Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Supporting The 21st Century Classroom: Fostering Relevance And Resilience With Project-Based Learning Curricula, Shari Childers, Kara Fulton

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

Participants will learn about building and supporting project-based learning (PBL), a scalable, flexible approach to classes and programs that cultivates 21st century competencies in students, including collaboration and resilience. They will re-imagine a course or a program at their own institution from within a PBL context.

A Chairpersons Guide To Managing Time And Stress, Christian K. Hansen

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

In this interactive workshop we discuss time and stress management specifically from the perspective of a department chairperson responsible for leading an academic department through numerous internal and external challenges. The focus will be on practical strategies for effective use of time, not only at a personal level, but also at a department wide level.

Optimizing Course Offerings In A Science Department, Yu Kay Law

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

We will discuss how enrollment data and faculty/advisor input can be used to maximize schedule efficiency in course offerings and providing for student success. We will also discuss how best to monitor and rearrange course schedules in light of actual enrollment.

Synthesis And Optimization Of Novel Poly-(Β-Amino Ester) Polymer For Gene-Delivery, Maria Montes

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Gene delivery is one of the most promising methods to treat multiple diseases through the alteration of a genetic code to enhance or inhibit gene expression (NIH). The potential for gene delivery to be used as a treatment for cancerous cells is the beginning for advanced personalized healthcare. Current methods for cancer are costly, nonspecific, and come with major side effects that lowers quality of life in cancer patients. Previous studies have demonstrated Poly-(β-amino ester) (PBAE) to be biodegradable, non-toxic, and capable to deliver payloads in a targeted manner. For this study, PBAE was synthesized and characterized by Nuclear Magnetic …

Using X-Ray Fluorescence To Analyze Fire Impacted Soil And Vegetation Composition, Dylan Darter

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

In our lab, I am using an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to measure the concentrations of metals in sediments from subalpine lakes. Our goal is to measure the biogeochemical consequences of wildfires over the last 2000 years. This study looks at the elemental composition of different lake cores, and vegetation samples from areas of the “Big Burn” fire of 1910. This fire burned across several states in the Rocky Mountain region. With our XRF data we are able to see how the fire impacted the soils and how long after the fire proper soil composition can occur. This study can be …

Safety And Security With Aadl: Using Lattices To Model Data Flow, Erick Martinez

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Architecture and Design Language is a model based engineering language that is used to create safety-critical systems. The issue with the creation of these systems is the lack of importance in security when these systems are created. To improve and promote the increase if importance and reliability for the creation of these systems we are looking into creating a method in which we can create lattice formations to identify and restrict certain information to its own category/classification. Lattices form sets of nodes that can be restricted so that certain information can only be distributed between two nodes that have the …

Dark Halos: The Windowed Power Spectrum, David Coria

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Today, it is believed that approximately 80 percent of the matter that comprises the universe takes the form of dark matter--a theorized substance that interacts with “normal” baryonic matter mostly through gravitational force. Through gravitation, dark matter creates potential wells that determine the motion of stars inside galaxies and galaxies inside galaxy clusters. Dark matter accumulates and forms roughly spherical structures called “dark halos”. Most galaxies and groups of galaxies are located inside such halos. Visible matter tends to cluster inside these halos because of the higher accumulation of dark matter and deeper gravitational wells. The power spectrum is obtained …

Copper Binding Of Heterocyclic Compounds Is Vital For Novel Drugs Against Gram-Positive Bacteria, Azriel Minjarez-Almeida

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Azzy Minjarez1, Man Zhang1, Anjana Delpe-Acharige1, Kayla Eschliman1, Olaf Kutsch2, Stefan H. Bossmann1

1: Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University

2: Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Copper Binding of Heterocyclic Compounds Is Vital For Novel Drugs Against Resistant Gram-positive Bacteria

Multidrug resistant bacteria are capable of developing resistance to a majority of available antibiotics making them an imminent threat. Thus, synthesizing novel drug candidates is vital. The average adult contains 50-80 mg of copper within the body, which assist the immune system. Efflux pumps of bacterial cells are the primary defense mechanism, which recognize and remove copper. …

Wearing The Inside Out: Using Long Short-Term Memory Networks And Wearable Data To Identify Human Emotions, Carlos Aguirre, Maria Fernanda De La Torre

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Studying emotions may sound unusual in computer science, a field based on quantifiable data and rationality. Contrary to belief, studies have shown any decision is highly dependent on emotional input. To improve human-computer interaction, it is crucial to improve our understanding of human emotions and teach machines to identify them. With large amounts of information streaming available from our environment, identifying our current emotional state becomes challenging, even at the individual self-level. This project aims to identify indicative emotional temporal data from wearable devices. Using brain activity data from an EEG and smart watches that record data, such as heart-beat, …

Synthesis Of A Hydrophobic/Hydrophilic Nano-Patterned Metal-Organic Framework Material, Daniel Pivaral

Kansas State University Undergraduate Research Conference

Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) materials are supramolecular structures that are formed from the assembly of organic molecules that[AL1] have multiple binding sites with compatible metal cations. The resulting structure is a uniform and porous 3D grid-like with metal vertices that are connected by organic linkers. MOFs have several potential uses such as catalysis, detection, and gas storage, and new strategies to synthesize functional MOFs continue to be developed. One strategy is post synthetic modification (PSM), a process where different chemical groups are grafted onto the organic linkers via chemical reaction. The main objective of this research is to demonstrate that …

Budgeting Basics For New Academic Chairpersons, N. Douglas Lees, David J. Malik, Jane R. Williams

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

The session is geared to new chairpersons who have little or no experience with budgets. Emphases will be placed on working with the dean to create fiscal flexibility and to incentivize budget expansion.

Open Educational Resources: The What, How, Why, And Who, Kris Helge

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

Open educational resources are free, digitally available, valid and reliable textbooks, videos, syllabi, and other educational resources utilized to save students money. This session describes what open educational resources are, where to locate them, why to use them, and it reinforces their validity and reliability of use.

Preface, Weixing Song

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Preface

Student Initiated Partnership For Oer Adoption At Mines, Sarena Nguyen, Ye Li, Torin Johnson

OER From Vision to Action

On the Colorado School of Mines (Mines) campus, there is a profusion of various learning materials from departments all across campus that incorporate some forms of open educational resources. However, many students and faculty are not aware of the benefits these resources can bring to the learning environment, which has drastically stalled the adoption and creation of OERs in our community. A group of students, librarians, and faculty have started to identify and address the consequences of this issue. First, we implemented a survey to investigate undergraduate students’ opinion on textbook costs and the impact on their learning. The survey …

Institutionalizing Effective Grant Funded Programs: A Success Story, Madhura Kulkarni, Bethany V. Bowling, Maureen Doyle, Diana Mcgill

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

As budgets tighten, universities are increasingly struggling with questions of how to institutionalize and sustain successful grant-funded programs. Creative approaches to leveraging existing infrastructure and resources can make it possible. Here, we present our experiences and approaches that could benefit those seeking to institutionalize effective pilot or grant-funded programs.

Exploring Multi-Year Soybean Yield Trial Data In South Dakota Environments, Jixiang Wu, Jianli Qi, Jonathan Kleinjan

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Crop performance test (CPT) is a common practice to evaluate yield performance and adaptability of each cultivar. In this study, we combined 16 years of soybean CPT data, which included six representative locations, three major maturity groups, and over 1000 cultivars, to determine some patterns associated with yield production. As expected, the repeatability for these cultivars in trial over years was very low. Thus, the data processing in this study was focused on descriptive statistics regarding time, location, and seed supplier and several linear model analyses. The results will be presented during the conference.

Creating A Culture Of Evidence-Based Teaching Through Faculty Professional Development, Kirsten Fleming, David Polcyn

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

This session will focus on leading change designed to instill a culture of equity-minded, evidence-based teaching and learning. Drawing on a community of practice model, a variety of professional development opportunities will be explored that enable STEM faculty members to redesign courses in ways that intentionally incorporates evidence-based teaching practices.

Developing And Supporting The Diversity Of Chairperson Roles, Jean Pawl, Richard Griner, Deborah Richardson, Elizabeth Nesmith

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

A monthly Chair Professional Development program at Augusta University provides opportunity to mentor new chairpersons and foster collegiality amongst all chairpersons at a university with both liberal arts and health sciences programs. The merits and challenges of this program that addresses needs of such a diverse group will be highlighted

Leading Departments With Contingent And Tenure-Eligible Faculty: Strategies And Solutions, Diana L. Ashe, Matthew L. Tenhuisen, Colleen A. Reilly

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

Leadership and communication strategies for leading departments that include both contingent and tenure-eligible faculty through three case studies, dealing with 1) voting rights and other claims upon resources; 2) a lack of career milestones, making contingent faculty feel “stuck”; and 3) ways to value contributions of contingent faculty.

Modeling Potato Psyllid Occurrence Using Sticky Trap Data For The Management Of Zebra Chip Disease, William J. Price, Erik J. Wenninger, Bahman Shafii Ph.D.

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Zebra chip disease (ZC) is a disease of potato which produces striped necrotic patterns that become pronounced when fried, making potato products such as chips and fries unmarketable. The disease is associated with a bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (Lso) and is transmitted by the potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli. An important aspect in managing this disease is the modeling and prediction of potato psyllid occurrence. In this study, potato psyllid numbers were monitored regularly across the southern Idaho region. This unique data set encompasses psyllid counts, collected by multiple sticky traps, set up at 98 growing sites over the growing …

Evaluating Adaptions Of Soft Red Winter Wheat In Eastern Region Of Usa, Dilmini Alahakoon, Anne Fennell, Jixiang Wu

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Identification of winter wheat cultivars that are highly adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions is one of the most important wheat research objectives. Multi-environment crop trials under diverse environments is a commonly used practice to evaluate yield stability. For example, uniform eastern and southern red soft winter wheat nursery trials are conducted annually. However, locations and cultivars may vary from year to year and may cause yield stability analysis to be statistically challenging. In this study, we evaluated cultivars that were widely adapted to eastern production areas and those that were specifically adapted to other environments. We used …

Effect Of Correlations On Type 1 Error Rates Of Some Multivariate Normality Tests, Gbenga Sunday Solomon, Kayode Ayinde, Nurudeen Abiodun Alao

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Normality assumption of multivariate data is a prerequisite to the use of multivariate statistical data analysis methods before inference could be valid and reliable. Tests developed to validate this assumption including Doornik-Harsen (DH), Shapiro-Francia (SF), Mardia Skewness (MS), Mardia Skewness for small sample (MSS) and Kurtosis (MK), Skewness (S) and Kurtosis(K), Shapiro-Wilk(SW), Royston (R), Desgagne-Micheaux (DM), Henze-Zirkler (HZ), Energy (E), Gel-Gastwirth (GG) and Bontemps-Meddahi (BM) tests often result into different conclusions. These differences can be misleading. Consequently, this paper examined the effect of correlations on the Type 1 error rates of multivariate tests of normality. Monte Carlo experiments were conducted …

Simulation Comparison Of Methods To Estimate Confidence Intervals Of The Mitigated Fraction, Kenneth W. Wakeland, Brian Fergen

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

In the area of veterinary medicine, efficacy studies are conducted to support licensure of vaccines. Such studies are typically designed to assess a vaccine's ability to prevent or mitigate clinical disease. For example, reduction of duration/severity of clinical signs or the severity of lung lesions are often considered as primary or secondary criteria of success. Studies designed to measure efficacy typically utilize two or more treatment groups and often use blocking structures to accommodate animal housing or litter related effects. When the criteria of interest are continuous or ordinal variables, as is the case with the above measurements, the mitigated …

Statistical Methods For Assessing Individual Oocyte Viability Through Gene Expression Profiles, Michael O. Bishop, John R. Stevens, S. Clay Isom

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

In vivo derived oocytes are held as the gold standard for viability, other known origination methods are sub-par by comparison. Due to the low-viability of oocytes originating from these alternate methods, research was conducted to determine and quantify the validity of these alternate origination methods. However, the larger question of viability is on the individual oocyte level. We propose and compare methods of measurement based on gene expression profiles (GEPs) in order to assess oocyte viability, independent of oocyte origin. The first is based on a previously published wRMSD quantification of GEP differences. We also consider three novel methods: a …

Simulation Comparison Of Statistical Methods Used In Assessing Vaccine Efficacy In Veterinary Biologics, Kenny Wakeland, Brian Fergen

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

In veterinary biologics, clinical studies conducted to support the licensure of a vaccine generally include a demonstration of efficacy in the species of interest. Typically, these studies are designed to assess a vaccine’s ability to prevent or mitigate clinical disease. Study designs utilize two or more treatment groups, and often incorporate blocking structure restrictions to accommodate animal housing or litter-related effects. When assessing a vaccine’s ability to prevent clinical disease, the prevented fraction (PF), a function of the group proportions of affected animals, is often utilized. Typically the sample size per treatment group is limited, and each block is represented …

The Effect Of Poultry Litter Application On Agricultural Production: A Meta-Analysis Of Crop Yield, Nutrient Uptake And Soil Fertility, Yaru Lin, Edzard Van Santen, Dexter Watts

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Meta-analysis is a statistical technique used to analyze large datasets containing results from numerous individual studies. It appears to be a promising approach in agricultural sciences. This study aimed to conduct a meta-analytic assessment to elucidate the influence of poultry litter (PL) application on crop yield, plant nutrient uptake, and soil fertility as compared to inorganic fertilizer (IF). A meta-analysis based on 116 studies (111 refereed articles and five unpublished data sets) with 2293 observations compared agronomic responses to PL and IF application. The natural log of the response ratio was used as effect size (ES) to express differences in …

Topological Methods For The Quantification And Analysis Of Complex Phenotypes, Patrick S. Medina, Rebecca W. Doerge

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping of complex traits, such as leaf venation or root structures, require the phenotyping and genotyping of large populations. Sufficient genotyping is accomplished with cost effective high-throughput assays, however labor costs often makes sufficient phenotyping prohibitively limited. In order to develop efficient high-throughput phenotyping platforms for complex traits algorithms and methods for quantifying these traits are needed. It is often desirable to study the spatial organization of these phenotypes from the images generated by high-throughput platforms. With the goal of quantifying the traits, many approaches try to identify several core traits useful in describing the phenotypic …

Bayesian Estimation Of Stability Indices Of Sorghum Variety Trials, Siraj Osman Omer, Abdel Wahab Hassan Abdalla, Mohammed Hamza Mohammed, International Center For Agricultural Research In The Dry Areas (Icarda), Amman, Jordan

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Multiple–environmental trials are routinely conducted by crop improvement programs for developing desired genotypes. Over a long run, these programs gather information on genotypic performance and variability. Bayesian approach can be used to utilize prior information to identify genotypes for high and stable yield. A set of 18 sorghum genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete block designs (RCBD) with four replications during three seasons, 2009-2012 at diverse locations, North-Gedarif and South-Gedarif, in Sudan. Data on grain yield was analyzed. The aim of this paper was to estimate stability indices such as regression coefficient, coefficient of variation (CV %) and coefficient of …

Strategies For Reducing Control Group Size In Experiments Using Live Animals, Matthew Kramer, Enrique Font

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Reducing the number of animal subjects used in biomedical experiments is desirable for both ethical and practical reasons. Previous suggestions for reducing sample sizes in these experiments have focused on improving experimental designs and methods of statistical analysis; reducing the number of controls (thus, the number of overall animals used) is rarely mentioned. We discuss how the number of current control animals can be reduced, without loss of statistical power, by incorporating information from historical controls, i.e. animals used as controls in similar previous experiments. Using example data from the literature, we describe how to incorporate information from historical controls …

Alternative Estimation Techniques For Correlated Discrete Data, William J. Price Ph.D., Bahman Shafii Ph.D.

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Binary or multinomial data often occur in agricultural and biological research. Advancements in measurement and video technologies now allow such data to be sequentially recorded through time or space. These data sets, however, can exhibit a serial correlation structure, which in turn, can bias and influence point estimates as well as inferences made regarding the data. Statistical methods using generalized mixed models and probability distributions such as the beta-binomial and correlated binomial have been proposed as potential solutions for estimating the parameters of interest in these cases. In this paper, we will explore the properties of these techniques through simulation …