Stander Symposium Projects

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  Disability Care and the Limits of Friendship

  J. Tyler Campbell

  Friendship is a common term that theologians working in disability studies use. The benchmark example for theological visions of friendship and disability is usually the L’Arche community, an international organization of group homes founded by Jean Vanier in 1964. Though the call for friendship among theological accounts of disability seem benevolent, such benevolence can hide the fact that friendship is in fact a complicated political category which calls for a more thorough definition than theologians often give. Providing care for any person is always animated by relations of vulnerability and dependency that cause asymmetrical relationships of power and influence. This project examines friendship in use among theologians as well as in the communities (specifically L’Arche) that theologians extol. After comparing and contrasting the various conceptualizations of friendship in recent works from theologians like Stanley Hauerwas, John Swinton, and Hans Reinders, I analyze the limitations of these broad definitions of friendship by highlighting the complex and difficult power dynamics between caregiver and care-receiver, and explore how the existence of this reliance complicates standard notions of friendship.

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  Drosophila eye model to study the role of NAT 9 in Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementia (ADRD)

  Prajakta D. Deshpande, Emily M. Snider

  Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegenerative brain disorder, is characterized by a decline in memory and cognitive function. One of the hallmarks of AD is accumulation of β-amyloid plaques formed in the brain by due to improper cleavage of amyloid precursor protein. The extracellular accumulation of β-amyloid plaques triggers the hyperphosphorylation of Tau, a microtubule associated protein that helps stabilize microtubule structures in neurons. In its hyperphosphorylated form, Tau loses affinity to bind to the microtubules and can oligomerize. This results in the formation of tau tangles and the destabilization of axons and dendrites (necessary for cellular communication). We employed the GAL4-UAS system in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to misexpress human Aβ42 within the developing fly retina. Using forward genetic screening, we found N-acetyltransferase 9 (NAT 9) as one of the modifiers for the Aβ42 phenotype. NAT 9 is an enzyme that acetylates microtubules and supports the regulation of microtubule stability. This study aims to understand the role of NAT 9 in Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration. The overexpression of NAT 9 in GMR > Aβ42 background suppresses the Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration whereas loss of function of NAT 9 in GMR > Aβ42 results in depigmentation, necrotic spots, and a reduction in eye size as compared to GMR > Aβ42 eye. Our hypothesis is NAT9 may play a role in Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration.

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  Early Cognition Education using Mixed Reality

  Shreyas Raghunath

  “Within the child lies the fate of the future” was what Dr. Maria Montessori said once upon atime, this project aims to lay a strong foundation to make that fate better. If children are equippedwith basic tools of life in the formative years, there is a certain chance that they will develop intobetter individuals. Cognitive development comprises a person’s working memory, attention, aswell as one’s ability to manage and respond to experiences and information. This applicationaims at improving cognitive ability of children by letting them interact with virtual augmentedobjects. Educating through mixed reality is not only fun but has also been proven to have greaterretention of information and longer attention spans for normal children and has workedexcellently for children with autism.

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  Effects of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Drugs on Glioma

  Kaitlyn Alleman, Molly Buchanan, Laura Bute, Nathan Holthaus, Kathleen McCaslin, Katie Parker

  Glioma is a deadly brain cancer, and current treatments have been unsuccessful in prolonging life more than a few months. In an effort to discover better treatments with more direct targets, we are conducting a chemical screen using Tyrosine Kinase inhibitors (Selleck Biochem). Promising results of such inhibitors will suppress the progression of glioma by (a) inhibiting the underlying molecular pathways activated in glioma, or (b) prevent rapid proliferation of the glia and other cells that encompass the glioma tumor. We have induced glioma in Drosophila by activating two of the most common oncogenic pathways, PI3K and Ras/MAPK. The activation of these pathways results in an enlarged brain from an increase in stem cells and their glia and neural progeny. These tumors cause the larvae to enter a prolonged larval phase, and eventually kill the organism. During our screen, larvae are added to food in their early third instar phase (72h old). The food is infused with 10 or 300uM chemicals in DMSO and where we then see effects on glioma growth, and survival in mature third instar stage (120h old). Using these metrics, here we present data from our screen on promising drugs from this academic year’s testing focusing on drugs E7, E9, and E11. Once we identify potential glioma inhibitors in the primary screens, we will validate them in secondary screens.

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  Electrical Characterization of Tantalum Oxide Based Memristor

  Yassine Jaoudi

  Training deep learning models is computationally expensive due to the need for a tremendous volume of data and complex math. Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) are typically used and require about 200W of power at least, thus making them unusable in portable applications. Neuromorphic computing approaches based on memristor devices can drastically reduce this power and allow low power devices (edge computing and IoT devices) to learn and thus become much smarter. This work presents collected characteristics data of real memristor devices and modeling for memristor-based circuit and system design. Memristors – a relatively recent class on nanoscale devices that can be programmed and can retain their data even when the power is turned off. Memristor based online circuits is a popular research topic currently, but these are generally based on ideal devices behaviors. Therefore, the acquired device properties are used to update the memristor model used in previous circuit simulations and examine its impact on Artificial Intelligence learning circuits.

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  Emerging Mobility Services

  Baraah Qawasmeh

  In recent decades social and cultural trends have been rapidly and constantly changing and technological advancements such as smart phones, large-scale electronic devices, The Internet of Things (IOT), etc., have also experienced a more rapidly and accelerated growth. These rapid changes have also brought up some new innovative ideas on how to provide efficient and safe transportation services that can leverage emerging technologies. These opportunities can make transportation affordable and equitable with improved mobility options available to all types of travelers.

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  Empirical Research Presentations in Economics

  Reda Habeeb Aldahan, Casey Bane Barrage, Preston Reed Boorsma, Zhuo Chen, Antonio J. Concha, Erin Marie Delvecchio, Brian Philip Doyle, Dylan B. Dwyer, Kyle J. Elderkin, Christian Rene Fernandez De Paredes, Ryan C. Fox, Jake David Franklin, Andrew Patrick Gross, Ryan N. Harkleroad, Carrie Ryan Hawkins, Liam R. Herbert, Kristen Hisek, Elizabeth M Hoffman, Matt Kyle Kozar, Sean Patrick Lacey, Sabrina Rose Mauro, Jack Melick, Nick Robert Metzger, Ellie Maeve Morrissey, Norino Nakazawa, Rachel Sophie Oberholzer, Michael Russell Peters, Bridget Ann Pike, Jessica Rach, Megan M. Rice, Cameron J. Sikorski, Joseph R. Sloan, Evan Thomas Sutula, Robert Joseph Wagner

  Four years of coursework culminate in a written and oral presentation of an empirical research project during the senior capstone course. Students apply economic theory and econometric techniques to analyze data in order to answer an original research question.

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  Encouraging Sustainable Fashion on a University Campus

  Jillian DeWitt, Jenn Hoody, Hannah Nicholas, Emily Shanahan

  The fast fashion industry has made it the norm to rely on cheap clothes with short lifetimes. This has resulted in extremely low wages for garment workers, inhumane working conditions in factories, and an increased amount of clothing waste. As awareness of these unethical and unsustainable practices has increased, more people are turning toward ethically sourced and produced clothing as well as secondhand clothing. Secondhand clothing has become particularly popular among college students who are always on the lookout for ways to save money. Thus, the University of Dayton’s Fair Trade Coalition organized what is now an annual “Clothing Swap.” Leading up to the event, students are able to drop-off old and unwanted clothing. Then, during the Clothing Swap, they are able to “shop” for clothes other students contributed, enjoy Fair Trade coffee, and learn about the impact of the fashion industry and Fair Trade through informational posters and table tents throughout the space that display statistics, facts and discussion questions to prompt dialogue. Additionally, the Fair Trade Coalition organizes the Clothing Swap in collaboration with other organizations to encourage, promote, and educate attendees on ways the university is implementing fair trade and ethical and sustainable practices campus-wide.The Clothing Swap demonstrates one way the University of Dayton is committed to Fair Trade education and engagement as a Fair Trade designated University. It has shown to be a great way to engage and educate students on the human and environmental cost of the fashion industry, leverage other fair trade initiatives and products on campus, and encourage the university and student body to take action through consumer habits both on and off campus.

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  Enforcing Privacy Policies for Hybrid Mobile Applications

  Aishwarya Marghatta Nandeesh

  A hybrid mobile application (app) is a mobile app that is based on the web running within a container in a native mobile app. Hybrid application development allows an app developed once but can be run on multiple mobile platforms. However, hybrid apps are more vulnerable to cyber attacks than native apps because of the vulnerabilities on the web. In this work, we study in-depth the vulnerabilities that compromise user privacy in hybrid mobile apps. We propose a wide range of policies that can prevent such privacy violations and allow the end-users to personalize them.

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  Enhancing the Understanding of Laboratory Safety in General Chemistry Labs at the University of Dayton

  Julia K. Baase

  A large percentage of students at the University of Dayton will complete a General Chemistry Laboratory at one point or another, but how does one ensure the safety of these students throughout the course of the lab experience? Safety is an important concern for science educators across the country, and it is a vital component of receiving a quality education. At the University of Dayton, the General Chemistry Lab curriculum currently includes two outdated, monotonous safety videos that students rarely watch. After reading through the list of Safety Procedures and watching the videos, students take a Safety Quiz that addresses the policies and procedures of the Chemistry Department. The goal of this research project is to create a more engaging and effective method to familiarize students with the Safety Procedures for the Chemistry Labs. A tentative solution was developed over the course of the Spring 2020 semester which is composed of two parts: an interactive video and an interactive hazard scene. The interactive video and hazard scene will potentially be integrated into the General Chemistry Lab curriculum in the near future to improve the education of students and ensure a safe lab experience.

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  Environmental Impact of Freshwater Fish versus Chicken Farming

  Lukas Christopher Funk, Griffin L. Barger, Zachary A. Gerlach

  Using an environmentally extended Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), we’re able to evaluate the production and farming of freshwater fish on energy requirements, greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental indicators. We will compare these results to analysis of the farming and production of chicken to see if our system represents an improvement. We are examining the 14th UN goal, which is to reduce marine pollution and unregulated fishing and to conserve coastal and marine areas.

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  ETHOS We Care Arts Immersion

  Mary Corrigan, Nicole Gonzalez

  We Care Arts is a therapy program for adults with disabilities where they can come to make friends and indulge in their favorite art projects ranging from drawing to glass work. As their mission statement reads they "believe in the healing power of creating and producing art that transforms physical, developmental and mental challenges into a future rich with possibilities." Corrigan and Gonzalez worked on a database that includes different disabilities with wide arrays of art projects tailored to each specifically. They also worked on creating a special step stool designed to fix the problems of a specific client. Our goals were to reduce inequalities for those with ranging disabilities and to create projects that improve their life skills and/or motor functions.

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  Evaluating the “Electricidal Effect” with Shewanella Woodyi biofilms on Agar Plates

  Christopher T. Mortensen

  Electrical exposure can result in thwarting microbial biofilm formation through what has been labeled as an “Electricidal effect”. However, separating the effect of electrochemical potential from the presence of toxic metal ions has proven to be difficult. Separating these effects could create biotechnologies for detecting toxic metals or changes in electrochemical potential in salt water. Based on our previous work with bioluminescent marine bacterium, Shewanella woodyi, we will now present results from experiments designed to sense electric fields or the toxic metal ions using S. woodyi colonies on agar plates. We will present bioluminescence and brightfield images of working single Zn(s)/Vulcan Carbon (VC), Ag(s)/VC, and Cu(s)/VC electrodes drop cast on agar plates in order to evaluate the effect of the toxic metals (Cu(II), Zn(II), and Ag(I)) on the bioluminescence intensity from S. woodyi biofilms. We confirmed the overall activity of the microbial colonies with Live/Dead Assays and determined the density of toxic metal ions over time with Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICPOES) analysis. Our data confirmed that toxic metal ion sensitivity was the reason for growth inhibition around the electrodes rather than an electrical effect.

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  Evaluation of the Environmental Impact of Different Clothing Materials

  Emily Kleiner, Alicia Sweet, Andrew Willke

  A hybrid Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) was conducted to evaluate the energy requirements, greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental indicators of the clothing material polyester. These results are compared to the analysis of cotton as a clothing material to understand if synthetic fabrics have a lower environmental impact than natural fabrics.

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  Examining America’s Treatment of the Elderly in Comparison With Other Cultures

  Ella Jude Sperry

  By looking at existing literature, I was able to gain knowledge as to how Americans think about and treat their elders. I chose to consider other cultures so that I could have a basis for evaluating Americans. I was able to understand in what ways Americans are more and less respectful of their older family members and friends. The research that I looked at led me to find forms of ageism within multiple societies and cultures. This is important because ageism is a form of discrimination. Ageism is a relatively understudied topic. For this reason, I think it is crucial to bring awareness to the topic. The goal of my research is to discuss the ways that elderly adults are disrespected, but additionally, highlight the ways that elderly adults are respected in the hopes that these patterns will be implemented in the lacking cultures.

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  Examining the Critical Consciousness Heightening of Black Male Teachers: Imperatives for Social Justice Orientation Development

  Abdine Lewis

  Paramount to closing the student achievement gap is having a teaching force that reflects the racial and ethnic identities of the students. Black male representation in our nation’s schools may improve the success not only of Black boys but of all students because of the chance to engage with perspectives that may be different from one's own. Nevertheless, staffing Black male teachers has historically been a challenge for many school districts which is indicated by the dismal two percent of Black males who teach nationally (Whitfield, 2019). Despite this, some Black males are motivated to join the teaching force in order to address issues of social justice (Hudson, 2017). However, very little is known about how Black male teachers develop a critical consciousness, an important component to a social justice orientation. This study uses a phenomenological approach to understand the experiences that were essential for a sample of Black male teachers to develop a critical consciousness, and how critical consciousness influenced their decision to become a teacher. The results of this study may be used to inform the practices of teachers, faculty, and student affairs professionals who are involved with the preparation and recruitment of Black male teachers.

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  Exploring College Student Perceptions of the Elderly Through Surveys and Interviews

  Ella Sperry

  In the United States, there is a general stigma that elderly adults are unable to function in the way that they once could. After reviewing previous research that evaluated young adults’ perception of the elderly, I surveyed 213 students and conducted 10 interviews with students at the University of Dayton regarding their own opinions of older adults. My goal was to gain better insight into how college students on this campus view elderly adults both physically and mentally. I also evaluated what age participants consider to be “older”. While there were differing opinions across campus, my research shows that there is a prominent ageist attitude amongst college-aged students. Many students tended to think of elderly adults as incapable, wrinkly, and needy. These results show that elderly adults are in some ways a marginalized age group. This outcome is significant because it shows that there is an opportunity for change on college campuses. This change could be presented as intergenerational classes or activities. It could also be as simple as educating youth about aging.

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  Exploring Factors Affecting Decision-Making in Recruiting College Student-Athletes

  Kyle F. Butz, Turner Cook, Andrew Lutgens, Jakob H. Rosati

  For this study, we focus on factors that affect student-athletes’ decision to the University of Dayton. We want to answer two questions: 1) what are the key determining factors driving student-athletes to attend the University of Dayton; 2) do these factors differ by gender? Our research will provide information about what factors matter most when the student-athletes decide to come to UD. These factors can be both internal (e.g. proximity to home) and external (e.g. overall climate). We also plan to examine what UD does differently as opposed to other universities and the differences in their recruiting strategies. With a focus on gender, we will see if there are gender-based differences in recruitment process. We plan to send the survey to at least 100 student-athletes and the results will be presented at the symposium.

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  Exploring gender differences in sport-related job experiences

  Jess Marie Cheer, Jordyn Alexis Mitchell, Anthony Liam Mulherin, Tessa J. Shade

  Our research focuses on examining the gender equality issues in sports industry. We will conduct interviews and surveys with students in sport management major at the University of Dayton on their internship experience. Specifically, we will be asking them questions about their application process, job opportunities, intern duties, job satisfaction, and any gender-based biases/treatments they recognized/experienced while participating in their internship programs. The study is expected to help us more critically understand the gender differences in sport-related careers and to create a more inclusive workplace. The study is currently in progress and findings will be reported at the symposium.

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  Fabrication and Characterization of Polyacrylonitrile/lignin based nanofibers for potential applications in water purification.

  Suchitha Devadas

  There are many emerging contaminants present in water and their presence can induce detrimental health effects including the disruption of the endocrine system in humans. Hence, there is a need to find an innovative separation technology for contaminants removal from aqueous streams. In this study, lignin, a biopolymer, which is a waste product produced in abundance mostly from the paper and pulp industry, is studied. Lignin in blend with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was fabricated using electrospinning techniques. This process allows the production of nanoscale fibers with a large surface area and high porosity which increases adsorption rates overcoming the lower surface area and pore size of conventional adsorbents. Adsorbing mats comprised of a blend of lignin (alkali, low sulfonate content) and PAN in an N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent binder using electrospinning were produced. Different ratios between 100:0 and 20:80 of PAN and lignin were electrospun to study their morphology using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The viscosity of PAN in DMF was high, but viscosity decreased with addition lignin. Thermal analysis of produced nanofibers was examined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to study on crosslinking of PAN/lignin fiber mats. Based on results, heat treatment of nanofibers was done at 300℃ in a tube furnace with a rate of 5℃/min to stabilize nanofibers by cross-linking for greater adsorption. The proposed research will aid in the fabrication of an efficient lignin nanofiber as an emergent green approach in toxin removals from water. These nanofibers have potential use in many other chemical separations and adsorption technologies.

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  Family Upbringing: Implications of Detachment on Children

  Kenosha Robinson-Washington

  This project is a literature review that focuses on family upbringing and the implications of the detachment of the children. Studies have shown the are a variety of factors that foster a relationship structure between children and their parents. Negative interactions have been described as encouraging detachment. Premature birth also affects the relationship between children and their parents. After school activities have been illustrated to alleviate the detached parenting-adolescent relationships.

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  Fiber Scanning Imaging Techniques for Applications in Laser Additive Manufacturing Systems

  Yujie Yang

  Additive manufacturing systems based on selective laser melting of metallic powders are expected to benefit from real-time process control that takes into account measurements of parameters such as the local distribution of powder particle sizes, the texture and roughness of the solidified surface or the actual temperature of the melt pool. We have been investigating fiber scanning imaging systems that operate in such way that they could be incorporated into laser additive manufacturing systems. Laboratory benchtop prototypes for two different imaging systems were built and experimentally evaluated.The first prototype is a confocal imaging system where a single-mode fiber is used for both transmitting the illuminating laser light and receiving the light returning after scattering off the surface of the sample. Its purpose is the measurement of surface characteristics. In this system, the transceiver fiber is mounted to a bimorph piezoelectric actuator, which moves the fiber tip along a line orthogonal to the optical axis and thus also the focal spot across the sample surface. A fiber-optical circulator separates transmitted and received light. A scanner control and data acquisition system allows for continuous recording of line images. Two dimensional images are achieved by moving the sample along the axis that is orthogonal to both the optical axis and the scanning direction of the fiber tip. In the presentation we will discuss characteristics of the obtained imagery and their relationship to surface characteristics of investigated samples.The purpose of the second prototype is the measurement of the local temperature at the melt pool created by the high-power processing laser or at the hit spot of a probing laser for feedback or feedforward control of the power of the processing laser. The measurement of temperature is done by reimaging the sample surface on an infrared receiver fiber and measurement of the power of the received infrared light. One objective of the project is to record infrared (thermal) line images similar to the system described above, but our current laboratory prototype does not yet include a fiber actuator and the electronics for recording of line images. Instead, we demonstrate acquisition of infrared line images of a small sample (a hot wire with 50 µm diameter) by moving the receiver optics with a motorized translation stage.

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  Finding Glioma Growth Inhibitors Using Drosophila Models

  Timothy Cook, Nathan J. Holthaus

  Glioblastoma multiforme is a devastating form of primary brain cancer that has a poor prognosis. The standard treatment is a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemo/immunotherapy, which has shown to be ineffective and ultimately results in the death of the patient. As a result, efforts should be made to identify better techniques or medicines that help slow down or prevent the growth of the tumor. Using glioma models, we studied different chemical inhibitors (drugs) that reduce tumor growth in Drosophila melanogaster models. This was accomplished by acting on the two most frequent oncogenic pathways shared between Drosophila and humans: Ras/MAPK and Pi3K. The primary focus was on tyrosine kinase inhibitors, key enzymes that are activated by oncogenic pathways, which have shown promise in previous drug screens. The study was conducted by collecting third instar larvae from a cross between two fly types – Pten RNAi , ras v12 and Repo GFP – which were then placed on food laced with 300 µM of the drug. We then dissected the larvae, mounted their brains, and imaged them using a fluorescent microscope. This allowed us to observe the glia in the brain lobes and ventral nerve cord to identify changes in the shape of the brain and the density of glial cells within the brain. From which, the effect of the drug on glioma growth and progression can be observed. As a result, we have developed a deeper understanding of the pathways that cause the development of brain tumors, which will allow for more successful treatments in the future.

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  Finding Human in Challenging Environment

  Sankarshan Dasgupta

  We have technologies implemented which assist us beyond the reasonable measures to make our life progress with minimum efforts and maximum output. Only lagging in our fight against devastating natural processes of Earth. The unstoppable force is beyond human intervention or control. Keeping in mind the disastrous effects of natural calamities, we propose an idea to help and assist the heroes of our real life such as Fire fighter, Defense personnel, Coast Guard etc. to save human lives, minimizing their individual risk. Detecting human in the distracted environment is very challenging due to the occlusion (i.e. people may be under debris), the unclear boundary (i.e. noisy background), and the coarse scale due to the distance. Here, we are building a network model and training it to seamlessly detect human out in plain sight. I am also considering this topic as part of my master thesis advised by Dr. Van Tam Nguyen. Creating a new data-set and then training the model to work precisely in harsh kind of environment possible. Images for data-set are chosen for their traits and uniqueness. Then feeding through a network built on Tensor-flow to learn from the data-set. Implementation of algorithm, since the data-set has new structure, shape and new observation of human images, algorithm chosen needs to be an accurate process with edge detection and processing. Then using it to up Mask R-CNN performance. We evaluate the proposed framework on the newly collected data-set. The extensive experiments on the data-set will evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed framework for this interesting problem. Unlike other object detection where the applicable methods of detection has significant references, human detection has been without an availability of well-formed data-set, which could set a benchmark and open the scope for many new research possibilities and high accuracy performing networks.

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  Finding Our River

  Rachel Carr, Cassidy Count, Jack Hallagan, Kelly Hines, Baylor Johnson, Zack Jordan, Katherine Kirchner, Troy Lampenfeld, Meaghan Lightfoot, Natalie Merline, Noel Michel, Sammy Miller, Claire Roberts, Carter Spires, Austin Williamson, Casey Willson

  The River Stewards 2020 cohort will be presenting on the children's book that they have written over the course of the last year. Their book is a socially inclusive story centered around the Great Miami Watershed. This discussion will focus on how the cohort chose to focus on literacy in Dayton for their senior project, the year-long process from writing to printing, and how they identified and collaborated with their community partners. We encourage all those interested in literacy, watershed management, and community organizing to attend.