Stander Symposium Projects

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  Bringing International Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals to Dayton: A Closer Look at the Opioid Crisis & SDG Target 3.5

  Yulianna Otero

  SDGs and human rights articles helped me see local issues and solutions with a global lens. I realized Dayton is not exempt from human rights issues that affect cities over the world. I learned that, locally, most issues disproportionately affect African Americans. Also, documentation about an issue increases the likelihood of government action. It seems that Dayton officials and organizations are taking steps to improve local health issues, but there is still a lot of work to do. I think the SDG goals can be a useful framework to continue this work.

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  Bringing Sustainable Ecology to Dayton

  Dawson J. Vandervort

  I don’t see a lot of emphasis on ecological integration in Dayton or with SDG’s in general. The main focus is on housing, education and the opioid epidemic. Integration of ecology is required. Green cities are happier and healthier cities (EU); green cities correlate to decreased crime and drug use (CityLab, The Atlantic).

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  Can Calcium and Sodium Help to Restore Prairie Soil Following Removal of an Invasive Tree?

  Emily Horne

  Chinese Tallow (Triadica sebifera) is an invasive tree in the southeast US that rapidly outcompetes native grasses and shrubs, reduces biodiversity, and threatens grassland ecosystems. T. sebifera growth, however, has been shown to be sensitive to changes in soil salinity and suggests that micronutrients, like calcium and sodium, may be important factors that affect growth. Therefore, Ca and Na may help to improve restoration techniques by altering soil characteristics and preventing recolonization following removal of T. sebifera. To determine how Na and Ca affect soil characteristics following T. sebifera removal, we manipulated the amount of Ca and Na (by 10%, 25%, and 40% above ambient levels in a fully factorial designed experiment) in 3 meter by 3 meter plots. Each plot had one of four levels of invasion, those being remnant prairie (control), lightly invaded, moderately invaded, and heavily invaded areas. In total, this adds up to 16 treatments x 4 levels of invasion x 3 replicates + 12 additional controls = 204 plots. We collected soil samples from each plot with a soil auger in mid-July 2019 and these samples were frozen until analysis. We measured soil moisture, pH, conductivity, and bulk density. We found that calcium and sodium affect the soil characteristics differentially when added alone but have stronger effects when these micronutrients were added together. Additionally, the strength of the effect depended on the initial T. sebifera density, likely due to differences in plant biomass. These results suggest that micronutrients, Ca and Na, may be important for restoring soil characteristics like soil moisture, pH, and conductivity following invasion of T. sebifera, and may help to make coastal tallgrass prairies more resilient to invasion by this invasive tree.

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  Celebrating Earth Day 50: UD Students Taking Climate Action for Environmental Justice in Our Common Home

  Caroline Garvey, Tiffany Hunsinger, Theresa Isemann, Meg Maloney, Jared Marsh

  April 22, 2020 is EarthDay’s 50th anniversary and a global movement of 1 billion people taking climate action. Join us for a facilitated virtual workshop as we celebrate EarthDay and the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si - On Care for Our Common Home. Inspired by International EarthDay (www.earthday.org) and Catholic Climate Covenant resources and UD student leaders, we will explore how UD alumni and faith communities have taken climate action and how current students can engage at home, on campus, and in their networks. Students have been key leaders in global environmental movements ranging from pollution protests on college campuses on the first Earth day, to school climate strikes initiated by Greta Thunberg in 2019. Faith communities have highlighted the injustice that climate change and pollution disproportionately impacts those of vulnerable health, the economically poor and people of color. Given UD’s Catholic and Marianist values, our environmental actions are a crucial part of our commitment to community, solidarity and promoting the common good. Over the past 30 years, UD students have taken initiative with faculty/staff and community partners to make the campus and region more sustainable through club projects, educational events and actions creating programs in recycling, composting, native plants and energy conservation. Through a facilitated process including video, brief prayers, reflection questions and UD student panelist input, participants will identify actions they can implement in their daily lives and apply to their major and career. Undergraduate and graduate panelists from diverse majors will share hopes and challenges, practical tips and success stories from their environmental sustainability involvements. Participants will identify opportunities on and off campus through student organizations advancing sustainability, academic programs and Hanley Sustainability Institute. Participants will leave with plans and ideas for creating a more just, sustainable future in Our Common Home.

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  Childhood Trauma: Equipping Schools with the Tools to Fight Back

  Emily Elizabeth Tangney

  Childhood trauma negatively affects millions of children. The literature suggests that adverse childhood experiences can result in a child’s inability to process and regulate emotions. This dysregulation can lead children to engage in life-long deviant behavior. Researchers have found that childhood trauma leads to higher rates of violence and psychopathology. In the school system, it is important that we have resources to counteract such adverse trauma. As a future school psychologist, I am exploring how we can equip schools to best treat adolescent victims of trauma before it dictates their life trajectory. School districts need to prioritize hiring a school psychologist. These educated professionals work tirelessly to help children grow into confident and capable adolescents. They play a vital role in working with trauma in the school system.

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  Clean Water & Sanitation in Dayton, Ohio: Making Dayton a Human Rights City

  Kathleen E. Schweninger

  My research on human rights-related local issues in Dayton has heightened my awareness of the region’s assets and challenges. Regardless of a country’s progress toward development, such issues are present and need to be addressed in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The greater Dayton region has suffered from challenges related to clean water access and water pollution, but the region is also supported by assets which involve the community in clean water and sanitation advocacy. Such assets need to be expanded upon in order to ensure further community engagement in water-related issues. Diverse voices should be represented in the management of water related issues in the Greater Dayton region as all Daytonians are affected by the outcome of such management.

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  Cognitive Differentiators of Posttraumatic Growth and Depreciation Following Childhood Maltreatment

  Dezanee M. Bluthenthal, Megan Hernandez, Hannah Manis

  Posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic depreciation (PTD) have been conceptualized as possible outcomes of cognitive struggle following traumatic events. This study examined cognitive differentiators (i.e. perceived event centrality, core beliefs challenge, change in cognitions about the self and world, and deliberate and intrusive rumination) of such sequelae in childhood maltreatment (CM) survivors, a population underrepresented in the PTG and PTD literature. Self-report measures from 326 undergraduates who endorsed CM were included in two stepwise hierarchical regressions. While it was predicted that event centrality would be associated with both PTG and PTD based on prior literature, it was only significantly linked to PTG (p = .033) in this CM sample. Examination of core beliefs emerged as a “double-edged sword,” influencing both PTG and PTD (p = .002 and .004). Deliberate rumination was positively linked with PTG (p = .001). Negative cognitions about the self were negatively associated with PTG (p = .002) and positively associated with PTD (p < .001); negative cognitions about the world and self-blame were not significant. Identification of these diverse cognitive predictors of PTG and PTD suggest well-being following CM may be enhanced by treatments that target core belief challenge and facilitate incorporation of more positive self-cognitions into one’s identity.Keywords: Childhood maltreatment, posttraumatic growth, posttraumatic depreciation, event centrality, core beliefs, rumination, posttraumatic cognitions

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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 tested the Yerba mate extract for efflux pump inhibition in the presence of antibiotics and found that the extract has antibacterial effect on the bacteria. Further testing should be done to determine the effect of the extract on other cell types. This research could open up a new avenue in the treatment of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.

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  Comparative Study of Region Localization Methods with Image Enhancement for Computer Vision

  Quinn Graehling

  Region localization is one of the main tasks within computer vision and pattern recognition. Early forms of region localization relied on basic pixel intensity thresholding while later versions used machine learning methods to locate and segment objects of interest within an image. Today the region localization fields are dominated by adaptive progressive thresholding methods, region growing segmentation and neural networks designed for semantic segmentation. With the creation of new image enhancement methods, such as the Retinex method, and with the increase in demand for quick image segmentation for use in artificial autonomy, the need for methods that can quickly and accurately segment images has grown exponentially. This presentation aims to analyze modern image segmentation methods and determine which method performs the quickest and with the highest accuracy. This presentation will also look at the difference in results between segmentation of raw images and segmentation of images with contrast enhancement via Retinex image enhancement.

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  Comparing Magnetron Sputtered ScN Films Grown on Sapphire (1 0 -1 0) and (1 -1 0 2) Substrates

  Tobin C. Muratore

  ScN films with high quality crystal structure and desirable carrier concentration have previously been grown on sapphire (0001) substrates. This study seeks to determine whether similarly high quality films can be grown on (101-0) and (1-102) orientated sapphire. The depositions for this study were carried out via reactive, unbalanced, DC magnetron sputtering. Previous growth of ScN on sapphire (0001) showed film quality is sensitive to sputtering conditions. This study seeks to determine what, if any, sputtering conditions can produce films of comparable quality to those grown on sapphire (0001) substrates on the lower symmetry surfaces. The impact of these growth conditions on the crystal quality and electrical properties were evaluated using x-ray diffraction and Hall-effect measurements. X-ray diffraction results indicate that growth on sapphire (1-102) is sensitive to temperature, with optimal growth occurring in a 40°C window. For (10-10) sapphire, similar crystal quality occurs over temperatures from 500-900°C. XRD also shows no conditions tested for either substrate displayed the single crystal growth present on (0001) sapphire.*This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research through prject FA9550-RYCOR490

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  Comparing Patterns of Insect Communities in Remnant, Old Constructed and New Constructed Prairies

  Sienna N. Mcpeek, Emily L. Ott

  The purpose of our study was to determine if insect communities differ between remnant and new/old constructed prairies in the Greater Miami Valley. We hypothesize that insect communities within may vary in constructed prairies compared to remnants, and older constructed prairies may have similar insect patterns when compared to remnant prairies. We predict that certain insects may have similar abundance in remnant prairies and older constructed prairies will have greater diversity across orders in comparison to newer constructed prairies. We took sweep net samples each month in June, July, and August, doing four sets of 25 sweeps per prairie. We placed the caught insects in Ziploc bags to later be frozen. In total, there were 156 bags sorted through at the end of the summer. Samples were sorted to order using a dissecting microscope, and numbers of individuals in each order were counted. This research illustrates the contrast of the different types of prairies through their varying insect abundance and diversity.

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  Comparison of Machine Learning Frameworks for Mobile Devices

  Vamsi Charan Adari

  The purpose of this project is to compare different deep learning frameworks used to detect, recognizeobjects and images using mobile devices. In particular, mobile recognizing frameworks recognize objectsbased on features extracted, color patterns and object segments. When a similar object from traineddataset is identified matching to the recognized object, framework checks the accuracy rate among allthe other related objects and translated it as a command and shows the name of approximate detectedobject. First, the camera of the mobile device captures image of the object and send the image toframework to extract features, segment the object based on shape, color and size. Second, the relatedapproximate object from trained dataset is identified and sent as a return command to the user mobile.Third, the approximate name of the object is displayed on the user’s mobile phone helping the user torecognize. To demonstrate the accuracy rate and functioning of the mobile frameworks, we developedthree mobile applications to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new of mobile interaction. All thethree applications take image as an input and shows an approximate output on the mobile to the user.This comparison in mobile frameworks will facilitate the better usability of different mobile recognitionframeworks in mobile devices to recognize better and unknown objects moving forward.

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  Comparison of the Environmental Impact in Production of Lithium-Ion and Lead-Acid Batteries

  Toni Josipovic, Christopher Hartnagel, Gavin Swink

  Batteries are humanity's tools for personal exergy storage in our device enabled world. Exergy allows work to be done. We gather exergy from energy-carrying substances in the natural world. The two most popular types of natural resources for battery cell chemistries are lithium and lead metal. While energy is conserved, the exergetic portion can be destroyed when it undergoes energy conversion. Although both store exergy, each has unique drawbacks and advantages. The chemistry chosen has environmental consequences, knowing the full range of impacts may assist in efforts to decouple energy use from environmental damage. Properties that differ include raw material input, manufacturing technique and performance characteristics. Raw materials such as lithium cobalt oxide and lithium titanate are expensive, rare earth metals that are used in the production of lithium-ion batteries. Lead-acid batteries are typically made up of lead, barium sulfate, lead sulfate, and sulfuric acid. Though less expensive than lithium-ion, the efficiency compared to its counterpart is much lower. Also, the lead-based ionic compound byproduct is very toxic. To quantify our comparison, an economic input-output hybrid life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) will be performed. Economic activity, conventional air pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy consumption for the manufacturing stage of both types of battery cell chemistries will be discussed. Knowledge of this EIO-LCA will inform the public on how battery selection is coupled with environmental damage. The production and use of different battery types would fall under UN Sustainable Development Goals relating to industry, innovation, and infrastructure and responsible consumption and production.

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  Constitutive and Predictive Modeling of cDLP Additively Manufactured Hyperelastic Polymers for Soft Robotics

  Kevin Lawson

  Recent developments in polymer chemistries along with timely advancements in the field of additive manufacturing (AM) have expanded the possibilities for soft material application. Specifically, novel UV-curable, ultra-stretchable (hyperelastic) liquid resins have been generated for compatibility with continuous digital light processing (cDLP) AM, a subset of vat photopolymerization (VP). However, the use of these materials in relevant applications is impeded by a lack of thorough mechanical testing and subsequent material modeling to clarify behavior. This project aims to address this issue through (1) building a framework of multimodal experimental test data, (2) fashioning descriptive constitutive (material) models, and (3) scripting representative finite element simulations, all towards the implementation of hyperelastic materials in soft robotics.

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  Content Randomization for Early Math Education

  Thomas Sherk, Manasi Jayesh Thakkar

  This is an interactive problem-solving counting game built using Unity 3D. It has scattered arrangements of animals that are harder to count which helps kids to develop different mental images of quantities. It also helps them to learn about number sequences as they select the side which has more number of animals. There are 4 levels in this game and difficulty keeps increasing at every level. The number of animals ranges from 1 to 5 in level 1, level 2 and level 3. In level 1, the animals on each side are of the same type and same size. Example, 5 lions on one side and 3 monkeys on the other side. Level 2 is similar to level 1 except for the fact that the area occupied by the animals on one side is the same as the area occupied by the animals on the other side. For example, 2 elephants on one side and 4 lions on the other side occupy the same area. In level 3, animals on each side are of different type and the area occupied by the animals on both sides is the same. For example, 2 elephants and 1 lion on one side and 1 elephant, 1 giraffe and 2 monkeys on the other side. Level 4 is similar to level 3 but now the number of animals varies from 1 to 9. The animals are always displayed in a random manner, making sure that the same pattern never repeats.

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  Co-Op Dayton- Creating an Economy that Works for All.

  Connor M. Dushane

  Co-Op Dayton is a non-profit founded in 2015 that incubates cooperative businesses to create and retain quality jobs in our region, building a local economy that works for all. The cooperative business model puts the power of decision making in the hands of the employees themselves giving them greater control over the future of their business. Co-Op Dayton is best known for its flagship project the Gem City Market. Over the past year, I have been working with them to develop new cooperative businesses in the manufacturing, construction, and agricultural industries. Figuring out how Co-Op Dayton’s work impacts the economic growth of the city of Dayton, and comparing it to the very successful Mondragon Corporation in Spain, creates an opportunity to see how investing resources in worker or community-owned companies could spur further economic growth in Dayton and beyond. This poster will dive into how cooperatives can grow businesses by analyzing different Dayton small businesses that either are or are in the process of transitioning to the cooperative model and how their business can grow with the benefits of the coop model, as well as analyzing the current economical climate of the city to understand how shifting to worker-owned could spur regrowth of certain industries. The goal of this poster is to provide a greater understanding of how cooperatives can change the economy for the better and meet the goals of positive social change while working to overcome some of today’s economic challenges.

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  Crosstalk between IMD and JNK pathways in Amyloid-beta 42 mediated neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease

  Prajakta D. Deshpande, Samuel J. Shroder

  Alzheimer's Disease (AD), affects 5.8 million people, is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder that leads to memory loss and reduced cognitive abilities. In AD, the miscleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) results in the accumulation of Amyloid-beta 42 plaques outside neurons that triggers neuronal cell death. The mechanism for cell death is widely unknown and is currently being explored. In this study, Drosophila was used as a model system to mimic AD neuropathology by misexpressing human Aβ42 plaques in the developing eye of the Drosophila using the Gal4/UAS system. Misexpressing Aβ42 plaques triggers neuronal cell death and results in a glazed and reduced eye phenotype. It is known the immune deficiency (IMD) pathway plays a role in cell survival and the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) plays a role in cell death. Induction of the IMD pathway leads to the activation of NF-kB transcription factor Relish. Gain of function of Relish in the background of GMR> Aβ42, results in suppression of Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration. Down regulation of Relish results in the smaller eye phenotype with necrotic spots. Activation of Relish is linked to proteasomal degradation of TGF-beta activated kinase 1 (TAK1), upstream component for JNK activation. So, it would be interesting to understand the crosstalk between Immune deficiency (IMD) pathway, and the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway in Aβ42 mediated neurodegeneration.

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  DALES: A Large-scale Aerial LiDAR Data Set for Semantic Segmentation

  Nina Marie Varney

  We present DALES, a new large scale aerial LiDAR data set with over a half-billion hand-labeled points, spanning 10 $km^2$ of area and eight object categories. Large annotated point cloud data sets have become the standard for evaluating deep learning methods. However, most focus on data collected from a mobile or terrestrial scanner with few focusing on aerial data. Point cloud data collected from an Aerial Laser Scanner (ALS) presents a new set of challenges and applications in areas such as 3D urban modeling and large scale surveillance. DALES is the largest publicly available ALS data set with over 400 times the number of points and six times the per meter resolution than other currently available annotated aerial point cloud data sets. We describe the nature of our data and the annotation workflow as well as provide a benchmark of current state-of-the-art algorithms and their performance on our data set. This data set gives a critical number of expert verified hand-labeled points for the evaluation of new 3D deep learning algorithms, helping to expand the focus of current algorithms to aerial data.

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  Dayton and Sustainable Development Goal 16

  Jared Dominic Marsh

  During my time researching human rights cities and how to establish Dayton as a human rights city, I learned the importance of collaboration and practicality. This is evident in the SDGs with the broad goals but paired with practical targets. When you take the practical targets and work with local partners to align the targets with their needs I think you have an improved chance of being successful. The people and planet are the most important factors, in my opinion, so we must start using language and mechanisms that are tangible for all. I have learned that without institutional and systemic change these unjust systems are unlikely to change. This is why we need a top down approach. Without the will of local individuals initiatives are likely to fail. Bottom up approaches allow initiatives to be locally relevant and effective.

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  Dayton as a Human Rights City in the Future

  Maranda Elise Lewis

  Ideas for Advocacy Campaign: Get a motivated group consisting of victims (if willing) and non-victims; educate the community through group presentations; band together to report, be on the lookout, and assist with resources for victims; create a non-profit aimed at reducing, supporting, and dispensing resources for those in need.

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  Dayton & Sustainable Development Goal 4: Turning the City of Learners into a Human Rights City

  Tiffany Erin Hendricks

  Lessons: How to apply international protocols, treaties, and issues to a local environment/context; current human rights issues in Dayton and their impact on Daytonians; compilation of data across a variety of platforms and with a wide variety of contributors.

  Reflections: Human rights can only be accomplished truly when the entire community, from every level, is on board and involved. Every voice needs to be heard and every person given an invitation to and seat at the table.

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  Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing to Detect Misinformation

  Ian M. Cannon, David Fan

  Misinformation is the act of spreading incorrect or false information about a given topic. With the upcoming presidential campaign, COVID-19, and other major events ongoing it is especially important to identify sources of misinformation. Our group proposes a novel method of classifying articles by using context and content indicators to debunk news articles containing misinformation. Most models take in articles and determine whether it is fake or not. We propose a method to predict content indicators to that highlight the credibility of an article and then decide if it is real or fake. This gives some agency to the reviewer by allowing one to see what were the major factors in deciding if an article is fake or not.

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  Designing Fictional Spaces: Questionable Architecture that Supports Sustainable Design

  Noël J. Michel

  This thesis presents the modeling of spaces described in short stories that are difficult to visualize. The three stories are Kafka's "The Burrow", Borges's "The Library of Babel" and Barthelme's "The Balloon." Three dimensional models were created based on the details provided by the authors in each story. Several 2-D images are then generated from these models to match specific scenes. This consideration of these works of fiction provokes the asking of several questions about the science, mathematics and engineering that underpins the stories. In all cases, questions about sustainability arise.

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  Design Modeling of Spatial Shape-Change Linkages

  Chengwei Shi

  The goal of this research is to develop mechanical designs of spatial shape-changing linkages. Mechanical systems often benefit from the capacity to vary between specific shapes in a controlled manner, such as a morphing aircraft wing that can adapt to different in-flight requirements. Spatial shape-changing linkages consist of a chain of three-dimensional bodies connected with ball joints. When the chain segments are repositioned, they match a set of arbitrary spatial curves. These chains are composed of two segments types: a twisted rigid segment and a helical segment with constant curvature and torsion but varying length. The research project involves creating the mechanical designs of the segments and motion control schemes that move the chain from the origin position to the target position. Animations are created in SolidWorks that demonstrate various motion schemes and illustrate the chain’s approximation to the target spatial curves.

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  Design of a Trike for Paraplegics Powered By Functional Electrical Stimulation of Leg Muscles

  Andy Bazler, 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 dead zones, where neither FES-stimulated leg actively propels the bike forward. One possibility for reducing or eliminating dead zones is to redesign the circular path of the pedaling motion. Bicycles have recently been marketed that feature pedaling mechanisms that employ alternate pedaling motions. In addition to addressing dead zones, these bikes also optimize the muscle capacity of the rider to deliver torque to the wheels. These new bikes achieve alternate pedaling paths through the introduction of more complicated mechanisms including four-bar and ratchet-and-pawl linkages. Such alternates are being considered for the redesign of the performance tricycle piloted by FES-stimulated riders. To investigate possible changes to the tricycle, quasi-static models have been developed for traditional and alternate cycling mechanisms. This allows for a comparison of torque generation between the mechanisms which facilitates selecting the optimal design. Such a tricycle is viewed as beneficial due to the health advantages, improved mobility, and independence created for the end user.