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  Tree Community Phylogenetic Diversity Varies with Topography in an Old-growth Appalachian Forest

  Julia I Chapman

  As biodiversity becomes increasingly threatened by human activities, the need to broaden our understanding of factors that regulate the diversity of ecological communities also becomes more urgent. Diversity has traditionally been quantified with indices based on taxonomic species identities, which grant equal importance to all species and ignore variation in their physical characteristics and biological processes, which may be differentially important to ecosystem function. This problem has been countered with the development of phylogenetic diversity metrics based on the principle that closely related species tend to be more similar in morphology and physiology than distantly related species and thus occupy similar ecological niches. Tests for phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion provide clues about whether community assembly is driven by environmental filtering or competitive interactions. We used sampling data collected across 80 plots in an old-growth Appalachian forest (1979 and 2010) to analyze phylogenetic diversity among midstory (2.5–25 cm diameter at breast height) and overstory (>25 cm dbh) trees to further understand the role of local topographic variation in structuring communities. Midstory and overstory phylogenetic diversity was not significantly related to aspect (all r2 ≤ 0.02, P > 0.11) or slope steepness (all r2 ≤ -0.013, P > 0.36) in either year. We found that the within-plot species assemblages tended to be more phylogenetically clustered at higher elevations (all r2 ≤ 0.34, P < 0.001) in both years, and that this relationship was stronger among overstory trees. This suggests that tree communities at higher elevations experience an environmental filtering effect, resulting in phylogenetic clustering where mature communities contain closely related species with similar adaptations for surviving in xeric conditions. Lower elevation communities contain species that are on average more distantly related and likely represent a more diverse array of functional traits that help to minimize competitive interactions.

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  Typology, Tabernacle, and Tradition: A History of Interpretation of Hebrews 9:11-14

  Samuel A Mullins

  The texts of the Bible have been used and interpreted in various ways across different time periods and different cultures, and there is much to be gained by studying these changes. Changing attitudes about and uses of Scripture tell us something about other changes taking place in society. They reflect new ideas about religion, knowledge, and authority. Most of all, they demonstrate the techniques used by pastors, theologians, and other authors to make texts written long ago relevant to contemporary problems. The purpose of my study is to use Hebrews 9:11-14 to look at the ways in which the interpretation of Scripture and the uses of Scripture change across time and geographic locations. By analyzing the text itself in its first century context, as well as documents citing this passage from the Early Church, the Middle Ages, the Reformation, and the present day, I am able study both the ways that the interpretation of this particular passage has changed, and how methods of biblical interpretation themselves have changed.

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  Usability and AARP LinkedIn Guidebook

  Carson C Chatterton, Thomas Joseph Harr, Kyle Thomas Janowicz, Maura Taaffe

  Each of the following six groups is writing an AARP guidebook on a different type of software, doing a usability test, and proposing a new Beta version of their guidebook. Each group will present their process on a Poster.

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  Usability for AARP Instagram Guidebook

  Madeline Marie Connaughton, Hannah M Nash, Nicole A Weigand

  Each of the following six groups is writing an AARP guidebook on a different type of software, doing a usability test, and proposing a new Beta version of their guidebook. Each group will present their process on a Poster.

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  Usability for AARP Twitter Guidebook

  John H Beaudoin, Cameron William Clapp, Steven B Fitzpatrick

  Each of the following six groups is writing an AARP guidebook on a different type of software, doing a usability test, and proposing a new Beta version of their guidebook. Each group will present their process on a Poster.

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  Usability for the AARP Facebook User Guide,

  Luke F Bugada, Michelle Jude Difalco, Robert J Olson, Michael J Sebastian

  Each of the following six groups is writing an AARP guidebook on a different type of software, doing a usability test, and proposing a new Beta version of their guidebook. Each group will present their process on a Poster.

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  Wage Costs and Inflation Trends: An Empirical Analysis 2001-2015

  Alison M. Berry, Carmen M. Derose

  Rising wage costs have often been used as a leading indication of inflation in national economies. In the US since the 2008 recession wage costs growth has, to say the least, been erratic with no discernible upward trend. In 2015, however, wage cost growth showed some signs of picking up steam suggesting that overall spending in the economy will likely pick up. In this study we examine trends in the employee cost index (ECI) from 2001 to 2015, the long term trend period, and 2009 to 2015, an intermediate term period after the 2008 recession. Linear trend equations are developed year over year by quarter, sequentially across quarters, and yearly (based in four quarter averages). The following findings will be discussed: (1) long term growth rates in wage costs on a quarter by quarter basis are declining. (2) Since the 2008 recession the growth trend is positive. (3) Over the last three years, on a sequential quarterly basis, the ECI growth rate has picked up significantly.

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  White Identity Salience and the Effect on Campus Climate

  Hannah K Williamson

  Since the election of President Obama, many have argued that the issue of racism and equality has been resolved and the United States had moved to a “post-racial” society (Vega, 2014). In recent years, racial tensions have been rising as seen by the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, protests in Ferguson, and national social media campaigns such as #blacklivesmatter. Given these and many other events, Higher Education and college campuses provide a space to confront and discuss race and racial identity. This study focused on White identity awareness at a predominantly White, religiously-affiliated, private university in the Midwest and any effects on the campus climate as a result of identity awareness. Eight participants were interviewed with interviews transcribed and evaluated to develop a thematic understanding of the students’ perception of their White identity and a connection to the campus climate. Findings discuss the variety and similarities of experiences and identity development of the eight students and the potential affect it has on the campus. Finally, recommendations are presented to support further racial development of White students and institutional educational programs to enhance a more racially aware campus climate.

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  X-Corner Detection for Camera Calibration Using Saddle Points

  Abdulrahman Saleh Alturki

  This paper discusses a corner detection algorithm for camera calibration. Calibration is a necessary step in many computer vision and image processing applications. Robust corner detection for an image of a checkerboard is required to determine intrinsic and extrinsic parameters. In this paper, an algorithm for fully automatic and robust X-corner detection is presented. Checkerboard corner points are automatically found in each image without user interaction or any prior information regarding the number of rows or columns. The approach represents each X-corner with a quadratic fitting function. Using the fact that the X-corners are saddle points, the coefficients in the fitting function are used to identify each corner location. The automation of this process greatly simplifies calibration. Our method is robust against noise and different camera orientations. Experimental analysis shows the accuracy of our method using actual images acquired at different camera locations and orientations.

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  Zombie Mathpocolypse

  James P Gallagher, Claire T Shannon

  Do you watch zombie movies? Have you ever wondered what will be the climax? Now you can use mathematics to figure out who will win. In this work we consider a mathematical model for zombie infection from the literature. The model consists of three ordinary differential equations for three classes Susceptible, Zombie and Removed. We will solve the model using numerical techniques such as the Euler's method and the Runge-Kutta methods.

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  A Covariance Analysis of Consumer Healthcare Expenditures and Healthcare Sector Price Movements

  Courtney E. Cady, David A. Christian

  In recent years, an increasing portion of consumer expenditures on services is allocated to healthcare. The aging of the U.S. population, the Affordable Healthcare Act, and the rising per unit costs of hospital trips all have influenced this trend. In this study, we test the hypothesis that healthcare sector prices covary directly with consumer expenditures on healthcare services. Using regression analysis, we regress 5 Healthcare sector ETF's on Healthcare consumption expenditures. The ETF's are: (1) Healthcare Sector ETF (XLV), (2) Healthcare Equipment ETF (XHE), (3) Biotech ETF (XBI), (4) Pharmaceuticals ETF (XHP), and (5) Healthcare Services ETF (XHS). Quarterly data are used in the analysis and the time period is from 2004 - 2014. We expect b>0, t-statistics>2, and R2 is significantly different from zero.

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  Adaptation of Fast Converging Optimal Techniques to Path Planning of Hyper-Redundant Manipulators

  Hariharan Ananthanarayanan

  A multi-pass distributed localized search technique to solve the problem of path planning of hyper-redundant manipulators for the shortest path in real-time in the presence of obstacles is proposed. The problem is approached from a control perspective as a shortest path Optimal control problem, where the configuration space is searched for path points that optimize a cost function. This method addresses the ‘’Curse of Dimensionality” of exhaustive search techniques via the multi-pass distributed local search and local minima of Greedy approach via a backtracking technique. Further, theoretical proof shows that the proposed technique converges to an optimal (if only one exists) or a suboptimal (if many exist) solution. The algorithm is implemented on a 9-DOF manipulator arm for various paths.

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  Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization Applied to Aircraft Control

  Ouboti Djaneye-Boundjou

  For the longitudinal dynamics of a fixed wing aircraft with rigid frame, a Proportional-Integral (PI) controller for controlling the forward velocity of the aircraft and a gain-scheduled Proportional-Integral-Differential (PID) like controller, with the forward velocity used as the scheduling variable, for controlling the flight path angle of the aircraft are designed. For a set of working PI gains, previously found through an experienced-based design, derivation and tuning of PID gains for a select number of forward velocities is computationally achieved through the use of a stable Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. Several performance measures, normalized so as to suppress differences in scale, are aggregated into the designed cost function.

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  A Fundamental Approach To Portfolio Weighting For Consumer Staples Stocks

  David Jack Beebe

  A number of studies conducted by students in the Davis Center for Portfolio Management suggest that the fundamental characteristics of stocks can be successfully used to generate portfolio alpha. In this study, several key valuation measures are used to develop portfolio weights for a concentrated portfolio of Consumer Staples stocks. They are, Price to Book, Price to Earnings, Price to Sales, and Price to Cash Flow. In addition, expected earnings growth one year ahead is also included in the weighting process. Two weighting strategies are used: (1) higher price to's get higher weights and (2) higher inverted weighted price to's get higher weights. The 10 stock portfolio performance is then compared to the performance of the DOW, The S&P 500, and the Consumer Staples SPDR ETF on a quarterly and yearly bases for 2014.

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  All we do is Drink: Impact of Alcohol Culture on First-Year Experiences at a Private University

  John Reynolds

  First-year students are at risk due to a university’s alcohol culture. This is creating a distorted reality of what college is about for many incoming students. First-year students assimilate into college with various external factors impacting their decisions; among these is whether or not to participate in high-risk alcohol consumption. Previous research focused on college environment, peers and the developmental stages of first-year students separately to identify how these factors impact a student’s decision to consume in high-risk ways. However, little research focused on the holistic impact of all three factors on the first-year student’s experience and alcohol consumption. This study demonstrated the effect of alcohol on first-year students and their overall experience by delving into their stories to understand their lived experiences. Eight interviews were completed, transcribed, and evaluated to develop a thematic understanding of their lived experience. By understanding each student’s story and their common experiences, interventions can be intentionally developed to assist students who are struggling or who might be at risk for issues throughout their college careers.

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  A Longitudinal, Sibling- Comparison Analysis of Associations Between Depression and Delinquency in Adolescence

  Kathleen Elizabeth Mcguire

  This study examines the prospective relationship between delinquency and depression in adolescence, as previous research suggests that they may be related. Our study was interested in testing the direction of the relationship between these factors, and whether they would be related when controlling for potential confounds using statistical covariates in one analysis and the comparison of siblings in a second analysis. Data from 11,495 offspring of a large nationally representative sample of mothers were used. Participants reported on delinquency and depression from the ages of 14 to 17. Covariates included race, gender, mother’s education, family income, birth order, maternal age at childbirth, and maternal history of delinquency, all of which were reported by participants’ mothers. As predicted, depression in ages 14-15 predicted future depression in ages 16-17, and delinquency in ages 14-15 predicted future delinquency in ages 16-17, suggesting continuity in both outcomes during adolescence. In addition, a significant positive association was found between depression at ages 14-15 and delinquency at ages 16-17 and between delinquency at ages 14-15 and depression at ages 16-17. Although boys had higher levels of delinquency than girls and girls had higher levels of depression than boys, no gender differences were found in the strength of the associations between delinquency and depression. Results were consistent between analyses controlling for measured covariates and sibling-comparisons. The findings suggest that depression and delinquency are mutually influential. This would suggest that addressing one outcome could serve to reduce or prevent the other.

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  A Match or a Mismatch: Comparing College Stated Learning Goals to Student Learning Goals and Perception of Educational Quality

  Michelle D. Foster

  An institution’s ability to meet students’ learning expectations influences student perceptions of educational quality and usefulness. Currently, colleges and universities are trying to provide evidence of these attributes through various summative assessment instruments. However, the content and structure of most assessment instruments measures what students have retained, not actual cognitive change or instances of goal achievement. This study surveyed a random sample of students at a four-year liberal arts college asking them to describe their personal learning goals and quantify the quality and usefulness of the education they received. The students’ goals were then compared to the stated goals of the institution. Findings revealed valuable information about how achievement of personal goals is tied to student perception of quality, and the implications of matching or mismatching students with institutions that can meet their predetermined expectations.

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  American and International Students on Body Image and Pop Culture:Self-Perceptions of Domestic and International Students Side by Side in the Mid-West

  Rhia Batson

  This quantitative study took an interesting look into determining factors of self-image through the eyes of both international and domestic students in Southwest Ohio. In an effort to find comparative data, Self-Perceptions of Domestic and International Students Side by Side in the Mid-West USA provided a unique glimpse into perception and appearance. Survey participants included 84 International students and 26 American students, with 52 Undergraduate and 58 either Graduate or enrolled in an intensive English program. Expanding internationalization is a cultural trend among both populations and is relational to altered perceptions as a result of foreign, peer counterparts. While this study is applicable, more research is needed among this growing student dynamic.

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  An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility Websites: Seafood Production and Environmental Degradation

  Kelly Miller

  Corporations are under increasing pressure from internal and external stakeholders to consider the social and environmental cost of their operations. To alleviate this concern, corporations have designed professional ethical codes by which to conduct business. This expanding practice is a facet of public relations known as “Corporate Social Responsibility,” or CSR. This project examines the seafood production industry. Seafood production poses unique environmental concerns, which can be addressed by producers in a variety of ways. A content analysis of the top seafood production websites investigates which environmental themes are being addressed in CSR policies and information pages,and how corporations are measuring their impact.

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  An Examination of the Relationship Between Perceived Social Support and Medication Adherence in Uninsured Patients with Hypertension

  Megan K. Flaherty

  Hypertension is a relatively common chronic condition that affects approximately one in three Americans. Successful management and treatment often requires individuals to take antihypertensive medications regularly. However, non-adherence to varying levels and for different reasons is rather common. Untreated hypertension can lead to serious health consequences including heart attacks, heart disease, and kidney damage. Additionally, individuals without health insurance are more likely to have uncontrolled levels of high blood pressure than those with health insurance. It was predicted that increased perceptions of social support would be correlated with higher levels of antihypertensive medication adherence. 79 uninsured individuals with at least a 3-month history of hypertension were recruited for this study from an urban free medical clinic located in a midsize Midwestern city. Participants completed survey measures to assess demographics, medication adherence, perceptions of social support from family and friends, and perceptions of social support from the clinic. Single interval compliance was also calculated from prescription claims data as an additional measure of medication adherence. Correlational analyses did not support the major hypothesis that higher perceptions of social support would be associated with better medication adherence. Future research might continue to evaluate additional aspects of social support and other factors that might be associated with medication adherence.

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  A novel Computer Aided Detection of identifying Lung Nodules on Chest Radiographs

  Barath Narayanan

  Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancerous death in the United States. It usually exhibits its presence with the formation of pulmonary nodules. Nodules are round or oval-shaped growth present in the lung. Chest radiographs are used by radiologists to detect and treat such nodules but they are quite difficult to detect with human eye and are sometimes misinterpreted with lesions present. Thus, automated analysis of such data is very essential and would be of valuable help in lung cancer screening. A new computer aided detection (CAD) system in chest radiography is proposed in this paper. The algorithmic steps include (i) local contrast enhancement; (ii) automated anatomical segmentation; (iii) detection of nodule candidates; (iv) feature extraction; (v) candidate classification. In this research, we present facets of the proposed algorithm using a publically available dataset and we explore into new set of features and classifiers. The publically available database was created by the Standard Digital Image Database Project Team of the Scientific Committee of the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology (JRST). The JRST dataset comprises of 154 chest radiographs containing one radiologist confirmed nodule each. In this term paper, we compute a rich set of 117 features for each potential candidate. Local contrast enhancement is achieved using a Gaussian low pass filter. Anatomical segmentation is performed using an active shape model. Potential candidate nodules can then be determined by using an adaptive distance- based threshold algorithm limited to delineated lung fields. Later, a set of features are computed for each potential candidate. Based on those tailored features, a classifier/neural network system can be used to identify the candidates as either true positives or false positives. This CAD system would aid in providing a second opinion to radiologists. Algorithm will be trained using River rain Database and would be tested later in JRST database.

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  A Personal Touch to Advising: A Comparison of Two Academic Advising Models at a Mid-Western Catholic Institution

  Erin T. Brown

  This research explored the differences between advisers in the school of business and the engineering department. It provides an interactive opportunity for participants to share their opinions. The significance of this qualitative study is to help higher education institutions continue to develop an environment, which will best fit students with their different needs. According to the research that has been found, both faculty and professional advisers have positive and negative attributes (Filson 2011). This research shows that it is vital for student affairs professionals to take a closer look at the effect academic advisers have on the student experience.

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  Are intermediate stage product prices early warning indicators of U.S. final goods prices? A covariance analysis for the period 2004-2014.

  Anthony J. Bello

  In this study I examine the correlation patterns between the price movements for the four intermediate stages of production and final demand prices. Since changes in final demand prices reflect both the levels of demand for goods and services and the rate of inflation, they are particularly important to investors in the financial markets.Using step-wise regression analysis, I develop predictor equations that show final demand prices as a function of the prices for the four intermediate stages of production. Monthly times series for the above price variables over the period 2004-2014 are used in the analysis. I expect all of the b coefficients to be positive and statistically significant at the 95% confidence level.

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  Are Young Children’s Music Preferences Associated with the Singer’s Race?

  Yi Liu

  Few studies have examined Racial/Ethnic (R/E) Identity in early childhood. The current study utilizes a novel approach to measuring this construct and, further, investigates whether R/E Identity is related to cross-race acceptance. African American and White kindergarten children were asked to rate the quality of 4 female and 4 male singers, each of whom is depicted on a video clip. Among the 8 video clips are 2 pairs of female singers and 2 pairs of male singers. Within each pair of same-sex singers, one is Black and the other is White. The same sound track is used for each pair. Differences in the ratings of African American and White singers could represent young children’s R/E Identity, which is compared across African American and White children. It was hypothesized that R/E Identity would either be positively related, or not at all related, to cross-race inclusion. The latter is measured by a modified version of the Cross-Race Inclusion Task developed by Blackwell and Katsuyama (2012).

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  A Self Organizing Maps Approach to Segmenting Tumors in Computed Tomography (CAT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scans

  Fatema A. Albalooshi, Yakov Diskin, Sidike Paheding

  Studies and explorations of human visual perception have been the main source of inspiration for computer vision algorithms. Understanding how the human brain represents basic attributes of objects helps in developing computer vision algorithms for automatic object interpretation and understanding. Human visual perception is based on the neural coding of fundamental features, such as object boundaries, color, orientation, shape, etc. Thus, finding the contours and boundaries of objects provides the first step for object recognition and interpretation. Form here, the idea of this research inspired to introduce an automatic boundary detection technique based on active contours that is designed to detect the contours of abnormalities in X-ray and MRI imagery. Our research is aimed to aid healthcare professionals to sort and analyze large amount of imagery more effectively. Our segmentation algorithm incorporates prior information within segmentation framework to enhance the performance of object region and boundary extraction of defected tissue regions in medical imagery. We exploit Self Organizing Map (SOM) unsupervised neural network to train our prior information. One reason to prefer SOMs to other neural network models is the specific ability of SOMs to learn the intensity information via their topology preservation property. In addition, SOMs have several characteristics that make them pretty much similar to the way the human brain works. A dual self-organizing map approach is being used to learn the object of interest and the background independently in order to guide the active contour to extract the target region. The segmentation process is achieved by the construction of a level set cost function, in which, the dynamic variables are the Best Matching Units (BMU)s coming from the SOM maps. We evaluate our algorithm by comparing our detection results to the results of the manually segmented by health professionals.