Digital Commons Network^™

Organizing At A Distance, Teresa Mooney, Teresa Mooney

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

As a member of the 2020-2021 Social Justice Internship cohort, I had the opprotunity to be an intern with ONE Northside. This fall I worked with the Economic Justice Team and their campaign for the "Fair Tax" in Illinois. This challenged me to understand the current tax law of Illinois and how it impacts Chicago. After its loss and into the spring, I lead a team in research and constituent outreach to find what the next long-term campaign ONE Northside should invest in. All of this was done through phone calls, emails, and virtual meetings; a major transition and challenge …

How A Physician’S Religious Beliefs Frame An End-Of-Life Prognosis For A Terminally Ill Patient, Tyler Hershenhouse

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

The relationship between a physician’s religious beliefs and how they frame an end-of-life prognosis for a terminally ill patient is poorly understood. Most physicians strive to provide the best patient centered care while attempting to respect the patient’s religious beliefs during final moments of life. This study seeks to uncover if a physician’s religious beliefs have any influence on the prognosis provided to a terminally ill patient. Data collected suggests physicians who identify as Atheist responded with no significant correlation to hastening or prolonging treatment for a terminally ill patient, but there are indications to a higher degree to patient …

Fire Otherwise: Lifeways Enhancing Fire Management In A Changing World, Cynthia Twyford Fowler, Cynthia Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

NA

Fire Otherwise: Lifeways Enhancing Fire Management In A Changing World, Cynthia Twyford Fowler, Cynthia Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

Fire is a daunting human ecological challenge and a major subject in science and policy debates about global trends in land conversion, climate change, and human health. Persistent environmental orthodoxies reduce complex burning traditions to overly simplistic representations of environmental destruction, degradation, and loss while reinforcing existing social inequities involving smallholders. What would a more inclusive and pluralistic fire ecology look like? How and why might we embrace diverse anthropogenic fire regimes and broader understandings of the ways humans interact with fire? Fire otherwise is the support of proactive local and regional efforts to adapt amidst continually changing social and …

Extratropical Transition Of Tropical Cyclones In The Southeast Indian Ocean: A Climatology, Samantha Schletz

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

This research investigates the extratropical transition (ET) of tropical cyclones in the Western Australian (WAUS) region between 1979 and 2015. The study examined 212 tropical cyclones to see if they completed the ET by examining the thickness values at the center of the cyclone and the thermal wind vectors through reanalysis data from the ERA5 (0.25 degree). The original track of each cyclone was provided by the International Best Track Archive For Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS). By using the ERA5, reanalysis tracks were determined in two different ways. The first way that was used was finding the grid point on the …

The Soul’S Access To Divine Will: Implications Of Stoic Reason, Christian Will, And Galenic Body In Reformulating The Platonic Philosophy Of The Human Person, Noelle Canty

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

Recent anthropologies of the human person reject the Platonic emphasis on “King Reason” because it seems dualistic. In the history of psychology, “anthropology” refers to the structure of a human person. Although Plato views the will as only a part of the rational soul, the psychological anthropologies of three Platonic writers seem to develop Platonic thought through placing the human will above reason. The Stoic, Epictetus, wrote about reason; the Catholic, Erasmus, wrote about the soul; and the Roman doctor, Galen, wrote about the body. Viewing the will as central could result in an anthropology of the human person which …

Funds For Students In Poverty, Yareli Marinez '23, Uzomaka Ibekie '23

Student Leadership Exchange (SLX)

Poverty is a large issue that affects students and schools across the country. In 2019, 10.5% of the US population was living in poverty. Poverty is also a large issue that affects students and schools in Illinois, including here in Aurora. Poverty negatively affects students and students affected by poverty usually perform poorly in school, face food insecurity, underfunding of schools and poor education, etc. There are students who currently attend IMSA that are affected by poverty and are yet still able to be accepted into the school, which is why we want to help develop some way to help …

Attire Tryer, Nachiket Rajinikanth '23, Maximus Osorio Simoneko '23, Alexander Davidson '23

Student Leadership Exchange (SLX)

Attire Tryer is an app that allows the user to virtually try on clothing. The app will take the measurements of your body using your smartphone’s camera to create a 3D model of yourself, and you can try on a variety of clothing with it. There will also be an option to try on your clothing in augmented reality. This product can be sold to clothing businesses so that the customer knows what they’ll look like in the product they're buying. We are targeting millennials, people ages 18 - 34, middle-class and up, people who live in the US, and …

Sustainable Food Production, Sofia Zasiebida '23, Wyatt Bryant '23, Gabriella Kanallakan '23, Shanan Riley '23, Ella Lavoie '23

Student Leadership Exchange (SLX)

Our group has chosen to focus on the UNSDG surrounding climate change. Specifically, we are passionate about ethical food consumption and production. Today in the US, food production is unethical. Industrial agriculture is damaging to the environment because of food waste, pollution, and irrigation. There is minimal action being taken to address the issues of industrial agriculture. The Green New Deal and Paris Climate Agreement are two proposed collections of legislation that address climate change but do not specifically work to combat the negative effects of agriculture. Our solution is to implement hydroponics in our IMSA dorm rooms and our …

The Effects Of Water Quality On Water-Related Diseases In Developing Countries, Daniel Ma '23, Jay Harms '23, Jared Dong '23

Student Leadership Exchange (SLX)

Many people within developing countries die every year from water-related illnesses. Within developing countries, water quality is poor, mainly as a result of loosely regulated human practices. The objective of this paper is to research and analyze the topic of water quality on water-related diseases in third-world countries. Through running t-tests, we searched for differences between pathogens in different water sources. We found that household storages have greater numbers of pathogens than communal wells and there is no statistically significant difference between the amount of E. coli O157:H7 and Campylobacter. Our research can contribute to finding solutions for these issues …

Vessel Wall Imaging, Suyang Li

Aurora Diagnostic Radiology Residents

No abstract provided.

Icecube Anisotropy, Andrew Moy

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

We are using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory to detect cosmic rays from the southern hemisphere. Through nine years of cosmic ray data at full potential we have recorded higher energy events more frequently and more reliably than any other experiment in either hemisphere. The higher energies recorded coincides with a significant structure change in the arrival directions of these cosmic rays compared to lower energy events. We are able to visualize the anisotropy of this energy dependency through the creation of skymaps and show the anisotropy in equatorial coordinates by fitting 1D graphs to harmonic equations. By studying the energy …

Supporting Immigrant On The Path To Citizenship, Montserrat Villasenor

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

I was given an amazing opportunity to work with immigrants as the go through the process of immigration and naturalization through Catholic Charities. I wrote on behalf of people applying for visas and adjustments. I learned about immigration as a whole. This experience has cemented my passion for advocating for the immigrant community.

Misericordia’S Personal Effectiveness Program (Pep): Virtual Wellness, Melissa Madrangca

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Misericordia offers care and services to individuals with developmental and physical disabilities. Within Misericordia is their Personal Effectiveness Program (PEP), which helps their residents lead meaningful lives. PEP provides structured, person-centered programs. And despite the barriers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this community has thrived through their virtual programming. This presentation outlines the virtual projects that I created and facilitated during my year-long internship. Implemented projects include an adaptive photography club, "health corner", and book club, all centered around wellness. Within this presentation, I also reflect on my experience with the Social Justice Internship through Loyola's Center for Experiential Learning.

Photographs Of Seaweeds In Intertidal Monitoring Plots, 2020, David M. Burdick, Gregg Moore

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Records of photographs of intertidal seaweed sampling plots for cover (50 by 50 cm) and biomass (25 by 25 cm) collected by Jackson Estuarine Laboratory research staff in 2020.

Subtidal Seaweed And Eelgrass Monitoring Photographs 2020, David M. Burdick, Gregg E. Moore

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Records of photographs of subtidal seaweed and eelgrass sampling plots for cover (50 by 50 cm) collected by Jackson Estuarine Laboratory research staff in 2020.

082— The Importance Of An Unbiased Media For American Democracy: An Analysis Of Media Affecting Public Opinion, Keith Hurley

GREAT Day Posters

A free and unbiased media is a cornerstone of any properly functioning democracy. It is the primary means of information transfer between the federal government and its constituents on policy matters. While there are a number of democratic countries around the world that have taken steps to limit press freedom, thereby moving away from a full democratic system, the United States has, for the most part, not been one of them. However, mass media in the United States is far from perfect, and in some instances can be damaging to American society and democracy itself. I will conduct a literature …

356— Conodonts, Microtektites, And Thermal Alteration, Of The Jefferson Formation, Upper Devonian, Wyoming, Joshua Yanuck, Ryan Lee

GREAT Day Posters

The Jefferson Formation, composed of two members, a limestone and dolomite dominated layer called the lower member, and the dolomite-dominated Birdbear Member, is distributed throughout southern Montana and northern Wyoming. Samples were taken from multiple levels within the Birdbear Member, dissolved in buffered 10% formic acid, and the insoluble residue separated using heavy liquid. The heavy fraction was searched for conodonts and microtektites. Conodonts indicate the Middle Frasnian stage of the Upper Devonian and thermal heating of less than 80 degrees Celsius. Microtektites, speculated to occur in the interval corresponding to the Alamo Impact in Nevada, were not found.

062— Nano-Size Dependence In Aggregation Process Of Beta 2 Microglobulin Coated Gold Colloids, Kaylee A. Hausrath

GREAT Day Posters

The formation of the aggregates of the beta 2 microglobulin (b2m) coated nano-gold colloids were investigated for various nanogold colloid sizes ranging between 10 nm and 100 nm. The aggregation process was considered to be initiated by the selfassembly of b2m by transforming the folded to the unfolded structure under highly acidic condition (pH < 4). The formation of the aggregates were monitored by a peak shift of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band as a function of number of free b2m available. As for relatively smaller size of gold colloid diameter a gradual aggregation process was observed. The size of the aggregates was considered to increase monotonically as the b2m was added. On the other hand, as for relatively larger diameter of gold colloid, stepwise aggregation process was observed. So that the aggregates of a particular size was formed at a certain threshold of the concentration of available free b2m. The majority of the gold surface of the smaller gold size was easily covered and support the aggregation even at the lower concentration of b2m.

Victims Of Terrorism At The Intersection Of Race And Gender, Charlotte Lang, Candice Ortbals

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

El-Nawawy and El-Masry (2017) argue that media “devalue black lives” and “race, then, cannot be ignored as a factor” when considering the media and political treatment of terrorism’s victims (2017, 1810). Furthermore, media give less coverage to victims of terrorism in attacks occurring in countries outside the Global North (Nevalsky 2015). In this paper, we theorize race and terrorism along with gender. We discuss the ways that scholarship, media, and political actors give (or do not give) attention to victims of terrorism. We show through a historical analysis of Rapoport’s waves of terrorism and an analysis of recent cases of …

The Effects Of News Media Bias On Affective Polarization, Timothy Song

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In an age of divided media, levels of affective polarization, or personal dislike and preference against members of a different political affiliation, appear to have grown. Using a survey experiment, I examine the extent to which biased news media can inflame levels of affective polarization, and to what extent balanced news media can reduce affective polarization in audience members. I also examine the political and academic implications of my findings that affective polarization is present in even the youngest of American voters, and that balanced news coverage is able to somewhat mitigate rates of affective polarization.

The Effects Of Diverse Body-Positive Instagram Posts On Body Image Across The Spectrum Of Adulthood, Sophie Nelson, Cindy Miller-Perrin, Jennifer Harriger

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Recent studies have examined the effects of diverse body-positive social media content on levels of body acceptance and appreciation. However, these studies have not addressed how different types of Instagram content affect women across the spectrum of adulthood in an ecologically valid manner. The current study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the effects of diverse body-positive Instagram content on body image in women across the spectrum of adulthood. We randomly assigned 205 women (18-76 years old) to view either diverse body-positive, thin-ideal, or neutral Instagram content. Participants completed a variety of measures in an online survey that …

Domestic Violence In The World Of Athletics, Abbigayle L. Gesler

ONU Student Research Colloquium

There is an ongoing debate whether athletics is linked to domestic violence in professional athletes or individuals who were athletes for a long period of time. The purpose of this research is to see if being an athlete leads to domestic violence, and if so, to find ways to decrease the numbers. Professional athletes with a history of domestic violence will be researched and this could help determine if there is a link between the two. To get an idea on aggression levels in athletes, the Buss & Perry Survey was sent out via email to all Ohio Northern students, …

Implementation Of A Clinical Journal Club To Improve Student Knowledge, Christian J. Stang

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Evidence-based medicine is a crucial component of pharmacy practice that is utilized to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients. It is a concept that ensures clinical guidelines are constantly analyzed for quality improvement with therapeutic practices enhanced for the highest standards for patient care. At the heart of incorporating evidence-based medicine is literature review and analysis, a practice conducted not only by healthcare professionals but also students in healthcare programs. The implementation of literature review into these healthcare programs better prepares students to critically evaluate and review medical literature with the ultimate purpose to improve patient care in their …

The Impact Of Social Media Use On Well-Being And Stress In Adolescents And Young Adults, Elisabeth Moeller

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Over the past couple of decades, as technology has become more readily available to individuals, social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram have had an impact on how adolescents and young adults communicate with peers. There has been much debate on whether social media usage negatively impacts the lives of adolescents and adults or not. The present literary review examines findings from 20 studies that investigated the effect of social media usage on the well-being and stress levels of adolescents and young adults. The conclusion of this literary review is that there are many mixed findings in studies examining …

Promoting Equity: Differences In Financial Resources Allocation Between Urban Early College High Schools And Traditional Public High Schools, Steven Hinshaw

Thomas C. Hunt Building a Research Community Day

This exploratory study was designed to analyze the distribution of financial resources to predict student achievement in early college high schools and traditional public high schools. The premise was to discover if there were differences in the predictor variables for allocation. If so, then the allocation could be changed in traditional public high schools to address the needs of those students unable to attend early college high schools thus creating more equity for those underserved students.

This study included 12 of Ohio’s first early college high schools and the 36 traditional public high schools in the public districts where the …

Does Coastal Carolina Wall Pond Bridge Have Too Much Nitrogen?, Jacquelyn Colangelo

Undergraduate Research Competition

Nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia are all forms of nitrogen. Excessive amounts of ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites can accelerate eutrophication, causing dramatic increases in aquatic plant growth and changes in the types of plants and animals that live in the pond. The level of nitrate should range from 0-50 mg/L, nitrite should range from 0-3.0 mg/L, and ammonia should range from 0-6 ppm. Excess nitrates can cause hypoxia (low levels of dissolved oxygen) and can become toxic to warm-blooded animals at higher concentrations (10 mg/L) or higher) under certain conditions. This research was conducted at the Wall Pond Bridge on Coastal …

How Does Turbidity And Tds Affect Water Quality And The Ecosystem, Kered Class

Undergraduate Research Competition

We did our testing at 501 West right beside Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. measuring the Turbidity, and TDS of the water quality. Turbidity measures the water clarity, haziness, and cloudiness or the material suspended in water decreasing the passage of light that goes through the water. These materials include algae, plankton, microbes, and soil particles such as clay, silt, and sand. Turbidity indicates the effects from the results of construction, agricultural, logging, and discharges. The elevated levels of turbidity will increase the temperature, which lowers DO in the water. This negatively affects the overall health of aquatic life …

Acute Physiological And Perceptional Responses To Unilateral Versus Bilateral Walking With Blood Flow Restriction, Sage Donaldson

Undergraduate Research Competition

The use of blood flow restriction (BFR) has skyrocketed in popularity in the past few years as a therapeutic modality. Studies have shown that the application of BFR at 20-30% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) yields similar improvements in cardiovascular fitness, muscle mass, and strength when compared with traditional exercise at 60-90% of VO2max. The substantially lower workload accompanying BFR allows for more tolerable workloads in special populations, such as those recovering from musculoskeletal injury. Because previous studies regarding BFR have mainly focused on bilateral BFR, it is unclear how unilateral BFR compares to bilateral BFR. Therefore, the purpose of …

Lichen Delimitation Within The Collemataceae Family, Catherine Austin

Undergraduate Research Competition

Lichens are composed of fungal and algal or cyanobacterial components that participate in a mutualistic relationship. Recently, lichen-associated bacterial microbiomes have also been discovered to play a role in this relationship. Gathering information concerning lichen evolutionary relationships can bring more clarity to how lichens have evolved to be better equipped to house these bacterial communities. Specifically, this study aims to understand the evolutionary relationship between lichen species within different genera of the Collemataceae family. Broadening the taxa being studied from the Kosuthova et al. 2020 study to 20 total lichen species within the Collemataceae family, allows for a phylogenetic approach …