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  Exploring the Role of the Nervous System in Limb Regeneration

  Ben Klocke, Jason Tornes

  Regeneration is a biological ability belonging to a small subset of vertebrates including the axolotl, an amphibian that can regenerate its limbs upon amputation. While it is known that the nerves play a critical role in promoting limb regeneration, the potential implication of other nervous system components is largely unknown. Proteomics screening approaches were implemented to compare protein expression data at various time-points into the limb regeneration program following amputation. In this presentation we identified proteins that are upregulated and/or downregulated throughout limb regeneration, and are currently working towards exposing novel protein networks that are activated during this fascinating process.

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  Expression, Purification, and Protein Crystallography Trials in Influenza Polymerase Acidic Protein Fusion

  Kyle Benjamin Harris

  Influenza viruses are responsible for annual epidemics, as well as previous pandemics including the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. In any given year, worldwide deaths due to influenza virus can reach 650,000. Due to influenza’s continued threat to global health, along with increasing drug resistance, new antiviral medications are imperative to safeguarding the global community. An attractive target of novel antiviral drugs is the Polymerase Acidic Protein (PA) of influenza. PA is essential to influenza replication, and its amino acid composition is highly conserved among fluA, fluB, and fluC strains. Currently, crystal forms of PA do exist, but these forms do not provide an accessible binding pocket for inhibition. This inaccessibility stimulates the need for additional crystal forms that could result in structure-based synthesis of novel inhibitory compounds. In order to initiate crystal trials, large scale expression and purification of PA must take place. Expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli bacteria cells often result in decreased production yields due to insolubility and inclusion body formation. To combat these effects, a PA construct was created in fusion with Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). As well, the lysis buffer in the purification phase was optimized using solubilizing additives. Purification of the expressed construct was done through Immobilized Metal Chromatography, using a Nickel column, and Size Exclusion Chromatography, respectively. Purified samples underwent a Precrystallization Test, where results from this test were used to determine protein concentration used in large-scale sparse matrix crystallography screens, totaling 192 conditions. Two conditions from these screens gave interesting results and are under investigation.

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  Fabrication and Characterization of PVA/PEO/CB Nanocomposite Films

  Birhanu Desta Alemayehu

  We report on the fabrication and characterization of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) blended polymer nanocomposite (PNC) films loaded with different weight percentages of carbon black (CB) using stencil printing method. The effect of PVA and PEO weight ratio, and the CB content on the morphological and electrical properties of the PNC films were studied using a surface profilometer, scanning electron microscope, and four-point probe method, respectively. The percolation threshold of the PNC films was determined as 0.2vol%. An electrical conductivity of 0.417 S/m was achieved with 14wt% CB loading. The demonstrated PNC films can find its use in potential humidity sensing applications.

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  Fabrication and Design of 3D Printed Transparent Tissue Chips

  Allison Marie Weekley

  In vitro human tissue models and biocompatible microfluidic devices have emerged as powerful research tools and screening platforms for pre-clinical assessments of drug candidates in the pharmaceutical industry. However, there are numerous facets of the current technology that limit its adoption and impact in the industry. The usability, manufacturability, and ability to adequately model the tissues are the challenges that the current engineered tissue models struggle to address. The need for inexpensive and accessible microfluidic devices requires new manufacturing techniques and designs. This research focused on developing a proof of concept and prototype for a transwell insert that was designed to be watertight, biocompatible to culture and view cells under microscope, have the highest optical window transparency and consist of the smallest size channels possible. The device was designed in Autodesk Inventor and 3D printed via Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). FFF was desired for the device as it is inexpensive, effective for iterative design of custom parts and allows for insertion of non-FFF during a pause. The filament used was Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC). COC was the optimal filament to use as it is biocompatible for cell culturing and has a good transmittance between 300-700nm for viewing under the microscope. Achieving the highest optical transparency and smallest channel size was done by optimizing FFF settings and adapting to the limitations of the FFF technology.

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  Flyer Consulting: Past, Present, & Future

  Nastasia Braun, Amanda K. Bush, Trevor Casmere, Eric W. Fisk, Patrick C. Hafner, Molly Stillwagon, Reagan Stitt

  Flyer Consulting shares the past, present, and future of their organization. In this Stander Symposium keynote they feature past clients, current projects, and future initiatives. Audience members will have the opportunity to hear from the management team, project leads, and intern class, as well as learn about ways to get involved in the future.

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  Flyer Enterprises: An Overview

  Luke Beasecker, Gabrielle Marguerite Rullo

  Flyer Enterprises, the sixth largest student-run business in nation, is celebrating 20 years! Throughout our history, we have experienced immense growth, celebrated successes while learning from our failures, and provided a unique experiential learning opportunity for those involved. Made up of nearly 200 students of all grades and majors, our divisions become like families to our employees. FE currently has 12 divisions, 9 physical locations and 3 service divisions. Join us to learn more about our structure, divisions, and how we have grown and adapted over the past twenty years!

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  Food Insecurity in Dayton; Why It Matters and What You Can Do To Help

  Meagan Coveny, Mohamed S. Jalloh, Grace Steffen, Logan Trzeciak

  Everyday, around the world, people of all ages face food insecurity. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food…”. Food insecurity is not simply being hungry, but a failure to provide people access to food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies food insecurity as a lack of “consistent, dependable access to adequate food for active, healthy living.” Many organizations have made it their priority to address these issues and help those in need. In Dayton, a meal on average costs $3.05 per person, 31% higher than the national average. The child hunger rate in Montgomery County is 41.4% higher than the national average, according to a report from data-analysis firm, Stacker. However, there are many causes that lead to food insecurity in Dayton, and across the country. A report filed by the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission found that the most common causes for food insecurity are low economic status and physical access to food. In Dayton, there is a larger focus on the latter cause of food insecurity. Gem City Market is a local co-op grocery store that is helping to provide the physical access to nutritious food options to the Dayton community. Despite only being open for less than 5 years now, the Market has become a glimmer of hope to those who have struggled to find solutions to issues in Dayton surrounding food insecurity. Our research will focus on the efforts of activists to solve food insecurity and document the stories of those who have struggled with food insecurity both on and off the University of Dayton campus. This project will also engage the University of Dayton community in educating on why food insecurity is prevalent in Dayton and effective ways that the school community can help alleviate these burdens. One way that this project will do so will be through encouraging listeners to shop at the Gem City Market and show how this action helps diminish food insecurity in Dayton.

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  Formulation for the Development of Empirical-Based Model for the Cell/Battery:Li(s) / LiFSI in DME electrolyte solution / CF(s)

  Peng Chen

  The overall objective of the formulation (developed by Dr. Sarwan S. Sandhu, professor of chemical and materials engineering) presented here is to employ it for the analysis and explanation of the experimental data being currently acquired on the lithium-based cell: [Li(s), solid lithium anode / LiFSI, lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide in DME-dimethoxyethane (solvent) / CF(s), solid carbon monofluoride, cathode active material]. The formulation links the amount of charge involved during the discharge of the above-mentioned cell with the fractional conversion of the limiting reactant, CF(s). Furthermore, the cell discharge current at any time during its discharge period is related to the overall cell discharge process-activation energy barrier. The overall cell discharge process-activation energy barrier is assumed to be equal to the sum of cell voltage losses associated with the charge transfers at the cell electrode-electrolyte solution interfaces and the transport phenomena involving electrons and ions in the various cell components; for example, electron transport in the cell cathode components and lithium-ion transport in the cell electrolyte solution.

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  Gesture-based Virtual Whiteboard

  Meghana Ayyalasomayajula, Kalyan Sakkhari

  In this project, we develop a virtual whiteboard used for online learning. By using gestures, the users can easily sketch and express ideas. In addition, our virtual whiteboard supports different color input and stroke thickness. The gesture recognition is done through the analysis of skeleton information retrieved from a depth camera. The users appreciate our system since the gestures are easily used than traditional computer mouse.

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  Gmi Companies Logistics Analysis

  Jessica Nicole Bigenwald, Aimee Frances Czekajlo, Samuel Gerald Mckenzie, Colin Regan Morris

  Research into various opportunities to improve the logistics management of materials/products and cost reductions

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  Hands In Harmony

  Anna Marguerite Crowell, Anna Valerie Delaney, Rosalie Katherine Doyle, Sally Marie Gibson, Christina Marie Gillotti, Teresa C. Grijalva, Molly Obergefell, Arianna Maria Ranallo, Lucy Commins Tanner

  Led by director Heidi Reynolds and interpreter Mary Ann Fraley, the University of Dayton performing ensemble Hands in Harmony presents popular songs while using signs from American Sign Language (ASL) to bring music in an accessible and inclusive way to members of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Compared to the grammar of ASL, Hands in Harmony utilizes a relatively literal interpretation of song lyrics, but does so in a way in which members of the ASL community and non-ASL community can interpret. For more information about Hands in Harmony or details to become involved, please visit the University of Dayton Ensembles and Performance Opportunities page under "Choral Ensembles."

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  Healthcare Barriers Immigrants Face and Proposed Solutions to Help Them

  Caitlyn Cristina Pittsford, Erin Elizabeth Tatham

  Derose and colleagues (2009) argue that low socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency, and lack of familiarity with the U.S. healthcare system puts U.S. immigrants at risk for not receiving proper health care. Lawfully present immigrants are allowed to buy private health insurance or given access to Medicaid, the nation’s public health insurance program if they meet their state’s income and residency rules (healthcare.gov 2022). However, Hacker (2015) states that “fear of deportation, communication ability, financial resources, shame/stigma, and knowledge about the healthcare system” are only a few reasons why immigrants may not receive healthcare. It is not always a lack of access to healthcare systems that prevents immigrants from receiving care, but a lack of knowledge about the healthcare system (Hacker et. al. 2015). The Office of Minority Health (2018) states that providing all patients with responsive healthcare to their cultural health beliefs and practices, languages, health literacy, and communication barriers will allow for an equitable and effective healthcare system. Providing more education and accessible resources can help to support immigrants’ access to healthcare (Caulford 2014). The purpose of this poster is to examine lack of knowledge as a barrier to immigrants accessing the U.S. healthcare system and describe programs focused on addressing this barrier to access.

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  Health Decline In a SNAP: Examining the Relationship Between Health and Food Access.

  Brianna Rose Richter

  Overall, 14% of American households are food insecure, meaning their economic and other conditions lead to limited or uncertain access to adequate food. This means nearly 1 in 4 households this year alone have experienced food insecurity. This research project examines the relationship between adults over the age of 18 who are utilizing SNAP benefits and health outcomes. Using secondary data analysis, this project seeks to answer the question of whether people who use SNAP benefits have a higher risk of any negative health outcome such as obesity or heart disease. This project digs deeper into the intersections of inequality.

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  Helping ADHD students achieve in the education system

  Logann P. Jackson

  This project highlights different strategies for classroom management and academic instruction for students who are identified with ADHD. To address challenges and highlight strengths of students, the role of the classroom environment, the perceptions of the teacher, and engagement with peers are discussed. This holistic perspective allows us to think about the all encompassing school environment and what students with ADHD need to succeed in school.

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  High Flux Solar Simulator

  Caleb Alexander Albright

  The High Flux Solar Simulator (HFSS) is a technological piece developed for the Dayton Thermal Applications Laboratory that aids in focused thermal research. A High Flux Solar Simulator uses metal halide/ halogen lamps with parabolic and elliptical reflectors to focus light similar to the Sun at a small focal point. A major goal of this Solar Simulator was to construct it inexpensively and have it be a very versatile system that was simple to understand. Since most HFSS designs are not dynamic and are laid out like a wall of lamps, we had to design ours from scratch to match our desired functionality. Specifically, we wanted the lamps to have a full degree range of motion, for it to be a layered structure, and for it to be easily operated and deconstructed. To have these desired characteristics, we have the construct as a system that can be built on piece by piece; if we wanted to take out or add a light, maneuver the lamps to a different position, or adjust the framework it is possible and simple to accomplish. Ultimately, this focused light mechanism is used for research. To study renewable energy applicability in fields such as desalination, granular flow, renewable energy generation, manufacturing, and overall study in replacing this focused energy as the main resource in energy heavy systems.

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  Hospital Elder Life Program: Overcoming Barriers to Implementation

  Jacob Gregory Chisholm, Drew K. Price

  One of the most common conditions experienced by patients in long term care facilities is hospital acquired delirium. Hospital acquired delirium can present as incoherence, declining cognition, and rapidly shifting attention. The HELP program (Hospital Elder Life Program) at Miami Valley Hospital was implemented as a volunteer-led effort to combat hospital acquired delirium. This program consists of patient-volunteer interaction often through mind activities or conversations aiming to diminish the occurrence of hospital acquired delirium in geriatric patients, allowing the patients to return home much faster. However, there were many barriers that needed to be overcome to implement such a program. The various financial and labor obstacles that were overcome includes donation funding, recruitment of volunteers, and regulatory compliance. All of these needed to come together to have a successful program. This poster documents the barriers to implementation of the HELP program at other hospitals and care facilities as well as offers suggestions to overcoming these barriers.

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  House Price Prediction using Machine Learning

  Sai Surya Vaddi, Amira A. Yousif

  In this research, we investigate the usage of machine learning in predicting the house price based on related tabular data and images.To this end, we collect 2000 sample points from across different cites in the United States. For each house, we label 14 tabular attributes and 5 images (exterior, interior-living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom). Following the feature extraction, we evaluate different machine learning methods on the newly collected data.

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  How Does a Pandemic Affect the Alcohol Consumption among College Students?

  Anastacia N. Gathof

  This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the alcohol use of college students. The data in this study examined if there is a decrease or increase in alcohol use and if COVID-19 has affected these rates. Data were gathered via online surveys from participants who are senior college students at the University of Dayton. This study conducted results and were analyzed using Qualtrics. Other factors that were discussed include effects of alcohol including behavior changes and interpersonal challenges, the impact on education as well as access to alcohol and effects of campus closure. Results explore how often college students had access to alcohol during the campus closure and how much they consumed.

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  How does Dissociative Identity Disorder Impact the Creation of Art?

  Aiden Gibbons Beck

  Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a mental health condition where a person will have two or more personalities or alters. No two people with DID are exactly alike, for example some of them will be able to communicate with the rest of their system (group of alters) whenever they desire and others will have dissociative amnesia between their alters whenever they switch. People with DID in the art world are able to bring multiple different perspectives and styles from each of their alters into their art to create a portfolio that is completely unique. Diversity in art is critically important to telling the stories of marginalized people and neurodiversity in art is no different. We need to make sure that those with mental health conditions such as Kim Noble and Harli Tree have a place to share their struggles and paint a picture of who they are metaphorically and literally. My poster will document how artists with DID create art and the difficulties that come along with it.

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  How Has Covid-19 Affected Depression Levels in Long-term Care Facility Residents?

  Caitlin Mae Sheridan, Audrey Elizabeth Steiert

  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression is the most common mental health disorder for people over the age of 60, affecting more than 15% of that population (Egeljić-Mihailović et al., 2021). Social participation, which is defined as “connecting with people and the community,” is one of many factors that helps to prevent depression (Egeljić-Mihailović et al., 2021). During the Covid-19 pandemic, long-term care facilities for the elderly took safety measures to slow the spread of the virus, including limiting visitors and suspending residential activities (Levere et al., 2021). As caregivers in long-term care facilities during the pandemic, we observed changes in residents’ behaviors and attitudes while they were isolated in their rooms. Several studies conducted during this time period showed that the increased isolation and lowered social participation led to increased depressive symptoms (Abbasi, 2021; Levere et al., 2021). According to Levere et al., the prevalence of depressive symptoms in nursing home residents increased by 15% compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic (2021). To help decrease the loneliness of residents while still following safety protocols, Joyce Simard and Ladislav Volicer suggest having family members and friends stay in touch with residents virtually and providing residents with in-room activities (2020). The purpose of this poster is to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of long-term care facility residents and to highlight suggestions that might lessen the risk of depression during the times of isolation.

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  How Macrophages Respond to Cancer Conditions

  Sarah E. Lamb, Mackenzie Taylor Martin

  This project investigates the relationship between human macrophages and breast cancer cells. This project analyzes these differences through the measurement of macrophage migration through artificial channels under different cancer conditions. Macrophages are immune cells that travel around the body and engulf foreign particles. Macrophages can recognize cancer cells as foreign invaders and destroy these dangerous cells. This macrophage migration data preliminarily show that cancer condition media produces a unique macrophage migration response, suggesting that biomarkers released from cancer cells influence macrophage behavior. This project further investigates the differentiation of monocytes into specific macrophage phenotypes based on the expression of specific biomarkers. The most common macrophage phenotypes include an M1 phenotype which promotes an inflammatory response and initiates an immune system attack and an M2 phenotype that promotes angiogenesis and starts an anti-inflammatory response. Macrophage phenotypes were identified using fluorescence imaging. In this project, the most commonly identified migrating macrophage phenotype was the M2 phenotype which was identified by the CD163 marker. This project presents preliminary findings of macrophage and breast cancer interactions that can be extrapolated to what happens clinically in the immune response of a cancer patient and possibly lead to the discovery of new cancer therapies.

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  How Nursing Home Healthcare Providers View Their Work Through a Human Rights Lens

  Laney Kay Brucken

  The purpose of this study is to examine how nursing home staff view their work through a human rights lens, how they see human rights protections and violations in their everyday work, and how this may have an effect on the healthcare providers and impact on the residents. The study seeks to answer the research questions, do healthcare providers within nursing homes view human rights framework through their work, and if so, how? How is burnout and inadequate staffing related to this and how does it affect the quality of care of patients? The goal is to analyze the perspectives and experiences of nursing home staff surrounding the human rights framework and determine what effect this has on the quality of care of residents.

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  How to improve our image quality underwater?

  Hao Lun Wu

  In most cases, our imaging system, light sources and objects, are situated in air which only causes small distortions or absorption of light. However, when a system is placed underwater or in air which contains lots of tiny particles disturbing our environment, images show poor visibility and serious degradation. So it is important to develop some way to overcome this, otherwise we are not able to fully gain information about the object. In this paper, we propose a method using structured light and flood light to enhance underwater images. During our research, we illuminate the object with a stripe of light and flood light, recording it using a CCD camera. After processing the recorded images we can eliminate most of the distortion in our image which gives more detail and an image of higher quality. This technique can be applied in different areas such as underwater photography, submarines, and autonomous underwater vehicles, etc. Our system greatly improves the clarity of the image and highly enhances the safety and accuracy of underwater detection. Additionally, besides the underwater applicability our methods have excellent prospects in extreme weather such as fog, heavy snow, and sandstorm, etc. Compared with other methods such as ranged gated imaging or tiling imaging, structured light imaging not only gains better quality of image but also reduces the costs significantly.

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  How to Reduce Dental Anxiety

  George Kenneth Hudak, Danielle N. Murman

  Dental anxiety is a common occurrence in a dental office and can lead to patient avoidance of dental care and deterioration of oral health (Bell, 2012). Dental anxiety is associated with the thought of visiting the dentist for preventive care and over dental procedures (Agras, 2016). It has been cited as the fifth most common cause of anxiety (Zinke, 2018). According to Colgate Oral and Dental Health Resource Center, 30 to 40 million Americans avoid trips to the dental office due to fear (Colgate, 2013). However, there are demonstrated ways a patient, as well as their practitioner, can reduce anxiety in a dental office. The purpose of this poster is to describe the prevalence of dental anxiety and summarize current research on ways that a practitioner can lessen dental anxiety at a dental office.

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  Human Cardboard Cutout Recognition

  Vijay Kumar Varma Ganaraju

  As we are reaching the higher levels in autonomous driving, we are moving away from LiDAR and RADAR and towards Vision-only based prediction. And there are a lot of challenges with it. One of the important ones is predicting the objects when the vehicle is idle. Vision-only based systems predict using 3D reconstruction of the environment by moving over the space and triangulating the objects around it using multiple cameras. By NOT moving over the space, the 3D reconstruction is handicapped and it has to rely on 2D models. Therefore, the challenge is if a truck/bus is in front of the autonomous vehicle, it does not know if the human is real or just a poster on the truck/bus and could make grave mistakes. The goal of this research is to resolve this issue by creating a AI model which can classify real humans and fake humans (Cardboard cutouts) by analyzing the light patterns and variance.