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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Palynology Of Mo Su Ridge, A Complete Exposure Of A Coal And Associated Sediments In The Hooper Formation, Wilcox Group, Texas, Alexander Newman, Jen O'Keefe Apr 2021

Palynology Of Mo Su Ridge, A Complete Exposure Of A Coal And Associated Sediments In The Hooper Formation, Wilcox Group, Texas, Alexander Newman, Jen O'Keefe

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Students and faculty at Morehead State University have been studying the poorly documented Hooper Formation in the lower-most Wilcox Group of central Texas since 2017. During a winter intersession trip in 2018 to the original study sites in McKinney Roughs Nature Park near Bastrop, TX, a new exposure of the coal in the upper Hooper Formation was located on a site dubbed ‘MoSU Ridge.’ This exposure permitted examination of mire-margin coal facies using palynology (this thesis) and organic petrography (Rogers, 2020) and more complete explanation of mire dynamics and ecosystem change during the Late Danian Event (LDE). An ash seam …


The Role Of Depression And Fear Of Intimacy On Differences In Building Social Connection In Person Compared To A Video Chat Setting, Emma Gundler, Daniel Maitland Apr 2021

The Role Of Depression And Fear Of Intimacy On Differences In Building Social Connection In Person Compared To A Video Chat Setting, Emma Gundler, Daniel Maitland

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Given the impact of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) on interpersonal connection (Maitland et al., 2017), researchers interested in FAP have increasingly shifted their focus to understanding the processes and moderates that influence feelings of connection and intimacy (e.g., Kanter et al., 2020). Given the theorized role of intimacy (Maitland, 2020) in the development of loneliness, and the prevalence of loneliness and social isolation in the era of COVID-19 (Kilgore et al., 2020), understanding how digital communication impacts feelings of closeness has become increasingly important. The current study utilizes an established protocol for generating feelings of closeness (Aaron et al., 1997) …


How Fear Of Intimacy Impacts Our Sex Life: A Quasi Experimental Design, Kayla Daulton, Daniel Maitland Apr 2021

How Fear Of Intimacy Impacts Our Sex Life: A Quasi Experimental Design, Kayla Daulton, Daniel Maitland

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

The relationship between sexual satisfaction and interpersonal intimacy is relatively well established (Freihart et al., 2020). However, little is known about how deficits in intimacy may impact maladaptive such as problematic pornography consumption or sexual compulsivity. Previous research has indicated that experiential avoidance, a conceptual precursor to a fear of intimacy (Maitland, 2020), predicts some of these problematic behaviors (Levin et al., 2019). Similarly, loneliness, thought to partially result from loneliness, is predictive of pornography use (Butler et al., 2018) and sexual compulsivity (Chaney & Burns-Wortham, 2015). The current study sought to investigate the role of fear of intimacy in …


Experiential Avoidance And Fear Of Intimacy In Social Interactions And Loneliness, Jacob Lewis, Daniel Maitland Apr 2021

Experiential Avoidance And Fear Of Intimacy In Social Interactions And Loneliness, Jacob Lewis, Daniel Maitland

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Loneliness has become such a problem in the United States, that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the USA’s surgeon general had warned of the epidemic of loneliness (Murthy, 2016). Even when accounting for other health behaviors, loneliness increases the likelihood of early death by 26% (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015). Previous research indicates that experiential avoidance and fear of intimacy are associated with loneliness and resulting psychological distress. However, little is known about how these variables impact daily social interactions and the resulting impact on loneliness and psychological well-being. This experiencing sampling study examined the extent to which social interactions were …


Are Telomeres Required? Genetically Engineering A Eukaryote With Circular Chromosomes, Nadia Richardson, Melissa Mefford Apr 2021

Are Telomeres Required? Genetically Engineering A Eukaryote With Circular Chromosomes, Nadia Richardson, Melissa Mefford

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Telomeres are regions of repetitive DNA at the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. While telomeres play important roles in protecting the ends of chromosomes, they cannot be fully copied by the DNA replication machinery. To overcome this end-replication problem, an enzyme called telomerase adds sequences to the 3’ end of the chromosome. Without telomerase activity, telomere lengths decrease and may be a leading cause of aging; while up-regulation of telomerase activity is implicated in >85% of cancers. Interestingly, prokaryotes have circular chromosomes that lack telomeres and these organisms have no need for telomerase. So, why did linear chromosomes, and thus …


Design Of Machine Learning Algorithms For Behavioral Prediction Of Objects For Self Driving Cars, Yevgeniy Byeloborodov, Sherif Rashad Apr 2021

Design Of Machine Learning Algorithms For Behavioral Prediction Of Objects For Self Driving Cars, Yevgeniy Byeloborodov, Sherif Rashad

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Self-driving cars is a trending topic of the modern world. The ability to control a vehicle without human interaction can significantly increase safety on the road. In this research project, the main focus is on making the behavior of self-driving cars more like it was driven by a human driver in situations when pedestrians or animals are close by. While self-driving cars are equipped with cameras they can record and process the situations on the road and respond accordingly. It can be accomplished by image processing techniques, differentiation of objects, if they are alive or not, if they are moving …


College Students' Persistence In Stem: A Case Study Of Graduating Seniors, Dylan Pennington, Wilson Gonzalez-Espada Apr 2021

College Students' Persistence In Stem: A Case Study Of Graduating Seniors, Dylan Pennington, Wilson Gonzalez-Espada

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

According to several published reports, there are nearly 9 million science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) jobs in the United States, 6.2 % of total national employment. Despite a booming employment landscape, the U.S. is not graduating enough STEM majors. Attrition occurs when a student who entered college intending to graduate with a STEM degree decides to switch into nonSTEM majors, or may drop out of college altogether. Recent national statistics uncovered that STEM attrition is more serious in quantitative fields, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering. One way to minimize the factors associated with STEM attrition is to …


Oboe Reed Adjustment: Suggestions For Beginning Reed Makers, Kristen Daniel, Thomas Pappas Apr 2021

Oboe Reed Adjustment: Suggestions For Beginning Reed Makers, Kristen Daniel, Thomas Pappas

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

It is crucial that every oboist understand oboe reeds well enough to be able to make adjustments when needed. Kristen will conduct experiments on her own reeds and reference prominent literature from the field of reed making. The ultimate aim of this research project is to create a troubleshooting flowchart for beginning reed makers to reference while adjusting reeds to meet their personal needs and preferences.


Effects Of Online Presentation Format On Student Stress, Jessica Hamm, Leah Hayes, Makayla Reynolds, Raeanna Whitaker, Reganne Miller, Gregory Corso Apr 2021

Effects Of Online Presentation Format On Student Stress, Jessica Hamm, Leah Hayes, Makayla Reynolds, Raeanna Whitaker, Reganne Miller, Gregory Corso

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

The number of online courses has increased in recent years which calls into question the presentation format of online learning that is most beneficial for students. The purpose for this study was to measure stress levels as a function of different asynchronous online presentation formats: slides only, slides with audio of a male instructor and slides with video and audio of the same instructor. Temperature, oxygen levels, GSR, blood pressure, heart rate were measured because prior studies have indicated a relation between stress and these physiological variables. Participants (N=27) were randomly assigned to one of three formats. Each format presented …


Integrated Electric Control Board With Relay Ladder Circuit And Plc Units, Alexandre Lemaster Apr 2021

Integrated Electric Control Board With Relay Ladder Circuit And Plc Units, Alexandre Lemaster

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Technologies and practices in industry are continuously evolving. In the 21st century, manufacturing has become more automated and computerized, and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) play a central role in automation in today’s world. Although fluid power offers distinctive advantages over other force/torque-generating technologies, its full potential can only be harnessed when it is combined with other technologies; among which electric control is the most important. In this project, an integrated electric control board will be developed. It consists of a relay ladder circuit unit and a PLC unit. The relay ladder circuit unit is comprised of selector switches, push-button switches, …


United We Stand Divided We Fall, Nicholas Deem, Douglas Mock Apr 2021

United We Stand Divided We Fall, Nicholas Deem, Douglas Mock

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

In modern times we have come to a point where many people have considered the United States a declining state. Many scholars, offering their reason as to why this is happening, ranging from not being involved enough in foreign affairs to our growing national debt. There are many reasons why this might be happening. There has been a massive problem that has plagued the United States well before the start of the 21st century. The Major Political Divide (MPD). The MPD or sometimes known as party politics or Hyper Partisanship has been a problem for many countries, with each one …


Circularized Chromosomes In The Eukaryotic Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Blake Hoover, Milissa Mefford Apr 2021

Circularized Chromosomes In The Eukaryotic Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Blake Hoover, Milissa Mefford

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

When eukaryotes first evolved, a transition occurred from circular chromosomes to linear chromosomes. The ends of chromosome have protective caps comprised of DNA repeats called telomeres. Telomeres play key roles in two of the biggest problems in modern medicine: aging and cancer. As individuals age, telomeres shorten due to an inability to fully copy the chromosome ends during replication. In cancer, on the other hand, the enzyme telomerase is upregulated to maintain telomere length and allow the unending cellular proliferation characteristic of this disease. The goal of our work is to explore the evolution of chromosomes and unravel the roles …


A Pilot Study Using Tic Tac Toe To Introduce Quantum Mechanics And Quantum Computing, Keaghan Knight, Joshua Qualls Apr 2021

A Pilot Study Using Tic Tac Toe To Introduce Quantum Mechanics And Quantum Computing, Keaghan Knight, Joshua Qualls

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

There are several difficulties with introducing students to quantum mechanics and quantum computing in most settings. For many students, their first exposure is only after years of basic and advanced mathematics and multiple introductory physics courses in physics. A pilot study was designed to explore the possibility of introducing fundamental concepts of quantum computing and quantum mechanics in a concise standalone module using educational games. The research subjects (N=50) completed identical pretest and posttest separated by introductory quantum computing curriculum. This curriculum is introduced and reinforced using Tic Tac Toe, a "Semi-classical" Tic Tac Toe and Quantum Tic Tac Toe. …


A Multi Wavelength Study Of Pks2135 147, Parker Poulos, Dirk Grupe Apr 2021

A Multi Wavelength Study Of Pks2135 147, Parker Poulos, Dirk Grupe

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

I present a multi-wavelength study of the radio-loud quasar PKS2135-147, a variable source in X-ray and UV emission. First identified in 1966, this source is variable on the scale of months to years. X-ray and UV data from Swift are primarily used in this study, and this source has been observed by Swift since 2013. It can be seen that the variable emission from this source is primarily due to accretion rate fluctuations, though there are also contributions from the jet.


“We (Don’T) Talk About It”: Parent’S Dismissing Strategies And Teen’S Discomfort With Sadness And Anger, Hannah Daniels, Kathryn Gallenstein, Lauren Wright, Shari Kidwell Apr 2021

“We (Don’T) Talk About It”: Parent’S Dismissing Strategies And Teen’S Discomfort With Sadness And Anger, Hannah Daniels, Kathryn Gallenstein, Lauren Wright, Shari Kidwell

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

In recent years, greater attention has been paid towards teaching individuals to be mindful and accepting of negative emotions rather than pushing them away. Gottman, Fainsilber, & Katz (1997) described parents as emotion coaching if they treated the child’s feelings as important and an opportunity to teach about feelings. Emotion coaching has been associated with children having less anxiety, less anger, better social skills, and higher self-esteem. The present study hypothesizes that parent’s attitudes and behaviors towards their teen’s feelings will be correlated with their teen’s own acceptance and comfort with feelings. Specifically, in our study of 21 families, parents …


Design And Implementation Of An Innovative System For Automatic Recognition Of Asl Using Machine Learning, Jon Jenkins, Sherif Rashad Apr 2021

Design And Implementation Of An Innovative System For Automatic Recognition Of Asl Using Machine Learning, Jon Jenkins, Sherif Rashad

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Deaf and hearing-impaired persons learn American Sign Language (ASL) as their natural language. There is a need to a new innovative technology that will enable deaf and hearing-impaired persons to communicate without difficulty anytime and anywhere with persons who do not know ASL. The proposed research project will introduce a novel approach to explore the problem of automatic real-time conversion from ASL to speech using motion sensors, machine learning, and mobile technology. The goal of this project is to design a smart system to capture and analyze hand movement and gesture using different types of sensors and machine learning algorithms. …


The Pitcher Is Throwing Heat: Preference Of Figurative Discourse In Athletes And Non Athletes, Lindsay Anderson, Lynn Haller Apr 2021

The Pitcher Is Throwing Heat: Preference Of Figurative Discourse In Athletes And Non Athletes, Lindsay Anderson, Lynn Haller

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

The use of metaphor is distinctive and evident in every day human language. Previously, we demonstrated that humans easily produce metaphors when prompted. The current investigation explored whether various populations preferred known sport metaphors versus the literal translation. Coaches and players often express their understanding and expectations of sports through non-literal language. Understanding this narrative is effective for athlete's comprehension is essential in improving a team or individual performance. Long ago, Ortony (1975) praised the effectiveness of figurative language as a communication tool. The current study uses those principles to investigate the use of metaphor's validity in a sport context. …


Miscommunication Among Healthcare Professionals In The Hospital Setting: A Quality Improvement Project, Benjamin Hutchinson, Carrie Conley, Courtney Collins, Erin Downey, Jordan Jenkins, Lorren Sales, Makayla Canchola, Savanna Roades Apr 2021

Miscommunication Among Healthcare Professionals In The Hospital Setting: A Quality Improvement Project, Benjamin Hutchinson, Carrie Conley, Courtney Collins, Erin Downey, Jordan Jenkins, Lorren Sales, Makayla Canchola, Savanna Roades

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Research has identified that 81% of interruptions during handoff were from the nurse receiving handoff(Rhudy, L., Johnson, M., Krecke, C., Keigley, D., Schnell, S., Maxson, P., McGill, S., & Warfield, K., 2019). Miscommunication in the healthcare field is a considerably large issue. It often times goes unmentioned, which can negatively impact patient’s care. A thorough literature review was conducted and a total of 64 studies were reviewed. Common themes that emerged included language barriers and cultural differences can often be associated with miscommunication in the healthcare setting. With miscommunication and the errors that result from it, trainings and policies have …


Listen To Your Heart: Promoting Traditional Music In The Schools Of Appalachia, Cera Clark Apr 2021

Listen To Your Heart: Promoting Traditional Music In The Schools Of Appalachia, Cera Clark

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Appalachian culture has many distinguishing features, one of those being the traditional music that has endured generations. Fostering traditional music in the region’s schools could help keep that heritage alive. While there are multiple programs that have worked to promote traditional music in Appalachia’s public schools, many systems have found the cost of visiting artists, instruments, and field trips out of reach with increasing budget cuts. The past year presented additional problems, as many schools have been forced to turn to alternative delivery systems for education that rely heavily on technology. Organizing a series of instructional videos, featuring local instructors …


Effects Of The Coronavirus Pandemic On United States Custom Grain And Forage Harvesting’S Labor Supply And The 2020 Harvest, Dalton Black, Jason Holcomb Apr 2021

Effects Of The Coronavirus Pandemic On United States Custom Grain And Forage Harvesting’S Labor Supply And The 2020 Harvest, Dalton Black, Jason Holcomb

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

The global coronavirus pandemic disrupted migratory labor around the world, including foreign seasonal labor that travels to the United States to work in the mobile custom grain and forage harvesting industry that operates primarily in Great Plains states. The pandemic caused the United States to implement bans on travel from labor sending countries, and to delay the processing of the H-2A and J-1 visa nonimmigrant visas used by foreign custom grain and forage harvesting employees to enter the US. Many transnational workers were thus delayed or prevented from reporting for jobs that require training before harvest begins in April or …


Preliminary Study On Beetle Biodiversity And Its Role As A Metric For Ecosystem Heterogeneity In The Rowan County Area, Belinda Candra, Sara Monfalcone Apr 2021

Preliminary Study On Beetle Biodiversity And Its Role As A Metric For Ecosystem Heterogeneity In The Rowan County Area, Belinda Candra, Sara Monfalcone

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Biodiversity is important for maintaining ecosystem function, including the adaptation of the organisms to reflect the change in the ecological community. Many ecological roles are performed by insects, including keystone organisms, ecosystem engineers and soil modifiers, part of the food chain, general symbionts, and pollinators, and creating a cumulative database of the variety of insect types allows for an effective overview of the different aspects of the environment from which samples are collected. With approximately 400,000 described species, beetles are immensely diverse in their lifestyles and ecological roles, thus making them valuable tools in environmental assessments of terrestrial and freshwater …


Pro Se Divorce Clinic: Tailored To The Times, Kallie Hellard Apr 2021

Pro Se Divorce Clinic: Tailored To The Times, Kallie Hellard

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Morehead State University partners with Legal Aid of the Bluegrass to provide the region with the Pro Se Divorce Clinic. Through the clinic, supervised students assist indigent clients with filling out the necessary paperwork to represent themselves and obtain a divorce. Without the help of the clinic, most clients would not be able to afford the cost to receive a divorce. Previous to COVID-19, the clinic was held once a month during the school year, serving an annual average of 70+ clients total (that number would be double if counting spouses). The supervised student coordinator manages all of the clinic's …


A Protocol To Overcome The Negative Health Effects Associated With Urinary Catheters In The Hospital Setting; A Quality Improvement Project, Katelynn Arnett, Mary Bott, Abigail Bray, Dakota Brown, Zachary Mains Apr 2021

A Protocol To Overcome The Negative Health Effects Associated With Urinary Catheters In The Hospital Setting; A Quality Improvement Project, Katelynn Arnett, Mary Bott, Abigail Bray, Dakota Brown, Zachary Mains

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

There are estimated to be 449,334 CAUTI events per year (hospitalsafelygrade). As well, this costs the health care system to the United States Healthcare System which shows that it costs the country an extra 340-370 million every year (Gray et al., 2016). The purpose of this quality improvement project is to determine how to overcome the negative effects that patients experience when receiving catheters (indwelling or external) while in the hospital. Increased catheter rates and infections were noted at an urban teaching hospital which led to the creation of this new protocol guideline.


Pitch Accents And Focus: Effects On Syntactic Attachment, Victoria Nash, Kelsey Ball Apr 2021

Pitch Accents And Focus: Effects On Syntactic Attachment, Victoria Nash, Kelsey Ball

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

No abstract provided.


College Students' Understanding Of Analog Time Keeping And Rotational Directionality, Katelyn Collins Apr 2021

College Students' Understanding Of Analog Time Keeping And Rotational Directionality, Katelyn Collins

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Although time-telling using analog clocks is a topic covered in KY math standards in 1st and 2nd grades, and most older adults assume that everyone can read analog clocks, recent media reports and personal anecdotes have indicated that an ever-increasing proportion of young people struggle to correctly read them because most timing devices they are exposed to are digital. Although the personal and academic consequences of not mastering this skill are unknown, it is important to document the extent of this issue at a college level. Of particular interest to the researchers is the description of rotational direction as clockwise …


The Influence Of Videoconferencing On Relationship Formation, Alexa Brunson, Daniel Maitland Apr 2021

The Influence Of Videoconferencing On Relationship Formation, Alexa Brunson, Daniel Maitland

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the ways we interact with those around us, this has led to an increase in how we engage with our social environment. Given the risks of in person interactions, the use of video conferencing as a means of social contact have increased. The increase in social isolation is correlated with meaningful increases in depression. This study looks at how individuals reporting and not reporting symptoms of depression interact in a virtual interaction structured to facilitate the development of feelings of connection. Specifically, it looks at how depression impacts the level of and perceived responsiveness to …


Kentucky Soldiers At The Battles Of Frenchtown And The River Raisin Massacre, Christian Wright Apr 2021

Kentucky Soldiers At The Battles Of Frenchtown And The River Raisin Massacre, Christian Wright

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Research on The War of 1812 has been sporadic over the last two hundred years. In spite of the two centuries which have passed, significant gaps in the scholarship remain. Most individuals recognize that Kentucky troops played a major role in the war, but their participation and the number of casualties they suffered remains speculative. American newspaper accounts of the period, written with an eye to sell more copies, may not be accurate as they historically over inflated the number of dead. At the same time, British accounts have a tendency to downplay the numbers of American troops involved for …


The Glamor Fades Away: Fictional Spies Vs. Real Life Intelligence Agents, Victoria Nash, Sylvia Henneberg Apr 2021

The Glamor Fades Away: Fictional Spies Vs. Real Life Intelligence Agents, Victoria Nash, Sylvia Henneberg

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Spies have been featured in fiction for centuries. As the spy fiction genre developed and spying became one of the principal national preoccupations in many countries during the Cold War, spy narratives increased in popularity and were successfully adapted for film. Perhaps the most notable spy films come from Ian Fleming’s James Bond franchise. This study uses the James Bond and Jason Bourne film franchises as models of fictional spy portrayals. The project evaluates the representations of spying in fictional writing and film, comparing these to the actual traits, tasks, and lives of real-life spies. Real-life spies live dramatically different …


Analysis Of The Changing Look Agn Ngc 1566, Rebecca Mikula, Dirk Grupe Apr 2021

Analysis Of The Changing Look Agn Ngc 1566, Rebecca Mikula, Dirk Grupe

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

The Seyfert Galaxy NGC 1566 was detected in an X-ray outburst by INTEGRAL in June 2018 and triggered several observatories with follow-up observations including the Neil-Gehrels Swift Observatory. This source saw a second, smaller flare in the summer of 2019. I will report on the long and short term X-ray and UV/Optical light curves and how we can explain this outburst by an accretion disk instability. I will also discuss some spectroscopic modeling done with Cloudy. Interestingly, optically NGC 1566 is a 'changing look' AGN which changes its optical spectroscopic classification from a Seyfert 1.5 type to a Seyfert 1. …


Growth Performance Of Weaned Angus Bulls Housed In A Compost Bedded Pack Barn, Courtney Branham, Anna Meyers Apr 2021

Growth Performance Of Weaned Angus Bulls Housed In A Compost Bedded Pack Barn, Courtney Branham, Anna Meyers

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

Compost-bedded pack barns (CBP) are a typical facility utilized in dairy cattle operations across the United States. Their popularity is the result of improved animal welfare and reduced costs. The crossover of CBP into the beef cattle industry is new and the benefits and downfalls are not yet explored. Through a grant from NRCS, a CBP was built at the Derrickson Agricultural Complex in 2019-2020. In fall of 2020, the pack was established by mixing manure and sawdust shavings to start the aerobic composting process and weaned bulls were given access to the barn in November 2020. The objective of …