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Fall 2021 Student Scholar Symposium Abstract Volume, Chapman University Center For Undergraduate Excellence

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

No abstract provided.

Thinkmed: Providing An Environment For Disadvantaged Students To Explore Stem, Steven Trinh, Lauren Dudley, Peter Chang

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

ThinkMED is a nonprofit initiative offering a four-week curriculum specifically designed to develop critical thinking and encourage evidence-based decision making. Each week’s content material revolves around the use of a ThinkMED Science Kit containing a wet lab experiment designed to supplement the content curriculum. Each experiment is formulated to be inclusive of all California Next Generation Science Standards K through 5. Contained within each week’s ThinkMED Science Kit is a unique QR code that directs the student to an interactive simulation of the experiment created by our team of computer scientists and graphic designers. At the end of each week, …

The Effectiveness Of A Web-Based Motor Intervention Program On Motor And Psychosocial Abilities Of Children With Dcd: A Preliminary Study, Karyssa Nelson

2021 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Group intervention programs are known to improve motor and psychosocial skills in children with motor difficulties, however, many programs were suspended due to COVID-19. Therefore, we investigated the effectiveness of a web-based asynchronous intervention on the motor and psychosocial abilities of children with DCD. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, and Motor Ability Questionnaire were completed before and after eight sessions. No significant differences were seen on the DCDQ, but effect sizes were found for the MAQ in jumping (d= .28), grasping (2= .27), lacing (d= .70) and overall ability (d= .30). For the SDQ, small effect …

The Sublethal Effects Of Ammonia On Daphnia, Michelle Le

2021 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Water pollution is a worldwide concern due to its devastating effects on the environment. Not only does this pose a significant threat to the environment, but these effects can also matriculate to humans causing disease and even death. As clean water is vital to our society, it is essential to monitor the effects of pollution and assess water quality. Using Daphnia spp. as bioindicators, the effects of various sublethal doses of ammonia, a common waterborne pollutant, on the phototactic behavior of Daphnia was investigated. Daphnids were first reared in common garden conditions and exposed to following concentrations of ammonia: 0 …

Aqueous-Based Associated Solvents For Protein And Peptide Fractionation And Protein Purification, Sajad Tasharofi

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

The focus of this dissertation is studying capabilities of a novel two-phase system in enhancing protein identification in the whole-cell proteomics studies. In this document, two types of biphasic systems have been used for two different purposes. The first type of biphasic system is formed by the addition of 1,1,1,3,3,3-Hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) to the aqueous solutions of water-miscible organic solvents. A combination of HFIP, organic solvent, and water forms a two-phase system in spite of the fact that every solvent pair in the three-component system is miscible and forms homogeneous solutions in water. This biphasic system is called Fluoroalcohol-Organic Associated Solvent …

Total Synthesis Of Imidazole-Containing Β-Carboline Alkaloids And Pyrrole-Imidazole Alkaloids, Moumita Singha Roy

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

The first part in this dissertation focuses on the development of an enantioselective total synthesis of villagorgin A, from another natural product haploscleridamine. Haploscleridamine was targeted first as it was thought that a successful approach to this family member would permit access to the other congeners through minor modifications, including conversion to villagorgin A. Moreover, villagorgin A has just one additional carbon atom compared to haploscleridamine, the introduction of which can be envisioned through a Pictet-Spengler reaction with formaldehyde. On completion of the haploscleridamine synthesis, attention was turned to the brominated congener, lissoclin C. Lissoclin C can be accessed from …

Everyone, Karisa Kinard

2021 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Avant-garde is described as an experimental technique of art, whether it be fashion, painting, or theater. These methods have been effective in helping the audience connect to the script. This script, entitled Everyone, echoes the high emotional value placed on common human themes; depression, hatred, faith, isolation, self-consciousness, and education are aspects of life we have all experienced and have had adverse and inescapable influences on our health. Everyone is a way to describe the cycle of life revolving around us. The theater has always been a conduit for catharsis, evolving from stringent rituals to emerging contemporary works. Over time, …

Altering The Genome Of The Microcrustacean, Daphnia, With Exposure To The Mutagen, Proflavine, Eesha Khan

2021 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

DNA can be altered by introducing mutagens that can induce mutations and alter the genomes of organisms. The microcrustacean, Daphnia, was exposed to Proflavine, a mutagenic disinfectant, and the effects were seen by breeding the organisms and sequencing their genomes. Isolates of Daphnia were collected, and then solutions with the mutagen were prepared to determine the adequate concentration to utilize for exposure. After successive reproductions, the babies were monitored, then sent to sequencing to examine mutations present in the DNA. After many trials, the optimal concentration for Proflavine was determined to be 35 ug/mL, showing the ability of Daphnia to …

The Skull Of The Semi-Aquatic Neotropical Lizard Echinosaura Horrida (Squamata Gymnopthalmidae: Cercosaurinae) And New Synapomorphies For The Genus, Alison Ngo

2021 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Echinosaura is a semi-aquatic group of lizards of the Gymnophthalmidae family, which inhabits the streams of the tropical forests of Costa Rica down to Ecuador along the Andes mountains. Echinosaura is composed of seven species: E. brachycephala, E. centralis, E. horrida, E. keyi, E. orcesi, E. palmeri, E. panamensis. Recent studies have proposed a well-resolved phylogenetic hypothesis for this genus, based on molecular data. However, there is a lack of knowledge on morphological aspects, such as their osteology. Here, we perform a bone-by-bone description and illustration of the skull of E. horrida using CT-scan data. We found variation in characters …

Development And Characterization Of Novel A Tcrm Antibody And Its Application As An Immune Checkpoint Blocker, Soroush Ghaffari

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Immunotherapy, the treatment of diseases via targeted immune system activation, has recently shown extraordinary success in clinical trials for multiple malignancies. In contrast to a routine therapeutic regimen for cancer, effective immunotherapies can stimulate the innate and adaptive immune system to marsh specific and durable responses against tumors. Immunotherapies come in many shapes and forms. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is an example of immunotherapy that revolutionized the field of immuno-oncology. Considering the recent success of ICB therapies, the scientific community tried to discover new inhibitory molecules and pathways as a new target for cancer immunotherapy. Indeed, CD94/NKG2A receptor is an …

Development Of New Techniques To Dissect The Genetic Basis Of Population-Level Variation Of Recombination Rates In The Daphnia Model System, Swatantra Neupane

Biology Dissertations - Archive

We know very little about the determining genetic factors that control the recombination events within a genome. Moreover, the cause of recombination rate variation in population-level remains poorly understood, especially in non-mammalian species. The scarcity of population-level recombination rate data makes pinpointing genetic loci responsible for recombination rate variation even more challenging. Due to a lack of population-level recombination data, this hypothesis remains untested mainly in natural systems, like Daphnia. In response to the limitation of genetic tools used to dissect the genetic determinant of a trait in Daphnia, we put an effort to address these shortcomings in the Daphnia …

Design For Older Adults – Functional Limitations And Human Factors Engineering, Megumi Sato Hice

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Background: Throughout the aging process, people experience changes in functional ability and such changes can happen in physical and mental functions. As a result, older adults develop limitations in their capabilities to perform daily activities. Although many studies have done to identify functional limitations for elderly, many older adults still face negative consequences in daily living conditions due to their functional declines. One of the possible causes may be a lack of feedback or participations of elderly users in the design process. Other reason could be a lack of consideration to identify the needs for a specific task associated with …

The Effects Of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy On Pain Thresholds And Anxiodepressive Behaviors In A Pre-Clinical Fibromyalgia Pain Model, Cassie Mae Argenbright

Psychology Theses - Archive

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic, widespread pain disorder generally of a non-inflammatory nature. FM has many known affective and cognitive comorbidities, including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive deficits, and mood disturbances. As a result, FM treatment approaches are mixed in nature and lack a robust characterization that address symptoms on a sensory, affective, and cognitive level. However, there is promise in the implementation of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for alleviating fibromyalgia pain and comorbidities, despite no work investigating the efficacy of this treatment in prominent preclinical FM models. Thus, this project aims to investigate the affective components, specifically anhedonia and anxiety, …

Study Of Sac Solder Interconnect Parameters In Microelectronic Semiconductor Packaging And Their Effects On Electromigration Failure Mechanisms, Allison Theresa Osmanson

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

As the shrinkage of electronic devices becomes more appealing, so do their high capacity and efficiency. This demand for ever-shrinking sizes of electronic devices follows the trend predicted by Moore’s Law. To achieve smaller devices, reduced sizes of solder joints, Cu traces, Cu pads, and other components in packages are implemented with tighter tolerances for geometries and layouts. With each incremental change in dimension or material, new reliability challenges emerge. Electromigration (EM), the directional diffusion of atoms with the flow of electrons, has been an inevitable reliability concern for microelectronic device packaging. It is one common failure mechanism in wafer-level …

Study On Forming Dna-Mediated Nanoparticle Conjugates: Toward Detection Of Covid-19, Chinmay Nitin Afzulpurkar

Material Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

The objective of this thesis is to establish a rapid, robust, and reproducible procedure to controllably assemble DNA-functionalized Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) into satellite-shaped nanostructures using sequence-specific DNA hybridization. A target DNA strand with COVID-19 sequence (t-DNA) is used as a bridge to connect a capture DNA functionalized on a 50nm gold nanoparticle (C-AuNP) and a probe DNA functionalized on a 30nm nanoparticle (P-AuNP), creating C-AuNP/t-DNA/P-AuNP conjugates. The C-DNA is complementary to a portion of t-DNA, and P-DNA is complementary to the other portion of t-DNA. The parameters that affect the conjugate formation, including hybridization buffer strength, hybridization temperature, and DNA …

Change In Sedimentation Regime Due To Bridge Construction Activities: A Field Study At Fm 2478 Bridge Over Wilson Creek, Mckinney, Texas, Subhas Kandel

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Bridge construction activities can cause soil disturbances that introduce sediments into a receiving stream and potentially impact its quality and the ecosystem. The impacts of bridge construction activities are studied in two ways: overland erosion and in-stream sediment concentration. For this research, the overland erosion of Wilson Creek in McKinney, Texas was monitored from four erosion plots constructed on its banks, near the bridge construction activities zone. The instream water quality was examined during the construction period by measuring the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and the turbidity of water samples, and the sediment and water samples were collected and analyzed …

The Influence Of Black Greek Membership On The Academic Engagement Of African American Male Students, Cedric D. Shelby

Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations - Archive

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experiences of Black male students who are members of Black Greek Letter Fraternities (BGLF) while attending a large institution. This study examines the academic practices of the fraternity members, and the effects fraternity membership has on their academic progress. For this study, four Black male undergraduate fraternity members and five graduates shared stories of their undergraduate experiences and how being in a fraternity impacted their academic progress. Semi-structured questions were used during the interviews to explore the student’s academic engagement and they focused on the following research question: 1. …

2021-December-01-Meet Pamela AvendañO-Rubi, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

Language is what ties everything and everyone together for Pamela Avendaño-Rubi, whose native language of Spanish has been the key to relationships and opportunities throughout her time at East Tennessee State University.

“I was born and raised in Mexico, and it wasn’t until maybe seven or eight years ago that I first learned English. That was the biggest thing ever,” said the senior pre-medical student. “So, I empathize with a lot of people for whom English is a second language, even the professors here who have English as a second language and they struggle to express themselves. I am able …

China's Food Pagodas: Looking Forward By Looking Back?, Yifei Li, Dale Jamieson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In this Article we provide a close analysis of the Chinese Dietary Guidelines – the Food Pagoda. Our focus on the dietary guidelines is motivated by two main considerations. First, the guidelines represent the most comprehensive, nationwide, state sponsored effort to educate the people of China about food. Like citizens in most countries, Chinese people are presented with numerous, often competing, messages from scientists, food gurus and online influencers. The dietary guidelines are different in that they are backed by an entire suite of governmental resources for nationwide dissemination through hospitals, schools, public billboards, TV and radio ads, among others. …

Adjunct Fenofibrate Up-Regulates Bile Acid Glucuronidation And Improves Treatment Response For Patients With Cholestasis, Gina M. Gallucci, Trottier, Christopher Hemme, David N. Assis, James L. Boyer, Olivier Barbier, Nisanne S. Ghonem

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Accumulation of cytotoxic bile acids (BAs) during cholestasis can result in liver failure. Glucuronidation, a phase II metabolism pathway responsible for BA detoxification, is regulated by peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor alpha (PPARα). This study investigates the efficacy of adjunct fenofibrate therapy to up-regulate BA-glucuronidation and reduce serum BA toxicity during cholestasis. Adult patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC, n = 32) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC, n = 23), who experienced an incomplete response while receiving ursodiol monotherapy (13-15 mg/kg/day), defined as serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) ≥ 1.5 times the upper limit of normal, received additional fenofibrate (145-160 mg/day) as standard …

Personal Digital Health In Parkinson's Disease: Case Histories And Commentary, Aidan T. Boving, L. Shuster, Theodore A. Walls, Todd Brothers

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

The use of self-tracking of bio-behavioral states along with prescription dosing information is increasingly popular in the care and study of many human diseases. Parkinson’s Disease is particularly amenable to such tracking, as patients live with the progressive disease for many years, increasing motivation to pursue quality of life changes through careful monitoring of symptoms and self-guided management of their medications and lifestyle choices. Through the use of digital self-tracking technologies, patients independently or in conjunction with professional medical advice are modulating their medications and behavioral regimens based on self-tracking data. Self-trackers engage in self-experimentation with their health, and more …

Vaccine Hesitancy - When Emotions Trump Reason, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Isn’t getting a vaccine a decision of choice or personal liberty? Yes, but only if personal choices don’t create health risks for other citizens. We no longer permit individuals to smoke in public spaces in which second-hand smoke can harm the health of others. In the case of COVID-19, at best, individuals whose choice it is not to be vaccinated slow progress toward herd immunity. At worst, if enough individuals choose not to vaccinate, this pandemic continues unabated, enabling variants of the original virus to emerge – variants that are often of increasing virulence. Fear of ingredients, however, is but …

Human Behavior In Domestic Environments: Prediction And Applications, Sharare Zehtabian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

A longstanding goal of human behavior science is to model and predict how humans interact with each other or with other systems. Such models are beneficial and have many applications, including designing and implementing assistive technologies, improving users' experiences and quality of life and making better decisions to create public policies. Behavior is highly complex due to uncertainties and a lack of scientific tools to measure it. Hence prediction of human behavior cannot be 100% accurate. However, prediction is also not hopeless because the biological needs, as well as cultural conventions (for instance, regarding meal times) set the general patterns …

Efficient Data Structures For Text Processing Applications, Paniz Abedin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis is devoted to designing and analyzing efficient text indexing data structures and associated algorithms for processing text data. The general problem is to preprocess a given text or a collection of texts into a space-efficient index to quickly answer various queries on this data. Basic queries such as counting/reporting a given pattern's occurrences as substrings of the original text are useful in modeling critical bioinformatics applications. This line of research has witnessed many breakthroughs, such as the suffix trees, suffix arrays, FM-index, etc. In this work, we revisit the following problems: 1. The Heaviest Induced Ancestors problem 2. …

Using Peptide Design To Engineer Polyelectrolyte Complex Biomaterials, Sara Tabandeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The self-assembly of oppositely charged polymers provides a versatile platform to design materials for diverse applications in biology and medicine. Electrostatically-driven phase separation of oppositely charged polymers in aqueous solution gives rise to the formation of a polymer-rich phase called a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC). PECs can be in the form of liquid droplets (complex coacervates) or amorphous solid precipitates. Unlike synthetic polymers, peptides are good candidates for developing tailor-made formulations and structure-property relationships due to their biocompatibility, precise control over sequences, and ability to program hydrogen bonding interactions. However, little is known about the effect of combining additional molecular interactions …

Forage News [2021-12], Department Of Plant And Soil Sciences, University Of Kentucky

Forage News

No abstract provided.

Sources Of Peanut Digging Losses And Strategies To Reduce Losses During Inversion, Loren Samenko

All Theses

Presented research was conducted at Clemson University’s Edisto Research and Education Center to quantify harvest related losses associated with the effects of peanut digger blade geometry, the effects of the peanut digger inversion assembly, and the effects of vine load on digging and strategies to address vine load. Three studies were performed to determine the potential losses incurred during the digging processes; various harvest metrics were analyzed to quantify the effects of the treatments. Five objectives guided the presented research. Objectives of the effects of peanut digger blade geometry study investigated the impact of blade geometry and blade aggression on …

In The Pines: Dung Beetle Community Composition In Longleaf Pine Habitat, Kelsea Lynn Young

All Theses

Dung beetle assemblages are recognized as ecological bioindicators, allowing us to monitor ecological impacts by observing community shifts. Acting as primary nutrient cyclers, they establish niche segregation by sometimes selecting dung based on species (e.g. coyote vs. deer) and by using dung in different ways (e.g. rollers vs. tunnelers). Longleaf pine savannahs are recognized as global hotspots for diversity. Species of dung beetles found within these ecosystems may differ substantially from those found in surrounding agricultural, residential or other forest land. Our objective was to investigate whether the exclusion of mammalian meso-predator exclusion impacts dung beetle abundance, species composition and …

The Mayfly Newsletter, Donna Giberson

The Mayfly Newsletter

The Mayfly Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Permanent Committee of the International Conferences on Ephemeroptera.

Structural Dynamics And Encapsulation Properties Of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles, Sachit Shah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Charged therapeutics such as nucleic acids and proteins can treat a vast range of human diseases that are traditionally undruggable. Their broadness in treating disease is due to their ability to influence cellular function. However, their high charge density and physiological barriers such as enzymatic degradation, hinder the deliverability of these molecules to the sites of disease. Polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) micelles are core-corona nanostructures that can encapsulate charged molecules and offer a platform for delivery. PECs form the core, when two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes are mixed in an aqueous solution, and the micelle corona is a neutral hydrophilic polymer that …