Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of A Historical Story On Student Understanding Of Nos, Peng Dai

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Science educators have identified that Nature of Science (NOS) is essential to improve students’ science literacy. Numerous empirical studies suggest that incorporating the history of science (HOS) into class by means of an explicit reflective approach is one way to promote students’ NOS conceptions. In view of these findings, we developed a unit using an interrupted story technique to depict the discovery of the structure of DNA featuring Rosalind Franklin’s neglected role to help students learn both science content and NOS. Our study design compares an experimental group (story used) with a control group (no story used). The SUSSI (a …

Ten Elementary School Teacher's Voices: How They Build Effective Literacy Learning In The Lives Of Their Second Grade Children, Merfat Alsubaie

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

No abstract provided.

Elementary/Middle School Pre-Service Teachers’ Understanding Of Variability And The Use Of Dynamical Statistical Software, Yaomingxin Lu

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

A primary purpose of the study was to examine the effects of using dynamical statistical software (DSS) on prospective teachers’ (PSTs) understanding of statistical concepts, especially variability. Data were collected from PSTs enrolled in a probability and statistics course designed for prospective K-8 teachers. After initial analysis of the data using coding and classification schemes, we found the need to develop a more targeted framework to analyze students’ different levels of understanding. The variability framework (Garfield & Ben-Zvi, 2005) and the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy were then used in combination to develop a revised framework in order …

Assessing Land Deformation And Sea Encroachment In The Nile Delta, Egypt, Esayas Gebremichael

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Persistent scatterer interferometric analyses were conducted on a stack of 84 Envisat ASAR scenes spanning 7 years (2004 to 2010) over the entire Nile Delta of Egypt and surroundings to monitor the ongoing spatial and temporal land deformation, identify the factors controlling the deformation, and model the interplay between sea level rise and land subsidence to identify areas and populations threatened by sea encroachment by the end of the 21st century. Findings include: (1) general patterns of subsidence in the northern delta, near-steady (none) subsidence in the southern delta, separated by a previously mapped flexure zone undergoing uplift; (2) high …

Human Behavior Modeling For Residential Energy Consumption, Mesfer Alrizq

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Electric utility companies are interested in load profile (electricity consumption) data for expansion planning. Conventional methods of collecting the load profile data, such as surveys and metering, are tedious and time consuming activities. Cumbersome data collection processes also pose barriers. We present an innovative behavior model for generating electricity consumption load profiles. The model, based on fuzzy logic and activity graphs, requires minimum consumer data and can be easily updated to adapt to changes in technology. We demonstrate the accuracy of our model against real world data.

Turbulence Analysis For The Improvement Of Internal Combustion Engine Efficiency, James R. Macdonald, Claudia Fajardo-Hansford

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Developing a complete understanding of the structure and behavior of the near-wall region (NWR) in reciprocating, internal combustion (IC) engines and of its interaction with the core flow is needed to support the implementation of advanced combustion and operating strategies to improve engine efficiency. The NWR in IC engines is fundamentally different from the canonical steady-state turbulent boundary layers (BL), which have been extensively researched. Motivated by this need, this poster presents results from the analysis of two-component velocity data measured with particle image velocimetry near the head of a single-cylinder, optical engine. The interaction between the NWR and the …

A Statistical Model For Emergency Medical Services Response To Motor Vehicle Crashes In Michigan, Megan Kuk

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

The response time is a crucial element of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). However, there are neither federal nor state (specifically Michigan) laws in place to regulate EMS response times, and standards are being set by individual vendors or local organizations. Investigation into response time performance measures may lead to further discoveries, innovations, and potentially identify best practices to improve existing systems used by EMS. Leading to quicker access to care for the end users (crash victims) and potentially saving numerous human lives.

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Clearview Font And Fluorescent Yellow Sheeting On Michigan’S Freeways, Lusanni Acosta Rodriguez

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Halation and irradiation make guide sign fonts hard to recognize. Drivers missing the needed information tend to be anxious and confused potentially causing fatal accidents. In order to avoid or mitigate the situation a newer font, Clearview, is installed to provide better readability in nighttime and from far distances. In a similar, context, the lack of brightness in sheeting material for warning signs leads to missing the cautionary information. Installation of fluorescent yellow sheeting provided signs with more noticeable and brighter materials. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Clearview fonts along with fluorescent yellow sheeting installed in Michigan freeways. …

An Appromximation Algorithm For Motif Finding In Dna Sequences, Hasnaa Imad Al-Shaikhli

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

• Motif finding is a significant problem in biology and computer science fields.

• Search for similar (not exact) motifs in multiple DNA sequences is non -trivial, and is a time trivial, and is a time -consuming problem.

• IDEA: design an algorithm that reduces the search space to decrease the run -time based on a d-neighbors set analysis.

• The d -neighbors set is a list of all instances for subsequence x of length I with maximum allowed mutations ≤ d.

• Analyzing these sets to make use of the distance frequencies between neighbors without generating them would help …

Characterization Of A Neuroprotective Retinal Synapse After Inducing Glaucoma In Long Evans Rats, Cynthia A. Cooley-Themm

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Glaucoma is a group of degenerative retinal diseases characterized by progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons leading to irreversible loss of vision. Neuroprotection has been defined as any intervention that prevents optic nerve damage or RGC death. The neurotransmitter, acetycholine (ACh), has been linked to neuroprotection against excitotoxic cell death and neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Results from our lab have demonstrated that ACh provides neuroprotection against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity in isolated pig and rat RGCs in vitro. Additional studies using an in vivo rat model of glaucoma have shown that intravitreal injections or …

Enhance A Deep Neural Network Model For Twitter Sentiment Analysis By Incorporating A User-Level Information, Ahmed Sulaiman M Alharbi

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Most existing sentiment classification methods for social media focus on document-level classification. They utilize local text information and ignore the crucial characteristic information of users. These methods usually suffer from high model complexity and only exhibit word-level preference.

Therefore, motivated by the successful utilization of deep neural networks in computer vision, speech recognition and natural language processing and their ability of learning in multi-prospective ways, a neural network based sentiment analysis model is proposed to incorporate user-level information into sentiment classification.

By user-level information we mean information extracted or inferred from the user that helps the proposed model to engage …

Do Incentives Increase Response Rates To An Internet Survey Of American Evaluation Association Members?, Lyssa N. Wilson

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

This randomized experiment examines the effect of different incentive types on online survey response rates. The primary objective of this study was to determine the most effective incentive type to increase response rates to online surveys of American Evaluation Association (AEA) members, specifically.

Black Women As Scapegoats: The Mass Incarceration Of Black Men And The Social Stigma Of The Welfare Queen, Keiondra J. Grace, Olivia M. Mclaughlin

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

In popular and academic discourse, African American women are regarded as the source of all social ills within the inner-city. This has become increasingly true in the era of mass incarceration, resultant of the War on Drugs. While Black men are portrayed as violent criminals, Black women are portrayed as the drug addicted, welfare queens they left behind. This trend can be explained, in part, by the actions of politicians and researchers who appear to remain ignorant to the importance of recognizing social structures such as gender, race, and class. We argue that Black single mothers, some of the most …

Computer Simulation Of Flexiblity And Inertial Effects On Self-Propelled Swimming Bodies, Ye Luo, Tai-Hsien Wu

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

In this research, a numerical simulation method is employed to simulate a flapping movement for a flexible slender swimmer in a fluid. Our objective is to study dynamic behaviors of the flapping movement. Fig. 1 shows a sketch of the simulation: the leading edge of the swimming body is swung in the vertical direction to generate a horizontal thrust force, which drives the body itself to cruise in the horizontal direction in a fluid. The simulation is based on a combination of three numerical methods: the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), Lattice Spring Model (LSM), and Immersed Boundary Method (IBM). The …

Satellite Sequencing Optimization Using A Genetic Algorithm, Andrew Verstraete

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

The problem of mission design for a robotic servicing satellite in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) was investigated. A representative set of potential client satellites was selected, and operational needs were randomly assigned based on the average number of GEO retirements, anomalies, and repositioning maneuvers that currently occur each year. An objective function was developed to represent the value of servicing mission sequences, including client fees, time penalties, and operational risk. A genetic algorithm was then used to find sequences of operations on the potential client set that maximized the objective function’s value. Scenarios were analyzed with the database of satellites …

Land Deformation Associated With Salt Domes Along The Red Sea Coastline, Hannah Pankratz

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

The southwest portion of Saudi Arabia is rapidly growing (in size and population) especially in the Jazan Province, Saudi Arabia where they are currently building a multibillion-dollar economic city along the coast of the Red Sea. The area of focus for this project is the old city of Jazan, which is ~45 km south of the proposed economic city. The old city of Jazan is located on a peninsula that is located on a ~4 km2 salt dome or diapir structure that is located ~40 meters above the relatively flat surroundings. This study is aimed at assessing the land deformation …

Spatial Thinking And Cognitive Processing In Meteorology, Peggy Mcneal

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Evidence suggests that spatial skills are highly malleable and that training in spatial thinking is effective, durable, and transferrable1. Understanding how meteorologists employ spatial skills in the forecasting process has implications for operational weather forecasting and meteorology education. This study began with exploratory research that identified mental animation and disembedding as key spatial skills used in weather forecasting. A follow-on pilot study tested the instruments, collected think-aloud data and found a correlation between spatial skills and forecasting. The complete study, in progress, is investigating the effect of spatial thinking, working memory and expertise on forecast task performance.

Analysis Of Emergency Medical Services Response Continuum For Motor Vehicle Crashes In Michigan, Megan Kuk

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Timely response of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel at a crash site may help prevent loss of life and thereby impact the quality of life for an individual at risk. This study was conducted to review The Michigan Department of Community Health, Emergency Medical Services Section data collected over a 5-year period beginning in 2010. Specific intentions were to identify current EMS response, treatment, and transport trends.

The Quantum Dancing Of Hot Atomic Nuclei: A New Theoretical Approach, Herlik Wibowo

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

We study the nuclear excitation spectra in the two energy domains: the low energy region (below 10 MeV) and giant resonance (GR) region (10-30 MeV). In the low energy region, the experimentally discovered upbend of the radiative dipole strength function is very important as it has an impact on the rapid neutron capture cross sections, which are used, in particular, for the r-process nucleosynthesis studies.

Thermal continuum quasiparticle random-phase approximation (TCQRPA) is one of the models which attempts to explain this phenomenon. The deficiency of TCQRPA is the absence of quasiparticle vibration coupling (QVC) mechanism, which is already included in …

Measuring Quality Of Life For Shanghai’S Floating Population Employed In Urban Renewal Sites, Jacob A. Watkins, Gregory Veeck

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Chinese internal migrants continue to struggle to obtain social and economic equity in some of China’s largest cities. Shanghai, China’s largest city, houses one of the largest floating populations in the country. As city officials and the CPC continue to spend on urban renewal sites in the city proper, new opportunities may be emerging for migrant workers. These sites contain hundreds on new commercial and service based businesses that could potentially provide stable employment for rural-to-urban migrants in Shanghai and influence migrant quality of life as well as provide the means for migrants to remain in the city long-term. This …

State-Wide Patterns In Diabetes Screening Service: Comparing 3 Medical Insurance Plans, Stephen Anim-Preko

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

In the U.S, diabetes has become one of the major health concerns. In like manner, health insurance coverage is vital to the health needs of individuals. Adults having elevated glucose levels are recommended to receive glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) testing to determine the average blood sugar concentrations. Differences in insurance coverage has significant impact on recommended screenings.

The study analyzes secondary data from 2011 to 2013 for three different health plans being Medicaid, Blue Care Network (BCN) and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan. Statistical methods were used to ascertain the best regression model for count data and the association …

Modeling Channel Response To Dam Removal In Lansing, Michigan, Using Swat, Ryan Filbin

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

The removal of dams has increased in recent decades in the United States, largely resulting from decaying infrastructure and greater efforts to restore rivers to a more natural, free-flowing state. Dam removal presents the opportunity for increased public safety, improved environmental prosperity, and improved economic prosperity in conjunction with riverfront revitalization projects. The City of Lansing, Michigan, contains two moderate-to high-risk dams along the Grand River that pose a significant risk to the surrounding area in the event of structural failure.

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is applied to model the impacts of the Moores Park Dam and …

Selective Incarceration And Extraction Of Oxoanion Contaminants From Aqueous Media By Self-Assembled Nanojars, Basil Ahmed

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Selective binding and extraction of anions by artificial receptors is one of the most far‐reaching areas of supramolecular chemistry, with implications in chemical, biological and environmental sciences. The extraction of kosmotropic anions from aqueous media is challenging, due to their large hydration energies (affinity for water). We have recently shown that a class of toroidal copper(II)‐hydroxide/pyrazolate complexes (nanojars), with the formula [Cu(OH)(pz)]_n (n = 27−36), totally incarcerate kosmotropic anions with an unprecedented strength. Lined by H‐bond donors on the inside and hydrophobic on the outside, these ~2 nm sized assemblies selectively extract kosmotropic anions from mixtures with chaotropic anions …

Work Protecting Sensitive Data In Vanets Using Active Data Bundles, Abduljaleel M. Al Hasnawi

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Conclusions

• Integrating ADB with VANETs inaneffective and efficient way shouldsolvemost of the privacyissuesin VANETs
• ADB is extensible -allows adding more security and privacy protection mechanisms
• According to the sensitivity of the carried data

Future Work

• Evaluateusing ADB in VANETs via simulation
• Propose ADB routingprotocolfor VANETs
• Apply the proposed solution to diverseVANETapplications

The Level Of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Contamination On The Kalamazoo River Shoreline Remains High Following The 2010 Enbridge Oil Spill, Wisam Abdulabbas Flayyih Al Isawi

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

• One of the nation’s worst inland oil spills occurred near Marshall in Michigan in 2010.
• The recent Enbridge Line 6B rupture released over three million liters of diluted bitumen crude oil into the environment.
• The spilled oil entered the Talmadge Creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River, a Lake Michigan tributary.
• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) together with other pollutants were released into the environment.
• PAHs represents significant threats to aquatic organisms due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic properties and their persistence in the environment.
• Five years following the oil spill accident, the levels and identities of PAHs were investigated in …

Evaluation Of The Discriminable Stimulus Effects Of 0.3 Mg/Kg 3, 4‑Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (Mdpv) And 1.0 Mg/Kg 4-Methylmethcathinone (4-Mmc) Using A Drug Discrimination Procedure In Male Sprague-Dawley Rats, Michael Berquist

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Experimental investigations into the behavioral and neurochemical effects of illicit β-ketophenethylamines (synthetic cathinones, “bath salts”) has increased in recent years. Two cathinone derivatives in particular, MDPV and mephedrone (4-MMC), have received a considerable amount of research attention given their relative popularity among users at the turn of the 21st century. Researchers investigating MDPV and 4-MMC have devoted much of their attention toward evaluating the drugs’ reinforcing efficacy, rewarding effects, receptor binding profiles, and effects on ambulatory responses.

There exist few published studies that have evaluated the discriminable stimulus effects of MDPV and 4-MMC using rodent drug discrimination procedures. To date, …

High Performance Bayesian Applications In Medical, Economics And Climate Sciences, Ahmed Almulihi

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

We apply high performance numerical integration to problems in Bayesian statistics. These are applied to data arising in the analysis of problems in such areas as medical statistics (birth weight data, heart transplant data, photocarcinogen data, radio therapy data), climate (global weather, tornado data), and general statistics applications (multivariate logistic distribution, multivariate normal, nonlinear regression). We compute Bayesian moment integrals using the ParInt integration software that runs efficiently on computer clusters. We compare our results to those in the literature and show excellent performance with respect to accuracy and execution time.

The Digital Watchmakers: Playing With The Sacred In Video Games, Anthony Langley

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

With video games establishing itself as a multi-billion dollar industry, academia as a whole has been slowly looking at the medium as an object of study. The field of religious studies has also begun to take notice of it. At face value, this is a great a way to observe concepts of religiosity in a fairly new medium. In spite of this, the same questions are being asked. The first is how are the narrative of games depicting religious motifs? Secondly, what can we learn through the social interactions of people within a digital space about religion? Finally, how are …

Optimal Location For Bike Sharing Stations In Downtown Kalamazoo, Lizmert Lopez Gonzalez

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

At present, emphasis is on increasing physical activities and expanding access to goods and services through non-motorized modes in order to enhance safety, social sustainability in transportation equity, environmental justice, and public health. Hence, there is an interest in developing bike sharing systems to encourage non-motorized activities in cities. This study focuses on developing a bike sharing system for city of Kalamazoo. One key parameter for a successful system is to identify optimum locations for bike sharing stations. This poster presents implementation of location-allocation models and spatial analysis tools to determine the most suitable locations for bike sharing stations within …

Does Research On Evaluation Matter? Findings From A Survey Of American Evaluation Association Members And Prominent Evaluation Theorists And Scholars, Satoshi Ozeki

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

• Evaluation is a relatively new, practice-based field
• Evaluation scholars lead the field by presenting their theories
• Evaluation theories are not based on empirical evidence
• Empirical investigation is required to establish the field of evaluation
• There were calls for more research on evaluation (RoE)
• The number of studies on RoE has increased in the past decade
• It is unknown whether RoE is important in the evaluation community