Digital Commons Network^™

Chaos Embed Marine Predator (Cmpa) Algorithm For Feature Selection, Adel Fahad Alrasheedi, Khalid Abdulaziz Alnowibet, Akash Saxena, Karam M. Sallam

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

What The World Needs Now: Love, Humor And The Shakespeare Connection, Kelly Capers

English MA Theses

What the World Needs Now: Love, Humor and the Shakespeare Connection discusses how the modern romantic comedy (rom com) genre depicts gender roles in adaptations of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew. This paper looks at Shakespeare’s contributions to the themes of romantic comedy and how 21^st Century filmmakers interpret his concepts. Because rom com typically lacks value among scholars, much of this genre’s impact on audiences is overlooked, yet its popularity makes it an undeniable presence deserving a closer examination. The 2020 pandemic brought into specific relief, not only the popularity …

Estimating Animal Pose Using Deep Learning A Trained Deep Learning Model Outperforms Morphological Analysis, Sanghoon Lee, Jarod Banzon, Kevin Le, Dal Hyung Kim

Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering Faculty Research

INTRODUCTION: Analyzing animal behavior helps researchers understand their decision-making process and helper tools are rapidly becoming an indispensable part of many interdisciplinary studies. However, researchers are often challenged to estimate animal pose because of the limitation of the tools and its vulnerability to a specific environment. Over the years, deep learning has been introduced as an alternative solution to overcome these challenges.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates how deep learning models can be applied for the accurate prediction of animal behavior, comparing with traditional morphological analysis based on image pixels.

METHODS: Transparent Omnidirectional Locomotion Compensator (TOLC), a tracking device, is used …

The Monster Of Management, Alexandra Meise

Honors Projects in English and Cultural Studies

This thesis aims to cross examine the philosophy, history, and psychology of power dynamics as seen in literature, teamwork case studies, and parenting styles. Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein defines what it means to be in an unequal power dynamic. This thesis develops Shelley’s story into one of interpersonal relationship philosophy. It is both counter argument and continuation of the cited works. Management case studies support the philosophical claims through comparison of fictional, hypothetical, and real-life scenarios. Over the course of research, an unexpected discovery placed trust-based conflict at the core of innovative team success. This thesis shows the long …

Effects Of Urbanization On House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus) And House Finch (Haemorhous Mexicanus) Song Propagation, Sarah Grimes, Eliza Lewis

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

The recent surge in urbanization has increased pollution, which includes both physical pollution (e.g. exhaust) and sensory pollution (e.g., anthropogenic noise). We know birds increase the frequency and amplitude of their song in urban areas to reduce masking by low frequency noise pollution. However, bird song (i.e., a signal) is also affected by the environment and accompanying ambient noise. This study investigates how anthropogenic disturbances alter the ability of birds to communicate. Specifically, we aim to understand how urbanization affects the propagation of bird song by examining differences in active space, or the maximum distance a receiver can detect a …

Changes In Chromatic Contrast Of Avian Plumage In Forests With Different Levels Of Deer Browsing, Morgan Sherrard, Suihnem Mawi, Timothy Boycott, Megan Gall

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

Visual signal propagation through the environment can be influenced by many factors, including the visual background. For example, normally camouflaged animals can appear quite salient when the environmental substrate is changed. Deer can alter this visual background by consuming the forest understory; ultimately this can have implications for species that use visual signals to attract a mate or defend a territory. We are interested in studying how deer browsing affects the chromatic contrast (i.e., how much an animal stands out from the background for a given receiver) using an avian model system. Brown headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) and wild turkeys …

Developing Ethical Training Curriculum For University Short-Term Missions, Elizabeth P. Sutphin

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This thesis addresses common problems associated with short-term mission (STM) trips and the gaps in existing training materials for these trips. The research throughout this project is designed to inspire community-specific training materials for college students participating in domestic STM trips through their universities. The final chapter of this thesis includes the framework for a sample curriculum to promote sustainable STM work — providing cross-cultural communication techniques and relationship-building tools to avoid harming the communities students seek to serve.

The Nested Embryonic Dorsal Domains Of Bmp-Target Genes Are Not Scaled To Size During The Evolution Of Drosophila Species, Juan Sebastian Chahda, Priscilla Ambrosi, Claudia M. Mizutani

Faculty Scholarship

Egg size is a fast-evolving trait among Drosophilids expected to change the spatial distribution of morphogens that pattern the embryonic axes. Here we asked whether the patterning of the dorsal region of the embryo by the Decapentaplegic/Bone Morphogenetic Protein-4 (DPP/BMP-4) gradient is scaled among Drosophila species with different egg sizes. This region specifies the extra-embryonic tissue amnioserosa and the ectoderm. We find that the entire dorsal region scales with embryo size, but the gene expression patterns regulated by DPP are not proportional, suggesting that the DPP gradient is differentially scaled during evolution. To further test whether the DPP gradient can …

Word Formation In The Dari Language, Ashlyn Nutting, Celeste Gibson, Reba Maderious, Michal Temkin Martínez, Selda Delsooz, Danielle Ali, Tim Thornes, Bryan Cain, Anna Gamino Garcia, Grace Jurhs, Janel Neukom, Caitlin Nguyen, Megan Ostermann

2022 Undergraduate Research Showcase

In this poster, we explore the morphological features, or word formation processes, of Dari, an Indo-Iranian language from Afghanistan with approximately twenty million speakers. Our findings were gathered through the use of linguistic field methods, which centered around collaboration with a native Dari speaker to document and explore the language.

Characteristics Of Us-Based Stem Webcams At A Glance, Anahita N. Zabihi Gilvan, Abigail Thomson, Sarah E. Schulwitz, Vanessa Fry, Sara Hagenah, Christopher J.W. Mcclure, Brian Rolek, Erin Katzner, Meagan Haynes, Carl Siebert

2022 Undergraduate Research Showcase

STEM organizations operate thousands of publicly available webcams, which have the potential to provide rich informal learning opportunities. To date, no research has analyzed the breadth of STEM webcams. In our study, we developed an inventory by performing internet searches for US-based STEM webcams and recorded operator name, organization type, webcam subject, etc. This inventory serves as the basis for a follow-up survey of webcam operators, which seeks to better understand the goals, outcomes, and investments of STEM webcam programs. We characterized nearly 1000 webcams that fit within our inclusion criteria. The majority of the cams fell within the life …

Review: The Effects Of Parental Phthalate Exposure On Newborn Defects, Tram Ha Pham Bich, Jonathon Reeck

2022 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Phthalates, or phthalate esters, are employed in the making of numerous products around the world, such as food containers, children’s toys, detergents, surfactants, household items, and even pharmaceutical tablets. With the flexibility, elasticity, and inexpensive price, companies started using phthalates without doubting their acute and chronic toxicity. Recent research suggests that phthalate esters are possible causes of asthma, obesity, type II diabetes, neurodevelopmental issues, heart diseases, cancer, and especially reproductive system issues. However, studies about the effects of phthalates on fetal development are rare. To summarize updated data on this field, this review poster covers the most prominent in vivo …

Exploring The Relationship Between Bipolar Disorder, Alcohol Use, And Obsessive Compulsive Disorder In The Hca Animal Model, Erick Alvarado, Ayanna Bailey, Sabrina Blank, Lindsey Boltz, Corine Lafrenier, Molly Poel

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

An estimated 4.4% of U.S. adults experience bipolar disorder at some point during their lifetime. While the prevalence of bipolar disorder is similar among males and females, it is becoming increasingly obvious that symptoms and comorbidities of the disorder can vary widely between men and women. Recent research has shown that men diagnosed with bipolar disorder are more likely to exhibit alcohol use disorders and obsessive compulsive behaviors while women have a higher incidence of panic disorder comorbidity. In order to develop effective treatment for the disorder, it is important to use an animal model that reflects these sex-dependent differences. …

Early Prenatal Exposure To Homocysteic Acid Leads To Alterations In Behavior And Gene Expression That Are Consistent With Bipolar Disorder, Kelly Bosis, Gabriella Taylor, Anna Lunderberg, Stephanie Simko

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

We have previously demonstrated that early post-natal exposure of rat pups to the NMDA receptor agonist, homocysteic acid (HCA) from P3-P21 leads to the development of mixed manic/depressive behaviors following puberty. The manic behaviors are effectively reversed by lithium treatment, and the depressive behaviors are reversed by acute ketamine treatment. Thus, HCA appears to induce a bipolar-like phenotype in rats. The goal of this study was to determine whether HCA exposure also induces gene expression changes that are consistent with a bipolar phenotype. Microarray analyses were performed on tissue obtained from the prefrontal cortices of saline- and HCA-treated rats at …

Presence Or Absence Of Microcystins Within The Lake Macatawa Watershed, Keiley M. Hoving, Garrett E. Peck

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

Cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, are freshwater aquatic microorganisms that are important indicators of climate change. They also release microcystins: toxins that can cause sickness, organ failure, or even death in plants, animals and humans. Studies have monitored microcystin presence and concentration in large-scale Cyanobacterial blooms, such as in Lake Erie, but often omit smaller scale instances. This project determines whether or not microcystins are present in the Lake Macatawa Watershed and identifies important conditional factors associated with microcystin presence to conclude if harmful algal blooms like those of Lake Erie are plausible locally. Six sample locations along the …

The Effects Of Anthropogenic Disturbances On The Auditory Processing Of The House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus), Linda Nduwimana, Emma Yonker, Sarah Grimes, Suihnem Mawi, Eliza Lewis

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

Animal communication involves a sender producing a signal (e.g., vocalizations) that travels through the environment before being detected by a receiver. Although we know how senders can vary in signal production, relatively little is known about how receivers process these signals. The recent increase in urbanization can further complicate receiver sensory processing as anthropogenic activities (e.g., noise pollution) affects the way birds communicate. This study aims to investigate the influence of urbanization on the auditory processing system of house sparrows (Passer domesticus). House sparrows are an ideal model because they inhabit urban areas and rely on vocal cues from …

Sex Differences In Hormone-Modulated Neuroplasticity In The Songbird (Serinus Canarius), Paige A. Massa, Elianna E. Sandman, Anders P. Bogard, Matthew Czmer

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

In temperate zone species such as canaries (Serinus canaria) the neural circuitry regulating song behavior undergoes well-defined changes across the seasons. In males, increased daylengths in spring initiates an increase in gonadal volumes and circulating testosterone driving marked changes in brain morphology and song frequency. Females given exogenous testosterone in adulthood also demonstrate male-like changes in brain morphology and song behavior. More specifically, the telencephalic nucleus HVC (acronym is proper name), a key nucleus for song production, undergoes well-defined seasonal changes in neuroplasticity with a high rate of neurogenesis mediating marked changes in HVC volume. Much is known about the …

Disability In Disney, Chloe Bartz

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

René Girard’s mimetic theory emphasizes the importance of imitation in shaping all human behavior, including desire. The questions driving this project were founded with human imitative behaviors in mind: Is Disney creating characters with disabilities that are inherently desirable to imitate (attractive, popular etc.)? Is Disney creating complex, dynamic characters with disabilities? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Within the Disney canon of animated films there are 13 characters identified as having physical disabilities. By tracking the language used to refer to these characters and their foils an alarming pattern was revealed. When formal titles, the character’s name, and nicknames were …

Hope College Abstracts: 21st Annual Celebration Of Undergraduate Research And Creative Activity, Hope College

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

The 21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity was held on April 22, 2022 in the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse at Hope College and featured student-faculty collaborative research projects. This program is a record reflective of those projects between the 2021-2022 academic year.

Tidal Translations: Thinking-With Untranslatability In Craig Santos Perez's From Unincorporated Territory, Maryn Gardner

Theses and Dissertations

Craig Santos Perez's poetic series from Unincorporated Territory describes and decries the U.S. militarization, colonization, and environmental degradation of Guam in the Western Pacific through multilingual, excerpted, and series-long poems. Perez's writing style requires slow, careful reading with translations sometimes appearing on the same page, various pages later, or not at all. I describe this kind of elongated translation as slow translation, recalling translation theorist Michael Cronin's "Slow Language" movement. This thesis invites readers, especially multispecies ethnographers, to slow down the translation of nonhuman species and their stories by paying attention to moments of untranslatability in multispecies literature and interactions. …

An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of Dehumanization During The Holocaust, Alissa Marie Davies

Honors Theses

The body of literature surrounding the Holocaust and dehumanization is extensive. Multiple theories have been proffered to try and explain the Holocaust’s causation, each with varying degrees of acceptance from the Jewish and global communities. Meanwhile dehumanization has been studied however often through the lens of a singular field. Despite the abundance of research on the Holocaust, the subject of perpetrators has had limited exploration as of yet. The present analysis seeks to examine the mechanics of dehumanization and how these mechanics could explain the behaviors behind the perpetration of the Holocaust and by extension, other genocides. This analysis will …

The Effect Of Serotonin On Males’ Neural And Behavioral Mechanisms To Female Ultrasonic Vocalizations And Urine In The House Mouse (Mus Musculus), Madisyn Kovacs

21st Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2022)

Animals communicate with multimodal signals (e.g., a mix of auditory, visual, or olfactory information) spanning several modalities; these signals may provide receivers with more complete information to allow for more accurate behavioral decisions. Past research suggests that serotonin plays a role in encoding multimodal social information (e.g., social partner presence) during communication events. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, no experiments have explicitly tested this hypothesis. 5-HTP, a precursor for serotonin, has been shown to increase serotonin in a region of the auditory midbrain, and is affected by social context. In our experiment, we asked the question: Does an increase in 5-HTP …

Cisplatin Resistance Can Be Curtailed By Blunting Bnip3-Mediated Mitochondrial Autophagy, Caterina Vianello, Gerald W Dorn 2nd, Et Al

Open Access Publications

Cisplatin (CDDP) is commonly used to treat a multitude of tumors including sarcomas, ovarian and cervical cancers. Despite recent investigations allowed to improve chemotherapy effectiveness, the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of CDDP resistance remain a major goal in cancer research. Here, we show that mitochondrial morphology and autophagy are altered in different CDDP resistant cancer cell lines. In CDDP resistant osteosarcoma and ovarian carcinoma, mitochondria are fragmented and closely juxtaposed to the endoplasmic reticulum; rates of mitophagy are also increased. Specifically, levels of the mitophagy receptor BNIP3 are higher both in resistant cells and in ovarian cancer patient samples …

Recently Integrated Alu Elements In Capuchin Monkeys: A Resource For Cebus/Sapajus Genomics, J M. Storer, J A. Walker, C E. Rockwell, G Mores, J M. Storer, J D. Orkin, A D. Melin, K A. Phillips, C Roos, M A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

Capuchins are platyrrhines (monkeys found in the Americas) within the Cebidae family. For most of their taxonomic history, the two main morphological types of capuchins, gracile (untufted) and robust (tufted), were assigned to a single genus, Cebus. Further, all tufted capuchins were assigned to a single species, Cebus apella, despite broad geographic ranges spanning Central and northern South America. In 2012, tufted capuchins were assigned to their genus, Sapajus, with eight currently recognized species and five Cebus species, although these numbers are still under debate. Alu retrotransposons are a class of mobile element insertion (MEI) widely used to study primate …

Assessing Environmental Factors That Influence Cyanobacterial Blooms In Skinn Lake, Kloe Atwood

Honors Projects

Global lakes are experiencing an increase in toxic algal blooms that can be damaging to the environment. These blooms are caused by cyanobacteria, specifically a species called Planktothrix. Skinn Lake, in Ohio, is a location of a cyanobacterial bloom that is mainly populated by Planktothrix rubescens. This lake was further examined to identify the major toxin-producing bacteria and identify environmental microbes surrounding the bloom. When the data was examined it was found that the microbiomes of the lake greatly differed between the winter (bloom) months and the summer (non-bloom) months. This difference can be viewed within the nutrient analysis from …

Testing For Transferred Immunity Of A Universal Influenza Vaccine In Pigs, Rachel Marie Sestak

Honors Thesis

Influenza causes high numbers of illnesses and deaths annually (CDC, 2020). Influenza vaccines prevent these complications by reducing the risk of flu illness between 40-60% (CDC, 2021). However, no vaccination exists for infants under six months old so other methods, such as passive immunity, must be explored. To determine how infants can be protected, we tested the passive transfer of a universal influenza vaccine using a pig model and researched the mechanism of transfer. Four pregnant pigs were vaccinated one time with PBS and one time with HA-129 vaccine and four were vaccinated twice with the HA-129 vaccine. After farrowing, …

The Effects Of Increasing Ocean Temperatures On The Survivorship Of A Subtropical Population Of The Sea Urchin Arbacia Punctulata, Rhianna Clemons

Undergraduate Theses

Most sea urchin species have critical ecological roles in their ecosystems, such as keystone grazers. There is an increasing need to understand the impacts of rising temperatures on species that are vital to the health of their environments. Studies have shown that increasing temperatures may significantly negatively affect several important biological processes including reproduction, development, and excretion in many species including sea urchins. However, very little is known about the sea urchin species Arbacia punctulata. In this study, individuals were exposed to 21˚C (control, n = 12) and 27˚C (experimental, n = 12) for seven days, and survivorship was …

Mov 300: Kinesiology Oer Curation, Chealsye Bowley

Curated OER Collections

This OER curation is an annotated bibliography of prospective OER for the GVSU course MOV 300: Kinesiology, assembled by request from the instructor.

Phi 102: Ethics Oer Curation, Chealsye Bowley

Curated OER Collections

This OER curation is an annotated bibliography of prospective OER for the GVSU course PHI 102: Ethics OER Curation.

Immersive Virtual Reality Error Management Training For Cnc Machining Setup Procedures, Matthew Ryan

Theses

In order to address the expanding manufacturing talent gap for skilled machinists and limitations with existing machining training programs, this study introduces an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) computer numerical control (CNC) machining training environment CNC machine setup processes with a novel error management-based training curriculum. Current machinist training programs typically require active mentorship from skilled individuals over several years and consume a large amount of materials and tools. In addition, mistakes and errors made during the setup process can create safety risks, waste material, and break equipment, which have not been considered by the existing VR CNC milling training environments. …

Using Sociolinguistics And Literary Studies To Understand Code-Switching Within Works By Louise Erdrich, Bruno Santic

Undergraduate Theses

There exists a multitude of definitions and concepts that describe the movement between and from one linguistic code to the next, commonly referred to as code-switching. Each definition given differs not only between fields of research but also within said fields of research, making it incredibly difficult to create one unified definition for code-switching. The two most popular fields of research that have extensively studied code-switching are sociolinguistics and literature/literary studies, with both fields having basic tenets of study that create different nuances in how code-switching is described by researchers in each respective field of study. One of the key …