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  The emotional impacts on students with standardized testing

  Alasandra C. Toliopoulos

  In this paper I will be looking at the emotional effects on students during the standardized testing process. Also, the anxiety students feel when taking standardized tests is impacted from constant pressures to have high achievement. The anxieties that students feel through the testing process can cause students to focus on learning for the test rather than retaining the material for the future. In addition to the way information is presented to students in a testing focused format rather than being ingrained into students’ minds which has an impact on students' mental health.

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  The Evolving Thought and Vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  Alyssa Cacini, Katherine Sullivan, Maddalena Boyer, Madeline Nagy

  Students analyze the campus memorial to Martin Luther King Jr.: The chair with the suit coat and Bible not only represents Dr. King, but also anyone who visits the memorial. It should be used as a springboard to bring issues forward. It was created so anyone who stepped foot on campus can recognize the history that had taken place.

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  The Fight for Citizenship: Human Rights in Canadian and American Immigration Law

  Nadia E. Karaba, Rose Philbin, Katherine Shryock

  Our presentation is about the struggles to achieve citizenship in the United States. We portray this through multiple interviews with people who have immigrated to the United State but have had difficulty in obtaining citizenship. We argue to make citizenship easier to obtain, especially for those who have lived and worked in the US for a long time. We also compare and contrast the United States immigration laws to other immigration laws seen on the world stage, specifically utilizing Canada as our main example. Other ways how we compare and contrast is by using case studies in said respective actors in order to portray their laws and policies. In this project, our interview(s) center around the fight for citizenship in an environment that does not allow for easy access to it. Additionally, we present further research into the subject and how it relates to the UDHR. We demonstrate how our topic is supported by the UDHR and ways that the UDHR should be updated in order to support this issue.

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  The Graduate School Navigation: The Experiences of First-Generation Black Women in Master’s Program

  Kara Brown

  We hear that Black women are considered to be amongst the most educated individuals in society and are pursuing higher education at an increasingly high rate. Although, there is minimal information of their experiences. In this study, I explore the experiences of first-generation Black women who have pursued and are currently enrolled in a Master’s program. In particular this study addresses how first-generation Black Women navigate their Master’s programs and the challenges or stressors those students faced. Data for this study emerges from interviews with first-generation Black women who completed or are enrolled in a Master’s program. It is important to note that the majority of these first-generation Black women participants are enrolled in a predominantly White campus. So many of the participants are the only Black or person of color within their program, and may feel reluctant to present as their authentic selves. Also, since the participants are the first to receive both of their bachelor’s and Master’s degree family and financial support is not as prevalent as fellow students on the pursuit. For future research, it would be beneficial for higher education institutions to build better systems of financial and personal support for Black women

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  The Impact for Not Only You but Me Too

  Derek Christopher Boykin

  The “Me Too” movement is an example of how community and togetherness can help bring justice in the community. In my presentation, I will illustrate how this movement has brought awareness to sexism, sexual assault, and harassment within the community, specifically in the workplace and the performing arts. I will emphasize how the Me Too movement acted as a voice for those who for years have felt voiceless, using references to the women who were sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby, founder of ‘Me Too’ Tarana Burke, and West Side Story’s Rita Moreno.

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  The Impact of CARES on Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patient Outcomes

  Evan M. Benson, Camden Perry Colter

  Annually in the United States, roughly 350,000 people suffer Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) events. Survival rates, as well as patient outcomes, are incredibly poor following these events with only 10.4% of patients able to be discharged after OHCA occurs (https://mycares.net/sitepages/aboutcares.jsp). Due to this fact, cities across the United States have implemented the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES), a program striving to reduce deaths from OHCA. CARES has had a substantial impact on the survival rates of OHCA due to their improvements to emergency cardiac care. To demonstrate this, we will present case studies that show CARES effectiveness and provide evidence in favor of mandatory adoption of the CARES system nationally. Currently the CARES system operates by helping coordinate information between EMS organizations, 911 dispatchers, and onboarding hospitals. An annual report on the OHCA patient outcomes is then compiled using the data collected. The report “automatically calculates local 911 response intervals, delivery rates for critical interventions (e.g., bystander CPR and public access defibrillation [PAD]), and community rates of survival and functional status at discharge” (https://mycares.net/sitepages/aboutcares.jsp). Our research conducted on these reports will show the benefits that the CARES system has had on the cites and states that have adopted the system. We will provide evidence for the expansion of the CARES system across the United States despite the monetary costs of the system in order to help prevent sudden cardiac arrest deaths. https://mycares.net/sitepages/aboutcares.jsp

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  The Impacts of Homework in Secondary Education

  Melanie Elizabeth Hendrick

  Homework plays a large role in education today, especially in middle and high schools. This project focuses on the impacts of homework on education as a whole, questioning whether homework is necessary for furthering classroom education and understanding, and different group’s opinions on this form of assessment. There will be an examination of the implications of homework and the impact it has on students and their futures.

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  The Importance of Learning the Arts in Schools

  Landon Avila

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  The influence of transformational and democratic leadership on people's motivation to achieve their organization goals.

  Benny Mamimpin

  The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the influence of transformational and democratic leadership on people’s motivation to achieve their organization’s goals. A case study of Larry Page, the CEO of Alphabet and Google, is presented to identify his leadership features and the impact on individual and organizational behavior at Google. Furthermore, a research survey and subjective analysis was conducted to gather perspectives on the transformational and democratic leaders’ characteristics. The survey delivered nine questions to 108 respondents with the response rate of 90%, including different ages, genders, and nationalities. From the survey it was found that the transformational and democratic leadership significantly increases individual motivation to achieve the organizational goals. For instance, individuals would be engaged and productive if their leaders listen to their opinions and give feedback. On the contrary, the leaders who poorly apply bounded rationality and do not have a good emotional management technique will decrease the motivation and performance. In conclusion, the transformational and democratic leadership noticeably affects people’s motivation and satisfaction in their organization.Keywords: transformational leadership, democratic leadership, motivation, individual behavior, organizational behavior, organizational development, Larry Page, Google

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  The Invisible Actors

  Madelyn K. Myers

  There is a lack of Asian representation in film and in the theatre industry. There is plenty of data to show that Asian roles have been whitewashed in Hollywood, even recently with Ghost in the Shell that was released in 2017. The Asian American Performers Action Coalition has a mission to report data on the representation of Asian Americans on New York City’s stages. In their 2018-2019 Visibility Report, they found that 51.2% of Asian Americans were cast in racially-specific roles versus 48.8% were cast for inclusivity. They also found that 58.6% of actors on NYC stages are white compared to white population in NYC being 32.1%. Asian Americans population in NYC is 14.1% and they were representation on stage was 6.3%. This data shows that Asian Americans are typically not cast for inclusivity and are typically not cast at all. This poster will tie in themes of inequality in the arts and the common good that comes from diversity in the arts.

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  The Male Gaze in the MCU: Seeing the Marvel Cinematic Universe Through a Feminist Lens

  Rachel LaFerriere

  Representation in the film industry is influential on the culture. A massive part of today’s pop culture, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) has not only influenced box office records and the industry of superhero films, but also the generations of superhero fans it created. Highly respected as one of the top production companies in the world and producing some of the highest-grossing films in history, Marvel Studios undoubtedly has a large cultural impact. But the portrayal and inclusion of women in the MCU has proven problematic time and again. This poster presentation will present analysis that seeks to understand the ways these films do or do not support patriarchal norms, overly-sexualize women, and how they represent gender. The representation of the women characters “Black Widow” and the “Scarlet Witch” will be focused on for this analysis.

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  The Moral Courage Project: Housing, Homelessness and the Work of Daybreak

  Sarah Behnke, Veronica Eve Bernacki, Liliana Melissa Busic, Eryk D. Charlton, Josie K. Forsthoff, Sofia E. Garcia, Havana M. Glover, Grace Marie Hungerford, Jayonna Laniece Johnson, Amariá Chryslyn Camille Jones, Anna Elizabeth Luepke, Reagan Stark Miller, Ahmi' Breon Piilani Moore, Ifeanyichukwu Raymond Nwanoro, Meredith N. Robinson, Olivia Ann Shirk

  This course (HRS 375) is designed to prepare students to participate for the Moral Courage Project. The project aims to tell the stories of “upstanders” (those who refuse to be bystanders), and identify and celebrate individuals who take risks to make important contributions in their communities during moments of crisis. This diverse and dynamic group of students will be traveling to Oakland, CA this summer to conduct fieldwork on the complex issue of housing. In preparation for this work, these students have partnered with a tremendous local partner: Daybreak. Today, Daybreak operates the Miami Valley’s only 24-hour crisis hotline and emergency youth shelter and has grown to include outreach, prevention, transitional housing, life-skills education, and other follow-up services for homeless, runaway, and vulnerable youth. Through interviews and multimedia production, students will present a storytelling project on Daybreak, including the courageous work of those addressing youth homelessness in Dayton and the complexity of homelessness and housing as a fundamental and urgent human rights issues facing our country.

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  The power of intention

  Emma G. Symank

  For my posterboard I will be talking about the intention of change in the West Side Story remake. I will focus on the transgender Anybodys character and the more accurate Puerto Rican representation. I want to discuss how these changes, although necessary, have specific intentions. I will compare the original intent of the first West Side Story productions versus the changes implemented in the recent version by Spielberg, Kushner, and Moreno. I want to focus on how much better we have gotten at representing identities that we failed to before, but how we have a long way to go. I think it is good to see the number of intentional changes and what they intend to achieve. I will talk about my own reflection in using intentional details as an actor to create real people with real identities that help viewers find themselves.

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  The Pursuit of Happiness... in cash

  Darian Alexander Watson

  The pursuit of money is the singular driver in a lot of industries. Neoliberalism and capitalism are what drive the upper sectors of almost every performing arts industry and have done so for a long time. It can be seen everywhere from whitewashed musicals, to getting the rights to songs, to the endless unimaginative saga of reboots. There is a dearth of creative drive, in a pursuit of endless money which crushes and dehumanizes everyone who isn't useful in that pursuit; it goes directly against diversity and the common good. My sources will include the Vox article on the In The Heights Controversy, The ASCAP price margins for buying songs for Music, Money, Success & Movies, and the New York Times article for how reboots have created an End of Endings.

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  The Rejection of Rejecting Sex: Needed Representation of Asexuality in Media

  Isabella Clark

  There is a distinct lack of asexual representation in all forms of media. It’s something that is just not talked about enough, or even understood. There is still the misconception that if you don’t feel sexual attraction, you’re either lying to yourself, or there's something wrong with you. There needs to be more representation of asexuality in media, whether through ensemble characters, or the main cast. My poster will recount my personal experience, where I've heard “I'm sure you’ll change your mind once you’re 18” and “You just haven’t met the right person, at least try it." My poster will discuss asexuality stereotypes, such as we cannot love or are broken. Sources will include characters who are asexual; Saiki K and Futaba Kiryu from Dousei Sensei Wa Renai Ga Wakaranai, Todd from Bojack Horseman, Loveless by Alice Oseman, House M.D.

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  Thermal Conductivity Determination of Organic Nanofluids by MDSC

  Jonathan R. Stevens

  Vegetable oil phase change materials (PCMs) have great potential in refrigeration applications in developing countries due to their availability and low toxicity. In this report, jojoba oil (melting point: 11.72°C; latent heat of fusion: 105.5 J/g) was investigated for its viability as a cold storage PCM. Thermal conductivity of the pure jojoba oil was enhanced by doping it with three different carbon nanoparticles: graphene, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and activated carbon. The thermal conductivity of the pure oil and nanofluids in the solid phase were found using modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC). Adding carbon nanoparticles could increase the thermal conductivity of solid jojoba oil from 0.200 W/(m∙K) to as much as 0.647 W/(m∙K), however overall data trends do not agree with the literature consensus. Possible sources of error include uncertainty in the MDSC process and a poor stability of the nanoparticles in solution. Future work should focus on more precise methods of thermal conductivity at lower temperatures and the use of shape stabilized PCMs.

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  The Role of Transfer Partnership Programs: Supporting the Social Integration of Transfer Students

  Julia D. Thompson

  Despite an increase in institutional partnerships among two-year and four-year institutions, few studies have focused on the role four-year institutions play through formal partnership programs in supporting transfer student success. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand how a transfer partnership program, like the UD Sinclair Academy, positively shapes the social integration of students who have transitioned from a two-year to a four-year institution. Data was collected through interviews with nine students who had participated in the Academy and were either still enrolled at the University of Dayton or had graduated. Findings revealed themes in how students experienced the benefits of the Academy and faced challenges in fully engaging as a student through this program. These findings can be used to create a more inclusive experience for students enrolled in community college partnership programs to ensure they are supported, prepared, and engaged.

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  The Sleep Habits of UD Students

  Kristina-Lerin Kealoha Linares, Jason Andrew Tornes

  Adequate sleep is important for good health. College students who are involved in extracurricular activities and working jobs have commitments that impact their ability to get adequate sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, young adults ages 18-25 years old need between 7-9 hours of sleep every night (Singh et al., 2021). A study on college students identified an average sleep time of 6.99 hours after interviewing 7,626 college students (Becker et al., 2018). “Short-term consequences of sleep disruption include increased stress responsivity; somatic problems; reduced quality of life (QoL); emotional distress; mood disorders and other mental health problems; cognition, memory, and performance deficits; and behavior problems in otherwise healthy individuals,” (Medic et al 2017). Our research focuses on the sleep habits of students at the University of Dayton. We surveyed students to gather information including their year of study, the typical hours of sleep they receive, and if they currently take any sleep aids (i.e. melatonin, Benadryl, etc.). The information collected was then statistically analyzed using the ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) statistical test to determine if there is a significant correlation between the sleep habits of UD students and their year of study. The purpose of this poster is to assess the sleep habits of UD students and bring awareness to the importance of getting adequate sleep for overall well-being. Practical tips for improving sleep habits will also be included in our presentation.

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  The Stitt Scholars Program: Experiential Learning as a Tool for Deep Collaboration Between Business and Engineering Majors

  Hong Anh Chu, Samuel L. Diller, Tanner Justin Hamilton, Loring L. Leitzel, Gwendolyn Marie Meiring, Dominic D'Epiro Ruffolo, Patrick Schulteis, Grace Renee Silverberg, Douglas P. Villhard

  Collaboration in higher education has seen many improvements in recent years. Programs that used to operate in silos incorporate some form of collaboration in their curriculum. However, there is still the need to expand interdisciplinary collaborations through experiential learning. The Stitt Scholars Program provides students from the School of Engineering (SoE) and the School of Business Administration (SBA) the opportunity to collaborate with startup companies at the HUB (powered by the PNC Bank). Each student in the program puts in ten hours of work (paid) each week and participate in lecture series about innovation and entrepreneurship. In Fall 2021, the students (referred to as Stitt Scholars) worked on ten projects. The deliverables from one of the projects was used to secure $15,000 from the PNC Bank to support black-owned businesses in the greater west Dayton area. In this session, the students will share their experiences as Stitt Scholars, and the impact they have made. Lessons learned will also be presented. Generally, the experience has been positive and impactful for the students, the donor, and the startup companies. The successful execution of the program in fall 2021 led to an additional donation of $100,000 to further grow the program.

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  The Three O'Clock Prayer

  James Treat Huff, Daniel P. Hughes, Collin Timothy Schmid, Luke Collin Meissner

  Research question: How does the Three O'Clock Prayer sculpture communicate and construct religious identity at UD?

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  The tiny things that restore the prairie: the impacts of selective planting and soil amendments on microbial activity during the restoration of a degraded agriculture field in the American Midwest

  Ellie Adriana Wasilewski

  Many forests and prairies have been cleared for agricultural purposes, resulting in ecological degradation and altered biological communities. In recent years, agricultural land has been left fallow and is ripe for restoration back to native ecosystems. Abandoned agriculture results in a deficiency of nitrogen and carbon, changing the microbial activity in the soil. Restoring microbial community function can improve nutrient cycling and enhance plant species establishment during restoration. Restoration efforts, including soil amendments and selective planting are used to increase the nutrient content of the soil, and can improve microbial function. It has been suggested that these efforts may accelerate ecological succession. We assessed plant cover and enzyme activities of peroxidase, phenol oxidase, and beta glucosidases one year following the addition of leaf compost, whole soil transplant, and selective seeding on a 20 acre post-agricultural field. Here, we report the response of soil microorganism function, via enzyme activity, to planted seeds and soil amendments one year after restoration implementation. Phenol oxidase, peroxidase, and beta glucosidase have lower activity where there are more grass species. When there is a high presence of grass species, more niche space is taken up and more nitrogen and carbon is being used by the grasses leaving less available for microorganisms. Beta glucosidase is shown to be higher with whole soil treatment. Whole soil amendments could have introduced new nutrients that were previously absent and microbes that could uptake nutrients more readily than the microbes present in the degraded field. Peroxidase activity is higher where there was low diversity and high legume concentration and lowest in low richness low legume and high richness high legume concentrations. Understanding how microorganism activities can be altered using soil amendments and selective planting can help restorationists support healthy ecological succession.

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  Title: Drawing Attention to Mental Health in the Hospital Setting

  Matthew Thomas Coyne, Christina J. Schroedle

  According to a study conducted in 2017, about 792 million people in the world have a diagnosed mental health issue, and specifically approximately 284 million people are diagnosed with anxiety. Anxiety can create barriers in people’s life that can have major effects on someone’s day to day activities. One specific form of anxiety is related to health, and this type of anxiety is seen to increase in the hospital setting. There have been many studies done about how anxiety levels in nurses and physicians impact the care that is given to the patients and the results from these high anxiety levels (Chen et al. 2022). We want to dive into the other end of the issue; how a patient's anxiety level impacts their own care. This study will give us qualitative data and there will be a wide variety of participants. Meaning that we will be speaking to patients on all different floors of the hospital, such as oncology, pulmonary, burn units about different factors within a hospital setting that impact their anxiety levels. The goal of this study is to see how the patient’s mental health is being treated in the hospital.We believe that mental and physical health are extremely connected, and we will be trying to find strong correlation between the two factors throughout the study.

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  Title: Identification of novel genes responsible for a rapidly evolving fruit fly trait by gain and loss of function approaches

  Jada H. Brown, Gavin M. Christy

  Two long-standing goals of geneticist are to understand how genes are usedduring an organism’s development to make morphological traits, and how genes changeto facilitate the origins, modifications, and losses of these traits. Two powerfulapproaches to identify the critical genes are through gain and loss of functionexperiments. The former experiments look at the effects when the expression of genes isinduced in new cellular places, at new times in life, and/or at elevated levels ofexpression. The latter experiments cause the absence of expression for genes from theirnormal places, times, and/or levels of expression. While many methods have beendevised to accomplish such experiments, these methods are generally too cumbersome toapply to tens, hundreds, or even thousands of genes. In recent years, scientists have foundways to use RNA-interference and CRISPER/Cas9 gene editing to cause both gain andloss of function mutations for specific genes. These methods are being combined withresources for the fruit fly species Drosophila (D.) melanogaster to target a steadilyincreasing number of this species’ genes. Our research project applies these approachesand genetic tools to cause gain and loss of function mutations in genes suspected to play arole in the development and evolution of the male-specific pigmentation of the D.melanogaster abdomen. Any gene whose altered function distorts this pigmentationfeature will become a target of future studies to tease out the mechanisms of genefunction and evolution.

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  Tracing Nitrate Sources in the Saginaw Bay watershed, MI: Implication for Harmful Algal Blooms

  William Creviston

  Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have become more prevalent in recent decades due to increased anthropogenic nutrient input and warmer water temperatures associated with climate change. Nutrient (nitrogen) inputs include loading from the expansion of urban centers (wastewater discharge) and agricultural intensification (inorganic fertilizers and animal waste). In this study, water samples from Saginaw Bay and its watershed were analyzed using a combination of water chemistry, stable water isotopes (δD and δ18O), and nitrate stable isotopes (δ15N and δ18O). The purpose of this study was to evaluate sources, processes, and spatial patterns of nitrate in Saginaw Bay and its watershed causing HABs. We collected water samples from 23 streams and rivers across the watershed and 9 sites from the Bay. The result shows that: 1) the mean nitrate concentration tends to be higher (1.79 mg/l, nitrate-N) in streams that drain from areas with high agricultural land use and concentrated animal feeding operations, 2) the mean nitrate concentration in the Saginaw Bay is relatively low (0.41 mg/l, nitrate-N) and uniformly distributed throughout the water column, 3) the average δ15N value for river samples was 10.69‰ and the average δ18O value was 3.48‰. The dual-isotope analysis result suggests that manure and septic waste are the main sources of contaminants in the watershed. The relative nitrate contribution from manure and septic waste ranged from 35% to 86%. The second-largest nitrate source was typically inorganic fertilizer and its contribution ranged from 3% to 49%. In addition, nitrification sources contribute 7% to 15% of nitrate contamination in the watershed. Ultimately, the outcome of the study provides vital information for effective nutrient management in the Saginaw Bay watershed to prevent future expansion of HABs and further deterioration of water quality in the Great Lakes Region.

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  Trashy! A multi-season study of anthropogenic and organic litter in riparian areas along the Great Miami River.

  Allyson A. Allen, Emily Marie Berkshire, Charles M. Brockman, Herbert K. Burroughs, Pepper Julia Cantwell, Olivia P. Fenner, Grace A. Janszen, Catherine G. Landry, Morgan E. Mieland, Miles Ellison Muratore, Emerson R. Phares, Megan Ann Poole, Kendall E. Ridgley, Michaela M. Rogers, Rianna Soltis, Adelaide Lorraine Starks, Amanda N. Thieneman, Valerie Nicole Thurston, Cheryl Vargas, Juliana Marie Vollmer

  Rivers act as conduits of both anthropogenic and organic litter that eventually reach oceans. Few studies have investigated how anthropogenic litter and organic litter vary along gradients from the river’s edge into riparian ecosystems, if anthropogenic and organic litter are spatially coupled with one another, and how anthropogenic litter composition varies across riparian areas. The ecosystem ecology lab (BIO 459L) has been studying riparian litter for the last couple of years along the Great Miami River. We set up transects to look at anthropogenic and organic litter from the river’s edge, and every two meters inland up to 10m. We found evidence that anthropogenic litter and organic litter are spatially coupled, and that the composition of anthropogenic litter changes along a gradient from the river’s edge to inside riparian areas. This type of information can help land managers understand how to manage litter in riparian areas of the Miami Valley.