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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Investigation Of Superconducting Properties In Ybco Using Proton Irradiation, Joseph Fogt, Hope Weeda, Trevor Harrison, Nolan Miles Apr 2024

Investigation Of Superconducting Properties In Ybco Using Proton Irradiation, Joseph Fogt, Hope Weeda, Trevor Harrison, Nolan Miles

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

We studied the effect of 600 keV proton irradiation on thin-film Cuprate superconductors. A 500 nm thick YBCO-1237 sample was subjected to a series of proton irradiations using Hope College’s particle accelerator, using a cryocooler to test the resistivity of the sample in between irradiations. We found that the superconducting critical temperature (TC) drastically decreased from 90 K towards zero Kelvin, and the normal state resistivity increased accordingly. The rate of TC reduction to resistivity increase will be used to discuss the fundamental property of the superconductor.


Characterization And Testing Of Sipms For A Next-Generation Neutron Detector, Bishop Carl Apr 2024

Characterization And Testing Of Sipms For A Next-Generation Neutron Detector, Bishop Carl

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

MoNA-LISA is a position-sensitive neutron detector at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) used to probe neutron-unbound states through invariant-mass spectroscopy. Position resolution of the neutron detector is a key factor in invariant mass measurements. A better neutron position would significantly improve the overall reconstructed decay energy resolution and would therefore lead to a better understanding of nuclei near and beyond the dripline. The MoNA collaboration is designing a next-generation neutron detector to improve the current MoNA-LISA resolution (~5cm). The new design will replace the PMTs for SiPM arrays as readout technology. The use of SiPMs (more compact) for …


Towards Erasing The Distinction Between The Computational And Syntactic Accounts Of Scientific Theories, Timothy Luft Apr 2024

Towards Erasing The Distinction Between The Computational And Syntactic Accounts Of Scientific Theories, Timothy Luft

Theses

One of the main goals of philosophy of science is to give a proper account of scientific theories and their structure. One way that accounts of the structure of scientific theories can be distinguished is by the mathematical or logical structures that they involve. For instance, syntactic accounts of scientific theories hold that theories are axioms in a logical framework, whereas semantic accounts are more liberal in the range of mathematical and logical structures they take as pertinent to the structure of scientific theories. Paul Thagard (1988) offers a computational account of scientific theories, which holds that theories are complex …


New Vertebrate Microfossils Expand The Diversity Of The Chondrichthyan And Actinopterygian Fauna Of The Maastrichtian–Danian Hornerstown Formation In New Jersey, Zachary Boles, Paul V. Ullmann, Ian Putnam, Mariele Ford, Joseph T. Deckhut Apr 2024

New Vertebrate Microfossils Expand The Diversity Of The Chondrichthyan And Actinopterygian Fauna Of The Maastrichtian–Danian Hornerstown Formation In New Jersey, Zachary Boles, Paul V. Ullmann, Ian Putnam, Mariele Ford, Joseph T. Deckhut

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

The abundance of shark and actinopterygian fossils in the Cretaceous and Paleogene strata of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is well documented; but much remains unknown about the survivorship patterns of these major components of shallow marine faunas in the western Atlantic through the K/Pg mass extinction. To shed light on this subject, we describe an assemblage of new actinopterygian, chondrichthyan, and reptilian microfossils recently recovered from the Maastrichtian Navesink and Maastrichtian–Danian Hornerstown formations at the Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park at Rowan University in Mantua Township, New Jersey. The new microfossils clarify extinction patterns across the K/Pg, create temporal …


The Santa Clara, 2024-04-12, Santa Clara University Apr 2024

The Santa Clara, 2024-04-12, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.


Influence Of Nanoparticle Chemical Composition On In Situ Hydrogel Friction, Connor Bovia, Griffin Gleeson, Lauren Buckley, Brianna Couturier, Morgan Platz Apr 2024

Influence Of Nanoparticle Chemical Composition On In Situ Hydrogel Friction, Connor Bovia, Griffin Gleeson, Lauren Buckley, Brianna Couturier, Morgan Platz

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

The prevalence of osteoarthritis, alongside the associated pain and limited mobility, has resulted in numerous treatment strategies including the use of nanoparticles as drug-delivery systems in joints. However, the concerted mechanical-chemical effects from joint sliding in the presence of nanoparticle additives are not well understood. This work aims to understand chemically controlled sliding behavior of a soft material like cartilage in the presence of nanoparticles. To mimic cartilage-like features, well-studied polyacrylamide hydrogels were used as a model platform. Focusing on the interactions between nanoparticles that might be used for drug delivery and the hydrogel surfaces, in situ sliding tests were …


The Breaking Of Carbon-Carbon Bonds In Alkyl Ketones, Jenna R. Mustapha, Jordan K. Montgomery, Karen M. Nimtz, Ainsley G. Vandenbrink Apr 2024

The Breaking Of Carbon-Carbon Bonds In Alkyl Ketones, Jenna R. Mustapha, Jordan K. Montgomery, Karen M. Nimtz, Ainsley G. Vandenbrink

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

The breaking of carbon-carbon bonds holds great promise for organic chemistry synthesis. This project specifically looks at using a rhodium catalyst to perform a decarbonylation. The focus is to observe the outcome of a variety of different alkyl groups attached to ketones as they undergo decarbonylation reactions. Depending on the alkyl ketone, the reaction can proceed via direct decarbonylation and/or beta-hydride elimination. The goal of this project includes controlling the selectivity of these reactions for the desired product and expanding the library of successful ketones containing alkyl groups used for the reactions.


Phighting Phosphorus: The Effects Of Sedimentary Phosphorus On The Macatawa Watershed, Elizabeth Kelley, Rachel Fusik, Jake Lyon Apr 2024

Phighting Phosphorus: The Effects Of Sedimentary Phosphorus On The Macatawa Watershed, Elizabeth Kelley, Rachel Fusik, Jake Lyon

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Lake Macatawa experiences severe eutrophication and algal blooms that negatively impact the native species and recreational usage of the lake. There have been several previously completed studies on phosphorus pollution in the water by the Hope College Day1 Watershed Group. However, these measurements do not include lake sediments, which could also be a significant reservoir of phosphorus. Our research group decided to test the sediment at the same three lake locations tested by the Watershed Group, taking two core samples at each location. These samples were dried, combusted in a muffle oven, weighed, digested from solid to liquid, and then …


Material Characterization For Industrial Processes Of Thin Titanium Nanotube Films, Nathaniel Jobson, Jacob Walther, Justin Rink, Wil Pinkerton Apr 2024

Material Characterization For Industrial Processes Of Thin Titanium Nanotube Films, Nathaniel Jobson, Jacob Walther, Justin Rink, Wil Pinkerton

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Material characterization is an important step in the experimental processes. This step ensures that the samples' processing yields the intended results. This work outlines the process taken to analyze and characterize a set of industrial thin films. Our characterization starts with an elemental baseline from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The composition is verified by SimNRA (Simulation Nuclear Reaction Analysis) calculations fitting Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) data collected from a silicon surface barrier (particle) detector.


Role Of Intermolecular Interactions Between Nanoparticle Capping Ligands And Hydrogel Surfaces During Sliding, Lauren Buckley, Connor Bovia, Griffin Gleeson Apr 2024

Role Of Intermolecular Interactions Between Nanoparticle Capping Ligands And Hydrogel Surfaces During Sliding, Lauren Buckley, Connor Bovia, Griffin Gleeson

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Modern treatments for osteoarthritis increasingly involve the use of nanoparticles as drugdelivery systems, but there is little known about the influence of nanoparticle chemical composition and surface chemistry between nanoparticles and soft materials in sliding contact. This work implements cartilage-mimicking polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogels as a well-studied, fundamental platform. In situ (in a fluid environment) macroscale friction tests as a function of shear rate were conducted with a rheometer with a tribology adapter, controlling for contact pressure. Comparing different nanoparticle compositions, citrate capped metal (gold) nanoparticles exhibited a 50% increase in friction relative to water. With no difference in solution viscosity, …


The Borderline Between Beneficial And Dishonest Ai: A Technical Report, Seth Richards, Katherine Shell, Seth Wright Apr 2024

The Borderline Between Beneficial And Dishonest Ai: A Technical Report, Seth Richards, Katherine Shell, Seth Wright

Student Works

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used since 1950 but it was largely overlooked by the public until 2022. Current discussions about AI center around academic integrity. This report seeks to understand if AI can be handled, used, or accepted in Lipscomb’s academic environment as a beneficial aid to writing and research, without actively doing these tasks for an individual. Generative AI is a neural network, which enables it to receive input, gather information from a database of existing content, and create new content [2]. Due to the nature of generative AI, its beneficial contributions to academia are extremely limited.


Uni Science Education Update Conference [Program] April 12, 2024, University Of Northern Iowa Science Education Program. Apr 2024

Uni Science Education Update Conference [Program] April 12, 2024, University Of Northern Iowa Science Education Program.

Science Education Update Conference Documents

he program for the Science Education Update Conference held on April 12, 2024 at the University of Northern Iowa.


Understanding The Mechanism Behind Hfip's Effect On Diastereomeric Separation Of Oligonucleotides, Ian Neidigh Apr 2024

Understanding The Mechanism Behind Hfip's Effect On Diastereomeric Separation Of Oligonucleotides, Ian Neidigh

Honors Theses

The goal of this research was to determine the mechanism behind 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropanol's (HFIP0 ability to suppress the separation of oligonucleotide diastereomers. This was accomplished by selecting different molecules that were like HFIP but differed in specific ways such as polarity, number and type of halogen(s), alcohol group location, carbon chain length, hydrophobicity, and chao/kosmotropicity. These molecules replaced HFIP in an IPRP chromatography method to determine if splitting of the diastereomers was observed and then they would becompared to HFIP's effect. Viscosity tests were to run to acquire quantitative data to determine chao/kosmotropicity. No decisive trend among a single factor was …


What Students Have To Say On Data Privacy For Educational Technology, Stephanie Choi Apr 2024

What Students Have To Say On Data Privacy For Educational Technology, Stephanie Choi

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The literature on data privacy in terms of educational technology is a growing area of study. The perspective of educators has been captured extensively. However, the literature on students’ perspectives is missing, which is what we explore in this paper. We use a pragmatic qualitative approach with an experiential lens to capture students’ attitudes towards data privacy in terms of educational technology. We identified preliminary, common themes that appeared in the survey responses. The paper concludes by calling for more research on how students perceive data privacy in terms of educational technology.


A Case Study Of The Crashoverride Malware, Its Effects And Possible Countermeasures, Samuel Rector Apr 2024

A Case Study Of The Crashoverride Malware, Its Effects And Possible Countermeasures, Samuel Rector

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

CRASHOVERRIDE is a modular malware tailor-made for electric grid Industrial Control System (ICS) equipment and was deployed by a group named ELECTRUM in a Ukrainian substation. The malware would launch a protocol exploit to flip breakers and would then wipe the system of ICS files. Finally, it would execute a Denial Of Service (DOS) attack on protective relays. In effect, months of damage and thousands out of power. However, due to oversights the malware only caused a brief power outage. Though the implications of the malware are cause for researching and implementing countermeasures against others to come. The CISA recommends …


Investigating Vulnerabilities In The Bluetooth Host Layer In Linux, Jack Dibari Apr 2024

Investigating Vulnerabilities In The Bluetooth Host Layer In Linux, Jack Dibari

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

This paper investigates vulnerabilities within the Bluetooth host layer in Linux systems. It examines the Bluetooth protocol's evolution, focusing on its implementation in Linux, particularly through the BlueZ host software. Various vulnerabilities, including BleedingTooth, BLESA, and SweynTooth, are analyzed.


The Security Of Deep Neural Networks, Jalaya Allen Apr 2024

The Security Of Deep Neural Networks, Jalaya Allen

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Our society has transitioned from our primitive lifestyle to soon, an increasingly automatic one. That idea is further exemplified as we shift into an AI era, better known as Artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is classified as computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. However, a common thought or question that most might have is, how is this done? How does AI process information the way we want it to and have access to so much information? AI is trained by systems called AI models. These modeling programs are trained on data to recognize patterns or make …


High-Resolution And Quality Settings With Latent Consistency Models, Steven Chen, Junrui Zhang, Rui Ning Apr 2024

High-Resolution And Quality Settings With Latent Consistency Models, Steven Chen, Junrui Zhang, Rui Ning

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Diffusion Models have become powerful generative models which is capable of synthesizing high-quality images across various domains. This paper explores Stable Diffusion and mostly focuses on Latent Diffusion Models. Latent Consistency Models can enhance the inference with minimal iterations. It demonstrates the performance in image in-painting and class-conditional synthesis tasks. Throughout the experiment different datasets and parameter configurations, the paper highlights the image quality, processing time, and parameter. It also discussed the future directions including adding trigger-based implementation and emotional-based themes to replace the prompt.


Turbulence And Zonal-Flow Impact In The Madison Symmetric Torus In Quasi-Single Helicity, Nicholas J. Kaipainen, Y. L. De Jong, L. Helder, M. J. Pueschel, J. S. Sarff, P. W. Terry, P. D. Vanmeter Apr 2024

Turbulence And Zonal-Flow Impact In The Madison Symmetric Torus In Quasi-Single Helicity, Nicholas J. Kaipainen, Y. L. De Jong, L. Helder, M. J. Pueschel, J. S. Sarff, P. W. Terry, P. D. Vanmeter

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Reversed-Field Pinches (RFPs) operating in the Quasi-Single-Helicity (QSH) magnetic geometry exhibit significant improvements in confinement time as compared to standard discharges due to the efficient saturation of large-scale tearing modes. This modification to the magnetic geometry and profiles introduces new instabilities which drive transport. This work focuses on diagnosing the microinstabilities and microturbulence in a non-reversed Madison Symmetric Torus QSH experiment. Local gyrokinetic simulations are conducted with the GENE code to identify the dominant instabilities as ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) and density-gradient-driven trapped-electron-mode (TEM) at core and edge radial locations, respectively. It has been previously observed in the RFP (Williams PoP 2017) …


Potential Non-Carbonate Buffering In An Interdunal Wetland/Slack Along Lake Michigan, Faith Huff Apr 2024

Potential Non-Carbonate Buffering In An Interdunal Wetland/Slack Along Lake Michigan, Faith Huff

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Interdunal wetlands/slacks occur in Lake Michigan's coastal dunes where the wind scours the sand to the water table. Since May 2016 we have performed ecohydrological studies on the largest interdunal wetlands/slack, ~1.25 ha in size, lying within a deflated parabolic dune east of Lake Michigan at the Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area, Michigan. The slack’s hydrology is influenced by Lake Michigan-Huron, appearing and increasing in size and water depth with rising lake levels and decreasing in size to drying with low levels. Prior to 2014, the slack was completely dry and dominated by upland dune species due to low lake levels. …


Development Of A Liquid Chromatography Method For The Quantification Of Carbohydrates In Peat Soils, Christopher Klaver, Parker Diaz, Abigail Brewer, Gael Figueroa-Enriquez, Madison Smith Apr 2024

Development Of A Liquid Chromatography Method For The Quantification Of Carbohydrates In Peat Soils, Christopher Klaver, Parker Diaz, Abigail Brewer, Gael Figueroa-Enriquez, Madison Smith

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Peatlands are an important carbon sink. However, climate change threatens to cause the peatlands to release their stored-up carbon. This would result in lots of carbon dioxide and methane to be released into the atmosphere due to the increased peat decomposition. This would end up forming a positive feedback loop, and thus resulting in more and more carbon lost from the peat. The biochemical composition of the peat is an indicator of the degradation state of the peat as well as its ongoing vulnerability to decomposition. In this study, we developed an HPLC method for analyzing the carbohydrate composition of …


The Synthesis And Electropolymerization Of Porphyrin-Substituted Ethylenedioxythiophene (Edot) Monomers, Benjamin D. Mcintyre, Joshua A. Hawkins, Kenneth L. Brown Apr 2024

The Synthesis And Electropolymerization Of Porphyrin-Substituted Ethylenedioxythiophene (Edot) Monomers, Benjamin D. Mcintyre, Joshua A. Hawkins, Kenneth L. Brown

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Two electroactive monomers were synthesized for use in forming redox-active films on electrodes. Such electroactive films are useful as redox mediating coatings in the functionalization of electrodes for sensor applications. Tetraphenylporphyrins were coupled to 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) using different connector lengths and then metallated with iron to form monomers capable of electropolymerization. Hydroxymethyl EDOT was tosylated and then reacted with 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde in a Williamson ether synthesis to give an EDOT-functionalized aldehyde. This aldehyde was condensed with pyrrole under acidic conditions to form a novel EDOT-substituted porphyrin. The second porphyrin monomer was prepared similarly with a four carbon chain connector inserted between …


No "Butts" About It: The Heavy Metal Impact Of Cigarette Litter, Faith Huff, Connor Monson, Spencer Whittington Apr 2024

No "Butts" About It: The Heavy Metal Impact Of Cigarette Litter, Faith Huff, Connor Monson, Spencer Whittington

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Cigarettes are the most common litter globally. Following smoking, the filter is left with carcinogenic compounds, tar and metals. All of which are highly toxic for wildlife, affecting reproduction, behavior and mortality rate in animals. The heavy metals that are left within the filter also have potential to leach from the cigarettes and enter the groundwater system. As these heavy metals enter the system, it leads to adverse effects on the environment and can cause detrimental health effects in humans, such as cell damage, induced carcinogenic processes and loss of cellular functions. Much research that exists currently only focuses on …


Explainability In Multivariate Time Series Classification Machine Learning Models, Emanuel Sanchez, Giovanni Battaglia Apr 2024

Explainability In Multivariate Time Series Classification Machine Learning Models, Emanuel Sanchez, Giovanni Battaglia

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Explainability within models is a crucial part of machine learning (ML) models because it promotes trust in the models by providing insights into how their predictions were determined. Our study applies the classification model XCM's explainability component in identifying the critical features leading to classification decisions on data collected while participants performed patient-handling tasks on manikins. Studies show that nurses sustain musculoskeletal injuries early in their career, attributable to some extent to posture adopted during patienthandling tasks. The ML models classify posture adopted during tasks as "good", "poor", or, in some cases, "neutral", where good posture minimizes the risk of …


Temperature Sensitivity Of Nitrogen Mineralization In Peat From Bogs Across A Michigan Transect, Madison Smith, Hannah Sturgeon, Abigail Brewer, Gael Figueroa-Enriquez, Christopher Klaver Apr 2024

Temperature Sensitivity Of Nitrogen Mineralization In Peat From Bogs Across A Michigan Transect, Madison Smith, Hannah Sturgeon, Abigail Brewer, Gael Figueroa-Enriquez, Christopher Klaver

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

In this study, seven peat bogs across a latitudinal transect of Michigan were used to analyze inorganic nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) release from peat to predict the impact that climate warming has on peatland nitrogen cycle. More nitrogen release is expected in samples kept at warmer temperatures (simulated climate warming) and also from samples from lower latitudes in the transect. 1-m peat core samples were taken at each site. 20 g of acid washed sand was added to upper chambers of microlysimeters (two-chambered filter towers). 50 g of peat was added onto the sand and was left to equilibrate for …


Β-Decay Strength Function Of 53ni And 52co, Gabe A. Balk, A. Spyrou, M. K. Smith, W. Von Seeger Apr 2024

Β-Decay Strength Function Of 53ni And 52co, Gabe A. Balk, A. Spyrou, M. K. Smith, W. Von Seeger

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

The p process is believed to be responsible for the formation of heavy proton-rich nuclei in the universe. This work deals with the decay of two nuclei that are part of the p process, 53Ni and 52Co. β+ decays for each isotope were recorded with the Summing NaI(Tl) detector at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. A preliminary β-decay Intensity Function was derived with Total Absorption Spectroscopy. Total energy spectra, β-particle spectra, individual γ-energy spectra, and multiplicity spectra for the decay to levels in the child nucleus were modeled with GEANT4 based on information from the National Nuclear Data …


Investigation Of Convection Cells Via Truncated Eigenmode Decomposition, Gillian Donley, A. E. Fraser Apr 2024

Investigation Of Convection Cells Via Truncated Eigenmode Decomposition, Gillian Donley, A. E. Fraser

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Convection cells are found in a variety of contexts throughout physics, including plasmas within the stellar interior and in neutral fluids such as planetary atmospheres. Rayleigh Benard Convection (RBC) is the most well studied model for this behavior, describing convection in fluids that are heated from below and cooled from above, resulting in a temperature gradient which can drive instabilities. Under the right conditions, this instability develops and drives convective heat transport, which is still actively researched in fluid and plasma dynamics today. We study the neutral fluid configuration of this system using a novel modeling approach that approximates the …


Exploring The Effectiveness Of Directing Groups For Rhodium-Catalyzed Decarbonylation, Bryan J. Forrest, Isabelle M. Klanseck, Jazmin E. Aguilar-Romero, Mary G. Kapitula Apr 2024

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Directing Groups For Rhodium-Catalyzed Decarbonylation, Bryan J. Forrest, Isabelle M. Klanseck, Jazmin E. Aguilar-Romero, Mary G. Kapitula

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Reactions involving carbon-carbon bond activation are of interest to develop methods of functionalizing molecules. Work in the Johnson Group utilizes rhodium-catalyzed decarbonylation to form new carbon-carbon bonds in pyridyl ketones, where the nitrogen on the pyridine ring acts as a directing group. Though this reaction is easily replicated and gives high yields, the need for a pyridine directing group limits the range of molecules that can be synthesized. To broaden the scope of this reaction, novel directing group compounds were synthesized through different routes and their efficacy in the decarbonylation reaction was explored.


Mechanochemical Formation Of Polyacrylamide Nanocomposites: Impact Of Nanoparticle Surface Chemistry And Substrate Functionalization, Bryn Couturier, Lauren Buckley, Connor Bovia Apr 2024

Mechanochemical Formation Of Polyacrylamide Nanocomposites: Impact Of Nanoparticle Surface Chemistry And Substrate Functionalization, Bryn Couturier, Lauren Buckley, Connor Bovia

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint condition, with treatments currently limited to symptom management and invasive surgical procedures. This project investigates the fundamental mechanisms for a potential treatment route that would allow soft material nanocomposites to form within the joint through mechanochemical reactions. To gain fundamental insight into the different chemical pathways for this to occur, this work compares a top-down vs bottom-up approach. The top-down method focuses on the influence of applied oscillatory mechanical stresses on bulk hydrogel polymerization. Polyacrylamide (PAM) is used as a well-studied control system. PAM-nanocomposites were achieved through co-polymerization, with gold nanoparticles with different capping ligands …


Identity Development Among Pre-Health Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Anya Kapitula, Anna Tyshka Apr 2024

Identity Development Among Pre-Health Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Anya Kapitula, Anna Tyshka

23rd Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2024)

Many sociology studies have been published regarding the experiences and development of medical school students, but there is a gap in research observing undergraduate students on pre-health professions tracks. Specifically, studies have been published noting a significant decrease in the empathy of medical school students during their third year, but no research has been conducted to identify development patterns of these students during their undergraduate years. This study aims to identify groups of undergraduate students on pre-health professions tracks based on typologies formed from longitudinal survey responses, and also to identify any significant transitions between these groups over time. Because …