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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.

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  Destructive Interparental Conflict: The Moderating Effect of Awareness of Emotions on Parent and Partner Attachment

  Amanda R. Barry, Fiona O'Malley, Jasmine Marsh

  Childhood exposure to destructive interparental conflict (DIC) may have negative effects on adult romantic relationships, in part via impairment in the parent-child bond. Good emotion regulation, including emotional awareness, usually fosters wellbeing, but recent studies suggest that, following DIC, nonawareness (NA) may be partially protective. The present study (N= 807 undergraduate students) tested maternal and paternal attachment anxiety (MAA and PAA) as mediators of the link between DIC and adult romantic attachment anxiety (ARAA) with NA as a moderator. Higher DIC frequency was linked with ARAA via higher MAA at low (CI = 1.37, .62) and moderate (CI = .92, .36) NA and via PAA at low (CI = 1.52, .74) and moderate (CI = 1.01, .48) NA; at high NA paths were not significant. NA also moderated the DIC intensity/ARAA link via MAA (CI = .01, .12). While significant at all levels of NA, this path was stronger at low (b = 1.12) versus high levels (b = .51). Exposure to DIC can negatively impact ARAA via impaired child-parent attachment; this relation may be stronger for children more aware of their emotions, as increased awareness may underlie a sensitization to DIC and its impact. Clinically, it may be helpful to aid children with high emotional awareness to manage emotional reactivity, and as young adults to process the implications of their parents’ DIC for their own lives.

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  Developing an Analytical Solution to expand Quantum Computation

  Ryan Massie

  Quantum Computation is the study of the information processing tasks that can be accomplished using quantum mechanical systems. It could open a whole new world of quicker processing and computations and offer more secure networks. By constructing systems that are able to use spontaneous parametric down conversions to reach high levels of entanglement, a property of quantum mechanics where particles within a system cannot be separated, we are able to construct these quantum mechanical systems that can then be used for quantum computation. Our work began by being able to recreate the quantum states of past work analytically by reproducing calculations. Then using that to construct our own versions that through seeding, no external stimulation, can produce the desired entangled results.

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  Developing, Implementing and Evaluating a Nutrition Intervention for Adolescents at Wright Brothers Middle School.

  Kathleen Curran, Madalynn Eads, Caroline Grannan, Jessica Moore, Julia Muccio, Addy Nichols, Dana Roscoe, Abby Sibley, Haley Stewart, Taylor Stewart, Hannah Waters

  In the US, overall dietary habits of adolescents promote obesity and chronic disease. For example, data from national sources indicated that less than 10% of adolescents consume the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day with the majority exceeding the recommendations for saturated fat, sugar and calories. In the adolescent population, various individual, social, environmental and political factors influence dietary behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to examine factors contributing to dietary behavior in a small cohort of adolescents attending an after-school program at Wright Brothers Middle School, a Dayton Public School. Guided by the Social-Ecological Model, University of Dayton students enrolled in Community Nutrition, completed a community needs assessment to identify dietary-related issues and contributing factors in middle school students. The information gained from the needs assessment was used to inform the development and implementation of a culturally-appropriate intervention to address identified nutrition issues in the target adolescent population. The intervention was implemented during the after-school program at Wright Brothers Middle School. Using various data collection instruments and methods, the intervention process and impact was evaluated. In the future, the evaluation will be used to revise the intervention, if needed. The intervention protocol and materials will be provided to the coordinators and teachers of the after-school program for future use.

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  Development of Safety Performance Functions for Two-Lane Rural Highways in the State of Ohio

  Abdulrahman Faden

  The Highway Safety Manual (HSM), which is the guidance document for state departments of transportation (DOTs), was published in 2010 and one of its sections, called Part C of HSM, it involves the development of crash prediction methods. The goal of the predictive method is to develop and calibrate safety performance functions (SPFs). SPFs are mostly regression models that correlate the expected number of crashes quantitatively with traffic exposure and geometric characteristics of the road. However, HSM's default prediction models are not suitable for all states or jurisdictions because each state and jurisdiction have different characteristics, such as terrain, driver behaviors, weather conditions, etc. Hence, the principal objective of this study is to develop a prediction method for producing Ohio-specific SPF models to use for rural two-lane highways in the state of Ohio. This study aims to create SPFs or jurisdiction-specific SPFs for two-lane rural highway segments as the first study for this type of roadway facility in the state of Ohio. Almost 28,700 miles of highway geometric data were obtained from the Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) to create these new models using negative binomial regression. The most critical variables to be used for analyzing and creating the best models for the state of Ohio are average annual daily traffic (AADT), segment length, lane width, shoulder width, posted speed limit, presence of curves and grades.

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  Development Work: FACT Zambia

  Isabel Gerardino, Casey Coyne Willson

  The evaluation of global aid programs is crucial to understand the meaning behind their work in the development of communities to conclude the improvements that can be done as well as the potential inefficient results that can be avoided. The Republic of Zambia, a country rich in natural resources, is also rich in attracting international NGOs that are interested in combating challenges concerning the lack of governmental transparency and advocacy for collaboration with the citizens. One of the organizations that proposes some strategies to create and sustain civil society’s collaborations with policy-makers and citizens is Counterpart International. Counterpart International has developed a program called Fostering Accountability and Transparency in Zambia (FACT Zambia) to address the lack of capacity and transparency among Civil Service Organizations (CSOs). Counterpart is doing this to aid in efforts that already exist in Zambia in order to facilitate more participatory involvement in development.

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  Dimensioning Mechanical Press Architectures for Improved Dwell using Advanced Algebraic Techniques

  Tianze Xu

  A mechanical press is a machine that shapes parts by driving a ram into metal and deforming the material into a desirable shape. As this is an incredibly common process for forming metal parts, from pop cans to car fenders, presses see significant use in industry. This research project seeks to develop a numerical algebraic method for determining mechanical press dimensions from a desired dwell displacement pattern. This dwell pattern occurs when the ram lingers near the bottom of the stroke while the rest of the press stays in motion. Longer dwell produces improved part forming at no additional cost. This study focuses on knuckle presses architectures to test the proposed method on a variety of systems and to produce the most feasible design. Numerical algebraic methods are particularly relevant here due to their capacity to accurately describe mechanical press architectures while allowing solutions via current numerical methods that guarantee the determination of all solutions to a set of algebraic equations. As such, there are a significant number of companies designing and building mechanical presses to meet a variety of end used needs. A particularly common need is dwell, the capacity of the press to hold the position on one of its parts while the rest of the machine stays in motion. Dimensioning a new architecture for a mechanical press that produces significantly improved dwell allows for manufacturing parts at a higher rate with lower operating costs.

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  Dimensioning Mechanical Presses Driven by a Geared Five-Bar for Desired Dwell using Advanced Algebraic Techniques

  Xingyu Zhu

  A mechanical press uses a linkage that oscillates a ram in order to form or cut sheet metal. This research develops design theories that use a unique mechanical linkage to obtain alternative ram oscillation patterns, such as a prolonged dwell. A geared five-bar press with sliding output is proposed to produce these alternative motions. In one alternative motion, an extended dwell involves a ram that remains near the bottom of the stroke while the crank continues to rotate. A prolonged dwell is ideal for coining operations. Non-linear loop closure equations are generated using isotropic coordinates. After specifying a desired motion pattern, an algorithm that uses the closure equations with numerical algebraic geometry obtains all possible sets of appropriate dimensions for the links. Lastly, a process to determine the best possible set is formulated.

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  DIMLabyrinths: Printable 3D Cube Mazes Designed in MATLAB

  Adam Steven Wicks

  DIMLabyrinths are 3-dimensional marble mazes designed for 3D printing. The maze body is acube with an evenly-spaced grid of round holes from top-to-bottom, left-to-right, and front-to-back. The holes are one of two sizes inside the cube, either too small for the marble to passthrough or just big enough to allow the marble passage. As such, the solver can see the marble atall times as it moves through the maze embedded in the cube. The design of the maze itself isgenerated using an algorithm developed in MATLAB. The maze is guaranteed to visit everylocation in the cube on a path that connects the top-front-left corner to the bottom-back-rightcorner. This unique geometry is well-suited for manufacturing via 3D printing. DIMLabyrinthfiles suitable for rapid prototyping are available for free download on the DIMLab My MiniFactory site. The result is a unique puzzle, partially designed in MATLAB, that can be 3Dprinted at home for free.

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  Disability Care and the Limits of Friendship

  J. Tyler Campbell

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

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

  Prajakta D. Deshpande, Emily M. Snider

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

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  Early Cognition Education using Mixed Reality

  Shreyas Raghunath

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

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  Effects of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Drugs on Glioma

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

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

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  Electrical Characterization of Tantalum Oxide Based Memristor

  Yassine Jaoudi

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

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  Emerging Mobility Services

  Baraah Qawasmeh

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

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  Empirical Research Presentations in Economics

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

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

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  Encouraging Sustainable Fashion on a University Campus

  Jillian DeWitt, Jenn Hoody, Hannah Nicholas, Emily Shanahan

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

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  Enforcing Privacy Policies for Hybrid Mobile Applications

  Aishwarya Marghatta Nandeesh

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

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

  Julia K. Baase

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

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  Environmental Impact of Freshwater Fish versus Chicken Farming

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

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