Stander Symposium Projects

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  Breaking Down Barriers to Sustainable Eating at the University of Dayton

  Lauren Marie Murray

  Greenhouse gases are the driving force behind climate change with 20-30% of greenhouse gases contributed by the Western diet. Research suggests a decrease in environmental impact from food production with an overall US dietary reduction in meat and dairy and an increase of fruit, vegetable, and grains. The objectives of this study were to determine the greenhouse gas emissions of foods served in the dining halls at a mid-sized private university and to develop and implement an educational intervention aimed at behavior change. The transportation and production emissions of foods in a dining hall were determined through Clean Metrics Food Carbon Emissions Calculator. The information was translated into educational materials using a color-coded ranking system to demonstrate individual food emissions. The materials included posters, table tents and labels and were displayed for three months in a campus dining hall. Finally, a thematic analysis was employed to examine the impact of the intervention on students. Overall, consistent with existing research, animal products such as beef and lamb were found to have the highest emissions whereas plant-based products such as mushrooms and cucumbers were found to have the lowest emissions per pound of product. Themes extracted from the evaluation of the educational intervention included increased awareness and knowledge about sustainable eating but little impact on actual behavior was reported. However, this research has been utilized to create an educational program for the creation of a completely plant-based dining station in Virginia West Kettering dining hall.

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  Building a More Competent Reach Out Volunteer Through Improved Training Methods

  Jordan James Koczenasz, Taylor Nicole Vernot

  As a free clinic for the uninsured, Reach Out of Montgomery County operates primarily through the action of volunteers in order to serve patients in a low-cost manner. In 2017, volunteers at Reach Out logged 9,585 hours in service of the uninsured (2017 Annual Report 3). In order for the clinic to run efficiently, volunteers should be confident in their ability to triage, take vitals, and document all information. However, there is no concrete training plan currently put into place, so new volunteers are often thrown into the clinic setting and expected to learn as they go. This method creates a volunteer with an inconsistent and often incomplete knowledge of how the clinic operates and may lead to certain aspects of the patient’s visit that are overlooked or taken care of incorrectly. It is our goal to better prepare incoming volunteers for the expectations of the clinic so they can maintain a high quality of care for the patients. We will do this by promoting a system where new volunteers shadow an experienced individual to learn the proper techniques of triaging and taking vitals. We will also supplement this by creating a laminated resource sheet volunteers can keep with them for quick access to any of the information or techniques they have learned. This poster will summarize the training method and the techniques the volunteers will learn along with laying out the resource sheet we will be designing for Reach Out’s use.

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  Changes in the Piezoelectric Response of Reactive Magnetron Sputtered Aluminum Nitride at Different Sputter Powers

  Rachel L Adams

  Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a low-loss piezoelectric material that is commonly used in surface acoustic wave and bulk acoustic wave-based filters for radio frequency communication applications. For this material to be incorporated into devices, a more thorough understanding of the effects of different deposition parameters on the crystallinity and piezoelectric coefficient is needed. In this study, all the AlN films were deposited using reactive controllably unbalanced magnetron sputtering onto (0001)-orientated sapphire substrates. X-ray diffraction was used to characterize the crystallinity and atomic force microscopy was used to investigate the surface morphology of the films. Piezoelectric force microscopy was done to measure the piezoelectric coefficient of the films. The effects of changing the sputter power during the deposition on the crystallinity, surface morphology and piezoelectric coefficient will be presented.

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  Characterization of L-DOPA Containing Organic Matrix Proteins in the Eastern Oyster Crassostrea virginica

  Anna Kathleen Benton

  The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, forms shell through the process of layer by layer construction. There are two components of shell: the hard layer made of calcium carbonate and the soft layer made of organic matrix. This project focuses on a specific class of proteins found in the organic layer that contain a unique amino acid, L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA). This class of proteins is of interest because of the crosslinking capabilities of L-DOPA. L-DOPA can adhesively bind to calcium carbonate and cohesively bind to other amino acids as confirmed by the study of L-DOPA-containing Mytilus edulis foot proteins. L-DOPA can be used as a biomarker for these proteins and can be assayed or tracked using the ARNOW assay, a catechol stain, on adductor muscle tissue. Market quality oysters were shucked, and tissue samples were collected from the adductor muscle. Proteins were extracted by homogenizing the tissue, soaking the tissue in 0.7% perchloric acid solution, precipitating proteins with cold acetone, and resuspension in 5% acetic acid. Once the initial extraction was complete, the protein solution was concentrated using ultrafiltration under inert gas to prepare the solution to be run on a high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). After HPLC separation, proteins are further characterized using acid-urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The AAA-Direct Amino Acid Analysis System was then used to determine the percentage concentrations of the amino acids present in the purified proteins. Purified protein with high L-DOPA content will be sequenced using a commercial vendor. Once the sequence is obtained, proteins will be modeled using ChemDraw, Chem3D, and Gaussian-9 software. Modeling using published sequences of putative shell formation proteins has revealed the occurrence of specific folding domains that may play a role in adhesive and cohesive binding of those proteins. We anticipate finding similar tertiary structure in proteins isolated and characterized from Crassostrea virginica.

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  Characterization of Novel Phosphorus-Based Flame Retardants in Epoxy Resins

  Mustafa Mukhtar

  This poster summarizes the results of a series of ongoing experimental investigations into the curing reactions between a novel phosphorus flame retardant (FR) and epoxy resin. Epoxy resins are used in society in a wide variety of industrial applications including aerospace, infrastructure, transportation, electronic, marine, and sporting goods industries. The novel flame retardant was synthesized and provided by UD Chemistry Department faculty. The FR includes both primary and/or secondary amine functional groups which allow it to potentially react with the epoxy resin through covalent bonding. Previous work involved examination of several similar flame retardants which showed good results in terms of curing behavior and flammability properties. Despite these results, scale-up of the formulations from small scale (~ 1 gram) to a larger scale (10s of grams) led to unexpected results, for example, the generation of gas bubbles during cure which was not observed in the initial small scale studies. In response, a series of experimental mixing formulations and curing conditions were investigated to provide further insight. Curing conditions were characterized by various physical and thermal properties using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). In the current study, we will try to overcome some of these problems that were experienced in the previous study in order to make controlled samples for further flammability testing.

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  Child Temperament as a Moderator for the Outcomes of Corporal Punishment: A Sibling Comparison Analysis

  Kirsten Lee Anderson

  The use of corporal punishment (CP) as a disciplinary strategy is a highly controversial topic among the scientific community and general public alike (Gershoff, 2013). Although there is extensive research examining the outcomes associated with the use of CP, limitations in methodology have made it difficult for researchers to make definitive claims about the outcomes of CP (Baumrind, Larzelere, & Cowan, 2002; Ferguson, 2013; Larzelere & Kuhn, 2005). For example, past studies have not examined the outcomes of CP within the context of individual differences among children. The purpose of this study was to understand if temperament, that is, early appearing, stable individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation (Rothbart & Bates, 1998) moderates the outcomes of CP. Specifically, we sought to answer the following questions: (1) do children who receive CP exhibit higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors compared to children who do not receive CP? (2) among children who receive CP, do children with difficult temperaments show greater increases in internalizing and externalizing behavior problems compared to children with moderate temperaments? Analyses were conducted using multilevel growth curve modeling in order to compare siblings who have different disciplinary histories and temperaments while accommodating non-independence of data points. The results and implications of this study are discussed.

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  Clothing garment swapping via pose estimation and thin plate splines

  Ganesh Mudduluru

  Online apparel shopping has huge commercial advantages and convenience contrasted with the traditional shopping but lacks the ability to physically inspect or try on the clothes. To solve this problem, we are working on a virtual try-on technology which has attracted a lot of interest recently by delivering product information similar to that obtained from direct product examination. It allows users to experience themselves wearing diverse garments without efforts of changing them physically. The traditional way of achieving this is by building a 3d model using computer graphics and render the output images. But these approaches require a lot of manual labor or expensive devices to gather necessary information for building 3D models and large computations. In this project, we first perform pose estimation to detect the body joints and these body joints help us identify the corresponding clothing garments. Then, based on the clothing garments, we do body morphing via thin plate splines transformation. We later port the clothing garments from the source to the target human. We conduct different experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of our work.

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  College Campus Cyberbullying

  Brandi N Smith

  Cyberbullying within the college-age group may determine whether the behavior moves forward into adulthood. By analyzing statistical trends and reviews of published research, I examine what cyberbullying is and how it affects student/faculty victims and perpetrators. Finally, the project seeks to understand the nature of cyberbullying and ways to provide policy recommendations designed to improve the overall problem.

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  College Selection Process: Does Faith of an Institution Influence the Decision-Making?

  Anna R Parks

  The University of Dayton is one of three Marianist universities in the country. This quantitative survey-based study explores whether or not there is a correlation between the religious affiliation of an institution and the college decision-making process. The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to determine the common factors that go into the college search process and how important they are to students and (b) to evaluate the influence that the Marianist traditions at the University of Dayton had on students when determining a university to attend. The findings of this survey provide knowledge for how the institution can best recruit students and share what they find to be most important in the college search process with them about the University of Dayton.

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  Combating Antibiotic Resistance Using Plant Derived Compounds

  Emily Marie Jones

  Bacteria have steadily developed defenses against antibiotics since the world’s first fleet of antibacterial drugs was introduced. One strategy that bacteria can use to become multi-drug resistant involves the overexpression of large, membrane-embedded efflux pumps, such as the AcrAB-TolC pump found in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and other Gram-negative bacteria. This large efflux pump gives the bacterium the capability of transporting a wide variety of compounds out of the cell, including antibiotics that we use to combat bacterial infections. The overexpression of these bacterial efflux pumps renders our antibiotics ineffective. I have determined that Yerba Mate extract causes accumulation of a fluorescent dye in live bacterial cells and might, therefore, also cause accumulation of clinically relevant antibiotics. I will test the Yerba Mate extract for efflux pump inhibition in the presence of antibiotics and fractionate the crude extract to identify the active compounds that could be inhibiting the efflux pump. This research could open up a new avenue in the treatment of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.

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  Combating Multidrug Resistance in Bacteria by Inhibition of Efflux Pumps

  Donny Edward McKenna

  Since the discovery of antibiotics, many otherwise deadly infections have been rendered mere inconveniences. Unfortunately, as antibiotic use has increased over the course of the last century, bacteria have been given more and more opportunities to adapt. Antibiotic resistance allows bacteria to survive in the presence of antibiotics, thus continuing the infection and rendering treatment useless. Bacteria have developed many different mechanisms that confer resistance, among these is overexpression of E. coli’s AcrAB-TolC efflux pump in the cell membrane. The efflux pump, necessary for expulsion of wastes and toxins from the intracellular space, is present in all E. coli cells, however it is present in much larger numbers in resistant cells. This increase in expression allows E. coli to pump out toxins at a much higher rate, thus preventing the antibiotic from accumulating within the cell to reach a therapeutic dosage. An inhibitor of AcrAB-TolC would decrease the rate of efflux and allow accumulation of antibiotics. In order to discover inhibitors, edible plants were obtained and extracts were created and tested in an ethidium bromide-based efflux assay. Green tea extract was found to have significant inhibitory activity. HPLC was used to separate the components of the green tea extract to aid in identification of the active compound. NMR analysis of the active fraction was consistent with a type of aromatic molecule known as a catechin.

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  Community Assessment of Twin Towers, Dayton, Ohio: Dietary-Related Psychosocial and Cultural Factors

  Carolyn A Botti, Alyssa Kate Hrobat, Liana Laurette Sans, Tori Lucienne Sedlmayer

  The Twin Towers is a low-income neighborhood in southeast Dayton and has a high prevalence of overweight and obese residents. The main objective for this assessment was to determine the dietary-related psychosocial and cultural factors that affect the dietary intake patterns of people residing in this neighborhood. Values, beliefs, social norms, tradition, taste preferences, and self-efficacy were analyzed within the community through a questionnaire distributed at the East End Community Center, along with various secondary peer-reviewed sources. It was found that nutrition knowledge was not the main barrier to a healthy diet, but self-efficacy, taste preference and lack of cooking tools and skills contributed to an inadequate diet. This data collection allowed the development of an intervention to implement within the community in order to improve the diet quality of people residing in this neighborhood. Due to these identified barriers, we suggest interventions regarding self-efficacy and the implementation of nutrition-related skills.

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  Community Dietary Assessments (Assets)

  Abbie Hill, Emily Ann McDermott, Kim Alison Steinhebel

  Twin Towers is a low income community located in East Dayton about 1.5 miles from the University of Dayton’s campus. As there are multiple families facing food insecurity, there are a variety of programs that exist within the community aimed at expanding food access.The purpose of this research was to identify the current assets within the community that provide nutrition education and healthy food access in an attempt to combat the food insecurity prevalent in the Twin Towers neighborhood. The objectives of this community assessment were to recognize community assets that lead to increased engagement and empowerment of those residing in the Twin Towers neighborhood. In order to do this, we conducted a semi-structured interview with two key informants from the community and analyzed secondary sources regarding the two aforementioned topics. Findings include the presence of several community assets that can be expanded upon to improve food security of the Twin Towers neighborhood residents. Such assets include Miracle Makers, Mission of Mary programs, New Hope Church, and several others under the Food Access Resiliency Enterprise. Due to the information gained, we recommend working with the current community organizations to develop an asset based intervention to address issues around food knowledge, food access, and food program participation.

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  Community Engagement Project: Helping Adolescents Achieve Long-term Objectives. How does the HAALO art program benefit at-risk teens in the juvenile justice system?

  Francesca Marie Gaudio, Mitchell J Tarkany

  This project will provide an evaluation of the associated benefits of the HAALO arts program. HAALO is an arts program created through a partnership with the Montgomery County Juvenile Court. It encourages at-risk teens to participate in the creation of artwork and to have a sense of pride in the rejuvenation their artwork brings to the urban landscape around them. Currently, juvenile justice programs often resort to probation and detention. These interventions are often counterproductive to change in behavior. Having at-risk teens participate in the creation of artwork is a unique and possibly more effective approach for dealing with at-risk youth. Our project summarizes our experience volunteering at Tejas (Teen Education & Joint Adult Studio). The population observed included convicted/at-risk juveniles in the Dayton area. This study takes an inductive approach that allows us to identify benefits as they become evident. The specific approach used in this qualitative research project is participant observation. Field notes are taken weekly to examine benefits in categories related to behavior- Attitude, Effort and Consistency. Our project also included an analysis of literature on similar programs and their associated benefits. The overall goal of the project was to determine whether the HAALO program positively affects the adolescents that participate.

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  Community Health Fairs and Intention to Seek Follow-up Care among the Hispanic Population of Dayton, Ohio

  Gina Elizabeth Martinette

  The purpose of this study was to better understand the connection between poor health and intention to seek follow-up care. The study focused on the Hispanic population of the Greater Dayton Area. A survey was adapted from the Theory of Planned Behavior which served as the measure for intention to seek follow-up care. This survey was administered at three separate health fairs. The purpose of a community health fair was to provide baseline measurements for participants, including BMI, body composition, blood pressure, blood glucose, triglyceride levels, etc. The intention to seek follow-up care was then compared with BMI, blood glucose levels and triglyceride levels. It was found that what most strongly correlated with intention to seek follow- up care was the attitude held by the participant about access.

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  Competencies of Game-Day Operations Employees in Sports

  Daniel Francis Begley

  The purpose of this study was to assist students pursuing a career in Game-Day Operations gain knowledge of the skills and tendencies of people who currently work in the sport industry. For this study, employees who worked in the NBA G-League for Game-Day Operations were surveyed about how they perform their jobs. Game-Day Operations is the part of a sports organization responsible for every aspect of an event to make sure it is conducted based on best industry standards. This study is based on the perspective of setting-up an event rather than attending it. The employees surveyed were from all over the country, giving different strategies that are used by different teams in the NBA G-League. This study demonstrates the amount of time and skills necessary for a Game-Day Operations Manager position.

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  Computational Mathematics to Study a Model of Complications Due to Diabetes

  Engels Imanol Diaz Gomez, Jeffrey Allen Lott, Nicole Meek

  Abstract: Diabetes is one of the most popular diseases affecting a large majority of the population. In this project, we use more accurate numerical algorithms to solve the model and compare the results provided in the referenced article. The article uses a basic method known as the Euler’s method to solve the differential equations.

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  Computational Modeling of Spin Dynamics

  Kyle Thomas Hagan, Ivan A Sudakov

  The Ising model, originally developed in the 1920’s to analyse ferromagnetic properties has since found a myriad of other seemingly unrelated applications. An updated Ising model, Glauber’s spin dynamics, is used to examine phase changes in ferromagnetic materials and other systems. In the Glauber spin model, a system starts with some initial condition and over time the state of the undergoes small fluctuations that increase as more energy is put into the system. Then, there is a critical point where the system loses its initial condition and changes phase. Glauber’s spin model has been used to examine the changes that melt ponds in the arctic undergo over time. The model has been used in chemistry to determine whether polymer chains will form. Glauber’s model has even found uses in information theory. The goal of this project is to create an Ising model using Python then display some of the properties of the Ising model with a feedback mechanism coupling Glauber's spin dynamics and the external forcing on the system. The one dimensional and two dimensional Ising models are examined. It is shown, as Ising did, that the one dimensional model does not predict any phase changes. It is also shown that the Glauber spin model does predict phase changes for a system.

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  Computer-Assisted Graphic Correlation of Ordovician Conodonts and Graptolites from the Argentine Precordillera and western Newfoundland using Constrained Optimization (CONOP9)

  Andrea Marie Bryan

  The purpose of this project was to use the stratigraphic range data of two extinct marine micro-fossil groups, conodonts and graptolites, to construct a composite range chart and correlation model for Ordovician age strata in Argentina and Newfoundland. These two locations were part of the eastern portion of the paleo-continent Laurentia. The goal was to integrate range data from organisms that occur in different rock types, limestones and shales, using computer-assisted graphic correlation techniques. Graphic correlation is the comparison of specific rock units by the presence of similar fossils found within them using a bi-variate plot and line of correlation. It is used to find a better estimate of the fossil duration in the earth’s history. The end result is a composite range chart, which shows the composite range of the organism in comparison to a timescale. The composite range chart constructed from the Ordovician rocks of Argentina and Newfoundland was used to answer questions on the viability of using CONOP9 to compare two different bio-facies. This research is important because the composite range chart provides paleontologists with a tool for studying and dating the rock record. Better estimates of fossil ranges can be used to make the geologic timescale more precise.

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  Computer Vision Pedestrian Awareness System

  Mohammad T A A Alhumoud, Noh Essa Alluwaimi, Abdul Aziz A H A M Baroun, Jonah Kelly Connelly, Junda Jiang

  Pedestrians face dangers during their daily commutes through urban and rural environments. When considering fast-moving cars and bicycles and even other civilians, vigilance is imperative to maintaining pedestrian safety. The Computer Vision Pedestrian Awareness System is a wearable device that seeks to increase pedestrian rear-awareness to potential dangers by alerting users to dangerous events before the events occur.

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  Control of Unbalanced Power Sharing in Islanded AC Microgrid with Balanced and Unbalanced Loads

  Ahmed S Alsafran

  Managing power sharing between islanded microgrids adds additional capability to existing Smart Grid configurations enabling otherwise isolated microgrids to share power. In geographies where population centers are widely dispersed and particularly, in countries that lack a robust and effective grid, these technologies enable growth in consumption and improved supply security when isolated microgrids are interconnected with feeder lines to shared loads. The challenge is to effectively control this power sharing capability in an environment where microgrid performance is substantially load dependent and where the interconnection capabilities between microgrids often grows organically to meet demand. The proposed control has advantages over other methods since it does not require communication capabilities between the interconnected microgrids and does not require knowledge of feeder line models. This paper addresses a proposed control system design for these systems that has a hierarchical structure to manage power sharing among distributed generation (DG), low voltage AC islanded microgrids with unbalanced loads. The proposed control consists of three parts. First, an active power (P) – frequency (f) droop control and a reactive power (Q) – voltage (V) droop control (P/f and Q/V) are used to enable the active and reactive power sharing between two interconnected DGs. Since this droop control is unable to share unbalanced power effectively, a negative phase sequence virtual impedance control is added as a second control to regulate the distribution of unbalanced power. Third, an unbalanced power and small signal frequency droop control is added to adjust the impedance value (L_v) in the negative phase sequence virtual impedance control to force the negative sequence current to reach the steady state operating point achieving unbalanced power sharing. The proposed control scheme is theoretically designed the effectiveness of this proposed control scheme is evaluated through simulation studies. The impact of both the feeder line model and the unbalanced load on power sharing effectiveness are investigated.

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  Cortisol Regulation of Aquaglyceroporin HC-3 Protein Expression in Erythrocytes from the Freeze Tolerant Tree Frog Dryophytes chrysoscelis

  Maria Pasqualina LaBello

  Dryophytes chrysoscelis, commonly known as Cope’s gray treefrog, is a freeze tolerant anuran that freezes up to 65% of extracellular fluid during winter to survive. Glycerol is presumably used as a cryoprotectant during a period of cold-acclimation to protect cells from permanent damage due to hypoosmotic stress upon freezing and thawing. The transmembrane movement of glycerol and water is likely mediated through aquaglyceroporin (GLP) 3 ortholog HC-3 in the nucleated erythrocytes (RBCs) of D. chrysoscelis. This thesis analyzes the mechanisms in which D. chrysoscelis prepares for cold-acclimation and glycerol synthesis. Cortisol, a neuroendocrine steroid hormone, is a stress hormone previously shown to respond to osmolarity challenges and regulate aquaporins in teleost fish; however, the role of cortisol in regulating anuran HC-3 protein expression and membrane subcellular localization is yet to be known, and the implications for mediating anticipatory glycerol synthesis and freeze tolerance remain to be determined. We hypothesize that cortisol exposure contributes to enhanced HC-3 protein expression and subcellular localization in the membrane of RBCs from D. chrysoscelis. RBCs were cultured in vitro using complete cell culture media (CCCM) and cortisol for 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 hours at two separate concentrations, 1.0 μg/ml and 0.1 μg/ml. Another group of RBCs was incubated with CCCM for 24 hours before the 0, 4, and 8-hour incubation with cortisol concentrations of 1.0 μg/ml and 0.1 μg/ml. Western blotting was utilized for quantifying HC-3 protein expression and immunocytochemistry was used to visualize the subcellular localization of the HC-3 protein from the cultured RBCs. The findings gleaned from this thesis provide insight to support human tissue cryoprotection and transplantation.

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  Create a platform for an industrial control system to examine the vulnerability of PLC, SCADA and DCS system:

  Belal Tanko

  In this project, a platform will be developed to provide a ground to explore the setup of the control system configuration.control system which could be represented as Programmable Logic Controller(PLC) which is an industrial control system which used to monitor the status of final control elements and make a decision based on the input it receives. Control system at the beginning applied to the industrial field by using a local network. The use of local network results in a network that has high potential to be secure from any vandalism. In addition, it makes IT engineer to have the ability to secure and control any instrument by just updating the infected or change that device. However, the need of a system that provide a secure area to be used for industries usages is increased due to the high growth in technology. ICS (industrial cyber security) provide an exchange of data in secure technique. Nowadays industries using a network that is connected to the internet which raises the risk of losing the exchanged data or increase the chance for a person who uses a computer to obtain unauthorized access to data. As a result, the project will focus more on the methods that could apply as protection technique that could be used to secure any exchange in data address by control system application. To achieve the goal several equipment and application used. A CPU which used to host all applications. A virtual box used to set both master (main PLC) and slave used as a SCADA control system.

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  Crystallization Kinetics for Homo- and Hetero-genous Thin Films of Tungsten Selenide

  Rachel Habib Rai

  Single to few-layered Group-VI semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) are new materials that exhibit versatile physical properties, such as sizable direct band gaps, that promise new potential for many electronic and optoelectronic devices. A prototypical TMD, Tungsten Selenide (WSe2) exhibits captivating properties such as room temperature photoluminescence temperature. However, the integration of WSe2 and other TMDs into devices is currently limited due to the inaccessibility of scalable techniques to fabricate high quality large area thin films. This impediment can be resolved by understanding and optimizing the kinetics of film growth. Thus, our work encompasses innovative techniques to study the crystallization kinetics of thin amorphous homo- and hetero-genous films of WSe2. We begin by sputtering thin amorphous films of WSe2 on flexible and rigid substrates. We then crystallize the deposited films by supplying enough energy for crystallization via broadband radiation, nanoscale beams, and in situ Raman Spectroscopy. Magnetron sputtering is selected as the deposition technique due to the low temperatures involved, thus allowing deposition on polymer substrates. Furthermore, modulation of the energy flux during magnetron sputtering provides an opportunity to model homo or hetero crystallization by forbidding or permitting the presence pre-existing nuclei, respectively. Our employment of various crystallization techniques allows for methodical study of the influences of seeds on 2D nucleation and growth kinetics. Results show that homogenous crystallization has a lower nucleation due to the small seed size. Such finding is systematically explained by crystallization theories that relate the critical radius size of the seeded materials to energy barriers. The newly founded relationship between deposition parameters, activation barriers, and film quality of WSe2 is applicable to other TMDs. Thus, our work significantly contributes to the advancement TMDs and eases their incorporation in future electronic devices.

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  Dayton Children's Hospital Composting Initiative

  Maria Elizabeth Plevris

  Food composting has many benefits including addressing food waste at institutions such as hospitals. As for example, the healthcare system is responsible for 11.7 tons of waste that enters the landfills each year, some of which is due to food waste such as expired food and an overproduction of food. The food service department at Dayton Children’s Hospital in Dayton, Ohio wanted to develop a system to address food waste. Therefore, the University of Dayton collaborated with Dayton Children’s food service and dietary department to develop and implement a composting system utilizing a local composting company- Compost Dayton. The focus was on composting raw, pre-consumer produce trimmings that had not left the culinary kitchen. The process of development and implementation included: research on proper education and training techniques for the staff, creating a Higher Learning Commission (HLC) module for the staff to complete prior to training, a hands-on, in person training session, and weekly audits of the composting bin. Challenges that emerged included: maintaining proper health codes for the hospital and the composting company, along with obtaining support and adherence from the dietary staff. In conclusion, through the use of proper education and training, Dayton Children’s Hospital’s implementation of composting can help decrease food waste.