Stander Symposium Projects

Follow

• 

  Skin Lesion Segmentation and Classification using Deep Learning and Handcrafted Features

  Redha Ali

  Skin cancer is one of cancer type that has a significant impact on society in the United States and across the world. Recently, several Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system papers have been presented. However, there is still an opportunity for further development in the accuracy of its diagnosis. In this research, we propose an algorithm for skin cancer segmentation and classification at a more treatable stage. Our current approach is computationally efficient and combines information from both deep learning and handcrafted features. Our system creates robust hybrid features that have a stronger discrimination ability than single method features. These features are used as inputs to a decision-making model that is based on a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. Our results evaluated online validation and test databases. Our score was 0.841 on the validation dataset and 0.701 on the test dataset for the classification task. We participated in the ISIC Challenge 2018, being ranked 59th for disease classification and 85th for skin lesion segmentation out of 141 methods listed on the competition leaderboard. These statistics do not include the rankings of the groups who did not qualify for the leaderboard. Also, it is important to note that many of the successful methods that were ranked highly used additional external data for training. The ISIC 2018 competition does not provide the external data that they used. We only utilized the competition which provided data for training.

• 

  Sleeping on "it" DOES work: Memory for pictures becomes stronger the day after learning, even with an interruption in the learning task

  Victoria Lynne Karpuszka, Sarah Phoebe Lawson, Madeline Margaret Nash, Alicia Michelle Selvey, Gabriella Louise Silone, Carolina Sofia Vazquez

  Research indicates that memories are strengthened by consolidation, the incorporation during sleep into a previously established memory network (Rasch & Born, 2008; 2013). Memories are initially unstable after encoding and sleep consolidation increases resistance to interference (Robertson, 2011). On the first day of a two-day experiment designed to examine whether an encoding task interruption and a delay in retrieval would affect later memory consolidation, participants memorized pictures of common objects (e.g., owl) presented in a slideshow. Participants were assigned to complete either an immediate recognition test that included studied and unstudied pictures (“lures”), or return the following day to complete a delayed recognition test. Some were assigned to be tested on the two consecutive days. There were three hypotheses: (a) target pictures tested for memory only on the second day would be remembered as good if not better, due to sleep consolidation, than when tested for memory only on the first day; (b) there would be serial position effects on sleep consolidation of the target pictures due to the task interruption, such that recency before interruption would be reduced while other serial position effects would be stable; (c) pictures tested on both days would be better remembered on the second day than on the first. A 3 (Test day: Day 1, Day 2 or both days) x 2 (Test stimulus: Targets and Lures) ANOVA compared correct discrimination for each condition. The interaction between stimuli and testing day was significant and strong (p = .001, η2 = .189), indicating that participants tested on Day 2 were as correct as those on Day 1 in identifying picture targets. However, although participants on Day 2 remembered more targets, they also incorrectly remembered more lures than on Day 1. Sleep consolidation has an overall effect of maintaining the strength of “real” memories over time.

• 

  Smelling How to Feel: The Impact of Odor on Affective Evaluation and Mood

  Michael Alexander Lee

  Olfaction, or the sense of smell, and emotion have long been recognized as closely related. Previous research has found that odors are not only capable of influencing our mood, but can also affect the way we evaluate different types stimuli that are associated with them. However, no study to date has examined how odors can influence the way we evaluate visual stimuli, nor considered the relationship between odor’s ability to influence mood as well as affective evaluation. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature. For this study, we have participants complete questionnaires about their demographic information, current mood, and the affective impact of odor for them. Then, we have them view a series of images and rate them for positive valence, negative valence, and intensity. Once they have viewed all the images, participants then relocate to another room that has been prepared with a pleasant odor, unpleasant odor, or no odor. The participants then complete another questionnaire regarding their mood following odor exposure, and they then view and rate another set of images, which contains both new images and the same images they viewed earlier. We hypothesize that participant’s reported mood state will change after being exposed to a pleasant or unpleasant odor, that their ratings of positive and negative valence for the images will change after being exposed to a pleasant or unpleasant odor, and that the change in image ratings is mediated by their change in mood due to the odor. Furthermore, due to there being a number of known sex differences in olfaction, we hypothesize that any odor’s effect on mood and image ratings will be more pronounced for female participants. This project is ongoing and we plan to have final results by Summer 2019.

• 

  Social Experiences and Smell

  Brooke Lois Lipnos

  Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with olfactory impairments (Suzuki et al., 2003) and high rates of social dysfunction (Hadijikhani et al., 2005). Research suggests that there is a relationship between olfactory impairments and socail dysfunction in autism (Thye et al., 2018). However, the relation between olfaction and social function in a normative adult population has yet to be studied. This two-part study aims to address this gap by investigating relations between olfaction and social function in undergraduate students. Methods: 200 participants will complete eight questionnaires about their social preferences, experiences, feeling of socail experiences and importance of smell. Additionally, participants will undergo testing of odor detection sensitivity, identification, and hedonic response to odor and complete two tasks that access decision making and social navigation. It is hypothesized that odor identification scores will be positively correlated with social function and that females will outperform their male counterparts in both olfactory and social navigation tasks. Keywords: Olfaction, Social Function, Autism

• 

  Social media influencers: The case of the Fyre Festival

  Emily Anne Horvath

  In 2017, Fyre Festival, perpetrated by entrepreneur and fraudster Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule took social media by storm, becoming a worldwide phenomenon in just weeks. With more than 40 thousand #FyreFestival tags and models such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid contributing to the promotion of the music festival, McFarland created a movement so big that there was no going back. Social media provided a platform so powerful that Fyre Festival was able to be taken to extremes. Originally intended to promote Fyre Media’s Fyre app for booking music talent, the festival soon became a weekend-long music festival on a private island with private jets, cabanas, alcohol, food, and so much more. Once they arrived, the 5,000+ festivalgoers that purchased tickets quickly took to social media to express their extreme disappointment. Coming full circle, social media provided a powerful platform to generate a movement from #FyreFestival to #FyreFraud. In this case study centered on the promotion of the Fyre Festival, the researcher explores the concept of social media influencers through the ethical lens of equity and truth telling.

• 

  Solids Suspension in Unbaffled Vessels Using Vertical Off-Center Agitators

  Dillon Patrick Moher

  Solids suspension via mechanical agitation has been studied extensively, with most of these studies being performed in baffled vessels. Baffling promotes axial flow that provides the desired performance with minimized capital and operating costs. While most studies focus on fully-baffled conditions, there are solids suspension studies that consider reduced baffling. An example is the work of Drewer et al. (1994) who reported advantages to using shorter baffles that do not extend to the tank base when agitating high concentration solid-liquid suspensions. Similarly, Myers et al. (2005) found that hydrofoil impellers can generate top-to-bottom motion with limited baffling, providing the opportunity to achieve solids suspension without full baffling. Baffling is not used in some applications, often motivated by the desire to promote cleanliness and avoid the potential for fouling. Very limited information is available concerning solids suspension in unbaffled vessels. In their study of solids suspension using angle-mounted agitators in unbaffled vessels, Myers et al. (2011) noted that the just-suspended speed in this configuration is typically seventy-five percent higher than with a vertically-mounted agitator in a fully-baffled vessel. Angle mounting is not always an acceptable approach, particularly for larger agitators whose weight leads to large forces on the agitator shaft and mounting structure. In these instances, vertical off-center agitator mounting may be used in an unbaffled vessel. Moving the agitator off the vessel centerline reduces swirl that leads to near solid-body rotation that often makes meeting agitation objectives challenging. Little information has been published about the performance of vertical off-center agitators in unbaffled vessels, and the study described in this presentation characterizes the effect of impeller type, size, and off-center location on the speed, torque, and power requirements for solids suspension in this configuration.

• 

  Spatial Analysis of the Relationship between Infant Mortality and Socioeconomic Conditions in Santa Clara, CA

  Michael Chacko

  Infant mortality is one of the most important indicators for the overall health of a community. Infant mortality is defined as number of deaths per 1000 live births of children under one year of age. The leading causes of infant mortality include premature births, birth complications, smoking/drinking of mothers while pregnant and environmental conditions. In this project, we explore the relationship between infant mortality rate and such factors as race, income, tobacco/alcohol, and maternal health in Santa Clara County, California, using data acquired from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. With a population of around 2 million, 53% consisting of white, 3% black, 37% Asian, 25% Hispanic, and 8% living in poverty, Santa Clara is a diverse enough county to perform this study and gain insight on the community health in the area. Previous research has determined that African-American mothers experience infant mortality at a rate 44% higher than average. Lower incomes tend to correlate with higher infant mortality rates, as they do not have the resources to afford medical care. The aim of this project is to find out if these results from previous studies will hold true in Santa Clara County. The external health factors to be analyzed are the number of alcohol and tobacco retailers per square mile in Santa Clara County. Maternal health factors will be evaluated through a Vital Health Statistics dataset obtained from the County Public Health Department. Using GIS, we will also explore how such relationship varies spatially across the county. This information will be useful in gaining a deeper understanding of the rates of varying infant mortality in the county and will highlight zip codes of particular interest regarding infant mortality.

• 

  Spatial Assessment of Current and Future Wildfire Risk in Los Angeles County, California

  Caroline Johnstone

  As our climate continues to change, forest fires in California are expected to increase in both size and intensity. Understanding how climate change affects the risk of wildfires is vital in protecting both the land and citizens who live in the area, as well as aiding in better wildfire management. The purpose of this project was to understand current and future wildfire risk in Los Angeles County based on natural and anthropogenic influences. This project first analyzed different factors affecting wildfire risk such as: vegetation type, land use, proximity to roads, precipitation, temperature, and wind speed. Individual risk maps are created for each of the factors for a better understanding of their spatial distribution. A final risk map was generated by adding all the risk maps using tools in ArcMap. This map helps to identify areas of highest wildfire risk under current climate conditions. The next step of this project is to incorporate projected temperature and precipitation changes by the end of the century to estimate how the intensity and spatial distribution wildfire risk will change in the future. With the expected increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation, wildfire risk is going to increase. This map provides vital information to land management officials in protecting this region of California. The final step of this project was to assess how much urban area was at risk to wildfires in both current and future conditions, and how many people live within these areas. Such information is beneficial to those in wildfire resource management and land management.

• 

  Spatial Chains for Matching 3-Dinensional Curves

  Yucheng Li

  This work introduces a methodology for designing a chain of three-dimensional bodies to match a set of arbitrary spatial curves. Three types of spatial bodies are defined to make this match: a rigid segment, a helical segment with constant curvature and torsion but varying length, and a growth segment that maintains its shape but may be scaled to become larger or smaller. The first two body types can be used to define mechanical chains that describe the kinematics of continuum robots, a rapidly emerging area of robotics. All three body types are used for morphometric analysis involving spatial land-mark curve matching. Beyond these applications, this work will more broadly impact machine design through its significant extensions to shape-changing rigid-body mechanism theory. In fact, the methodology for the spatial mechanical chains developed herein is an extension to planar shape-changing mechanism theory.

• 

  Spatial Mapping with Head Mounted Display and Application

  Somaraju Kamma

  Mapping virtual objects to a real-world environment is beneficial for many educational purposes such as a virtual gym for athletic training or interactive anatomical models for prospective medical school students. For this project, we implement spatial mapping to surfaces using the Microsoft HoloLens to project a planetarium that superimposes an interactive solar system for visual educational purposes. The planetarium can be manipulated through gaze, gestures, and voice commands and enhances the understanding of large astronomical structures that are traditionally hard to visualize due to issues with scale. This development paves ways for more exciting and in-depth projects in the future that utilize a head mounted display for educational purposes.

• 

  Spotlight on Church Abuse

  Alexandra Rose Scherb

  Communitarian ethicists argue that social identity is formed by community relationships, emphasizing the connection between an individual and his or her community. The main argument in this study is that journalism only functions properly as part of a larger community. This study examines the investigative reporting done by the Boston Globe Spotlight on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church (printed in 2002). Discussed, in particular, is how the Globe and other major institutions in the city of Boston interact in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight. The community of Boston as a whole failed to protect its children and, in a sense, became a part of the system that abused them.

• 

  Statistical Analysis of the Effectivity of A Quarterback to Increase Winning Percentage Over Time

  Kaity M Jones

  A quarterback is often seen as the key component to a winning football team. This study is meant to evaluate the quarterback only skills and how effective they are in increasing winning percentage over 11 years across all 32 NFL teams in the regular season. Longitudinal modeling is used to evaluate each variable independently of one another to see how they affect winning percentage when incorporated into the same model. This research will also compare to a previous model I developed for a previous class. The hope is to take up to 10 different variables and see which variables are significant in increasing winning percentage for the team. It will also show if over time variables become more or less significant as the previous model was only capable of holding 4 years of data compared to the revised model of 11 years. The model is meant to see which skills are significant to increasing winning percentage. Which will narrow the scope of a quarterback on what skills to work on for the greatest results. Ultimately it is meant to show the meaningful work that a quarterback actually puts in to helping his team win.

• 

  Steady States of Gene Networks with AND/OR Gates

  Nikki Nicole Geiser

  Boolean networks are systems of variables that are either ON/1 or OFF/0, and a set of rules/functions that describe how these variables interact. These networks can represent biological systems and their regulation/gates. An important feature of Boolean networks is its steady states, which represent values of the system that remain stable over time and correspond to biologically stable patterns. Finding the number of steady states is very difficult, so theoretical results that predict the number of steady states are fundamental for the understanding of Boolean networks and their applications. Thus, we focus on a specific class of Boolean networks: AND-OR gate networks with chain structure, where activation is either synergistic or independent, and which resemble the structure of signal transduction networks. We find closed formulas for subclasses of these networks and recursive formulas in the general case. Our results allow for an effective computation of the number of steady states.

• 

  Stress and Olfaction: The Affective Link

  Sahar Kaouk

  Objectives: Odor presence may change the way a visual stimulus is perceived, and emotional state can influence olfaction, or the sense of smell (Zald & Parado,1997; Seubert et. al,2009; Pollatos et. al,2007). Under a negative emotional state, both males and females had decreased olfactory detection sensitivity but only males rated odors as being more unpleasant and intense (Chen & Dalton,2005). No study has examined sex differences in the effects of social and non-social stress on affective state and olfactory functioning. Females experience greater negative affect in response to social stress compared to males, who appear have distress following achievement stress (Stroud et. al,2002). In this project, sex differences in the impact of social stress and achievement stress on affective state and olfactory function will be investigated. Methods: Participants (N=128) will be randomly assigned to either: social or achievement stress condition. All participants will undergo baseline testing of odor detection sensitivity, hedonics, and intensity, then complete a battery of self-report questionnaires assessing affect, rejection sensitivity, and self-esteem. Participants in the social stress condition will undergo one round of Cyberball and participants in the achievement stress condition will take a difficult arithmetic test. Immediately after stress exposure, repeat olfactory testing and battery of questionnaires assessing affect and perceived stress will be administered. Significance: This project will expand the understanding of how affect and olfaction are related, and how sex influences these relations specifically how stress conditions induce negative affect and alter olfactory functioning. Since social impairment is present across a number of psychiatric disorders and olfaction is related to social functioning, understanding the impact of social versus non-social stress on affective state and olfactory function advancements in prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders can be achieved. Differences between sex regarding olfactory functioning, emotional regulation, and reactions to stress

• 

  Student Perception of Parental Involvement in College Orientation

  Sarah Kathryn Skidmore

  Much research on orientation focuses on how parental involvement affects retention or overall first-year student success in college. However, there is a lack of research focusing on orientation solely and what happens to students if parents are or are not able to attend with the student. This study uncovers just that, allowing for a shift in focus from retention to the emotional side of a student and how having one or both parents present may or may not affect their emotional transition into college. Orientation is the time where students and families are given as much information as possible to feel prepared for the start of this new journey. The experience can make or break a student’s perception of their new college home, and having parents there adds another whole dimension to a student’s feelings of comfort and support. Through a qualitative, narrative approach, this research delves into the lives of five students who did and six students who did not have parents present at orientation. Students reflect on their perceived levels of anxiousness, preparedness, support, autonomy and independence, ability to meet people, and their space to develop identity and self-authorship all in relation to whether or not their parents were able to attend orientation with them. This study helps student affairs professionals better understand what affect parental presence at new student orientation has on incoming students. It helps institutions decide whether to have more or less parent sessions during orientation. It also helps institutions see how students are feeling when they do not have a parent present, possibly suggesting ways that institutions can provide opportunities for these students to have sessions that still allow them to feel that same type of support as students whose parents were present.

• 

  Surface and Groundwater interaction in the Great Miami Valley Watershed: Isotope Geochemical Approach

  Caroline Johnstone

  Groundwater-surface water interaction play a vital role in determining the quality and quantity of groundwater as well as sustainable water resources management. Surface water and groundwater are key components in the water cycle that variably interact depending on geology, topography, and rainfall seasonality. We use environmental isotopes of Hydrogen (δD) and Oxygen (δ18O), which are conservative dual tracers, to provide key information on the movement and flux of water in the hydrologic cycle, degree of mixing between reservoirs, and spatial and seasonal variation of surface and groundwater interaction. Here we examine the degree of surface and groundwater interaction in the Great Miami Valley Watershed (GMVW). Weekly precipitation samples from Dayton, OH, spring and fall groundwater samples from the Great Miami Buried Aquifer and weekly river water samples from four locations (Still Water River, Mad River, and two locations on the Great Miami River) were collected and analyzed for δD and δ18O. Our initial data set shows that the average isotopic composition of the rivers is -6.71±0.19 ‰ for δ18O and -42.63±1.11‰ for δD during the warm season and -7.42±0.12‰ for δ18O and -47.69±0.88‰ for δD during the cool season.The average isotopic composition for groundwater is -7.16±0.49 ‰ for δ18O and -45.29±2.73‰ for δD during the spring and -7.05±0.50‰ for δ18O and -44.72±2.83‰ for δD during the fall. Our result based on an isotope two-component mixing model shows high degree of connectivity between surface and groundwater in the Miami Valley. Locally, rivers and the Great Miami Buried Aquifer shows more than 75% mixing. The outcome of this study will provide useful information on available seasonal groundwater recharge and aid in future water resource management.

• 

  Surface tension measurements of bio-based magnetic nanocomposites in ethanol and water solutions

  Grace Ann Docken, Frankie Ann Petrie

  Separation of ethanol from water in the fermentation broth of biofuels requires a distillation process with high energy use. To reduce the energy cost of this process, emulsified bio-based superparamagnetic nanoparticles in castor oil are being studied. This work is the second step in determining the structure-property relationships for this process by evaluating the surface tension with variables of temperature and concentration which are key to emulsions formation. In this work, measurements of surface tension were taken for lignin@magnetite nanoparticles with a goniometer instrument. Magnetic and structural properties of the nanocomposites were obtained using a Vibrating Sampling Magnetometer (VSM) and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Specifically, two studies were performed to test the effects of the magnetic nanoparticles on the surface tension of ethanol/water mixtures. The first experiment analyzed the impact of nanoparticles concentration in eight different ethanol/water aqueous solutions. The second experiment analyzed the temperature effects in surface tension at a constant nanoparticle concentration in a water solution. The lower concentrations of nanoparticles show little to no change in the surface tension; however, above 1 w/v% concentration, there is a decrease in surface tension of the dispersion. This decrease is also much higher at lower concentrations of ethanol and pure water. As temperature increases, surface tension decreased for all samples. The ultimate goal of this research is to determine the parameters in which bio-based nanoparticles can be used to create emulsions with magnetic properties for use in ethanol extraction from fermentation broths with energy-efficient liquid-liquid extractions.

• 

  Synthesis and Binding Abilities of Bis(quinoxalino) Ligand

  Jacob L Buechele, Kaity Rose McKenna

  The need for environmentally safe practices has skyrocketed within the past few years, as soil and water are subject to transition metal accumulation. One way to deal with these contaminations is by use of peraza-crown macrocycles as ligands to remove these metals. Our project focuses on a unique synthesis of the peraza-crown macrocycle that avoids the common use of a metal skeleton. Through the use of the quinoxaline subunit, we are able to greatly increase the binding properties of the peraza-crown macrocycle and the rigidity of the overall molecule.

• 

  Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Image Analysis of Barrow Area

  Ming Gong

  With an increasing volume of digital image data obtained from various aircraft and satellite sensors, remote sensing image analysis is becoming more and more important. Effective use of this remote sensing image requires an accurate extraction of information contained in the data. Many image processing and analysis techniques have been developed to aid the interpretation of remote sensing images and to extract as much information as possible from the images. Relevant applications are constantly expanding, from all kinds of land use and land cover mapping applications (such as glaciers and sea ice) to detect and track air pollution and oil leak, the mineralogy of other measurement of earth's surface and atmosphere. The objective of this research is to study the processes of Arctic coastal environment at the intersection between the marine, terrestrial, atmospheric and cryospheric environments. We use ground-based and remote sensing observations to create an integrated Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image processing system for segmentation and classification based on different types of surface in Barrow area.

• 

  Teachers’ Knowledge of Suicide Warning Signs and Risk Factors

  Caitlyn Leigh Tipple

  Recognizing the warning signs and risk factors for suicide is key in prevention efforts. This study examined teachers’ knowledge of suicide risk factors and warning signs. Results indicated that teachers have limited knowledge of the risk factors and warning signs for suicide. Furthermore, results yielded small correlations between the grade level taught, number of years teaching, training experiences, and the number of professional development hours and the number of risk factors and warning signs identified accurately.

• 

  Technology in the Classroom

  Grazia Maria Dipierro, Jordan N McCormick, Bridget Frances Vaughn

  The growing use of technology in the classroom has prompted studies to determine how technology affects the quality of a student’s education. There are benefits and risks that come with using one to one technology, online textbooks, and online classrooms that can have varied impacts on student learning and development. One to one technology, including its implementation, can influence student-teacher relationships and the overall effectiveness of technology in the classroom. Online resources, especially textbooks, have proven to be controversial tools for students. Some students complain about eye strain and the need to print online texts in order to learn, while others appreciated the decreased price tag of online resources. Studies show that online learning can contribute to feelings of isolation and a lack of belonging as students are unable to develop the same tactile relationships with teachers and other students as is possible in a traditional classroom. As society moves away from traditional classroom learning and increasingly relies on technology, the effects of online learning and resources must be examined in order to ensure a quality education for each student.

• 

  Testing UD Soil Isolates for Antimicrobial Activity

  Elizabeth M Collins

  Antibiotics are important in both the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. However, there has been an increase in antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is when a microbe counters the effects of the antibiotic, and continues to reproduce. As the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections grow, the bigger the threat to public and global health. The Small World Initiative and the Tiny Earth Network’s mission is to support student research in antibiotic discovery by isolation of unknown bacteria from soil. Over the past semester, I have been conducting research with the aim to find microbes that produce antimicrobial effects on known ESKAPE pathogens from soil collected outside Roesch Library. A soil sample was collected from the gazebo next to Roesch Library. Bacteria colonies were plated on TSA and TH plates. Eleven colonies from the TSA plate and ten colonies from the TH plate were selected to be tested against the known pathogens of Enterococcus faecium and Klebsiella pneumoniae. These pathogens cause similar infections and are transmitted the same way by direct contact. However, Enterococcus faecium is a gram positive bacterium and Klebsiella pneumoniae is a gram negative bacterium. By choosing two different types of bacterium the goal is to discover if there is a difference in antimicrobial activity based on the type of pathogen. Antimicrobial activity is determined by the presence of a zone of inhibition. For the bacteria that show antimicrobial activity, a series of tests, which include gram staining and biochemical testing, were performed to identify the bacterial isolates. Future implications of this research could help create new antibiotics to fight against human pathogens and further improve the public health of the community.

• 

  The Buzz Around Solar Energy: How pollinators could be affected in an urban prairie located under a solar array

  Marigrace Sandi Moses, Francisco Jose Suarez Negron

  Nonrenewable resources are approaching obsolescence as communities look towards the future and sustainability. Solar energy has been a hot topic, but there is concern about the structures taking over habitats and disrupting the ecosystems they will share. As solar energy, specifically ground solar, becomes more prevalent in communities, the worry of preserving land and habitats increases particularly for lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and hymenoptera (bees and wasps). This concern is based on the simple fact that renewable energy sources need more area to be effective. This research will examine how the installation of solar panels could affect how frequently pollinators visit a prairie. We observed the number of different pollinators that visited Solidago riddellii and Ageratina altissima which are both prairie plants native to Ohio. Since the prairie had not been seeded yet, 60 mason jars with the prairie plants were placed outside of and underneath the rows of solar panels. The jars were left out for about 24 hours. During this time, an observer recorded pollinators that landed on the flowers.This experiment started late in the flowering season and we did not get sufficient data to answer these questions. However, the ground has been cleared and seeding has now taken place. Since the prairie will be growing by Fall 2019, further observation will take place to test the central question in this study. Continuing this study could help many communities plan for thriving pollinator communities as they begin to install ground solar panels. While renewable energy is crucial, it is important to consider the ecosystem that they are being introduced to and how they might affect target organism of restoration.

• 

  The College Student Perspective on Reintegration

  Emily Katherine Dotson

  Many institutions of higher education are finding the likelihood of students returning to the university after a disciplinary suspension is somewhat higher than in past decades. Students who return have different stories and experiences that are important to any reintegration to a community. Restorative Justice practices can play a large part in making someone feel accepted, forgiven, and allows for rebuilding relationships. Between work done in prisons or in K-12 schooling, reintegration programs can look extremely different. Through semi-structured interviewing four (4) students at the University of Dayton who have successfully reintegrated to the community, I explored their perspective on what is most and least helpful during their reintegration experience. Results show that having a reintegration program significantly aided students in feeling more welcomed back to campus and ensured that they continued on a path for success concurrent with their personal goals. In future practices, schools should create a reintegration program that is more uplifting and positive such as Restorative Justice Practices, versus a punitive approach causing a further decline in student and staff relations. Having support and resources readily available at the beginning has shown to be the most beneficial for returning students.

• 

  The Dirt on Antibiotics at the University of Dayton

  Michelle Lynn Borchers

  Antibiotics have become a problem as their overuse has led to pathogens resisting the effect of antibiotics. This is an important health matter as once effective antibiotics no longer work to cure some illnesses. The Small World Initiative and the Tiny Earth Network function to discover potential antibiotics in nature by isolating bacteria from soil samples in the environment and testing them against ESKAPE pathogens. The goal of this research is to help support the Small World Initiative by testing soil for the presence of naturally occurring antibiotics on the University of Dayton’s campus. A sample of soil was collected from a backyard on campus grounds and tested against ESKAPE pathogen safe relatives Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus raffinosus. Antibacterial effects can be quantified by measuring the zones of inhibition on the agar plates. Lab techniques such as aseptic technique, serial dilution, master plates, and spread plates were used to isolate the pure bacterial colonies that showed antibacterial effects on the pathogens. Gram staining and biochemical testing were performed to try to identify the bacterial isolates. The biochemical tests include: catalase, hemolysis, triple sugar iron, mannitol salt agar, MacConkey agar, citrate, gelatinase, and motility. The antibiotic producing chemicals of the pure colonies were then extracted and tested with eukaryotic cells. The findings will help contribute to the mission of the Small World Initiative and the Tiny Earth Network.