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Monarch Science Observer, Volume 18, College Of Sciences, Old Dominion University

College of Sciences Newsletter

Spring 2024, issue of Monarch Science Observer, ODU Colleges of Sciences Newsletter.

Socioecological Assessment Of Birds In Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve, Eli Taub

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Effective management of natural resources requires consideration of the environment through both a physical and a sociological lens. In this study, the birds in Ngezi-Vumawimbi Nature Forest Reserve were examined through both a biological mist-net survey and a socioecological series of interviews with people living in the surrounding villages. The mist-net survey compared the understory species in undisturbed and disturbed area of the forest, as well as analyzing birds caught for biologically meaningful information on subspecies and sexual dimorphism. While the mist-net survey was largely unsuccessful, highlighting the need for alternative bird capture methods in Ngezi, it found a decrease …

Festival Of Research Abstracts, Spring 2024, College Of Science And Mathematics, Wright State University

Festival of Research

The collection of abstracts accepted for the Spring 2024 Festival of Research hosted by the Wright State University College of Science and Mathematics.

White-Fronted Capuchins (Cebus Albifrons Aequatorialis) In La Hesperia Cloud Forest Reserve: A Study Of Aggressive Behaviors In Response To Human Presence, Marin Lynch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Ecuadorian white-fronted capuchin, Cebus albifrons aequatorialis, is a critically endangered primate species native to Ecuador and northern Peru. Their population consists of only a handful of surviving troops spread out across this region. One surviving population exists in La Hesperia Cloud Forest Reserve in Ecuador. This reserve serves as an education and volunteer site for dozens of international travelers every year. I studied the effect of the presence of humans and the lodging they have constructed. Specifically, I investigated the effect on behavior of the proximity of the troops alpha male to manmade structures in the reserve. I …

Utah Lake Paleoecology Study Report To Deq, April 2024, J. Brahney, L. King, M. Devey, M. Carter, G. Carling, S. Brothers, A. Provard, B. Young, R. West

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Utah Lake is a large shallow eutrophic lake located in north central Utah. In recent years, the occurrence of frequent and sometimes toxic algal blooms has brought new urgency in understanding the cause and effects of eutrophication in Utah Lake. The drainage basin of Utah Lake is dominated by carbonate sedimentary materials and small pockets of phosphate rock occur. Given the bedrock geology and shallow nature of the lake, there has been uncertainty as to the natural trophic status and ecology of the lake prior to the settlement of Utah Valley. Thus, defining historical nutrient concentrations and sources in the …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 65 Number 1, Spring 2024, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

14 - A CAMPUS ON THE RISE Six new buildings on campus aren’t the only changes brought by a successful $1 billion fundraising campaign. Lauren Loftus & Leslie Griffy

20 - HUMAN AT HEART How Santa Clara University is distinguishing itself as a leader in human-focused health care innovation. Lauren Loftus

26 - SHEPHERDING INNOVATION How wonder, and God, can make us better scientists. Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J.

30 - THE CO-OP Santa Clara University has long been a bastion of interdisciplinary learning. A new fund is taking cross-collaboration to new heights. SCM Staff

34 - MAKE AI THE BEST …

Shall We Place More Advanced Students In A Separate Class?, Shahnaz Shahbazova, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In every class, we have students who are more advanced and students who are more behind. From this viewpoint, it seems reasonable to place more advanced students in a separate class. This should help advanced students progress faster, and it should help other students as well, since the teachers in the remaining class can better attend to their needs. However, empirically, this does not work: when we form a separate class, the overall amount of gained knowledge decreases. In this paper, we provide a possible explanation for this seemingly counterintuitive phenomenon.

Unveiling Gene Interactions In Alzheimer's Disease By Integrating Genetic And Epigenetic Data With A Network-Based Approach, Keith L Sanders, Astrid M Manuel, Andi Liu, Boyan Leng, Xiangning Chen, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a complex disease and the leading cause of dementia in older people. We aimed to uncover aspects of AD’s pathogenesis that may contribute to drug repurposing efforts by integrating DNA methylation and genetic data. Implementing the network-based tool, a dense module search of genome-wide association studies (dmGWAS), we integrated a large-scale GWAS dataset with DNA methylation data to identify gene network modules associated with AD. Our analysis yielded 286 significant gene network modules. Notably, the foremost module included the BIN1 gene, showing the largest GWAS signal, and the GNAS gene, the most significantly hypermethylated. We conducted …

Identification Of Novel F2-Isoprostane Metabolites By Specific Udp-Glucuronosyltransferases, Ginger L Milne, Marina S Nogueira, Benlian Gao, Stephanie C Sanchez, Warda Amin, Sarah Thomas, Camille Oger, Jean-Marie Galano, Harvey J Murff, Gong Yang, Thierry Durand

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) catalyze the conjugation of glucuronic acid with endogenous and exogenous lipophilic small molecules to facilitate their inactivation and excretion from the body. This represents approximately 35 % of all phase II metabolic transformations. Fatty acids and their oxidized eicosanoid derivatives can be metabolized by UGTs. F2-isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs) are eicosanoids formed from the free radical oxidation of arachidonic acid. These molecules are potent vasoconstrictors and are widely used as biomarkers of endogenous oxidative damage. An increasing body of evidence demonstrates the efficacy of measuring the β-oxidation metabolites of F2-IsoPs rather than the unmetabolized F2-IsoPs to quantify oxidative damage in …

Paradox Lost: Wide Gape In The Ordovician Brachiopod Rafinesquina Explains How Unattached Filter-Feeding Strophomenoids Thrived On Muddy Substrates, Benjamin F. Dattilo, Rebecca L. Freeman, Kyle Hartshorn, David Peterman, Aaron Morse, David L. Meyer, Lindsay G. Dougan, James W. Hagadorn

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Strophomenoid brachiopods had thin, concavo-convex shells, were ubiquitous colonizers of Palaeozoic muddy seafloors, and are hypothesized to have filter-fed in a concave-upward orientation. This orientation would elevate their line of commissure out of potentially lethal lophophore-clogging mud. The paradox is that epi- biont distributions on strophomenoids support a convex-upward life position, as do studies of strophome- noid stability and trace fossils formed by strophomenoid sediment-clearing. A premise of the concave-upward orientation hypothesis is a narrow gape, which causes narrow, high velocity inhalant currents, leaving strophomenoids vul- nerable to sediment entrainment. Herein we investigate the gape angle of Rafinesquina using serial …

Consumer Preferences For Wood-Pellet-Based Green Pricing Programs In The Eastern United States, Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Andres Susaeta, Meghann Smith, Bernabas Wolde

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Co-firing wood pellets with coal is an attractive alternative energy generation method with economic, social, and environmental benefits for the US energy generation sector. One way to sustainably use wood pellets for co-firing is to create consumer-supported green pricing programs (GPPs). Our study surveyed residents of five states (Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) to investigate preferences for the attributes of a hypothetical GPP. The study applied the Best Worst Choice method, which employs the Best Worst Scaling (BWS) and binary choice (BC) task. The BWS analysis showed that residents of all five states most value the flexibility …

Joint Environmental And Social Benefits From Diversified Agriculture, Laura Vang Rasmussen, Ingo Grass

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification, for example, in the form of intensively managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimated how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, noncrop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (e.g., human well-being, yields, and food security) and environmental (e.g., biodiversity, ecosystem services, and reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We found that …

Unearthing The Past: A Comprehensive Study Of Natural And Anthropogenic Changes At An Archaeological Site Through Hydrogeologic Connectivity Utilizing Gis, Mehlich Ii Phosphorus Extractant, And Ph, Dana L. F. Herren

Theses

This thesis aims to thoroughly analyze the Mehlich II Phosphorus Extractant and pH levels at the Bains Gap Village Site in Anniston, AL., while examining the impact of various environmental factors and human activities on them. Phosphorus is often used in archaeology as an indicator of human activity. Soil core samples were collected to analyze anomalies in phosphorus levels.

To establish any relationships, phosphorus and pH levels from soil cores were correlated with findings from past excavation units and features. The potential effects of hydrogeologic connectivity on soil phosphorus and pH levels were investigated. Geospatial technologies were used to manage …

Predicting Biomolecular Properties And Interactions Using Numerical, Statistical And Machine Learning Methods, Elyssa Sliheet

Mathematics Theses and Dissertations

We investigate machine learning and electrostatic methods to predict biophysical properties of proteins, such as solvation energy and protein ligand binding affinity, for the purpose of drug discovery/development. We focus on the Poisson-Boltzmann model and various high performance computing considerations such as parallelization schemes.

What Soil Is Worth: A Cost-Benefit Framework Analysis Of Syntropic Farming, Aubrey Kettley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Syntropic farming, a type of regenerative agriculture, models its farming system after a forest. This type of farming prioritizes soil health while also providing a varied yield of crops. Because it is a fairly new system globally, little research has been done on the economic impacts of syntropic farming, and therefore the feasibility of scaling up regenerative systems like this. This study aims to analyze the economic feasibility of this system through a literature review and a cost-benefit analysis framework. The results highlight the applicability, environmental advantage and economic feasibility of the system. Based on the presented framework, the short …

Avian Diversity And Abundance Among Agricultural Land, Forested Land, And Their Ecotone In Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí Province, Republic Of Panamá., Stella Rae Kinard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As the human population increases, finding the balance between modifying land use for resources and protecting areas to preserve species that are threatened by anthropogenic disturbance is an ever growing problem. Guadalupe is a town in the Western Highlands of Panamá that struggles in this balance as its primary income source is agriculture, but it is located on the border of two protected areas, Parque Nacional La Amistad and Parque Nacional Volcán Barú. By understanding the unique ways in which avifauna utilize distinct vegetative landscapes, recommendations can be made for management styles of farms in Guadalupe to implement practices that …

Community Opinions On Environmental Action On Isla Porvenir And Whichub Walla In The Guna Yala Comarca, Sofia Houts

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Guna Yala Comarca is the autonomous, self-governed territory of the Guna people, one of seven Indigenous groups in Panama. The Comarca is located on Panama’s eastern Caribbean coast and includes 365 coral islands. Forty nine Guna communities and roughly 32,000 individuals live in the territory. The Guna General Congress is the highest authority, and each community has a local congress. As a low-lying coastal region, Guna Yala is especially vulnerable to climate change and is already impacted by sea level rise, biodiversity loss, and changing precipitation patterns. Sub-national, national, and international forms of governance and environmental action are crucial …

Community Knowledge Of Shark Ecology, Abundance, And Species Composition In Wichubwala, Nalunega, And Porvenir Communities In The Guna Yala Comarca, Panamá, Kayley Jane Porter

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sharks play a critical role in marine ecosystems as apex predators that exert top-down control of lower trophic levels. In recent decades, global shark populations have declined to unprecedented levels, triggering a cascade effect that threatens ecosystem functioning and, therefore, coastal community livelihoods that rely on marine resources for food and income. It is known that shark populations are vulnerable and on the decline due to anthropogenic stressors such as fishing and coastal development, but shark species composition and abundance are difficult to monitor due to the evasive nature of sharks, the often remote and inaccessible location of certain shark …

Vascular Epiphyte Population Dynamics Within Human-Modified Landscapes Of Guadalupe, Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panamá, Lucine Tashjian

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants non-parasitically, and globally, epiphytes compose a very large and diverse group. They are especially abundant and species-rich in the tropics- particularly, in tropical montane forest ecosystems. Human population growth in the tropics, however, has resulted in significant declines in forest cover with land being converted largely for agricultural purposes. Studies on epiphytes have traditionally been undertaken in pristine, undisturbed forest ecosystems, yet terrestrial land conversion has increased the need to understand the value of human-modified ecosystems for epiphytic populations and biodiversity conservation. This study sought to understand the relationship between human modification …

Chemistry Matters Spring 2024, Otterbein University Chemistry Department

Chemistry Matters Department Newsletter

In this Issue:

Letter from the Chair; Johnston Receives National Science Foundation Grant; Students and Faculty Travel to National Scientific Meetings; Department Acquires New Instrument; Chemistry Educators; Faculty Publish Book Chapters; Farewell to our Spring 2023 Graduates and Farewell to the Grote Family; Science Lecture Series Brings Dr. Diana Aga to Campus; Faculty Receive Recognition; A Wide Range of Undergraduate Chemistry Research Projects are Ongoing on Campus During 2023-24; High School Teachers Explore Art and Chemistry; The Cardy Chemistry Cluster; Students in the Department Earned Awards for Excellence.

Characterizing The Ecological Impacts Of Utility-Scale Solar Energy (Usse) On Fallowed Farmland, Amanda Gersoff

Master's Theses

Large-scale carbon-free energy generation projects such as utility-scale solar energy (USSE) arrays help mitigate the energy sector’s contribution to climate change and are rapidly expanding throughout the U.S. However, the expansion of USSE sites is associated with immediate and longer-term ecological impacts, many of which have yet to be assessed. Quantifying the ecological impacts of USSE arrays will help to identify synergies and trade-offs between energy generation and terrestrial conservation goals. The overall goal of this research is to characterize the ecological impacts of USSE sites located on fallowed farmlands in San Luis Obispo County, California in a seasonally explicit …

Exploring The Medicalization Of Menstruation: Analyzing Menstrual Hygiene Initiatives By Igos, Non-Profits And National Government In Switzerland, Victoria Wright

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Menstrual health serves as a critical indicator of reproductive health. It is pivotal in achieving various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to women's and girls' comfort, agency, participation, safety, well-being, and dignity (Loughnan et al., 2020). This research investigates the medicalization of menstruation in Switzerland through a mixed-methods approach examining the strategies and roles of key stakeholders such as the WHO, local government initiatives, and NGOs in shaping the landscape of menstrual medicalization.

The findings reveal that while medicalization has brought about progressive changes, including the introduction of menstrual leave policies, it has resulted in a complex regulatory landscape, increased …

The Role Of Geomorphological Context In Vegetative Succession Within The Breiðamerkurjökull Glacial Foreland, Lucas Nerbonne

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As glaciers retreat worldwide at an accelerating pace, understanding primary succession in these newly exposed landscapes becomes increasingly critical. This study examines the initial vegetative colonization patterns in glacial forelands, focusing on the influence of geomorphological formations of resulting plant communities. By analyzing vegetative communities in glaciofluvial and push moraine deposits, this study highlights how the more varied, channelized morphologies of fluvial deposits create potential microclimates better conducive to heterogenous plant colonization than the homogenous terrain of the nearby push moraine. Vegetative coverage, sediment size, and species abundance was collected at 480 sites across 6 different historical glacial extents across …

Artificial General Intelligence And The Mind-Body Problem: Exploring The Computability Of Simulated Human Intelligence In Light Of The Immaterial Mind, Caleb Parks

Senior Honors Theses

In this thesis I explore whether achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI) through simulating the human brain is theoretically possible. Because of the scientific community’s predominantly physicalist outlook on the mind-body problem, AGI research may be limited by erroneous foundational presuppositions. Arguments from linguistics and mathematics demonstrate that the human intellect is partially immaterial, opening the door for novel analysis of the mind’s simulability. I categorize mind-body problem philosophies in a manner relevant to computer science based upon state transitions, and determine their ramifications on mind-simulation. Finally, I demonstrate how classical architectures cannot resolve so-called Gödel statements, discuss why this inability …

Impact Of Pulsed Electric Field Treatment On Barley Germination For Malting, Rose Saxton, Caitlin Lahey, Brianna Smith, Emily Hibberd, Joshua Bevan, Cini Baumhoff, Ashley Galant, Jerry Young, Brian Meyer, Owen M. Mcdougal

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The malting process takes one week to steep, germinate, and kiln barley to make malt. Making quality malt is critically important to achieve the desired attributes of the finished beer, and the process is time-intensive and costly. Malt quality is assessed by indicators including β-glucan quantity, α-amylase activity, Free Amino Nitrogen (FAN) content, and overall extract concentration in the finished malt. Here, we report Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) treatment of barley to accelerate malt production. A small-scale trial of 250 g to 1.00 kg barley, was evaluated for germination at two PEF treatment conditions, generically referred to as “low” and …

A Literature Review On The Use Of Ai Technology For Medical Diagnosis, Olivia Maddock

Senior Honors Projects

The integration of technology like artificial intelligence (AI) in medical diagnosis offers a unique solution to the growing demands of healthcare providers across all fields of medicine. The purpose of the literature review is to examine current and future applications of artificial intelligence in healthcare, as well as associated challenges to implementing AI in medical decision-making and care access. The literature review was organized into sections examining current applications, limitations, and future directions. From the literature review conducted, I found that AI technology like machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) have the potential to optimize fields like medical diagnostics, …

Decoding Molecular Recognition Mechanism Of Small Molecule Ligand-Rna Binding Pocket Systems Using Molecular Dynamics And Metadynamics, Zhixue Bai

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

From my PhD research, under Amber99-Chen-Garcia force field, umbrella sampling and MD simulation helped us found that the 2’-5’ phosphodiester RNA backbone linkage modification on in vitro selected neomycin RNA aptamer can transfer it to ‘amikacin RNA aptamer’ by changing the conformation and backbone rigidity of the RNA binding pocket, which further influenced the binding mode and binding pathway of amikacin. Furthermore, under the same force field, metadynamics was found more powerful for simulating the binding pathway, binding mechanism and predicting binding modes of small molecule ligand recognizing its RNA target by filling up all energy basins on free energy …

Water Current, Volume 56, No. 1, Spring 2024

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Kicking Up Dust On Utah's Off-Road Vehicle Trails: Pi-Swerl Assessment Of Anthropogenic Dust Emissions, Wyatt A. Wiebelhaus

Honors Thesis

Upward trends in the use of off-highway vehicles (OHV) and the creation of new OHV trails facilitate an increase in soil disturbance and dust emissions in Utah. Anthropogenic destruction of soil crusts and the removal of vegetation by OHVs exposes soil and destroys soil structure, making the soil easier to erode by the wind. We used the PI-SWERL (Portable In Situ Wind Erosion Laboratory) to measure dust concentrations of disturbed and undisturbed soil. We tested soils at several popular OHV areas with landforms composed of sand dunes, playas, and Lake Bonneville sediments. Soil crust strength, grain size, and salinity were …

Optimising The Fashion E-Commerce Journey: A Data-Driven Approach To Customer Retention, Hasna Luthfiana Fadhila, Vynska Amalia Permadi, Sylvert Prian Tahalea

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

A fashion e-commerce company offers a wide range of products from domestic and international brands that are popular with young people. However, there has been an increase in non-organically acquired customers, many of whom do not return to make repeat purchases. This has led to a higher customer churn rate, with a significant proportion of non-organically sourced customers failing to become repeat purchasers. Consequently, a churn analysis and prediction model were developed to address this issue. This paper employs the Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM) framework for churn analysis and prediction. The framework is underpinned by three key dimensions: last …