and distinguish the data collected, I combined the records from the first three numbers on the Likert scale closest to “not likely at all”, and did the same with the last three closest to “extremely likely”. Results revealed that after the restrictions were put into place, children interacting with their friends on a daily basis dropped 75%. Participants reported only 5% of children represented the three points closest to “extremely likely” when asked if their child struggled in the ability to learn pre-covid-19 restrictions. When remote learning was enforced, participants reported 65% of their children fell between the three points closets to “extremely likely” on this matter. Lastly, this study indicates children’s psychological well-being also dropped 69.47% after the restrictions. The data gathered reveal that parents believe that these children’s social life, education, and psychological well-being were negatively affected by restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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  COVID-19, Volatility and S&P 500 Sector Returns

  Michael F. Kane

  In this study I look at the relationship between stock market volatility (measured by the VIX) and 5 S&P Sector ETF's over the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The 5 SPDR sectors are Consumer Discretionary (XLY), Consumer Staples (XLP), Industrials (XLI), Healthcare (XLV), and Information Technology (XLK). I use uni-variate regression analysis to specify the linear relationship between the sector price indexes (Y) and VIX (X). Both a down swing (from mid February to late March) and an upswing (from late March to mid summer) periods are modeled. I test the following hypotheses: (1) There is an inverse relationship between sector price indexes and the VIX, (2) During the down swing period, the growth sectors XLY and XLK showed the sharpest declines in their price indexes and (3) during the upswing period the growth sectors, XLY and XLK showed the largest increases in their price indexes.

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  Creatine Usage and Perception Among University of Dayton Students

  Rebecca J. Barton, Alyssa R. Legarreta, Matthew Lee Rowan, Cathryn Ann Vandenbosch

  Creatine is a well studied and utilized supplement within the athletic population. It has been associated with increased strength and power outputs, improving overall athletic performance. Additionally, research has suggested cognitive benefits, specifically in enhancing memory. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how students and athletes at the University of Dayton (UD) perceive creatine supplementation and its benefits. Participants will be recruited from the University of Dayton student population through email and messaging apps. This is a cross-sectional study, with goals to analyze prevalence of creatine use and attitudes. A survey will be sent to UD students discussing their perception of creatine, the cognitive benefits, and if they would be willing to take it under certain conditions. After analyzing the results, we aim to have a better understanding of creatine usage and associated attitudes in UD students.

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  Creating Inclusive Community: Social Justice and Action at UD

  Sama Wathiq Ahmed, Ana Teresa Aleman Belendez, Nicolette Marissa Bettuzzi, Tamara Lynn Devine Rinehart, Kathleen Theresa McCaslin, Joia Marie Mitchell-Holman, Allison C. O'Gorman, Jared K. Puckett, Isolyn M. Radford, Shaila C. Rajendran, Isabel Zavala

  What can we all do to enhance the UD campus climate for diversity, equity and inclusion for all? Students, faculty, and staff in UDI 380 have been working together Spring semester to answer this question as they participated in a mini-course focusing on privilege and oppression, and attended the White Privilege Conference. The session will be spent in conversation with the audience about strategies to improve the campus climate at the University of Dayton. As we all play a role in the university community, we welcome conversation with everyone (from those new to conversations about social justice to the seasoned veterans!). Come join us!

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  Crux: Senior Capstone Photography Projects

  Kaitlynne Elizabeth Chapman, Lydia Kimberley Kladitis, Sophie Jane Wilson

  Through both moving image and still photography, the artists in Crux invite us places where we can glimpse subtle truths about human identity and experience. From the woods out back to a post-apocalyptic otherworld, and from childhood to adulthood and back again, these young artists create places where bodies, minds and everyday habits are examined and reformed. In Surrogates, Sophie Wilson explores gender-based conventions around fashion, ultimately proposing a world that offers greater freedom of expression. Kaitlynne Chapman rethinks and challenges the world of her childhood hero Sleeping Beauty, whose voice in the Disney flim was limited to only 18 Lines, the title of Chapman’s work. Lydia Kladitis’ short animated film Red/Blue tells the tale of siblings made enemies by differing ideologies. Her world sends these feuding characters to a Twilight Zone where they can confront truths at the core of the human condition. The projects in Crux are individual works produced over two challenging semesters during which we all, in a sense, have been living in a place akin to the fictional narrative spaces made popular by Rod Serling and, more recently, Jordan Peele. Through their unique artistic visions, wrought separately but brought together here, we are asked to think more creatively about how we approach our lives as both individuals and members of a complicated, but ultimately connected, society.Crux will be on exhibit at Front Street Art Studios and Galleries (https://frontstreet.art/) in Studio Glenna on floor 3 during First Friday, May 7, 2021 from 5-10pm. Social distance protocol will be in place, and the event is free and open to the public.

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  Cue-Focused Questions Increase Accuracy of Detecting Deception within a Virtual Reality Space

  Megan E. Frillici, Colin L. Lamb, Nicholas James Patritti, Ian Rasaan Robinson

  Research (e.g., ten Brinke et al., 2014) indicates that type of questions asked of observers will determine degree of accuracy in deception detection (DD). The present research examined the advantage of virtual reality (VR) in DD using both direct (e.g., Is the person lying?) and indirect (e.g., Does the person appear nervous?) questions of participants. Indirect questionnaires included probes assessing biases that observers might see as common deceiver characteristics (e.g., failure to make eye contact). The usefulness of these type of questions in DD is believed to interact with the use of VR. The first of three hypotheses for this research is that indirect questioning would produce strong DD due to questions such as those influenced by bias towards certain professions, and decisions to work with a person on a project and character traits such as body language and facial expressions. The second hypothesis is that a subset of indirect questions designed to detect bias about dishonest behavior would produce greater accuracy in DD than those related to facial and body indicators. The third hypothesis is that VR would enhance observations of nonverbal facial-emotional and body language characteristics. Participants wearing VR headsets watched brief videos, each featuring an actor depicting a student who had participated in a game. The actors were each interrogated about having cheated, and either lied or not. After each video, participants completed a direct or indirect set of questions about the honesty of the actor, as well as questions designed to obtain details about their responses on the initial questionnaire. Data collection is continuing; however, preliminary analysis of the type of questionnaire and correct DD indicated that DD is greater when responding to indirect questions. Further, specific focus questions indicate that facial-emotional and body language cues are enhanced by the use of VR.

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  Cultural Heroes in Parallel; Vercingetorix, Boudica and Arminius

  Martin Barry McKew

  Throughout time, national histories have utilized ancient figures as political tools, especially to strengthen their military and popular standings on the world stage. Three heroes, Boudicca from the UK, Vercingetorix from France, and Arminius from Germany, were all used in this manner. There are distinct parallels between them that speak to the efficacy of this practice in nationalism and nation-making.

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  Damn Hard! The Truth of Parenting a Child with Autism

  Jessica N. Carter

  According to the CDC about 1 in 6 children were diagnosed with developmental disability in the years of 2009-2017 and 1 in 54 of the children were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This is the backdrop of my research on the Truth about Parenting a Child with Autism. This survey research reached out to parents who are involved in a play project, as well as parents associated with a school for autistic children and those reached through a Facebook group. I found from the survey that many parents tend to feel a sense of worry for their child as well as judgement from other parents. Some parents emphasized things like Autistic kids want friends too. One parent summed it up: “It’s hard. Damn Hard!” In conclusion I found that parenting for autistic children is very difficult, but also very worth it. A major finding was that resources are needed for the parents in addition to the resources for the children.

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  Data Analysis on Classifying the Severity of Genetic Mutations

  Kelly Laureen Pleiman

  Cancer tumors can have thousands of mutations but determining which of those mutations actually contribute to tumor growth is critical in understanding the disease. Through the use of productive models in machine learning, this capstone project focuses on determining the severity of different genetic mutations using available data from Kaggle on the mutation’s gene, variation, and clinical text evidence. By performing data analysis and applying different models on this complex data set, the class or severity of genetic mutations on a scale from 1-9 can be predicted. Decision tree, random forest, SVD, logistic regression, and K nearest neighbor are among the models that were used to classify genetic variation. Obtaining higher model accuracies allows for better classification of genetic mutations and could eventually expedite the time pathologists spend manually classifying mutations.

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  Dayton Civic Scholars 2021 Cohort Capstone Project

  Adam Gregory Kaye, Kate Gerling, Nick K Williams, Seaniece Denee Richardson, Erin Marie Cavrak, Kelly Elizabeth Howard, Sarah N Kuhns, Kathleen E Schweninger, Jacqueline J Chmiel, John Frederick Schaller, Erin Elizabeth DeCero John Currie Dickson, Mauricio Hernandez, Widad Mukhar

  The mission of the Fitz’s Center’s Dayton Civic Scholars Program is focused on "shaping a Social Science Excellence identity within the social science programs by creating an intentional pathway from the classroom to community leadership and public service.” The 2021 Cohort focused their time over the last three years on building community relationships which has served as the foundation for their capstone project partnering with Dayton Public Schools. The intent of the project is to develop an after school curriculum to be implemented at a Dayton area elementary school. The curriculum has four focus areas to enrich student learning: Social Emotional Learning, Financial Literacy, Civic Engagement, and Health & Wellness. Each of these topics consist of 3-4 activities which builds students' knowledge of the subject area and allows for collaboration between students. It is our hope that this project will create a lasting impact on students living and learning in the Dayton community.

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  Dayton Regional Cyber Range

  John P. Auer, Margaret Lavelle Hutter, Emily A. Reynolds, Andrew Jacob Smolek

  Cyber Range assessment and scoring portfolio for OCRI

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  Decriminalization of Marijuana and how it impacts incarceration rates

  Alexander J. Roberts

  My research project looks at the decriminalization of marijuana and how it impacts incarceration rates. My belief is that the incarceration rates will decrease due to the decriminalization of marijuana and less people being incarcerated for marijuana offenses. I have chosen to look at ten different states where the policy has gone into effect and those states are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Although I believe that the decriminalization of marijuana plays a major role in the decrease of incarceration rates, I cannot say that this is the main reason.

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  Delinquency and Psychopathy in Juveniles

  Lauren Kathleen Moore, Darian A. Ramirez

  Although prior research has shown that there is a correlation between psychopathic traits in youth and the propensity to commit delinquency, there is very a lack of research linking it to aggressive offending. The current study aimed to understand the association between specific psychopathic traits such as callousness and grandiosity and aggressive offending among adjudicated juveniles. Data used for the study was the Pathways to Desistance Study that followed 1,354 juveniles from their adolescence into their young adulthood years. The sample consisted of 86% males, 41.4% African American, 20% White, and 33.5% of the rest of the sample consisted of other races, who had been found guilty of at least one serious violent crime, property offense or drug offense. A bivariate correlation was conducted to test the relationship between these two specific traits and aggressive offending. Findings show that only callousness was statistically significantly correlated with aggressive offending. Implications of the study will be discussed.

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  Design and Creation of PB1-Peptide Fusions to Solubilize Recombinant Influenza PA Protein

  Sara M. Hubbell

  Preliminary data estimates there were about 60,000 deaths and 800,000 hospitalizations due to the influenza virus for the 2017-2018 season (CDC.gov). With the ultimate goal of alieving some of this disease burden, current research in our lab focuses on developing a new antiviral treatment for influenza, since there are very limited options for battling influenza infection besides seasonal vaccination and non-ideal medications like Tamiflu. The Polymerase Acidic (PA) influenza protein is an appealing target for drug design due to its low genetic drift and requirement for influenza replication. The first step in designing a drug to inhibit PA is to isolate and purify a soluble version of the protein to enable structure-based drug design. Recombinant PA expressed in bacteria in our lab has demonstrated very low solubility. We hypothesized that by protecting a hydrophobic binding site, a fusion of PA and its natural binding partner, Polymerase Basic protein 1 (PB1), would be more soluble than PA alone. Mutagenic PCR primers were designed and used to attach the sequence coding for a PB1 peptide to the 5’ and 3’ ends of PA’s coding sequence, resulting in two different protein fusions in cloning vectors. Golden Gate Assembly was then used to insert this recombinant DNA into expression vectors containing fusion partners to increase the solubility of PA even further. A collection of eight expression vectors with varying protein fusions have been successfully designed and cloned. Small-scale solubility testing of these constructs is underway.

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  Designing Energy Efficient & High-Speed Mechanical Presses for Improved Ram Motion using Advanced Algebraic Techniques

  Tianze Xu

  A mechanical press is a machine that shapes parts by driving a ram into metal and deforming the material into a desirable shape. As this is an incredibly common process for forming metal parts, from pop cans to car fenders, presses see significant use in industry on a global level. Two local companies, Aida Press and Nidec Minster, are serious contenders in this global market. The objective of the proposed research is to generate alternative drivetrain designs for mechanical presses that produce specialized ram motions, which is appealing to industry. The focus of this work is on mechanical presses due to their faster speeds, lower cost, greater accuracy, higher precision and energy efficient operation as compared to other pressing options. Due to their ubiquity, even small improvements yield huge savings in terms of processing time and energy consumed. The research work under this proposal is formulated to generate designs with practical dimensions and encountering forces in line with industry expectations. Moreover, these new designs will either improve dwell or improve the range of constant forming velocity, both strongly desired in industry.

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  Design of a Performance Tricycle for Persons with Paraplegia Powered By Functional Electrical Stimulation of Leg Muscles

  Nicholas Andrew Lanese

  The goal of this project is to design a performance tricycle for paraplegics whose leg muscles are stimulated to pedal via Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES). FES stimulates muscle contraction with small electrical currents and has proven useful in building muscle in patients while relieving soreness and promoting cardiovascular health. An FES-stimulated cyclist produces approximately 25 Watts of power, nearly 20 times less than a typical rider. At these reduced power levels, the challenges of pedaling are amplified. For example, as the pedal follows the traditional circular path, there are portions referred to as inactive zones, where neither FES-stimulated leg actively propels the cycle forward. One possibility for reducing or eliminating inactive zones is to redesign the circular path of the pedaling motion. Bicycles have recently been marketed that feature mechanisms that employ alternate pedaling motions. In addition to addressing inactive zones, these bikes also optimize the muscle capacity of the rider to deliver torque to the wheels. The alternative pedaling paths are achieved in our tricycle design optimization by developing quasi-static models to explore traditional, crank rocker, and coupler-driver mechanisms. These mechanisms allow for a comparison of torque generation which facilitates selecting the optimal design. Rider comfort and muscle capability are future steps taken for FES riders on the optimal design. Such a tricycle is seen to be beneficial for the health, mobility, and independence of the end user.

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  Determination of a Freeze Point Blending Rule for Jet Fuel Range Hydrocarbons

  Allison Ann Coburn

  Sustainable aviation fuels are the near term solution for greenhouse gas emission reduction associated with the aviation sector. There are extensive safety requirements established by an ASTM committee that the alternative aviation fuel must meet in order to achieve approval. Freeze point is one of the safety requirements that allow fuel to remain in liquid state under severe weather conditions. Methods and models to predict the freeze point of hydrocarbon blends are scarce in current literature. In the model that is currently being used, the validated temperature range for freeze point prediction is higher than the typical range for the jet fuel hydrocarbons. For other existing prediction models, an interaction coefficient determined by an experimental result is needed in the calculation to improve the accuracy of the prediction. The goal of this study is to develop an accurate freeze point blending rule for the jet fuel range hydrocarbons to evaluate eligibility for sustainable aviation fuel purposes. Here, a wide range of hydrocarbons with various freeze points were tested. Binary and ternary blends containing Bicyclohexyl, cis1-2 Dimethylcyclohexane, and an alternative jet fuel were tested. The experimental values obtained from varying compositions of each component for the binary and ternary blends were compared with linearly predicted values by volume percent and mole percent. While the linear prediction was comparable to the experimental values, there is still an aspect hindering more accurate predictions. The speculated missing aspect is the molecular structure. From other sources, it is known that molecules with the same chemical composition but varying structure can exhibit starkly different freezing points. Due to this, further testing is being conducted on molecules with these traits.

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  Determine the Effect of Propionate on the Interactions Between Macrophages and Listeria monocytogenes

  Stephanie Marie Johnson

  Listeria monocytogenes is an opportunistic and intracellular food-borne pathogen that can be deadly in high risk populations. During infection in the human body, L. monocytogenes may encounter macrophages, a type of white blood cell that is critical in innate immune response both by directly targeting invading pathogens and by eliciting adaptive immune responses. During intestinal as well as peripheral infections, both L. monocytogenes and macrophages may encounter propionate, a common gut microbiome metabolite. Although propionate is shown to have various regulatory and nutritional functions, its effects on infection outcome is not well understood. Therefore, the goal of this research is to determine how the exposure to propionate by L. monocytogenes and macrophages may affect subsequent infection outcomes. Specifically, the effects of propionate on phagocytic activity of macrophages have been quantified by measuring macrophage uptake of fluorescently labeled L. monocytogenes after exposure to different propionate concentrations. Additionally, the effects of propionate on the bactericidal activities inside macrophage phagosomes was determined by quantifying the number of intracellular L. monocytogenes mutant deficient in listeriolysin O remained inside phagosomes instead of escaping into the cytoplasm. The findings of this research will provide more information on how the immune response is regulated by propionate and offer a mechanistic insight into the vast role of the gut microbiome.

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  Determining Macronutrient Needs Among Insects in UD’s Environmental Research Area

  Peter Butterfield, Brigid Morgan

  Different compositions of nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, and fat are important to sustaining insect life and maintaining functions such as moving resources or structure, building nests, and regulating pheromones. Knowledge of limiting nutrients in certain environments for different species of insects is crucial to understand further the makeup of the habitat and what could be done to mitigate a potential lack of nutrients in other similar environments. To observe how different dilutions of nutrients may affect species of insects, GUD (giving up density) vials were used. GUD vials are a method used to capture insects using various baits to attract them. We had 4 different treatments: tuna (protein rich), strawberries (carbohydrate-rich), 10% sugar dilution, and a 20% sugar dilution. These different treatments allowed us to test which nutrients the insects in the area are lacking or which substances they are attracted to. The vials were placed in 4 different areas of interest within the Old River Environmental Research Area. We picked up 1 vial of each treatment at different time intervals (1, 5, and 10 minutes). These trials were run in locations twice, and at the end of each trial, each vial was snapped shut to capture the arthropods inside. We sorted insects to order, and determined how different baits affected insect abundance. We predict that the strawberries and sugar vials will be most attractive to insects as this is a very efficient energy source to produce ATP quickly. Some grasshoppers, beetles, and insects that mostly eat plants may prefer the tuna vials however, as they may need more protein than surrounding plants can give them. The correlation between nutrient deficiency and location is important for ecological management and research, and this study should help in building the link.

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  Determining the Comparative Efficacy of Adenosine Analogues in Reducing Coronavirus Replication by Interfering Viral RNA Dependent RNA Polymerase Activity

  Juliano V. Aquilino

  Vaccines against infectious viral diseases are good in preventing those illnesses, however their application is not recommended in curing the ongoing infection. Antiviral drugs such as nucleotide analogs have been successfully used in treating various viral infections. Taking this background, current study is designed to evaluate the antiviral efficacy of adenosine analogues such as Remdesivir, Galidesivir, and 2-Chloroadenosine in inhibiting the human (HOC43) and animal coronavirus (Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus: Colorado strain) replication by interfering viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity. Molecular docking was performed to determine the interaction of adenosine analogues with viral RdRp. While In vitro efficacy for these adenosine analogues in reducing RdRp activity will be performed using affinity purified, mammalian expressed recombinant RdRp protein. The antiviral efficacy for these adenosine analogues will also be measured by determining their effect on virus titer and virus plaque assay along with their effect on cellular toxicity.