Digital Commons Network^™

Graph-Based Learning, Jason Gronn

Honors Projects

An educational approach to teaching students based on prerequisite knowledge they may or may not have is presented. This approach represents educational content in the form of a graph, where edges link each topic to the prerequisites of that topic. A proof-of-concept website is created based on this approach, where qualitative results are observed and a number of conclusions are drawn. Some of the findings are that, while it can prevent users from being confused by lacked prior knowledge, the users may instead be confused by the presentation of the graph structure. The work finds that the approach is workable, …

Evaluating Appropriate Participant Training Period For Anuran Auditory Surveys, Evianna Goebel

Honors Projects

Auditory surveys are common in anuran research as they can tell a lot about a species without being intensely laborious or costly. There has not been much research on training periods for those taking part in the surveys. Proper training is necessary and improper training can hinder a project and lead to skewed results. In this study, we took students from several biology 2040 classes and had them study the calls of 11 frog species in NW Ohio. From the data, we can conclude that 2 weeks of roughly 100 minutes of study time is not enough for successful results …

Feed More, Waste Less, Kaitlyn Dietz

Honors Projects

With college prices and the cost of food increasing, so has the rate of food insecurity among college students. Food insecurity is defined as the lack of availability or access to food to meet someone’s basic and necessary needs. Food insecurity is associated with lower grades, depression, higher perceived stress, and lower graduation rates. Campuses across the country are responding to the problem in a variety of ways, including distribution of food directly to students through food pantries. Meal plans are expensive in the addition to college tuition and housing. The lowest cost for a meal plan at Bowling Green …

Analyzing The Efficacy Of Covid-19 Travel Bans: A Regression Analysis Approach, Mallory Kochanek

Honors Projects

Some might associate the term ‘public health’ with the pandemic that occurred in 2020. COVID-19 spread like most have never seen in their lifetime. It is useful to look at the effectiveness of the travel re- strictions in mitigating the spread of the global pandemic. Using linear regression and network regression, we obtain parameter estimates to determine the relation of predictors, such as network effect, percentage of urban population and GDP, on the COVID-19 incidence rate for the months January to April of 2020. Linear regression does not ac- count for the correlation structure of the data. Network regression, on …

The Theatre Of Math: The Stage As A Tool For Abstract Math Education, Blaine Hudak

Honors Projects

So often in the education of Mathematics does instruction solely consist of the lecture. While this can be an effective method of communicating the ideas of math, it leaves much to be desired in gathering the interest and intrigue of those who have not dedicated their lives to the study of the subject. Theatre, by contrast, is a tool that has been used in the past as means of teaching complicated and difficult to understand moral and emotional subjects. While Theatre and Mathematics have been used in combination many times in the past, it is most often done in the …

Teaching About The Global Refugee Crisis, Melissa Kafer

Honors Projects

Around the world, there are more than 30 million refugees (UNHCR, 2023) facing language barriers, cultural differences, prejudice, racism, and xenophobia. The number of admitted refugees in 2022 has more than doubled since 2021 (Duffin, 2022), and yet, many Americans do not know or understand the global refugee crisis. There are misconceptions in America that cause lack of empathy, bias, and prejudice towards refugees. Through the creation of four lesson plans, this research project aims to discover Americans’ misunderstandings regarding refugees and teach them about the crisis to remedy the misconceptions. This study includes a literature review detailing appropriate teaching …

The History And Significance Of Taxidermy Bird Collections In North America: Bgsu's Own Undervalued Collection And Its Future, Kristin Burnside

Honors Projects

Taxidermy, despite its association with the bizarre and outlandish, has a rich history and culture that helped to define post-Civil War America and its pursuit of knowledge and reconnection with nature. With the widespread publication and availability of how-to guides, natural history collecting and taxidermy became accessible to any individual regardless of age, gender, or class. The hobby required physicality and courage to collect unique and interesting specimens, and intellect and creativity to conserve and display them, all of which inherently connected the avocation with respect. With varying levels of success, hobbyists experimented with different chemicals, such as arsenic, in …

Glass: The Material That Defines Us, Madisyn Rex

Honors Projects

This Honors Project is an exploration of the intersections between glass science, geology, glass art, and my own personal experience with glass.

Computer Simulation Of The Light Absorption Band Of The Jumping Spider Isorhodopsin, Noah Zoldak

Honors Projects

In order to simulate the photoisomerization of the 9-cis Jumping Spider Isorhodopsin (JSiR-1) it is necessary to first simulate its light-absorption band. Here we report on the absorption band simulated using protein models constructed using the advanced Automatic Rhodopsin Modeling (a-ARM) program. A population of S₀ models was created and the corresponding S₀ to S₁ transitions were determined for each member of the resulting population. The calculation resulted in a Gaussian plot showing that the wavelength of the absorption maximum of 560 nm (a violet color) that is consistent, but red-shifted, with respect the experimentally observed value.

Standardization Of A Latent Blood Visualizer Based Upon Dna Degradation, Kailey M. Van 'T Hoff

Honors Projects

Latent blood visualizers have been used in forensic science since 1937 beginning with Luminol. These visualizers through different types of reactions react with trace amounts of blood that cannot be seen with the naked human eye. These different reactions produce color that can then be seen by examiners. The four types of latent blood visualizers that were compared is luminol, leuco crystal violet, fluorescein, and bluestar. Luminol and bluestar use chemiluminescence, fluorescein uses florescent, and leuco crystal violet uses oxidation to react with iron in hemoglobin. At crime scenes when blood is detected which includes with the blood visualizers the …

Eat Your Invasives: A Practical And Historical Analysis Of Foraging For Invasive Foods, Grace Hartman

Honors Projects

This paper discusses both the historical and modern role of foraging and why people may decide to forage, as well as barriers new foragers may face and how they can be overcome. Furthermore, the paper discusses how foraging for invasive species can be used as a method of conservation and how simple foraging can be encouraged for this reason.

Behaviors For Which Deinonychosaurs Used Their Feet, Alexander King

Honors Projects

This paper seeks to show for what purpose deinonychosaurs used their feet. Fowler et al., (2011) showed that D. antirrhopus’s feet were closest in function to accipitrids, as they found it was more built for grasping prey than running.

I answered this question by using 2D images of the feet of three modern birds (Buteo jamaicensis, Phasianus colchicus, and Gallus gallus domesticus), one eudromaeosaur (Deinonychus antirrhopus), and one troodontid (Borogovia gracilicrus). I used ImageJ to apply 73 landmarks to each foot, capturing the variation between species in the metatarsals and pedal phalanges. These data were then uploaded to the software …

Pars Playwork: Considering Who We Are Becoming And Why, Janine Dodge

International Journal of Playwork Practice

The PARS model of playwork practice was developed by Dr Shelly Newstead from research into the origins of playwork from the adventure playgrounds set up in the UK just after the Second World War. This article considers why and how this theoretical model of playwork as a form of professional practice is now being applied and developed by practitioners in Brazil, contributing to the creation of an international ‘community of practice’ (Wenger et al, 2002). It describes how PARS’ underpinning philosophy and model of practice provide a strong foundation that values playwork and supports the development of a shared language …

The Play Workforce In Wales – Perceptions From Local Authority Play Sufficiency Lead Officers, Pete King, Justine Howard Dr

International Journal of Playwork Practice

As part of the Welsh Play Workforce Study, seven lead local authority officers responsible for facilitating the three-year Play Sufficiency Assessment (PSA) were interviewed in respect of Matter G: Securing and developing the play workforce development. Thematic analysis constructed three themes from the findings: play profile, collaboration and funding. Although each lead officer was passionate about the importance of play, their play profile differed concerning their play and playwork experience, knowledge and qualifications. The study indicates the importance of collaborative and partnership working both within and external to the local authority, especially with the ever-changing play-related policy and potential funding …

Topological Data Analysis With Mapper, Gretchen Langenbahn

Honors Projects

This project is an introduction and overview of Mapper. Mapper is a method of high dimensional data visualization. Data visualization is a very important part of data analysis as it allows for further interpretation and exploration of data. Visualization of high dimensional data sets can be challenging as each variable is a new dimension that must be represented on a 2D, or at most 3D, graph. Mapper allows for high dimensional visualization by using Topological methods to study the relationships between points. This project goes over two different data set: the Iris data set, and a high dimensional data set …

Sustainability In Web Development Through Energy Efficiency, Hannah Bebinger

Honors Projects

As global internet usage expands, websites are growing in both size and complexity. Contrary to the common belief that the internet is immaterial and “environmentally friendly”, web pages have significant negative environmental impacts (Frick, 2015). Websites contribute to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and electricity consumption. Considering the current climate crisis, it is crucial that web developers be aware of the impact that their work has on the environment and actively work to improve site energy efficiency. With a lack of regulation and awareness, the environmental impact of websites has remained unchecked despite growing concerns for sustainability. Further research and …

Exploring Music Genres: A Study Of Optimal Differentiation By Feature, Rebecca Stetler

Honors Projects

This study explores the presence of optimal differentiation in music at the feature level by genre. Popularity prediction models are constructed and used to identify influential features in predicting popularity in each genre. These influential features are then assessed for optimal differentiation of the most popular songs from all songs in the genre.

Impact Of Traditional Versus Alternative Assessment On Student Achievement, Beth Lustgarten

Honors Projects

The focus of this study looks at the effect of alternative assessment on student achievement in a high school science classroom. Within this action research, students have choices and are able to demonstrate creativity in their alternative assessments. By comparing student results from traditional and alternative assessments, the impact of assessment showed students had an overwhelming preference for completing alternative assessments, and a majority of students did better on the alternative assessment when compared to the traditional assessment.

Examining Bacteriophage Reliance On The Tola Protein Of Escherichia Coli, Ellen Davis

Honors Projects

With the ever-growing crisis of antibiotic resistant bacteria, bacteriophage provide an important potential alternative therapy to treat infections when antibiotics are ineffective. For this reason, it is important to understand the mechanisms bacteriophage use to enter their bacterial host cell. The cellular envelope of the gram-negative bacterium E. coli contains a protein system known as Tol-Pal, which utilizes energy from the Proton Motive Force to carry out several cellular functions, including some associated with cellular division and outer-membrane stability. Certain bacteriophage take advantage of the energy produced by this system to cross the bacterial cell membrane. One important protein of …

Plant Wise, Sophia Llamas

Honors Projects

Conceptually, Plant Wise is the key to bridging the gap between preconceived ideas about vegan and vegetarianism and successfully integrating plant-based foods into your everyday life. Physically, Plant Wise is a self-educational, interactive booklet chock-full of activities intended for users to complete at their own pace. Inside this 56-page booklet, there are recipes, doodling spaces, weekly check sheets, activities to do with friends and family, challenges, and so much more. Plant Wise utilizes these activities and journaling opportunities throughout as a self-reflective vehicle to give users an experience to reflect on, which aids in the retention of what’s been learned …

Human Leukocyte Antigen Distributions Do Not Share A Copula Across Sub-Populations, Daniel Schellhas, Robert C. Green Ii

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The distribution of human leukocyte antigens in the population assists in matching solid organ donors and recipients when the typing methods used do not provide sufficiently precise information. This is made possible by linkage disequilibrium (LD), where alleles co-occur more often than random chance would suggest. There is a trade-off between the high bias and low variance of a broad sample from the population and the low bias but high variance of a focused sample. Some of this trade-off could be alleviated if subpopulations shared LD despite having different allele frequencies. These experiments show that Bayesian estimation can balance bias …

Antimicrobial Activity Of Bacterial Virus Components: An Empirical Investigation Of The Killing Capacity Of Toxins From Burkholderia, Kyle Walny

Honors Projects

Given the growing issue in healthcare of antibiotic resistance, effective and safe alternative treatment methods are required. One of these possible alternative treatment methods is bacteriotoxins including bacteriocins and tailocins. The focus of this study is a bacteriotoxin from Burkholderia cenocepacia (ATCC 25608), which was induced for toxin using a modified UV light induction procedure and tested against a variety of Pseudomonas and Burkholderia for its killing capacity. Various other pathogenic strains were then induced with UV light and tested. The results showed that the toxin from ATCC 25608 was very effective against most of the Burkholderia tested and warrants …

How Can Stem Retention Rates At Bgsu Be Increased Both In And Out Of The Classroom?, Josalyn A. Coffee

Honors Projects

Previous research in STEM student retention rates showed a gap in knowledge regarding why this group of student experience higher rates of burnout than other groups of students. This study investigated the barriers STEM students at BGSU experienced. A survey was sent out to STEM and non-STEM students alike that asked questions regarding student’s personal history before attending BGSU, their course experiences at BGSU, and the levels of support they have outside of BGSU. The survey data showed that there was little difference in the rates that students switch majors solely based on being in the STEM field. The data …

Teacher Education Programs Of Top Pisa Scoring Countries, Stephanie Kafer

Honors Projects

This research paper aims to investigate the teacher education programs of four different countries that have consistently scored high on the international Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test. This project intends to answer two questions: What locations consistently perform high on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test? What do the teacher training programs look like for these locations and are there commonalities between programs of different locations? The first question is answered using statistics of PISA scores from the past twenty years and from those statistics, the top four countries that this paper focuses on are Finland, …

Low Hydrophobic Mismatch Scores Calculated For Hla-A/B/Dr/Dq Loci Improve Kidney Allograft Survival, Dulat Bekbolsynov, Beata Mierzejewska, Jadwiga Borucka, Robert S. Liwski, Anna L. Greenshields, Joshua Breidenbach, Bradley Gehring, Shravan Leonard-Murali, Sadik A. Khuder, Michael Rees, Robert C. Green Ii, Stanislaw M. Stepkowski

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We evaluated the impact of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) disparity (immunogenicity; IM) on long-term kidney allograft survival. The IM was quantified based on physicochemical properties of the polymorphic linear donor/recipient HLA amino acids (the Cambridge algorithm) as a hydrophobic, electrostatic, amino acid mismatch scores (HMS\AMS\EMS) or eplet mismatch (EpMM) load. High-resolution HLA-A/B/DRB1/DQB1 types were imputed to calculate HMS for primary/re-transplant recipients of deceased donor transplants. The multiple Cox regression showed the association of HMS with graft survival and other confounders. The HMS integer 0-10 scale showed the most survival benefit between HMS 0 and 3. The Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that: …

Space Science And Social Media: Automating Science Communication On Twitter, Maia Williams

Honors Projects

This project analyzes how social media is used to engage general audiences in astronomy and space science, as well as ways to improve engagement through automation. Tweets from five space science organizations were sampled. The engagement rate for each tweet was calculated from the number of interactions it received. Accounts that tweet more per day had more followers, and accounts with more followers received more interactions. This project also investigated how to build a Twitter bot to automate science communication. Using NASA Application Programming Interfaces, a Twitter bot was written in Python to tweet images taken by the NASA Mars …

Can Parallel Gravitational Search Algorithm Effectively Choose Parameters For Photovoltaic Cell Current Voltage Characteristics?, Alan Kirkpatrick

Honors Projects

This study asks the question “Can parallel Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) effectively choose parameters for photovoltaic cell current voltage characteristics?” These parameters will be plugged into the Single Diode Model to create the IV curve. It will also investigate Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and a population based random search (PBRS) to see if GSA performs the search better and or more quickly than alternative algorithms

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Bgsu Learning Commons Student Usage Data, Emily Eskuri

Honors Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore past student usage data in individualized tutoring sessions from the Learning Commons from two academic years. The Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Learning Commons is a learning assistance center that offers various services, such as individualized tutoring, math assistance, writing assistance, study hours, and academic coaching. There have been limited research studies into how big data and analytics can have an impact in higher education, especially research utilizing predictive analytics.

This project applied analytics to individualized tutoring data in the Learning Commons to create a better understanding of why those trends happen …

The Experiences Of Black Women Pursuing Advanced Degrees In Stem, Denaja Haygood

Honors Projects

Black women are severely underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. While the underrepresentation of professional Black women in STEM has been well-researched, the pipeline problem of the education of Black women in STEM has been overlooked. The number of Black women pursuing STEM degrees dramatically decreases as the level of education increases. This gap in the literature is problematic, because Black women are still severely underrepresented in STEM-focused advanced degree programs. A small but growing literature indicates that Black women tend to experience frequent forms of discrimination, feelings of isolation and less satisfaction with their graduate programs, …

Thermally Stable Fluorogenic Zn(Ii) Sensor Based On A Bis(Benzimidazole)Pyridine-Linked Phenyl-Silsesquioxane Polymer, Chamika U. Lenora, Nai-Hsuan Hu, Joseph C. Furgal

Chemistry Faculty Publications

A 2,6-bis(2-benzimidazolyl) pyridine-linked silsesquioxane-based semi-branched polymer was synthesized, and its photophysical and metal-sensing properties have been investigated. The polymer is thermally stable up to 285 °C and emits blue in both solid and solution state. The emission of the polymer is sensitive to pH and is gradually decreased and quenched upon protonation of the linkers. The initial emission color is recoverable upon deprotonation with triethylamine. The polymer also shows unique spectroscopic properties in both absorption and emission upon long-term UV irradiation, with red-shifted absorption and emission not present in a simple blended system of phenylsilsesquioxane and linker, suggesting that a …