Digital Commons Network^™

Child-Focused Mhealth Apps Used In Collaborative, Real-World Interventions: A Scoping Review, Simrin Pardal

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The use of mHealth apps as part of rehabilitation-based interventions for pediatrics in real-world environments has not previously been researched extensively. This scoping review aimed to gather, synthesize, and summarize the existing literature on pediatric-focused mHealth apps that have been used in real-world environments as interventions by healthcare professionals within rehabilitation sciences, as part of a collaborative care practice.

Predictors Of Infant Size At Birth, Madeline E. Hubbard

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

The Ascension Processes Of Women Ceos Within The Ontario Hospital System: Expediting Gender Equality In Health Care Leadership, Rachel Pizzonia

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Cnn-Lstm Vs Ann: Option Pricing Theory, Edward Chang

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The modern derivatives market has been steadily growing since the development of the first accurate option pricing model by Fischer Black, Robert Merton, and Myron Scholes. Since then, there have been many different approaches to more accurately price options like the binomial option pricing model and approaches using technology such as machine learning. There are many different research papers on option pricing with artificial neural networks (“ANN”) but not many with other neural network types. We contribute to the existing literature by developing a convolutional neural network – long short-term memory (“CNN-LSTM”) model to price options and compare it to …

The Birth Of A Fempreneur: A Neoliberal Guide To Going Viral And Making Millions, Liana S. Forsyth

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Social media has created a new way of feminist activism in the world, including a rapid rise in 'fempreneurs' feminist entrepreneurs. With many fempreneurs turning to social media apps such as Tik Tok and Instagram as a platform to post their activism, and turn it into a profitable career for personal financial gains.

I analyzed a popular Tik Tok influencer who is famous for being a feminist advocate on the platform calling out men, and analyze her posts in order to observe the types of feminism that goes viral on social media. Overall, it is evident from my research that …

Investigation Of Neurotransmitter’S Knockdown Effect On Drosophila Melanogaster Female Aggression, Asil N. El Galad

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster) is a popular model organism in neurobiology. While aggression has been studied heavily in male drosophila, there's minimal research on aggression in female drosophila. Neurotransmitters influencing aggressive behaviour in female D. melanogaster are poorly understood. Various neurotransmitters such as dopamine, octopamine, and serotonin influence aggression in D. melanogaster Further investigation of the role of neurotransmitters on aggression is thus important. The purpose of our experiment is to observe the effect of the knockdown of dopamine, octopamine and glutamate on aggression in female D. melanogaster.

Proving Dirichlet's Theorem On Arithmetic Progressions, Owen T. Abma

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

First proved by German mathematician Dirichlet in 1837, this important theorem states that for coprime integers a, m, there are an infinite number of primes p such that p = a (mod m). This is one of many extensions of Euclid’s theorem that there are infinitely many prime numbers. In this paper, we will formulate a rather elegant proof of Dirichlet’s theorem using ideas from complex analysis and group theory.

The Effect Of Innovation Performance On The Pricing In Private Placement, Tong Liu

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

We propose a research project examining the effect of firms’ innovation performance in the pricing of private equity placements, namely private investments in public equity (PIPEs). We investigate whether firms’ previous innovation outputs have been considered in the PIPE issuance. Innovative activities are important for firms to gain strategic advantage against their competitors. Firms with innovative opportunities frequently lack capital. However, financing innovation tends to be more difficult due to the uncertainty and information asymmetry (Acharya and Xu, 2017). Compared to public firms, private firms have the limitations to access the broader investor pool and higher cost of capital. Unlike …

The Effects Of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure On The Basolateral Amygdala, Karen Kw Wong

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Clinical and preclinical studies indicate prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) pathologically affects fetal brain development and may increase vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and mood/anxiety disorders. In review research from our lab suggests that fetal exposure to Δ9-THC sex-selectively impairs mesocorticolimbic (MCL) circuit function. However, there is a distinct lack of focus on PCE models on the BLA. The BLA plays a central role within the MCL where it directly interacts with the VTA, PFC and HIPP. Importantly, our model exhibits significant VTA hyperdopaminergic activity, and sex-specific alterations to PFC/HIPP glutamate firing, alongside region- and sex-specific changes in dopamine (DA), …

Project Khepri: Mining Asteroid Bennu For Water, Erika Frost, Gowtham Boyala, Adam Gremm, Ahmet Gungor, Amirhossein Taghipour, Massimo Biella, Jiawei "Jackson" Qiu, Athip Thirupathi Raj, Arjun Chhabra, Adam Gee, Saanjali Maharaj, Erin Richardson, Julia Empey, Haidar Ali Abdul-Nabi, Lindsay Richards, Ariyaan Talukder, Aaron Groh, Brie Miklaucic, Jd Carlson, Kristina Kim, Maverick Cue

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Deep space asteroid mining presents the opportunity for the collection of critical resources required to establish a cis-lunar infrastructure. In specific, the Project Khepri team has focused on the collection of water from asteroid Bennu. This water has the potential to provide a source of clean-energy propellant as well as an essential consumable for humans or agriculture on crewed trips to the Moon or Mars. This would avoid the high costs of launching from Earth - making it a highly desirable element for the future of cis-lunar infrastructure. The OSIRIS-REx mission provided a complete survey of asteroid Bennu and is …

Individual Differences In Categorization, Urooj Anees

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The appearance of individual differences used to be regarded as noise in psychological experiments, but is slowly becoming a tool used to enhance and solidify findings in various fields of cognitive psychology. This presentation aims to very briefly discuss individual differences and categorization and what questions future research could aim to answer.

Human Augmentation Technology: Exploring Exoskeleton Patents, Mridula A. Debnath

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Human augmentation technology has numerous applications in rehabilitation medicine, disability management, military settings, workplace/industrial settings etc. Such technology can be studied through patent exploration, where the contents of each patent can highlight specific intentions and usage for the invention. This project uses a small sample of exoskeleton patents from China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, to demonstrate how similar technology is designed for different purposes. Three distinct patent categories have been identified: Disability & Rehabilitation, Prevention of Injury, and Enhancement. Disability & Rehabilitation patents describe exoskeletal devices that are intended for use in medical settings. These may be …

Open-Source And 3-D Printed Autoinjector, Anjutha Selvaraj

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Autoinjectors have become popular modern injectable medical devices used as drug delivery systems. Due to its ease, capability and reliability compared to other conventional injectable medical devices, the market and manufacturing demand for autoinjector devices are increasing at a staggering rate. Although autoinjectors can offset healthcare treatment costs through self-administered medication, they are expensive for consumers. This paper describes the design and manufacture of a spring-driven and 3-D printed autoinjector using open-source hardware. By making it an open-source resource for everyone, the barrier of advanced research in design and production can be lifted, thus making it easily manufacturable and cost-effective. …

Race Disparities In Pain Among Canadian Adults., Harry Alorgbey Sardina

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Pain has significant quality-of-life implications for adults. We aimed to identify racial disparities in pain among Canadian adults. These results are crucial to uncovering which population groups are disproportionately experiencing pain-related suffering in Canada.

Developing A Nasal Organotypic Model To Investigate The Effects Of The Nasal Microbiome On Susceptibility To Pathogens, Victor H.K. Lam Mr.

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The microbiota is essential to the functioning of the immune system. The nasal milieu secretes immune molecules that can be influenced by diverse bacteria. Hence commensals that enhance anti-viral responses may confer resistance to respiratory viral infection.

Our collaborators have identified 7 microbial state types (CST) defined by indicator species in the nose and recently, through analyses of nasal immune molecules, we have categorized the nasal immune profile types into 8 groups (IPT). Although the IPTs correlated with certain CSTs, the influence of the nasal microbiome on susceptibility to respiratory pathogens is still unknown.

Defining this complex relationship requires a …

Learning Analytics In Post-Secondary Business Education: A Scoping Review Of Reviews Protocol, Jisu Kim Mr., Tiffany Bayley

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Learning Analytics is a growing discipline as educational institutions aim to exploit data and data analytics for several reasons, especially in higher education. Unfortunately, there is a lack of consensus on how learning analytics should be defined and what subjects fall under the purview of learning analytics. The blurred boundaries of what learning analytics encompasses have given rise to multiple studies and systematic reviews that have been published without any consistent agreement to develop the field in a particular direction. Consequently, we are outlining a protocol for a scoping review to map and summarize existing scoping reviews that have been …

Rheological Characterization Of Blood-Mimicking Fluids For Use In Particle Image Velocimetry, Anorin S. Ali

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Blood-mimicking fluids (BMFs) are often used to investigate blood flow using physical replicas of vessels with cardiovascular disease. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used with silicone poly-dimethyl siloxane (PDMS) vascular models to visualize this flow. The challenge is creating a blood-mimicking fluid that matches the viscosity profile, viscoelasticity, and density of whole blood while also matching the refractive index (RI) of PDMS. Water-glycerol solutions are commonly used with sodium iodide (NaI) added to increase the RI without changing viscosity. However, NaI is expensive, stains easily, and turns fluids from optically clear to yellow in less than a day. Furthermore, without …

Analysis Of Credit Risk And Single / Two Factor Model, Siwen Chen

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Since 2008, businesses and banks must manage and track more risk than ever before. Financial risk management helps companies and banks decrease the risk of investment and trade. Additionally, financial risk management gives a guide on how to forecast and manage the risk efficiently. More specifically, the three major risks are market risk, credit risk, and operational risk. This report will focus on the credit risk: introducing the definition of credit risk, single factor model, the relationship between coefficient and default probability, and the relationship of m coefficient and default probability. Using the single factor model, we will extend the …

Gbsv Resource Guide And Review For The University Of Western Ontario And Surrounding Area, Alyssa J. Madhani

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

During the 2021-2022 academic year, gender-based violence and sexual assault became a major topic of discussion due to a number of troubling incidents throughout the year. One of the largest calls to action by the student body was for more resources and trainings. This paper compiles the resources and trainings that can be found on campus of the University of Western Ontario and in the surrounding areas into a cohesive list of major relevant sources. The goal of this paper is to amplify the many different programs already in place that can be added to the training cohorts or made …

Ex-Smokers With And Without Copd: Investigating Ct Pulmonary Vascular, Airway, Pulmonary Artery And Aorta Measurements, Vedanth Desaigoudar, Paulina V. Wyszkiewicz, Alexander M. Matheson, Maksym Sharma, Marrissa J. Mcintosh, Harkiran K. Kooner, David G. Mccormack, Grace Parraga

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

RATIONALE: Pulmonary hypertension is characterized by increased pressure in the pulmonary artery, and is a key contributor to worsening symptoms in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The pulmonary artery to aorta diameter ratio (PA:Ao), measured using computed tomography (CT), is a biomarker of pulmonary hypertension; however, longitudinal changes in this measurement and its relationship to pulmonary vascular and airway structural changes is not well understood. Our objective was to investigate longitudinal changes in PA:Ao and its relationship with CT pulmonary vascular and airway abnormalities, airflow limitation and exercise-capacity.

The Brain-Gut Axis Of Honeybees: Testing How Microbiota Affect Individual And Social Behaviour, Julia F. Lacika, Shenella George

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Non:Wa: Navigating Indigenous Modernity Through Female Artists' Perspectives, Nicole Bussey

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This article examines the relationship between tradition and modern elements of Indigenous music through a cyclical perspective, and challenges colonial concepts of Indigenous modernity. Indigenous culture is often portrayed in mainstream culture as a relic of the past, which renders it incompatible with modernity. With a special focus on Indigenous female artists’ perspectives, I examine the ways in which women placed in this unique intersection challenge the binaries of past/present and tradition/modern.

Exploring Human-Caused Fire Occurrence Prediction, Ruyi Jin

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Wildland Fire Science has become an increasingly hot topic in recent years. The goal of this report is to investigate human-caused wildland fire occurrence prediction. The two main predictors of interest are the mean value of the Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC) and the month when a fire ignites. An Exploratory Data Analysis is presented first, after which we fit models to predict daily fire counts. We first consider Poisson models to fit the count data, but also attempt to fit Negative Binomial models to deal with overdispersion. We compare these models in the following ways: plotting the difference in …

Mapping Governmental Engagement With Community Engaged Learning In Canadian Higher Education: An Environmental Scan Of Key Trends, Hannah R. Argiloff

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This is an environmental survey my supervisor and I conducted pertaining to the landscape of government engagement with Community Engaged Learning in Canadian Universities.

Community Engaged Learning (CEL) is a valuable type of experiential learning characterized by collaboration between student and community partner/ stakeholder for the creation of a mutual outcome.

Given the relations between provincial governments and their influence over publicly funded universities, compounded by a recent uptick in CEL programs across Canada, we wanted to survey government rhetoric, policy, and legislation across the country to create a picture of the interactions between provincial governments and CEL in the …

Participant Outcomes From The Virtual More Than Words® Program, Jodi Friesen

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

More Than Words® is a program run through the Hanen Center, for caregivers of children with Autism or social communication disorders. Through secondary data analysis of interview transcripts and a survey, this research attempted to outline the reported child and caregiver outcomes from the virtual More Than Words® program.

Interrogation Of The Inkt-Mait Cell Interface, Nicole I. Wang

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells and mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are unique subsets of invariant T cells that are involved in regulating various tumor responses and display potent anti-microbial properties. Upon their activation, iNKT and MAIT cells secrete large quantities of T helper 1 (Th1)-, Th2-, and Th17-type cytokines that mediate their ability to regulate a variety of other immune cells, including B cells, natural killer cells, and macrophages. However, whether and how iNKT and MAIT cells regulate each other in vivo remains unknown. Here, we provide evidence for a cross-talk between iNKT and MAIT cells that resembles …

A Transformer-Based Classification System For Volcanic Seismic Signals, Anthony P. Rinaldi, Cindy Mora Stock, Cristián Bravo Roman, Alexander Hemming

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Monitoring volcanic events as they occur is a task that, to this day, requires significant human capital. The current process requires geologists to monitor seismographs around the clock, making it extremely labour-intensive and inefficient. The ability to automatically classify volcanic events as they happen in real-time would allow for quicker responses to these events by the surrounding communities. Timely knowledge of the type of event that is occurring can allow these surrounding communities to prepare or evacuate sooner depending on the magnitude of the event. Up until recently, not much research has been conducted regarding the potential for machine learning …

Optimizing Rna Isolation And Histology Protocols For Characterization Of Preclinical Models Of Tendon Disease, Deirdre Finnigan, Melika Meshkat, Ali Naeij, Dawn Bryce, Matthew W. Grol

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Tendons join muscle to bone and are essential for posture and movement. Tenocytes are the resident tendon cells. Isolating RNA from small animal models such as mice can be difficult, especially from tendon, as much of the time, they are extremely small samples. Downstream analysis such as qPCR and especially RNA sequencing require greater quantity and quality of RNA than is often achievable. RNA degradation is extremely rapid following tendon isolation, with RNA quality decreasing as time increases between the collection of tendons and RNA isolation. Even tendons whose RNA was isolated immediately following tendon isolation had imperfect quality. The …

Microvascular Regulation Between Two Hemodynamic Steady States In The Forearm And Forehead Using Wavelet Phase Coherence, Yuki Bao

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Microvascular mechanisms that regulate the microcirculation can be observed within blood flow as coupled oscillations operating over a wide range of different frequencies and time scales. Abnormally discordant interactions between regulation mechanisms can cause derangement of microvascular flow patterns, which has been suggested to be indicative of increased cardiovascular disease risk. Based on the premise that interactions between microvascular mechanisms are key to understanding flow regulation and disease progression, wavelet-based phase coherence was used to characterize the relationship between cardiac, respiratory, myogenic, neurogenic, and metabolic regulation across different microvascular beds and physiological conditions.

Steady state cutaneous microvascular blood flow data …

Resistance Training Improves White Matter Structural Connectivity In Older Adults At-Risk For Cognitive Decline, Ryu Lien

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Diabetes is a global health concern that impacts 415 million people worldwide. Individuals who are at-risk for diabetes (characterized by high blood glucose and/or being overweight) have white matter atrophy, decreased cognitive function, and an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recently, resistance training (RT) has been shown to lower white matter atrophy and white matter lesion volume. However, investigating changes in white matter tracts is complex, hence previous findings remain inconclusive. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) serves as a highly sensitive tool that enables visualization and characterization of white matter tracts and has the potential to combat this complexity. The …